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Romans 4:20, Various

Giving Glory To God

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
July 29, 2024

The scriptures often exhort us to “give glory to God.”  Isaiah 42:12 cries out for the mountains, rivers, and all inhabitants of villages, cities, and everywhere else to “give glory to the Lord!” The Hebrew word for Glory is “weighty.” It means heavy or important. Is it possible for mankind to add any weight to God? Can we make Him any more important than He already is? No, of course not! But we can bring attention to His Glory to the world around us. This is, perhaps, what is meant by “give glory to God.” Maybe giving glory to God is simply acknowledging the glory that is already His. When I look at the world around me, I acknowledge that the whole universe declares God’s glory.

There are many ways one can call attention to God’s glory, but what seems to do it best is faith. Philip Ryken says, “How can you reflect God’s glory? First, by putting your faith in him. Until you trust God, it is doubtful whether you can glorify him at all. You have to begin by admitting that you cannot save yourself, that only Jesus can save you. Once you do that, then all the glory for your salvation will return to God.” Actually, Ryken is correct, and we see that in Romans 4:20, where Paul explains how Abraham gave glory to God. This passage says that Abraham “was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” Faith is not subscribing to a particular set of doctrinal beliefs. It is confidence in and trust in a personal being. In this case, that being is God. We must trust God through all the joys and trials of life. That’s one way we “give Him glory.” Trusting God acknowledges His greatness and sovereignty, and everyone can see that when we do it. I’ve frequently argued that saving faith is not just believing that God exists. Saving faith is trusting God to have my best foremost in mind through all of life’s circumstances and situations. We need to constantly resist the temptation to see God ill-disposed toward us in any way because of what we might be going through. Saving faith involves trusting God to turn it all out for our good.

When a believer worries, he takes glory from God. Well, at least he withholds attributing glory to God. Worrying is such a worthless practice.  Charles Mayo wrote, “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, and the whole nervous system. I’ve never met a man or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry.” MacArthur adds to this thought when he says, “We live in a day when people worry about how long they will live. That’s a harmful practice because you can worry yourself to death but not to life.” Finally, John Piper concludes my thoughts when he says, “Sometimes we just have to get tough with ourselves and say, ‘Soul, this fretting is absolutely useless. You are not only messing up your own day but a lot of other people’s as well.’ Leave it with God and get on with your work.” We magnify the Lord; we give Glory to God like Abraham did when we trust Him. When we’re strong in our faith, God is glorified.

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Isaiah 26:3-4, Various

The Rock Of Ages

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
July 28, 2024

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after having seen only the back parts of God, his face was so brilliant that Aaron and all the Israelites fled from his presence. When Paul talked about the shining face of Moses, he made it clear that the “glory” that was reflected by Moses was really the Glory of God’s standards of the Law. In 2 Corinthians 3:7, Paul writes, “Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face…” It’s the failure of man to live up to God’s standard that brings such fear. That’s exactly as it is explained in Genesis. Just as Aaron and all of Israel were afraid of God’s glory, so too were Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:8 tells us, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

 We sometimes think that Moses was the exception. After all, he was the one whom God allowed to see a glimpse of His Glory.  The glimpse was preceded by a solemn warning. In Exodus 33:20, God said to Moses, “… for man shall not see me and live.” Furthermore, we can’t miss the fact that it was only a glimpse and that it was preceded by God’s own protection. Verses 21 and 22 go on to describe God’s provision, God’s protection from the unbearable standards of Glory that God was about to give to Moses to present to the people of Israel and to us. They tell us, “And the LORD said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.’”

Moses’ life was at stake! Do you think he was afraid?  I don’t! I think he was at perfect peace because he had God’s Word.  God put Moses on a rock, an immovable object that would be “cleft” in a way to protect him from the consequences that must befall every sinful man who stands in the presence of a gloriously righteous God. The scriptures make it perfectly clear that after death, all of us will stand before a Holy God. We need not tremble. We must stand on the Rock, rest in the cleft of it that God provides, and trust Him to cover us with His hand.  This passage is the basis for our old Gospel Hymn, “The Rock of Ages.” Isaiah wrote about Him (the Rock) in Isaiah 26:3-4. He said, speaking directly to God the Rock, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”  The Hebrew phrase translated in this passage as “everlasting rock” is more literally rendered as “the Rock of Ages.” Christ is the Rock of Ages. Doug Bond, in his history of Toplady, says, “It has been said that ‘No other English hymn can be named which has laid so broad and firm a grasp upon the English-speaking world’ as Toplady’s ‘Rock of Ages’. An illustration of this occurred early in 1892, as Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria, lay dying of influenza. It is told that he recited ‘Rock of Ages, Cleft for me’ on his deathbed. ‘For if in this hour,’ he reportedly said, ‘I had only my worldly honours and dignities to depend upon, I should be poor indeed’”.[1]

[1] Bond, Douglas. 2012. Augustus Toplady. Darlington, England: Evangelical Press.

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Jude 24-25, Various

Too Heavy For Me

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
July 27, 2024

Moses once asked to see God. God allowed him to see His “back” part only. From that vision of the back part of God, Moses’s face shone out with God’s glory. When Moses returned from his mountaintop encounter with God and addressed the people with God’s newly given laws for life (the Ten Commandments), the people could not bear to look at him. Exodus 34:30 says, “When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.” This must have been a dim reminder of what Adam and Eve must have looked like while living in the Garden of Eden before the fall. They enjoyed the fellowship with God and even walked with him in the Garden. Now I understand what happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned. Just as Aaron and all of Israel feared God’s glory, so were they. Genesis 3:8 tells us, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the garden’s trees.”

The Hebrew word translated as “glory” is also the word that’s translated as “heavy.” We might speak of a significant person as a “heavyweight,” but the idea is that God is the most important person. God’s glory is called His “heaviness.” The interesting thing about God’s glory is that He desires to share it with us. This was such an essential truth that David wrote a song about it.  The Psalmist, in Psalm 8:5-9, is talking about man in general when he sings, “Yet you (God) have made him (man) a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” If Moses reflected the glory of God from being exposed to the back parts of God, can you imagine what Adam and Eve must have looked like before they sinned?

Moses glowed with God’s glory when he came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments under his arm. He found the children of Israel worshipping the golden calves when he returned to the camp. When the sinners looked at Moses, they could not bear to look at his shining face. It was only a “reflection” on Moses’ face. It wasn’t the real thing. Yet it was so glorious they could not bear to look at it. The Law Moses brought down to the people is often referred to as God’s glory. People who worship some form of a golden calf can’t bear to look at it. Indeed, the Law, as it reflects the perfect character and nature of God, makes us all run and hide. Like Adam and Eve, as well as the Israelites, we would much rather run and hide than face such glory. We are guilty. But we have Jesus, who fulfilled the law on our behalf. Jude 24-25 points to Jesus and tells us, “Now to the one who is able to protect you from harm and to cause you to stand in the presence of his glory blameless in gladness, to the only God, our deliverer through Jesus, who is the Christ, the Lord, be honor, majesty, sovereignty, and dominion before all the ages and now and unto all the ages. Amen.” Jesus calls us to come to him because he will carry the load for us! He promises to give us rest for our souls.

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Matthew 11:28-30, Various

God Is The Heavyweight

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
July 26, 2024

In his book, “God in the Wasteland,” David Wells coins an interesting phrase describing a current condition in society with reference to the importance of God. He calls this condition “the weightlessness of God.” This is what he says, “It is one of the defining marks of Our Time that God is now weightless. I do not mean by this that he is ethereal but rather that he has become unimportant. He rests upon the world so inconsequentially as not to be noticeable. He has lost his saliency for human life. Those who assure the pollsters of their belief in God’s existence may nonetheless consider him less interesting than television, his commands less authoritative than their appetites for affluence and influence, his judgment no more awe-inspiring than the evening news, and his truth less compelling than the advertisers’ sweet fog of flattery and lies. That is weightlessness.”

Commenting on this phrase, Philip Ryken says, “We have become children of a lightweight God.” Reading this about the “weight” of God reminded me of my Hebrew vocabulary. The word for “glory” comes from the same root as the word for “heavy.” Sometimes, the word appears to refer to something that’s physically heavy (Eli the priest in 1 Samuel 4:18), and sometimes, it was used to refer to someone who was “heavy” with material possessions. Genesis 13:2 says, “Abram had become very wealthy (actually “heavy”) in livestock and in silver and gold.” But primarily, the word referred to those who deserved honor and was used for warriors, princes, merchants, priests, and, of course, kings. In our vernacular today, we might call such people “heavyweights.”

The true “heavyweight” should be God. To glorify God is to recognize His grandeur, his majesty, His Omniscience, His Omnipotence, and His Omnipresence. Ryken goes on to say “The Creator God is so heavy that he has left his imprint on the universe like a work boot in wet cement.” When we read the Psalms, we get a glimpse of the “heaviness” of God. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalm 57:11 says, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.” God is the true heavyweight in all ways and deserves glory and honor. Making God “heavy” makes all the struggles in life light. Jesus calls those who are carrying “heavy burdens” to come to Him in Matthew 11:28-30. He promises to give us rest for our souls because his burden is not heaven; it’s light!

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Ephesians 1:13-14, Various

Signed, Sealed, And Delivered

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
July 25, 2024

The Holy Spirit plays a large role with respect to our eternal security. Paul teaches us this truth in Ephesians 1:13-14. He writes, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” Yes, through the Holy Spirit, we are signed, sealed, and delivered into our inheritance, and we’re just waiting for the acquisition.  Eugene Peterson, in The Message, translates these two verses like this: “It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.” The primary understanding of the “sealing” work of the Holy Spirit is eternal security.

As the third person of the God Head, one primary function of the Holy Spirit is our sealing.  Fruchtenbaum says, “The Holy Spirit does seal, and the purpose of the sealing is to seal up the believer in Christ so that he can never fall out. The clear emphasis is that the believer has been sealed, not just temporarily, not just until he no longer believes, but has been sealed unto the day of redemption. Having been sealed, the final redemption is guaranteed. Perhaps the sealing ministry of the Spirit is the most vital one, emphasizing eternal security.”  Later in Ephesians 4:30, Paul exhorts us to be responsive to the Holy Spirit in our lives, “… by whom (The Holy Spirit) you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

A. W. Tozer writes, “Upon God’s faithfulness rests our whole hope of future blessedness. Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand, and His promises be honored. Only as we have complete assurance that He is faithful may we live in peace and look forward with assurance to the life to come.” Knofel Staton adds to Tozer’s thinking. He writes, “Our future rests upon God’s faithfulness. God is always dependable, while we may not be at times. While the Corinthians were not being trustworthy, God kept His trustworthiness. When we face setbacks, God is faithful. When we face guilt, God is faithful. When the bank account goes, God is faithful. When a loved one dies, God is faithful. When we know we have been faithless, God is faithful.”

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1 Corinthians 12:12-13

The Comforter

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
July 24, 2024

The Holy Spirit’s indwelling work of regeneration is a guarantee of our eternal security. Our destiny is certain! Another facet of the Spirit’s work in our lives that provides confidence in our eternal destiny is the Spirit’s Baptism. Being baptized with the Holy Spirit, we are placed into the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body…” When we come to faith in Christ, the scriptures teach us that we are baptized into the Holy Spirit. We are vitally joined to the Messiah. We become members of His body. It is absurd to think a part of Christ’s body could ever possibly fall off of His Body.

Jesus promised us in John 14:16 to send a comforter, another helper, who would abide with us “forever.” Earlier, Jesus said of those who believed in Him, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29).  A believer cannot be snatched out of the Father’s hand because the believer, through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, is part of Jesus’ body. He is the hand, or the foot, or the eye, etc. We can resist the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and that always elicits doubts and fears. Surrendering to the Spirit brings peace, assurance, and joy. Appropriating the truth of our security in Christ is submitting to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

One of the primary names of the Holy Spirit is our “Comforter.” His work in guaranteeing our destiny in a sin-soaked world is true comfort. Again quoting Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s Messianic Bible Study, “Eternal security means that once a person has undergone the real experience of salvation, has undergone a true regenerational experience, that person cannot lose his salvation, either by committing a specific sin or by ceasing to believe. That which keeps the believer safe and secure is the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of God on his behalf, not his own works. That is the basic meaning of eternal security.” We need to let the Holy Spirit have His way in our lives! Let Him be what He is: our comforter. The most controversial part of Fruchtenbaum’s quote is the part that suggests a born-again individual who once professes genuine faith in Jesus cannot lose the salvation that Jesus promises even if he stops believing. I don’t know if one can actually do that. I’ve heard people profess to have stopped believing, but only God knows their hearts. Further, Paul talks about each of us being a part of the body, and if one part, say the toe, says it’s no longer part of the body, Paul says that this assertion does not make it any less a part of the body. I have heard it preached that we cannot lose our salvation like a set of car keys, but we can turn our backs on it or walk away from it, and thereby one’s salvation is gone. I find comfort not in my strength to hold on to God but in God’s strength to hold on to me, regardless of my feelings and statements. There is only true comfort in this if it’s on God, not on us!

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1 Corinthians 6:19, Various

Holy Spirit Security

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
July 23, 2024

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 have 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 spiritually 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.  Even if we say, along with Job, the world would be better off if I hadn’t ever been born, it doesn’t change the fact that we were born and we exist. 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 forever (Jn. 14:16–17; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 2:22; 1 Jn. 2:27). The Holy Spirit abides in the believer forever. If He is not there forever, then it was not forever; 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.” Ryrie says, “Eternal security is the work of God that guarantees that the gift of salvation, once received, is forever and cannot be lost. The concept of eternal security emphasizes God’s activity in guaranteeing the eternal possession of the gift of eternal life. It relates to those the Holy Spirit regenerates, and its veracity does not rest on feelings or experiences.”

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John 14:1f, Various

Our God Is One!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
July 22, 2024

When Jesus was discussing His departure with His disciples, he made a promise to them. It’s a promise to us as well.  First He said in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled…” Then, in John 14:16, He told them that the Father would send someone to them who would fill the void of His absence.  He would petition the Father, and the Father would “give you another Helper, who will abide with you forever.” Jesus did not want his disciples to despair because He was leaving them. He assured them that He would come and take them to be with Him. In the meantime, the Father is sending “another” helper. This helper will stay with you forever.

The preciousness of this promise comes home as we understand the meaning of the Greek word translated “another.” In Greek, there are two words that are translated as “another.” One of those words is “heteros.” It means another of a different kind. If I had a pen that didn’t write, I’d ask for “another” pen of a different kind. I would want one that worked instead of one that didn’t. When heteros is used, it always refers to another of a different kind.  I want a different one because the one I have doesn’t function as it should. The other word is “allos.” It, too, is translated as “another.” It means another of the same kind. If I had a pen that worked well and asked for “another” one, I’d want one of the same kind.  As Jack Hayford observes, “Jesus’ use of allos for sending another Comforter equals ‘one besides Me and in addition to Me but one just like Me. He will do in My absence what I would do if I were physically present with you.’ The Spirit’s coming assures continuity with what Jesus did and taught. ‘Continuity of what Jesus did and taught!’ No wonder Luke presents Acts as a continuation through the Holy Spirit’s fullness ‘of all that Jesus began both to do and teach’ (1:1).”

The three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are of the very same essence. They are all involved in the redemptive work of man. When Jesus was baptized, God spoke from Heaven, saying that He was “well-pleased” with the Son, and the Spirit joined them in the form of a dove. They are of the same kind. All three are consistent in all they do and all they say. Jesus said he speaks only what the Father tells Him. The Holy Spirit does nothing outside the will of the Father and the Son. The essential oneness, likeness, retains the idea of “one” God, yet is revealed to us in three persons. When Paul closes his second letter to the Corinthians, he does so with a blessing from this consistent, triune God. He says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

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