No Better Gospel

Mr. Spurgeon once said, “I know that however many may preach the gospel better than I do, there is no one who can preach a better gospel than the one I preach; for I preach the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus.”

How true! Our gospel is the “power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” Our gospel gives all the glory to God, for “salvation is of the Lord.” Our gospel is true to the Scriptures, fulfilling every promise, pattern, and type. Our gospel enables God to be just and the justifier of sinners. Our gospel can save “the chief of sinners.” And our gospel will not lose one sheep given to Christ, called to Christ, and resting in Christ by faith.

What a rich and glorious gospel is our gospel!

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1986)

He Laid Down His Life For Us

“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

Children of God, this is the foundation of our faith, the rock of our salvation, and the hope of our souls. Since Christ has died in the place of his people, they cannot perish. I know that there are men whose minds are so distorted that they can conceive it possible that Christ died for men who in the end will be lost in hell. I am sorry to say that there are men in the pulpits of the church today, whose brains have been so addled by religious tradition and false doctrine that they cannot see that the doctrine they hold is both a preposterous lie and a blasphemous error. Their doctrine is this – Christ dies for a man, and then God punishes that man again; Christ suffers in the sinner’s stead, and then God condemns that sinner after all! It shocks me to even mention such an error. Were it not so commonly held, I would pass over it with the contempt that it deserves. That would be a perversion of justice, a double-cross, and a requirement of double indemnity.

The doctrine of Scripture is this – God is just. Christ died in the stead of his people, satisfying God’s justice; and now, as God is just, he will never punish one soul for whom the Savior shed his blood. Justice will not allow a double payment for the same offense, first at the hands of Christ, and then from me. The idea that Christ was the Substitute and Surety for all men is so inconsistent, both with reason and Holy Scripture, that we are obliged to reject it with abhorrence. We cannot, for the glory and honor of our dear Savior, let go of the blessed gospel doctrine of particular and effectual redemption. To deny the efficacy of Christ’s substitutionary atonement would be, for me, a total denial of the gospel. And it would rob me of my soul’s greatest comfort.

Pastor Don Fortner (1950-2020)

Salvation Is Of The Lord

“But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble” (Psalm 37:39).

What glorious and blessed truth that shines on every page of Holy Scripture. We as needy, great and guilty sinners need a mighty and victorious Saviour, who is almighty to save (Isa. 63:1; Heb. 7:25). The Lord Jesus Christ is the only answer and remedy for our sin. He is the Saviour that saves (Matt. 1:21), the Redeemer that delivers and justifies (Gal. 1:3-5; Rom. 5:6).

What a full and complete revelation God gives of His, so great salvation…it is ALL of the Lord (Heb. 2:3).

Notice each of these five words:

1). Salvation; is the total and complete deliverance from all our sin. From the penalty, guilt and power of sin to condemn us (Rom. 8:1; 32-35).

2). Salvation IS; because our great God is the God of salvation. God is love (1 John 4:8-10). God is good (Psalm 73:1). God is merciful and delights to show it to sinners (Micah 7:18-19; 1 Tim. 1:15).

3). Salvation is OF; Not of works, not of merit, not of the law but rather all of grace alone (2 Cor. 8:9; Acts 15:11; 2 Tim. 1:9).

4). Salvation is of THE Lord, there is just one way of salvation. Our Lord plainly said that He is The Way, The Truth, The Life, The Door, The Light, The Bread of life, The Good Shepherd, and The Resurrection (John 14:6; 10:9; 8:12; 6:35; 11:25).