SALVATION IS NOT BY CHANCE

“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” (Rom 9:13) Of course the apostle Paul knew men would think that it is not fair that God would hate Esau. Fallen man thinks it is not fair that Esau was not given the chance to make a choice to be saved. Paul’s response in verse 20 is, “Who do you think you are to dispute with God?”.

Rather than arguing with God, this verse should make us give thanks. We should give thanks that Jacob wasn’t given a chance to make a choice to be saved either. God just saved hell-deserving Jacob by His grace. Jacob did not have a say in the matter. Jacob knew that his salvation was all of grace without any works of his own.

Knowing that the Lord sovereignly saves whom He will never makes a believer fatalistic (think it doesn’t matter if we preach to or pray for the lost because God is going to save whom He will no matter what we do). Knowing that God is sovereign in salvation made Jacob pray that the same Savior who redeemed him would bless and redeem his grandchildren (Gen. 48:16).

“The more we are in the presence of Him Whom our souls love, the less we can bear to be out of it.”

Pastor Scott Richardson

Man-made Stone

“For their rock is not as our ROCK . . .” – Deuteronomy 32:31

MAN has come up with all sorts of inventions over the years of what he thinks are ‘improvements’ over what God hath made. All such inventions eventually prove to be far inferior to God’s creation. One such modern invention is man-made stone. I have had a hand in laying both natural stone and this new ‘stone’ (which is not stone at all). There is no comparison between the two. God’s natural stone is solid stone, through and through. Man-made ‘stone’ merely looks like stone on the surface (only beautiful on the outside) and is a mixture of cement and sand. God’s natural stone is hard and difficult to break, while man-made ‘stone’ is very brittle and easily broken. God’s natural stone is suitable for a foundation (the only sure foundation), while man-made stone has no structural integrity at all, but is only for looks. God’s natural stone is able to support anything that adheres to it, such as vines and climbing plants; while man-made ‘stone’ will not support anything but will eventually come down with the vine that lays hold of it. And the greatest difference of all, that which proves to be the real difference is . . . the test of time. This man-made stuff hasn’t been around too long, nor do I think it shall be. But that which the Lord hath made has endured for millenniums. In all this we see how that God’s ‘Stone’, which is Christ the Lord, is far superior to the man-made ‘jesus’ and religion of today. Christ is true Stone, solid Stone, tried Stone, substantial Stone, eternal Stone, beautiful, unbreakable, unmovable . . . a solid, eternal, foundation for the soul that rests upon Him; the One upon which the church has been built and will forever stand. The man-made ‘jesus’ of today bears the name only, and is no real savior or foundation at all. Truly “their rock is NOT AS OUR ROCK!” (Deut.32:31).

Pastor Paul Mahan

Complete In Him

Paul says to every believer, “Ye are complete in Him.” (Colossians 2.10) If I look for assurance anywhere else, I will always come up short. To find assurance in an experience I had or a time when I learned something or stopped doing something, is to find assurance in the wrong place. The believer’s assurance is this: in him, by virtue of union with Him, I am complete! I lack nothing. When He said, “It is finished,” it was because it really was finished. We cannot have perfect assurance in something that has not yet been done. But what assurance we have in that which is already finished. “Ye are complete in Him.”