Tag Archives: 2 corinthians 6

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Father To Follow

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Our Daily Bread

2 Chronicles 17:1-10

[Jehoshaphat] sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments. —2 Chronicles 17:4

When I think of my father, I think of this saying: “He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and he let me watch him do it.” During my youth, I watched my dad walk with God. He participated in Sunday morning church services, taught an adult Bible-study class, helped with counting the offering, and served as a deacon. Outside of church, he faithfully defended the gospel and read his Bible. I saw him express his love for the Lord through outward actions.

Asa, king of Judah, modeled devotion to God for a season in his life (2 Chron. 14:2). He removed the idols from his kingdom, restored the altar of the Lord, and led the people into a covenant with God (15:8-12). Asa’s son Jehoshaphat carried on this legacy by seeking “the God of his father and walk[ing] in His commandments” (17:4). Jehoshaphat purged the land of idol worship (v.6) and sent out priests and Levites to teach God’s law in all of the cities of Judah (vv.7-9).

Jehoshaphat’s reign resembled that of his father; he faithfully honored Asa’s godly example. Yet even more important, Jehoshaphat’s “heart took delight in the ways of the Lord” (v.6). Today, if you’re looking for a father to follow, remember your heavenly Father and take delight in His ways. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

We magnify our Father God

With songs of thoughtful praise;

As grateful children we confess

How perfect are His ways. —Ball

We honor God’s name when we call Him our Father and live like His Son.

Bible in a year: Proverbs 16-18; 2 Corinthians 6

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Not of the World

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Alistair Begg

Be separate from them.

2 Corinthians 6:17

The Christian, while in the world, is not to be of the world. He should be distinguished from it in the great object of his life. To him, “to live” should be “Christ.”1 Whether he eats or drinks or whatever he does, he should do it all to God’s glory. You may lay up treasure; but lay it up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. You may work to be rich; but make it your ambition to be “rich in faith”2 and good works. You may pursue pleasure; but when you are happy, sing psalms and make melody in your hearts to the Lord.

In your spirit, as well as in your aim, you should differ from the world. Waiting humbly before God, always conscious of His presence, delighting in fellowship with Him, and seeking to know His will, you will prove that you are a citizen of heaven. And you should be separate from the world in your actions. If a thing is right, though you lose by doing it, it must be done; if it is wrong, though you would gain from it, you must reject the sin for your Master’s sake. You must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them. Walk worthy of your high calling and dignity. Remember, Christian, that you are a son of the King of kings. Therefore, keep yourself unstained from the world. Do not soil the fingers that are to serve the King. Do not let your eyes become the windows of lust, eyes that will soon see the King in His beauty. Do not let your feet, which are soon to walk the golden streets, be defiled in dirty places. Do not allow your heart to be filled with pride and bitterness, but prepare it to be filled with heaven and to overflow with ecstatic joy.

Then rise my soul! and soar away,

Above the thoughtless crowd;

Above the pleasures of the day,

And splendors of the proud;

Up where eternal beauties bloom,

And pleasures all divine;

Where wealth, that never can consume,

And endless glories shine.

1 Philippians 1:21

2 James 2:5

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Bargaining like Pharaoh

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Alistair Begg

Only you must not go very far away.  Exodus 8:28

This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant Pharaoh. If the poor enslaved Israelites must leave Egypt, then he bargains with them that it shall not be very far away–not too far for them to escape the terror of his arms and the observation of his spies. After the same fashion, the world hates the nonconformity of nonconformity or the dissidence of dissent; it would rather we were more charitable and not deal with things too severely. Death to the world and burial with Christ are experiences that worldly minds treat with ridicule, and as a result baptism, which pictures them, is almost universally neglected and even condemned.

Worldly wisdom recommends the path of compromise and talks of “moderation.” According to this carnal policy, purity is admitted to be very desirable, but we are warned against being too precise; truth is of course to be followed, but error is not to be severely denounced. “Yes,” says the world, “be spiritually minded by all means, but do not deny yourself a little friendship with the world, the odd journey to Vanity Fair. What’s the good of denouncing this empty lifestyle when it is so fashionable and everybody does it?” Multitudes of professors succumb to this cunning advice, to their own eternal ruin.

If we are going to really follow the Lord, we must be prepared to walk the narrow path and join Moses who refused to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. We must leave behind the world’s maxims–its pleasure, and its religion too–and go far away to the place where the Lord calls His sanctified ones.

When the town is on fire, our house cannot be too far from the flames. When disease is rampant, it is hard to escape it. The further from a poisonous snake the better, and the further from worldly conformity the better. To all true believers let the trumpet-call be sounded: “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them.”1

1 – 2 Corinthians 6:17

 

 

 

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Alistair Begg – Even the Outcasts

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Behold, I am of small account. Job 40:4

Here is a cheering word for you, poor lost sinner! You think you shouldn’t come to God because you are of small account.

Now, there is not a saint alive on earth who has not felt this way. If Job and Isaiah and Paul were all obliged to say, “I am of small account,” then, sinner, will you be ashamed to join in the same confession? If divine grace does not eradicate all sin from the believer, how do you hope to do it yourself? And if God loves His people while they are of small account, do you think your condition will prevent Him from loving you?

Believe on Jesus, you outcast of the world’s society! Jesus calls you, and just as you are.

Not the righteous, not the righteous;

Sinners, Jesus came to call.

Declare, even now, “You have died for sinners. I am a sinner, Lord Jesus; sprinkle Your blood on me.” If you will confess your sin, you will find pardon. If now, with all your heart, you will say, “I am unclean, wash me,” you will be washed now. If the Holy Spirit enables you to cry from your heart

Just as I am, without one plea

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bid me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

you will rise from reading this morning’s portion with all your sins pardoned; and though you woke this morning with every sin that man has ever committed on your head, you will rest tonight accepted in the Beloved. Although you were once degraded with the rags of sin, you will be adorned with a robe of righteousness and appear as white as the angels are.

For “now,” mark it, “Now is the favorable time.”1 If you “trust him who justifies the ungodly,”2 you are saved. May the Holy Spirit give you saving faith in Him who receives those who are of small account.

1 – 2 Corinthians 6:2

2 – Romans 4:5

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Alistair Begg – “My People”

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I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 2 Corinthians 6:16

What a sweet title: “my people”! What a cheering revelation: “their God”! What a wealth of meaning is couched in those two words, “my people!”

Here is speciality. The whole world is God’s; the heaven, even the heaven of heavens, is the Lord’s, and He reigns among the children of men. But of those whom He has chosen, whom He has purchased to Himself, He says what He says not of others–“my people.”

In this word there is the idea of proprietorship. In a special manner “the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.”1 All the nations upon earth are His; the whole world is in His power. But His people, His chosen, are more especially His possession, for He has done more for them than for others. He has bought them with His blood; He has brought them to Himself; He has set His great heart upon them; He has loved them with an everlasting love, a love that many waters cannot quench and that the revolutions of time will never in the least degree diminish.

Dear friends, can you by faith see yourselves in that number? Can you look up to heaven and say, “My Lord and my God: mine by that sweet relationship that entitles me to call You Father; mine by that hallowed fellowship that I rejoice to enjoy with You when You are pleased to show Yourself to me as You do not to the world”? Can you read the Bible and find there the guarantee of your salvation? Can you read your title written in precious blood? Can you, by humble faith, lay hold of Jesus’ garments and say, “My Christ”?

If you can, then God says of you, and of others like you, “My people;” for if God be your God and Christ your Christ, the Lord has a special interest in you; you are the object of His choice, accepted in His beloved Son.

1-Dueteronomy 32:9