April 30 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Commandments? In the New Testament? Whenever people hear the word commandments, they immediately think legalism. But the two words are not synonymous. No one spoke more of commandments than the Lord Jesus, yet no one was less legalistic than He. What is legalism? Though…
April 29 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1) Faith is implicit trust in the Word of God. It is confidence in the trustworthiness of God. It is the conviction that what God says is true and that what He promises will come to pass.…
April 28 “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.” (Prov. 4:1) In the first four verses of Proverbs 4, Solomon describes how good advice can and should be passed down from one generation to another. He tells how his father had taught him, then urges his son, in turn,…
April 27 “…he began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.” (Acts 11:23 NASB) There is an alarming tendency in some Christian circles to fawn over men because they are scholars, even though they are disloyal to the Person of Christ. Here is a man, for instance, who is…
April 26 “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” (John 13:8) The Lord Jesus had just girded Himself with a towel and filled a basin with water, preparatory to washing the disciples’ feet. When He came to Peter, He met this emphatic refusal, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Why? Why didn’t Peter want to submit…
April 25 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” (2 Cor. 2:14 NASB) It is generally understood that Paul here borrows a figure from the victory parade of a military leader just returned…
April 24 “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” (1 Cor. 3:17) In this verse, the temple of God refers to the local assembly. Paul is not speaking to individual Christians but to believers collectively when he says “which…
April 23 “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” (Heb. 13:13) We learn first from this verse that Christ is the gathering center for His people. We don’t gather to a denomination, a church, a building or a great preacher but Christ alone. “Unto him shall the gathering of…
April 22 “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Rom. 10:9) This favorite Gospel verse zeroes in on the two basic truths that are so hard for fallen man to accept—the incarnation and the…
April 21 “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” (Lu. 6:40) In this passage the Lord Jesus was reminding the Twelve that when they went out to disciple others, they could not expect their disciples to progress further in the spiritual life than they…