Al's Devotional

This is worth the study, ~Al In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Col 1:14   I. What remission of sins is . 1. Sin is a violation of the law of God (1Jn 3:4). In this law there is the precept which is the rule of duty, and the sanction or penalty which shows what God might do if He dealt with us according to our merit. Accordingly in sin there is— (1) The fault. Man, God's subject, and obliged to Him by His benefits, swerves from the rule of his duty and exposes himself to God's judgment. (2) The guilt, which is liableness to punishment. 2. Forgiveness is a dissolving the obligation to punishment, a freedom in God's way from the consequences of sin. (1) It is not a disannulling of the act as a natural action. What is done cannot be undone. (2) Nor is it abolished as a criminal action. Forgiveness does not make a fault to b...

Another brief bit of wisdom, ~Al And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled  C ol 1:21      Forgiveness and remission of sins   Strictly speaking it is not sins that are forgiven, but their penalty. All men know what "to give" is; but what is it to for-give? To forth-give or give forth. When a man in ancient times forgave, he gave forth from himself something he was entitled to retain. When a man does injury to another he is liable to a penalty, and formerly every penalty short of death consisted of valuable material such as live cattle or money; and it was that, laid at the injured person's feet, that was given forth from the receiver, when he was willing to forgive the injurer. Precisely speaking it was not the injury that was forth-given; the injury was never at the disposal of the injured person. It was the penalty incurred ...

This is brief, but well said, ~Al And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:  Col 1:20 -22       III. Christ is the redeemer. There is no other. His types and symbols teach this. There was but one ark in the flood, and all perished save those who sailed in it. There was but one altar in the Temple, one way through the Red Sea, "one Mediator between God and man." 1. Christ does not redeem us by simply revealing the truth. Were He a Savior only in this sense there are others. From "the Sun of Righteousness" He changes into a star, o...

Dear All, I love expository preaching.  All too often it is easy to read over an account in the Bible and not give it much thought, but to do so robs us of deep insights.  True expository preaching should be informative as well as applicative.  If we can't apply it to our lives, it is only so much trivia.  A layman might look at a floor plan of a house and only see lines, but a construction foreman sees a three dimensional house.  Do you think that may be the role of a pastor; to look at the plans and see the finished product, and to apply resources to build that house? God be with you,  ~Al And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,  Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,  And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;  As he spake by the mouth of his ...

Hello All, I love the simplicity of Ryle.  I am going through his commentary on Luke and I have come across these gleanings that are brief, but edifying.  They are worthy of meditation. Enjoy.  As always, drop me a line and let me know what you think.  ~Al  But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wis...

Wow, All I have to say is, well said. ~Al Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,  Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;  It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,  That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.   Luk 1:1 -4       The short preface which we have now read is a peculiar feature of St. Luke's Gospel. But we shall find, on examination, that it is full of most useful instruction. In the first place, St. Luke gives us a short, but valuable, sketch of the nature of a Gospel . He calls it, " a declaration of those things which are mo...

Good morning, This is brief and well said. ~Al In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:  Col 1:14    It is the Day of Atonement. Two young kids of the goats are presented before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle. Those young spotless creatures are a double type of Jesus when in the councils of eternity He presented Himself before Jehovah, saying, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." The lot is cast—one for the Lord, the other for the scapegoat—to deter mine which shall represent our Savior in the act of His death, and which in the fruit of His death, viz., the bearing of the sins of the people. The first falls as a sin-offering. The high priest having caught its flowing blood in a golden bowl, enters within the veil, and, alone, sprinkles it upon the mercy-seat. Coming forth, he goes up to the living goat; standing over it, he lays his hands upon its head; and, amid sole...

Good Morning! What a blessed day!  It's nice to know the will of God.  When the Word says, This is the Will of God , I think we should all listen. God's love be upon you this day, ~Al   For this is the will of God, even your sanctification … 1Th 4:3   Of sanctification The notion of the word sanctification signifies to consecrate and set apart to an holy use. Sanctification hath a privative and a positive part. 1. A privative part, mortification, which lies in the purging out of sin. Though it takes not away the life, yet it takes away the love of sin. 2. A positive part, vivification, which is the spiritual refining of the soul, which in Scripture is called a "renewing of your mind" and a "partaking of the Divine nature." The priests in the law not only were washed in the great laver, but adorned with glorious apparel; so sanctification not only washes fro...

The burial of the past 1 . Life is a series of fresh beginnings. We cannot really undo the past, but still we have to do as much towards it as we can. Nothing is more natural than to say to ourselves, "Let me begin again; all this has been a very foolish mistake; I am very sorry that I took the turn I did." The beginning again is made impossible by the indelible character of what we have done. Besides the reputation we have acquired, there is the memory of our past life. If we could but wipe out the past, and retain the experience that we have gained without the pain and sin through which we gained it, that would, as it seems, wholly satisfy our need, and we could really commence afresh. We do not quite ask to be put on the same level as we might have reached if we had been more careful, more in earnest. What we ask for is to be enabled to fight the next battle without the burden of the past on us. We want, in short, to bury a great deal of the past, ...

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.  Gen 22:3    The Direction of Duty   Abraham took the direction of his duty from God's word, not from his own discernment (cf. Gen. 12:4; Heb. 11:8).  Our danger is to water down God's word to suit ourselves.  God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word.  The discernment of God's call does not come in every moment of life, but only in rare moments; the moments Our Lord spoke of as 'the light' (John 12: 35-36).  We have to remain true to what we see in those moments; if we do not, we will put back God's purpose in our life.  The undercurrent of regret arises when we confer with those who have not heard the call of God, and if we listen to them we get...

Something to think about as we enter into Good Friday, ~Al And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.  Num 10:35       Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.  As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.  But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.  Psa 68:1 -3   To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David.     A good prayer   This was what was always said by Moses, when the ark set forward afresh in the wilderness. Enemies were in the path of its progress, and if the ark was to advance, God must scatter them . Advance of...

Good morning,   I don't like the old prophet that beguiled the Man of God to his death.  To me, he is the epitome of casual religion.  It took a man from a different kingdom, Judah, to come into Israel to remonstrate the king of Israel for his wickedness.  The old prophet didn't have the drive or the faith to do such a thing, but he wanted to be counted with those who did.  He wanted to stand equal with the Man of God.  In order to do this, he lied to him, then was able to be put in the position of condemning the Man of God in the name of the L ORD .  He must have thought that he was hot stuff. And then the old prophet wants to still identify with the Man of God—'o, when I die bury me with him.'  What utter garbage.  There is no mention of judgement against the old prophet for what he had done, isn't that interesting? When God gives you a task to do, be aware that your subtlest of enemies may...