Apr 24
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| THE ROCK OF MY SALVATION On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. I am completely assured, that my salvation was purposed by God, before a star ever twinkled in the sky (Eph.1:4). How can I be so sure you say? God’s word say’s so! And I believe God’s word! You see that’s the real difference between the true children of God, and the rest of the religious world! God’s people believe God’s word! We believe we are broke and have nothing to offer God! We believe our salvation is of God alone, through Christ alone! We believe it is not of our will, but of God who sheweth mercy (Rom.9:16). And the Lord’s word say’s that “FAITH IS A GIFT” (Eph.2:8,9). God chose a people, in Christ before the foundation of the world, Christ paid the price of their sins, by sacrificing Himself on that cruel cross! He then arose, death could not hold Him, and he sit’s on His throne today, making intersession for all those that the Father hath given Him! My salvation is Rock solid, because SALVATION IS OF THE LORD! Pastor John Reeves |
The Lord was pleased to take brother Joe Terrell last Monday morning. What hope we have, knowing that no matter the circumstances or mourning here on this earth, our friend is seeing Christ face to face and is made like Him!
Joe Terrell’s last sermon “Craving Flesh” Numbers 11
Here is an edited transcript of the last 15 minutes of his last message. May the Lord bless the parting words of His servant to the hearts of the brethren remaining here.
Please pray for the the congregation at Grace Community Church Rock Valley, Iowa, and the brethren in Jackson Missouri, and in College Grove Grace Church and the many others of our family in Christ who weep with those who weep at this time.
The keys of the kingdom were given to the apostles and what they bound was bound and what they let go was let go, therefore, what things were forbidden were forbidden and what is OK are OK. The apostle said “this is true and this is not, this is right and this is wrong” and when they finished writing they didn’t pass the keys to anybody else. We look to the scriptures and see what they say.
The mixed multitude amongst the Jews started this disruptive campaign. Many people were infected by it and the Lord’s people began to complain.
Here is how the Lord dealt with it. He caused the quail to fall such that there was a great abundance ‘he that gathered least gathered 10 homers” Num 11:32 (Homer = 220 litres).
They had quail in the morning, quail in the evening, quail, quail, quail. For a whole month you will have quail and you will eat until “it comes out at your nostrils” Num 11:20 You’ll be vomiting quail – if this is what you want – here it is.
But a disease came through the people (maybe from the quail) – those who craved the quail died of the disease and were buried and left behind.
Through this testing and discipline of the Lord many were restored and survived and helped bury the dead and they moved on. Such a process is both a judgment and a mercy – judgment to the cravers who died, but it is a mercy to the people of God. Though it may be a very distressing time in the life of a church. It is an act of mercy when God causes these cravers to raise up and cause some trouble but He causes it to happen to get them out. What has been going on underneath, the undermining is brought to the surface, so that it will be seen and be eliminated. It is a mercy to the sheep because this is one of the ways that God separated the sheep from the goats.
The Lord will ultimately separate the sheep from the goats but this process has been going on since the beginning. One way He does so is through the preaching of the gospel. The sheep are brought to the Lord’s sheep pen and if the goats follow along then the Lord brings up trials and the goats leave. We don’t like seeing anybody leave – it’s tough but if the Lord culls from the herd it is for the protection of the herd, to keep the infection from spreading, it is to preserve His sheep these trials come.
God has not made me the judge of any man’s soul, the older I get the less I want to do that. I used to have strong opinions “you can’t be a Christian and do that” – and then I would do it and have to rethink my stand.
However, it takes no special gift to recognise that many churches pay scarce attention to the things of Christ. Indeed in such places one will find those who went along with the people of God but could not be satisfied with the food designed by God for His sheep. And sometimes what happens is there are more goats than sheep in the congregation and so when the goats rise up and demand more, it is the sheep who must leave – an assembly of goats is not the Lord’s assembly. When God works it that way and the people must leave, what is left behind? Nothing but Kibroth-hat-ta-a-vah the grave of craving. You could rename that church “Grave of Craving Baptist Church” and it is full of dead people who wanted something more than Christ – it is their grave.
We could point out some of the things people crave and leave good churches and go to faulty churches. They may crave an certain kind of music, musical programmes, singing old hymns, or just singing the Psalms only. They may crave a bigger church “I don’t agree with the teaching down there, but I like to be in bigger group. Youth programmes for the youth – they don’t preach sovereign grace down there but they have a good programme for the youth.
You could have a really nice restaurant but if they are feeding you poison, what is the use of going.
We could pick on those things but that would not say anything to us, would it? Because we don’t have the flashy programmes, well organised youth programmes, we’re not big and we could boast in being small. There are people who desire small churches – they are more intimate.
Don’t choose where you go by the size of the church.
You can crave things that are good, there is nothing wrong with quail, wanting it is OK but saying “I’m not going to stay with these people unless we have some” is another matter.
You can crave and not be satisfied with Christ. You can crave things like the doctrines of grace.
I love the doctrines of grace and I would not attend a church in which this is not part of their message.
There is a distinction between the doctrines of grace and the One whom they are taking about.
There are a lot of people who love these doctrines and would not attend a church where they are not preached but they have made an idol out of the doctrine rather than worshipping the One the doctrines describe.
You can be in love with sovereign grace and have no desire for the gracious sovereign.
You can hold firmly to unconditional election and have no love in your heart of the elector.
You can hold firm and defend particular redemption and yet never trust the successful redeemer.
You can love the doctrine of irresistible grace while all the time being stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and mind and as Stephen said “you do always resist the Holy Spirit.”
We can crave your faithful attendance, is it good to attend faithfully? – yes. But that is not what you are trusting in. Don’t worship your attendance. There are other people who crave a particular translation of the bible.
How can we deal with this? Remember this happened within the people of God, this wasn’t the Philistines or the Canaanites going astray, this was the Jews and the mixed multitude among them.
You cannot go around trying to figure out who are the mixed multitude – they will reveal themselves at the proper time when God reveals them. You just keep walking but the only way you can avoid this is by the grace of God.
Feed on Christ and nothing else and when that desire comes for something more, spiritually speaking, it is like food we love but know it is not good for us. Spiritual speaking, if something other than Christ is served – I’ll pass on that.
They called that place Kibroth-hat-ta-a-vah, the grave of craving and then it is written that they abode at Hazeroth – a place in the wilderness – this is where we live. It is true that we have entered the promised land in Christ and yet our experiences in this life are among all the people of this world – where are we living? We are out here in the wilderness and we should never expect that it will be anything other than that.
The only two places are mentioned in this story, the grave of craving and the place in the wilderness. It may not be much fun in the wilderness but it is surely better than a grave.
May God preserve us because if He doesn’t preserve us we will not be preserved and may our hearts always be looking for and satisfied with that true bread from heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord bless you.
There is no argument among religious people over the fact that God shall make a distinction among men. The only argument concerns the basis for that distinction. Shall it be by what men have done (works) or
by what God has done (grace)!
Joe Terrell
There are many kinds of faith, each suitable to its own purposes; but God-given, saving faith is known by this: it always looks to the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saving faith is sometimes accompanied with feelings, sometimes with unusual displays of God’s working. We certainly enjoy such times. But, neither feelings nor experiences can be trusted as proofs of saving faith. If your hope is in the blood and righteousness of Christ, then your faith is genuine, no matter how you feel or what you experience. Only trust Him!
~Joe Terrell
The law calls unclean every issue from the body – that is, every issue but one: tears. It seems to be the only thing that we humans produce that is not repulsive to God. Tears are precious to Him. He is even said to collect them in a bottle. (Psalm 56:8) Hezekiah’s tears were counted on a level with his prayers. (Isaiah 38:5). Tears were considered suitable to bathe the feet of the Master.
Tears of repentance are pleasing to the Lord. Each drop is a testimony of a work of His grace that has brought the rebel to bay, reconciled the heart of an enemy, and called His prodigal home. Do not fear to shed them and never despise them in another. If ever a holy thing came out of a man or woman, it must be those tears that flow from a heart broken by God’s grace.
Tears of sorrow catch His attention. We think to impress the Lord with lofty language and ingratiate ourselves to Him with flattering words. But the most poetic prayer ever uttered by men has not so much force as a tear shed in His presence. “In all their distress He too was distressed.” (Isaiah 63:9) Many a prayer is made of sobs and tears without words and the Lord hears with understanding and sees with mercy and He is moved with compassion for them. Such tears shed at the throne of grace stir up Divine mercy to help us in time of need.
Tears of love, gratitude and praise are sweet to Him. The sinful woman bathed the Lord’s feet with her tears and though the tearless Pharisee was offended at her presence, the Lord was glad to have her loving service and He blessed her by repeating to her that she had been forgiven and her faith had saved her.
Do not despise tears! The Lord doesn’t. Do not despise your tears or the tears of others. Sweet they are to God. Let them flow, for they are signs neither of weakness, unbelief nor immaturity. They are powerful testimonies before the Lord. The Lord Jesus, Himself, prayed with crying and tears, and was heard. (Hebrews 5:7) Let us follow His example.
Joe Terrell
May the favour of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us-
yes, establish the work of our hands.
~Psalm 90:17
I remember a saying from my youth: I know not what tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds tomorrow. This saying becomes more meaningful the less “tomorrows” one sees in his future. Time and experience are great teachers; some say they are the ONLY teachers. But if a man is taught well by these Professors of Truth, then he will learn with increasing clarity that he has virtually no control over anything. He will learn that, while it is wise to plan, it is wiser still to preface all his plans with, “If the Lord wills…”
Even the ungodly learn a faithless version of this and they curse the fate they cannot overcome. But the child of God who has been tutored in the Lord’s school not only realises his own powerlessness, but learns to be content with the Lord’s direction of his life and finds a peace that passes understanding in the unfolding of the providence of the God he trusts. How important then that His favour rest upon us.
Joe Terrell
TRUE SAVING FAITH
The faith of the natural man, the unregenerate man, is
reasonable and logical, and often very influential (Matt.
7:21-23); but the faith of a Christian is a gift of God, a
miracle, and always produces a radical change in those
who possess it.
A man cannot possibly possess saving faith, whose
thinking and attitude has not been radically changed
concerning God and righteousness, man and sin, and
Christ and grace (II Cor. 5:14-17). The difference between
the two kinds of faith, natural and spiritual, biblical and
spurious, is the difference between shadows and
substance, words and reality. Natural faith believes, but
saving faith knows. Natural faith merely acknowledges
what saving faith experiences. As J.C. Philpot once said,
“The religious professor receives doctrines because he
sees them in the Bible. The believer not only sees them in
the Book, but he feels them in his heart, put there by the
Holy Spirit.” So you see, the difference is great. The
difference is the difference between a professor of Christ
and a possessor of Christ, one who believes in the Son and
one who “hath the Son.”
The world is filled with religionists who “believe in Jesus”
and live as if He were dead; (Their Jesus is dead, a mere
figment of their imagination) but the child of God has
fellowship with the resurrected, living Lord Jesus who sits
upon His sovereign throne of glory and grace.
Maurice Montgomery
IS SALVATION A CHOICE?
Yes, salvation is a choice. Salvation is the choice of God.
“For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Romans 9:15-16). God the Father elected a people whom He would save by the obedience and sacrifice of His Son. God the Son came in the flesh to willingly suffer and die to put the sin of His people away. God the Holy Spirit moves when and where He will to give life and faith to God’s elect through the preaching of the Gospel. Salvation is all by the will (the choosing), the doing, and the application of God. -Pastor Tom Harding