Daily Devotional: God’s Greatest Gift
Message by Wil Pounds
God’s Greatest Gift
God has provided salvation for you in Jesus Christ.
In simple, lucid language Jesus sums up the entire Gospel for Nicodemus and us in one beautiful sentence rich in content.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Martin Luther said these “words are able to make the sad happy, the dead alive, if only the heart believes them firmly.”
Jesus revealed what is in the heart of the LORD God. “For God so loved the world.” The very one who came down from heaven reveals the greatest revelation man could ever receive from the Creator.
In these words a holy God is saying to sinful man, “I love you.”
Depraved man could never have conceived how much God loves sinful man. God had to reveal and demonstrate that love to man. The best that man and humanism could come up with was an exaggeration of his own depravity as expressed in world religions.
Jesus uses the word agape denoting the highest type and form of love. It is not a love of mere affection, friendship, or ordinary human relationships, but the very highest type of love that is self-sacrificial for the object loved.
God cleansed the depraved sinner and took him to His bosom. No human intelligence could ever fathom such love. This revelation of God distinguishes Christianity radically from all the world religions.
Such love God has for a sinner is the pinnacle of His glory. It is in fact, the crown of all of His attributes.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son . . .”
God’s own Son sat before Nicodemus and spoke those words to him. This “Son” is above all others who in any sense may be called “sons.” All other “sons” are adopted “sons.” Jesus is “the Only-begotten Son.” He is the “one and only Son of God.”
It is strange, even frightening, how one of the modern pagan cults of our day can claim that Jesus was the brother of Lucifer, Satan. Such a teaching is an abomination to God.
Jesus used a term for Himself “so strange, striking, unique, exalted” and distinctive that no one else could ever be so compared. He is “the only begotten Son of God.” There is none other (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). “The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” No one else ever could have. He was with the Father in heaven from all eternity. He is the “true God, begotten of the Father from eternity,” writes Luther. God gave the very best—Himself—for us.
God the Father gave His only begotten Son as a gift with the purpose in mind “that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Jesus had already told Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be lifted up (v. 15). That is how much God loves us. He gave His only begotten Son up to death on the cross for sinners.
The object of our faith is “in Him,” the only begotten of the Father. Jesus is the object of saving faith. There is no other name that we can call on for salvation. All other names will send you to hell (Acts 4:12).
Those who believe on Him “shall not perish, but have eternal life.” The word “perish” never means to suffer annihilation as another modern cult teaches. “To perish” denotes total and eternal rejection by God.
On the basis of the gift of God we receive eternal life. God loves you so much “that He gave His one and only Son.” Believe on Him today and you shall receive eternal life.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Daily Devotional: From Despair to Hope
From Despair to Hope
Message by Wil Pounds
It is almost uncanny how the poet describes the abandonment of the sufferer by God to the scorn of evil people who mocked Him. The Hebrew poet-king wrote,
But I am a worm and not a man,
A reproach of men and despised by the people.
All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
“Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him” (Psalm 22:6-8).
King David writes using gestures of helplessness, frailty, and hopelessness in these verses. It is another vivid picture of the events at Calvary put in writing a thousand years before they actually took place in history (Matt. 27:39-43).
“They open wide their mouth at me, as a ravening and a roaring loin” (v. 13). The crowd at the crucifixion of Jesus did just that in graphic detail. His bones were pulled out of joint at the hands, arms, shoulders and pelvis (v. 14). “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax; it is melted within me” (v.14). Perspiration pours profusely from the intense suffering, and the exhaustion and strain affects the functioning of His heart. With His strength exhausted, and dehydration, His tongue clings to His mouth from extreme thirst (v. 15). “My strength is dried up like potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws” (v. 15).
We draw up near the cross in verse sixteen and hear him say, “For dogs [Jewish term for derision for Gentiles] have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet” (cf. Matt. 27:35; Jn. 20:20, 25).
They stare at Him on the cross. He is so frail from suffering they can count His bones on His naked body. Even the casting of lots for His clothing is literally fulfilled (v. 18; cf. Matt. 27:35; Lk. 23:34; Jn. 19:24; 19:23; Mk. 15:24).
Any unbiased reader of this messianic poem must come to the inescapable conclusion that it finds its historical fulfillment in the crucifixion of Christ.
The death of Jesus Christ made perfect atonement for our sins. He was forsaken of God so we could be forgiven.
This matchless messianic poem also declares that the suffering servant of God died in triumph knowing that His suffering produced perfect atonement for the sinner. He tells how His prayer was heard and affirms that He will praise God before the brethren in the great assembly.
There is an abrupt change in the steady progress of the poem from the despair in suffering to one of renewed trust in God. Verses 22-31 conclude with the results that spring from the resurrection. It closes with a message of thanksgiving and hope in the anticipation of the proclamation of the good news.
“I will tell of Thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise thee” (v. 22). He admonishes others, “You who fear the LORD, praise Him” (v. 23a).
Moreover, the message is not just for the Jewish brethren (vv. 22-24), but also “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will worship before Thee” (v. 27). Is this not the great missionary message preached after the resurrection of Christ? (cf. Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Rom. 1:16; Phil. 2:8-11; Rev. 4-5).
The psalmist gives a great invitation for all to humble themselves and trust in the Savior. Salvation is for those who “fear the LORD” (vv. 23, 25), “seek the LORD” (v. 26), “remember and turn to the LORD” (v. 27), and “bow down before Him” (vv. 27, 29). It is for all who will call upon His name and be saved.
People yet to be born in future generations will serve Him (v. 30-31). “It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it.”
You and I are included in this great multitude (Jn. 17:20). The Savior had you and me on His mind while He hung on the tree. Have you responded to Him in faith?
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Daily Devotional: God is an Eyewitness
Message by Wil Pounds
God Is An Eyewitness
The final words of Jesus just before He ascended into heaven are a constant encouragement in my ministry and should be for every Christian.
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
It is great reassurance to remind ourselves, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (v.20).
However, that is not a new promise in the Scriptures. The Psalmist David reflected on that great truth about the LORD God is Psalm 139 when he wrote, “Where can I go from Thy Spirit?” Or where can I flee from The presence?” (v.7). I don’t think at that stage in his life he wanted to escape from God. He was thinking through the implications, and applying the omnipresence of God to His own his own life situations.
We are not alone in our circumstances. The Lord is with us all the time. The reason He sees and knows everything is because He is everywhere all the time. God will forever be with me. He is constantly aware of where I am and what I am doing. I am never out of His sight, and because I am never out of His sight, I am never out of His awareness. I am never “out of sight, out of mind.” Nothing in my life catches Him by surprise.
It is a comfort to know that I can never escape Him. Even if I were so foolish to want to, I could never flee from His presence or His knowledge of my circumstances.
“If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,’ Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You” (Psalm 139:8-12).
Think about it. There is no place to flee from His eyes. But why should I ever want to flee His presence? Knowing that He is aware of my thoughts and actions gives encouragement to keep my mind and heart pure.
“But you are not perfect Wil Pounds.” No, I am not sinless in thought or deed. But knowing that He knows when I sin drives me to the cross, and the fact that if the blood of Jesus does not wash me of all my sins, I can never be saved and glorified.
The fact that He knows when I sin is a humbling truth; however, it is also the greatest incentive to go to Him as David did and confess my sins. “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah” (Psalm 32:5).
The apostle John wrote, “And the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7b). The original language says, the blood of Jesus “continues to cleanse,” keeps on cleansing constantly. All my sins, every sin, are under His cleansing blood. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10).
Yes, He is an eyewitness, so why should I fear His presence? He has made a perfect provision to cover all my sins. I am secure in His all-knowing presence and powerful hands.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Daily Devotional: God Knows Me
Message by Wil Pounds
God Knows Me
God knows me, and He still wants to pursue a personal relationship with me. That is truly amazing. He knows everything about me, and still wants to enjoy my fellowship with Him.
What does it mean to know God? How do you come to an intimate personal knowledge of Him?
I am not thinking of intellectual knowledge or facts about Him, but the importance of knowing a close friend.
The apostle Paul prayed that believers would know God the Father who chose us, God the Son who redeemed us, and God the Holy Spirit who applied salvation to us personally through the new birth. Now that He has saved me do I have a growing knowledge of Him? Perhaps in our busy schedule and pressures of modern life we should ask do I even want it? How do I fit a hunger for God into a complex worldview?
In Ephesians 1:17-19 the apostle Paul prayed that God would give believers “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation . . . to know Him better.” Paul wanted them to have a “true knowledge of Him.” But you say, they already knew Him as their Savior, and had obtained eternal life. But what I am asking is has God placed within your heart a hunger to know Him better?
With every relationship in life we make deliberate choices as to whether we want to pursue the relationship. God has invited us to get to know Him better. Have we responded to that invitation to belongingness? Do we have that “we” feeling with Him? Have we taken the first few faltering steps and halted? Have we reached a plateau, and is it now time to respond to further instruction in His Word?
Has the Holy Spirit opened the “enlightened eyes of our hearts” in order that we may know “the hope to which He has called us, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe”?
Paul’s prayer for knowledge of God is based on a plea to have a greater knowledge of God’s saving grace. God takes the initiative and invites us to a personal involvement of our whole person. It is a permanent relationship based on the awesome knowledge that He knows me and desires a personal, abiding relationship with me.
Perhaps Paul had in mind the great prayer of Jesus, “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
Do you know Him? Do you want to know Him better? It is true that we have a great deal more to learn about Him in His Word. Knowing about Him is important, but knowing Him personally is more important. We must act on what we have learned in His Word.
How do I get to know God better in His personal dealings with me? It begins with a hunger or thirsting for the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to our soul and to open the living Word of God to our inner person. Such a knowledge is not found apart from a study of the Scriptures. It is to the person who sits at Jesus’ feet that God opens His heart to reveal Himself. It is time spent with God on our knees with the open Word that issues in an intimate knowledge of Him. You cannot get to know a real person without spending time with him or her. We cannot know God without time in His presence. We know truth about His attributes from His revealed Word as the Spirit applies them to our lives, and as we act upon that knowledge we experience Him personally.
God chose us, and called us “to be holy and blameless in His sight” as His full grown adopted children. We grow in our knowledge of God as we become more like the Lord Jesus Christ in every way, every day. As we grow in the knowledge of His grace we grow in His likeness. One day we will know Him in perfect character. My prayer is that He will hasten that day. Today, we live in the tension of the here and now and that which is yet to be.
Because we are His unique possession, purchased by His blood, “we share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (Col. 1:12). God has rich blessings in store for those who get to know Him better. Are we claiming our inheritance now? We can only as we get to know Him intimately. The apostle Paul said, “We know little; and we know imperfectly.” One wonderful day when He comes we will know fully and perfectly.
Do I know Him in the power of His resurrection? This is to know God’s power by personal experience. Do I know the power that God exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead? The knowledge of God is experienced in the power of Christ’s resurrection in our lives today. Oh, God that I may know you today!
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 200
Daily Devotional: The Model Prayer: Deliver Us From Evil
Message by Wil Pounds
The Model Prayer: Deliver Us from Evil
The last petition in the Model Prayer looks to the future when we pray, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13).
That is a prayer that every believer should pray daily because we are all vulnerable to succumb to temptation. One wag said truthfully, “If a man wakes up and finds his house on fire, he does not sit in a chair and write or read a treatise on the origin of fires in a private house; he sets to try to extinguish the fire and to save his house.”
Where is the fire in your house? Each one of us has a different spot of vulnerability. What is a brutal temptation for one person, may leave another one unmoved, and vice versa. Every person has a weak spot which if he is not careful can ruin his life.
“Do not lead us into temptation.” The word for “temptation” has the basic meaning, “to test.” When it is used of Satan testing us it is with the view of causing us to fail the test.
Are we honest enough with God to ask Him to keep us out of circumstances and tempting situations because we know from experience our faith could not endure them? Do we play with temptations instead of praying that God will keep us away from them?
The Bible tells us God tempts no one (Jas. 1:13). But we have an old nature that is always capable of sinning, and it is at war against the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:17 explains that both the Holy Spirit and the flesh are in constant active unceasing conflict. “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”
“But deliver us from evil.” The word “deliver” (ruomai) means “to rescue, save, deliver, or preserve someone from someone or something.” When the believer is walking in dependence upon the Spirit he is delivered from the lust of the flesh. Whatever is undertaken in the energy of the flesh will fail, because it is not in the power of God. The only way we can possibly be delivered over our old nature is by the Spirit working in us (Rom. 6:14; 8:2). The most spiritual Christians are warned to pray daily, “and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” If we do not we are courting failure in living the Christian life.
It is our responsibility to walk in the Spirit, reckon on the indwelling power of Christ living in us, putting off the old man, mortifying the flesh and abiding in Christ.
The deliverance from the power of sin is through Jesus Christ (Rom. 7:25). Romans 6:1-10 teaches us that the believer’s fallen nature has been judged by co-crucifixion, co-death, and co-burial with Christ, therefore making it possible for the indwelling Holy Spirit to answer this petition of the believer.
“Evil” can be translated “the evil one” meaning the devil, or it can mean evil in the ethical sense. Here it is probably the evil element in life.
The Holy Spirit delivers us from the power of sin in our daily life. We have been delivered from the penalty of sin by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The moment we put our faith in Christ as our Savior we were forgiven of our sins and the assurance that our debt has been paid in full.
This prayer deals with the power of sin in our daily life. From the human side it depends upon our attitude of faith in the death of Christ and the action of faith taking God at His word and depending on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to over come temptation. There will never be a time in the Christian’s life when he will not need to depend on the Holy Spirit. The just one shall live by faith—faith which depends on the power of the indwelling Spirit. This is what it means to abide in the Spirit or abide in Christ.
The doxology, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (v. 13b) was added in later manuscripts as a fitting liturgical closing to the prayer. All power, honor and glory belong to the LORD God.
Our greatest defense against falling into sin is the presence of Jesus Christ living in us, and our dependence upon Him. “What would you do, if you suddenly found Christ standing beside you?” is a good question to ask ourselves often. How would you then live? It is His “inescapable presence” that keeps us from yielding to temptation.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Daily Devotional: Evidences of the Death of Christ
Message by Wil Pounds
Evidences of the Death of Christ
The eyewitness John keenly observed two unusual things that happen at the crucifixion of Jesus. These facts made a deep impression on him as he watched the crucifixion taking place.
The crucifixion took place on the day of preparation for the Passover festival that would begin at 6 p.m. The Jewish authorities felt an urgency to get the bodies off the crosses and buried before the sun went down.
“So that the bodies might not remain on the crosses on the Sabbath (for the Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:31; cf. Deut. 21:22-23).
The legs of Jesus were not broken as was the case of the other two men crucified that day, and in His case a Roman soldier seeing He was already dead thrust a spear deep into His side and out flowed water and blood. Either to make doubly sure that Jesus was dead, or out of hate he picked up a spear and thrust it deeply into the side of Jesus (John 19:32-34). A real man, with a real human body, with real human blood, died on the cross that afternoon in Jerusalem.
Prophecy was fulfilled in a most unusual manner. One Scripture said the Savior’s bones must not be broken (Exodus 12:46; Num. 9:12; Ps. 34:20), and another said His body must be pierced (Zech. 13:1).
These Roman soldiers would have done just the opposite. They came to break the legs of Jesus as they had the other two men, but there was no point in breaking his legs since He was already dead.
Moreover, they had no intention of piercing the side of Jesus with the spear. To John’s utter amazement that is exactly what the soldiers did.
Why was this observation so important to John?
God intervened and caused it to happen as His Word said it would centuries before. God overruled the circumstances and caused it to happen according to His will. The enemy was unconsciously executing God’s counsels. A sovereign God was in control at Calvary. The soldiers had received instructions to break the legs of Christ, but this had not been done. The soldier had not received the order to pierce the Savior’s side, but this he did (John 19:34).
The purpose of God was fulfilled in the case of the typical Passover lamb whose bones were not broken (Ex. 12:46; Num. 9:12). The astonishing thing that John pondered was the fact that not a bone of Jesus was broken proving that He was the Passover Lamb that God provided. Not one bone of the Passover lamb was broken. God slew His own Lamb and made provision in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, so that when the judgment of God comes, He will see the blood of Jesus and pass over you. Only the blood of Jesus makes atonement for our sins.
It was no simple pricking of the body of Jesus, but a wound intended to kill someone. “If you are not already dead, this will finish you off,” was the intent of the soldier. Blood and water flowed out of His body.
The prophet Zechariah had written, “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity” (Zech. 13:11).
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Daily Devotional: Infinite Love of God
Message by Wil Pounds
Infinite Love of God
The Lord God has chosen to fully reveal Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. He has done it in such a way that a finite mind might grasp the essential truth of God’s infinite being (Rom. 1:19-20).
“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:18). We have come to know God’s love “because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9, 10). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
God declared His love in the cross of Jesus Christ, and we need never question it ever again. Jesus Christ “loved me and gave Himself for me.” We perceive and understand the love of God because Jesus laid down His life for us.
In eternity we will have “a ceaseless unfolding of that fathomless expression of boundless love,” says Lewis Chafer. “For God so loved the world that He gave . . .” The ultimate picture of the love of God is the cross of Jesus.
Why such a demonstration of love? “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). Every righteous judgment of God against sin was removed by Christ.
Sin is not a fleeting thing, or a small issue with God. It has eternal repercussions and was dealt with at Calvary by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The only means of dealing with sin is the all sufficient Substitute who stood in the sinner’s place until all the grounds of our condemnation was dealt with past, present and future.
Jesus Christ died for me, and as a result, I will never have to bear what He bore on the cross on my behalf. Christ “died for me” so that I might not die. “The wages of sin is death.” Christ died my death for sin. God’s love provided a substitute for me which reaches out into infinity. This is His constant attribute toward the sinner.
Jesus is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth.” God’s love is undiminished. God has perfectly demonstrated His love to sinful man. The cross is God’s perfect and final revelation of His love.
God manifest that great love while we were still hostile sinners (Rom. 5:6, 8). Sin created the greatest problem for God, and in the cross of Jesus God provided the only possible solution for Himself. Every sinner is at enmity toward God. The cross of Jesus reveals the desperate wickedness of our sins.
God alone accomplished the reconciliation of sinful, rebellious man to Himself. He accomplished it by the death of Jesus on the cross. “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isa. 53:6). “Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed” (Rom. 3:25). “For He [God] has made Him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
God accomplished our reconciliation to Himself through the death of Christ. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.” Jesus said, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father” (John 10:17-18). Jesus was in control of His own death. “Father into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” Moreover, God the Father was involved in Jesus’ death (Acts 2:23).
Infinite love was unveiled at the cross in the saving act of God in the death of Christ. “God was in Christ.” In that death, “God has set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins. . . that He might be just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25-26).
“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Daily Devotional: Are You in Adam or in Christ?
Message by Wil Pounds
Are You in Adam or in Christ?
Charles Hodge asked a crucial question: “If God requires one thing, and we present another, how can we be saved? If He has revealed a method in which He can be just and yet justify the sinner, and if we reject that method and insist upon pursuing a different way, how can we hope to be accepted?”
The safest answer, of course, is in the Scriptures. What has God revealed?
The first man sinned, but not just once; Adam sinned many times. Before he sinned the first time he was righteous. His righteousness was of his own doing, as a created being. It was the righteousness of a man. However, Adam never had the righteousness of Jesus Christ upon him. What he lost was his own self righteousness.
When you and I put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior we are not merely given back a human righteousness that Adam had before the fall. We are given the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. God gives us “much more” in abundance, a superabundance of grace. He gives us the full weight of His perfect righteousness.
Adam did not stand in his own righteousness. He fell. If we attempt to stand in our own righteousness we, too, shall fall.
The gift of God in Christ far surpasses the effects of Adam’s sin and all other transgressions we have committed.
The humbling fact is we were all in Adam once, and we fell in him. He brought sin and death to the human race by his own sin.
How can you and I escape the effects of the fall of Adam on us?
We can stand in a divine righteousness provided by our divine substitute that will never be taken from us. It is God’s gift to us in His grace. The poet expressed it beautifully:
Jesus thy Blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress.
The apostle Paul wrote that we have received, “God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17).
We “reign in life” even now through Jesus Christ. We have been elevated to a position far above what Adam had before his fall. We not only have been “recovered from the fall, but made to reign through Jesus Christ.”
The righteousness of Jesus Christ has been put to our account, put upon us and it is a righteousness in abundance, ever superabundance.
Because it is of divine grace, all of the glory belongs to God alone. Adam stood at the head of the human race and brought death upon all, so our Lord Jesus stood for man and brings life to all who believe on Him.
Every one of us is in Adam. However, the most important question is, are you in Christ? We have Christ only through faith.
We are under grace because we stand before God as justified men. Grace is the state of justification. Because we have been justified, we remain justified and we can never be condemned.
We have been justified by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. There is no other way to have a right standing with a just and holy God. “Oh to grace how great a debtor.”
God was under no duress or compulsion to save us. Nothing made Jesus Christ die for our sins on the cross. Nothing made God credit the perfect righteousness of Christ to our account. God did it because He chose to do so out of grace.
If you are objecting to God’s revealed word saying how can I be saved by something someone else has done fore me, it is probably because you are not saved.
The good news for all in Adam is that a righteous God by a judicial act declares sinful men to be in a right standing before Him, not on the basis of their own merits because they have none as sinners, but only on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done by dying in our place on the cross. Jesus took the penalty of death for our sins upon Himself and died on our behalf. Now those sins have been punished and God imputes the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to our account.
You are in Adam, but are you in Christ?
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Daily Devotional: Satisfied Faith
Message by Wil Pounds
Satisfied Faith
Faith is simply taking God at His word and then acting on it.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29b). These words are for you and me because we have not seen Him in the days of His incarnation.
Jesus is not suggesting faith without the facts, but “a satisfied faith.” It is a faith that is satisfied with God’s provisions and does not plead for visions, miracles or strange experiences as evidence of God’s blessings.
Jesus is saying that a faith without these evidences is superior because it is a mature faith.
God’s word is full of promises to those who by faith act on His truths. God blesses faith in the Triune God. The Bible teaches us to trust in Him, and not the living out of some spectacular experience. The blessings of God are for all believers, and are common to all who call upon the name of Christ as God and Savior.
If we are constantly looking for spectacular miracles, rather than walking by faith in Christ, we will gradually become insensitive to the thousands of normal everyday experiences that God continually gives us.
God blesses those who live by faith, and not by sight. The person who enjoys the great benefits of the Christian life lives by their faith in the character and benevolence of God and not in the evidence of visions, miracles, or other religious experiences.
It is by faith that we become the children of God and enter into His family (Jn. 1:12-13). We received eternal life by simple faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who gave His life for us and rose from the dead (Jn. 3:16; 20:30-31; 11:25-26).
It is also by faith in Christ that we grow in His likeness. We live by faith in Him and He delivers us from spiritual darkness and bondage (12:46). He gives us His life to enjoy today. Jesus is the Bread of Life and He invites us to feast upon Him by faith (6:35). All of our spiritual longings are fulfilled as we walk by faith in Christ.
It is by faith in Christ that He uses us to minister to a faithless world (14:12). When the child of God takes Him at His word He uses us to impact a watching world. The unbelieving world is watching to see what God is going to do in and through your life. Do we step out by faith and trust Him to do the impossible in our lives? This is the only way God will be glorified in our ministry. Without faith we are just like the heathen, who are surrounded by the glory of God and never see it. May God open our spiritual eyes so we can see what He is doing all about us daily.
It is only as we put our trust in God that our eyes are increasingly open to see where He is at work.
The Holy Spirit works through us so that we may point people to Jesus.
By faith we will one day see Jesus in all the fullness of His glory (11:25-26, 40).
What is faith? Faith is our spiritual eyes that looks away from ourselves and focus on the Lord Jesus. Do not rest, then, on your faith, but on the Savior Himself.
It is not the character or degree of faith, but Christ. How much is a grain of mustard seed? Not much. It is tiny, but that is what God requires of us.
Faith is simply believing what God has said regarding His Son in the Holy Scriptures. The moment you do that you are saved.
“Whosoever that believes shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” It is like saying to a starving beggar, “Here, take and eat. Here is a free gift. All you have to do is receive it.” Faith says, “Thank you.”
Lord, increase our faith so that we may see and obey You.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006