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1 Corinthians 6:19, Ephesians 2:10, Galatians 6:15

Holy Spirit and Security

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 24, 2018

When we come to faith in Jesus, God sends the Holy Spirit to live within us. That Spirit takes up residence and claims our bodies as His sanctuary. Paul tells us that “… your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you 07 i believe in the spirithave from God…” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Spirit, living within us, begins His work of regeneration. We are declared to have new life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states that all things have become new; Galatians 6:15 declares the believer to be a new creature or creation; Ephesians 2:10 teaches that believers have been created in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration makes one a new creation, a new creature.

When we are born into the physical world by natural birth, it brings us to a state which cannot be reversed. We cannot enter into our mother’s womb again, we cannot be “un-conceived” we cannot be “un-born.” We might destroy our lives, make some bad choices, or even be cut off at an early age, but the fact, the reality, of our birth and our life cannot be reversed. Once we’re out of the womb, we’re out of it permanently. It’s not a work that can be undone. So it is with our regeneration through our faith in Christ and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Once we are born again it cannot be undone. The Holy Spirit is responsible in many respects for our eternal security.

After Jesus informed His disciples of His imminent departure he promised that the Father would send them another helper. Jesus referred to this helper as the “Spirit of truth.” In john 14:16, Jesus says that the helper will “be with you forever.” In his Messianic Bible Study Collection, Arnold Fruchtenbaum says, “When the Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling the believer, it emphasizes that once He comes to indwell that believer, He indwells him permanently, eternally, and for ever (Jn. 14:16–17; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 2:22; 1 Jn. 2:27). The Holy Spirit abides in the believer for ever. If He is not there for ever, then it was not for ever; it was only temporary.” The Spirit’s work secures our destiny, yet many believers don’t feel secure. J. Vernon McGee says, “Every believer is eternally secure. But it is possible for a person to be saved and not have the assurance of it. May I say that a believer who is saved and does not have assurance is a subnormal or an unnatural believer. Certainly he can be a believer, but God does want us to have the assurance of our salvation.”

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Philippians 1:20, Jeremiah 29:11

I have a hope!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 23, 2018

Philippians 1:20 begins with a very important phrase. It says, “…it is my eager expectation and hope…” It’s the expression of a man in prison who had experienced more trials than the average person. One commentator 22 in christobserved, “Paul, the veteran of hundreds of lashes and a thousand indignities, did not know what pains and humiliations awaited him. Yet, there was no fear in Paul. Rather, there was bounding, eager confidence that whatever happened” things would work out for the best. I’m hoping the Cornhuskers will win all their football games this year. I’m expecting some disappointment.  When I plan on going fishing I say, “I hope it doesn’t rain.” I’m often disappointed. Many of the things I hope for brim with uncertainty. That’s not the case with Paul’s hope. He has a hope.

Biblical hope, however, is something entirely different. Paul combines two ideas into his positive expression about his future. He uses “eager expectation,” and then he adds “hope.” Another commentator put it this way, “Here Biblical hope is coupled with ‘eager expectation,’ an expression that appears only here and in Romans 8:19 where it describes physical creation’s ‘eager longing’ for ultimate redemption that will come with ‘the revealing of the sons of God.’ Thus, Paul’s statement ‘it is my eager expectation and hope’ referred to his intense expectation of what is sure to happen—his breathless confidence and certitude.” Paul’s hope brims with certainty.

When we fall into a hopeless mindset, we’ve fallen prey to Satan’s schemes. In Dante’s Inferno, there is a sign above the gates leading to hell. It reads, “Abandon all hope, Ye who enter here.” But Paul teaches us to face the future with a positive expectation because this is God’s intention for us. Satan wants us hopeless, God wants us filled with hope. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11. It’s probably one of yours also; “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God spoke these encouraging words to Israel amidst the most difficult time of the nation’s history. They were slaves in Babylon or about to be taken into slavery. My hope has two dimensions. The first is through time. I’m convinced, along with Paul, that whatever God allows to come into my life, it will eventually work out for my good. The second dimension is through eternity. As Edna Blubough wrote, “I have a hope beyond the grave; I am secure in God’s great love. I leave this world with all its cares for a mansion up above.” While the phrase, “I have a hope” is not nearly as exciting as “I have a dream,” it is much more certain of attainment. My hope, like Paul’s hope, is built on nothing less that Jesus’ blood and Jesus’ righteousness. Is there anything more certain?

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1 John 5:4

It is by Faith Your are Saved!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 22, 2018

The “fiery arrows” that Satan shoots at us as referenced in Ephesians 6 have as many different definitions as there are commentators that deal with the passage. The fiery darts represent the fiery lusts of the flesh. They are all the attacks on the truths of the Bible. They are simply doubts that go against our confidence in God. They are everything and anything that leads us to sin. One commentator suggested that one of the most effective arrows of Satan is the one that speaks to us and says you are saved “by faith alone.” According to this writer, it’s necessary to have works as well as faith. Well, I suppose all of those might be correct, but I believe there is one fiery arrow that Satan will send our way that’s been the most effective tool in his bag. That of course is his inspiration for us to follow his lead in pride. Let me tell you about David.

God blessed him in every way. His faith led to his childhood defeat of Goliath. God used him to produce the most beautiful songs of an entire nation. He was made King of God’s people and married into the royal family of Saul. He was given victory over all of his enemies. He was indeed a man after God’s heart but it was used against him by Satan. When the descendants of Gath, Goliath’s brothers and others, were soundly defeated by David’s army, there was another giant in the mix who had six fingers and six toes. He was bigger and stronger than Goliath himself, but he didn’t stand a chance against David’s army. In Chapter 20 and verse 2, after many victories over the enemies around him, David incorporated all his defeated peoples into his nation as slaves and servants to his people. In one of the final battles a King was defeated and the people incorporated into David’s people “And David took the crown of their king from his head. He found that it weighed a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone. And it was placed on David’s head.”

Then it happened. This is what we read in the first verse of Chapter 21: “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” The “rose up against” speaks to us of the enemy. He always positions himself between us and God. His intentions are always subversive and that’s the focus in this phrase. Notice next he “incited” David. In other words he lit “a fire” in David’s thinking that resulted in David’s prideful interest in finding out just how many people God had blessed him with. Victory over these incendiary attacks from Satan can be managed by using the shield of faith. John Piper explains the nature of pride in relationship to faith. He writes, “Unbelief is a turning away from God and his Son in order to seek satisfaction in other things. Pride is a turning away from God specifically to take satisfaction in self. So pride is one specific form of unbelief. And its antidote is the wakening and strengthening of faith…” John reminds us also that the source of a believer’s victory is just one thing. He writes, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).

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Romans 5:8, Ephesians 4:4-6, Philippians 2:25

Good Luck With That!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 22, 2018

After Paul explains his desire to send Timothy back to them and his desire to come to them eventually himself, he says in Philippians 2:25, “I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus 15 greater1my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need.” We don’t think that Epaphroditus was Paul’s physical brother. None of the commentaries suggest that. There is widespread agreement that this is the term by which men who came to faith in Christ referred to each other.

Since we are all born again of the same Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13), we are linked together as family members with one and the same Father (Ephesians 4:4-6). As such we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the same family. The way we treat our family members is an indication of our belonging or not belonging. John tells us in 1 John 3:14-16, “If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” There is a consistent principle in the New Testament about “no greater love.” It’s a love that is willing to sacrifice itself for the well being of others.

I don’t know about you but I always cringe a little when I read exhortations like this. I’m usually so focused on my own needs and wants and interests that I’m very far away from sacrificing myself for the well-being of others. Even when I do make sacrifices they are not without mixed motives and at times thoughts that aren’t pleasing to God. Jesus sums up the law by saying we must “love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, and love our neighbors as ourselves.” If I believed I had to do that to earn a place in heaven, I would throw in the towel right now. Whenever people suggest that this is the responsibility of all People who want to merit eternal life, I want to say “good luck with that.” There is none that seeks God, there is no one who does what is right all the time, there is none righteous, no not one! The truth of the Gospel is that this kind of love is what Christ demonstrated for us. He is the only one with such “great love.” When our hearts are opened to His love for us, then we can in some ways return that love to Him and share it with others although we’ll never do it perfectly. The Law was not given to us as the standard by which we can earn eternal life. It was given to us to show us that we can’t earn or merit eternal life.  But Christ has fulfilled the law for us. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in this, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

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Jeremiah 2:22, 1 John 1:7

Bad to the Bone!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 22, 2018

Jeremiah continues to use metaphors to illustrate Israel’s infidelity to God. First she was pictured as a prostitute. Then he said she was a hybrid plant unable to produce fruit. Now he explains how they were soiled, dirtied, and stained in a way that no soap could clean. 06 skin deepJeremiah 2:22 says, “Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord GOD.” I’m sorry but I can’t help but remember the song from the Jarmels back in 1961. It’s a song from the perspective of a jilted lover. The verses go something like this, “A little bit of soap will wash away your lipstick on my face, your powder on my chin, and your perfume. But a little bit of soap will never, never, never ever erase the pain in my heart and my eyes as I go through the lonely years. A little bit of soap will never wash away my tears.” Then it says “like a bird you left your robin’s nest and just like all the rest you flew away…” We’ve all flown away from God’s love. This always “fills his heart with pain” (See Genesis 6).

The sin was in turning from God to religions of self-effort. All the nations around them practiced the dark arts of attempting to manipulate their gods to give them what they wanted. It often involved gross rituals and human sacrifices and wild sexual misconduct. It was believed in those practices they’d find some sort of satisfying connection with the divine. This corruption was more than skin deep. I like Constance’s comment, “Nothing they could do in trying to wash away their sin of self-effort could blot out their gross transgression.”[1] No, our sin is not just skin deep. It goes all the way to the bone and beyond. It’s at the core of us all. We are all “bad to the bone!”

Ryken is right on when he says, “Sin is not simply a cosmetic problem. Even after the detergent, the exotic cleansers, the turpentine, and the tomato juice, the stain of sin remains. What soap can wash away sin from the soul?  There is no home remedy to take away guilt.”[2] Yet there is one detergent that will reach beyond the surface into the souls of men and women. John tells us about it in 1 John 1:7. He writes, “…the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” Since I started with some song lyrics let me give some other ones to close. I hope you know these well. “Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin, And be washed in the blood of the Lamb; There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean, O be washed in the blood of the Lamb!”

[1] Mrs. T. M. Constance, Jeremiah, vol. 1 (Dickson, TN: Explorer’s Bible Study, 1978), 12.

[2] Philip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), 45.

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1 Samuel 2:1

God Blesses!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 2, 2018

When God blessed Hannah with her long-awaited son, she kept her promise to dedicate him to the Lord—and she did it with joy that could not be contained. Her heart overflowed in a song of praise recorded in 1 Samuel 2, a kind of ancient “Hallelujah Chorus.” She sang of God’s strength, holiness, and provision, but the heart of her song celebrated His power to reverse the fortunes of His people. “The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and He exalts.” (1 Samuel 2:7) Hannah rejoiced that God silences critics and lifts the downtrodden. Her melody was not simply about motherhood—it was about a miracle. The barren woman sang, the proud were humbled, and the weak found strength. Her song was proof that when God acts, He rewrites the story. The world’s score may be written in a minor key, but God loves a good key change.

That same divine reversal still happens today, though sometimes we miss it because it rarely makes headlines. We live in a culture obsessed with power, position, and performance. Strength is admired, success is worshiped, and humility is usually mistaken for weakness. Yet Scripture insists that God delights in turning things upside down—or rather, right side up. He exalts the humble, feeds the hungry, and scatters the proud. For anyone who has ever felt small, overlooked, or unqualified, Hannah’s song is an anthem of encouragement. God has always specialized in impossible turnarounds. He called old Abraham to father nations, raised Joseph from prison to palace, and parted the Red Sea for Moses. He takes the least likely people and does extraordinary things with them. The world says, “Only the strong survive,” but heaven keeps replying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Hannah’s joy reaches its greatest fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Her song foreshadowed another woman’s song—Mary’s Magnificat—when she sang, “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.” (Luke 1:52) Jesus is the ultimate reversal: the King who became a servant, the sinless One who bore sin, the crucified who conquered death. God reversed the greatest tragedy of history into the triumph of salvation. The resurrection is God’s exclamation point that no situation is beyond His reach. When the world says, “It’s over,” God says, “Watch this.” Hannah’s story reminds us that heaven’s melody always ends on a note of victory—and it is worth singing about.

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Deuteronomy 8:3, Romans 10

Feed the Hungry

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck 3
January 14, 2018

About 10 years ago, I was walking through downtown Omaha after lunch. I hadn’t walked far before I was approached by a disheveled gentleman asking if perhaps I had some money I could spare for him. This was not uncommon for that part of town and I imagine many of you are familiar with the experience. He had the appearance of a vagrant, a man who slept on bus benches and in alleyways. Previously, I had been content to hand over a few dollars but I was under the conviction at the time that this was not the best response. I felt that giving cash would only enable and encourage whatever poor decisions had brought him to this place in his life.

Instead, I told the man that if he was hungry, I would be happy to buy him lunch at any place he chose. He thanked me and led me around the corner to a small deli where he approached the counter and placed an order for fried chicken and sides. I paid for his meal which was promptly delivered and placed in his hands. I wished him farewell and started to leave but as I opened the door on my way out, I overheard him ask the lady behind the counter if he could return his food and get the money instead. I don’t know whether she honored his request or not. I doubt she would but I didn’t stick around to find out. Apparently the man wasn’t hungry for food after all.

I was very discouraged by the experience. I assumed he was hungry for his addiction whatever that might have been but the truth is, he wasn’t hungry for those things any more than he was hungry for food. I wish I could have offered him what he was really hungry for but to be honest, I was still quite hungry for it myself. When Christ was tempted to turn stones into bread, He quoted Moses from Deuteronomy 8:3. In this verse Moses explains to the Israelites how God caused them to go hungry and then gave them bread that fell from heaven in order to teach them than people need more than food in order to live. In order to truly live, we must be fed with the complete word of God and that Word is Christ.

People are all hungry for the Word of God. Hungry for Christ. Starving in fact. How do we feed them? When I left the man at the deli I probably said something like “God bless you” or “God loves you” as I excused myself but I didn’t feed him. I can only hope that maybe he caught the scent of a satisfying meal as if somewhere off in the distance, but Moses said in Deuteronomy 30 that this meal is not somewhere far up in the heavens that you have to climb up to it, nor is it so far below the sea you must plumb the depths for it. It is very close. It is in fact on our lips and in our hearts.

Paul explains this passage for us in Romans 10. We don’t need to climb up to heaven for this meal, God’s Word, because God sent it (Christ) down to earth. Nor do we need to scale down to the grave for it because God raised Him from the dead. The meal we offer, or the message we preach as Paul says, is already within easy reach. It’s righteousness based on faith. With your mouth you confess that Jesus is Lord and with your heart you believe God raised Him from the dead. This meal is very near indeed! It’s on our lips and in our hearts and what a feast it is!

Do you know how God spends His days? I assume most of us imagine God has a great many affairs to rule over and is quite busy, but Paul answers this question for us at the end of this chapter by quoting Isaiah 65:2. The Lord says through the prophet, “I hold out my hands all day long to a stubborn people, but they ignore me, going their own way.” Surely, God has better things to do right? No He doesn’t. He has prepared a feast for you and all day long, every day, He holds out His hands to you, inviting you to take and eat. Those who accept His invitation, those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, will be filled!

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Genesis 3:15, 1 Samuel 17:46, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

The Place of the Skull

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
December 22, 2017

Most everyone recognizes Genesis 3:15 as the first promise of the Gospel where the seed of the woman will have victory over the serpent.  An interesting aspect of this passage is that the first Gospel presentation was made to Satan. It was in God’s address to Satan that we find this verse. We have it as a promise however as did Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve would not be able to save themselves from the serpent but God promised them a deliverer who would in the future accomplish that task for them.  Most translations say that the promised one will “bruise” the serpents head while the serpent will simply bruise the promised one’s heel.  Some translations say they will “strike” each other. Satan will strike the promised one’s heel and the promised one will strike the serpents head. But I like the stronger language of other translations which say the promised one will “crush” the serpents head. The NET Bible says He will “attack” the serpents head.  I actually would prefer it to say “cut his head off.” It seems to carry the idea of a more thorough victory which the Hebrew word seems to imply.  Cutting off the head of one’s enemy was a common practice among the ancient people’s of the Mideast.

To rightfully understand the story of King David, one must understand him as a “promised” one. He was a prefigure of the one and last promised one. Most people point to David as an example for us to follow as we face the giants in our own lives, but this is to miss the point completely. David was the one chosen by God to deliver his people from slavery to the Philistines.  The people could not save themselves from their enemy. They needed a savior and God sent them one.  Just as God addressed the serpent in Genesis 3:15, David addresses the giant in 1 Samuel 17:46. He said “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head.” That is exactly what happened!

Please notice what followed David’s victory.  After taking Goliath’s own sword and cutting off the giant’s head, David took the head to Jerusalem. It doesn’t tell us where exactly, but I’m inclined to think that it was to a place that became known throughout Israeli history as the “place of the skull.” Someone was crucified at that place a thousand years later! At that execution, Satan inspired Judas, the religious leaders, and the Roman authorities together to nail Jesus to a cross part of which included driving a spike through his heels to secure him to the cross.  But what looked like a victory for Satan ended up being a non-fatal blow according to the will of God. Christ was placed in a tomb but then rose again on the third day declaring final victory over the serpent! We are now heirs to that victory! In 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 Paul writes, “Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

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