Category Archives: General

What I am about to share with you really isn’t a secret.  Now, I know it may seem like a secret in the evangelical church today, because so many preachers have reduced the message of the Master to mere moralism.  In reality, however, it is only a secret because it has been shrouded in secrecy by Satan himself.  The adversary knows if this “secret” gets out, the church will begin to have the impact God has been calling us to have in a fallen and broken world until the day He returns to make all things new.

So what is this secret I am suggesting?  CAMP OUT UNDER THE CROSS!

In the seventh chapter of Luke’s gospel, we read about Jesus sitting down to dinner in the home of a Pharisee named Simon.  The meal was interrupted by a sinful woman who entered Simon’s house—uninvited—and approached our Lord.  We do not know what her sin was, but it was scandalous, and her actions indicate that she was likely a prostitute.  What happened next was as shocking as it was supernatural. 

I say her actions were “shocking” because religious leaders would not allow any contact with sinful people, yet Jesus let this known sinner anoint His feet with her tears and then wipe them dry with her hair.  And if that wasn’t shocking enough, she proceeded to kiss His feet and anoint them with expensive oil. 

Her actions were “supernatural” because the humility, contrition, penitence, and godly sorrow she demonstrated could only come as a work of the grace of God. 

Simon the Pharisee was scandalized, and Jesus, knowing his thoughts, told him a parable about two debtors.  The story concluded with these words: “He who has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47).

Why was the love this sinful woman lavished on our Lord so “over the top”?  She understood the difference between a holy God and a sinful woman—the vast difference between Jesus and herself.  She recognized that she was indeed a great sinner, but she also knew that Jesus was a greater Savior.  And this, dear reader, is the reason why we must “camp out under the cross” each day.  When Jesus said those who have been forgiven little love little, He was also saying that those who have been forgiven much love much. 

When we don’t camp out under the cross, we shrink the size of the cross and therefore the magnitude of the cross work of Christ.  We forget just how sinful we actually are and what our sins cost our Lord. Our lives reflect our forgetfulness.  Our love for Jesus grows cold and our zeal for obedience becomes rooted in duty rather than devotion.  We become the Pharisee in the story who cannot see his own sin, rather than embodying the unashamed love of the sinful woman who could not see any good in herself apart from Jesus. 

Only those who camp out under the cross live lives that are pleasing to God.  Only those who camp out under the cross no longer feel the need to pretend they are better than they actually are.  Only those who camp out under the cross can hop off the performance treadmill, because they know they are fully accepted by God on account of what Jesus has done for them.

Do you know this today?  Does the confession of your life demonstrate your understanding of the gospel by the way you camp out under the cross each day? 

When we pitch our tent in the cool shade of the Gospel, we remind ourselves that we are still sinners after we are saved.  In far too many churches in America, the truth that we are still sinners has been watered down with moralistic messages designed to change behavior rather than transform the heart.  If it wasn’t for sin, behavior modification would be a fine approach!  A little extra effort in one area and a little positive affirmation in another and we would be on our way to living lives of happiness and success.  But because our hearts are still deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), lawless (1 John 3:4), ungodly (Romans 4:5), and ultimately dead (Ephesians 2:1), behavior modification is like putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg.  It looks like you tried to do something, but it’s painfully obvious that your actions are absurdly inadequate. 

You see, Satan knows he cannot take the cross away from those who have been rescued by it, so he works feverishly to try to shrink it.  When he convinces believers that the cross work of Christ is only for salvation, we disregard it for our sanctification, and we no longer camp out under the cross day by day.

If we see the cross only in the light of eternal life, we will miss its benefit for everyday life.  However, when we camp out under the cross we see the incredible forgiveness we have been given by the slain Savior, having been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb.  Great sinners need an even Greater Savior—and His name is Jesus Christ. 

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

“Oh my, I forgot!!” When was the last time you returned home from the grocery store, only to slap your forehead in disgust when you realized you’d forgotten the most important item on your list? Be honest! I know I’m not the only one who does it . . .

Question: Have you ever thought about forgetfulness as a grace of God?

Answer: It is when we are talking about God forgetting our sin!

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.(Jeremiah 31:34)

Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.  And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.  (Hebrews 10:17-18)

When you and I forget, is it usually a bad thing.  We forget the appointment.  We forget to return a phone call.  We forget to pick up the dry cleaning.  We forget where we left our cell phone!  Yet God’s forgetfulness is a good thing, and a source of great encouragement and motivation for sinful, self-absorbed vessels like you and me. 

Thank God He is not like us!  Not only do we clearly remember every time someone wrongs us, grieves us, or hurts us; we are quick to remind the culprit, even when we claim to have forgiven him!  But God, identified as “the Judge of all the earth” in Genesis 18:25, forgives and forgets. 

What grace we receive in remembering God’s forgetfulness!  And why does God forgive and forget our sin . . . all of our sin?  Because of Jesus.

God poured out His holy wrath on His beloved Son as He hung on the cross.  He treated Jesus like you and I should have been treated.  He punished Jesus like we should have been punished.  He forsook Jesus like we should have been forsaken.  And because Jesus paid the full price for our sins, God now treats us as adopted children rather than abandoned orphans.  In Christ we are viewed by God as sinless and righteous.  We are blessed according to the perfect obedience of Jesus, rather than our own hideously imperfect obedience.  Because of Jesus, God has promised to remember our sin no more.

Is there anyone reading these words right now who does not need to be reminded about God’s forgetfulness as it relates to our sinfulness?  We all remember when a sense of guilt and shame watered down our witness—or worse, wrecked it afresh.  And that is exactly what the devil is counting on.  He cannot take us out of our Redeemer’s work, so he wants to take us out of our Redeemer’s will.  The more guilty we feel, the less good we do.  The more shame we feel, the less service we provide.  We forget God’s forgetfulness!

That is why we need to keep our thoughts fixed on the grace of the gospel and what Jesus secured for us through our redemption. 

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

Have you ever given thought to your reason for loving God?

How often is our love for God rooted in a gracious and painless providence?  How often do we take for granted all the good that God has given us—gifts such as family . . . good health . . . satisfying career  . . . financial security . . . friends . . . a great church . . . our salvation—as if we are somehow entitled to them?

 Sometimes I wonder: Is my love for God derived from all the good gifts He gives me? Or am I truly delighting in the Giver of every good and perfect gift?  In all of sacred Scripture, there may be no better person than Job to provide insight into loving God for who He is and not for His good gifts to us.

Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” (Job 1:9-11)

 Despite the fact that this insolent challenge came from the father of lies, it is still a question we should continually ask ourselves as we search our sinful hearts for the real reason for our love for God.  It is all too easy to proclaim our love for God when the sky is blue and the clouds are fleecy.  What joy it is to sing out our worship for God when the sun is shining brightly in our skies!  Painless providences can certainly produce love.  But what about those days when all seems lost?  What about those weeks when it seems that darkness will cover our land forever?  What about those seasons when we feel that God is as distant from us as the east is from the west? 

 Think about the last time you suffered loss.  Perhaps a close friend betrayed you and caused you great pain.  Maybe it was a family member who let you down by not living up to your expectations.  Maybe you were called into an office and told that a career you had loved and poured yourself into was ending with a pink slip? How was your love for the Most High God then?  How fervent was your worship?  Your answers to these questions reveal a great deal regarding your true motivation for loving and worshipping God. 

 Job loved God simply because He is God and wholly worthy of his love.  Job knew that his God was God, and he could trust God even when he could not trace Him.  In reading the story of Job you see that he struggled mightily with the painful providence God had delivered.  He wrestled with God and cried out from the depths of his heart.  But through it all, Job trusted in the goodness of God, in spite of his circumstances. 

 So let me ask you: what is your reason for loving God?  How will you think about God the next time you suffer loss . . . disappointment . . . a painful providence?  To be sure, our hearts should overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all God’s good gifts.  But we are to love and worship God, the Giver of all our good gifts AND our painful providences, as the ultimate treasure of our heart in all things and at all times. 

 Let these words from the book of Job be an encouragement to you as you continue your pilgrimage on the way to the Celestial City.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”  In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.  (Job 1:20-22)

Even in the middle of unimaginable pain, Job loved God simply because He is God.  This will be the confession of our lives only to the extent that we understand the Gospel and what Jesus did for us on the cross.  The larger the cross looms in our lives, the larger our love for God will loom in our hearts.

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

“The Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9)

Today is our final installment on God’s incredible question to two rebellious, fear-stricken, on-the-run sinners.  We’ve examined the HONOR of the question and the HOPE in God’s question.  Today we will see the HEART behind the question.

The HEART behind the Question

It is important for us to understand what was going on before the question.  “[Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8).  If this had been the first time the Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day, the sound they heard would have been unfamiliar, but it was not.  This was a part of daily living for Adam and Eve—personal, intimate, heart-to-heart, face-to-face communion with their God.  The heart behind the question was a heart that beat for Adam and Eve.  But that’s not all.

It is also instructive to note how God came to the very first sinners.  He came to Adam and Eve in exactly the same manner He had come to them prior to their sin: “walking in the garden in the cool of the day.”  Notice that God was walking and not running, so as not to startle them as they crouched trembling in the brush, seared in their sin.  He came in “the cool of the day,” as was His custom.  Had the sovereign Lord suddenly appeared out of the darkness, surely the two sinners would have been even more terrified.  The “cool of the day” suggests the end of the day; more than enough time had elapsed than was needed for Adam and Eve to fashion their flimsy garments of fig leaves.  This delay suggests God’s long-suffering heart for sinners. 

God came to Adam and Eve after their awful betrayal in the same way He came to them before it.  This is a source of great comfort to us all!  Scripture assures us that God does not change (Malachi 3:6).  He comes to sinners the same way after the Fall as before it.  He comes to us with a heart overflowing with love, patience, mercy, and grace.  God knows that our rebellion has caused our once-perfected image of God to be marred and dreadfully stained by sin.  We are all poor . . . blind . . . and naked.  Yet in our sin-stained condition, God still comes to us!

“Come to me,” The Lord God calls tenderly to man, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  He pursues rebels who are on the run from Him . . . who are hiding from Him . . . who are hostile to Him . . . and He gives them rest from the fearful torment of their sinful condition. That is His heart.

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

“The Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9)

We are in the middle of a three-part message on God’s incredible question to two rebellious, fear-stricken, on-the-run sinners.  On Monday we examined the HONOR of the question.  Today we will rejoice in the HOPE in the question, and on Friday we will gaze upon the Heart behind the question.

The HOPE in the Question

Adam and Eve’s actions immediately after their cosmic rebellion against their God make it clear that they believed all hope was lost.  Their consciences were burning, and they tried to cover their naked sin with fig leaves.  They heard the familiar (and formerly delightful) sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; instead of running to Him, they ran away from Him and hid.  They slunk miserably away from the One who had given them everything, including an intimate, loving relationship with the God of all creation.  But then, when all hope seemed irretrievably lost, God called to them: “Where are you?”

The question confirms that Adam was, indeed, lost because of his decision to deny God—and in the process, to deny himself.  Yet, even in his state of alienation from God, this question of hope confirms that our loving Lord intended to deliver mercy in the middle of their misery.

 Think for a moment of all of the different responses God could have delivered to Adam and Eve after their rebellion.  Do any of the following questions sound like something you might say when someone does you wrong?

“How could you do such a thing!”

“What in the world have you done!”

“I can’t believe you did this to me!”

Instead of responding to the first sinners with harsh questions like these, the voice of Grace called to them . . . “Where are you?”  You see, regardless of what circumstances of life you are currently in, even if a situation seems utterly hopeless, you still have hope.  God came after Adam and Eve, and He comes after us every time we turn from Him and choose to do what is right in our own eyes. 

One final point regarding the hope in this question: despite all the doctrines the proud Pharisaical heart devises for free will and man “choosing” God, man never has and will never seek after his God.  Scripture is quite clear on this matter: “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8 NIV).  Man does not go looking for a relationship with God; it is God who does the pursuing—God and God alone.  There is great hope and comfort in knowing that!  If I thought for a moment I had anything to do with my salvation, despair would define my life, not devotion to my Savior.  Think about it for a moment; if you salvation depended on you to even the slightest degree, what is the likelihood of you spending eternity in the presence of a perfectly holy and just God?

God seeks the sinner; the sinner never seeks God.  This is the greatest hope that the world has ever known!  God loves us enough to call us out of our sin and rebellion: “Where are you?”

As Paul explained, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:3-5 NIV).

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

 

“The Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9)

 Have you given thought to God’s gracious response to the very first sinners?  Adam and Eve had denied their divine design and chosen to serve their own little kingdom, rather than the “Big Kingdom” of God.  And what did God do?  He pursued them and rescued them from themselves!  This week we will look at three different aspects of God’s incredible question: the HONOR of the question, the HOPE in the question, and the Heart behind the question.

The HONOR of the Question

Did God need to ask any questions of the first sinners?  Absolutely not!  He simply could have delivered a thunderbolt from the heavens, turning Adam and Eve into ashes . . . but He did not.  God honored these rebellious sinners with a question of great grace. 

While Adam and Eve futilely tried to cover their nakedness and shame with fig leaves, God spoke to them tenderly, with great love.  Think about it this way: have you ever had someone wrong you—slander you, gossip against you, betray you in some way—and you responded with, “I won’t have anything to do with that person ever again!”?  We’re all prone to that . . . but that’s not how God operates! 

God gave Adam and Eve everything they needed for a life of bliss.  Their days would be taken up with finding meaning and significance in the purpose, presence, and person of God.  All of life would be an act of worship of the Most High God.  Their love for God would control their hearts, direct their behavior, and shape their lives.

But Adam and Eve thought they were missing out on something, and they turned their worship and love inward onto themselves, seeking a life of autonomy and self-sufficiency.  In a word, they sought a subhuman existence, and didn’t realize what they had done until it was tragically too late.  And yet, in spite of their awful act of cosmic treason, God honored them with a most gracious response: “Where are you?”

God asks that same question of us today.  Remember, God was not seeking to determine Adam’s whereabouts!  Omniscience knows everything and omnipresence is everywhere.  David’s psalm expresses this beautifully:

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

 If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:7-10).

No, God wasn’t trying to find out where Adam was; it was Adam and Eve who didn’t know where they were!  They had completely lost their way, cowering in fear in a place where they once known only the loving presence of their God, walking and communing with Him in the cool of the day.

God is asking you today, “Where are you?”  He knows precisely where you are; do you?  Are you communing with Him, seeking to enjoy His presence?  Or has something else captured your desire?

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

On Wednesday we looked at the first part of Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden: “The Laugh.”  Today we will look at part two, “The Lie.”  Remember, as soon as Satan showed up in the Garden of Eden, he launched his fiery dart at our first parents.

THE LIE

The lie is found in Genesis 3:4—“The serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.’”  We know this is a bold-faced lie, because it is a direct contradiction of the Word of God in Genesis 2:16-17.

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Here we have the Word of God versus the distortion of the father of lies.  It is instructive to note that Satan does not attempt to deny the existence of God, nor does he try to deny the law of God.  He does not attempt to deny the will of God.  The devil delivers a declaration of defiance—not against the existence, the law, or even the will of God, but rather he denies the goodness of God.  When the laugh and the lie of Satan are rightly understood, we see it for what it truly was: an attack on the goodness of God.

Satan was essentially saying that God wanted to deny Adam and Eve the fullness of life by delivering His one prohibition.  Satan got Adam and Eve to focus on the one thing that was forbidden, rather than everything else that was graciously given and permitted.  Satan intimated to our first parents that there was a happier life than what they had with God.  He sold Eve on a more satisfying existence, one she had not yet experienced, an experience apart from God.

What a sales pitch the devil delivered!  He convinced Adam and Eve that God’s borders were narrow and restricting, and that God’s ultimate goal was to deny them the best that the Garden had to offer by demanding obedience to the proscription of that one forbidden tree.  Satan’s “you can be like God” offer was too much for them to resist.  They believed the lie, exchanged kingdoms, shrunk the size of their lives down to the size of their lives, and sent all of creation on a downward spiral.  What they got was exactly what God promised: death.  Satan was the one who was robbing Adam and Eve of the best life, and every man, woman, and child to follow was plunged into bondage to sin because of their deliberate disobedience.

The lie that promised more actually delivered less . . . so much less!  You see, God never designed us to live apart from Him.  We were made to be dependent upon our Creator, and we were never to find our identity, purpose, significance, or meaning apart from Him.  Yet God refused to leave us in our rebellion.  He pursued us in the middle of our sin, purchased us with the blood of the Savior, and set us apart by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is no lie!

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

Our Adult Sunday School class is examining the three parts that make up the Scriptures: Creation, Fall, and Redemption.  We have just entered the point in the Genesis narrative where Satan appears in the Garden of Eden and directs his seductive words at our first parents, Adam and Eve.  I want to split Satan’s temptation into two parts: the Laugh and the Lie, in order that you and I can be better prepared for his continual attacks in our lives. We’ll explore the Laugh today and move on to the Lie on Friday.

THE LAUGH

The “laugh” is located in Genesis 3:1, the first recorded question in Scripture: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  It is as if Satan is laughing, mocking God in the question he asks Eve.  He is not asking Eve to confirm that God actually said what He said; rather, the serpent seems to be asking, “Was God really so foolish as to say such a thing?”     

Satan was not denying what God said; he was sneering at what God said.  And this, my friend, is the spirit of this age.  The Word of God is held up to such ridicule in so many quarters, those who believe it are laughed at and mocked.  Listen to some of the laughing of the lost:

“You don’t really believe a man spent three days and nights in the belly of a great fish and was spit out on the shore alive do you?” 

“You’re not serious about the parting of the Red Sea and the Israelites walking across on dry land are you?” 

“Surely you don’t believe Noah spent more than 100 years building a boat in the middle of dry ground and then proceeded to get two of every kind of animal to join him for the first recorded cruise . . . do you?”

“Do you mean to tell me you actually believe the walls of Jericho—if there even was such a place—came tumbling down because people walked around the city for a week, blew some horns, and yelled at the top of their lungs?” 

What we need to remember is the fact that there is nothing “cutting edge” about mocking and laughing at the truth claims of the Bible and the Christian faith.  That tired act goes all the way back to the Garden!

Nobody likes to be ridiculed for what they believe.  Nobody likes to be the object of scoffing and scorn.  In fact, so deep is our fear of being mocked, whenever we hear people laughing when we are in the same area we immediately wonder if it is directed at us!  Let me give you a great nugget of comfort: you wouldn’t care what others thought of you if you realized how little they did! 

What we need to remember about the laughing of the lost is that our God is in control of all things—and that includes the laughing of the lost!

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.  (Psalm 2:4)

But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision.  (Psalm 59:8) 

In the process of God making all things new, He is also making all things right, and in the end He will be the one laughing.  When we are on the receiving end of the laughing of the lost, we need to lift them to the throne of grace and pray that God would give them eyes to see, ears to hear, minds to understand, and hearts to beat for the glory of the King. 

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

l to r: Danny Kahr, Joe Shadowens, Scotty Smith, Tullian Tchividjian, Tommy Boland

On September 9, 10, and 11, a group of nearly 150 men gathered in Marco Island for the 2010 Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Men’s Retreat under the leadership of our pastor, Tullian Tchividjian. Our special guest speaker was Pastor Scotty Smith, the founding pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee.

I was first exposed to Scotty and his grace-saturated, Christ-centered message when I was invited to be a part of the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) Men’s Council in 2006. While attending the PCA General Assembly that year, my friend Harvey Kilpatrick told me about Scotty and I was instantly hooked. As raw as he is real, Scotty both encourages and equips us to move “further up and further in” to the soul-stirring, life-changing implications of the Gospel—not only for eternal life, but for everyday life as well. I highly recommend all of his books and especially these two that have not found their way back to my bookshelf; Objects of His Affections and The Reign of Grace.

During out retreat I held two early morning fitness training sessions. Scotty asked me about it on Thursday evening and said he would join us in the morning. Now, many men said they would join us for the training, but because this was a time of relaxation, many chose to return to their slumber after their wake up call. So I was surprised when Scotty showed up at 6:30 am on both Friday and Saturday mornings.

What an incredible blessing for all of us who were there! At the end of each fitness session, I led a short devotion for the men. I brought some of Scotty’s daily blogs as our material, never in a million years thinking he would be in attendance. If you have not visited his blog, I encourage you to do so immediately. You can click on his link, located on the right of this page. Scotty simply takes a Scripture verse and prays through it. And when I say “pray,” I mean pray. You’ll be richly blessed by a heart that has been transformed by the grace of God, pouring forth words that are as penetrating as they are profound, all aimed directly at the reader’s heart. Anyway, as I said, at the end of our training, I read through one of these fabulous blog entries with Scotty sitting among us. Then I simply asked if he had any comments and invited him to close us in prayer.

Here is where Serendipity intersected with Scotty Smith. Serendipity can be defined as a profound discovery made while looking for something totally unrelated. I was simply looking for a time of devotion with material from a man I have grown to love and respect, without having ever met him, and on this day he was sitting among our group of exhausted early morning exercisers, live and in person! Perhaps you can imagine my excitement. As a martial artist for more than 30 years, it would have been like having Chuck Norris show up!

Scotty has been one of my Gospel heroes for years; he has been discipling me through his books and teachings. And now, for these two mornings, a small group of men and I were sitting on the floor in our designated fitness room, exhausted and excited, listening to a man whose life has been shaped and transformed by the Gospel. During these informal sessions, as well as throughout his scheduled times of teaching, Scotty shared his story as it intersected with God’s story. We all came away from our time with him impacted by his Gospel-saturated authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability.

On Sunday Scotty came to our church to preach the message in our worship service. Our entire congregation caught a glimpse of his passion for proclaiming the Gospel of grace. When the service was over and sanctuary had emptied, Kim and I went up to say hello. As we approached, Scotty spotted us and reached his hand out and said these words: “Good morning Tommy, my new friend.”

Wow! Here was one of the Gospel teachers, who has wrecked me afresh with his message of grace, calling me his friend! I know a man who likes to speak of receiving “hugs from God.” I felt like I got just such a hug that morning—another serendipitous blessing from the hand of God.

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

We have all heard the idiomatic admonition against, “Putting all of your eggs into one basket.”  In essence, this phrase reminds us not to put all of our hope into only one thing.  To be sure, this is wise advice when it comes to our time, talent, and treasure.  It is always best to store our “eggs” in a variety of different baskets, just in case something happens to our basket.  Pinning all of our hopes on one thing and seeing that one thing fail leads to a place of despair.  No more basket.  No more eggs.

As good as this phrase is in matters of time, talent, and treasure, it is NOT good advice when it comes to matters of faith.  There is only one hope in both life and death…there is only one reliable object on which to place your faith…and His name is Jesus Christ.   Jesus is the only solid Rock upon which hope can ever stand.  Make no mistake, all other “hopeful” ground is sinking sand.

When our hope is Christ-centered we no longer have to base our existence on pretending or performing.  In 1 Peter 3:15 we read, “But set apart Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you…”.

Apart from Christ, life is utterly hopeless.  We wander through a never-ending maze of manipulation, pretending and performing our way into God’s approval and acceptance and the applause of man.  When our hope is in anything smaller than God, we shrink the size of our lives down to the size of our lives.  And we were created to live for so much more than ourselves.  Our lives are to be shaped by the hope we have in Jesus.  In a word, this is hope for the hopeless.

• The hope of His presence is to shape our lives
• The hope of His peace is to shape our lives
• The hope of His protection
• The hope of His provision is to shape our lives
• The hope of His punishment

Only when our hope is in Jesus Christ are we liberated from the bondage of self-protection, self-focus, and self-centeredness.  The Gospel frees us to shift our hope from the self to the Savior…from self-rule to Savior-rule.  When the Savior is sitting on the throne of our lives, our hearts are captured and compelled to seek out the only hope we will ever have in both life and death.

Isaiah put it this way in the 18^th verse of the very first chapter, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”  This is a holy hope that can only be found in Jesus and it is a hope that sings, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”  That was our punishment He nailed to that dirty tree.  He who knew no sin, became sin for us.  Have you put all of your “eggs” into this one basket of unimaginable blessings?  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!