"POWERFUL PREACHER" Occasionally I hear the term "powerful preacher" used in speaking of a preacher of the gospel. I've often thought about that term. If there is only one gospel, only One who calls and equips a man to preach it and only One it glorifies, what is a powerful preacher? I am sure that various people mean various things when they use such terms but I'm afraid it most often means a preacher that is a gifted orator or very dogmatic or one who delights in controversy. May God save us from this idolatry and preacher worship! He may use us, but He doesn't need us. The true gospel preacher is the first one to confess his weakness and to acknowledge that all power is of God. True gospel preachers have a treasure to open before men of the glories of Christ, but they hold it in "earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us." (2 Cor. 4:7) I don't want to be a "powerful preacher," but I do pray to preach in the power of the Holy Spirit giving to Christ all the glory for that salvation which is of the Lord! Why? Because the weakest, least gifted or eloquent servant of God is what He uses to call out His sheep. As a matter of fact, that's the only ones He uses! (1 Cor. 1:25-29) –Pastor Gary Shepard
***** Man’s ignorance of himself and God lies in one thing: He thinks he is not so bad that he cannot do something to save himself, and that God is not so good that He will not accept his efforts. He is wrong on both points. --Pastor Gary Shepard *****
NO OTHER SAVIOR There is no other SAVIOR but CHRIST to look to, no other MEDIATOR between God and men to make use of, no other PHYSICIAN of value for diseased and sin-sick souls to apply unto, no other FOUNTAIN but His blood for polluted souls to wash in and be cleansed, no other CITY OF REFUGE or stronghold for souls sensible of danger to flee unto and be safe, no other to come to as the BREAD OF LIFE where hungry souls may be fed, no other PLACE OF REST for those that are weary and heavy laden, nor is there any other where there is plenty of all grace and security from every enemy, as in HIM; and therefore, to whom can they recourse, but unto HIM? --John Gill *****
THE MERCY OF GOD Christ did not bring the mercy of God to us. IT WAS THE MERCY OF GOD THAT BROUGHT CHRIST TO US! Christ is the channel of mercy, not the cause of mercy. The death of Christ makes it possible for God to righteously bestow covenant mercies on His people, justice having been fully satisfied by Christ the Surety. Mercy comes from God, but only through Jesus Christ. We have a concrete example of the mercy of God in the regeneration of Saul of Tarsus. He attributes his conversion to the mercy of God. He says that he was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious; "but I obtained mercy," says he, "because I did it ignorantly in unbelief" (I Tim. 1:13). This does not mean that ignorance and unbelief were the grounds of mercy, but the evidence that his salvation was an act of mercy. Paul was the chief of sinners, but he obtained mercy. There is no sinner too bad for mercy to save. Mercy implies that the sinner has nothing to say in his own defense. We understand the meaning of mercy when the defendant throws himself on the mercy of the court. That means that he is guilty and has nothing of merit to plead before the law. And this is exactly the condition of every man of us before the bar of divine justice. Mercy is our only hope. We may plead before our fellowman, but to ask God for justice (to ask God to give us what we deserve) is the same as asking for a room in the regions of the damned. --C. D. Cole
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