Dec 14
27
WHY CHRIST CAME
Jesus Christ came into the world not only to reveal the Father, but to redeem the sinner. He came not as the President of our country would go into a disaster area to look upon the poor, helpless victims, but to redeem victims of depravity whom the Father gave Him in the covenant of redemption. Christ came not to redeem by appointed methods, but by Himself. He came not to stand by and prescribe, but to minister and provide the means of salvation. The Savior came not only to provide salvation, but to be that Salvation (I Peter 1:18; Revelation 1:5). Pastor Scott Richardson
Christ’s death is not a pattern but a payment. His death is not an example but an atonement. His death does not revive us but it redeems us. Our problem is with the Law and with the Holy Justice of God, and we cannot go free until someone pays that sin debt before a Holy God. Now God can receive us and pardon us because the Lord Jesus Christ paid our sin debt to whom it was owed. God set the price and Christ paid it.
– Pastor Milton Howard
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Sin is a noun. It is what I am. Sin is a verb. It is what I do. Sin is an adjective. It describes me. Sin is an adverb. It describes what I do. Thank God for the promise of the Gospel, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
Before we can worship God in peace of conscience and liberty of heart, we must know, upon authority of God’s Word and by the power of God’s Spirit, that the entire question of sin has been forever settled by the blood of a divine sin offering. All of God’s claims and all our necessities as ruined, guilt sinners have been forever answered. This gives us peace; and in the enjoyment of that peace, we worship God. We have a perfect Sacrifice, and a perfect conscience. – Pastor Scott Richardson
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THE REIGN OF GRACE
The genuine Gospel will always appear like an insult on the taste of the public. Wherever it comes, if it be not received, it awakens disgust and provokes abhorrence. Nor can it be otherwise. For its principle design is to mortify the pride of man, and to display the glory of grace; to throw all human excellence down to the dust, and to elevate, even to the thrones of glory, the needy and the wretched; to show that everything which exalteth itself against he knowledge of Christ is an abomination in the sight of God; and that He who is despised by men and abhorred by the nations is Jehovah’s eternal delight. The ancient Gospel is an unceremonious thing. It pays no respect to the academic because of his profound learning; nor to the moralist on account of his upright conduct. It has not the least regard to the courtier, because of his pompous honors; nor to the devotee for the sake of his zeal or his righteousness. No, the potent prince and the abject slave, the wise philosopher and the ignorant rustic, the virtuous lady and the infamous, stand on the same level in its comprehensive sight. Its business is with the worthless and the miserable, whomsoever they be. If these be relieved, its end is gained. If these be made happy, its Author is glorified, whatever may become of the rest. Towards these it constantly wears the most friendly aspect, and rejoices to do them good. But the self-sufficient of every rank are treated by it with the utmost reserve, and beheld with steady contempt. The hungry it filleth with good things, but the rich it sendeth away empty.
– Abraham Booth
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To speak what I do NOT believe is hypocrisy. NOT to speak what I do believe is cowardly. To speak what I believe only when and where I know it will be received is deceitful. – Pastor Henry Mahan
The Lords People
James Smith, 1860
If in anything we are especially deficient, it is in gratitude to God, for his many, great, and invaluable blessings. But if we would be grateful to God, for his mercies in general, we should be especially thankful for that greatest of all mercies, when he took our nature, and appeared in our world, to put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. Well may we exclaim with Zacharias, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us, in the house of his servant David.” Luke 1:68, 69
THE LORD HAS A PEOPLE.
All the earth is his, and all people are his by creation; but he has a special people, a people peculiarly his own. God’s special people are chosen as individuals out of every nation, and kingdom, and tongue, and people. As an act of his own most free and sovereign grace, he chose them in his beloved Son, to be a peculiar people unto himself above all people that dwell upon the face of the earth. Having chosen them, he favors them, overruling all things in providence to bring about his purposes of love to them. In favoring them, he claims them as his own, by the agency and operation of his Spirit, and through trials, afflictions, and troubles, leads them on from grace to glory.
In their natural state they needed redemption, and required a Savior, for they were . . .
ignorant, and needed instruction,
weak, and needed strength,
enslaved, and needed emancipation,
wretched, and needed salvation.
Yes, they needed so much, that none but God could do it for them; and if God would do it, he must assume their nature, their place, and their responsibilities.
THE LORD HAS VISITED HIS PEOPLE.
He had often sent to them his servants, and appeared among them in various forms. But now he becomes incarnate. The WORD, who was God, and the revealer of God; “the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” He came on purpose to redeem us, and to redeem us by paying a ransom price for us. Yes, he came to redeem us from all evil, and to put us in possession of all real good. He came to redeem us from among men, to redeem us to God, by his own blood, and to make us a people to show forth his praise. He visited us to raise up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.
The horn is the emblem of power, he has raised up for us a mighty Savior. The horn is the emblem of plenty, and he has provided for us a plentiful salvation. He raised up this horn in the royal house of David, so that we have a royal Savior. One to flee to, and be saved by.
Let us then admire the wondrous condescension of our God, in looking, visiting, and becoming one of us. Let us be grateful for his great mercy and condescending goodness. Let us love him in return for his great love to us. Let us prostrate ourselves before him filled with solemn reverence, and give him hearty praise. God’s people may yet be reduced to straits, and be placed in circumstances of difficulty — but God will look upon them, visit them, and redeem them out of all their troubles.
When God visits, it is to relieve, deliver, and sanctify his people unto himself. Well then, may we say, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up an horn of salvation for us, in the house of his servant David.”
Reader, do you need a Savior? Here is one that will just suit you, he is mighty to save, and can therefore save you; here is plentiful salvation, and therefore enough for you; here is a royal Savior, who freely gives — but never sells; who grants — but never barters. Would you be redeemed from all evil, and be entitled to all good? Then come to Jesus, and his precious blood will avail to remove every legal obstacle; and his powerful arm will conquer every opposing power.
Flee to Jesus, as you would flee from a devouring flame, to a place of safety; he will receive you, he will bless you, and he will be a perfect Savior unto you. For this purpose he came into our world; for this purpose he shed his precious blood; for this purpose he lives and pleads in Heaven.
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“Through the tender mercies of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us.” Luke 1:78
By “day-spring” is meant the day-dawn, the herald of the rising sun, the change from darkness to light, the first approach of morn, in a word, the spring of the day. But what is this “day-spring” spiritually? It is the intimation of the rising of the Sun of righteousness. It is not the same thing as the Sun of righteousness; but it is the herald of his approach; the beams which the rising sun casts upon the benighted world, announcing the coming of Jesus, “the King in his beauty.”
This expression was singularly applicable in the mouth of Zacharias. The Lord of life and glory had not then appeared; he was still in the womb of the Virgin Mary. But his forerunner, John, had appeared as the precursor, the herald of his approach, and was sent to announce that the Sun of righteousness was about to arise. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light” (John 1:6-8). All nations at that time lay in darkness. “Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people.” But when the Lord of life and glory was about to appear upon earth, when he had already taken the body which was prepared for him, the very flesh and blood of the children, which he was to offer as a propitiation for sin, “the dayspring from on high” had begun to dawn. God’s mercy, in the face of his dear Son, was just visiting the benighted world.
But there is another, an experimental meaning, connected with these words. “The day-spring from on high” is not to be confined to the approach of the Son of God in the flesh; but it may be extended to signify the appearance of the Son of God in the heart. I cannot be benefited by the appearing of Jesus in the flesh eighteen hundred years ago, unless he comes and dwells in my soul. “The day-spring from on high” which visited the benighted Jewish church will not profit us except that same day-spring visits our benighted heart. “The day-spring from on high” is the manifestation of God’s mercy in the face of the Savior. And when this “day-spring from on high” visits the soul, it is the first intimation, the dawning rays of the Sun of righteousness in the heart. J. C. Philpot
“If we believe not, yet he abides faithful; he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13
This is the only true and secure anchorage-ground for a poor soul, tossed amid the waves of doubt and perplexity- to know that God cannot alter His word; that it is impossible that He should lie; that were He to deviate from His infinite perfection, He would cease to be a perfect being, and consequently would cease to be God: to know, too, that He is faithful in the midst of the unfaithfulness and perpetual startings aside of His child- faithful in the depth of the deepest affliction- faithful when earthly hopes wither, and human cisterns are broken, and when the soul is led to exclaim, “His faithfulness has failed!”- Oh, what a spring to a tried and drooping faith is this view which God Himself has given of His own glorious and perfect character! It is no small triumph of faith to walk with God, when all is darkness with the soul, and there is no light; to feel amid the roaring of the waves that still He is faithful- that though He slay, yet the soul can trust Him; that though He were to take all else, away He would never remove Himself from His people. Oh glorious triumph of faith! “Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness, and has no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.” Octavius Winslow