1Tim. 6:12 Fight the good\nfight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and\nhast professed a good profession before many witnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1Tim. 6:13 I give thee\ncharge in the sight of God, who quickeneth (gives life to) all things, and before<\/em>\nChrist Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Tim. 6:14 That thou keep\nthis<\/em> commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our\nLord Jesus Christ:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Tim. 6:15 Which in his\ntimes he shall shew, who is<\/em> the blessed and only Potentate (\u2018dynasty\u2019\nGreat Authority, Mighty in Power), the King of kings , and Lord of lords;<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Tim. 6:16 Who only hath\nimmortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man\nhath seen, nor can see: to whom be<\/em> honour and power everlasting. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eight\nStubborn Statements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Isaiah\n8:20<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are eight, stubborn, irrefutable statements. They go right\nto the heart of true Christianity. You will either accept or reject these eight\nstatements. There is no middle ground; and you will find it impossible to be\nindifferent regarding them. There is no room for compromise on any of these\neight points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Either the Bible is in its entirety the holy,\ninspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God, or it is in its entirety a lie by\nwhich the souls of men are eternally deceived and damned.<\/strong> If the Bible\nnot the Word of God, throw it away. But if it is, as it claims to be, God\u2019s\nHoly Word, we better pay attention to it. It claims, as such, a total sway over\nour lives. It must be our only rule of faith and practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Either God almighty is absolutely sovereign, in total\ncontrol of all things, at all times, or there is no God. <\/strong>Again, there\nis no middle ground between these two poles, between God\u2019s absolute, total\nsovereignty and absolute, total atheism. To speak of a god who is not totally\nsovereign is utter nonsense. Atheism is far more sensible than Arminianism. If\nGod is, he is sovereign!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Either man is totally depraved, utterly dead in\ntrespasses and in sins, or there is nothing wrong with him and he needs no\nSavior. <\/strong>There is no such thing as partial depravity or partial\ngoodness before God. Either we are totally sinful and depraved, or we are\ntotally righteous and good. There is no middle ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Either God chose to save some of Adam\u2019s fallen race\nto salvation and eternal life in Christ before the world began, as the Bible\nsays he did, or no salvation is possible for any man. <\/strong>Salvation is\nGod\u2019s prerogative, not man\u2019s. Grace is God\u2019s gift, not man\u2019s choice. If God\ndoes not choose to save and choose whom he will save, no sinner can ever be\nsaved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Either the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is\naltogether and alone the effectual Redeemer and Savior of his people, or he is\na fraud and a failure.<\/strong> Again, there is no middle ground, no room for\ncompromise. Either Christ did what he came to do, or he is a failure. If he is\na failure, he is not God, and we have no Savior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Either we are regenerated and called to life and\nfaith in Christ by the irresistible power and grace of God the Holy Spirit, or\nthere is no such thing as salvation.<\/strong> The only hope for a dead sinner\nis free and sovereign grace, grace that asks for nothing and gives everything,\ngrace that waits for nothing and does everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Either God\u2019s people are entirely free from the law,\nas the Scriptures declare us to be, or we are yet under the bondage of the law\nand entirely obligated to keep it perfectly. <\/strong>There is no such thing as\nbeing partially under the law and partially free from it, not in biblical\nterms. The only way the sinner can satisfy, fulfill, and establish the law is\nby faith in Christ (Rom. 3:31).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. Either every saved sinner shall persevere to the end,\nbeing preserved and kept by God\u2019s infallible, immutable grace, or none shall.<\/strong> The\nperseverance of the saints is demanded by the purpose of God, the purchase of\nChrist, and the power of the Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn everything give thanks:\nfor this is the will of God in Christ Jesus<\/p>\n\n\n\n concerning you.\u201d 1 Thess. 5:18<\/p>\n\n\n\n What an all-inclusive word of\ninstruction this is to the child of<\/p>\n\n\n\n God. Everything that the Lord has\neternally ordained and providentially<\/p>\n\n\n\n brought about in this world is\nworking together for His glory and the<\/p>\n\n\n\n good of His people. For His\nmerciful kindness, be thankful that He has<\/p>\n\n\n\n not have left us to die in our\nsins with nothing more than a spirit of<\/p>\n\n\n\n rebellion and ingratitude. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marvin Stalnaker<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChrist\nSent Me To Preach The Gospel\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1\nCorinthians 1:17<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhave absolutely no interest in debating points of theology with men, defending\na creed, a denomination, or a position. The Spirit of God tells us plainly that\ndebate is nothing but the lust of the flesh venting itself in pride to the hurt\nof another (Rom. 1:29). All my personal experience in the practice has\npainfully verified the Spirit\u2019s testimony. It is the business of gospel\npreachers to preach the gospel, to preach the gospel exclusively, earnestly,\nand incessantly. That is what it is to preach the Word of God (1\nPet. 1:23-25).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis the gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation\n(Rom. 1:115-17). It is the gospel of Christ which is the standard of\ngodliness (John 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:21-24). It is the gospel of Christ which is the\nmotive for and basis of all consecration, devotion, self-denial, sacrifice, and\nservice (Rom. 12:1-3; 1 Cor. 6:9-20; 2 Cor. 8:8-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n God\nnever sent a man to preach politics, liberal, conservative, or otherwise. He\nnever called a man to preach psychology, marriage counselling, family values,\nor social reform. All these things will certainly be dealt with and affected by\nthe faithful preaching of the gospel; but God never called any man to devote\nhimself to the preaching of such drivel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those men who are called and gifted of God to preach, are called\nand gifted to preach the gospel. It matters not where or to whom God sends his\nservants, they are all sent with the same task and sent with the same message.\nEvery servant of God attests, \u201cChrist sent me to preach the gospel.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Such men, being gifted and called of God, are undaunted by\ncharges of extremism, dogmatism, and a lack of balance. Let the servants of men\ngrovel before their masters about such matters. God\u2019s servants are totally\nunconcerned about the approval or disapproval of men. Being sent of God to\npreach the gospel, \u201cwe preach Christ.\u201d <\/em>Our doctrine, our only\ndoctrine, is what John calls \u201cthe doctrine of Christ.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\ngospel of Christ is the message of Holy Scripture<\/strong>. All the law and all the\nprophets, all the psalms and all the proverbs, all the gospels and all the\nepistles, all the history of the Old and New Testament, the whole Book of God\nwas written to point us to and show us the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Substitution\nis the message of the gospel<\/strong>. Substitution is not one doctrine among many.\nSubstitution is the gospel. All true doctrine arises from and is based upon the\ngospel doctrine of substitution. It is impossible to understand election,\nredemption, justification, sanctification, baptism, the Lord\u2019s supper,\npreservation, the great white throne judgment, or eternal glory until you\nunderstand these things in the light of substitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\ngospel of Christ, this message of substitution is the message God sends his\nservants to preach to all who will hear them. <\/strong>Our message never\nvaries. We preach Christ to draw lost sinners to him, and to draw believing\nsinners to him. We preach Christ to convict, convert, and correct, and to\ncomfort, console, and consecrate. Our message is Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\nFortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Therefore let no\nman glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or\nCephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come;\nall are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”<\/em><\/strong> 1\nCorinthians 3:21-23<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever there be in heaven,\nwhatever there be in earth, that can be for your spiritual good, all is yours\nso far as you are an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ. The silver and\nthe gold and the cattle upon a thousand hills are all Christ’s because all\npower is given to him in heaven and in earth. Whatever your temporal needs may\nbe, he can supply them, because he is king on earth as well as in heaven.\nWhatever enemies you may have, he is able to defeat them; whatever evils may\npress upon you, he is able to subdue them; whatever sorrows surround you, he is\nable to console you under them. Everything in time, everything in eternity, in\nthis world and in the world to come, are all on your side, that are heirs of\nGod and joint-heirs with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “He that hath\nreceived his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.” John 3:33<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can only set to our seal\nthat God is true in any one point of doctrine, experience, or precept when we\nfeel an inward witness that God indeed has declared it. Thus, upon every\nmanifestation of God’s goodness to the soul, every application of Christ’s blood\nto the conscience, and every revelation of God’s distinguishing grace, it is\nonly as we receive Christ’s testimony, experience the inward approbation of it,\nand feel its sweetness and blessedness that we can set to our seal that God is\ntrue. This, we may be well assured, is the only way to know the power and\nreality of true religion, to understand the Scriptures, and enjoy a convincing\ntestimony that God is our God, Christ our Saviour, the Holy Spirit our Teacher,\nheaven our eternal home, and that our soul is saved in the Lord Jesus Christ\nwith an everlasting salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And with what divine\ncertainty can such a soul sometimes speak. Sometimes, indeed, we cannot believe\nanything; it seems as if there were nothing in God’s word that we could set our\nseal to. All seems a mass of confusion, and our ignorance appears so great that\nwe cannot set our seal to any vital truth. But when the blessed Spirit is\npleased to testify of the things of God, and we, receiving the testimony of\nJesus Christ, walk in the light of that testimony, then there is a holy\ncertainty of and heavenly acquiescence with God’s truth. This divine faith will\nbring us through all our trials and sorrows, and though we may be dragged\nthrough a very hell of temptation, yet shall we know God is true. Here, then,\nis the grand trial of faith; first to receive Christ’s testimony, and then to\nhang upon that testimony, in spite of all opposition from within and without,\nfrom feeling its weight, power, and sweetness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He hath done all\nthings well!<\/strong>
\n
\nBy Octavius Winslow
\n
\n“He hath done all things well!” <\/em>Mark 7:37
\nYes, from first to last, from our cradle to our grave, from the earliest pang\nof sin’s conviction, to the last thrill of sin’s forgiveness, from earth to\nheaven \u2014 this will be our testimony in all the way the Lord our God has led us\nin the wilderness: “He hath done all things well!”<\/em>
\n
\nIn providence<\/em> and in grace<\/em>,
\nin every truth<\/em> of His Word,
\nin every lesson<\/em> of His love,
\nin every stroke<\/em> of His rod,
\nin every sunbeam<\/em> that has shone,
\nin every cloud<\/em> that has shaded,
\nin every element that has sweetened<\/em>,
\nin every ingredient that has embittered<\/em>,
\nin all that has been mysterious, inscrutable, painful, and humiliating,
\nin all that He gave<\/em>,
\nin all that He took<\/em> away<\/em>,
\nthis testimony is His just due, and this our grateful acknowledgment through\ntime and through eternity: “He hath done all things well!”<\/em>
\n
\nHas He converted us through grace by a way we had thought the most improbable?
\nHas He torn up all our earthly hopes by the roots?
\nHas He thwarted our schemes, frustrated our plans, disappointed our\nexpectations?
\nHas He taught us in schools most trying, by a discipline most severe, and\nlessons most humbling to our nature?
\nHas He withered our strength by sickness, reduced us to poverty by loss,\ncrushed our heart by bereavement?
\n
\nAnd have we been tempted to exclaim, “All these things are against\nme!”<\/em>
\nAh! no! faith will yet obtain the ascendancy, and sweetly sing:
\n“I know in all things that befell,
\n My Jesus hath done all things well!”<\/em>
\n
\nBeloved, it must be so, for Jesus can do nothing wrong!
\n
\nStudy the way of His providence<\/em> and grace<\/em> with\nthe microscopic eye of faith<\/em> \u2014 view them in every light,\nexamine them in their minutest detail, as you would the petal of a flower, or\nthe wing of an insect; and, oh, what wonders, what beauty, what marvellous\nadaptation would you observe in all the varied dealings with you, of your\nglorious Lord!<\/p>\n\n\n\n