Proverbs 20:6

Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

(A faithful man is one who proclaims the goodness of Christ.)

Birthdays: Mark Pannell – June 24^th.

HEART FAITH IN CHRIST

“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10)

Saving faith that God imparts to and implants in our hearts by His Spirit in the new birth is not a blind leap in the dark, nor is it wishful thinking, hope without substance, or positive determination. First, it is saving faith, not because faith itself saves us, but because it looks to Christ on the cross as our whole salvation. Faith that comes from God by the Spirit has an object – CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED. It is founded upon the fact that our redemption and justification before God was completed by our sovereign Lord at Calvary. True heart faith which the Holy Spirit works in us is the fruit and result of the finished work of Christ for us. The act of believing, though necessary in salvation, is not the cause of salvation, nor is it any part of the righteousness by which God justifies sinners. That place belongs to Christ and Him alone.

Secondly, true heart faith is an act of the mind enlightened and taught by God in the Gospel of His grace in Christ, and it reaches to the affections and the will of those who possess it. It is a dynamic force of God’s grace that brings a sinner to bow to the God of sovereign grace, plead for mercy, repent of dead works, and brings the sinner to run to and rest in Christ for all of salvation, peace, comfort, and assurance. It works by love and obedience to God, not to attain or maintain salvation, but because salvation has already been attained and is being maintained by God’s power and grace in Christ. This is true heart faith in Christ.

—Pastor Bill Parker – Pastor of 13^th. Street Baptist Church

PAUL’S TESTIMONY - Galatians 6:14

Paul never forgot the glory in which the Son of God appeared to him. He viewed this glory in connection with the cross on which his sins had been expiated. In it he beheld the exceeding sinfulness of sin; in it, connected with Christ’s resurrection and ascension, he saw the proof of all his sins having been forgiven. He was now begotten again to a lively hope of an unfading inheritance, but he viewed the cross as the center from which every spiritual and heavenly blessing flowed, and it alone was henceforth the ground of his boasting. Here he saw justice fully satisfied. On the cross he had died with his glorious Lord and Master. He knew he must follow him to the dust of death, but he also knew that he should have fellowship with Him in his victory over the grave.

--- James Haldane

An extract from“The Chief of Sinners Saved”

The insufficiency of nature to such a work as conversion is, shows that men may not fall down and idolize their own wit and power. A change from acts of sin to moral duties may be done by a natural strength and the power of natural conscience: for the very same motives which led to sin, as education, interest, profit, may, upon a change of circumstances, guide men to an outward morality; but a change to the contrary grace is supernatural.

Nothing can act beyond its own principle and nature. Nothing in the world can raise itself to a higher rank of being than that which nature has placed it in; a spark cannot make itself a star, though it mount a little up to heaven; nor a plant endue itself with sense, nor a beast adorn itself with reason; nor a man make himself an angel. Thorns cannot bring forth grapes, nor thistles produce figs because such fruits are above the nature of those plants. So neither can our corrupt nature bring forth grace, which is a fruit above it. Effectus non excedit virtutem suae causae [the effect cannot exceed the power of its cause]: grace is more excellent than nature, therefore cannot be the fruit of nature. It is Christ's conclusion, "How can you, being evil, speak good things?" Matt. 12:33, 34. Not so much as the buds and blossoms of words, much less the fruit of actions. They can no more change their natures, than a viper can do away with his poison. Now though this I have said be true, yet there is nothing man does more affect in the world than a self-sufficiency, and an independence from any other power but his own. This attitude is as much riveted in his nature, as any other false principle whatsoever. For man does derive it from his first parents, as the prime legacy bequeathed to his nature: for it was the first thing uncovered in man at his fall; he would be as God, independent from him. Now God, to cross this principle, allows his elect, like Lazarus, to lie in the grave till they stink, that there may be no excuse to ascribe their resurrection to their own power. If a putrefied rotten carcass should be brought to life, it could never be thought that it inspired itself with that active principle. God lets men run on so far in sin, that they do unman themselves, that he may proclaim to all the world, that we are unable to do anything of ourselves towards our recovery, without a superior principle.