Jul 19
23
“The church of God, which he has purchased with his own
blood.” Acts 20:28
Atonement for sin stands or falls with the Deity of Christ. If we deny
his Deity, we must deny the atonement, for what value or merit can there
be in the blood of a mere man that God, for its sake, should pardon
millions of sins? This the Socinians clearly see, and therefore deny the
atonement altogether. But if there be no atonement, no sacrifice, no
atoning sacrifice for sin, where can we look for pardon and peace?
Whichever way we turn our eyes there is despair.
But when by the eye of faith we see the Son of God obeying the law,
rendering, by doing and dying, acting and suffering, a satisfaction to
the violated justice of the Most High and offering a sacrifice for sin,
then we see such a glory and such a value breathing through every
thought, word, and action of his suffering humanity, that we embrace him
and all that he is and has, with every desire and affection of our
regenerated soul. All our religion lies here; all our faith, hope, and
love flow unto, and are, as it were, fixed and concentrated in Jesus
Christ, and him crucified; and without a measure of this in our heart
and conscience, we have no religion worth the name, nothing that either
saves or sanctifies–nothing that delivers from the guilt, filth, love,
power, and practice of sin–nothing that supports in life, comforts in
death, or fits for eternity.
The way, then, whereby we come to a knowledge of, and a faith in, the
Deity of Christ is first by feeling a need of all that he is as a
Savior, and a great one, and then having a manifestation of him by the
blessed Spirit to our soul. When he is thus revealed and brought near,
we see, by the eye of faith, his pure and perfect humanity and his
eternal Deity; and these two distinct natures we see combined, but not
intermingled, in one glorious Person, Immanuel, God with us. Until thus
favored we may see the Deity of Christ in the Scriptures, and have so
far a belief in it, but we have not that personal appropriating faith
whereby, with Thomas, we can say, “My Lord and my God.”
J.C.Philpot
That having to make our peace with God when we die is a poor business. I
do not like the expression. I like far better the language of a poor
bricklayer who fell from a scaffold, and was so injured that he was
ready to die. The clergyman of the parish came, and said, “My dear man,
I am afraid you will die. You had better make your peace with God.” To
the joy of the clergyman the man said, “Make my peace with God, sir?
That was made for me upon Calvary’s cross eighteen hundred years ago;
and I know it.” Ah! That is it – to have a peace that was made by the
blood of Christ all those years ago – a peace that never can be broken.
C.H. Spurgeon
The believer’s eternal union with Christ is a subject that few seem to
grasp, though it is written as with a sunbeam upon the pages of Holy
Scripture. We are “Accepted in the Beloved,” and have been from
eternity. That union of our souls with our Savior was made by the triune
God Himself before the world began, and can never be dissolved or even
altered. The Lord God sees us in His Son, as one with His Son, and as
His Son, because we really are in His Son, as one with His Son, and as
His Son. Therefore, it is written, “…. as He is so are we.” As no spot,
blemish, or any such thing is in Christ, but only perfection, His Father
is well pleased in Him, and with all who are in Him. The Book of God
declares, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen
perverseness in Israel” (Numbers 23:21). Therefore, we shall “Have
boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as He is so are we in this world.”
Don Fortner
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
Galatians 1:11-12 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was
preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
No one has ever found the true interpretation of any passage of
scripture until they have found in it somewhere a revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ is the message and the subject of all the
scriptures. That is why we preach, ”Christ and Him crucified.” The
Bible, God’s inspired Word is truly a “revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Pastor David Eddmenson
Where is Christ in your theological system?
(Charles Spurgeon)
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them
what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.” Luke 24:27
“These are the Scriptures that testify about Me!” John 5:39
Take this Book and distill it into one word—and that one word will be
JESUS! The Bible itself, is but the body of Christ, and we may look upon
all its pages as the swaddling bands of the infant Savior—for if we
unroll the Scripture, we come upon Jesus Christ Himself.
Where is Christ in your theological system? He Himself is . . .
the Doctor and Doctrine,
the Revealer and Revelation,
the Illuminator and the Light of men.
He is exalted in every word of truth, because He is its sum and substance.
He sits above the gospel, like a prince on His own throne.
Doctrine is most precious, when we see it distilling from His lips and
embodied in His person.
Sermons are only valuable, in proportion as they speak of Him and point
to Him!
It is the blood of Jesus, applied by the Spirit
(Octavius Winslow)
There is a perpetual proneness to seek our fruitfulness from anything
but a close, spiritual, and constant dealing with the cross of Jesus.
But as well might we expect the earth to clothe itself with verdure, or
the tree to blossom, and the blossom ripen into fruit, without the sun’s
genial warmth — as to look for fruitfulness in a regenerate soul,
without a constant dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ. For just what the
sun is to the kingdom of nature, Jesus the Sun of righteousness is to
the kingdom of grace — the blessed source of all its verdure, fragrance,
and fruitfulness. Then, let all your expectations be centered here.
No real good can come to you, no healing to your spirit, no fruitfulness
to your soul, from a perpetual living upon convictions of sin, legal
fears, or transient joys — the Divine life can derive no nourishment
from these. But live upon the atoning blood of Jesus — here is the
fatness of your soul found. This is that which heals the wound, wins the
heart, and hushes to repose every fear of condemnation. This is that
which enables a poor sinner to look fully at God — feeling that justice,
holiness, truth, and every Divine perfection are on his side.
It is the blood of Jesus, applied by the Spirit — which moistens each
fiber of the root of holiness in the soul, and is productive of its
fruitfulness. This is that which sends the warm current of life through
every part of the regenerate man, quickening the pulse of love, and
imparting a healthy and vigorous power to every act of obedience.
And when the spiritual seasons change — for it is not always spring-time
with the soul of a child of God; when the summer’s sun withers, or the
autumnal blast scatters the leaves, and winter’s fiercer storm beats
upon the smitten bough — then the blood and righteousness of Christ,
lived upon, loved, and cherished — will yet sustain the Divine life in
the soul, and in due season the spring blossom and the summer fruit
shall again appear, proving that the Divine life of a believer is “hid
with Christ in God.”
Then shall be said of you, as was said of the church by her Beloved:
“Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone. The flowers
are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing
of turtledoves fills the air. The fig trees are forming young fruit, and
the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, My darling! Come away
with Me, My fair one!”
Then let your heart respond, “Awake, north wind! Rise up, south wind!
Blow on my garden and spread its fragrance all around. Come into Your
garden, my Beloved — taste its finest fruit
“The light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God.” 2
Corinthians 4:4
Oh! what beauty and blessedness shine forth in the gospel, when we view
it connected with the Person and work of the Son of God! Take the
doctrines of grace isolated from the Person of Christ; they are
scattered limbs; there is no beauty in them; but view the truths of the
gospel, in connection with the Person and work of the Son of God, what a
heavenly light, what a divine glory is cast upon every truth connected
with his sacred Person, atoning blood, finished work, and dying love!
This is the way to receive the gospel–not as a thing of shreds and
patches, a mere collection or scheme of certain doctrines floating up
and down God’s word, as waifs and strays from a stranded ship; but as
one harmonious gospel, full of grace, mercy, and truth, impregnated with
divine blessedness, and all connected with, all springing out of, the
Person of the God-man.
How it seems to lift us up for a time, while the feeling lasts, above
sin, misery, and wretchedness, to view our completeness in Christ, to
see our saving interest in his finished work, to behold ourselves
members of his mystical body, to triumph in his holy triumphs, to
rejoice in his victories, and to ascend with him above the smoke and
stir of this dim spot that men call earth. As one might rise out of a
London fog into a pure atmosphere, and bask on some mountain-top in the
bright beams of the sun, so the dear saint of God, when he is privileged
to read his title clear, see his name in the book of life, feel the love
of God in his heart, and rejoice in Christ, is lifted up above the fog
and smoke of this dim spot, and sitting with Christ in heavenly places,
he feels a sweet victory over every foe internal, external, and infernal.
And there is no other way whereby we can get out of it. Like a man in
the London fog, struggling on with fog in the east, west, north, south,
fog and smoke all around; so it is while we are struggling onward with
sin and self–north, south, east, and west, there is nothing but fog,
fog, deep and dense. We must be raised out of it to the mountain-top,
and this only can be by being lifted up by a sweet testimony of saving
interest in the blood and love of the Son of God. This lifts up, this
lifts out; this gives strength, and this alone will give victory; and so
far as we fall short of realizing these precious things, we grope for
the wall like the blind, and stumble in desolate places like dead men.
It is true that for the most part the saints of God only have a little
of these blessed things, from time to time, just brought in and taken
away, but sufficient to taste their sweetness, to know their beauty, to
see their glory, and therefore sufficient, while they last, to help them
onward in their course, and keep them struggling on, until they reach
that eternal glory.
J.C.Phipot