Go Home And Tell

“Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee” (Mark 5:19).

The Lord had shown great mercy to this poor sinner, setting him free from demons and from sin. Now He tells him to go home to his family and friends and be THE LORD’S WITNESS.

Do not go home and begin to preach. Do not go home and take up the great doctrines of grace and expound them. Do not go home and strive to bring everyone to your views and beliefs. Do not go home and condemn all who do not see what you see. Go home and tell them WHAT GREAT THINGS THE LORD HAS DONE FOR YOU! Not what great things you have read or heard, but what great things you have EXPERIENCED! This is the way to begin our witnessing.

There is never a more interesting story than that story a person has experienced, lived, and felt. If you would really interest others and get their attention, tell them what great things the Lord has done IN you and FOR you! Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1992)

Justified By Christ Alone

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal 2:16).

Justification is a judicial act of God. It does not come as the result of man’s effort (Rom. 3:20, 28; Gal. 3:11; 5:4). It is not even the result of faith (Eph. 2:8). It took place when Christ satisfied the demands of the law as a Substitute for his elect (Rom. 3:24; 2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 1:7). Man can never earn it. He only receives it by faith. And even the faith by which we receive it is the gift of God’s grace (Eph. 2:8). “Man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.”

Because we are justified by Christ alone, (by the faithful obedience of Christ unto death as our Substitute), we have no obligation to the law. We are dead to the law. This is not a license to sin (Rom. 6:1-2, 15; 7:7). It is the blessed liberty of grace. We dare not return to the law, as Peter did by his abhorrent symbolic behavior. To do so is to return to its curse and condemnation (Gal. 2:18).

The law of God can never give life. It only deals out death. It can never produce holiness. It only stirs up sin. The law brings the knowledge of sin, and condemns it (Rom. 7:7-9). The law was our schoolmaster unto Christ. Once we have come to Christ in faith, the law has no power or authority over us (Gal. 3:24).

Pastor Don Fortner

ENCOURAGEMENT IN THE LORD

“David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (1 Sam. 30:6).

David found himself in a very discouraging situation. Ziklag had been burned with fire, the families of David and his army had been taken captive and his men were ready to stone him to death.

How could David find any encouragement in this situation? He took his eyes off the situation and fixed his heart and faith upon the Lord his God.

Who is all our comfort in times of trial and heartache? The Lord our God! When we look within we find nothing but sin, doubt and discouragement. But when we are blessed with eyes of faith to behold Him, who is the Lord our God, sovereign, wise, and able to do above all we ask or think (Eph. 3:20) then we have every reason to be encouraged in the Lord our God. Our Lord says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:22). What a word of encouragement! David encouraged himself by the very means God ordained, His word of truth (Psalm 115:1-4; 121; 135:1-6). God help us to do the same (Psa. 55:22)!

Is Salvation A Mere Decision?

I talked to a local pastor a few days ago and he expressed to me how he persuaded sinners to make “a decision for Jesus” at the end of the service. I asked him if he thought the greatest redemptive work of Christ was dependent upon a decision and will of the sinner to make it successful? I could never pin him down on the issue of salvation by grace alone because of his pious opinion on the matter of sinners making a decision. Then I asked him why he closed his service that way? To which he replied, “That is what the apostles did.” I asked him to show me that in the word, of which he was unable to do, because that is not taught in the Bible. Salvation as it is revealed in the scriptures is a revelation of God the Holy Spirit to the heart of the sinner convicting us of sin and showing us the beauty and necessity of Christ (Matt. 16:16-18; John 16:8-13).