by Eric Holter on August 5, 2006
“But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!”
Galatians 2:17
Paul confronted Peter in Antioch for standing aloof from the Gentiles when his fellow Jews arrived from Jerusalem. Paul recalls this story in his letter to the Galatians as a means of defending the gospel. The issues at hand were not small but the truth of the gospel was at stake—and not just the facts of the gospel, but how the gospel is lived out.
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by Eric Holter on December 5, 2005
“When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.” [click to continue…]
by Eric Holter on July 15, 2005
“But what is the divine response to him? ‘I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.’”
Romans 11:4
If I were to interview some of those seven thousand men who did not bow their knees to Baal, and ask them to describe instances where they refused to bow, I would probably hear some wonderful stories of heroic faith in the face of oppression and persecution. They might tell of times when a way of escape was opened. They might tell of sufferings they endured. No doubt there would be testimonies of God’s faithfulness and examples of how specific scriptures fortified and bolstered their faith in times of desperate need. I bet there would also be confessions of temptation and wavering – when competing desires between survival and obedience, the acceptance of man and the honoring of God, were at war. There may have been, from the perspective of these men some very “close calls” where it seemed they had barely escaped, or almost succumbed.
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by Eric Holter on July 10, 2005
“The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?’”
Luke 5:30
O Poor Pharisee, stuck in your old ways of performing righteousness – making much of your displays of prayer and fasting. You think such efforts will make you acceptable to God. You have drunk your old religion of law for so long that Jesus’ words are impossible for you to understand. Your legalistic ways offer no categories for this new wine of gospel grace. You question why Jesus’ followers don’t act like other religious people? The Lord’s answer comes back in riddles, stories, and parables you cannot understand by your categories of duty and performance.
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by Eric Holter on July 5, 2005
“And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips…”
“And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;”
Luke 4:22, 28
How sobering is the sovereign will of God. He turns hearts one way or the other according to His eternal purposes. Jesus did not ride the wave of human of applause as he preached the gospel. By His own words He provoked the stubbornness and disobedience that was thinly concealed in the hearts of His own people. Even while the people of Nazareth wondered at His gracious words He changed the theme. Through true, prophetic words He announced that the kingdom blessings they had been longing for would not be given to them but rather to foreigners. By these words their pre-existing sins of stubbornness and rebellion were cemented – their rejection was firmly set, their blindness complete, and their backs forever bent.
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by Eric Holter on March 10, 2005
“For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.”
Romans 4:16-1
According to Hebrews chapter 11, faith has two primary characteristics. One, it believes that God exists and that He makes all the things that exist out of nothing. Secondly, faith believes that God is a personal, covenant-making, promise-keeping God who rewards those that earnestly seek Him. This is the character of genuine faith and it is through faith alone that God saves, justifies and imputes the righteousness of Christ to undeserving sinners like me. And God determined to grant salvation through faith for a reason, which is that it might be – in accordance with grace.
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by Eric Holter on March 5, 2005
“But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’”
Mark 16:7
Angels are the Lord’s messengers; they do his bidding. This angel, in the empty tomb, had words for the women to give to His disciples… and Peter. Peter is singled out. He was a disciple so the general instruction certainly applied to him, but the Lord appended the address for this message to Peter, by name. And no wonder. I’ve experienced emotional turmoil in my life, but nothing compared to the heights and depths that Peter experienced over these few days. His heart rose with the joyous shouting of “Hosanna” at the triumphal entry and sank as Jesus cried out “my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” on the cross. Peter’s sorrows were intensified since he had boasted of his loyalty only to deny him three times right in Jesus’ view while He was in the midst of His trials. Peter’s soul must have dropped with a thud when he caught Jesus’ eye following his third insistence that he did not even know the man. He wept bitterly.
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by Eric Holter on October 15, 2004
“For the sake of Thy Name, O Lord, revive me”
Pslam 143:11
I am so glad that God’s glory and the revival of my soul can be connected together in one sentence. It is a wonder that, for the sake of the name of the Lord (that is, for His glory), I can appeal to God for revival. The connection of these two things is only by the grace and mercy of God. God could have chosen to be glorified in other ways. He could be glorified for instance (as it says in Romans 9), by my destruction as an object of His just wrath; had He left me in my wickedness. Psalm 143:2 highlights God’s mercy, “…and do not enter into judgment with Thy servant for in Thy sight no man is righteous.” It is only because God has graciously chosen me to be an object of His mercy that my revival and His glory can come together in such a beautiful way. But that is only half of the grace by which God’s glory and my revival come together. Removal of wrath alone is an astounding underserved mercy. Escaping the destruction ordained for the wicked is an unfathomable gift. Yet simply avoiding destruction is not the final result of God’s mercy.
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by Eric Holter on September 10, 2004
“Make me walk in the path of Thy commandments,
For I delight in it.”
Psalms 119:35
Psalms 119:33-40 is one of my favorite passages. I pinned it up on the wall next to my desk in my basement study where I seek the Lord in the morning. I love this passage because it helps me remain utterly dependent on God. Each verse asks God to do something for me; teach me, give me, make me, incline me, turn my eyes, establish Thy word, turn away reproach, and revive me. God needs to do these things for me so that my life will become what it needs to be for His glory and my happiness. His taking action to do these things is the means by which I will persevere to the end, keep God’s word with all my heart, delight in God, not be greedy, not be vain, fear God, find God’s will and His word to be good, and long for God Himself. I want these things, and they all require God to do something for me so that I will be this kind of faithful person.
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by Eric Holter on August 30, 2004
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
Psalms 136:1
The degree to which I feel the intensity of God’s love grows the more I receive it for me in particular. The more general I view God’s love, the less intensely I feel it. No doubt God’s love is broad and general. In Psalms 136:25 it is expressed by His giving “food to all flesh.” This is one example of how the everlasting lovingkindness of God is very broad. I should always be thankful and praise God for the simple, daily expressions of His love that I undeservingly receive such as family and friends, food, warmth and all other common provisions of God’s blessings for my good.
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