Christ our Rule
\nGalatians 6:16 \u201cAnd as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on
\nthem.\u201d<\/p>\n
And what is this rule we walk by? The Law? No. It is this, \u201cGod forbid
\nthat I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ\u201d
\n(Galatians 6:14). Truly, this is the believer\u2019s rule of life. This is
\nour standard of measurement. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is our
\nrule for understanding the Scriptures. All Scripture points to Him. This
\nis the rule of our faith. He is the object of our faith. This is the
\nrule of our assurance. Any assurance derived anywhere but simply
\nglorying in the cross is a false assurance. This is the rule of our
\nmotives. Any motive other than His glory is a wrong motive. This is the
\nrule of our doctrine. All of our doctrine finds Christ crucified as its
\nsum and substance. This is our rule of motivation. His love to us
\n\u201cconstraineth us\u201d. He is our rule in everything. He is that \u201cone pearl
\nTodd Nibert.<\/p>\n
As many as walk according to this rule
\nGalatians 6:16.
\nTodd Nibert
\nThe word \u201crule\u201d is where we get the word canon (the canon of
\nScriptures). It was a rod of measurement; a ruler. We can measure
\nourselves by the rule the Scripture provides to see if we are authentic.
\nThe rule is found in Galatians 6:14-15. It has to do with the work of
\nChrist for us and in us. You cannot have the one without the other.
\n1). The work of Christ for us: \u201cGod forbid that I should glory, save in
\nthe cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d A true believer will have
\nconfidence only in what Christ did for him. If I have confidence in
\nanything else, I am exposed as spurious (fake).<\/p>\n
2). The work of Christ in us: \u201cFor in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision
\navailed anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.\u201d I know the
\nwork of Christ in me is a new creation. He created in me that which was
\nnot there before. In creation, God created something from nothing. I
\nknow that the faith I have came from Him. I know that the love I have to
\nHim came from Him. In the first creation, man did not contribute. That
\nis equally true in the new creation. \u201cAs many as walk according to this
\nrule (the work of Christ for us and in us) peace be on them, and mercy
\nand upon the Israel of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures<\/p>\n
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
\nthat Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1Cor. 15:3).<\/p>\n
The gospel is not just that Christ died. The gospel is how that He died
\nfor us according to God’s eternal and immutable decree, “the scriptures”
\n(Acts 2:23: Rev. 13:8). The scriptures declare that His death was
\nappointed (Gen. 3:15; 22:8; Psa.22; Psa. 69; Matt. 16:21; Gal. 4:4). The
\nscriptures declare that His death was voluntary; He willingly laid down
\nHis life for us (Isa. 53:7; John 10:17-18). The scriptures declare that
\nHis death was subtitutionary (Isa. 53:4-6; 2Cor.5:21; 1 Pet.3:18 ). The
\nscriptures declare that His death was to accomplish definite atonement
\nfor His people (Isa.53:8; Matt. 1:21; John 10:15; Heb. 2:17). The
\nscriptures declare that His death satisfied all the demands of God’s
\nholy Law (Isa. 42:21; 53:10-12; Dan. 9:24). The scriptures declare that
\nHis death was most effectual to put away all the sin of the covenant
\npeople (Psa. 103:12; Isa. 38;17; Micah 7:18-20; Heb.9:26; 10:17; 1John
\n1:7).<\/p>\n
Every pledge of salvation has its accomplishment in the Lord Jesus
\nChrist, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen,
\nunto the glory of God by us (2Cor. 1:21). All that God has promised
\nconcerning salvation in Christ is certain and sure, “And being fully
\npersuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
\n(Rom. 4:21).<\/p>\n
Our Lord said, “But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that
\nthus it must be?” “But all this was done, that the scriptures of the
\nprophets might be fulfilled.” (Matt. 26:54,56), “It is finished” (John
\n19:30).<\/p>\n
The apostle Paul said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the
\ncross of Christ” (Gal. 6:14). — Tom Harding<\/p>\n
THE GOLDEN RULE
\nMatthew 7: 12
\nIn the beginning of his sermon the Lord said, “I came to fulfill” the
\nlaw and the prophets. By his grace, we believe he fulfilled every dot
\nand dash of the very law he has taught us in this, his sermon on the
\nmount, so that he has made us the righteousness of God in him. By the
\npower of his grace, the Holy Spirit has given us the love of God in our
\nhearts so that his love for us causes us to delight in his word: in
\nbeing quickly reconciled to our adversaries(5: 25), in putting off the
\nlust of the flesh (5:30), we delight in truth (5:37), in mercy rather
\nthan an eye-for-eye (5:39), in being gracious without partiality (5:44),
\nin making no show of serving our God (6:1-18), in seeking the
\nrighteousness of God and providing for those in his kingdom.
\nAnd because his love has been imparted in us in the new birth, when the
\nLord tells us not to condemn but to ask God (Mt 7: 1-11) we realize that
\nbelieving Christ and trusting sinners into the hands of the God we love
\nis the heart of the golden rule. It is the love that true believers have
\nof God. We have been made willing to lay down our wisdom, means, and old
\nconstraints for God’s way of simply holding forth the good news of
\nChrist. As we do, we turn to God in prayer on behalf of sinners,
\ntrusting him to give life in those who are yet without Christ, as well
\nas to strengthen brethren who err from the truth.
\nOur constraint is knowing that this obedience and love did not come into
\nour own hearts by man disciplining us into compliance, by religious men
\nattracting us by their various ministries, or by our own power.
\nTherefore, by grace, we continue to patiently endure, visiting helpless
\nsinners, not with oppressive words, but in the sweet songs of the
\ngracious One who is the Power and Righteousness of God unto salvation.
\nIn all our own failings, this is exactly what we would have others to do
\nunto us, this is the law and the prophets. Clay Curtis.<\/p>\n
Brussels Sprouts and the Mercy of God
\nJoe Terrell<\/p>\n
Recently I received an advertisement via email which boasted that the
\nadvertisers had made a two-hour movie of the entire Bible. Out of
\ncuriosity I went to the web site and found that it contained a great
\ndeal of children\u2019s Bible lesson materials for free. They also offered a
\ngame for children which could be downloaded for free. The game board
\nconsisted of a spiral of squares and the players moved from square to
\nsquare by a roll of the dice. Many of the squares contained the words,
\n‘Jesus Loves Children,’ and as one got closer to the winner\u2019s square in
\nthe center, the words changed to ‘Jesus Loves Me.’ Spread throughout the
\ngame board were squares with ‘I’ phrases that either advanced the player
\nor sent him back a few squares. Some described good things, ‘I cleaned
\nmy room; move ahead 2 spaces;’ and others described ‘naughty’ things
\nsuch as, ‘I was rude to mummy, go back two spaces.’<\/p>\n
But, I was quite taken back by one square located about two thirds
\nthrough the game: ‘I like Brussels sprouts, move ahead 6 spaces.’ I
\nenlarged the screen to be certain I had read it right; and, yes, I had.<\/p>\n
My first thought was, ‘Any kid who says they like Brussels sprouts
\nshould be sent back 2 spaces for lying.’ But then I had to laugh at such
\na ridiculousness of it all. Among all the supposedly virtuous things a
\nchild could do to advance to ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and being a ‘Winner,’
\nthere was ‘I like Brussels sprouts.’ I also became a bit angry at the
\nfalse doctrine being taught: One gets to ‘Jesus Loves Me’ by doing good
\nthings and the good things we must do are distasteful like Brussels
\nsprouts. I recognized some of my childhood thoughts in that.<\/p>\n
Yet, I could not get over how ridiculous it was to put ‘liking Brussels
\nSprouts’ in with all those other things. Then it hit me: Thinking you
\ncan gain God\u2019s favor by eating Brussels sprouts is no more ridiculous
\nthan any of the other hundreds of things man has devised as a route to
\nGod\u2019s favor. Most of what passes for Christianity is just so much eating
\nBrussels sprouts!<\/p>\n
It is sad that so many are trying to get to heaven by some form of the
\nboard game available on that web site. ‘I had perfect church attendance
\nfor the fall quarter, advance 2 spaces.’ ‘I memorized a Bible verse
\ntoday, advance one space.’ ‘I told a lie, go back three spaces.’ ‘A
\ntee-totaler, advance 10 spaces.’ ‘I fell off the wagon, miss a turn.’<\/p>\n
I can only imagine poor David: ‘I committed adultery and murder, go back
\nto square one. Go back to the beginning! Start all over! In fact, get
\noff the board altogether.’ And that is exactly what David did; He got
\noff the board of human works and said ‘Have mercy on me, O God.’ (Psalm
\n51.1) And the blessed truth is that in the true gospel ‘game board’ the
\nsquare that says, ‘Have Mercy on me, O God,’ also has ‘Jesus Loves Me.’
\nIn the gospel, square one is the last square. The gospel is made up of
\nonly the mercy of God and the love of the Lord Jesus. If you have found
\nthat square, you are at the beginning and the end of the game.<\/p>\n
REJECTING GOD’S GRACE
\nTo seek to be justified by the works of the law is to reject the grace
\nof God. But I pray you, what sin can be more execrable (detestable and
\nrevolting) or horrible, than to reject the grace of God, to refuse that
\nrighteousness which cometh by Christ? It is enough and too much already,
\nthat we are wicked sinners and transgressors of all the commandments of
\nGod; and yet we commit moreover the most execrable sin of all sins, in
\nthat we do most contemptuously refuse the grace of God and remission of
\nsins offered unto us by Christ. This blasphemy is more horrible than can
\nbe expressed. There is no sin which Paul and the other apostles did so
\nmuch detest, as the contempt of grace, and denial of Christ, and yet
\nthere is no sin more common.
\nMartin Luther.<\/p>\n
A TESTIMONY<\/p>\n
I would tell you how it is with me if I could; at the best, it would be
\nan inconsistent account. I am what I would not, and would what I cannot.
\nI rejoice and mourn; I stand fast and am thrown down in the same moment.
\nI am both rich and poor; I can do nothing; yet, I can do all things. I
\nlive by a miracle. I am opposed beyond my strength, yet I am not
\noverpowered. I gain when I lose, and I often am a loser by my gains. IN
\nA WORD, I AM A SINNER! A vile one; but a sinner believing in the Name of
\nJesus. I am a silly sheep, but I have a gracious, watchful Shepherd; I
\nam a dull scholar, but I have a Master who can make the dullest learn.
\nHe still enables me, He still owns me. Oh, for a coal of heavenly fire
\nto warm my heart, that I might praise Him as I ought!
\nJohn Newton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christ our Rule Galatians 6:16 \u201cAnd as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them.\u201d And what is this rule we walk by? The Law? No. It is this, \u201cGod forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ\u201d (Galatians 6:14). Truly, this is the believer\u2019s rule […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4130"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4133,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130\/revisions\/4133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}