Obeying the Gospel

ISRAEL'S DAY OF ATONEMENT (JULY 31)

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"Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement" (Leviticus 23:27).

ONCE A YEAR, THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL WERE TO OBSERVE A “DAY OF ATONEMENT.” The Lord required them to make special sacrifices for sin on this day, and on this day only, once a year, the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle with the blood of the sacrifices. All of the observances on this most special day of the year were deta...

LOVE’S FIRE (JULY 30)

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". . . for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised" (Song of Solomon 8:6,7).

JESUS SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, “IF YOU LOVE ME, YOU WILL KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS” (JOHN 14:15). This is not only a requirement that those who love Jesus must keep H...

ONCE SAVED, IS IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO BE LOST? (JULY 29)

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"For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them" (2 Peter 2:20,21).

PETER’S WORDS IN...

THERE AROSE ANOTHER GENERATION (JULY 28)

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". . . there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10).

THE LAND OF CANAAN FINALLY HAVING BEEN GIVEN TO ISRAEL, THEY ENTERED UPON A TIME OF PEACE. “The people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the gr...

DELIVERED BY A STRONG HAND (JULY 27)

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"They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand" (Nehemiah 1:10).

THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM OF WHOM NEHEMIAH SPOKE HAD BEEN DELIVERED FROM THEIR CAPTIVITY IN BABYLON. But this deliverance, as great as it was, foreshadowed a much greater deliverance: the redemption of the human race from slavery to sin.

To “redeem” is to rescue someone from a plight in which they are helpless to deliver themselves. In N...

JOB’S FAITH (JULY 26)

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"For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God" (Job 19:25,26).

JOB WAS A MAN WHO RESOLUTELY REFUSED TO GIVE UP HIS FAITH IN GOD. Having seen, when the sun was shining, that there were strong, compelling reasons to trust God, he did not let go of those reasons when the darkness closed in. He hung on to ho...

HOW DO WE “REND” OUR HEARTS? (JULY 25)

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"'Yet even now,' declares the Lord, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments'" (Joel 2:12,13).

JOEL’S MESSAGE FROM GOD, LIKE THAT OF ALL THE PROPHETS, WAS THAT THE PEOPLE SHOULD TURN AWAY FROM THE SINS THAT HAD CUT THEM OFF FROM GOD. Even when God’s long-delayed judgment had fallen upon them, it was possible, as long as life lasted, for them to repen...

YOU NEVER KNOW WHO WILL BE RECEPTIVE (JULY 24)

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"And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them" (Jonah 3:5).

JONAH WAS RELUCTANT TO ACCEPT THE ASSIGNMENT TO GO TO NINEVEH AND PREACH A MESSAGE OF REPENTANCE. But finally he did go, and the people of Nineveh recognized that what Jonah said was true. They repented, turning away from what was sinful in their habits. If Nineveh existed today, it...

THOSE WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM (JULY 23)

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"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness" (Nahum 1:7,8).

IT IS A DIFFICULT WORLD. The expression “survival of the fittest” would never have been coined in a world where there was no resistance to be met, a world where everything was just right for every creature. But...

A DISTINCTION THAT WILL BE UNAVOIDABLE (JULY 22)

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"They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him" (Malachi 3:17,18).

THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH IN MALACHI’S DAY HAD BECOME CYNICAL ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. Th...

LIFE IN THE SON (JULY 21)

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"The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:35,36).

THERE MAY NOT BE A MORE PREGNANT PHRASE IN THE SCRIPTURES THAN “ETERNAL LIFE.” It conveys a wealth of meaning beyond our present ability to understand (and certainly beyond my ability to describe). At the very least, let’s avoid the mi...

SIN IS ALWAYS AGAINST GOD (JULY 20)

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"How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9).

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE GREATEST MOTIVATION TO AVOID SIN? For most people, it would be the prospect of terrible things happening to them in this life as a consequence of their sin. (“If I steal drugs from the hospital and get caught, my nursing license will be revoked.”) A thing may be wrong in principle and should be avoided simply because it is wrong, but...

WHEN WE DON’T WANT TO BE DELIVERED (JULY 19)

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"Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness" (Exodus 14:12).

HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT DELIVERANCE FROM TROUBLE IS OFTEN A GREAT BOTHER? Our present situation may not be ideal, but compared to the hardship of getting out of it, it sometimes looks like the lesser of two evils. Pe...

GOD HEARD THEIR CRY (JULY 18)

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". . . and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God" (Exodus 2:23).

IT HAD BEEN FOUR HUNDRED YEARS SINCE THE DAYS WHEN JOSEPH ENJOYED THE FAVOR OF PHARAOH, AND IN THE INTERIM THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL HAD BEEN ENSLAVED BY THE EGYPTIANS. In the grief of their bondage and hard labor, they cried out to God — and God heard their cry. We all know the story of...

JOSIAH, THE TENDERHEARTED (JULY 17)

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"'. . . because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,' declares the Lord" (2 Kings 22:19 NASB).

WHEN KING JOSIAH HEARD WHAT GOD HAD PROMISED TO DO IF ISRAEL BECAME UNFAITHFUL, HE WAS STRICKEN WITH GRIEF. A godly man himself, Josiah might...

WHOLEHEARTED REPENTANCE VS. PRETENSE (JULY 16)

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"Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 3:10).

AS CHILDREN, WE SOMETIMES EXCUSED OUR FAILURE TO KEEP A PROMISE BY SAYING THAT WE “HAD OUR FINGERS CROSSED.” The promise was not binding (we said) because we didn’t really mean it, as indicated by the secret crossing of our fingers. A lawyer would say the contract was not a “bona fide” (“good faith”) commitment — we never intende...

THE HEARTS OF THE CHILDREN OF MANKIND (JULY 15)

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". . . then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind" (2 Chronicles 6:30).

SOLOMON’S PRAYER WAS THAT, IN THE YEARS TO COME, GOD WOULD HEAR THE PRAYERS OF ISRAEL WHEN THEY CRIED OUT TO HIM IN DISTRESS. “Render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways,” he said, “for you, you only, kn...

INCLINE YOUR HEART TO THE LORD (JULY 14)

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"Then Joshua said to the people, 'You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.' And they said, 'We are witnesses.' He said, 'Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel'" (Joshua 24:22,23).

HAVING CHALLENGED ISRAEL TO CHOOSE WHETHER THEY WOULD SERVE GOD, JOSHUA THEN CALLED ON THEM TO PUT THEIR CHOICE INTO ACTION. If it is your decision...

A DANGEROUSLY FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY (JULY 13)

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"In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, 'There is no God.' His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, 'I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity'" (Psalm 10:4-6).

THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO DISREGARD GOD. In addition to the obvious atheism...

YOU SHALL BE HOLY (JULY 12)

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"For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:45).

BEGINNING WITH ABRAHAM, GOD BUILT A FAMILY THROUGH WHICH HE WOULD BRING INTO THE WORLD HIS SON, THE MESSIAH (“ANOINTED ONE”). When Abraham’s family became numerous enough to be a nation, He delivered them from slavery in Egypt and established them in the land He had promised to Abraham. But prior...

WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD (JULY 11)

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"For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land...

YOU SHALL NOT ADD OR TAKE AWAY (JULY 10)

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"You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2).

THE FACT THAT GOD HAS SPOKEN TO MANKIND IS A MARVELOUS REALITY. But not satisfied with the contents of God’s revelation, the human race has always had a tendency to “improve” His instructions, trimming away the objectionable parts and adding in other things more suitable. But Mo...

BOTH JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER (JULY 9)

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"It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).

THERE WAS, NO DOUBT, MORE THAN ONE PURPOSE IN GOD’S GIVING THE LAW OF MOSES TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. But one thing was not in His purpose: to give them a tool whereby they could, as sinful people, work their way back into a perfect relationship with Him. No pe...

THE EXCITEMENT OF FINDING THE MESSIAH (JULY 8)

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"One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which means Christ)" (John 1:40,41).

TO BE A JEW IN FIRST-CENTURY JUDEA WAS TO BE IN A CULTURE OF GREAT CHANGE. Politically, socially, and religiously, the pot was boiling with trends and movements. If you cared about what was right, you would have had a number of...

THE LION OF JUDAH (JULY 7)

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"Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people" (Genesis 49:9,10 NKJV).

WHEN JACOB BLESSED HIS SONS BEFORE HE DIED, HE UTTERED A VERY PARTICULAR PROPHECY CONCERNING THE TRIBE OF JUDAH. “Gath...

SAINTS (JULY 6)

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"To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father" (Colossians 1:2).

THE WORD “SAINTS” IS A DESIGNATION FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD. As we see in the text above, Paul addressed his letter to Colossae to “the saints and faithful brothers in Christ” in that place. (Notice the same usage in Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; and other letters.) All of the biblical terms used for God’s people are helpful to study, since they give us importa...

WHAT THE HEIRS WILL INHERIT: ETERNAL LIFE (JULY 5)

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". . . so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:7).

PAUL’S MEMORABLE STATEMENT OF HOPE IN THIS VERSE IS SET IN THE CONTEXT OF A LARGER STATEMENT ABOUT GOD’S SALVATION. After speaking in v.3 of our sinfulness, he said that “when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us” (vv.4,5). To be in Christ is not to occupy some position which we have...

TO HIM BE GLORY AND DOMINION (JULY 4)

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". . . from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 1:5,6).

HERE, IN JUST TWO VERSES, IS A WORLD OF TRUTH ABOUT JESUS CHRIST. In his greeting to the seven churches of Asia at...

SOME STRONG STATEMENTS ABOUT THE KINGDOM (JULY 3)

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"Then, hearing this, a number of his disciples said, 'This is a hard saying; who is able to take in such teaching?'" (John 6:60 Bible in Basic English).

JESUS’ TEACHINGS WERE NOT ALWAYS EASY. Some of His sayings were, for various reasons, hard to understand, but other things He taught were simply hard to accept. As the disciples said in the text above, “Who is able to take in such teaching?” Let’s look at some of Jesus’ bold state...

PRESENT KINGDOM, FUTURE KINGDOM (JULY 2)

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"The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen" (2 Timothy 4:18).

IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD SOMETHING THAT EXISTS IN THIS WORLD OR IS IT SOMETHING THAT WILL EXIST IN ETERNITY? The answer, if we let the Scriptures be our authority, is that it is both.

PRESENT. The Scriptures clearly teach that the kingdom is a present reality. Jesus said it was “at...

WHOLE HEART, WILLING MIND (JULY 1)

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"And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind" (1 Chronicles 28:9).

SOLOMON WOULD BE A NEW KING WITH SOME SERIOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. His father David having subdued all the surrounding enemies of Israel, Solomon (whose name meant “peace”) would have to lead his people in the rightful, godly enjoyment of the peace that David had made possible. But not only that, he was also charged with building the temp...