Daily Archives: October 22, 2021

Weekly Devotional 10-25-21 By God’s Will Not Your Own

Weekly Devotional 10-25-21

          By God’s Will Not Your Own

From the Book of Isaiah we read these words, “1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. 4 No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity” (59:1-4).

There is much more to the passage, but these four verses set forth Israel’s spiritual condition before, during, and after their Assyrian and Babylonian bondage. Their iniquities (sin) had separated them from God their Creator and even though He would answer their pleas it would not be because of any merit found in them. As a nation they did not seek Him with a surrendered heart. Even after 70 years of bondage they would not return to Him with a surrendered heart. This is the condition of the heart of all humanity.

Still, according to verse one of our text God could still save, but it would be accomplished by His will not by the will of the Israelite nor by the will of any person.

Turning to the Gospel of John we read: “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became 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” (John 1:1-14). 

 This passage speaks of God the Son entering humanity for the reason of satisfying the will of God the Father, making righteous those who would believe in and trust Him for their salvation.

The passage expressly states that salvation is by the will of God, not by human heredity, self-will, or the will of another. This affirms the claim of Isaiah 59:1 1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save” is affirmed.

We close with an excerpt from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 

3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh–who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands– 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

 Oh’ how blessed we are, that salvation is not according to man’s (our) own will. Why? Because in man’s natural state, he/we like those of Israel, are not truly repentant of our sin nor are we truly desirous of a relationship with God.

Thank you, Father God for accomplishing in us what we could not do for ourselves.

Steve

Stevelampman.com

stevelampman@comcast.net

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