Category Archives: General

He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:15)

There is a war raging all around us. We fight against two powerful enemies: the world and the devil, both of which are working tirelessly to lure us away from Jesus, and the battle is fierce. But we also contend against an even more ferocious and relentless opponent — not just daily, but moment by moment. We fight with ourselves. Every day we wage the war within against the desires of our sinful nature. Once we are in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, our new nature in Christ is in constant combat with the old nature in our flesh (Galatians 5:17).

The new nature and the old are bitter enemies; they are diametrically opposed to each other. They battle to win control of our hearts, and the prize is to sit upon the throne of our lives. No one understood this battle better than the apostle Paul, who readily admitted, “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” (Romans 7:18-20).

Let me be clear about what Paul was not saying; he was not saying, “The devil made me do it!” He was not making an excuse for his sinful behavior. Paul knew that Satan is a defeated enemy who was forever vanquished by the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks to Jesus, Satan no longer reigns, but he still remains.

What Paul was saying is that the battle for control that rages deep inside every human heart will never be won in our strength. The enemy is too powerful and remorselessly focused on winning, which is why we must rely totally on the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to give us victory. Our new nature in Christ and our old sinful nature are unequally yoked and cannot agree on anything; therefore we must choose, moment by moment, which nature we will satisfy.

Remember, each day you will look to something to give your life meaning, significance, and purpose. Each day you will attach your identity to something in order to find joy and happiness. If that “something” is anything smaller than Jesus, it will inevitably leave you empty and wanting. Only when you are looking to Jesus and leaning totally on Him will you be able to win the war within and experience the abundant life Jesus has offered.

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

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ . . . (Philippians 3:8)

The very first thing the devil got Adam and Eve to question in the Garden of Eden was the goodness of God. Satan’s sly suggestions caused them to focus on the one prohibition — “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17) — rather than their abundant provision. The devil did not try to convince our first parents to question God’s existence, just His goodness. And each and every day Satan is busily engaged in trying to get us to do the very same thing.

When the storm winds are blowing and the waves of challenge are crashing over us, we all have a tendency to question the goodness of our God. When God does not fix our problems, follow our agenda, and fulfill our dreams, we begin to question His goodness.

But we shouldn’t be surprised when life in this world is difficult. God never promised us a problem-free life; in fact, He promised us just the opposite! Jesus made it clear that, because of sin, we will have trouble in this life. And because God is more concerned about our character than our comfort, He sends us into storms that are designed to grow and mature us in our faith.

Scripture commands us to “Consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). Paul said we are to “Rejoice in our sufferings” (Romans 5:3) — and Paul knew quite a bit about suffering! Because God is far more concerned about our holiness than our happiness, He will put us in challenging circumstances that cause us to deepen our dependence on Him. No matter how daunting or even dreadful your circumstances may be, hold fast to the truth that you are only passing through this life on your way to the new heavens and new earth, where there will be no more sorrow, storms, or suffering. Let this promise strengthen you to see the goodness of God, even in the badness of life.

Never forget, the most terrible thing that ever happened in the history of the world was the crucifixion of our sinless Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Sinful man looked into the eyes of the sinless Savior and proceeded to spit in His face and beat Him with whips and nail Him to a cross. They mocked Him as he hung there in agony. Yet out of that unspeakably evil event, God brought forth our greatest good: the way of salvation and eternal life through faith in His atoning death and supernatural resurrection.

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

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)

Because we were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and God is Love (1 John 4:8), it follows that we have been hardwired for love. It is impossible for us to not love; we are lovers by nature. Our minds were designed to think about love. Our hearts were designed to long for love. And all of this was designed to keep us living in an intimate, personal, loving relationship with our God.

God hardwired us to love Him supremely because He knew that is the only way we will satisfy the deepest need of our hearts. We were made by God and we were made for God, and only when God is on the throne of our lives do we experience the soul-satisfying, worship-stimulating, heart-sustaining love we are hardwired for.

But there is a problem, and you probably know what that problem is. Adam and Eve turned away from God and chose to love themselves more than God. You and I inherited their treacherous sin nature, and we do the very same thing. Instead of loving God, we give our love to things smaller than God. We love people more than we love God. We love our stuff more than we love God. We love ourselves more than we love God. In essence, we exchange the love of our Creator for the love of His creation. And when we come to the end of all that loving, there is little — if any –love left for God. This is spiritual adultery. It is also called disordered love: we have allowed someone or something to sit on the throne of our lives that is vastly and infinitely inferior to the One who sits on His throne in heaven.

If we are to reestablish the holy hardwiring needed to love God according to our divine design, we must be in a right relationship with Jesus. When we acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior and surrender control of our lives to Christ, we will be brought back into the right relationship with God that we were created to enjoy.

Remember, we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). With Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have, once again, the capacity to love God above everything else. May this be the confession of our lives!

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

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

On the day we said “I believe” to Jesus as the One who paid the penalty for our sins — all our sins — and God the Father credited Christ’s righteousness to our account (theologians would say that Christ’s perfect righteousness was imputed to us), in that instant we became perfectly righteous and sinless in the sight of God. Yet we all know by way of painful, personal experience that we still sin and constantly battle with the remaining sin in our lives . . . not just daily, but moment by moment.

You see, sinlessness is not an event, but an eventuality for those who are in Christ Jesus. Inasmuch as we are clothed in the righteous robes of Christ, we still do many things that are utterly unrighteous. The promise for the believer is not sinless perfection on this side of the grave; the promise is sinless perfection when we are received into glory. Until then, we must deal with the disheartening reality that we will sin, because we are still sinners who are very much in need of being saved from ourselves every moment of every day.

The word for this process is sanctification. The power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us makes us more and more like Jesus as we journey though this life. We are not asked or expected to make ourselves perfect and righteous and holy. However, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, who is guiding us into God’s perfect plan for our imperfect lives. God is with us every step of the way, and that includes every sinful misstep along the way. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). The key to sanctification, therefore, is to keep walking by faith and not by sight, knowing that the good work God began in us on that day when we said “I believe,” He will one day bring to completion when we are welcomed into our glorious home in the new heavens and the new earth.

To know that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin enables us to understand that as we walk with Him throughout our lives, He is freeing us from both the power of sin and the pleasure of sin as we grow and mature in our faith. Let that truth set us free to be all God is calling us to be –albeit imperfectly — until we arrive at the eventual day of perfection on the other side of the grave.

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

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of you faith, the salvation of you souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)

You’ve heard it said that “Seeing is believing.” Well, when it comes to the truths of the Gospel, which are divinely designed to satisfy the deepest needs of every human heart, make no mistake: Believing is seeing! The truths of God’s Gospel sweep away our spiritual blindness and allow us to see Jesus, the glorious One, with eyes of faith.

Thomas was one of those who said, “Seeing is believing.” He was not with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them after His resurrection, and he simply would not believe what they told him about a risen Savior. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands,” Thomas insisted, “and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

But when he was face-to-face with Jesus a week later, Thomas believed. “My Lord and my God!” he proclaimed. And then Jesus uttered some of the most glorious words in the Bible: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and still believe.” (John 20:25, 28-29). Believing is indeed seeing when it comes to being a Christian!

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). The grace of the Gospel gives us the faith to be assured of what we cannot see in the natural, because it opens us up to seeing in the supernatural. The grace of the Gospel connects us by faith to the One who fills us with an expressible and glorious joy, as Peter put it in our passage for today, because we are receiving the goal of our faith – and His name is Jesus Christ.

One day we will look upon our Lord Jesus and know Him as He is (1 John 3:2); until that day, we love Him even though we have not yet seen Him. The grace of the Gospel allows us to stake our hopes, dreams, goals — our very existence — on the One whom we have not seen, yet we believe in Him and love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

What do you think? Is “Seeing believing” or is “Believing seeing”? The difference makes all the difference in the world when it comes to experiencing that inexpressible and glorious joy that is available to all those who place their trust in the One whom we only see with eyes of faith today, but we will one day soon stand in His glorious presence forever and ever.

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

It is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Only when you know deep down in your soul that you have been saved by God’s grace and that you are loved unconditionally and fully forgiven will you stop doing so many things that ruthlessly rob you of the joy of your salvation.

• Trying to earn God’s favor? STOP IT!
• Trying to receive God’s blessing? STOP IT!
• Trying to win God’s affection? STOP IT!
• Trying to deserve God’s approval? STOP IT!
• Trying to merit God’s mercy? STOP IT!
• Trying to do good to get God’s grace? STOP IT!

When Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished,” He meant what He said! The penalty for your pardon and acceptance has been paid in full. Jesus did not make a down-payment; He did not make a few installment payments; Jesus paid the penalty for your sin fully and finally and forever. You have been set free from the bondage to yourself and have been united to Jesus as the source of every imaginable joy and blessing. You need not try to receive it; you simply need to rest in the reality of it. The world says you have to measure up in order to get what you are looking for out of life, but God’s Word says Jesus has measured up for you and has already given you everything you need.

You see, the Law says “Do,” but the Gospel says “‘”Done!” You need to stop expecting the Law to do what the Gospel has already done. The Law was never intended to save and sanctify you; the Law was given to drive you to your knees before the only One who could do it for you. Transferring your trust to Jesus will empower you to stop looking at yourself to do, do, do, and fix your eyes of your Savior, who has done it all.

One final thing: You can stop running from God when you mess things up, because Jesus has already nailed your mess to the cross and cleansed it with His blood. Just repent and rest in the reality of your redemption, because there is nothing in the universe –absolutely nothing — that can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  

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

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

We can live for weeks without food, days without water, and minutes without air. But we simply cannot live one moment without hope. We are hope-shaped creatures. God created us in His image and gave us the capacity to hope and dream, and this is what pulls us into the future. Every person who has ever lived has given their life over to some kind of hopeful expectation. Now, what looks like hope for one person will not look like hope to another, but make no mistake, we are hardwired for hope, and it is hope that keeps us going.

There are, of course, two directions in which to direct our hope. We can place our hope in the horizontal – that is, in the stuff of this life; or we can place our hope in the vertical – in our Savior. Where we place our hope will determine how we live our lives. When we place our hope in the horizontal, we are inevitably left wanting, wearied, and weakened. Nothing in this life is able to give us the deep, lasting satisfaction of the heart. There is simply too much brokenness in the world and in ourselves for this to work.

But when we place our hope in the vertical, we live out this biblical truth:

Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s has poured his love out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:5)

When we hope in our Savior, we have a hope that nothing in this life can affect. Even when current circumstances argue against all hope, we can still have hope, because our Savior is alive and well sitting on His throne in glory, and He lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25).

If your hope that leaves you restless, disappointed, or even in despair, you can be assured it is rooted in the horizontal, not the vertical. Jesus gave us a warning and a promise: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Where have you placed your hope today? Look up! Hold fast to the Word of our Lord!

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

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5)

All great stories, whether they are presented on the big screen or little screen, on stage or in print, are designed to move the audience to a great ending. Sometimes when we are telling someone about one of these great stories, we’ we’ll say something like, “Wait till you get to the end. You won’t believe it!” Inasmuch as we all love great stories with climactic, unforgettable endings, the greatest story ever told is found on the pages of sacred Scripture . . . and this story has no ending!

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

A story with no ending is promised to all those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Jesus came to earth and conquered sin, Satan, and death through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection from the grave. And don’t miss this: YOU are in this story, and you were cast in it by the Divine Director of the universe before the foundation of the world. You did not go to a casting call to earn, achieve, or deserve the part because of your great attitude or abilities. No! You were simply cast into your part by God, who loved you enough to send His Son to take your place on a cross so that you can be with Him forever.

Here is how C. S. Lewis described this never-ending story in The Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle:

All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.  

Have you joined in this greatest story ever told? Do you want to be part of it? You must decide. You can choose a thousand other stories . . . but all those will come to an end. Or you can chose this one story, which goes on forever and ever. Like the characters in The Last Battle, all those who, by grace through faith, place their trust in Jesus Christ alone will live happily ever after in the new heavens and the new earth with the Lord Jesus and all the people of God, world without end.

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

If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

Because God is for us, it truly doesn’t matter who or what is against us. This truth is designed to set us free to know that God is always working on our behalf as we make our way through this life and on into glory. The apostle Paul solidified his argument for this truth as he continued through his letter to the Christians at Rome, reminding us, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

This type of prose is an example of what is called arguing from the greater to the lesser. God directed everything throughout history in order to bring forth His Son Jesus in the fullness of time to bring us into eternal relationship with Him. If God did not spare His own beloved Son from a horrific death on the cross for our salvation, why would we ever think He might withhold anything else we need in this life?

The sacrifice of the Son of God is not only the surety of our salvation, but also of our sanctification along the way to glory. Because God’s ultimate goal is to conform us into the image of His Son, we can be assured that He will grace us with every good thing that is needed for that process, and that includes even those things we would rather not experience.

God is using everything that is necessary for making us more and more like Jesus. He is using the good and the bad. He is using the storms and the sunlight. He is using the highs and the lows. God will not — God cannot — let us down in this process. The gift of His Son is ironclad proof of this promise. No matter what comes up against you, remember that God is for you. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus makes that clear. Rest in your redemption, Christian, regardless of the circumstances you face in life, knowing that He who began the good work in you will bring it to completion, and nothing and no one will stand in His way.

You have been graced with every good thing because you have been given the greatest gift the world has ever seen: Jesus Christ. Do you have Jesus? Then you have every good thing!

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

I come that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

Let’s clear up one thing right from the start: It is good and right and biblical to pursue the abundant life – not as the world defines it, but as God’s Word does. The world says the abundant life is a life that consists of our stuff; the Word of God says the abundant life is a life that consists of our Savior. You see, God has placed the cosmic quest for the abundant life in the heart of every one of us, but that quest must be rooted in our relationship with Jesus Christ. As image-bearers of God, we were made by Him for Him and for the abundant life that can only be found in Him.

Far too many people, including many in the church, are seeking the abundant life apart from Jesus. They seek it in their professions. They seek it in their status. They seek it in a romantic relationship. They seek it in their wealth and health. They are seeking the abundant life on a horizontal plane, where they exalt what is created above the Creator. Only when we are seeking the abundant life on a vertical plane — that is, looking up to our Lord — will we satisfy the deepest needs of our heart. Only when we are surrendered to our Savior will we begin to enjoy the abundant life we were created to experience. We must surrender our hopes and dreams and goals to Jesus. When we do that, we will be set on a course that gives us the freedom, joy, and faithfulness our Lord has promised us.

How is it with you these days? Have you been seeking the abundant life horizontally? Or vertically? Have you been pursuing “the good life” or the godly life? Has Jesus been the source of your supreme satisfaction? Or are you seeking it in something smaller?

Think about it this way: If you have everything this life offers but don’t have Jesus, you have nothing. And if you have nothing this life offers and have Jesus, you have everything! To be sure, there is much to be enjoyed and celebrated on the horizontal plane of life, but it must never take the place of what can only be found vertically in our Lord, our Savior, and our best friend in all the world – Jesus Christ.

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