November 11, 2012
A Work or a Person
When you ask someone what their hope is most will say I trust the finished work of Christ. But it is not the work of Christ that saves sinners, IT IS CHRIST HIMSELF!
It wasn’t a work that bore our sin on the tree but a person. The Lord Jesus Christ did indeed come into the world to do a work, a work that his father gave him to do on behalf of his people. He came to fulfill the law and prophets, and to make and end of sin and bring in an everlasting righteousness. He was the Lamb of God who John said “would take away the sin of the world”. He was “ Immanuel God with us, He was Jesus who came to save his people from their sin”.
As for me I trust a PERSON The Lord Jesus Christ, for he was a sinless man who lived a perfect life and offered himself as a sacrifice for sin, and by that one sacrifice sin was put away once for all, and by that one offering he sanctified his people.
So do you trust a finished work or The Lord Jesus who did the work? It was He who cried from the Cross IT IS FINISHED!
- Pastor
He Withholds No Good Thing from Them That Walk Uprightly--Ps 84:11
Walking uprightly simply means walking by faith. The beast of the field walks bent over on all-fours because it looks for food in the earth below. Likewise, unbelieving sinners walk bent over. The believer walks uprightly, setting our affection on things above, looking for our Bread from heaven because our life is hid with God in Christ. Our faithful covenant Father withholds no good thing from them that walk uprightly. - Pastor Clay Curtis
NOT WHAT I AM BUT WHO HE IS
The Psalmist David honestly confesses his sinful nature, his weakness and inability and his desperate condition and circumstances. He tells both God and men what he is: "I AM weak... weary... a worm... poured out like water... desolate and afflicted... in trouble... forgotten... cut off.... troubled... bowed down... feeble and sore broken... ready to halt... frail... consumed... a stranger... not able to look up... poor and needy... weary of my crying... full of heaviness... sorrowful... shut up.. afflicted and ready to die... withered like grass... gone like the shadow.... afraid... small and despised... brought very low." He cried out, "I have sinned and done wickedly in Thy sight."
But, by faith, David, knowing what he was, made his plea to God as He is! What "I am" can only be helped by the great "I AM." David said, "say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." To every believing sinner who calls out to God through the blood and righteousness of Christ the Mediator, God says, "I am thy salvation." He is our salvation because He has been eternally: He revealed Himself to Moses, saying, "I AM that I AM." He is because He is "a just God and a Savior." My hope is not in what I am but in who He is! "Be still, and know that I am God:" (Psa 46:10) This is the promise of the gospel. God says, "I will bless you, save you, receive you unto myself, forgive you, count you as perfectly righteous and take you to eternal glory, not based on who you are or what you do but on Who I AM! Who I am in my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said, "I AM the way...I AM the truth...I AM the life." God-given faith looks to Christ and Who He is before God.
But even as believers we are often prone to despair and depression because of what we are. The cure is only to be found in looking to who God is. To our "I am weak," God says "I am strong." To our "I am sinful," God says "I am righteous and give righteousness in Christ." Our "I ams" are answered by God's "I ams." God showed mercy and grace to David and he could also say "I am helped....I am like a green olive tree in the house of God...I am holy....I am thy servant." "I am thine, save me...."
Paul, as a believer trusting Christ for all, said, "I am what I am by the grace of God." The apostle John echoes this blessed truth, saying, "As He is, so are we in this world."
- Pastor Gary Shepard
Job Worshipped
“Blessed be the name of the Lord,”
Job worshipped after his loss.
“Though He slay me, I shall see God,
My Redeemer on the cross.
He lives ever in the heavenlies.
I shall see Him face to face.
What’s compared to all His beauties
And the riches of His grace?”
What is your life, but a vapor,
Vanishing before your eyes?
Full of trouble, heartbreak, labor,
From God’s hand trials arise.
All man has will one day perish.
He will leave it all behind.
What of man is there to cherish,
With eternity in mind?
Worship not things that are temp’ral.
All these things will pass away.
There is One Who is eternal.
Worship Him while it is day.
The Lord of Glory is Sov’reign.
He alone deserves our praise.
He, the Treasure of the heavens
For His chosen ones to gaze.
When beset by many trials,
God’s people are taught His love,
Never tries above you’re able.
Cast your cares on Him above.
He, the first cause of your crisis,
He knows how deep they will be.
When discouraged, look to Jesus.
Worship Him, the Lord is He.
(By Gary Spreacker Tune: "What a Friend" Pg.354)
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