GOD’S WORD FOR  APRIL 18

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.

RUIN AND RESTORATION

“They shall keep y laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep y Sabbaths holy.”

Ezekiel 44:24

D.L. MOODY

No nation has ever prospered that has trampled the Sabbath in the dust.  Show me a nation that has done this and I will show you a nation that has got in it the seeds of ruin and decay.  I believe that Sabbath desecration will carry a nation down quicker than anything else.  Adam brought marriage and Sabbath with him out of Eden, and neither can be disregarded without suffering.

ERWIN LUTZER

Why is it that the law was given?  There are three reasons.  The first is to reveal the holiness of God.  The word “holy” means separate and pure.  God is entirely beyond us and unlike us.  Holiness is the only attribute in the entire Bible that is elevated to a third degree, “Holy, holy, holy!”

The second reason for the law is to reveal our need for grace because a great chasm exists between God and humanity.  Our ability to approach God is based squarely on His grace, not on our ability to keep the law.  In God’s white light of holiness, He cannot accept any of our good works, polluted and tainted as they are.

Under the New Covenant of grace, we stand where the fire of God’s judgment has already fallen.  (as a picture of this, the story is told of a young boy and his father who were caught in a forest fire when the wind changed and they  were surrounded by flames.  They survived by standing on a small piece of burned ground, as the flames roared past them.  That ground was already burned, and couldn’t be burned again.  It is the same with God’s wrath for our sin.  He already spent it on His Son, so He will not shower it on us.  But we must accept that substitution and acknowledge the action for us personally, or it does us no good.)  So we must flee to Jesus Christ, who alone can restore us to a holy God.  The full counsel of God keeps us from losing sight of God’s holiness, our sinfulness, and our need for His grace.

PRAYER

Father, please show me my need for Your grace through Christ.

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John 3:16

    “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.”

(The original Greek word translated correctly as “believes” has a deeper meaning in the original language than our English word.  The actual meaning is to fully trust in, to fully depend upon, to be united with, to rest your life upon…..Which is what Jesus asks us to do.)

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Ephesians 2:8-9

    “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

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Romans 10:9

    “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

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2 Timothy 1:9

    “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.”

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Galatians 3:26-27

    “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

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Acts 3:19

    “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” –

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1 John 1:9

    “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

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