Psalm 35:27-28

You Will Not

“You will not come to me, that you might have life” (John 5:40).

It was not lack of witnesses, of evidence, nor of proof of His deity and person which kept these Jews from believing on and coming to Christ, but PERVERSITY OF WILL! It was because (like all natural men) they had fallen, corrupt and depraved wills.

Men are UNWILLING to come to Christ. They are unwilling to own their sins, unwilling to admit their inability, unwilling to seek God’s mercy, and unwilling to cast themselves on Christ. But His people SHALL BE MADE WILLING in the day of His power (Psalm 110:3)!

Thank God for His sovereign will and saving power in Christ! All who come to Christ come willingly!

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1985)

"And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord:
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” (Jer. 24:7)

There are some men and women in this world whom God has chosen to salvation from eternity, who must and shall be saved (John 15:16; 2 Thess. 2:13). There is a multitude, scattered among the fallen sons of Adam, in every age, in every nation who must be saved. The number of God’s elect is so great that no man can calculate it, though it always appears as only a remnant at any given time. The number is unalterably fixed by God. All the elect must be saved. Nothing can prevent their salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ has made atonement for the sins of God’s elect and redeemed them from the curse of the law by his own precious blood (Gal. 3:13).

Contrary to popular opinion, Christ did not die for all men. He refused to even pray for all men (John 17:9, 20). All his work was and is for his elect alone. To say otherwise is to declare that his work, his atonement, his intercession, all his work as the sinner's Substitute was and is futile, meaningless, and vain. The death of Christ was for his particular, chosen, elect people (Isa. 53:8; John 10:11) for the satisfaction of justice on their behalf. All God’s elect, having been redeemed by the blood of Christ, shall be called from death to life by the irresistible power and almighty grace of God the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:13-14; Psa. 65:4; 110:3).

Repentance toward God, faith in Christ, and eternal life are the results of the Spirit's call. These are things effectually wrought in God’s elect (not offered to them) by his almighty grace. There is a specific day appointed by God in which each of his elect will be called to life and faith in Christ by the gospel (Psa. 110:3; Ezek. 16:68). And he will send his Word to that sinner in the irresistible power and grace of the Holy Spirit. In that day, God says, regarding every chosen, redeemed sinner, “They shall be my people.” Pastor Don Fortner

Righteousness, Peace and Joy

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17).

The Kingdom of God and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; salvation that is accomplished by Christ and given totally by the grace of Christ has nothing to do with what you eat and drink; has nothing to do with your morality, clean living and observing certain days. We are justified by grace not by the deeds of the law (Rom. 3:24). Our salvation is totally based upon what Christ has done for us not what we do or have done for Him (Titus 3:5). Salvation that is all of grace has nothing to do with meats, drinks, and days (2Tim. 1:9); but rather upon righteousness established in Christ, upon the peace that Christ made for us with His own blood and the joy we have resting in Christ.

These three essential gospel truths always go together where you find one you find the others:

1). Righteousness…how are sinners made righteous before God? Christ alone is all our righteousness before God (Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30). That is the whole message of the book of Romans; justification by grace alone (Rom. 1:16-17; 3:20-22; Rom. 4:6; Rom. 10:1-4).

2). Peace…how are sinners reconciled to God? How is peace made? Certainly not by anything we have done but rather through the blood sacrifice of Christ for us (Col. 1:18-20; 1 Peter 1:18-20).

3). Joy…how are sinners made to rejoice before God? We rejoice in hope of the glory of God only in Christ (Rom. 5:1-3; Rom. 15:13; Phil. 3:3; Gal. 5:22).