GOD’S WORD FOR  MARCH 9

We are reading from a daily devotional  called “Running To Win” written by Erwin Lutzer  and the late, great D.L. Moody.   Erwin Lutzer is a light in our day as D.L. Moody was in his.  Besides his many ministries, and many books, Pastor Lutzer was Senior Pastor at Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years and now serves as Pastor Emeritus there.  He is  Chancelor and a former professor at Moody Bible Institute, where he taught Theology and Ministry, and now has numerous radio teachings.

WHEN GOOD ENOUGH IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Jeremiah 17:9

“the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,  who can understand it?”

D. L. MOODY

  Nobody knows what is in the human heart but Christ.  We do not know our own heart; none of us have any idea how bad they are.  Some bitter things have been written against me, but I know a good many more things about myself that are “badder” than any other man.  There is nothing good in the old Adam nature.  We have got a heart in rebellion against God by nature, and we do not even love God unless we are born of the Spirit.

This is a truth that men don’t at all like, but I have noticed that the medicine we don’t like is often the medicine that will do us good.  If we don’t think we are as bad as the description, we must just take a closer look at ourselves.

ERWIN LUTZER

The moral gap between us and God is infinite.  I believe God never shows us the seeds of wickedness and deceit that exist in every man and woman;  if He did, we might not be able to endure it.  Many of us think we are good people or good enough to enter heaven, but we don’t take into account the fact that God’s hatred of sin is beyond our comprehension.  Thankfully, Jesus Christ supplies all that God demands.  He is our perfection and based on Him our entrance into heaven is assured.

Don’t let your heart deceive you!  By nature, we run from God;  we come to Him only because He searches for us!  We are sinners, helpless and needy in the presence of a God whose holiness burns brighter than the sun.  Were it not for His grace in Christ, we would be damned forever.  Even our good works are tainted with sin.  Perhaps He would even call them “works of lawlessness.”  Thank God for the perfection of Christ!

PRAYER

Father, You have searched me;  please show me what You see so I may deeply repent.  Please open my heart to show me my need for You.

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Isaiah 64:6

But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses  (good deeds)  are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

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Romans 6:15

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

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Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Psalm 32:5

I acknowledged my sin to You,

And my iniquity I have not hidden.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

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Romans 6:22

But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

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Galatians 3:22

But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

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1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

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