Christ is the way
\nIsaiah 35: 8: And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be
\ncalled The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it;<\/p>\n
Earthly Zion was where the city of Jerusalem was. It was the place where
\nthe one altar and the one mercy-seat were. That was the one place where
\nthe Lord in manifest glory communed with His covenant people. Therefore,
\naccess to earthly Zion was the most important part of the believers life.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Judah was carried away captive by Babylon. The true
\nbelievers longed to be redeemed from captivity and for a highway by
\nwhich they could return to Zion, to the tabernacle of the Lord, to
\nreturn into the presence of God. In due time the LORD raised up a king
\nwho set the captives free; and as promised, the LORD gave them a highway
\nand the remnant returned to Zion with songs of rejoicing.<\/p>\n
The good news of the gospel is far greater than a highway to some
\nearthly place here below. When sin entered the world and death by sin,
\nall mankind was taken into captivity in sin and separation from God. But
\nGod had a remnant chosen in Christ. In the fullness of time, Christ the
\nKing was raised up. He built the King’s Highway. And he is the Way. By
\nthe Holy Spirit of God, every chosen child shall be newly born and
\ncalled into Christ the Way, kept in him. Every believer shall make our
\npilgrimage in the Way from the sinful wilderness of Babylon to heavenly
\nZion.
\nClay Curtis<\/p>\n
Strait is the gate and narrow is the way
\n\u201cEnter ye in at the strait gate\u2026Strait is the gate and narrow is the way
\nwhich leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.\u201d \u201cStrive to
\nenter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to
\nenter in, and shall not be able\u201d (Matthew 7:13; Luke 13:24<\/p>\n
The words above were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ. And He said in
\nanother place, \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life\u201d (John 14:6).
\nSince then, HE is the \u201cStrait gate,\u201d \u201cthe narrow way,\u201d and the \u201clife:\u201d
\nand since HE is received through simple faith and trust (Acts 10:43;
\n16:30,31; Rom. 10:1-17; John 3:14-16, 36), WHY is the entrance and way
\nof life described as being so strait, so narrow, so compressed, so
\ndifficult?<\/p>\n
Is it because men are so sinful and their sins so numerous that, with
\nsuch a load, they cannot squeeze into the kingdom of God? No, that is
\nnot the difficulty. The most wicked and vile sinner who ever lived may
\nenter the \u201cstrait gate\u201d with ease and walk comfortable and joyfully in
\nthe \u201cnarrow way\u201d . . . all the way to glory.<\/p>\n
It is not because men cannot enter with their SINS, but because they
\ncannot enter with their RIGHTEOUSNESS! It is man\u2019s supposed
\nrighteousness – his self-righteousness – which will bar his entrance
\ninto God\u2019s kingdom. He must lay aside every fig leaf of
\nself-righteousness in order to be clothed of God and enter God\u2019s
\nkingdom. Empty, bankrupt sinners are met and welcomed, and led through
\nthe \u201cStrait gate,\u201d by FREE GRACE!
\nMaurice Montgomery.<\/p>\n
The Way Some Call Heresy
\n\u201cBut this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call
\nheresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which
\nare written in the law and in the prophets…\u201d (Acts. 24:14)<\/p>\n
Someone recently referred to our congregation as a cult saying, \u201cThey
\ndon\u2019t believe like most churches. They have this weird view of God as
\nsovereign in everything, even to the point of saying that He doesn\u2019t
\nactually want to save everyone, and that Christ didn\u2019t die for everyone.\u201d
\nIsn\u2019t it a shame that the state of affairs is such today that people
\nactually consider what we believe as heresy? Yet, we can take heart in
\nknowing that natural men have always considered the truth of God\u2019s
\nsovereignty in all things as heretical. That is because the flesh is at
\nenmity with God. That is why they said of Christ, \u201cHe has a demon,\u201d
\n(John 10:20). Look at the context! It was because He said that He came
\nto redeem those sheep that the Father had given Him and not everyone.
\nOur Lord concluded with these words, \u201cBut ye believe not, because ye are
\nnot of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know
\nthem (from all eternity), and they follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you are the Lord\u2019s, why would men say anything less of you than they
\nsaid of Him? As the Apostle Paul testified, \u201cThat after the way which
\nthey call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all
\nthings which are written in the law and in the prophets.\u201d
\nIs anything but a sovereign God taught in Scripture? (Psalm 115:3) Then
\nI confess Him as He is! Do the Scriptures teach that my salvation is
\nbecause of His choosing me, not me choosing Him? (Psalm 65:4) Then I
\ngive Him all the glory! Does the Bible say that I am dead in my sin and
\nthat God must give me life in order to know the Lord Jesus and believe
\non Him? (John 6:63-65) Then I bow to Him and agree with God.<\/p>\n
Because the Bible teaches that God loves only those He has chosen in
\nChrist, will I then try to alter His Word to make His saving love
\napplicable to all? No! That is to pervert the Scriptures to my own
\ndestruction, (2 Peter 3:17) I confess that the only way I or anyone else
\ncan worship God is if He accepts me and receives me as His own. How does
\nHe do that? By His sovereign electing grace, through the blood and
\nrighteousness of Jesus Christ alone, whereby all that He has chosen are
\nmade accepted in Him (Ephesians 1:3-7). Is this your confession of faith?
\nDon Bell<\/p>\n
“I Am The Way”
\nJohn 14:6<\/p>\n
The Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate, crucified, risen, exalted Son of
\nGod says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
\nFather, but by me.” Christ is THE DOOR; you cannot enter into the
\nkingdom of God, but by him. Christ is THE WAY; you cannot come unto the
\nFather, but by him. Christ is THE TRUTH; you cannot know God or the
\nthings of God, but by him. Christ is THE LIFE; you cannot live, but by
\nhim. He alone gave you physical life. He alone can give you spiritual
\nlife. He alone can bring you into everlasting life. Meditate on these
\nfour, blessed words that fell from the lips of our Savior, “I am the way.”
\nChrist is THE ONLY WAY. There never has been but one way of salvation
\nand life, and that way is Christ. To him we must come, trusting his
\nblood atonement, his perfect righteousness, his heavenly intercession,
\nand his almighty grace as our Mediator. We must look to Christ alone for
\nacceptance with God (Gal. 5:1-4).
\nChrist is THE OLD WAY. He is the way ordained before the foundation of
\nthe world, the way set forth in the Old Testament Scriptures, the way by
\nwhich Abel came to God, Enoch walked with God, Noah found grace in the
\neyes of the Lord, and the way by which all the saints of all ages past
\nhave worshipped the Lord God.
\nChrist is THE GOOD WAY. He is the good Shepherd and the good way. He is
\nthe covenant appointed way (Heb. 13:20), the new and living way (Heb.
\n10:19-22), and the publicly, divinely approved way (Matt. 17:5).
\nChrist is THE BEST WAY. If there had been any possibility of any other
\nway it could never have been accepted, because Christ is the best way
\npossible. He is the way which glorifies God in all his attributes,
\nsecures the salvation of all God’s elect with infallible certainty,
\nhonors God’s holy law in its entirety, gives hope to helpless sinners,
\nand satisfies all the demands of the believer’s own conscience.
\nChrist is the Way. So let us WALK IN HIM, trusting his merits,
\nsubmitting to his rule, surrendering to his claims, seeking his will,
\nobeying his ordinances, and serving the honor of his name.
\nDon Fortner<\/p>\n
If my wife asked me if I loved her, and I replied that I did in a sense,
\nit would not be received well. I hear preachers speak of God loving all
\nmen in a sense, and sincerely offering mercy and forgiveness to all men
\n– that is quite simply not true! The apostles never told an unbelieving
\ncrowd that God loved them and offered them forgiveness. The unbeliever
\nneeds to know that he has offended a holy God by his sin and has become
\nGod\u2019s enemy by his hatred of God. But there is salvation in Christ! God
\nhas made a way to be just and yet justify the ungodly. If you trust
\nChrist alone as your only grounds of acceptance, you will be saved. To
\nsay there is a sense in which God loves is degrading to the character of
\nthe love of God. To say He offers forgiveness puts my forgiveness
\ndependent on my acceptance or rejection of the offer. That is salvation
\nby works! -Todd Nibert<\/p>\n
Sovereign or Superior Grace?
\nMany, I have found report to believe in Sovereign Grace. They speak of
\ntheir love for a God who sovereignly elected a people, a Christ who
\nsovereignly atoned for those particular people alone, and a Spirit who
\nsovereignly and successfully regenerates the same chosen people. In
\ntheir confessions, they boldly and uncompromisingly speak of the
\n“doctrines of grace” as gospel truth. Using scripture, reason, and
\nhistory, they can debate their position quite convincingly. They seem to
\nstand firm in their belief that ‘Salvation is of the Lord’. They write
\neloquently about the old paths and gather for Bible conferences to
\npromote a restoration of sound doctrine. I am sure you can tell by my
\ntone thus far that I believe there to be a fly in the ointment. There
\nis, and it stinks to high heaven. The truth is that many of these
\nsupporters of “Sovereign Grace” really only believe in a superior grace.
\nTheir refusal to declare a man-centered, works religion as soul damning
\nheresy tells me that what they mean by sovereign is really only
\nsuperior. Their belief that a person can know the Lord Jesus Christ
\nthrough the ministry of a lie tells me that what they mean by sovereign
\nis really only superior. Their unwillingness to renounce their
\nexperiences in arminianism as bogus tells me that what they mean by
\nsovereign is really only superior. Words are only as good as the
\ndefinitions we attach to them. If salvation is only by the sovereign
\ngrace of God in Christ Jesus, then truly no lie can be of the truth.
\nMany “sovereign gracers” need to repent of two things. The pride of
\nthinking that they have superior truth when really they have not known
\nthe Truth at all, and the fear of separating themselves from less
\nfortunate “brethren” who are really not brethren at all. -Greg Elmquist.<\/p>\n
Salvation is of the Lord
\nMy heart shall rejoice in thy salvation \u2013Psalm 13: 5.
\nThis is the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation is
\nof the Lord and His people do rejoice in Him (Phil. 3:7-9; 2 Tim. 1:9).
\n1). He is the Author of it, before there was a sinner there was a
\nSaviour; before Adam fell in sin, Christ stood as the everlasting Surety
\n(Heb. 7:22; 13:20 Rev. 13:8).
\n2). He is the Accomplisher of salvation, He bought us with His own blood
\nand righteousness (John 19:30; Acts 20:28; Heb. 1:3).
\n3). He is the Applier of salvation, He will have mercy on whom He will
\n(Rom. 9:13-16; Phil. 1:6).
\n4). He is the Administer of salvation, we are kept by His will and power
\n(John 6:37-39; 10:27-30; 17:2; 1 Peter 1:5).
\n5). He is the Advocate of salvation; He ever lives to make intercession
\nfor us (Rom. 8:28-35; 1 Tim. 2:51 John 2:1-2).
\nTom Harding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christ is the way Isaiah 35: 8: And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; Earthly Zion was where the city of Jerusalem was. It was the place where the one altar and the one mercy-seat were. That […]<\/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-4793","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\/4793","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=4793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4794,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4793\/revisions\/4794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}