Luke

This is Jesus

April 4, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

Why do you love Jesus? Don’t say, “Because of all He has done for me.” That’s lazy and robs us of dwelling on how awesome He is, as well as robs Him of the glory He is due. Remember, each of us has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard of perfection (Romans 3:23). If we die in our sins, our eternal destiny is Hell (Romans 6:23; Matthew 25:41).

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Unable to save ourselves, we are helpless and lost. We need a savior and Jesus is that Savior. Because of our sin, we deserve to suffer the wrath of God, but Jesus chose to suffer in our place. He chose to die on the cross, enduring our shame, and spilling His blood as a sacrifice for the debt we could never pay. This is Jesus. His death gives hope to the hopeless.

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Lord of Your Life

March 14, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

If we aren’t spending every moment of this life preparing for the next one, what is the point of our existence? Jesus is our Lord, and that means we give everything to Him. Every activity, every thought, every interaction, they are all for Him. Anything you do that isn’t for the glory of Christ is a rejection of His Lordship. If we confess Jesus as Lord with our lips but deny it with the way we live, then our confession isn’t genuine. You might be thinking, “It’s impossible to live that way”, and you’d be right.

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Each one of us would be damned to Hell if not for the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. That grace is His side of the equation. Our side is to accept that gift by acknowledging Him as our Lord. So, if at the core of your being, and with every ounce of your strength, you aren’t intent on pursuing every aspect of your life for His glory, then your surrender to Him as the Lord of your life cannot be genuine.

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Don’t Be Caught Off Guard

March 11, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

How did you spend your last day off? Or, given the endless responsibilities in our busy world, perhaps a better question might be, “What would a perfect day look like to you?” Playing video games? Watching movies? Sleeping? Eating everything in the refrigerator? How many of us look forward to filling any free time with studying God’s Word?

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Is it any wonder we are always caught off guard when we have an opportunity to share the Gospel? Paul urged the followers of Jesus to be ready to defend the Gospel at any time (2 Timothy 4:1-2). We’ll never be ready as long as we keep our brains engaged with the things of this world instead of what God has written in His Word.

Genuine Repentance

March 7, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

After recently writing about repentance (see “Repentance”), I didn’t think I’d be revisiting the topic so soon. Then I came across the following quote from Puritan Josias (Josiah) Shute concerning genuine repentance: “True repentance is when a man grieves for his sin to the extent that he abandons it.” It is one thing to think we are sorry for disobeying the commands of God. It is another to resolve from doing it again.

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But it is something else altogether for our sin to so grieve us that we abandon any thought of pursuing it in the future. We don’t just quit repeating the sin for a moment, or even for an extended period, but become so destroyed by even the thought of revisiting such sin that we scarcely even entertain a thought of it for the rest of our lives.

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What Does God Require?

February 26, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

What does God require from you? Isn’t this the most important question you can ask after who you say Jesus is (Matthew 16:15-17)? What the Lord requires of you is simple and God clearly articulates in Scripture what His requirements are. Deuteronomy 10:12 says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?”

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What He required of Israel is what He continues to require from His people today. We know if we love Him, we will keep His commands (John 14:15), so we must always be reminding ourselves of what those commands are. If the commands of God are not always at the forefront of our minds, we will quickly drift into living for the things we desire instead of what God requires.