Reverence and Awe

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» Today's reading at Blue Letter Bible

Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

John 14:6 "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace [that you can be] saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

Romans 10:9 "if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Acts 4:12 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

“Can the rush grow up without mire?”

Lord, let me find my life in thee, and not in the mire of this world’s favour or gain.

This should be our prayer as we find ourselves so prone to wander and so quick to leave the God we love. I am reminded of Paul when he says how he has learned to be content in all situations. It is a thought like that which demonstrates our hope and joys are based in the Lord alone. I am so grateful that God is so quick to show us and remind us of where are true joys are. He is faithful to us and will continue the work. Lord, let us not be as the rush but as a firm branch rooted in you.

“And the Lord shall guide thee continually.”

You have infallible wisdom to direct you, immutable love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you. “Jehovah”—mark the word—“Jehovah shall guide thee continually.”

I think we need to hear this everyday and place all that we do into the thought that God is directing and leading us every step of the way. It totally reminds me of a verse in Psalms where it says that the Lord never slumbers. He stays up all night working on our behalf. The Lord never gets tired or never sleeps and does all things for our good and joy. Our mentality needs to be that the Lord works for us and not the other way around. Even Paul understood that though, he worked as hard as He could, it was the Lord who worked through him and never left his side in all his life. Thank God that he is for us always and will never leave us.

» Today's reading at Blue Letter Bible

As we enjoy the company of our family and friends this morning; opening gifts and drinking lots of coffee (if you're like me) or lots of Diet Coke (if you're like Pastor Jim) may we not lose sight of who is at the center of our joyous celebration. Christ our Savior, the Word become flesh, Emanuel, the perfect Lamb of God, our propitiation and our righteousness.
May we heed Spurgeon's timely exhortation this morning...

Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that He may be formed in us, the hope of glory.

Let us listen to the wisdom of Spurgeon and end our Christmas day by washing anew in the cleansing fountain of the blood of Christ. May it be the beginning of a habitual meditation on the glory of our Redeemer.

The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and carelessness. This is the best ending of a Christmas-day—to wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come to this sacrifice continually; if it be so good to-night, it is good every night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal priesthood; to them sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause for despair, since they draw near yet again to the sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead works.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is "The Son of God Came Down". I love it because it magnifies the perfection found in God's redemptive plan. That God would send His own Son not simply to be born of a miraculous virgin birth (though He was)... but to die, on a cross, to reconcile God to man, received freely by grace! If that isn't good news, then there's no such thing!

The Son of God came down and laid aside His crown
Born without great renown, this Sovereign One
All holiness and might, all glory shining bright
Have come to earth this night in Mary's son
O come, let us adore

O Christ the Lord, our hope and Savior
Son of God yet made like us
O Christ the Lord, our King adored
Born a child, our Lord Jesus

Messiah born so small, asleep in cattle stall
Come to redeem our fall, nailed to a tree
This tiny, helpless child
Through death would reconcile
The holy God and vile, His grace so free
O come, let us adore

Merry Christmas RBC!! May the Lord bless you and keep you!!

Labels: Devotional, Morning and Evening, Spurgeon

» Today's reading at Blue Letter Bible

Morning

The swaddling baby, the Lord of Hosts and Ruler of all things created, came by way of virgin and under law. It was at this specific time in history that our Lord was born and positioned himself for a short while a bit lower than the angels so that we “the poor and guilty, should receive of His fulness grace for grace”.

Perfection through grace had reached out and touched man so that he may receive the righteousness of Christ and behold all of His glory. This fellow reader, is one of those truths that we will never fully grasp still in the flesh. For OUR sakes he became poor although we wanted nothing to do with him but desired the darkness rather than the light.

Our position by the fall, apart from the covenant of grace, made it as impossible for fallen man to communicate with God as it is for Belial to be in concord with Christ.

We were so vile and filled with sin that He had to impute all of His blessing upon us so that we may be admitted into the “palace of glory”. It has been purely done by perfect love, so that He may bring honor unto Himself.

Rejoice this Christmas Eve for the fullness of the time has come.

Evening

“On whose side are you” Spurgeon ends his exhortation. It is heaven or hell, glory or fire, pure happiness or eternal wrath, a son of God or His enemy. Which side are you on? A simple question with a simple answer, but yet this truth is rejected by most and thought of as a fools belief and a poor man’s hope.

“We know that the world and all that is therein is one day to be burnt up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new earth”. We know it will come to pass one day and that this first earth shall pass away and swallow up the sea with it. I see the economic and political turmoil in the world and so many Christians worrying about what is going to happen. We know what is going to happen though, it has been clearly written in the word of God and what we are witnessing today is the fulfillment of prophecy before our eyes. Have faith and hope in His word and promises to His people.

Let us rejoice together and sign with the angels for the Lord will reign forever.

» Today's reading at Blue Letter Bible
Before I launch into the devotional I want to praise God for 31 wonderful years of marriage to Bev, my Proverbs 31 woman! I Love You Bev!

"Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all my sin." What an uplifting devotional we have this morning. We start on our face as trembling sinners aware of our depravity and by the grace of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We move from fear to reverence until we boldly enter into the presence of our "Abba, Father" and receive His infinite love, goodness, and unlimited mercy. It's then that we know beyond a shadow of doubt that we are accepted in the beloved.

Right now my soul soaring. It is impossible for me to understand or know why He chose to bestow such grace on a wretch like me but I accept it. Further to know that grace is progressive and eye has not seen, nor ear hear what God has in store for me! Wow!! "So may we go from strength to strength, and daily grow in grace, till in thy image raised at length, we see thee face to face."

Meditate on this: "Your eyes watch us like the stars and Your arms surround us as the band of planets belt the sky". "The eternal watcher observes His saints and overrules the shades and shadows of midnight for His people's highest good." I am so thankful that I can trust His everlasting faithfulness. I experience those "gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin"; it's reassuring to know that even those are not exempt from the divine purpose. The Purposes of God will not be disappointed!

In two days we celebrate the birth of Jesus, God's gift of salvation! Merry Christmas and God Bless You!

» Today's reading at Blue Letter Bible
God's omnipotence and faithfulness reassure us that nothing is impossible for Him. When I contemplate the universe that God measured with the span of His hand, I am amazed! As the Psalmist said, "It is high I cannot contain it, such knowledge is too wonderful for me!" Spurgeon challenges us to consider "While He is able to uphold the universe, do not dream that He will prove unable to fulfill His own promises". "Will He who created the world grow weary?" "He hangs the world on nothing, will He be unable to support His children?" I am blessed by the fact that I'm called His child and the boundless reservoir of His Grace can never be exhausted and the overflowing storehouse of His strength can never be emptied or plundered.

I know that I am His child because His Word says "to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God". "Christ appeared as my shepherd; I received Him; I believed Him; I trust Him. I'm prepared to follow Him and the infallible mark of my regeneration and adoption is the faith I have in my appointed Redeemer. "Nothing can separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord." My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. I'm confident that what Jesus says He will do; He will do!

» Today's reading at Blue Letter Bible

God has indeed made a covenant with me. I definitely got the better end of the deal. I received forgiveness of my sins, a change in my nature and an eternal inheritance...He got me.

Here Spurgeon drives home the point that God's covenant is very personal for each believer. What an awesome thought it is to understand that God, who spoke the universe into existence, has thought it appropriate to make a covenant with me.

"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant.... For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people... .In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete." Hebrews 8:7-13

"Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant." Hebrews 7:22

Spurgeon's words seem to be written for contemporary times as he writes, "How sweet amidst all the uncertainties of life, to know that "the foundation of the Lord standeth sure," and to have God's own promise, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."

This Christmas season let us ponder this celebration of God's faithfulness, the fulfillment of prophecy. It is the beginning of Christ's ministry as a man on this earth that culminated in the first covenant being made obsolete...for me. Thanks be to God.