Dec 18
28
“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at
meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of
spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on His
head.” Mark 14:3
No event recorded more beautifully pictures the sacrifice of our Lord
and Savior. A woman entered into the place where the Lord was and came
to Him…broke a stone box of alabaster filled with a precious ointment of
spikenard and poured the contents on His head. Many thought the act to
be nothing more than a waste, but the Lord declared it to be a good work
wrought on Him for when the box was broken and the precious ointment
flowed forth, the broken body and the shed blood of Christ for the
redemption and justification of God’s sheep was declared. MS
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1
Timothy 1:15
This is THE Gospel. There is no other Gospel but salvation by grace
through faith in Christ alone. (Eph. 2:8; Gal.1:6-9) I will preach it to
all who will listen, and I will declare it even when they won’t. (2Tim.
4:1-5). Yet there is only one type of person that God intends to save by
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are sinners. These elect, redeemed, and
called people are sinners. They are without merit, without
righteousness, and without hope. They are dead, blind, and leprous
sinners. And these alone will hear the Gospel, believe the Gospel, love
the Gospel, and support the Gospel for Jesus only came to save sinners,
therefore I long to preach to sinners. Pastor Fred Evans
JOY TO THE WORLD
I love to sing the hymns about the Savior’s birth. The world associates
these songs with Christmas, but they are not Christmas carols. They are
songs rejoicing in the birth of Christ the Savior. The joy found in
these songs is not that a cute baby was born. The joy in these songs is
in why that baby was born. God was born as a man so He would be able to
establish righteousness as the representative of His elect who were
sinful men and women. God was born as a man so He could be the
substitute for His elect who were sinful men and women, and by His
sacrifice for them, put their sin away. None of that would have been
possible unless God became a man. Pastor Frank Tate
Matthew 26: 45: Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them,
Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the
Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Our Savior had not slept since the night before. He had been striving
against sin in the garden of Gethsemane in such agony until he sweat
great drops of blood. The hour was at hand when there would be no rest
for our Substitute, only unimaginable suffering in place of his people
as God awoke the sword of justice against his Shepherd. Yet, our Savior
stood watch so his disciples could rest.
Believer, as we behold the faithfulness, patience, love and care of our
Savior toward his disciples at such a monumental time as this, be
assured that now that he has put away our sin and reigns supreme at
God’s right hand, our great High Priest shall certainly show us the
greatest tenderness and constant care that unchangeable love and grace
can bestow.
Clay Curtis.
Christ Our Substitute
“Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he
delivered him to be crucified” (Matt. 27:26).
God has ordered by His marvelous providence a vivid picture of every
believer’s Substitute. Barabbas was rightly charged, convicted and
sentenced to be executed. He was found guilty of murder, robbery and
sedition against Rome. When the executioner came to release him, he was
told Jesus had taken his scourging and crucifixion and that he could go
free.
Barabbas is a type and picture of sinners for whom Christ Jesus died
(1Tim.1:15). We stand guilty before the law of God (Rom. 3:19-20). We
were justly convicted of great offences against God (Psalm 51:4). We
were waiting the execution by God’s holy law (Rom.6:23). However, by the
order of Almighty God, Jesus Christ was sent to rescue, redeem and
release sinners (Matt.9:13; Luke 4:18).
Believers no more merit release and rescue than Barabbas did
(Eph.2:1-4). But God in His sovereign grace sent the gracious
Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ to take our place and set us free
(1Peter 3: 18). Christ Jesus paid our debt to God’s law and justice and
cleared us of all guilt (Gal. 3:10-13;). Christ Jesus took our scourging
and with His strips we are healed (Isa. 53:5). Christ Jesus took our
death and gave us His life (1John 5:12). He took our sin and gave us His
righteousness (2Cor. 5:21). He was condemned though innocent (1Peter
2:22), that we might be justified though guilty (Rom.3:24-26; 8:1).
There is infinite merit in all that Christ performed for His covenant
people (Heb. 2:17; Rom. 5:6-11). Surely, it is right to honor and
worship the Lamb of God that takes away all our sin and that brings in
and freely imputes to us an everlasting righteousness (1John 3:5; John
1:29; Rom 4:6). God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world (Gal. 6:14).
Tom Harding
There is A Substitute
The “good news” of the gospel is that there is a substitute who has
stood in the place of every repentant sinner and bore the wrath of God
in his place. He did this for all whom the Father had given him from all
eternity. It is for them that he prays in John 17. They are “His Sheep.”
The Father gave them to him; and he died for them (John 10:15, 29).
Substitution is at the very heart of the gospel. Christ did not simply
give his life to make salvation possible for those who contribute their
part to what he has done by repenting and trusting Christ. He it is that
gives repentance and faith (2 Timothy 2:25; Ephesians 2:8). Christ did
not say to the religious Jews of his day that they were not of his
“sheep” because they did not believe; rather, he says, “Ye believe not
because you are not of my sheep.” If they had been his sheep they would
have believed. The “good news” is that all whom the Father has given to
the Son, and for whom he died will believe and manifest true repentance
and faith. This they will do willingly and with gratitude in their
hearts. It is God’s work. He cannot fail.
Bill Clark
“He shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore shall he lift up the
head.”—Ps. cx. 7.
The brook of Kedron was a black brook (for so the word Kedron signifies)
into which all the filth from the sacrifices was thrown; it was the
brook over which the Son of God passed in the night that he entered the
garden of Gethsemane. Now, as the whole Psalm from which this portion is
taken, refers to the person of Jesus, nothing can be more plain than
that David, by the spirit of prophecy, is here describing the deep
sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. By the
expression, drinking of this black brook, it is intended to convey an
idea of the “cup of trembling” put into the Lord Jesus’s hands, when he
sustained all the sins and filth of his people, and in consequence as
their surety, all the Father’s wrath against sin. Hence the Lord said,
“The cup that my Father giveth me, shall I not drink it?” My soul!
pause, and ask thyself, doth not this sweet but solemn verse give thee
precious instruction, when thou considerest that all thy filth, and all
thy defilements, were imputed, by the Father himself, unto the person of
thy glorious surety? Is it not blessed thus to see, that by Christ’s
drinking “of the brook in the way,” he took all thy transgressions, and
was made both “sin and a curse for thee, that thou mightest be made the
righteousness of God in him?” And though, in himself, he was “holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens,” yet, as the surety of his people, he was made black with sin
and suffering; “his visage was marred more than any man, and his form
more than the sons of men.” Precious Jesus! may I never lose sight of
Gethsemane, the mount of Olives, and the brook Kedron! Here, by faith,
let my soul frequently take her evening station, and behold thee
“pouring out thy soul unto death, numbered with the transgressors,”
drinking “of the brook in the way,” that thy sacred head might be lifted
up, first on the cross in suffering, and then with thy crown in glory!
Robert Hawker ( the poor man’s morning and evening portion)
Unconditional Love
Greg Elmquist
“God is love” (I John 4:8). He defines love. He is the source of all
true love. Any ‘love’ that is inconsistent with His love is no love at
all. So, where did man get the notion of “unconditional love”? Well,
obviously from his perverted view of God. For the God that is, knows
nothing of unconditional love. Our God loves righteousness and hates
iniquity, Heb. 1:9. The Lord loves The Righteous, Ps. 147:8. There is
one huge condition on God’s love . . . Absolute Perfect Righteousness.
To say God loves anything or anyone else is to blaspheme His Holiness.
The Lord Jesus Christ (and by imputation those that are in Him), is the
only object of God’s love. ‘. . . the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord’ Rom. 8:39.
Those who talk of unconditional love deny God’s glory in salvation by
denying the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The essence of His
nature (righteousness), and the purpose of HIS death (substitution and
satisfaction), was so that God’s condition for love would be met. Mark
it down, those who talk of unconditional love do so to cover up and
excuse their own sin. It may fool men but God is still angry. And what a
fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of an angry God.
THE CROSS
Henry Mahan
When the Apostles declares that he will only glory in the THE CROSS OF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, he does not refer to the actual cross of wood on
which our Lord died nor to crosses which adorn church property and hang
from ears and necks. He refers to all that out Lord (in His person and
work) IS, DID, and DOES to redeem His elect. THE CROSS IS A WORD WHICH
STANDS FOR MANY WORDS! It is the atonement, the honoring of the law, the
satisfying of justice, the righteousness of God the propitiation,
substitution, satisfaction, salvation, eternal life, and the sure
mercies of David.
The cross is DEATH, yet in it is life.
The cross is SHAME, yet God’s greatest glory.
The cross is LOSS, yet infinite gain.
The cross is FOOLISHNESS, yet the wisdom of God.
The cross CONDEMNS, yet pardons in full.
The cross is JUSTICE, yet in it are mercy and love.
The cross is HUMILATION, yet by it He is exalted.
The cross is HELL, yet the open door to heaven.
The cross is in the PAST, yet determines our great future.
When from the dust of death I rise
To take my dwelling in the skies,
Even then shall this be all my plea,
That JESUS LIVED AND DIED FOR ME!