We will have a church dinner after the service Sunday, January 18^th to celebrate Frank Tate’s 50^th birthday.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” That is enough. That is the word of Him who cannot lie. Nothing more is needed. “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.” Never mind about your feelings; do not stop to examine your repentance to see if it is deep enough. It is CHRIST that saves; not your tears, or prayers or resolutions. If you have received Christ, then you are saved.

Arthur W. Pink

It is not a man’s sin that sends him to hell. A man goes to hell because he mistakenly thinks he has some righteousness that will please God. It is man’s self-righteousness that sends him to hell, not his sin. Christ said “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

UNIVERSAL RUIN AND PARTICULAR REDEMPTION

The scriptures plainly teach the universal ruin of man in Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Universal ruin in Adam is plainly taught in scripture, but universal salvation in Christ is never taught in scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ did not die for people who are in hell. Christ died only for His elect and those elect shall in absolute certainty be saved because Christ died for them. “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s ELECT?” (Rom 8:33).

WHAT A LIGHT AND EASY YOKE!

Ephesians 4: 32: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Brethren, just let it sink in, we have forgiveness with God. God does not remember our sin whether it be past, present or future. The reason we have forgiveness is because God who we sinned against sent his only begotten Son who suffered, bled and died in shame which we deserved for our sins.

For Christ’s sake, God sent the gospel to us; for Christ’s sake, God regenerated us; for Christ’s sake, God taught us what Christ has done for us; for Christ’s sake, God gave us faith to rest in Christ; for Christ’s sake, now, God says to us, “I forgive you.”

We might think that after doing all of that for us that God would lay some heavy yoke upon us to repay him for all that he has done. No. He merely says if you love me, “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” God says “If you love me then do not be judges, criticizing, binding and whipping each other with a legal spirit, for that is unkind, hardhearted and unforgiving but be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” God says do it from one motive only, “For Christ’s sake, even as I have forgiven you, for Christ’s sake.”

Oh, what a light and easy yoke grace and love is! It is easy because the grace and love of God toward us has abounded over our sin; it is easy because everything God does and everything God tells us to do is for this one motive, for Christ’s sake. This motive overwhelms our inner man. How could we do otherwise?