Thursday, February 28, 2019

Son of David



In Matthew 22:42-46, Jesus asked the Pharisees, "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?' And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions."

That’s a good question. What do you think of Christ? I want you to answer that question. Do you think little of him? Do you dislike Jesus? Do you love Jesus? Do you even know him? Jesus asks the all-important question and the answer concerns the destiny of your soul. The Jewish leaders tried to entrap the Lord with questions designed to prove he was either a false teacher or to get him arrested. They utterly failed. Jesus showed himself to be the impeccable Christ and defeated his enemies. Now it’s his turn to ask the questions.

When Jesus asked, “What think ye of Christ, whose son is he?” They answered, “the son of David.” How is that considering Psalm 110:1? David had no one on earth above him. He was king, and only God was higher. Even in his death, no earthly king surpassed him. David was the standard by which all the kings were judged. A good king was said to walk after David. Every king of Judah after him was an heir. These men followed David, sat on David’s throne, walked in David’s ways, were called the sons of David, ruling in the city of David (1 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 22:2; 2 Chronicles 24:16). The kings of Judah were all sovereigns, but still walked in David’s shadow. How is it then, David called his heir, his son, Lord? “The LORD said unto my Lord”. Jesus said, David, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke the inspired Word of God, called one of his heirs “my Lord”. The only way that is possible, is if the LORD was his Lord. The Messiah is the son of David, but is also David’s Lord because the Christ is both the son of David, and the son of God. He is truly man, and truly God.

The Pharisees had no answer, realized they were defeated, and left with no more questions. The best of the best thought about what Jesus said, and couldn’t, rather they wouldn’t answer him. Their only option was to either say the inspired word of Psalm 110 was not true or admit that Jesus was correct. And, to confess Jesus right, they must bow, trust in Him as their Saviour, Lord, and Christ. But, they didn’t answer him and walked away. I hope you don’t act like the Pharisees and read the truth of who Christ is and then walk away, heart hardened, not repenting and trusting in him.



Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Hearing From God


Believers have always longed to hear from God. Imagine being an Old Testament believer living in a time before written revelation. The first five books of the Bible were penned by Moses, the guy we meet at the beginning of Exodus. That means all the people we find in the book of Genesis and Job (Job probably lived before Abraham) did not have a written Bible. Genesis covers around 2,370 years, so there were a lot of people, for a long time, who longed to hear from God.

Now, in the New Covenant, God has given us 66 books of written revelation. On top of that, Christians have the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us. When we read the Bible, we hear from God. Jesus said in Matthew 22: 31-32, “But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Jesus was talking to unbelieving Sadducees who mocked the supernatural. Jesus condemned them because they had not read, they didn’t understand, and believe the written Word of God. They were responsible to understand what God had revealed.

Also notice how Jesus viewed the Scripture. He said, “have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God.” He didn’t say, “Moses said” even though Moses penned it. Jesus asked if they had not read, in the Bible, what GOD had said “unto YOU.” The Bible is God’s Word. The Bible does not “contain” the Word of God, it is the Word of God. Pseudo intellectuals like to talk about their “translations containing the Word”, but, much like the Sadducees of old, they have a different view of the Bible than Jesus. The Old Testament Scripture did not contain God's Word, it was God's Word.

The Bible is God’s Word, and it is God’s Word to you, and you have access to it. When I open my Bible and read it, I am reading God’s Word. You don’t have to travel to Jerusalem to hear from God. You don’t need to climb a mountain and wait for a vision. You also don’t need to learn Greek or Hebrew to read God’s Word. My English Bible is the Word of God. Don’t let anyone shake your confidence in the Bible. Some will try to make you think only Greek and Hebrew scholars can tell you what God said. Only the trained professionals can know and hear from God and unlock the hidden secrets because they know what God's Word really says. That’s not what Jesus believed.

Some want to make the Bible merely a historical book to see what God said to Moses with little application directly to us today. Jesus didn’t believe that either. Jesus made application to this Old Testament verse, to the people in his hearing, and didn't first feel compelled to let the Sadducees know the historical redemption timeline.

Other believers want to set aside the written, revealed Word and go back to listening and waiting for God to speak and go back to the Old Covenant days instead of enjoying the blessings of the New Covenant. Imagine, being an Old Testament believer living in a time before written revelation. Imagine what it was like for Mahalaleel (Genesis 5:17) knowing only what Adam told him. Then, he finds out one day, there would be a book with the mystery of redemption revealed. That book would be available for anyone to read. God's will revealed. And then people set it aside and wait for a revelation. He'd think we were nuts.

Monday, February 25, 2019

Sovereign Grace, Silsbee Texas

My brother is the pastor of the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Silsbee, TX.

He has his sermons online now. Check them out HERE.

Go on now, click and listen.


Thursday, February 21, 2019

The Bible Teacher


Baptists are a “people of the Book” and believe God is honored and glorified in the preaching, reading, and teaching of the Word of God. Preaching and teaching are a priority in the church. In 1 Timothy 3:2, Paul says a pastor must be "apt to teach", meaning a he should be one who can teach, who does teach, and is ready to teach. Everyone can't be a teacher (1 Corinthians 12:29) and everyone shouldn't want to be a teacher (James 3:1). Just because someone wants to teach, doesn’t mean they ought to teach (1 Timothy 1:7). But, the church needs teachers (Ephesians 4:11), and there are probably people who could teach, having the knowledge and natural gifts, but don’t (Hebrews 5:12).
Are you a Bible teacher? Teach the Bible (1 Timothy 4:11). This may seem obvious, but too many teach everything BUT the Bible. A pastor was absent from his church and asked an itinerant preacher to come and fill in for him. When the pastor came back the next week, he asked one of the boys at the church what the guest preacher’s sermon was about. “Electricity,” the boy said. Now, whether the boy listened or whether the man really taught the Bible, it’s hard to say, but the big impression the man left on the boy was his stories about electricity. Their can’t be a greater or loftier desire than to know God through Jesus Christ. Entertaining people will make you popular, but it’s a sad substitute to teaching others about Jesus Christ the Lord.

Lewis Carroll had some good horse-sense in his book Alice in Wonderland we can apply to teaching. “Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” If you want to be a better teacher, listen to the king. To know where the beginning and end of a subject is, you need to know the subject. Then, have a plan for getting where you want your lesson to go. Those traveling with you may not know where you are going, but if they are confident you have some idea, they’ll trust your navigation. I just came back from a Bible conference in Florida and Google Maps gave me the directions, but I had to enter a starting point and a destination before I could get the plan. Start at the beginning, and keep going until you get to the end, then stop your lesson. Someone said their preacher lied every Sunday because he would say, “in conclusion” and then have no intention of concluding. Know your subject. Know what you want to say. Have a point and stick to it. Start at the beginning, go to the end, then stop. Try to winnow your information down to fit in the time allotted and save the rest for another time.
In conclusion… Oh – I’m out of space.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

How Deep the Father's Love - John 3:16


Most people are familiar with John 3:16. It’s a very familiar passage of Scripture, part of a conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus about the new birth. John 3:16 is a blessed verse. A glorious sentence spoken by our gracious Saviour. John 3:16 shows the Father’s great love, God’s perfect salvation, and the triumph of his eternal plan. There are three things I want you to think about in this verse in showing how Christ perfectly saves according to the will of the Father. God loves, God gave, and God saves.

GOD LOVED - For God so loved the world

When we think about God’s love here, we see the Father Truly Loved and the Father Intended to Save.

The very first thing we see when we read John 3:16 is it’s talking about the love of God the Father. It’s common for people to get confused about the Trinitarian love of God. Some see the Father as stern. He is strict and uncaring, and it’s the Son who loves us, because he died for us. It may be from misunderstanding God’s anger at sin, or confusion about the eternal covenant. Perhaps a misinterpretation of God in the Old Testament. But if you think about it, saying the Father is stern, and Jesus is loving would, in essence, say God the Father really doesn’t love us, but hates us and Christ has changed the Father's mind. And now the Father merely tolerates us only because Jesus died for us.  God the Father is the God of judgments appeased by the New Testament God of love. But, for this to be true, it would mean the will of the Father and the will of the Son are competing and opposed to one another. The Father and his heart would be against the Son, and the Son would need to overcome and defeat the will of the Father.

Nothing can be further from the truth. The Lord Jesus tells us salvation begins in eternity with the Father.

We could rephrase John 3:16 by saying, “For the Father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” The Father gave his son. This verse tells us it was the Father who so loved the world. Salvation displays the love of God, one of his excellencies and eternal perfections. God IS love. Love is a motivating factor in our salvation. The Father so loved the world, that he gave his son. Not the physical world, or else there wouldn’t be a New Heaven and New Earth. Not all of mankind, or else all of mankind would be saved. The Father freely chose in eternity past, to set his love upon Hell-deserving wretches because he loved, because he is gracious, because he is merciful. His love was not determined by the actions of man, or our love or our choice. The great love of God is not payment for good things we have done.

Not only does the Father love, but it’s the pinnacle of all love.

When Jesus calls us to love our enemies in the sermon on the mount, he says we need to love as the Father loved HIS enemies.

 (44)  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  (45)  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:

The low-down, tax collecting Publicans, everyone’s favorite whipping boys…THEY loved people who loved them. So what is noble, good, and honorable about that? It's not gracious that the publicans loved those who loved them. Their love is different from the Father's love, who LOVED HIS ENEMIES. We love God because "He first loved us". If the Father only loves and saves because of what we do for him, what difference is there between that love and the publicans?

No, the Father, in Eternity loved sinners and chose them for his own, and in His wisdom, ordained a plan to save us, and adopt us in his family, making us sons of God. No wonder John wrote in 1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God


The Father Intended to Save

The next thing we see is that this love isn’t a generic, undefined love, but love with a desired end and purpose in mind. It started in eternity past, demonstrated in time, and has a purpose through the endless ages of eternity future.

Jesus said, “For God so LOVED”. Loved is past tense. It points to his intention and motivation for sending the Son. Logically speaking, Love came before the sending, and the sending had a stated purpose. The Father had a reason for sending the Son.

President Dwight Eisenhower had a new speech writer come in the Oval Office, and he looked over a draft of a speech and asked the writer, "What's the QED?

The speechwriter looked at him funny, and Eisenhower said, "The QED - quod erat demonstrandum - What's the bottom line? What's the point?

QED is an acronym for that Latin phrase, and you use it when you demonstrate something has been proven or shown.

Eisenhower wanted every speech to have a message or a meaning. He didn’t want to just speak nice things, but he wanted to go into a speech with a plan and purpose – a message. Delivering the speech was carrying out his plan.

Most preachers I know anyway, have a plan when they get behind the pulpit. The sermon is carrying out the plan.

God had a plan. He had a purpose in salvation. There was a point to all this. What was it?

It was the Father’s aim, or His will, or His intent to save a people of His own choosing. God didn’t have to love us. God didn’t have to save us. God didn’t even need to create us. You are only sitting there, because God wanted it. This big, wide world you live it...It’s here because it pleased God to make it, not because he had to.

God chose to create us. God chose to love us. God ordained to save us. That was the plan.

John 6:35-40. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day.

What was the Father’s will? What was the Father’s intention?

40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Which parallels John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

John 3:16 isn’t the great Arminian Calvinist killer so think it is.

It was the Father’s will that all those he loved and gave to Christ would come to him and be saved. The Father chose a particular people and then gave those particular people to Jesus. The Father's will was not opposed to the Son's will, but in perfect, Trinitarian Unity, the persons of the Trinity are unified in will. The Godhead is unified in perfect fellowship. Perfect love. Perfect Unity.

It was the Father’s purpose for the Son to redeem the people He chose in ETERNITY PAST. The sacrifice Christ made on the cross was made for the Father’s elect. The Son was sent so that we might “have everlasting life” That’s eternity FUTURE.

Ephesians 1:9-14 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

God revealed this mystery of redemption to us. God ordained and predestinated us according to his purpose. Just as John 3 teaches us about the New Birth, Ephesians 1 teaches us that at the New Birth, the Spirit quickens us to life, and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the promise of eternal life in the eternal covenant of redemption. The Spirit is our earnest until the redemption of the purchased possession, or until we have our glorified bodies.

Look in chapter 2, verse 4, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

The purpose, the aim, the Father’s will was to save to the uttermost, all the way to the end. To raise us up together. That we would sit in heavenly places. That we would forever be in Christ. His will that was in the ages to come, he would display his LOVE and grace and his kindness toward us in Jesus Christ.

A covenant of the Godhead in eternity past, ordaining salvation for us today "through the blood of the everlasting covenant", for all of eternity future.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ didn’t “win” the Father’s love. Jesus didn’t, in other words, change the Father’s mind about us through his death, burial, and resurrection. The Bible tells us that the atonement is the essential way God the Father achieves his loving purpose in salvation.  The atonement flows from the love of God, which comes before the incarnation of Christ. This love comes before even the creation of the world. Eternally, and by His own good pleasure, God chose to love his people.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

John 3:16 displays God’s great love, his perfect salvation, and the triumph of his eternal plan.


Now, with that in mind, let’s think about our second point.
GOD GAVE - For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,

In this most famous of all verses, we find that after the Father loved and because he loved, he gave. When I was thinking about this, I had 3 questions.

What did he give?
How did He give?
Why did He give?

What did he give?
The Father gave His only begotten and dearly beloved son.

We have salvation because we are “Accepted in the beloved" and that beloved one is the Son.

The Godhead enjoyed perfect unity and perfection in eternity. And God giving of His only begotten Son also shows the love God has for us. He gave HIS SON.

We flinch a bit reading about Abraham when God commanded him to offer his son as a sacrifice. Waking up one morning and taking Isaac on a little trip up the mountain to worship God. It breaks my heart when I read Isaac say, "Daddy, where's the lamb to sacrifice?" That part breaks my heart. I remember after Elijah, our first, was born, reading this passage like never before.

We know that Isaac is the sacrifice. Abraham was told by God to give his son. His beloved son.

Can you imagine it?

What relief it is, when we read that passage and the angel stays Abraham, and we find out all along that God was not going to require Isaac, and he would be substituted for the ram stuck in the thicket.

Isaac lives! Isaac goes free! Abraham doesn't sacrifice his son. The ram is the substitute.

Then we get to the New Testament, and it dawns on us, that substitute was not a ram. That the substitute was a Son. A dearly beloved Son. An only begotten Son. A son whom the Father was, "Well pleased"

And this time, no angel stayed the Father's hand. This time, there was no other substitute to turn to.
It was Passover week in Jerusalem, and millions of lambs were slain, but that wasn't enough. The Son. The Only BEGOTTEN SON was given


How did He give?
The Father gave the Son, his Only Begotten, as a sacrifice for sin. Not simply as an example. Not only as a moral teacher, but as a sacrifice.

The giving included more than sending into His own creation, born of a woman. The giving is more than sending THE Prophet to preach and to teach and to heal. He gave his Son, to die for sinners.


Why did He give?
The Father gave because it was necessary.
It was necessary because of who God is
It was necessary price of redemption

Isaac asked Abraham, “Where is the sacrifice?” But Jesus didn’t need to ask the Father. Jesus knew all along. Jesus lived his whole living looking toward the cross. The Father willingly and lovingly sent the Son, and the Son willingly and lovingly came and died.

David risked his life for his father's sheep. He fought a lion to protect those sheep. He fought a bear to protect those sheep. He loved his father. He loved his job as shepherd. He loved those sheep.

How much, the Shepherd of our souls, who loves the Father, and loves his sheep, that he voluntarily laid down his life as a substitute.  

John 3:16 is true as it is necessary.

It’s this the great question? Why? Why didn't the Father simply forget our sins and move on? Why didn’t the Father proclaim his people innocent by “order of the King”?

The Father loved the Son. Surely, couldn't there had been another way?

Murray asked, “If we say that he could not [save by any other way], do we not impugn his power? If we say that he could but would not, do we not impugn his wisdom? Such questions are not scholastic subtleties or vain curiosities. To evade them is to miss something that is central in the interpretation of the redeeming work of Christ and to miss the vision of some of its essential glory. Why did God become man? Why, having become man, did he die? Why, having died, did he die the accursed death of the cross? This is the question of the necessity of the atonement.”

It's necessary because of Who God is. What God does is related to who God is.

Like I said, God didn’t have to save us, but when He chose to save us in His love and His mercy, he had to save us in a way that also coincides with his holiness and his justice.

God is simple. That just means he is not made up of different parts. He is not 50% love and 50% holiness…

We talk about the attributes, plural, but that doesn't mean they are parts of God. It's not that God is love and his love is greater than his holiness. Or Love is primary, and justice is secondary. Or that his attributes are at odds with one another.

God is perfect, simple. He isn't a composite of things, but He is One. So, God, by being God, by being I AM THAT I AM, cannot, separate Himself from, or disown, or disavow his character. God is Love, He is also Just and those two things, in our mind, are just different views of God's perfection.

God is so great, so immense, that we cannot conceive of Him, unless we think of Him in such a way as different attributes and how they relate to us in time.

Thomas Boston said, "the glory of one attribute is more seen in one work than in another: in some things there is more of His goodness, in other things more of His wisdom is seen, and in others more of His power. But in the work of redemption all His perfections and excellencies shine forth in their greatest glory.

This is why the cross was necessary.

God couldn’t express his love in forgiving sinners and ignore his justice and his holiness, because God is perfect.

So, while God did not have to save, because HE purposed TO save, it was necessary to save through a blood sacrifice.

It was necessary price of redemption

Galatians 3:21  Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

IF there could have been another way, there WOULD have been another way.
The Cross is a display of God love.
It is a display of God's wisdom
It is a display of God's Justice in punishing sin

Hebrews 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing may sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

If something is becoming, it’s proper. It’s right. So, in other words, it was suitable and proper, it was complete right and appropriate for the Father to bring his sons to glory through the sufferings of our Captain. If there was some other way, it would not have been suitable and proper.

When Abraham took Isaac up the hill, God demanded a blood sacrifice. It was suitable for God to accept a substitute. It was right and proper to accept it for Isaac.But that blood wasn't suitable and sufficient to be a complete satisfaction of God's justice. It was suitable and proper for salvation to come through the suffering Captain. Nothing else was suitable.


17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that the might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertain to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

The word translated “behoved him” means to be duty bound, or “must needs”. It’s the idea of being under obligation, under a necessity with no other choice. So, it was necessary for Christ to be made flesh, like his brethren. It was required under the eternal plan of redemption, for the Word to be made flesh that he could make reconciliation for the sins of his people. Christ was duty bound, to fulfill his promise and the covenant, to die for sinners.

 If it was one way of many, or if it was even a preferred option, it would not behoove him, nor would it be suitable for the father to Send him.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. The Shedding of an animal's blood for man's sin was not a suitable substitute. It wasn't enough. It never brought satisfaction. The crime of your sin was so great, only a blood sacrifice could satisfy justice. The heinousness of your sin was so vile, only the sacrifice of man could satisfy justice. Your Sin is so horrible, that only the sacrifice of a perfect man, a sinless man, would be suitable and sufficient.

And so all those old testament sacrifices were merely patterns of the Heavenly, eternal plan of redemption. God sent His Son, because that's the only way those HE loved would be saved.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

John 3:16 displays God’s great love, his perfect salvation, and the triumph of his eternal plan.


GOD SAVES – “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

It was the Father’s will that the Son die for his people, that they should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Father’s aim was for his elect, whom he loved, to be with him in glory. He sent his Son on that mission, to save and redeem the lost. The son accomplished that mission by substituting himself in the place of sinners, redeeming them from God’s sword of justice, paying their sin debt, and making atonement, himself being the propitiation for sinners.

The will of God was that sinners would not perish but have everlasting life.

God in his infinite wisdom, ordained that men would receive salvation and the forgiveness of sins through faith.

God saves by grace. Full and free. Completely and successfully. Perfectly.

The truth is beautiful. God loves, perfectly. God loves, completely. The love of God is on full display by saving unworthy, undeserving sinners. It doesn’t beautify love to say that God loves everyone equally, all in the same way, and some of his loved ones go to hell, and some don’t. Does it uphold and beautify and make great a love that loves me the same way as Pharaoh? Or, that I am loved the same way and as much as God loves Goliath. Does it inspire worship and praise that God loves me the same as he loved the rich man in Hell?

Other than several inches, what’s the difference between me and Goliath? Other than political power, what’s the difference between me and Pharaoh? Other than money, what’s the difference between me and the rich man?

You could argue (and would be correct) that these men are far my superior. Goliath was a great champion. A war hero. A battle-hardened famous warrior. I played football in High School. Pharaoh was the most powerful king on Earth. He had the power of life and death in his words. He ruled a nation and is famous, even today. Pyramids and structures still stand built in honor of the throne he held. I am a business analyst for the state of WV. Do you really need me to point out the difference between a rich man and a preacher? Superior strength. Superior intellect. Superior wealth, power, and influence. There really is nothing that I have that’s any better than these three men.  Knowing my heart, like I do, I can’t say that I’m morally superior.

Why am I saved? Why are they in Hell and I’m on my way to Heaven? Because the Father so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son as a sin-sacrifice, an atonement, a propitiation for sins of those he loved. The Son expiated the sins of those people, forgiving and paying the sin debt. And, according to the wisdom of God, we receive the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and escape the punishment of hell, by faith in the finished work of Christ.


“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

John 3:16 displays God’s great love, his perfect salvation, and the triumph of his eternal plan.

I implore you, to believe in the Only Begotten Son and receive everlasting life.


Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Famous for a Reason



“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I suppose John 3:16 is one of the most familiar verses in the Bible. It’s blessed verse. A glorious sentence spoken by our gracious Saviour. God in his infinite wisdom, ordained that men would receive salvation and the forgiveness of sins through faith, the gift of God. God saves by grace. Full and free, complete and perfect salvation.

The love of God is on full display in John 3 showing us God saves unworthy, undeserving sinners. It doesn’t beautify love to say that God loves everyone equally, all in the same way, and some of his loved ones go to hell, and some don’t. Does it uphold and beautify and make great a love that loves me the same way as Pharaoh? Or, that I am loved the same way and as much as God loves Goliath. Does it inspire worship and praise that God loves me the same as he loved the rich man in Hell?

Other than several inches, what’s the difference between me and Goliath? Other than political power, what’s the difference between me and Pharaoh? Other than money, what’s the difference between me and the rich man? You could argue (and would be correct) that these men are far my superior. Goliath was a great champion. A war hero. A battle-hardened famous warrior. I played football in High School. Pharaoh was the most powerful king on Earth. He had the power of life and death in his words. He ruled a nation and is famous, even today. Pyramids and structures still stand built in honor of the throne he held. I work for the state of WV. Do you really need me to point out the difference between a rich man and a preacher? Superior strength. Superior intellect. Superior wealth, power, and influence. There really is nothing that I have that’s any better than these three men.  Knowing my heart, like I do, I can’t say that I’m morally superior.

Why am I saved? Why are they in Hell and I’m on my way to Heaven? Not because I’m any better, smarter, stronger, or worthier. I’m saved because the Father so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son as a sin-sacrifice, an atonement, a propitiation for sins of those he loved. The Son expiated the sins of those people, forgiving and paying the sin debt. And, according to the wisdom of God, we receive the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and escape the punishment of hell, by faith in the finished work of Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting lifeJohn 3:16 displays God’s great love, his perfect salvation, and the triumph of his eternal plan. I implore you, to believe in the Only Begotten Son and receive everlasting life.