“Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from me.”

— Luke 22:42

When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal, He realized how horrible was the cup that He was about to drink from—the cup of God’s wrath. This is why He prayed that the cup be passed from Him, if possible. It was not possible, so He submitted to drink it.

Earlier that night, Jesus had said, “For the ruler of this world [Satan] is coming. He has no power over Me” (John 14:30). Satan only has a claim upon those who are guilty of sin and are under the curse. But Christ was the Sinless One, and so Satan had nothing in Him and could not hurt Him at all.

Nevertheless, when Jesus hung upon the Cross, He became the very quintessence of sin. He was the most delectable morsel for that lion that goes about roaring, seeking whom he may devour. Therefore, the very demons of hell, with cackling sound, leaped upon Him and tore at His soul as He endured demonic rage.

Jesus saw all of that in the cup, and His soul recoiled against it. This was one of the last temptations of Christ, and our Savior met it magnificently. “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Question to ponder:
What you think of the Cup of God’s Wrath? How do you picture it?

… for just as you have yielded your members as slaves to impurity and iniquity leading to more iniquity, even so now yield your members as slaves of righteousness to holiness.

— Romans 6:19

How important is holiness? In Hebrews 12:14, we are told to seek after holiness “without which no one will see the Lord.” That is pretty straightforward. You can’t miss it. He declares unequivocally that we are to pursue after holiness, “without which no one will see the Lord.” No man who is not holy is going to live in Heaven with an all-holy God.

It is ironic that the closer we get to the light, the more clearly we see our sins. Imagine a filthy man. He has been wallowing around in the dirt and the slime. He is also blind. Imagine, at the same time, two things slowly happening: he is very gradually, over a period of days, gaining his sight and he is very slowly being cleansed. Those are the objective facts, but what does he perceive? When he was blind, he didn’t see the dirt at all, but now that he is beginning to see, the more he becomes aware of his dirt, the more vile he becomes in his own eyes.

You will never be truly happy if you are not holy, because holiness leads to wholeness—wholeness of mind, spirit, heart, and body. And, of course, it is the Holy Spirit who works this wonder in our lives.

Question to ponder:
How important is holiness to you in your life?

“… be holy, for I am the Lord your God.”

— Leviticus 20:7

Have you ever noticed how many people claim to “believe in God,” but on closer inspection, the “god” they believe in is merely one made up in the factory of the human mind? And rarely, it seems, does that god have any standards of holiness. I recall once sharing the Gospel with a woman, and when I began talking about God’s judgment, she stopped me and said, “Oh, no. My God would never do a thing like that.” I said, “Madam, you are absolutely correct. Your god would never bring anyone into judgment. The fact of the matter is, your god would never do anything at all. He doesn’t exist anywhere other than in the fantasies of your own mind. However, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of the Scriptures, has declared explicitly what He will do; He will judge every evil thought and way.” I’m afraid that many today are guilty of the same idolatry, diminishing or eliminating God’s holiness, and that leads to an “anything goes” attitude.

As people have created their own images of God, our society has endured a moral decline. Pollster George M. Gallup, Jr. says the United States faces “a moral and ethical crisis of the first dimension” and needs to find spiritual answers to deal with the situation. Our educators and courts have forgotten George Washington’s warning in his farewell address— that we should not be so naive as to suppose that we can maintain morality in the absence of religion. All history and experience forbid us to indulge in such a vain supposition, he said. But we have been just that naive, and now having sown the wind, we reap the whirlwind. Today we indeed face a moral crisis of the first dimension.

Yes, we live in a largely immoral world. But like the white lily blossoming on a dung heap, so God calls us to purity in the midst of an impure world. The Bible tells us that God wants us to be holy, even as the Lord is holy.

“Growing in holiness is like riding a bike.
If you stop pedaling, you fall off.”
Rob Warner

Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He never answered him a word, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

— Matthew 27:13-14

Jesus was silent, we are told. He “opened not His mouth” before His accusers. Scripture states, “… yet he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7).

Why was Christ silent before His accusers? He easily could have defended Himself. They could not prove anything against Him. He, indeed, confessed that He was the Son of God when questioned—and this is what brought about His crucifixion.

There was no deceit; there were no lies in His mouth. He was absolutely without sin. Why didn’t He say something?

The reason, my friends, and you should never forget this, is that He was guilty . He was the guiltiest man the world has ever seen, for all of our guilt was imputed to Him, and He became sin for us, the Bible says. It was your guilt and mine, all of ours that was upon Him. For our guilt, He endured the agony of His crucifixion. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Our guilt was imputed to Him and He became sin for us.

Question to ponder:
What must it have been like for the Creator of the Universe to stand before His creatures as they condemned Him to death?

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

— 1 John 1:7

Millions are lonely today. Yet Jesus experienced a gut-wrenching type of loneliness. Christ Jesus was alone for a time, so that we don’t ever have to be.

For the first time in eternity, when Jesus suffered on the Cross, the fellowship He had with His Father was broken. Thus He did not know the comfort of His Father. For Him the heavens were turned to brass and there was none to help. Abandoned by man, abandoned by His nation, abandoned by His Church, abandoned by His disciples, abandoned by His Father, He was alone. This will be true of all who do not trust in Him. They will someday be alone forever in Hell—which is not a big cocktail party as some wags suppose it to be. It is unmitigated loneliness.

Because of what He underwent, we need never experience loneliness. I think we desperately need to have our attention drawn to true and rich Christian fellowship, as seen, for example, in the early Church. That is especially the case in these days when people are becoming increasingly depersonalized; when they are only numbers; when they pass by thousands in the vast cities of our countries and yet seldom enter into any sort of communion. How many there are in the midst of the teeming masses of this land who are suffering the yearnings and heartache of loneliness. We need that sense of community—that fellowship of the saints the New Testament so often speaks of.

Jesus always calls us into fellowship—with Him, and with His church.

Question to ponder:
Are you experiencing good Christian fellowship on a regular basis? If not, whom could you contact to seek it more often?

Beware lest anyone captivate you through philosophy and vain deceit, in the tradition of men and the elementary principles of the world, and not after Christ.

— Colossians 2:8

Jesus is the Eternal Word of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Logos is the Greek word translated “Word.” The Logos, the wisdom of God, or it can aptly be translated “logic” from logos —the logic of God. In the beginning, there was Logic and the Logic was with God and Logic was God and Logic became flesh.

Many people think that Christianity is not ra­tional—not reasonable. However, it is the very essence of reason. Well did the demon Wormwood warn his understudy Screwtape in C.S. Lewis’ fictional work, The Screwtape Letters , not to employ argument to bring his charge safely home to his father below. “The trouble about argument,” Screwtape explained, “is that it moves the whole struggle on to the Enemy’s own ground.” Indeed it does, for Christ is Logic incarnated.

Paul said that through the preaching of the “foolishness of the cross” we are saved. Men may think the message to be foolish. But it is the power of God unto salvation.

Question to ponder:
God who made the mind and the intellect is all-wise. Is there logic and wisdom with the devil?

I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work You have given Me to do.

— John 17:4

In 19^th century England, after years of hard work, a young man rejoiced after having graduated from Oxford University. Well placed from a family that was well positioned, he had the privilege of meeting with the prime minister, William Gladstone, perhaps the greatest and godliest of all England’s prime ministers.

The young man told Gladstone how he intended to attend law school and become a lawyer.

“Very good, young man. And what then?”
“Then, sir, I hope to practice law here in England for a number of years.”
“That’s fine; and what then?”
“Well, sir, I hope then to stand for Parliament. It is my devout wish that I may be elected to Parliament.”
“That’s just fine, young man. What then?”
“Sir, I hope to serve my country to the best of my ability in Parliament.”
“Very good, young man. What then?”
“Well, sir, I suppose one day I will retire.”
“Yes, and what then?”
“Well, I ah, suppose I’ll die.”
“That’s right … and what then?”
The young man seemed completely befuddled and said, “Well, sir, I really hadn’t thought that far into the future.”
Gladstone, fixing him with his eyes, said, “Young man, you are a fool. Go home and think life through.”
I wonder how many relatives that young man has sitting in our midst today­—people who are guilty of the folly of shortsightedness and have never really thought life through.

Question to ponder:
What is your purpose for living? How can you glorify God today?

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

— Philippians 1:21

On this day, many people will sadly get drunk, supposedly to honor the memory of St. Patrick. But in fact they dishonor his memory. This man was a great Christian missionary from England to Ireland. He brought the Gospel to the Emerald Isle and saw virtually the whole country converted under his ministry.

St. Patrick was fearless and bold, and Christ was the source of his strength. He prayed something (“the breastplate of St. Patrick”) that we can all pray:

I bind to myself this day
The Power of His Incarnation,
The Power of His Crucifixion,
The Power of His Resurrection
With His Ascension.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in the hearts of all that love me,
Christ in the mouth of friend and stranger.

Christ is life. Christ is all in all. “For me to live is Christ.” That is the real meaning of St. Patrick’s Day.

Question to ponder:
What does it mean that Christ is all around us?

“… This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” says the LORD.

— Isaiah 54:17

What would an inheritance from God Almighty involve? We are told that it involves all things, whether in this life or the life to come. We have been delivered from death, and we have been given eternal life. In life we have all things. We have been promised by God that He will meet all of our needs in this world, that He will work all things together for our good, and one day He will take us to be with Him in Paradise. There is probably no one who has even the slightest conception of the wonders that God has provided for us—for those who love Him. Truly, it has not “entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for those who love Him” (I Corinthians 2:9).

What must Paradise be like? We know the wonder of this world, the myriad of exciting things that God has given us here. What will it be like there, when there is no more pain, when there is no more sorrow? On earth there are many people who are in pain. There are those who suffer sorrow and heartache over loved ones; there are those who are depressed with problems; there are those who are separated from those whom they love. But then there will be no more separation; there will be no more sickness; there will be no more heartache; there will be no more loss; there will be no more pain; there will be no more death—for the former things will have passed away. That is part of the inheritance God has prepared for those who are His.

Question to ponder:
What do you think of your inheritance?

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

— Romans 5:1

One of my seminary professors said, “Gentle­men, justification and sanctification must always be distinguished, but they can never be separated.” There is no man who is justified, pardoned by God, who is not in the process of being sanctified. If you are not being made holy, you are not justified. You are not saved. You are not a Christian and you are not going to Heaven.

Justification is an act; it happens instantaneously the moment we trust in Christ. It is perfect. It is complete. It is forever. Fifty years later, we are no more justified than we are in the first moment after we trust in Christ. The perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ never changes. It is finished. It is complete. It is done.

Justifi­cation deals with the guilt we have incurred because of our sin. It is a judicial, legal term. It is something a judge does. Sanctification is the work of a physician cleansing us from the corruption in our life.

It has been said that justification by faith alone is the article of a standing or falling church, of a standing or falling nation, of a standing or falling soul. Sanctification is the lifelong process of becoming more like Christ.

Question to ponder:
Can you see God’s work of sanctification in your life? Are you more like Jesus than you were five years ago?