Jun 22
24
John 5:23, Malachi 1:6 “Where is Mine Honour”
A man’s god
(Henry Law)
A man’s god is that which . . .
has the greatest influence over him;
he sets the highest value upon;
he chiefly devotes himself and his energies.
Christ did not say, “If you want to go to heaven, keep My commandments or, If you want to keep out of hell, keep My commandments, but, IF YOU LOVE ME, keep My commandments. Apparently, religion today cannot comprehend a gift of eternal life in Christ that constrains us to walk in His word and commandments because WE LOVE HIM. Pastor Henry Mahan
“He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.” Job 19:9.
Job is complaining here in Chapter 19. But when all is said and done, Job will confess what a great mercy it is to be stripped of his glory. He will come to see that the crown never belonged on his head. After Elihu preaches the gospel, Job will hear the voice of God. Then he will confess; “Behold, I am vile”. Like all of God’s children, he will end up happy that the Lord stripped him of his glory. Only then could he see the glory of his Redeemer. He will rejoice in casting his crown before the throne of God an add his voice to all the saints saying; “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power…” Rev 4:11a.
Greg Elmquist
“Therefore, it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed” (Romans 4:16). The only way that salvation can be sure is if it is all by grace. If salvation is dependent on some contribution from man, the only thing that is sure is that none will be saved. ~Todd Nibert
~Robert Murray McCheyne
The Gospel
The gospel is not a plan to be followed, or a program to be practiced. It is not a precept or a principle to be understood. The gospel is a person. The second person of the triune Godhead, who bore the sins of God’s elect and by the sacrifice of Himself put them away once and for all. He was raised from the dead, ascended into glory, and is right now seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. He is the sovereign Savior of sinners. He is the Substitute and Surety for His people. His name is Jesus, for He has saved His people from their sins. He is Faithful and True to all His promise. What “good news” (gospel) it is for the soul of a sinner to know they have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One. He himself is the sum and substance of the gospel.
Greg Elmquist
|
THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT Spurgeon, “Gleanings Among the Sheaves” Let us ever remember that Christ on the cross is of no value to us, apart from the Holy Spirit in us. In vain that blood is flowing, unless the finger of the Spirit applies the blood to our conscience; in vain is that garment of righteousness wrought out, unless the Holy Spirit wraps it around us and arrays us in its costly folds. The river of the water of life cannot quench our thirst, till the Spirit presents the goblet and lifts it to our lips. All the things which are in the paradise of God could never be blissful to us, so long as we are dead souls — and dead we are, until that heavenly wind comes and breathes upon us, that we may live. We do not hesitate to say that we owe as much to God the Holy Spirit as we do to God the Son. Indeed, it were a high sin and misdemeanor to attempt to put one person of the divine Trinity before another. You, O Father, are the source of all grace, all love and all mercy towards us. You, O Son, are the channel of Your Father’s mercy, and without You Your Father’s love could never flow to us. And You, O Spirit, are He who enables us to receive that divine virtue which flows from the fountainhead, the Father, through Christ the channel, and which, by Your means, enters into our heart and there abides, bringing forth its glorious fruit. Magnify, then, the Spirit. There never yet was a heavenly thought, a hallowed deed, or a consecrated act, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, which was not worked in us by the Holy Spirit. |
|
Indescribable! by Spurgeon- As all rivers run into the sea, so all our delights center in our Beloved! The glances of His eye outshine the sun! The beauties of His face are fairer than the choicest flowers! No fragrance is like the breath of His mouth! Gems of the mine, and pearls from the sea are worthless things compared to His preciousness! No one can compute the value of “God’s indescribable gift.” (2Cor. 9:15) Words cannot depict the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ to His people, nor can they fully tell how essential He is to their satisfaction and happiness! As the river seeks the sea, so Lord Jesus, I seek You! O let me find You and melt my life into Yours forever! |
A lost and undone sinner!
(Octavius Winslow,
“The Impenitent Sinner Warned”)
No man shall value Christ, or His precious atonement, until he has been made to
see and feel himself to be a
lost and undone sinner.
Christ is precious only to the soul that feels . . .
its spiritual poverty,
its vileness,
its emptiness,
its nothingness.
To such an individual, Jesus is everything.
The deeper the Eternal Spirit leads him to an acquaintance with himself–the
more precious is that Savior, whom he now finds to be the very Savior that he
needs.
The daily discovery of . . .
indwelling corruption,
inordinate affection,
pride,
self esteem,
instability,
love of the world, and
the innumerable other forms which indwelling depravity assumes,
“Thou Art The Christ”
Matthew 16:16
We who believe rest our immortal souls upon one thing. We build all our hopes of peace, pardon, and eternal life upon one foundation. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph and Mary, who was crucified as a common felon at Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago, is the Christ, the Messiah, promised by God in all the Old Testament prophets. Peter’s confession is the foundation upon which the whole gospel is built, the foundation upon which the whole church and kingdom of God is built, and the foundation upon which the whole of our faith is built. – “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” With the disciples of old, we confess, “We believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:69). How important is this issue?
(1.) If Jesus of Nazareth is not the Christ, the Messiah, promised in the Old Testament Scriptures, then HE IS NOT THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD! The prophecies of the Old Testament plainly declare that the Messiah, when he appears, though he must be a man of the house and lineage of David (Psa. 132:11; Isa. 11:1), must also be the Son of God (Psa. 45:6-7). To deny the deity of the Lord Jesus is to deny his Messiahship. And to deny his Messiahship is to deny his deity.
(2.) If Jesus of Nazareth is not the Christ, the Messiah, then HIS OBEDIENCE TO GOD IS OF NO BENEFIT OR MERIT TO ANYONE. Though he was “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners,” though he perfectly obeyed the law, though he had no sin and knew no sin, if he were only a man,his righteous obedience is nothing more than a good example. It could not be of infinite merit to make us righteous. It is the deity of our Savior that makes his obedience to God as a man meritorious for us.
(3.) If Jesus of Nazareth is not the Christ, then HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS HAS NO SAVING EFFICACY. The blood of one man, however innocent, cannot atone for the sins of many. Only that Man who is himself God can make atonement for and redeem a multitude of lost sinners. He must be man, or he could not suffer and die. But he must be God or he could not satisfy the justice of God.
(4.) If Jesus is not the Messiah, then WE ARE ALL YET IN OUR SINS. We have no hope, no pardon, no righteousness, because we have no Savior!
Don Fortner
The religion of JOY
(Octavius Winslow, “The Sympathy of Christ”)
The religion of Christ is the religion of JOY. Christ came to take away our
sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prison house, to
cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Is not this joy? Where can we find
a joy so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy;
deep, ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy in the gospel of Christ. The
believer in Jesus is essentially a happy man. The child of God is, from
necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his
person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his
death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought of,
untold, and endless blessedness. With such a God, such a Savior, and such a
hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man?
The value of Christ!
(Charles Spurgeon)
Eternity alone can reveal the
value of Christ!
By the miseries of the Hell from which He saves us — let us
measure Him!
By the bliss of the Heaven to which He lifts us — let us
estimate His worth!
By the depths of ignominy and shame into which He dived — let
us appraise Him!
By the glories He relinquished and by the agonies He
bore — let us attempt to form some faint idea of His value!
“To you who believe, He is precious!” 1 Peter 2:7
The kingship of Christ
(J. C. Philpot,
“Meditations on the Blessed Redeemer”)
“King of kings and Lord of lords!” Revelation 19:16
The kingship of Christ is full of sweet
consolation to
the tried family of God. As Zion’s enthroned King, He
supplies His people out of His own inexhaustible fullness!
To Him, as our enthroned King, we give the allegiance
of our hearts. Before His feet, as our rightful Sovereign,
we humbly lie. And we beg of Him, as possessed of all
power, to subdue our iniquities and rebellious lusts, and
sway His peaceful scepter over every faculty of our soul.
The kingship of Christ is a
blessed subject of meditation,
when we consider its bearing upon our helpless, defenseless
condition. We stand surrounded by foes . . .
internal,
external,
infernal,
all armed against us with deadly enmity!
Every child of God is surrounded by a multitude of enemies
without and within, who, unless they are overcome–will
most certainly overcome him. And to be overcome is to be
lost, forever lost, and to perish under the wrath of God!
What hope or help can we have, but in . . .
that all-seeing eye, which sees our condition;
that all-sympathising heart, which feels for us;
that all-powerful hand, which delivers the objects of
His love from all the snares and traps–and defeats all
the plans and projects of these mighty, implacable foes?
We daily and hourly feel the workings of our . . .
mighty sins,
raging lusts,
powerful temptations,
besetting evils,
against the least and feeblest of which, we have no strength!
But as the eye of faith views our enthroned King,
we are led by the power of His grace to . . .
look unto Him,
hang upon Him, and
seek help from Him.
Trials in providence,
afflictions in the family,
sickness and infirmities in the body,
opposition and persecution from the world,
a vile, unbelieving heart, which we can neither sanctify nor subdue,
a rough and rugged path, increasing in difficulty as we journey onward,
doubts, fears, and misgivings in our own bosom,
inward slips and falls,
wanderings,
startings aside,
hourly backslidings from the strait and narrow path,
jealous enemies ever watching for our halting,
with no eye to pity, nor arm to help–but the Lord’s!
How all these foes and fears make us feel our need
of an enthroned King, Head and Husband . . .
whose tender heart is soft to pity,
whose mighty arm is strong to relieve!
We should be ever looking up to our enthroned King,
not only that He might sway His scepter over our hearts,
controlling our rebellious wills, and subduing us to His
gentle might; but as King over all our enemies–of which
our internal foes are much more numerous and mighty
than any external enemies!When we feel the power of sin, the tyranny of our vile
lusts and passions, and what our nature is capable of
if left to its own will and way–how sweet and suitable
is the promise, “You will again have compassion on us;
You will subdue our iniquities and hurl all our sins into
the depths of the sea!” Micah 7:19
“We are powerless against this mighty army that is
attacking us! We do not know what to do, but we
are looking to You for help.” 2 Chronicles 20:12
“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save!”
Zephaniah 3:17