Month: July 2023

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 21 ~ ~ Psalm 19:7 ~ ~ “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;”

From “The Pleasures of God” by John Piper

Jesus is the great physician, not the great dictator. He said: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick: I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32)

Jesus dictates. He commands. But all his commands are like a doctor’s prescription, or a physician’s therapy. They are not arbitrary. They are meant to make us well and happy. If they have some painful side effects, that is not because the doctor is unkind or unwise. It’s because the disease is so bad that severe medicines may be required. Every command from Jesus is meant for our good.

But not only are the commands of JESUS for our good; so were ALL the commandments of the law in the Old Testament for the good of Israel. They were not a cruel burden. They were the loving guidelines of an infinitely wise heavenly Father for the good of his people.

“The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, FOR OUR GOOD ALWAYS, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day” (Deuteronomy 6:24)

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord which I command you this day FOR YOUR GOOD. (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

Moses said it very clearly in Deuteronomy 30:11, “this commandment which I command you this day IS NOT TOO HARD FOR YOU.” The Old Testament law was not the kind of arrangement where God stood over the people with a scowl and a club waiting for someone to make a tiny slip.

At the very birthplace of the law, on Mount Sinai, the Law-Giver identified himself like this: “The Lord , the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exodus 34:6-7)

The law had an elaborate provision for forgiveness and restoration rooted in the heart of God. So the law as a whole could be fulfilled even by those who needed repeated forgiveness. It is not an all-or-nothing demand for perfection. Therefore, it is “not too hard for you.”

Jesus put it this way “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For MY YOKE IS EASY, AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT” (Matthew 11:28-30)

This does not mean there is no yoke and no burden. It means that there is something about Jesus that makes his demands (even when they sever us from home and wealth and life itself) “light” and “easy”. The apostle John found this to be true in practice for many decades, and then wrote.

“This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. AND HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE NOT BURDENSOME” (1John 5:3)

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 20 ~ ~ 1 John 4:3 ~ ~ “and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

More from John Piper’s book, “The Pleasures of God”

God’s pleasures in our obedience:

The fifth reason is disobedience is idolatry. (worship of false gods)

This is what Samuel says in 1 Samuel 15;23, “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and STUBBORNNESS IS AS INIQUITY AND IDOLATRY” When God says one thing and we consult the little wizard of our own wisdom and then stubbornly choose to go our own way, we are, in effect, idolaters. We have not only chosen to consult ourselves as an alternative to God, and thus become guilty of divination, but we go beyond that and actually ESTEEM the direction of our own mind over God’s direction, and become guilty of idolatry. Worst of all, the idol is our own self.

So it stands to reason that God will be displeased with disobedience of any kind because at every point it is an attack on his glory. It puts the fear of man in the place of fear of God. It elevates pleasure in things above pleasure in God. It seeks a name for itself instead of a name for God. It seeks out additional guidance against God’s, instead of resting in the wisdom of God. And it sets more value on the dictates of self than on the dictates of God and thus attempts to dethrone God by giving allegiance to the idol of the human will.

But, obedience, being the exact opposite, in all these things enthrones and honors God. Therefore God has great pleasure in obedience. He beams like any father would when his children are courageous because they know their daddy’s strong arm is behind them. He takes pleasure in us when our obedience shows that we put our treasure in him and not the enticements of sin. He delights in the meekness and humility of our submission that loves to make a name for God and not man. He rejoices over the resting of our souls in the sufficiency of his wisdom. And he exults over us with singing when we enthrone his will as more precious than all the ways of the world.

(In our society today, obedience to God is almost non-existent. It is considered laughable, irrelevant, sorely outdated. This is a sorry state of events, that shows the end times are “progressing”. Paul warned Timothy of this 2,000 years ago. John also said that the anti-christ spirit was in the world already then, but not the anti-christ leader. (Verse of the day above) But things are going faster and faster in the rush toward evil. He may be living today, and probably is. In fact, we may see him in the news even now.

2 Timothy 3

“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, …”

Paul tells us in: 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10

“Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved.”

2 John 1:7

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Don’t take this lightly. Don’t think it’s not that important. It is vitally important to follow Jesus more fervently and more obediently now than ever before. Deception is coming that will be very great. It’ll be subtle, too, which makes it even more dangerous. It will sound “good”, but it will be poison….eternal poison. Walking obediently with Jesus, and knowing His Word gives us strength and discernment against the strong delusion (deception) that is here and quickly increasing.

Make sure you’re saved—-that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior.

Then make sure you’re living in obedience to the Lord.)

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 19 ~ ~Galatians 5:19-20 ~ ~ “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions,  envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

John Piper—the Pleasures of God

The fourth reason God has pleasure in obedience is because disobedience is as the sin of divination. This is the very reason Samuel gives why disobedience is displeasing to God. In 1 Samuel 15:23 “…..for rebellion is as the sin of divination (the occult)”

Back in Deut 18:10 God had put divination in the same category with horrible things that he hates:

“there shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices DIVINATION, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.”

Why are rebellion and disobedience like the sin of divination? Divination is seeking to know what to do in a way that ignores the Word and counsel of God. It discounts the guidance and revelation of God, or regards them as wrong or insufficient. And that is exactly what disobedience is based on. God says one thing, and we say, “I think that I will consult another source of wisdom.”

In the case of divination the added source of wisdom is a medium of some sort. But most often in the case of disobedience the added source of wisdom is simply oneself!!!

Disobedience of God’s word puts my own wisdom in the place of God’s and thus insults God as the only sure and reliable source of wisdom. What does it say about your doctor if he writes the prescription for three pills a day and you decide to take them all once a day? It says that you put yourself above your doctor. You distrust his skill and competence and good will. It is a great insult, and he could not take pleasure in that—and you won’t get well.

(Today we see occult practices used in many casual ways. God never changes. What He said 6,000 years ago, is still the law now. This world is in for some serious wrath of God in the near future.

A wise person will be encased in the safety of God Himself to avoid His great wrath. That means making Him your Savior, being forgiven of your sins because –and only because– of His sarifice, and living your life in obedience and trust in Him.)

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 18 ~ ~Philippians 2:3~ ~ “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

“The Pleasures of God” by John Piper (Excerpts)

The third reason that God has pleasure in obedience is because disobedience shws a misplacement of praise.

When Saul had defeated the Amalekites in 1 Samuel, 14-15, the first thing he did was build himself a monument. Verse 15:12 in that book says “It was told Samuel, Saul came to Carmel and behold, HE SET UP A MONUMENT FOR HIMSELF.” Evidently Saul was more interested in getting a name for himself than in making a name for God through careful obedience to his Word. He moved the praise from God to himself.

Earlier, Saul had seemed amazed that God would choose him to be king over Israel even though he was from the smallest tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, and from the least of the families of that tribe.

He should be amazed! If he wanted honor, he SHOULD have been amazed and satisfied with the honor that God had given him. Samuel asks him, in effect,—why are you driven by a lust for human glory when God has in fact given you a glorious privilege as the head of the tribes of Israel and the anointed king of God’s people?

But Saul was not content with the glory of God and the honor of being his chosen king. He wanted his own glory and his own praise. The submissive path of obedience does not offer that kind of praise and glory, so he did things his own way in order to get his own glory.

(Is this sometimes true of us? If we’re saved, we have been given a glorious gift from God. Salvation makes us children of the King of the Universe. There is no greater honor than to serve the King, much less to be His child.

Yet, how many times do we do exactly what Saul did? We go our own way—-sometimes not by deliberate disobedience, but by not asking Him what to do, or by not studying His Word to see what path to take.

What Mr. Piper said about Saul wanting a name for himself instead of honoring the name of the Lord, is many times true of us when we think of ourselves instead of making our lives reflect the glory of God.

We already have the greatest gift that could ever be given, if we’re saved. Why would we want any worldly “honor”?

We are warned about that in the verse of the day:

~Philippians 2:3~ ~ “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 17 ~ ~ Psalm 62:5 ~ ~ “My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.”

John Pipers book, “The Pleasures of God”

(speaking of prioritizing our fears)

If our lives are guided by the same fears that unbelievers have, then we do not “regard God as holy.” We do not honor him and revere him as greater than all things.

In fact, Isaiah says, IT IS A KIND OF PRIDE TO BE AFRAID OF WHAT MAN CAN DO WHILE WE DISREGARD THE PROMISES OF GOD.

He quotes God with this piercing question:

“I, I am he that comforts you; WHO ARE YOU THAT YOU ARE AFRAID OF MAN who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord your Maker?” (Isaiah 51:12-13)

Fear of man may not feel like pride, but that is what God says it is: “Who do you think you are to fear man and forget me, your Maker!!!!”

The apostle Peter takes up this teaching of Isaiah and applies it to the Christian life. He says, “If you suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord.” (1Peter 3:14-15)

Isaiah said, “Don’t fear man, regard God as holy” Peter said, “Don’t fear man, reverence Christ as Lord.” the word behind “regard as holy” and “reverence” is basically the same in both cases. The point is this: if you fear man, you have begun to deny the holiness, the worth, of God and his son Jesus. God is infinitely stronger. He is infinitely wiser and infinitely more full of reward and joy. To turn from him out of fear of what man can do is to discount all that God promises to be for those who fear him. It is a great insult. And in such an insult God can take no pleasure.

On the other hand when we hear the promises and trust him with courage, fearing the reproach brought upon God by our unbelief, then he is greatly honored. And in that he has pleasure.

THE SECOND REASON GOD HAS PLEASURE IN OUR OBEDIENCE:

BECAUSE DISOBEDIENCE SHOWS A MISPLACEMENT OF PLEASURE.

In the event in 1 Samuel, Saul tried to persuade Samuel that it was a noble intention that led him to disobey God. (and keep the animals alive for himself when told to kill them).

He said they wanted to sacrifice these to the Lord in Gilgal. But the Lord had given Samuel insight into the true motive of Saul and the people. We see it in 1Samuel 15:19: “Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you SWOOP ON the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”

The “swooped” down on the spoil like hungry birds eager to fill their bellies. This word “swoop” is used in 1 Samuel 14:32 to describe how the people fell on the spoil when the Philistines were defeated. It says, “The people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep and oxen and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people ate them with the blood.

When Samuel says, “Why did you SWOOP on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” He implies that the people were driven by an overwhelming desire for the pleasures of all that meat. Their pleasure was misplaced. It should have been in God. But they delighted more in the meat of sheep and oxen than they did in the smile and fellowship of God. This is, of course, a great insult to God, and therefore very displeasing in his sight. But to look to the promises of God and the prospect of his awesome presence, and delight more in that than in the fleeting pleasures of disobedience, is a great honor to God. And in that he has pleasure.

(Let’s look at our own lives in the light of this story. Do we sometimes,—- even though, as being Christians, and having given our lives to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, — many times, or even as a general direction of our lives, choose the material things of this world instead of obedience to our Savior?)

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 16 ~ ~ Acts 17:24-25 ~ ~ “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.”

Continuing excerpts from John Pipers book, “The Pleasures of God”

Earlier we emphasized the good news that God is a mountain spring and not a watering trough. He is self-replenishing, and does not need a bucket brigade to meet his needs. We don’t serve him, therefore, as though he needed anything (Acts 17:25—above)

Rather we honor his overflowing fullness when we thrive on the water of Life. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. This means that whenever I am most thirsty and desperate for help, I can encourage my soul not only with the truth that there is a merciful impulse in the heart of God, but also with the truth that the source and power of that impulse is the zeal of God to act for the glory of his own name.

I can plead with the psalmists, “FOR YOUR NAME’S SAKE, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great” Psalm 25:11

I can cry out in distress, “Help us, O God of our salvation FOR THE GLORY OF YOUR NAME, and deliver us” Psalm 79:9

I can ask for light in the night, “FOR YOUR NAME’S SAKE, lead me and guide me.” Psalm 31:3

When we HOPE IN GOD we glorify God as the fountain of deep and lasting joy.

When we PRAY, we give expression to that God-glorifying hope.

In this chapter we go one step further and say that OBEDIENCE to God makes this God-glorifying hope visible and proves that it is real in our lives. Obedience is the irrepressible public relations project of those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. (Matthew 5:16)

In 1Samuel, Saul disobeyed God by saving and eating the sheep of the enemy instead of killing every one as God commanded.

I see at least five reasons in this story why God hates disobedience and takes pleasure in obedience. I will mention them in order from what seems to me the least to most serious.

FIRST, GOD HAS PLEASURE IN OBEDIENCE BECAUSE DISOBEDIENCE SHOWS A MISPLACEMENT OF FEAR. In 1 Samuel 15:24, “Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, BECAUSE I FEARED THE PEOPLE, and obeyed their voice.’”

Why did Saul obey the people instead of God? Because he feared the people instead of God. He feared the human consequences of obedience more than he feared the divine consequences of sin. He feared the displeasure of the people more than the displeasure of God. And that is a great insult to God. Samuel had said twice to Saul and to the people, “Fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart.” (1Samuel 12:14 and 24)

But now the leader himself has feared man and turned away from following God. (1samuel 15:11)

It is a great biblical truth that to fear a thing is to do homage to it. In Isaiah 8:12-13 the prophet warns against the very mistake Saul made:

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, HIM YOU SHALL REGARD AS HOLY;

Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”

More about this subject tomorrow.

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 15 ~ ~ Mark 16:15 ~ ~ “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Continuing with excerpts from “The Pleasures of God” by John Piper

Prayer is the walkie-talkie n the battlefield of the world. It calls on God for courage (Ephesians 6:19).

It calls in for troop deployment and target location (Acts 13:1-3).

It calls for protection and air cover (Matthew 6:13, Luke 21:36)

It calls in for firepower to blast open a way for the Word (Colossians 4:3).

It calls in for the miracle of healing for the wounded soldiers (James 5:16, Philippians 4:6)

It calls in for needed reinforcements (Matthew 9:38).

This is the place of prayer—-on the battlefield of the world. It is a wartime walkie-talkie for spiritual warfare, not a domestic intercom to increase the comforts of the saints (Christians).

One of the reasons it malfunctions in the hands of so many Christian soldiers is that they have gone AWOL.

Almighty God has spoken. If he is God, it is sure that his Word will accomplish all his purpose. God’s truth MUST win the spiritual war of the ages. But 2 Thessalonians 3:1 says, “Pray that the Word will triumph!” I take this to mean that God will indeed cause his Word to be glorified. But he does not intend to win without prayer.

God will be duly glorified when the knowledge of his glory fills the earth like the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). And the earth will be filled with the knowledge of his glory when the Word of the Lord triumphs among all the peoples of the earth.

The Word will triumph through mighty, prevailing prayer. Therefore the intensity of God’s pleasure in prayer is proportionate to the intensity of his passion that all his purposes be complete. If he loves his son, if he loves his sovereignty, if he loves his creation, his fame, his redeeming work, the good of his people, the ingathering of all the children of God, then he must love prayer with all his heart.

For I am more convinced that ever that this gift is no mere convenience with which we settle in more nicely to this world.

Rather, God has given us prayer because Jesus has given us a mission. God’s pleasure in the prayers of his people is proportionate to his passion for world evangelization.

We are on this earth to press back the forces of darkness, and we are given access to headquarters by prayer in order to advance this cause. When we try to turn it into a civilian intercom to increase our material comforts, it malfunctions, and our faith begins to falter.

(Our lives on this earth are very short. We need to be presenting the gospel to people within our reach. Every life counts, and eternity is—————forever. It’s as simple as ordering free tracts and dropping them in various spots for someone to pick up. God will make the appointment, but He wants us to take part in it in some way. Mark 16:15

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”)

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 14 ~ ~ Revelation 5;8 ~ ~ God delights in the aroma of His own glory as He smells it in the prayers of His people.”

From John Piper’s book, “The Pleasures of God”

(referring to the verse above)

It is as though God has a favorite food. When we pray, he smells the aroma from the kitchen as you prepare his special dish. When God hungers for some special satisfaction, he seeks out a prayer to answer. Our prayer is the sweet aroma from the kitchen ascending up into the King’s chambers making him hungry for the meal.

But the actual enjoyment of the meal is his own glorious work in answering our prayer! The food of God is to answer our prayers.

The most wonderful thing about the Bible is that it reveals a God who satisfies his appetite for joy by answering prayers. He has no deficiency in himself that he needs to fill up, so he gets his satisfaction by magnifying the glory of his riches by filling up the deficiencies of people who pray.

This seems to be the point of Psalm 50:13-15:

“Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” says the Lord. No. Therefore “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving….and call upon him in the day of trouble, and he will deliver you, and YOU SHALL GLORIFY HIM.”

The demonstration of the glory of God in answered prayer is God’s special feast. So if we want to feed him with the only kind of joy he is capable of, we hold up the empty cup of prayer and let him show the riches of his glory by filling it.

Thus the intensity of God’s delight in his glory is the measure of his pleasure in the prayers of his people.

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 13 ~ ~ 2 Corinthians 2:14 ~ ~ “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

Continuing with excerpts from John Piper’s “The Pleasures of God”

Why then does God delight in the prayers of the upright (saved)? He delights in their prayers for the same reason that he hates the sacrifices of the wicked—because the prayers of the upright are the extension and outworking of the heart;

but, unlike the heart of the wicked, the heart of the upright magnifies the power and grace of God. The prayer of the saved is a delight to God because it expresses those affections of the heart which call attention to the all-sufficiency of God

We saw from Psalm 147:11 that “the Lord takes pleasure in those who HOPE in his love.” here we see that the Lord takes pleasure in prayers that give expression to that hope. The reason our hope is a pleasure to God is because it shows that all our joy comes from the bounty of his grace. The reason our prayers are a pleasure to God is because they express this God-exalting hope.

It is a precious thing beyond all words—especially in the hour of death—that we have a God whose nature is such that what pleases him is not our WORK for him but our NEED for him.

The intensity of God’s pleasure in prayer becomes more and more obvious as we look at the connection between prayer and the other things that God is committed to with all his heart.

Fr example, God loves to magnify his glory in the lives of his people. So he designed prayer as a way for this to happen. Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, THAT THE FATHER MAY BE GLORIFIED IN THE SON” (John 14:14)

So God has designed prayer as an occasion when he and the Son will be glorified as the source and agent in doing good to his people. This is one of the reasons Revelation describes the prayers of the saints as golden bowls of incense before the throne of God (Revelation 5:8). God delights in the aroma of his own glory as he smells it in the prayers of his people.

2 Corinthians 2:15

For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 12~ ~ Ps 4:5 ~ ~ “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the Lord.”

Excerpts from John Piper’s book, “the pleasures of God”

(speaking of the two main things that mark the upright heart of a man before God, one of which we spoke of yesterday.)

The other thing that marks the upright heart is TRUST in the willingness and power of God to give the mercy we need. Psalm 4:5 says:

“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in the Lord.”

We could easily make the mistake of thinking that when the Old Testament speaks of “upright” or “righteous” it cannot mean us because we are still sinners. But the righteous and the upright are not perfect.

They are persons who confess their sin, hate it, and trust God for forgiveness and help. One of the best places to see this is Psalm 32. It begins,

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

So the Psalm isn’t about forgiven sinners, not about perfect people. Then at the end of the psalm, the wicked are distinguished from the righteous and upright.

What’s the difference? Verses 10 and 11 describe it like this:

“10. Many are the pangs of the WICKED;

but steadfast love surrounds him who TRUSTS IN THE LORD.

11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O RIGHTEOUS,

and shout for joy, all you UPRIGHT IN HEART!”

Verse 10 contrasts the WICKED with those who TRUST IN THE LORD.

Then verse 11 calls them RIGHTEOUS AND UPRIGHT IN HEART.

In this psalm, then, the upright are not sinless people. They are the blessed “whose transgression is forgiven, whose sins are covered.” so if you are trusting Christ and coming to him for forgiveness, broken for your sin and hating it, you should think of yourself as “the upright.”

And the word for “upright” in Psalm 32 is the same word used in Proverbs 15:8, “The prayer of the UPRIGHT is God’s delight.”

So there are at least these two essential marks of the upright heart:

FIRST— IT TREMBLES at the word of God. It feels precarious and helpless and in tremendous need of mercy.

SECOND—IT TRUSTS the mercy of God to forgive, help and save.