The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:15, 21, 24
Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon Thy people. Selah (Psalms 3:8).
This verse reveals the substance and totality of the Gospel. It declares that salvation to needy sinners is altogether by the grace of God. It was God Almighty who chose His people in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without blame before him in love. It was God Almighty who redeemed His people by the shedding of his own blood. And it is God Almighty who quickens all that He has everlastingly loved in regenerating grace. Yes, “salvation belongeth unto the Lord,” and “Thy blessing”…Salvation!... Christ Himself (Luke 2:30) “is upon (on) Thy people.” Pastor Marvin Stalnaker
I Must Preach The Gospel
“For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!) (1Cor. 9:16).
The most humbling and challenging thing I face, the great concern of my heart is that my generation experience a return to the preaching of the gospel of God's glory. We are plagued today with a gospel of works, a religion of form and ceremony, a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. (Rom. 10:2).
I pray for a return to the message God was pleased to use in other days to awaken sinners to their need for mercy; that message that reveals the redemptive glory of God in Christ; that message that humbles the proud Pharisee and gives hope to the chief of sinners.
If God is pleased to restore that message men will once again sense the awesome Holy presence of the Living God. Gone will be the voice of the proud sinner who inwardly debates whether he will accept Jesus or reject Him. Gone will be the haughty spirit that refuses to bow to the Lordship of Christ. Gone will be the bragging of the religionist who boasts of his righteousness and what he has done for God.
Once again we may hear men cry, "Depth of mercy, can there be mercy still reserved for me, can my God His wrath forbear and me the chief of sinners spare?" It may be that we will hear someone ask, "And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?"
I know not what course others may take, but I am determined to put forth every effort to preach that gospel every time I step into the pulpit. "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me;yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" (1Cor. 9:16).
Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1982)
ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD
ROMANS 11:36
“For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom (God) be glory for ever.” Here is a glorious and comforting truth to the believer, who is resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, all things are of God . This truth echoes throughout the pages of inspired scripture (Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 5:18) and declares that God is God, beside Him there is no other (Isa. 45:22). The Apostle clearly states that, “all things are of Him,” God is the first cause and last end of all things (Isa.45:7). He also says that, “all things through Him,” God in time executes His wise decrees to His own will and pleasure (Isa. 46: 9-12). Moreover he says that, “all things are to Him,” our sovereign God is working all things to an eternal end that will glorify Himself. We can apply this threefold rule to many things, such as creation and providence, but lets us consider them in salvation.
1). ALL THINGS IN SALVATION ARE OF GOD!
Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). None but God could have devised such a way of salvation such as the gospel of Jesus Christ presents, wherein God can be just and the justifier of the ungodly (Rom. 3:26). God ordained the hour when the Saviour would come (Gal. 4:4). God ordained the hour when He would die as the believers substitute for sin (2 Cor. 5:21). God ordained the hour when Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead and exalted to glory (Rom. 4:25).
2). ALL THINGS IN SALVATIONARE THROUGHHIM!
Salvation is a work given to Jesus Christ by the Father to accomplish. He did not fail to complete the task He was given (Isa. 42:4). He prayed and declared in John 17:4, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” In the fulfillment and accomplishment of salvation man has no part in it. Carefully read this scripture: “When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3). Every spiritual blessing we enjoy comes to us through Jesus Christ alone (Eph. 1:3). God apart from Christ is a consuming fire (Heb.12:29).
3).ALL THINGS IN SALVATIONARE TO HIM!
What is the grand design of God in the salvation of His people? His glory! Our eternal God is wisely and rightly working all things to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7). The motive of God to save His people from their sin is found in Himself, and that motive and purpose is His glory. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive, power, and riches, and wisdom and honour, and glory” (Rev. 5:12).
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