November 5, 2017

HYMN OF THE DAY
The Test

It is as if You are not there.
It seems as if You do not care.
O Lord, the heavens feel like brass.
In my despair, do I dare ask?

The Lord God is in the heavens.
The Lord hears all my petitions.
He seated there upon His throne.
He tests my faith. Let it be known.

I'm tried that I come forth as gold.
This flesh is weak, if truth be told.
The Lord and His Word will abide,
Even as lovingly I'm tried.

The Lord prays that my faith fail not,
Stripping me of my fleshly spot;
That I would only look to Him
Whose love for me will never end.

Tune: Just As I Am, pg. 248
By: Gary Spreacker

If all of God's elect were "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10), could we do anything to make ourselves more sanctified? If our Lord Jesus, by His one offering, "perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14), could we do anything to make ourselves more perfect? If Jesus Christ, "by himself purged our sins" (Heb. 1:3), could we possibly do anything to purge that which has already been removed? If the blood of Jesus Christ "cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7), can we, who are washed in His precious blood, get ourselves any cleaner in God's sight by our doings? These are questions the works religionists cannot give a Biblical answer to. They have no love for the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess. 2:10 - 12). Brethren, either Jesus Christ is all to us, or He is nothing at all to us. - Gene Harmon

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"The fact that conversion and salvation are of God is a humbling truth. Grace puts its hand on the boasting mouth and shuts it once for all; and then it takes its hand off the mouth and that mouth praises Christ for His sovereign grace; and it trembles at the thought of taking any honor and glory from God." - Henry Mahan

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"We dare not hope to be accepted with God because of anything that is in us by nature, or may be infused into us by grace: we are accepted in the Beloved, and apart from Him we look not to be accepted. Even what the Holy Ghost works in us does not furnish us with any merit which we can plead, for it is a gift of grace, and no part of our justifying righteousness. We rest upon Jesus Christ crucified (His imputed righteousness, atoning blood and mediation alone), and not upon our faith, repentance, or prayers." - C. H. Spurgeon


Grace - God's Provision
"Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the axe of justice, so corrupt that they cannot change their own natures, so averse to God that they cannot turn to Him, so blind that they cannot see Him, so deaf that they cannot hear Him, so dead that He Himself must open their graves and lift them into resurrection." -- G. S. Bishop

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"Can it possibly be conceived that there should be a redemption of men, and those men not be redeemed? That a price should be paid, and the purchase not consummated?" - John Owen

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"Grace is not merely a doctrine, but an unstoppable force of God. It is never without effect! We are chosen by grace with the undeniable effect that we are His. We are redeemed by grace with the certain effect that we are free. We are called by grace with the inescapable effect that we shall be with Him forever." - Joe Terrell