Brother Michael's Devotional

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Romans 3:24-25

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What is of primary importance in relation to the remission of sins and the work of Christ on the cross? Some may say it is the cleansing of the saint or the salvation of the sinner. But what is of more importance, the holiness of God or the salvation of man?

As to the cleansing of the saint, let us look to 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." As we look at this passage of scripture we see it begins with the confession of sins and ends with the cleansing of the saint. But what is the fulcrum, the hinge of this verse? It is the faithfulness and justness of God. There is a popular notion that a "saint" can live like the world and only has to come to God and ask for forgiveness and God is somehow obligated to forgive the individual. May I say, friend, God is under no obligation to forgive sin on the basis of allowing us to live like the devil. God will never compromise His holiness for the sin of man. God has indeed made a perfect provision for the cleansing of the soiled saint through confession while maintaining His attribute of divine justice as the judge of the universe. But God makes no provision for the sinning reprobate who intends to trample upon the blood of Christ through willful sin.

We see this same principle in Romans 3:25-26. Here the Apostle Paul lays the ground work for the great declaration of the propitiation as "to declare...at this time his (God's) righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Some may be under the impression that God's chief concern in this universe is the salvation of sinners. While it is indeed true that God is deeply concerned with the salvation of man, there is something even greater than man's salvation that God is concerned with, and that is His own righteousness. If man's salvation compromised the holiness of God there would be none that would be saved. What is the first thing that God declares when listing the motivation of the propitiation? Was it the justification of the sinner? No, it is the righteousness of God, that He might first be just, and then after His justice is satisfied He justifies them which believe in Jesus.

Friend, God loves you, and His great motivation in delivering up His only Son was His great love for you. But He will not compromise His holiness with your sin to slip you in the back door of heaven.

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

Brother Michael's Devotional

"The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven," Nehemiah 1:1-4

Have you ever wondered what your calling is? You may wonder what ministry will the Lord place you in. Though a man or woman's calling is a very personal thing there are some definite signs that God gives us to point us in the right direction.

First, let us establish that God has a ministry for all of those in the Body of Christ. We read in I Corinthians 12:7 that "the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal," (emphasis mine.) Each one of us have unique spiritual gifts and a ministry to edify the Body of Christ. These gifts are not natuaral talents and these ministries are not of our own design, but they are bestowed upon us as it pleases the Holy Ghost. I Corinthians 12:11

Which brings us to the original question, what ministry would God have you or me in? Well let us look to the life of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, after hearing the news of Jerusalem's broken down walls and breached gates, is burdened for the capital city of his people and does what any man of God should do in his situation, pray. After mourning, fasting and praying, Nehemiah, who is King Artaxerxes cupbearer, has a sad countenance and the King asks him why he is sorrowful of heart. Nehamiah bears his heart to Artaxerxes and relates to him the state of Jerusalem and his desire to rebuild it's walls. After this, the King gives Nehamiah letters of conveyance and sends him to rebuild Jerusalem.

Now friend, what is it that God has burdened you heart with. Do you anguish for the lost who daily perish in their sins? Do you lament the lack of sound Bible teaching? Maybe your heart breaks for those bound to convalecent homes or hospitals. Perhaps you have gone to God in prayer for these things. It very well may be that God has placed this burden on your heart, and desires to minister in this need through you. You may balk at this, protesting your inability, but that is exactly the people God uses. Those who have a burden for a certain need, but do have the power to meet them. Go to God now, cast your inadequecy at His feet, and see not what you can do, but what He can do through you.

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen th weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence." I Corinthians 1:26-29

Brother Michael's Devotional

"Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." Ruth 4:5

For whom did Christ die? Did He die for the sins of some men or for all men? Has God set His covenantal love on all men or the elect only? To discover the answers to these questions we must turn to the book of Ruth. Naomi and Elimelech have left Bethlehemjudah, the house of bread and praise, and gone to Moab, God's washpot, during a famine. They have left full but only Naomi will return, and that being empty, having lost her husband, two sons and land. And so Naomi returns, but not alone, Ruth the Moabitess follows Naomi.

After arriving in Bethlehemjudah, Ruth begins to glean in the field of a man called Boaz. After Naomi sees that Boaz is kindly affectionate to Ruth, Naomi attempts to get Boaz to perform the right of kinsman redeemer. Boaz could redeem Ruth, but first he would have to redeem the field that she was bound up with.

Now compare this to Mathew 13:44 where our Lord says "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." Here we have a man that finds a treasure in a field and goes and sells all that he has to purchase that field. As the man sold everything to purchase the field even so God gave everything to redeem this world. But why did God redeem the world? Was His heart set on this world? Friend, just as that man's heart was on the treasure and Boaz's heart was on Ruth, so was the Church on the heart and mind of Christ when he hung on the cross to redeem the world. And just as Boaz purchased the field for the love of a bride and the man in our Lord's parable sold all that he had for the joy of a treasure our Lord redeemed this world for the love of a bride He would call out of this world.

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5:25-27

Brother Michael's Devotional

"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." John 10:16

Most likely the first thing that comes to mind when reading this verse is the church and how our Lord was going to call out one living "fold" out of the Jews and Gentiles. But there is something else I would like you to notice. Jesus does not speak any further about the "other sheep." All He let the Jews know is that there were others and it was His business what He did with them.

This brings us to the question of what happens to those around the world that have never had the privilege of hearing the gospel. Do they go to heaven or to hell? There are only a few hints that the Bible gives us as to the answer to this question. We find in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 that "ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." This paints a rather grim picture for those without the Word of God. But then we read in Mark 4:24 "Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given." and John 3:19 "And this is condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Here we learn that men are not saved by the amount of light they have but will be judged by it. So we know that the gentile nations had no hope without God but that the more light of the Word of God a people have the greater their condemnation.

Now all of this brings us to the original question, what happens to those who die having never heard the Word of God? There can only be one answer to this question, it is none of our business or God would have told us. We read in Deuteronomy 29:29 that "the secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." Friend, you and I are responsible for the revealed Word of God, but what He has chosen not to reveal to us is none of our business.

But for those things that we must take by faith, we can rest assured that the Judge of the universe will do right.

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Genesis 18:25

Brother Michael's Devotional

"And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house int the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." Genesis 7:1

During this point in history man had become increasingly wicked and "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," Genesis 6:5. So God told Noah that the end of all flesh was come and that Noah was to build an ark of gopher wood, pitch it within and without, for the preservation of his and his family's life.

Here is the problem, though. There is no possible way that an ark could have survived the flood spoken of in the Bible. We often envision the flood as starting with a light rain, which gradually becomes harder. Slowly the waters rise as people begin to beat on the door of the ark to be let in. Friend, that is just not a Biblical picture of the flood. Genesis chapter 7 verse 11 tells us "the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were open." This was a cataclysmic event on a world wide scale, and there would have been no possible way for any ark to survive such an event.

Now before you think that I question the history of the flood, I want to ask you a question. Where was God during the flood? Look closely at Genesis 7:1 again, "And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark." Notice that the LORD did not say go, but said come. The Lord was in the ark and He was with Noah and Noah was with the LORD during the flood.

Now look to Matthew Chapter 19 beginning with verse 16. Here we have a man come to Jesus and ask Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus first points the young man to the law (which will reveal his need of a Savior.) The man replies that "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" Here our Lord will reveal where the man's heart is and tells him to "go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor," at which time the man leaves sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then our Lord makes one of the most striking declarations found in the scripture. He states, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." At this the disciples "were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?"

Just as impossible as it would have been for that ark to make it through the flood, it is just as impossible for a man to be saved. But now look to the words of Jesus, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."(italics added) Friend, even as with man it would have been impossible to survive that flood, even so with man it is impossible to be saved, but with God, all things are possible.

"Is there anything to hard for the LORD?" Genesis 18:14

Brother Michael's Devotional

"So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley." Ruth 2:17

Here we have Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz. After she gathers up what she has gleaned she begins to "beat out" the barley to remove the heads from the stalk.

Grain, seed and old corn are frequently used as symbols for the Word of God in the Bible. Those that minister the word are called to sow the seed of the word, but it often becomes a difficult proposition to keep the attention of those he is speaking to. So the minister adds humor or personal stories to regain the attention of the audience. There are also times that he may interpose his own thoughts or opinions into his sermon or Bible study.

Now in the same way that those stalks attached to the barley did not affect the quality of the barley, a minister's humor or personal opinions attached to the Word of God does not affect the quality of the word. But just as Ruth "beat out" those stalks from the grain she gathered in the field, you and I must "beat out" that which we gather in our personal study.

Friend, do not let the fact that a minister has some stalks attached to the barley keep you from feasting on the word. That is the only way you are going to get it. All you and I need to do is just beat it out, leave that which is unprofitable, and feast on what we have gleaned.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." II Timothy 3:16