Scripture at Sunrise 04.13.2021

“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.” -Philippians 3:21

Often when we are racked with pain and unable to think or worship, we feel that this indeed is “the body of our humiliation,” and when we are tempted by the passions which rise from the flesh we do not think the word vile at all too vigorous a translation. Our bodies humble us; and that is about the best thing they do for us. Oh, that we were duly lowly, because our bodies ally us with animals and even link us with the dust!

But our Savior, the Lord Jesus, shall change all this. We shall be fashioned like His own body of glory. This will take place in all who believe in Jesus. By faith their souls have been transformed, and their bodies will undergo such a renewal as shall fit them for their regenerated spirits. How soon this grand transformation will happen we cannot tell; but the thought of it should help us to bear the trials of today and all the woes of the flesh. In a little while we shall be as Jesus now is. No more aching brows, no more swollen limbs, no more dim eyes, no more fainting hearts. The old man shall be no more a bundle of infirmities, nor the sick man a mass of agony. “Like unto his glorious body.” What an expression! Even our flesh shall rest in hope of such a resurrection!

[from Faith’s Checkbook by Charles H. Spurgeon]

SCRIPTURE AT SUNRISE 03.04.2021

“We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” – Numbers 11:5

Sin wants you to forget how much it costs.

“We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost us nothing.” – Num. 11:5

The Israelites longed to go back to Egypt because they looked on their former slavery with rose-colored glasses.

Sin assures you that its pain was worth its pleasure.

-Garrett Kell via Twitter

Scripture at Sunrise 3.11.2020

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” -1 Timothy 1:15

The pain of knowing the great distance between our character and Christ’s is great evidence of conversion. The lost man knows no such pain. Our need should not drive us to despair, but to Christ, who came for this purpose—to save sinners! We look to Christ with nothing in our hands. -Paul Washer

Scripture at Sunrise 7.18.2018

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. -2 Corinthians 12:9

“I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received of my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable.” -Charles H. Spurgeon

Scripture at Sunrise 1.27.2011

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”  -John 3:36

To manage a life of pain, as a believer in Jesus, remember: This is all the hell you will ever bear. -Robert Murray M’Cheyne, via John Piper’s Twitter

Scripture at Sunrise 9.11.09

“God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  -Romans 5:8

On the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many people still question why God would allow such a horrible thing to happen.  John Piper of Desiring God gives several reasons, this being the final one.  

Finally, the reason this terrorized and troubled world exists is to make a place for Jesus Christ the Son of God to suffer and die for our sins. The reason there is terror is so that Christ would be terrorized. The reason there is trouble is so that Christ could be troubled. The reason there is pain is so that Christ could feel pain. This is the world God prepared for the suffering and death of his Son. This is the world where God made the best display of his love in the suffering of his Son.

Romans 5:8, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” All his suffering was the plan of God to reveal redeeming love to us. The sovereignty of God, the evil of the world, and the love of God meet at the cross of Christ. Listen to this amazing statement from Acts 4:27-28 about God’s plan for the suffering of his Son—for you! “Truly in this city [Jerusalem] there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” All the scheming, all the flogging, all the spitting, all the beating with rods, all the mockery, all the abandonment by his friends, all the thorns in his head, all the nails in his hands and feet, the sword in his side, weight of the sins of the world—all of it according to God’s plan. For you to see God’s love more graphically.

God’s deepest answer to terrorism and calamity is the suffering and death of his Son. He entered into our fallen world of sin and misery and death. He bore in himself the cause of it all—sin. And he bought by his death the cure for it all—forgiveness and everlasting joy in the age to come.

[Read the full post from Desiring God.]