The Biggest Snitch in the Universe

It looks like the devil is the biggest snitch in the universe. According to a verse from Revelation, he accuses us before God and probably takes great delight in doing so. He knows every temptation that we have surrendered to, and every sin we have committed. He just loves it when we give in and he glories in telling God how wicked, sinful, and unfaithful we are. As I say, the devil is the biggest informer in all of creation. He knows he is going down to the abyss and so he just wants to take as many unfortunate sinners with him as he possibly can.

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Bible verse of the Day

Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

Jesus, however, in stark contrast to the devil, is the Supreme Advocate for His followers. He also knows all of our guilty secrets and shameful mistakes. He knows every wrong word we have spoken or deceitful deeds we have taken. He just loves it when He can stand before God and intercede on our behalf. He glories in telling God that we are one of His, no matter how wicked, sinful, and unfaithful we may have been. He is the greatest Advocate and Savior that the world can ever experience. He knows that He is going to enjoy God’s love and Kingdom forevermore, and so He just wants to take as many sinners with Him as He possibly can.

You see the difference? Well, for it to make a difference in our lives, we need to trust Jesus. We need to place our hearts and hopes, our lives and love, our future and faith into Christ’s Hands. We can’t justify our mistakes and sins before God. We don’t have that power or authority. But Christ does and He will use it effectively to restore us to God’s pleasure and to receive us into God’s Kingdom.

It’s His call to make and our choice to take – which one will we choose?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You know us completely and yet You never let us go. You took up a cross and gave Your Life so that You could take away our sins and grant us eternity. Thank You for being our Advocate and Savior, our Lord and King. Help us to go out into the world today to encourage others to make that same commitment of faith and receive these blessings from You. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Going to Hell the easy way: Playing Games with our Faith

It’s not what we want to hear – that the Lord blesses and curses. We just want the good parts of the Bible to apply to us and reject the rest. Our generation of Christians is pampered compared to previous ones. We want things the easy way; we want our faith to be unfettered by commandments, demands, and curses from the Lord. We want God to accept us and never want Him to change us, before we will accept Him. We want to make God into our personal assistant, dumping our burdens on Him, and fully expecting Him to bail us out. Instead of revering the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, we want the genie from Aladdin’s lamp. In other words, we want to be in control of every part of our lives.

It doesn’t work that way and never has. We fool ourselves everyday if we think that God doesn’t judge our deeds. And if we turn off just because we read in the Bible something we don’t want to see, or hear from the preacher words we don’t want to accept, then we’ve become the biggest fools in all the centuries of Christendom.

I see people playing with their faith instead of practicing it. I watch folks indulge themselves at this time of year, instead of giving thanks and being grateful to God. I look at our depraved society and it sickens my heart, not because I’m better than anyone else, but because I’m part of the disease itself.

I want to tell people about Jesus and how stern He could be at times, but people don’t want to hear it. I want to preach a Gospel that demands an unconditional surrender to God, but people don’t want to do that. I want to shake up the whole of our civilization and shout out: “Don’t you realize we’re all going to Hell in a hand barrow?” but nobody wants to listen to that kind of Holy Roller talk anymore. We just want to be happy and have a good time. We just want to say to God on Judgment Day, what happens on Earth, stays on Earth.

I won’t play this game anymore because I love the people around me. I won’t dance with the devil any longer in order to keep the peace. I’ll do what the Lord calls me to do – to prepare people for His Coming and to help them get ready for judgment. To do anything less is to disobey God. To do anything other is to come under His curse.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we don’t want to think about judgment or accept Your non-compromising Gospel. We want to be happy, not harassed by You. We want to feel good, not to face God. We want to get to heaven, but none of us wants to die to our sins. O Lord, help us and save us; rebuke us and restore us. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Holy Spirit

Audio Version here

John 16:8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:

Some people think that the work of the Holy Spirit is just to infuse everyone with dynamic energy so that worship services, ministries and missions can be made more effective, positive and amazing. Far too often, we have this idea that the Holy Spirit is the fizz in our spiritual lives that makes us feel better as Christians. But from this passage today, Jesus reveals to us that the prime purposes of the Holy Spirit are to convict us of our sin and disbelief; to show us what righteousness is; and to judge the world for its failures to accept Christ.

If we think about it deeply, we begin to realize that this is what Easter expresses to us. On Maundy Thursday, the night in which Jesus was betrayed, we all feel guilty because we recognize that any one of us could have been Judas. We say that we love and worship Jesus, but how many times each day do we cast aside His counsel and throw away His words?

On Good Friday, we are shown what righteousness is when we see Christ crucified on the Cross. We see our Savior dying for the world and we realize that it’s only His goodness that prevents God from destroying the world again.

And then on Easter morning, we experience the almighty power of God and Christ’s authority over the world, flesh, and the devil. They tried to keep Christ dead forever, but His righteousness prevailed so that this world and its Satanic prince are judged for all of eternity.

And how do we know that these things are true? Through the work of the Holy Spirit, because He takes away the veil that covers our hearts and minds. He opens the doors of understanding; He brings us to that sacred moment of recognition, revelation, and realization because He confronts, convicts and afflicts us with these eternal truths.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, You are more than we can understand and wilder than anything we can control. You enter our hearts and minds, penetrating our thoughts and ideas. We are afraid of You because of the truths about ourselves that You reveal. Come into our lives and help us to accept Your holiness, knowing that it will challenge and change all of us. In Christ’s Sacred Name, we pray. Amen.