Today’s Speaker: Brother Mark Pannell will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God’s word.
Television Broadcast: Our Reign of Grace Television program is being broadcast on WFXL Fox 31, Channel 4. The program will air every Sunday morning at 11 AM.
Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM –WISK. To hear sermons click here
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
In the day of God’s almighty power, through the preaching of the Gospel, God pulls down the strong holds of our natural religious thoughts (Prov. 16:25). By God-given faith and repentance, those born of the Spirit turn to the Lord as their one strong hold (Nahum 1:7), in repentance turning away from their former imagined strong hold which stood in opposition to the “knowledge of God” as He is. No one knowingly believes in a lie – an “imagined” stronghold or false refuge. But 2 Corinthians 10:5 is instructive in helping to identify imaginations that would stand against or opposed to the knowledge of God as He is revealed in the face, the Person and work, of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
That last phrase, “…and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” is quite telling. The sense here is that any imagined way of salvation that would stand opposed to the knowledge of God would be manifested by our thoughts on this subject – mistaken thoughts that salvation is (at least in some way or to some degree) based upon something other than (or in addition to) the “obedience of Christ.” Notice that “every thought” is brought into submission or captivity to Christ’s obedience – His obedience as a Substitute for all those He came to save – as the scripture describes it, His obedience “even unto the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). Christ perfectly satisfied God’s holy justice by rendering (as a Substitute for His people) a perfect righteousness whereby God manifests or reveals who He is – how He can be both a just God and a Savior (Isa. 45:21).
Has your every thought as it concerns the basis of your acceptance before God (as in this context pertaining to the strong hold of your salvation) – have they been brought into subjection or captivity to the obedience of Christ alone – His finished work of righteousness? If you presume to be saved based upon anything other than the merits of Christ and His righteousness, His work of obedience unto death on your behalf, then know that would identify your strong hold to be imaginary – an imagined (not real) way of salvation that must be pulled down. Praise God that by the blood-bought gift of faith, the thoughts of all who are eternally blessed in Christ are at some point brought captive to His obedience!
--- Randy Wages
THE PURPOSE, PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST
"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world" (1 John 4:2-3). With so many voices being heard in the religious world, how can one determine who speaks for God and who does not? Here is the issue: what does a man say about the purpose, person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Be assured of this: every true preacher of the gospel will set forth the everlasting counsel of the Lord that gave birth to the salvation of chosen sinners by the sacrifice of the eternal Son enabling God to be "a just God and a Savior" (Isaiah 45:21). He will proclaim the deity and humanity of Jesus of Nazareth declaring that One born of a virgin to be "Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matthew 1:23). He is the Son of God and the Son of Man, "God manifest in the flesh"
(1 Timothy 3:16). The Lord’s servants will uncompromisingly assert His absolute sovereignty, eternal suretyship, successful sacrifice, perfect righteousness, intercessory work, quickening grace, preserving power and glorious second coming. Every false preacher will either oppose or in some way diminish the Savior’s everlasting purpose of salvation, His marvelous identity or His effectual work of redemption. Those who declare a salvation that is ultimately dependent upon or conditioned upon the sinner, do not set forth the Christ of the Scriptures. Our Savior is the triumphant Redeemer of Whom it was written, "He shall not fail" (Isaiah 42:4). Failure is an impossibility with God and our Redeemer is "the mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6). His name is Jesus. What does that glorious name mean? It means just this - "He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).
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