DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 9.14.24

Dangerous Ground - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy,and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. —Hebrews 10:29 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/dangerous-ground-2/- Listen Some people go out of their way to mock God and to slander His holy name. They go out of their way to defy Him. And they are treading on dangerous ground. In the Old Testament book of Daniel, we read that King Belshazzar had all the holy vessels brought out that the Jewish people used in the worship of God. Then, he filled them with wine andtoasted the gods of silver and gold. He was openly mocking God and going out of his way to ridicule Him. And that was his last night on earth. He was weighed in God’s balances, and God’s judgment fell upon him. The Bible says that one of the sins we can commit against the Holy Spirit is to insult Him. Hebrews 10:29 warns, “Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampledon the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us” (NLT). One function of the Holy Spirit is to present the saving work of Jesus Christ to nonbelievers. And when nonbelievers refuse to accept the Lord into their lives, they are insulting the loveof God. They’re saying they don’t need salvation, they don’t believe that Christ can save them, and they don’t believe that Jesus’ work on the cross was necessary. To resist the Holy Spirit’s appeal and, therefore, to insult God, is to cut off all hope of salvation. Undoubtedly these sins lead to the ultimate sin. First, people resist the Holy Spirit,then they insult Him, and one day, they can go so far as to blaspheme Him. The word blasphemy speaks of a conscious denouncing and rejection of God. It is a defiant irreverence, a uniquely terrible sin of intentionally and openly speaking evil against God. Yet this will be characteristic of people in the last days. The Bible says the Antichrist will go out of his way to blaspheme God. And Revelation 16 tells us that in response to God’s judgment,people “cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory” (verse 9 NLT). Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin (see Mark 3:29). It represents not just unbelief but a determined unbelief. The Bible speaks of Esau, who had gone beyond this point ofno return. Hebrews 12:17 tells us, “It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears” (NLT). It’s a fearful thing when people go out of their way to mock God, ridicule God, and insult God. They think they can do this for as long as they want without any penalty. But ultimately, itwill catch up with them. And the worst thing of all is they can cross the line and commit the unforgivable sin. ------------------------------------------ Eternal Purposes - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. �Heaven forbid, Lord,� he said. �This will never happen to you!� �Matthew 16:22 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/eternal-purposes-2/- Listen Jesus knew exactly what was in His future. It came as no surprise to Him. He knew who would betray Him, He knew He would rise from the dead, and He knew exactly when these things would happen. And at Caesarea Philippi, He began to tell His disciples what He was facing. Matthew�s Gospel says, �From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the handsof the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead� (Matthew 16:21 NLT). In the original language, Jesus used a word for killed that could be translated �murdered.� Peter couldn�t believe that Jesus was saying this. In Peter�s mind, this simply couldn�t happen. It was commendable that Peter was truly concerned about the Lord. But he was missing what Jesuswas trying to say. And he went too far when he took Jesus aside and �began to reprimand him,� saying, �Heaven forbid, Lord . . . . This will never happen to you!� (verse 22 NLT). Interestingly, the word translated reprimand in this verse carries the idea of someone in a position of authority rebuking a subordinate. That is the way Peter began to reprimand Jesus. Andthe language implies that he did this repeatedly. Imagine it for a moment. Jesus had just made a statement about His impending suffering and death. He obviously was in anguish over it. And then Peter took an authoritarian position and repeatedlybegan to reprimand Him. Peter had lost touch with reality. Jesus said to him, �Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God�s� (verse 23 NLT). We have to love a guy like Peter because he was so utterly human. He said what many of us probably would have said in such a situation. He was impulsive, impetuous, and hotheaded but alsovery honest, courageous, and intelligent. And perhaps he was the most accessible of all the followers of Jesus. May God help us to trust Him when He doesn�t do things the way we think He should and when we�re tempted to say, �Why, Lord?� God is thinking of His eternal purposes. We can only see what will benefit us in this moment. But God is looking at the big picture. And He knows what He�s doing. It is during these times that we must trust Him, cast ourselves at His feet, and say, �Lord, I admit to You that I don�t understand. I don�t know why. But I thank You that You are in control.� There are a lot of things that will happen in life that we won�t understand. It is during those times that we must fall back on what we do understand: God loves us. And He is looking out forour best interests. ----------------------------------- GreatIs the Lord �For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all the godsof the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.� (1Chronicles 16:25-26) This testimony is in the heart of a great hymn of thanksgiving composed by David when the Ark of the Lord was brought back to Jerusalem (1Chronicles 16:7-36). It is a testimony of the unique greatness of the God of Israel, with recurring expressions of gratitude for His deliverances and blessings. This God of Israel was no mere tribal-god or nature-god, such as Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines from whose hands the Ark had been delivered. All such �gods� of the peoples of the earth�whether wooden images in a shrine, astrological emblems in the heavens,or mental constructs of evolutionary humanistic philosophers�are nothing but idols (that is, literally, �good for nothing,� �vanities�). It is Jehovah God who is not only in the heavens but who made the heavens! It is their Creator who one day will �let the sea roar� and �the fields rejoice� when �the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, becausehe cometh to judge the earth� (vv. 32-33). As Creator and Savior, all His people are exhorted also to �shew forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations� (vv. 23-24). Because of His power, the world itself �shall be stable [that is, �permanently established�], that it be not moved� (v. 30). This �God of our salvation� (v. 35), and the wonderful heavens and earth He created, will be forever. The psalm ends with the exhortation: �O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercyendureth for ever....Blessed be the LORD God of Israel for ever and ever� (vv. 34-36). Now, if Israel needed such an exhortation, our modern science-worshiping world needs it still more urgently. HMM ------------------- The Worst Thing of All - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org For God says, �At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.� Indeed, the �right time� is now. Today is the day of salvation. �2 Corinthians 6:2 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-worst-thing-of-all-2/- Listen Sometimes, we look at certain sins that people fall into and think it�s the worst thing that can happen to them. But it isn�t the worst thing. The worst thing of all is to have a hardenedheart. Even a drug addict, an alcoholic, and an immoral person can see their need for God and turn to Him. Meanwhile, there are people who never go out and do bad things, but their heart gets harderevery month and every year. And having a hardened heart is the worst of all. It�s better to be a prodigal and eventually return someday than to never come home. And a hardened heart can cause someone to commit the unforgivable sin, which is blaspheming the Holy Spirit(see Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10). When we read about Moses and Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus, we learn that God hardened Pharaoh�s heart. We may think that Pharaoh didn�t have a choice in the matter. But the Hebrew word forhardened also could be translated �strengthened.� In other words, God responded to Pharaoh�s response. In essence, God was saying, �Make your move, Pharaoh.� And Pharaoh made it. God had shown him miracle after miracle and gave him the opportunity to believe. But Pharaoh still rejected God.So God affirmed Pharaoh in the decision he had already made. God does this with every person. If we choose to believe and trust in Him, then He will strengthen us in that decision. On the other hand, if we choose to reject Him and blaspheme Him, thenHe will strengthen us in that decision as well. He responds to our response. This certainly doesn�t happen overnight. And before we worry that we have blasphemed the Holy Spirit and committed the unforgivable sin, let�s understand what it is. Blaspheming the Holy Spiritdoesn�t mean saying something irreverent about the Spirit of God. Rather, blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a deliberate, willful, continual lifestyle in which we know what is right and have chosen to respond to it with rejection. And by continued exposureto the truth of God and a refusal to obey and trust in Him, we finally go too far and lose all perspective. Interestingly, God said to the prophet Jeremiah, �Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don�t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you� (Jeremiah7:16 NLT). God was saying that these people had taken it too far. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin and bring us to Jesus Christ. So, to blaspheme and insult the Holy Spirit is to reject the work that He is attempting to do. And whenyou blaspheme the Holy Spirit, there is no hope for you. The Bible says, �Today is the day of salvation� (2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT). But if you keep putting it off, there will come a time when you will seal your own destiny. --------------------------------- Waiton the Lord �Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cutoff, thou shalt see it.� (Psalm37:34) In spite of the occasional successes of the wicked, we are to �wait on the LORD.� The Hebrew word used in this passage for �wait� is unusual. The term quvah describes the �binding together� of strings to make a cord. The same word was used to �collect� the water and dry land into separate areas on the third day of creation. It carries the idea of anticipation toward useful results and does not mean to �hang around and wait.� It does not imply useless boredom, waiting for something to happen. The essence of the term is to be alert, watching the events and activities of the Lordand reacting to His timing and direction. Indeed, the word is translated �look� as often as any other term. The great promise of �eagle�s wings� recorded by Isaiah tells us that the source of our victory comes from the Lord alone: �But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;and they shall walk, and not faint� (Isaiah40:31). That great promise, which is a comfort to so many, is based on the fact that the �Creator of the ends of the earth� is the One making the promise (Isaiah40:28). As Psalm 37 comes to a close, the summary contains both instructions and blessings: �Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But...the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD;he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him� (Psalm37:37-40). HMM III ------------------------ We Need to Tell Them - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Remember what it says: �Today when you hear his voice, don�t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.� �Hebrews 3:15 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/we-need-to-tell-them-2/- Listen The story is told of an attorney who was trying to deliver an important document to a man who was determined to avoid him. The man reasoned that it was a subpoena of some kind, and he wentout of his way to dodge it. Fourteen years passed, and the man found himself lying in a hospital, dying of cancer. Through a strange chain of events, the attorney was sick also, and the two men ended up sharing the samehospital room. The dying man turned to the attorney and said, �Well, you never got me! I escaped you all this time, and now it doesn�t matter. You can go ahead and serve your subpoena. I don�t even care.� �Subpoena?� the attorney replied. �I was trying to give you a document that proved you had inherited 45 million dollars!� People can be the same way when it comes to the Christian faith. They go out of their way to escape a relationship with Jesus Christ. They go out of their way to avoid Christians. As a result,their hearts get harder. And they just might go too far. People reject Jesus because they don�t know of all that He offers. They don�t know of His great promises. That is why we need to tell them. That is why we need to go out of our way to tellpeople about the love of God. So, let�s keep praying, and let�s keep trying to reach these people. You may even know someone who seems as though they have a hardened heart beyond the point of no return. Take heart. Think of Saul of Tarsus, whose conversion was so radical and unexpected that the first-century Christians thought it was some kind of trap in which he was trying to infiltratetheir ranks. They didn�t believe that God could save someone who was as wicked, hostile, and against the church as Saul of Tarsus was. But then Saul of Tarsus became known as Paul the Apostle. You may know someone who seems so hardened and so far gone. Keep praying, because God could reach them. Or maybe there has never come a moment in your life when you�ve personally asked Jesus Christ to forgive your sin. You know about God, but you don�t really know Him. If you know somethingto be true and don�t respond to it, that can harden your heart. The Bible tells us, �Remember what it says: �Today when you hear his voice, don�t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled�� (Hebrews 3:15 NLT). If you don�t yet know Jesus Christ in a personal way, then do something about it immediately. Now is the time. If you keep putting it off, there will come a day when you won�t hear from Godanymore because you will have hardened your heart irreparably. Yes, there is a point of no return. Don�t let it happen to you. Don�t live another day outside of God�s will, His purpose, and His blessing for you. --------------------------- The Point of No Return �Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.� (Hosea4:17) Our God is longsuffering and full of mercy, but there is a line that must not be crossed. It is dangerous to presume that God will always continue to forgive; He can become a �consuming fire� (Hebrews12:29). The leaders of Ephraim (a collective term for the 10 northern tribes of Israel) had passed this point of no return. They had become completely infatuated with the pantheistic polytheism of the nations, being �joined� to their symbolic models of natural forcesand all the immoral practices that accompanied such worship. The word for �joined� means �fascinated by.� They had been brought so deeply under the occult powers behind these idols as to be so irrevocably committed to them that it would be a waste of timeand tears to try to reclaim them now. The Scriptures contain many similar warnings. �My spirit shall not always strive with man� (Genesis 6:3). �Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind� (Matthew 15:14). �There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it� (1John 5:16). �Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine� (Matthew 7:6). Pharaoh repeatedly �hardened his heart� against God, and finally God Himself hardened Pharaoh�s heart (e.g., Exodus 8:15; 10:27). �God gave them up� (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). These should be sobering words to anyone who is becoming enchanted with evolutionism, occultism, or any form of pantheistic humanism. As long as such a person has any qualm of conscience, or even any doubts about the pseudo-scientific philosophy to which heis becoming addicted, there is hope that he may yet turn to the true God of creation. To continue in his present course, however, is presumptuous and deadly. The time will come, perhaps sooner than he thinks, when God will say: �Let him alone.� HMM ------------------------- Wholehearted Seekers - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But Jesus didn�t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person�s heart �John 2:24�25 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/wholehearted-seekers-2/- Listen At a casual reading, the response of Jesus seems almost harsh and unfair. Chapter 12 of Matthew�s Gospel tells us that �one day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, �Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove yourauthority�� (verse 38 NLT). �Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign,� Jesus answered. �But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly ofthe great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights� (verses 39�40 NLT). Here were some individuals who were asking for a miracle. Jesus had performed many miracles. After all, what was one more? Why didn�t He respond to their request? Because Jesus always lookedat the motives behind what people said and did. Jesus is far more interested in what�s going on in our hearts than what we are merely saying with our mouths. And as Jesus looked into the hearts of these religious leaders, no doubt He saw the reason for their request. Earlier in the chapter, we read, �Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus� (verse 14 nlt). Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath, and that upset them. These religiousleaders wanted to destroy Jesus. They weren�t interested in a miracle. They weren�t interested in a sign. Instead, they were out to get Him. And Jesus recognized this. It�s fascinating to note how Jesus dealt with different people. He never dealt with anyone in the same way. He would look behind the veneer of what was going on and see their hearts. And whena person was truly seeking, and a miracle was in order, He did it. Jesus performed numerous miracles for hurting, searching people such as blind Bartimaeus or the woman who had spent everything on doctors who couldn�t heal her. On the other hand, when peoplecame with the wrong motives, He didn�t do a miracle for them. In fact, on some occasions, He didn�t even reveal Himself to them. For example, John 2:23 says, �Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.� But the passage goes on to say, �But Jesus didn�ttrust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person�s heart� (verses 24�25 NLT). These people who saw His miracles weren�t seeking Him with their whole hearts. They were merely excited about the phenomena. If they had been true seekers, then Jesus would have revealed Himselfto them. Speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, God said, �If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me� (Jeremiah 29:13 NLT). Jesus revealed Himself to true seekers. And He repelled those whowere not.