Messages From Heaven: Something God Can't Do!: So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it wi...
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Something God Can't Do!
While it may seem strange to think there is something God cannot do, Hebrews reminds us “it is impossible for God to lie.” God is truth. He is the standard of truth, and everything about Him is truth. It’s not simply hard for God to lie—that would be an issue of validity. It’s not unlikely that God would lie—that would be a matter of probability. It is impossible for God to lie—that’s an aspect of His inviolable attributes, something God cannot and therefore will not do.
Why do people lie? After a mistake, we may cover our tracks. In a pinch, we may omit damaging details. We may present ourselves or our situation far differently than reality—because that's what we want to be true. Not God. Even if God could lie, He would have no motivation. He can gain nothing by lying. Everything He wants to happen, happens. Every word He says is true. He’s afraid of nothing, and He’s right about everything. He doesn't forget anything. Nothing about Him ever changes. He is the Rock—He’s God!
Because He never lies, when God says something, you can be sure He’ll do it. So when He calls us “heirs of the promise,” He wants us to be convinced of His faithfulness.
When God fulfilled His promise to Abraham, He made room for you there, too. Galatians 3:29 says, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” So if by faith you have trusted in Christ for forgiveness and eternal life, you’re in on the promises God has made. Note how the writer of Hebrews confirmed our part in God’s promises by highlighting “the unchangeable character of his purpose.” While we may waver and wander, God is always on task and on track. Both His promises and His character will never change.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Satan, the ultimate antithesis of God. While God is the best truth-teller, Satan is the worst liar. John 8:44 says, “[Satan] is a liar and the father of lies.” He cannot tell the truth. Satan will never even mention the truth to you unless it is twisted by a deceptive lie. That was the tactic he used with Jesus when they met in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11). The devil quoted Scripture to Jesus, but only to twist it for his manipulative purposes.
You can’t count on anything Satan tells you, no matter how loudly he shouts. But you can rest the full weight of your life on God and His Word.
What does it look like to stake your hope and confidence on God’s unwavering promises? One promise for you is “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Another is that “though the earth gives way,” God will be your “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1–2). Yet another that can steady your soul is knowing that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Scripture is filled with promises that “Abraham’s offspring”—those who’ve received Jesus’ gift of salvation—can take to the bank.
One thing God cannot do is lie, and He is keeping every word He has spoken, right now. Let His unbreakable promises be your hope. Rest in the absolute reliability that “we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”
Journal
- List some of the promises God is keeping right now. Which are the most precious to you?
- Why is it important that God cannot lie? What are some lies Satan may be trying to spin to you?
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Our Wandering Hearts!
Messages From Heaven: Our Wandering Hearts!: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the L ord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaia...
Our Wandering Hearts!
Hey, wanderer!
Yes, you. Stop glancing over your shoulder. Look in the mirror. The sobering truth is we are all wanderers—either we did wander (past tense) or we are still wandering (present tense) or someday we will wander (future tense). It’s the universal condition of the human heart.
To wander is to proceed without a proper sense of direction—spinning out of orbit, going astray, turning to our own way, as Isaiah describes. Like foolish sheep, we wander away from our Good Shepherd, away from the safety of the fold, and we expose ourselves to countless dangers. But the Shepherd calls us by name to come home, and He gives His own life to bring us there (see John 10:1–18).
This is the good news of the gospel, the life-giving truth every wanderer desperately needs to hear. The past can be forgiven. Hurts can be healed. Sin can be atoned for. And we can celebrate what Jesus Christ has done for sinful people—starting with ourselves!
The story of Robert Robinson illustrates this well. In 1757 Robinson wrote a beloved hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” His insightful lyrics describe our human tendency to wander:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Take my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.
Curiously, some accounts of Robinson’s life suggest that after writing it, he wandered from God—not for a year but for decades. Bouncing between denominations, wandering became a pattern in his life. Thirty years after he wrote that hymn, Robinson met a young woman who happened to be reading a collection of poetry and hymns. He asked her to read aloud from her book, and she unknowingly read to him the very words of the hymn he had written years before. Apparently Robinson not only admitted to having written the lyrics but also to his deep longing to feel again what he had experienced with God when those words had been inspired. “Madam,” he said, “I am the poor unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago. And I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I then had!”
Do you know that familiar tendency, a proneness to go your own way, intentionally or inadvertently? Like Robinson, have you wandered from God? Hear the invitation: You can wake up right now and get back to following Christ. Stop being foolish and playing around with nonsense that will only trash you and the people you love.
Maybe you made a foolish decision this week. Maybe you allowed a wrong desire to begin to grow in you. Maybe you’re playing with fire. You might arrogantly think, See? I’m not singed! I didn’t get burned. Yet. Receive this word as coming from the Lord Himself. Don’t think you can beat the odds; you can’t. If you have wandered, come back—today, right now! It’s time.
Come back—perhaps to your home, to your family, or to your church family. Come back to the truth itself. And come back to a Person—the Good Shepherd who searches for, runs to, fights for, redeemed, died for, and loves you.
Welcome home, wanderer.
Journal
- Every sheep has wandered from the fold. Describe your wandering, whether it was decades ago or yesterday.
- Why must God’s children acknowledge their tendency to wander? Why is the gospel only satisfying to those who know their sin?
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Messages From Heaven: The Antidote for Fear!
Messages From Heaven: The Antidote for Fear!: Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for...
The Antidote for Fear!
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6, ESV).
We can all relate to experiencing fear in one form or another. It’s a primal emotion, instinctive to our human nature, just like grief or anger. You don’t ever coach yourself, “I think I need to feel afraid.” You don’t have to plan it—fear just happens.
We fear losing people. Will my husband always love me? Will this treasured friendship last? Will my kids walk with the Lord or go their own way?
We fear losing possessions. I’m barely able to make ends meet—will I be able to keep my house? Will I have enough for groceries this week? Will I be able to help my kids pay for college?
We fear losing our position. Will I always have this opportunity? If I’m in over my head, will I be found out?
We fear physical pain. How will I endure this chronic pain? What if I never heal?
Even more, we fear emotional pain. My friend has pulled away. My kids don’t care. My spouse is drifting away. I’m not happy with myself.
We fear failure. I could have, I should have, I would have, I didn’t, I’m not, I failed.
Fear contradicts faith. While fear says, “If this happens, I won’t be okay,” faith says, “Come what may, I’ll be okay because of God.”
The Lord seldom seems further away than when your heart is filled with fear. When you rely completely on your own resources, then realize they aren’t nearly enough to sustain you, fear can flood your heart.
But fear has no place in the life of a Christian. A fearful, anxious response is never from God. Romans 8:15 reminds us, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.” Out with fear and in with faith.
How? The antidote for fear is the promise of God’s presence. God is with you. “He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me’” (Hebrews 13:5–6)? Let the calm, strong assurance of this precious promise settle into your soul: God is always with you; therefore, you have nothing to fear.
This promise has sustained Christians through the ages. Even on his deathbed, John Wesley, the famous revivalist preacher, clung to God’s presence. The loved ones surrounding Wesley as he left this life attested that he articulated what was most precious to him: “The best of all is, God is with us.” These were Wesley’s final words, welling up from the deepest part of his soul. Raising his arms in victory, he repeated again, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Wesley experienced the fulfillment of God’s promise of His presence: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4).
The One who knows the end from the beginning, who knit you together and is intimately acquainted with all your ways (Psalm 139:3,13), has made some promises. When fear creeps in, cling to this: God is with you. You have nothing to fear.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Messages From Heaven: The Reassurance of His Coming!
Messages From Heaven: The Reassurance of His Coming!: Paul had to write this urgent second letter to the Thessalonians because they were greatly dist...
The Reassurance of His Coming!
Paul had to write this urgent second letter to the Thessalonians
because they were greatly distressed by false teaching they had been
given. Paul reminds them,
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he [the antichrist] may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He [the Holy Spirit] who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
When you come to understand through the study of Scripture what the antichrist can and will do, you will praise God for the “Restrainer,” the Holy Spirit. The antichrist will be the devil incarnate. His intellectual genius will be great. His authority will be overpowering. His hatreds will be extraordinary. His techniques will be superb. Men will be willing to die for the antichrist. Women will swoon and faint at his feet. Little children will breathe his name with praise. He will come as a great world leader, part of Satan’s master plan, which is tied to Satan’s master man.
He will turn this world into a vast concentration camp with all of the inmates numbered. Everyone must receive a number to buy or sell. No sign, no sell. No mark, no merchandise. He will be evil wickedness distilled, all of the Hitlers, Napoleons, Stalins, and Saddam Husseins melded into one man.
By computer, all people still on earth at that time will be registered. And they will be regimented with no escape. The more machines act like men, the more men will act like machines, and they will do that during the great tribulation. There will be days of torture and terror for those remaining here.
Will they then repent? Paul continues,
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
People who do not receive the Lord Jesus Christ now in our day and age will believe the lies of the antichrist. Once the Restrainer is taken away, people will be sitting ducks for delusion. They will willingly believe a lie.
“How is that possible?” you ask. We see it everywhere today. People believe untruths about a vast array of subjects, from questioning the inerrancy of Scripture to denying biblical Creation, to life in the womb and God’s definition of marriage. People today even question that there is absolute truth. Mark Twain once observed, “A lie travels around the world while Truth is still putting its boots on.”
Delusion will prevail once the Holy Spirit is removed. When that happens, and the antichrist is revealed and has had his day, God will then dispatch him. Remember verse 8:
“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
“The brightness of His coming” refers to the Battle of Armageddon. In some translations, “lawless one” is written “Wicked One”—capitalized. In the original text, the word has a masculine, singular ending. Antichrist is a person.
What does “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth” mean?
From the Lord’s perspective, the Battle of Armageddon is going to be fought with a word that comes from Jesus’ mouth. Do you know what that will be? “Drop dead.” Christ will consume him with the spirit of His mouth and the brightness of His coming. You need not be disturbed, you should not be deceived, and you will not be disappointed. Jesus Christ is coming again.
TWO ASPECTS OF THE SECOND COMING
The Second Coming is not so much a point of time as a series of events that take place.
First, He’s coming for His bride—that coming will be sweet and secret.
And now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him. 2 Thessalonians 2:1
Earlier Paul had told them, The Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we which remain and are alive shall be caught up to meet them in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Next He is coming with His bride. He comes first at the Rapture to take His bride out. After the tribulation, verse 8 says He comes back in glory and power with His bride to rule and reign.
First He comes sweetly as a bridegroom. Then He comes sovereignly as a king in all His majesty. This is when King Jesus is going to destroy the antichrist.
Look at the difference between the first time Jesus came and His Second Coming.
- When Jesus came the first time, He suffered in shame. The second time, He will reign in glory.
- The first time, they crowned Him with thorns. The second time, He will wear a crown of glory.
- The first time, He came to die in the sinner’s place. The second time, He will execute judgment on the unsaved sinner.
- The first time, He came to seek and save those who were lost. The second time, He’s coming in flaming fire, to take vengeance on those who know not God and who obey not the Gospel.
- The first time, He came in the greatest humility, riding on a donkey. The second time, He’s coming in power and glory.
- The first time, He was rejected of men. The second time, every knee shall bow. Even the knee of every unbeliever will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
- The first time, He was judged guilty and sentenced to die. The second time, He will be both Savior and Judge. “The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son” John 5:22.
But I am a glowing optimist. We will not be disappointed. You can bank on it. Jesus Christ, who came the first time, is coming again. “That same Jesus,” the angel said, “which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him return to Heaven.”
What does this mean to us? The days in which we live are actually glorious days. We’re living in the beginning of the end. These are not days to let up, back up or shut up until we’re taken up. We need to press the battle right to the gates.
I want to go up as a growing Christian. I want to be a better Christian tomorrow than I am today. I want to love Jesus more this afternoon than I do this morning. I want to be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The great apostle Paul at the end of his life said, “I’m reaching for the prize of the high calling of God” (Philippians 3:14). At the end of his life, he’s still climbing. He’s still moving up. We need to be moving one step higher.
HOW DO WE MOVE “ONE STEP HIGHER”?
Intercession
If Jesus Christ is coming, we ought to be praying for unsaved loved ones that don’t know Jesus. We ought to be getting as many ready for the Rapture as we can by winning souls to Jesus Christ.
Soul-Winning
Be telling people about Jesus. We need to be winning souls.
Preparation
Teach your children. Build Bible truth into your children. Become familiar with Bible prophecy yourself and then teach them. This world is becoming so vile, so wicked so fast, they must be prepared for what is coming on the earth.
Comfort
There is great comfort in knowing that this is not the end. What you see today is not all you can expect. This is not all there is. Jesus is coming to this world and this world is coming to Jesus.
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