We turn our attention to a consideration of the necessity, nature, and fruits of saving faith.
Dozens of texts could be cited to prove the necessity of faith if we are to enter into the blessings of God's salvation in Christ. However, I have chosen four texts that epitomize the universal teaching of the Word of God concerning the necessity for saving faith:
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. (Rom. 1:16)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. (Eph. 2:8)
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 3:23)
If we are to experience the salvation procured for sinners and sincerely offered to us in the gospel, we must understand the nature of this saving faith.
God nowhere gives us one succinct definition of the nature of saving faith. He has done something far better. He has given us multiple pictures and analogies of what constitutes saving faith. The following are but a sampling of the many pictures of saving faith scattered throughout the Scriptures:
- Receiving Christ (John 1:12; Col.2:6).
- Drinking from Christ (John 7:37-38; Rev. 22:17).
- Looking to Christ (John 3:14-15).
- Coming to Christ (John 7:37; 1 Peter 2:4).
- Calling upon Christ (Rom. 10:13).
- Fleeing to Christ (Heb. 6:18).
- Feeding upon Christ (John 6:35).
In all of these pictures of the nature of saving faith, it is clear that the object of such faith is not one or more aspects of the person or work of Christ - rather, Christ Himself in the uniqueness of His person and the perfection of His work is the object of our faith.
Christ accomplishes His saving work in the exercise of his threefold office as our prophet, priest, and king. Through saving faith, we receive and entrust ourselves to a whole Christ - as a prophet to teach us, as a priest who sacrificed Himself and intercedes for us, and as a king to rule over and defend us.
I ask you, do you truly embrace the Christ of Scripture as your prophet, your priest, and your king?
(Rev. Albert N. Martin, Tabletalk, June 2014)
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
What is Right? What is Wrong?
Who Says??
What is right? What is wrong? And who gets to determine the answers to these questions? For a nation to be truly united, most of its citizens must agree on the answers to these questions - or at least agree that there are answers to be found. For years, most Americans have turned to a belief in God and the Bible for answers. From the Creation story to the Ten Commandments to the Gospels to the Epistles, the Bible provided an explanation for the meaning of life and instructed us in moral principles. We held to a Judeo-Christian standard while respecting the beliefs of those who didn't share them, and that standard saved us from confusion. Today, fewer people believe in the Bible, or even in absolute truth, and our rejection of an objective moral standard has thrown our society into disarray. If in fact we do really believe in God and His word, many of the moral "gray" issues of today become black and white.
( Dr. Ben Carson, One Nation, 2014, pgs192-193)
What is right? What is wrong? And who gets to determine the answers to these questions? For a nation to be truly united, most of its citizens must agree on the answers to these questions - or at least agree that there are answers to be found. For years, most Americans have turned to a belief in God and the Bible for answers. From the Creation story to the Ten Commandments to the Gospels to the Epistles, the Bible provided an explanation for the meaning of life and instructed us in moral principles. We held to a Judeo-Christian standard while respecting the beliefs of those who didn't share them, and that standard saved us from confusion. Today, fewer people believe in the Bible, or even in absolute truth, and our rejection of an objective moral standard has thrown our society into disarray. If in fact we do really believe in God and His word, many of the moral "gray" issues of today become black and white.
( Dr. Ben Carson, One Nation, 2014, pgs192-193)
Monday, June 16, 2014
In The Beginning
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. John 1:1,2
I have said this before but I make no excuse for repeating it! Jesus Christ was alive before he was born! The cross was not the end of Jesus Christ anymore than the manger was his beginning. On one occasion, Jesus said, "...Before Abraham was, (before Abraham ever existed) I Am." (John 8:58) "Before Abraham..." that reaches back quite a ways! "I AM" That goes back to a realm where past and future do not even exist. It goes backto the place of no beginning and no ending.
John 1:3 reads, "All things were made by Him..." All created things had a beginning but Jesus the Creator , was already there! In Revelation 1:8 Jesus said, "...I am the beginning and the ending..." He was there before the beginning of created things and after created things (as we know them now) are ended. Jesus the "I AM" will still be there.
Armageddon is coming and war is a terrible thing. No ordinary person wants war! The only ones who want war are the despots who don't get personally involved. I walked through Manila, Phillippines in the later part of 1945. What a discouraging sight! Of the four bridges there, three had been destroyed, and most downtown buildings had been destroyed. Rubble and ruin filled the streets not to mention the dead bodies of Japanese soldiers tht had not yet been gathered up. Armageddon will be bad but is not the end of everything that God has planned for His people.
There is a better day coming when war will be no more. In the words of the old spiritual, "I'm gonna put on my long white robe, down by the riverside, down by the riverside. I'm gonna put on my long white robe down by the riverside and I ain't gonna study war no more. Ain't gonna study war no more, ain't gona study war no more, ain't gonna study war no more."
Men will "blow away" a large part of the earth before this is over but God will make a new one. (Revelation 21:1) Men have a nuclear device now, (so I read) that can destroy Los Angeles. Men do not now have nor shall they ever have, a device that can affect the New Jerusalem and if you are a discple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have property there (John 14:2) "...I go to prepare a place for you."
It is a place where "...neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,and where thieves do not break through and steal." (Matthew 6:20) and where no scud missle nor chemical warhead shall ever find a target.
I have experienced and I believe in, God's protection in this life. I am not a fatalist! I believe that prayer changes things! I pray for our troops and our country! I remember that there is a future for us where there will be no "arms race" no "weapons of mass destruction" no more hate and violence. It shall all be under the care of that One Who has "no beginning and no ending." (Rev. 22:20) He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly."
Amen. Even so, come , Lord Jesus!
(Pastor Bill Cummins, Sheridan, WY, drbc@bresnan.net)
I have said this before but I make no excuse for repeating it! Jesus Christ was alive before he was born! The cross was not the end of Jesus Christ anymore than the manger was his beginning. On one occasion, Jesus said, "...Before Abraham was, (before Abraham ever existed) I Am." (John 8:58) "Before Abraham..." that reaches back quite a ways! "I AM" That goes back to a realm where past and future do not even exist. It goes backto the place of no beginning and no ending.
John 1:3 reads, "All things were made by Him..." All created things had a beginning but Jesus the Creator , was already there! In Revelation 1:8 Jesus said, "...I am the beginning and the ending..." He was there before the beginning of created things and after created things (as we know them now) are ended. Jesus the "I AM" will still be there.
Armageddon is coming and war is a terrible thing. No ordinary person wants war! The only ones who want war are the despots who don't get personally involved. I walked through Manila, Phillippines in the later part of 1945. What a discouraging sight! Of the four bridges there, three had been destroyed, and most downtown buildings had been destroyed. Rubble and ruin filled the streets not to mention the dead bodies of Japanese soldiers tht had not yet been gathered up. Armageddon will be bad but is not the end of everything that God has planned for His people.
There is a better day coming when war will be no more. In the words of the old spiritual, "I'm gonna put on my long white robe, down by the riverside, down by the riverside. I'm gonna put on my long white robe down by the riverside and I ain't gonna study war no more. Ain't gonna study war no more, ain't gona study war no more, ain't gonna study war no more."
Men will "blow away" a large part of the earth before this is over but God will make a new one. (Revelation 21:1) Men have a nuclear device now, (so I read) that can destroy Los Angeles. Men do not now have nor shall they ever have, a device that can affect the New Jerusalem and if you are a discple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have property there (John 14:2) "...I go to prepare a place for you."
It is a place where "...neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,and where thieves do not break through and steal." (Matthew 6:20) and where no scud missle nor chemical warhead shall ever find a target.
I have experienced and I believe in, God's protection in this life. I am not a fatalist! I believe that prayer changes things! I pray for our troops and our country! I remember that there is a future for us where there will be no "arms race" no "weapons of mass destruction" no more hate and violence. It shall all be under the care of that One Who has "no beginning and no ending." (Rev. 22:20) He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly."
Amen. Even so, come , Lord Jesus!
(Pastor Bill Cummins, Sheridan, WY, drbc@bresnan.net)
Monday, June 2, 2014
A Prayer by Pierre Viret
Pierre Viret (1511-1571), Swiss Reformer, colleague of John Calvin, and preacher at the Cathedral of Lausanne, often began his sermons with the following prayer:
Recognizing our faults and imperfections, and that we have nothing of ourselves that we did not receive from above, we humble ourselves before the high majesty of our good God and Father, full of all goodness and mercy, praying to Him that He would not enter into judgment with us so as to punish us and correct us in His anger and fury (Pslam 6) in regard to our faults and iniquities, but that instead He would look upon the innocence, righteousness and obedience of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He gave over to death for us.
For the love with which He pleases His Father, may the Lord have mercy upon us all, and by His celestial light chase away all darkness, error and ignorance from our hearts, filling us with His grace and with His Holy Spirit. Thus, may He lead us into full confidence in all truth, and open to us the true understanding of His holyWord, so that it may not be corrupted by our carnal sense and understanding . Instead, may He give us the grace by which He spoke by His holy prophets and apostles, so that being led by the same Spirit, we may declare to His honour and glory and to the edification of all. And may we not listen only with carnal ears to our own judgment and condemnation like the infidels and hypocrites, but rather may we be enabled to receive it in our hearts as true children of God, by a true and living faith, which will be efficacious and active by love.
In this way may we learn to renounce ourselves, so that we no longer follow any idolatry, superstition or wicked carnal affections, so that we may fully place all our trust in Him, and consecrate ourselves and confirm ourselves completely to His holy will. Hence, may we know the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may be found irreproachable and without spot before His face.
Together with all of these blessings, let us ask of this good God and Father all other things which He knows are necessary for us. Thus, as this great Saviour and Reeemer, Jesus Christ, His dear Son, our sovereign Master, has taught us all to pray with one heart: "Our Father, which art in heaven......."
(from Systematic Theology, Volume One, Dr. Douglas F. Kelly, pg 26)
Recognizing our faults and imperfections, and that we have nothing of ourselves that we did not receive from above, we humble ourselves before the high majesty of our good God and Father, full of all goodness and mercy, praying to Him that He would not enter into judgment with us so as to punish us and correct us in His anger and fury (Pslam 6) in regard to our faults and iniquities, but that instead He would look upon the innocence, righteousness and obedience of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He gave over to death for us.
For the love with which He pleases His Father, may the Lord have mercy upon us all, and by His celestial light chase away all darkness, error and ignorance from our hearts, filling us with His grace and with His Holy Spirit. Thus, may He lead us into full confidence in all truth, and open to us the true understanding of His holyWord, so that it may not be corrupted by our carnal sense and understanding . Instead, may He give us the grace by which He spoke by His holy prophets and apostles, so that being led by the same Spirit, we may declare to His honour and glory and to the edification of all. And may we not listen only with carnal ears to our own judgment and condemnation like the infidels and hypocrites, but rather may we be enabled to receive it in our hearts as true children of God, by a true and living faith, which will be efficacious and active by love.
In this way may we learn to renounce ourselves, so that we no longer follow any idolatry, superstition or wicked carnal affections, so that we may fully place all our trust in Him, and consecrate ourselves and confirm ourselves completely to His holy will. Hence, may we know the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may be found irreproachable and without spot before His face.
Together with all of these blessings, let us ask of this good God and Father all other things which He knows are necessary for us. Thus, as this great Saviour and Reeemer, Jesus Christ, His dear Son, our sovereign Master, has taught us all to pray with one heart: "Our Father, which art in heaven......."
(from Systematic Theology, Volume One, Dr. Douglas F. Kelly, pg 26)
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