Apr 19
29
OUR RULE OF LIFE
Many religious people claim to believe a sinner is saved by grace but
then they also claim that the believer must still strive to keep the
law. They say, “How else will you control people?” One big concern is
giving. False religion keeps people under the law of the tithe because
they know stingy, selfish people will never give 10% unless they are
forced to by the law.
The answer is very simple. What saith the scripture? “Knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane,
for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for
menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other
thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.” (I Tim. 1:9-10) The law is
given for the lawless and the disobedient not a believer. The law
threatens the disobedient but does not make them obedient. The gospel is
given to the believer who has been made a new creature in Christ. A
believer is not controlled or motivated by the law. A believer is
controlled by love for Christ. A believer will be faithful in worship,
loving in attitude, and generous in giving out of a thankful spirit
because God has been merciful.
This Man Receives Sinners
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth
sinners, and eateth with them. Luke 15:2
Our English word “receives” fails to convey the full meaning of the
Greek word in the original text (dechomai), which indicates “a welcoming
or an appropriating reception”. It is the same Greek word used to
describe the attitude with which ancient saints “looked for redemption”
(Luke 2:38) and were “waiting for the kingdom of God” (Luke 23:51), and
the attitude with which present-day saints are “looking for the blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”
(Titus 2:13) and “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life” (Jude v.21). Daniel Parks
Jesus Christ and Him Crucified
“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ,
and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:2)
There is only one message to preach and to hear because there is only
one message in all of the scripture – “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
Every page, every story, every commandment, every word speaks of “Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified.” What is the only remedy for sin? “Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified.” What is the only hope of standing before the
throne of God justified and accepted? “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
What is the only message of comfort and rest? “Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified.” What message breaks a hard heart? And what message binds the
broken heart again? “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” What message
instructs, and motivates the heart of a sinner to obedience? “Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified.” What message produces true love, unity, and
forgiveness among brethren? “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Just
preach “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” and husbands will love their
wives “as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25);
wives will submit to the leadership and direction of their “loving”
husbands; and children will “obey (their) parents in the Lord”, as
Christ submitted and obeyed to the loving will of His Father. Everything
that a child of God needs for growth in grace, and growth into the image
of his Lord is produced through the preaching of “Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified.” Christ is ALL! All we preach, all we hear, all we believe,
all we have! By God’s grace, all of His people say with Paul: “We are
determined to know nothing among us, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
Pastor Gabe Stalnaker
Divine sovereignty, total depravity, unconditional election, limited
atonement, irresistible grace, and the certain preservation of God’s
elect are like salt and pepper and bread and butter on the table.
Wherever the gospel feast is spread they are always on table.
Pastor Don Fortner
Run in with Moses ( John Bunyan extract from pilgrims progress.)
Now when I had got about half-way up, I looked behind, and saw one
coming after me, swift as the wind; so he overtook me just about the
place where the settle stands.
Christian: Just there, said Christian, did I sit down to rest me; but
being overcome with sleep, I there lost this roll out of my bosom.
Faithful: But, good brother, hear me out. So soon as the man overtook
me, he was but a word and a blow, for down he knocked me, and laid me
for dead. But when I was a little come to myself again, I asked him
wherefore he served me so. He said, because of my secret inclining to
Adam the First; and with that he struck me another deadly blow on the
breast, and beat me down backward; so I lay at his foot as dead as
before. So, when I came to myself again, I cried him mercy; but he said,
I know not how to show mercy; and with that he knocked me down again. He
had doubtless made an end of me, but that one came by, and bid him forbear.
Christian: Who was that that bid him forbear?
Faithful: I did not know him at first, but as he went by, I perceived
the holes in his hands and in his side; then I concluded that he was our
Lord. So I went up the hill.
Christian: That man that overtook you was Moses. He spares none, neither
does he know how to show mercy to those that transgress his law
“He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where
the Lord lay.“ (Matthew 28:6)
What does it mean for sinners like us to know that the Lord is risen?
First of all it means, He died! The sinless one died! Why did he die?
How could he die? He died because the sin of His people was pressed into
Him, and He was judged before the throne of God for the sin that He
carried. The only way that the spotless, holy Lamb of God could die was
by bearing the sin of His people. So the fact that He died means, that’s
exactly what He did! But The glorious announcement continues…
He was laid in a tomb after suffering the righteous judgment and
punishment of God so that His people wouldn’t have to, but He is not
still in that tomb! He is risen! That means: the sin is gone, the
punishment is over, and God is satisfied! God the Father is satisfied
with Christ, and He is satisfied with us IN CHRIST! Every bit of that
happened, exactly as the Lord Jesus Christ said it would happen. Which
means, the all knowing God is the very One who saved us. And to all
who’s sins were put away in His death, burial, and resurrection, He
says: “Come! Come see the place where I laid for you. Come unto Me and
you will find rest for your weary soul.”
When the burden and guilt of our sin begins to bring us down into utter
despair, let’s remember the word that He sent to us through His
messenger: “He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the
place where the Lord lay.” Pastor Gabe Stalnaker
WHY CHRIST’S CHURCH PREACHES GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
Psalm 22: 24: For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of
the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried
unto him, he heard.
When Christ finished the work of manifesting God’s righteousness in the
justification of his people, God heard him. Therefore, the Father raised
Christ and gave him the glory of revealing his righteousness in our
hearts, the same as God gave him the glory of revealing God’s
righteousness on the cross. So it is Christ, through the preaching of
the gospel of God’s righteousness, through the Holy Spirit, that reveals
God’s righteousness in our hearts. He said, “I will declare thy name
unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify
him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.” (vv22-24; Heb 2: 11-12).
God truly has rewarded us double! The same Redeemer who justified us by
manifesting the righteousness of God on the cross is our Prophet who
reveals the righteousness of God in our hearts so that we experience
being made righteous through faith.
Does any wonder why we preach the glorious good news of the
righteousness of God continually? It is because the righteousness of God
is the message that Christ, himself, effectually makes his church
proclaim and the one message by which Christ makes his lost sheep to be
born of him. It is God’s righteousness that makes those newly born of
God willing to unite and proclaim this good news with us! How do we know
this? It is what Christ himself said he would accomplish in his people
by declaring God’s name through the gospel, “A seed shall serve him; it
shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and
shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that
he hath done this” (Ps 22: 30-31).
Brethren, is not the righteousness of God great comfort to you? Are you
not thankful that the LORD loveth righteous judgment? This is all our
salvation! The righteousness of God that required Christ bear our sin is
the righteousness that made the just Judge forsake our Substitute by
which Christ justified us on the cross. It is the righteousness that
demanded we hear the gospel and be given life. It is the righteousness
we heard preached by which we were born again. It is the righteousness
by which we are established and no weapon can harm us (Is 54:14-17). And
it is the righteousness by which God assures us that he shall never
forsake us but shall preserve us forever—”For the LORD loveth judgment,
and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved forever.” (Ps 37: 28)
This is why Christ’s church preaches the righteousness of God. It is who
our God is and it is all our salvation!
Clay Curtis.
Is There Any Real Hope For Real Sinners?
Is there any real hope for real sinners? I know that men and women who
think of themselves as good moral people have no problem in this matter.
They think they are okay. They look upon their good works, their
religious devotion, and their moral integrity with much approval. In
their proud self-righteousness they presume that God owes them something
and that he will accept them. They are highly offended when they are
told by a plain spoken preacher that they are sinners and that their
supposed righteous deeds are filthy rags, abominable in the sight of
God. I am not speaking to you of good people”.
I am speaking to you men and women who know yourselves to be guilty
sinners before a holy God. You have no good deeds to boast of. Your life
is as vile as your heart. You are an outcast of society. Both your
family and friends avoid your company. You are so abominably evil that
you can hardly endure living with yourself. You know that you are guilty
before a holy God. You know that if you had your just reward from him,
you would be in hell. Is there any real hope for real sinners like you
and me?
I know that we have no hope in ourselves. We have all tried religious
decisions and moral reformation. But these things cannot atone for our
sins. These things cannot silence our guilty consciences. Preachers tell
us to join the church, or start living right, or start serving the Lord.
You may have tried it all. But the fact remains that you cannot do
anything that God will accept. You may have joined the church and become
religious, but your conscience still torments you. You have no peace
with God. Is there any real hope for real sinners?
Yes, blessed be God, there is real hope for real sinners like us! That
Hope is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came to this earth to
be the Friend of sinners. He came to be the sinner’s Substitute before
God. As the Substitute for sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ lived in this
world accomplishing a perfect righteousness, the only righteousness
which God will accept. Then he willingly laid down his life in the place
of sinners at Calvary. As the Substitute for guilty sinners the Son of
God took our sins upon himself, and in his death he paid the penalty due
unto us. Now it is promised that all who believe on him shall be saved
and have everlasting life. “He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life” (John 3:36). That includes both you and me. If we, as
guilty sinners, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our only Savior, our
only Righteousness, and our only Pardon for sin, we shall be saved!
Jesus Christ is the only One who gives real hope to real sinners. I
trust him. Most gladly do I trust Christ. I have no righteousness but
his righteousness. I have no cleansing from sin but his blood. I have no
pardon but his pardon. I have no acceptance before God but Christ. I
have nothing to plead before God but this, Jesus Christ lived and died
for me. Though I am a real sinner like you, I have a REAL HOPE BEFORE
GOD. My Hope is Jesus Christ the Lord. And HE GIVES HE REAL PEACE BEFORE
GOD. Will you trust Christ alone? THERE IS REAL HOPE FOR REAL SINNERS IN
CHRIST.
Don Fortner