Jul 22
15
“I believe that every particle of dust that
dances
in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or
less than God wishes; that every particle of spray
that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit
as well as the sun in the heavens; that the chaff
from the hand of the winnower is steered as
surely as the stars in their courses; that the
creeping of an insect over a rosebud is as much
fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence;
and the fall of leaves from the poplar is as fully
ordained as the tumbling avalanche.
He who believes in God must believe this truth.
There is no standing point between this and Atheism.
There is no halfway between an Almighty God, who
works all things according to the good pleasure of
his will, and no God at all!” -Spurgeon
The monarch of our affections!
(the following is by Don Fortner)
Nothing is so precious to Christ as His people.
There is nothing so precious to
the true believer as Christ himself.
Knowledge of Christ creates an ardent love for Christ.
To truly know him is to love him.
It is not possible for a person to have a saving
knowledge of Christ without a true heart of love
for Christ.
If you do not love Christ, truly, sincerely, and
above all others, you simply to not know Christ.
Jesus is the Lord of every believer’s heart.
He is the monarch of our affections!
His rich, free, eternal, redeeming love has bound
me hand and foot, so that I cannot leave him.
I am his totally and unreservedly. I belong to him.
He may do with me what he will.
CHRIST IS ON HIS THRONE
In my mind’s eye, I see the Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon his throne in glory, in the blessed serenity of his total sovereignty. He is not weak, frustrated, and anxious, as some have pictured him, not knowing if he will be able to accomplish his purpose. Rather, he is calm, content, and peaceful, knowing that by virtue of his sovereign power “the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”
Behold his transcendent glory! He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the sovereign Monarch of heaven and earth. His empire is as limitless as the Universe. His dominion is from everlasting to everlasting. His kingdom ruleth over all! Everything belongs to him. Everything is governed by him. Everything does his bidding. He is God over all and blessed forever. Standing before his throne are all those angelic, heavenly creatures, who anxiously worship and serve him. They cast their crowns before him in adoring reverence. In that same great assembly, I see all of God’s elect who have already entered the heavenly city. They too cast their crowns before his feet and sing the songs of redeeming love. I see beneath his blessed feet the earth, which has become his footstool. His saints upon the earth worship, adore, and honour him as the rightful sovereign of the universe and the rightful Lord of their hearts. They live in hopeful expectation of his glorious advent. But then, I see before this great King all the elements of the world, all the beasts of the field, all those fallen sons of Adam who wage their warfare against his throne, all the spirits of the damned in hell, the demons of hell, and the prince of darkness himself. My heart begins to melt in fear for the safety of the great King’s throne, his kingdom, his glory, and my own soul. But all my fears are immediately silenced. All those evil men, the demons of hell, those forces of evil, and Satan himself have a bit of iron in their mouths and a bridle of steel; and he who holds the reins of that bridle is the King himself! CHRIST IS ON HIS THRONE!
Don Fortner
“My Sheep”
What a blessed title for sinners! The Son of God has assumed the posture of the Good Shepherd, whose work and responsibility it is to secure the safety and eternal salvation of his sheep. There is a people in this world, chosen from among the fallen race of Adam, of whom Christ says, “These are my sheep. They belong to me; and I shall not lose one of them.” There are others of whom he says, “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep” (John 10:26). Who are those people whom Christ calls his sheep? The Good Shepherd’s sheep are those who were given to him in eternal election, redeemed by him at Calvary, and called to him by the irresistible grace of his Spirit. ~Don Fortner (1950-2020)
“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-sympathizing 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 thou wilt cast all their sins into
the depths of the sea!” Micah 7:19
2Chr. 20:12 O our God, wilt thou not
judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against
us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
“The
Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, He will save!”
Zephaniah
3:17
Christ must be all!
(Octavius Winslow, “Morning Thoughts”)
We
cannot keep our eye too exclusively
or too intently fixed on Jesus.
All salvation is in Him.
All salvation proceeds from Him.
All salvation leads to Him.
And for
the assurance and comfort of our salvation
we are to repose believingly and entirely on Him.
Christ must be all!
Christ
the beginning;
Christ the center; and
Christ the end.
Oh sweet
truth to you who are sensible of
your poverty, vileness, and insufficiency,
and of the ten thousand flaws and failures
of which, perhaps, no one is cognizant but
God and your own soul!
Oh, to
turn and rest in Christ;
a full Christ;
a loving Christ;
a tender Christ,
whose heart’s love never chills,
from whose eye darts no reproof,
from whose lips breathes no sentence of condemnation!
Christ must be all!
The
Unconquerable King! (part 2)
(adapted from Spurgeon’s sermon, #949
“The Unconquerable King” Daniel 4:34,35)
Events
appear to fly at random like the
dust in the whirlwind; but it is not so.
The rule
of the Omnipotent God extends
over all things at all times!
Nothing
is left to its own chance, but
in wisdom all things are governed.
He is
reigning amid all the calamities
which sweep the globe, as much as He
shall be in the halcyon days of peace.
Never is His throne vacant!
Never is His scepter laid aside!
Jehovah is always King, and shall be King forever and forever!
This unconquerable King sits securely on His throne!
There is
no doctrine to the advanced Christian
which contains such a deep sea of delight as this.
The Lord reigns!
The Lord is King forever and ever!
Why, then all is well.
Oh, happy subjects, who have such a throne to look lo!
Oh, blessed children, who have such a King to be your Father!
Dan. 4:34 ¶ And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
Dan. 4:35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
Examine Yourselves
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” II Corinthians 13:5.
Usually when we think of examining ourselves we think of examining our lives. How are we dealing with besetting sins? Are we reading the Bible to our spiritual profit? Are we spending time in prayer and communion with the Lord? What does our daily lives say about our love to Christ? Can others see that we are Christians? What did Paul say? Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith: if we gain assurance by how well we are performing, it is a false, works based assurance. If we conclude we must not be saved by our failures in these things we are once again making salvation dependent upon our performance. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe that when He said, “It is finished” the salvation of all the elect was accomplished? Are you relying on who He is and what He did as all you have for acceptance with God? Then you are “in the faith” and a true child of God.
Todd Nibert
The Gospel
Those who WEARY of hearing the Gospel, who LOSE INTEREST in hearing the Gospel, and LOSE THEIR NEED of hearing the Gospel of Christ, and His redeeming love and grace, have never REALLY heard the Gospel at all. If one can leave Christ, he has never truly met Him! (John 6:65-69).
~Maurice Montgomery (1939-2015)
God’s Golden Chain
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call upon Him whom they have not believed?” Rom 10:13-14.
Don’t miss the simplicity of the order here. No one can call without first believing. Calling on the name of the Lord is the result and evidence of salvation, not its cause.
The links in God’s unbroken golden chain of salvation have a definite order. Rom. 10:13-15. Calling is linked to believing. Believing is linked to hearing. Hearing is linked to preaching. Preaching is linked to being sent. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. To have any of these links in any other order will result in a broken chain.
Greg Elmquist
What Free Will Denies
Before we can see what free will denies, we first have to know what is meant by free will. Free will says that a man’s destiny is dependent upon the choice he makes. His will is free to choose to allow God to save him or reject God’s offer of salvation. His eternal destiny is determined by his free will.
If I believe my will is free, there are three things I deny. (1) I deny that God is sovereign. I say His sovereignty does not extend to my will. That is a complete denial of His sovereignty. (2) I deny that I am a sinner in the Biblical definition of the word. According to the Bible, men are dead in sins (Ephesians 2:1). That means they are completely unable to do anything to save themselves. Free will is a denial of that. (3) Free will is a denial of free grace. You cannot believe in salvation by grace and free will. Free will is nothing less than salvation by works. The teaching of free will is a denial of the Gospel!
~Todd Nibert