The Apocryphal Gospel and the Assumption

Rome teaches that Mary was assumed into heaven body and soul.  This is considered a divine truth of God and it is necessary for salvation.  Pope Pius XII says anyone who denies it is condemned:

'We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Hence, if anyone, which God forbid, should dare wilfully to deny or call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has completely fallen from the divine and Catholic faith….It is forbidden to any man to change this, Our declaration, pronouncement, and definition or, by rash attempt, to oppose and counter it. If any man should presume to make such an attempt, let him know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul' (Munificentissimus Deus [A.D. 1950], 44-45, 47; taken from Selected Documents of Pope Pius XII [Washington: National Catholic Welfare Conference]).

There were two popes who rejected this dogma of the Roman church.  But it has been infallibly declared by the Roman church for assured belief.  There is silence in the early church about the end of Mary's life.  Gregory of Tours in A.D. 590 first promoted the teaching of the assumption of Mary.  He based it on the gnostic Transitus literature.  This literature came about in the fourth and fifth centuries.  This gnostic writing was considered as heretical as Arius.  A Roman Catholic historian and Mariologist Juniper Carol said, "The first express witness in the West to a genuine assumption comes to us in an apocryphal Gospel, the Transitus beatae Mariae of Pseudo-Melito" Juniper Carol, ed., Mariology (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1955), 1:149).  This gnostic writing was rejected as heretical.  Gelasius and Hormisdas rejected it as heretical.  Bill Webster said,

"In his decree, Decretum de Libris Canonicis Ecclesiasticis et Apocrypha, which was later affirmed by Pope Hormisdas, Gelasius lists the Transitus teaching by the following title: Liber qui apellatur Transitus, id est Assumptio Sanctae Mariae under the following condemnation: 'These and writings similar to these, which....all the heresiarchs and their disciples, or the schismatics have taught or written....we confess have not only been rejected but also banished from the whole Roman and Apostolic Church and with their authors and followers of their authors have been condemned forever under the indissoluble bond of anathema' (St. Gelasius I, Epistle 42; taken from Henry Denzinger, The Sources of Catholic Dogma [London: Herder, 1954], 69-70). Cf. Migne P.L., vol. 59, col. 162, 164." 

"Repent or Perish"

Christ proclaimed the doctrine of repentance.  It is either repent or perish.  As long as this world lasts, the call for repentance is necessary.  Repentance means to make our peace with God.  It is absolutely necessary.  Repentance is the opposite of rebellion.  We know that repentance does not save but no one was ever saved without the doctrine of repentance.  The only One who saves is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  No impenitent heart can receive the good Lord.  We ought to use contrite repentance and not legal repentance.  Legal repentance is attrition but true repentance is acknowledging our offense against God’s holiness and wounding His tender and precious heart.

Sinners cannot truly believe unless a sinner repents.  The publicans and harlots repented afterwards but the rest did not repent.  This was when John the Baptist was involved in His ministry (Matthew 21:32).  We are called to repentance and belief in Mark 1:15.  Paul spoke of repentance towards God and belief in Jesus (Acts 20:21).  Don’t be confused on repentance.  God calls everyone everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).  God stresses His righteous ways upon us.  This is why we ought to repent because it establishes the righteousness of the Lord.  However, repentance does not add to the unified work of Christ alone.  God is totally worthy of overflowing love, worship and obedience.  We have denied the Lord our obedience.  We must repent.  We must acknowledge this and amend our failures and commissions and omissions of sin.  We ought to end our rebellion against God.  We are to have affections for God but we ought to repent of our disaffection against God.  We ought to repent because we have dreadfully failed Him who is holy, holy, holy.  We ought to give God our rightful place in our hearts.  We must recognize the heinous nature of our sins if we consider God’s righteousness.  When we sin, we reject the God who made us.  Sin is refusing for God to govern us.  Sin is the pursuit to please ourselves.  It is rebellion against the Almighty.  The sin of sinfulness is lawlessness against the Lord and hated for His authority.  Sin is not caring for what God wants from us but self-will in sinfulness.  Sin wants our own way against the Lord.  We don’t care what God’s teachings are.  This is how people have lived and may the Spirit show them this.

True repentance comes from the heart.  May we realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin!  May we realize that we have defied our Creator!  Repentance is a holy and pure hatred or sin and the horror of sin as well.  We ought to have a deep sorrow for sin.  Godly sorrow is essential in repentance.  That means we realize we have done wrong.   Repentance is a total soul-forsaking of sin.  God pardons those who repent.  If we cover our sins, we will not prosper.  If we confess and forsake our sins we will have mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

True repentance is turning to God.  It is turning to God and turning our back on the world. We have been set upon a vain world.  We have loved the devil and this fallen world.  We are fallen creatures in need of a divine Savior.  We cannot save ourselves.  This world cannot satisfy our souls.  But only God the Trinity can rescue us from sin through God the Son.  We are rebellious creatures and we show disloyalty to Him.  We should determine and desire an interest in the Lord.  We ought to obey Him and serve Him.  

Whoever reads this has the duty to repent.  Repentance is continuous.  It always continues until we enter glory.  We ought never to repent of the same sins twice.  We should repent of sins committed at any time in our lives.  You shouldn’t wait to leave repentance to a dying hour.  Turn from your self-absorption and self-will to the living Redeemer.  You should seek mercy in Christ.  You should turn with a total mission of heart to please Him.  Will you repent or end up in hell? Hell is a place where no one ever repented in this life.  God exalted Jesus to His right hand and granted repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31).  May God grant you godly sorrow that works repentance that needs no rejection, “but the sorrow of the world works death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). 

We Are Saved By Christ Alone And Not By Our Repentance

We are saved by God through Christ alone and not our repentance.  It is Christ alone that saves us.  We enter heaven because of Christ alone.  He forgives us and cleanses us from all sin through Christ alone.  Satan has no charge against us at the Day of Judgment because no charge can be laid against us. 

Christ, of all my hopes the ground,
Christ, the spring of all my joy,
Still in thee may I be found,
Still for thee my pow'rs employ.

Let thy love my heart inflame;
Keep thy fear before my sight;
Be thy praise my highest aim;
Be thy smile my chief delight.

Fountain of o'erflowing grace,
Freely from thy fullness give;
Till I close my earthly race,
May I prove it "Christ to live."

Firmly trusting in thy blood,
Nothing shall my heart confound;
Safely I shall pass the flood,
Safely reach Immanuel's ground.

Thus, O thus, an entrance give
To the land of cloudless sky;
Having known it "Christ to live,"
Let me know it "gain to die."  (TH, 437).

I Belong To Jesus Christ Alone

Those who put their trust in Jesus belong to Him.  Those who focus on Jesus belong to Him.  Those who have confidence in Him belong to Him.  Those who love Jesus belong to Him.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have the happiness of repentance and faith.  We ought to repent of every sin and it cannot be reversed or taken away.  No one can undo the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 4:14).  It is a great happiness of the soul to love Jesus and focus on Him as our Redeemer.   It brings comfort to the soul and feelings of joy.  Let all bath themselves in the flood of the ocean of Christ and Him alone.  I belong to Jesus Christ alone.  He is mine and I am His.  No one can undo this happiness of the soul.  Secular psychology does not have the answers but Jesus has the answers.  We need to belong to Christ to be connected to the vine of Christ alone.  When we belong to Christ we find ourselves, forgiving our enemies who provoke and abuse us.   Why would anyone want to undo a Christian?  It is a great injustice.  But the fact is no one can undo a Christian because we belong to Christ in an unmistakable way.   Amen.

Saving Faith and Repentance

 James Montgomery Boice wrote on saving faith and repentance,

There is a fatal defect in the life of Christ’s church in the twentieth century: a lack of true discipleship. Discipleship means forsaking everything to follow Christ. But for many of today’s supposed Christians—perhaps the majority—it is the case that while there is much talk about Christ and even much furious activity, there is actually very little following of Christ Himself. And that means in some circles there is very little genuine Christianity. Many who fervently call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ are not Christians (Matthew 7:21)...There are several reasons that the situation I have described is common in today’s church. The first is a defective theology that has crept over us like a deadening fog. This theology separates faith from discipleship and grace from obedience. It teaches that Jesus can be received as one’s Savior without being received as one’s Lord...Discipleship in not a supposed second step in Christianity, as if one first became a believer in Jesus and then, if he chooses, a disciple. From the beginning, discipleship is involved in what it means to be a Christian....Is ‘faith’ minus commitment a true biblical faith?...If faith without works is dead—how much truer is it that faith without commitment is dead...True faith involves these elements: knowledge...heart response...and commitment, without which ‘faith’ is no different from the assent of the demons who ‘believe...and shudder’ (James 2:19) (James Montgomery Boice, Christ’s Call to Discipleship (Chicago: Moody, 1986), pp. 13, 14, 16, 21).
In one of Jesus’ most important sayings about discipleship...the Lord pictures discipleship as putting on a yoke. This suggests a number of things, but chiefly it suggests submission to Christ for His assigned work. It is the picture of an animal yoked to others as well as to a plow.
A yoke is also the connection between submission and subjection. ‘Submit’ comes from the two Latin words sub (meaning ‘under’) and mitto, mittere (meaning ‘to put’ or ‘place’). So submission means putting oneself under the authority of another. ‘Subject’ also comes from two Latin words, in this case sub (meaning ‘under’) and iacto, iactare (meaning ‘cast’ or ‘throw’). It means being put under the authority of another. In other words, although the first word has an active sense (I put myself under another’s authority) and the second word has a passive sense (I am placed under that authority), the idea is nevertheless essentially the same. Moreover, it is connected with ‘yoke’ in this way. In ancient times it was customary for a ruler, when he had conquered a new people or territory, to place a staff across two upright poles, perhaps four feet off the ground, and require the captured people to pass under it.By this act they passed under his yoke or submitted to his authority. When Jesus used this image He was saying that to follow Him was to submit to Him. It was to receive Him as Lord of one’s life (James Montgomery Boice, Christ’s Call to Discipleship (Chicago: Moody, 1986), p. 19).

Saved By Grace Alone

Grace is all-sufficient.  It is enough to save us.  But Rome has grace and merit of the saints.  We are not saved by the merit of the saints but of the unified merit of Christ alone.  Sing this hymn that is dear to me in the Trinity Hymnal #403:

Not what my hands have done
Can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne
Can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do
Can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears
Can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God,
Not mine, O Lord to thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest
And set my spirit free.

Thy grace alone, O God,
To me can pardon speak;
Thy pow'r alone, O Son of God,
Can this sore bondage break.
No other work, save thine,
No other blood will do;
No strength, save that which is divine,
Can bear me safely through.

I bless the Christ of God;
I rest on love divine;
And with unfalt'ring lip and heart
I call this Saviour mine.
This cross dispels each doubt;
I bury in his tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear,
Each ling'ring shade of gloom.

I praise the God of grace;
I trust his truth and might;
He calls me his, I call him mine,
My God, my joy, my light.
'Tis he who saveth me,
And freely pardon gives;
I love because he loveth me,
I live because he lives.

Justification by Christ Alone

We are not justified by the law, men's righteousness, human works, faith mixed with works and a dead faith.  We justified by grace alone, Christ's blood, resurrection, righteousness and faith.  The fruits of justification is forgiveness, holiness, imputed righteousness, outward righteousness and eternal life.  The evidence of justification is works by faith, wisdom, patience and suffering.  There is no greater divine righteousness than Christ alone.  A man is justified by a faith that works.  However, our works do not add to the unified merit of Christ alone.

Faith Alone

We ought to dwell on Galatians 2:16 that is on justification by faith alone:
 

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

The Imputed Righteousness of Christ Alone or the Roman Catholic Church

We are told in the Bible that God imputes Christ's divine and unified righteousness to a lost sinner by faith alone.   The Bible speaks of Jesus' awesome righteousness alone given to us by faith alone from grace alone.  There are some who would leave this incredible righteousness and standing before God to serve earthly pleasures in Romanism. 

We ought to set our minds on Christ and Him crucified.  In the life and death of Christ alone, there is true hope for the hopeless and lonely.  There may come despair and loneliness but Jesus is our friend to the end.  He forgives all our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.  The Bible speaks of the Gospel of Christ's holy righteousness:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17 KJV).

Romans 3:21-16 speaks of God's righteousness in Christ Jesus our great Redeemer:

"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

Romans 4:1:9 speaks of Jesus' divine righteousness:

"What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?  For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.   For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.  Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.  But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.  Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness."

Titus 3:4-8 speaks of God's divine grace:

"But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men."

John 1:12-13 declares the sheer grace of God:

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Who would leave the Christian faith for Romanism understanding and comprehending these great divine truths of divine Scripture.   No one who truly understands these things would convert to Romanism or be a Roman Catholic priest.  Luther was right to leave and separate himself from it.  For I declare the divine truth of divine Scripture in Galatians 2:20,

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

In the beginning God created

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

It was not in the beginning an impersonal force created things.  It was not chance that created things.  It was not aliens that created things.  There is no god except the Triune Lord who created things.  God alone has the creative activity to make things out of nothing.  God did not order preexisting material.  But God is eternal and transcendent.  The Genesis narrative is fully consistent with creation ex nihilo. 

 

The author of creation is God (Hebrews 11:3), Christ (Colossians 1:16, 17) and the Holy Spirit (Psalm 104:30).  The objects of creation were heaven and earth, vegetation, animals, man and stars.  It means that God is divine because He created.  He has deity, power, glory, goodness, wisdom and sovereignty.  It illustrates the new birth, renewal of believers and the eternal world. 

The foundations of foundations and the cores of cores is that God created. It is a unique God existed before the universe was created.  He is the eternal omnipotent Creator.  The absolute order of the universe is God.  The cosmogony of paganism or modern naturalism is absent in regards to the origin of the universe.  They state that the universe already existed in chaos and somehow it evolved later on.  The evolution comes out of nothing into a “big bang.”  God is absent from the modern evolutionists’ theory.  To add God to be apart of evolution has no place in the Bible.  We recognize an historic Adam.  God created man but man did not evolve from lower forms of life. 

The Grace of Loving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Redeemer

We should live lives of holy love to Jesus Christ and to our neighbor.   Love is not perverse; love is not evil; love is not cruel; love is not wicked; love is not envious; love is not bitter; love is not sinful.  His love of His unified righteousness is our covering to us.  He is the sweetest and dearest and better then the best.  Jesus is more precious to us then ten times ten thousand souls.

Love must be sincere as the New Testament says.  Sincere love is hard to find because we live in a corrupt world full of wickedness, evil and cruelty.  We ought not to love when it is convenient and easy.  We ought to love in the hard ways of life as well.   We ought to love when things are not easy.  We ought to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We should place others before ourselves.  We should have a balance of love toward our fellow man and sacrifice.  The Bible tells us about love,   "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth" (1 John 3:16-18).

We owe love to all people not just our family.  We owe love to all people not just to our friends.  We may feel that some people do not deserve our love.  Love is from divine grace.  It is not earned but it is free.  Jesus' love is a free gift of love for His people.  Love is not homosexual and we are not talking about sexual love.  But we are talking about the love that Jesus gave to give us Himself to save us from our sins.   In Matthew 5:44; 46-47 we are told to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  We are to extend ourselves in loving our neighbor because it is what Jesus did when He said at death in the agony of His Cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."  He had love when there was only hatred for Him.  He had love when all kinds of people nailed Him to the Cross.  His prayer became effectual after Peter gave his sermon because people became to repent to save themselves from their wicked generation. 

Do you have the love of repentance?  Do you share in this divine love of Christ?  We also ought to love faith, hope and love but the greater is love.  Loving Jesus means we stand in Christ to God's glory.  Do you have ant affection for Jesus?  Do you have any love for Him?  We ought to love others because by loving we love God in His service.  You may think you are devoid of God's love.  Remember there is no sinner so far apart from Christ and His love.  You have the Spirit with the Word of God that changes hearts.   Listen to the Word of God and hear the Word preached.  Surrender your love to Jesus.  May God grant all kinds of people to love Him and love others.  Amen. 

The Grace of Courage in Jesus Christ

We ought to have great courage because of the great leaders of past Old and New Testament times.  We can learn from Abraham, Issac and Jacob.  We can learn from Moses and Josiah.  They had uncompromising conviction that Christ was their Savior and Redeemer.  They had uncompromising trust that God's promises were true and stood strong before the Lord of glory.  We ought to stand strong before the Lord of glory as well.  We are called this day to love God and our neighbor.  We may falter at times but are to trust Him as best as we can.  With all that we know how may we trust the Lord and love Him unconditionally.  Love never grows old; love never gets old; love never fades away; and love is there by His Spirit and instruction through His Word that we grow in Christ our Lord and Redeemer.  May we never fail to love and grow in our love for Jesus.   Let us have courage to forgive our enemies and love them.  When we accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are saying we have the courage to know we are forgiven and that we forgive as He has forgiven us.  "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."  Amen.  God help us find us praising Him because we dare to believe that He has called us with a holy calling unto Him that should render great praises to Him alone.

The Grace of Confidence in Jesus Christ our Lord and Shepherd

The confidence we have is based on God's Word, assurance, trust, and Christ's promise.  We can trust God's Word because it is reliable and trustworthy.  We gain assurance of salvation by the Word and Spirit.  We are able to trust God because of His promises.  We should never trust God based on presumption or pride.  We have a sure grounds to trust God based upon His Word.  This world likes to bring us down and harm us repeatedly.  We conquer the world, the flesh and the devil because of His Word and Spirit.  We have the promises in Him that keep us going.  We ought to never distrust His promises but always trust them as we grow in faith, grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Confidence is the believer's source of prayer, testimony, helping others, God's will and must be held with steady confidence in Him.  We ought to grow in confidence but we ought to repent if we lack confidence in Christ to save us.  Let us rejoice and praise the Lord Jesus for His goodness and grace to us this day!  Amen. 

The Grace of Hoping in our Lord Jesus Christ

Hope is the expectation of future good.  We have hope because of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The hope we have is described as a living, blessed, good, better, sure and steadfast and one of the great virtues.  Hope is for the impossible.  We have hope that gives us spiritual assurance.  Hope is productive of purity, patience, courage, joy, spiritual salvation, assurance and stability.  The ground of our hope is the written Word of God and the Spirit of God in His promises to us.  We hope in God, Christ and the Spirit.  We hope in spiritual redemption, spiritual salvation, the future resurrection of the quick and the dead, glory and Christ’s Second Coming. 

Hopelessness is the condition of the wicked.  It is unchangeable unless God sets them free through the living Gospel of God.  We are born in original sin.  The nature of man is totally depraved.  Hopelessness comes natural to us.  It is apart of our spiritual condition.  But God the Father takes the initiative to draw His people to Christ by His Spirit.  Hope is grounded in the Word of God.  Apart from the written Word of God there is no hope.  Apart from the Triune God there is no hope.  

Do you have hope in God?  Do you set your hopes on the written Word of God?  If you have hopelessness, have you repented?  There is a great more then hope in the scheme of redemption presented to us by the Word of God.  The Bible teaches us that there is hope in Christ because of His resurrection.  There is great hope because we serve a great God.  We do not have to worry about the creditability of our hope because it is secure in God.  We have full confidence that God through His Son raised Jesus from the dead.  No theory will do to explain away the bodily resurrection of Christ.  We have assured hope because of His resurrection.  There is no greater certainty than Jesus’ resurrection.  We have historical evidence of an internal and external nature.  We have secular historians that speak of the risen Christ.  We have argumentation that sets forth the divine truth of Jesus’ bodily resurrection.  We do not rely on the mere empty tomb but we rely on the cosmic victory of Jesus’ resurrection over spiritual darkness that brought fear to His enemies.  We do indeed have an empty tomb but His empty tomb means that God raised Jesus from the dead.  No one can undo that in cosmic history.  We have a cosmic victory in Jesus.

We may have feared because we may worries that are sins are forgiven.  We can surely hope in Christ that He has delivered us from the world, the flesh and the devil.  We have a guaranteed hope that secures for us the spiritual focus and trust we need to love God.  Let us hope with a great certainty that He has delivered us from our sins, transgressions and iniquities.  We do not have the same hope as false religion.  We do not have the same hope as Roman Catholicism.  We have a hope that is everlasting.  God’s spiritual kingdom is unseen but He has given us an undying hope.  We do not hope in the Virgin Mary.  We hope in Christ:  He is our hope and strength and high tower.  (Psalm 33:22, “Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee”).

The Grace of Loving One’s Enemies

We are called to love our enemies.  The Bible says we ought to bless and not curse.  We should never curse our abusers.  We should never hate our enemies by God’s help.  Love is the key.  We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We should never hate.  We should only hate sin and wrongdoing.  Wrongdoing may plague our lives.  Evil may assault us on every side.  However, we have something the world does not have.  We have Jesus our great Savior and Lord.  In His example, we find a rich treasure of compassion, mercy and love.  We know that God took the initiative to save us while were still rebellious sinners.  We ought to forgive the vilest offenses against us.  We have a light in us that is incomprehensible to the world. We have holy, righteous and just grace while the world has sin, misery and destruction. 

We proclaim the Gospel of Glad Tidings to the most undeserving people.  To love is not an invitation to commit more wrongdoing.  However, there is a cost to love the most wretched.  We do this to magnify Christ.  Surely if we love our enemies our names are written in heaven.  We ought to honor Him in His command to make disciples in the Great Commission.  If we forgive our worst enemies, it may be a way God works to save them.  If we forgive, it may give them a taste of God’s forgiveness.  It is never to late to come to Christ as we breath the air He has given us.  The love of Christ is through the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit regenerates us.  He comes with the Gospel to apply Christ to us.  He gives use a new heart.  When we first come to Him we come to Him as criminals and fugitives.  We have offended His law.  We have broken His heart.  There was no good reason why we failed to keep His law.  We have sinned against the light of His Word. 

We ought to look at our neighbor with spiritual concern.  Do they know Christ?  Have they put their trust in Him?  We ought to present the Gospel to the greatest sinners.  No one is beyond the Gospel.  No one is out of reach.  The Gospel is the power of God.  It is meant for that sinner who feels they are beyond the grace of God and one reach away from the gates of hell.  It is a lie to say that the worst offenders should hear the Gospel.  I am sure our enemies are on the road to hell.  A Christian is not our enemy, because he or she knows Christ.  Everyone who knows Christ is apart of the family of God.  But have we shared the Gospel of Grace by word and by how we live out our lives?   We ought not to cast a stone because Jesus is.  However, righteous indignation is not casting a stone.  We are to speak to our enemies with gentleness and reverence.  Let us love because we are loved.  Let us forgive because we are forgiven.  Let us approach our neighbor with unconditional love.  

There is a great deal in the Gospel for sinners; however God has gotten a foul deal because we nailed His Son to a Cross.   God accepts His children only by virtue of His Son.  God has gotten a raw deal from us.  In a similar way, we have to pay the cost to forgiving our enemies seven times seventy.  We come to Him with cosmic offenses against His own dear heart when God has never wronged anyone!  He gave us His own dear Son but does praise come from our ungrateful hearts?  We ought to praise Him for who He is because He is holy.  We are not holy.   We sin against each other.  The Spirit of God makes us holy in sanctification.  The greatest pursuit of the Christian is holiness.  Do you present this to our enemies?  It does not matter if they reject the Gospel again and again because we are called to love them.  We should continue to present the Gospel to them no matter what.  We can ask ourselves, do we seek their greatest good?  I leave these questions to your own heart.  May God shine His light upon you this day!  Amen.

If your enemy denies the deity of Christ or justification by faith alone, do you have the love to share the truth of the Gospel with him or her?  Many people deny the deity of Christ and justification by Christ alone.  We ought to know the enemies of Christ.  It may even put us in danger.  There is a cost!  There are many kinds of enemies.  We ought to know compassion on them and have the lovingkindnesses of Christ to a dying soul.  Nothing is more precious then the love of Christ from the heart of a believer.  If you have the love of Christ in your heart, share the good news to a lost world.  We ought to especially share the Gospel with those who hate us.

If someone has wronged us, what is everyone’s response?  Do you respond with wrath?  Do you respond with hatred?   We cannot love our enemies with an unregenerate nature.  It is better to love then to hate.  It is better to pray then to harbor resentment toward our enemies.  We should not curse them.  Think of someone who has wronged you very badly and pray for an hour for their spiritual redemption.  God will surely shine His blessings upon you.  Amen. 

Justification and the Merit of Christ: The Stormcenter of Reformation

Justification is the very heart of the Gospel.  The Gospel shaped the devotion of the apostle Paul.  The Gospel is the righteousness of Christ.  No mere man can take us away from Christ alone in His life and death alone.  We must focus on Christ alone.  I remember in the greatest trail of my life before I came to Christ, God showed me His righteousness alone that it covers us.  When His righteousness alone covers us, God is pleased with us.  But when His righteousness is removed from us, He is displeased with us.  No one can take His righteousness alone from us.  It is His white robes of Christ alone because we trust in Him alone for spiritual salvation.  The only reason why we trust Him alone is because of the Spirit of God and the Word of God.  He quickens us.  He makes us alive in Christ. 

Justification is how we are right with God.  It is God’s pardoning act of sinners and accepting His people as righteous because of Christ alone.  God irrevocably puts us right with God because of our estranged relationship.  We are accepted because of Jesus’ sake.  The basis of justification is Christ alone.   Some would dare add the Virgin Mary as a co-redeemrix.  There is no doubt that the Virgin Mary suffered at the Cross, but this suffering was not meritorious or redemptive.  Mary does not intercede for us in heaven because the work of intercession is the mission work of Christ alone.  I am thankful that Mary bore Christ but our hope should be in Christ alone.  Mary did not say “listen to me” of herself but she said “do whatever He tells you.”  Christ alone acts in our behalf.  No one is worthy to act on our behalf save Christ alone.  Christ took the full punishment for our sins on the Cross because He became sin for us.  Christ’s righteousness alone is reckoned to our account.  Justice was applied to Christ on the Cross.  He paid for satisfaction for our sins in our behalf.  O may Jesus my Savior speak and pray in my behalf!  O may His pardoning grace immerse me! 

Christ’s righteousness will be accepted in our behalf at the Last Judgment.  It is a divine decision on our eternal destiny.   No repentance adds to the unified righteousness of Christ alone.  No repentance is meritorious.  Only Christ’s blood and righteousness is enough.  God will never turn back on His declaration.  Satan may appeal against us because he is the accuser of the brethren.  Justification means to be eternally secure in and through Christ alone. 

The necessary means of how we are right before God is personal faith in Christ crucified.  We ought to come to God with empty hands of faith, because Christ alone is our great meritorious work of God alone.  We ought to give ourselves to Christ by faith alone.  No one can take away our faith in Christ alone.  By faith, Jesus gives us His gift of His unified righteousness.  We received the heavenly pardon and divine acceptance.  Rome says justification is a process that includes sanctification.  We understand justification as a decisive act by God for us sinners.  We are not justified by baptism but by Christ alone.  We cannot achieve justification by our works.  Christ lived in our place.  He lived the perfect and pure righteous life we could not live.  We are people devoid of merit.  This underscores the essence of free grace.  His grace is incredible.  We need grace to be holy.  We have no merit in and of ourselves.  We need His merit alone.  Amen.

The Reformed Gospel in Reformed Evangelism, Part 2

We are called by divine Scripture to the necessity of evangelism.   If we are biblical we will be evangelistic.  The Gospel is the centrality of the Bible.  The Bible points to the Savior that was to come.   We can only be acceptable to God the Father through faith.  We can only know about Him unless someone tells us about Him.  We see in Romans 10:14 that we ought to share the Gospel with others.  The Bible requires evangelism.  We ought to preach Christ crucified.  The Bible in First Corinthians 1:17; 2:2 says that we ought to preach Christ crucified.  We ought to draw all men unto God.  We ought to not withhold God from others.  God desires that everyone everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel.  God has a plan of redemption.  God promised to bless Abraham’s descendants with a great nation.  The chosen people of God were the Israelites but He also Israel attracted to Himself non-Israelites.  The non-Israelites were Ruth the Moabite, Naaman the Syrian and the people of Nineveh.  God promised to send the Messiah to nations laying in darkness.  Jesus became the sacrifice for human sin.  It was meant that the spiritual redemption of God would be carried to all nations, peoples, tribes and tongues.  Prayer and worship was held in the temple as a house of worship to all nations. 

     The Bible in the Great Commission calls us to make disciples of all nations.  Extreme Calvinism in the five points of Tulip does not forbid evangelism.  We encourage evangelism in the sharing of the Glad Tidings of the Gospel.  In Acts 1, 2 17, and 21 we see Pentecost came to a different nations in one place by the Spirit in the thrust of the Good News.  We see in the Book of Revelation that all nations will be seen in the kingdom of heaven.  Christians have the responsibility to share the Good News to everyone in every place.  We know that evangelism means missions. 

     We have the responsibility to share the Good News with everyone from every believer.  We ought to confess Christ in word and deed.  We ought to confess Christ in daily life.  The Spirit of God works with us in evangelism.  Evangelism should be a natural result of our conversion.  Our conversions are insufficient to bring people to Christ but we must share the love of Christ.  It is incomplete because it is expressed in words only but we ought to live the Christian life.  We must explain the Gospel of Glad Tidings to every lost soul.  We ought to share the unified imputed righteousness by faith alone in Christ alone.  God will draw all kinds of men to Himself in His sovereignty through evangelism.  Amen.