Dec 24
16
In election the Lord set us apart to be His children.
In adoption He gave us the relationship of children.
In regeneration He gave us the nature of being His children.
In justification He gave us the perfect standing of children.
In glorification He will give us the inheritance of children.
David Eddmenson
Our speech betrays us. Those who don’t know Christ speak great things concerning themselves. Those who do know Christ speak greater things concerning Him.
Pastor Tommy Robbins
A sinner doesn’t believe in Christ because he/she makes a choice.
A true believer trusts in Christ alone for the putting away of their sin, when
God reveals to them that there is no other choice.
~ Pastor David Eddmenson
“For he said, surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.” Isa. lxiii. 8.
Oh what a tenderness of expression is contained in these words! Jesus not only takes his people into relationship with him, but undertakes for their faithfulness. In the birth of God’s everlasting purpose, this was done from everlasting; so that in one and the same moment, we are his people, his children, his brethren, his wife, his redeemed, his fair one, made comely in his comeliness, and in his blood cleansed, and in his righteousness justified before God. And observe, my soul, the grounds of this relationship: surely, he saith, they are my people. Not only as God’s workmanship and property, but as his purchase. Not only in first giving them being, but in giving them new being in Christ Jesus. The Lord hath taken them into covenant with him in Christ, and granted them a charter of grace and salvation in Jesus. Sweet and precious thought. God the Father, whose right they are by creation, hath given them to his Son. And Jesus hath made them his, both by his own purchase, and the conquests of his grace therefore he hath an interest in them, and in all that concerns them. Surely, saith Jesus, they are my people, my jewels, my treasure, my hidden one. And observe further, how he speaks for them as well as of them they will not lie. How is this? Why, they are children of the covenant. And because he hath undertaken for them, therefore he was their Saviour. Oh the preciousness of such a Saviour, to every circumstance, to every state, in every way, and upon every occasion in life, in death, in time, and to all eternity. Jesus, thou art indeed a Saviour, thou art truly called Jesus, for thou hast saved, and thou wilt save, thy people from their sins.
Robert Hawker
True faith is built upon the strongest evidence possible – THE WORD OF GOD! True faith is a total dependence upon THE LORD JESUS CHRIST for all our needs; such as forgiveness, sanctification, peace, and eternal life. The true believer renounces all confidence in his flesh, rejoice only in Christ Jesus, and worships God in Sprit. He feeds upon Christ as the bread of life, embraces Christ as his wedding garment, derives all strength and comfort from Christ, and trust himself to the care of Christ as his Shepherd, Teacher, Priest, and King. This is THE LIFE OF FAITH.
Henry Mahan
LOSING A SENSE OF NEED
The lukewarm state of the church of Laodicea nauseated Christ. And what is this state of lukewarmness? They lost their sense of need! “Thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev 3: 17). A sense of need is essential in walking with Christ. “He healed them that had need of healing.” “The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Ten times, David, the man after God’s own heart, described himself as “poor and needy.” The only way I can hear the Gospel is as poor and needy. When that leaves, I start to analyze, see if I agree, and critique. The doctrine of the Gospel looses its sweetness. It is one thing to know the meaning of election. It is another thing to need it! It is one thing to understand justification. It is another to need to be justified. May the Lord keep us poor and needy!
Todd Nibert
The great Power of Christ necessary to overcome the Power of Satan
Before the blessings of inheritance, believing, sanctification are revealed to a child of God there must be a turning from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.
Only when we can see the darkness into which Satan holds his prisoners captive will be understand something of the remarkable power of our Saviour, and the wonder of the means in which He destroyed the works of the devil and the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Satan came to usurp God’s authority Christ delights always to do His Fathers will
Satan came to overturn the character of God Christ came to magnify God’s character
in the eyes of His children
Satan came to cause doubt to God’s word Christ came to honour God’s word
Satan came to attack the covenant of works Christ came to fulfil the covenant of works.
Satan came to destroy the relationship Christ came to restore that which He took not away
between man and God
Satan came to be served Christ came to serve
Satan came to take life unto himself Christ came to give His life a ransom for many.
Satan was proud Christ was humbled “least in the kingdom” Mt11:11
Satan was a liar, a deceiver Christ was the truth
Satan was a murderer Christ was light – the light of the world. Life the life.
Satan seeks to elevate man in his own mind Christ was humbled as a man the world knew Him not
Satan seeks to use God’s law both to elevate Christ came to magnify God’s law and keep it fully
man and to subject him to its control and set the prisoners free.
Satan sought to achieve his ends by deceit and control. Christ achieved His greatest glory, the greatest exemplar of faithfulness, the highest obedience, under the most trying circumstances ever witnessed. And this by the only One who knew the horror of sin: it’s rebellion against God, denial of His attributes, dishonouring of His word. What sins He bore and only He knew their true horror, their deep evil, the legal demands of justice to be meted out upon them to the full satisfaction of God’s justice.
Adam was shocked when his eyes were opened – Christ knew exactly what He was entering when He took the cup and drank it dry on the cross.
Paul said, “Neither count I my life dear to myself, that I might finish my course with joy” (Acts 20:24). This is the opposite of the way we naturally think. We think we will find joy and happiness in carefully preserving our life and by doing those things that will lead to our happiness. But the opposite is true. The only way we will have true joy is by not counting our lives as dear, but counting the glory of Christ and obedience to Him as what is truly dear.
All of the adjectives we use for grace like sovereign, free, and saving are inherent in the word. When we speak of the Biblical word grace it is always the grace of God that loves, elects, predestinates, justifies, redeems, calls, regenerates, preserves, and glorifies. Any use of the word grace that does not comprehend all of those things is not the grace of God. It is the word grace without the meaning of grace.
Todd Nibert
“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2
Preaching the Gospel, the Lord’s table, and baptism all have one singular focal point, the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how He saved His elected sinners! If my preaching doesn’t point to Him alone, I am not preaching the gospel. If my baptism was not a profession of His death, burial, and resurrection alone as all my justification before God, I just went swimming. If my confession when taking the Lord’s table is not His body broken and blood shed for the remission of my sins and all my righteousness before God, I just had a physical snack. The focus of the gospel is Christ alone, and the focus of these ordinances is Christ is all and the confession of His finished work alone.
Caleb Hickman
How can they escape?
“He will keep the feet of His saints.”
1 Samuel 2:9
The Lord sees His poor scattered pilgrims
traveling through a valley of tears—journeying
through a waste-howling wilderness—a path
beset with baits, traps, and snares in every
direction.
How can they escape?
Why, the Lord ‘keeps their feet’. He carries them
through every rough place—as a tender parent
carries a little child. When about to fall—He
graciously lays His everlasting arms underneath
them. And when tottering and stumbling, and
their feet ready to slip—He mercifully upholds
them from falling altogether.
But do you think that He has not different ways
for different feet? The God of creation has not
made two flowers, nor two leaves upon a tree
alike—and will He cause all His people to walk
in precisely the same path? No. We have . . .
each our path,
each our troubles,
each our trials,
each peculiar traps and snares laid for our feet.
And the wisdom of the all-wise God is shown by His
eyes being in every place—marking the footsteps of
every pilgrim—suiting His remedies to meet their
individual case and necessity—appearing for them
when nobody else could do them any good—watching
so tenderly over them, as though the eyes of His
affection were bent on one individual—and carefully
noting the goings of each, as though all the powers
of the Godhead were concentrated on that one
person to keep him from harm .
J C Philpot
THE SECURITY OF THE SHEEP
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.
My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all;
and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”
(John 10:27-29)
There is no stronger passage to be found in the word of God
guaranteeing the absolute security of every child of God. They are His
sheep, they follow Him, they have eternal life, they are in the hand of
Christ, the Father gave them to Christ (John 6:37; John 17:2, 6, 9, 11, 12,
24), and they are in the Father’s hand. The sheep of Christ have a double
security; they are in the hand of Christ, and they are in the hand of the
Father. To suggest that any of His sheep could be finally lost is to
blaspheme the Lord God Himself.
Pastor Henry Mahan