May 24
5
How sweet it is to awake every day knowing that God my Saviour is on his throne, that he has purposed all that the day shall bring forth, and that he has purposed it for me, for my everlasting good. good.
Don Fortner
PEACE IN BELIEVING
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world
giveth.” (Jn 14:27)
“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You.”
“Perfect peace!”—what a blessed attainment! My soul! is it yours? I
am sure it is not, if you are seeking it in a perishable world, or in the
perishable creature, or in your perishable self. Although you have all that the
world would call enviable and happy, unless you have peace in God, and with
God, all else is unworthy of the name—a spurious thing, which the first breath
of adversity will shatter, and the hour of death utterly annihilate! Perfect
peace! What is it? It is the peace of forgiveness. It is the peace arising out
of a sense of God reconciled through the blood of the everlasting
covenant—resting sweetly on the bosom, and the work of Jesus—to Him committing
your eternal all.
My soul! stay yourself on God, so that this blessed peace may be yours. You
have tried the world. It has deceived you. Prop after prop of earthly scaffolding
has yielded, and tottered, and fallen. Has your God ever done so? Ah! this
false and counterfeit world-peace may do well for the world’s work, and the
world’s day of prosperity. But test it in the hour of sorrow; and what can it
do for you when it is most needed? On the other hand, what though you have no
other blessing on earth to call your own? You are rich indeed, if you can look
upwards to Heaven, and say with an unpresumptuous smile, “I am at peace
with God.”
John MacDuff
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” 2 Peter 1:2
J.C.Philpot
If we do not know Jesus for ourselves, by some spiritual discovery of his Person and work, what testimony have we of a saving interest in his grace? Because, there is no grace except that which flows through him, for “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” This is what we should ever labor after.
Our daily, hourly desire and prayer should be, to have spiritual discoveries of Christ; to see him by the eye of faith; to enter into his glorious Person and finished work; to realise his presence, taste his love, and know him and the power of his resurrection. This is what Paul so earnestly laboured after (Phil. 3:10); and for the excellency of this knowledge he suffered the loss of all things, and counted them but dung that he might win Christ. To know him as our Surety and Sin-bearer, our Advocate and Intercessor, our Friend, Husband, and Brother; to know our saving interest in him, and our union with him; our place in his heart, our name on his breast, our memorial on the palms of his hands–what can surpass the blessedness of such a knowledge as this?
Through this spiritual, experimental knowledge of him, grace flows. As a watercourse opening upon a river brings down its irrigating stream into the parched meadow, so a knowledge of Christ opens up a channel through which the grace that is in him flows into the barren, parched soul. Thus, as through grace alone we know him, so every fresh communication of grace not only makes him better known, but flows in through that very knowledge.
The grace that comes through this knowledge of him brings also peace; for he is “our peace.” He has “broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of two, one new man, so making peace.” He, therefore, came and preached peace “to those who were afar off and to those who were near.” His blood speaks peace to a guilty conscience; his voice says peace to the winds and waves of the surging heart; his last legacy was, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you;” his dying promise was, “In me you shall have peace;” and, as the Prince of peace at God’s right hand, he is able to fill us with “all joy and peace in believing,” for his kingdom is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” And thus, through a knowledge of him as our Lord, “grace and peace” are both “multiplied.”
“My Peace I Give Unto You”
John 14:27
Here is a peace that transcends all others, a peace that “passeth understanding.” It is the peace which the man Christ Jesus enjoyed perfectly and fully when he lived upon this earth. And it is a peace which he freely bestows upon his believing people in this world.
WHAT IS THIS PEACE? (1.) It is the peace of a conscience that never felt a shadow of a sense of guilt; the peace of a man who knew no sin. (2.) It is the peace of a man who was always perfectly submissive and obedient to the will of God, one who could always truthfully say, “I delight to do thy will, O my God!” (3.) It is the peace of a man who was assured of both his sonship and his immutable acceptance with God the Father, the peace of one who heard God declare, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (4.) It is the peace of one who was assured of everlasting life and eternal glory, while living in this world. And (5.) it is a peace that could never be destroyed, or taken away. It was tempted in the wilderness, but not destroyed.It was subjected to poverty, pain, persecution, sorrow, and bereavement, but not broken. It was tried in the garden of Gethsemane, but not taken away.
This is the peace of the man Christ Jesus. Ands this is Christ’s gift to his own. What a priceless treasure! And it is the earnest of an even greater peace to come. Great as this peace is, it cannot even be compared to the peace that our Savior now has in heaven, the peace that he holds in store for his own elect.
HOW CAN I HAVE THIS PEACE? It is a peace that only Christ can give. But it is a peace he has promised to give to all who come to him in faith (Matt. 11:28). Horatius Bonar wrote, “The result of our `receiving Him,’ or `believing on his name,’ is to bring us into that same state of conscience and that same kind of peace which He who knew no sin possessed. Our vessels are indeed small, and can contain little. His was large and could contain much. But the kind, or quality of that peace which fills them is the same. He has made peace by the blood of His cross. Indeed, He is our peace. And as soon as we come to know this and take Him as our peace, we are made partakers not merely of peace, but of that which He here calls, `my peace!'” What a blessed gift of grace!
Don Fortner
Contrary Not Complicated
The gospel does not remain a mystery to the natural man because it is complicated. The gospel remains a mystery because it is contrary to everything he believes to be true. It is contrary to his view of God. He will honour God with his lips but believe in his heart in a god that is not God. All men by nature set themselves up on the throne of God. They make God dependent upon their will or works to save them. The gospel is contrary to what the natural man believes about himself. He does not believe himself to be dead in his trespasses and sins. He believes that he holds the power of salvation in what he decides. Until the Lord gives the spirit of repentance (changed mind), the simple, clear gospel of God’s free grace in the glorious person and accomplished work of Christ will remain a mystery.
Pastor Greg Elmquist
ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS,
Don Bell
Eph. 1:3 “Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places IN CHRIST.”
The Holy Spirit uses this phrase over and over again IN CHRIST. The whole of the word of God is to reveal to us the Lord Jesus and his accomplished salvation. The whole of God’s word is to teach us what we have IN CHRIST.
When Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “come unto me, and you shall find rest for your souls”
He is telling us there is no other place other than In Him, is there rest for a soul, rest from the guilt and power of sin.
When Christ said; “come unto me”, He didn’t say come to a particular position on doctrine, come to election, or come to imputed righteousness, he didn’t say come to total depravity, or to God’s Sovereignty, He told sinners to COME UNTO ME! Why? Because when a sinner comes to Christ they receive All that he did in his work, All that he is in His person. We were chosen IN HIM, accepted IN HIM, redemption is through his blood, we obtained an inheritance IN HIM, we were quickened together with him, raised up to sit together in heavenly places IN Him. The long and the short of it beloved is that if we have Christ we have ALL WE NEED, we have it where it counts, before God Almighty who demands perfection. Blessed be his name he provided us perfection IN CHRIST. “And ye are COMPLETE IN HIM, which is the head of all principality and power”.
We need righteousness – Christ is our righteousness. We need wisdom – Christ is our wisdom. We need sanctification – Christ is our sanctification. We need redemption and Christ is our redemption. God made Him so unto us (1Cor. 1:30).
Christ said: COME UNTO ME, in coming to Him you will have all that is IN HIM and you will spend the rest of your life learning about all you have IN HIM!
“But we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.” 1 John 3
This leads our minds far away from the things of time, and from the narrow bounds of sense, to that glorious period when our Lord shall come to gather together all the jewels which shall sparkle in His glorious crown, to gather together all His Father’s eternally-loved ones, the fruit of His sufferings, the purchase of His blood, and to carry them up to the heights of glory, there to spend an eternity of bliss and blessedness with Him. Blessed be God! Then and there we shall be like Him. Ay, and “we know” that it will be so by the Spirit which He hath given us. The CONTINUOUS DESIRES OF THE REGENERATE SOUL IS TO BE LIKE HIM. Turn to Romans 8:29,30. Here we have present-tense realities. “For whom he did foreknow, He also did predestinate conformed to the image of His Son.” Read this portion without the italics, “to be.” Conformed by eternal predestination, in the everlasting covenant of grace, to the image of His dear Son, “that He might be the firstborn, or chief, among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” You see, in the purpose of God, all the elect are predestinated, called, justified, and glorified in the person of God’s Christ, and conformed to His image. “We shall be like Him,” ay, and we are like Him according to the decree of the Father, the demand of the Son, the determination of the Spirit, and the declaration of the Gospel in our hearts.
Thomas Bradbury
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Jn. 1:12-13.
Yes, a sinner must “receive” (which is to believe on) Christ for all the hope of their salvation. For without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe…”. Heb. 11:6. How can one who is spiritually dead and at enmity with God believe on Christ? The answer is above in verse 13. Which WERE (past tense) born, not of blood (Descent), nor of the will of flesh (Dedication), nor of the will of man (Decision), but of God. In God’s order The New Birth necessarily precedes faith.
Greg Elmquist.
SURETY OF A BETTER TESTAMENT
“By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” (Heb. 7:22)
The Father made His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the surety of the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is better than the covenant of the law in every way. The law can only reveal our guilt. The covenant of grace makes sinners to be not guilty by the sacrifice of Christ. The law can only demand our death. The covenant of grace demands life for God’s elect because Christ already died for them. The law can never forgive sin, but the covenant of grace demands forgiveness of all the sin that was laid on Christ. Thank God that Christ did for His people everything that the law cannot do.
Frank Tate
NONE BUT CHRIST
Have you any other rock but Christ? I do not ask you, whether you
have a feeling enjoyment of it? I know you will rejoice in Jesus when
the Holy Spirit enables you. But have you any other refuge? Can you
go into eternity, resting upon any other rock but the Lord Jesus
Christ? Have you any other righteousness but His? Can you lean
upon, desire, or want any other than Christ’s righteousness? ‘No,’
says the soul, None but Christ! None but Christ! Bless your poor
heart, then, you shall have it as sure as God has wrought the desire
in your conscience, and brought you to trust alone in Jesus for refuge,
righteousness, and salvation, by stripping you of all false props and
dependencies. Such a soul as this will trust in the Lord, overcome all
opposition, and be more than a conqueror through Him that hath loved him…
John Warburton