Obeying the Gospel

OBEDIENCE IS NOT A NEGATIVE CONCEPT (DECEMBER 11)

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"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:2,3).

NOWADAYS, MOST PEOPLE THINK OF EQUALITY IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY BELIEVE HIERARCHIES ARE EVIL AND ARE TO BE AVOIDED WHEREVER POSSIBLE. The very word obedience evokes an image of pre-modern times, before equality came to be viewed as...

THE MOST DISTURBING MESSAGE IN THE WORLD (DECEMBER 10)

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"Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37).

WOULD YOU SAY BEING “CUT TO THE HEART” IS A GOOD THING? These days, most people wouldn’t. We want, at all costs, to experience happy feelings, and we would be turned off by any sermon that called on us to pass through the wilderness of godly sorrow. We only w...

JESUS, THE CRISIS-PRODUCER (DECEMBER 9)

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"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34).

IN RESPONSE TO JESUS, PEOPLE DID MANY DIFFERENT THINGS, BUT ONE THING NOBODY DID WAS REMAIN NEUTRAL. Jesus’ teaching authoritatively called for a decision, and those who did not make a decision for or against Jesus were making the worst decision of all. As Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not...

FLEE! DON’T LOOK BACK! (DECEMBER 8)

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"Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt" (Genesis 19:24-26).

THE ADMONITION TO FLEE IS SOMETIMES MORE IMPORTANT THAN WE REALIZE. If we were in a difficult situation, the advice to “get out of ther...

THE DEADLIEST TEMPTATION (DECEMBER 7)

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"And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, 'Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you'" (Acts 24:25).

TEMPTATION COMES TO US IN VARIOUS WAYS. Sometimes we are tempted to engage in acts of deliberate disobedience. Knowing full well what God’s will is, we are persuaded to do what God has said we must not do, as Eve did when she ate of the forbidden fruit (Ge...

A GENTLE KNOCK AT THE DOOR (DECEMBER 6)

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"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).

IT MAY STRIKE US AS UNUSUAL THAT WHEN GOD CAME INTO THE WORLD, HE CAME IN SUCH A GENTLE WAY. Perhaps He could have landed with an invading army and compelled our submission with brute force. But he appeared as a gentle Teacher, asking us to...

MADE IN GOD'S IMAGE, WE LONG FOR HIS FELLOWSHIP (DECEMBER 5)

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"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27).

HUMAN BEINGS HAVE ALWAYS MARVELED AT THEIR UNIQUENESS. Compared to differences that separate the lower creatures, we are so different from even the highest of other living beings, the difference can hardly be described. But how and why are we so different? Until the 18th century in Western Europe, almost every person...

WE ARE NOT SAVED BY THOSE WE ARE CONNECTED TO (DECEMBER 4)

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"Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham" (Matthew 3:8,9).

IF THE JEWISH LEADERS THOUGHT OF SALVATION IN “INSTITUTIONAL” TERMS, THEY WERE NOT ALONE. Very few of us can say we haven’t made the same mistake. We are strongly tempted to think that our ticket into t...

GOD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS (DECEMBER 3)

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"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:30,31).

THE IDEA OF A “JUDGMENT DAY” IS UNPOPULAR THESE DAYS. Fewer of those who designate themselves as Christians believe that such a thing will actu...

PUTTING OUR HAND TO THE PLOW (DECEMBER 2)

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"Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God'" (Luke 9:61,62).

ONE COMMON THREAD RUNNING THROUGHOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT IS COMMITMENT. Will we follow Jesus? Our answer must be more than “maybe” or “if I don’t change my mind.”

DECISIVENESS. Too many so-called...

JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED (DECEMBER 1)

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"For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).

PAUL WAS GRATEFUL FOR HIS BRETHREN IN CORINTH, BUT HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT THEM. They had divided into factions, each group following its favorite teacher of the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). This kind of sectarianism was common in cities like Corinth, of course, where the public forum was filled with philosophers, orators, and teachers — each wooing followers by showing himself to be more on the in...

ENTRANCE INTO THE ETERNAL KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 30)

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"Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:10,11).

AS CHRISTIANS, IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR US TO GROW IN THE CHARACTER TRAITS OF GODLINESS. Just prior to the text above, Peter had encouraged his readers to work hard at...

JUDGED BY OUR RESPONSE TO JESUS' WORD (NOVEMBER 29)

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"I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day" (John 12:46-48).

...

CALLED, BELOVED, KEPT (NOVEMBER 28)

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"Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you" (Jude 1,2).

BEING A CHRISTIAN IS A REALITY THAT CAN BE LOOKED AT FROM MORE THAN ONE ANGLE. In other words, a person who is a Christian can describe his identity in various ways. Let’s look at the three expressions Jude used to address his fellow Christians.

FAITH HAS CONSEQUENCES (NOVEMBER 27)

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"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:5-8).

THERE IS A “JUDICIAL” ASPECT TO THE GOSPEL, BUT SALVATION IN CHRIST INVOLVES FAR MORE THAN...

HONEST ABOUT OUR TRANSGRESSIONS (NOVEMBER 26)

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"For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long" (Psalm 32:3).

WE NEED TO ACCEPT THE LORD’S VERDICT CONCERNING OUR SINS. Our sins can be forgiven if we accept His plan for their forgiveness, but a part of the plan is repentance — and repentance includes taking honest responsibility for what we’ve done. To the best of our present understanding, we must see the seriousness of our sins and enter a plea of “guilty as charg...

IF WE HAVE DIED TO SIN (NOVEMBER 25)

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"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:1,2).

ONE OF OUR GREATEST CHALLENGES IS TO RESPOND RIGHTLY TO GOD’S GRACE. Surely there is no greater gift than the forgiveness of our sins in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. But we must determine not to “receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1).

In Romans 6...

A SOBERING (AND ENCOURAGING) THOUGHT (NOVEMBER 24)

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"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:7-9).

IDEAS HAVE EMOTIONAL CONSEQUENCES, AND THE IMPACT THEY...

OBEDIENCE IS A CHOICE (NOVEMBER 23)

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"Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him" (Hebrews 5:8,9).

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM JESUS IS THE LESSON OF VOLUNTARY OBEDIENCE TO GOD. Even with His unique relationship to the Heavenly Father, Jesus still had to choose to obey. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” In making this difficult choi...

O TO BE LIKE THEE! (NOVEMBER 22)

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"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure" (1 John 3:2,3).

IN HIS DEALINGS WITH US, GOD HAS A GREAT GOAL. It is not merely to rescue us but to reform us. For all who will accept His plan, God intends...

HAVE WE "PUT ON" CHRIST? (NOVEMBER 21)

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"For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27).

IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, ONE WAY CHRISTIANS ARE DESCRIBED IS TO SAY THAT THEY ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE “PUT ON” CHRIST. The image, of course, is that of taking off one set of clothes and putting on another. In his new relationship with Jesus Christ, the Christian has “put on” His Lord — he has adopted the characteristics of Christ in such a way as to have “c...

JESUS CHRIST, OUR EXAMPLE (NOVEMBER 20)

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"For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you" (John 13:15).

CERTAIN PARTS OF JESUS’ WAY OF LIFE ARE POPULAR AND FREQUENTLY PRAISED. When we want support for our viewpoint, there always seems to be some aspect of Jesus’ teaching and lifestyle that we can appeal to. And whatever our theology or sociology, we can find a favorite angle from which to admire Jesus.

The problem is, we tend to “...

WHEN THE FEELING OF SALVATION FAILS US (NOVEMBER 19)

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"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior" (Titus 1:1-3).

FEELINGS ARE IMPORTANT, BUT THEY...

CONFIDENT IN CHRIST . . . AND CAREFUL (NOVEMBER 18)

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"Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward" (2 John 8).

TOWARD THE END OF JOHN’S LIFE, THE CHRISTIANS IN ASIA WERE IN DIRE STRAITS. Threatened with persecution, heartbroken at the doctrinal apostasy that was taking place, disturbed about the prevalence of moral corruption among Christians, and concerned about the complacency of so many churches, the faithful brothers and sisters were hard pressed. And John was concerned about these fa...

EVEN IN CHRIST, WE ARE NOT YET FULLY ALIVE (NOVEMBER 1)

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"And this is the promise that he made to us -- eternal life" (1 John 2:25).

WHEN GOD ENTERED THIS WORLD AND TOOK UPON HIMSELF HUMAN FORM, A NEVER-BEFORE THING BEGAN TO HAPPEN. The miracle of the Incarnation was not just that God became man but that in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, God brought into this world a new kind of life. This new life is nothing less than the kind of life that...

OPPORTUNITY TO SEEK GOD (NOVEMBER 16)

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"For this reason every one of your faithful followers should pray to you while there is a window of opportunity" (Psalm 32:6 NET).

GOD GRANTS US THE TIME TO SEEK HIM, BUT THE SPAN OF THAT TIME IS NOT UNLIMITED. Eventually, our time in this world comes to an end; after that, there will be nothing left but the rendering of God’s judgment on the way we responded to His salvation. “Just as it is appointed for man to die once...

THE CHURCH IN SPLENDOR (NOVEMBER 15)

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". . . so that [Christ] might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).

IT IS INTRIGUING TO THINK OF CHRIST “PRESENTING THE CHURCH TO HIMSELF.” The basic image is that of a bride being presented to her bridegroom (as in 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 21:2), but here Christ is pictured as presenting His own bride to Himself. Christ gave Himself up for His bride, in the words of Rich...

THE POWER (AND BEAUTY) OF COMMITMENT (NOVEMBER 14)

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"But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you'" (Ruth 1:16,17).

THERE IS NOT IN THE SCRIPTURES...

THE GOSPEL IS TRUE, BUT WE MUST PAY ATTENTION (NOVEMBER 13)

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". . . how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will" (Hebrews 2:3,4).

THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY STRUCK ME. In a recent poll, people in Western Europe who have abandoned religion after being...

NO CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT CORRECTABILITY (NOVEMBER 12)

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"They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth" (Amos 5:10).

THE PROPHETS SENT BY GOD TO CALL FOR REPENTANCE IN ISRAEL DID NOT ALWAYS FIND A RECEPTIVE AUDIENCE. Israel, desperately in need of a radical return to God, often rejected the pleas of the prophets for a change of heart. Apparently this was characteristic of the attitude of many of them about correction in general. Even when it came to listening to the...

DON’T LIMP! DECIDE! (NOVEMBER 11)

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"And Elijah came near to all the people and said, 'How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.' And the people did not answer him a word" (1 Kings 18:21).

ELIJAH DID NOT PULL ANY PUNCHES. Challenging the people to choose between the worship of God and the worship of Baal, he mocked their wishy-washy attitude: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions?” Or as...

THE SAMARITAN SYNDROME (NOVEMBER 10)

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"So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children -- as their fathers did, so they do to this day" (2 Kings 17:41).

THE PEOPLE DESCRIBED IN THIS TEXT ARE THOSE WHOSE DESCENDANTS WERE KNOWN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT PERIOD AS THE SAMARITANS. Descendants of intermarriage between Israelites and the foreigners imported by the Assyrians in 722 BC into Samaria, the central section of Israel, the Samaritans practiced a religion that was a...

A DECISION ONLY WE CAN MAKE (NOVEMBER 9)

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"'Return to me . . . and I will return to you,' says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 1:3).

THE MESSAGE PREACHED BY THE PROPHETS WAS THE MESSAGE OF REPENTANCE. Despite their blessings, Israel had frequently strayed from God, and they needed to turn back. This was not a popular message. Nobody ever likes to be told that they have departed from God, but in Israel’s case, this would have been especially true. Given the privileges of their role in Go...

TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU (NOVEMBER 8)

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"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

THE INVITATION OF JESUS IS AN INVITATION TO THE WEARY. The satisfied may find Him “interesting,” if even that, but those who recognize the toll that sin...

HASTENING THE COMING (NOVEMBER 7)

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". . . waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!" (2 Peter 3:12).

THE APOSTLE PETER SPEAKS IN THIS PASSAGE OF SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE TODAY DON’T THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN, IF THEY THINK ABOUT IT AT ALL. The “day of God” is coming, he says, and it will be a day when the present universe will come to an end. Having...

TURNING FROM THE POWER OF SATAN TO GOD (NOVEMBER 6)

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". . . to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me" (Acts 26:18).

PAUL WAS AN APOSTLE AND WE ARE NOT, BUT THE MISSION ASSIGNED TO HIM IS ONE WE CAN LEARN FROM. He was given the task of taking the gospel to the Gentiles, and in the...

TESTING EVERYTHING BY THE SCRIPTURES (NOVEMBER 5)

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"Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so" (Acts 17:11).

THE PROPHETS IN ISRAEL HAD PREDICTED THE COMING OF A MESSIAH. This Messiah or Christ (literally, “Anointed One”) would reign over a kingdom superior to any of the kingdoms of mankind (Daniel 2:44). But Jesus of Nazareth was not the only individual in the first century (or even later) to claim to b...

CHOOSE LIFE! (NOVEMBER 4)

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"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him" (Deuteronomy 30:19,20).

WE ARE ABLE TO CHOOSE OUR DESTINY. If the alternatives are obedience to God (which leads ultimately to life) and disobedience (which leads to death), it is possible to “choose life,” as Moses urged Israel to do...

HENCEFORTH (NOVEMBER 3)

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"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7,8).

A CURIOUS THING HAPPENS AS THE YEARS GO BY AND WE GROW OLDER IN CHRIST. Toward life’s end, we grow weary; the body deteriorates and the toll ta...

SELF MUST BE CRUCIFIED (NOVEMBER 2)

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"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it'" (Matthew 16:24,25).

FOR JESUS, THE JOY WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CROSS. The “joy that was set before him” could only be His after He “endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). If we wish to follow Jesus, what will we...