Author: BTP

“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

Have you ever found it hard to obey someone who told you to do something you did not want to do? I have had this experience too, but it is very humbling to us to read that the Lord Jesus learned the cost of obedience too. Before He came into this world as a man, the Lord Jesus never had to obey, for as God He could act in His own right. But as a man, He learned the cost of obedience, and that obedience took Him all the way to Calvary’s cross. There He suffered the judgment of God for sin, so that you and I could be saved. Again, I say, it is humbling to recognize that the Lord Jesus had to obey, and suffer, in order that we might be saved. Let us remember to thank Him for it!

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy…without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).

“And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

As I write this in September 2024, I have just been discharged from the hospital after having had surgery. All went well, and I am very thankful. I am also very thankful that I was able to have the complicated procedure done, and my hospital stay, “without money,” as here in Canada our health care is without a direct charge to the patient. But because of the high demand on our health care system, the waiting lines are long for anything that is not an emergency.

But here in our verses, the Lord is giving freely. He just says, “Take”! No lines, no waiting. If you wish His forgiveness, it is immediate.

You might wonder why the Bible uses the word “buy” in this verse, if God is giving new life to us freely. I believe that God wants us to remember that while He gives freely, what He gives is not cheap. It cost the Lord Jesus untold suffering on the cross in order to be able to offer you and me salvation as a free gift. Let us never forget this.

“Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands. They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture [piece of clothing] shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed” (Hebrews 1:10-12).

Have you ever made something, used it for a while, and then gotten rid of it because you did not need it anymore? That is what happened to the high school that I attended. It was built in 1927, but then in 1997 they decided that it was old and out of date. They tore it down and built a new school.

That is what God is going to do with this earth. He created it for man to live on, and so that He could work out His purposes concerning His Son. But then, when He is finished with it, He is going to burn it up, and create new heavens and a new earth. Satan will never be allowed to spoil that new earth; sin will never enter it, and it will last forever.

We can marvel at this beautiful universe, but it has been spoiled by sin, and at the end of the millennium, God will burn it up. But the Lord Jesus Himself will always be there; He will always be the same. What a wonderful truth that is!

“His Son…who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:2-3).

When the Lord Jesus came into this world, He perfectly represented God the Father. Because the Lord Jesus became a man, He perfectly displayed to us in this world what God the Father was. But all the time, He was upholding all things by the word of His power. What does this mean?

It means that He keeps the whole universe in perfect order. He keeps meteorites from hitting the earth and causing serious damage. He keeps the earth in its perfect orbit around the sun. He keeps your heart and mine beating in a right rhythm.

There is a small node in your heart called the sinoatrial node, and it is the “pacemaker” of the heart. It sends out impulses constantly to make your heart beat properly. When I was in medical school, I asked one of my professors what made that little node beat constantly like that. He replied, “God does, if you believe in Him.” The professor was right, for the Lord Jesus is God, and He keeps everything going properly in this whole universe. Even with all the discoveries man has made today, he still must realize that ultimately, everything depends only on God.

“God…hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

“According as He [God the Father] hath chosen us in Him [the Lord Jesus Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

God has purposed to do two things, and both of them were decided before the world was made. First of all, God has in His purposes to make His Son, the Lord Jesus, heir of all things. The Lord Jesus is going to receive an inheritance, and that inheritance will include all created things. But before He can take that inheritance, it has to be cleansed of all the effects of sin. That is part of the reason that the Lord Jesus suffered on Calvary’s cross—to make His inheritance fit for Him.

But more than this, God wants you and me, as Christians, to share that inheritance with His Son. You may remember that we had this second verse back in April, reminding us that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Before that inheritance existed, God chose us to share it with His Son. It is beyond our understanding, but it is true.

There is no need for us to spend time and energy trying to get more possessions in this world, for we are going to own it all with Christ when He takes His inheritance.

“I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works” (Titus 3:8).

The expressions “good work” or “good works” are used six times in the book of Titus. Why was that? It was because those in Crete who had believed on the Lord Jesus and were saved were tending to live the same way as they had lived before they were saved. Unhappily the people who lived in Crete were often lazy. They also told lies and were generally very sinful people. But now that some of them were saved, they needed to let their new life in Christ display itself in their lives.

As we saw yesterday, this is very important for us too. Many years ago, my father spoke to a brother in Christ who was not behaving very well as a Christian. The brother replied, “But that’s the way I’m made!” My father wisely remarked, “Yes, and God loves you even if you are made that way, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way!” God has given us everything to enable us to change our ways and become more like Christ.

“Bondmen to be subject to their own masters…not robbing their masters, but shewing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the teaching which is of our Savior God in all things” (Titus 2:9-10 JND).

The word “adorn” means to improve the appearance of something, especially with beautiful objects. The word “adorn” used in our verse is also used in the Bible to describe the things that women commonly use to make themselves look pretty—nice clothes, jewelry, etc. It is also used in Revelation 21:2, where the church appears “as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Doctrine is a set of principles or beliefs that form the basis of something, and in scriptural terms, doctrine is what forms the basis of Christianity. But sometimes people do not want to talk about doctrine. However, when they see your life and mine, they ought to see what those good principles do for us. They ought to see the results of Christianity, and realize that they need Christ too. In simple terms, they ought to see Christ in us.

This was particularly true when men and women were slaves, and perhaps were not always treated well. Then they were to continue to act in a Christ-like way, and “adorn” the doctrine which was the basis of their faith. We are not slaves today, but we can do the same thing in our interactions with others.

“But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2).

Yesterday we spoke about how the Lord Jesus will come for us, His church, as the morning star. The world will not see Him then, for it will happen very quickly. But then, after the seven years of the tribulation period, He will come again, and this time we read that “every eye shall see Him” (Revelation 1:7). He will come then to judge the world, and all who have not submitted to Him previously will fall under that judgment.

But also, He will appear as the “Sun of righteousness,” for then the day will really dawn for this world. Very few get up early enough to see the morning star, but everyone sees the sun when it rises. Then our Lord will definitely judge this world, but after that He will set up His glorious millennial kingdom. After the judgment is complete, there will indeed be healing for this world. It will be a magnificent time of blessing for this world, but you and I who know the Lord Jesus as Savior will be at home with Him long before that happens.

“But what ye have hold fast till I shall come…and I will give to him the morning star” (Revelation 2:25,28 JND).

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Corinthians 1l:26).

Today is the Lord’s day, and the day when those in the early church came together to break bread. We have spoken before about the wonderful privilege of remembering our Lord Jesus in His death, but we see in these verses that this privilege is connected with the Lord’s coming for us.

He will come for us as the morning star, which appears in the eastern sky just before dawn, but when it is still night. You must get up early to see it! But it is a very bright star (actually a planet), and on a clear night it always appears just before the day begins to dawn.

When the Lord comes for us, we will not need a loaf of bread and a cup of wine in order to remember Him. No, for the wounds in His hands and feet will forever remind us that He suffered and died for us. The privilege of remembering Him in His absence is something we can do only in this world, but our Lord appreciates it very much.

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12).

“The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer” (1 Peter 4:7).

The expression “at hand” means “ready to happen.” Paul could warn those in Rome that “the night is far spent,” meaning that the day was about to dawn. For you and me as Christians, God regards us as being in the night now, while Christ is absent, but soon He will come for us, and then the day will dawn.

Likewise, Peter warns his listeners (mostly Jewish Christians) that things in this world are coming to an end. After we are called home to be with Christ, God will begin to judge this world, and then He will set up the millennial kingdom.

In view of all this, we are to be sober, and to live for God’s glory in this world. The world is becoming increasingly wicked, and we are not to settle down and be part of it. We are to recognize that the world is under judgment, and we are to give the warning that the only way of escape is to come to Christ.