Tag: Salvation

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Devotion January 31st

TUESDAY 31st

 

1 John 1:3

 

‘. . . that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.’

 

The word ‘fellowship’ comes from the Greek ‘koinonia’, John uses it twice here in verse 3 and then again in verses 6 and 7 in this same chapter. John is using it as we discovered in the last devotion to highlight the special and particular bond that is to be found among those who make up the Church which is the body of Christ, the communion or the community of the saints, the saints being those who have been called out of the world to form the ‘ecclesia’, the Church.

 

The Church is universal, in that it consists of all who have believed in Jesus, but it is also local in that it refers to a local gathering of believers, and fellowship, the importance of it and the desire for it should be our priority. The world is becoming increasingly hostile towards those who proclaim the name of Jesus and who stand up for righteousness, and unless we keep ourselves in a place of fellowship with one another and with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ,  we will find ourselves increasingly becoming easy prey to the attacks of everything and everyone which is becoming anti-God in our society.

 

The fellowship of the saints in a local Church gathering is vital and therefore should be a priority in our weekly agenda. Yes, there are genuine reasons why we may not be able to attend every week, but there should never be a reason not to attend at all unless of course due to extreme circumstances such as illness.

 

It is in the place of regular fellowship that we can truly get to know one another to be able to support, encourage and comfort one another. We need each other,

 

The Hebrew writer expressed the importance of Christian fellowship with these words, ‘And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.’ The lack of meeting together with other believers is considered here to be a bad habit, it is being neglectful to one’s soul, it speaks to me of one’s lack of concern for their spiritual well-being. In the physical we yearn for community, we ensure that we maintain health through eating well and maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle. O how more vital is it for us to yearn for spiritual fellowship, to maintain our spiritual health and to live a well-balanced Christian lifestyle.   

 

As a pastor, I can only encourage all who read the daily devotions, to seek to make every effort to be in the House of the Lord, especially on the Lord’s day, to be in fellowship with brothers and sisters to not only worship and exalt the Lord together but to be equipped, encouraged and strengthened, renewed in the evil days in which we are living. Please don’t allow yourself to become easy prey to the devil who is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking those who he can devour.

 

Recently I was going through some of the notes that I have scribbled down over the last couple of years and came across this one, I hadn’t noted where I got it from but it is so applicable to the importance of fellowship, ‘A bundle of sticks cannot be broken, but separated they can be snapped’. Think about it, are you trying to survive as a Christian in this world like a single stick, don’t, one day you will find yourself broken, your relationship with God broken, get back into fellowship and be a part of the bundle again.

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Devotion January 19th

THURSDAY 19th

 

We come over the next two devotions to look at the final verses in Peter’s second epistle, 2 Peter 3:14-17, for this devotion we will read verses 14-16

 

‘Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.’

 

In his closing remarks, Peter says to the readers of his letter, and to us who read it today, because you are waiting for these future promises to be fulfilled, be diligent to be found by him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes again,

 without spot or blemish, and at peace.

 

Peter started this letter off by talking about ‘his (that is Jesus’) precious and very great promises’ (2 Peter 1:4) this would have inspired the recipients of the letter to have thought much about all the great promises that Jesus had made and what is entailed in them for every believer, and I trust that as we have gone through this epistle that we too have thought about these great promises which are or should be precious to each and every one of us, and at the same time they should have spurred us and encouraged us to make sure that we are living in expectancy for the second coming of Jesus, ensuring that we are not getting entangled in anything that would cause us to be caught off guard when Jesus comes again.

 

Peter talks of being found without spot and blemish, now, we know that we cannot and do not attain sinless perfection in this life, but what he is encouraging is that we seek to live as close to what it is humanly possible to be with the help of the Holy Spirit in Christlikeness, seeking at all times to not follow the desires of the flesh, but to live and walk according to the Spirit, we live by allowing the ongoing work of sanctification to take place in our lives.

 

He reminds them again as he did in the second chapter of this letter of those who would seek to distort the truth, let us make sure that we hold onto not only the precious and very great promises found within the word of God, but also onto the truthfulness of the word of God. Live in readiness, live according to the word of God, live just as if today might be the actual day when Jesus will come again. Live in such a way that when he does come, you will not be ashamed, but will be ready.

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Daily Devotion August 8th

John 10:1-18

NIV (v11) – ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’

ESV (v11) – ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’

In today’s Scripture we come to the fourth of the ‘I am’ statements, ‘I am the good shepherd.’ It is only a few weeks ago that I highlighted the Scriptures that show us that Jesus is the ‘good, chief and great’ shepherd in our Sunday video.

Good as in our text for today.

Great in Hebrews 13:20

Chief in 1 Peter 5:4

Today we will consider the second part of the text ‘The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’

This is what Jesus came to do, he was born to die, he was born to become the sacrifice for the sins of the world, he was born to be both the shepherd and the lamb. As a result of his sacrifice, through him becoming the Passover Lamb, we can become a part of his flock, in the safety of his fold and know him as our Shepherd.

Back in our earlier devotions from John’s gospel we recalled what John the Baptist proclaimed when he saw Jesus coming toward him, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’, (John 1:29) But before he could take the sin away he had to go to Calvary, which was God’s appointed place for the sacrificial lamb to be slain. In 1 John 4:10 we read ‘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 sin.’

Lets remind ourselves that God loved us and so he sent his Son to be our sacrificial Lamb so that as a result of our coming to believe in him, we will have life which is abundant (John 10:10) and eternal (John 10:27) and at the same time we will come to know the Lamb as the Lord our Shepherd.

This is all good news, but there is further good news in this same chapter that reminds us that the one who came to be the sacrificial Lamb so that we can come to know him as our Shepherd has power over death, verse 17-18 says, ‘For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it upon again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from  my Father.’

He went to the cross, knowing that he was going to suffer, he knew the awfulness beforehand of everything that was going to happen, the scourging, the beating, the taunting, the thorns, the nails, the taking upon himself our sin and the punishment he would bear on our behalf for it, but he was willing, first because he loved us, second because he wanted to redeem us, and we could give a number of other reasons but my third will be because he knew that in laying down his life he had the power to take it up again, and fourthly because he had the power to lay down his life and to take it up again, he would have the power to grant eternal life to all who would believe and fifthly, he knew he was going to have a sheep-fold full of sheep, taken from among the nations and tribes of the world, men and women who will be washed in the his blood, the blood of the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 5) The Hebrew writer reminds us in Hebrews 12:2 ‘. . . who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross . . .’

Today as we contemplate what Christ has done for us, give thanks from a grateful heart, and should it happen to be that you are reading this and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Shepherd, then come to know him, as your Saviour, as your Shepherd. Come to the one who gave his life to redeem you, to reconcile you back to God, come into the safety of his sheepfold.

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Daily Devotion July 27th

MONDAY 27th

John 4

NIV (42) – ‘They said to the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.’

ESV (42) – ‘They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.’

This is a very well-known portion of Scripture, and I could so easily have spent a few days looking at it, but I have chosen to take this one verse.

The story of what we call the ‘woman from Samaria’ is a typical example of someone who had met with Jesus and as a result believed on him and therefore would have received eternal life. But it doesn’t just end at that, for she has become so excited and intrigued about what she has just experienced that she hurries of home to her town to tell the people ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’

I don’t know about you but I can hear the excitement in her voice, she was a woman of shame, the man she had met had exposed that shame, and yet she wanted to tell everybody else about him. Why, well one reason is that not only did  Jesus expose her shame, but he offered her an alternative. Either continue in your sinful lifestyle and be spiritually dry or take what I am offering, which is living water which will satisfy you not only for your present life but also for eternity. ‘. . . Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ (John 4:13-14) On going to the well for her daily water supply, she got far more than she bargained for, she got an eternal spiritual supply as well. Is not that something worth talking about, something worth sharing.

There have been some offers available after lockdown, which are not life transforming but, offers that are worth claiming. For example if you have the ‘Costa’ app on your phone, (other coffee brands are available!) or carry a ‘Costa’ loyalty card in your purse or wallet, then ‘Costa’ announced that they were going to add 300 points on to encourage a return to their outlets, enabling everyone with the card or app to get a free coffee! Now, this is not mega news, it is not life transforming news, but I can assure you I soon told others about it, and there have been other offers as well which have been shared.

We like the woman of Samaria have even better and more important news to share, we have found the source of eternal life, we have as she said ‘found the Christ’ how freely are we willing to tell others of the incredible offer he brings of forgiveness of sin and of eternal hope.

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Daily Devotion July 26th

SUNDAY 26th

Acts 4:4:5-12

NIV (v12) – ‘Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’

ESV (v12) – ‘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.’

We continue from yesterday and our brief look at John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’

c) The Uniqueness of the message of the gospel – whoever believes in HIM

John 3:16 is crystal clear that God loved and therefore he sent, and it is also crystal clear as to who he sent, his only Son, and God has only one Son and his name is Jesus. And it was Jesus who he sent into the world to be the Saviour of the world, and it is only by believing on his Son that we can have life that is abundant and eternal, therefore the message of the gospel is a unique message, it is the only message that brings hope to this dying world.

For God did not send **** (insert every other prophet or religious leader, or god of this world here) to save the world, he sent Jesus. So, when we claim that Jesus is the only way to God as Jesus himself declared in John 14:6, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’ we are not bigots or blinkered individuals, we are declaring the whole truth and nothing but the truth! And we know it to be so because God himself has said it. We need to be vocal in this multi-faith world in which we live by declaring the words of Peter in our text above, ‘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.’

d) The Ultimate aim of the gospel – to have eternal life – this takes us back to the whole reason why John said he had written the gospel ‘so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ Our problem is that we are dead in our trespasses and sin, spiritually dead, cut off from God and we need to be made alive again. And Jesus was the one who God sent into the world to make it possible. Galatians 2:20-21 ‘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.’ Ephesians 2:4-5 ‘But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved . . .’

e) The Unequivocal consequences of not believing the gospel – perish – When the Bible speaks of perish as here in John 3:16, it is speaking about being eternally cut off from God’s presence, in a place which is described as a lake of fire, when we think of something perishing, we perhaps think of something like a piece of fruit which as it perishes, goes into a state of decay until eventually it is no longer existing, nothing left in any shape or form, but when the Bible speaks of perish here it is not to eventually no longer exist in any shape or form but to remain in an eternal state of being spiritually dead, but the extremely sad thing is that although spiritually dead, not without consciousness and feeling.* It will be eternity spent with regret for not believing, eternity spent without any reprieve, eternity spent without any comfort or any further hope of redemption, eternity spent in the very presence of the devil himself, for that is also where he will be, eternally alienated from God.

Heaven is real – but so is Hell. If you are reading this devotion today and you have never come to accept the offer of salvation which God has made available to the whosover, then as Scripture says, ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart . . .’ Hebrews 3:7, ‘Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’ 2 Corinthians 6:2, ‘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 . . .’ Hebrews 2:3.

*  Jesus himself spoke of the reality of what Hell will be like in Luke 16:19-31 and the reality of future judgement is in Revelation 20:11-15

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Daily Devotion July 25th

SATURDAY 25th

John 3:16-21

NIV (v16) ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

ESV (v16) ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’

I have already used this verse in the devotion on July 7th but want to include it again. It is one of the most well-known and well used verses of Scripture that clearly reminds us of God’s love for humanity, God’s sacrifice for humanity and God’s offer of life for humanity, his one and only plan of redemption which comes through his one and only Son, or for those who prefer the KJV, ‘. . . his only begotten Son.’

What we see from this verse regarding redemption is:

ai)  The Underlying force for the gospel – the love of God

       aii) The underlying need for the gospel – man’s sin

bi)   The Universal reach of the gospel – the world

        bii)  The Universal reach of sin – all have sinned

c) The Uniqueness of the message of the gospel – whoever believes IN HIM

d) The Ultimate aim of the gospel – to have eternal life

e) The Unequivocal consequences of not believing the gospel – perish

We will consider the thoughts briefly over the next couple of days.

ai)  The Underlying force for the gospel – the love of God – 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.’

       aii) The underlying need for the gospel – man’s sin – Isaiah 64:6 ‘We have all

       become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a

       polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind,

       take us away.’

bi)   The Universal reach of the gospel – the world – Romans 8:32 ‘He who did not

spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?’

        bii)  The Universal reach of sin – all have sinned – Romans 3:23 ‘for all  

       have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ Romans 5:12 ‘Therefore, just

       as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so 

       death spread to all men because all sinned . . .’

The first four words of John 3:16 is a declaration that humanity does not deserve to hear because of its rebellion against God, ‘For God so loved’. The underlying need for the gospel is the depravity of humanity, his sinfulness, transgression and rebellion against God, and yet despite it all God still loves mankind, and his love for man whom he had created is such that it drives God to do something, to put a plan into action to deal with the sin, to save the sinner and reconcile him back into full relationship with himself again. Sometimes when you try to write something down in regard to these things it is difficult to put into words what you want to say, and even now as I consider the love of God toward the sinner, toward me, who deserves anything but his love, it is hard to comprehend, the lines of a couple of songs come to mind, ‘How deep the father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that he should give his only Son, to make a wretch his treasure’ and ‘Here is love vast as the ocean, loving kindness as the flood.’ The first mentioned song goes on to say, ‘It was my sin that held him there’, my sin, his love, thank God that love won. And as a result, the sin that had separated us from God is gone!

Spend a few moments contemplating God’s love toward you, an ‘ex-wretch who he has made into a precious treasure.’ – 1 Peter 2:9 ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.’

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Daily Devotion July 24th

FRIDAY 24th

We return today to the same verses as yesterday John 3:3.

NIV (v3) – ‘Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’’

ESV (v3) – ‘Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’’

In verse 7 of the same chapter Jesus says, ‘Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’’ After hearing it the first time, Nicodemus was a little confused, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ You can only wonder what Nicodemus was imagining! But it was a good question, ‘Hang on, if I want to see the Kingdom of God, I have to be born again?’ ‘Yes, but it is not how you are imagining it to be, just as you have been born of the flesh, so also you need to be born of the Spirit.’

The term or phrase ‘born again’ is still just as much misunderstood today as it was when Nicodemus misunderstood it, often you will hear the term being used in a derogatory way, as a form of mocking, ‘Oh, they belong to the ‘born again’ people’ or as I have often had it asked to me ‘Are you one of those who talks about being born again?’ And yes, I do belong to them, and yes, I do talk about it, not because there is anything weird about me, not because we are a group of weird people, but because I have really known what it is to be born again by the Spirit of God. It is not weird, it is wonderful – in the words of an older hymn, ‘It is a thing most wonderful, almost too wonderful to know, that God’s own Son should come from heaven and die to save a child like me to know.’

What seemed ridiculous to Nicodemus and still sounds ridiculous to many today is the most important thing that we can all do and need to do, the ‘born again’ experience, because without it, as Jesus told Nicodemus we will not see or enter the Kingdom of God. And the alternative is not pleasant!

Being born again, is being made anew, it happens as we come to Calvary’s fountain and are washed in the blood of the Lamb, at that moment we are made anew by the Spirit of God, we have a fresh start, we become new creations, we are ‘born again’. I know I am talking about things we already know, but today, let me encourage us all that being ‘born again’ is nothing to be embarrassed about, or ashamed about when our unsaved family, friends or peers may try to mock us or laugh at us, and use the phrase in a derogatory way, for just as our natural birth was essential to bring us into this natural world, so a spiritual new birth is essential to bring us into the kingdom of God.

Weird? we are the most favoured in the world, because by being ‘born again’ we enter the family of God, the household of faith, whereby we know him as Father and he knows us as his sons and daughters.

In the words of the chorus, ‘I am a new creation, no more in condemnation, here in the grace of God I stand.’  I am happy to be known as weird by the unbelieving world, if at the same time it means that I know that I am a child of God, no longer under condemnation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’

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Daily Devotion July 23rd

THURSDAY 23rd

John 3:1-21

NIV (v3) – ‘Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’’

ESV (v3) – ‘Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’’

In this verse Jesus mentions three concepts, 1) the concept of ‘being born again’ 2) the concept of ‘the Kingdom of God’ 3) the concept that to be able to enter or see the Kingdom of God one needs to be born again.

This phrase ‘Kingdom of God’ only appears in John’s gospel twice, here in verse 3 and again in the same chapter in verse 5. But Jesus talks of his Kingdom not being of this world later in John 18:36. Despite its lack of usage in this gospel, the concept of entering the Kingdom is what the gospel is all about, because to be born again, means to have the new life, the eternal and abundant life that John talks about throughout. In Matthew, the Kingdom is mentioned 35 times, Mark 14 times, Luke 31 times. The phrase ‘the Kingdom of heaven’ is also used and is best understood as to be referring to the same thing, in Matthew 19:23-24, Jesus uses the two phrases interchangeably ‘And Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’’

In this devotion we will briefly answer the question as to what is the Kingdom of God? It is Matthew who records for us that John the Baptist, began to declare to the people, ‘Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand’ (Matthew 3:1) as he prepared the way for the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore this must mean that the Kingdom a) must have something to do with Jesus, b) must be linked to his ministry, c) must be linked to repentance d) therefore linked to the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, Christ came into the world to save sinners, he came to bring us out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God. It was sin that held us in the kingdom of darkness, but it is grace that has brought us into the kingdom of God.

There are four aspects to this Kingdom. There is the eternal aspect, that is Gods kingdom has been and always will be, the present aspect in regard to salvation which is that at this moment it is a spiritual Kingdom, in that at new birth, Christ comes to reign in our hearts, thus bringing the Kingdom rule of God into our lives. There is a future aspect in that the day is coming when Christ will bring about a literal Kingdom on this earth, and he will reign for a period of 1000 years, then there is an even more future aspect in that the day will come when God is going to wrap up time and everything that is at present already here and will create a new Heaven and  new earth wherein the redeemed of the Lord will be forever in the eternal presence of the triune God and he will reign for ever and ever.

The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom where God rules and reigns as Sovereign, not as a tyrant, not as a despot, not as a dictator but as a caring, loving, and merciful God who exercises righteous judgement in all things. We can say that there is the external Kingdom, where God sits on his throne in the heavens and the internal kingdom, where God reigns in the hearts and lives of us who are believers.

We learn from Scripture that God’s Kingdom is:

Eternal – Psalm 45:6 ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The sceptre of your kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness . . .’

The kingdom of God was not something new when the Baptist began to announce it, it was the bringing of the Kingdom into the lives of all who would believe and accept Jesus.

Established – Psalm 9:7 ‘But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice . . .’

The wonder is that through new birth the Kingdom will be established in our lives.

External – Isaiah 66:1 ‘Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? . . .’’

That which was already external will become an internal reality for all who believe as he rules in the throne of our hearts.

Expected – Isaiah 9:6-7 ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.’

Entered – John 3:3 ‘Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’’

This to me is the wonder of the good news of the gospel, that we can enter the Kingdom of God and that the Kingdom of God enters our lives as Jesus comes to rule and to reign.

2 Peter 1:11 ‘For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’

Joy is the flag that flies from the castle of my heart, for the King is in residence there!

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Daily Devotion July 15th

WEDNESDAY 15th

John 1:29, 35-36

NIV – ‘The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! . . .  The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, Look, the Lamb of God!’

ESV – ‘The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! . . . The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, Behold, the Lamb of God!’

I am not what you would call an avid sports fan, but I do like motor sport and snooker, and in regard to football I would say I am a Southampton and England supporter, in Rugby, England of course! One of the features of a snooker match is when at the beginning the MC gets to do the big introductions. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we have xxx xxx from xxx the 5 times world champion etc. and then to the cheering of the crowd in comes the player he has just introduced.

In our verses today, we find that the Baptist, has the great opportunity of introducing the Lord Jesus Christ to the crowd! What a job to have! And yet, we all have this opportunity, of finding some way of introducing Jesus to people!

Up to this point in the chapter it is as if the two Johns have been describing the one who is the Word, the light that was coming into the world, and he himself has been standing behind the scenes, and suddenly he comes and John declares ‘Behold, or look, the Lamb of God’, and then announces what he is going to do, not become a world champion in some major sporting arena but the One who is going take away the sin of the world. This is a loaded statement for within it is the theme of being a champion, for in taking away the sin of the world, this Lamb presented to them in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ was going to triumph. He was going to take head on the devil, sin, death, the grave and he was going to come out as the Conqueror. The Lamb was going to prevail and become the Lion of Judah.

The announcement that the Baptist made, was the news that the world needed to hear, because it meant that the greatest need of mankind was going to be met, the need of salvation and reconciliation to God.

The subject of a lamb and sin was not new to those who heard the Baptist talking, they would have been used to the regular practise of finding an unblemished lamb to sacrifice based on the OT law, but the problem was that this would have to be done regularly because sin was not taken away but only covered. This Lamb, who John was introducing to them was going to offer himself as a permanent sacrifice which would not cover the sin temporarily like a sticking plaster but would take it completely away. That must be good news! It is news on a par with the news that the angel gave to the shepherds on the night that the Word had become flesh and began to dwell among us, ‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’ The baby that they would find wrapped in swaddling clothes, was the Lamb who would be slain, and the Lion who would conquer.

The ‘Word’ in verse 1, is creator in verse 2, life and light in verse 4, becomes flesh (v14), full of grace and truth (v14) Jesus Christ (v17) and the Lamb of God in verse 29.

Behold the Lamb of God . . .! In the Old Testament the people would go out and select from the flock the lamb that was to be chosen and used for the sacrifice (see for an example Leviticus 1) it needed to be without blemish.

Not anymore, we cannot choose our own lamb to bring about redemption, God has already made the choice, the lamb to be used for the sacrifice was to be the lamb that God has given and that God had sent, that is the Lamb of God. This is important in our presentation of the gospel, when we come across those who are seeking to earn salvation, or who are seeking to reach salvation through effort, or foreign gods, there is only one way, the appointed way, which is through the shed blood of the Lamb of God. This is the way of the Cross, for that is the place where the sacrifice which was a once for all sacrifice took place and it was the sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world. By faith we must come to the cross, relying not on our own effort but upon what Christ has done for us, we come for cleansing we come for pardon, we come for salvation. 1 Peter 1:18-21 ’ . . . 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. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.’

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Devotions

Daily Devotion July 7th

TUESDAY 7th

John 3:16

NIV – ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

ESV – ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’

I have chosen to go to this verse from John’s gospel today to link it with the verses we had yesterday in John 20:30-31. ‘‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ Both references are linked to our need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, which as we discovered yesterday was John’s reason for writing the gospel.

Believe(s) and believing are key words throughout this gospel. You may remember that when I came to Emmanuel Pentecostal Church to speak for the first weekend in September 2019, the theme that I shared was based upon the statement, ‘What we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ is important.’ This is the whole emphasis of John’s gospel, because what we believe, and how we act upon what we believe depends upon whether we receive the life that is offered. It is not just a case of believing in Jesus, it is believing that he is the Son of God, which will lead to life. Tomorrow we will consider the word ‘life’ in this gospel. For today we will consider the words believe and believing.

We have all been brought up in world in which we have been told a mixture of stories, some are factual, others are fiction or fable, known as fairy stories. It is amazing how the world of fiction, fantasy and fable has captured the worlds imagination, leading to multi-billion-pound enterprise especially in the world of film and theme parks. The world is fantasy mad and happy to live in cloud cuckoo land. What the world needs is a good dose of reality and truth, because the world of fantasy leads to a dead end, it may give temporal pleasure but offers nothing for eternity. Reality and truth as found in the gospel of John (as also in the entire word of God) leads to eternal life. And to receive the eternal life that is on offer we need to believe that what John has written is truth, for the one he has written about is truth himself. (John 14:6 ‘Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. . .’)

There are at least four things we need regarding believing.

  1. We need to believe we are sinners – sadly the world is so utterly depraved that we are living in unprecedented times when wrong is now considered right, which is a massive stumbling block toward mankind recognising what sin is and that he is a sinner.
  2. We must believe that we need saving / salvation
  3. We must believe that Jesus is the only Saviour
  4. We must believe on Jesus, that is to put our faith and trust in him to be saved

Believing is so important, for not to believe leads to hell, eternal destruction, but to believe leads to eternal life. How we respond is the most important decision we will ever make.

The word believe appears in John’s gospel 48 times, believes 14 times and believing two times. If anyone wants to go through the various references, I will place them at the end of this devotion1, but this amount of usage in one Bible book alone is sufficient for us to understand the importance of believing in Jesus. Our text for today tells us that that is why Jesus was sent into the world, 1) because God loves us 2) he wants us to believe in his Son 3) and as a result we will not perish but will have eternal life. Later in his gospel John records the words of Jesus himself ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.’ (John 10:27-28)

You tell me of any other book that reveals such wonderful and powerful news, there isn’t, for it is in this book alone (the Word of God) and in particular linked with our devotion from the book of John that we can discover the wonder of the truth of a God who loved us enough to come and to live in this world and to give his life as a propitiation for our sin. John wrote later in one of his letters ‘In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation2 for our sins.’ (1 John 4:10)

Dwell on this thought today, that God loved you so much that he sent his Son to die for you.

1 References for believe(s) believing – Jn 1:17,50 – Jn 3:12,15,16,18,36 – Jn 4:21,42,48 – Jn 5:24,38,44,46,47 – Jn 6:29,30,35,36,40,47,64 – Jn 7:38 Jn 8:24,45,46 – Jn 9:18,35,36,38 – Jn 10:25,26,37,38 – Jn 11:15,25,26,27,42,48 – Jn 12:11,36,37,39,44,46 – Jn 13:19 – Jn 14:1,10,11,12,29 – Jn 16:9,30,31 – Jn 17:20,21, –  Jn 19:35 – Jn 20:25,27,31

2The word propitiation carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically toward God. Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him. This Christ has done through the means of his sacrificial death at Calvary. See also Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17 and 1 John 2:2 (ESV, NKJV, KJV) (The NIV uses the words atoning / atonement)