the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
2 Timothy 4:4
‘Turned unto fables’
Read Psalms 115:1-18
Writing under divine inspiration, the apostle Paul warned Timothy that the time would come when the bulk of religious people would not endure sound doctrine. The apostasy of the religious world, Paul said, would be so great that they would seek preachers and teachers who would cater for the lust of men rather than proclaim the gospel of the grace of God. Under the influence of these prophets of deceit, the professed church of God would be turned from the truth and turned unto fables. The time which Paul predicted has come. ‘Even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.’ ‘Many false prophets are gone out into the world,’ turning men away from the truth unto fables. Here are three popular fables.
'God loves everybody.’ This sounds so good to sinful men. Rebels like to hear it. If God loves me, everything is all right. God will not damn me if he loves me. Do not be so foolish as to receive this fable. God does not love everybody! He says, ‘Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated’ (Romans 9:13). God loves his own elect, and loves them only because they are in Christ. If you are in Christ, if you believe on Christ and are made righteous by Christ, God loves you. If you are not in Christ, God is angry with you. You are an object of his wrath.
'Christ died for everybody.’ Men love to hear this fable. It tells them that it is their faith, the exercise of their free will, that accomplishes redemption, that they complete the work of Christ. How man revels with pride! My friend, Christ did not die for everybody! Christ died for his own elect, for his church, his sheep (John 10: I 1, 15). And when he died, he obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12; Isaiah 53:8-11).
'The Holy Spirit is trying to save everybody.’ You know that is not so. Can God fail to do what he tries to do? Such a thought is blasphemous. God is not trying to save everybody! God saves all his elect by his irresistible grace (Psalms 65:4). Salvation is not by man’s will, but by God’s will (Romans 9:16).
