by John Carpenter | Apr 20, 2017 | Devotional
“Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things – and to enter into His glory?” [Lk.24:25-26]
“…we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God.” [Acts 14:22]
“For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us – leaving us an example – that ye should follow His steps.” [1Pe.2:21]
Living in this fallen, sinful and cursed world can often be an experience that is a living enigma to the truly regenerated child of God. The above three texts manifest to us what our Lord, alone, can teach us about being a Christian and having to endure our pilgrimage through this world of affliction and trial. What He continually teaches us is that life in this world is, indeed – each and every step of the way — a journey of sovereign, super-abounding grace. As the old Fanny Crosby hymn says: “All the way my Savior leads me – cheers each winding path I tread. Gives me grace for every trial — feeds me with the Living Bread.”
Indeed, having to suffer tribulation and trials are a part of the very fabric of our calling! The Holy Spirit of Christ leads all His saved ones through the tribulation and trials of this age. He does not avoid them. He grants us the grace of His presence and strength to be able to get through it – not around it! Be encouraged, dear ones, there is an eternal and definite purpose in God’s leading us through the things that we suffer. Take for example what the apostle Paul was inspired to relate to us from 2Co.12 7-9> “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations – there was given to me a thorn in the flesh – the messenger of Satan to buffet me; lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me: My grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness! Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Likewise is it truly the same in our earthly experiences.
The marvelous wonder of it all is that the suffering that the incarnated Christ came into our world and endured for us – as our sovereign Savior/substitute – He purposely did so unlike us – totally and completely without sin (all on our behalf)! He lived the perfectly holy life that we, because of our sinful nature and condition, could not even come close to being able to live. He lived perfectly holy in this fallen world in order to make all His redeemed ones as eternally perfectly holy as He is because we were loved, chosen and placed in Him before the foundation of this world! Yes, Praise the Lord, He eternally accomplished for us – and eternally applied to us – our eternal redemption and justification before holy God – and our eternal reconciliation with holy God. This is that which constitutes the grand news of the pure truth of the gospel of glory, only, of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, when we follow in His steps and we go through the afflictions of this age – we are not suffering for our sins. No – our Lord and Savior has already done that! All that is demanded and included as far as our sins are concerned – “Jesus paid it all! All to Him we owe!” When we go through affliction and suffering in this world – it is not punishment. It is for our chastening and disciplining and spiritual development. We are being developed by the Holy Spirit’s divine wisdom, direction and instruction. He, through the trials and troubles of this sinful, fallen world is continually making us more able and effective servants for His use. Hence, like Paul we too will come to glory in our earthly sufferings that the power of Christ may rest upon us.
by John Carpenter | Mar 7, 2017 | Devotional
“In whom also we obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” “For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” [Eph.1:11; Heb.10:10,14]
According to the Word of God, each person of the Trinity is directly involved in eternally assuring the success of the true believing sinner’s sanctification. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit each have their own personal and unique involvement in the sanctification of all the eternally loved, chosen, placed in Christ and blessed: In short, all the saved.
First, they have been sanctified (or set apart) by the eternal purpose and will of God the Father. The Word of God says from Is.14:24: “The Lord of hosts hath sworn saying, Surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.” Hence, everything about the saved sinner is divinely determined and even predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the Triune Counsel of His own will.
Second, the saved one has been sanctified (or set apart) by the eternal Son of God. It is He that was covenanted from eternity to enter by incarnation into our fallen world where we were lost – in order to become the eternal Lamb of God and give His own life and to shed His own blood — to save us. Therefore, the Word of God describes that we are sanctified in the willingness of the eternal Son of God through the offering that He made of His body as being the Lord Jesus Christ, the only sovereign/Savior substitute that there ever was, is or ever will be. All this was accomplished: “according to the eternal purpose which He (God the Father) purposed in Christ Jesus (His beloved Son) our Lord.” [Eph.3:11]
Third, all the saved have been sanctified (or set apart) by the Holy Spirit of God. He it is that reveals to our hearts and minds the secret purposes of God’s great grace. He it is that also applies the eternally accomplished atonement of Christ very powerfully to our souls, and even to our conscience. He it is that seals to us the intimate and personal and eternal relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ as being our Lord and Savior – our substitute – that, in turn, regenerates us. He it is that continues to progressively unfold the riches of God’s Word to us. He it is that satisfies our hunger and thirst after righteousness – renewing our minds – and centering all our thinking and longing on Christ our Savior.
The Holy Spirit’s entrance into the equation of the saved sinner’s life and being brings forth the quickening — that, in essence, brings forth the life and walk of the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. It is His dwelling in us that causes us to fill the Biblical description of 2Thess.2:13: “…brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”
Therefore, all three persons of the Godhead – the Great Triumvirate – have fulfilled the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ (the incarnated eternal Son of God) when He prayed in the garden the night before He went to the cross: “Sanctify them (lit.) in thy truth – thy Word is truth.” The very tense of the word, sanctify, in Christ’s statement to the Father suggests an already completed action by God upon all those for whom He prays. Praise His Wonderful Name!
For Christ’s Glory Only!
– John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Feb 16, 2017 | Devotional
“I will direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” “Lead me in thy truth and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” “For this is good and acceptable unto God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and come unto a knowledge of the truth.” [Is.61:8; Ps.25:5; 1Ti.2:3-4]
Our Lord and Savior, who is the incarnated eternal Son of God, proclaimed of Himself that He is, “the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that “no man can come unto the Father, but through Him”. When the Spirit of Christ, Himself, speaks this truth to your heart, then, and only then, do you know without a doubt that it is indeed the truth! This marks our beginning in true Christianity. From this point forward – do we then realize in our lives what the above texts are descriptively declaring.
God first reveals us to ourselves and allows us to see the awful plight we are in as being the sinners that we truly are. We come to the end of ourselves in that bright all penetrating light. We see that we have no hope in ourselves to be able to save ourselves. We come to desperately see that we need another! This is the grace of repentance that the Spirit of God bestowes upon us. Then the Spirit of the Father reveals to our hearts the wonderful person and work of His beloved eternal Son. And, through His Spirit — and through His Word – He teaches us that He, and He alone, is our Savior. We wholeheartedly put all our trust in Him for our eternal salvation. This is the grace of faith that the Spirit of God works in us and through us. Praise His Name! We see by His Spirit of grace that we need another, and we see, by His grace that there is no other – but our sovereign Savior, Jesus Christ! He, indeed, is the only Way – He, indeed, is the only Truth – and He, indeed, is the only Way to the eternal Life that He, alone, is. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”– all glory to Him! The only Way to eternal Life is through the Truth concerning Him as being the only sovereign Savior substitute that there ever was, is, or ever will be!
The “Everlasting Covenant” that is mentioned in the Is.61 text above is the covenant that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit cut among themselves in eternity. This is what is commonly called, “The Covenant of Grace”; and this is what’s known as “The New Covenant.” It is in the fulfillment of this covenant when God the Father divinely purposed and decreed to send God the Son to become incarnated into the likeness of our sinful flesh and be our Savior and Messiah. It is in the fulfillment of this covenant that the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to quicken us by a revelation of the reality of our having been placed in Christ from eternity. He then seals us to Christ and directs and leads through this fallen world and on into heaven – the eternal abiding place of the full effulgence of His glory!
This same covenant is also mentioned in Ps.25:10,14: “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.” “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him – and He will show them His covenant.” It is revealing texts like these that form the context for that which 2Tim.2:19 descriptively declares when it says that: “…the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal: The Lord knoweth them that are His! And, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ – depart from iniquity!” All three persons of the eternal Godhead are here mentioned. This comes forward as a profound credal statement of saving truth.
It is from this Truth (which is Christ, Himself) that we are taught and directed; by which we are led and guided; in which we are rooted and established. We grow in God’s grace given knowledge and understanding – according to His good pleasure – unto the glory, only, of Christ Jesus.
-For Christ’s Glory Only!
John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Jan 19, 2017 | Devotional
“Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” [Lk.18:1]
“Pray without ceasing.” “Brethren, pray for us.” [1Th.5:17,25]
“Continue in prayer; watch in the same with thanksgiving; (3) withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ… (4) that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.” [Col.4:2-4]
The Word of God contains many texts that contain descriptive phrases of the general way that things should be for any and every true Christian existing or living in this fallen and cursed world. The three texts above are examples of this.
The first of which comes to us directly from the lips of the person and being of the incarnated eternal Son of God, Himself. He issued this specifically to His disciples. The general plural term for man is not used. Therefore, He is really saying this unto any one of His true disciples that it behooves them to always be making the noun “prayer” into an active verb — and not to become weary of doing this in the troubled environment of this fallen and cursed world!
The second text comes to us from the Holy Spirit inspired pen of the apostle Paul. This phrase is included among a whole list of descriptive mandates and exhortations for true believers to follow in their daily walk by faith through this sinful world. And, it is important to also note that both of these texts are urging for prayer to be practiced in a broader way than when we worship in private. This text is not suggesting that we drop to our knees and pray at all times, but that when we walk in the Spirit, He will make us mindful of our sovereign Lord even when we find ourselves in the immediate presence of worldly trails and circumstances that we face in this world every day. We have a blood paved path via the eternally accomplished atonement of our Savior, Christ Jesus, that has consecrated for us access at any time into the very throne room of Almighty God! Praise and glory unto our Savior!
The third text is a more pointed and focused exhortation for us to ever be mindful that we need to be engaged in prayerfully seeking from our sovereign, all governing Savior and Lord that He ever be faithful to lead us into viable opportunities to proclaim the pure gospel unto this lost and perishing world all around us. This is the kind of praying that we here at Camp Del-Haven continually covet from all of you. This kind of praying — we hope and pray takes place when you gather together in church, or in groups of yourselves for genuine Christian fellowship. This is true even though in this Colossians context it is encouraged by the Holy Spirit inspired apostle (in regards to his particular ministry) to be performed, as he says, “withal”, or, “at the same time” that he commands them to earnestly persevere in the holy habit of prayer. The apostle, by the Holy Spirit, is seeking prayerful support for his continued perseverance in presenting the gospel of the glory, only, of Christ. And, this is what we desire from all of you — more than anything else.
For Christ’s Glory Only
-John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Dec 12, 2016 | Devotional
“For unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end — upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom – to order it , and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” [Is.9:6-7]
This prophetic utterance was granted to Isaiah by the Holy Spirit around 741 years before the actual birth of the incarnated eternal Son of God into the historical timeline of fallen humanity. It truly is an amazing and an inspiring thing to contemplate the actual context of what this portion of God’s Word tells us, especially considering when it was written. It is obvious that Is.9:6-7 points to a substantiation of what God, Himself, announced in the hearing of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when He also foretold unto that wicked serpent, the Devil: “…and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed – He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” [Ge.3:15] It is the promised seed of the woman that is to be the fulfillment of God’s Word of eternal victory and deliverance over sin — to which Is.9:6 refers.
The apostle Paul refers to this same eternally victorious seed when he is led of the Holy Spirit to speak of God’s promise unto Abraham in Gal.3:16: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, ‘And to seeds’, as unto many, but as unto One, ‘And to thy seed’ – which is Christ!” Once again, it is unto God’s sure and certain fulfillment of His holy Word to which this refers. The connection between Ga.3:16 with Gen.3:15, is obvious, the seed being referred to is ultimately the God/man, Christ. He is the promised seed even where Abraham was concerned when in his lifetime there occurred the miraculous birth of Isaac through his aged wife, Sarah. Hence, it is also written: “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” [Ga.3:9,29] From here we come to Gal.4:4 and the wonderful declaration of God’s sovereignty: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son – made of a woman – made under the law…” Praise the Lord! This is what we sinners-saved-by-God’s-grace really celebrate! “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written: Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” And then it also states: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law – being made a curse for us…” [Ga.3:10,12] Praise and glory unto the fufillment of the eternal purpose of the birth of our blessed Savior!
It is no wonder that John the apostle starts his gospel account by declaring: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (2) The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made!”[Jn1:1-3] Then from vs.14 we are told: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father – full of grace and truth.”
Beloved, the “Living Word of God” was the seed that our heavenly Father promised would come and prove that sin and death and that old serpent, the Devil, has been defeated through Him — who is, has been, and always will be – our eternal sovereign Savior/substitute! We have been chosen and placed and blessed with all spiritual blessings in Him – from eternity – in eternity – and for eternity! Hallelujah and Amen!
For Christ’s Glory Only!
-John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Nov 18, 2016 | Devotional
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Rom.6;6
This text begins by saying, “Knowing this”. Which obviously refers to that which has just been laid down by the apostle immediately before it. Ch. 6 begins with two questions: “What shall we say then? “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” To which is immediately replied, “God forbid!” The reason given is because we who have been immersed in Christ — have also died with Him when He died paying the penalty for our sins — and since we died with Him who died for our sins, then how is it that we should live any longer in this world enslaved to them? This leads right up to the wonderful message of Ro.6:4 which concludes by saying: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
What a wonderful Savior the eternal Son of God incarnated into being the Lord Jesus Christ truly is! He is, indeed, our propitiation — the one who has satisfied all the holy requirements in obtaining eternal remission and redemption from all of our sins. Praise the Savior! He is our sovereign Savior/substitute — our eternal Surety! Where sin’s losing its reign over us is concerned, Ro.6:6 comes directly into play when it declares: “Knowing this”. When by grace the Holy Spirit reveals this truth regarding the eternal person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it having been eternally accomplished for each of us personally, intimately and completely — then we understand what it means that we are eternally secure in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.
All the remaining aspects about us still being sinners in this sinful world suddenly take a back seat to the glorious fact that although sin still remains as an immediate and dreadful part of our animated being — it does not reign over us as it once did before we came to the wonderful gospel truth concerning the eternal Savior Son of God (who is, indeed, our own personal Savior). The text says: “…our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed [or, lit., rendered inoperable] that (we who have been immersed in Christ; in His death for us; in His being buried for us; and in His being raised from the dead on our behalf) henceforth we should not serve sin.”
How totally marvelous that no longer will we religiously serve as a bond-slave our sins! No, rather, we become bond-slaves of Him who has bought and paid for us with His own holy body and blood. He is our strength; our peace with God; our hope for eternal life. He is our all and all; we follow Him; we totally trust in Him. To grow in this grace is to grow in the ever increasing knowledge of this truth.
For Christ’s Glory Only!
-John Carpenter
