Daily Bread

Monday, April 21, 2014

We Never Need to Say, “The Devil Made Me Do It”

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

For many years I could not understand Romans chapter 5. Even after I completed my course in the Theological Seminary, it was over my head. As a pastor, I shied away from it in the pulpit. Then a kind friend sent me a series of articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner, from 1896. At last light began to shine through:

(1) When our first "father" Adam sinned in the Garden, a change, of mortality, came over him; he had to pass that on to all of us.

(2) The heavenly Father so loved us that He gave His only Son to save us; Jesus became our "last Adam," or second Adam.

(3) He took on His sinless nature our fallen, sinful nature and became in all points "tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15).

(4) In other words, Christ, having come now in "the likeness of sinful flesh" and "on account of sin," has condemned sin in that same fallen, sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3); He has condemned, conquered, defeated, trampled upon, sin in ourfallen, sinful flesh, giving us the immense hope that by His grace and in His faith, we can overcome also.

(5) He has proved that we need never again say "the devil made me do it."

(6) He has thus given us the confidence that the great controversy between Christ and Satan can be brought to its triumphant conclusion.

(7) And that confidence is now assured that the final victory hour is near--yes, in our lifetime, by the more abounding grace of Christ.

That's good news that should be heralded to earth's remotest boundaries. Come, help us proclaim it!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 5, 2008.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Risen With Christ

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The apostle Paul has given us priceless counsel: "I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" (Rom. 12:3). None of us are excused from listening.

But if he stops there in the middle of his sentence, he leaves us in such a state of self-depreciation and unworthiness, that life could become a hell on earth. How highly should I "think of myself"? I have sinned (Rom. 3:23); I "am less than the least of all saints" (Eph. 3:8); I have no "righteousness of my own" (Phil. 3:9); not only am I a sinner, I "am the chief of sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15); my natural-born unbelief merits for me "condemnation" because I "have loved darkness rather than light" (John 3:18, 19); "woe is me, for I am undone" (Isa. 6:5).

But Paul doesn't stop halfway through that sentence. He continues: while I am to think of myself in a humble way, I am also to "think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." (1) No matter how much I have sinned, how unworthy I am, God has given me an appropriate personal gift of faith. (2) He respects and honors my personality (Psalm 139:5-18). (3) He has already died my second death (Heb. 2:9). (4) Thus He has elected me to eternal salvation (Eph. 1:4-6), (5) not willing that I should perish (1 Tim. 2:4). (6) If I simply tell the truth, Christ is already my "Savior, ... especially" if I "believe" (1 Tim. 4:10; John 4:42). (7) Therefore I am invited to the great banquet of "the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:9) where there is a place card with my name on it--all by virtue of Christ's sacrifice on His cross when He went to hell to find me.

Does this mean that I shall continue living in sin, rebellion, and transgression of God's holy law? If the love (agape) of Christ constrains and motivates me, I CAN'T live for self (2 Cor. 5:14, 15), for the Holy Spirit is stronger than my own sinful nature that I was born with (Gal. 5:16, 17), and the much more abounding grace of Christ is stronger than the world's abounding sin (Rom. 5:20).

Yes, if I get a glimpse of the cross of Christ, I know that I belong there instead of Him, I deserve what He suffered; I confess it, and lo, "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20).

And that "measure of faith" that God has given me makes me live "risen with Christ" (Rom. 6:5).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 4, 2004.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Were You There?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Paul tells us, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (2 Cor. 13:5). So, let's take a little self-help quiz. Maybe we can anticipate the final judgment in a sober, healthy way:

(1) If you had been living in Noah's day, would you have faced the ridicule of the crowd and walked up the gangplank into his ark, all alone?

(2) If you had been living in Abraham's day, would you have left your family and kindred in Mesopotamia, and followed him in his visionary journey to a land that he (and you) had not seen, in response to God's call?

(3) If you had been living in Elijah's day, when he stood on Mount Carmel facing an angry king of Israel and 450 leaders of the popular religion of the day, would you have stepped out from the crowd and joined him when he stood there alone? (Not one did!)

(4) If you had been living in Jeremiah's day when King Jehoiakim and the princes, the priests, and "all the people" wanted to execute him as a traitor to the nation, would you have been brave enough to defend him before them all? (Read Jeremiah 26!)

(5) When King Zedekiah had him thrown into the dungeon, and put down that muddy deep well, would you have risked your life to pull him out like Ebedmelech did? (Read Jeremiah 38.)

(6) If you had gathered on the plain of Dura with the multitudes before Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, when the symphony orchestra struck up the national anthem, would you have bowed also to avoid going into the burning fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

(7) If you had been there that Friday morning before breakfast, gathered before Pilate, when the multitude shouted, "Crucify Him!" would you have told His Excellency the Governor, "Sir, if you crucify this Man, you crucify me, too!"

Were you there, whey they crucified my Lord?

Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, ... tremble!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 11, 1999.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

One More Day to Share a Morsel of the Bread of Life

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The question, How old is the earth?, is a fascinating study. And how long will it be until Jesus keeps His promise, "I will come again" (John 14:3)?

What the Bible says is squarely against the theory of macro-evolution: by adding up the life-spans of the antediluvian patriarchs (from Adam to Noah), and the subsequent Bible history so there is a total picture from Creation to the first coming of Christ, the sum comes to 4000 years--plus or minus a little according to interpretations of minor details by various scholars. This has been the view of most Bible students for several hundred years. Adding the years since Anno Domini, the birth of Christ the Savior of the world, the total is about 2000, in fact, a bit more, making roughly a grand total of 6000 years since the Bible story of Creation.

Yes, scientists laugh; but there are the stark realities--either you believe the Bible or you believe the theory of evolution. There are competent scientists in all the fields of natural science who do believe the Bible record of God's creation in a literal six days and its subsequent history; add to this the fact that Jesus believed it as well as His apostles; then add the fact that millions of kind-hearted, unselfish, loving people believe the Bible and cherish "the blessed hope" of Jesus' second coming just like the Bible says. Add all this together and you have plenty of evidence on which to base a reasonable faith. The alternative: a despairing world view.

One highly respected Christian writer, Ellen G. White, has written 40 or more times that the second coming of Christ will come within this period of 6000 years, implying that the "millennium" of Revelation 20 will be a "sabbath" of "rest" for a weary and worn-out planet before the joyous re-creation of a "new heavens and new earth" of Revelation 21, 22. But the 6000 years are already up! Are we living in the biblical "millennium" now, or will we be when the next New Year rolls around?

Obviously, no. The best answer to such questions is: (1) God's word predicts a trial of faith known as a "tarrying time" (Hab. 2:3; Matt. 25:5; Heb. 10:37). Be patient! (2) Remember that whenever Jesus comes and "the door [for saving more people] is shut," you and I will wish we had done more to give people the Good News (Matt. 25:10). (3) Be thankful you have one more day in which to prepare, and to share with somebody somewhere a morsel of the Bread of Life. May this tidbit be a blessing to someone!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 3, 1999.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

The New Covenant Correctly Understood

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How shall we understand Romans? Paul's Letter is stirring up a lot of controversy; the issue of course is righteousness by faith, and it is not a side issue, quibbling about non-essential trivia. It's about the very heart of the gospel, "the third angel's message in verity." Luther said Romans is the clearest Gospel of all. Can you explain it to someone else, verse by verse?

For today's "Dial Daily Bread," let me simply include a passage from Romans, as it is found in Eugene Peterson's paraphrase (The Message). He may not be perfect in his rendition (no translation is perfect!), but he certainly grasps the heart of what Paul is saying:

(This is Romans 4:10 and onwards): "Now think: was that declaration [that Abraham was justified] made before or after he was marked by the covenant rite of circumcision? That's right, before he was marked. That means he underwent circumcision as evidence and confirmation of what God had done long before to bring him into this acceptable standing with Himself, an act of God he had embraced with his whole life. And it means further that Abraham is the father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the 'outs' with God, as yet unidentified as God's, in an 'uncircumcised' condition. It is precisely these people in this condition who are called 'set right by God and with God'! ... That famous promise God gave Abraham--that he and his children would possess the earth--was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered [experienced] when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust [faith] completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise--and God's promise at that--you can't break it."

Yes! this rendition understands the New Covenant correctly!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 8, 1997.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Can the Gospel Ever Lighten the Earth With Glory?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How can the gospel ever truly lighten the earth with glory? How can it capture the attention of earth's billions? Many are too poor and hungry even to want to understand it; others are too pleasure-loving to care about it.

Yet God has promised that His gospel is not going to die out in a whimper. In Matthew 24:14 Jesus promised, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." And He promises in Revelation 18:1-4 that the full message of the pure gospel is yet to "lighten the earth" with glory. A wise person has written, "The honest children of God" everywhere will respond; they will "sever the bands which have held them. Family connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. Truth [will be] more precious than all besides. ... A large number take their stand upon the Lord's side."

Zechariah tells us of that day: "People will write their friends in other cities and say, 'Let's go to Jerusalem [that's a symbol of the church] to ask the Lord to bless us. ... I'm going! ... Let's go now! ... Ten men from ten different nations will clutch at the coat sleeves of one Jew [a child of God] and say, 'Please be my friend, for I know that God is with you'" (Zech. 8:21-23, The Living Bible).

Well, it all seems impossible now, with so many people totally absorbed in want, work, or pleasure; but the Lord Jesus Christ gave His blood for the salvation of this world. Satan cannot win the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

Revelation pictures Christ as the bleeding Lamb of God who alone of any being in the universe can open the mysterious seven seals of cosmic destiny. That message of the Lamb--the message of His sacrifice on His cross--this will lighten the earth with glory. Is it lighting your own heart with glory today? Don't get left behind!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 10, 1998.

Monday, April 14, 2014

SST #3 | "Christ and Religious Tradition" | Paul Penno

Is Salvation a 50/50 "Balance"?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Can we talk too much about what Christ has done to save us? Should we talk 50% of what He has done, or is doing, and then talk 50% of what we must do to be saved? That 50/50 balance sounds quite reasonable, doesn't it? Yes, and millions who say they are Christians view the gospel that way. And they are lukewarm in their devotion to Christ!

Paul didn't buy into the 50/50 idea. When he came to Corinth he said, "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). Wait a moment, Paul! Aren't you unbalanced? Sure, preach the cross--but not as "everything"? If you talk too much about what Christ has done to save us, aren't you afraid that your listeners will get lazy and stop keeping the commandments of God?

No, says Paul: "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing; but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ... We preach Christ crucified. ... Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1:18, 23, 24). Then he adds in verse 29, "No flesh can glory [boast] in God's presence." Now if you are saving yourself 50/50, if you are "trusting" to your "sanctified obedience for salvation," if you believe that "sanctification ... in us ... [is] part of the means of our salvation," you have plenty to boast about. (I am quoting word for word from a publication produced by scholars who tell us how to be saved.)

In contrast, Paul says that Christ saves us 100% and that the believer's part is to let Him do it, to cooperate with Him, to respond to the constraint of His love, thankful every step of the way that Christ is the one who is his Savior TOTALLY. Paul sees no co-saviors on the believer's horizon. And if we will listen to Paul preach in Corinth about the cross, and believe what we hear him say, our lukewarmness will be finished.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 16, 1998.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Thank God, We Can Learn From Moses!

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you ever prayed about a difficult situation, and the more you prayed and "obeyed" the worse it got? If your answer is No, then welcome to always-sunny skies. But some of us have met the storms that Moses met. For 40 years he had prayed for God to deliver his people Israel from slavery in Egypt, and nothing had happened. Finally the Lord met him at the burning bush and commissioned him to go back to Egypt and deliver them. "Face the king and demand emancipation for My people." The story is in Exodus 4, 5.

So, what happens? A miracle? Pharaoh suddenly collapses in front of Moses and says, "Let them go!"? No, far from it; the more Moses demands freedom, the meaner Pharaoh becomes, and in a fit of anger he actually makes their slavery worse, doubling their workloads.

The irate Israelite "officers" meet Moses and chew him out: "The Lord will ... punish you for making the king and his officers hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us" (5:21, GNB). Sunny skies? Not for Moses! His own people resent him for doing exactly what God has told him to do. The more he prays and "obeys," the worse the situation becomes.

Moses has asked God for a piece of "bread," and it looks like the opposite of what Jesus promises: God has given him "a scorpion" or "a stone."

What about your prayers when things get worse? (1) Don't go off in a huff and give up on the Lord. Moses did the right thing and so should you. The next verse says, "Then Moses turned to the Lord again" and laid the problem out before Him. "Ever since I went to the king to speak for You, he has treated them cruelly. And You [God] have done nothing to help them!" (vs. 23). (2) Next, listen to what God tells you then. "He that cometh to God must believe" (a) that "He is," and (b) that "He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).

Thank God, we can learn from Moses!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 8, 1999.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Moses and the "Conference" on the Mount

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Who was Moses? Would he fit in with our 21st century world?

These questions are not irrelevant because he is alive, somewhere. “The dead in Christ” are all asleep, awaiting the first resurrection at the second coming of Christ” (Rev. 20:6; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; John 5:28, 29). But Moses was granted a special resurrection (Jude 9)! He would doubtless have been granted translation without experiencing death as Enoch (Heb. 11:5), but Moses brought shame and disgrace on the Lord by losing his temper at Kadesh (Num. 20:7-13). In anger he struck the rock twice to bring water to the people rather than speak the word as the Lord had commanded him. In so doing he had given the people the impression that he--not the Lord--was providing their water.

But after he was especially resurrected, one would think that Moses would be lonely in heaven, for human companionship, except for Enoch and Elijah who were translated, for all the others who have believed in the Lord are “asleep.” But surely God would give Moses something meaningful to do to relieve his celestial boredom. And we have a brief glimpse in Matthew 17 of his assigned work; God sent him to minister encouragement to the Savior of the world in the conference on the Mount of Transfiguration (vss. 1-3).

Moses had an experience that enabled him to come close to Christ. His heart had been “enlarged” (cf. Psalm 119:32, KJV) in his appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ. He was qualified to minister to Christ. He and Elijah shared this deeper insight so that the two of them were sent on this unique errand. In his love for God’s people (“the church in the wilderness,” Acts 7:38) Moses asked for his own name to be blotted out of the book of life if thereby he could save Israel (Ex. 32:32, 33). That is a rare love--it’s agape! It motivated Christ.

The love that Moses knew did not precede the love that moved Christ; Moses learned it from Him, for Christ was first. But what’s important is that he did learn it! He opened his heart; he did not resist it. Moses had a point of intimacy with Christ. He was qualified to attend the conference on the Mount and speak words of encouragement to Jesus. Thank God that he did!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 18, 2006.

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

Delivered From the "Bondage" of Egyptian Materialism

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It's one of the greatest stories ever told, and it's 100% true: a man destined for the throne of the then-greatest empire in the world turns his back on that bright career in order to share with Jesus the bearing of His cross.

Moses was no dummy. He "was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians [considerable!], and was mighty in words and deeds" (Acts 7:22). He had the equivalent of a dozen doctoral degrees. (He is in fact even to this day the most widely read author of all time.) His earthly path was strewn with flowers; was immensely popular as Egypt's Crown Prince; had won military victories that endeared him to the nation; the throne was his.

But he had learned about the sacrifice of Christ. True, he lived long before the incarnation of the Son of God, but that sacrifice was made "from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8), so that Moses could experience a heart-appreciation of the agape that led the Son of God to take those seven steps in condescension in our behalf that led Him to the "curse" of death on a cross for us (Phil. 2:5-8).

Here is a revelation that we need to understand. The world today is full of "the treasures in Egypt." Look for example what's in the shopping malls, the car dealers' showrooms, the department stores, the palaces the real estate dealers offer you. Many church members "esteem" those "treasures" as "greater riches" than "the reproach of Christ."

But look at what the agape of Christ did for a fellow-human being who by nature was born as selfish and world-loving as we are: "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt" (Heb. 11:24-26).

Take a look at that same cross that Moses looked at and you'll find "the treasures" of today fade into insignificance. Then you'll be delivered from the "bondage" of Egyptian materialism.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 31, 1999.

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Can Something Good That God Gives Turn Into Something Bad?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Could it ever be that something good that God Himself gives can turn into something bad?

The answer is yes, and an example is the manna that God gave the people of Israel in their 40 years of wilderness wandering. From its description that we read in Numbers 11, it was an appetizing and nourishing food. Scholars variously describe the language as cakes "fried in good oil," "as food newly baked," or like "wafers made with honey." Perhaps it was like delicious freshly baked bread; evidently it could be prepared in a variety of ways as a well balanced diet, and for a healthy appetite it was always appetizing. The Psalmist describes it as "angel's food" (78:25). Since God gave it to them, it was undeniably "good."

But the people had to eat it on the very day that it "fell" on the dew each morning. Moses told them, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. ... Let no one leave any of it till morning. ... But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank" (Ex. 16:15, 19, 20). Something very good became very bad! It had to be eaten when God gave it. The reason: it was very nutritious, but like whole-grain flour that attracts bugs.

The manna is a symbol of the spiritual nourishment the Holy Spirit gives us day by day if we are willing to "eat" it. It's Bible truth, "fresh" each morning (Isa. 50:4, 5). The hungry soul finds things "new and old" in God's word that constantly invigorate him (Matt. 13:52). We are told to "bless the Lord"--in other words, make Him happy (Psalm 103:1, for example). How do you make a chef happy? You tell him his meal was super-delicious.

Now, ask the Lord for a second helping; tell Him you're hungry. That will make Him happy! There's nothing He loves more than to feed hungry people and watch them enjoy His cuisine. Eat His "manna" today. Learn to love it. Don't lay it aside until tomorrow!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 4, 2005.

Monday, April 07, 2014

The Most Decisive Event of All History

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on His cross was the most decisive event of all history--yes, let's tell the truth, of all eternity. The fate of God's throne was in the balance; Satan wanted to push God off His throne and take over.

The death that Jesus suffered on that cross was a different kind of death than anybody else had ever suffered. The truth is that only one Man has ever truly died since the world began--everybody else who has "died" has simply gone to sleep. Jesus' death was the real thing--it was total, eternal darkness, enduring death forever. The Bible distinguishes between two different kinds of death--the "sleep" that Lazarus suffered when he died (and which everybody experiences), and what Revelation says is "the second death" (2:11; 20:12-14). The latter is what Jesus died.

Sorry, some will object by saying, "But He didn't go through the Lake of Fire! And He was resurrected!" Do they mean to demean or belittle the sacrifice of Jesus? Read the entire passage--the horror that Jesus went through in order to save your soul and mine was worse than the physical pain that any fire could be. The commitment He made was infinitely total.

If Jesus was the only Man who ever suffered that kind of death, then the apostle Paul has to be the outstanding one who came to appreciate the dimensions of love (agape) which led the Son of God to die that death for us (Eph. 3:14-21). Therefore Paul, saved by grace, has proven forever that it's possible for 144,000 also (figurative or literal number) to "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth" (Rev. 14:4, 5). If "the love of Christ constrained" Paul to live only for Jesus, the universe can witness you and me constrained in this Day of Atonement to live only for Him, as He lived and died for us.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 10, 2005.

Sunday, April 06, 2014

FYI: Health Forum

Thursday, April 03, 2014

The Greatest Joy the World Has Ever Known

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible is crystal clear: we are living "in the last days" (2 Tim. 3:1); "the time of the end" (Dan. 12:4); the time for us to "endure" until then (Matt. 24:13); the time when we are to "watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord will come" (vs. 42); the time when we are to "take heed to [our]selves, lest at any time [our] hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on [us] unexpectedly" (Luke 21:34). The "time of the end" is "today" (Heb. 3:13).

We are living in the very time described in Revelation 14:8 and 18:1-4 when "the present truth" (2 Peter 1:12) shouts in our ears that "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city," the very time when God calls to everyone whose heart has been stirred by the sacrifice of Christ on His cross, "'Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins.'" You simply can't enjoy the opulence and arrogant pride of "that great city" if you appreciate the atonement of Christ. You have seen "the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up" and have seen yourself as "unclean" in that light which streams from the cross (Isa. 6:1-5). If you are dallying in "Babylon," you are miserable. You want out.

What it boils down to is that we are living in that unique time of "the day of atonement." It's not the one literal day of the year that Jews observe as "Yom Kippur;" it's the grand original, the antitypical, cosmic, REAL "Day of Atonement" that was prefigured in the Israelite sanctuary services of long ago. Now is the grand time that the angel described to Daniel as "then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." It has come on time after the 2300 "days," 2300 literal years, which the angel singled out as "the appointed time" to bring us to this "time of the end" (8:14; 11:35; 12:4). It's the important time when Daniel said, "the wise shall understand" (12:10). It's the same time that Jesus spoke of, "Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." It's a time to be awake for joy (Luke 21:36).

Around the world there are millions who are waking up; they believe that those 2300 years have expired as Daniel said. They see that the world is now in the ongoing fulfillment of Revelation 14, and has been ever since the early part of the 19th century (since 1844, to be exact, for the Bible prophecies are exact). This is the time when the great angel proclaims "to every ... tongue, and people, ... 'the hour of [God's] judgment has come'" (vss. 6, 7), the time for the greatest joy the world has ever known.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 5, 2004.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to:dailybread@1888message.org

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Saved by HIS Faith

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Sometimes we say that we are saved by our faith in Christ, and we want to emphasize this so we don't lapse into the idea that we are saved by our works. But again we want to be careful that we grasp the truth accurately. Truth saves (John 8:32) and error produces the lethal lukewarmness that permeates the church of the Laodiceans (Rev. 3:14-21).

God's people in the last days are distinguished in Revelation as those who demonstrate two great identification marks: they (1) "keep the commandments of God and (2) the faith of Jesus" (14:12). The former is not possible to "do" except by the latter. But it never was their faith; it was something they have received from Jesus.

Thus we are not saved by OUR faith in Jesus, but by HIS faith. He alone is "the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2). That is, in all the 6000 years of human history Christ is the one Man who has totally believed the saving truth. His faith alone works by love (Gal. 5:6).

He is the one and only human being who has fully experienced what it is to be "forsaken" of God (Matt. 27:46). No one else has been capable of sensing to the full what that means; it was He alone who has been "made ... to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). Therefore, no one else has ever "tasted" lostness as fully as He did as He hung on that cross in the darkness. It was HIS faith that saved Him from eternal despair! God saw fit to record the story in Psalm 22 (and also 69).

The faith that we are to exercise is therefore second-hand; we got it from Him! Rightly defined, it is a heart-appreciation of what it cost Christ to save us; it is to "comprehend with all saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love [agape] of Christ which passes knowledge" (Eph. 3:18, 19). Our salvation is in "comprehending."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 31, 2005.

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Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Can Proud Human Hearts Be Changed by Simply Believing?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It seems like a fantastic idea, but it's like a golden thread throughout both Old and New Testaments of the Bible: proud, sinful, selfish, lustful, wicked human hearts (ours!) are changed by simply believing what the apostle Peter says are "exceedingly great and precious promises"!

And they're not man's "promises." They are the Lord's. Can it really be true that there is power in something as simple as believing God's promises (that appear to be so wild and extravagant)? God virtually promised Abraham the sky. And the old man is "the father of us all."

For instance, in the Old Testament we read that He picked up the only monotheist He could find in the ancient world, called him into exile to "a land that [He] would show him," promised it to him "for an everlasting possession." Paul got the idea: it was almost infinitely more than that tiny little strip of land known as Canaan; it meant the whole earth! (Rom 4:13). And no way could the "possession" be "everlasting" for Abraham unless this "exceedingly great and precious promise" included the gift of eternal life, which Abraham couldn't enjoy as a genetic inheritance for he was born a sinner under condemnation like all of us. And further, no way could he be "the heir of the world" unless it became the "new earth." And again, no way could he be "the heir" of such a new earth unless he was given the gift of "righteousness," for Peter insists that only "righteousness dwelleth" there (2 Peter 3:13).

So, it all ends up full circle: God's "exceeding great and precious promises" mean the out-and-out gift of "righteousness by faith." And that was the meaning of those seven promises the Lord made to Abraham in Genesis 12:2, 3, and then later swore to in chapter 15--staking His very existence and His eternal throne on His keeping them.

Now, we return to our question: does it make sense that we, sinful selfish people by nature can be changed, converted, purified, transformed, even "sanctified," by believing those "promises"? Believe it or not, that is Peter's idea: "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, ... exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:3, 4).

"Escape" is what we desperately need, for we face the second death without it. The "corruption" of lust surrounds us and would permeate us. But it's true: our "escape" is only in believing those "promises." Let's join together in our own heart-felt prayer: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:23, 24). We are told we can never perish if we pray that prayer.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 6, 2004.