The Resurrection

The resurrection is a foundation truth of Christianity. Without the resurrection of Christ we could have no gospel. "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:17).

"Christ died for our sins" (1 Cor. 15:3). He "was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25).

Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection. Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, but they had to resort to lies and bribery to satisfy the soldiers and deceive the public.

Satan is behind all the opposition to the resurrection, for by it his power was annulled. For the believer--his power is gone; he now works by his wiles. The tomb was sealed, but only to be a witness of God's power over death and the grave. To Martha the Lord said, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). And for the benefit of those at the grave of Lazarus, the Lord spoke with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth" (John 11:43,44).

"Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).

Faith is imputed for righteousness, if we believe on Him (God) that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.

It is a divine assurance that the sins of the believer have been put away, since God has raised His Son from the dead. God, who had been sinned against, and who knew those many sins, laid them all upon Jesus. As the hymn puts it--

"God, who knew them, laid them on Him,
And believing, we are free."

And it is a righteous God who has set us free, for His righteous claims have been fully met in the death of His Son. For was not the veil rent the moment the Lord died, and were not the graves opened at his death, and saints came out of their graves after His resurrection? For He was the first to rise. In all things He must have the pre-eminence.

The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

He "was raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection" (Rom. 6:5).

"Beloved, now are we the sons of Good, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).

Not only have we such assurance as to future blessing, but we are now blessed with all (or every) spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.

Christ risen, ascended and glorified is the head of a new race, and all believers belong to that race. It is well to keep in mind that we are no longer in Adam but in Christ. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).

No condemnation to those in Christ and all spiritual blessings to those in Christ Jesus.

To the unsaved reader: here is your refuge from judgment, your security and your blessing. Do not neglect the gospel. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" (Heb. 2:3).

--J.P. from MWTB

Do you really Love Jesus Christ?

John MacArthur preaches the truth about love, the greatest commandment. Deuteronomy 6:4-6. Taken from the message "Rekindling Your Love for Christ"

Read or listen to the full message at www.gty.org

HT: Truth Matters

If You Love the World You Don't Love Christ

Study excerpt by Tim Conway on 1 John 2:15-17

Download the mp3 or listen to the full study here.

Jesus The Shepherd

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)

The Eastern shepherd occupied a position of friendship with the creatures of his care to which there is no counterpart among ourselves. In the early morning he would lead his flock to the pasturelands. All day he must closely watch, lest harm should come to them. Should one of the lambs be unable to keep pace with the flock, he must carry it in his bosom. Should one of the flock go astray, he must search until he finds it. Should danger assail, he must be prepared to risk his life.

Now all this is true of our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep. He has a shepherd's heart, beating with pure and generous love that counted not His lifeblood too dear a price to pay for our ransom. He has a shepherd's eye, that takes in the whole flock, and misses not even one poor sheep wandering away on the cold mountains. He has a shepherd's faithfulness, which will never fail, forsake, leave us comfortless, nor flee when He sees the wolf coming. He has a shepherd's strength, so that He is well able to deliver us from the enemy. He has a shepherd's tenderness--there is no saint so weak that He will not gently lead, and no soul so faint that He will not give it rest.

Ah, He has done more! "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isa. 53:6). Punishment and disaster were imminent, but Jesus, from His throne in eternity, saw the danger, and was filled with compassion for the multitudes which were as sheep not having a shepherd. Therefore, He offered His own life as the substitute, and God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Then was heard the terrible summons: "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd" (Zech. 13:7). "He laid down His life" for the sheep, and thus redeemed the flock (1 John 3:16). Praise Him! Praise Him!

--Condensed from The Shepherd Psalm by F.B. Meyer

For you, a vile sinner, a rebel worm!

This excerpt was taken from "Christ Crucified" by David Harsha



"David Addison Harsha was born in Argyle, New York, on September 15, 1827. He received a classical education and studied theology, but was prevented from entering the ministry by a chronic bronchial affection. Harsha was a frequent contributor to the press, and has spent most of his life in his native town, engaged in literary pursuits."
--Grace Gems!

How can I know that the Bible is the Word of God?

The best way to find out if the Bible is the Word of God is by reading it prayerfully and carefully. You cannot honestly judge a book which you have not read. I suggest that you begin reading the New Testament, starting with the Gospel of Matthew and continue reading right on through Revelation.

There have been many who, like yourself, have wondered if the Bible really is God's Word. Some of them even doubted the existence of God. But when they began to read the Bible in earnest, their doubts left. They were convinced that there is a God and that the Bible is His Word. How did they come to that conclusion? Because in reading the Bible they became aware that God was speaking to them personally. The Bible revealed to them the need of Christ as Saviour and God's love in providing that Saviour. They became believers in God and His Son Jesus Christ. This is because the Bible is unlike any other book in the world. As the Bible tells us so clearly, "the Word of God is quick, [living] and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword" (Hebrews 4:12).

Although the personal reading of the Bible is the surest and best way to tell its authorship, its uniqueness also points unmistakably to God as its author. Let us consider some of the facts about the Bible that show it is unique--altogether different from any other book:

It has stood the test of time. In the last half of the 18th century, Voltaire, the French infidel, made the statement that within 100 years the Bible and all Christianity would be completely forgotten. Voltaire died in 1778. The Bible still lives on. How many 2,000 year old books are still being printed today? Since Voltaire died, it has been estimated that over 2,500,000,000 copies have been printed. It is still the world's best seller and is the world's most widely distributed book, having been translated into hundreds of languages. All of this has taken place despite the many efforts of various men to destroy the Bible. As the Bible says, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

It is accurate and reliable. If you were to read science and history books that were thirty to fifty years old you would find that they are outdated. Some of the facts they reported would have to be revised to reflect man's latest discoveries. What about the Bible? Although its references to historical and scientific data have often been challenged and disputed, none of them have needed revision. Instead of revisions, recent findings are continually verifying the truths of the Bible. I will refer to only one example among many which could be cited. For years, critics of the Bible have pointed out the fact that Daniel mentioned a Babylonian king named Belshazzar of whom history had no record. New archaeological findings have revealed the name of Belshazzar on clay tablets along with the names of his secretaries and sisters. We can trust what the Bible says.

Its prophecies have a 100% accuracy record. This becomes even more impressive when we consider that one fourth of the Bible was predictive when it was written. There are hundreds of prophecies made in the Bible which have been accurately fulfilled and there are many more yet to be fulfilled. The prophet Micah predicted about 700 B.C. that the Lord Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). The fulfillment is recorded in Matthew 2:1. Over one hundred years before Nineveh was destroyed, Nahum wrote that Nineveh would become "empty, and void, and waste" (Nahum 2:10). Today, this would be like predicting that Chicago will become a wasteland. (Remember, in Nahum's day there were no nuclear bombs.) Nineveh, just as it was prophesied, became empty and void and waste. About 600 B.C. Daniel accurately predicted the succession of three great world empires: the Persian (530 B.C.), the Grecian (331 B.C.) and the Roman Empire (about 68 B.C.). See Daniel chapters 2,7,8. Only God can declare the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10).

The unity of the Bible's sixty-six books. The Bible was written by about forty men who were not contemporary, but lived at various times during a period of more than 1,500 years. What makes it even more interesting is the varied occupations of these men. Kings, fishermen, shepherds, noblemen, tax collectors, doctors, lawyers and statesmen were among those whom God used to write the Bible. They wrote about every subject which vitally affects us--creation, sin and its origin, death, life, heaven, hell, Satan, and God.

When you consider all of this diversity you might expect that the result would be a book which would be both contradictory and confusing. But instead, we get a book which has a continuity and unity throughout the sixty-six books that is simply amazing. You can only come to one conclusion from this--the Bible is God's Word.

It alone claims to be the Word of God. From the "And God said" of Genesis 1:3 to the "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things" of Revelation 22:16, we have God speaking to us in this Book. The men whom God used to write the Scriptures were inspired and controlled by God to write the exact words which He gave them. This means that what we have in the Bible are the very words of God completely free from man's thoughts and reasonings (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20,21).

It is relevant to our needs today. Go into any large bookstore today and you will find hundreds of books, many of them with catchy titles, all claiming to meet some of our needs. Though a great number of these books do fill a need for knowledge and learning, they do not give us the answers to our spiritual needs. Many of them leave a void and emptiness in our hearts. Only the Bible can explain, to the satisfaction of our hearts and consciences, the facts of sin, death, judgment, the love and holiness of God, the atoning work of Christ, and heaven and hell to mention a few. These are the things which meet our deepest needs, both present and future. Many who have questioned the Bible's relevancy for today can testify that when they finally came to read and believe it, they found peace, joy, and satisfaction. The Bible has the answers.

From MWTB

Never give up praying

Never give up praying, not even though Satan should suggest to you that it is in vain for you to cry unto God. Pray in his teeth; “pray without ceasing.” If for awhile the heavens are as brass and your prayer only echoes in thunder above your head, pray on; if month after month your prayer appears to have miscarried, and no reply has been vouchsafed to you, yet still continue to draw nigh unto the Lord. Do not abandon the mercy-seat for any reason whatever. If it be a good thing that you have been asking for, and you are sure it is according to the divine will, if the vision tarry wait for it, pray, weep, entreat, wrestle, agonise till you get that which you are praying for. If your heart be cold in prayer, do not restrain prayer until your heart warms, but pray your soul unto heat by the help of the everblessed Spirit who helpeth our infirmities. If the iron be hot then hammer it, and if it be cold hammer it till you heat it.

Never cease prayer for any sort of reason or argument. If the philosopher should tell you that every event is fixed, and, therefore, prayer cannot possibly change anything, and, consequently, must be folly; still, if you cannot answer him and are somewhat puzzled, go on with your supplications notwithstanding all. No difficult problem concerning digestion would prevent your eating, for the result justifies the practice, and so no quibble should make us cease prayer, for the assured success of it commends it to us. You know what your God has told you, and if you cannot reply to every difficulty which man can suggest, resolve to be obedient to the divine will, and still “Pray without ceasing.” Never, never, never renounce the habit of prayer, or your confidence in its power.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Pray Without Ceasing," delivered March 10, 1872.

HT: http://www.thedailyspurgeon.com

John

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. -John 14:6

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." -John 4:24

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. -1 John 1:5-7



John
1) Those who worship the Lord
Worship in Spirit and Truth
Those who say that they know Him
Must walk as He walked
(2X)
Chorus:
He is the way and the truth
And in Him is the life
If we obey His word
Then we walk in the light
(2X)
2) If we say that we know Him
But we don’t keep His word
Then we walk in the darkness
And the Truth’s not in us
If we walk in the light
We will have fellowship sweet
And the blood of Jesus
Will cleanse us from sin

From: Christ Our Life

The Gospel Call by Paul Washer

Why Is Hell Forever?

By Russell D. Moore

For the past several weeks, evangelical Christians have spent a lot of time talking about Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins, in which he seeks to redefine the Christian doctrine of hell. As others have noted, Bell’s argument is not new at all. But Bell’s central point is always relevant. One of his questions weighs particularly heavily. Why, if there is a hell, is it forever?

Continue reading here.

How Firm Our Foundation

by Fred Butler

Let me ask you a theological question: Are you born again which results in your believing in Christ, or does your faith in Christ result in your being born again? Maybe you think I’m just playing with words, but how you answer that question significantly affects what you believe about man’s sin, God’s salvation, and more important, your eternal security.

Natural Born Sinners

The Bible is crystal clear about our condition before we came to Christ. All of us come from a different personal background. I may be from a poor family, whereas you come from a rich family; others of us lived moral lives, while still others lived shameful, ungodly lives. Whatever the case, we were all sinners in need of a Savior.

That’s exactly what the Bible tells us in Romans 1:18-32; 3:9-18 and Ephesians 4:17-19. Those passages reveal a couple of important truths about our sinful nature.

First, we were separated from any true, intimate fellowship with God, and we lacked spiritual understanding of His ways. For example, Romans 3:11 says, “There is none who seeks after God,” and Ephesians 4:18 speaks to how we were “darkened,” “alienated,” “ignorant,” and “blind.” Sounds harsh, doesn’t it.

Second, we were spiritual rebels. Romans 3:18 specifically says we had “no fear of God” before our eyes; and Romans 1:18 explains how we all suppressed the truth of God, trying to excuse away our obligation to Him. Rather than choosing to live in obedience to God's laws, we willingly gave ourselves over to lewdness and uncleanness.

In short, when we were all without Christ, we hated God and wanted nothing to do with Him.

If our salvation had been left up to us, we would never have sought it. Nothing could have persuaded us or moved us to faith in Christ, not even the most eloquent preachers or the most compelling arguments. We would have cheerfully continued living lives in willful disobedience to God.

That’s a bleak description, but according to the Bible, it is the spiritual reality of all people, without exception. The only hope we have is a miracle—a profound and radical change of our hearts and minds...

Continue reading here.

Run! (Carter Conlon)

This video clip is an excerpt of a message given by Carter Conlon on the first Sunday following the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 at Times Square Church in Manhattan.



Download the mp3 or listen to the full sermon here.

What Does Luck Have to Do with It?

by Jim Elliff

Joni Eareckson Tada is one of the most gracious and effective Christians in the world. She has lived with the results of a diving accident that broke her neck during her teen years. At 50 she continues to radiate Christ to a listening world. Joni is known by thousands of Christians, perhaps millions, through her books, radio program, and conference speaking.

Once my brother asked Joni how she made it through the difficult battle with her paraplegia. I later heard her give the same answer in a large conference in Orlando. Her reply will surprise you. "I suppose what helped me get through this more than any other thing" she said, "was reading Loraine Boettner's Reformed Doctrine of Predestination."

Now that caught you off guard, didn't it?

What she was saying was that she came to understand through this book that God is in control. And if God is in control then her accident wasn't just a fluke, but a purposeful arrangement by a loving God. She could trust a God like that. That accident cost her freedom and brought chronic suffering. But to Joni, that diving accident was a huge gift from God—a platform for speaking to the world about her favorite subject, Christ.

I know that it might seem insensitive to say that God is in control. But this is what the Bible teaches, like it or not. When we analyze national tragedy we sometimes recoil from the notion that God could be in control of His world. We seek to protect God from such an accusation. But the Scriptures don't do this.

The Bible teaches that all good things, as well as all tragic things, come from God. (See Lam. 3: 37-38) They usually come via secondary sources, that is, they are delivered on your doorstep by other people or through the convergence of events and complex connections. Without being a tempter or evil (James 1:13), God determines all things, while still leaving men responsible for their actions.

Complicated? Sure. But true nonetheless.

A clear illustration of this can be seen in the death of Christ. Is the death of Christ a good thing? Of course. Did God just "hope" that everything would work out to accomplish the greatest event of the universe? Did God feel lucky that it all worked out as He projected?

The early Christians did not think it was luck that brought about Jesus' redemptive death. Here's the way they put it in a prayer meeting:

For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. (Acts 4:27-28)

We can think of all events, tragic or good, under two categories. They are either for the punishment or for the benefit of the person, but they're all in the end for the glory of God.

Now think carefully. First, realize that everything that happens to a non-believer is a tragedy. Even mercies from God, if sinned against, work out for the worse to the non-believer. Every apparently good thing coming to a person who will finally reject God, only serves to make his judgment more severe. (See Rom. 2: 4-6)

But for the child of God, life works out exactly the opposite. The Bible says, "All things work together for the good of those who love God, the called according to His purpose." (Rom. 8:28).

So, when a difficult thing comes into the life of a believer, as in Joni's swimming accident, then the end result is good. It is for a loving purpose. Even discipline from God toward true believers is for the good. And when sinful people are involved, we can say with Joseph, "You meant it for evil; but God meant it for good." (Gen. 50:20)

As one theologian said, "Tragedy is anything that happens to a non-believer." And we can add, "Good is anything that happens to a true Christian."

This can only be said because God is in control. And luck, well, it isn't even there.

Copyright © 2003 Jim Elliff. www.BulletinInserts.org, www.CCWtoday.org

Judgment!

A Puritan Devotional by William S. Plumer brought to you by Grace Gems, a treasury of ageless sovereign grace writings.

"For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:14.



HT: Defending. Contending.

The Pelagian Captivity of the Church

by R.C. Sproul

Shortly after the Reformation began, in the first few years after Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, he issued some short booklets on a variety of subjects. One of the most provocative was titled The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. In
this book Luther was looking back to that period of Old Testament history when Jerusalem was destroyed by the invading armies of Babylon and the elite of the people were carried off into captivity. Luther in the sixteenth century took the image of the historic Babylonian captivity and reapplied it to his era and talked about the new Babylonian captivity of the Church. He was speaking of Rome as the modern Babylon that held the Gospel hostage with its rejection of the biblical understanding of justification. You can understand how fierce the controversy was, how polemical this title would be in that period by saying that the Church had not simply erred or strayed, but had fallen — that it’s actually now Babylonian; it is now in pagan captivity.

I’ve often wondered if Luther were alive today and came to our culture and looked, not at the liberal church community, but at evangelical churches, what would he have to say? Of course I can’t answer that question with any kind of definitive authority, but my guess is this: If Martin Luther lived today and picked up his pen to write, the book he would write in our time would be entitled The Pelagian Captivity of the Evangelical Church. Luther saw the doctrine of justification as fueled by a deeper theological problem. He writes about this extensively in The Bondage of the Will. When we look at the Reformation and we see the solas of the Reformation — sola Scriptura, sola fide, solus Christus, soli Deo gloria, sola gratia — Luther was convinced that the real issue of the Reformation was the issue of grace; and that underlying the doctrine of solo fide, justification by faith alone, was the prior commitment to sola gratia, the concept of justification by grace alone.

Continue reading here.