Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.
Psalm 119:142-144
EXAMINE YOURSELVES
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” (2 Cor.13:5).
Usually when we think of examining ourselves we think of examining our lives. How are we dealing with besetting sins? Are we reading the Bible to our spiritual profit? Are we spending time in prayer and communion with the Lord? What does our daily lives say about our love to Christ? Can others see that we are Christians? What did Paul say? Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. If we gain assurance by how well we are performing, it is a false, works-based assurance. If we conclude we must not be saved by our failures in these things we are once again making salvation dependent upon our performance. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe that when He said, “It is finished” the salvation of all the elect was accomplished? Are you relying on who He is and what He did as all you have for acceptance with God? Then you are “in the faith” and a true child of God.
Pastor Todd Nibert
Flee From Idols
“Hezekiah broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made, for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; Hezekiah called it a piece of brass.” (2 Kings 18:4).
Can you imagine the shock and horror experienced by those superstitious and religious people when the king destroyed this sacred relic – the serpent which Moses had made? I’m sure that we would get the same reaction from most religious people today if we took a bulldozer and leveled Mt. Calvary outside of old Jerusalem, if we dynamited the tomb which they claim is Jesus’ tomb, or if we damned up the river Jordan and made a lake for fisherman, or if we destroyed all of the pictures of Jesus, all of the crosses, and turned Bethlehem into a shopping mall.
YET, this is what men would do if they really knew and believed that God is Spirit and is worshipped in Spirit and in truth; that God dwells not in temples nor tombs; that God is not worshipped with men’s hands, holy places, nor religious visual aids. To know Christ, to trust Christ, to rest in Christ alone, and to worship God in the heart is to be separated from all fleshly, material, and earthly idols, no matter what purpose they may have served in God’s plan to send, reveal, and make known the Redeemer – Christ Jesus.
I include also such objects of awe and reverence as the ark of the covenant, the priesthood, the blessed virgin, the apostles, and even the original scriptures, if they could be found. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only!
Pastor Henry T. Mahan (1989)
“The Trial Of Your Faith” (1 Peter 1:7)
Faith that is real will be tried and proved by the trials and chastisements of Divine providence. True faith will endure the trial and grow by the discipline of God’s chastening rod. False faith will break rather than bow under the hand of God when afflictions come. True faith will persevere. False faith will quit. Chastisement is not a sign of God’s anger, but of his love. When we err, he corrects us. When we stray, he brings us back. By his loving rod, our God graciously keeps us coming to him.
Pastor Don Fortner
GOD OUR SAVIOUR
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared “ (Titus 3:4).
Three times in this epistle to Titus the Lord Jesus Christ is called, "God our Saviour." Paul believed in and preached a divine Saviour, not just a mere man, but rather the Saviour, who is Almighty God. His name is Jesus, Saviour(Matt. 1:21), who shall save His people from their sin, that declares His office. But let us not forget that His name is also, Emmanuel(Matt. 1:23) God with us, that declares His nature. If you take away the Deity of Jesus Christ you have no gospel, no good news to preach, no salvation. It is not that just some good man died for sinners, but rather He who died in the room and stead of His people is God Almighty (John 1:14; Acts 20:28; 1Tim.3:16). He could not be our Prophet, Priest and Potentate unless He is, “God our Saviour.” He could not be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, unless He is, “God our Saviour”(1Cor.1:30). He could not be our all-important Mediator (1Tim.2:5), unless He is, “God our Saviour.” He could not be our only Advocate with the Father, unless He is, “God our Saviour”(1 John 2:1). He could not be our all-powerful Surety, unless He is, “God our Saviour”(Heb. 7:22). He could not be our all sufficient Substitute and Sacrifice, unless He is, “God our Saviour” (2Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:12). Now, I don't know what the Lord Jesus Christ is to you. But I know beyond all doubt what Jesus Christ is to me; He is, “God My Saviour”(Isa. 45:21)!
Older
Top
