Sep 17
16
“NEITHER IS THERE SALVATION IN ANY OTHER”
Acts 4:12
Salvation comes to fallen, helpless sinners only by virtue of Christ’s blessed name, only by his merits, only by his power, only by his authority.
My friend, SALVATION SHOULD BE A MATTER OF GREAT CONCERN TO YOU. You are, by nature, lost, without Christ, without hope, without life, without God in the world. You are a cursed member of a cursed race. Soon, your life on this earth will be over, your body will return to the earth, and your immortal soul will stand naked before God in judgment. God will require two things of you in that day: Complete satisfaction for all your sin and perfect righteousness. Without these two things you will be lost forever in hell! But you can produce neither. Atonement for sin and righteousness can only be found in Christ. If you die without Christ, you die without hope. But if you have Christ, you have everlasting life (John 3:36; I John 5:13).
YOU CANNOT OBTAIN SALVATION BY ANYTHING YOU CAN DO (Rom. 3:20; Eph. 2:8-9). I doubt that anyone ever comes to God directly through the strait gate. Works are so ingrained into our natural religious consciousness that we all, like the prodigal, have to give them a try. We will not come to Christ until we find ourselves foiled in our works, beaten and defeated. We come to Christ only when we are pressed to do so by necessity, when we find that he alone is the way to God. Good works, religious reformation, baptism, prayers, tears, vows, and resolutions will never bring salvation. If you have been trying to do something to get saved, give it up at once. Trust Christ, trust Christ alone. Christ alone is salvation. And Christ alone is the Way to salvation.
I assure you, on the authority of God’s holy Word, that THERE IS SALVATION FOR SINNERS IN CHRIST- (Isa. 45: 22; John 3:14-17). There is no salvation anywhere else. But there is abundant salvation in Christ. “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” His name has power, virtue, and efficacy with God. Come to Christ now. Sue for mercy at the throne of grace by the name of Christ. You have no other hope. If you do not find salvation in Christ, you will find it nowhere else. He is your only hope.
Don Fortner.
Children of God, Christ lives for us! Christ is our Life and Christ is Enough! See His provision and hear His words, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn 14:1-3). Let not your heart be troubled. Trust Christ!
Eric Richards.
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.
“A GOOD DEED IS A STEP TOWARD GOD”
The above words were on a marquee in front of one of the largest churches here in town a while back. Evidently these supposed “words of wisdom” were intended to give directions to earth’s struggling anthropoids in their evolutionary ascension to paradise.
They convey an idea which, though it would be appropriate for the Boy Scouts, is totally opposed to the Word of God, the forgiveness of sins, and that gospel of the free grace of God in Christ Jesus for poor sinners. Boy scouts earn patches, badges, advancements and promotions through their “good deeds” and “hard work.” However they are honest enough to label their rewards, advancements, and promotions meritorious rather than gratuitous. But through the wiles of Satan, false religionists plainly preach and teach that sinners are saved by their own works and worth, efforts and merit, while calling their gospel, “salvation by grace.” “A good deed is a step toward God.” Now I ask you, does that statement teach and promote grace or works?”
Brothers and sisters, let us pray for grace to live our lives in this world for the honor and glory of Him who loved us and gave himself for us, and “let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith;” but let us hang our guilty souls upon the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, and let us trust Him alone for our acceptance with God. For it is in Christ, through faith in His name that sinners are made righteous, justified, reconciled, and accepted of God. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life.”
“Grace is grace and works are works
And the two shall never meet;
Those who work are those who boast,
But grace brings beggars to Jesus’ feet.”
Pastor Maurice Montgomery
WHEN TRIBULATION OR PERSECUTION ARISETH
Matthew 13: 20: But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21: Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Over the years I have experienced a little of what our Lord means by “tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word.” After experiencing men’s hatred of God’s gospel, I have been asked by well-meaning brethren, “Why preach this point since it seems to be a point of contention?” I will try to give one reason by way of illustration.
The very first subject I preached in the first message I preached was, “Behold the Lamb of God” from John 1: 36. My first point was “Behold the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev 13: 8) I declared that all spiritual blessings God gives his people in time, he gave us in eternity in Christ. Those blessings were accomplished because when Christ agreed to be our Surety, in the unchangeable purpose of God Christ was slain right then. Immediately, someone told me they were offended that I preached eternal justification in the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
What if I had ceased preaching that scriptural truth? What if every time trouble arose because of the word I ceased preaching that point of doctrine? Then I would never preach that all sinners died in Adam and are totally depraved. I would never preach that Christ made atonement for a limited number of sinners that God sovereignly chose by grace, not based on anything in the sinner. Never would I preach Christ our Sanctification, renouncing the lie of progressive sanctification which says sinners begin in the Spirit through the hearing of the faithfulness of Christ but are made perfect by their flesh by hearing of works. No one to whom I preach would ever be grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Yet, not only would I have ceased preaching Christ and not only would those to whom I minister receive no benefit but I also would have proven myself a stony ground hearer more concerned with offending men than with offending God. This is why offended men do not offend me so as to change my message!
Clay Curtis.
Is Christ enough?
Christ is the issue, isn’t He? I find it revealing that the point of Calvinistic theology which is most controverted is “Limited Atonement”, the one point of the five that specifically deals with Christ. Not matter what the controversy; it will eventually get back to this point: Is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ enough to redeem the sinner? Christ is never enough in the mind of the unbeliever. But Christ is enough to anyone who has nothing else!
Joe Terrell
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; etc.
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
Another Jesus
From time to time there arises a debate on what constitutes “another gospel”. We all know that there are differences among true and honest believers over various doctrines. When do these differences cross the line from mere differences to heresy? When must we cry, “That is another gospel!”?
The answer is so simple that there should never again be a debate on the issue. It is “another gospel” when the message is of “another Jesus!” This is the only issue worth dividing over, and on this issue we must divide with all who disagree. Who is the true Jesus?
Of all the adjectives I could use to describe our Lord in the gospel, the one that seems most fitting to me is “the successful Jesus.” The true Jesus is the one who “by Himself (actually did) purge our sins” (Heb. 1:3), the one in whose hand the will of Jehovah prospered (Is. 53:10), the one who is the Word from God that does not return to God empty but actually accomplishes what God sent Him to do (Is.55:11), the one who has already successfully “obtained eternal redemption for us, (Heb. 9;12)
That Jesus, and only that Jesus in the Jesus of the gospel! Other Jesus’ may be very nice and kind; they may fill your heart with warmth and your eyes with tears, but they cannot save your soul! Only the Jesus of definite, successful, and therefore, particular redemption can deliver your soul to God without spot and blemish. Trust Him, and tolerate no other! Fix your soul fast to Him and your soul shall live! Trust any other Jesus and you shall perish.
Joe Terrell
CHRIST IS SALVATION!
Henry Mahan
“All spiritual blessings that sovereign, gracious God has for sinners IN our Lord Jesus Christ, BY the merits and blood of our Lord, and FOR the glory of our Redeemer. Simply put, CHRIST IS SALVATION!
It is Christ, not the cross, who saves.
It is Christ, not the church, who justifies.
It is Christ, not my faith, nor my confession, nor my profession, who unites me to God.
It is the Master, not the mother, who is our Mediator.
It is His blood that cleanses, His obedience that sanctifies, His love that will not let me go, His faithfulness (not mine) constant and steadfast, and His promise, spoken to Peter but true of every believer, “I HAVE PRAYED FOR YOU.”