Tag: reformed theology

Week 30

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Memory Verse: Romans 13:12

“The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Questions:  What are works of darkness and how can light be an armor against them?

Reading #1: Acts 9:1-19

Questions: What stops Saul in his tracks?  What physical affect does the light have on Saul?  In verses 17 and 18 how is his condition resolved?

Reading #2: Acts 22:1-21

Questions:  Describe the works of darkness Saul was engaged in.  Why do you think he includes them in his defense?

Reading #3: Acts 26:12-32

Questions:  According to verses 16-18, what does Jesus say is the purpose of His appearing to Paul?  According to verses 22 and 23 what message were Paul and Moses and the prophets testifying to?  What did they say Jesus would come and indeed came proclaiming?

Reading #4: Ephesians 4:17-5:21

Questions:  According to verses 17-19 what is the condition of the unbeliever’s mind, heart and body?  How does this compare to the description in verses 20-32 of the one who has been taught and learned the truth in Jesus?  Describe what it looks like in Ephesians 5:1-21 to walk as children of the light?

Psalms and Hymns:

Abide With Me:  “Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;  shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies:  Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee: In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.”

Devo 29

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“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;  but the Lord will Arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.  And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” —Isaiah 60:1-3

I just had to throw that passage in one more time since it precedes this week’s memory verse.  AND because it puts a lump in my throat every time I read it.  The Light has come, friend, and HE IS RISEN!  But where did the Light go?  In John 8:12-20, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Three of His followers actually witnessed the manifestation of that glory in the transfiguration of Christ which we read about in Matthew 17:12-20.  In this passage Jesus articulates what was about to happen to the Light.  He was going to die and rise again. Later in John 8, Jesus says that He is going somewhere that those who are dead in their sins cannot come, somewhere not of this world.  That somewhere is exactly what Isaiah is describing in Isaiah 60:19,20:

“The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.  Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself;  for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.”

Our final week of study is going to focus a lot more on the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy, so this devo is actually just a teaser for week 31 when we’ll be diving into the book of Revelation 🙂  But I want to leave you with this quote from the same Apostle John who was one of the witnesses to the transfiguration of Jesus Christ and who was later given the vision of the city to come where that same Lord whom he saw crucified, risen and ascended into glory will reign as our everlasting light.  

“This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.   If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:5-9).”

That’s a lot of ifs, so lets break them down.

IF we say we’re Christians but are walking in darkness, 

THEN we’re lying.

IF we are truly walking with Christ in the light, 

THEN we will be in fellowship with other Christians

AND the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all our sins!

IF we say that we’re not sinners,

THEN we’re lying.

IF we confess our sins,

THEN He’ll forgive us and cleanse us from unrighteousness!

That’s the Gospel folks.   There’s darkness and there’s light.  There’s fellowship with Christ and His church and there’s not. 

There’s confession and forgiveness and the righteousness that comes from being cleansed from your sins and there’s living a lie.  There are no grey areas when it comes to salvation.

Oh friend, has that light shone on you?  Have you come to the brightness of His rising?  It’s there in black and white.  If you confess to Christ that you are a sinner in need of His forgiveness, He who is faithful and just will cleanse you from all your unrighteousness.  

Devo 28

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“And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Acts 2:19-21

I knew this post was coming.  This week’s readings have been sitting here for 9 months waiting their turn.  Why should I  dread writing about the wrath of God if I need not dread His wrath?  Perhaps because I know it is real.  And it is coming.  And I am partly to blame.  God’s wrath is a result of my own sin.  Because of my rebellion against His holiness, His wrath was first poured out on His willing and righteous Son, Jesus Christ.  He bore my sin for me on the cross and therefore He bore the wrath of God against me.

But there’s more wrath to come.  And this time Jesus will be the judge, not the condemned.

We did a quick overview of Revelation in a series of devotionals for the ladies up here, looking specifically at who Christ is and how He is worshipped in the vision John is given.  I was so struck by the attributes God was being praised for; some expected and very present in our own worship like His holiness, eternality, sovereignty, sacrifice, salvation, power, and righteousness; and others, not-so-much, like His wrath, judgements, rewards, justice, truth, vengeance and destruction of the ungodly.

The Psalms are brimming with the same kind of worship we see in the book of Revelation, but some where along the line, certain elements of God’s nature seem to have fallen out of our praise vernacular.  So if I’m going to spend an eternity worshipping God for these attributes, I should at least be able to take a few minutes to write about them.

It’s easy to say passages like Ezekiel 32:1-8 and Micah 3:1-8 are too graphic for our modern day sensibilities, but I’m pretty sure such bloody descriptions weren’t exactly standard Saturday Evening Post fare for the ancients either.  That kind of brutality would be shocking to any generation of man.  Any human at any time would quake at the threat of being flung into an open field to be food for the vultures and other beasts and then to have ones flesh strewn upon the mountains along with so many others the ravines are flowing with blood.

Sounds merciless, right?  And yet that’s exactly the kind of horrid consequence my rebellion demands.  That’s how ugly my sin is to the just and holy and righteous God who made me.  But when God turned the full fury of His wrath onto my sin, it was His perfect and holy and righteous Son who voluntarily took the blow.  The wrath of God poured out on Jesus Christ on the cross was merciless.  And all God’s mercy was poured out on me instead.

So can I praise God for His wrath?  Yes!  Because it is a holy wrath and because He was willing to bear it Himself on the cross for me. But how can one escape the wrath that is to come?  For surely, the same Christ who bore my sins in His own body on the tree, who was buried and who rose again and ascended into heaven, this same Christ is coming back as judge over all the earth.

Just as a star announced Christ’s first advent, the heavens will proclaim His second.  But dear friend, you need not dread that coming.  No, you can rejoice and welcome your King!  Peter, one of the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ death and resurrection, proclaimed in Acts 2:21 that “it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!”  Now, you might have the same question that Peter’s listeners had, “What shall we do?”  His answer was simple.  Repent and you will be born again.  Your sins will be forgiven and God’s loving mercy will be poured out on you.  Then you, too, will have all the reason in the world to praise Him for His wrath for He will have born it for you.  Joel 2:12,13, which Peter was quoting from says,

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;  and rend your hearts and not your garments.”  Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents from disaster.”