Days of Praise

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June 21, 2020
Love of the Father for the Son
“The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.” (John 3:35)

The gospel of John, in a special sense, emphasizes the love in the divine Trinity of the heavenly Father for the Son. The words “love” and “Father” and “Son” occur more in this book than in any other book of the Bible, and there are at least eight references to this love in John’s gospel.

The first is in our text above, revealing that the Father has entrusted the care of the whole creation to the Son whom He loves. He has also shown Him everything in creation: “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth” (John 5:20).

The Father also loved the Son because of His willingness to die for lost sinners. “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again” (John 10:17).

Then in the upper room, as Christ prayed to His Father, it was revealed that this divine love had existed in eternity and therefore must be both the root and the measure of all forms of true love ever since. “Father…thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). Parental love, marital love, filial love, love of country—all types of genuine love—are derived ultimately from this eternal love of the Father for the Son.

And it is this love that can also be in us, if we will have it. “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you….If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:9-10).

It was thus He prayed (and still prays) for us: “That the world may know that thou…hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.…And…that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:23, 26). HMM

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June 22, 2020
Higher Ground
“Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

Over the years, Christians have used many hymns to enhance the study of Scripture. Consider one such hymn, “Higher Ground,” as an impetus to our own study. Its refrain encapsulates the desire of many Christians.

Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Many Christians live on a “plateau,” enjoying the Christian life around them, but inwardly they yearn for something more, something deeper and more lasting. They long to make a difference in the lives of their friends, lost or unlost. They want to live in victory over sin. They want more fruitfulness from their witness. They desire a deeper walk with God and to live by faith, living in a way that pleases God.

No longer satisfied with the accustomed “plateau,” they pray for God to grant them a “tableland” or “higher ground.” But this high ground is not one from which simply to minister. It is to know God in His entirety. We desire the same as Paul: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10).

This may be the most lasting message we can take from this song. We want to know God more fully and serve as more effective Christians. We are encouraged to plant our feet on higher ground and be eternally more abundant as Christians. JDM

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June 23, 2020 Upward Way “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19) The hymn “Higher Ground” acknowledges the difficulties of the Christian life. But we press on, ever striving for the goal. A Christian must be habitually “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Philippians 3:13). And so it is in the hymn. I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I’m gaining every day; Still praying as I’m onward bound, Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. All faithful warriors must remember that they are fighting for the King. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4). Many successful soldiers in the Lord’s army may be gaining new victories each day, although in the bigger picture these may go unrecognized by others and sometimes even by the individual soldier. But these efforts and soldiers will be commended by the One for whom we are fighting. Our endeavors must always be bathed in prayer as we seek to gain His favor. Our supplication must be “Lord, grant me victory over any sin which besets me. Provide me favor today as I press on in your service. Give me opportunity to teach your Word to those in need. Give me fruit which lasts for eternity.” An earnest plea that touches God’s heart has great power, and we can look forward to seeing it work mightily. As the hymn teaches, we can expect Him to plant our feet on higher ground. JDM

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June 24, 2020 Sin and the Christian God “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:11-12) A Christian has no desire for his past life of sin. As we see in our text, we should “flee these things” and “lay hold on eternal life,” putting off whatever is old and instead putting on what is new. The second verse of our study hymn “Higher Ground” expresses this as well. My heart has no desire to stay Where doubts arise and fears dismay; Though some may dwell where those abound, My prayer, my aim, is higher ground. One of the most precious promises of Christianity can be found in 2 Corinthians 5:17, where we see that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” We are told that we can put our old habits of sin behind us and live a new life in victory over sin and death. No longer can sin reign over us—we can live in victory. Even doubts and fears can be dismissed from our presence. Our God has promised throughout His Scriptures: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10). There is no need to be anywhere else. My prayer and my aim are to walk where He leads and be where He wants me to be. Only while there can we be assured of higher ground with Him. JDM

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June 25, 2020
Satan's Wiles
“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” (Ephesians 6:16)

Our goals as victorious warriors or even survivors in the battle at hand include neutralizing the enemy’s tactics as well as defeating him. The Christian wants to live above the fray, being successful in his efforts to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked,” as we saw in our text. The third verse of the hymn “Higher Ground” expresses this desire well.

I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.

The passage surrounding our text captures the warrior’s spirit well. The fighter is to don with care his entire armor (Ephesians 6:13) and protect his “loins girt about with truth” and wearing the “breastplate of righteousness.” He must be protected from head to toe, “shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (v. 14-15) and standing with the helmet of salvation on his head. The text gives further instructions, perhaps more important than all the others, for it instructs “above all, taking the shield of faith.” Our faith, our belief in God, and the knowledge of the Word of God provide the necessary and winning power for the battle. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

The final item mentioned in this important passage is the striving together of the saints for the common goal, praying together and beseeching God for His blessings. “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18) makes victory more certain in both the short run and the long. What bliss to catch the joyful sound of faithful saints on higher ground. JDM

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June 26, 2020
Till Heaven I've Found
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3)

As Christians we desire to be with our Lord and see His glory forever. The writer of Hebrews expressed our passion for Him in the text for today. He goes on to tell how “they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16). Our ultimate goal is to reach glory and see our Savior face to face. The final verse of “Higher Ground” agrees.

I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

We must have our expectation fixated on Him and our eternal home. We must pray for His return to take us there and pray that we can influence many others to join us too. Now we face persecution, trials, and troubles, but these are so temporary. Indeed, we are promised that we “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Only when we reach that “utmost height” and finally perceive that “glory bright” will we fully understand Him, while our thankfulness continues for eons.

Studying this grand Christian hymn reminds us of the wondrous Christian opportunities before us and the majesty of heaven’s higher ground that awaits us. We have the privilege of living above the sin so prevalent around us and confronting even our enemy with victory. And our ultimate goal is our Savior in heaven. Dear friend, we have a great journey ahead and great joy at the end. JDM

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June 27, 2020
The Two Ways
“For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” (Psalm 1:6)

This verse outlines the inescapable truth that there are only two roads and two destinations to which they lead in eternity. The word “way” (Hebrew derek) means “road.” There is only one way leading to heaven—the way of the righteous; and one way leading to hell—the way of the ungodly.

This is a very common word in Scripture, but it is significant that its first occurrence is in Genesis 3:24, referring to “the way of the tree of life.” Once expelled from the garden of Eden because of their rebellion, Adam and Eve no longer could travel that “way” of life and began to die.

The equivalent Greek word in the New Testament is hodos, also meaning “road,” and it too occurs quite frequently. Its literal meaning—that of an actual roadway—lends itself very easily to the figure of a style of life whose practice leads inevitably to a certain destiny. Since there are only two basic ways of looking at life—the God-centered viewpoint and the man-centered viewpoint—there are only two ways of life, the way of the godly and the way of the ungodly. The one leads to life, the other to death. There is no other way.

The Lord Jesus taught: “Enter ye in at the strait [i.e., ‘narrow’] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). But what is the way of the righteous that leads to life? “I am the way,” said the Lord Jesus: “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isaiah 30:21). HMM

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June 28, 2020
The Christian's Cleansing
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

This familiar promise is often quoted as a sort of pat formula for dealing with sin in a believer’s life. Simply identify and acknowledge the sin, and all is forgiven.

This is gloriously true, so far as it goes, but the last part of the verse is also vitally important. The Lord wants His people to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light,…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

In these and other verses, the verb translated “cleanse” is the Greek katharizo, from which we get such English words as “cathartic.” It is a strong word, sometimes translated as “purify” and even “purge.” The sin not only is to be confessed, it must be purged!

The Lord Jesus Christ “by himself purged our sins” (Hebrews 1:3) so that God can be perfectly “faithful and just to forgive us our sins” on the basis of His cleansing blood and sanctifying Word. But this is far more than an academic formula, for this cleansing, purifying, and purging must become a real experience in one’s life, and the Lord will do whatever is necessary to make it so. He “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify [same word as ‘cleanse’] unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14).

We must learn to “walk in the light” and to be “zealous of good works,” as He “purgeth us from all unrighteousness” when we “confess our sins.” It is necessary that we be constrained to become more “like him,” for “when he shall appear,…we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Thus, His forgiveness of our sins is inevitably accompanied by a purging of our lives. HMM

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June 29, 2020 Signs of the Times “When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:2-3) This sharp rebuke by the Lord Jesus was well deserved, for His critics were challenging Him to prove His right to be heard by performing a miracle. But they had already been confronted with a tremendous body of evidence, both in their Scriptures and in the very life and teachings of Jesus (as well as in the miracles already wrought by Him) that He was their Messiah. They paid great attention to weather forecasting and other mundane matters while ignoring or rejecting the evidence that God Himself, in Christ, was in their midst. Today we are more occupied with daily weather even than they were, with all sorts of forecasting devices in operation. There is also a growing army of doomsday forecasters, loudly concerned about overpopulation, pollution, and a host of other foreboding secular “signs of the times.” Yet they ignore the overwhelming evidences, both in science and Scripture, that our great Creator/Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is still in control and is coming again soon to fulfill His great purposes in creation and redemption. A mere listing of the many real signs of God’s times would take many pages. One such sign, of course, is this very proliferation of science and technology. At “the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4). Another is the great following achieved by these false teachers, as multitudes “turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:4). “Hypocrites,” Jesus said, are concerned with secular trends, but spiritual discerners can recognize the true signs. HMM

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June 30, 2020
Profit and Loss
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

In these materialistic days, many people have become abnormally occupied with investments and returns, capital gains and losses, balance sheets and cash flows. This is nothing new, of course. The prevalence of covetousness is so universal, in one form or another, that God had to place a prohibition on it in the Ten Commandments.

The Lord Jesus made a heart-searching comparison one day when He posed a surprising question relative to divine bookkeeping. Not even the riches of all the world could purchase one human soul, yet people often seem willing to sacrifice their souls in pursuit of riches. Is such an exchange really a sound investment? Merely to ask the question is to answer it.

Earning wealth is good if it is acquired honorably and by the will of God, but coveting wealth and hoarding wealth are foolish sins. Here is another of many divine profit-and-loss statements: “There is [he] that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is [he] that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches” (Proverbs 13:7). The true measure of profit and loss is the balance sheet kept in heaven. One must first glean an account there, however, and this means coming to God empty-handed, on the basis of Christ’s free gift of His own riches. “Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). He died for us, that we might live through Him.

Then, once our heavenly account is established, here is real investment counseling: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.…For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). HMM

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July 1, 2020
Light for Every Man
“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9)

The Bible clearly teaches that faith in the person and saving work of Jesus Christ is essential for salvation. Jesus Himself said: “I am the way...no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

This means that there is no salvation whatsoever in Islam or Buddhism, and certainly not in evolutionary humanism—or anything other than faith in Christ!

But what about the millions over the ages who have lived and died without ever hearing about Christ? Paul answers: “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world” (Romans 10:18). That is, they have heard! Our text reminds us that Jesus Christ is the true Light that has been sent to every man in the world. Paul was referring to the familiar 19th Psalm, which reminds us that God’s glory is declared by the heavens themselves.

Paul also stressed that even God’s “eternal power and Godhead” are “clearly seen” “from the creation of the world,” so that those who don’t see are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). Thus, as Peter said, “in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:35). Although Christ has provided at least some light for “every man,” the tragedy is that “men loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19). But for those like Cornelius (to whom Peter was sent with the gospel—Acts 10) who act on whatever light they have (in nature or conscience or any possible remnants of primeval truth in their native religion), God will send more light, for “he that doeth truth cometh to the light” (John 3:21). HMM

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July 2, 2020
Songs in the Night
“Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.” (Psalm 42:7-8)

There are times in the life of a believer when he seems about to sink under great avalanches of trouble and sorrow. But then “I call to remembrance my song in the night” (Psalm 77:6), and God answers once again. In the book of Psalms, the theme of conflict and suffering is prominent, but always there is also the note of hope and ultimate triumph.

The very first psalm, for example, notes the conflict of the righteous with the ungodly but promises that “the way of the ungodly shall perish” (v. 6). The second psalm foretells the final rebellion of the heathen against God and His anointed but assures us that God will “vex them in his sore displeasure” (vv. 2, 5). In Psalm 3, the believer says: “Many are they that rise up against me.” But then he remembers that “salvation belongeth unto the LORD” (vv. 1, 8). He cries in Psalm 4: “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer” (v. 1).

In Psalm 5, immediately after the first imprecation in the psalms (“cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions”) occurs the first specific mention of singing in the book of Psalms: “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout [literally ‘sing’] for joy, because thou defendest them” (vv. 10-11).

The Lord Jesus and His disciples sang a psalm even as they went out into the night of His betrayal and condemnation (Mark 14:26). This is His gracious promise: “Ye shall have a song, as in the night.…And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard” (Isaiah 30:29-30). HMM

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July 3, 2020
The Powers of God
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

In these days of rampant humanism, blatant materialism, and effete religionism, the very concept of an all-powerful God who created, controls, and judges all things seems anachronistic, but God is still there and is still the Almighty.

Three Greek words are translated “power” in Scripture— exousia (“authority”), dunamis (“ability”), and kratos (“strength”). Each is attributed in unlimited extent to God the Creator as incarnate in Christ the Redeemer. “All power [‘authority’] is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). “For thine is the kingdom, and the power [‘ability’], and the glory, for ever” (Matthew 6:13). “That ye may know… the exceeding greatness of his power [‘ability’] to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power [‘strength’], which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power [‘authority’], and might, and dominion” (Ephesians 1:18-21).

He is the “Almighty God” of Abraham (Genesis 17:1), “the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28). “Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (Psalm 115:3).

God can do whatever He pleases, except anything contrary to His nature. He “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), for He is “the truth” (John 14:6). His inspired Word is inerrant—“the scripture of truth” (Daniel 10:21). We can be certain that He did not “create” the world by evolution, for that would be contradicted both by His infallible Word and by His omnipotence. Being all-powerful, God would surely not create by such a cruel, inefficient process as evolution. HMM

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July 4, 2020
The Law of Liberty
“So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” (James 2:12)

On Independence Day, Americans should give thanks to the Author of liberty that we have been privileged to live in this “sweet land of liberty,” where we can worship God freely in accord with His Word. Liberty is not license, however, and the essence of the American system is liberty under law. Fundamentally, that law is “the law of nature and of nature’s God”—the natural laws of God’s world and the revealed laws of God’s Word. Within that framework we do have liberty—but not liberty to defy either the physical law of gravity or the spiritual “law of liberty.” The latter is formulated in Scripture and has been applied over the centuries, in the English common law and later in our system of constitutional law, both of which are based on Scripture.

Some today, seeking license rather than liberty, might recoil at the very idea of “the law of liberty,” calling it an oxymoron, or contradiction in terms. But Jesus said that only “the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4), and “sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:15), not freedom!

No one can be saved by the law, but those who are saved— by grace through faith in Christ—will love God’s law, for it is “holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). We should say with the psalmist: “So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts” (Psalm 119:44-45).

There is, indeed, a law of liberty, and whoever will walk in real liberty will find it only in God’s law of life, through His revealed Word. For “whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25). HMM

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July 5, 2020
Meditation
“Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.” (Psalm 119:27)

The remarkable 119th Psalm, with its 22 eight-verse stanzas, is the unique “song of the word,” containing 176 testimonies or prayers concerning God’s Word—one for each verse. Eight times the word “meditate” or “meditation” is used, indicating the importance of this practice in relation to the Scriptures. In our text, this word is translated “talk,” but its basic thrust is to exhort us to meditate on the wonderful works of God, once we understand the way of His precepts.

The other seven references to meditation in this psalm are as follows: “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways” (v. 15). “Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes” (v. 23). “My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes” (v. 48). “Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts” (v. 78). “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (v. 97). “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation” (v. 99). “Mine eyes prevent [i.e., anticipate] the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word” (v. 148).

There is, of course, a counterfeit form of meditation (e.g., so-called transcendental meditation and other forms of mysticism), not to mention useless daydreaming. These forms of meditation involve clearing one’s mind of all subjects and allowing the mind to wander. In contrast, true meditation involves pondering with awe and thankfulness God’s wonderful Word, His ways, and His works—in connection with prayer and the study of the Holy Scriptures. As an exercise of the mind as well as of the spirit, it is of great blessing and most pleasing to God. HMM

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July 6, 2020
O My Soul
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” (Psalm 42:5)

This expression (“O my soul”) is not used here by the psalmist as a trite exclamation but as a plea of heart-searching introspection, concerned over the dark depression that was about to settle over him because of the oppressions of his enemies (Psalm 43:2). The question in our text is asked three times by him in these two short psalms (Psalm 42:5,11; 43:5), and each time he answers himself: “Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him.”

Yet, God continued to withhold His answer. His enemies were taunting him about it (Psalm 42:3, 10), and the psalmist, in spite of himself, found himself crying out “Why?” no less than 10 times. Nevertheless, his faith in God never failed, and it thus becomes a great testimony to us today for he asked his “why?” questions in submission to God’s will. When we are tempted to “go...mourning because of the oppression of the enemy” (42:9; 43:2) and still God seems to have “forgotten,” then is the very time we must continue to affirm: “I shall yet praise him!” He is “the God of my life,” and “in the night his song shall be with me” (42:8).

It may not be God’s will to set us free from the “noise of thy waterspouts” (42:7) or “the deceitful and unjust man” (43:1), but His light and truth will still lead, and we can yet praise Him, despite the circumstances.

In our text, the psalmist praises God for “the help of his countenance.” In the verses that echo this verse (42:11; 43:5), his testimony is slightly—yet significantly—changed. “I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance.”

Therefore, even in a dark night of “O my soul,” we can see Him by faith, with countenances full of joy. HMM

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July 7, 2020
The Truth
“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:4)

This is the last of 11 occurrences of “the truth” in Paul’s two letters to Timothy. He was not writing about the importance of being truthful in general but about a specific body of factual information concerning Jesus Christ and its vital importance. Thus, “the truth” was a very important theme in both of Paul’s letters to this young pastor—and, by implication, to all God-called pastors.

Paul first speaks of “the knowledge of the truth” required for salvation (1 Timothy 2:4), then of his own teaching as “the truth in Christ” (1 Timothy 2:7), then of “the church of the living God” as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), and of Christians as those who “believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:3). He stresses the importance of studying the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), and also that true repentance requires “the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).

Paul also warns of false and covetous teachers who are “destitute of the truth” (1 Timothy 6:5) and who therefore “concerning the truth have erred” (2 Timothy 2:18). There will even be false prophets who “resist the truth” and are “reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Timothy 3:8).

As a result of the teachings of these false teachers, there will be many so-called seekers of truth who are “ever learning” yet who seem “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). The reason they never find the truth is because they “turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:4).

The fact is that Jesus said: “I am…the truth” and also that “thy word is truth” (John 14:6; 17:17). For any who would say with Pilate “What is truth?” (John 18:38), there is the definitive answer! HMM

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July 8, 2020
The Light of the Word
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

As the sun provides physical light for the world, so Jesus Christ is spiritually “the light of the world” (John 8:12). However, we clearly can see His light only through the light holder, the lamp, as it were, of His written Word. The Word, therefore, is a lamp and, since it contains and reveals the light, is also a light in its own right. Without the Holy Scriptures, this world would lie in the deepest darkness, but “the entrance of thy words giveth light” (Psalm 119:130).

The Lord Jesus Christ is the living Word, and “without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:3-5). Although He “was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9), when He Himself came into the world, those who were made by Him refused to receive Him. “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

Just so, although the written Word has come into the world, the world does not receive it, either. The lamp and the light of the written Word have been in the world (in complete and final form) for 1,900 years, but people still reject and ridicule it, and the world still lies in darkness. Nevertheless, for those who receive it, there is wonderful light. “Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (John 12:35-36).

God’s Word always brings light. His first spoken Word was “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and wherever He speaks, God sees the light, and it is good! HMM

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July 9, 2020
The Lord and King Cyrus
“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” (Isaiah 44:28)

This is a remarkable prophecy, one of the main stumbling blocks of liberals who use it as an excuse for their completely wrong notion of a “second Isaiah.” Long before Jerusalem was invaded and its temple destroyed by the armies of Babylon, Isaiah was already prophesying its rebuilding!

Furthermore, the great Persian emperor Cyrus (whose nation would eventually conquer Babylon) was here named by God about 150 years before he was born and 175 years before he would fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy by giving Ezra authority to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1-2).

Since liberal scholars do not want to believe in miracles and fulfilled prophecy, they have decided that this prophecy could not have been written by the original Isaiah but by some later writer living after Cyrus. The truth is, however, that God controls the future and can reveal it if He chooses, using this very fact as proof that He will keep His other promises. “Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus…I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou has not known me” (Isaiah 45:1, 4).

God had also named King Josiah before he was born (1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 23:15-16), with the specific prophecy concerning him waiting to be fulfilled for over 300 years after it was first spoken.

It may take a long time, but God will surely do all He has said. “I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). HMM

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July 10, 2020
Exceeding Greatness
“And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.” (Ephesians 1:19)

There are a number of scriptural superlatives that convey something of the tremendous magnitude of our great salvation. These are marked by the adjective “exceeding,” which in the Greek implies essentially boundless, surpassing dimensions of the attributes it describes.

First of all, as our text implies, His power available to us is one of exceeding greatness. Its magnitude is measured by the power required to bring Christ back from death and Hades.

Consider also the measure of His grace, “that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). His grace has saved us when we were dead in sins, but this is only a small token. In the ages to come, we will experience His grace as one of exceeding riches.

Then there is the wonderful peace of God. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). In this verse, the word “passeth” is the same word. Paul is saying that God’s peace is one exceeding understanding.

Finally, consider His glory. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). The future eternal glory is one of exceeding weight, or abundance.

Thus, the infinite blessings and resources of our salvation in Christ are described as providing the power of surpassing greatness, the grace of surpassing richness, the peace which surpasses all understanding, and the eternal glory of surpassing abundance! All of this is freely available “to us-ward who believe.” HMM

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July 11, 2020 The Shame of Entropy “I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?” (1 Corinthians 6:5) The word for “shame” in this verse is the Greek entrope, meaning “turning inward” or “inversion.” It is used only one other time, in 1 Corinthians 15:34: “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” Evidently this special variety of shame is associated with taking controversies between Christian brethren to ungodly judges and also with failing to witness to the non-Christian community. Instead of bringing the true wisdom of God to the ungodly, such “entropic Christians” were turning to worldly wisdom to resolve their own spiritual problems. This inverted behavior was nothing less than spiritual confusion! The modern scientific term “entropy” is essentially this same Greek word. In science, entropy is a measure of disorder in any given system. The universal law of increasing entropy states that every system tends to disintegrate into disorder, or confusion, if left to itself. This tendency can only be reversed if ordering energy is applied to it effectively from a source outside the system. This universal scientific law has a striking parallel in the spiritual realm. A person turning inward to draw on his own bank of power, or seeking power from an ineffective outside source, will inevitably deteriorate eventually into utter spiritual confusion and death. But when Christ enters the life, that person becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). Through the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Scriptures, “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). The law of spiritual entropy is transformed into the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2). HMM

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July 12, 2020 The Rain and the Word “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11) In these familiar verses, there is a beautiful anticipation and spiritual application of the so-called “hydrologic cycle” of the science of hydrogeology. The rain and snow fall from the heavens and eventually return there (via the marvelous process of river and groundwater runoff to the oceans), then later evaporation by solar radiation and translation inland high in the sky by the world’s great wind circuits, finally to fall again as rain and snow on the thirsty land, beginning the cycle once more. But they do not return until they first have accomplished their work of watering the earth, providing and renewing the world’s water and food supplies to maintain its life. Analogously, God’s Word goes forth from heaven via His revealed Scriptures and their distribution and proclamation by His disciples. It does not return void, for it accomplishes God’s spiritual work on Earth. But it does return, for it is “for ever…settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). The fruitful spreading of God’s Word is presented in many other Scriptures. For example: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.…In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good” (Ecclesiastes 11:1, 6). Thus, as we sow and water the seed—which is the Word of God—we have God’s divine promise that it will accomplish that which He pleases. HMM

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July 13, 2020
Resurrection in the Old Testament
“Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” (Isaiah 26:19)

Some have argued that the doctrine of a bodily resurrection was unknown to the Israelites of the Old Testament. In fact, this denial was a cardinal doctrine of the sect of the Sadducees at the time of Christ (Matthew 22:23).

Our text, however, makes it clear that this promise has always been known to the people of God. Long before Isaiah’s time, Job had said: “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And...in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25-26). After the time of Isaiah, the promise was still known. “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Such promises were not referring to some vague “immortality of the soul,” as taught in pagan religions, but to resurrection of the body!

First, however, the Creator must become man, die for the sins of the world, and defeat death by His own bodily resurrection. In our text, in fact, Christ is saying that Old Testament believers would be raised “together with my dead body.” This was literally fulfilled when “the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matthew 27:52-53). Then, when Jesus first ascended to heaven (John 20:17), He led the souls of those who had been in “captivity” in the grave with Him into heaven (Ephesians 4:8). All who have trusted Christ in the Christian era will likewise be raised from the dead when He comes again. He has defeated death and has promised, “because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). HMM

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July 14, 2020 The Good Seed “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11) The Word of God is pictured by many beautiful symbols in the Scriptures, and perhaps one of the most meaningful is that of the seed sown in the field of the world by the great sower, the Lord Jesus Christ. The first reference to seed sowing in the Bible is in the story of Isaac, who “sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him” (Genesis 26:12). Now Isaac himself was the “seed” of God’s promise to Abraham, and he was a precursive fulfillment of the ultimate promised “seed, which is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). Isaac’s sowing of literal seed in the land of the Philistines is thus a type of Christ’s sowing of spiritual seed throughout the world. As Isaac’s sowing brought forth a hundredfold, so the beautiful parable of the sower indicates that at least some of the seed “fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold” (Luke 8:8). Although not all seed will come to fruition, it must be sown throughout the world. Some of the seed will bear fruit, for God has said “that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be…it shall not return unto me void” (Isaiah 55:10-11). “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23). The first of Christ’s parables is this parable of the sower. The second, complementing the first, indicates that the seed is not only God’s Word but also God’s children—those regenerated through the Word. “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom” (Matthew 13:37-38). Thus, we also become sowers of the Word, witnessing to the world and bearing good fruit in His name. HMM

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July 15, 2020 Learning by Example “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” (2 Timothy 3:14) When Paul wrote these words to Timothy, they were in the midst of his foreboding prophecy of coming apostasy and persecution. Furthermore, he knew that he himself would soon be executed and that these might well be his final teachings to his young disciple and to others through him. It is remarkable that in such a setting the Spirit of God impelled him to use the example of his own life as the best and most fitting climax to his great ministry. “Just keep on believing and doing what I have been teaching you—that which you have seen put into practice in your own life.” These teachings and practices had just been recounted in verses 10-11, and what a remarkable summary they provide of a genuine Christian life! Doctrine—my teachings, sound and true to God’s Word Manner of life—my Christ-like behavior and habits Purpose—my sole aim, to honor God and do His will Faith—my faithfulness to His Word and its demands Longsuffering—my patient forbearance Charity—my showing true Christian love Patience—my cheerful endurance in hard times Persecutions—the unjust opposition heaped upon me Afflictions—sufferings and tortures that I endured The apostle Paul had maintained this strong and consistent Christian testimony for over 30 years following his conversion and could, in all good conscience and true humility, cite his own example as a true teaching aid for others to study and follow. May Paul’s example be ours, and may our lives likewise become true examples of Christianity for any who are watching us today. HMM