John Piper

SABBATH

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THE SABBATH DEFINED

“…the Sabbath was God’s first act after the earth had been made fit for human habitation,…This day, from the beginning, was a holy day…for the purpose of teaching man that whilst he might lawfully spend six days in worldly employments, he must rest on the seventh day” Archibald Alexander (ref#175).

“The Sabbath is a sign. It points to a truth that we are never to forget. The truth is that God (and not we ourselves) has sanctified us. He has chosen us and set us apart and worked to make us distinct among the peoples of the earth” John Piper (ref#169).

“…the Sabbath is a gift of love to meet man’s need, not an oppressive burden to make him miserable or proud….It should not be governed rigidly by narrow definitions of what is work and what is not. It is a day to focus on the Lord. And now Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath…so it is a day to focus on Jesus. And it is impossible that a day focused on Jesus should be a burden to the believing heart…” John Piper (ref#169).

“As the great object of all religious instruction and worship is to please God and secure His blessing, so let great care be taken that whatever is done be sincere, humble, and fervent” William S. Plumer (ref#183).

THANKSGIVING

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COVENANT OF REDEMPTION

Screen Shot 2016-02-26 at 2.49.19 PM“Theologians speak of…a covenant that is not between God and man, but is among the members of the Trinity. This covenant they call the ‘covenant of redemption.’ It is an agreement among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…On the part of the Father, this ‘covenant of redemption’ included an agreement to give to the Son a people whom he would redeem for his own possession…” Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p518).

The Son agreed to “pay blood for blood, suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for death on behalf of His people” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, February 27th PM). “When Christ died, he secured for his people not only new hearts but new security. He will not let them turn from him. He will keep them….The blood of the covenant guarantees it” John Piper (ref#92, p47) (John 6:37).

“…the Holy Spirit in the covenant of redemption…agreed to do the will of the Father and fill and empower Christ to carry out his ministry on earth…and to apply the benefits of Christ’s redemptive work to his people after Christ returned to heaven….” Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p519).

TRIUNE GOD, I am blessed to possess the understanding of Your “covenant of redemption.” There are not enough words to express my gratitude. Day by day in my personal life I observe Your efforts in fulfilling Your goal decided upon before You set the foundations of the earth.

SABBATH

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IS THE SEVENTH DAY SATURDAY, SUNDAY, OR ANY DAY?

“…Genesis 2 contains nothing whatever that enables us to determine which day of our week this primal “seventh day” was….All we do know—and it is all that is necessary for us to know—is that the seventh day was the day that followed six days of manual work…” Arthur W. Pink (ref#177).

“…the holy rest day should be one out of every seven….The command is simply work six, rest one. Every seventh day should be a Sabbath” John Piper (ref#169). So to keep the Sabbath means that one day a week we do not do our normal work. Since some people have jobs that include working on Sunday, they are free to choose another day, however every effort should be made to make their Sabbath the day their local Christian fellowship meets to gain the benefit of corporate worship.

“The Lord Jesus kept the Sabbath day. The change from the seventh to the first day of the week rather confirms than abolishes this divine institution. Call it the Lord’s day in preference to the Sabbath, if you so desire. The term “Lord’s day” rather enforces than diminishes our obligation to its proper observance” C. E. Hunter (ref#171).

“…the apostles were divinely inspired to make that change, and at the same time wisely directed to make no public decree about it. The decree would only have raised a ferment in the Jewish mind and caused needless offence; the change was one that it was better to effect gradually, and not to force on the consciences of weak brethren. The change did not interfere with the spirit of the Fourth Commandment in the smallest degree: the Lord’s Day, on the first day of the week, was just as much a day of rest after six days’ labor, as the seventh-day Sabbath had been” J. C. Ryle (ref#178).

The Old Testament saints looked forward to CHRIST, while we look back to CHRIST. GOD rested after completing creation. (It is the Jewish Sabbath.) CHRIST rested after completing redemption. (It is the Christian LORD’s Day.) And CHRIST’s return (second coming) is heaven—our final rest (ref#169)!

 

CONFESSION

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NEW BIRTH

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 2.48.03 PM…FATHER, increase my understanding of regeneration—Your ability to alter my natural-born heredity. My “natural virtues are the remnants of a design that has been broken, and that the only way the design can be fulfilled is by…being made all over again” Oswald Chambers (ref#83, p90). However, “…when the new disposition is put in the old physical case is not taken away. It is left there for me to discipline and turn into an obedient servant to the new disposition” Oswald Chambers (ref#118, p35).

 “Jesus says—If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure…” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, July 24th).

CHRIST is the only one who is above censure. And He is the only One who can put His own disposition into people who ask for it. “The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within…” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, July 24th).

“From the divine side, Christ is living in us and enabling us to live the way he teaches us to live. It’s his work. But from our side, it’s experienced by trusting him moment by moment to be with us and to help us” John Piper (ref#92, p87).

FATHER, I desire to take hold of CHRIST’s disposition and mold my life after His. And, praise You, that He will accomplish that when I give myself over to Him.

SABBATH

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SATURDAY EVENING WORSHIP: SUNDAY EVENING WORSHIP

Let’s start with the one established in the 1520’s. “Until recent decades, the second service was an essential part of the Lord’s Day observance…” Jon D. Payne (ref#170). More meetings were established on Sunday so Christians would hear more of the Word of GOD.

“Having not one but two (and sometimes three) public services on the Lord’s Day reinforces belief in the power, efficacy, and sufficiency of the ordinary means of grace to save, sanctify, and comfort God’s elect. On the sacred day that God set apart for sacred worship and the building up of his church, why wouldn’t we want more—rather than less—preaching, singing of the psalms and hymns, prayer, participation in the sacraments, and corporate worship and fellowship” Jon D. Payne (ref#170)?

“By attending morning and evening worship…We will hear an additional fifty-two carefully prepared expository sermons,…sing hundreds more psalms and hymns, and pray myriad more prayers” Jon D. Payne (ref#170).

“Faithful attendance to both morning and evening worship bookends this special day with God-centered worship and helps us not to turn the rest of the Lord’s Day into something God never intended. Evening worship guards the Lord’s Day from becoming just like any other day of the week” Jon D. Payne (ref#170).

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So, what about the Saturday evening service? How can we have the audacity to offer a Lord’s-Day service on Saturday? We can because JESUS CHRIST is Lord of the Sabbath.

“If Jesus were here today, he would say something like this: ‘If priests in the temple and pastors in the Christian church are permitted to work 16 hours on the usual day of rest, then the saints are permitted to worship one hour the day before. The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Come, learn what it means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’

“He would send us to consult the words of his apostle in Romans 14:5, ‘One man judges one day above another, while another man judges all days alike. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind.’ We can take this to imply that some think that all days qualify for the Sabbath. Some think that only Saturday qualifies. Others only Sunday. Do not condemn one another over these disagreements. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind” John Piper (ref#169).

If you attend Saturday night services, are you fully convinced in your own mind that this is the service you should attend? Remember, if you think it is a sin, it is a sin (James 4:17). John Piper, the author of the last quote also says, Saturday worship is NOT a replacement for Sunday Sabbath keeping (ref#169).

SUPPLICATION

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GENERAL TRIBULATION

[We all can think of a Christian sister or brother experiencing so much affliction they may not be able to pray for themselves. Here’s an opportunity to pray for them. Fill their name in the blanks.]

REASONS FOR AFFLICTION – TO TEST FAITH

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 9.47.30 AM…FATHER, I know that it is necessary ____ be grieved by various trials so the genuineness of (his/her) faith may be tested (1 Pet 1:6-7). It is (his/her) faith that You will have on display as evidence of CHRIST’s victory (1 Pet 1:7).

Because of this, FATHER, may ____ understand that all Your providences to (him/her) are doors to trial.

“Even our mercies, like roses, have their thorns. Men may be drowned in seas of prosperity as well as in rivers of affliction. Our mountains are not too high and our valleys are not too low for temptations; trials lurk on all roads” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Sept 3rd PM).

Do not screen ____ from the trials by which faith is strengthened (ref#34, Sept 3rd PM). SOVEREIGN MASTER, allow the “beast” to wage war against (him/her) and conquer (him/her) (Rev 13:7) so (he/she) has opportunity to endure persecution patiently and remain faithful (Rev 13:10).

“…our pain and losses are always a test of how much we treasure the all-wise, all-governing God in comparison to what we have lost….God ordains the hard  times…to see if we have made a god out of our good times” John Piper (ref#124, p112).

FATHER, guide ____ through the tests of faith. May (he/she) be content “without the promise of any benefits in this life” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Jan 22nd PM) and, by faith, long for the eternal things (ref#34, Jan 22nd PM).

 O GOD, help (him/her) keep Your commandments and maintain (his/her) faith in JESUS (Rev 14:12). But also, when saddled with trials, remind (him/her) to expect Your blessings (James 1:12).

ADORATION

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DESIRING TO COMMUNE WITH THE BEAUTY-MAKER

Screen Shot 2016-01-26 at 1.59.48 PM“GOD OF ALL SOVEREIGNTY,

Thy greatness is unsearchable,

Thy name most excellent,

Thy glory above the heavens;…” (ref#76, p214).

ALL-PROVIDING FATHER, abundant and extravagant in giving, joy comes to my heart when I experience some aspect of Your creation I find attractive (ref#130, p102). But, there is a greater joy:

“We do not want merely to see beauty…We want…to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it” C.S.Lewis (ref#130, p119).

“O my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy art Thou Thyself, Creator of all” Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (ref#130, p102).

Day by day, FATHER, capture me and turn me lose in the forest of words that describe You so all my senses can dance in Your greatness. Guide my desire toward becoming “bold and glad” in Your superior glory (ref#124, p80).

SABBATH

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REASONS THE SABBATH IS DESECRATED

“The Christian attitude is, ‘The Lord’s will is my pleasure’” C. E. Hunter (ref#171). But, there are many ways to keep us from joy. “…the devil is in real earnest to accomplish the damnation of souls. To this end he must not let people think quietly on one day of the week” C. E. Hunter (ref#171).

We all agree we have too much on our plate weekdays. Does our “to do” list spill over into Sundays? Do we make some effort to not work on our weekday work on Sunday? And, if so, have we come to fill the day with things that we like to do that recharge us—gardening, golf, reading secular books, attending concerts, theaters, sports games, etc.? “These ways of spending Sunday are none of them of a holy tendency, or calculated to help us heavenward” Bishop J. C. Ryle (ref#167).

“The measure of your love for God is the measure of the joy you get in focusing on him on the day of rest” John Piper (ref#169). “…contend earnestly for the whole day against all enemies, both without and within. It is worth a struggle” Bishop J. C. Ryle (ref#167).

SABBATH

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THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING THE SABBATH

“There is no other Sabbath rest besides Jesus. He alone satisfies the requirements of the Law, and He alone provides the sacrifice that atones for sin. He is God’s plan for us to cease from the labor of our own works. We dare not reject this one-and-only Way of salvation (John 14:6). God’s reaction to those who choose to reject His plan is seen in Numbers 15. A man was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, in spite of God’s plain commandment to cease from all labor on the Sabbath. This transgression was a known and willful sin, done with unblushing boldness in broad daylight, in open defiance of the divine authority. ‘Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp”’ (verse 35). So it will be to all who reject God’s provision for our Sabbath rest in Christ” (ref#172).

“…whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10 NASB). The 10 Commandments are a “summary of fundamental duty; and…is binding on us all, in all its precepts alike, because they all alike are from God and publish His holy will” Benjamin B. Warfield (ref#180).

“For most people the Sabbath command is really a demand to repent. It invites us to enjoy what we don’t enjoy and therefore shows us the evil of hearts, and our need to repent and be changed” John Piper (ref#169).

SUPPLICATION

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A HUNGER FOR GOD & HIS TRANSFORMING POWER

Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 4.19.26 PM[Because we are Christians and live in the world we will always need prayer for our walk and for witnessing to others about CHRIST.  Here’s an opportunity to pray for others or even ourselves.  Fill the name in the blanks.]

“Jesus says to Simon Peter…do you have a love for me called out of your heart by my preciousness to you, a devotional love that impels you to sacrifice yourself for me? Do you consider me more precious and thus love me more than these [fish]?…” (ref#37, p266, [John 21:15]).

 FATHER.ç “What Christ died for is not that we might help him, but that we might see and savor him as infinitely valuable” John Piper (ref#92, p83).

FATHER, I pray for ____, that (he/she) rest in CHRIST’s love. Remind (him/her) that the moment (he/she) was regenerated (he/she) automatically became “a holy temple fit for habitation of the Holy Spirit”  Roy and Revel Hession (ref#101, p13). Hasten ____ to dwell on this truth as much as (his/her) new birth. “God has given a new life plus the indwelling of the very Person of the Holy Spirit” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#101, p14). It is through the SPIRIT that ____ will find CHRIST waiting for a relationship with (him/her). I pray ____ develop a hunger for fellowship and for CHRIST’s transforming power so that (he/she) may experience a vigorous and joyful life (ref#78, p25,26).