Sinners Need a Miracle If a man is near-sighted, he only needs corrective glasses; but if he is BLIND, he needs a miracle only God can give– SIGHT! If a man is sick, he only needs medicinal aid; but if he is DEAD, he needs a miracle only God can give– LIFE! If a man has a weak heart, perhaps changing his diet and habits will improve his condition; but if he has a STONY HEART, a deceitful, desperately wicked heart, he needs this miracle-"a NEW HEART also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
Knowing these things to be true and knowing the desperate, depraved condition in which Adam's fall has plunged all mankind, I believe, preach, and insist upon one solemn certain fact– "SALVATION IS OF THE LORD." Let every son of Adam who reads these words come (like the leper in Matt. 8) to Christ and worship Him, saying, "LORD, IF THOU WILT, THOU CANST MAKE ME WHOLE!" – AND HE WILL! --Pastor Henry Mahan *****
O God Show Mercy Tune "WHEN I SURVEY" LM Words by JIM BYRD
1. A wicked rebel, filled with sin, All is unrighteousness within; Only corruption can I find, Throughout my heart, my soul, my mind.
2. There is no soundness in my heart, I am defiled in every part; Within, without, no good I see, "O God show mercy," this my plea.
3. How can the Lord His mercy show, To a vile sinner, do you know? How can my God this sinner bless, When I am all unrighteousness?
4. God formed a plan in sovereign grace, To save a remnant of our race; Jesus, the Lord, would live and die, God could be just and justify.
5. So Christ has come, He lived and died, The law’s demands He satisfied; I trust this Christ and have no doubt, My Lord will never cast me out. *****
"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust". (Psalm 103:13-14) ***** Daily Readings - August 2-8 Sunday - Isaiah 10-14 Monday - Isaiah 15-21 Tuesday - Isaiah 22-26 Wednesday- Isaiah 27-31 Thursday - Isaiah 32-37 Friday - Isaiah 38-42 Saturday - Isaiah 43-46 *****
"When we stand in the presence of Christ, and see Him as He is, we shall not be interested in anything else. We shall be ‘lost in wonder, love and praise.’ There will be no distinctions. No one will be interested to know whether you were a Jew or a Gentile, or a Barbarian or a Scythian, bond or free, whether you were born into a great family or whether you were born in a slum. Thank God, all that will have gone; we shall all be looking at Him, and nothing else." --Martyn Lloyd-Jones *****
Preaching Christ in the Doctrine of Election
We cannot preach Christ thoroughly without declaring this truth – that God chose His people in Christ "before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" (Ephesians 1:4). Why not? Because this alone explains the nature of God’s saving plan and the reason behind it. Without this information our most basic questions remain unanswered.
Yet, such teaching is anathema to many Evangelicals today and is approached with caution even by many who subscribe to "the doctrines of grace." Just because election is taught in the scriptures, they murmur, it doesn’t mean we have to preach it openly. Should we not keep it as a "family secret" for those who are mature enough to receive it? To tell the unsaved that God has appointed some to eternal life and not others (Acts 13:48), is surely a recipe for disaster in evangelism?
Well, if by evangelism you mean persuading sinners to "accept" Christ by an act of their unregenerate wills, you are probably right. But if you mean proclaiming Christ to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, so that they might be quickened to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, you are wrong. The doctrine of election humbles proud sinners (who otherwise think they can save themselves) and glorifies Christ (Who alone can do so). It is fundamental to our whole understanding of salvation by grace.
I do not mean, of course, that this doctrine must always feature prominently in evangelism, as if it were the central thing. The heart of Paul’s message to the Athenians, for example, was "Jesus and the resurrection," and to the Corinthians, "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (Acts 17:18; 1 Corinthians 2:2). Nor am I saying it is mandatory to mention election in every sermon or evangelistic message. But, unless our preaching sets God’s saving work in the context of His eternal counsels, we are not preaching Christ thoroughly – for He is the Messenger of the everlasting covenant, without which there would be no grace and no salvation. From Preaching Christ, by Edgar Andrews *****
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