How helpless guilty nature lies, Unconscious of its load! The heart, unchanged can never rise To happiness and God.
The will perverse, the passions blind, In paths of ruin stray; Reason, debased, can never find The safe, the narrow way.
Can aught, beneath a power divine, The stubborn will subdue? Tis Thine, almighty Saviour, Thine, To form the heart anew.
O change these wretched hearts of ours, And give them life divine! Then shall our passions and our powers, Almighty Lord, be Thine!
(Tune: "Amazing Grace" #236)
"And there came a leper to Him.” (Mark 1:40).
As I looked at this passage of scripture I thought to myself, 'not many people in this country think too much or even know very much about this disease of leprosy'. I wondered and noted that this is exactly what people think about sin in our day, that is, they DON’T THINK ABOUT IT. It is in some one else, it is in a far away country and does not apply directly to me, it's a third world country problem; so they say about leprosy, so I say about you who know nothing of the blackness and corruption within our own hearts! Oh may the blessed Holy Spirit cause us to be made aware of the iniquity within and the vileness that permeates all that we do! Then and only then will we react the same way this poor leper did and came to Him, beseeching Him and kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean! Clean, whole, forgiven and this done so immediately; that's what I want, that's what I need. Have you been made to see this is you, this is what God sees' when He looks at you and I without the blood of Christ over us, in us and for us? Just because sin is something we may think is small or insignificant doesn't mean it won't throw you head long into Hell itself! Come to Him my friend, Come to Him bowing and owning His sovereign right to damn you or cleanse you; may He 'will' your cleansing today for His great name's sake.
- Pastor Drew Dietz
~~~ O ~~~
"To know Jesus Christ and Him crucified is not the minimum of knowledge but the maximum of knowledge; that to know "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" is not to know little but to know all; that here is not a descent from a loftier region, but an elevation into the highest sanctuary; that in "Jesus Christ and him crucified" all doctrines, all God's teachings, and man's experiences culminate; and from "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" all duties, all works, all ministries are to emanate and to be evolved."
- Adolph Saphir
The salvation of a dead sinner was hard fought and hard won by the Lord Jesus Christ. It took the God-man, Jesus Christ, thirty-three years of hard labour to fulfill God's law and establish the perfect righteousness and holiness which God demands of man. He fought with and WON single-handedly against all the forces of evil throughout the universe; to free His elect from sin, death, and captivity. He suffered the equivalent of an eternal hell while on Calvary's cross, to pay the punishment due our sin. The salvation of God's people was a great work performed at great cost by the great Saviour. And it was an accomplished work by Him that eternally saved every one of His people; the reward of which work shall never be lost or undone. It is not the wit or will of man, but the work of Christ which saves. And while it required no work on our part, "not by works of righteousness which we have done", yet we are told to "labour to enter into that rest" (Hebrews 4:11). We are to labour to keep from laboring, labour against self, sin and the world. The believer is exhorted to works of faith and labour of love. It is not easy. It requires a cost, sacrifice, and labour! And yet, here is the paradox: It is labour by resting. He said: “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). But no, it is not easy! And if all this seems strange to you, then go learn what this meaneth. - Pastor Paul Mahan
~~~ O ~~~
To redeem poor sinners, Jesus came down from heaven, put on the rags of our mortality, agonized, bled, and died. Jesus is made His people’s substitute, burden-bearer, sin-remover, and guilt-sustainer. Their debt is placed to His account. His riches pay the full amount. Sin is removed from the sinner, and placed on the Sinless! Their curse is rolled on Him, and He endures it, until no more remains!
God deals with Jesus as the guilty one! He, as spotless Deity, receives imputed sins, and fully expiates them all. In the vicarious victim, God’s justice is satisfied, and wrath expires! Jesus, in His life, in the garden, on the cross suffers their sufferings, dies their death, and so becomes their uttermost salvation! His pains are their pardon! His stripes are their healing! His agony is their recovery!
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