I am His

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‘I am His’. Every believer in Jesus can say it, and with full assurance, ‘I am the Lord’s’. Humbly and astonishingly, we may also say that He is ours. To the Christian, God is not just the Lord, but my Lord. It is of this bond, by which we have become His, that I want to speak.


His by creative right

This is something that is true of all people. When David writes in Psalms 24 of the earth being the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it, his reference is to an ownership that is the Lord’s by creation. It was He who made the dust from which He afterwards made the first man. It was God who from this man then made the woman who became his wife. And it is He who has given life to all their innumerable offspring. David praises God because he is fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14). People may balk at it and deny it, but we are all under the possession of another. God owns us and all we have, and it is because of the sin of our hearts that we refuse to acknowledge that, and keep living as if we belonged to no one but ourselves.

His by costly purchase

‘You are not your own’, says Paul to the believers in Corinth: ‘you were bought with a price’ (1 Cor. 6:19-20). And what a price! Christ gave His very life, in order that we, who were already His by creation, might become His in a new and special way. We are talking about redemption here. By virtue of our fall in Adam, we put ourselves into the hands of very wicked powers. We became slaves both to sin and Satan. But Christ shed His blood in order to free us from that slavery. We are now God’s possession by costly purchase, His ransomed people. And Paul lays it on the line, as far as what that is to mean to us: ‘Therefore, honor God with your body’ (1 Cor. 6:20)– a call to sexual purity.

His by covenant bond
 
In entering into covenant with people, God ever pledges Himself to be their God. The bond by which they may call Him their own is forged by covenant. So it was under the Old Covenant and so it still is under the New. ‘I will be their God’, He says in Jer. 31:33. But that is only one part of the promise. The other is that ‘they will be my people’ (Jer. 31:33) The bond is gloriously mutual. He is ours and we are His. What priceless blessings are ours by virtue of that bond! All of us know Him, from the least to the greatest. We now love and keep His law because He has written it on our hearts. Through Christ, He has wholly forgiven our sins. And He has placed in us His fear, so that we will not turn away from Him. 

His by accepted commitment 

Think what it means to come to Christ and believe in Him. There is so much more to it than the empty hand stretched out for salvation. To truly come to Christ is to commit ourselves unreservedly to Him, not only for eternal life, but also to be His loyal servants and subjects. He who is Lord is going to be our Lord from this day forward and forever. But will He accept us? Always! It is His own promise. No one who comes to Him will ever be driven away (John 6:37). We become His when we put our trust in Him. We are His by an accepted commitment.

So we are the Lord’s possession by a four-fold cord. He is not ashamed of His possession. Anything but! He prizes every one of us. He wouldn’t part with us for anything. He regards us as His inheritance and counts Himself rich in having us. He looks forward to us being with Him and will delight in us forever. Isn’t grace amazing?

— David Campbell

The Damaging Delusion of Prosperity Faith

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It has been around for awhile. I am not taking the time here to note the earliest traces of the “word of faith” and prosperity movement in America. But certainly in the beginning of the 20th century, the early seeds of the “word of faith”, prosperity doctrine movement were being planted in America. Perhaps the earliest modern figure was the pentecostal healing evangelist, John G. Lake (1870-1935). Lake, who first served as a missionary in Africa from 1908-1913, became a healing evangelist who set up “healing rooms” in his evangelistic crusades, especially along the west coast of the U.S. Lake had been influenced by the earlier ministries of such pentecostal preachers as John Alexander Dowe and Charles Parham.

It was Lake that began early in the 20th century to popularize the modern doctrine of health, wealth, and prosperity. In one sense, he was the grandfather of the entire movement, which then produced such teachers as Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, Sr. and Kenneth Hagin, Jr., Frederick K. C. Price, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Paul and Jan Crouch, T. D. Jakes, Paul White, and Joyce Myers, to mention just a few.

Right in line with such thinking is the massive influence of Joel Osteen, who in one way, is even less biblical that all the others. Less biblically, in the sense, that Osteen doesn’t even use the Bible or preach from the Bible like the others do. Osteen is only a motivational speaker and positive-thinking teacher, right in line with the famous Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993), Reformed Church of America pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City for 52 years.

 

It struck me again within the past week of the serious damage that a twisted doctrine of “faith” does in so many situations. I have seen recent situations where families are convinced that they are going to see cancer healed and major injuries healed because they are “confessing it or believing it.” They won’t even entertain or talk at all about the possibility of any other alternative. God is not sovereign in the situation–their faith and confession is controlling it.

When people swallow this erroneous teaching, real spiritual damage is always done, no matter what happens with the sick person. If they improve or are healed, it affirms to people that their “confession and faith” worked, and the error is believed more than ever. But If the person doesn’t get better, the only conclusion is that God did not keep His promise, or they did not have enough faith. The health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine has caused many to reject Christianity altogether, or to believe that faith does not work at all. Either way, God is not honored, and faith is perverted.

As Conrad Murrell said–

“Faith, by which a man is justified, has become a word in the mouth of ignorant religionists and unethical charlatans that bears no resemblance to the Bible doctrine of faith. One’s ears have become accustomed to hearing such terms as “seed faith”, by which you give the preacher some money and God, in turn, makes you rich. You are to “turn your faith loose” by an act of faith. Faith, in this modern age, is a commodity which you use to ‘work miracles,’ get things for yourself, heal the sick, and raise money. It has become an accessory to Christianity that is greatly to be coveted because if one can find the secret to getting faith and turning it loose to work for them, there is no limit to how great he can become or what he can do

All of that is wicked enough, but it is not the chief mischief. The worst thing about this is that such false teaching has fouled the waters of the very fountain of life. It has clouded the most important subject of the Bible–faith. It may be well argued that love is greater than faith and that Christ is the most important person of the Bible, but the sinner has access to neither the love of God or to the person of Christ except through faith. Faith is not an accessory to Christianity, but is the very essence of true Christianity. The Christian life begins, continues, and consummates in faith. Nothing less pleases God.”

— Mack Tomlinson

People who do not go to church go to hell

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Shocking statement? Unquestionably! But can it be proven? Only to those who believe the Bible to be the authoritative Word of God. To those who do not, nothing can be proven, for their own darkened mind is the only absolute they know. Nothing can be proven to them that they do not wish to believe.

Jesus Christ is the only acceptable sacrifice for sins. God has appointed His Son, the Christ, the Savior, the Redeemer, the substitute sin-bearer, to take away the sins of all who trust in Him. But there is a sin for which the blood of Christ will not avail, for which there is no sacrifice.

“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27).

Now what is this “willful sin” for which there is no sacrifice? The man does not live who has not sinned since being enlightened with truth. Then are all men doomed? Will they all go to hell because they have sinned after they knew better? Assuredly not! Christ has redeemed and purchased with His blood a people for His glory. They will never perish. Sin, in the general sense, is not in view here. The preceding verse names the sin for which there is no remedy.

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is . . .” (Hebrews 10:25).

Jesus Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it (Ephesians 5:25). The word church is translated from a Greek word meaning “called out assembly.” It is the unvarying nature of those who are called by God to salvation to assemble together. Buy nature they are gregarious. They love to congregate. There is no exception to this rule. Governments may pass laws against it; they will break them. Burn their meeting houses; they will meet in barns. Torture them and put them to death; they will meet in holes in the ground under bridges, in the wilderness. You can sooner prevent the rivers from flowing to the seas than stop the redeemed people of God from meeting. If you fancy that you have a salvation, yet no longing to congregate with others who are only pilgrims and travelers through this world, then you have a Christianity that is alien to the Bible and to Christian history. Those who forsake, abandon and utterly leave the company of the just go to hell, because they have no grace of God in them. They do not have the nature of God’s called out assembly.

Please do not think you have satisfied this criteria with the “electronic church.” You cannot assemble, exhort and comfort one another around the image of a “boob on a tube” or a bellow from a box. I will tell you why you prefer the television or the radio to the local church. You have nothing in common with the people of God, so you feel uncomfortable among them. You can salve your conscience with some generous donations to your favorite “electronic pastor” and avoid the costly, soul-searching experience of direct encounter with genuine living saints of God.

I say again, people who do not go to church go to hell. But where is the church? Is it in the “established church”? Is it the building on the corner with the steeple on the roof? Not necessarily. These may not be the church at all. But please be warned. It is most certainly not a casual visit or an occasional meeting with another professor of Christianity when the subject of religion may pop up inadvertently. The church is the deliberate and purposeful meeting of the redeemed around Jesus Christ expressly for worship and instruction in the Word. It is a gathering of those who worship God in Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). They have a fellowship that cannot be held solitary. It must be shared.

There are, of course, those who are infirm, who cannot go where believers assemble. But if believers are near, and know of such a Christian, then they will surely come to him. Then there are those who live where there are no other Christians. When a true believer finds himself in such a circumstance, he will witness and preach until there is a church with which to worship. Then, of course, there is that slim possibility of “death bed repentance.” But the likelihood that God would then grant you repentance who have all your life rejected the gospel is indeed most precarious.

Then will I go to hell because I do not go to church? Certainly not. You will go to hell because you despise the law of God, you trample under feet the Son of God, you consider His redeeming blood of no more value than slaughter-house sewage, and you despise God’s Holy Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:28-29).

Will going to church assure me of salvation? Not at all. Only God can save. You must be born from above. Salvation is of the Lord. You must first of all acknowledge that you are a wicked hell-deserving sinner and all you r pretenses of righteousness are useless; your excuses lie and your good works are worthless. Get your mind and heart under the preaching of a man of God who knows God and the gospel and is not afraid to preach it. Trust God to forgive and save you from your sins for Christ’s sake. And when the Lord does save you, I can tell you on the authority of heaven, you will continue to meet with the company of believers.
“But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:39).

Conrad Murrell.

Rebuking One Another

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Whenever necessity compels one to reprove or rebuke another, we ought to proceed with godly discernment and caution. First of all, let us consider whether the other fault is such as we ourselves have never had, or whether it is one that we have overcome. Then, if we have never had such a fault, let us remember that we are human and could have had it. But if we have had it and are rid of it now, let us remember our common frailty, in order that mercy, not hatred, may lead us to the giving of correction and admonition.

— Augustine

The Logic of Election

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The Logic of Election

Divine election is the foundation of sanctification, and not the other way around (1 Peter 1:1-2). Everything depends upon God taking the initiative. This, of course, is the reason why, when rightly understood, the doctrine of election never leads to moral carelessness, although that accusation has often been leveled against it. The logic of election is not: ‘I have been chosen for salvation, and so I can live any way I please’, but ‘I have been chosen for salvation, and therefore, I will live in a way that pleases God.

– Sinclair Ferguson 

 

Real Repentance

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Many mourn for their sins that do not truly repent of them; they weep bitterly at times for them, and yet continue to be in love and league with them.
– Matthew Henry

Some people do not like to hear much of repentance. But it is so necessary that, if I should die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance.
– Matthew Henry

The recognition of sin is the beginning of salvation.
– Martin Luther

Repentance is more than just sorrow for the past; repentance is a change of mind and heart, a new life of denying self and serving the Savior as King in self’s place.
– J.I. Packer


God has a People Everywhere

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“I have much people in this city.” – Acts 18:10

This should be a great encouragement to try to do good, since God has among the vilest of the vile, the most reprobate, and the most debauched, an elect people who must be saved. When you take the Word to them, you do so because God has ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and they must receive it, for so the decree of predestination runs. They are as much redeemed by blood as the saints before the eternal throne. They are Christ’s property, and yet perhaps they are lovers of the drinking bar, and haters of holiness; but if Jesus Christ purchased them He will have them. God is not unfaithful to forget the price which His Son has paid. He will not suffer His substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be; and this is our comfort when we go forth to them with the quickening Word of God.
And even more, these ungodly ones are prayed for by Christ before the throne. “Neither pray I for these alone,” saith the great Intercessor, “but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word.” Poor, ignorant souls, they know nothing about prayer for themselves, but Jesus prays for them. Their names are on His breastplate, and ere long they must bow their stubborn knee, breathing the penitential sigh before the throne of grace. “The time of figs is not yet.” The predestinated moment has not struck; but, when it comes, they shall obey, for God will have His own; they must, for the Spirit is not to be withstood when He cometh forth with fulness of power—they must become the willing servants of the living God. “My people shall be willing in the day of my power.” “He shall justify many.” “He shall see of the travail of His soul.” “I will divide him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong.”

C. H. Spurgeon

Where Confidence and Hope are Found

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I  hear the words of love,
I gaze upon the blood;
I see the mighty sacrifice,
And I have peace with God.

‘Tis everlasting peace!
Sure as Jehovah’s name;
‘Tis stable as his steadfast throne,
For evermore the same.

I change, He changes not,
The Christ can never die;
His love, not mine, the resting place,
His truth, not mine, the tie.

The clouds may go and come,
And storms may sweep my sky;
This blood-sealed friendship changes not,
The cross is ever nigh.

– Horatius Bonar

Am I my Brother’s Keeper? – Genesis 4:9

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The whole example of Jesus Christ, whom we call Master and Lord, lies in the direction of our being the keeper of our brother. For what was Jesus’ life but entire unselfishness? What was said of Him at his death that described Him–‘He saved others, himself he cannot save’. The very fact that there is a Christ at all means that there was one who cared for others, and the fact that our Lord became a man means that He loved His enemies and came here to rescue those who rebelled against His authority.

If we are selfish and think we can make our own going to heaven be the one end of our life, then we are not Christians. We may call Him Master and Lord, but we are not following Jesus Christ. Do you shed tears? Do you weep over Jerusalem? Tears are a poor thing if they are only for ourselves and never for others. You pray and agonize, but is your grief ever caused by bearing the burden of other men’s souls? Are you like Him, with whose name Gethsemane must ever be connected in our memories?

Even if we give our bodies to be burned, yet if we have not love for mankind, it profits us nothing. If Jesus were here now, what would He say to anyone who calls himself His disciple and yet never lifts his hand or moves his tongue to snatch the firebrand from the flame or save a sinner from the error of his ways? This is the way we must be our brothers’ keeper.

– C. H. Spurgeon