Sep 22
25
God must save us before we will desire to be saved. God must give light before we know we were in darkness, God must give life before we will know that we were dead. God must do everything in our salvation. ~John Chapman (Spring Lake Nth Carolina)
“And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve him:” Rev. 22:3.
The pronouncement of a curse by God is for one reason, disobedience, and there’s no disobedience in the holy city. The Lord Jesus Christ, being made sin for His people that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him, has eternally answered God’s demand for righteousness and judgment with His blood, (II Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13). No curse is found in heavenly Jerusalem but rather, “the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it.” All, with Him, who are found there are those whose robes have been washed white in the blood of the Lamb and they “shall serve Him” in eternal worship for He is alone worthy of eternal praise and adoration, Rev. 19:1-7. MS
WE HAVE AN ADVOCATE
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1).
This scripture recognises our frail, sinful, human nature. A believer does not love sin, does not excuse nor justify sin, but grieves over sin and desires to be without sin. Yet he owns and confesses his sin! As Spurgeon once said, “Sin is my name, sin is my nature; and to deny it is to deny the Word, deceive myself, and call God a liar. My old nature is such that I will sin until I die, for sin even pollutes the best thing I do.”
This scripture encourages the believer to trust and hope in the mercy of God AT ALL TIMES! It does not say, “If any man is holy, prayerful, and always faithful, he has an advocate”; but, it says, “If any man SIN, he has an advocate with the Father.” It does not say, “If any man sins, he forfeits his right to Christ’s advocacy.” Grace that can be forfeited because of human failure is not grace at all. Mercy that is conditioned upon the merit of the creature is not mercy at all. If my title to glory rests upon my works, either BEFORE OR AFTER conversion, it is a total failure.
This scripture declares that at all times, under all conditions, Jesus Christ is our righteousness, our sanctification, our advocate, and our redemption. So, when I sin, when I consider my past or present and come creeping to my closet with a guilty conscience and an aching heart, I can rejoice in the mercy of my Father; for I have an Advocate, JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS!
Pastor Henry Mahan
Adam, the First and the Second
We fell in the first Adam through no fault of our own, we rise in the second Adam through no merit of our own, so we rise in the same manner as we fell, only in a different person. It is the Free Grace of God that we are taken back into His favour.
I wish we could understand that just as we were condemned in Adam and came under the just sentence of death, if we believe in the Lord Jesus, we shall be cleansed from our many offenses, and God will look on us as perfectly just in Christ Jesus. We shall by faith have peace with God and there shall be good reason for peace, for everything which made God angry with us shall have been put away, and we will be able with confidence to say, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
Even if the devil was base enough to fabricate a charge against the believer, yet we could say, “It is God that justifieth who is He that condemneth?” Since Christ has died and risen again, and now sits at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us, what judgment have we to fear? Glory to God for that free gift (Romans 8)!
Pastor Scott Richardson
“We Love Him” 1 John 4:19
We readily acknowledge that God’s love for us precedes our love for him. “The
LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah
31:3). His love is without beginning, without cause, without change, and without
end. God loves his own elect with an eternal love!
We gladly confess that God’s love for us is the cause of our love for him. If
he had not loved us first, we would never have loved him at all. We had no love
for God. But he loved us. In everlasting, covenant love he chose us and
determined to save us. And in time he created love in our hearts for him by his
almighty grace (Hosea 2:6-23).
But we do love him. This is the testimony of all true believers. We love our
God and Savior. We do not love him as we should, as we would, or as we shall;
but “we love him.” Those who are born of God love God. We love the triune
God as he is revealed in the Scriptures. We love everything about him because
everything about him is perfect. Show me a man who has any quarrel with
anything God is, or anything he says, or anything he does, and I will show you a
man whose heart is enmity against God. I will show you a man who is lost,
altogether without faith.
We who are born of God love God the Father, our covenant keeping God.
We love his will, his Word, his works, and his ways. We love all that he is and
all that he does. His attributes are not distasteful to us. They are his beauty, his
character, and his glory. His holiness, sovereignty, love, mercy, and truth are
the very things that cause us to love him.
We love God the Son, our Surety, Substitute, Mediator, Redeemer,
Advocate, and Friend. There is nothing about Christ that is the least disturbing
or distressing to us. We love him entirely because he is entirely perfect and
lovely. We love Christ in all his offices and works. We love him as our Prophet
who teaches us, our Priest who redeemed and intercedes for us, and our King
who rules over us.
And we love God the Holy Spirit, our Divine Comforter, Teacher,
Preserver, and Guide. His irresistible grace charms us. His witness within
assures us. His power preserves us. Because we love our God, we rejoice in
anything by which he is exalted, magnified, and honoured. And we are distressed
and angered by anything that would rob him of his glory.
Don Fortner
“A Word Fitly Spoken” Proverbs 25:11
In the year 1740, James Hervey was a preacher in Northamptonshire, England.
He was a man of moral strictness and religious principle, highly regarded by
men. But he was entirely lost, without understanding in the gospel of Christ. The
means of his conversion was a conversation he had with an old farmer who had
learned the gospel form the lips of Philip Doddridge.
The two men were working in the field together, when Hervey asked the
farmer, “What do you think is the hardest thing in religion.” The old farmer
replied, “Sir, I am a poor man, and you are a minister. I beg leave to return the
question.” Then Mr. Hervey said, “I think the hardest thing is to deny sinful
self.” And he went on to defend his statement. After he had finished talking, the
old farmer said, “Sinful self must be denied, it is true; but that which is the
hardest thing in religion is to deny righteous self. I go every Sunday with my
family to hear Dr. Doddridge at Northampton. We rise early in the morning and
have prayer before we set out, in which I find pleasure. Walking there and back
I find pleasure. Under the sermon I find pleasure. When at the Lord’s Table I
find pleasure. Yet, to this moment, I find it the hardest thing to deny righteous
self. I mean to renounce my own strength and righteousness, and not to lean on
that for holiness or rely on this for justification.”
Later, Hervey said, “I hated the righteousness of Christ. I looked at the man
with astonishment and disdain, and thought him an old fool.” But the old
farmer’s words were blessed of God. Like sharp arrows, they pierced the young
man’s heart. And in time, they brought that man to repentance and faith in
Christ.
An old, uneducated farmer spoke a word in season for his God. And it was
“a word fitly spoken.” And under the blessing of God, it was the means of
converting one of the most brilliant men in the eighteenth century. James
Hervey became a mighty preacher of free grace. By his preaching and his
writings, thousands were brought to faith in Christ. But he was brought to Christ
by the faithful witness of a farmer, whose name we will not know until we get to
heaven. Go today, as God opens the door, and speak to someone about Christ,
like this farmer.
The Blessed Solace Of Substitution
Nothing is more comforting and encouraging to my heart than the blessed gospel
doctrine of substitution. When I am distressed by the awareness of my personal
sin, I am cheered by the assurance that Christ, my Substitute, has both removed
my sin by his death in my place and imputed to me his righteous obedience to
God. When I am depressed by the circumstances of my life, I find comfort in the
fact that Christ, my Substitute, rules all things by sovereign power. He who
loved me and gave himself for me is the almighty Monarch of the universe!
(Don Fortner, May 31, 1987)
Reformation?
I hear a lot about “reformation” in our day. There are reformed churches, reformed doctrine, reformed preachers and reformed believers, everything seems to be “reformed.” The word “reform” means to “improve or to make better.” If “reformation” means to improve myself or make myself better, then, I do not need reformation! What I need is a perfect righteousness. I surely cannot find any hope of eternal life in trying to make myself better, especially when God requires perfection. I do not need “reformation”; I need “regeneration.” I do not need to get my heart right; I need a new heart that is right. The lost sinner does not need to just change their way; they need to change their God. I do not need to make myself “better”, I need to be made “perfect.” I do not need reformation, I need a “new creation”, which can only be found in Christ. ~David Eddmenson
Before, During and After the Sermon
There is not one heart alive that does not need to be prepared to worship, to enter into the presence of God, and to hear the Word of God for this hour. We would do well to rise a little earlier, to read the Scriptures, and to arrive at the house of God in time to get our greetings over with and prepare to worship the King in an attentive and prayerful fashion.
During the sermon, with the open Bible before us, we should give the most sincere attention to the minister. Let our eyes, ears, and thoughts be directed to the message not to those about us. The birds of night use every subtle means to rob us of the life-giving seed. A crying infant, a late comer, a sleeping companion, a slip of the tongue by one who speaks – any and all things are used to make one turn attention from the Word.
And I am certain that many serious impressions have been lost through the idle chit-chat and foolish talk after the sermon. We feel that we must talk, and I suppose that we must, for we cannot stand around and stare at one another. Love and fellowship must be expressed. But wouldn’t it be more profitable for us to direct our conversation toward the message, the Scriptures, the mercies and blessings of God in Christ that our hearts not wander from spiritual impressions made by the Word? ~Henry Mahan