Displaying 271 - 300 of 362 in total
Alive Together with Christ (February 26)
If we’ve obeyed the gospel, we are not any more alive physically than we were before, but we certainly possess a spiritual life we didn’t used to have. When we were ba...
Adam's Helpless Race (February 25)
Sin is not a problem we can work our own way out of. Having alienated ourselves from God, we were absolutely helpless. What we needed was not simply encouragement or a...
Out of Zion Shall Go Forth the Law (February 24)
What began to "go forth" from Jerusalem on Pentecost was the preaching of the full truth about God’s means of saving the world in Jesus Christ. Since then, anyone who ...
They Shall All Know Me (February 23)
One way we might define those who are God’s people in the new covenant is that they are those who know God. And don’t misunderstand: they are those whom God knows to b...
Written on Their Hearts (February 22)
In the prophets, God’s judgment upon sin was always accompanied by a message of great hope for those who would come back to Him. In our study of the “new covenant” in ...
A New Covenant (February 21)
It was a privilege for Israel -- as the family of Abraham, the physical vessel God used to bring the Messiah into the world -- to be the first in line to receive the n...
The Exact Imprint of God's Nature (February 20)
That which could never have been known about God, it is now possible for us to know. Of course, Jesus did not by His bodily characteristics show us what God looks like...
All the Fullness of God (February 19)
Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). So it is a colossal, towering truth that Paul presents to us when he says that in Christ “the whole fullness of de...
The Knowable God (February 18)
Can God be known? Here is the gospel’s position: God has, in Jesus Christ, made it possible for us to know Him (John 1:18; 17:3). Sin robbed us of the truth about God,...
Like a Lamb (February 17)
The portrayal in Isaiah 53 of Jesus’ silent, lamb-like suffering is part of that prophecy’s depiction of what would happen to the Messiah as He underwent the punishmen...
With His Wounds We Are Healed (February 16)
All of these phrases in Isaiah 53 say what many other Scriptures affirm: the Messiah’s death was vicarious. He suffered FOR us -- substituting Himself on our behalf at...
Despised and Rejected by Men (February 15)
When God entered the world as a human being, He did so in very lowly circumstances. He wanted those who would be attracted to the gospel to be people who were looking ...
Appeal to God for a Good Conscience (February 14)
Being immersed in water would surely not produce the forgiveness of sins if somebody did that in a rote, mechanical way, with no genuine penitence or faith in Christ. ...
Beginning with This Scripture (February 13)
In Acts 8:34-36, the Ethiopian saw that Jesus was the fulfillment of the words in Isaiah 53. Then he concluded that Jesus, as the Messiah, was his Savior. Next, he lis...
Trusting God's Chosen Means (February 12)
We don't know why God linked baptism to the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16) — nor do we know why He required faith and repentance. But those are the require...
The Horrible Lie We Tell Ourselves (February 11)
If we believe our hands can achieve anything our minds can conceive, we are telling ourselves a horrible lie. The fact is, we are not invincible, and and we are not th...
Sowing and Reaping (February 10)
As long as life lasts, we are free to change paths (and that is what the gospel implores us to do), but when death overtakes us, it will be too late. God’s judgment wi...
What If We Could Solve Every Problem but One? (February 9)
If the Scriptures are correct, a day is coming that will be the greatest of all judgment days (Acts 17:30,31). Until then, the worst mistake we can make is thinking th...
Do We Deny the Lord's Diagnosis? (February 8)
We may admit to having made a few mistakes, or even having some dysfunctional habits, but we do not see ourselves as sinful people who need the forgiveness of our Crea...
What Sin Is (February 7)
The thing that is wrong when we sin is not merely that we do something that gives us subjective feelings of guilt, but that we transgress an actual standard of right a...
Faithful Love (February 6)
It should encourage us to know that God is always at the door of our hearts, wanting us to open up and accept His gift of life. But it should sober us to know that if ...
That We Should Not Perish (February 5)
How should we respond to the truth that God gave His Son to save us? If we are to do more than just admire the beauty of the gospel, we should be OBEY it. How could we...
When Comfort and Confidence Are Dangerous (February 4)
Material prosperity breeds a false confidence in ourselves and deludes us into thinking that we are self-sufficient. Like candy which makes us think we don’t need any ...
Are We Willing to Learn from Our Limits (February 3)
None of us can figure this world out and control it. That is the message of Ecclesiastes, and it is a powerful preparation for the gospel. Its purpose is to deny that ...
The Words of Eternal Life (February 2)
What we lost in sin was not just physical or biological life, but the life we would have had as “sons of God.” Jesus taught that, in Him, this “eternal” kind of life c...
It Is by God's Grace That We Are Saved (February 1)
What had to happen for us to be included in God’s kingdom was the forgiveness of our sins. The means whereby God was able to do that was the death of His Son -- and Hi...
The Gospel: The Power of God for Salvation (January 31)
The gospel is “the power of God,” but it is salvation that this power of God is for. Whatever secondary blessings may flow from Christ, His mission was to save us from...
Faith in the Powerful Working of God (January 30)
In baptism, the physical water itself does not wash away our sins. Our new lives are created “through faith in the powerful working of God” (Colossians 2:12). Baptism ...
There Is No Freedom Except in the Truth (January 29)
Mankind never would have sinned if it had not believed the devil’s lie; so the only path out of sin is the path that leads us back to truth. Truth -- and particularly ...
The Importance of Jesus’ Miracles (January 28)
John said he wrote about Jesus’ miracles “so that you may believe.” The miracles of Jesus authenticated the truth of what He claimed about Himself. Called “signs” by t...
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