Sometimes I hear people emphatically state, "Salvation is in a person, not a doctrine." The illustration they use often is Simeon when he saw Jesus as a child in the temple. "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation," (Luke 2:29-30) You and I have not had the privilege of looking at Jesus Christ in the flesh and won't until He comes. This means that anybody can set forth any "jesus" as a person, and claim they are the Savior. Without doctrine, which is simply teaching, who could prove otherwise? Such sensational statements are unguarded and unbiblical to me. I know that someone might believe in their head a doctrine and that not be true faith. Yet, no one in our day will ever believe on the true Christ without true doctrine! Why make enemies of two things that are clearly friends in scripture, plainly united in the Bible? Christ is called "the Word of life" and the gospel is called "the word of life." We are commanded to believe on the "Whom" and the "what" of Divine truth. Believe "that God hath raised Him from the dead." Believe "all that the prophets have spoken." Believe that He is the Christ. Peter said that God made choice "that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe." (Acts 15:7) Paul said in Romans 10 that those would be saved who " believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead." That's a "who" and a "what." The apostle said, "what shall the end be for them that obey not the gospel?" God's elect believe on Him and believe "his doctrine." "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." (John 20:31) The truth is, all true gospel preachers preach the who and the what, Jesus Christ and Him crucified! The Person is identified and distinguished from anti-Christ by His doctrine. John says that the person who does not have the "doctrine of Christ" we are not to receive into our homes. I desire to be among those who can truly say with Paul, "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;" (1 Cor.1:23) Hear the apostle in Acts 28:28, "Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." Gary Shepard

The Shepherd of the Sheep

One of the sweetest and dearest titles given to our Savior in the Scriptures is that of Shepherd. Every child of God echoes the words of David, "The LORD is my Shepherd" (Psalm 23:1). He is the covenant Shepherd to Whose care God’s elect were entrusted in the Covenant of grace (Ezekiel 34:22-25). He is the good Shepherd Who gave His life for His sheep (John 10:11, 14). He is the smitten Shepherd Who died under divine wrath in the stead of His people (Zechariah 13:7) so that God might be "a just God and a Savior" (Isaiah 45:21). He is the great Shepherd Who was raised again for our justification (Hebrews 13:20; Romans 4:25). He is the seeking Shepherd Who seeks, finds and rescues His wandering sheep (Matthew 18:12). He is the converting Shepherd Who turns His wayward sheep and effectually draws them to Himself (1 Peter 2:25). He is the caring Shepherd Who not only gathers His sheep, but feeds and provides for them (Isaiah 40:11). He is the chief Shepherd Who will come again and receive His people unto Himself (1 Peter 5:4). He is the dividing Shepherd Who will separate His sheep from the goats at the final judgment (Matthew 25:32).

Jim Byrd

The heathen outside of the pale of Christendom form gods out of wood and stone; while the millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their own carnal mind! In reality, they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all. A god whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity; and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits nothing but contempt!

A.W. Pink

"Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases." Psalm 115:3

"I know that You can do anything, and no plan of Yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2

"The Lord does whatever He pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths." Psalm 135:6

WE GATHER TO PRAISE

We gather this morning to worship and praise,

The God of all glory, the Ancient of Days.

None other is worthy but Jesus alone

God’s Lamb once provided, His blood has atoned.

From sin and from darkness, He brings out His own

Through preaching the gospel to them He makes known,

The riches of glory and grace by His cross:

Eternal possessions which cannot be lost.

Praise be to the Father who chose us in grace.

Praise be to the Son who has died in our place.

Praise be to the Spirit who gave us new birth.

Praise be to the One God of heaven and earth.

With all of our hearts does the Lord bid us sing

Come humbly before Him , thanksgiving to bring.

All others are idols, He lives, God alone

By grace He has saved us and made us His own.

11.11.11.11 Gary Shepard (Immortal, Invisible)

In the Old Testament, the man who brought a sin offering before the Lord was saying, in effect, “I am a sinner and I must have my sin taken away for I am guilty in the sight of God. So I put my hand upon this animal, which is about to die, thereby confessing and transferring my sin to it as my substitute” (Lev 4:29). Think about it, many a feeble and diseased hand was laid on the head of the animal which was to be offered, but this neither altered the character of the sacrifice, nor made it less powerful. In addition, the priest would not turn the sinner away because he was weak and without strength nor would the sacrificial animal be refused because of some deficiency in the worshipper. The burnt offering was still the burnt offering and even the weakest touch established the connection between the worshipper and his substitute (Rom 5:6). As for us, since God is righteous and just (Jeremiah 23:6) and we by nature are not and should, therefore, be condemned (Ps 109:7). But we have a substitute, the Lord Jesus, on whom we can lay our hand. Often, however, our faith lacks strength but, in His justice, the Father has forgiven us not because of the perfection of our faith but because of the perfection of our sin offering, the Christ of God. Miles McKee