“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

— Matthew 4:17

There are some unbelievers today who are in the church and are doing great damage to the church. Their type was around in the first century.

Jude warns about “these ungodly dreamers,” who “defile the flesh” and “reject authority” (verse 8). Some of them today say the church has a ministry to alcoholics and to criminals, so why can’t it have a ministry to homosexuals and this sort? Wonderful, it certainly ought to have, by all means. But the ministry it has to alcoholics and criminals is one of repentance by which a gracious God will forgive you and receive you and cleanse you from your sins.

It’s not that we are going to form a club of continued professing alcoholics and criminals who will come to church on Sunday and worship, and they will go the rest of the week to rob banks. How utterly absurd.

Jude adds that they are blind in their sin: “But they destroy themselves in those things that, like unreasoning animals, they know by instinct” (verse 10).

These are those who are sensual and not filled with the Spirit of God. My friends, the spirit of lasciviousness and license, and of lawlessness, is the very spirit that was rebuked when God says to us, “Go and sin no more”—whatever our particular sin is. Jesus may meet us in our sinful state, but if you have a true encounter with Him, He does not leave you there. Jesus said, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruit you will know them” (Matthew 7:19-20).

Holy Savior, give me strength for today to repent of any sin in my life. Let Your light shine in my soul, so that I can see my sin and run to You for cleansing and forgiveness…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE
LIVE IN DAILY REPENTANCE.

“But, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, Christ Himself.”

— Ephesians 4:15

God has called us to walk in the truth and not in error. But the minute you begin to discern truth from error, immediately there are those who spring up to denounce you, while they declare the only Bible verse they seem to know: “Do not judge or you will be judged.”

The Epistle of Jude says that we are to contend for the faith that was given to the saints. We are told that we are to contend earnestly for the faith, and yet somehow or other we are to do it without being contentious.

To contend in love is the secret, and it is always a difficult one. We tend either to lose sight of love and compassion and just hack people to little pieces with our theological axes. Or we become so loving and so compassionate that we let Christian doctrine just sort of melt into a marshmallow type of thing it can be shaped however anyone wants it. But we are to contend, though non-contentiously, for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints.

There is a faith once and for all delivered to the saints. Faith here means not the subjective activity of our exercise of faith, but it means the objective body of doctrine which has been given to us, the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has been given to us.

God of truth, help us to see clearly by Your Spirit. Give us the right balance between truth and mercy, so that we may speak the truth in love…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
BE CONTENDERS FOR THE FAITH.

“Beloved, while I diligently tried to write to you of the salvation we have in common, I found it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.”

— Jude 3

Jude tells us why he wrote his epistle in verse 3. Initially, he had planned to frame a general epistle perhaps something along the line of Romans, which would contain an overview of all Christian doctrine.

But as he was giving all diligence to do this, something had suddenly come up that made it necessary for him to exhort them and to write them about a particular problem, which needed their earnest attention. So we see that the rest of this Epistle of Jude is not what he set out to write in the beginning. But God had other things in mind—he was to remind them and us of a particular error, which was springing up into the church.

The gist of this error is that certain false teachers have crept into the church, “who pervert the grace of our God into immorality and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 4).

Their coming had not been noticed; the ungodliness was not observed, but now they are in the church and now they are turning the grace of God into liberty to sin. Therefore, he contends earnestly for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints. God has called us to liberty. But it is wrong to turn that liberty into a license to do whatever our sinful heart desires to do.

Lord, give me strength for today to never take Your grace for granted. Free us from false teachers who preach that sin is permissible and without consequences. Help us to take sin seriously…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE CAN RECEIVE GOD’S GRACE.

“To them God would make known what is the glorious riches of this mystery among the nations. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

— Colossians 1:27

Christ is the power of my life. The Bible says that Christ will come to dwell in our hearts—that we can be strengthened with His might in the inner man and be able to accomplish many wonderful things through His strength.

We had a number of folks come over to our house one time for some fellowship. Later in the evening, one of the young men said, “I have a question.”

I said, “Yes. Don’t make it too hard or I will have to go and ask my wife. What is it?”

He said, “How do you do it?”

And I asked, “Do what?”

He replied, “How do you do all that you have to do over there? Do you have unlimited energy?”

I just started laughing. I can’t think of anyone who naturally has any less energy than I do, or any less strength than I do, but I have discovered a wonderful secret— the secret Paul had discovered, when he said, “I can do all things because of Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Have you discovered that secret? I know from my own experience that Christ is the power of my life, because I know that I have done innumerable things that I was absolutely certain I could not do before. He has enabled me to do them. Christ is the power. We can be strengthened with might in the inner man to do things we never dreamt we could do because Christ lives in us.

Almighty God, You are the all-powerful one. Give me strength for today to see my weakness and physical limitations, and my spiritual shortcomings. Thank You for being the strength of my life…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE ARE STRONG.

“For to this you were called, because Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.”

— 1 Peter 2:21

Christ has left for us an “example.” The Greek term hupogrammos is an interesting one that means, literally, an “underwriting.” This is a reference to that which was done in the Greek schools at the time when the teacher would very carefully write out the letters of the Greek alphabet for the primary students. Then the students would write over them in their own feeble attempts to reproduce and imitate the example the teacher had left.

Many years ago, I visited one of the Hebrew classes at our Knox Theological Seminary. The students were doing what I clearly remembered doing some 50 years ago, and that is, carefully trying to copy those Hebrew letters.

Christ has also given us an alphabet of life. He has given us an example—an underwriting by His life for us to follow. He is the great exemplar. He is the perfect person to imitate. Would you like to know what life is supposed to be like? Look at Jesus Christ; He embodies it all Himself—the perfect example of goodness and truth and love and kindness and firmness and righteousness and justice. Of course, no one can live up to His example. But after we receive His salvation, His Spirit gives us the grace to live in a way that pleases Him.

He is the pattern of our life as well as the purpose and parent of our lives. Therefore, He is our life.

Lord Jesus, give me strength for today to follow in Your footsteps. Help me to follow Your example: Your patience with Your disciples, Your compassion to all, Your kindness even to the outcasts, Your concern for Your Father’s house…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
WALK IN JESUS’ FOOTSTEPS.

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

— John 3:6

The Scripture makes it plain that as we are born by nature, we are merely flesh—flesh that is corrupting, decaying, and dying. That which is flesh is flesh, and it goes the way of all flesh. We need to have a new birth from above. Jesus said we must be born again in a new and glorious and never-dying life.

I remember one time being interviewed by a reporter who said to me, “Are you…Are you one of those…those ‘born-again’ Christians?” I got the very distinct impression that he was under the impression that “born-again Christians” constituted some new denomination that must only recently have come into existence.

I said to him, “Having studied the doctrines of all of the great denominations of Christendom, I am very definitely under the opinion that there is no other kind of Christian than a born-again Christian. According to the creeds and doctrines of every Christian church, it is absolutely essential that one must be born again.”

To put it bluntly, and let me state it categorically: Unless, you are a born again Christian, you are no kind of Christian at all, for there is no other kind. Furthermore, you will never see, said Christ, the inside of Paradise. But if Christ has become the parent of a new and imperishable life, that is a life that is spiritual in nature.

Dear Lord, thank You for giving me a new birth, for bringing me into Your family and making me Your child. Thank You that I am no longer a stranger nor a guest, but a child in Your home…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE ARE GOD’S ADOPTED CHILD.

“But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.”

— 2 Timothy 4:17

March 17 is actually “Sinner Patrick Day.” But though he was a young and rebellious youth, he was to be finally overtaken by the “Hound of Heaven.” This young man from England was captured by pirates. At age 16, living as he did on the beach of the western coast of England, just south of Scotland, he and two of his friends had spent the day in the breakers in the ocean. Suddenly, they looked over here and they saw a whole group of “freebooters”—Irish pirates.

Fast forward years later, after a horrible time as a slave of the Irish, Sinner Patrick became Saint Patrick as he drew close to Jesus Christ. Eventually, he got his chance to escape slavery and escape from Ireland.

But he returned to the place of his humiliating slavery as a missionary of the Gospel after theological training. What an effective ministry he had.

His accomplishment was absolutely gigantic. No one had ever gone to convert a nation outside the rule of Rome, but Patrick did. Every day of his life he was in mortal danger. He was in the midst of some of the fiercest, cruelest people the world has ever seen—the Druids. But he trusted in Christ for his protection as he prayed regularly for the protection of Christ, “Christ before me, Christ behind me….” By the power of the Gospel, he changed that entire nation.

Lord of the nations, thank You for the example of Your servant, St. Patrick, in proclaiming Your Gospel to people who so desperately need You…

LORD, GIVE ME STRENGTH FOR TODAY
TO SPREAD YOUR KINGDOM.

“…I count everything as loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord…”

— Philippians 3:8

Tragically, many people are essentially wandering around in life, aimlessly. For all practical purposes, they are marking time. They are like the proverbial man in jail with marks on the wall, representing how many days, weeks, months, or years he has fulfilled. Many are living as if they are just waiting to die.

But when Christ changed my life, I can now say He is the purpose of my life. Is everything you do done for Christ? From now on, everything is for Christ. I believe I can honestly say that is the ordinary purpose of everything in my life, whether it be to get up or to go to sleep, to exercise or to rest, to eat or to fast, to study or to work, to do anything at all. The great over-arching transcendent purpose of everything I do is for Christ. For with Paul I can say, “For me to live is Christ.” He is the purpose of my existence.

He is so, for if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation with a new purpose, new desires, and new wants to please Christ. I suppose almost every young person going through school goes on that quest in which he tries to answer the questions: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” Where did I come from, and where am I going?” “What is my purpose for life?” Living for Christ answers all those critical questions.

El Shaddai, You are all sufficient. Thank You that there are answers to the basic questions of life. Thank You for giving meaning and purpose to life. Thank You for revealing the answers…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE LIVE
LIVES FULL OF MEANING.

“But what things were gain to me, I have counted these things to be loss for the sake of Christ.”

— Philippians 3:7

During the decade of the 1950s, a bright and brilliant star flashed across the cinematic and recording sky. It was a star that belonged to a young man with a magnificent voice. The name of that young man was Mario Lanza. But suddenly, unexpectedly, inexplicably, he died—a man who some said had, perhaps, the greatest voice ever.

His records sold more copies than any record ever had until that time. His lifetime goal was to portray the life of Enrico Caruso on the screen, a man he most admired. That dream came to pass in the mid-fifties.

My wife, knowing that I enjoyed his singing, bought several of the few motion pictures for me that he had made. One of them, The Toast of New Orleans, was a story about a rough-cut and unkempt young fisherman, at a bayou in Louisiana. When his talent for singing was discovered one day, the man gave him money for a suit and a haircut.

That astonished the young man. He said, “A haircut? …for singing?”

Then the impresario said something I will never forget. He said, “From now on, everything is for singing.”

When I heard those words, I thought: What a beautiful description of what it means to become a Christian. To become a Christian, very simply, is this: From now on, everything is for Christ. Every thought, every motive, every desire, every action, everything we do is to be done for Christ. Thus, our autobiography could well be called “Christ, My Life.”

Jesus Christ, You are my life. Give me strength for today to be single-minded, to keep in mind that I am not my own. I belong to You. Let all I do and say and think today be pleasing to You…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE CAN LIVE FOR CHRIST.

“…reaching forward to those things which are ahead…”

— Philippians 3:13

In Philippians 3, Paul uses athletic imagery to describe his race for Christ. “Reaching forward” is a figure of a runner whose hand is stretched out way in front of his body. He is telling us that we need that eager aspiration, that enthusiasm that comes with God within us, causing us to reach out after greater things. Our soul needs to be ten or twenty paces in front of our body.

We need that eagerness of heart. Too often we go through our jobs, we go through our devotions, we go through our worship, we go through our service for Christ with a perfunctory attitude. There is no eagerness that drives us. We need to have that eagerness of spirit.

Paul adds, “I press toward the goal to the prize” (v. 14). In addition to eagerness of spirit, there needs to be great exertion expended to reach the mark. The words “press toward the goal” here mean to pursue, to virtually persecute, and to go after something in an intense way.

We who are saved, know that eternal life is not the result of our pursuing, of our running a race, but it is a free gift because of Christ’s death on our behalf. We have then set before us a vision of the prize of the high calling of Christ where we can live our lives for His glory until that day when the King shall call us up on high and crown us with an imperishable crown. Keep your eye on the prize as you run the race.

Lord, give me strength for today to run the race. I am often weak and stumbling along. Give me the grace to keep my eyes on heavenly things. Thank You that You will lead me safely home one day…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE WILL FINISH THE RACE.