Monthly Archives: November 2018

“I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” (Matthew 9:6)

We all have a tendency to mistake wants for needs. We frequently say, “I need this” or “that” when, in actuality, we don’t need it at all; we simply want it and we want it so badly that we put it in the category of “need.” With that being said—that thought should give us all a moment of pause today to check our “want” list—I’d like to encourage you by explaining the importance of understanding our greatest need and how it has already been met.

The greatest need every person has is forgiveness. Unless our sins are forgiven, we will spend eternity separated from the love of God in that terrible place where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28). To die without Christ is to die in our sins . . . and to die does not mean that one simply “goes in the ground” and has no more consciousness, like a TV screen turned off and gone black, as many unbelievers imagine. Nor does it mean that one will be translated into some idyllic, vaguely defined “better place.” To die in your sins means to suffer dreadful, agonizing, and eternal separation from the presence of the living God.

But this will not be the case for those who know the truth of today’s verse and have, by grace through faith, received it as true and placed their trust in the Son of Man. Our Lord Jesus Christ has the authority and the power to forgive our sins—all of our sins. Jesus Christ was born to die in our place to pay the penalty for our sins, and He has the power to pardon us at this very moment, no matter what we have done. His wounds bear witness to that power and authority.

He who knew no sin became sin for all those who will trust in Him as Lord and Savior—penalty paid . . . atonement made . . . debt satisfied. God the Father put His supernatural stamp of approval on the cross work of His beloved Son by raising Him from the grave on the third day, just as the Scriptures had promised. To all those whom He has granted repentance from sin, He has also guaranteed remission of sin. The power of Christ’s passion is perpetual. Never will the fountain of forgiveness run dry. Christian, nothing—nothing past, present, or future—can ever or will ever separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

May this truth set us free from the gnawing guilt that keeps us from growing into the person God is calling us to be! To be sure, we should be filled with a godly sorrow when we sin and break the heart of God. But after we have brought our sin before the throne of grace, we are to remember that it has been nailed to the cross and washed clean by the blood of the Lamb.

Beloved, because your greatest need has been met, you should be experiencing the peace that passes all understanding every day. Do not let the evil one make you a prisoner to your past. We are to learn from the past, not live there. Because His mercies are new every morning, rise up this day and live as one who has been forgiven and will never be forsaken. Oh, the joy in knowing that our greatest need has been met and will be met each day by our Master!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.”  (Matthew 6:19)

One of the great blessings of being a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is the gift of “divine disencumberment,” where God supernaturally shifts our focus away from earthly treasure to heavenly treasure. The same grace God showed in raising us from death to life is the same grace He displays in raising us above seeking after treasure on earth, “where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19).

Is divine disencumberment one of the marks of your life today? Before we were saved, by grace through faith, we sought after the stuff of this life. In our worldly-mindedness, we looked to satisfy the desires of the flesh through the attainment of any of “the Five P’s”—Power, Position, Prestige, Prosperity, and Pleasure. And make no mistake, the more we engaged in hot pursuit of any of these things, the more we became encumbered by the flesh and temporal satisfaction. The more we pursue the stuff of this life, the less we pursue our beloved Savior, and the result of this worldly pursuit is that we multiply the cares of this life.

The true disciple of Christ says NO to worldliness and YES to the Word. It’s not a matter of eliminating pursuit; it’s a matter of pursuing the right things. You see, our problem is not desire; our problem is desiring the wrong things. Our hearts should beat after “all things above,” pursuing the life God has called us to live. Throughout life, the disciple of Christ is being conformed into the image of our Lord Jesus. The more we are conformed into His image, the less we are encumbered with the stuff of this life.

Divine disencumberment is a grace that grows in the heart that beats for nothing smaller than Jesus. The true disciple is one who seeks first the kingdom of heaven because he or she knows that everything else will follow. God has promised to meet all our needs in the glorious riches of His precious Son, our beloved Savior. We need only to “keep the main thing the main thing,” inviting Jesus to take His rightful place in our lives: on the throne of our hearts. Divine disencumberment free’s us from a life filled with empty pursuits and fills us with the promise that “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it” (Proverbs 10:22).

What treasures have you been storing up for yourself lately? What does the confession of your life say to those who know you best? Remember, we are all hunting some kind of treasure. The key is to hunt after the treasures that are holy; when you do, divine disencumberment will follow you wherever you go.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

It is said of these people, “They kiss calf-idols!” (Hosea 13:2)

The people of God had indulged in willful rebellion; they had left their first love and chased after smaller gods that promised life, but delivered only death. This is always true when we chase after anything smaller than Jesus. Oh, our idol may look like life and it may even feel like life, but in the end, it cannot deliver on its promise and brings with it only disappointment, destruction, and death.

Let this serve as a word of warning this day: Kiss not the calf, for it cannot satisfy the longing of your heart. Instead, bow the knee and kiss the Christ, for He will meet you in your deepest place of need.

The problem with speaking this message into today’s church culture is that we tend to picture the golden calf that the Israelites fashioned and began to worship when Moses stayed too long on the mountain of God. We reason that these were a primitive people who bowed down to a golden statue of a calf, and we assume that we are far too educated and sophisticated to do such an outlandish thing. But this is a grave mistake. I readily acknowledge that very few people in today’s high-tech society would ever bow down before a statue of a calf, but I will also assert that far too many of us worship idols like a job, a relationship, success, wealth, a hobby, social status, or physical beauty. Perhaps you can add a few items to this list? We are consumed by a continual greed for “more,” which Paul identified as “idolatry” in Colossians 3:5.

It’s important to note that most of the things on this list of idols are not bad things. Things like a job, a family, or physical health are good things. The sin occurs when these, and countless other good things, become ultimate things in our lives. Then they become bad things, idols that enslave us and become life-altering, causing us to do things we ought not do, often hurting ourselves and our loved ones along the way. Make no mistake, we all “kiss calf-idols” from time to time. Sometimes they are clearly bad for us—idols like greed and immorality—but more often than not they could be good for us; and the greater the good, the greater our expectation of having our deepest needs met by it. We must remember the truth that good things become bad things when they become ultimate things.

So . . . have you kissed a calf lately? Have you sought after something smaller than God to give to you what only God can give? Remember, we all come from the womb with a God-sized void in our hearts. Only when we fill that void with God will we find the happiness, satisfaction, and joy that we so deeply desire. Kiss not the calf! Instead, like the woman who anointed our Lord with expensive ointment, kiss the feet of Jesus Christ and your internal void will be filled to overflowing.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!