Jun 19
16
THE OUTCOME
Romans 10: 15:…as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that
preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
With these words Christ foretold the outcome that he would produce in
the heart of each of his saints by calling us through the means of
preaching (Is 52: 6-8)
In that day when Christ sends his preacher and calls his lost sheep
through the preaching of the gospel, Christ said, “My people shall know
my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth
speak: behold, it is I.” From that day forward, the sinner Christ saves
through this means loves the Lord Jesus, the Lord’s preacher and the
Lord’s people because he beholds how they sacrificed to send him the
gospel through which Christ saved him. He esteems assembling with his
brethren under the preaching of the gospel to be so priceless that he
cannot forsake it. Through this means Christ has fitly framed (cemented)
him together inseparably with Christ and his brethren. He values the
preaching of Christ so highly that when faced with the shortcomings of
his brethren, he forebears and forgives. He endeavors to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace because he needs to hear Christ
preached above all else. Having experienced that the preaching of the
gospel of Christ is truly the power of God unto salvation, he grows to
be a generous, cheerfull giver because he knows the need of sending the
gospel to other lost sheep. Christ said this would be the outcome that
he would produce through this means when he said his people would say
with hearty agreement, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of
him that bringeth good tidings, that publish peace; that bringeth good
tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy
God reigneth!”
This is the difference God makes between those who must have the
preaching of the gospel and those who can leave it! He who imagines he
taught himself simply does not value the preaching of the gospel, does
not value Christ’s preacher nor his people, therefore, he cannot commit
himself to a local church to be used of Christ to love his brethren by
supporting the preaching of Christ crucified. But that sinner saved
through this means esteems assembling with his brethren under the
preaching of Christ to be more necessary than his temporal bread; he
must have Christ; he must have the preaching of Christ; therefore, he
considers it his richest blessing and greatest privilege to be used of
his Head to provide the gospel for brethren he loves! The wisdom of God
in using his people to send his preacher with his gospel to save his
lost sheep grows more amazing to his people each day! Lord Jesus, may
you use this means to add another lost sheep to your church today and
ever keep this esteem in our hearts!
Clay Curtis.
In Paul’s greeting to every church He says, “Grace and peace be unto you
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is God’s Word to
every believer! Grace to you! Other than the Name of Christ Himself this
is my favorite word…. grace! Salvation in every aspect, from election to
glorification and everything in between is by the grace of God. “For by
grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” If salvation
really is all of grace, and not of works, I have peace. Grace is the
cause of peace, the ground of peace, and the maintenance of peace. We
enjoy this peace only as we believe grace. Peter said, “We believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as
they!” By His grace we have been saved, are being saved, and will be
saved! That is why we have peace. The ground of our peace is the same
ground as God’s – the grace of Christ.
~Todd Nibert
“It shall be well with the righteous” – Isaiah 3:10
In spiritual things, all your temptation, all your darkness, all your
wandering: God will overrule. It shall be well with you. There shall
never be a night, but that morning shall come; there shall never be a
day of trouble, but a day of prosperity shall follow; there shall never
be an emptying, but there shall be a filling; there shall never be a
bringing down, but that He will raise you up again. Let it be either
darkness or light, sorrow or grief, night or day, life or death, time or
eternity, “It shall be well with the righteous.”
Scott Richardson
WHAT KIND OF CHURCH IS THIS?
Henry Mahan
“What kind of church is this?” During a recent Bible conference this
question was asked by a visitor who had dropped in for the service. I
had just finished preaching a message on the subject “In Search of
Truth” and the visitor turned to one of the members and asked, “What
kind of church is this?”
How refreshing! In this day (when practically every form of religion is
so pigeon holed and typed that it appeals to some segment of our natural
society) to preach the gospel of the mystery of Christ in such Bible
terms that a natural man is shut up to divine revelation and is unable
to identify us with some particular brand of religion! It was said of
Spurgeon that no organization could really brand him and say he belongs
to us! The hypercalvinists called him an arminian, the arminians called
him a hypercalvinist, the legalists called him an antinomian, and the
antinomians called him a legalist. The established churches hated him
and the Baptists finally disowned him, but true believers of every
persuasion loved him and understood his message.
The natural man understands logical Calvinism. He can easily identify
with the cooperative redemption presented in arminianism. He has no
difficulty with modern fundamentalism! But the free gospel of the grace
of God through the merits and death of the Lord Jesus Christ must be
revealed to the heart by the Spirit of God. Barnard used to say,
“Preachers are wrapping salvation up in a neat little package and
selling it to unsuspecting men and women. Preachers are trying to
present the great mysteries of redemption in language which ‘the natural
man can understand and approve of, so that he can make his peace with
God and go on about his regular routine and fleshly pursuits.”
Blessed is the preacher who can shut men up to free and sovereign grace,
and yet lovingly, sincerely invite all men to look to Christ and be
saved. Blessed is the preacher who knows that “salvation is of the
Lord,” who has the patience to wait upon the Lord to regenerate, awaken
and call his hearers, yet he prays for their deliverance, urges them to
close with Christ, and beseeches them to “be reconciled to God.” Blessed
is the preacher who can preach with equal force and confidence both the
preservation and perseverance of believers. He will not “turn away from
us and we will not depart from Him.” Blessed is the preacher who can
rejoice in imputed righteousness, “with His holy garments on, I am as
spotless as His dear Son;” and yet along with his congregation hunger
and thirst for spiritual growth and personal godliness. Blessed is the
preacher who can find and preach both justification and sanctification
at Calvary. We do not go to Calvary for justification and then to Sinai
for sanctification. We are “complete in Him.” Blessed is the preacher
who can preach prophetical truth in such a way that his hearers are
looking for the returning Christ and not only the return of Christ!
Blessed is the preacher who administers believers’ baptism, presides at
the Lord’s table, and oversees the business of the Lord’s church, not
according to the “way we do it in our circles and according to our
custom and tradition,” but according to the Word of God! It may be, if
preachers and people return to the Scriptures, someone will ask, “What
kind of church is this?” And we can answer, “It is the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ which He loved and purchased with His own blood and of
which He is the sole Head.”
Elect or election
I was challenged again recently by the claim that we and our brethren are too dogmatic in our declaration of the sovereign predestinated salvation of the elect alone by the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In response (our time was limited) I asked my friend to do a simple exercise. Look up the word elect or election and examine the adjectives the Holy Spirit attaches to this word in the scriptures.
My question being “would I wish to meet God having thought the proclamation of this truth from our Lord as being something about which it is not helpful to be too dogmatic because it offends some people?”
I didn’t want to ask someone to do something which I hadn’t done so here they are. The 23 references to the words elect or election in the Bible. (The addition of synonyms such as chosen, and pronouns such as Mine would expand this list significantly to many thousands.)
It is God the Father’s title of His Son
Is. 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
It is God’s title of His (mine, His own) children- and a declaration of the union between the Elect Saviour and His bride
Is. 45:4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Is. 65:9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Is. 65:22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Luke 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
The elect are protected from the deception which captivates all others.
Matt. 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
They are gathered by the angels on that last day of this creation – because they are His.
Matt. 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mark 13:27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
God will accept no charge against His elect – He justifies them freely by His grace Romans 3:24
Rom. 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
The salvation of the elect reveals the purpose of God
Rom. 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
No election no grace
Rom. 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
The elect obtain that for which they seek and the rest are blinded.
Rom. 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Elect are owned by God as His and dressed appropriately
Col. 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
All the elect know they are loved, those loved by the Lord know they are elect
1Th. 1:4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
Rom. 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Even angels are only kept by being elect
1Tim. 5:21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
Saving faith, which is from God, is given to the elect
Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Eternal love (foreknowledge) is for the elect
Sanctification is for the elect
Sprinkled (applied) blood is for the elect
1Pet. 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the elect of God, is the foundation of Zion – the church He purchased with His blood (Acts 20:28)
1Pet. 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
Making your election sure, is to not fall
2Pet. 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
The churches are called the elect
2John 1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;
2John 13 The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.
What delightful descriptions of the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride and what assurances are attached to their union with Him in this world and to eternity. The words of God are written for the rejoicing and comfort of His children who call on then Name (attributes) of the Lord.
May He be pleased to reveal Himself to us, and draw us to Himself as He is described in His holy word of promise that we may long for the day of His appearing when all the elect shall be like Him because they shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2