The Word of God

Let us profit by the books and writings of men as we can; but there is one old book, a book of power, wealth, and infallible truth, that we must not neglect; that book is the Bible! One man, when he came to die, declared, “I wish I had spent as much time reading the Bible as I spent reading worthless literature.”

Spurgeon once said, “Depend on it; it is God’s Word, not man’s comments upon God’s Word, that saves sinners. I have marked in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the conversion of a sinner is traceable to some Scripture preached or quoted, rather than to any trite or original saying by the preacher. It is God’s Word that breaks the fetters and sets the prisoner free; it is God’s Word instrumentally that saves the soul; therefore, let us bring all men to the touchstone to the Word of God.” “If they speak not according to His Word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20)!

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1984)

THE TRUTH OF SALVATION

The gospel is a notification of what God has already done for His people. The call of salvation is NOT a call for a sinner to DO ANYTHING FOR GOD or BRING ANYTHING TO GOD. It is NOT an announcement of God wanting to save us if we will let Him. It is NOT an announcement that He started the work if we will finish it. The gospel is the declaration of what God has ALREADY DONE for His people! The true message of the gospel is the notification that, “Salvation is of the Lord” completely, and that salvation is, “Finished!”

Here are five truths that make God’s gospel such wonderful news:

1). All men and women are totally sinful. There is nothing in us that is pleasing to God. He looked down from heaven on every soul that would be born into the world and said; “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:3). Had God left us alone, not one soul would have been saved.

2). But God the Father chose to save some sinners (Eph. 1:4). None deserved it. None had earned it. But God in His kindness and compassion chose to redeem some sinners throughout the world from eternal destruction.

3). Every soul that God the Father chose, He gave to God the Son, Jesus Christ! The Lord Jesus Christ took all of the sin of all of those people into His own body, stood before His Father in judgment, and died suffering the penalty and punishment for all of His people! With that being accomplished, their salvation is complete (John 19:30)!

4). Now, through the preaching of the gospel, God the Spirit comes to each one of those paid-for people to notify them that their payment has been made, their record has been wiped clean, and “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1)!With that notification comes the gift of faith to believe it!

5). Every soul who believes it with the whole heart; every soul who believes on: the choice of the Father, the work of the Son, and the call of the Spirit possesses the evidence of eternal security. A soul who has cast his all on Christ (nothing more, nothing less) is a soul who cannot, and will not ever be lost! (John 10:27-28)!

Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

The Goodness And Severity Of God

“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off “ (Rom. 11:22).

The apostle Paul declares unto us two very distinct, holy and sovereign characters of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Behold the goodness of God. The Lord is good. Everything about Him is good; there is no evil in Him, there is none good but God (Matt. 19:17). All His actions are good; He never does one thing wrong, but rather all things are righteously done (Gen. 18:25). The Lord saves sinners by His sovereign goodness and mercy in Christ (Psalm 51:1-4; Rom. 9:13-16). The Psalmist said, “O taste and see the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

Behold the severity of God; the Lord is also severe in His righteous wrath and His holy anger. His anger against the wicked is His holiness stirred into activity against sin (Psalm 5:5; 7:11). Every attribute of God reflects His holy nature; His love, mercy and grace are never displayed apart from His holy justice being honored. God is love but let us not forget God is holy too (Isa. 6:1; John 3:36).

The only way our great God can be a just God and Saviour is for our sin to be punished and put away in Christ, that is what happened at Calvary (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18). Now our gracious God can be both just and the justifier of them that believe the gospel.