May 19
9
NOT FAR BUT NOT IN
Mark 12: 34: And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said
unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
The charge Christ has given his pastors is “Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto
her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.” (Isa
40:1-2) But we are not to comfort anyone who does not yet believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. The worst thing in the world would be to go to hell
calling God our Father when we have not bowed the knee to Christ! The
person to whom Christ spoke these words was very near. But Christ told
him the truth. He did not say, “Thou art in the kingdom of God” but
“Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.”
Perhaps, some here are not far from the kingdom of God. But not far is
not in. May God comfort us in the assurance of faith when we truly
believe on Christ. But if there be any who are not truly resting in
Christ, may God make them see their need of truly believing on Christ.
It is not enough to meet Christ standing as near as the threshold of
faith. We must enter Christ the Door through faith in him. We must
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby enter the kingdom of God.
Clay Curtis.
“Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 3:6)
We gather today in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior believing his
promise that he is in our midst. What a privilege and blessing it is to
gather with others who trust and love Jesus Christ our Saviour. False
religion teaches men to trust in an experience or in certain doctrines
and creeds. The Scriptures teach that salvation, eternal life, the
forgiveness of sins is not in a creed or doctrine. We acknowledge that
good sound doctrine is very important because it always points to Jesus
Christ our Saviour. God’s salvation for sinners is in a Person. “He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life”1
John 5:12.
He is the one and only mediator between God and men. His blood is the
only remedy that puts away sin, His righteousness is the only
righteousness that justifies, and his death is the only means that
reconciles to God. I’m thankful for the privilege to join today with all
of you who know the Lord Jesus Christ and for us to worship Jesus Christ
our Savior, who conquered death for us. Pastor David Pledger
ACCORDING TO THE FREE-WILL SCHEME, the Lord intends good, but He must
wait like a lackey on His own creature to know what his intention is;
God willeth good, and would do it, but He cannot because He has an
unwilling man who will not have God’s good thing carried into effect.
What do ye, sirs, but drag the Eternal from His throne and lift up into
it that fallen creature, man; for man, according to that theory, nods
and his nod is destiny. You must have a destiny somewhere; it must
either be as God wills or as man wills. If it be as God wills, then
Jehovah sits sovereign upon His throne of glory, and all hosts obey Him,
and the world is safe; if not God, then you put man there to say, “I
will” or “I will not; if I will it, I will enter heaven; if I will it, I
will despise the grace of God; if I will it, I will conquer the Holy
Spirit, for I am stronger than God, stronger than omnipotence; if I will
it, I will make the blood of Christ of no effect, for I am mightier than
the blood, mightier than the blood of the Son of God himself; though God
make His purpose, yet will I laugh at His purpose; it shall be my
purpose that shall make His purpose stand or fall.” Why, sirs, if this
is not atheism, it is idolatry; it is putting man where God should be;
and I shrink with solemn awe and horror from that doctrine which makes
the grandest of God’s works – the salvation of man – to be dependent
upon the will of His creature whether it shall be accomplished or not.
Glory I can and must in my text in its fullest sense. “IT IS NOT OF HIM
THAT WILLETH, NOR OF HIM THAT RUNNETH, BUT OF GOD THAT SHOWETH MERCY”
(Romans 9:16). C. H. Spurgeon
Luke writes concerning the Bereans “These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,
and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were
Greeks, and of men, not a few. (Ac 17:11-12) They received the word with
a ready mind then searched the scriptures daily. It says, “Therefore,
many of them believed.” So search the scriptures daily to see if these
things I preach are so. It may be that God will give you faith to
believe as he did the Bereans.
Clay Curtis.
Not in Vain
The false gospel says that not everyone Christ died for will be raised
to everlasting life. They say Christ died and was risen for everybody.
But…most of the people He died for will not be raised to everlasting
life. To which the Lord says; “If there be no resurrection from the dead
then Christ is not risen: and if Christ be not risen then our preaching
is in vain, and your faith is also in vain”. I Cor. 15:13-14. You cannot
have the resurrection of Christ without the assurance that everyone for
whom He died will also be raised from death to life. If what they say is
true, then Christ died in vain (without cause), our faith is in vain,
and we are still in our sins. No, everyone Christ died for, died in Him,
and were risen in Him. There is nothing vain about the death, burial and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He accomplished exactly what He
came to do; save His people from their sins and give to them eternal
life. ~Greg
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.” ~ Gabe Stalnaker
Christ Our Rule
Galatians 6:16 “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on
them.”
And what is this rule we walk by? The Law? No. It is this, “God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Galatians 6:14). Truly, this is the believer’s rule of life. This is
our standard of measurement. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is our
rule for understanding the Scriptures. All Scripture points to Him. This
is the rule of our faith. He is the object of our faith. This is the
rule of our assurance. Any assurance derived anywhere but simply
glorying in the cross is a false assurance. This is the rule of our
motives. Any motive other than His glory is a wrong motive. This is the
rule of our doctrine. All of our doctrine finds Christ crucified as its
sum and substance. This is our rule of motivation. His love to us
“constraineth us”. He is our rule in everything. He is that “one pearl
Todd Nibert
Christ and Him Crucified
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and
him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2)
The apostle Paul declared to a heathen world, and a church being led
astray by foolish pride and worldly wisdom, that he preached Christ and
Him crucified. The gospel is a person. He was a person in eternity, as
the Son of God, the second person of the Godhead. He was appointed as a
mediator and surety of an everlasting covenant and as such stood as a
person. In every Old Testament prophecy He is set forth as a person.
When He appeared on this earth in Bethlehem’s manger he was a person. He
lived as a servant under the law of God and was tempted in all points
like as we are, yet without sin as a person. His suffering was real. He
hung on a cross and died a real death. He was raised the third day as a
person who ate and drank. He had scars to prove himself to be the
resurrected Christ. The disciples watched as He ascended into glory as
our Great High Priest where He sits at the right hand of God.
Faith lays hold of the person who loved them and gave himself for him.
Faith rests in Him as it is persuaded of the greatness of His person.
Salvation is not a system or a plan or an offer: It is the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth; for I am God and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45: 22)
Darvin Pruitt
Because I am Crucified With Christ
Joe Terrell
“For I am crucified with Christ…” Galatians 2.20
Theologically, Paul is setting forth an argument for the believer’s
freedom from the law: he is no longer under the law, for by the very
ministry of the law condemning and punishing the Lord Jesus as He bore
their sin, the believer is set free from the law. The law simply cannot
hold two men liable for the same sin. If the Law holds Christ
responsible for my sin, then it must let me go. Thus, Paul says in
another place (Acts 13.39) “And by him all that believe are justified
from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the Law of
Moses.”
But what God did for us through Christ on Calvary He does in us through
His Spirit. When the Spirit comes to convince one of God’s elect of
“sin, and righteousness and judgment”, He crucifies that man in his
heart. Such an act by the Holy Spirit convinces a man of his sinfulness,
for a cross is an instrument of punishment for crimes against the law.
Furthermore, the inward crucifixion of the Holy Spirit convinces a man
of God’s just judgment, for the cross signifies, not mere punishment,
but Divine curse, as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on
a tree.”
But this would leave a man yet in his sins, suffering forever the pangs
of a guilty conscience aggravated by the wrath of God. The Spirit goes
one step further, for the child of God is not merely crucified in his
heart, he is crucified with Christ. By this method, the Spirit convinces
him of righteousness, even the righteousness of Christ. A crucified man
is incapable of doing anything – he is nailed to a cross. As insane as
this appears to the mind of the flesh, that thief’s only hope lay in
another crucified man. Only an act of God can make a man see that. When
we are crucified by the Spirit, we lose all hope in ourselves and cast
our lot with another crucified man, the Lord Jesus.
Only a man crucified by the Spirit of God can look at the crucified
Christ and see a King coming into His kingdom. O blessed crucifixion!