Monday: Righteous Judgment for a Wicked Man

Theme: David and Ahimelech

This week’s lessons remind us that those who do evil will eventually receive the judgment of God, and that in response to this truth we as Christians are to praise the Lord for his righteousness and trust in God’s unfailing love.

Scripture: Psalm 52:1-9

The heading for Psalm 52 gives the historical setting as one of the most bitter experiences in the life of David: "When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: 'David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.’"

The heading for Psalm 52 gives the historical setting as one of the most bitter experiences in the life of David: "When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: 'David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.’"

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Friday: Cleansed by the Blood: Part 2

Theme: Blessing for Zion

In this week’s lessons we learn that confession of our sin also involves the desire for our inward renewal, as well as the fact that what we do affects other people, for good or ill.

Scripture: Psalm 51:10-19

Teaching is not the only thing David wants to do however. He also wants to praise God rightly. He wants to praise God out of a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Teaching is not the only thing David wants to do however. He also wants to praise God rightly. He wants to praise God out of a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Little Eternal Beings

When God gives us children, He entrusts to our care little eternal beings. Each one of them will spend eternity in either heaven or in hell. There is an unparalleled sobriety that rightly accompanies such delegated responsibility. We often fail to properly prioritize our responsibilities. Our jobs are not eternal; our houses are not eternal; our cars are not eternal; our bank accounts are not eternal; our health is not eternal; but, our children are eternal. The time that we have with them is short. God only gives them so many years in our homes. It is for this reason that God charges Christian parents to take seriously His call for us to spiritually instruct, nurture, admonish, discipline, protect, provide for, prepare and bring our children up to be among those who will know, love, fear and follow the Triune God (Eph. 6:1-4). 

When God gives us children, He entrusts to our care little eternal beings. Each one of them will spend eternity in either heaven or in hell. There is an unparalleled sobriety that rightly accompanies such delegated responsibility. We often fail to properly prioritize our responsibilities. Our jobs are not eternal; our houses are not eternal; our cars are not eternal; our bank accounts are not eternal; our health is not eternal; but, our children are eternal. The time that we have with them is short.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

Thursday: Cleansed by the Blood: Part 2

Theme: Sinners Then Shall Learn from Me

In this week’s lessons we learn that confession of our sin also involves the desire for our inward renewal, as well as the fact that what we do affects other people, for good or ill.

Scripture: Psalm 51:10-19

Restore the joy of your salvation. The third of David's requests in this section is that God restore the joy of his salvation. It is important to note that David is not praying that God would restore his salvation, as if he had lost it and needed to get it back again. It is not the salvation he has lost, but the joy of it. As long as he was living in sin he had no joy. His fellowship with God was broken. Now that he has repented of his sin, found cleansing and is seeking a renewed spirit, he wants to have that joy again.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Weeping While We Work

When you are part of a church for any length of time, you inevitably experience the ups and downs of church life. There are many disappointments, sorrows, and griefs to endure. At times, it is tempting to give up all together.

When you are part of a church for any length of time, you inevitably experience the ups and downs of church life. I attended the same church for two decades and saw leadership change many times over, membership rise and fall, and the life of the church thrive in some seasons and shrivel in others. In the midst of all the changes, there were times when it was hard to keep pushing forward and to continue in my labors for the church. There were many disappointments, sorrows, and griefs to endure. At times, it was tempting to give up all together.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

Wednesday: Cleansed by the Blood: Part 2

Theme: Sustained by God

In this week’s lessons we learn that confession of our sin also involves the desire for our inward renewal, as well as the fact that what we do affects other people, for good or ill.

Scripture: Psalm 51:10-19

As we consider what David meant when he prayed that God would not take the Holy Spirit from him, it is helpful to consider what other people have said about it.

John Calvin believed in eternal security, of course. So when he came to this verse he argued that David's prayer that God not take away the Holy Spirit showed that he still possessed the Holy Spirit. Hence, even his great sins of adultery and murder had not threatened David's perseverance in grace. The bottom line of Calvin's answer to the apparent problem of this verse would seem to be that David did not need to pray as he did, since the removal of God's Spirit from a born again son or daughter of God is an impossibility. Calvin wrote, "It is natural that the saints, when they have fallen into sin, and have thus done what they could to expel the grace of God, should feel an anxiety upon this point; but it is their duty to hold fast the truth, that grace is the incorruptible seed of God, which can never perish in any heart where it has been deposited.”2

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Tuesday: Cleansed by the Blood: Part 2

Theme: A New Creation

In this week’s lessons we learn that confession of our sin also involves the desire for our inward renewal, as well as the fact that what we do affects other people, for good or ill.

Scripture: Psalm 51:10-19

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Monday: Cleansed by the Blood: Part 2

Theme: Pardon and Purity

In this week’s lessons we learn that confession of our sin also involves the desire for our inward renewal, as well as the fact that what we do affects other people, for good or ill.

Scripture: Psalm 51:10-19

Because the psalms are poetry, as a whole they do not have the kind of outlines we expect from didactic literature. The verses do not build on one another with statements, reasons for those statements, and conclusions. We do not find many connective words like "therefore," "so," "thus" or "but." This does not mean that the psalms do not have orderly progressions, however. Psalm 51 obviously does. It has six parts, as we saw in last week’s devotional, and these flow naturally from God, with whom the psalm begins, to the psalmist, who is praying for forgiveness and renewal, to the people whom his experience of forgiveness and renewal will affect.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Friday: Cleansed by the Blood: Part 1

Theme: Cleanse Me with Hyssop

In this week’s lessons we see from the life of David the biblical way to deal with our sin, and learn what God’s response is toward us when we do.

Scripture: Psalm 51:1-9

"Cleanse" means "purge." But it is based on the word for sin (chattah) and literally means "de-sin” me. David wanted to have his sin completely purged away. He did not want to retain even a stain of it. "Wash” refers to the lustrations of the law. Centuries later Isaiah would write, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Isa. 1:18). David wanted to be washed until he was as clean as that. "Blot out" refers to removing writing from a book, perhaps removing an indictment. It is the exact opposite of Pilate's words at the time of Jesus trial and crucifixion: "What I have written, I have written” (John 19:22).

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Imagining a World of Love

What a joy and privilege to think that believing men and women who have worshipped here on earth now do so in a much more glorious and enhanced manner now in Heaven. With such deaths as these, our hearts and minds should be rightly set on Heaven.

If you're anything like me, your mind has been drawn heavenward in recent months as you heard the news about the death of such precious saints as R.C. Sproul and Billy Graham. As I recently conducted the funeral service of a longtime church member and elder of the church where I serve, these thoughts again filled my mind. What a joy and privilege to think that believing men and women who have worshipped here on earth now do so in a much more glorious and enhanced manner now in Heaven. With such deaths as these, our hearts and minds should be rightly set on Heaven.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

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