Category: Devotions

True holiness and true love begin with a transformed heart. A person is transformed from within to something new. A new nature where inner holiness and love are present in the heart. From the beginning, the Bible tells us that man is made in God’s image. What does that image of God look like? It comes in the regeneration when one is born again, the image of God is restored. When one’s sin is washed clean and forgiven by the merits of Christ’s death on the cross. And His resurrection from the dead breathes new life, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to the soul.

The Jews rejected salvation or righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ. They were confounded, like Cain, found in error. God did not leave them without hope and help but sent His Son to save them. They had a visible picture of godliness in Jesus Christ. They saw the miracles. They heard His teaching. They experienced His power when He walked the highway of Israel. Yet, they missed the point. An impossibility, come to think of it, yet they were truly in error. They would not repent of their misunderstanding of the truth.

Do you have loved ones and friends outside God’s kingdom? Do you pray for them? Have you been praying for years now and there is still no change? May we continue to pray, trusting God. Pray and not faint and wait upon Him. God grant us patience. Pray also to be a sanctifying influence to the presence of God in their lives. To witness that God is real. He is a good God that helps His people.

Thank God for simple faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is the greatest gift anyone can ever hope to possess. There is a chorus for your encouragement:

Only Jesus, Only Jesus

Only He can satisfy,

All my burdens are turn to blessings

When I know my Lord is nigh.

Amen.

The essence of God’s law is nothing less than the expression of God’s character – His holiness and His love. True holiness and true love begins with a transformed heart. There is an inner holiness and love present in the heart. It is not a mechanical outward obedience of the Pharisees. That’s not true righteousness, Jesus pointed out.

Today, we see the gospel is truly preached throughout the world. With the advancement of modern technology, travel has been revolutionalized. Unreached regions now become accessible for the spread of the gospel. Yet, the world seemed to be oblivion of their Saviour. Many still reject God in Jesus Christ. There is coming a Great Tribulation that the world has never experienced. This world will be destroyed. Comparing scripture with scripture, we see this judgement recorded by the Apostle Peter in

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The Apostle Paul revealed the spiritual state of the Israel, that though there is a multitude, yet only a remnant shall be saved. Jesus said that in the days prior to His coming, the spiritual state of the church will be cold, faith will be wanting. There is a remnant of His people whom God will use to prepare the world to meet their Christ.

The Apostle Paul is citing the prophet Isaiah’s prediction in Isaiah 10:22 of God’s judgement upon Israel by the Babylonians because her sins. However, God will preserve for Himself a faithful remnant though Israel was a great multitude. By quoting this text, he is calling attention to the parallel that among the Jews of Jesus’ day, many rejected Him but there is a remnant who received Him. Truly, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army and the Jews scattered in A.D. 70.

The Apostle Paul quotes the prophet Hosea who was called by God to declare His Word to Judah concerning her unfaithfulness in departing from her God. At the time of Hosea’s ministry to the south, the North Kingdom has already been destroyed in 722 B.C. by the Assyrian invaders 12 years earlier. God’s judgment to the Southern Kingdom will come later in 586 B.C.

True Christians are called of God to be vessels of mercy reflecting the glory of God. When God warned Noah of an impending global flood, He instructed Noah to build a great boat that will house the living when death will come over the entire earth by a global flood. Noah hearkened to God and experienced God’s mercy. There is an impending flood of fire coming upon the entire earth. The only escape is “up”, to be caught up to heaven to meet Jesus at the rapture.