Christ Valued Only By Sinners
Christ is not valued nor His grace appreciated until men have a genuine knowledge of their misery, helplessness, and lost condition because of sin. When sin is sin indeed, then grace is grace indeed, and Christ is Christ indeed. If men have a superficial sense of sin, they have a superficial faith in Christ. --Thomas Manton
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God Reigns
Author: Jim Byrd
Tune: From Every Stormy Wind

1. God reigns on high ye saints rejoice,
He reigns, so bless Him with your voice;
He reigns forever over all,
Our God reigns over great and small.

2. God reigns upon this earth below,
No matter whether friend or foe;
He reigns and works His sovereign will,
He reigns with wise, unerring skill.

3. God reigns His purpose to fulfill,
He reigns, Who can resist His will?
He reigns o’er angels, devils too,
Our God reigns over me and you!

4. God reigns His wondrous grace to give,
He reigns to make dead sinners live;
He reigns to make the darkness light,
He reigns in boundless love and might.

5. God reigns, cheer up ye troubled saint,
He reigns, fear not or ever faint;
He reigns, so let your soul be still,
He reigns to work His perfect will.
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Regeneration -
An Irresistible Act of God!
Regeneration is an irresistible act of God’s grace: no more resistance can be made to it than there could be in the first matter to its creation; or in a dead man to his resurrection; or in an infant to its generation. Whatever aversion, contrariety (adverse), or opposition there may be to it, in the corrupt nature of man, it is all speedily and easily overcome by the power of divine grace, when the stony heart is taken away, and a heart of flesh is given. --John Gill

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Strangers and Pilgrims
“...and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13
What will bring a man to this confession? Will sickness and a near approach to death? O no: men return from the most dangerous illness to greater love of the world and more ardent pursuit after it. Look at a dying worldling; see him, like a drowning man, clenching the faster what he has grasped for his hope and help. Men not only live fools, but die fools too: their senses beguile them; their reason befools them; they reject the plainest truths before them.
Nothing will kill the love of a bewitching world, in a deceitful heart, but the view of heaven by faith: no man will confess himself a stranger to the world and a pilgrim on the earth, until he sees himself “a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the household of God.” - Eph.2:19. Admire those ancient heroes of faith: view and imitate their conduct.
What caused this confession? They had not received the promises: the Messiah was not then come from heaven with all the inestimable blessing of His kingdom; yet they believed in Him, looked to Him, and lived, by faith, upon Him as promised. Though they saw the precious promises afar off, yet they were realized to their hearts by faith; the distance of them did not weaken their confidence in their real existence; faith brought them near to their minds. They were persuaded of them, and embraced them; they clung to the promises of God as the chief delight and greatest joy of their souls.
Worldly men cry, “O, faith is to do all for you!” No, not so; Christ has done all for us; by faith we enjoy all the comfort of it: hence we become followers of Christ: “strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” and travelers to our Father’s kingdom. Have you had no mark of disapprobation from carnal men? Do they see nothing in you to which they object? Then you have great reason to question whether you are a real follower of a despised, crucified Lord: the world will love its own. Are you striving to keep both God and the world? Of all men upon earth, you are most to be pitied, for you will be most miserable: most joyful to say, I am “a stranger and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” -Ps. 39:12. --William Mason