Puritan Catechism Question #29 - How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
Answer - The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us (Eph. 2:8), and by it uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Eph. 3:17).
Chapter 52 - There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust, and everyone shall give an account of himself to God, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Devotional Thoughts The warning from our study this week is a warning against worldliness. As we continue in this study we need to be discerning. Worldliness is all around us! And discernment is one of the weapons we have to use in the fight against the world and its wayward ways.
I want you to be discerning. In fact, it struck me in last week's sermon as I was preaching and we read Romans chapter 1 and chapter 2, we saw a long list of sin that was being judged. One of the sins listed there was that they were undiscerning.
I had been taught (erroneously) years ago that discernment was a gift from God and that you either had it or did not have it! But to be un-discerning for the believer is sin. We are told that the undiscerning are willfully sinning, and so we must teach one another to be discerning.
Part of discerning when it comes to worldliness is to remember that the Bible tells us "whatever is born of God overcomes the world." If that is true then what can we say about a church that is overrun by the world instead of overcoming it? Think about that for a moment - "whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world our faith." What does that mean to us if the church is not overcoming the world? Then they don't have faith!
So many churches try to entertain and so many try to water down the gospel and the world floods in and they allow youth groups that are full of immorality, singles and college groups that are full drunkenness and parties, churches that are full of people chasing after the world to fulfill their own lust in whatever form they can find it. And yet, if the church is not overcoming the world then it is not rightly to be called a church - for "whatever is born of God overcomes the world."
And it is not that we fight a battle to overcome the world on our own because the battle has already been won! Jesus states "I have overcome the world", and if you're trusting in Him then that is what Romans 8:28 tells us. We are "more than conquerors." But we really do try to make it more of a battle that it is. The truth is we are more than conquerors and the world has already been defeated, so why do we surrender and fall so often? Why is it so easy to stumble into sin and into worldliness? Why is it that our lives are shaped by the pressures of the world around us instead of we in the church turning the world around us upside down?
The church needs to be reminded about who she is in Jesus Christ. We should be ashamed! We should be disgusted! We should be angry when the church looks like the world. We shouldn't tolerate it because the world is passing away in the judgment of God and to embrace worldliness is to reject the very grace of God (see Romans 6).
Quite simply we learn from Scripture that we cannot afford to love the world. We cannot be like the world. We must protect ourselves against worldliness. The first step in fighting this fight is that we must not think like the world.
Philippians 2:5 tells us (in this deeply moving passage where the writer is talking about the humiliation of Christ as he has come and become a man and lives among us in his dying to death of a thief on the cross), "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Also we read in Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations on my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer." In Philippians 4:8 we read, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." Proverbs 20 37 tells us "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
Examine those verses and then answer this question:
Do you think like the world?
It is hard, since we are surrounded by the world and we began to think like the world and while we may not speak like the world or hear the words they use often come out of our mouths, is it any better to think those words and have them in our head? We are told not to think like the world. We are told to take every thought captive to Christ. If it is praiseworthy, if it is true, if it is noble, if it is just, if it is pure, if it is lovely, if it is a good report - think on these things!
How often do we willingly take into our minds things that do not meet the standard given in Philippians 4:8 when it comes to what we think about? Maybe it is for the sake of entertainment? Whether it be on the radio, in movies or on TV - whatever area that we are exposed to - why is it that we so willingly embrace the thinking of the world and let it in a our hearts and our minds instead of holding everything up to the Scripture to test it? We just open the door wide instead of refusing to think like the world. Why?
Think about it!
Links for Further Study (links to study each daily topic in more detail if you have the desire and the time)
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