Jun 22
6
In evil long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear
Till a new object struck my sight, and stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree, in agony and blood
Who fixed His languid eyes on me, as near His cross I stood.
Sure, never to my latest breath, can I forget that look:
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.
My conscience felt and owned the guilt, and plunged me in despair
I saw my sins His blood had spilt
And helped to nail Him there.
A second look He gave which said, “I freely all forgive”
“This blood is for thy ransom paid:
I die that thou mayst live.”
Thus while His death my sin displays in all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
John Newton
Believing On the Lord Jesus
This is what I am hearing. Accept Jesus as your personal Saviour, but nowhere in the New Testament do we find any apostle, prophet, or preacher ever telling a sinner to accept Jesus as his personal Savior. What we hear them saying is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The command to sinners was bow and subject to the Lordship of Christ. That is, lay down your weapons, surrender, worship, and adore Him. You come to Him in your true character as a beggar, a lost undone sinner or you don’t come at all.
Pastor Scott Richardson
EXAMINE YOURSELVES
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” II Cor.13:5
Usually when we think of examining ourselves we think of examining our lives. How are we dealing with besetting sins? Are we reading the Bible to our spiritual profit? Are we spending time in prayer and communion with the Lord? What does our daily lives say about our love to Christ? Can others see that we are Christians? What did Paul say? Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. If we gain assurance by how well we are performing, it is a false, works-based assurance. If we conclude we must not be saved by our failures in these things we are once again making salvation dependent upon our performance. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe that when He said, “It is finished” the salvation of all the elect was accomplished? Are you relying on who He is and what He did as all you have for acceptance with God? Then you are “in the faith” and a true child of God.
Pastor Todd Nibert
Without Me You Can Do Nothing John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 1. Without Christ we would not exist. Col.1:16 2. Without Christ we would not know God. Matthew 11:27 3. Without Christ we would have no wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. 1Cor. 1:30 4. Without Christ we would have no Mediator. 1Tim.2:5 5. Without Christ we would have no acceptance. Eph. 1:6 6. Without Christ we would have no hope. 1Timothy 1:1 7. Without Christ we would bring forth no fruit. John 15:5 8. Without Christ we would be lost. Thank God for Jesus Christ.
John Chapman
The Fruit of the Spirit
In Galatians chapter 5 the fruit (singular) of the Spirit is set in contrast to the works (plural) of the flesh. The flesh manifest itself in many ways. The Spirit on the other hand, always has one fruit, LOVE. Love for Christ. Love for His word. Love for His law. Love for His people. Love for one’s enemies. On this, hangs all the law and the prophets. Matt.22:40. You may be thinking, does not Galatians 5 speak of joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance? Yes, and these are the manifestations of love. Someone is wondering, but there are people I don’t like, and there are certainly people I don’t trust. That is having good discernment, not a lack of love. The love that comes from the Spirit of God harbours no ill will toward anyone. It’s hope and desire for all men is that the Lord would bless them with all true spiritual blessings. Nothing would thrill a believer’s soul more than for their worst enemy to be brought to faith in Christ. The Spirit gives faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love. I Cor. 13:13. Finally, be careful not to inspect your fruit too closely. You will find it is not ripe yet. Lord, give us thy Spirit.
Greg Elmquist
“They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Mark 2:17
Octavius Winslow
The Spirit glorifies Christ by revealing what Christ is to an emptied, lowly, penitent soul. And this He does by unfolding the great truth of the Bible- that Jesus died for sinners. Not for the righteous, not for the worthy, but for sinners, as sinners; for the unrighteous, for the unworthy, for the guilty, for the lost. Precious moment, when the Eternal Spirit, the great Glorifier of Jesus, brings this truth with power to the heart! “I had believed,” exclaims the transported soul, “that Jesus died only for those who were worthy of so rich a sacrifice, of such immense love. I thought to bring some price of merit in my hands, some self-preparation, some previous fitness, something to render my case worthy of His notice, and to propitiate His kind regard. But now I see His salvation is for the vile, the poor, the penniless. I read that ‘when we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly,’ that ‘while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,’ that ‘when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,’ that ‘it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,’ that it is ‘without money and without price,’ that it is ‘by grace we are saved,’ and that it is ‘of faith, that it might be by grace.'” This good news, these joyful tidings, this glorious message of free mercy for the vilest of the vile, believed, received, welcomed, in a moment the clouds all vanish, the fogs all disappear, the face of God beams in mild and softened luster, and, amid light and joy, gladness and praise, the jubilee of the soul is ushered in. Oh, what glory now encircles the Redeemer! That soul venturing upon Him with but the faith of reliance, traveling to Him in all weakness, and in the face of all opposition, brings more glory to His name than all the hallelujahs of the heavenly minstrelsy ever brought.
GOD with us!
(Octavius Winslow, “Emmanuel; or God with Us”)
Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall
call his name Emmanuel, which means, ‘GOD with us.’ Matthew 1:23
God, in the infinite counsels of His own mind,
resolved upon the salvation of His eternally
chosen and loved people.
He saw that there was no eye to pity them,
and no arm to save them. He resolved upon
our salvation, embarked in it, accomplished it;
and eternity, as it rolls upon its axis, will
magnify His name, and show forth His praise.
O beloved! what an assuring and comforting
truth is this: GOD with us! Now we feel……
equal to every service,
prepared for every trial,
armed for every assault.
Deity is our shield!
Deity is our arm!
Deity is our Father and our Friend!
Deity has died for us!
Deity has atoned for us!
Deity has saved us!
And Deity will bring us safely to the realms of bliss!
Come, then, and lean upon His omnipotent arm!
You have no need which from His infinite supplies
cannot be met; no stone of difficulty in your pilgrimage
which His might cannot remove; no burden which His
arm of power cannot bear, no perplexity which His
wisdom cannot guide. In a word, you have no condition
to which Christ, our ever present God, is not equal.
In faith and humility make practical use of your Saviour’s
divinity; and when all that is merely ‘human’ has failed,
broken like a rope of sand, dissolved like a passing vapour;
or has pierced your too fondly leaning hand like a
shattered reed; then take hold of this precious truth,
and say, “My Saviour God is with me in all the boundless
resources of His Godhead, why then should I fear?”
Gospel Distinctives by Don Fortner
I know that the things we believe and preach, place us in direct conflict with the religious world around us. That really shouldn’t surprise us. When our Lord Jesus told the religious leaders of his day the things I am about to tell you, they started grabbing rocks to stone him to death. So we must never be surprised when lost religionists get upset with us for preaching the gospel.
Here are four things which place us in direct conflict with the entire religious world–
1. What we believe and preach about GOD himself is the primary, basic difference between us and those who do not believe the gospel. We believe, according to the plain statements of Holy Scripture that the one true and living God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGN of the universe (Ps. 115:3; 135:6). That simply means that God is God. He does, he always does, exactly what he will everywhere, with everyone and everything! God always has his way. God always does all his pleasure. None can stay his hand. None can resist his will. In heaven, earth, and hell GOD RULES!
This great, sovereign God is absolutely, perfectly, immaculately HOLY. Everything he does is holy. Everything he requires is holy. He is so perfectly, absolutely, inviolably holy that he cannot and will not accept anything or anyone who is not perfectly holy.
Our great, sovereign, holy Lord God is immutably JUST. God our Saviour declares himself to be both “a just God and a Saviour.” His justice is unbending and unbendable. He will not forgive sin, except upon the grounds of strict justice. The just God must and shall punish all sin. He cannot forgive sin until full satisfaction for sin has been made. And this gloriously just God cannot charge any sin upon any sinner for whom atonement has been made. Justice, once satisfied, demands the release of all for whom satisfaction has been made.
2. That which we believe about MAN also separates us from the entire religious world around us. We believe, according to the plain statements of Holy Scripture, that all men and women are sinners, born in spiritual death, corrupt at heart, inclined toward every evil, incapable of doing good, and totally incapable of changing their condition. In a word, fallen man is “dead in trespasses and sins,” lost, justly condemned, under the wrath of God, doomed, damned, wilfully ignorant of all things spiritual; without Christ, and without hope, apart from God’s sovereign mercy.
3. Everything we believe about theLORD JESUS CHRIST sets
us apart from the religious world in which we live. Unlike most religious
people, we actually believe the Bible. We believe all that the Bible reveals
about the Son of God. We really do believe that Jesus Christ is God, God in
human flesh.
-That he is the eternal Surety.
-That he brought in everlasting righteousness for his elect by his obedience to
God as our Representative.
-That he fully satisfied the justice of God for the sins of his people, which
were imputed to him, when he died as our Substitute at Calvary.
-We believe that all for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died must and shall be
saved, because he cannot fail. He is an almighty, effectual Redeemer, an
omnipotent Saviour, an unfailing Advocate, and an all-prevailing High Priest!
4. Believing what the Bible teaches about SALVATION also separates us from the lost religionists of this world, who foolishly imagine that God’s salvation depends in some way, or to some degree, at some point upon the will, work, or worth of man. It does not! “Salvation is of the LORD!” Salvation is accomplished, in its entirety, by the free, sovereign, irresistible grace and power of God Almighty, through the person and work of his dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the omnipotent operations of his Holy Spirit, who alone can raise sinners from death to life, reveal Christ in them, and give them the gift of faith in him.
Every aspect of God’s salvation is by GRACE alone.
Are we ‘chosen’ of God? We were chosen unto salvation by the election of grace.
Are we ‘redeemed’ by the blood of Christ? We were redeemed because God the Father gave us to God the Son in the covenant of grace before the world began.
Are we ‘called’, ‘born again’? We are born again by the Spirit of God, who called us from death to life in Christ by the power of his omnipotent grace.
Are we ‘justified’? We are justified by grace.
Are we ‘sanctified’? We are sanctified by grace.
Are we ‘kept’? We are kept by the power of God’s grace.
There is no place between the pit of hell and the gates of pearl, where salvation depends on us. It is written in the Book of God in bold, capital letters– “BY GRACE YOU ARE SAVED!” That is the message written upon every page of the Bible. Any religion, any doctrine, any preacher, any religious teacher, anything or anyone who contradicts that message contradicts the Word of God. Salvation is by the grace of God, entirely by the grace of God. Human works, human effort, and the will of man has absolutely nothing to do with it. “Salvation is of the LORD!”
I know that men object to these things. I know preachers everywhere deny them. I know that proud men are offended by them. But I am not running for political office. I am here to proclaim the truth to eternity bound sinners for the glory of God. That which we have heard and learned of the Father, we must declare. I must be true to God, true to the Scriptures, and true to your souls.