Roots by the River

  "On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink’” (John 7:37). "Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water’ …. Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’” (John 4:10, 13-14) This spring of water is an artesian well, a flowing well, “welling up to eternal life.” Welling up has a sense of leaping up . This well provides living water in quality and abundance so that streams of living water will flow from within the Christian. Notice in both texts that the person does not drink from this well. He does not have the well until after he drinks. "Indeed the water I give him will become in h...

  A few years ago, I was talking with a young woman, and I asked her what she thought of Jesus. Her reply was a good answer but qualified with this phrase: “but I don't think he was very polite.” The more I read the Gospels, the more I am convinced her qualification is a true one. Her problem was that, to her, politeness was a high virtue, and since Jesus was not polite, He was not perfect. Many of us, like this young woman, interpret the Scripture in the light of our cultural mores . We do this because obedience to the text as it is might mean crossing or offending our Christian and secular friends. In our society, we have compromised for so long we think we are following Christ when in reality we are following the evangelical American culture. This time, as you read through your New Testament, pay attention to the hard sayings of Jesus. Here is a plan to follow for the summer. Written February 1987.

  "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage, with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 3:16-4:2). "Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching" (1 Timothy 4:13). There was a time when there were very few Bibles, even in cultured lands. There were no printing presses, and most of the people were illiterate. If people received the Word, it was through the public reading of Scripture by people who could read and had the Scriptures. Now in the church today in this country, we can read, and we each own at least one Bible. A year ag...

In the last month,* I have been studying the New Testament, looking for teaching on salvation. I have been overwhelmed. It has caused me to wonder why people in evangelism (including me) always use the same few texts. It has also convinced me even more of the necessity of the distribution of New Testaments and Bibles. Evangelists and Bible teachers cannot possibly teach everybody everything they ought to know, even with internet, radio, television, and books. Learning from a teacher should not be a substitute for reading and studying the Bible. Teaching should always include an incentive to read and study for yourself. Here is a salvation text: “This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to ...

UGHH!! Here it is again, one of the most demanding times a student at the university must face—final exams. Without fail, they arrive sooner than expected (or wanted), and unlike taxes, finals come at least two or three times a year! It is a time that some find stimulating and rewarding, but for the majority of students it is a time that they could do without. It is a time of stress, lack of sleep, and headaches. This is especially true if you are one of those who haven't been preparing all along for this week. You find yourself with projects due that you haven't begun, books to read that are currently paperweights on your desk, and exams worth the majority of your grade, all staring you in the face. What do you do? At this point, you gut it out. Hopefully you will survive, and next time you will start preparing right from the beginning. Unfortunately, people often approach their lives in the same manner that they do the university, waiting for the last minute to prepare fo...

Have you noticed the series of listed troubles that are in 2 Corinthians? They are in chapters 1, 4, 6, 8, and 12. Have you also seen the comfort, thanksgiving, glory, rejoicing, grace, and strength in the same chapters? Please take a look and notice the connection. I will listen to what God the LORD will say; He promises peace to his people, His saints—but let them not return to folly. (Psalm 85:8) Written September 1992. This post coordinates with Friday and Saturday's readings in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

The two greatest events in the history of the world are the creation of man and the redemption of man by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing about these two events in Revelation 4:11 and in Revelation 5:9-10. Both hymns start out the same: “You are worthy.” There are different reasons given: “For you created all things” and “because you were slain.” The first hymn is limited to the choir of twenty-eight. For the second hymn, the twenty-eight are joined first by upwards of 100 million angels, and then by every living creature everywhere. Let us thank and praise God for our creation and redemption.   Written April 1989. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

"May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ’s perseverance” (2 Thessalonians 3:5). We have all known of God's love and that our hearts should be directed into it. But we may not have known or thought of the steadfastness (RSV) or the perseverance (NIV) of Christ. What is it? And how was it shown, and how should our hearts be directed into it? Hebrews 12:1-4 answers all three questions: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter 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. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the poi...

“Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12). It seems to be a given from the Scripture that fathers encourage and comfort their children. It is part of common grace. However, in many cases fathers are not doing that. Here is a quotation from George MacDonald: “Like many Scots, while Phemy was his one joy, he seldom showed her sign of affection, seldom made her feel, and never sought to make her feel how he loved her.” Heather and Snow , George MacDonald Unhappily, in thirty-two years of ministering to high school and college-age people, I have found that the above description is an accurate description of many father-child relationships. If you are a father, please do not let it describe you.   Written April 1988. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word...

Loving Christians “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14). Christians love non-Christians. Non-Christians love non-Christians. It takes a Christian to love a Christian. In her autobiography, Climbing , Rosalind Goforth tells of an elderly man who was unsure of his salvation. He said, “I wanted to convince myself all these years that I’m going to heaven, but I can’t.” She asked him if he loved the Lord’s people. He said, “Oh, it’s my greatest joy in life to be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s Day singing the Lord’s praises.” Then she pointed out 1 John 3:14 to him: “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers.” Love for the brothers is evidence of salvation. Consider the opposite. Suppose you brought a non-Christian to church. He would not feel comfortable. He might admire and respect Christians, but he wouldn’t love them like they love each other. ...

Obedience “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him” (1 John 3:6). “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:9-10). “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him” (1 John 5:18). We know we are saved because we are no longer living in sin. If it looks like we are living in sin, then there is no reason for others to know that we are Christians, and no reason for us to, either. “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands” (1 John 2:3). Obedience is not the means of salvation; it is evidence of our salvation. Are ...

“Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10). This confession is not a matter of the mouth only. People who do not have the evidence of the Holy Spirit say it in liturgies all of the time. “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). To be continued on Monday.   Excerpted from Assurances of Salvation , available at ccmbooks.org and Amazon.com.

This morning* my attention has been drawn to every phrase of the sixty-fifth Psalm. Here are a few of those phrases: Verse 3: “When we were overwhelmed by sins you atoned for our transgressions.” Verse 8: "Where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.” Verses 9-13: “You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks, and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing."   *Written June 1985. This post coordinates with Friday's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us a...

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21). If this list describes your normal state, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25). If this describes you, you are saved. Jesus saves out of the first list into the second list. If you find yourself in both lists, it is for one of the following reasons: 1) You are mistaking natural personalit...

The Holy Spirit is a means of knowing you are saved. “We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13). “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:16-17). God’s Spirit talks to our spirit to tell us that we belong to Him. We are His children. I cannot explain it, but to those to whom this has happened it does not need explaining. The Holy Spirit is the present guarantee of our final salvation, the resurrection of our bodies: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” ...

There is a minimum of truth without which a person cannot be saved. This is the gospel. “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve” (1 Corinthians 15:1-5). Here is the basic truth of the gospel: 1) Who Jesus is—He is the Christ. 2) Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture. 3) He was buried. His burial did two things: It confirmed His death—He was dead and buried. It confirmed His resurrection. 4) He was raised on the third day according to the Scripture. This is the truth that saves. Believing any less th...

There is a wonderful phrase in the poetry of Jeremiah that tells us something of the character of God's forgiveness: “‘In those days, at that time,’  declares the Lord,  ‘search will be made for Israel's guilt,  but there will be none,  and for the sins of Judah,  but none will be found,  for I will forgive the remnant I spare’" (Jeremiah 50:20). Guilt and sins, regardless of how great and how many, cannot be found even when searched for, when God forgives. Zechariah said of his son John the Baptist in Luke 1:76-77, " And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;   for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation   through the forgiveness of their sins. " Sins gone, guilt gone, and a knowledge of salvation, all through the forgiveness of sins.   Written September 1989. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If...

“Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die’” (2 Samuel 12:13-14). The complete story is in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12. David’s sins were awful. He violated the clear commands of God “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not commit adultery.” David, in order to hide his adultery, had Uriah called home from the front in order to attribute Bathsheba’s pregnancy to him. David was concocting a lie that did not work. David sent him to his home and sent him a gift. Uriah did not go home. The next day David gave a dinner for Uriah and made Uriah drunk. He did not go home. So David had him killed and then took his wife. David did not confess. He was still hiding his sins (or thought he was.) He was then confronted by Nathan the prophet. Be...

"But you must not mention 'the oracle of the Lord' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle, and so you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God” (Jer. 23:36). For study, the whole chapter of Jeremiah 23 should be read. I pulled this sentence because of its application today. Weekly I come across people whose own words are their revelation of "truth." It is always a distortion of the word of God. In churches that recognize the gift of prophecy, the same thing occurs. In many instances, there is no means or effort to shut down these false prophecies. Several chapters in Jeremiah are given to shutting down or standing up against these “prophets.”    Written July 1986. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

"His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit" (Ephesians 2:15-18). From this we find out there were two kinds of people in the world, both kinds estranged from God and from each other: Gentiles and Jews. Both kinds were sinners—sinners far away and sinners close at hand. They both needed reconciling to God through the cross. The cross put to death their hostility. Jesus Christ is our peace. He preached peace to both and died for both. Now we have three kinds of people in the world: Jews, Gentiles and the church of God (1 Corinthians 10:32).   Written June 1992. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in ...