It is no wonder that the religious voices of our day speak of a "grace" that is not very amazing at all. It is because the true condition of all people by nature is denied. In Romans 5, the apostle Paul speaks of abundant and abounding grace. He tells of the true grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ as it meets the true condition and need of sinful men. What is the true condition that grace meets? Grace meets those who are "without strength." (vs.6) They have no ability to save themselves, no ability to perform works of perfect righteousness and no ability to come to Christ that they might have life. Grace meets those who are "ungodly." (vs.6) They are "without God" and therefore without hope in this world. They do not love God, desire God, serve God, worship God, praise God, believe God, come to God or submit to God. They are ungodly! Grace meets those who are "sinners." (vs.8) Those who must be saved by sovereign grace in Christ are those who are sinners by nature, their very mind being enmity against God; sinners by birth, by practice and especially sinners by proxy in Adam, their representative. By him, sin entered in because all sinned in him. Then, grace meets those who are "enemies" to God. (vs.10) They are rebels against the throne of His glory and dominion, defying His rule and government and defiling His kingdom. They are enemies in their "minds,” trust their own “wicked works.” Their friendship with the world makes them the enemies of God. The truth is, every person saved by grace is all of these things: without strength, ungodly, a sinner and an enemy! Now grace that can save such as these must be "marvelous grace!" This grace comes to these sinners through the "obedience of one," Jesus Christ. By His obedience "many are made righteous." This obedience is His obedience unto death! Because grace must "reign through righteousness," Christ satisfied the claims of God's holy justice on their behalf and now God can, on the basis of Christ's blood and righteousness, show grace to them as a just God and a Savior. All the race fell in sin. The law entered and sin abounded. But to those who are the objects of God's grace in Christ, "where sin abounded, grace did MUCH MORE ABOUND! Amazing grace it is to each one who has been saved by it. Amazing grace is righteous grace that is in Christ crucified! Is grace amazing to you?

Gary Shepard

"I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." (Psalm 122:1)

I can and do worship the Lord anywhere; I can pray and rejoice in God's mercy in Christ anywhere; I can read the Word and meditate upon His grace anywhere; but there is a time and a place (referred to as the house of God) where the people of God gather in His name each week to worship, pray, preach His Word, and encourage one another. He promised to be in their midst. They meet to seek His face, His blessings, and to hear the Word He has given His servant for them at that time. They also come with their children to be identified individually and as families with the Lord and His kingdom. They come to praise Him in joy and seek His comfort in their sorrows. For all these reasons, I am glad when that day dawns and that time approaches and I can meet my true family in my Father's house. I must be honest, as one called of God to speak for Him; I cannot believe for one moment that those who forsake this sacred as have a true love and regard for our blessed Redeemer.

Henry Mahan

THE DOCTRINE OF PREDETERMINATION

When I consider the absolute independency of God, and the necessary total dependence of all created things on Him, their first cause, I cannot help standing astonished at the pride of impotent, degenerate man, who is so prone to consider himself as a being possessed of sovereign freedom, and invested with a power of self-salvation, able, he imagines, to counteract the designs even of infinite wisdom, and to defeat the agency of Omnipotence itself. "Ye shall be as gods," said the tempter to Eve in paradise; and "ye are as gods" says the same tempter to her apostate sons. One would be apt to think that a suggestion so demonstrably false and flattering, a suggestion the very reverse of what we feel to be our state, a suggestion alike contrary to Scripture and reason, to fact and experience, could never meet with the smallest degree of credit. And yet, because it so exactly coincides with the natural haughtiness of the human heart, men not only admit, but even relish the deception, and fondly incline to believe that the father of lies does, in this instance at least, speak truth. The Scripture doctrine of predetermination lays the axe to the very root of this potent delusion. It assures us that all things are of God; that all our times and all events are in His hand.