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READ:

Psalm 31:24

²⁴ Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

EXHORTATION:

Here we have the antidote to the despairing hearts of believers under trials and temptations. They are exhorted to “be of good courage”. It is not at all uncommon that God’s people become weary and disheartened in this world. Spiritual and moral courage is much needed to inspire our hearts to do right, especially in adverse circumstances.

In most Scriptural instances of the exhortation to be courageous, it is coupled with the exhortation to be strong. When courage is gone, the heart would melt in the fear of adversity. So the exhortation is given, “Be strong and be of good courage.”

In Deuteronomy 31:6, through Moses the Lord told the people of Israel who had to battle the giants who dwelt in their promised land, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Their new leader Joshua, who had to lead Israel to conquer the promised land, was also told in  Deuteronomy 31:7, “Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.” This exhortation to be strong and of good courage had been repeatedly given to Joshua and Israel (Joshua 1:6,9,18; 2:11; 10:25).

Christians have very many duties to be carried out; and they are often arduous. We have heard the troubled Christian asking, "How would I overcome these problems and fulfil all my tasks?” Another one murmurs, “I am already exhausted. Where shall I get the strength to do these things?” Every Christian must remember the exhortation, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13).

In our verse, we are given the divine promise that “he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.” God would give us His supernatural aid, strengthening our hearts with His gracious favour. We must not let our hearts become pessimistic. Let not doubt and gloom fill our hearts. We must hope in the Lord. Distrusting hearts will grow weary and fearful. By trusting God’s promise, let us behave valiantly for the Lord. Expect trials. Remember the promises. Maintain faith. Serve the Lord.

READ:

Psalm 34:19

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

EXHORTATION:

One’s faith in God does not exempt him from suffering. The believer is subjected to afflictions that are common to man, whether it be sickness or financial crisis or relational problems. His virtue will not secure him from losses and disappointments, infamy and contempt, bad health and hardships. The godly may also be deserted by his friend, and maltreated by his enemies. Death may deprive him of those dear to him, and fill his heart with sorrow. Besides his own personal afflictions, the righteous man bears the burdens of his fellow brethren. Even more, the godly man may face opposition to his faith. He may be ridiculed and persecuted for his commitment to his God. Righteousness sometimes draws upon itself the hatred of bad men, with all the evils they are able to inflict. One’s virtue, especially when it outshines others, may provoke their envy and hatred. Moreover, one’s integrity may lead him to oppose the unjust and mischievous actions of wicked men which would provoke bitter and vicious response from them.

David, the psalmist, himself was afflicted with innumerable problems. But he was sustained and guided by the Lord through all his afflictions. Having received the Lord’s help and deliverance, he now exhorts all the suffering people of God never to lose their courage, whatever evils that threaten them. He assures them that God is able to deliver them. Even if a thousand troubles would surround the godly man, God is able to deliver him from them all. So God’s people should never give up their expectation of the Lord’s help and deliverance.

It would be of great help to observe how David clung to his hope of deliverance from the Lord. In earlier verses of this psalm, he tells us that he poured his heart’s troubles to the Lord in prayer. In verse 6, he said, “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles”. In verse 15, he testified from his experience that “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry”. So in verse 17, he boldly declared, “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles”. It was through constant pleading in the midst of his afflictions that David sustained his heart in the hope of deliverance. Let us also therefore, hope and pray for the Lord’s deliverance in the midst of our troubles.

READ:

John 14:21b

^21b And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

EXHORTATION:

God is greatly pleased with everyone who loves His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves such a one. Thus, if we love Christ, there falls upon our hearts the blessings of the Father’s love. This is not to say that the Father’s love for us is caused or motivated by our love for Him. Neither does it mean that His love towards us begin only when we begin to love Christ. We could not have loved Him, if He did not love us first. What the Lord Jesus asserts here is that when an individual loves Him, the Father would express His pleasure to him by new and grander expressions of His love. The one who loves and obeys the Lord Jesus Christ shall know the depths of the Father’s sacred love and favours.

Moreover, he who loves Christ is also assured of Christ’s abiding love. As we walk in the way of obedience, motivated by our love for Him, Christ will favour us with the increasing unveiling of His love. The more we love Christ, the more of His love we shall know. Those who faithfully follow their loving Lord shall be granted greater experiences of His love.

Jesus also assures the one who loves Him that He will manifest Himself to him. He is talking about revealing Himself in a spiritual sense. He shall reveal Himself in a man’s heart or to his spiritual senses. An unsaved person does not have spiritual perception; the only one who can comprehend the manifestation which Christ is talking about, is the one who loves Him and shows his love by obedience.

In John 14:23, Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” It is the pleasure of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as it is with His Father, to bless those who love Him with His presence, and thus with more intimate, vivid and compelling demonstrations of His love.

In 1 Corinthians 2:9, the apostle Paul, in citing Isaiah 64:4, said that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” All which the Lord has prepared for those who love Him are so wondrous that they will cause them to love Him even more. If we continue in our love for Christ, we shall be led by Him to greater enjoyment of His presence, truth, grace, comfort, power and all such blessings as He has promised.

READ:

John 14:21a

^21a He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.

EXHORTATION:

Here Jesus Christ, our Lord, speaks about the one who truly loves Him. No one makes an impression on Christ by claims of love to Him. The Lord says that it is he who has and keeps His commandments that truly loves Him.

The possession of His commandments is the first sure sign of love to Him which Jesus identifies here. He said, “He that hath my commandments... is that loveth me”. Certainly, He is not saying that everyone who has a copy of the Bible is a true lover of Christ. The only kind of “having” that Christ regards as real and valid, is the possession of His words in one’s heart. A loving heart will take to heart the will of the One whom he loves. He not only hears the Word of God, but also receives it with faith and love. He cherishes the commandments of God, and considers them to be most precious. He is like the psalmist who says, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). He will regard as useless and reject every thought that is contrary to the Word of God. His heart will say, “I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love” (Psalm 119:113). He who loves Christ will treasure His Word in the head and heart.

The second mark of the one who loves Him is obedience to His commandments. Jesus said, “He that ... keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”. True love to Christ will produce obedience. Having known Christ’s commandments, we must keep them. The surest evidence of our love to Christ is our obedience to His Word. Jesus has repeatedly affirmed that obedience to His commandments is the true mark of love to Him. In John 14:15, He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” In John 14:23-24, He said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” Again in John 15:14, He said, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”

The love for Christ has an unmistakable hallmark: obedience. Passionate, sweet, pure and deep though it may be, it is no mere emotion or sentiment. A disobedient man will be a great dishonour to Christ. The friends of Christ are those who live for His cause by diligently studying His Word and by cheerfully obeying His commandments.

READ:

1 John 4:19

¹⁹ We love him, because he first loved us.

EXHORTATION:

Genuine Christians are lovers of God, hence the assertion: “We love him”. They cherish great affection for God. This is certainly not representative of humanity at large. The vast majority of mankind ignore or oppose God. What Scripture tells us about the human race is that “there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:11). We who now love God were once also His enemies until He loved us and sought to reconcile us to Him through Christ. Colossians 1:21 declares, “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”. Likewise, Romans 5:10 reiterates, “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son”.

If you do love God, you must have been loved of God. True love for God could not have come into your heart in any other conceivable way than that you are the object of His eternal love. You may rest assured that love to God is a clear evidence of the salvation of its possessor.

Our love for God springs out of His great love for us. The source of our love for God is God’s love for us. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Observe, therefore, that our love to God does not spring from the power of our own will. The first cause of our love for God is that He loved us.

By the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have come to know His love. Romans 5:5 says, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Having experienced God’s love through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, we are now drawn to love Him. His love for us is the motivation for our love for Him. When the reality of His love is fully affirmed in our soul by the Holy Spirit, a fervent love to God will spontaneously rise from our soul, even as flowers effuse their fragrance under the influence of the dew and the sun. We experienced His love in our hearts first, before we turn to Him in love.

Perhaps some of you have become cold in your love towards God. Now, know that your love can only be restored by the way it has been first instilled in you. Even though your love for Him has become dull, know that His love for you has been steadfast. In John 13:1, it is said of Christ’s love for the disciples that “having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” His love towards you never diminishes! Believe it, and turn to Him in repentance. His love will rekindle your love for Him.

READ:

1 Corinthians 16:22

²² If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

EXHORTATION:

This sombre declaration found at the end of the apostle Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians is a denunciation or a curse. It is presented here as the summary of all that he had been teaching in the epistle. The word “Anathema” means accursed or given up to destruction. The word “Maranatha” is made up of two Aramaic words (maran and atha), meaning “our Lord has come”. It is an exclamation uttered in connection with the approaching judgment when the Lord returns (cf. Jude 1:14, 15).

If one neglects to love Christ, the penalty is that he shall be accursed at His coming. Though the curse will be executed only at His coming, the doom of the one who chooses not to love Christ is certain. Yes, both the lovers of Christ and those who do not love Him continue to live. Yet, “Behold, the Lord cometh”; at His coming, He will separate those who love Him and those who do not love Him. The tares and the wheat grow together till the harvest; we cannot separate the hypocrite from the sincere ones until the Lord on His judgment day incontestably proves their profession is false. Though no government would punish a lack of love for the Lord Jesus, though no church would excommunicate all who do not love Him, those indifferent to Him shall not escape His judgment at His coming. While the coming of the Lord is eternal salvation to those who love Christ, it is doom to those who refuse to love Him. There is not a more fearful denunciation in the Bible. Oh, the awful horrors of an eternal curse! Surely, those who neglect to love Christ shall be condemned. How important it is then to ask whether we have sincere love for Christ. Let us not forget to examine ourselves whether we love the Lord Jesus.

We must love Jesus Christ for He is the sum of the Divine perfections. He is the Son of God; He is God. In Him dwelleth the fullness of God. All His infinite perfections as God deserve our love and devotion. He is worthy! He is worthy of our love. If you would not love Him fully, you would have rejected the One who came to reveal unto us God Himself! If you would not love Christ, you would have neglected the only way of salvation. Not to love Him is to choose the path to eternal damnation. There is no other Saviour for our souls but Christ. We are bound to the necessity of loving Christ, that we may escape the eternal damnation. We must love Him reverently, sincerely, and passionately.

READ:

Ephesians 6:24

²⁴ Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

EXHORTATION:

This is Paul’s benediction at the end of his epistle to the Ephesians. Paul had also, at the beginning of his epistle, prayed for the favour of God’s grace to be with all His people: “Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:2).

What a great blessing it is to be vessels of His grace! To always have grace with us is a glorious prospect. To Christians, the word “grace” encompasses all the blessings which the Gospel of Jesus Christ affords. All our salvific blessings (justification, reconciliation with God, inheritance of all spiritual blessings, His Holy Spirit, etc.) are the gifts of His grace. It is God’s grace that initiates, sustains and consummates our Christian life and service. Without the grace of God, we possess nothing (both physically and spiritually speaking). Without His grace, we can achieve nothing. Hence we are prone to say, like Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

If we are convinced of the importance of God’s grace in our Christian life, let us pray, like Paul, that His grace will be abundant upon our brethren. Let us pray for His grace, for we believe that God is “able to make all grace abound” towards His people, and that they, “always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:8).

Let us also take note that Paul does not pronounce the blessing of God’s grace on everyone, but only upon those who love Jesus Christ “in sincerity”. The object of our love must be the Lord Jesus Christ. Our love for Him must be genuine, not pretentious. When our hearts are free from all hypocrisy, it will be free from all corruption. Genuine love for Christ prepares us to be clean vessels for God to bestow more of His grace. It is they that love Christ who will have free access to the throne of grace and the promise that they shall be heard and accepted there.

Our love for Christ must be real, not pretentious. Our love for Him must be abiding and supreme. All our decisions and conduct must be guided and fashioned by our sincere love for Christ. May we not have a cold and indolent attitude towards Him; but rather, let our lives be characterised by a passionate affection for Christ!

READ:

Titus 3:7

⁷ That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

EXHORTATION:

The originating cause of our justification is not our merit, but God’s grace. We are justified by His grace. In Romans 3:24, Paul makes the assertion that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”.

When the Bible says that we are justified by faith, it does not mean that our justification is earned by the merit of our faith. It is a free gift of His grace. By faith, we embrace and appropriate the justification that God has provided through the merit of Christ. In other words, we receive justification freely through the instrumentality of faith. It is God’s gracious work that makes us justified, and nothing of ourselves.

The fact that our justification is all of God’s grace is seen in the following scriptural depictions of its various facets. Justification that is given to us by His grace (Romans 3:24) is provided by Christ’s blood (Romans 5:9) and His resurrection (Romans 4:25). It is also offered to us in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11), and we receive it by faith (Romans 3:28; 5:1). According to Galatians 2:17, it is Christ who justifies us. According to Romans 8:33, it is God who justifies us. All these scriptural facts of our justification point to the truth that it is all of our Triune God.

In our verse, it is also declared that all whom God freely justifies are also “heirs according to the hope of eternal life”. That is to say, eternal life is an inheritance that God provides for those whom He justifies. Only those who are justified can be heirs of “the hope of eternal life”.

We are made heirs of eternal life, and hence we have the well-grounded expectation of it. Every believer, being justified by God, has a real hope of eternal life. He is waiting for “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4) for him. He waits in anticipation of glorious things to come in eternity. As one commentator said, “even the meanest believer is a great heir”.

Because every believer is a great heir of the hope of eternal life, he should endure all his trials in this life, and set his affections on the wonderful inheritance he has in eternity. Every Christian is a possessor of a guaranteed future, referred to as “the hope of eternal life”.

READ:

Romans 5:9

⁹ Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

EXHORTATION:

In this verse, Paul delineates another blessing of our justification. The phrase, “much more then”, at the beginning of the verse introduces an argument from the greater to the lesser: if Christ has already achieved the great work of justifying sinners by shedding His blood, He will certainly perform the comparatively simple task of keeping them safe. If, when we were enemies, He overcame all that was in the way of our salvation, then now that we are His own people, we all the more have reason to expect that He will afford us protection!

As he had said before in verse 1, Paul here presents our justification as an accomplished fact, when he declared us as “being now justified by his blood”. Our justification is now ratified and guaranteed by the blood Christ shed for us on the cross. An emphasis is placed on “his blood”. It is not the blood of bulls and goats, but the blood of Christ the Son of God, that was shed for our justification. The blood of Christ was efficacious to all the purposes for which it was shed, namely our propitiation (Romans 3:25), our redemption (Ephesians 1:7: Colossians 1:14; 1 Peter 1:18-19), our cleansing (1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5; 7:14), and our justification in particular.

Oh, how concerned our Lord Jesus was regarding our justification! In order to seal our justification, He shed His blood for us in His death on the cross. There is nothing more to be done for our justification. The shedding of His blood has fully and thoroughly accomplished and secured our justification. As Paul said in Colossians 2:14, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross”.

Because we are justified by His blood, Paul declares in this verse that “we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Admittedly, because of our sins, we were “children of wrath” and “children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2, 3), upon whom “the wrath of God cometh” (Colossians 3:6). However, Paul here declares that because of Christ’s shed blood, we shall be entirely delivered from God’s wrath even though we deserve it. The justification by the blood of Christ frees us from the wrath of God that was upon us.

Our present justification guarantees our future deliverance from God’s wrath and righteous judgment against the unrepentant and the unsaved.

READ:

Romans 5:1

¹ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

EXHORTATION:

To “justify” means to “pronounce guiltless”. A person is justified when he is accepted by God as free from the guilt of sin and its deserved punishment, having been imputed with the righteousness of Christ. So, justification consists of remission of sins and imputation of Christ’s righteousness.

But how are we justified? By faith! We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ who died and resurrected to deliver us from our sin and judgment. The apostle Paul has explained earlier in Romans 3:22, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.” Paul also said in Romans 4:24-25 of justification that it is “for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Justification of a sinner is grounded in Christ’s death and resurrection. Romans 3:24 declares, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”.

Hence, faith in Christ is said to justify a sinner, because it is the instrument by which we receive Christ’s righteousness and redemption. By faith, His righteousness is conveyed to us. We are not justified by our own works, but by faith in Christ. In Romans 3:28, we read, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” In Galatians 2:16, it is said, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

The justification that we receive by faith causes us to be at peace with God. If we remain in our sin and condemnation, we shall be separated from God. Thus, justification is indispensable to being at peace with God. Justification brings about a changed relationship with God. Being justified by faith, we can have the assurance that God shall never cast us away. He will no more lay on our hearts the intolerable sense of infinite disapproval and displeasure. Every “justified” sinner can say, “Nothing shall now separate me from God; and I will walk with God in peace.”