September 23, 2012
The Fairmont Baptist Church in Sylacauga, AL and Pastor Larry Criss will host a Meeting next Fri.-Sun. Preachers are Bruce Crabtree, Don Fortner and Don Bell.
The Man Approved
He is the Man approved of God, Jesus Christ, our dear Lord.
The Voice from heaven spoke of Him, “Pleased with Him,” is His Word.
He is sinless, perfect, and pure, The Lamb of God, our Lord.
The Man approved was crucified, Taken by wicked hands,
He God determined by His grace, To die for sinful man,
He God raised up and called Him Lord. He sits at God’s right hand.
No man commends himself to God. God commends whom He will.
The Lord came to save the sinner, God’s purpose to fulfill.
In Jesus Christ they are approved. By His stripes they are healed.
Our dear Lord has only approved, those that are in His Son.
God has chosen before the world, a people for His own.
The Spirit calls them through preaching. In Him mercy is shown.
By Gary Spreacker
(Tune: ‘There is a Fountain’, Pg. 222)
ALL CHRIST OR NO CHRIST AT ALL!
Do you think that you are to get onto the scale, with your beautiful righteousness, and that you are to be accounted somebody of great importance, and that Christ is to do the little that you cannot do; that it is to be "Christ and company," or rather, "Self and Company," and that you are to be the head of the firm, and Christ to be a kind of sleeping partner? He will not do it; it would be a disgrace to Christ to yoke you with Him in such a fashion. You might as soon yoke a gnat with an archangel as think of your going in to help Christ to save you. To join a filthy rag from off a dunghill with the golden garments of the King cannot be permitted. Christ will be everything, or else He will be nothing; you must be saved wholly by mercy, or else not at all. There must not be even a trace of the fingers of self-righteousness upon the acts and documents of divine grace. It must be all of grace; "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" (Romans 11:6). There can be no more mingling of the two together as the ground of hope than oil will mix with water, or fire will burn beneath the sea. You cannot be saved by your own merits. – C. H. Spurgeon
Acts 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Our Lord will not allow his servants to stand around and wring their hands, begging, fighting, or compromising, so that people will listen to them. We dare not change this message to make it pleasing to people. There is no shame for the messenger if he is hated after faithfully delivering the message. We cannot concern ourselves with whether people believe or disbelieve. The message we have to deliver, Paul calls, "The offense of the cross." Again and again he warns us that the Gospel of the grace and glory of God in Christ Jesus, will be hated and will face opposition from this religious world. There is nothing more hated than that name. "The preaching of the cross is foolishness." - Pastor Milton Howard
Spurgeon: “Brethren, Calvary is no nearer to heaven than Sinai, if the Spirit of grace work not in us. If Christ be not crucified in us, his being crucified for us will be of no avail; we must have Christ formed in us the hope of glory.”
~~~ O ~~~
CHRIST IS OUR HIDING PLACE
“Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3)
Notice the hope that those who seek Christ find. They are hid in the day of the Lord’s anger. The only hope of salvation a sinner has is to be hid in Christ.
· The ark (Genesis 6-9): God destroyed the earth with the flood. That flood pictured the wrath of God’s judgment against sin. The only hope of salvation was in the ark, which was a picture of Christ. That ark suffered the wrath and judgment of God, but Noah and his family were safe in the ark.
· The blood on the door post (Exodus 12): God sent judgment upon the land of Egypt, and the only ones who were spared were in the houses where the blood was applied to the door post as God commanded. He said, “When I see the blood I will pass you by.” That blood portrayed the blood of Christ which accomplished our redemption and salvation.
· The city of refuge (Numbers 35): The only place of safety a man could find from the avenger of blood was in the city of refuge. Christ is our refuge from the wrath of God.
Isaiah declared “a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest” (Isaiah 32:2). That man is Christ! David declared “Thou art my hiding place” (Psalm 32:7; 119:114), “my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (18:2). Christ is our hiding place!
- Daniel M. Parks
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