GOD’S WORD FOR AUGUST 26

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.

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DESPERATE FOR GRACE

Matthew 7:22-23

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

D.L. MOODY:

It has been said that there will be three things which will surprise us when we get to heaven – one—to find many who we did not expect to find there; — next —  to find some not there whom  we had expected, and –last—and perhaps the greatest wonder—to find ourselves there!

ERWIN LUTZER

“I was capable of anything.  I had not the least fear of God before my eyes….I not only sinned with a high hand myself but made it my study to tempt and seduce others.”  

Those are the words of John Newton, an atheist who, after surviving a great storm at sea, came to faith in Christ and would later write the words to the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

The way in which you perceive yourself will depend on the way I which you view grace.  The better you think yourself to be, the less grace you think you need.  But the Bible tells us that we were all dead in our trespasses and sins.  (Ephesians 2:1).  We’ve all met people who live a decent, moral life, but they are not saved; they will not be in heaven because they think they don’t need much grace.  But when God  reveals their sin to them and their desperate need for grace, they then can believe the gospel and be saved.

I think Moody’s point is that we often cannot tell who is saved and who is not.  When Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray Him, despite three years together, the disciples didn’t know it was Judas  because he had played the game so well.  They asked the question all of us should ask  “Is it I?”

So I ask, “Is it you?”

PRAYER

Father, search search my heart, teach me to examine myself.  Reveal to me the true state of my heart.

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Romans 3:25

whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished;

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Romans 5:9

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

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Ephesians 1:7

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace

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Ephesians 2:13

But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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Colossians 1:20

and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

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1 Peter 1:2

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

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1 Peter 1:19

but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

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1 John 1:7

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

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Revelation 1:5

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—

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