Oct 12
6
THERE IS ONLY ONE GOSPEL
Todd Nibert
My heart breaks as I watch people compromise the Gospel. But I must say again … There is only one Gospel! The Gospel of the free and sovereign Grace of Christ my Lord. The Gospel that gives Christ all the Glory in Salvation and excludes human boasting. The Gospel that exalts the electing love of the Father, the effectual redemption of the Son, and the irresistible Grace of the Holy Spirit. This is the gospel and where this is not preached, the Gospel of Christ is not preached! Call me bigoted, narrow, or cultist, if you will, but this is the only Gospel that will save a sinner like me. I am captive to this Gospel. I really have no choice but to preach this Gospel! While many around us turn back, and while others criticize us for our stand, “I must say with Martin Luther of old, “Here I stand. I can do no other!” By God’s Grace, I am willing to die for this Gospel, and I say with the Apostle Paul, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord, TO TESTIFY THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD” (Acts 20:24).
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Hold Fast To Christ the Truth Clay Curtis
The apostle Paul went to Jerusalem in order to preserve the true gospel for the Galatian churches and for all the churches of the Gentiles. When Paul would not subject himself to the false brethren who insisted that in addition to faith in Christ, the believer must also be circumcised; the lover’s of works did what the proponents of falsehood always do. When they could not avail against the Lord and his gospel, they then attempted to slander God’s messenger personally in any and every way they could.
Just as their false gospel began and ended with man so their scheme to discredit Paul began and ended with man. They pointed their hearers to men, to the fact that the other apostles, namely, James, Peter, and John had lived with Christ for three years; they heard the Lord’s sermons; they witnessed Christ perform miracles; they themselves preached and performed miracles while Christ was on earth. But what of this Paul? They pointed out that he never saw Jesus in the flesh. Their argument being, “So then whom ought you to believe: Paul, who stands alone, a mere disciple of the apostles, one of the last and least; or will you believe those grand apostles who were sent and confirmed by Christ Himself long before Paul?”
As the proponents of gospel truth always do, Paul’s rebuttal did not begin with man nor end with man, but was the word of God. He said, “whatsoever [the apostles] were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person (Lev. 19:15.) Paul said, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1: 8.)
Instead, of entangling himself in the trap of self-defense as his enemies hoped he would, Paul kept the issue of Christ’s person and finished work as the focus of everything that he said. For the issue was not the honor of the apostles, or of Paul’s honor, the issue was the truth of the gospel of Christ.
Paul asserts that the apostles added nothing to him. That is, when Paul communicated to the apostles that he preached salvation by faith in Christ apart from the works of the law, they found no fault with his gospel. Neither did the apostles correct him in any point or make any addition to the gospel Paul preached. His message of free grace was so complete and perfect, containing the whole counsel of God, that they had nothing to add unto it. This showed that by the Spirit of Christ who revealed the truth in Paul, as well as his brethren the apostles, he was not behind them in knowledge and gifts in the least degree.
So the very argument that his accusers used to slander his name backfired. Paul says, on the contrary, instead of rejecting him, the very apostles which these false brethren pretentiously highly esteemed not only agreed with him in every point but also confirmed their agreement by giving Paul and Barnabas the rights hands of fellowship.
Brethren, learn from the apostle Paul. When the enemies of God’s free grace in Christ attempt to slander you or lead you on a rabbit trail always bring them back to the feet of Christ Jesus the Lord. Any other response will only turn your eyes, and all those involved, from your Redeemer to man. That is the chief endeavor of the enemies of Christ. As we see here, every argument waged against us will turn out to be an argument against the accusers themselves if we but hold fast to Christ Jesus the Way, the Truth and the Life.
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“Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate says unto him, What is truth?” John 18:37, 38
“What is Truth?” Momentous question! The anxious inquiry of every age, of every church, of every lip. Pilate knows it now! And he might have known it when the question first fell from his trembling lips—for Eternal and Essential Truth stood as a criminal at his bar!
But summon the witnesses, and they shall testify what is truth. Ask the devils, who beheld His miracles and quailed beneath His power, and they will answer—”It is Jesus, the Son of God Most High.” Ask the angels, who beheld His advent and announced His birth, and they will answer—”It is the Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Ask His enemies, who nailed Him to the tree, and they will answer—”Truly it is the Son of God!” Ask His disciples, who were admitted to His confidence, and who leaned upon His bosom, and they will answer—”We believe and are sure that it is Christ, the Son of the living God.” Ask the Father, testifying from the “secret place of thunder,” and He will answer—”It is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Summon witnesses from the inanimate world. Ask the water blushing into wine—ask the sea calmed by a word—ask the earth trembling upon its axis—ask the rocks rent asunder—ask the sun veiled in darkness—ask the heavens robed in mourning—ask all nature agonized and convulsed, as He hung upon the tree—and all, as with one voice, will exclaim—”JESUS IS TRUTH!”
Happy are they, who, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, receive Jesus into their hearts as the truth—believe in Him as the truth—walk in Him as the truth—and who, under the sanctifying influence of the truth, are employing their holiest energies in making Him known to others as “the way, the truth, and the life”—thus, like their Lord, “bearing witness unto the truth.” In the Lord Jesus, then, as the head of the new-covenant dispensation, grace and truth essentially and exclusively dwell; and sitting at His feet, each sincere, humble disciple may receive grace out of His fullness, and be taught the truth from His lips. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Added, to this, let us not forget that the “Spirit of truth” is promised to “guide us into all truth.” Winslow.
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The good Shepherd’s flock
(Henry Law, “Deuteronomy” 1858)
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27
The good Shepherd’s flock is widely scattered. They wander far on hills, and
valleys, in every land, and every climate. Some pant beneath a tropic sun.
Some shiver in perpetual snows. A watchful eye sees all.
And in fit time each is approached. Jesus Himself draws near. He wins the heart.
He enters in. He takes the throne.He shows His smile. He melts the rock.
He turns the enmity to love. He sits a conqueror in a once rebel camp.
All given by the Father come to Him, because He comes to them.
They follow, because He calls. They run, because He draws.
He opens out His arms; and then they flee quickly to the shelter.
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THE ABIDING FRIEND
“I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
No human friend can say so. The closest and dearest of earthly links may be broken, yes! have been broken. Distance may part, time estrange, and the grave separate. Loving earthly looks may only greet you now in mute smiles from the portrait on the wall. But here is an unfainting, unvarying, unfailing Friend. Sorrowing one! amid the wreck of earthly joys which you may be even bewailing, here is a message sent from your God, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you!” Your gourd has withered, but He who gave it you remains! Surrender yourself to His disposal. He wishes to show you His present sufficiency for your happiness. As often your heart in silence and sadness weaves its plaintive lament, “Joseph is not, and Simeon is not!” think of Him who has promised to set “the solitary in families” (Psalm 68:6) and to “give unto them a name and a place better than of sons or of daughters!” Alone! you are not alone! Turn in self-oblivion to Jesus. It is not, it cannot be “night,” if He, “the Sun of your soul,” be ever near! In the morning, He comes with the earliest beam that visits your chamber. When the curtains of night close around you, He, to whom “the darkness and the light are both alike,” is at your side! In the stillness of night, when in your wakeful moments, the visions of the departed flit before you like shadows on the wall, He, the sleepless Shepherd of Israel, is tending your couch, and whispering in your ear, “Fear not, for I am with you!”
Your experience may be that of Paul, “All forsook me!” But, like him, also, you will doubtless, be able to add in the extremity of your sorrow, “Nevertheless, The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me!” He can compensate by His own loving presence, for every earthly loss. Without the consciousness of His friendship and love, the smallest trial will crush you. With Him in your trial, supporting and sustaining you under it, (yes, coming in the place of those you mourn), you will have an infinite and inexhaustible portion, in the place of a finite and mutable one. Many a cloud is there without a Rainbow in Nature; but never in Grace. Every sorrow has its corresponding and counterpart Comfort. “In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, your comforts have refreshed my soul” (Psalm 94:19). If in the midnight of your grief your earthly sun appears to have set forever, an inner, but not less real sunshine, lights up your stricken heart. The stream of life may have been poisoned at its source, but blessed be His name if it has driven you to say, “All my springs are in YOU!” “The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore will I hope in Him!”
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The Best Friend!
“Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!” Song of Songs 5:16
A Friend! how endearing the title! There is music in the very sound. But if there is something so sweet and precious in having an earthly friend — then what is it to have a Heavenly one! It is of such, that the spouse is here speaking, even of Him who is the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely one! O my soul, let me think of the Lord Jesus as a friend —
a true friend, a loving friend, a faithful friend, a powerful friend, a seasonable friend,
an unchanging friend, a friend who sticks closer than a brother, a friend who loves at all times, and on all occasions!
In the enjoyment of the Savior’s friendship, there are many precious privileges involved. One is, freedom of access to Him at all seasons, and under all circumstances. In our fellowship with strangers, it is proper that some degree of reserve should be maintained. But it is not so with a well-known and thoroughly tested friend — his heart and home are always open! All ceremony and restraint are laid aside, and to our most retired privacies, he is welcome.
Where there is distance and reserve, the form of friendship may exist — but the soul of friendship is most assuredly lacking.
Christian, the Lord Jesus is a friend whose door is always open. Knock whenever you will — you are sure to be welcome. It is true — He sits upon a throne — but it is the throne of grace; and you are called upon to approach it, not in a spirit of fear and trembling — but with filial confidence, that you may receive from His fullness, and find grace to help in time of need.
We are taught that there is no access to God but through Jesus Christ. “No man comes unto the Father, but by Him.” But while it is a clearly revealed truth, that we need a mediator between God and us; it is a truth as clearly revealed, that we need no mediator between Christ and us. He is always ready to receive us, in our own name, just as we are — guilty, polluted, and wretched — and that in order to bless us forever.
Another privilege possessed by those who enjoy the Savior’s friendship, is that of having a favorable construction put upon all their doings, especially upon all their failings; and a spirit of sympathy in all their sorrows and distresses. In the conduct of Christ towards His disciples, this appears with special prominence. What transpired on that ever-memorable night in which He was betrayed, affords a striking instance of this. It was the time of His agony and bloody sweat; when the sorrows of death compassed Him, and the pangs of Hell got hold upon Him; it was the hour of His mysterious conflict, the hour and power of darkness. His disciples were then ready, surely, to render Him every support in their power, to alleviate His sorrows, and to comfort His soul. But no; forgetting His sorrows — they fell asleep.
Well, He rebuked them, it will be said, for their seeming indifference. Yes, He did; but Oh! with what gentleness did He do so! All He said was, “What, could you not watch with me one hour?” And afterwards when coming to them again, and finding them still in the same state, instead of rebuking them, He tenderly apologized for them, saying, “The spirit indeed is willing — but the flesh is weak.” As if He had said, I know your hearts, I am fully convinced of your affection — I therefore compassionate your weakness, and accept the will for the deed. Blessed Jesus! was ever sympathy, was ever tenderness, was ever love — like Your!
O my soul, what a friend have you in Christ! Let me rejoice in Him. He can be touched with the feeling of my infirmities. “In all their affliction He was afflicted, In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years!”- Mac Duff.