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Jesus and Discouragement

5/18/2016

1 Comment

 
 Is Jesus enough to bring us through Discouragement?
 
Here’s an important thing to learn! Not everything we attempt to do for Jesus is going to please everyone. People may not rally to us! But this is the price of the call! As followers of Jesus, we will attempt the things others refuse to do. David was like that. He stood against Goliath while the rest of Israel cowered and cowed down in troubled fear. Yet his elder brother, Eliab, was furious and rebuked him when it became apparent he would undertake the fight.  David wanted to bring glory to God, but it brought him harsh criticism and attacks from those who should have known better.
 
When the great missionary John G. Patton was preparing to bring the Gospel to the savages of the New Hebrides an old gentleman in his church took him aside to warn him he was on a fool’s errand. “The cannibals, the cannibals,” cautioned the older man, “they will surely eat you.” Patton replied, “Mr. Dickson, with respect, you are advanced in years, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.”
 
For Patton, Jesus was enough! With Jesus, he was more than able to endure the discouragements thrown into his life. His ministry in the New Hebrides would last for over forty-three years. Did cannibals eat him? No, but some of his fellow workers perished that way! However, serving Jesus brought him a far from trouble-free life. He endured multiple disappointments. His first wife and child died-----he dug their graves with his own hands. He withstood affliction, shipwrecks and illness.  But perhaps the biggest disappointments of all were the indifference of the Christians back home and the betrayal of friends and converts on the field. His life was filled with major disappointments. But for Patton, Jesus was enough!

And what of his work? He lived to see the entire culture of the New Hebrides transformed by Christ. Men who once had hated and eaten one another would come to sit down together and worship the Lamb who was slain.


Maybe the Lord is calling you to feed orphans and widows in India; maybe your call is to partner financially with those who are spreading the gospel throughout the world. Maybe it is to go feed the poor and homeless in your hometown. You have only one life, make it count for Jesus. But be warned, not everyone will love you for taking the Word of God seriously. Members of your own family may think you’ve gone mad (Mark 3:21).
 
Let’s face it then, it is nothing for us to serve the Lord when everything is easy, when there is no opposition; when there are no roadblocks. However, what will happen when we encounter disappointments? Will we give up or be faithful in the midst of discouragement? The more we learn that Jesus is enough, the more we will be equipped to withstand the storms which come against
us.

And that’s the Gospel Truth!

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Gospel Following

3/25/2016

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“I am born for God only. Christ is nearer to me than father, or mother, or sister - a near relation, a more affectionate Friend; and I rejoice to follow Him, and to love Him. Blessed Jesus! You are all I want -a forerunner to me in all I ever shall go through as a Christian, a minister, or a missionary."
Henry Martyn: 19th Century Missionary to India and Persia
 
"My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me."
 Jesus
 
As believers, our entire life is one of continuously following Jesus.
We began our Christian walk by 'looking unto Jesus.' We continue in the same manner.
 
Do you remember when you first believed? Looking to Jesus brought rest, peace and healing for your soul. It was wonderful!  But for many of us, the wonder has gone. The reason is tragic, we are no longer looking unto Christ. Could I be talking about you? Have you left the simplicity which is in Jesus? If so, I’m sure you’ve noticed how life has become tangled and complicated again. Where did the peace go? Where has the joy gone?
 
It’s time to get back to following, to looking again to the crucified and risen Christ. He is enough! As we look to the Gospel each day, we will recover our spiritual health.  Horatius Bonar said, “As a Christian, should your eye ever be withdrawn from the cross, you will be sure to go backwards, to grow cold, and to forget that you were purged from your old sins (2 Peter 1:9). That cross is life, health, holiness, consolation, strength and joy; let nothing come between it and you.”
 
The way to follow is to look unto Jesus. May we learn to beware of substituting anything else for Him. May we be wary of seeking to build our own Kingdoms and a future of our design. As we follow Him, He will be our refreshment, comfort and Joy.


So who are you following today? Is it Him? If so, it is because of Grace! 
 
It’s always good to pause to thank Him for his grace. It was grace that won us! We were not coerced, we were conquered. And remember, no matter how dedicated we are, we are saved by His dedication to us. What beautiful grace. Recall how He gives us His grace moment by moment!  Why does He do that? Because, although we are righteous in Him, we are yet sinners through and through. What suitable candidates, therefore, we are for the grace of God. Grace is made for the sinner and the sinner is made for grace.
 
As we look daily unto Jesus and live in His grace, we will not, as some contend, want to sin more. On the contrary, grace will give us a clearer understanding of the nature of sin and make it more wretched and contemptible in our eyes. Grace will break us and cause us to see that the Lord Jesus willingly endured the most painful and disgraceful death as He took the wrath of Heaven for us. Grace will dramatically bring home to us the striking reality of this love and teach us, as His followers, to live, not for ourselves, but for Jesus. Grace will show us that He is enough! As we follow Him, grace will make us willing and ready to present our bodies as living sacrifices. 
 
May we be encouraged to think often of Jesus and to meditate on Him. This is ‘Gospel Following.’


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Grace Triumphant

3/5/2016

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Can God build a good house from bad material?  Because of triumphant grace we can say yes, absolutely yes.  You are not so far gone that the Lord is finished with you.

Remember these people over whom grace triumphed?

Noah was a drunk.
Gideon was afraid.
Samson was a womanizer.
Rahab was a prostitute.
David was an adulterer and a murderer.
Elijah was suicidal.
Jonah ran from God.

Peter denied Christ.
The disciples fell asleep while praying.
Martha worried about everything.
The Samaritan woman slept around.
Paul was a religious bigot.
Timothy had an ulcer.
 Lazarus was dead!

The Lord Jesus is a master of creating something beautiful out of nothing. He can do so with you.

Many years ago, in the days before automobiles, in Detroit, Michigan, an evangelist, preached on the text "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from all sin" (I John 1:7). After the service, a stranger asked the preacher to walk home with him. Advised against it by church officials who knew the man, the evangelist went with him anyway.

Ushering the preacher into the rear of a building, the stranger locked the door, put the key in his pocket, and said, “Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to ask a few questions. Do you believe what you preached tonight?”
The preacher said, "I most certainly do."
The man continued, "We're in the back of a saloon. I'm the sole proprietor. Mothers come in here, lay their babies on the counter, and beg me not to sell liquor to their husbands. I turn a deaf ear to their cry. We see to it when a man leaves here he's well under the influence. More than one night, a man leaving here has been killed by the express at the tracks. Preacher, tell me, can God forgive a man like me?"

The minister replied, "I have but one authority, the Word of God which says, 'The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin.'"

 "But that's not all,' added the man."In another
room we run a gambling hall. If a man doesn't spend all his money on liquor, we bring him back here and with marked cards see to it that he's fleeced out of his last dollar we send him home penniless to a hungry family.  Preacher, I'm the sole owner. Tell me honestly can God forgive a man with a heart like that?"

 Again the evangelist replied, "I have but one authority, the Word of God which says, 'The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin.'"

 The man spoke again. "That's not all. Across the street is my home where I live with my wife and little daughter. Neither one has had a kind word from me for five years. Their bodies bear marks of my brutal attacks. Preacher, do you think God could forgive a man with a heart like that?"

The Evangelist’s head lowered. His eyes filled with tears as he said, "My friend, you have told one of the darkest stories I have ever heard, but I still have one authority which says, 'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.'"

The man opened the door, ushered the preacher into the night, and did not leave that room until daybreak.  He did not leave until he had ripped up decks of cards and poured the contents of beer and liquor bottles down the sink. After he was finished, he locked the saloon and crossed the street, went into his house and sat down in the living room. 

His little girl called, “Daddy, Mother says breakfast is ready." When he answered his little girl kindly she ran back to her mother, "Daddy spoke kind to me! Something is the matter!" The mother followed her little girl to the living room. The man called them both over. Taking one on each knee, he explained to their amazement that they had a new husband and daddy He ended, "I'm done with that business across the street!"

The man later became a member, then an official in a leading Detroit church. When asked to tell how his life was changed, he would reply "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin."

And that’s the Gospel Truth!

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Gospel Validation

3/1/2016

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Many people validate themselves by the measure of their financial success. However, I’ve known many wealthy failures. Having had multiple failed relationships and marriages, they are empty. They have been left with few genuine friends.
 
 Success? I don’t think so!
 
Our difficulty, however, is, even as believers, we often measure our validity by our assets. It’s not a new problem. Remember the rich young ruler? Jesus told him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor and come and follow Him. We then read, “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:22).
 
For this man, Jesus was not enough for his validity! If he gave everything away, all he would have would be Jesus. I suspect that he needed possessions to authenticate his existence or to mold his identity. Jesus was not enough for Him.  He needed more!  What about you? Is Jesus enough?
 
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that you give away all your money.  I agree with the man who remarked,”I have been rich and I have been poor…and rich is better.”  But, here’s a personal question. Are you caught up in the game of accumulating things? If so, why do you do it?  Is it to gain validation? I’ll let you in on a little secret … until you learn to authenticate your existence in Jesus only, you will always look for validation from others, your work, your accomplishments or from material accumulations.
 
No amount of wealth can validate you.  In a short time, the sum total of property you will occupy will be an urn or a box in a plot 6ft by 2 and ½ feet. The important question today, therefore, is this, is Jesus enough? Are you thoroughly satisfied with Him?
 
Which is more important, your earthly income or your heavenly inheritance? Which is more important, the adulation of men or the applause of Heaven? Is Jesus enough?
 
Perhaps, on the other hand, you are ashamed because you feel that you don’t have a large enough income. But, why in the world should your bank balance matter for your validation?  The Heavenly Father is not impressed by the amount of money any man has in the bank. What does impress Him, though, is what you think of His Son. Is Jesus enough?
 
 As for your bank balance, remember how Jesus taught it? We read, “--- a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses” (Luke 12:15). God does not measure your worth by the amount of money you make.
 
You may think you have an unimportant job, but both your job and how you do it are crucial. Perform your job as an act of worship; do it to the glory of God. Let your validation come out of the fact that God has loved you, chosen you, called, died for you and adopted you into His Royal family.  You are a child and heir of God. So, let’s ask it again, are you satisfied with Jesus? Is He enough?
 
 Some Christians think that the way to validate themselves is through Ministry: This may sound strange, but I’ve known lots of people who have striven for a “big ministry” for no other reason than to validate their existence. Some young guys I’ve known have wanted to become Christian singer/songwriters just so they could become famous. But they’ve missed the point! There’s a lesson to be learned by all would be ministers, whether preachers of the Word or worship leaders. When Jesus called the twelve into ministry, we read that,
“He ordained twelve, that they should BE WITH HIM (Mark 3:12). ---That’s priceless. They were ordained, that they should be with HIM.
 
Jesus is enough!
 
And that’s the Gospel Truth!

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Acceptance and Approval

2/25/2016

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Paul asks a piercing and heart searching question when he writes, “--- do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

For some of us, the praise of men is louder than the applause of heaven. Many of us  discover that there’s an enormous pressure on us to please others. If we please them, we will be accepted and that’s what we want….acceptance. Let’s face it, none of us want to be a reject. I know people who adopt a false personality just so that others will accept them.  They act like the life and soul of the party but it’s all a cover-up.  They don’t want us to see what they are really like; they don’t want us to see that they actually feel like rejects. I don’t blame them, but there’s a better way.

What about you?  Have you, through the gospel, learned to find your acceptance in Jesus?  Just think of it, He was wounded and died for you. He rose again for you, He’s praying right this moment for you and He’s coming back for you. Is this love enough for you? You are now accepted in Heaven because of Him (Ephesians 1:6).  Is that acceptance enough for you?
 
 Jesus did not go around trying to impress people, but He was very impressive. In fact, He was the most extraordinary man who ever lived. Consider this, the most remarkable person who ever lived, loves you and has loved you since before you ever were born.  You have been His since before time existed. Is this love enough for you to rest in? Until He becomes enough for you, you will yearn and strive for the acceptance of fellow sinners. You will develop an acceptance addiction. That’s just another form of bondage and is a sub-standard way for a Child of the King to live. Let Jesus be enough!
 
Another similar trap we often fall into is that of continually seeking appreciation and approval from others. As John says,
“They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” John 12:43.

Our lives are filled with all these “important others.”  Throughout life, many of us even accumulate an invisible jury whose approval we are desperate to obtain.  This gets scary. One man I know earned his Ph.D. because his Father had always told him he would amount to nothing. The tragedy of this story is, however, that his Father was long dead before my friend graduated. Yet he completed his studies still yearning to gain the approval of his dead father, still trying to show his father that he was not worthless.
 
Self-worth and approval must be found in Jesus. If we are to make it through this life, He must become enough. When you are feeling fractured, tell yourself what the Word says. Tell yourself that you have been redeemed by blood, precious blood, the blood of the Lamb. Tell yourself that Jesus loves you. Does this sound strange? Let me willingly admit something. Often when I feel fragile and unaccepted, I have a talk with myself and confess those three words, JESUS LOVES ME! I confess them ‘till I possess them and they possess me. His love and approval are enough because He is enough.
And that’s the Gospel Truth!

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He Made Himself the Least

2/3/2016

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“Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he “
----Matthew 11:11


In my early years as a Christian, I was taught that this verse demonstrated that the weakest believer in the New Covenant was greater than John the Baptist. I was told that wee Betty Murphy, a woman who at times neither knew if she was saved or lost was greater than the final prophet of the Old Covenant. Poor little Betty didn’t know the difference between predestination and a bar of soap but, according to the prevalent theory, Betty was greater than the One who faithfully prepared the way of the Lord. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t get my head around that.  

Then one day, I believe God opened my eyes.  Who was the least in the Kingdom when this was spoken?  Think about it. The least in the Kingdom was none other than the Lord Jesus.  To this point, He had, with success, spent His earthly life making Himself the least and the last.
 
Consider this:

He made Himself the least when He was born to an unwed Jewish teenager.

 He made Himself the least when He allowed His first bed to be a feeding trough for cattle.

 He made Himself the least when He lived in obscurity for 30 years avoiding recognition.

 He made Himself the least as He worked quietly at the carpenter’s bench.

 He made Himself the least when, for that entire time, He refused to vaunt His divine attributes.

No one could have guessed that He was God in human flesh appearing for he made himself the least. As we read in Philippians; “….Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

He made Himself the least.

Consider the absolutely stunning truth of the Incarnation.  God came here Himself!  Does this not amaze you? In Heaven, He had been enthroned in majesty and surrounded by at least 100 million worshiping angels (Revelation 5:11). Yet He made Himself the least. Thunder, lightning and voices proceed from His throne (Revelation 4:5)…yet He made Himself the least.   He was the absolute sovereign and ruler of all things…yet He made Himself the least.

As we abide in Him, we will find a growing desire to also become the least.  It should, therefore, be a foreign thing for the believer to join in conspiracies against the Pastor. How can people who see themselves as the least do that?  Likewise, it should be an alien practice for the believer to jockey for political power within the Church assembly. After all, we are called to be followers of the One who didn’t try to promote Himself but made Himself the least.

Jesus was the least, yet He was greater than John the Baptist and the Old Covenant.  He brought in better promises (Hebrews 8:6) a better hope (Hebrews 7:19), a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6) and a better sacrifice (Hebrews 9:23). To do this, He became the least.  He was patient, kind and without envy. He did not seek his own way and was not easily provoked.  He took the servant’s place and washed the disciple’s feet and did so because He was the least.

What Matthew 11:11 is telling us is that Jesus, not some stumbling weak saint, is greater than John the Baptist.  The New Covenant is greater than the Old. In Christ Jesus
we see that the greatest became the least and has now again taken His place as the greatest of all.

And that’s the Gospel Truth!



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Glorious Gospel Grace

1/24/2016

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Salvation is entirely by grace. It is both unearned and undeserved.

We are chosen by grace (Ephesians 1:4).

We are given to Christ by grace (John 6:37).

By grace, we are made alive together with Christ, (Ephesians 2:5).

He has glorified us by grace (Ephesians 2:6).

 We are redeemed by grace (Ephesians 1:7).

 We are justified by grace (Titus 3:7).

 It’s Grace! Grace! Grace from beginning to end.
 
It is clear that in Scripture, God does not give one iota of credit to man regarding salvation. It is all 
of grace! Amazing Grace. Glorious Gospel Grace. The making alive, the undeserved favour, the adoption as children into God’s family is all by grace.

He made us accepted by grace (Ephesians 1:6).

We have forgiveness by grace (Ephesians 1:7).

Union with Christ and the good works that follow as God’s purpose, after salvation (Ephesians 2:10), are all the gift of God! It’s all
of grace!

It’s no wonder then that Paul writes in Galatians 6:14; “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

To “glory” is “to boast.” Paul is reminding us that we cannot boast in anything except the cross of the Lord Jesus. That’s another way of saying that salvation has been accomplished by grace. All of our prosperity, all of our accomplishments, all of our doctrinal understanding, and even our accumulated insights are nothing to glory about. We can boast only in the grace of God as revealed in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

In the Old Testament, Jesus is the coming Messiah. He is the promise of grace In the New Testament, He is the realized Messiah, the true Promise of Grace apprehended.

Grace always brings us to Christ Jesus. He procured salvation for us. He Himself is our salvation. He Himself is the grace of God. Grace is embedded in His very name, for the name of Jesus, means salvation. Remember: “Neither is 
there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). 

Grace brings people to Christ, and to no one else.  Grace enables us to look unto Him by faith to be saved.

But what about repentance? Yes, what about it?  Is that not important? Yes, it is! But let me ask you…from where do we get repentance? The goodness of God, exhibited in His Grace, leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). There is no other way! Praise to His Name! It’s Grace, Grace, Grace, Glorious Gospel Grace!

So we can say grace is:
1) Free Grace---the gift of God (Ephesians 2: 8-9).
2) Saving Grace---it brings us to eternal salvation.
3) Sovereign Grace—not of ourselves, but by God’s sovereign will.  Salvation is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy (Romans 9:16).
 4) Sustaining Grace—We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5).

And that’s the Gospel Truth!
 

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Gospel Fullness

1/14/2016

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Scr.- Col.2:9-10.

Some commentators tell us that today’s Scripture is an allusion to the Tabernacle in the days of Moses.  It looked commonplace and ordinary on the outside, but inside it housed the very glory and presence of the Eternal God.  So it is with Christ. Little did people know that the humble carpenter from Nazareth was indeed God manifest in the flesh.  

May we all take the time to meditate on Him. The truth of Christ’s identity is as overwhelming as it is staggering! He is both human and divine. The Fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him.

Of course, Christ’s enemies say that the word ‘Godhead’ does not actually mean Godhead: or they say that this verse means that it was merely the power of God which dwelt in Christ.  However, the Bible cannot be clearer on Christ’s identity than it is in this verse.

Colossians 2:9, according to Calvin,
“ … means simply, that God is wholly found in him (Christ), so that he who is not content with Christ alone, desires something better and more excellent than God. The sum is this, that God has manifested himself to us fully and perfectly in Christ.”
---Calvin’s Commentaries: Colossians.

According to Benjamin Warfield, this verse means; “There is nothing in the God who is over all which is not in Christ.” (
Easton's Bible Dictionary - Godhead)

In Isaiah 11:2-5, we are given a prophetic picture of the Lord Jesus which conveys something of this fullness.  There we read, “..and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord:….”

What an astounding description of Jesus. Notice how Christ demonstrates the sevenfold Spirit of God!

The Spirit of the Lord.
The Spirit of Wisdom.
The Spirit of Understanding.
The Spirit of Counsel.
The Spirit of Might.
The Spirit of Knowledge.
The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.

The fullness of the Godhead was and is indeed manifest in Him. The foundation of our faith then is that He who died on the cross was God incarnate. When we meet Christ Jesus, we meet with God in His fullness.  This is the foundation upon which our eternal destiny is built. This is our security. The One who has lived, died and risen for us is Emmanuel, God with us. This is exceedingly good news!
 
“Mortals with joy beheld his face,
Th’ eternal Father’s only Son;
How full of truth! How full of grace!
When through his eyes the Godhead shone.”
---Isaac Watts
 
 
And that’s the Gospel Truth!

 
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Gospel Trouble

12/17/2015

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Have you ever noticed just how much trouble Jesus caused?  Consider Paul. He was doing very well until he was enlisted by the Nazarene. I think I can hear some of his former friends, saying, “That guy Saul really blew it!  He was one of the most privileged men in Israel till he went astray following that Jesus fellow.  What good did it do him?  Kicked out of Synagogues, whipped and beaten, stoned and left for dead!  All he got was trouble.”
 
Jesus, Himself, was always surrounded by trouble.  Even at His birth, there was trouble.  Remember how the Wise Men came looking for the newborn King and all Jerusalem was ‘troubled’ (Matt 2:3).  Now, why in the name of thunder would the birth of a baby trouble an entire city? The new King had arrived but rather than being excited or filled with rejoicing--- the citizens of Jerusalem were troubled. What a strange brew---- an entire city troubled by a baby!
 
But, why were they troubled? Maybe they were troubled because they knew that Herod wouldn’t take this news well …and ‘if the King ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!’  On the other hand, maybe they really understood that this baby was their rightful King…a King who demanded allegiance and loyalty.  A King who expected all!  Maybe they felt they would be better off with Herod and the Romans.  Whoever he was, this baby was trouble!
 
Jesus always causes trouble!  He leads us to life by means of death….that’s troubling, especially when we are so committed to our own plans, goals and ambitions.
 
Christ speaks to us in grace, looks at us in grace, thinks of us in grace and promises us gracious rest, but this grace comes wrapped in a cross that brings us to an end of our noble efforts to impress God …..that’s troubling.
 
What a strange Saviour He really is!  He comes promising peace but at the same time brings a sword (Matthew 10:34). Swords speak of trouble!  
 
But those ancient Wise Men saw nothing in Him to trouble them.  They wanted to worship Him.  They were prepared to take Him for who He was…the King and Sovereign of their existence.
 
 We will either be troubled by Him or we will worship Him. But, even when we worship Him, we will not be free from trouble.  Yet, somehow, in trouble, we learn that even in the midst of that which seems wrong, He who was born in Bethlehem is really in charge.  In the darkness of pain, we can come to a place where we can thank God for the grace of trouble!  The truth is, our only hope is to be troubled by Jesus.  We need Christ to trouble us. We need to be troubled about our self-righteousness and self-sufficiency in order that we can trust in Christ’s righteousness and sufficiency alone.
 
And that’s the Gospel Truth!

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Gospel Salvation

12/10/2015

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What a comforting truth to know that the Lord is the God of Salvation.  He brings salvation. With Him is salvation. But above all else, He Himself is our salvation. The gospel truth is that salvation is not a something but a someone (Exodus 15:2; Psalm 27:1; Psalm 38:22).

Simeon confirmed this.  Do you remember him?  Just after the birth of Christ, we find Simeon dwelling in Jerusalem.  The Holy Spirit was upon him.  Indeed, the Holy Spirit had revealed unto him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. One day, as he came, by the Spirit, into the Temple, Mary and Joseph were bringing the child Jesus in to fulfill the custom of the law. They met! Simeon instantly took the baby up in his arms, and blessed God, saying, ‘Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to Thy word for my eyes have seen Thy salvation.’  Salvation was declared by Simeon to be a person … …and the person was Jesus (see Luke 2:25-29).

We don’t know where Simeon was born. We don’t know who his parents were. We don’t know what Simeon did for a living. We don’t know what he looked like. We don’t know if Simeon was rich or poor. We don’t know what other people thought of him. But this we do know, Simeon had lived in the expectancy of seeing the Lord’s Messiah. And he saw Him when he held the baby Jesus.

Simeon held Jesus in his arms and recognized what millions have come to know and that is, Jesus is God’s salvation.  Jesus is salvation because He is fully God and fully man.  He is, therefore, the one who is uniquely equipped to save.  Jesus is the revelation of the One True and Living God. All that we may know about God has been spoken and demonstrated in Christ. Christ is the truth. He is the truth about God.  He is the truth about man.  He is the truth about the past.  All God’s plans and purposes were bound up in Him. He is the truth about the future. His death and
resurrection were end time events.  They point to the Last Judgment and our resurrection. It is no wonder then that we are to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Furthermore, Jesus was uniquely equipped to save because He was sinless. He, Himself, is our Salvation.

Imagine the best person that you’ve ever met or known.  Imagine if they offered to pay for your sins.  We’d admire them for their unusual offer. But there’s just one problem …. God would not accept their proposal. Why not? Because that truly amazing person, with the excellent offer, is a sinner.

We are all sinners.  None of us are in a position to act as a substitute for someone else’s sin.

Jesus, on the other hand, was sinless. He was, therefore, able to become the substitute for His people. And, because He is the infinite God, He is able to pay the penalty for the sin for us. That’s why, He is our Salvation!  
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When Simeon held Jesus in his arms and said, “… my eyes have seen your salvation,” he was saying, “Here is the one, the only one.  Here is the One who saves to the uttermost.  Here is the one who saves when no one else can.” 

We talk about God’s plan of salvation, but in truth, Jesus is God’s man of salvation.  Redemption is in Him (Romans 3:24). Only through His doing, dying and rising again is there to be discovered the free and gracious gift of eternal life.

He is our Salvation.

And that’s the Gospel Truth!


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    Miles McKee

    Minister of the Gospel. From County Wexford, Ireland. Currently residing in Spain.

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