Jan 24
8
THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR
“Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior” (II Peter 3:18). This is an imperative. This is a command to grow in grace and with the command of God also comes the ability! In the coming year, by grace, we want to grow in grace. We want to grow in our need of grace, love of His grace, understanding of grace, and graciousness. We want to grow in the beatitudes; grow in poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness! We want to grow in being pure in heart, being merciful, a peacemaker and being persecuted for righteousness. We want to grow in our love to the Savior, love to our brethren, and love to all men. We want to grow in the fruit of the Spirit. We want to grown in humility, generosity, and zeal for His glory. We want to grow in being approachable and non-judgmental. We want to grow in being a friend. We want to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior and our ability to preach Him in simplicity and clarity. Since this is all a part of growth in grace, none of us should despair of this but be encouraged. By grace may this new year be a year of growth for us all. Happy New Year!
Todd Nibert
The voice from the cross did not summon men to do, but to be satisfied
with what was done, “It is finished.” The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only perfect thing which has ever been presented to God
on man’s behalf. “It shall be perfect to be accepted, there shall be no
blemish therein” Lev. 22:21.
Scott Richardson
Who Gets the Glory?
If you wish to know if the gospel you are hearing preached is the gospel of God, ask yourself this question, “Who gets the glory?” If you wish to know whether your religious experience is of the flesh or of the Lord, ask yourself the same thing, “Who gets the glory?” Also, examine all your gifts, works, and missionary efforts by the same rule, “Who gets the glory?” God will not share His glory! That which is of God, from God, and for God’s glory will be blessed with His presence and power “that no flesh should glory in His presence. … that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:29, 31).
Henry Mahan
“Make His glory thy aim, and thy happiness will be His glory.”
~Robert Hawker
Out of Christ’s condemnation—flows our justification!
Out of His agony—comes our victory!
Out of His pain—comes our ease!
Out of His stripes—comes our healing!
Out of His gall and vinegar—comes our honey!
Out of His curse—comes our blessing!
Out of His crown of thorns—comes our crown of glory!
Out of His death—comes our life!
O what a melting consideration is this!
Christ is not sweet—until sin is made bitter to us!
John Flavel (1628-1691)
Now then, there is but one thing with which Almighty God is satisfied – entirely satisfied – and that is THE PERSON AND WORK OF HIS SON! It is with Christ that we must be satisfied, not with ourselves, nor anything about us! When we cease from ALL our labors, and ALL our righteousness, and ENTER INTO HIS REST, pardon and peace will come without delay.
~Horatius Bonar 1808-1889
Don’t Eat the Blood
Why did God forbid His people from eating blood? (Lev. 17:10-11, Acts 15:20). The precious blood of Christ shed on Calvary’s Cross was not an offering made to man. God was doing business with God. Christ offered Himself without spot TO God. (Heb. 9:14). He entered into heaven and sprinkled His blood on the mercy seat not made with hands, obtaining eternal redemption for His people. (Heb. 9). The blood, as an atoning sacrifice, is not for us. It is for God. To believe that the death of Christ is an offering God is making to man, to be accepted or rejected by his free will, is to eat the blood. God’s judgment to man for eating blood is to be “cut off”. God said, “when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” (Ex. 12:13). God saw the travail of Christ’s soul and was satisfied. (Is. 53:11). Saving faith is not “applying the blood”. That’s already been done. Saving faith is being satisfied with that which God is satisfied, the atoning sacrifice Christ made of His precious blood to God. Greg Elmquist
“Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more; death hath no more dominion over him.” Romans 6:9
Octavius Winslow
The resurrection of Christ was the consummation of His glorious victory. Until this moment, the Redeemer had all the appearance of one vanquished in the great fight. He was left slain upon the battle-field. Indeed it would appear that He had really endured a momentary defeat. He was now under the dominion of death; and as death was the consequence and penalty of sin, so long as He was subject to its power, He still lay beneath the sins of His people. Cancelled although they were by the blood He had just shed, the great evidence of their remission did not and could not transpire until the resurrection had passed. What gloom now enshrouded the church of God! The Sun of Righteousness was setting in darkness and in blood; and with it was descending into the tomb, the hopes of patriarchs and prophets, of seers and apostles. The “king of terrors” had laid low his illustrious victim; and the cold earth had closed upon His sacred body, mangled and lifeless. Oh, what a victory did hell and sin, death and the grave, now seem to have achieved! But the “triumphing of the wicked is short.” In three days the tomb, at the mighty fiat of Jehovah, unveiled its bosom, and yielded back its Creator and Lord. The Sun of Righteousness ascended again in cloudless glory and peerless majesty, to set no more forever. The church of God, now “begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” arose from the dust, and put on her beautiful garments. Now was the scene changed. His enemies, no longer wearing even the semblance of victory, were overthrown and vanquished. Hell was disappointed, and its gates forever closed against the redeemed. Sin was thrown to an infinite distance, and “death had no more dominion over him, God having loosed its pains, because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.” He rose a mighty and an illustrious Conqueror. And all this conquest, let it not be forgotten, was achieved in behalf of a chosen and a beloved people. It was our battle that He fought, it was our victory that He won. Therefore, called though we are to “wrestle against principalities and against powers,” and exhorted though we are to “take unto us the whole armor of God,” we are yet confronted with enemies already vanquished. It would seem as though we were summoned, not so much to go out upon the field of battle, as upon the field of conquest; not so much to combat with the foe, as to gather up the spoils of victory. For what is every successful conflict with our spiritual adversaries—what is every corruption mortified—what is every temptation resisted—what is every sin overcome—but a showing forth the great victory already won by the Captain of our salvation? Every triumph of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a regenerate man is a display of the triumph of Him who, in hanging on the cross, and in rising from the grave, “spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
WAS CHRIST A SINNER?
Was Christ a sinner? For many years misguided people have loved to debate this question. The answer is absolutely not! Here is a more important question. Was the sin of God’s elect literally transferred to Christ? The answer is absolutely!
I know that no mortal man can fully understand the imputation of sin to Christ or the imputation of righteousness to God’s elect. That is just fine because our belief in substitution is not based upon what we can understand or logically explain. Our faith is based upon the Word of God. It doesn’t matter if I can understand something. The only thing that matters is what does the Word of God say?
There is no doubt that the Word of God teaches that the sin of God’s elect was literally transferred to Christ. The Word of God says Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin (I Cor. 5:21). The Word of God says Christ redeemed His people from the curse of the law by being made a curse for them (Gal 3:13). Sin was so literally transferred to Christ that in Psalm 40:12 the Savior called the sin of His people “mine iniquities”.
Sinners like us desperately need to be made righteous. Our only hope of being made righteous is Christ being made sin for us. The imputation of righteousness to God’s elect is only as real as the imputation of sin to Christ. I can only be made truly righteous if Christ truly took my sin and put it away with the blood of His sacrifice.
This glorious truth cannot be understood by worms like us. It can only be believed by God given faith. God give us faith to quit debating and start believing!
Frank Tate
All glory to the gospel of Free Grace!
(Henry Law, “The Raven” 1869)
Christ is the sum and substance of the Bible!
Christ . . .
chosen,
sent,
anointed,
accepted of God.
Christ wondrous in His person, the mighty
God, therefore infinitely glorious to save.
Christ loving from everlasting to
everlasting, with love knowing . . .
no origin,
no end,
no intermission,
no degrees;
with love always . . .
unchangeably the same,
perfect,
pure,
intense,
enduring.
Christ hanging on the accursed tree, laying
down His life a sufficient ransom price.
Christ by His death . . .
closing the gates of hell,
quenching God’s fiery wrath,
paying all demands,
satisfying every claim,
glorifying every attribute,
washing out each crimson stain of all His ransomed flock.
Christ gloriously fulfilling every iota of the glorious
Law, saying to each command, ‘I fully have obeyed’;
and then transferring the vicarious obedience, as
divine righteousness, to His bride the Church, as
her robe for heaven; her luster in the courts above.
Christ purchasing the Holy Spirit, and sending
Him to bless the Church with all His powers . . .
to teach,
to sanctify,
to comfort,
to adorn,
to beautify.
Christ rising from the grave, a proof that God is
satisfied, and all redemption fully earned; a pledge
that the ransomed in their turn shall put on the
beauties of a resurrection body, worthy of a
resurrection state.
Christ ascending . . .
to the right hand of the Majesty on high;
representing all His people in Himself;
bearing their names upon His heart;
receiving all gifts for them;
pouring down all blessings on them.
Christ coming . . .
to institute a glorious reign,
to change the living,
to raise the dead,
to execute eternal judgment,
to fill all heaven with glory,
to awaken the eternal song of never ending hallelujahs!
O my soul, what a flood of tidings of great joy!
All things are yours!
The world!
Things present!
Things to come!
All are yours!
All glory to the gospel of Free Grace!