SCRIPTURE READINGS: MORNING: JOHN 15:1-8 EVENING: JOHN 2:12-25
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21)
THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE GOSPEL The only real, lasting encouragement a sinner can have in this world is to be found in, through and by the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. This gospel is the declaration that based upon the person and finished work of Christ, God will give grace and glory to all those in whose stead the Savior died and arose. It is not a message of stipulations man must meet in order for the grace of God to flow to the undeserving; rather, it is the announcement that God, for Christ’s sake, receives and saves a multitude of unworthy sinners. This is a salvation altogether of grace, conditioned only upon the blood and righteousness of the Son of God. 1. This message gives hope to sinners who merit the wrath of God. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6). 2. This message gives peace and assurance to those who believe on Him. "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine" (Isaiah 43:1). 3. This message motivates the children of God to praise, worship and faithfulness. "The love of Christ constraineth us" (2　Corinthians 5:14). 4. This message encourages every preacher of the gospel because the Lord has promised that as His Word goes forth, "it shall not return unto Me void" (Isaiah 55:11). –Pastor Jim Byrd
THE KINGDOM OF GOD "But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you" (Luke 11:20). Sin entered the world by Satan, and death entered by sin. Sin separated between God and our souls: but the incarnation of the Son of God brought our nature back to God, which sin had separated; and the blood of Christ made us nigh, whom wicked works had made far off. Sin had its beginning by the tree of knowledge, and it had its end on the accursed tree. Adam sinned and died, and paradise was lost; Christ was made sin and died, and a better paradise was gained. The woman, being first in the transgression, was condemned to sorrow in child-bearing, and that sorrow brought forth the woman’s great Deliverer. Sin is the sole cause of all our misery, and a sense of this misery renders us proper objects of God’s mercy. By sin and death Satan aimed at the eternal destruction of men, and sin and death will be the eternal destruction of Satan. Nothing pleased Satan so well as bringing mankind under the sentence of death; and that sentence executed upon Christ bruised Satan’s head, and he himself and his works were destroyed in the same nature that he had ruined. By the incarnation of Christ grace and mercy came to men, and by the death of Christ honor is brought to the justice and holiness of God. Satan is degraded, sin is condemned in Christ’s flesh, and the sinner is saved; and yet God appears just when He justifies the ungodly. Sin is freely pardoned, and yet vengeance is taken on our inventions; forgiving and cleansing are of free grace, and yet God is faithful and just in forgiving and cleansing; the sinner is bought with a price, and yet saved and glorified by free grace. Sin brought us all under the wrath of God, but in pouring that wrath upon Christ, everlasting love was displayed to men. All the works of devils have been to destroy human nature, and by a Judge in human nature shall all devils be judged and destroyed. Devils are the accusers of the brethren, and the brethren shall be the judges of the devils. Men, aspiring to be like gods, fell under the dominion of fallen angels; Christ, by being made a little lower than the angels of light, raised us to an honor above them. –William Huntington, S.S./ English preacher, 1745-1813
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