Old Testament reading: Psalm 19-23
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). The consistency of the created order speaks to every person on earth. From the time God created all things, man has been able to see God’s hand in nature. Everywhere one may go, he sees the evidence of God’s unimaginable power and intelligence. Across the globe, humanity naturally recognizes that a superior mind and power indeed exists, for the earth and all the things in it are insufficient to explain their own existence. Even those who neither know nor believe in the God revealed in the Bible still know that man is insufficient to explain the existence of the creation. Thus, they worship a host of gods, knowing in their hearts that some higher power exists. Psalm 19 also contains an interesting statement in verse 13: “Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins.” Any time man assumes to act on God’s behalf or offer worship to God that He has not commanded, it is the height of presumption. Who are we to assume what pleases God apart from doing what He has said? We are not at liberty to do what pleases us and validate the same by attaching God’s name to it.
New Testament reading: Luke 8-9
Luke 9 begins with the empowering of the twelve to cast out all demons and heal every disease. Matthew 10 includes the power to raise the dead (v 8). This necessarily includes Judas Iscariot, whom Jesus later described as being given to Him by His Father but later was lost (John 17:12). Judas presents a conundrum for those who embrace and teach the error of the impossibility of apostasy. If this doctrine, also known as “once saved, always saved” is true, and that any who fall away “were never saved to begin with,” then Jesus empowered a lost man to work miracles in His name and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. On the other hand, if Judas was indeed saved, then a man may be saved even after betraying the Lord and unrepentingly committing suicide. I don’t think anyone wants to take up this banner either. It is always much easier to believe the truth than to attempt to defend error.
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