Monthly Archives: June 2024
The trials, afflictions, persecutions and heartaches of this world are to believers much like the hornets sent by God to gradually drive out the Canaanites from the promised land. The repeated stings of life in a sin-cursed world make God’s people ready and willing to leave this world for the presence of God. Not only to be simply rid of these things, but to be with Christ who delivered us from this… Read More
The notion that the death of Christ is conditionally sufficient for all mankind, that is, if all mankind were to believe in it, leads the sinner at once to the performance of some duty which he imagines will give efficacy to the death of Christ, and render it available to him. By this means he is led to draw comfort from his duties, instead of the finished salvation of Christ. This error… Read More
Jesus Christ has made peace by the blood of His cross; and if you believe what the God of truth says of it, peace should rule in your heart always; for all things are well ordered for you and sure in the everlasting covenant. On the part of God, all is unalterably fixed and settled! What is it, then, which unsettles you? Is it something you find in yourself? Is it indwelling… Read More
“If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.” (1st John 2:29) Some say that the term “doeth righteousness” means “right” or “righteous living.” But what is it to live right or righteously according to God’s standard of righteousness (rightness). First, notice that the standard of all right living is the righteousness of Christ – “If ye know that HE IS RIGHTEOUS.”… Read More
The term “the seven spirits of God” is found four times in the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:4; Revelation 3:1; Revelation 4:5; Revelation 5:6). Who or what are the “seven spirits”? This term is a metaphor describing the ONE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, and His complete and perfect work in the salvation of sinners. He is not seven different spirits. He is ONE SPIRIT Who accomplishes a perfect and complete work, as… Read More
If I should compare the natural state of man, I would picture an immense graveyard filled with yawning graves and dying men. All around are lofty walls and massive iron gates. At the gate stands Mercy. An angel attracted by the awful sight exclaims, “Mercy, why do you not enter that awful place and apply to these pitiful creatures your restoring balm?” Mercy replies, “I dare not enter, for Justice bars the… Read More
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew… Read More
“Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.” (Mark 5:19) The LORD had shown great mercy to this poor sinner, setting him free from demons and from sin. Now He tells him to go home to his family and friends and be the LORD’s witness. Do not go home and begin to preach. Do not go home and take up the great doctrines of… Read More
One of the unmistakable characteristics of the love Paul speaks of in 1st Corinthians 13 is that it is not suspicious. He clearly states, “love thinketh no evil.” Paul demonstrates this in his letter to Philemon concerning Onesimus. “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account” (Philemon 1:18). He was speaking of two men he considered believers and brethren. They had a past problem between them… Read More
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7) What glorious tidings of salvation must they be, when the very feet of those who bring them are accounted by the LORD Himself to be beautiful! This is indeed good news from a far country; and when the soul that hears the… Read More
Nothing a soul does in this world honors God more than to believe Him. God says, “For by it (faith) the elders obtained a good report.” Again, “without faith it is impossible to please him.” Our LORD told the woman of Canaan, whose daughter was vexed with a devil, that she had great faith. The other side of the coin, to not believe God concerning the record that He gave of His Son, is… Read More
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) The gloom of midnight must be succeeded by the splendor of day, and the dreariness of Winter by the charms of Spring. What, though some who once stood paramount in our esteem, with whom we have taken the sweetest counsel, and to whom our names were once as precious ointment, have turned aside to their crooked ways, and… Read More
Nothing can be more soothing and consolatory to a poor, sorrowful, afflicted follower of the Lord Jesus in His hours of suffering, than the consideration that He who is now exalted at the right hand of the majesty on high, was once, when on earth, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” And the highest possible relief to the anguish of the soul under temptation is the consciousness of the sympathy… Read More
“He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth Him.” (Proverbs 14:2) Those who walk in uprightness are those who walk in faith. The walk of faith is the way of righteousness in Christ alone. Those who do so, reverence the LORD, delight in that gospel wherein His righteousness is revealed, and ascribe all their salvation to Him. Those who trust themselves and… Read More
The death of Christ our LORD as a fact happened at a point in time. But in the design of God and the effects upon the eternal destinies of men makes it the most wonderful event between the eternities. Even though it happened in time, it has no date at all when seen from its purpose, which is “from before the foundation of the world” the Lord Jesus is “the Lamb slain”…. Read More
“I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” (1st John 2:21) Have you ever noticed that the lies of all false religion always change? What they declared years ago is not the same now, their lie always has to change to fit the culture and times of the day. Not so with the truth of God, it is always… Read More
“Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13) The child of God is constantly aware of the blessings of yesterday as he remembers God’s hand of mercy and grace upon him both Spiritually and Providentially. These things we are not to forget, but we cannot rely… Read More
“He Sighed.” (Mark 7:34) This was not drawn from Christ on account of the single tongue and ear of this poor man, but it is a common sigh over all tongues and ears . . . Our beloved LORD saw full well what an amount of suffering and sorrow would be occasioned by tongues and ears. For the greatest mischief which has been inflicted on Christianity has not arisen from tyrants (with persecution,… Read More
“Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) See, my soul, how Paul is forever using Jesus, and feasting forever upon Him. Oh, seek grace to do the same! He saith, Jesus loved Him. Jesus, the Son of God, loved Paul. Now love from any object is valuable, but from the first, and best, and greatest of all beings, what invaluable love is this? And who did Christ love? “Why… Read More
The whole creation, from the seraph down to the indivisible atom, ministers to the Supreme Will, and is under the special observation, government, and direction of the Omnipotent Mind who sees all, Himself unseen; who upholds all, Himself unsustained; who guides all, Himself guided by none; and who changes all, Himself unchanged. Augustus Toplady
“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Romans 10:3-4) When Christ entered into Jerusalem, the people spread their garments in the way. When He enters into our hearts, we pull off our own righteousness and not only lay it under… Read More
This is my consolation in the matter: — God has saved me with an everlasting salvation. — Christ brought in everlasting righteousness for me and obtained eternal redemption for me by His shed blood and the Spirit has given unto me eternal life. — God’s grace in Christ has covered eternity for me and me for eternity. G. Shepard
The circumstances which occurred at the time of the crucifixion of Christ regarding the thief on the cross are remarkable and have long been considered as having much to teach us about the grace and mercy of God, saving faith, the righteousness which is of God, and substitutionary atonement. We should not fail to recognize however, that in these events we find much to instruct us about the great truth of the… Read More
For wherever the precious doctrines of grace are kept back in the public ministry of the word, there, though carnal professors may be pleased, the saints will be deprived of that rich provision which God hath laid up for them; they will decline in the exercise of faith and love, and communion of saints will degenerate into formal worship. That this is the sad condition of many of Zion’s children in the… Read More
Matthew 26:36Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. Matthew 26:37And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Matthew 26:38Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. Matthew 26:39And he went a… Read More
If we know ourselves to be saved by Christ alone through His loving sacrifice and blood, would we not delight at the opportunity to embrace Him and tell Him of our love for Him? Would we not jump at the chance to bring Him a glass of water or help Him in any way? At present, this cannot happen literally. The next best thing is to express our love for Him through… Read More
When I am weak, and distressed, and alone, and none to receive my tale of sorrow, none to express a word of fellow-feeling or care for me, in the living oracles of the gospel I see divine wisdom and loving kindness looking at me tenderly, compassionately, through the openings of my prison, and I feel that He who dresses the lily of the field, and numbers the sparrows, is near me, numbering… Read More
“That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7) Pause, my soul, and gather in all the powers of arithmetic, and try if thou art able to count what the exceeding riches of God’s grace amount to. Think how great, how free, how sovereign, how inexhaustible, how everlasting! All that a poor sinner hath in time, all… Read More
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder cam and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou… Read More
There is a two-fold debt paid by Christ, as the Surety of His people. The one is a debt of obedience to the law of God. This He engaged to do when He said, “I come to do Thy will: Thy law is within My heart” and accordingly He was made under the law and yielded perfect obedience to it, by which His people are made righteous. The other is a debt of punishment, incurred through failure of… Read More
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13) Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, and a multitude of their descendents all died in this blessed faith. God had wrought a work in them, quickening them to life, blessing them with a hallowed view of spiritual… Read More
“…If so be that we suffer with him…” (Romans 8:17) Beloved Brethren In Christ: – In mind and heart I have been much exercised recently upon the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, and today am impressed to write to the members of Christ upon this heart-touching theme, with the hope that they may be comforted with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God, and that their confidence in Him may be strengthened,… Read More
1. Deny Himself (2nd Timothy 2:13). 2. Change (Malachi 3:6). 3. Lie (Hebrews 6:18). 4. Sin (Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26-27). 5. Allow sin to go unpunished (Joshua 24:19; Exodus 34:7). 6. Punish the same sin twice (Hebrews 9:25-28). Our Sovereign, Omnipotent, Holy, Immutable God must always act according to His nature. Sinners, whose nature is just the opposite, find great hope for their soul in such a glorious God. G. Elmquist
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