Young People’s Blog

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

In giving us a new life in Christ, God has brought us into liberty. No longer are we the slaves of Satan, for now we are under a new Master—the Lord Jesus. Satan has no authority over us anymore, and we do not need to serve him. We are now like slaves who have been given their freedom, and who do not need to serve a cruel master anymore.

However (and it is very sad!), some believers in the Lord Jesus look back at the days before they were saved, and look out at Satan’s world, with longing eyes. Somehow they persuade themselves that there is more pleasure in that lifestyle than in following the Lord. Then once again they turn back to those things that bring them into bondage. In our verse for today, God is warning us not to do that, for it is a “yoke of bondage.”

“For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Peter 2:19).

When the Russian revolution occurred back in 1917, over one hundred years ago, many people there thought that they would enjoy real freedom. Instead, however, they found that under Lenin, and later under Stalin, they were brought into bondage worse than they had known before. Many people were killed, sent to labor camps, and ill-treated for simply disagreeing with what was being done to the country. They were “overcome” by force, and then literally made slaves of the state.

In this verse today, God is warning us that to turn away from the Lord, and to trust in this world, is indeed to be brought into slavery. The world promises us liberty and freedom, but Satan is a deceiver. He makes promises but never keeps them. He may make things nice for a short while, but then brings in bondage and death. Tomorrow we will see what the Lord wants to bring us.

“Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth” (1 Samuel 3:9).

When our children were young, we had both a dog and a cat as pets in our home. They were very different and kept out of each other’s way. But they had one trait in common. Whenever there was the sound of a can opener beginning to open a can of anything in the kitchen, no matter where she was in the house, the cat would immediately be found in the kitchen purring and wondering if the sound meant food for her. And our dog, even if he were asleep by the fire on a cold winter day, if he heard the word “walk” in our conversation, was at the door, tail wagging, and ready to go.

Our verse today is about young Samuel, who was told by Eli the priest that the Lord wanted to talk with him, and that when he heard the Lord’s voice calling him, he should reply in this way. What a wonderful attitude to have to the voice of our Lord! Ready always to hear, with the purpose of also obeying what the Lord may be about to tell us. As we go about our schoolwork, job or whatever may be ahead of us today, let’s have an open ear to listen to anything the Lord may want to tell us. Also, may we be ready to say, “Yes, Lord, I’m willing to do that for You.”

“Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Today’s verse follows the verse we had two days ago, concerning our spirit and soul and body. We said then that we would explain a little why the Lord put these three things together like this, in this verse.

If you and I are to be kept from the evil in this world, and be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord, the process has to start with our spirit. Our spirit is the God-conscious part of our being, and if our spirit is right with God, and then that is the first and most important step in living right as a Christian.

However, we also have a soul, and as we have seen, it makes us aware of our own existence. It also makes us unique as an individual, with certain ideas, abilities, preferences, a distinct personality, and so on. It is important that those appetites and desires be directed in the right way, and that we do not indulge wrong desires that come from our old sinful nature.

Finally, we have a body that we need to control, for even our bodies can be used to do wrong things. It is good to look after our bodies, and to use them for the Lord rather than for sinful things.

But how encouraging our verse for today is! If we really want to please the Lord, He will help us to keep our spirit, soul and body for Him. None of us are absolutely blameless in spirit, soul and body, for we still have our old sinful nature, but that is God’s desire for us.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

There are many people who have no interest in accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, yet would be very upset if you and I were to refer to them as “ungodly.” Since they believe that there is a God, and perhaps acknowledge His power and authority to some extent, they do not feel that they are ungodly.

However, in the Word of God, that word “ungodly” is used to describe not only those who do not believe there is a God, but also those who may believe in a God, but pay no attention to His claims over them. Sadly, there are many like that in the world today. God says that we were all once in that state, and also without strength. None of us likes to think that we are without strength, but spiritually, before we are saved, we are unable to do anything to save ourselves.

However, the wonderful part of our verse today is that Christ died for that kind of person! We were ungodly and without strength, yet the Lord Jesus suffered and died for us. How wonderful the love of God is! Today, on the first day of another week, we have a special chance to thank Him.

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly [completely]; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

The Apostle Paul has just finished an epistle to some new believers—the Thessalonians. Paul had been preaching to them for less than a month, but they had left their heathen ways and accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Then Paul had to leave the area because of persecution. Shortly afterward he wrote this epistle to them, in which he speaks quite a bit about the Lord’s coming.

Now he utters a prayer, that through the God of peace, they would be completely sanctified. That means being separate from this world. Also, he prays that their spirit, soul and body would be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus. Each of us, as a human being, has a spirit, a soul and a body. Animals have souls and bodies, but no spirit. A soul is what makes animals (and humans) aware of their own existence. Plants have bodies, but do not have either a soul or spirit.

As Christians, it is important that we be separate from this world, for everything in this world system will tend to drag us down spiritually. But why does Paul talk about our spirit, soul and body like this? We will speak a bit more about it in a couple of days.

“But though He [the Lord Jesus] had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him” (John 12:37).

The Lord Jesus had done many miracles during His earthly ministry, and all of these miracles demonstrated clearly who He was. However, according to our verse today, the Jewish people did not believe on Him, even though they saw all these miracles. Their minds were blinded, and this only shows that miracles by themselves do not bring people to Christ.

There is no doubt that the Jewish people were impressed with these miracles, and were very glad when they themselves had their diseases healed, or were fed when they were hungry. But they did not want to believe that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God.

The Lord Jesus is not here in the world today, doing miracles, but He speaks from heaven by His Spirit. You and I can now appreciate who He is through His Word, and the greatest miracle that God does today is to give new life in Christ to those who come to Him.

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Several days ago we mentioned that while we could learn the power of God in creation, we could not learn His heart. Yesterday we learned that God is a God of judgment, and will judge those who have sinned. But here in today’s verse we see the heart of God. If God is a God of judgment, He is also a God of love. His love did not want to see man judged for His sin, and sent to hell. For this reason God sent His beloved Son into this world as a man, to die for us, so that we could be saved from the awful judgment of God.

We read in 1 John 1:7 that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Do you think the blood of Christ could wash away the sin of stealing 17 million dollars? Yes, it could. There are men in history who have been guilty of murdering millions of innocent people. That sin is worse than stealing, for murder is a most serious sin before God. Can the blood of Christ wash away that kind of sin? Yes, it can.

Perhaps none of you have been guilty of stealing in the ways that I have mentioned, and likely you have not been guilty of murder, but we know that we have all sinned. It is only the blood of Christ that can wash those sins away.

“But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things” (Romans 2:2).

Here we learn that God is a God of judgment, and that His judgment is “according to truth.” What does this mean? It means simply that there will be no excuses when guilty man has to stand before God. If people have stolen, they will be judged for stealing. If people have told lies, they will be judged for lying. If people have committed murder, they will be judged for that.

This does not mean that all sins are the same before God. The Lord Jesus could tell the Roman governor Pilate that those who had delivered Him to Pilate had “the greater sin” (John 19:11). The Jews ought to have known who the Lord Jesus was, because they had the Old Testament scriptures. But Pilate was guilty too, for he knew that the Lord Jesus had not committed any crime.

It will be a serious thing for men and women to stand before God in a coming day, if they are not saved. God’s righteous judgment will have to be carried out then.

“Therefore thou art inexcusable…for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things … . Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?” (Romans 2:1,21).

Some years ago in the city where I used to live, a young man went into a men’s clothing store and bought several items. On the way out of the store, he picked up several other things and attempted to walk out with them. Naturally the storekeeper stopped him at the door, and demanded that he pay for the additional items. The boy protested, “I bought enough stuff in this store that I am entitled to some extra things free!” Needless to say, the storekeeper did not see it that way, and told him either to pay for the extra items or put them back.

If we had asked that young man whether it was wrong to steal, he would probably have said yes, but somehow he felt that if he had already bought some things, it was all right for him to take a few more without paying for them. Other people steal in different ways. Some who would hesitate to steal from a store think it is all right to cheat the government on their income tax. They excuse themselves by saying that the government wastes money anyway. Still others would not steal from a small store, but think it is all right to steal from a big company. I read today about a man and his wife who stole about 17 million dollars from the large company for which they worked, over a period of 15 years.

God takes account of all this, and we will see tomorrow what will happen.