Author: emmanuelpcgateshead

FRIDAY April 18^th

 

Luke 23:33

‘And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.’

 

I don’t usually send out devotions on bank holidays, but today I am just going to send the words of the following songs as we contemplate the wonder of Calvary, as you read the lyrics, allow your heart to be touched by his eternal love as you consider the cost of your great redemption.

 

‘. . . knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.’ 1 Peter 1:18–19.

 

‘. . . he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.’ Hebrews 9:12.

 

Three crosses stood on Calvary’s hill, twas crucifixion day

The time had come to pay sin’s debt, and death was the only way

A hammer and a soldier’s swing beat out redemption’s sound

And from those hands that healed the sick, the blood came streaming down

 

And from precious veins, sinners’ chains were broken by the blood

Those rusty nails that shook the gates of Hell, had started a crimson flood

To one and to all, who would heed this gospel call, are waiting liberty

And the truth remains and will never change, the blood still sets men free

 

There is no curse on old Golgatha, like there was when Jesus died

The crowd has passed away, that stood to watch Him be crucified

Two thousand years have come and gone since that day on Calvary

But the blood that flows from God’s own Son, it’s till setting sinners free

 

 

On Cal’vry’s hill of sorrow

Where sin’s demands were paid,

And rays of hope for tomorrow

Across our path were laid.

 

I see a crimson stream of blood,

It flows from Calvary,

Its waves which reach the throne of God,

Are sweeping over me.

 

I wish you all, those who are a part of our fellowship in Gateshead and those of the wider audience, who read or listen to the devotions a very happy Easter.

THURSDAY April 17^th

 

Matthew 26:39, 42

‘And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”’

 

‘Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”’

 

Luke 22:41-42

‘And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”’

 

Hebrews 12:2

‘. . . looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.’

 

For me it was in the garden

He prayed—“Not my will, but thine:”

He had no tears for his own griefs,

But sweat drops of blood for mine.

 

I wonder how often we get so familiar about something that we fail to stop and consider it with the consideration it deserves—how about this story of redemption. Perhaps it would behove us all to spend some time today, on the eve of Good Friday, to consider afresh the price that was paid for our eternal salvation.

 

As I suggested Sunday, today may be a suitable time to read and meditate Isaiah 53 and to remind ourselves while reading it that this is what Jesus was willing to undergo for me (make it personal).

 

He loved me so much so that he was willing to suffer for me, that is to be betrayed, mocked, beaten, whipped and much more, he was willing to take the punishment of my sin for me, he was willing to bear the wrath of God toward that sin for me, he was willing to be forsaken by God and to die for me. ‘Such love, weeps for the shame I know, such love, paying the debt I owe, O Jesus such love’

WEDNESDAY April 16^th

 

One of the best hymns for communion as far as I am concerned is the one written by George Perfect, ‘Jesus was slain for me at Calvary’. In the hymn, the message of the Cross becomes personal, for we know that God so loved the world, we know that Christ Jesus came into the world, because the message of the Cross was to be for all the world, but it is also personal as the following verse in Galatians 2:20 says:

 

‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’

 

Note the words ‘who loved ME and gave himself for ME’.

 

In the hymn by George Perfect in verse 1 it is, ‘Jesus was slain for ME’. In verse 2 it is ‘Pardoned is all MY sin’, ‘Now robes of praise I wear, gone are MY grief and care, Christ bore MY burden there, at Calvary’, and in verse 3 it is ‘Wondrous his love for ME, ever MY tongue shall tell of Calvary’.

 

The amazing story of God’s love, grace and mercy has become my story, ‘this is my story, this is my song, praising my Saviour all the day long.’

 

As you read this devotion today can you truly say that it is also your story. It can only be your story if you have come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging your sin before him, repenting of it and allowing him to come into your life. The word of God says that we need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, in the book of Acts as Peter preached about the death and the resurrection of Jesus, those listening asked him and the other disciples ‘What shall we do?’ and Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ Acts 2:38.

 

If you have never repented, if you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ then this incredible story is not your story, but it can be, and what better time to come to know and accept Jesus than over the Easter period.

 

But for we who do know that this is our story, this is our song, may we join in celebration as we contemplate the wonder of the atoning death and the triumphant resurrection of Jesus.

TUESDAY April 15^th

 

One of the words that I would use to describe all that God has done for us through Jesus is the word ‘amazing’.

 

We use the word to describe God’s grace, we sing ‘Amazing grace how sweet the sound’. We also sing ‘Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging’, in fact everything about God’s incredible plan of salvation is amazing, for from out of it we get so much that we really do not deserve, we deserved death, we deserved Hell, we deserved to be eternally cut off from God, and yet he was willing to reach out to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, to save us. It truly is amazing, incredible and praiseworthy.

 

Our text today is from Romans 5:6-9

 

‘For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.’

 

These verses shout out ‘amazing’! It is very rare that anyone would die for a good person, yet Jesus was willing to die, not for good people, but for sinners, we who were unworthy, we who were rebels, we who were deserving of eternal punishment. Let’s read it again, and let it sink in, ‘While we were STILL SINNERS, Christ died for us.’

 

Imagine if God had decided that if we could attain to a certain level of goodness or righteousness, then he would send Jesus to die for us, or what if Jesus had said to his Father, ‘Look how sinful they are, wait to see if there is any improvement in them and then I might die for them’. If that had been the case, we would have had no hope!

 

What we see is that God is also amazing in his mercy, he was willing despite our hopelessness and helplessness, knowing we could never attain a certain level of goodness and righteousness to send Jesus, and Jesus knew we would never improve, not even in the slightest way, and yet he was willing to come. Such is the amazing mercy of God. ‘Mercy there was great, and grace was free, pardon there was multiplied to me’.

MONDAY April 14^th  

 

We will spend the next few devotions contemplating some of the Easter story, starting with some verses from 1 John 4:9-10

 

‘In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’

 

As we commence this week leading up to Good Friday, it is good that we remind ourselves as to what the death and the resurrection of Jesus was all about, it was all about Jesus becoming the One who would pay the ultimate price for us as sinners to be forgiven. In his letter to Timothy, Paul wrote these words, ‘The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost’, 1 Timothy 1:15.

 

Mankind has a problem, and it is the problem of sin, we are all born as sinners, we are all born worthy of death, for the wages of sin is death. Romans 3:23, 6:23.

 

But thankfully God had a solution, a solution that was prepared even before the creation of the world, and it was that he would give to and send to this world, his only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:16

 

And in coming into this world, Jesus through his atoning death, will save all who would come to believe on him.

 

The redemption story is the greatest story that has ever been told, but more than that it was played out for real throughout the passage of time as Jesus came into this world as a baby, grew up as a man and willingly went to Calvary to atone for our sin. It is a true story; it is a powerful story, and it is a life transforming story.

 

May we be enthralled again as we contemplate all that Christ has done for us, remembering that he willingly suffered to bring about your pardon, my pardon from all our sin, so that in coming to know him we can know what it is to be forgiven, restored and reconciled to God. He took my sins and my sorrows, he made them his very own, he bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone.

FRIDAY April 11^th

 

I will complete the week with another devotion regarding our Christian Walk.

 

Genesis 5:22-24

‘Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.’

 

We will also read the verses concerning Enoch from Hebrews 11:5

 

‘By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.’

 

Enoch walked with God. There is nowhere on planet earth that marks the spot where Enoch was buried, because he did not die, instead he was a man who walked with God and pleased God so much so that God took him from off the earth and into his presence. Now, I wonder how many of us like to read grave / tomb stones? I do, I like to see what has been put on them but imagine that on your gravestone or mine could be written ‘Haydn walked with God, he pleased God’.

 

And we can walk with God, and we can please God! It doesn’t mean that he will take us the same way that he took Enoch, unless of course it is via the rapture, but he longs to walk with us and to talk with us. God longs for us to live our lives in such a way that it pleases him.

 

Back in the beginning, we read that before Adam and Eve sinned, that God used to come to them in the cool of the evening, it says in Genesis 3:8 that ‘they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day’, imagine it, meeting up with God and walking and talking with him! Well, Christ has reversed for us the curse of sin, he has quickened us and made us alive again, and part of the package (if you will excuse me putting it this way) is that we have been reconciled to God, and we can walk with him, we can talk with him, we can be in fellowship with him. And we need to walk the walk and talk the talk in such a way that we give not only glory to God but that the way we live our lives also gives him great pleasure.

Remember Enoch was no different to us, he had a family, he would have gone about his daily business, but he did it all in such a way that God was pleased with him.

THURSDAY April 10^th

 

Yesterday’s devotion on the theme of our Christian Walk was intended to be the final one, but overnight I awoke, and a verse of Scripture came to my mind and guess what it involved walking, here it is from

 

Acts 3:8

‘And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.’

 

I assume we are all familiar with the story, where the lame man had asked Peter and John for alms, and Peter spoke to the man saying ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’ (v6)

 

You can imagine this man hoping for a penny or two, but instead he gets something far more useful which was an incredible miracle that gave him for the first time ever the ability to stand up and walk! In fact, it was even more than to walk, he leapt, it would have been a leap of joy. But the first thing he did with this new ability to walk was to enter the temple to praise God!

 

Wow, I wonder what else he could have done, I wonder what would have been the first thing we would have done if we were in the same position, he went into the temple to praise God, to give thanks.

 

Now, there is another verse in this narrative that refers to walking and it is in verse 9 ‘And all the people saw him walking and praising God.’

 

Those around him witnessed the miracle, but they also witnessed the man walking and praising God, I want to bring an application from this verse, for we were once worse than lame, we were actually dead—dead in our trespasses and sins, but Jesus came along and he reached out to us, he has made us alive again, he has restored our souls, he has made us whole, and as a result we should also be making it a priority to be making our way to the house of God, walking (or driving as it is today) and leaping (being joyful) as we enter in to praise God. But as well, do those who we are among every day see the difference that Jesus has made in our lives. Are we different to them or to we try to blend in! Do they see us as men and women who are walking and praising God, does our personal testimony shine through.

WEDNESDAY April 9th

 

Psalm 1:1

‘Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers . . .’

 

Where not to walk

 

Well, it wouldn’t be right for me to end these few thoughts concerning the Christian Walk without reminding us that there are places or ways in which as the children of God we should not be walking.

 

In coming to Jesus, we have been made into new creations, and alongside that we should have new desires, our hearts should be toward the things of God and not the things of this world. It doesn’t mean that we live as if we have no contact or interaction with the ungodly nor with the world, but that the priority should be that of our putting God first. But there are those things that we should no longer have anything to do with and the psalmist puts it this way, the counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners and the seat of scoffers.

 

Sadly, many who claim to love Jesus seem to love the world and its transient pleasures more than they love God and the ways of God. If a machine could be constructed that could measure the desires of our heart, I wonder which way the needle would point—to the things of God or towards the pleasure of the world.

 

There is of course no such machine, but God knows, and he has placed within each one of us that which we call our conscience, and we need to heed the conscience and the conviction of the Holy Spirit so that our desires are toward walking in the ways that give pleasure to God.

 

The application today is from the word of God:

 

Proverbs 1:10 & 15

‘My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent . . . my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths.’

 

Proverbs 4:10-15

‘Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.  When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.’

 

Hebrews 12:1-2

‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.’

TUESDAY April 8^th

 

 

Revelation 3:4

‘Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.’

 

A future walk

 

Well by the time we will have reached this point, which I have called our future walk, we will have finished our earthly pilgrimage, we will have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and we will be walking in the presence of God!

 

Yes, for everyone who has been washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and been made clean, dressed in white robes, we will be found among the great throng of those who will be standing around the throne of God declaring

 

‘“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” Revelation 5.

 

In Revelation 7:9-10 we read this ‘After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”’

 

Application: There is a very simple yet serious application today: It is only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life who will be found in heaven, walking and rejoicing in the presence of God and of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

We need first to have accepted Jesus as Saviour and then we need to have ensured that we have done all we can to have kept ourselves unspotted by the world.

 

If you know Jesus, are you living in readiness for this future walk, and if you do not know Jesus, please consider that you will not and cannot enter heaven, he is the only way, he is the only one who has died for you so that you can come to him and be saved.

 

If you have the time read a little more about the wonderful future for those who know Jesus from Revelation chapters 21-22.

MONDAY April 7th

 

Psalm 23:4

‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’

 

The final walk

 

Although I have given this the title ‘The final walk’, it isn’t the last in these few devotions, but rather a reminder of the final walk that we will make this side of eternity, and should the Lord tarry a walk that each of us will have to make, the walk through the valley of the shadow of death. But although it may not be a theme that we readily want to have our minds thinking about, because we know Jesus as our Saviour and in the context of this Psalm as our Shepherd, this the final walk will lead us into a glorious future, into the presence of God himself.

 

It is that final walk that will transition us from time into eternity, from all that would beset us, sickness, pain, suffering to a place of newness, wholeness and completion.

 

As Paul thought of these things, he was in a dilemma for he didn’t know whether it was better to die and to be with Christ or to remain living in this world and to continue to preach the gospel, (Philippians 1:21-26), as much as he wanted to win souls, he also wanted to be with his Saviour. Paul like David who wrote Psalm 23, had no fear of death for he knew with a full assurance in his heart that just as he had walked with Jesus in this world, that Jesus would walk with him through the valley of the shadow of death.

 

We too can have this assurance, reminding ourselves of those powerful words that Paul wrote in Romans 8, ‘No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Romans 8:37–39.

 

Application: Are you afraid of dying? Read the following Scriptures to enable you to rest in God and in the assurance of an eternity with him.

 

Job 19:25-27, John 11:25-26, 1 Corinthians 15:51-57