Proverbs 23:9, 12, 17

“Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24)!

Before this man believed, he was not aware of his unbelief. It was not until he believed that he saw the power of his unbelief. This is the continued cry of the believer, “Lord, I believe.” The new man believes. He cannot not believe and it is the new man that is painfully aware of the unbelief of the old man, “Help thou mine unbelief.” "I cannot do anything about it, and I am asking you to help me!” The new man always believes and the old man never does. But there will be no unbelief in heaven because the old man will not be there. He was condemned and put away on the cross, and in heaven the believer will never have to deal with him again.

Pastor Todd Nibert

Looking unto Him

I’m sure that some who lived in the days of our Lord’s visitation to earth, and many who heard the gospel from the apostles and the faithful preachers who followed them, could tell you the exact day when they met the risen Redeemer and bowed to His sovereign rule. I have never felt that it was important for a person to be able to tell WHEN he was saved, but rather that he be able NOW to state that he has experienced repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; that NOW he is looking to Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King; that NOW he is resting in His righteousness and effectual sin-offering.

Too often men and women like to establish a time of conversion and some sort of experience, in order to have something to look back upon for comfort and assurance. But this is dangerous! We are not to look to anything nor anything but Christ for our hope, our assurance, and our comfort. Paul said something about, “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before” and “looking unto the Lord Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

Most of us came through the confusion, errors, and false professions of modern fundamentalism, and had so much to unlearn and so many false foundations which had to be destroyed, that it is difficult to set an exact hour when our eyes were turned totally from our idols of religion to our living Lord; or when our hearts were weaned from the pride of our religious works and professions and brought to REST IN HIM ALONE! This is the unaided work of the Spirit of God and the Word of God. And this is the living union which shall never be dissolved.

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (1983 bulletin)

OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST
Hebrews 7:26

In order for sinners to come unto God, they need to have a High Priest to encourage and enable them to do so. Not only is a High Priest necessary, but he must be one also that meets the demands of a Holy God. The only High Priest fitted and able to minister before God on the behalf of desperately wicked and guilty sinners is the Lord Jesus Christ. No other could put away sin (Heb. 9:26), purchase eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12), produce perfect righteousness for us (Heb. 13:21), and intercede eternally for us (Heb. 7:25). This verse describes the believers glorious Great High Priest.

1). He is HOLY! In His divine nature, for He is God, but also in His humanity. He was holy before God and perfectly obeyed His holy law (Isa. 42:21). Had His nature and character been unholy, He could not have been our High Priest. For unholy sinners, stand in need of a Holy Priest, with a holy sacrifice to stand before a holy God (Heb. 9:24), to make a holy atonement for sin!

2). He is HARMLESS! Without guile in His mouth or malice in His heart. He is holy in His nature and harmless in His life. He went about doing good. He was the Lamb in the midst of wolves. Although He was tempted in all points, yet He was without sin (Heb. 4:15). He had no sin! He did no sin! He knew no sin!

3). He is UNDEFILED! He was in this evil world, yet not defiled with its guilt nor tainted with its sin. He was unsoiled and uncontaminated from the curse of the fall and the guilt of Adam’s transgression (Rom. 5:12). The only way He is guilty of sin is by our sin being laid on Him (Isa. 53:6-8; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21).

4). He is SEPARATE FROM SINNERS! He took on Him the likeness of a sinful nature (Rom. 8:3), but not a sinful nature. He was often found in the company of sinners, but no sin found company in Him. He had communion with sinners, but no communion with sin.