Exhortation, Encouragement, and Comfort in Christ.
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O how crucial, how beautiful, how life-giving, how satisfying is the right kind of knowledge. How dangerous, how hardening, how brother-ruining, how pride-puffing is the wrong kind of knowledge.
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I wonder how the gospel was preached prior to the crucifixion? Throughout Jesus’ ministry He and His disciples preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. Whatever allusions to the cross contained in these messages were lost to its hearers. Yet the gospel was preached. Certainly, there are many things that can be said about the gospel without direct reference to the cross. For example: righteous requirements for human conduct, promises for future rewards, hope for peace, and standards for justice. Such facets of the nascent gospel were understood best by Jews – because they had the law and prophets as context. Even so the Jews struggled to comprehend the basic aspects of the non-cross centered gospel – how much more perplexing would a cross exalting gospel be to them.
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Which, among all the great things that Jesus has done for me, should I describe? For if my eyes are open and my heart is responsive to the tender mercies of God, I will see a thousand great things every day that God does for me. Even trials, which sometimes cloud my view of God’s blessings, can be counted among the great things God does, since they flow from His throne of grace. Times of testing are brief in the balance of eternity and Jesus will turn each test and every pain into servants for my good.
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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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What? Shall the Redeemer be redeemed by a couple of pigeons? Such irony! Jesus, who would redeem us by His own blood, was, if such a thing were possible, redeemed according to the Law of Moses with a couple of birds. Not even a proper lamb, but rather the poor man’s provision of two pigeons. Little did Joseph and Mary know that this baby they were redeeming with inexpensive birds was Himself the perfect Lamb of God. As the necks of these birds were nipped, and their blood ran down upon the altar, so too this child’s blood would run, for the Lord was providing Himself a Lamb for the offering.
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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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This year my wife discovered and introduced me to at a terrific show on the Food Network called “Good Eats” It’s a cooking show. It’s informative and instructional like other cooking shows but it is so much better because its host, Alton Brown, provides extremely interesting historical and scientific information about the process of cooking. On top of that, the show is very entertaining, fun, silly, and captivating.
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Whoever has what?
Jesus said, “Whoever has, to him more shall be given.” What’s worse, not to “have” in this verse means to lose everything. What is it that someone must “have” in order to receive more or keep from loosing everything? What an urgent puzzle to solve! Can there be anything more important to me this morning than to inquire of God concerning what this “have” could be?
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The Bible is chock-full of references to light. From the beginning of Genesis of all the way through, God uses light as a means of describing and identifying Himself to us. The Apostle John sums it up in 1 John 1: 5 “God is light.” Jesus pointed out one fundamental characteristic of light in the “sermon on the mount.” Light shines forth, reveals, draws attention to, illuminates, and focuses attention. When a play begins the house lights are turned down and often one very strong light is centered on the stage calling all attention to just one person. The Bible is such a spotlight, it draws attention to one character – it shines intensely on Jesus Christ. As thoroughly saturated as the Bible is in its references to light, so thoroughly does it call our attention to its main subject – God. God never stops calling attention to Himself all throughout His Word.
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Consider: (Biyn 995); to discern, act wisely, cared, explained, gain understanding, understand, gaze, give understanding, give heed, interpret, investigate, learn, observe, pay close attention, perceived, ponder, regard, show.
Listen soul, be diligent to study and absorb all that you can from the Word of God. Obey Proverbs 22: 17-22…
“Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your mind to my knowledge;
For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
That they may be ready on your lips.
So that your trust may be in the LORD,
I have taught you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge,
To make you know the certainty of the words of truth
That you may correctly answer him who sent you?”
Spend time in the Word. Read, ponder, absorb, look into, analyze, interpret, marvel and be captivated by the scriptures.
But listen, soul, don’t be like the Pharisees who searched the scriptures because they thought that by them they had the eternal life. No don’t be like that. Rather, study diligently in such a way that the object of the scriptures, He to whom they bear witness, is the one who is being studied, considered, perceived, pondered and discovered. Remember Paul’s exhortation that these words are not taught by human wisdom but they are those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. Remember the Apostle Peter’s encouragement that we have this prophetic word made more sure, to which we do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. Jesus is the word made flesh, he is the morning star. Diligently consider the word in such a way that Jesus is seen and exalted in your heart.
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Considering Christ