by John Carpenter | Aug 19, 2015 | Devotional
“Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power: that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 2Th.1: 11-12
There is a copulative and cumulative connection that this text has with 2Th.1:7-10 that is right before it. It is a connection of great forcefulness in that there is described the truth and certainty of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ that is going to take place in judgment in eternity against all who do not truly know God, nor have genuinely obeyed the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ.
In reaching the point of the realization of this truth, which the apostle declares from vs.11-12, he is then motivated by the Holy Spirit into being busy in always praying for all those who have become the good recipients of his ministry. And, in this light there are five specifics that are given for which he and his companions do pray will be accomplished by God on their behalf:
1. That God “would count them worthy” — or, deem them entitled to, His effectual calling.
2. And next, that God would, in turn, then “fulfill in them all the good pleasure of His goodness” viz. His virtue and beneficence toward them.
3. And, even more so, that He would fulfill in them His divine “work of faith with power”!
4. To the end that the “Name” — that is, the very authority and character — of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in them —
5. And, they in Him.
All of these grand things are accomplished in accordance with the bestowal, by
God, of His grace upon us. This text plainly demonstrates how the blessing of God’s grace is indeed an edifying work that culminates in our bringing glory to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is indeed noteworthy that, according to Ro.8:28-29, we – who are His true children — are predestined to be conformed to His image.
But even more than this, this text tells us that we, being His eternally saved ones, are also the very substance of the glory of God in Him! Dear ones, this is, indeed, a very incredible thing! It’s easy to see how that He — as our Savior — is also obviously our glory, but the fact that we become His glory emphasizes the exceeding riches of His mercy and grace. These are the things that comprise the ministry of the gospel.
For Christ’s Glory Only!
-John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Jul 10, 2015 | Devotional
“Therefore, if any man be in Christ — he is a new creature — old things pass away; behold — all things become new.” “Create in me a clean heart, O, God, and renew a right spirit within me.” “A new heart also will I give you — and a new Spirit will I put within you…And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.” “For it is God that worketh in you — both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
[2Co.5:17;Ps.51:10;Ez.36:25-27;Phil.2:13]
These descriptive texts tell of the work of God’s great grace in the personal life and experience of each of His eternally loved and chosen and placed in Christ saved ones — from before the foundation of the world — according to the everlasting gospel of the Everlasting Covenant. [Jer.31:3; 2Ti.2:19; Eph.1:3-4; Rev.14:6; He.13:20-21]
That it is the heart and spirit of the sinner that is totally transformed by being born from above by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God is obvious by virtue of all the scriptural references cited above that specifically mention them. Besides — it is the heart that is Biblically stated to be the most deceitful thing about any fallen sinner. Jer.17:9 plainly syas this about the heart of any fallen sinner: “The heart is deceitful — above all things — and desperately wicked — Who can know it?”
And just who is a fallen sinner? The Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, answers this question from Jn.8:34> “Verily, verily, I say unto you — Whosoever committeth sin is the servant (lit., the bond-slave) of sin.” If we’ve ever sinned, then we’re its slaves.
The only hope of any sinner being made free from sin and all of its consequences is through their receiving the grace of repentance and the grace of faith in accordance with the pure gospel truth of the God’s Word — and the genuine regeneration of the Holy Spirit of Christ! “Of His own will — begat He us with the Word of truth!” [Jas.1:18] The Lord Jesus also rightly said: “…If ye continue in my Word — then are ye my disciples indeed — and ye shall know the truth — and the truth shall make you free.” “If the Son, therefore, make you free — ye shall be free, indeed!” [Jn.8:31-32,36]
A new heart along with the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is the only remedy for the fallen sinner’s natural innate obstinate obdurateness to spiritual things. And, this can only be provided by our saving Lord! He must seek us out and save us — or else we be lost! If we believe that anything is left up to us in Christ’s eternal purpose and plan for the salvation of our souls — we come dangerously close to what the Word describes of our being “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin”. May God have mercy and deliver us from this! But, that’s just it! This is the wonderful truth about the eternally saving person and work of Christ Jesus the Lord…He, Himself, declared from Lk.19:10 “For the Son of man is come — to seek and to save that which was lost.” Praise His loving and gracious Name — along with His great and mighty power — to save us forevermore!
For Christ’s Glory Only!
-John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Jun 5, 2015 | Devotional
The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble — the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; (2) send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; (3) remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice — Selah. (4) Grant thee according to thine own heart — and fulfill all thy counsel.” Ps.20:1-4
When this wonderful Psalm of David says: “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble” it pertains — first of all, to our Lord Jesus Christ — and then unto all of us whom God has placed in Him before the foundation of the world. The word so translated as “hear” — literally means: “answer”. So, the phrase actually says: “The Lord answer thee — in the day of trouble”. This denotes petitionary prayer being made — “in the day of trouble”. Our sovereign Savior substitute was often vanishing from the crowds to get away to a place of private prayer with His heavenly Father. Even so, we who have been eternally loved and chosen by God — and place in His dear Son — will do the same thing.
The “day” of trouble for Christ was every day that He spent in His special time of divine incarnation in this world — our fallen world — on our behalf. So, if ever there is a time for us to be on our knees in prayer for wisdom; for guidance; for provision; for protection and preservation — it is now.
Our Lord prayed — just to simply spend time in the presence of His Father. Even so do all of God’s true children whom He has set apart from this evil world to be eternally saved. Our Savior’s prayers were not for His own deliverance, but for ours! He was sent by the Father to act as our Surety and Substitute. To seek and to save all of God’s lost children…every one. His petitions were always concerning us!
And, what does the Word of God command of us? What does the Law of the Lord command all of His true children? Why, it commands of us that we should love one another — bear one another’s burdens — and pray without ceasing for one another. This is the holy practice which makes up the bulk of our days in this world of trouble, trial and affliction. And, as the Father sent help from Zion unto His Son to strengthen Him in the accomplishment of the eternal holy atonement that He was sent to perform — even so, has He sent and supplied us with Christ — who is our help and strength! He is even our all and in all.
It is certain that the Father hears and grants the petitions of His Son — who is the eternal Son of God! And again, the same assurance is given unto us: “And this is the confidence that we have in Him — that if we ask any thing according to His will — He heareth us: (15) and if we know that He hear us — whatsoever we ask — we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” 1Jn.5:14-15 We have been given this eternal assurance by virtue of Christ’s eternally accomplished atonement on our behalf as being “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”– Praise His Name!
For Christ’s Glory Only!
John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Apr 27, 2015 | Devotional
“My beloved spake, and said unto me: Rise up, my love, my fair one — and come away; (11) for, lo, the winter is past — the rain is over and gone — (12) the flowers appear on the earth — the time of the singing of birds is come…(13)…arise my love, my fair one, and come away.” [Song. 2:10-13]
This text is a wonderful reflection of our loving Savior graciously coming unto us and refreshing upon us His divine presence and power. It’s like a brand new morning — of a brand new season — that He is awakening us to realize. His personal coming brings both unto us, and it is grand! It is grand because He, it is, who is “full of grace and truth” [Jn.1:14]. We, who are His loved and chosen from everlasting, are awakened with His eternally gracious and faithful presence.
This, in turn, provides the means to make the moment even more special. When He says: “Rise up, my love — my fair one — and come away”– we cannot help but do it! Just like when He first called unto the disciples to follow Him. Some were busy mending their fishing nets, but when He called them, it says, immediately, they left their nets and followed Him. Whatever preoccupied their time — whether family, or personal work — it all instantly lost its appeal to their obeying the loving command of Christ to follow Him! [Mt.4:18-22]
Even so, from this text found in Solomon’s Song we cannot expect it to be any different. Irresistible grace is absolutely at work here — just like when our Savior issued various commands during His holy walk among mankind during His time of incarnation. The Bible says from 1Co.15:10 “But by the grace of God, I am what I am
— and His grace toward me was not in vain — but I labored more abundantly than they all — yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Praise the Savior!
The Word of God communicates the truth of the story of redemption so much through Old Testament types and shadows — and here in Solomon’s Song we have, as it were, our Lord coming to each of us individually — who make up being His Bride — and awakening us. Jesus said that He will raise us up at the last day [Jn.6:39-40,44]. Here, in this text, we have a glimpse of how He lovingly and gently does this. He comes to us and says, “Rise up, my love (Or lit. My companion) my fair one (Or, one whom I have made beautiful with my righteousness) and come away!” Just like the disciples were irresistibly summoned to come and follow Christ. even so, we, at that glorious moment will be summoned to come away with Him — right into heaven!
Truly, then we will adoringly and joyfully say: “O how marvelous, O how wonderful — and my song shall ever be! O how marvelous, O how wonderful, is my Savior’s love for me!” We shall be irresistibly summoned to rise up from the death of this dark, cursed world’s Winter time of night — to go away with our Savior into the light of the eternal life of Heaven’s eternal Spring day!
For Christ’s Glory Only!
John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Mar 9, 2015 | Devotional
“One thing have I desired of the Lord — that will I seek after! That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life: to behold the beauty of the Lord — and to inquire in His temple.” [Ps.27:4]
This text is an incredibly explicit description of every truly regenerated and converted child of God. The first line of verse one of this great Psalm declares: “The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear?” When it says that the Lord is his “Light” — it points to His being the light of the truth concerning Himself unto him — personally. The Spirit of the Lord — Jesus tells us from Jn.16:13-14 — is the revealer of the truth concerning Christ unto us. He uses the Word of God as the main instrument in accomplishing this revelation. That’s why Ps.119:105 tells us that the Word becomes a lamp unto our feet — and a light unto the path of each and every one of His eternally loved and chosen ones. And, when it says that the Lord is his “Salvation”– it means that the Lord is becomes to him — his personal Savior. Obviously, if this be true — then there is no need to fear.
A large part of the Lord’s being the “Light and Salvation” of the true believing sinner is in the evidence that the regenerated sinner becomes a “seeker” after God as he passes through this world. This is a wonderful and remarkable transition. For the Word of God describes of every fallen and unregenerate sinner — that in their lost estate — without exception — “there is none that seeketh after God” [Ro.3:11]. The saved sinner has become something that he absolutely was not! He has become a seeker after God — and the things of God. God — through His incarnated eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ — has sought out from among the population of the masses of fallen and lost sinners — the sinner that He has eternally loved and chosen to be one of His eternally saved ones — and found him — and transformed him into being His loving, seeking dear child. It is a marvelous truth of God’s great grace! Hence, does verse four describe the desire of the sinner saved by grace. Ps.37:4 aptly states: “Delight thyself in the Lord — and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Ps.27:4 declares one such desire that the quickened seeking sinner seeks. And that is that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life in this fallen world. The word so used for “desire” in this verse connotes “asking”. So this becomes the substance of his continual cries unto the Lord.
The verse eight divulges the reality of the source of the searching of the true believing sinners heart and life throughout the days of his life in this world. The Word says: “When thou saidst, ‘Seek my face!’ My heart said unto thee, ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek’.” Praise His gracious Name! And, we are assured of receiving this that we desire from God — for the scripture goes on to bear testimony from verses 13-14: “I had fainted — unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord! Be of good courage, and He will strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.”
For Christ’s Glory Only!
John Carpenter
by John Carpenter | Feb 17, 2015 | Devotional
“Oh how great is thy goodness — which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! (20) Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion — from the strife of tongues.” [Ps.31:19-20]
That which is being communicated here — from this portion of Ps.31 — concerns an attribute of God — His abundant Goodness. God’s Goodness has been, and is being reserved for — and completely worked out — in all of God’s eternally saved ones. This text is describing, in particular, the Goodness that the Lord is for all those that fear Him and that trust in Him — as they live and walk with Him — before this fallen world. They — their very lives — are living testimonies of God’s great Goodness.
According to Ga.5:22, God’s Goodness is a part of the holy fruit of God the Holy Spirit who quickens us and dwells in us and guides us through this world. Rom.2:4 declares that it is “the Goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance”. True repentance is, itself, a distinguishing grace that our Lord bestows upon His loved and chosen unto eternal salvation. It is as essential to our regeneration and conversion as is the grace of faith. With faith — “of the operation of God” [Col.2:12] — we lovingly embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as our righteousness — our hope — our peace — and our everlasting Savior unto eternal life. Whereas, with repentance — as having been graciously “granted” unto us by God [Ac.11:18] — we are made aware that we are sinners before holy and almighty God, and we are turned from our sin unto Him [Ac.20:21]. All of this is performed — not according to any Goodness in us [Ro.3:12] but completely and solely by the holy Goodness of God!
This is why the Psalmist says: “Remember not the sins of my youth — nor my transgressions — according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy Goodness sake, O Lord.” [25:7] And: “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest — and causest to approach unto thee — that he may dwell in thy courts! We shall be satisfied with the Goodness of thy house — even of thy holy temple.” [65:4] And again: “My Goodness, and my fortress; my high tower and my deliverer; my shield, and He in whom I trust…” [144:2]
Isaiah prophesied concerning all the true children of God: “I will mention the loving-kindness of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us — and the great Goodness toward the house of Israel — which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies and according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses!” [Is.63:7]
Even so, we should be in constant prayer for one another according to the example of the apostle Paul as written in 2Th.1:11: “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His Goodness and the work of faith with power.” Amen
For Christ’s Glory Only!
-John Carpenter
“Oh that men would praise the Lord for His Goodness
and His wonderful works to the children of men!” Ps.107
