Feb 17
10
Security In Christ
Todd Nibert
If my security in Christ and my final entrance into glory were dependent in any way on my works, before or after conversion, I would have no security. But, blessed truth, salvation is not in ANY way dependent on my works. Christ is my security and he alone will be the cause of my entrance into glory. There are three things that cause the security of my salvation and final entrance into glory:
(1) The sovereignty of God. If He loves me now, it is because He always loved me. Nothing in me caused His love. He loved me simply because He would. And if He loves me now, He will never cease to love me. “I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
(2) The blood of Christ. On Calvary’s tree, when the sins of God’s elect were placed upon Christ, He literally put them away (Heb. 9:26). Because of the blood of Christ, I have no sins to give account of. If Christ paid my debt, it is paid! God’s law and justice have been satisfied. The bill collector cannot cast into prison one whose debts have been paid.
(3) The righteousness of God is imputed to all the Father loved and all the Son shed His precious blood for, and His righteousness demands their salvation.
The Sovereign Will of God
Drew Dietz
One way or another, the sovereign will of our God is being done!
Do you believe this? Do I believe this? Take a look with me at Acts 21:30-37 and you will see what I mean by the statement above.
You have on one hand the Roman soldiers, on the other the Jewish mob. One group is the occupier and is despised by the occupied nation. One group is responsible for law and order, the other group is in full rebellion. The Romans are the conquerors, the Jews are the conquered. Two wheels turning in direct opposites bent on over-ruling the other. Yet God in His sovereign power and supreme purpose used both of these to fulfill His will for Paul in his eventual journey to Rome. It is amazing how, says one writer of old, the Lord would use Rome to protect the fledgling church while Jerusalem persecuted it.
Our ever gracious Lord is still doing such things for each individual sheep as well as His Church collectively, taking all things, whether opposites in our way of thinking or not and turning them for His glory and our best interest!
Oh my soul, consider this daily and see the sweet peace it affords to my weak and hurting soul.
Sovereign Grace
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16
Sovereign grace is not a religious denomination or theological movement. It is a concise expression of the clear teaching of scripture that describes who God is and how He saves a sinner.
God is sovereign. He is the most high God (Gen 14:22), supreme and elevated in authority, character, dignity and worth above all His creatures. He is not accountable to anyone (Job 33:13). He does as He pleases, when He pleases, with whom He pleases (Is 46:10). He is not dictated to nor influenced in any degree by anyone or anything and cannot be questioned or hindered in anything that He does (Dan 4:35, Rom 11:34).
Grace is God’s eternal favor and blessing upon a sinner who neither deserves it nor seeks it. Grace is salvation. Grace is Christ and all of the benefits of His meritorious life and sin-atoning death bestowed upon the wretch who is worthy of only condemnation and punishment.
Sovereign grace is the sovereign God purposing and promising to be gracious to whom He would be gracious, and then bringing to pass that purpose and making good on that promise by putting those objects of grace in Christ and Christ in them (1Cor 1:30, Col 1:27). – Chris Cunningham
Absolutely Sovereign
Clay Curtis
Psalm 76:10: Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
If we deny the absolute sovereignty of God we do not deny it because we think it belittles God. Whether we know it or not we do it TO BELITTLE GOD AND EXALT SELF. Though most argue against God’s absolute authority and power claiming concern over God being accused of being the author of evil, the true concern is that I’ll be found out to be the author of all my sin.
If we confess that God can remove his restraining hand from a man, harden a man’s heart, so that the sinner commits evil in a city all to accomplish God’s purpose then we have to confess that it is only by God’s direct hand and purpose that sinners are not venting more evil than we do now. By nature evil is what we are. The only thing keeping me from committing the vilest act right now is the sovereign power of God.
Yet, all the evil acts that sinners have ever committed on this earth have praised God. One only has to look at the most sinful act of all. At the cross we behold God bringing praise to his name from the unrighteous wrath of man through the death of his own Son. If everything which happened to God’s own Son was according to God’s determinate council then who are we to question him as to what he does from his throne in glory to us worms called men. Praise him that he has not given us our just due in removing his hand from all of us. Sinful man apart from God’s restraining hand is hell.
God’s absolute sovereignty is the very definition of who God is. It gives great peace to the sinner who has been made to see him in truth. I am thankful my God is truly God.
“But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.” (Psalm 5:7)
When we gather together in the house of the Lord, true believers come with a desire in the heart to worship Him. They don’t come for an emotional experience. They don’t come for an intellectual challenge. They come to present themselves before The Living God, bow to Him, and give Him thanks for every good and perfect gift He has blessed them with. Sometimes, He speaks to them through His word in such a way that causes the believer’s heart to burn within him! Sometimes He increases the understanding of His child’s mind! But when we only come for those things (when we only come for the things we can get from Him) our worship becomes focused on us and not Him! May our Lord remind us, each time we come into His house, of what He said in John 4:23 – “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.” Pastor Gabe Stalnaker
The Problem and The Solution
Pastor Henry Mahan
We won’t make much headway in finding a solution if we don’t understand the problem. A cure is not likely to be found if we have no knowledge of the disease. In the matter of salvation, the problem is man’s sin; the solution is God’s grace. The disease is moral depravity and spiritual inability; the remedy is God’s mercy in Christ.
If a man is near-sighted, he only needs corrective glasses, but if he is blind, he needs the miracle of sight! If a man is sick, he only needs medicinal aid, but if he is dead, he needs the miracle of life! If man has only strayed from the way, he needs directions, but if he is completely lost, he needs to be found!
So here is the question that must be settled by preachers and people alike: “What happened in the garden?” When one feels obliged to come to some conclusions on the subjects of election, irresistible grace, and particular redemption it would be wise for him to first determine the condition of the sinner who is to be saved.
If man was only wounded by the fall he needs only assistance; if he is dead in sins, he needs to be resurrected and that by the purpose and power of the God of life. If fallen man still has his moral ability and power of choice, then let us wait for him to choose and seek God, but if fallen man loves darkness and will not come to Christ, then Christ must love and come to him.
“Sovereign grace is God’s grace. And God’s grace is sovereign grace. If it is not sovereign grace, it is not saving grace. Sovereign grace is the Truth. Sovereign grace is the message that declares the electing love of the Father, the redeeming love of the Son, and the invincible love of the Holy Spirit. Sovereign grace is the content of all true evangelism. Sovereign grace is the gospel. Any message that does not declare the sovereign grace of God in Christ Jesus, is another gospel! Sovereign grace is SAVING GRACE!” Todd Nibert
THERE IS NONE LIKE THEE
II Samuel 7:22
Tom Harding
Believers can never be found guilty of giving too much honor, praise, and all glory unto our sovereign God. David sits in the temple of God and prays and rejoices in his heart because of the multitudes of grace and mercy revealed and experienced in his life. He prays, “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?” (II Sam. 7:18). Truly, every believer can identify with David. When we consider who we are (sinners by birth, choice, and practice (I Jn. 1:7-9), and when we consider who God is (holy, just, and almighty (Isa. 45:21), it is amazing and astounding that He would show mercy to any, even more so that God would show mercy to me, the chief of sinners (I Tim. 1:15). Every believer can say with David, “Thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (II Sam. 7:22). The scriptures plainly reveal to us there is none like our God (Isa.46:9). What is He like? Consider these five scriptures from the word!
1.”Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness?” (Exo. 15: 11) .
2.”Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy” (Micah 7: 18) .
3. “O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them” (Psa. 89:8-9).
4. “Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things; thou art God alone” (Psa. 86:8-10).
5. “And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart” (I Kings 8:22-23).