Obeying the Gospel

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...

AFTER BAPTISM, WHAT’S DIFFERENT? (NOVEMBER 1)

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". . . but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance" (Acts 26:20).

IN THIS TEXT, PAUL GIVES US A SUMMARY OF THE MESSAGE GOD SENT HIM TO PREACH. To one and all, he preached that “they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” This preaching called for a chan...

EVERY DEED WILL BE TESTED (OCTOBER 31)

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"For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

THE LAST VERSE IN ECCLESIASTES GIVES US THE REASON WHY WE SHOULD FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. Reverence and obedience must define the way we live because “God will bring every deed into judgment.” All that we do is going to be tested, not by the trial of any human evaluation, but by the judgment of God Himself. Not wanting to deal...

IN A WORLD OF FUTILITY, HOW SHOULD WE LIVE? (OCTOBER 30)

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"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

IN ECCLESIASTES, WE ARE CONFRONTED WITH OUR POWERLESSNESS. Neither the human race collectively nor any of us individually can ever be sure that performing actions “A” and “B” will lead to “C” in this life. It might, but it might not. But if what we do can’t be counted on to give us the...

THERE ARE THOSE WHO PERVERT GOD'S GRACE (OCTOBER 29)

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"For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" (Jude 4).

THERE WAS AN URGENT PROBLEM AMONG THE CHRISTIANS TO WHOM JUDE WROTE. Having urged them to “contend for the faith” (v.3), in v.4 Jude gave the reason why such a defense of the faith was necessary: it was because “certain people have c...

THE FAITH IS WORTH CONTENDING FOR (OCTOBER 28)

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"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

JUDE MAKES TWO POINTS ABOUT THE GOSPEL, EACH OF WHICH OUGHT TO IMPRESS US. First, he calls it “the faith.” And second, he says that it was “once for all delivered to the saints.” The faith is not an ever-evolving system o...

EACH MUST CHOOSE (OCTOBER 27)

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"Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve...

THE GOOD CONFESSION (OCTOBER 26)

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"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:12).

OPENNESS, TRANSPARENCY, DISCLOSURE. These are words with a very high social value these days. We tend to view them positively (at least as far as other people’s conduct is concerned).

But what about openness with regard to our religious convictions, especially those that might get us...

WHY SAUL, THE RABBI, OBEYED THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST (OCTOBER 25)

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". . . in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith -- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:8...