Am I Really A Christian? (Part 3)

Posted on August 6, 2024 by Wayne Davies

I’ve been reading a little booklet entitled, Am I Really A Christian?

The author, Thomas Boston, explains eight common reasons that believers may doubt the genuineness of their conversion.

Here’s DOUBT #6: “Comparison to others”

“My life falls so far short of the standards of the great saints of the Bible and of the excellent Christians that I know personally. When I look at them, I can hardly stand to look at myself in comparison. How can I claim even to be in the same family with such saints?”

Have you ever felt that way?

“Answer: We can see a measure of grace and holiness in this life that we should have, but cannot ever reach. This should humble us. It should also make us press all the more vigorously toward the mark. The devil wants weak Christians to be tortured by comparing themselves to strong Christians (2 Corinthians 10:12). To give in to this temptation would be like a child doubting his relationship to his father because he is not the same height as his older brother. It is irrational! There are saints of various sizes in Christ’s family. Some are fathers; some are young men; and some are little children. (1 John 2:13-14).”

The two passages mentioned in Boston’s comments shed much light on this topic.
Paul wrote about the foolishness of comparing ourselves to others:

“Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.”
2 Corinthians 10:12

And John provides a helpful picture of the various levels of spiritual maturity among believers:

“I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.”
1 John 2:13

A word
to the wise
from the Word
is sufficient.

I thank God for his straightforward advice on the foolishness of comparing myself to others.

To get a free copy of  Am I Really A Christian: Eight Doubts Answered, visit:
https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/aira/am-i-really-a-christian-bostonthomas

NOTE: This booklet contains selected sections from Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, by Thomas Boston, modernized for easier understanding by today’s reader. Jeffrey T. Riddle, pastor of Christ Reformed Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, provided the abstraction and modernization. Copyright 2015 Chapel Library. www.ChapelLibrary.org

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Be Not Deceived: Knowing about God and Knowing God Are Worlds Apart

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Wayne Davies

KnowingGodPacker

I’ve been reading Knowing God, by J.I. Packer – for the third time. It’s that good.

There is so much truth in the first few chapters, it’s hard to know where to begin.

These statements stand out from chapter two:

“One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of Him.”

 

“Knowledge about God, and the capacity to think clearly and talk well on Christian themes, is not at all the same thing as knowing Him.”

“We may know as much about God as Calvin knew . . . and yet all the time (unlike Calvin, may I say) we may hardly know God at all.”

This simple distinction between knowing about God and knowing God is huge. I can accumulate much knowledge about God and yet never really know God.

Packer paints this incriminating picture:

“We find in ourselves a deep interest in theology. We read books of theological exposition and apologetics. We dip into Christian history, and study the Christian creed. We learn to find our way around in the Scriptures. Others appreciate our interest in these things, and we find ourselves asked to give our opinion in public on this or that Christian question, to lead study groups, to give papers, to write articles, and generally to accept responsibility, informal if not formal, for acting as teachers and arbiters of orthodoxy in our own Christian circles. Our friends tell us how much they value our contribution, and this spurs us to further exploration of God’s truth, so that we may be equal to the demands made upon us.”

I apply this to Bible study, for that is the most common way that I acquire knowledge about God. We can pour ourselves into reading the Word and doing any number of other things to gain a thorough understanding of Scripture. Resources abound: commentaries, Bible study guides, websites, sermons. Are we not blessed to have so much Bible information at our disposal? Has any generation had more knowledge about the Bible at its fingertips?

I can study the Bible on my own. Or I can attend any number of institutions of higher education and earn degrees in theology. I can go online and listen to godly men expound every verse from Genesis to Revelation. And I can do this for years and never know God.

This is scary. And it should be. Packer has cut to the chase right out of the gate by focusing on our motive for Bible study.

Why do I read and study the Bible?

That is the question I am asking myself. What is the purpose of opening The Book and striving to understand it? To know about God, or to know God? This is the difference between life and death, heaven and hell.

My response to this teaching is repentance. I realize that I have often studied the Bible for self-glorifying purposes – namely, to be recognized by peers as one who “knows the Word.”

“Oh God, please forgive me for this prideful motive, and please give me the pure motive of studying the Word in order to know you.”

NOTE: This is the first in a serious of posts on Knowing God by J.I. Packer. To read the other posts in this series, click here.

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Does the Bible Command a Daily Quiet Time?

Posted on July 27, 2024 by Wayne Davies

Here’s a question to ponder:

Do the Scriptures command a daily devotional time of prayer and Bible reading? 

I like how Kevin DeYoung answers this question:

“Not exactly, but they presume something like it.

“On the one hand, we must be honest with what we do and do not see in the Bible. Family worship is not one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus did not outline M’Cheyne’s Bible reading plan in the Sermon on the Mount. The vice lists in the New Testament do not mention “delinquent in devotions,” and “crushes his quiet time every morning” is not listed among the fruit of the Spirit. We must be careful not to make the minutes (or hours) we spend in daily devotions the sine qua non of Christian discipleship. Too many of us have learned to measure our discipleship according to this one criterion, and because we can always spend more time in prayer, we never seem to be measuring up.

“And yet if that’s all we said about ‘having a quiet time’— it’s nowhere commanded in Scripture—we would not be telling the whole story.

“We are often commanded to pray (Matt. 7:7–11; Rom. 12:12; 1 Thess. 5:17). Jesus assumes that God’s people will often be in private prayer (Matt. 6:6) and that the habit of prayer will be daily (Matt. 6:11). We know that Jesus withdrew to desolate places to pray (Mark 1:35) and that godly men like Daniel prayed three times a day (Dan. 6:10).

“Likewise, the Psalms commend to us the habit of meditating on God’s word day and night (Pss. 1; 119). We see in Timothy the example of public and private reading in Scripture (1 Tim. 4:13, 15; 2 Tim. 3:15).

“And, finally, on a number of occasions the Bible exhorts parents, and especially fathers, to instruct their children in the way of the Lord (Gen. 18:19; Deut. 6:5–6; Ps. 78:4; Eph. 6:4). There is no way to be faithful to these scriptural commands and examples if our lives are devoid of prayer, Bible reading, and time with our families in the word.”

He’s got more to say about the topic, so do yourself a favor and check out the rest of his article:

On the Crushing Guilt of Failing at Quiet Time

https://www.crossway.org/articles/on-the-crushing-guilt-of-failing-at-quiet-times

It will take you 10 minutes to read or listen to it. Then let me know your thoughts on this topic by leaving a comment below.

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What the Bible Says about What God Does

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Wayne Davies


I’ve been learning a lot about the faithfulness of God lately. It’s a recurring theme in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.

The psalmists liked to write about it:

1 I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
    with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
    in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
Psalm 89:1-2

God’s faithfulness is his perfect reliability. He always does what he says he will do. He never breaks a promise and therefore is forever worthy of our trust. 

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:23

I love that theology, the study of God, is so relevant and practical!

For example, the faithfulness of God is indispensable in our fight against temptation. 

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13

Here we find a verse filled with promises:

You will never experience a unique temptation because many others have also encountered it. Many.

God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability. Never.

God will provide a way of escape from the temptation. Always. 

God will empower you to resist the temptation by enabling you to handle it. Every time. 

What does Paul say about the character of God, right in the middle of the verse? “God is faithful.” He can be counted on to do what he has promised to do for us when faced with temptation.

Have you experienced the faithfulness of God when tempted? Have you seen him fulfill the promises of 1 Corinthians 10:13? 

If so, why not take time today to thank him for his faithfulness. From your heart and with your mouth, make known his dependability to keep his promises. He’s worthy of our praise!

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“Mommy, How Old Is God?”

Posted on July 9, 2024 by Wayne Davies

One of the best questions a child can ask is, “Who made God?”

Or how about this one:
“Where did God come from?”

Or “How old is God?”

 

These are great questions that a person of any age can ask, don’t you think?

Fortunately, the Bible provides an answer that theologians call the self-existence of God.

The wonder of God’s greatness is beyond the limits of our finite minds. Yet God wants us to know Him to the extent we are able. He desires that we “Be still, and know that I am God “(Psalm 46:10). This is why the Bible is filled with profound statements that tell us who God is and what He is like. So let’s take a closer look at one of my favorite truths about God: His eternal self-existence.

The Reality of God’s Self-Existence
God has always existed. He is eternal, and His eternality extends into the past as well as the future. I think we have an easier time thinking about the never-ending future existence of God, mainly because “God has given us eternal life” (1 John 5:11). We will live with God forever because God lives forever. Of course, even this future aspect of eternal life is mind-boggling and way beyond our mental ability to comprehend. But even more difficult to grasp is the truth that God has always existed in the past.

Please join me in this brain-bending exercise: meditate on the fact that God has no beginning. He is uncreated. No one or no thing made God because God always was. We don’t have a category for this. Everything and everyone in the world has a beginning, a point in time when it came into existence. But not God. He has always been.

A.W. Tozer comments on the mystery of God’s eternality and the challenge we face in our attempt to understand it: “To think steadily of that to which the idea of origin cannot apply is not easy, if indeed it is possible at all . . . The human mind, being created, has an understandable uneasiness about the Uncreated. We do not find it comfortable to allow for the presence of One who is wholly outside of the circle of our familiar knowledge. We tend to be disquieted by the thought of One who does not account to us for His being, who is responsible to no one, who is self-existent, self-dependent and self-sufficient” (The Knowledge of the Holy).

We know God has no origin because this is what Scripture teaches. Moses begins Psalm 90 with these words:

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

It’s that last part of verse 2 that makes our heads spin. “From everlasting” God has been God. The Common English Bible translates this as “from forever in the past to forever in the future, you are God.” Psalm 93:2 is equally clear: “Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.” Or as the NIV puts it, “you are from all eternity.”

The Reason for God’s Self-Existence
God has always existed because God is life. This amazing truth is also revealed in the Bible. When God spoke to Moses in the burning bush He told him, “I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:9-10).

Moses’ response to God’s command was less than enthusiastic, so he said, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Exodus 3:13).

God then said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation” (Exodus 3:14-15).

The Hebrew word for “LORD” (in all capital letters) is Yahweh, and it means “I am.” This is the most common word for God in the Bible, used over 6,800 times in the Old Testament! We must not miss the significance of this – God has a name (just like you have a name), and His name is based on the truth of His eternal self-existence. Every time we read the word “LORD” in the Old Testament, we should be reminded that our God is the source and fountain of life because He is life itself. He is the only self-sufficient, self-sustaining being in the universe, dependent on no one else and therefore the only truly independent Person.

The Gospel of John makes this truth about God’s self-existence abundantly clear:
In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind (1:4);
For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself (5:26);
I am the resurrection and the life (11:25);
I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6).

The Overflow of God’s Self-Existence
The implications of God’s self-existence should humble us. The only reason we exist is because God exists. He is life itself and has chosen to give life to us. Every breath we take and every move we make is because of His sustaining power. We would not be here if God had not brought us into being. And we would not continue to live another second were it not for the grace of God.

He made us, and He upholds us. God is the only reason we are alive today. And only because of His mercy will you wake up again tomorrow. Let the goodness of God, as manifested in the provision of our daily existence, take your breath away. “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Our Response to God’s Self-Existence
In light of this amazing truth, how do we then live? What effect should the self-existence of God have on us? It should bring us to our knees in worship of the living God. This is the only appropriate response!

John had a vision of God on His throne in heaven. Angels are worshipping Him, and this is what they are proclaiming day and night: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8). God was. He “was” in the sense that He always was. There has never been a time when God was not God. This should evoke endless praise and adoration of the great I AM.

While these angelic beings “give glory, honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever,” the 24 elders, representative of God’s people, join the celebration and “fall down before Him . . . and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say, ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being’” (Revelation 4:9-11).

Looking for a reason to glorify God today? Look no further than the beating heart in your chest. If you are alive and can read these words, you have every reason to worship King Jesus, “the author of life” (Acts 3:15) and the lover of your soul.

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What the Bible Says about God’s Goodness

Posted on July 5, 2024 by Wayne Davies

Here’s one of my favorite verses about the goodness of God:

“How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.”
Psalm 31:19

David says that God’s goodness is “great” (NIV 1978) or “abundant” (ESV). God’s goodness is of such magnitude that he stores it up for us. I like the King James rendering: God’s goodness has been “laid up” for us. Or, as The Message paraphrases it, “What a stack of blessings you have piled up for those who worship you.”

Think about this today and let it take your breath away! God has so much goodness to shower upon you, he chooses to stockpile it in his divine warehouse. Every day he takes some of that goodness and delivers it to you as only he can.

A few years ago I made a list of some of God’s good gifts. First, in the material realm:

— food, clothing, shelter
— people to love and be loved by
— parents and children
— husbands and wives
— brothers and sisters
— music and art and poetry and prose

So many gifts, so much goodness!

And then when we move to the spiritual realm, the goodness of God becomes even more amazing:

— the Holy Scriptures
— the Holy Spirit
— the Holy One of Israel – the Christ
— the provision of forgiveness through the death and resurrection of King Jesus
— the granting of godly sorrow, genuine repentance, and saving faith
— entrance into his kingdom both in this life and the next
— the awesome majesty and sweet intimacy of his presence

All these spiritual blessings, so we can be reconciled to the One we betrayed with a kiss!

All these manifestations of the goodness of God come to us daily. Oh, may we never take them for granted! May we rise up with grateful hearts to give thanks to the King of glory, for surely He pursues us with goodness all the days of our lives.

Take time today to meditate on the two lists above and reflect on how God has been good to you over the years. What else can you add to these lists? How do you respond to God’s goodness? Do you ever get overwhelmed by it? Why not express your gratitude to him by writing out a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for his goodness.

And feel free to share your thoughts below on God’s goodness. I’d love to rejoice with you.

NOTE: The above comments are an excerpt from my book, How to Pray Like David (Volume 1): A Bible Study on Psalms 1-41. Click here to get your free copy:
https://payhip.com/b/3iQfu

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The Power of the Gospel Behind Bars

Posted on June 28, 2024 by Wayne Davies


I have good news about my ebook, Why Bad People Go to Heaven and Good People Go to Hell (Part 1). It has been purchased by several jails and prisons throughout the U.S., including:

Florida Correctional Facilities
Utah Correctional Facilities
New York Correctional Facilities
Illinois State Correctional Facilities
Larimer County Jail (Colorado)
Weld County Correctional Jail (Colorado)

This means that inmates have access to the ebook on electronic devices (such as tablets). The availability of ebooks and other educational resources varies from state to state, but organizations such as ViaPath Technologies have been active in this arena for the past 30 years.

Finding out about this fills my heart with great joy! I’m excited to know that incarcerated men and women can read this book and hear the gospel.

Would you join me in asking God to bring people to Christ when they read this ebook? Before you go to bed tonight, please say a prayer that incarcerated individuals will understand the gospel and respond with saving faith and genuine repentance.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

Thank you!

Why Bad People Go to Heaven and Good People Go to Hell (Part 1) is available for free in Kindle format here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLLJPS3X

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8 Reasons to Think about Jesus and His Word

Posted on June 22, 2024 by Wayne Davies

God has much to say about our minds. What we think about matters to Him.

Therefore, we don’t have to go very far to sin, do we?

Iniquity is just a thought away.

 

I’ve been, well, thinking about this a lot lately. I want to live a holy life. And the older I get, the more I realize that the foundation of a God-pleasing life is a God-pleasing mind. Easier said than done.

To that end, here’s a verse I’ve been meditating on this week:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Philippians 4:8

This is a straightforward teaching from the Apostle Paul on how to have holy thoughts. If I think about things that fall into any of these eight categories, I’m on the right track.

Here’s another way to look at it. Who or What can I think about that will always meet the criteria spelled out in this verse? Answer: The Word.

Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, is perfectly true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

Likewise, the Bible, the written Word of God, is perfectly true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

If I’m filling my mind with thoughts about Jesus and His Word, I’m much less likely to entertain a sinful thought or an ungodly attitude. And I’m also much more likely to express myself with words and behaviors that align with these God-honoring thoughts.

Thank you for letting me share these thoughts with you. If anything you just read makes sense, please let me know by leaving a comment below.

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How to Feed Your Soul with God’s Wisdom

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Wayne Davies

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I’ve been reading The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Modern World, by Brett McCracken.

(See below for a link to get your free copy.)

Here’s how it starts:

“Our world has more and more information, but less and less wisdom. More data; less clarity. More stimulation; less synthesis. More distraction; less stillness. More pontificating; less pondering. More opinion; less research. More speaking; less listening. More to look at; less to see. More amusements, less joy.

“There is more, but we are less. And we all feel it.

“We have vertigo from the barrage coming at us from every direction, every day. We are nauseous from the Tilt-a-Whirl nature of a constantly changing, always unstable world described in (often contradictory and whiplash-inducing) feeds of fragmented and partisan news. Our ears are bleeding from the screeching multitudes who daily assault our senses. Everyone has a megaphone, but no one has a filter.

“Our eyes are strained, brains overstimulated, and souls weary. It’s hard to know if anything can be reliably known. We are resigned to a new normal where the choice seems to be: trust everything or trust nothing. Or maybe the choice is: trust nothing or trust only in yourself . . .

“How can one flourish in a world like this? How can one fortify one’s immunity and be healthy amidst a contagion of foolishness whose spread shows no sign of stopping? How can Christians become storehouses of wisdom in this era when more and more sickly people will be looking for a cure?

This description of our world and the challenges we face certainly resonates with me. Fortunately, the author also provides a solution to the problem:

“We need a better diet of knowledge and better habits of information intake . . . we need to be more discerning about what we consume. We need a diet comprised of lasting, reliable sources of wisdom rather than the fleeting, untrustworthy information that bombards us today; a diet heaven on what fosters wisdom and low on what fosters folly.”

So, if you feel yourself becoming more foolish the more time you spend scrolling on social media, this book is for you. If you ever get the sense that “smartphones” are actually making us dumb, you’re not alone. Addictive algorithms make huge money for Silicon Valley, but they make huge fools of us.

It doesn’t have to be this way. With intentionality and the discipline to cultivate healthier media consumption habits, we can resist the foolishness of the age and instead become wise and spiritually mature. In this book, Brett McCracken offers a rubric (inspired by the food pyramid) for what it might look like to build a “diet” of intakes conducive to spiritual health and wisdom rather than spiritual sickness and foolishness.

The Gospel Coalition is offering this book to you for FREE as an ebook. Click below to get instant access to this timely tool for growing in wisdom in our post-truth digital age.
https://pages.thegospelcoalition.org/the-wisdom-pyramid

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Does God Ever Change?

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Wayne Davies

NOTE: This post is written by Heather Erdmann, author and Bible teacher. For more info about her ministry, visit www.GoodPortionPromises.com.

Is the Old Testament God the same as the New Testament Jesus?

Have you ever heard people say that the God of the Old Testament is “the angry God” and Jesus in the New Testament is “the nice God”? 

As I interact with unbelievers through my writing and online ministry, I have heard this sentiment in some form or other many times. On occasion, even believers seem to feel this way and may shy away from spending time in the Old Testament. But that got me thinking, that if those people actually understood the Bible in context and in its entirety, their opinion would change.

You may already know this, but the Bible is actually made up of 66 smaller books (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament), compiling the one complete book we know today. Amazingly, all of these come together to tell one cohesive story, namely God’s plan of salvation for us through Jesus Christ! Every smaller book of the Bible points to Him in some way. Knowing this can make your time in God’s Word even more productive and precious.

SO, does the Bible portray two different sides of God? The “angry” and “wrathful” OT version, and the forgiving and gentle NT Jesus? Let’s see what His Word says:

Malachi 3:6 (Old Testament)
“For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

Hebrews 13:8 (New Testament)
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

God is one God, in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We mainly see the Father revealing Himself throughout the OT, yet the entire Old Testament is filled with types, shadows, and actual pre-incarnate appearances of our Lord Jesus. In fact the entire Bible tells the story of God’s plan to rescue us through the promised Messiah, and the OT points to that promise. God the Father is the same God we see in Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, and who appeared on earth in human form-fully God and fully man-to accomplish the plan the Father set forth before time even began! That loving Father made a way for us to be saved and sent His own willing Son to do just that! 

See, God never changes, so the God of the OT is still the God of the NT! Jesus even stated, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father,” and “I and the Father are One.”

This is KEY: 

The parts of the OT people consider “angry” parts or show “the angry God” are basically a result of showing us the bad news first of all, that leads us to the good news of the New Testament and Gospel of Christ. The Bible is not primarily a rule book of do’s and don’ts (as many people believe), but it’s more like a mirror that shows us ourselves and how far we fall short of God’s laws every day. That’s because time and time again throughout the OT we see how we can’t keep all of God’s laws, no matter how hard we try. It is a cycle of man’s rebellion and God’s redirection (and occasional punishment), but always pointing forward to our rescue by the only One who DID perfectly keep the law on our behalf, and who died and rose again to take away our sins and give us eternal life with Him, free from sin, death, and the power of the devil forever!! It’s not meant to condemn us, but to convict us to admit our sin, confess it, and cry out for God’s mercy which He gives us freely in Christ!

So the OT “anger” you see (along with a ton of God’s patience, grace, and efforts to call His people back to Him through the Prophets) is just the bad news (that we are hopelessly lost without Him) which points us to the NT Good News that our Rescuer has come, and we are saved by faith through His finished work on the cross on our behalf. All of those OT sacrifices were just a shadow to point to the one, final, perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!! THAT’S the main message of the Bible, and that is truly Good News!!

Editor’s note:
To access Heather’s free “5-Day Bible Study Tools VIDEO Challenge,” visit:
https://subscribepage.io/biblestudytoolsvideochallenge

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