Dec 11
20
“Nothing, either great or small, Nothing, sinner, no;
Jesus did it, did it all, Long, long ago!
When He, from His lofty throne, Stooped to do and die,
Everything was fully done. Hearken to His cry: —
“It is finished!” Yes, indeed, Finished every jot:
Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, Is it not?
Weary, working, plodding one, Why toil you so?
Cease your doing, all was done, Long, long ago!
Till to Jesus’ work you cling, By a simple faith,
Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death.
Cast your deadly doing down, Down at Jesus’ feet!
Stand in Him, in Him lone, Gloriously complete!
James Procter
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ETERNAL LIFE
Our Lord said, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.” Eternal life refers to the BELIEVER’S NEW NATURE. It is not something we look for. It is something we have. Every believer has eternal 1ife imparted to him. In regeneration we are made “partakers of the Divine nature”. Christ is formed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Right now we have eternal life in Christ! Eternal life also refers to the BELIEVER’S HOPE. We live in the hope, expectation of eternal life. When this life is over we anticipate perfection and eternal glory in heaven. Heaven will simply be the eternal perfection and bliss of that life which God has created in the hearts of his people. And, certainly, eternal life refers to the BELIEVER’S SECURITY. “They shall never perish!” Eternal life is created, maintained, and perfected by the almighty grace of God in Christ. Nothing can hinder, or overthrow God’s work. Eternal life in Christ is eternal!
Don Fortner.
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What must I do to be saved?
Ask that question to a dozen different people, and you may receive a dozen different answers: keep the Law of Moses; observe sabbaths; decide for Christ; come to the altar; travel the Roman Road; be baptized; get religion; say the sinner’s prayer; join a church; do good works; go on a pilgrimage; fight in a holy war; et.
But when a gospel preacher is asked that question, he replies, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30f). Why? Because all that needs to be done for salvation, has already been done by the Lord Jesus Christ. The only thing souls desiring salvation need to do is to believe on Him. Salvation is not found in what we may do, but rather in what He has already done. Salvation is not obtained by our doing, but rather by our believing in the Doer. This is the way God saves His people (2 Thessalonians 2:13f). Are you among them? Daniel Parks.
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The cross is not made of soft feathers
“Take up the cross—and follow Me.” Mark 10:21
You have not the liberty of making of your own cross; although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making. Neither are you permitted to choose your own cross; although self-will would gladly be lord and master. Your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love—and you are cheerfully to accept it. You are to take up the cross as your chosen portion, and not to stand caviling at it. Jesus bids you to submit your shoulder to His easy yoke. Do not . . .
kick at it in petulance, or
trample on it in vain-glory, or
fall under it in despair, or
run away from it in fear.
Take it up like a true follower of Jesus.
Jesus was a cross-bearer; He leads the way in the path of sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if He carried a cross—what nobler burden would you desire?
The Way of the Cross is the way of safety—do not fear to tread its thorny paths.
Beloved, the cross is not made of soft feathers, or lined with velvet—it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders! But it is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with iron colors! It is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for the Man of sorrows carried the load. Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit—you will soon be so in love with it, that like Moses, you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasures of Egypt!
Remember that the cross will soon be followed by the crown. The thought of the coming weight of glory—will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble. May the Lord help you to bow your heart in submission to the divine will—that you may go forth to this day’s cross with the holy and submissive spirit which befits a follower of the Crucified.
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Who then can be saved?
When the Lord Jesus Christ met that young-rich ruler, who sought salvation by his good works, He quickly showed this man that he actually had no good works that would justify his soul. Although this man had claimed he had kept the law, “All these have I observed from my youth” (Mark 10:20); it is clear he had no idea what the LAW demanded. His spiritual ignorance was revealed by his self-righteous answer.
The Law reaches to the inward parts of a man’s soul. “God requires truth in the inward parts” (Psalm 51:6). The Law reaches not only to the outward act, but also to the inward motive, lust and attitude of the heart (Matt. 5:27-28). It is most evident that those who seek their salvation by the deeds of the Law have absolutely no idea of the scheme of God’s salvation (Gal. 2:21). To be ignorant of the Law is to be ignorant of the character of God, He is holy in all His actions and attributes (Rom. 10:1-4). To be ignorant of the Law of God is to be ignorant of our own sinful character. We are at our best state sinful by nature, choice and practice (Rom. 3:9-20). To be ignorant of the Law is to be ignorant of the provisions provided in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ honored the holy Law of God for the believer. He fulfilled every precept of that Law for us and died a sacrificial death to satisfy the penalty (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ Jesus has by His life and death redeemed us from the curse of the Law (Gal. 3:10-13). All those who try to satisfy the offended and holy justice of God by their feeble works will go away just as this young man did in Mark 10:22, “Sad and grieved”.
The disciples asked a good question after this man walked away from the Lord, “Who then can be saved?” Our Lord, with all the power of His wisdom, simply answered, “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Yes indeed your salvation is impossible, with your righteousness and works. But thanks be to God, with our Lord Jesus Christ even your salvation is possible. Only God can work upon the affections, the heart, the mind to cause a sinner to look to Him. Only God can renew and change the will to cause a sinner to seek Him. Only God can bestow spiritual life, quickening and regenerating dead sinners to life in Christ (Eph. 2:1). Tom Harding
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“Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19
If grace has touched your heart; if the love of God has come into your soul, it has placed you among the saints of the Most High, and given you every privilege which God ever did or could give to them. And what are their privileges? To be washed in the atoning blood of the suffering Son of God, to be clothed in the justifying righteousness of his perfect and meritorious obedience, to be consecrated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to have the love of God as their enduring portion, peace in believing, supplies of grace as needed, support and strength as they pass through this valley of tears, comforts abounding in proportion to the abundance of afflictions, everlasting arms beneath in death, a mansion of eternal bliss for the soul when the body drops into the grave, and a glorious resurrection of the body at the appearance of Christ in glory.
All that the love of God can give; all that the blood of Christ has been a channel for communicating; and all that the Spirit of God can reveal to any heart, or has ever brought with power into the soul of any saint–all these things become ours when we become fellow-citizens with the saints of God; not indeed always or often by vital enjoyment, though we get sips and tastes, drops and crumbs; but as Abraham was given possession of Canaan when he had not so much as to set his foot on, yet was it his as much by promise as it became his children’s by strength of hand. Does not the Apostle declare this, in the broadest and clearest language, where he says, “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours?” and why all yours? “for you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” J.C.Philpot.
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