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Contents:
A Definition Of God?
AllSufficient Salvation!
A New Creature
Are You Ready to Die?
A Warning
Being a Real Christian
Belief and Regeneration
Bought and Owned
Bread for the Hungry
But God
Christ’s Finished
Christ: Suitor or Lord
Closet Christianity
Does God Grade on the Curve?
Does God Have Grandchildren?
Does God Know What’s Going On?
Do You Really Want to be Saved?
Easy Christianity
Election Is a Truth Divine
Everyone Claims to Have the Truth
Faith and Good Works
For as Many as are Led.
For Sinners Only!
God’s Chosen Method
God: “The Cosmic Bell Hop”
God: Too Wise & Too Good
Hail Sovereign Love
Have YOU Room for Him?
“Hellphobia”
Holiness Unto the Lord
How the Spirit Enables Us to Pray
Infinite Excellency!
Is God Dead in your Church?
"I will help you, says the Lord"
I will mediate in your precepts.
Never
Prayer Answered by Crosses
Religious Vampires?
Road of Grace
Spiritual Diagnosis
Testimony of a Calvinist
The Appointment
The Difference Between God and Man.
The Domesticated God
The Five Solas
The Hated Jesus
The Immutability of God
The Lord is My Portion
The Lord our God
The Paradise of Love!
The Sacred Cow of Modern Christianity
The Sea of Infinite Joy!
The Supremacy of God
The Sovereignty of God
Two Ways to Lose Your Soul
What Causes one to Believe?
What is the Gospel?
What Must I do to be Saved?
Why Do We Love Him?
With His Stripes
Whose Church is it Any Way?
Why Did Jesus Die?
A Definition Of God?
If we could completely define God we would be equal with Him and He would not be God. It is impossible for finite and fallible man to thoroughly define God or even come close to giving an adequate definition of Who or What God is. The following is as good an attempt as we can offer. It is taken from the 1689 Confession of Faith. “The Lord our God is the one and only living and true God (Deut 6:4; Jer 10:10; 1 Cor 8:4,6; 1 Thes 1:9); Whose subsistence is in and of Himself; Who is infinite in being and perfection; (Isa 48:12); Whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; (Ex 3:14; Job 11:7-8; 26:14; Ps 145:3; Rom 11:33-34); Who is a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; Who only has immortality; Who dwells in the light which no man can approach; (Jn 4:24; 1 Tim 1:17; Deut 4:15-16; Lk 24:39; Ac 14:11,15; Ja 5:17), Who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, in every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; (Mal 3:6; Jam 1:17; 1 Ki 8:27; Jer 23:23-24; Ps 90:2; 1 Tim 1:17; Gen 17:1; Rev 4:8; Isa 6:3; Rom 16:27; Ps 115:3; Ex 3:14); Who works all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; (Ep 1;11; Isa 46:10; Pr 16:4; Rom 11:36); Who is most loving, gracious, merciful, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; Who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin(Ex 34:6-7; 1 Jn 4:8); Who is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him; and Who, at the same time, is most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin and Who will by no means clear the guilty (Heb 11:6; Neh 9:32-33; Ps 5:5-6; Nah 1:2-3; Ex 34:7). All Glory be to God!
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AllSufficient Salvation!
Christ's salvation is an allsufficient salvation! However great your sins, Christ's blood can take them all away. However deep your needs, Christ can supply them. You cannot be so big a sinner as He is a Savior. You may be the worst sinner out of hell, but your sins are not too great for Him to remove. He can carry elephantine sinners upon His shoulders, and bear gigantic mountains of guilt upon His head into the wilderness of forgetfulness. He has enough grace for you however deep your necessity. Your biggest sins shall no longer trouble you, your blackest iniquities shall no longer haunt you. Believing in Jesus, every sin you have of thought and word and deed, shall be cast into the depths of the sea and never shall He mentioned against you any more forever! It is, moreover, a complete salvationSovereign mercy does not stand on the mountain and cry to you, "climb up hither and I will save you." Eternal mercy comes down the valley to you just where you are, and meets your case just as it is, and never leaves you till it has made you fit “to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light." Col 1:12 Christ does not want you to pay one dollar out of the hundred and promise to pay for you the other ninetynine. He will discharge all your debts of sin. All that you need to take you up to heaven is provided in Jesus! C. H. Spurgeon
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A New Creature
Some imagine that they can trust Christ and then live in sin as they like. You cannot live in sin after you have trusted Jesus, for the act of faith brings with it a change of nature and a renewal of your soul. The Spirit of God who leads you to believe will also change your heart. You may speak of “living as you like," if you were truly converted, you will like to live very differently from what you do now. The things you loved before your conversion you will hate when you believe, and the things you hated you will love. When once you have received salvation through the blood of Christ, your heart will love God, and then you will keep his commandments, and they will be no longer grievous to you. A change of heart is what you need, and you will never get it except through the covenant of grace—"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command... You will be my people, and I will be your God." Ezekiel 36:2528 C. H. Spurgeon “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature:the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." 2 Co 5:17
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Are You Ready to Die?
Preparing ones self for death is a significant part of our economic life. We prepare wills, buy life insurance, caskets and burial plots--all this dealing with the physical aspect of dying. This is right to do but how much better it would be to see that one's soul is prepared for that unavoidable event. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Heb 9:27 What then makes a man ready for death? First Regeneration. As soon as man is born again he is ready to die and not before. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Pet 1:23 Second Sanctification. The work of grace and holiness must be in man transforming him from one degree to another. “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:" 2 Th 2:13, 1 Pet 1:2 Third The Righteousness of Christ Imputed. No man will be admitted to the marriage feast without the wedding garment. Mat 22:1-14 God will look for the pure white mantle Christ puts on us when the great day comes. 2 Cor 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Fourth being washed in the blood of Christ. Until we are washed clean of all guilt and condemnation we are too dirty for Heaven. 1 Jn 1:7, 1 Pet 1:18,19 Fifth Spiritual Knowledge of Christ and true faith in Him Jn 17:3. We must be like Paul “…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." 2 Tim 1:12 John Gill
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A Warning
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15v
I must warn you who are yet without Christ, if you will not trust Christ you must be forever damned! Soon, you shall be "cast into the lake of fire!" All who are found guilty of sin in that great and terrible day of God's wrath and judgment shall be cast into the lake of fire. There you shall be made to suffer the unmitigated wrath of almighty God forever! One by one the Lord God will call the damned before his throne and judge them. As he says to you, "Depart you cursed!" He will say to his holy angels, "Take him! Bind him! Cast him into outer darkness!" There will be no mercy for you! There will be no pity for you! There will be no sorrow for you! There will be no hope for you! There will be no end for you! To hell you deserve to go! To hell you must go! To hell you will go! Unless you flee to Christ and take refuge in him, in that great day the wrath of God shall seize you and destroy you forever! I beseech you now, by the mercies of God, be reconciled to God by trusting his darling Son! "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men!" Come to Christ now! Eternity is before you! Behold his infinite love revealed in the sacrifice of his dear Son, and know that God is gracious, merciful, and willing to save sinners (2 Cor. 5:1415). Behold Christ's finished atonement, and know that God in Christ has found a way to deliver sinners from going down to the pit (2 Cor. 5:21). Infinite wisdom found an infinitely meritorious ransom in the sinatoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, God can be and is both just and the Justifier of all who believe on his Son. Behold his amazing, almighty, saving grace, and know that our God is a God who is able to save. "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." 2 Cor. 5:21 In that great and terrible day I hope to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, but having his righteousness. How will it be for you in that day? -- by Don Fortner
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Being a Real Christian
There can be no comparison between a soaring seraph and a crawling worm. Christian men ought so to live that it were idle to speak of a comparison between them and the men of the world. It should not be a comparison but a contrast. The believer should be a direct and manifest contradiction to the unregenerate. The life of a saint should be altogether above, and out of the same list as the life of a sinner. If we were what we profess to be, we should be as distinct a people in the midst of this world, as a white race in a community of Ethiopians, there should be no more difficulty in detecting the Christian from the worldling than in discovering a sheep from a goat, or a lamb from a wolf. The lost world should be rebuked by our unworldly, unselfish character. There should be as much difference between the worldling and the Christian, as between hell and heaven, between destruction and eternal life. As we hope at last that there shall be a great gulf separating us from the doom of the impenitent, there should be here a deep and wide gulf between us and the ungodly in the present. The purity of our character should be such, that men must take knowledge of us that we are of another and superior race. There should be a ring of true metal about our speech and lifestyle, so that when a brother meets us, he can say, "You are a Christian, I know, for none but Christians speak like that, or act like that." "You also were with Jesus of Nazareth, for your speech betrays you." Alas! The Church is so much adulterated. God grant us more and more to be most clearly a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that we may show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. -- C H Spurgeon
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Belief and Regeneration
The popular order and relationship of these two concepts is that man is to use his natural ability to believe and then God will save him. Most preachers exhort the non-Christian to believe on Christ and be saved. What they mean is “God is waiting on you to do your part, that is believe, and then He will do His part and save you. Then no matter what happens or how you live you will go to Heaven when you die." This modern idea is in contradiction to 1 John 5:1 “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God:" The Greek verb “is" here is in the perfect tenses. The perfect tense in Greek defines an action as “having been completed in the past with results continuing until the present." The verse is saying “Whoever is believing has been born of God." Clearly the new birth and spiritual life precede and cause believing not the reverse. John 1:13 is equally clear that spiritual birth is not of human will-- “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." When the Philippian jailer asked “what must I be doing to be saved?", Paul told him that salvation is not a matter of doing but believing. “ And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Ac 16:31 This is not a formula for the sinner to process so God can save him. If regeneration is the cause of faith then what should be our message to the world of unregenerate people. We should follow the Apostles example Mk 6:12 “And they went out, and preached that men should repent." Ac 17:30 “now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:" Man should not be told or treated as if he has an ability that he doesn't have. We need the truth, sinner and saint alike, not emotional persuasive appeal that will get decisions. Many people have a false hope of salvation because they have merely repeated a prayer.
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Bought and Owned
1 Co 6:20 “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Christ has bought us entirely from head to foot every power, every passion, and every faculty, all our time, all our goods, all that we call our own, all that makes up ourselves in the largest sense of that termwe are altogether God's. Ah! it is very easy for people to SAY this, but how very difficult it is to feel it true and to act as such! I have no doubt there are many persons here who profess to be willing to give God ALL they have, who would not actually give him five dollars. We can sing “Here, Lord, I give myself away" and yet if it comes to yielding only a part of ourselves, if it requires selfdenial, or selfsacrifice, immediately there is a drawing back. Now, was the cross a fiction? Was the death of Christ a fable? Were you only fancifully “bought with a price," and not in deed and in truth? If redemption be a fable, then return a "fabled consecration"; if your purchase be a fiction, then lead the fictitious lives that some of you do lead with regard to consecration to Christ. If it be only an IDEA, a pretty something that we read of in books, then let our belonging unto God be a mere idea and a piece of sentiment. But " real redemption demands real holiness." A true price, most certainly paid, demands from us a practical surrendering of ourselves to the service of God. From this day forth even for ever, “you are not your own," you are the Lord's. 1 Co 7:23 “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." We would encourage the reader to “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" 2 Co 13:5 If you are a genuine Christian then you will know that you belong to Him and will desire to glorify Him. CH Spurgeon
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Bread for the Hungry
Why do you go to church? Are you going to church for the right reason? The following is adapted from a Sermon by C. H. Spurgeon in reference to why we come to church. “We should come to hear the Word, like baby birds in the nest when the motherbird comes with the worm, they are all stretching their necks to see which one shall get the food, for they are all hungry and want it. And so should hearers be ready to get hold of the Word, not wanting that we should force it down their throats, but waiting there, opening their mouths wide that they may be filled, receiving the Word in the love of it, taking in the Word as the thirsty earth drinks in the rain of heaven. Hungry souls love the Word. Perhaps the 'speaker' may not always put it as they may like to hear it, but as long as it is God's Word, it is enough for them. They are like people who are sitting at the reading of a willthe lawyer may have a squeaking voice, perhaps, or he mispronounces the words, but what does that matter? They are listening to see what is left to them.. So is it with God's people. It is not the preacher, but the 'preacher's God' that these hungry ones look to. Why, if you were very poor, and some benevolent neighbor should send you a loaf of bread by a man who had a club foot, you would not look at the foot, you would look at the bread. And so is it with the hearers of the Word they know if they wait until they get a perfect preacher, they will get no preacher at all, but they are willing to take the man, imperfections and all, provided he brings the Master's bread. And though he be but a lad, and can bring but a few barley loaves and fishes, yet since the Master multiplies the provision, there is enough for all, and they feed to the full." The Word of God says of itself in Heb 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."