Jul 12
7
Good news, for sinners only
The gospel is good news because it is the truth of how notably guilty sinners go free because a Substitute died in their place. If you ever find yourself to be the sinner on God’s death row then you will no longer kick against God’s free grace but go out with rejoicing. — Clay Curtis,
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Consider Jesus– in His Second Appearing
“Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” –Titus 2:13
A Savior ‘to come’ has been the hope of the Church of God in every age and dispensation. The Old Testament saints looked for His coming to save; the saints of the New Testament look for His coming to reign–even “The GLORIOUS appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” There are, in fact, three personal appearances of our Lord mentioned in the Scriptures. His first, when “He APPEARED to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” The second, “Now to APPEAR in the presence of God forever.” The third, when “He shall APPEAR the second time without sin (that is, without a sin-offering) unto salvation.” In each of these appearances of Jesus, my soul! you have a personal and precious interest. His past appearance was to save you, His present appearance is to intercede for you, His future appearance will be to glorify you.
And so Jesus is the “Alpha and Omega” of your salvation, from the first eternal throb of love towards you–if we may speak of a beginning of that which in reality had no beginning–to the last throb of love to you–if we may speak of the end of that which in reality has no ending. Thus, Christ is all and in all to you, the First and the Last, and, as good Romaine was used to express it, “and all that comes between.” Let us consider Jesus in the light of the blessed hope, His glorious appearing, a befitting subject for the close of our daily meditation upon Him.
It will be a PERSONAL appearing. As He went up into heaven so will He return–in person. “This SAME Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.” So says God’s Word, and so we believe. As His ascension was personal, so will be His coming again. This is a sweet thought, my soul, for you to dwell on. He will come not by His spirit, or by His angels–thus gathering His saints unto Him by proxy–but He will come for them Himself. It will be a personal appearing of the great God, our Savior.
It will, consequently, be a VISIBLE appearing of Jesus. “Behold, He comes with clouds, and every eye shall see Him.” “When He shall appear we shall see Him as He is.” Oh the thought of gazing upon His person, of beholding Him robed in majesty divine, and yet looking so human, so like His brethren, of whom He will now appear, more manifest than ever, the Elder Brother!
He will come WITH ALL HIS SAINTS. Those who sleep in Him will be raised, and those who are alive at His coming will be translated. Moses and Elijah, who appeared with Him in His transfiguration, were eminent representatives of these two conditions of the saints at His coming; Moses, representing those who died, and Elijah, those who will then be translated so that they shall not see death. “The DEAD in Christ shall rise first: then we who are ALIVE and remain on the earth shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Thus, whether living or dying in the Lord, we shall all meet again around the descending Person of Jesus, heart pulsating with heart, hand clasped in hand, one anthem sweetly chiming from every lip. “Worthy is the Lamb, for He was slain for us.”
This subject is eminently PRACTICAL. It makes Jesus more precious. How quicker beats the pulse and warmer throbs the heart of the bride anticipating the speedy return of her long absent lord! Blessed Jesus! You are the Bridegroom of Your Church, and the Beloved of my soul, and the thought of soon and forever beholding You makes my soul as the wings of Amminadab–unclasped, uplifted, and ready to fly!
O my soul! let not the coming of the Lord surprise you in a state of unregeneracy, unconverted and unprepared! None can meet Him with joy but those who are BORN AGAIN of the Spirit, washed in His blood, and clothed in His righteousness. Is this your assured condition? Then, happy are you!-Octavius Winslow.
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GOD’S CLOSING CALL
“Now is the time of God’s favor; behold! now is the day of salvation.” 2 Cor. 6:2
Reader! How does it stand with you? Is the question of your soul’s salvation finally and forever settled? Are you at peace with God? Can you say with Paul, in the prospect of death, “I am now ready?” Have you been led to feel the infinite peril of postponement and procrastination, and responded to the appeal- “Behold, Now!” Ah, how many have found, when the imagined hour of deathbed preparation had come, that the tear of penitence was too late to be shed, and the prayer of mercy too late to be uttered! Let there be plain dealing between your conscience and your God. Seek not to escape from the pressing urgency of the question. You may dismiss it now, but there is a day coming when you dare not! Let it not merge in vague generalities- let it be realized as matter of personal concern; of infinite importance to yourself- “Am I saved, or am I not saved? Am I prepared, or am I unprepared, to meet my God?”
You may have, perhaps, an honest purpose of giving it some future deliberation at another and “more convenient season.” Do we ever read of Felix’s “more convenient season?” It were better not to risk the experiment of a dying hour for the solution of the problem- “Is it safe today?” Take it on trust, that it is a difficult matter- a conference about the soul on the brink of eternity! Remember, God’s Spirit “will not always strive.” All His other attributes are infinite, but His patience and forbearance have their “bounds and limits.”
The invitation which is yours today, may be withdrawn tomorrow. The axe may be even now laid at the root of the tree, and the sentence on the wing– “Cut it down!” How awful, if it really be, that you are yet living in this state of estrangement and guilt! What a surrender of present peace! What a forfeiture of eternal joy! Hurry! flee for your life, lest you be consumed! Your immortality is no trifle.
“The night is far spent.” Who can tell how far? It may be now or never with you! You are about once more to lie down on your nightly pillow. What if your awaking tomorrow were to be “in outer darkness?” But, take courage, that night is not too far spent. Close this last of the “Night Watches,” by fleeing, without delay, to Jesus- the Sinner’s Savior and the Sinner’s Friend. It was on the last watch of the night, He came of old to His tempest-tossed disciples. Like them, receive Him now into your soul; and have all your guilty fears calmed by His omnipotent “Peace, be still!”
Are there not ominous signs all around, as if the world’s last and closing “night-watch” had set in? The billows are heaving high. We hear the footsteps on the waters. Amid the fitful moanings of the blast, the watchword is heard- of joy to some, of terror to others- “Maranatha” – “The Lord is coming!”
Reader! are you ready? Is the joyous response on your tongue- “Come, Lord Jesus; Come quickly”? If this night were indeed your very last, and the thunders of judgment were to break upon you before daybreak; would you be able, in the assurance of an eternal dawn, to say– “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8 J. MacDuff.
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REST!
Exodus 34: 21
There were eight sabbaths in the law. Each were given to typify Christ, the believer’s rest (Colossians 2: 16-17; Romans 10: 4.)
Creation Work and Rest
The LORD points us back to creation when God rested the seventh day, blessing and hallowing that day (Exodus 20:11.) God did not rest for any other reason than this: there was nothing else to be done because the work was finished (Genesis 2: 1-2.) When you think of the word “Sabbath” remember THE WORK IS DONE! God gave the law to give the knowledge of sins until Christ should come to finish the work of making satisfaction for the sins of his people (Romans 3: 19-20; Galatians 3: 19.)
Salvation Work and Rest
God gave the work of putting away the sin of his people to Christ to finish, to make an end of sin, and to bring in everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9:24). Christ finished the work so that there remains no more work to be done (John 17: 4; 19: 30.) God the Father promised Christ that once there was nothing left to do Christ would enter into rest, just as God did when he finished the work of creation, so Christ sat down at rest (Hebrews 1: 3; 10: 11-14.)
The Believer’s Rest
When the Spirit of God writes his law on the heart of his child, he sanctifies his children so that we behold Christ in whom the work of making us accepted with God is finished. Our sins are gone. Through faith we enter into his sweet rest (Hebrews 4: 3, 9-10.) The believer has ceased from his own works, as God did from his because THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO BE DONE!
The Sufficiency of Rest
The rest the believer has in Christ is the full sufficiency of Christ’s perfect righteousness. The law commanded rest in earing time and in harvest. Earing time marks the beginning. Harvest time marks the end. From beginning to end the believer has the full sufficiency of righteousness in Christ. Under the old covenant, the sabbath was always connected with six days of work because it was a conditional covenant. In the new testament the only time the sabbath is mentioned in connection with six days is when a few worms broke the whole law of God, the sabbath included, by rejecting Christ our Sabbath, in favor of their own work of observing a day (Luke 13:14.) The point is, the believers rest is not conditioned upon our works, nor is it a day following a week of work, but our Rest is Christ in whom we are in perpetual everlasting rest beginning to end because he finished every condition necessary for us in the everlasting covenant of grace.
Life in Rest
Earing and harvesting was in order to eat. Yet during the Sabbaths the people were to depend entirely upon God to feed them or they were dead (Exodus 35: 2-3; Exodus 16: 23-30.) Resting in Christ we find that Christ our Bread is full sufficiency of life. If we keep trying to go out and gather our own life when God has said stop working then we are saying that Christ is not sufficient Righteousness for us. Such a one will not stand in the strict judgment of God.
Stretch Out and Rest!
When you read the law commanding us to rest, what do you think of doing? Amazing how sinners are able to make a work out of resting.
At the end of a hard weeks work it feels so good to stretch out in a big bed with plenty of covers and rest. So it is when the believer comes to the end of the law and stretches out in Christ, wrapped up in his righteousness. We rest! But there is no rest for the sinner who has not ceased from his own works—the bed is too short and the covering too narrow (Isaiah 28: 20.)
Are you tired of working for acceptance with God? Are you weary and heavy laden of the yoke of oppressive legal religion? Christ said, “Come unto ME, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11: 28-29.)
Clay Curtis