Author: pastortravislv

John 9:1-3 – As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
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So often, the hearts of men can not see beyond the pleasantness or unpleasantness of circumstances. Jesus’ disciples saw a man born blind, and they immediately assumed that his circumstances were a punishment from God. Their only confusion was whether or not the man was being punished, or the man’s parents. So, you can imagine their surprise when Jesus told them that his blindness was no punishment at all.

Jesus made it plain, when speaking about the blind man, that he had been born blind in order that the works of God might be revealed in him. This man had a condition that relegated him to beggar status. He was looked down on by the society around him. People felt sorry for him, but they assumed that he had somehow earned his misfortune or was paying for the evil of his parents. But no one saw the bigger picture. No one but Jesus could simply see that this man’s weakness, his struggle, his disability was the means whereby God was going to show his glory.

In your life and in mine, I would guess that we all have things that we do not like. Perhaps you have some sort of disability. Perhaps you have some sort of problem you wish you did not have. Maybe you are not as smart as you wish you were. Maybe you are not shaped in the way you want to be. Perhaps you can not speak in front of groups, can’t sing, or can’t do math. Or, perhaps you have really tragic circumstances that have surrounded you for all of your life. If so, now would be the time to recognize that Jesus’ words to his disciples is applicable to you too. Your weaknesses exist, not as a punishment for your parents’ sin, but as a means whereby God can display his glory.

In my own life, I deal with blindness; so this story is closer to home for me than for many. Just like the man in this story, I recognize, because of the teaching of Jesus, that my own limitations exist, not as a punishment, but as an opportunity for God to be glorified. If everything about my life was easy and perfect, people might tend to glorify me when good things happen. If I preach a good sermon or write a clever blog (a rare occurrence to be sure), people could look at me and think that I am just talented. However, when people recognize that I am blind and still do what I do, they often recognize that God has done something amazing in my life. He has given me the tools that I need in order to be used by him. He shows himself to be strong through my weaknesses. He accomplishes the work, people see that fact, and God is glorified. And, so , I am willing to happily live with my limitations, because it is better to be used to glorify God in your weaknesses than it would be to have no weaknesses and only glorify yourself.

Today, look at your life and recognize that your weaknesses are there. This is no call to think, “O boy, I’m so glad I have this problem.” But, it would be a fine time to recognize that your struggles, your weaknesses, your circumstances serve as an opportunity for you to glorify God as you trust him and allow him to accomplish his will through you anyway. Remember, we do not live for the comforts of this life. We were created by God for his glory, and we are most satisfied in life when we do what we were created to do. So, allow God to glorify himself through your weaknesses, and find your heart satisfied, even in the midst of trying circumstances and personal weaknesses.

Dear Lord, I know that this message is a tough one for many to hear, but I pray that you will help it to make sense. You created us for your glory. Nothing will satisfy our souls so much as when we glorify your name. I pray that you will be glorified in my life, even through the circumstances that are difficult. Show yourself strong in my weaknesses. Use me, in whatever way you desire, to bring honor to your name and to expand your Kingdom for your glory.

Malachi 4:4-6 – Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.
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The words above are the last words in the Old Testament. God said these things to Judah sometime around 425 BC, and then he remained silent until just before the birth of Jesus when he sent Gabriel to declare the coming of the Messiah to Zacharias. So, one thing we would expect is that God’s words here would be pretty important, since they were the last thing that Judah would hear from him for quite a while.

At the end of the passage, there is a clear call for the nation to repent and turn in their hearts (fathers to children and children to fathers). But what has my attention is a theme that has been running through my reading almost daily. Notice that the first thing God says to the people as he prepares to close off communication for four hundred plus years is that they should remember his law, his written word. God let the people know that, although he was not going to be speaking through any prophets for a while, they lacked nothing that they needed to live a godly life. They had his written word, and that was enough for them to obey him, to know him, and to serve him faithfully.

Today, we again find ourselves in a world where God has not spoken through prophets in a long, long time. The canon of divine revelation was closed with the final verses in the book of Revelation. Since then, God may well have guided many people, but there is no evidence that anyone has received the kind of revelation that God spoke in the scriptures. So, like the people of Judah, we are living on God’s written word. His Holy Spirit inspired the writing of his word, and the Spirit helps us to understand that word. And, according to 2 Peter 1:3, God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness.

So, without question, we need to recognize the immense value of the holy scriptures. God has spoken to us in the Bible. The Bible is where we look to get to know God. In his perfect, infallible, and inerrant written revelation of himself, God has given us what we need to know him and please him.

Do you value the scriptures as God’s sufficient revelation of himself? Do you look to his word in order to find him? Do you trust the Bible more than your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. If so, you are looking and trusting in the right direction.

Dear Lord, thank you once again for your holy word. The Bible is a true treasure. You have revealed yourself to men in your word, and I could never give you thanks enough for such a wonderfully gracious gift. Please help me to treasure your word, and to study it more faithfully to know you more.

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John 8:23-24 – He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
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I recently heard that a Christian teacher told his or her students that Jesus would never come to you and point out your sin. The goal of this was, I am sure, a desire to show Jesus to lost students as gentle, kind, and appealing. The teacher likely thought that the best way to help students to become Christians would be to show Jesus as their friendly supporter, not as one who would ever call them sinners. (I also have to say that, since this is a second-hand story, I could also have been given an unclear representation of the teaching.)

Regardless of what happened in that particular situation, one thing is clear: no presentation of Jesus that does not include pointing out that we are sinners is not a fair presentation of Jesus. Here, where Jesus was speaking to the Jewish leaders, he made it quite plain that they not only were sinners, but were going to die in their sins if they did not believe that Jesus is “he.” So, our own Lord Jesus told people that they were sinners, were in danger of dying in those sins, and that the remedy for their sin was to believe that Jesus is “he.”

In the issue of our sinfulness, we have to recognize and declare with honesty that we are all sinners, and Jesus knows it. There is no way to present the gospel without presenting man’s sinfulness. To call someone to salvation without presenting to them from what they must be saved is an empty, ineffective, and dishonest call. Christ never called people to come to him for forgiveness without expressing that they needed that forgiveness because of their sin. Likewise, Jesus’ disciples in their writings are unabashedly clear that we need Christ because we are sinful before him. The good news of the gospel is not that we are not sinners or that we are all OK, the good news is that God loved us so much that he sent his Son to die as payment for our sins if we will simply place our faith in him.

The other point of interest is that the way that people are saved is to believe that Jesus is “he.” Sadly, today’s Crosswalk reading cut off the passage before the end of John 8. At the end of the chapter, Jesus makes the clear statement for us to know exactly who he is. Besides telling us that he was the one sent by God, Jesus tells us, “Before Abraham was, I am.” In that simple statement, we realize that the “he” that we must believe is that Jesus is God. He existed before Abraham was. He applies to himself the permanent present of “I Am,” and that is a title that only points to God (see Exodus 3). Jesus believed himself to be God, and he demands that we see him as God to be saved.

So, what is the gospel, the good news? The good news is that you are a sinner who is in danger of dying in his or her sin. God, however, out of a desire to show himself glorious and gracious and loving toward you sent his Son, Jesus, who is God in flesh, to pay the price for your sins. Now, if you will put your faith in the person and finished work of Jesus, you will be forgiven. You are not forgiven by being a good person, you are forgiven by God’s grace as you place faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Would Jesus ever come up to you and call you a “sinner?” He most certainly would. If he would not call you a sinner, he would not love you. Love demands that Jesus tell the truth about the danger you are in before God until you place your faith in him and his finished work to save your soul. He would call you a sinner so you could recognize your danger and come to him for forgiveness. He would never call you a sinner just to call you names or to hurt your feelings, but he would most certainly call you one to lead you to salvation. So, let’s not present Jesus as anything other than who he is, the perfect, loving, and honest Son of God who tells us who we really are in order to bring us to himself.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are never going to affirm me falsely. I thank you that you have always declared the truth about who I am before you, even when that truth was that I was a lost sinner before you. I know that I am a sinful person who has no hope on his own. My only hope is that you are God, and that you died to pay the penalty for my sin and to reconcile me to God. I trust in you and your finished work for my salvation. Thank you for your grace that makes me(not a good person, but ) a sinner saved by grace.

1 Chronicles 29:9 – Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.
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The scene in 1 Chronicles 29 is a very impressive one. David is at the end of his reign as king. However, before he stepped down, he provided all of the building materials and blueprints needed for building the temple of God. And, as a sort of last royal action, David gave away his treasury for the building of the house of God, and he led others to follow him in giving freely for the building of the temple. Many people gave, and the treasure of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and precious stones to be used in the temple grew greatly.

What is beautiful to see is what is stated in verse 9 above. David and the people celebrated, rejoicing greatly, because they had all given freely to the Lord. No one held back. No one worried about their personal finances. All gave, and gave freely, so that the temple of God might be built.

Interesting, isn’t it, that people could on the same day give away all their gold and celebrate doing it? This teaches us something that the secular world will never understand. There is a true joy in giving, even sacrificially, to the work of the Lord. When a child of God gives freely to the work of God, that child of God is overjoyed. It is a true privilege to be allowed by God to give to his cause. He does not need us. He could accomplish his work just fine without us. But the fact that he includes us and allows us to give all that we have to him and his glory is a marvelously glorious blessing from God.

Check your own heart today. Do you have joy when you give of your time, money, or skills to the service of God? Does your heart find joy in sacrificing freely for the glory of God? If not, you need to take your heart to God for repairs, because the heart of one truly devoted to God will find joy in giving freely to him.

Dear Lord, I thank you that you have given me the opportunity to sacrifice and serve on your behalf. I acknowledge full well that you do not need me. I know that you can accomplish infinitely more than I can, and that you do not need my services to do your will. I also know that I am not worthy to know you or to give anything to your cause. However, you have graciously chosen to allow me to participate in your kingdom work, and for that I give you great thanks. Please allow me to serve you with all that I have. Please rejoice my heart when I give freely to your glory. Help me to know how and when is best to give to accomplish your purposes.

1 Chronicles 22:11-13 – Now, my son, the Lord be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he has spoken concerning you. Only, may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Fear not; do not be dismayed.
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As I said yesterday, I say again today: God’s word constantly speaks about the importance of God’s word. Here we see the words of David to Solomon. David learned from God that God would not allow David to be the one to build the temple because of the violent life David had to lead. So, David, learning that Solomon would build the temple of God, made complete preparation for the temple’s building.

After David made the preparation for the building of the temple, he charged Solomon with the work and made Solomon king. Notice in the verses above, that central to David’s charge to Solomon is a call to keep the law of God, the scriptures as they are written. David promises Solomon success and prosperity—the blessing of God on his kingdom—if Solomon will simply follow the commands of God as they are written in holy scripture.

This serves as simply one more reminder in a constant string of reminders for me that the word of God is all-important. Everywhere you turn in the scriptures, God is telling you to obey the scriptures. Every place you look, whether it is the writings of Moses, Joshua, David, the other prophets, Jesus, Peter, Paul, or any other biblical author, the command is always the same: keep the commands of God as they are written in the scriptures.

So, today as you read this, ask yourself just once more if you have the kind of love for the Bible that God wants you to have. Do you hear and obey the commands of God as they are recorded for us in the Bible? Do you recognize that the Bible is the inspired word of God? O how I long for the people of God to learn to love the word of God.

Dear Lord, I thank you again for your holy word. I ask that, today, you will use this writing to draw someone’s heart to treasure your holy word. I pray that you will help your church to learn to love your word, to hear and obey your commands. Help us to live in accord with your commands, and not to be swayed by culture or pragmatism. It is time for us to get back to the word of God, so please lead us in that revival.

John 5:39-40, 45-47 – You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. . . . Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?
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I want to make one short and simple point today. As we look here at the teaching of Jesus, we see our Lord affirm the holy scriptures. Over the past few weeks, my Blog has been overwhelmingly focused on the sufficiency and importance of the word of God. This is partly planned, because the scripture has been the topic of my preaching as well. However, this running topic is also something that is not planned; it comes up in nearly every single day’s reading.

Here, we see Jesus make two separate affirmations. First, in verses 39-40, he points out to the religious teachers that the holy scriptures point to him. Jesus, the Son of God, acknowledges publicly that the scriptures are valid, because those scriptures point to him. Then, in verses 45-47, he points to the writings of Moses, the written Torah, as witness to him.

In Sunday’s message, I pointed out from Jesus’ teaching in Luke 16:31, that the scriptures are sufficient to help people to believe and necessary for salvation. Now, in today’s Bible reading, Jesus makes the very same point in John’s gospel. Jesus lets us know that we will not believe him if we do not believe in the written word of God. Here he was pointing to the Torah, but in general, we can recognize that this is true of all the scripture. If you will not listen to the Bible, you will not and can not listen to Jesus.

Dear Lord, I again thank you for the Bible, your holy word. I ask that you will make your word more and more alive to me each day as I read what you have recorded for me to know you. Your word truly points me to you, and I will never know you apart from your word. Help me to study faithfully, that I might know you and glorify you more and more.

1 Chronicles 18:13-14 – Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. So David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people.
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After God made his covenant with David, we see God giving David victories over all of the enemies of Israel. It is the sentence, “And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went,” which has my attention here this morning. Depending on how you observed this situation, you might take from it different conclusions.

For example, if you watched David over these times, I can guarantee you that you saw a man who worked hard, who planned, and who fought with all his might to accomplish what was accomplished. To many observers, it would have looked like David was winning the battles by strength, cunning, military strategy, and simple hard work. We read nothing here of supernatural looking events, of angels fighting on behalf of Israel, or of the ground opening up and swallowing the armies of David’s enemies. So, to the untrained eye, it would have looked as though David won these victories.

But, the verse tells us that the Lord gave David victory. This tells me that, regardless of what David did, it is ultimately and finally the work of the Lord that David’s enemies were defeated. Again, David did not sit back, fold his hands, and await God’s making his enemies just fall over or go away. He worked, he fought, he struggled, he strategized, he gave his all to the campaign. But, when the battles were finished, there was no doubt in the mind of God, in the mind of David, or in the mind of this writer of scripture that it was God who gave David the victory.

Now, why would this be a thought worth our time? Simply put, David’s victories over these nations is a good model for us of the process of sanctification in our own lives. You and I have enemies that we must defeat. The sins that so easily entangle us, slow us down, and knock us down must be driven out of our lives. We are called to be like Christ. We are commanded by Christ to be perfect as his Father is perfect. We are commanded to eradicate sin from our outward actions and our inward thoughts and desires. And, like David, we are surrounded on every side by things who want to destroy us.

Also, like David, we are the ones who have to work against those sins. David did not sit back and just wait for God to destroy his enemies; he worked hard to prepare and to fight against his enemies. In the same way, we have to work hard. We have to fight sin with all our might. We have to strive for Christian growth. We have to study God’s word, pray, and discipline ourselves for the sake of godliness. We have to be open with and accountable to others who are growing along with us. We have to fight to the point of blood, sweat, and tears to conquer the enemies that would defeat us, the enemies that are Satan and our own sinful disposition.

Also, like David, when the battle is over and the victory is won, we too will acknowledge that all the victory that we ever achieved over sin was a direct result of God giving us the victory. We will not take credit, even for a single moment, for anything good we have ever done. We will not claim our salvation as our own or our sanctification as our own. We will give all the glory for all the good in us to God, because it is from God that all our goodness came. We will work as hard as we can, and when it is all said and done, God will be the one who accomplished the work in us.

And, let us be very careful not to allow ourselves to become lazy or complacent about our sanctification. Just because God is the one who ultimately is responsible for making anything good happen in our lives, we still have to work. We work with all our might. We work in the power of his Holy Spirit. We can not sit back and wait for him to snap us perfect. Instead, we fight with all our might, and give him all the glory when we win.

Dear Lord, I recognize that it is my responsibility to fight with all my might to become more like Christ. I also recognize that all the glory for anything good I ever accomplish is yours, for you are ultimately the source of all goodness in me. Thus, I am committed to work toward my sanctification, but I pray that you will empower that work by your Holy Spirit. Motivate me and help me to fight the good fight. Grant me the strength, the courage, and the wisdom to do what you want me to do. I will respond to your accomplishing good things in me by yielding to you all glory for anything good in me, because it is all of you anyway.

Zechariah 3:8-9 – Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.
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Zechariah 3 is one of the more famous visions that we read in the minor prophets. In this scene, Zechariah sees one of his contemporaries, Joshua the priest, standing before God being accused by Satan. The Lord rebukes Satan, so that the devil can no longer make accusations against Joshua. Then, God removes Joshua’s filthy clothes, declares that he has taken Joshua’s iniquity away, and clothes Joshua in clean robes.

At the end of the vision, we read the text that is above. In it, God declares that what he has done with Joshua in the vision, he will do for the entire land. He promises to bring his servant, the “branch,” and take away the iniquity of the land in one single day.

The thing that most strikes me in this passage is the phrase “in a single day.” The nation of Israel sinned before God for years. You and I have sinned before God for year upon year. We regularly build up for ourselves a lifetime of mistakes, slip ups, errors, and the occasional purposeful and arrogant sin. To imagine that our iniquity, all the wrong that we have done, could be taken away in a single day, in a single moment, is a lovely, awesome, astonishing thought.

In case you are wondering, the branch is Jesus. He is a branch, a descendant, of the family tree of David (see Isaiah 11). He has the right to the promise of God’s Kingdom forever. He has the right to redeem God’s people. And, he gave his life, a life of infinite holiness and infinite worth, in order to pay the penalty for the iniquity of all who would put their trust in him. Jesus, in one moment, on a single day, took away not only my iniquity, not only your iniquity, but all the iniquity of all the people who will be in heaven in eternity.

Let this account cause you to worship Jesus. If God chose to carry out the punishment that you deserve for your sin, you would never pay the full penalty. You would have to suffer an infinity of infinite punishment in order to repay the debt you owe for sinning before an infinitely holy God. You could not do that without an eternity, a time without end, in hell. But Jesus, the infinitely holy God, took your punishment. He took away your iniquity in a single day. In one day, Jesus accomplished for you what you could not accomplish in an eternity of infinite punishment for your wrongs and infinite good deeds to try to make up for them. This shows Jesus to be worthy of the greatest thanks, the highest praise, the deepest affection, the utmost glory.

Lord Jesus, I offer you my praise. I could never have atoned for my sin. I could never have done enough right deeds to earn your favor. I, on my own, only deserve your wrath. I thank you that you have paid the penalty for my sin and granted me your righteousness. I thank you that you, in one day, took away a lifetime’s worth of my iniquity. I fully trust in you, and you alone, Jesus, for my soul’s salvation. I ask only that your offered mercy be granted to me, for I have no other hope apart from you and your grace.