Sep 19
2
No matter where I am preaching from in the whole Bible, if I cannot title the message “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”, I ought to throw the message away. – Chris Cunningham
“…as a preacher I cannot be very proud of my diseased prayers and sin-stained sermons. Neither can I boast much of my daily backslidings, hardness of heart, discontent, vileness, and abominable filthiness. I at times know not what will become of me, and fear I shall live and die a reprobate. I find sin has such power over me, and, though I call on the Lord again and again for deliverance, seem to be as weak as ever when temptation comes. “O you hideous monster, sin, what a curse have you brought in!” I love it, I hate it; I want to be delivered from the power of it, and yet am not satisfied without drinking down its poisoned sweets. It is my hourly companion and my daily curse, the breath of my mouth and the cause of my groans, my incentive to prayer and my hinderer of it, that which made a Savior suffer and makes a Savior precious, that which spoils every pleasure and adds a sting to every pain, that which fits a soul for heaven and that which ripens a soul for hell…I at times quite despair of salvation, and then again am as careless as if hell had no wrath and heaven no love; as if sin had no wormwood and pardon no sweet; as if there were no God to mark evil, and no devil to tempt to it. So my friend you must not expect to find your winter fireside companion much grown in progressive sanctification and creature holiness.”
JC Philpot
THE PRODIGAL
In Luke chapter 15, the prodigal son, having wasted his substance on riotous
living, found himself in a pigpen, eating pig-food. What was it that caused him
to come to his senses, return home, and repent of his ways? Was it the sorrow
that providence brought? Was it the starvation that he was experiencing? Was it
the guilt of his rebellious actions? These may have been contributing factors,
but it was the consideration of his father’s love and the gracious benefits of
his father’s home that in the end sent him on his way home. Truly it is the
goodness of God that leads men and women to repentance. (Rom. 2:4)
David Edmenson
Isaiah 60: 1: Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2: For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
The charge God our Savior gives to his redeemed, regenerated church is, “Arise, shine!” (Is 60: 1) The marginal reading declares this is a passive “shining.” It says, “Arise, be enlightened.” For example, if you were standing in a dark field and people were looking for you they would not be able to see you for the darkness. But if someone shined a light on you then they could see you, not because you are doing something, but by the light shining on you. So it is when Christ shines his Light on us. The reason Christ gives his church this charge is because Christ is our Light and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon his church, “For thy Light is come and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” (Is 60: 1-2)
I was with my family on a tour of a cave. The tour guide turned off the light. We could not even see our hand in front of our face. That is gross darkness. In ourselves, we were like everyone else in this earth—covered in gross darkness. To be in gross darkness is to be guilty by Adam’s disobedience but unable to see it; to be unholy by being born of Adam but unable to see it; to have no spiritual discernment but unable to see it; to be in gross darkness but unable to see it. That was our case, as it is the case of every sinner born into this world.
The Light of every child of God—of the whole church in heaven and in earth is Christ our Light. When Christ is our Light Christ is our Life, Christ is our Discernment, Christ is our Righteousness, Christ is our Holiness, Christ is our Liberty from the law, Christ is our Constraint to obey, Christ is our Law, Christ is our Glory, Christ is our All! When Christ is our All then we have Christ our Light. He is the Glory of God risen upon his church.
We once only walked by natural light. But now our Light is spiritual. Now our Light is Christ (Rev 21: 23; Isa 60:19-20) This is true of us because Christ the Light of the world and he will not let his redeemed walk in darkness (Joh 8:12; 1 Pet 4: 14). Brethren, by God’s grace, Christ is our Light and the LORD’s glory rests upon us. So Christ says, “Arise, shine!”
Clay Curtis
DENYING
THE POWER OF GODLINESS
II Timothy 3:5-12
Paul
warns us in II Timothy 3:5of those who “Have a form of
godliness, but deny the power thereof.” On the surface these
people seem to be devoted. Thy have a form, an outward semblance of true
godliness. They read the Bible and pray. They use words
like grace, love, and faith. But there is a fatal flaw in their
religion. They deny the power of godliness. How does one deny the
power of godliness? There are three ways it can be done.
1) The power of godliness is denied when we deny the source of that power: the
sovereign grace of God. When salvation is ultimately conditioned
upon the will of man, the source of power is denied.
2) The power of godliness is denied when the means through which the power
comes is denied. Romans 1:16says concerning the Gospel
message, “It is the power of God unto salvation.” When
someone says it is not necessary to preach or hear the true message of the
Gospel, the power of godliness is denied.
3) The power of godliness is denied when the results of that power are
denied. When we give sinners some hope that they are saved when they
have not bowed to and willingly embraced the Gospel, and when they have
not “Denied self, taken up their cross, and followed Him,” we
are guilty of denying the power of godliness.
May
God in His mercy deliver us from this great crime of denying the power of
godliness!
Todd Nibert
THE
LOVE OF THE TRUTH
“And
for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie” (II Thess. 2:11). For what cause? “Because they received
not the love of the Truth.” It is one thing to give mental assent to
the Truth. It is something quite different to receive the love of
the Truth. Anybody that is not blinded by prejudices and
pre-conceived suppositions can see that the Bible does teach our fall in Adam
and the total depravity of our race, God electing a people in Christ before
time, the successful atonement of Christ for the elect, the irresistible grace
of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, and the preservation and perseverance of the
saints all the way to the end. But do you love this? Is it necessary
for you to hear this preached? It is if you need God to elect
you, Christ to die for you and accomplish your salvation, and the Holy Spirit
to give you life and preserve you so you will persevere. If this is
what you need you will receive the love of the Truth. If you do not
receive the love of the Truth, you have no need and God will send you strong
delusion that you should believe a lie. Would God do
that? He most certainly will. To not receive the love of
the Truth is offensive to God and all who do love the Truth. To not
receive the Truth in the love of it is to not receive it as the
Gospel. That is to not receive it at all.
If
I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million
enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me
– “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews
7:25). – Robert Murray McCheyne
*****
It
is one thing to mourn for sin because it exposes us to hell, and another to
mourn for it because it is an infinite evil; one thing to mourn for it because
it is injurious to ourselves, and another to mourn for it because it is wrong
and offensive to God. It is one thing to be terrified; another to be humbled.
– G. Spring
THE
REASON FOR FORGIVENESS
“I,
even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will
not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25). The people He forgives
are described in the precious three verses as having not called upon His Name,
been wearied of Him, not honoring Him with their sacrifices, having no
generosity or tokens of love. All they have given Him is sins, and
wearied Him with their iniquities. The reason for forgiveness is not found
in the ones forgiven! He forgives for His own sake. And
in His forgiveness the sins are actually blotted out; made to not be, and not
remembered because there is nothing there to remember. The Lord does
not love us or forgive us because of us, but because of Himself.
Todd Nibert
TRUE
WORSHIP
True worship is not primarily a cultural thing. It is not simply offering to
God our sentiments and feelings expressed according to our culture. It is based
on a knowledge of the majesty and holiness of God and what He requires in
worship. It is not primarily cultural; it is spiritual. Those who know the true
God will come into His presence with holy awe and reverence, whatever their
cultural background.
Africans, it is true, like rhythm and music but so does the rock-loving culture
of the West, as evidenced by what takes place in discos or in other entertainment.
Our worship should not be an expression of our culture, but of the holiness and
majesty of God and our gratitude for His grace towards us in Christ. A true
knowledge of Christ will lead to worship, which is God-glorifying, whatever the
cultural background. There will be more putting our hands over our mouths (Job
40:4) and covering our faces (Isaiah 6:2) than there will be hands
in the air and dancing in the aisles! When people know the true God, their
worship is reverent and God glorifying, whatever their cultural background.
– Bill Clark, Missionary
SOMEONE IS LYING!
Who is spreading lies across America and throughout the world? Who
is it that is telling around that the Lord Jesus Christ ransomed some who are
not ransomed? Redeemed some who are not actually
redeemed? Atoned for the sins of some whose sins are not
covered? Purged the sins of some whose sins have not been
purged? Became a Substitute for some who must yet answer unto God for
themselves? Died for the sins of some who must yet die for their own
sins? And prays for some who shall never benefit from His prayers?
Who dares to utter such blasphemy against the living God? Who would so impugn
and malign God in His wisdom and purpose, holiness and justice, love, power,
and grace? Who would be so irreverent and impudent as to speak, or even believe
such things?
Who? The vast majority of preachers throughout the world – most of
our religious neighbors and those who preach to them! Pity them but
do not excuse them…they ought to be ashamed of themselves! To say
that Christ suffered and died for those who had already been in Hell 4.000
years when He died, or to say that His soul was made an offering for sin for
those whom God knew – being omniscient – would never believe the Gospel when
they heard it, or that God ever purposed anything that He shall not bring to
pass, is a confession of one’s ignorance of the God of the
Bible. –
Maurice Montgomery