Lucas-15:1-18-nvipt

For Reading and Meditation:     Luke 15:1-10

We turn now to look at another aspect of Christianity's uniqueness - the issue of personal salvation. The vocabulary of salvation is distasteful to those of other religions and many insist we should give it up. They say, "It smacks of spiritual smugness and arrogance." But before we answer this criticism we must realize...

Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners-this Man receiveth sinners. This Man, who is no other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces-this Man receiveth sinners. It needs an angel's tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of love. That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful- they are of our own race; but that he, the offended God, against whom the...

It is quite certain that those whom Christ has washed in his precious blood need not make a confession of sin, as culprits or criminals, before God the Judge, for Christ has for ever taken away all their sins in a legal sense, so that they no longer stand where they can be condemned, but are once for all accepted in the Beloved; but having become children, and offending as children, ought they not every day to go before their heavenly Father and confess their sin, and acknowledge their...

Luke 15:11-32

The world would be very much poorer - if the fifteenth chapter of Luke's gospel had not been written. The whole chapter should be studied carefully. It is rich in spiritual instruction. It is all about seeking and finding lost things. Publicans and sinners flocked to Jesus, and He received them graciously and kindly. His enemies, however, found fault with Him for being so friendly to these...

Matthew 5:1-16

Emerson's advice to Lincoln about hitching his wagon to a star - is the lesson Jesus sets for us in the Beatitudes. These blesseds shine like stars far above us, in their brightness and heavenliness. We may say that we never can reach them and that therefore there is no use in our trying to reach them. But the Master would have us strive after the highest...

Luke 15:11-32

The world would be very much poorer - if the fifteenth chapter of Luke's gospel had not been written. The whole chapter should be studied carefully. It is rich in spiritual instruction. It is all about seeking and finding lost things. Publicans and sinners flocked to Jesus, and He received them graciously and kindly. His enemies, however, found fault with Him for being so friendly to these...

Matthew 5:1-16

Emerson's advice to Lincoln about hitching his wagon to a star - is the lesson Jesus sets for us in the Beatitudes. These blesseds shine like stars far above us, in their brightness and heavenliness. We may say that we never can reach them and that therefore there is no use in our trying to reach them. But the Master would have us strive after the highest...

Such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. § We … were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ...

Jesus . . . lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father … Holy Father … O righteous Father!” § He said, “Abba, Father.” § Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” § For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.Doubtless You are our Father … You, O Lord, are our...

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. § There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands… They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable.You were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. §  I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness...