The Beauty and Love of Christ Illustrated

“Father: My Son, here is a company of poor miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lie open to my justice! Justice demands satisfaction for them or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. What shall be done for these souls?

Son: O my Father, such is my love to and pity for them that, rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their Surety. Bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe thee. Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after-reckonings with them. At my hand shalt thou require it. I will rather choose to suffer thy wrath than they should suffer it. Upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.

Father: But my Son, if thou undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last mite. Expect no abatements. If I spare them, I will not spare thee.

Son: Content, Father. Let it be so. Charge it all upon me. I am able to discharge it. And though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it.”




… “Blush, ungrateful believers. O let shame cover your faces. Judge in yourselves now, hath Christ deserved that you should stand with him for trifles, that you should shrink at a few petty difficulties and complain, ‘This is hard, and that is harsh’? O if you knew the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in this his wonderful condescension to you, you could not do it.”

John Flavel, Works

Christianity Today

"Christianity today is man-centered, not God-centered. God is made to wait patiently, even respectfully, on the whims of men. The image of God currently popular is that of a distracted Father, struggling in heartbroken desperation to get people to accept a Saviour of whom they feel no need and in whom they have very little interest.
To persuade these self-sufficient souls to respond to His generous offers God will do almost anything, even using salesmanship methods and talking down to them in the chummiest way imaginable. This view of things is, of course, a kind of religious romanticism which, while it often uses flattering and sometimes embarrassing terms in praise of God, manages nevertheless to make man the star of the show." (A.W. Tozer Man: The Dwelling Place of God)

The Reliability of the New Testament Text (Dr. James White)

Live like you obey Christ

I have heard it said "Work like you are an Armenian and sleep like you are a Calvinist."

While I understand the sentiment behind this statement, I whole-heartedly disagree!! Work like a Calvinist.....understanding God has saved men an women from ALL over the world from the justice we deserve, and sleep like a Calvinist, knowing God will accomplish His purposes through you, through His Church.

In other words, live like you obey Christ and sleep like you believe Him.

1Timothy 2:4

The Narrow and Complete Bridge

"Let there be no misunderstanding at this point. The Arminian limits the atonement as certainly as does the Calvinist. The Calvinist limits the extent of it in that he says it does not apply to all persons (although as has already been shown, he believes that it is efficacious for the salvation of the large proportion of the human race); while the Arminian limits the power of it, for he says that in itself it does not actually save anybody. The Calvinist limits it quantitatively, but not qualitatively; the Arminian limits it qualitatively, but not quantitatively. For the Calvinist it is like a narrow bridge which goes all the way across the stream; for the Arminian it is like a great wide bridge which goes only half-way across…."

- Loraine Boettner

Don't be a Slave

Most of us have been indoctrinated with government schools version of morality, the University's version of morality, Hollywood's version of morality (all of which are the same) and then claim it as our own! May God's grace free our minds to think with originality...... with purity.

Potential Saviour?

I don't understand why there are SO MANY professing Christians who call Jesus "Saviour", yet only believe Jesus came to make salvation "possible". Possible for all but certain for none. They should say " Jesus is 'potential saviour' and 'potential Lord' "

Christian.... understand Jesus IS Saviour. He actually did save people on the cross.

Have You Been Nailed To The Cross?

"This is what the conversion of the dying thief shows us. What could he do? He could not walk in the paths of righteousness for there was a nail through either foot. He could not perform any good works for there was a nail through either hand. He could not turn over a new leaf and live a better life for he was dying.

And, my reader, those hands of yours which are so ready for self-righteous acting, and those feet of yours which are so swift to run in the way of legal obedience, must be nailed to the cross. The sinner has to be cut off from his own workings and be made willing to be saved by Christ.

A realization of your sinful condition, of your lost condition, of your helpless condition, is nothing more or less than old-fashioned conviction of sin, and this is the sole prerequisite for coming to Christ for salvation, for Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

A.W. Pink

Of "death-bed" conversions.... Well said the Puritans of old - "There is one such case recorded that none need despair, but only one, in scripture, that none might presume".

Light in and of the Lord

"for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." Eph 5:8

True light of sanctification is dependent on justification as the light of the moon is dependent on the Sun. Just a thought I had while taking a walk this evening.

An accidental Collision

“If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents–the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts–i.e. of materialism and astronomy–are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milkjug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.

C.S. Lewis

Abounding Grace

“One day as I was passing into the field . . . this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And methought, withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God’s right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he wants [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, “The same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8. Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons. . . . Now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God.”

John Bunyan
Grace Abounding

Who really Gets the Glory

The biggest question any semi-Pelagian or Arminian has to face at the practical level is this: Why did I choose to believe the gospel and commit my life to Christ when my neighbor, who heard the same gospel, chose to reject it? That question has been answered in many ways. We might speculate that the reason why one person chooses to respond positively to the gospel and to Christ, while another one doesn’t, is because the person who responded positively was more intelligent than the other one. If that were the case, then God would still be the ultimate provider of salvation because the intelligence is His gift, and it could be explained that God did not give the same intelligence to the neighbor who rejected the gospel. But that explanation is obviously absurd.


The other possibility that one must consider is this: that the reason one person responds positively to the gospel and his neighbor does not is because the one who responded was a better person. That is, that person who made the right choice and the good choice did it because he was more righteous than his neighbor. In this case, the flesh not only availed something, it availed everything. This is the view that is held by the majority of evangelical Christians, namely, the reason why they are saved and others are not is that they made the right response to God’s grace while the others made the wrong response.

RC Sproul

Sin

I saw a camera today at several stores and stop light....why?

I have to sign a contract when I refinance my mortgage next month.....why?

I read the news this morning and people are being murdered all over the city, state, country and world....why?

I notice that laws are not adequate, but we need police to enforce them...why?

I pay extra every time I shop due to theft.....why?

I have to type at least three different passwords at work everyday: I have to type passwords to view my bank account, to manage this blog....why?

We need to get filters for the internet to keep out inappropriate sights.....why?

I have locks on all my doors at home.... why?

I had to lock my car doors when I went on a walk for cystic fybrosis today.....why (5 cars were broken into at the fundraiser today)

I look out the window every few minutes at my daughter playing in the back yard.....why?


We need protection from one another. We don't trust one another. The world is a giant Jerry Springer Show....why?

SIN!

Satisfaction Guarantied

Christ was a propitiation for the the sins of the world. In Christ, satisfaction was made to the wrath of God for all the sins of His people. The Gospel is a statement of the aspects of this atonement.

1 Cor 15:3-4 "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,"

It is also important to include the ascension of Christ to the right hand of God where He sits and intercedes on behalf of those for whom He died. (Isa 53:12 and Hebrews 7-10).

The elect of God were in a very real sense experiencing everything in Christ as He accomplished this satisfaction.

Gal 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ"
Rom 6:8 - "we have died with Christ"
Col 2:12 - "having been buried with him in baptism"
Eph 2:6 - "and raised us up with him"
Eph 2:6 - " seated us with him in the heavenly places"

Being "in Christ" is one the most important doctrines that I am currently trying to get my head around. I want to comprehend the importance of this truth. This beautifully knits together so many essential doctrines. The incarnation, the deity of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, ect, ect. more to follow........

Great Is The Mystery

"Great is the mystery of godliness" (1 Tim. 3:16). Amazing beyond all finite conception is that transaction which was consummated at Golgotha. There we behold the Prince of Life dying. There we gaze upon the Lord of Glory made a spectacle of unutterable shame. There we see the Holy One of God made sin for His people.

There we witness the Author of all blessing made a curse for worms of the earth. It is the mystery of mysteries that He who is none other than Immanuel, should stoop so low as to join together the infinite majesty of Deity with the lowest degree of abasement that was possible to descend into. He could not have gone lower and be God. Well did the Puritan Sibbes say, "God, to show His love to us, showed Himself God in this: that He could be God and go so low as to die" (Vol. 5, p. 327).

AW pink

There Can Be No Failure With the Work of Christ

Over 2000 Years Ago Today

Because He said "It is finished"; I can say "life has begun" Jn 1:13

Because He said "My God My God, why have you forsaken me?"; I can say "Father God, why have you chosen me?" Eph 1:1-12

Because He said "I thirst": I can say "I may 'buy wine and milk without money and without price'" Isa 55:1

Because He said "Behold your Son"; I can say "Behold my Father" Eph 4:6

Because He said "Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit"; I can say "Father, into your hands you have committed my spirit." Rom 8:29-30

Diluting Man's Depravity

“Free-will doctrine – what does it do? It magnifies man into God; it declares God’s purposes a nullity, since they cannot be carried out unless men are willing. It makes God’s will a waiting servant to the will of man, and the whole covenant of grace dependent upon human action. Denying election on the ground of injustice it holds God to be a debtor to sinners so that if He gives grace to one He is bound to do so to all. It teaches that the blood of Christ was shed equally for all men and since some are lost, this doctrine ascribes the difference to man’s own will, thus making the atonement itself a powerless thing until the will of man gives it efficacy. Those sentiments dilute the scriptural description of man’s depravity, and by imputing strength to fallen humanity, rob the Spirit of the glory of His effectual grace: this theory says in effect that it is of him that willeth, and of him that runneth, and not of God that showeth mercy.”

Charles Spurgeon

Repent of My Repentance

O God of grace,
T hou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
and hast imputed his righteousness
to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many
aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with
selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of
raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth
the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

From "Valley of Vision" Banner of truth