This week I want to walk through Psalm 96. In Revelation 15:3, John described those who had conquered the beast and its image and he said,


There is coming a day when a people beyond number from every nation, every tribe, and every tongue will sing that song on the other side in glory, but in Psalm 96 we find an international anthem calling us on this side of the sea of fire to ‘Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples.’

Psalm 96 is in the midst of a series of Psalms that give mankind an ultimatum…worship God. We, who are heavenly citizens and members of the King’s kingdom are called, commanded, and expected to worship our King. There is a sense in which this Psalm could be summed up in nine words: sing, sing, sing; give, give, give; and wait, wait, wait! It appears, at least in part, in 1 Chronicles 16 when David brings the Ark into Jerusalem and so some think he wrote it, but we aren’t sure, but one thing about the Psalm is it looks toward the future and literally throbs with the hope of the Messiah’s coming!

Yesterday was an incredible day of worship at FBC Pell City. Both services were packed, the usual folks were there, family members came home, and we had several guests. There were different nationalities there and we lifted up the name of Jesus. It is like that almost every week, maybe a few less people, but I can’t wait to see what it is going to be like in Heaven. Read over the Psalm this week and let’s get ready to study it!

The first two stanzas of Psalm 46 lead to the last stanza where we find the purpose of God. Verses 8-11,It is amazing—we find God’s invitation in verse 8, “Come, behold the works of the LORD, how He has brought desolations on the earth.”  Come behold—the word speaks of seeing with the eyes of your heart…look at what God has done in the past and know that He will do it again.  That’s the invitation but notice God’s plan in verse 9.
Since the Fall man has fought and rebelled and sought autonomy and he has abused, manipulated, and schemed his way to the top, but it won’t always be that way.  We’ve heard of the war to end all wars, but that was followed up by more wars.  There is really only One peacemaker…God will one day say enough is enough and He will make wars cease to the end of the earth; He will break the bow, shatter the spear, and burn the chariots.  The weapons of man will be useless against the plans of God.  That’s His plan—He is working toward the Day when Jesus will come and rule the earth with an iron scepter.  All rebellion will be useless.
But notice His glory,Everything God does is moving toward this end.  Every trouble that comes our way, every blessing, every providence, and every plan—it is all moving us to the day when He will be exalted, and His glory will be seen and every knee will bow in Heaven and on the earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!  What a day that will be!  You and I are called to prepare for that day and to prepare others for that day.
From His invitation to see, from this plan for peace, and from His glory we move to the conclusion…two times we find these words—here and in verse 7.  Look at as we close, “The Lord of hosts,” Luther said,Lord Sabaoth is another way to say the Lord of Hosts…He is the mighty One, the commander of angel armies and Lord of all.
He, the LORD of hosts, is with us.  Immanuel, God with us.  John Wesley was almost dead—his voice was all but gone and you could barely hear him, but at the end, he mustered all the strength he could and cried out, “The best of all is, God is with us.”  He raised his right hand and waved it in triumph and said again, “the best of all is, God is with us.”
But church, who is this God who is with us?  He says, “The God of Jacob is our fortress.”  Why Jacob?  Why not the God of Abraham?  Jacob was a deceiver, a swindler, a cheat—he shared the womb with a twin brother, Esau, and the Bible says they struggled together in the womb…he came out of the womb holding onto his brother’s heel…his name means, he cheats…he deceived everyone he ever met, but over his life he came to know the God of his father.  God even changed His name to Israel.  That’s a story of grace!
You and I are more like Jacob than we want to admit, but God will be our God if we will come to Him in faith and then we have a story a tell to the nations.  Luther said, “The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth.  Let goods and kindred go, this moral life also, the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still.  His kingdom is forever!”  The best of all is God with us!

Yesterday, we looked at the first three verses of Psalm 46 and saw the protection of God, but today I want to call your attention to verse 4-7,In this stanza of the psalm, we move from the protection of God to the presence of God.  It is interesting to see the chaos of verses 2 and 3 and then to compare it with the calm of verses 4 and 5.  
I wrote recently on the rivers we find in the Bible coming from the Temple, but I think the point here is that we can rest in the joy that comes from the presence of God.  Joy is in this city because God is present.  Look at verse 5,In verse 4 we see the provision of God.  Water is abundant for many of us, but place yourself in the dry and arid land of the psalmist.  Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well, “but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  (John 4:14) On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “‘If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38) God provides.
Look at the stability of God in verse 5—everything seems to be falling apart, but God is still seated on His throne, and He is still in control.
In verse 6 we find the power of God.  The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; but God utters His voice and the earth melts.  Don’t fear what man can do—look at the power of God.  The very voice that spoke this world into being can speak the word and it will all melt.  
Then in verse 7 we see the defense of God...He is with us…He is our fortress.  This a different word than the word for refuge in verse 1.  It speaks of a fortress that is inaccessibly high…no one can reach us when we are in Him.  
We will look at the final stanza tomorrow, but rest in the presence of God today.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been memorizing and meditating on Psalm 46.  Elizabeth Elliott lost two husbands—one to martyrdom and the other to cancer.  She said,

I talk to a lot of people who are shaken by the events going on in the world around us.  I hope this psalm with offer you some comfort today.  There are three stanzas and we find them with the little word “Selah.”  It is simply a word that encourages you to stop and consider what you’ve just read.
First, we see the protection of God in verses 1-3.  


I’d suggest that when He protects us He does three things.  First, as our refuge, He hides us.  He is strong, He is secure, He is our shelter…He hides us.
He is not just our refuge—He is our strength.  He is omnipotent.  Whatever we face He is able…you and I will never face a single thing that He is not able to do something about it.  He hides us.
He also holds us.  When trouble comes, we can hide in Him as a refuge and know that He holds us and keeps us.  He is “a very present help in trouble.”  
It would be tempting, like the preachers of old, to say, God hides, God holds, and God helps, but that isn’t what the psalmist is saying…He doesn’t say God helps us; rather, he says God is our help.
He is the support, He is what we need because we are vulnerable and we are helpless. It is true—all we need is God.  So, we must simply say, God hides us, God holds us, and God simply is…He is all that we will ever need.  He is our only help!
Notice the extent of verse one as he lays it out in verses 2-3…We do not have to fear natural disasters of extreme calamities.  That doesn’t mean we don’t take shelter when storms come…we don’t stand on the beach and shout at the hurricane, we don’t stand in the yard and laugh at the tornado, but when the storms of life come, we don’t cower in fear.  
I think the psalmist is taking us beyond the normal storms of life—this the stuff of revelation—this is a picture of the end of times.  The earth gives way, the mountains fall into the sea, the waters roar and foam and while the mountains which seem unmovable tremble we take refuge in God.  He is able to hide us, He is able to hold us, and He is simply our help regardless of the situation.  
We will look at the second stanza tomorrow, but for now—work on this…Keep your eyes on Him.

I love reading through the Bible each year…I really don’t know how many times I have done it, but each time I learn something or notice something new.  Earlier this week I was reading Genesis 9, the flood is over, the water has receded, and Noah and his family and the animals have left the ark.  God makes a covenant with Noah, but in 9:10 we find, “and with every living creature that is with you and your offspring after you, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every breast of the earth.”  God established a covenant with man and with creation to never again strike down every living creature as he did with the flood.

He gave a rainbow as a sign of the covenant, but what struck me this time was that He also made the covenant with the animals, the birds, the beasts, the livestock…every beast of the earth.  

I was thinking about this covenant with Noah, about the sign of the covenant, and then about the Throne scene in Revelation 4.  There is a Throne in heaven with One seated on the throne and around the throne we find a “rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.”  

There we also see the twenty-four elders, but then we find four living creatures and one like a lion, one was like an ox, one was like a man, and one was like an eagle.  Isn’t it interesting that before the Throne we find reminders of God’s covenant. He made it with man…one was like a man.  He made it with birds…one was like an eagle.  He made it with livestock…one was like an ox.  And He made it with every beast of the earth…one was like a lion.  And there before all of them was a rainbow.

One writer said, “These creatures are represented perpetually before the throne of God, because the Lord is concerned about His creation. They remind us that all creation worships and praises the God who provides for His creatures and rejoices in their worship.”

God made a covenant that He keeps and before Him are reminders of the covenant.  I wonder…would it help us to have reminder of our covenant with God always before us?  
What do you think?  Leave a comment.

For the last 20 days we have looked at these amazing words,

Today is the day we have set aside to remember His birth, but by now it is quite possible that His birth has gotten lost in the shuffle. We are so busy giving and receiving gifts that we often forget about the greatest gift ever given to man. I hope somehow we will remember the long journey Jesus took to redeem us and be motivated to take the longest mission trip in the world—the trip across the street. If you can witness to your neighbor or those in your family you can witness to anyone.

Merry Christmas!

Paul said, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” His supreme position involves a recognition of His great work. No one will come to the Father except through Him. His name is above every name and every single knee will bow before Him—every single tongue will confess Him as Lord. Who will this involve? Everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth—no one will be excluded. The great question is when will you confess? On this side of eternity through the Spirit’s confession and your choice or on the other side of eternity?

I pray that God will give us a passion for the spread of His glory. A passion like the two Moravian brothers who desired to reach an island of slaves. The owner would not allow anyone to start a church or even preach on the island so the two Moravians sold themselves into slavery so that they could reach others. As they got on the boat they held up their hands and said, “May the Lamb receive the reward of His suffering.”

Oh that we would treasure others to that point. There are many who curse the name of Jesus and if you come to them they will curse you. There were those who called for His death and if you come they will call for yours. There were those who nailed his hands and feet to the cross and if you come they will kill you. Here is the dilemma—will we seek safety and comfort or will we follow the footsteps of Jesus and go. It just may be that through our bloodshed there will be a Saul holding the coats of those who throw the stones. Christ-likeness says their souls are worth our death. Christ-likeness says our suffering can be endured for the joy set before us. Humble yourselves before God and trust Him for the “therefore.” Suffer for the cause of Christ and live eternally exalted. The choice is yours. Choose you this day whom you will serve…

For the last few days, we’ve been looking at the word “Therefore” in Philippians 2:9. Do we have people like the brothers and sisters in Christ described in Hebrews 10:32-34. Here is the scene—some in the church were thrown in prison. Those who were free were faced with a decision. Their brothers and sisters were depending upon them for the physical needs to be met, but to identify with them meant certain danger.

What did they do? The writer says, “You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property.” Because they sympathized their property was confiscated and they reacted with joy. How could they do that? They sought the “therefore.” Listen to what the Bible says, “Because you knew that your yourselves had better and lasting possessions.” Do we really believe that? If we do, why do we (and notice I said we) live our lives so focused upon the temporal possessions?

What happened to Jesus? He assumed a supreme position. He suffered, therefore God exalted Him. He endured, therefore, God exalted Him. Death could not hold Him in the grave and it won’t hold you either! Why do we fear death? Would you fear a wasp that couldn’t sting? The sting of death is gone. He was given a name that is above all names. If you are a child of God your name is written in His book.  It’s all because of what Jesus did and that is explained in our text.

J. Oswald Sanders tells the story of a missionary who walked barefoot from village to village preaching the Gospel. One day after a long day of many miles and much discomfort he came to a village and preached. The people rejected his message so he went to the edge of the village and lay under a tree and slept. When he awoke the whole village was gathered around him. The head of the village told him that they came to look at him while he was sleeping and noticed his feet. They were willing to hear his message because he had suffered so much to bring it to them. That is the great need of our day—a willingness to suffer for the sake of Christ knowing that He will be glorified.

We need more men and women like Raymond Lull. He was born in 1235 in Spain to a wealthy family. At the age of 79 he began to enjoy the fruit of his labor and was encouraged to end his days in the peaceful comforts of friendship. He had other plans. His ambition was to die as a missionary rather than as a teacher of philosophy. At the age of 79 he left for North Africa to serve as a missionary among the Muslims. For the first year he served underground secretly teaching and encouraging the church and its leaders, but he felt he needed to do more. He presented himself in the open market and preached of the coming wrath of God if they stayed in their sin. He pleaded with them to come to Christ. They seized him and stoned him to death. Some would say—what a tragedy. I say what a way to go!

Spending your last breath, like Stephen, calling people to Christ. We need more men and women like that:

Philippians 2:5-11 is about the incarnation and exaltation of Jesus, but according to verse 5 it is given as a practical application to us. Here is the point—God will do in our lives what He did in the life of Jesus. This is not to say He will give us a name above every name—that name is reserved for Jesus, but when we humble ourselves and embrace the call to suffer for the Gospel we do so knowing God will reward us.

Are we willing to follow the example of Christ? Are we willing to refuse the notion of a country being closed to the Gospel? Are we willing to reject any people group as being beyond the saving work of the Holy Spirit? If we are to become Christ-like we must be willing to suffer with a ‘therefore’ in mind. Listen to Paul’s words in Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of the body, which is the church.”

Paul was not saying Christ suffering lacked something in terms of the atonement. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” it was finished, but Paul is speaking of the suffering he still had to endure for the cross (Acts 9:16) and he is speaking in reference to the fact that the sufferings of Christ were not known and felt by those who were not there at the cross. When people see our willingness to suffer for the sake of the cross they will see the suffering of Christ on the cross.

Yesterday we started looking at Philippians 2:9 and stayed with the first word, “therefore.” Do we have any people reading today who will join the likes of Judson and Carey, Lottie and Annie, and the Hudson Taylor’s of our great history. Taylor suffered and agonized for years in China and yet said, “I never made a sacrifice.” Why could he say something like that? Why could the Massai warrior Joseph endure such a beating? Why could Edmund sell a horse and give it all to God rather than keep even enough to buy a shirt? It happened because they understood the “therefore” of verse 9. When we humble ourselves and live according to God’s plan—He will glorify Himself in us and we will be exalted.

Study the life of Jesus and you’ll find two themes—suffering and exaltation, humility and glorification. WE want to jump to the exaltation and glorification and bypass the suffering don’t we? Whole theologies are built upon that desire, but the call of Jesus is to take up the cross. The call of Christ bids us to come and die. Are we willing in light of Jesus’ great sacrifice to trust God for the “therefore” in our lives?

As a side note, years ago I was in China and as we stopped at a church, the driver casually mentioned, “Hudson Taylor built this church.”  That got my attention.  The Gospel continues from the seeds he planted.

Today I want to look at Philippians 2:9. We have studied one of the most beautiful passages in the entire Bible for the last 12 blogs. Verses 6-8 demonstrate to us what was involved in Christmas and how we should respond to it. Paul says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Jesus became the greatest missionary because He embraced suffering. The writer of Hebrews tells us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Have you ever grown weary in the mission? Have you ever lost heart in the commission? Consider the suffering example of Jesus and press on. Paul tells us of Jesus’ great journey down the road to the incarnation. He willingly abandoned a sovereign position, He accepted a servants place, so that He could approach a sinful people. If the Christmas season does anything to us it should remind us of the Missionary Call. We are to go. We are to do whatever it takes so that all can hear. The beauty of it all is that we are promised success—I say that simply because it is within the plan of God for the Gospel to be preached to all the nations. When we join with God in sharing His missionary zeal we are guaranteed victory. Victory, but not ease. Abundance, but not comfort. Joy with sorrow. Peace with persecution. Life even in death. That is the call—take up your cross daily and follow Him. How can we do it?

We do it because of one word in this great passage. The word—“therefore.” What a great word! You know the drill—whenever you see a therefore you ask, “What is it there for?” Because of the suffering Jesus endured, because He abandoned a sovereign position, because He accepted a servants place, because He approached a sinful people; “therefore, God…” This is a fulfillment of a Biblical principle—Matthew 23:12, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles Himself will be exalted.” Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:5, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” We spend so much time exalting ourselves—making ourselves comfortable, taking care of our needs and the needs of our children that we have lost our zeal. We have lost our focus. Where is the willingness to suffer for the cause? Where is the abandonment? Where are the servants? Even our pastors have become CEO’s and our deacons have become Boards. Where is Jesus in that? Our calling is not to be like the world—our calling is to be followers of Jesus.

Have you met God? You have only met Him if your road brought you down the road to the cross. Michael Card tells the story of a Massai warrior named Joseph. Joseph was walking along a hot dirty African road one day and was encountered by someone who shared the Gospel with him. He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and the first thing he did was go back to his local tribe.

Joseph began going door-to-door, telling everyone about the Cross of Jesus and the salvation it offered, but to his amazement the villagers not only did not care, but they became hostile. The men seized him and held him as the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged out of the village and left to die alone in the bush.

Somehow he managed to crawl to a waterhole and there after days of passing in and out of consciousness, found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile treatment and decided he must have left something out. He rehearsed the message in his mind and went back to share his faith once more.

He limped into the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. “He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God.” Again they grabbed him and held him as the women beat him once more dragged him to the bush to die.

Surviving the first beating was remarkable—to survive the second was a miracle. Days later he returned to the small village and this time they grabbed him before he could even open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and probably last time he spoke to them of Jesus Christ and before he passed out he saw that the women who were beating him were weeping.

When he awoke in his own bed the ones who had beaten him were trying to save his life. The entire village had come to Christ.

Jesus approached a sinful people and endured their scorn and endured the cross so that they could be saved. Have you tasted of His victory? Have you told anyone? Isn’t it time to come? If you have come, isn’t it time to go and tell someone else?

So, what can we learn from what we have said about the incarnation up to this point?

1. We are not above doing anything for God. If Jesus could let go of His glory, if Jesus could empty Himself, if Jesus could take the form of a slave, if Jesus could allow Himself to be made in human likeness, if Jesus could be found in appearance as a man, if Jesus could humble Himself, if Jesus could become obedient unto death, and if Jesus could willingly go to the cross for us—can you name one thing that we could not do for Him?

2. We should live for an audience of one! It said that the Puritans lived their lives as if they were living for an audience of one. How many times do we live our lives for an audience of one? Jesus set the Father as His focus and never strayed. Even when the time came for the cross and in the flesh He did not want to go, He prayed, “Not my will but yours be done.”

There is only one opinion that matters—it is the opinion of God. I remember one time when my dad caught me smoking. He was talking to me about it and said something about having to hide to do it. I said, “Well, I respect you to much to do it in front of you.” I will never forget his reply, “John, what about God?”

Far too many times there are things that we will not do if our boss is around or if our preacher is around, or if our spouse is around, but have you considered the fact that God is watching? When we understand that fact that God’s manifest presence is where ever we are, it will change the way we act.

I want you to like me, but it is more important to me that Kim and the girls like me. I want Kim and the girls to like me, but it is more important that I live in such a way that I am pleasing to God. The Cross teaches me that I must live for an audience of one.

3. The Cross changes my view of God. The Christian view of God must be centered in the cross. Luther said, “Whoever looks upon the invisible things of God as they are seen in created things does not deserve to be called a theologian—but whoever sees the visible back of God as disclosed in suffering and the cross does deserve to be called a theologian.”

For Luther, the Church must learn to turn our eyes away from the things that are pleasing to us and force ourselves to look at the horribleness of the cross. At the cross we find God revealing Himself as humiliated, abandoned, powerless and dying for humanity. WE cannot reason our ways into the heavenly realms through philosophical speculation—we must approach God through the cross and see that he demands that we have the same attitude of Christ Jesus.

WE must see that God is calling us to love others as He loved us and that love is demonstrated through the cross. WE must see that God is calling us to love Him and that love is demonstrated through obedience and obedience is never better pictured than with the Son of God hanging on the cross.

“by becoming obedient to death.”

The very fact that Jesus could choose to be obedient unto death speaks volumes as to who Jesus was. Can any of us accept death as obedience? No—for every one of us death is a matter of necessity, it is never something that we can choose to accept. Jesus was the author of life and no one could take His life unless He chose to lay it down. Jesus said in John 10:17-18, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” The choice was his, if he did not have a choice, he could not have been obedient. Jesus chose to die. That should be enough. Right? It goes further,

Step eight, “even death on a cross.” Why the cross? Paul summed it up in Galatians 3:13-14, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

What happened on the cross? Paul said in Colossians 2:13-15, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

As we look at the great love God has for us, we must conclude as Paul did after reflecting on God’s divine plan for salvation in the first eleven chapters of Romans, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

Tomorrow we will stop and look at what can we learn from this?

In obedience to the will of the Father, Jesus came to this earth and served. If you want to live an abundant life you must learn to serve according to the Father’s will. Jesus said if you want to be first, you must be last. If you want to be great you must be a servant. The world says, “that is ridiculous,” but name a person who has influenced society more than Jesus. Name one person who lived with greater power. Jesus accomplished all of this by obediently serving according to the Father’s will.

Here is how He did it and here is how you and I will do it. In Luke 4:1 we find Jesus, “full of the Holy Spirit,” returning from his baptism and “led by the Spirit,” into the time of temptation. We find Him 40 days later we find Jesus returning to Galilee in the “Power of the Spirit.” He went to Nazareth and opened the scroll and read the following passage out of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me. . .”

The secret to the life of Christ was a total dependence upon the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus was Spirit anointed and Spirit sent and He lived walking in the Spirit. You and I have the same capacity to live a life totally dependent upon the Spirit’s power. Why? Because Jesus abandoned a sovereign position and accepted a servants place.

Genesis 1:26 tells us that God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness.” Man was created to be as much like God as any part of creation could be. We were not created to be controlled by instinct; we were created to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. That is why the Bible tells us to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Someone said, “When you live this way, you get what Jesus got—the supernatural power of the Spirit operating in your life.” Man is sin is not what God desires. Man in sin is a distortion of man in the image of God—that is why the Bible tells us “You must be born again.”

Step four—He was made in Human Likeness. Jesus was totally man. God made him—that is by way of the virgin birth, Jesus was made into human likeness. Jesus did not just appear to be a man—He was totally man. Jesus grew just like other children, except He never sinned! He was totally dependent upon Mary as an infant. He grew in statue and wisdom. He became tired, he experienced loss and sadness, He knew temptation, pain, and thirst. He experienced temptation and death and is therefore able to aid those of us who are tempted.

Why did He do it? Jesus came to reverse the curse brought on by Adam. Jesus came to save you and me. The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God had to become a man because only God could pay the price that was demanded. As we remember his manhood we must remember that he was God. We find a perfect blending of the two in Mark 9. Mark tells us that Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them to a high mountain. On that mountain Jesus was transfigured before them. Here we find the Deity of Jesus revealed within His humanity. Tony Evans says, as only he can, “On this occasion, to put it into everyday language, Jesus Christ zipped down His humanity and revealed His deity. When He did so, Jesus’ body blazed with a light so brilliant it was hard to describe. This was nothing less than the glory of deity.”

How did Jesus live such a perfect life if He was totally man and did not use His divine power to save Himself? He lived a life of power unlike any man before or since, but He demonstrated to us the secret to a powerful and victorious life. We will see that secret tomorrow.

PT Forsyth rocked me when I read, “Not to want to pray, then, is the sin behind sin. And it ends in not being able to pray.”

Is there a time when the Holy Spirit quits drawing us to pray? Could we close the door to fellowship so many times that He quits knocking and, in the hardness, we’ve developed toward His call, we won’t even notice?

Forsyth says it is the punishment…we reach a spiritual dumbness or a spiritual starvation. “We do not take our spiritual food, and so we falter, dwindle, and die.”

Is this like Esau? The writer of Hebrews said “sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” (12:17)

There isn’t a set number of times He will call, but there just seems to be a point that we reject deeper intimacy and God quits offering. If you are worried that you’ve reached that point…the fact that you are worrying is proof that you haven’t, but I don’t want to get close to that.

Intimacy with God is the greatest privilege we have in life. There is no greater honor, no higher calling, than to be with Him…to talk to Him and listen to what He has to say. Prayer is the greatest joy I have, but it is also the hardest thing I do. That sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? But it is true.

Hebrews 11 is a fascinating chapter…the writer gives us what some have called The Hall of Fame of Faith, but there is a common theme that runs throughout the chapter. In 11:10 he says of Abraham, “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God.” We find it again in 11:16, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” At the end of the chapter, he speaks of the countless martyrs whose names we don’t know, but as he turns to chapter 12 he speaks of Jesus “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Chapter 12 continues that theme by showing us that we don’t come to Moses’ mountain…blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages to be spoken to them, but we come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. We come to the Holy place boldly by the blood of Jesus…we come to Jesus!

So, as we live this life we must press on. We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and on the Heavenly City that is to come. We cannot lose hope because our eyes are set there and we cannot continue in our sin because we’ve seen the glorious One in the face of Christ and He is simply better than all the world has to offer.

There is a scene in Pilgrim’s Progress that pictures this. Christian and Hopeful reached the Delightful Mountains and met Shepherds feeding their flock. Bunyan said,


It is interesting to me that the Delightful Mountains appear earlier the Pilgrim’s Progress. In Palace Beautiful they saw Immanuel’s Land from the top of the house, and it encouraged them to move toward the Delightful Mountains.

As we study the Word of God we catch glimpses of Heaven. It is often just a keyhole view. In my great-grandfather’s house each room had skeleton keys and during Christmas I would often peak through the hole to see what was going on…I couldn’t see the whole room, but I saw enough to be excited for Christmas morning.

The Bible gives us glimpses of Heaven, of the Heavenly City, and we must fix our eyes on Jesus who is there and fight the good fight.

I’ve been swimming in deep waters with John Owen in The Glory of Christ.  Let me share his thoughts on the glory of Jesus in His work as Mediator.

When I think of the Incarnation and just how far Jesus came to save us, I am overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed with gratitude and praise.  As we approach Christmas…think of the journey he took from the Throne to the womb, from the womb to the tomb, and from the tomb back to the Throne!  Worship your King!!

In the Confessions, Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” I thought of that as I was reading John Owen yesterday. In his book, The Glory of Christ, he said, “Only a sight of his glory, and nothing else, will truly satisfy God’s people.” Do we believe that? I desperately want my whole heart, mind, body, and soul to embrace that truth…I will never be satisfied outside of seeking God’s glory.

He illustrated that truth, “The hearts of believers are like a magnetized needle, which cannot rest until it is pointing north. So also, a believer, magnetized by the love of Christ, will always be restless until he or she comes to Christ and beholds his glory.”

So, Owen and Augustine agree…the heart is restless, like compass needle trying to point north, until they find rest in God’s glory!

Owen goes on to speak of how we behold the glory of Christ. He said, “Scripture shows us two ways by which we may behold the glory of Christ. We may behold it by faith in this world…and we may behold it by sight in the next.” We see the glory of Christ in His Word and that makes all the difference.

When I read Owen, I am reminded of Sinclair Ferguson’s comment in his introduction of Owen’s book The Holy Spirit, “ Whenever I return to read Owen I find myself at least in part wondering why I spend time reading lesser things.”

One of the best things and at the same time the hardest thing I do in my daily spiritual discipline is to memorize Scripture. The older I get the harder I find it to be, but years ago I read a little book by Andrew Davis, An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture. I want to share his approach with you but first let me suggest a couple of reasons it should be a daily practice.

First, it enables us to fight sin. The Psalmist said, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” That’s pretty clear, isn’t it?

Second, it enables me to meditate. When I’m memorizing Scripture, I find I think about it throughout the day, I go to bed quoting it, I wake up quoting it, and as it gets into my memory I am able to meditate on it…to chew on it and pray it.

Davis’s system really does work. During Covid I used it and memorized Ephesians. Unfortunately, I did not stick to his long-term advice and lost most of it, but I am determined to keep plugging.

On day one open your Bible and go to the passage you want to memorize. Read it aloud 10 times and then close your Bible and quote it 10 times. You are done for the day. I do find that I tend to go back to it throughout the day, but the work of memorization is done for that particular day.

On day two recite yesterday’s verse. Do it ten times and if you need to go back and read it to refresh your memory. Then read verse 2 ten times and recite it ten times. I then go back and quote verses one and two together.

You keep doing the same thing day after day. Reciting the previous verses first and then working on the new verse. There are times when I get to “memory overload,” and I have to just work on the previous days, but when I get it down I can add the next verse.

What you find it that as you memorize a chapter or a book you will spend more time remembering the previous verses than you spend on the new one. Davis made a very clear suggestion that I ignored, “Recite the entire book from memory for one hundred consecutive days.” When I memorized Ephesians I did for a few weeks, but soon moved on to a new passage.

Recently, I’ve been working on Psalm 25 and 96. When got them both down I made a commitment to quote them every day through the month of January. Hopefully, but then it will be in my long-term memory. But after I read my chapters for the day, I go back to Psalm 25 and 96 and quote them, and then do the process that I’ve just described for Psalm 24.

I have also found memverse.com is helpful to get it down word for word. Hide God’s Word in your heart, meditate on it, and learn to pray it. You can get the book under its new title here, https://www.amazon.com/How-Memorize-Scripture-Life-Entire-ebook/dp/B0C4FXL2GK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NIOYZTU71LQR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.i_2-ksTg1UztQAUVXYGXLt3p_fPu-C6pQ4s3mygZVSIl2_FwrSagvMT5WMKoaBSXdeiEJ1iEmGnGLnuClnw-nVgaoIpZHBLPqVwnJzIGWP8.Cpv5H8pGSPx_95vJvyDHMoMAKEd7p95-fVkKK9UovYw&dib_tag=se&keywords=an+approach+to+extended+memorization+of+scripture&qid=1762202796&s=digital-text&sprefix=,digital-text,89&sr=1-1.

I’ve been memorizing Psalm 96 and this morning I was working on 11-13a. In the NLT is says, “Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he is coming!”

As meditated on this passage, I thought about CS Lewis’ description of it in Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia,


I love that picture! All of creation singing and dancing around their Creator!  The trees of the field sing for joy along with all of the rest of creation…the only part that seems to struggle with this are those created in His image!

In Disciple’s Prayer Life, TW Hunt shared a prayer that he prays every day, “Lord, open my eyes to see spiritual reality and open my ears to hear your voice.” That resonated with me today…especially because of the chapters my Bible reading plan had me read the other day.

First, in 2 Kings 6 we find Elisha telling the King of Israel the battle plans of the King of Syria. The King of Syria thought he had a spy in his ranks, but a servant told him, “Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom”. God supernaturally told Elish the king’s plans.

Instead of repenting and being in awe, the king takes his army and goes to Dothan to capture the prophet. The great army surrounds the city and when Elisha’s servant went out, he said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do.”

Elisha simply said, “Don’t be afraid, there are more with us than there are against us.” I’m sure the servant thought Elisha was out of his mind, but then the prophet prayed that God would open his eyes to see and the servant saw “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

Then I turned over to Daniel 10 where Daniel is distraught over the vision God had given him. He fasted and prayed for three weeks and then an angel appeared to him. He told Daniel that God has sent him the moment he began to pray for understanding…his prayer was heard, the “prince of Persia withstood him (the angel) for twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.”

The prince of Persia had to be a demonic being and he was doing all he could to stop the angel from getting to Daniel. It took an archangel to hold him back. A little later he spike of another demonic being, “the prince of Greece,” who would come after Persia, but there was a spiritual battle going on in response to Daniel’s prayer.

Here is the point…there is more to this world than meets the eye. We have to learn to pray and to fight the good fight. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that we “do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present dankness, against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places.” In that context we are given Spiritual Armor and the last piece is “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”

There are indeed “territorial spirits” that fight against us. There is no other explanation for what happened in Daniel 10. John Piper preached a sermon on this passage, you can find it, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/angels-and-prayer, but let me share his conclusion,


As we pray, recognize that there is more to this battle that we can see, and pray the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God, and fight the good fight!

This past Sunday I preached my last sermon from Paul’s first letter to Timothy. In the last chapter he said, “Fight the good fight of the faith.” The simple truth is this, true Christianity is a fight. 2 Timothy 2:3 says, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”


Ryle is helpful here in his book Holiness.

We must fight the flesh. Our own flesh. I find most of my battle is with myself. It is the flesh that I must mortify.

We must fight the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God and if we love it the love of God is not in us. We must be crucified to the world.

We must fight the devil. He roams like a lion seeking to devour. He is a murderer and a liar and seeks to deceive. We must fight him at every turn and refuse to give him even a foothold into our lives.

We will never be holy if we don’t fight. We must, by the Spirit’s power, overcome. Ryle said,

“The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a scanty round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare—its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests—of all this they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not our own.”

I’ve found that the battle is thought by thought and if I don’t fight it there, I lose the battle. The inner battle is necessary to be able to fight the outer battle. How? How do we fight that battle?

I must devote myself to prayer…seeking to abide in Him so that I pray without ceasing. That’s the goal, that is what we strive for, and that should the measure…not how long did I pray this morning, but how many hours minutes did I pray throughout the day.

I must delight in the Word. That means I read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, pray it, and obey it. When I do this along with prayer I find holiness becomes more and more visible.

When I fight the good fight, I have confidence even in death. At the end of Pilgrim’s Progress, we find Mr. Valiant-for-Truth coming to the end. Bunyan said,


To understand Mr. Valiant-for-Truth’s death, we must understand his life. When he first appears, the pilgrims saw a man with his Sword draw and his face all bloody. He had just fought a battle with Wildhead, Inconsiderate, and Pragmatic. When the battle started, he cried out to His King and His help was sufficient. That’s the secret…the sword of the Spirit, the empowerment of the Spirit, and “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”