WHAT IS IT TO BE JUSTIFIED?

1. To be justified is to HAVE PEACE WITH GOD! (Rom. 5:1). "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God."

2. To be justified is to be FREE FROM ALL CHARGES! (Rom. 8:33). "Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifieth."

3. To be justified is to HAVE ETERNAL LIFE AND GLORY! (Rom. 8:30). "And whom He justified, them He also glorified."

4. To be justified is to BE AN HEIR OF GOD! (Tit. 3:7). "Being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

These riches of His grace make all the more im­portant the question raised in Job 25:4, "How then can man be justified with God?" Find the answer and one will find all that He needs in this life and in the life to come. Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1994)

“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid” (Matthew 14:27).

He who loves us with an everlasting love sends every storm in love for our souls, not in anger. Be assured that it is “that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” The trial will not be forever. It will not always cast you down. “It is I” who ordered, arranged, and controls it. In every stormy wind, in every dark night, in every lonely hour, in every rising fear, may God the Holy Spirit give us grace to hear our Savior’s voice, saying to us, “Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.”

Pastor Don Fortner

SATISFIED SOON

ONE DAY SOON, whether willingly or unwillingly, whether through physical death or the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all going to leave this world. At that time every mere earthly relationship and association will be severed and lost to us forever. Will this be the end of all your treasures and pleasures, joys and dreams? Dear soul, it will be unless you are NOW dying to this world and this world is NOW dying to you, and you are living on Christ and him crucified (Gal. 6:14).

To true believers, leaving this present, evil world is not looked upon as loss, but as a great, a precious, and an eternal gain (Phil. 1:21). It is that “deliverance” which they have longed for (Rom. 7:24). It will be the first time since they have known the Lord Jesus Christ, that One who washed them from their sins in His own blood (Rev. 1:5; 5:9), that they will be able to do that which they “would” (Rom. 7:15-25; Gal. 5:17), that which they desire. They shall see Him, and know Him, and love Him, and worship Him perfectly; that is, without sin. Now they shall dwell in that “better country,” that “heavenly country” (Heb. 11:8-16). Now their faith is swallowed up in glorious sight. Now they see Him as He is, and are made like Him (I John 3:1, 2). Now they are “SATISFIED” (Psalm 17:15). ALL OF GOD! ALL OF GRACE! ALL IN AND BY AND THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

Pastor Maurice Montgomery

WHAT PLEASES GOD PLEASES HIS PEOPLE

“For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things” (Acts 15:28).

When the brethren in Jerusalem wrote this inspired letter to the church in Antioch they declared this strong Biblical principle that the testimony of God plainly sets forth, "For it seemed good (pleasing) to the Holy Ghost, and to us."

What is pleasing to God in creation, providence and salvation is also most pleasing to His covenant people. We say with David, "But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased" (Psalm 115:3). Or with Eli, "It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good”(1Sam. 3:18).

It was most pleasing to God to sovereignly and unconditionally choose His people in Christ before the foundation of the world (1Sam. 12:22; Eph. 1:3-6). We thank our Lord that He purposed to choose us in electing love or we never would have chosen Him or believed Him. (John 16:15; Eph. 1:19; 2Thes.2:13).

It was well pleasing to our Lord to bruise the Lord Jesus Christ for our sins (Isa. 53:10; Acts 2:23). It is well pleasing to every believer to see our sins fully atoned for and eternally put away in Christ crucified (Isa. 44: 22-23;1Cor. 1:18; 2:2; Heb. 9:26; 1John 4:10).

It is most pleasing to our gracious Lord that in the Lord Jesus Christ should all the fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily and to place all spiritual blessings in Him (John 1:14: Eph. 1:3; Col. 1:19; 2:9; 1 John 5:11-12). It is also well pleasing to every believer to rejoice, receive by faith and rest in complete salvation in Jesus Christ (1Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:7-9; Col. 2:10).