A Daily Devotional

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A Righteous Heart

“And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel.” (1 Kings 11:9)

The Scriptures have an interesting commentary on Solomon’s life: “When Solomon was old…his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God” (1 Kings 11:4). How is it possible to start well and end sadly?

We must guard our heart. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life,” Solomon admonished in Proverbs 4:23. The Hebrew word for “keep” is natsar and the main verb for “guard” or “set a watch.” Psalm 119 uses natsar 10 times to demand our careful “watch” on our obedience and use of the Word of God. The promise is “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart” (Psalm 119:2).

Store the good treasure. In one of his many confrontations with the Pharisees, Jesus gave several illustrations about the impact of the “heart” part of our nature. Jesus spoke of binding the “strong man,” noting that a tree produces the fruit it was grown for and that snakes are always snakes. Then Jesus makes this observation: “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35).

Others will try to turn your heart. Jeroboam (1 Kings 11–12) led Israel in rebellion against Judah and against God. He “devised of his own heart” (1 Kings 12:33) liturgical practices that “made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 15:34). Peter warns, “Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness” (2 Peter 3:17).

We must guard our hearts, “for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). HMM III

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Afraid to Understand

“For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.” (Mark 9:31-32)

When the Lord Jesus told His disciples about His coming death and resurrection, He could hardly have spoken more plainly, yet they “understood not.” Not willing to believe that He meant what He said (with all its uncomfortable implications for their own futures), they were “afraid to ask Him” what He meant, lest He confirm that His words should be taken literally.

This was not the only time. Again and again He told them that He would be crucified and then rise again, but they could not (or would not) understand. On one such occasion, Peter even rebuked Him and said, “Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” But the Lord answered, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matthew 16:22-23). A refusal to take God’s Word literally, at least in this case, was said by Christ to be inspired by Satan!

Modern evangelical Christians do not doubt the reality of His sacrificial death and bodily resurrection, for the evidence is overwhelming, and these truths have become the glory and power of the gospel. Nevertheless, fearful reluctance to take God’s Word literally is still a great problem among some “Bible believers.” Whenever such a stand might become costly, many Christians eagerly accept nonliteral ways of interpreting Scripture to fit their own preferences. This approach, of course, is especially widespread in modern accommodations of the creation/Flood record of Genesis to the philosophies of modern evolutionary humanism. We should remember always that, just as in Christ’s predictions of His death and resurrection, God always means exactly what He says in His Word. HMM

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The Righteous Man

“Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

There is an old spiritual song that has the phrase “ev’ry body talkin’ ‘bout heav’n ain’t goin’ there.” That’s a good summary statement of biblical truth—and worth repeating. As our text puts it, the righteous man does righteousness. But there is more to this principle.

A righteous man knows he is righteous. As a young man, King David was very conscious of his righteousness. David knew that he had “clean hands,” that he “kept the ways of the LORD,” and that he had neither “done wickedly” nor “departed” from God. David was also careful to put the “judgments” and the “statutes” of God out in front of his thoughts. “Therefore,” he said, “hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness” (Psalm 18:20-24).

A righteous man loves righteousness. The opening stanza of the majestic Psalm 119 makes this statement: “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways” (Psalm 119:2-3). The apostle John is even more succinct: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).

A righteous man resolves to live righteously. “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way…I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person” (Psalm 101:2-4).

Those who long to be with God long to be like God. HMM III

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Our Sins in His Body

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

When Christ suffered on the cross for our sins, His entire body suffered. A vicious crown of thorns was pressed into His brow, and then “they smote him on the head” and “spit upon him” (Mark 15:17, 19). He already was weak and battered from Pilate’s dreaded scourging with the infamous Roman cat-o’-nine-tails (John 19:1).

Cruel spikes were driven into His hands and nails into His feet, suspending His pain-racked body from the cross (Psalm 22:16). The word “stripes” in our text actually appears in the singular. Christ on the cross was one big stripe, or wound. Finally, He died (v. 33) and “one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34).

Indeed, He was bearing our sins in every last part of His body on the tree! The enormity of the necessary payment provides a partial measure of the enormity of our sins in the sight of a holy God. “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” (Isaiah 1:5-6). “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:…Their feet are swift to shed blood:…There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:13, 15, 18).

But He bore all the sins of our body, and therefore we, in God’s sight, are dead to sins and alive to righteousness. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). HMM

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The Victor’s Crown

“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” (1 Corinthians 9:25)

Ancient athletes who “strove for the mastery” devoted their whole lives to training and were “temperate in all things,” hoping thereby to receive the victor’s crown someday.

There are 21 references to the victor’s crown in the New Testament, in either the verb or noun form. In most of these, the crown is used as a symbol of the Christian’s “incorruptible” reward at the end of his spiritual race.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:19, it is called a “crown of rejoicing,” speaking of the joy awaiting the faithful witness when he meets again with those he has influenced for Christ in this present life. Paul spoke of our “crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8) when we shall be “like him” (1 John 3:2), with our old sinful weaknesses and desires gone forever. Peter said it would be a “crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4). James and John both said it is a wonderful “crown of life” (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10), that is, eternal life, in contrast to this present life of faithful submission to trials and persecution and possible death, for Christ’s sake.

The first four references to this victor’s crown, however, refer to the crown worn by Christ Himself. “Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!” (John 19:5).

Marvelous irony this, that a crown intended as an instrument of ridicule and pain would be transformed into a kingly crown of triumph! “But we see Jesus…crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). In the very suffering of death, He defeated death and sin and Satan himself, and His crown of thorns became a crown of eternal glory and universal honor. HMM

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The Veil over the Nations

“And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.” (Isaiah 25:7)

Many people feel that every nation should be encouraged simply to practice its own religion. God’s Word, however, makes it plain that all nations are blinded, cut off from the truth by a deadly covering. This is true of the Jews, for “even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart” (2 Corinthians 3:15). It is also true of the Gentiles, who have “the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18).

The veil that keeps them in such darkness is a Satanic blindfold. “The god of this world [i.e., Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Corinthians 4:4). And how did the devil ever gain such control over human minds? “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened….Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator” (Romans 1:21, 25).

So today men and women almost everywhere—atheists, Communists, humanists, Buddhists, Confucianists, animists, Hindus, Taoists, Shintoists, occultists, “New Agers,” and even many “liberals” in the monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity)—really all worship some man or man-exalting evolutionary philosophy and reject God as Creator.

Someday, God will destroy this pervasive veil over the nations. In the meantime, we must reach everyone we can with the true and everlasting gospel of Christ, for that “vail is done away in Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:14). HMM

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A Provoked Spirit

“They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.” (Psalm 106:32-33)

This terse passage summarizes the tragic events described in Numbers 20:1-13. If ever a religious leader had a right to be provoked with an ungrateful and complaining flock, Moses did. Finally, after years of privation in the wilderness, the people complained once too often, and Moses could take it no longer (or so he thought). In anger, he rebuked the rebels and smote the rock, disobeying God’s direction in how to miraculously provide water. As a result, God rebuked him, and he was not allowed to enter the promised land.

It is all too easy in times of pressure and inconsiderate selfishness all around us to rise up in “righteous indignation” and, like Moses, “spake unadvisedly with [our] lips.” This is surely one of Satan’s most common devices. Such verbal assaults may be well deserved and may seem to give personal satisfaction for a time, but they are usually counterproductive in the long run and very hurtful to one’s testimony for Christ to those so assaulted (imagine Peter trying to witness to Malchus after he had sliced off Malchus’ ear in anger!). Unfortunately, “the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

The Lord Jesus Himself is the ideal example in this difficult realm, for “he was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). He could have called 10 legions of angels to destroy His tormentors, but instead He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Let us not be easily provoked to so-called righteous indignation. “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). HMM

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The Pillar and Ground of the Truth

“These things write I unto thee, hoping to come into thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:14-15)

The church has been ordained by God to be the primary instrument through which His work on Earth is accomplished. Here Paul uses three phrases to describe three aspects of the church:

The house of God. The Christian family with husband, wife, and children performing their God-given roles provides a beautiful picture of the relationship of the church (the “bride” of Christ) to the Lord. The household of God consists of a family of believers where love abounds and He is honored. “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

The church of the living God. The ekklesia, or “called-out ones,” serve the living God. “The blood of Christ [shall]… purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14).

The pillar and ground of the truth. A facade pillar of a building is not used for support but rather for display by elevating or calling attention to something else. The ground provides the support. The church should function to support and display the whole truth in such a way that all people can see and believe it.

The church should be a family of believers exhibiting brotherly love, individually and corporately serving the living God out of a pure conscience, defending the truth, and displaying it to the lost. May each of us as church members enjoy and support such a church. JDM

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Pilgrims on the Earth

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.” (Hebrews 11:13-14)

This is the heart-touching testimony of the great “heroes of faith” of Hebrews 11. The experiences of all these godly men and women of the past are outlined as an example for us as we pass through the years of our own “pilgrimage” on the earth. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us…run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

There is another group who also gave their own lives, and the testimony of our text seems appropriate for them as well. Once a year, on Memorial Day, we remember in a special way those who died in defense of our own country. They had seen its promises and embraced them and were willing to die for them. Many of those were also Christians, and they loved their country, especially because of its unique Christian heritage and its freedom to practice and propagate their faith.

One of these was this writer’s younger brother, who died in the jungles of Burma as a young pilot flying the famous “Hump” into China during World War II. Before his death, he had given a faithful Christian witness to many of his buddies as he ran his own race with patience. Many readers of these lines no doubt remember their own friends and loved ones who likewise offered up their lives for God and country.

As we remember them, we surely must remember, with even greater love and appreciation, the One who made the greatest sacrifice of all, “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). HMM

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Nine Forty-Day Periods

“To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)

It is interesting how often the Scriptures refer to a 40-day period. There are nine different 40-day periods noted in Scripture (the phrase itself occurs 17 times), and it may be noteworthy that 40 days is one-ninth of the original (and prophetic) lunar/solar year of 360 days (note Genesis 7:11; 8:3-4; Revelation 11:2-3). Thus, the total of the nine 40-day periods equals the lunar/solar year.

These nine 40-day periods are as follows: (1) the intense rainfall at the start of the Flood (Genesis 7:12, 17); (2) the first giving of the law (Exodus 24:18; Deuteronomy 9:9, 11); (3) the second giving of the law (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:18, 25); (4) the searching of Canaan by the fearful spies (Numbers 13:25; 14:34); (5) the defiance of Israel by Goliath (1 Samuel 17:16); (6) Elijah’s journey to Horeb (1 Kings 19:8); (7) Jonah’s reluctant preaching in Nineveh (Jonah 3:4); (8) Christ’s temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2); (9) Christ’s post-resurrection ministry (Acts 1:3).

Each of these periods was a time of great stress and intense testing for one or more of God’s people, except the last. Instead, the final 40-day period, encompassing Christ’s ministry to His disciples after His resurrection, was a time of triumph and great blessing. He had come victoriously through the most intense time of stress and testing that anyone could ever experience, and now He could show Himself alive eternally to His disciples and promise them the same victory. Forty days of testing, then 40 days of triumph! Even a lifetime of testing is more than balanced by an eternity of blessing. HMM

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The Good Pastor

“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” (John 10:14)

The Greek word used here for “shepherd” is the same as for “pastor.” The Lord Jesus, therefore, was saying, in effect: “I am the good pastor: the good pastor giveth his life for the sheep [that is, ‘for His flock’].” A good pastor is, thus, one who leads his flock into good pasture, who knows his flock, and who is known by his flock. A good pastor would even give his life for his flock (vv. 1-16).

However, this is not merely a term for the leader of a church congregation. The term and the concept are sufficiently broad to include all those individuals (teachers, military officers, parents, etc.) who have leadership responsibilities.

In all such cases, our guide and example is our good shepherd, our good pastor, our good leader—the Lord Jesus Christ. With this in mind, consider some of the other biblical references to our good shepherd: “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:2-4).

Note also Hebrews 13:20-21: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.”

Almost every Christian, at least on occasion, must assume the function of a spiritual shepherd, and every Christian, always, is spiritually a sheep. The Lord Jesus is our good shepherd, and we do well to follow Him in all things. HMM

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The Crucial Point

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

Whenever people speak of “the crucial point of the issue” or “the crux of the matter,” they are inadvertently acknowledging the centrality of the cross of Christ, for these words are derived from the Latin crux, meaning “a cross.”

The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is right at the very heart of Christianity and also at the very heart of the opposition to Christianity. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

It was at the cross, and on the cross, that Christ defeated Satan. “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:14-15).

And it is at the cross that we also must be crucified, spiritually, if Satan is to be defeated in our own lives. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). “Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6).

Crucifixion, of course, is exceedingly painful, and therefore there is a very real “offence of the cross” (Galatians 5:11). Many Christians resist the demands on the life, mind, and body that are entailed in such total identification with Christ. They would rather glory in earthly things. But how much better it is to glory, as Paul did, only in the cross, crucified unto the world. HMM

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The Eternal Cosmos

“He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.” (Psalm 148:6)

In this central psalm of the last five psalms comprising the “Hallelujah” epilogue to the book of Psalms, the entire physical creation is exhorted to praise the Lord as all the universe is restored to its primeval perfection. All the people of the earth, all the angels, even all the animals, will praise the Lord.

Furthermore, in some way that can only be understood by faith, the entire inorganic creation—sun, moon, stars, mountains, winds, everything—will be able to praise Him. Even the primeval waters above the heavens (Genesis 1:7-9) will have been restored, and they will praise the Lord (Psalm 148:4-5).

And all of this will continue forever and ever! The new heavens and new Earth—that is, the renewed heavens and Earth, with the Curse removed (Revelation 22:3)—the sun and moon and stars, with the eternal throne of the Lord Jesus established on the earth in the New Jerusalem in the midst of all the redeemed men and women of all the ages, will forever be a praise to God.

God is not capricious, and He does not fail. He will not “uncreate” what He has created. “Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever” (Ecclesiastes 3:14). The earth must yet be purged by fire (2 Peter 3:10), but it will be renewed in righteousness (v. 13) and without any evidences of the former regime of decay and death.

And then it will last forever. “And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever” (Psalm 78:69). “[God] laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever” (Psalm 104:5). “And they that turn many to righteousness [shall shine] as the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). HMM

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Righteous Boldness

“The righteous are bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1)

A holy boldness is imparted to those who seek to speak the truth of God (Acts 4:31). The miracle of the Pentecost outpouring of the Holy Spirit was followed by several incidents where the various apostles and early Christian leaders spoke “boldly in the Lord” (Acts 14:3). Where does this boldness come from?

The Presence of the Holy Spirit. The Sanhedrin “saw the boldness of Peter and John” when they were dragged before them (Acts 4:13) after they had healed the lame man shortly after Pentecost. Peter was “filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 4:8) and boldly answered the farcical questioning of those self-righteous leaders, and they “took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). When we speak with God’s authority, we speak boldly.

The Words of God’s Word. The first church prayed “that with all boldness they may speak thy word,” and they were enabled to speak “the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:29, 31). When Paul was starting the church in Ephesus, he “spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8). We should have boldness when we have opportunity to “make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).

The Assurance of a Righteous Life. “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Several godly traits of righteous men are given in Hebrews, “so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6).

These are from where that boldness comes. HMM III