Daily Worship (Sept 06)

The flood gave the world a fresh start, but it did not change the human heart. After Noah left the ark, God still said that the human heart was drawn toward evil. Our deepest problem is not simply our surroundings, our culture, or the people around us. Sin lives within us. That means we need more than better habits or better circumstances. In Ezekiel 36, God promises to do what we cannot do for ourselves. He promises to cleanse his people, give them new hearts, and put his Spirit within them. Jesus came to make this promise a reality. Through his death, our sins are forgiven, and through his Spirit, God begins changing us from the inside out. Christians still struggle with sin, but we are not left unchanged. Ask God to keep changing your desires so that you increasingly love what he loves and walk in his ways.

Read Ezekiel 36:22–28

Context: What had God's people done that made the promises of cleansing and restoration in this passage necessary?

Observation: What does God promise to remove, give, and put within his people?

Meaning: What does the promise of a “new heart” and a “new spirit” teach us about what must change in sinful people?

Main Idea: According to this passage, what does God do for people who cannot make themselves clean or faithful?

Application: Where are you tempted to rely on changed circumstances or greater effort instead of asking God to change your heart?

Noah and his family were not saved because judgment was not coming. They were saved because God provided a way for them to pass safely through it. Peter uses the flood to point Christians toward the salvation God has given us in Jesus Christ. The same God who judges evil also acts graciously to save. That is important because the gospel does not teach that our sin does not matter. Jesus saves us by dealing with our sin and the judgment it deserves. He died for sins, “the righteous for the unrighteous,” to bring us to God. Noah was brought safely through the waters of judgment in the ark. We are brought safely to God through Christ. That gives Christians both humility and confidence. We cannot boast that we saved ourselves, and we do not have to live afraid that our salvation depends on us. Our hope rests in what Jesus has done.

Read 1 Peter 3:18–22

Context: How does Peter's discussion of suffering for doing good in the surrounding verses help explain why he points Christians to Jesus and Noah?

Observation: What does Peter say Christ did for sins, and what was the purpose of his suffering?

Meaning: How does Peter use Noah and the flood to help us understand God's judgment and salvation?

Main Idea: How does Jesus bring sinful people safely to God?

Application: How should Christ's finished work change the way you respond to guilt, fear, or suffering this week?

God promised Noah that he would never again destroy the earth with a flood. But that did not mean God would never judge evil again. Peter says a final day of judgment is still coming. This world will not continue forever with violence, injustice, suffering, and death. God will judge evil and bring about “a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” This is our great hope. We often imagine that the world could finally be fixed if we could change the right people, laws, systems, or circumstances. Those things can matter, but they cannot remove sin from the human heart. Jesus will do something far greater. He will return, judge evil completely, and make all things new. Until then, Christians should not ignore this world. Because we know where history is going, we should pursue holiness, share the gospel, and live as people who are waiting for Christ.

Read 2 Peter 3:8–13

Context: What question about Christ's promised return is Peter answering in this chapter?

Observation: What reasons does Peter give for God's apparent delay in bringing final judgment?

Meaning: What does Peter mean when he describes the coming “new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells”?

Main Idea: How should God's promise of final judgment and a new creation shape the way Christians view the present world?

Application: If you really believed Christ will return to judge evil and make all things new, what would you do differently this week?