Oct 24
22
If God did not choose some men without any conditions, NO MAN would ever choose God under any condition. God chose us, not because we believe, but that we may believe.
Augustine
A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is convinced in his heart that God Almighty is Sovereign in creation, in providence, and in salvation. He knows that the Lord is powerfully working all things in this world for His own glory and for the eternal good of His people. As God’s providence is unveiled before his eyes, the believer is heartily aware that he’s seeing the grace of God, and therefore longs to be found faithfully waiting, trusting and cleaving unto the Lord.
Marvin Stalnaker
When the Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner, giving faith to believe on our Lord Jesus, this is what our Father has done and what we now have in Christ. “Giving thanks unto the Father, which HATH MADE US MEET to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who HATH DELIVERED us from the power of darkness, and HATH TRANSLATED us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we HAVE REDEMPTION through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:12-13). This is the good news the Spirit blesses to strengthen us in heart to “continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col 1: 23)
The Believer’s Rule of Life
I left the pulpit one night and a fellow asked me, “Do you believe ‘the law’ to be a believer’s rule of life?” He seemed surprised when I told him I did not. His very next question was, “How do you know how to live?” I told him immediately that I lived just as the Apostle Paul, “The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God,” (Gal. 2:20). This was the rule of life for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Abel and all others who have nothing but Jesus Christ to live upon.
Someone would say, “You mean you live as you want to?” I wish I could: I’d be filled with the Spirit, I would never sin again, all my motives would be pure, I’d be delivered from this body of death. Oh, I wish I could live just like I want to. The closest thing I have found to living just like I’d like to is living by faith upon Jesus Christ the Dear and Blessed Son of God.
Bruce Crabtree
A New Creature
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The Lord Jesus Christ does not show blind men how to see. He gives them new eyes and they see Him! The Lord Jesus Christ does not tell deaf men how to hear. He gives them new ears and they hear Him! The Lord Jesus Christ does not beg lame men to walk. He gives them new legs and they leap as a hart, and follow Him! All who are in Christ receive a new mind of repentance toward Him, a new will that bows to Him, a new heart that believes and loves Him. Yes, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature!
Gabe Stalnaker
The Only Reason for Salvation
“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake” (1 John 2:12).
There is only one reason revealed in Holy Scripture that any sinner would be pardoned from all sin. That one reason is Christ alone (Eph.4:32). Christ Jesus was manifested to take away our sin and in Him is no sin (1 John 3:5). The only reason for grace, is Christ (John 1:16). The only reason for mercy is Christ (Titus 3:5). The only reason for salvation is Christ (Acts 4:12). The only reason for sanctification is Christ (1Cor. 1:30). His name’s sake includes all these things and much more (Rom. 5:20). Salvation is not because of our merit, nor our baptism, nor our works, nor our prayers, nor our repentance nor our faith; but for the sake of Christ, his blood, sacrifice and satisfaction; and it reaches to all our sins, original and actual, secret and open, past, present, and future. The only reason for our salvation is not found in us, but rather in the Lord Jesus Christ alone (Isa.43:1-7; 44:21-23).
Tom Harding
Faith and Repentance
We are by nature so works oriented that if not careful we’ll turn faith and repentance into a work. True faith is by its very nature the absence of all works. It is finding in oneself no good thing. It is to be shut up to the Lord Jesus Christ, the only One who is good, for all our acceptance before God. We must never view faith as our contribution to salvation.
Like faith, repentance is also a sovereign work of grace in the heart. The Holy Spirit changes our minds about God, about ourselves, and about how God saves sinners. Yes, it involves sorrow for sin. But let us never think we can sorrow sufficiently. God-given repentance is not wallowing in the mire of shame and sorrow for sin. That can very quickly become a work. It is agreeing with God that I am, left to myself, nothing but sin. It is looking, not to my repentance, but to my Redeemer for all the hope of my salvation.
Greg Elmquist
“According To His Mercy He Saved Us” Titus 3:5
We were dead in sin. But God called us to life by his sovereign power. Our hearts were hard. But he broke them by his goodness and led us to repentance. We were blind. But God gave us eyes to behold his Son. We were unbelieving. But he gave us faith. We were under the dominion of sin. But omnipotent grace broke the iron fetters of our bondage. We were under the curse of the law, children of wrath. But Christ broke the gates of our prison and set us free. We were under the power of Satan. But Christ, by the power of his Spirit, spoiled the strong man’s house and took up residence in our hearts as Lord and King. We have been saved by the purpose of God, the purchase of God, and the power of God.
Don Fortner
BELIEVER’S
EXPERIENCE
Maurice Montgomery
God has revealed unto the true believer the true nature of sin and his wound grows deeper with the passing of time, as God gives him more light. Consequently, his need, his hungering and thirsting for Christ also increases with time. The deeper his wound, the deeper his repentance, and the more he loves to hear of the all-sufficient Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who profess faith in Christ and do not, with the passing of time, have a deeper sense of their sinfulness, and thus live in a deeper state of repentance, have never likely experienced anything but a superficial religious scratch, not Holy Spirit conviction and repentance. And this condition is nearly always manifest in their lack of an increasing hunger and thirst for Christ and the indifferent manner in which they hear that precious Gospel of God’s glory and grace. They had as soon, or rather, hear other things than the things of Christ. Contrariwise, the true believer can never hear too much of that glorious message of “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
The true believer is described in Philippians 3:1-14. May we, you and I, be found in that blessed number. Mr. Spurgeon once said, “After some years of experience, the Christian comes to know, better than he did at first, how much the Gospel suits him. He finds that its simplicity suits his bewilderment; its grace suits his sinfulness: its power is suitable to his weakness; its comfort is suitable to his despondence; and the more he grows, the more he loves the gospel of the grace of God.”
The popular gospel is a declaration of man’s rights and God’s obligations…“I have a right to salvation if I want it, and God must give it to me if I ask for it.” The Gospel of Christ is a declaration of God’s rights and man’s helplessness to fulfil any of the obligations…. “Hath not the Potter power (authority) over the clay to make of the same lump one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour?” (Romans 9:21) “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10).
Joe Terrell
HOW GOOD MUST ONE BE TO GET TO HEAVEN?
” It shall be perfect to be accepted” Lev.22:21
“How good does one have to be to get to heaven?
Will God accept sincerity?
Will God accept you if you do the best you can and lead a good life?
Can you get to heaven if, from this day forward, you serve the Lord?
Anyone who knows anything about God and His word knows that the answer to these questions must be AN EMPHATIC NO! (Romans 3:20, Romans 3:28)
It is not possible for any man to do or think anything that is good or acceptable before God (Isaiah 64:6).
God cannot and will not accept anything less than WHAT HE IS, WHICH IS ABSOLUTE PERFECTION.
He says in Leviticus 22:21, “It shall be perfect to be accepted.”
In order to get to heaven by our works, we must be as good as God, perfect in all things–perfect in heart, perfect in thought, perfect in works, PERFECTLY HOLY!
Is there, therefore, no hope?
Must we all perish forever?
NO!
Blessed be the Lord our God!
In Christ He has found a way to be both just and Justifier. He has found a way to make fallen, sinful people like us perfect–perfectly holy and perfectly accepted.
NOW THIS PERFECTION IS NOT OF US, IN US, NOR THROUGH US, NOR THE RESULTS OF ANYTHING WE DO OR HAVE DONE. IT IS ENTIRELY THE WORK OF GOD’S’s FREE GRACE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. God has taken Christ’s perfect righteousness and imputed it to us, making us to be the very righteousness of God in Him.
THE PENALTY AGAINST SINS WAS PAID IN FULL BY THE DOING, SUFFERING, AND DYING OF OUR LORD JESUS AS THE SINNER’S SUBSTITUTE. “
Scott Richardson
LAW AND GRACE
Rom. 11:5-6
Henry Mahan
No two things in the world are any different than law and grace. They are as opposite as light and darkness. They can no more agree than fire and water (Rom. 11:5-6). What is so amazing is that, while law and grace are so diametrically opposed, the human mind is so void of spiritual understanding and turned away from God that the most difficult thing for a human to do is to discriminate between the two. Men insist on mixing what God has positively put asunder.
The man who knows the place of the law and the glory of God’s free grace, who can rest in Christ alone for all that the law requires and justice demands, knows the gospel.
The first real difficulty in conversion is to get a man LOST–truly lost! A lost sinner is hard to find. There are plenty of weak people, even sinful people; but only the Holy Spirit can produce a LOST sinner. No law, system of works, nor moral code can do him any good.
The second difficulty in conversion is to teach a man THE GOSPEL. Few there be that really find it. This gospel of God’s FREE GRACE IN CHRIST comes to the lost sinner without any return on his part. It is the gift of God from beginning to end. Even repentance, faith, and good works are His fruit.
The third difficulty in conversion is to bring a believing sinner to REST all of his days in the same grace and love that took him in. We are chosen, called, and kept by His free grace.
“Here I raise mine Ebenezer:
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home.”
Henry Mahan,