Tag: Redemption

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Daily Devotion June 26th

FRIDAY 26th

2 Corinthians 4

Yesterday I touched on the subject of being victorious in our suffering, in today’s devotion I want to enlarge further by looking at what Scripture says about our present suffering and place it in the context of what Paul says in this chapter, that is, that whatever we go through will be outweighed by that which is eternally prepared for us. Verses 16-18 ‘So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.’

In his earlier letter to the Corinthian believers Paul had written ‘But, as it is written, What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.’ (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Now we know that God has prepared for us in the present, that is everything that is wrapped up in our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ which we are blessed with today, but he has also prepared for us in the future, that which is yet unseen but will be revealed when we enter into his eternal presence. Jesus in one of his parables indicates this in Matthew 25:34 ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ James talks of the crown of life that is promised and therefore is prepared for those who remain steadfast in trials. (James 1:12)

The verses before us today remind us that though the outward is perishing, that is our mortal flesh, the inner man which has been made anew by the Spirit of God is being renewed daily. In other words, outwardly we are aging and decaying, it doesn’t matter how much anti-aging remedies we may be using to try to stop it, we will fail! Yet at the same time inwardly, we are being renewed and to use the words of Paul again we are being changed from glory to glory, 2 Corinthians 3:18 ‘And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.’

Now it may seem strange to speak of us being changed from glory to glory, as we always ascribe glory as being related to the Godhead, but in the context here it is talking of us who have been redeemed, becoming more like Christ, the more we are renewed inwardly the more we are being changed to become like Christ. The NIV brings this out ‘And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’

I remember as a young lad our Church often singing the chorus:

From glory to glory He’s changing me,

Changing me, changing me.

His likeness and image to perfect in me.

The love of God shown to the world.

For He’s changing, changing me,

From earthly things to the heavenly.

His likeness and image to perfect in me,

The love of God shown to the world.

It’s a wonderful thought that as Christians, although we are aging outwardly, losing all the youthful features and good looks (if we had them in the first place) something more wonderful is happening inwardly, we are becoming more like Christ. This is the work of sanctification taking place. But there is more good news, the aging, decaying body is not going to be left out of the process of glory! For, that which is temporal, will one day be made anew, and clothed with that which will be eternal. There is going to be an eternal glory, again as a lad I can remember the preachers talking of our justification, sanctification and our glorification, glorification is not only our becoming more Christlike, but also our being changed from temporal to eternal, from momentarily to eternal, from decay to eternal and it is Paul again who brings the wonder of this truth to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verses 35-49, I quote here verses 42-49 ‘So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.’

I quote Paul again from 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ‘For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.’ (Did you notice prepared again)

We will continue to look at the resurrection of the body in the next devotion, but may we be encouraged and reminded today with the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:11 ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’

What is at present is temporal, but what will be, will be eternal, no more sickness, no more suffering, no more pain, no more decaying, no more aging, no more dying, instead we will be entering eternally into the joy and the presence of the Lord.

There’s a place where the streets shine

With the glory of the Lamb

There’s a way we can go there

We can live there, beyond time

Because of You, because of You

Because of Your love, because of Your blood

No more pain no more sadness

No more suffering, no more tears

No more sin, no more sickness

No injustice, no more death

Oh, our sins are washed away

And we can live forever

Now we have this hope

Because of You

Oh, we’ll see You face to face

And we will dance together

In the city of our God

Because of You

There’ll be joy everlasting

There’ll be gladness, there’ll be peace

There’ll be wine ever flowing

There’s a wedding, there’s a feast

Matt Redman CCLI788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion June 19th

FRIDAY 19th

Hebrews 9:11-28

Continued from yesterday. Yesterday we looked at we have been saved, today we continue with We are being saved.

Once we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we are still living in the hostile sinful world, the enemy of our souls would love to drag us back, pull us back into his kingdom of darkness. We are reminded by Peter that the devil is going around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour – (1 Peter 5:8) Peter is writing to believer’s; therefore, he is warning believers. Let us remind ourselves today the devil would love to distract and divert us in our walk of faith, he would love us to deviate and eventually to get us back onto the road that leads to destruction. Peter continues that the believers needed to ‘resist him’. As we have been saved, so we will continue to be being saved as we continue to resist the devil and walk faithfully in our new-found lives as believers or followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God that the Scripture reminds us that as we walk in this hostile world, as we become determined in our hearts to persevere in the struggles of life and in our ongoing relationship with Jesus that he is able to keep us, to prevent us from falling away. Jude 1:24-25 ‘Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.’ In verse 21 Jude has told the believers ‘keep yourselves in the love of God’

I appreciate that on this matter there are two camps, those who believe once saved always saved and those who believe in the possibility of backsliding or falling away. Whatever our position, let us remind ourselves that the Scripture has many references to our need to be watchful, of the need to persevere, and of the need to keep our focus upon Jesus and the finishing line.

We will be saved. Hebrews 9:28 ‘. . . so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.’

One day the race will be over, whether it be through natural death or as a result of the Lords return, and at that moment we who have been saved and who have been kept will be saved throughout eternity, safe as we often say ‘in the arms of Jesus’ or ‘in the presence of Jesus’. Reminding ourselves again of what Jude said, ‘presented blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy’ (Jude 1:24) What a day that is going to be, the day when we finally stand in the presence of Almighty God, the day when we at last will see with our own eyes the Lamb that had been slain, our wonderful and beautiful Saviour, the day when we will gather around the throne with all the redeemed of the Lord and sing out ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’, when we will lift our voices together and sing with those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb from every tribe and language and people and nations, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing’.

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Will you be there?

The same Scripture that reveal to us God’s wonderful plan of redemption also warn us of the dreadful fate of those who have refused to believe, who do not know the wonder of this great redemption story, of those who have rejected it and spurned the incredible and amazing love of God. It says that as we who have believed will be rejoicing in our full and complete salvation, those who have rejected God’s mercy and grace, whose names will not be found in the Lambs book of life will be judged and thrown into the lake of fire. Heaven is real, but sadly so also is Hell. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart but come by faith and believe and accept God’s offer of grace and mercy as he has shown it though the sacrificial death of his Son at Calvary. God loves you, God has died for you, was raised for you and he waits with his arms open wide to welcome you.

One final Scripture, it precedes the verse I commenced this little section with in Hebrews 9:27 ‘And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment . . .’

There is coming a day,

When no heart aches shall come,

No more clouds in the sky,

No more tears to dim the eye,

All is peace forever more,

On that happy golden shore,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be,

When my Jesus I shall see,

And I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace;

When He takes me by the hand,

And leads me through the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

There’ll be no sorrow there,

No more burdens to bear,

No more sickness, no pain,

No more parting over there;

And forever I will be,

With the One who died for me,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be,

When my Jesus I shall see,

And I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace;

When He takes me by the hand,

And leads me through the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Jim Hill CCLI788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion June 18th

THURSDAY 18th

John 3:1-16

We continue to look at our word study on ‘saved’.

To have been saved means that we must have been saved from something and today we will consider three aspects of our being saved and of what we have been saved from and saved to.

We will look at it in this way, we have been saved, we are being saved and we will be saved.

We have been saved. In John chapter three, we have the account of Nicodemus coming by night to have a chat with Jesus, it was an important conversation, for it came out from Nicodemus’ declaration that he believed that Jesus had come from God (v2) This means that Nicodemus must have understood something about the reality of the true and the living God and of there being a place where God existed for he accepted that Jesus had come from where God was. Jesus immediately responds by saying that no one can get to where God is unless they are born again.

Today we use the words ‘born again’ to describe our experience of being saved, the moment when we are ‘born again’ or ‘saved’ is also the moment when we have become a ‘new creation’ or ‘Christian’, a ‘follower of the Lord Jesus Christ’.

In Acts 16 the jailor asked Paul and Silas, ‘What must I do to be saved’ and they replied with ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved . . .’ (Acts 16:31) Earlier in Acts on the Day of Pentecost, the crowds asked ‘What shall we do?’ and Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised . . .’ (Acts 2:38)

When we are ‘saved’, as a result of the confession of our sin and our acceptance of our need of a Saviour and of our belief in Jesus as being the Saviour, we are forgiven – that is every sin that we have committed up to that point is forgiven, Scripture says it is blotted out. Acts 3:19 ‘Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.’  God removes it from us as far away as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12 ‘. . .as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.’ This can only happen because Jesus when he went to the cross took upon himself our sins and bore the punishment for them on our behalf and faced the wrath of God toward that sin for us and as a result we have a new clean start, we have become new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). We have been saved from our past sin, the punishment for that sin and the wrath of God toward that sin (Romans 5:9) and we have been saved to become the children of God, part of the blood washed community who make up the Church, the family or the household of God.(Ephesians 2:19) We will have been brought from out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of the Son of God.

Scripture says that at the moment of new birth, we have become justified (Romans 5:1) that is declared righteous before a holy God and the work of sanctification commences which makes us to become more like Christ as we proceed on our journey of faith. As we continue with the other letters in the word ‘Saviour’ we will learn more of the results of our being saved.

We will continue tomorrow.

There is power in the name of Jesus

We believe in His name

We have called on the name of Jesus

We are saved! We are saved!

At His name the demons flee

At His name captives are freed

For there is no other name that is higher

Than Jesus!

There is power in the name of Jesus

Like a sword in our hands

We declare in the name of Jesus

We shall stand! We shall stand!

At His name God’s enemies

Shall be crushed beneath our feet

For there is no other name that is higher

Than Jesus!

© 1989 Kingsway Thankyou Music CCLI788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion June 17th

WEDNESDAY 17th

Ephesians 2:1-9

Ephesians 2:8 ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God . . .’

Today and tomorrow we are taking the S from the word Saviour and looking at our being saved.

I wonder what the word saved conjures up in your mind thinking outside of the realm of spiritual salvation. I am sure we have all heard stories or accounts of individuals or groups that have been in some kind of dilemma and as a result of effort by others they have been saved from out of the dilemma they were in. Thinking back to 2010, when the story became known world-wide of the 33 miners trapped in the mine in Chile and the huge effort that went into planning a rescue mission to get to them and to save them. What about an individual who may have fallen into the sea and the great work that the RNLI do whatever the weather conditions to go out to rescue and save?

Spiritually we all needed saving, we were all lost, we were all trapped in the pit of sin, we were drowning in our sinfulness, hopeless and helpless, we were heading to Hell and separated from God for eternity. We need to remind ourselves hell is a real place, the lake of fire is a real place, eternal separation from God in that awful place is a future reality for all who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. (Revelation 20:11-15) But thank God that he is in the business of saving, of rescuing the lost and hopeless sinner. And he put a plan into place, a rescue mission, which involved sending a Saviour into the hostile environment of this world to put the plan into action and to bring it through to completion.

As a result of this rescue mission those of us who have accepted Jesus as Saviour can say that we are saved. Repeat these words ‘I am saved’ what a wonderful declaration to be able to make. Imagine the euphoria, excitement, joy, and appreciation that the Chilean miners had as each one was finally rescued. Such should be the experience of each one of us who have been saved by Gods wonderful grace, not just for time but for eternity.

Here are some Scriptures that refer to us as being saved and we will continue the theme tomorrow.

John 10:9 (Jesus said) ‘I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.’

Acts 2:21 ‘And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Acts 4:12 ‘And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’

Acts 16:30-31 ‘Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?  And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’

Romans 5:10 ‘For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.’

Romans 10:9-13 ‘. . . because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

1 Corinthians 1:18 ‘For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’

1 Corinthians 1:21 ‘For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.’

Jesus, my Lord will love me forever,

From Him no pow’r of evil can sever,

He gave His life to ransom my soul;

Now I belong to Him;

Now I belong to Jesus,

Jesus belongs to me,

Not for the years of time alone,

But for eternity.

Once I was lost in sin’s degradation,

Jesus came down to bring me salvation,

Lifted me up from sorrow and shame,

Now I belong to Him;

Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me,

Freed me from sin that long had enslaved me

His precious blood, He came to redeem,

Now I belong to Him;

Norman Clayton CCLI788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotions June 15th

MONDAY 15th

Ephesians Chapter 1

Ephesians 1:3 ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’

Over the weeks that I have been preparing the devotions, I have touched on this verse as it is a reminder to us as the children of God that we are a blessed people. God has blessed us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole realm of redemption is God at work through Christ to redeem and to reconcile mankind back to himself. Christ’s coming into the world and dying on the cross and rising again was God’s way of undoing or reversing the fall that happened way back in the Garden of Eden. Back then in that garden our fore-parents Adam and Eve, disobeyed Gods commandment, but Christ came and he in his garden experience chose to say ‘Not my will, but your will be done’ and he went in obedience the way of the cross to redeem all who would come to believe in him. I have also touched on a few occasions on the second chapter of Ephesians which show to us the then and now, what we were and what we have become as a result of believing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are all different as individuals, my story will be different to your story, what you were like before you were saved will be different to what I was like before I was saved except that we were all sinners, lost and hopeless, as the Scripture says, born in sin and our own righteousness was like filthy rags. But as the one song writer puts it, Jesus came along and he touched me, I have never been the same, touched me by his mighty power, glory to his matchless name, my life was filled with so much confusion, my life was filled with sin and shame, but Jesus came along and he touched me,  I have never been the same. In the words of another song that I have previously mentioned, ‘He touched me, he touched me and oh the joy that filled my soul, something happened, and now I know, he touched me, and made me whole.’

We who have been born again have been changed, transformed because we have been touched by the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. For me, the moment I was born again took place 51 years ago, what about you, regardless of how long ago the moment may have been I trust we are still rejoicing and excited about the fact that we are saved, that we have become the redeemed of the Lord, members of the family of God. Has the joy that filled your soul on that momentous day remained?

In Ephesians chapter one, Paul lists many of the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus, it is a good exercise to go through the chapter verse by verse, maybe spend some time during this week doing this and as you go through it be reminded of the blessings and the privilege position we are in as believers, allow the excitement and joy that redemption should bring to you fill your heart and soul again. Let us get excited again about who and what we are in Christ Jesus.

I cannot count Your blessings Lord they’re wonderful

I can’t begin to measure Your great love

I cannot count the times You have forgiven me

And changed me by Your Spirit from above

How I worship You my Father

You are wonderful how I glorify You

Jesus You’re my Lord

How I praise You Holy Spirit

You have changed my life

And You’re now at work in me

To change the world

When I was blind You opened up my eyes to see

When I was dead You gave me life anew

When I was lost You found me and You rescued me

And carried me rejoicing home with You

I cannot count Your mercies Lord they’re marvellous

I can’t begin to measure Your great grace

I cannot count the times that You have answered me

Whenever I have prayed and sought Your face

Whenever I consider what I am to You

My heart is filled with wonder love and awe

I want to share with others that You love them too

And tell the world of Jesus more and more

© 1988 Thankyou Music CCLI788682