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Devotion November 15th

TUESDAY 15th

 

2 Peter 1:4

 

‘. . . by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises’

 

The continuation of what we have been reading and going through in these opening verses lead us to notice that through God and by his power, and through our deepening knowledge of him we are enabled to live in godliness and as a result something of the glory and excellence of Christ is shared with us which further leads to us being granted his precious and very great promises.

 

This automatically dictates that all that God has prepared in the future eternal glory is only prepared for and to be received and shared by those who have obtained as we read in the first verse, ‘a faith of equal standing . . . by the righteousness of our God and saviour Jesus Christ’.

 

This surely means that there must also be something prepared for those who have not come to the position of obtaining the righteousness that comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For, to miss out on God’s precious and very great promises means that something else must take its place and the sad news, the negative side of the positive news is that God has prepared a place for those who have rejected him, and it is a place of eternal separation from God, the same place that has been prepared for the devil and the hosts of darkness, a place that Scripture refers to as the lake of fire. It will be a place of eternal lostness, eternal suffering and eternal torment. We read of it in Revelation 20 verses 11-15. We must not shy away from warning men and woman of the eternal damnation of all who have not come to a real and dynamic faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

But for us who are saved, we rejoice in this that God has precious and great promises for us in this life as we place our trust in him, but there is that which is to do with eternity as well.

 

We know that the Scriptures contain many promises,  and we can perhaps recall many of them, but I want to remind us of the great promises to do with our future state. Firstly, there is the promise that Christ will come again, what a great and wonderful promise. ‘I will come again’, Jesus told his disciples, ‘and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also’ (John 14:3). Hold onto this precious and great promise. And then there is the promise of the resurrection from the grave, relating to those who have died in Christ and the corresponding rapture of those who are alive at that time, ‘Behold! I tell you a mystery’, Paul writes, he continues,  ‘We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet’ (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Again I say, hold on to this precious and great promise and then there are the promises concerning our eternal state, as an example we cut into what John records for us in Revelation 21, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away . . .’ (verses 2-4).

 

Put together these are precious and very great promises, for they give to us a present assurance in our hearts and a hope that is eternal, that because we have placed our faith in Jesus, as we remain in him, we are eternally secure.

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Devotion January 25th

TUESDAY 25th

Psalm 119:16

ESV (v16) – ‘I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.’

Today’s devotion is a very simple plea, in the previous devotion I mentioned the importance of ‘hiding the Word’ in our hearts. It will only happen if we heed what the verse I have chosen today says. ‘I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.’

I have a certain number of tablets that I need to take every morning and evening owing to Crohn’s disease and guess what, I regularly forget about them, it is only because Elaine reminds me that I do take them every day! 

I wonder how often we ‘forget’ or ‘neglect’ to read the Word of God every day? We get so busy with everything else that God’s Word isn’t considered to be as important as everything else that we fill up our day with. Yes, we can catch up on the social media, that is a must, we can catch up on the news, the TV gossip and soaps, we can ensure that everything else is followed to the jot and tittle and yet ‘forget’ or ‘neglect’ God’ Word. 

The psalmist delighted so much in the Word of God that he ensured that he didn’t forget it, in the previous devotion I talked about forgetting it regarding our trying to remember it, today it is all about our forgetting it due to our neglect of reading it.

May we always hold the Word of God as not only valuable in our lives but also as essential, as essential as the air we breathe, for in it are found the words of life, may my devotion today be like Elaine’s reminder to me, ‘Don’t forget your tablets.’ I say, ‘Don’t forget your daily medicine, a daily dose of the written Word of God.’

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Devotion January 24th

MONDAY 24th

Psalm 119:9-16 (ESV) – Section Two – Hebrew – BETH

‘How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.’

I mentioned a few devotions earlier about the young girl who had sought to memorize Psalm119, I wonder how many times we have sought to memorize portions of Scripture? I remember having to learn the section in Luke 10 on the parable of the Good Samaritan, (vv25-37) I did manage it, but would fail miserably if I tried to recite it now, I have made other attempts, I recall a time when I was reading through the Ephesian epistle multiple times with the hope of memorising it, but I failed. But even though I may not be able to recall word for word, something happened in that the Word of God has become hidden or as this psalm says, ‘stored up in my heart’ and time and time again, I have found that while preparing ministry, or devotions, or in conversation, the Word that has been stored in my heart comes to memory and can be used and quoted.

From our verses today we discover that the Word that has been read, meditated upon, or maybe memorised, becomes like a guard in our hearts and lives and helps to govern the way that we live, it helps to stop us from sinning against God, it governs our conscience and triggers spiritual awareness.

This is one of the reasons why our regular reading of the Word of God is important and essential to our Christian growth and maturity, for God speaks to us through it, he reveals his will to us through it and he shows us exactly how he wants us to be as his Children as we live in obedience to him.

Through these devotions around this psalm my prayer is that we will have a greater love for the Word of God, so that as we turn to it, perhaps more frequently to what we have been doing so, that we may find it being stored in our hearts.

Some animals, creatures spend the summer and autumn months storing food so that they can return to it in the winter months to have as a food source, to replenish and give energy, to keep them going till springtime appears again.

I have witnessed time and time again, with older Christians, those who have stored up the Word of God in their hearts, and when the winter of their life has come, perhaps they can no longer read etc. and what has been stored comes back to them, and they can quote it because they have lived by it. The stored Word gives them spiritual energy. May none of us be lacking in our later years because we have failed to store up in our earlier years the life and energy that is to be found in God’s Word.

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Devotion January 20th

THURSDAY 20th

 

Psalm 119:1-8

 

While going through this Psalm, I will only use the ESV as I quote verses.

 

ESV (vv1-8) – Section One – Hebrew – ALEPH

 

‘Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!

 

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

 

I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!’

 

This Psalm commences with the same word as the first Psalm, ‘Blessed’ (1:1) Both Psalms remind us that there is a blessedness linked to the Word of God and our obedience toward it.

 

In the first psalm it is concerning our love and devotion toward the Word rather than a love or devotion toward the things of the world, instead of walking, standing or sitting with those who scorn the things of God, we choose instead to delight in the ways of God and in his Word, we choose to meditate daily upon it and know that as a result we will be blessed, we will be like trees that are planted by streams of water, rooted and well fed.

 

In this the 119th psalm, it has a similar tone in that the ‘blessed’ person is the one who chooses to walk in the law of the LORD, allowing the Word to enable us to walk blamelessly in this world in which we are passing through as strangers and pilgrims on our way to the heavenly city. We choose to keep his testimonies and we choose to seek the LORD God with our whole heart.

 

The author says that God has commanded that his precepts be kept diligently, we cannot to choose to obey one day and then ignore the next, we need to have a consistency in our walk with God and in our love and obedience for his Word.

 

We have discovered that the Word of God is referenced with many different words or phrases which we looked at yesterday, but for today, for each one of us reading this devotion how about we renew our love toward the Word of God and our commitment to its place and priority in our lives as his children. This is one sure way toward being blessed, for this is the promise in the opening verses, ‘Blessed are those who keep his testimonies.’

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Devotion January 19th

WEDNESDAY 19th

Psalm 119 (Verses in devotion)

A quick glance through this Psalm, soon uncovers several different words or phrases used to describe the Word of God. Initially to those who would have read this psalm, it would have been looking back to the commandments that God had given to his people the Children of Israel which we see within the first five books, Genesis through to Deuteronomy.  Today the phrase the Word of God covers both the Old Testament and the New Testament as found in our Scriptures today. And just as the first five books would have been instructive and important to the Children of Israel so the whole Scripture is or should be to us today.

Today we will look at some of the various descriptions used for the Word of God.

In the ESV I use daily I have gone through the psalm and underlined every word that is used with reference to the Word of God, and they total up as follows: (with an example)

Commands or commandments – 23 (119:10 ‘With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!’)

Word(s) – 29 (119:57 ‘The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.’)

Statutes – 22 (119:33 ‘Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.’)

Precepts – 21 (119:56 ‘This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.’)

Law – 24 (119:34 ‘Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.’)

Rules – 17 (119:102 ‘I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.’)

Testimonies – 24 (119:125 ‘I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!’)

If I also include:

Judgments – 2 (119:120 ‘My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.’)

Promise(s) – 9 (119:38 ‘Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.’)

Ways – 2 (119:37 ‘Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.’)

That is 173 references in 176 verses! This surely emphasises how important the Word of God should be to us his people!

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Devotion December 29th

WEDNESDAY 29th

Psalm 107

Scriptures in devotion.

I want to continue in this psalm again today because yesterday I highlighted the plight of the sinner, today I want to highlight what God did for them after they cried out to him.

In verse 6 they cried, and it continues in v7 ‘He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.’ and verse 9 ‘For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.’ This is the good news of the gospel, as we cry out to the Lord in desperation of soul, he comes, and he puts our feet on a straight path, yes, it may be a narrow path, but it leads to life everlasting, it leads to a heavenly city where we will eternally dwell, and while walking this path God satisfies the longing soul. It was Jesus who said to those listening to him on the mountain side, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied’. Men and women will never know what true satisfaction is until they come and fully surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, maybe you are reading this today and you are seeking to get satisfaction in life, and you are trying anything and everything except Jesus, turn to him today, allow him to come and give you purpose and release the potential that God has planted within you.

In verse 13 they cried and verse 14 continues to say, ‘He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and burst their bonds apart’ and verse 16 ‘For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.’ Again, it was Jesus who said while reading from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”’ God is able to deliver and set the captives free, Jesus blood can make the foulest clean, he is able to break the chains of addiction, he is able to release the oppressed and possessed, for there is power at work in his redeeming grace, the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who refuse to believe but when an individual responds by faith it releases the power of God not only to save but also to set free. It was Charles Wesley who wrote the words of the wonderful song, Jesus, the Name high over all, the second verse reads:

He breaks the power of cancelled sin,

And sets the prisoner free;

His blood can make the foulest clean,

His blood avails for me.

His blood avails, it is still as powerful as it was when he shed it at Calvary, it still breaks the bonds and sets the captives free. Free from guilt, free from addiction, free from bondage.

Jesus, the prisoner’s fetter breaks,

And bruises Satan’s head,

Power into strengthless souls he speaks,

And life unto the dead.

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Daily Devotion May 27th

WEDNESDAY 27th

As we continue the theme of the name of Jesus today, we will consider five short points.

We GATHER in his name.

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is having to deal with an individual who has sinned, but the context is not so important for now, but a statement he makes in v4 is, ‘When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus . . .’ From this we can deduct that when the Church gathers together it must always be in the name of Jesus, or because of the name of Jesus, or to put it in another way, in our coming together, Jesus should always be at the centre and the purpose for which we have come together. In Matthew 18:20 Jesus says, ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.’ If we want to know the presence of Jesus among us when we come together, we must gather in his name. It is not about you or me, it is all about Jesus and to lead us to the second point, when we come together:

We GLORIFY his name.

 In our coming together we should seek to glorify his name. Sadly today we are living in an age of celebrity, the world is full of celebrities, and sadly it is a culture that is creeping in, or has crept into the life of the Church, we have made celebrities out of leaders, pastors, worship leaders etc. The one who should be the centre of our attention when we gather together is the one who’s name is above every other name, he alone is the one we celebrate and worship, he alone is the one who deserves all the glory and honour, he alone is the one we should be exalting. Thank God for leaders, pastors, and worship leaders who God has raised into places of leadership and authority, but never ever should they become the focus of our attention, if they do not point us to a place of glorifying God, then we should remove ourselves from them, and if they themselves become the centre of our attention, then we reposition ourselves into a new place where the Lord is being glorified.

We GO in his name.

It wasn’t until I was putting yesterday’s devotion together and reading the verse from 3 John 1:7 that I put two and two together and realised that an old hymn we used to sing years ago was probably based upon this actual verse of Scripture. I have sung the hymn many times, not realising its source. The Scripture says, 3 John 1:7 ‘For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.’ The hymn we sang was ‘For my sake and the gospel’s, go and tell redemption’s story.’

It is for the sake of the name of Jesus that many have left the shores of the United Kingdom to share the gospel around the nations of the world. As a result, many have given up homes, families and even their lives for the name of Jesus and the sake of the gospel. They have reckoned that because of his name it was worth it, they realised that putting Jesus first, putting him at the centre meant that nothing else mattered but redemptions story. And as Paul testified about himself, they went willing to suffer for his name, some even imprisoned because of his name and some even faced death because of his name.

To lead to our next point, this verse in 3 John is followed with verse 8 which says, ‘Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.’

We GIVE of our resources in his name.

Thank God for those who are willing to go, but we are not all called to leave the UK to serve God on foreign soil, but we can all play our part. First in praying for them, and prayer for mission or prayer for mission organizations should always feature in our prayers, but secondly, we can give, we can give financially to support the work of worldwide mission. And as we give, we give in his name, for the furtherance of the gospel story so that it will lead to many more coming and calling upon the name of the Lord and being saved. Colossians 3:17 ‘and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’ This includes our giving!

Finally

We GIVE thanks in the name of Jesus.

Ephesians 5:20 ‘Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’

We have come into His house

Gathered in His name to worship Him,

We have come into His house

Gathered in His name to worship Him,

We have come into His house

Gathered in His name to worship Christ, the Lord

Worship Him, Jesus Christ, the Lord.

Let’s forget about ourselves

Concentrate on Him and worship Him,

Let’s forget about ourselves

Concentrate on Him and worship Him,

Let’s forget about ourselves

Concentrate on Him and worship Christ, the Lord

Worship Him, Jesus Christ, the Lord.

Let us lift up holy hands

Magnify His Name and worship Him,

Let us lift up holy hands

Magnify His Name and worship Him,

Let us lift up holy hands

Magnify His Name and worship Christ, the Lord

Worship Him, Jesus Christ, the Lord.

He is all my righteousness

I stand complete in Him and worship Him,

He is all my righteousness

I stand complete in Him and worship Him,

He is all my righteousness

I stand complete in Him and worship Christ, the Lord

Worship Him, Jesus Christ, the Lord.

Bruce Ballinger CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion May 22nd

FRIDAY 22nd – Hebrews 2:5-18

We continue with the subject of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yesterday we looked at several Scriptures that pointed to Jesus being seated at the right hand of God. I deliberately left one out to use today because it brings us to our third point concerning the ascension.

  1. It led to the High Priestly Ministry of Jesus. Hebrews 8:1 ‘Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.’

The whole of the redemption story should enthral us, the word enthral could be replaced with excite, capture, or captivate. It is such an amazing story but more important is the reality of its application in our hearts and in our lives. To be ‘saved’ means that we know this man Jesus as our Redeemer, Saviour. It means we belong to him and are found to be in him, Paul often uses the phrase ‘In Christ’, what a blessed position. But, knowing Jesus as our Saviour also means that he is also our Great High Priest. As our Great High Priest, he acts as an advocate in the presence of God on our behalf, he intercedes on our behalf. John, in his gospel tells us that ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ (John 1:1-2,14) God became a man in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and he lived as a man, he died as a man, he was raised as a man, he ascended as a man and he intercedes for us as a man. Paul reminds us in his letter to Timothy, ‘For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’ (1 Timothy 2:5) and what a great High Priest he is, he has presented himself to God as a sacrifice for our sin, he pleads in the presence of God on our behalf and he is a perfect intercessor because he has been where we are (yet without sin) and he is permanently sufficient for our eternal redemption. Hebrews 2:17-18 ‘Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

4. It means that Jesus can come again! Jesus promised his disciples in his final week with them that he was going to prepare a place for them and that he would come again and receive them so that they could be where he was. (John 14:1-3) On the day of his ascension, after Jesus was taken up, and while the disciples looked up into heaven the Scripture tells us ‘Two men stood by them in white robes, and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’ (Acts 1:10-11)

For Jesus to be able to fulfil his promise to the disciples about coming again, he would have to go or leave them, and on Ascension Day, that is what he did – he went, and where to? Up into heaven, into the presence of his Father. And because he has gone, it means not only can he come again, but that he will come again, first to the clouds to receive those who are ‘in Christ’, that is both the living and the dead, to take into his presence (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) but also to stand once again on the mount of Olives from where he will establish his millennial kingdom upon the earth. (Zechariah 14:4)

There is a man in the glory, he has been given a name which is above every name, he is crowned with glory and honour, he is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, he is interceding on our behalf and one day he will come and call us into his presence.

The Ascension is so important, it VERIFIES what Christ has done, for as he ascends the Father receives him back into his presence with a resounding ‘well done.’ It VINDICATES what he has done, for his victory is a permanent once for all-time victory, it VOUCHES for the future, we have a hope that is steadfast and sure.

Jesus is king and I will extol him

Give Him the glory, and honour His name

He reigns on high, enthroned in the heavens

Word of the Father, exalted for us

We have a hope that is steadfast and certain

Gone through the curtain and touching the throne

We have a Priest who is there interceding

Pouring His grace on our lives day by day

We come to Him, our Priest and Apostle

Clothed in His glory and bearing His name

Laying our lives with gladness before Him

Filled with His Spirit we worship the King

O Holy One, our hearts do adore You

Thrilled with Your goodness we give You our praise

Angels in light with worship surround Him

Jesus, our Saviour, forever the same

Wendy Churchill ©1981 Springtide/Word Music/ CopyCare CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion May 20th

WEDNESDAY 20th – Reading in the verses below

Yesterday we contemplated the wonder of the love and the wisdom of God, we will spend a little longer on this again today. First take at look at the following Scriptures and meditate upon them. They all link in with what we looked at yesterday concerning the immensity of the wisdom and the love of God. They remind us that God is in control and that he knows exactly what he is doing in the circumstances of our lives.

Romans 11:33-36 ‘Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!  For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.’

Romans 8:28 ‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.’

Job 11:7-9 ‘Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?  It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?  Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.’

Psalm 92:5 ‘How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!’

Isaiah 55:8-9 ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’

Isaiah 28:29 ‘This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.’

You may recall in last Saturdays devotion I asked a question as to whether we have ever felt angry with God, today these verses could  prompt us to ask, how often have we questioned what God is doing in the circumstances of our lives? I know I have, many times, and each time I come back to rest in the assurance that even though I may not understand what God is doing, I know that he knows. In fact, it is amazing how many times over the last few months that somehow or someway God has taken me (and as a result through the devotions, you as well) back to Romans 8:28. AND today I believe he wants us to stand upon the assurance that this Scripture gives.

This has been a much shorter than usual devotion, but the reason is this, I have to act on instinct, or should I say the conviction the Holy Spirit puts in my spirit to stop here and challenge each one of us to tell the Lord that we trust him despite whatever our circumstances may be, as we acknowledge him in all our ways, he will direct our paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I’ve come too far to look back

My feet have walked through the valley

I’ve climbed mountains, crossed rivers

Desert places I’ve known

But I’m nearing the home shore

The redeemed are rejoicing

Heaven’s angels are singing

I’ve come too far to look back

I’ve come too far to look back again

There is nothing behind me

All the treasures I used to love

Have all faded from view

There’s a new day ahead for me

All my heartache is over

For I left it at Calvary

Where my new life began

Look around, there’s no happiness

There’s no reason for living

Life will give you a broken dream

Filled with heartaches and fear

Turn around and don’t look back again

Face the new day before you

Place your heartache in Jesus hand

He will mend broken dreams

Nancy Harmon CCLI 788682

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Daily Devotion May 17th

SUNDAY 17th – Ephesians 2:1-10

‘No ifs, no buts’

I wonder how many of us know of this little phrase, ‘no ifs, no buts’ and if so, in what context? For me it takes me back to growing up on the farm and either my mum or dad would give an instruction, usually in regard to a job that needed doing or maybe homework that need completing  and one of us would start with our objections as to why we thought we couldn’t do what was being asked and out it would come, ‘no ifs, no buts’ just get on with it.

I was out walking and contemplating the devotions for this week and this phrase dropped into my mind, and the thought I had was this, thank God that there are some ifs and buts in Scripture. For example, in 2 Chronicles 7:13 the Lord says ‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land or send my pestilence among my people . . .’ This isn’t good news, that God would do these things, but it is followed by an ‘if’ in verse 14, ‘IF my people who are called by name . . . I will hear . . . I will forgive . . . I will heal their land.’

In the New Testament we have as an example, Ephesians 2:12 ‘remember that you were at that time separated from Christ . . .’ then verse 13 continues, ‘BUT now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’

To start this week we will look at two of the ‘buts’  If you have already read the verses for our reading and maybe continued in the chapter, you may have noticed it contains two ‘buts’, the first is in verse 4, ‘But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us’  the second is in verse 13 as quoted above.

In this chapter the ‘but’ defines a change, a change in what we were to what we have become, a change in our situation and in our position and the changes have come about because of Gods abundant mercy, his great love, and his amazing grace.

A brief summary of the first few verses in this chapter tells us that we were spiritually dead because of our trespasses and sins, we walked as the unbelieving world walked, we lived selfish and sinful lives and we were under the wrath of God. In other words we were depraved sinners and deserving eternal punishment yet because of the ‘but’ in verse 4, we have instead come to know Gods mercy, love and grace and we have been made spiritually alive, the wrath of God has been turned away from us, we are in Christ, and we are already knowing and will continue to know his unmeasurable riches of grace in our lives, and we have become his workmanship. (Philippians 2:13 ‘for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure’) We no longer live according to the flesh but we are living out good works which he prepared for us to do. What a transformation, what a change, an incredible change in our character, in our position and in our lifestyle.

Thank God that we have come to know this wonderful change in our lives, and it is because of a ‘but’, because of Gods abundant mercy, great love, and amazing grace.

Let us ponder on these three things today.

Abundant mercy – Our text says that God is rich in mercy, this means that despite the depth of our sin or the depravity of our human nature, God’s mercy is far greater. One hymn writer puts it this way, ‘Come, ye sinners, lost and hopeless, Jesus’ blood can make you free; For He saved the worst among you, When He saved a wretch like me. And I know, yes, I know, Jesus’ blood can make the vilest sinner clean, And I know, yes, I know Jesus’ blood can make the vilest sinner clean.’

In Psalm 51:1 the Psalmist cries out ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.’ Imagine where we would be if God were not a God of mercy! We may not think that we should be called the vilest sinner, but the truth of the matter is that whatever our sin we were all lost, hopeless, deserving of hell, but because of his mercy, he came to seek and to save the lost. He found you and he found me. Titus puts it this way, Titus 3:5 ‘he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.’

Gods mercy is linked with his love, Psalm 103, verse 11 is translated in the KJV as ‘For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.’ The modern versions translate ‘great is his mercy’ as ‘great is his love’ (ESV, NIV) Our text v4 says that God is rich in mercy because of his great love. They are both (mercy and love) eternally entwined in the character and nature of God and in his dealings toward mankind. Sadly, many still choose to reject both his love and his mercy. Our testimony is this, ‘Mercy there was great, and grace was free’

Great love – We have already seen how the mercy of God is extended towards mankind because of his great love. I almost should not need to expound on the greatness of his love, for we who believe have all come to be recipients of it because of Calvary. John 3:16 tells us that God so loved, (that is he was bursting with so much love for) the world (lost and sinful humanity) that he gave his one and only Son (to be a sacrifice for the sinner at Calvary) so that if we believe on him we will not perish (go to Hell) but will have eternal life. (italics mine) The immensity of the love of God should never cease to amaze us and should always win a positive response from us. ‘Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. The song writer expresses it this way, ‘The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.’

1 John 4:10 ‘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.’

Romans 5:8 ‘but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

Amazing grace – It was John Newton who penned the words of the famous song ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound’ he was a man who knew what he deserved as a wretched sinner and yet had become a recipient of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And such were we, wretched, lost, and helpless until Gods amazing grace got hold of us and saved us.

Someone has said that GRACE can be described acronymically as ‘Great Riches At Christs Expense’. In other words, we get what we do not deserve because somebody else, in our case, Christ, does whatever is necessary for us to be able to receive it, (salvation) he died in our place as our substitute. We get what we could not earn, (redemption) we get what we could not achieve, (righteousness) we get status which we could never ever attain to, (seated with Christ in heavenly places) and all because of his grace which is given to us through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome is a great book of grace, the word grace appears around thirty times, I will end this devotion with some verses from that letter. Notice it is a ‘but’, Romans 3:21-25 ‘But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.’

Years I spent in vanity and pride,

Caring not my Lord was crucified,

Knowing not it was for me He died

On Calvary.

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;

Pardon there was multiplied to me;

There my burdened soul found liberty,

At Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;

Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,

Till my guilty soul imploring turned

To Calvary.

Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything,

Now I gladly own Him as my King,

Now my raptured soul can only sing

Of Calvary.

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man,

Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span

At Calvary!

William Reed Newell CCLI 788682