Taken
from Clarification of the Exchanged Life
by Exchanged Life Ministries of Texas.
Precious
Blood Was Shed
by: J. Vernon McGee
Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…
There
is often a silence about the blood of Christ, even in fundamental circles. As
long as the blood of our Lord coursed through His veins, it had no saving value
for us; but when that precious blood was shed, Christ Jesus gave His life. The
life of the flesh is in the blood. He shed that blood that you and I might have
life.
Peter
was writing to Jews who had been brought up in Judaism. They were the Diaspora,
believing Jews living in Asia Minor. They knew the Old Testament, and they
understood that the high priest on the Day of Atonement took blood with him when
he went into the Holy of Holies, and that he sprinkled the blood seven times on
the mercy seat. Now the Lord Jesus Christ has taken His own blood to the throne
of God (the throne at which we are judged as guilty sinners), and He sprinkled
His blood there. He gave His life and paid the penalty for us. Now that throne
of judgment is the throne of grace where you and I can come and receive
salvation.
My
friend, the gospel has not been preached until the meaning of the blood of
Christ has been explained. It may offend you aesthetically - the offense of the
cross is that He shed His blood. Of course it is not pretty, but your sin and my
sin are not pretty either. Our ugly sin is what made it necessary for Christ to
die for us.
…Grace
unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1 Peter 1:2)
From
J. Vernon McGee's Edited Messages on 1 Peter ©1994
May
you know His blessings and peace, as you remember the precious blood that was
shed for you!
OUR
SAVIOR'S PRAYER
"I
have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." (Luke 22:32)
How
encouraging is the thought of the Redeemer's never ceasing intercession for us.
When we pray, He pleads for us; and when we are not praying, He is advocating
our cause, and by His supplications shielding us from unseen dangers. Notice the
word of comfort addressed to Peter: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but...(Luke 22:31-32).
But what? "But go and pray for yourself"?
That
would be good advice, but that is not what is written. Neither did our Lord say,
"But I will keep you watchful, and so you will be preserved." That to
would be a great blessing. But no, He said, "I have prayed for thee,
that thy faith fail not." We know little of what we owe to our Savior's
prayers. When we reach the hilltops of heaven and look back on all the ways in
which the Lord our God has led us, how we will praise Him who, before the
eternal throne, undid the mischief that Satan was doing on earth! How we will
thank Him because He never withheld His peace, but day and night He pointed to
the wounds on His hands and carried our names on His breastplate! Even before
Satan had begun to tempt, Jesus had forestalled him and entered a plea in
heaven. Mercy outruns malice.
Note
that He did not say, "Satan hath sifted you; therefore, I will pray,"
but He said, "Satan hath desired to have you." He checked Satan
even in his very desire and nipped it in the bud. He did not say, "But I
have desired to pray for you." No, He said, "I have prayed for
thee." I have done it already. I have gone to court and entered a
counterplea even before an accusation is made." O Jesus, what a comfort it
is that You have pleaded our cause against our unseen enemies, disarmed their
mines, and unmasked their ambushes. This is a matter for joy, gratitude, hope,
and confidence.
Charles
H. Spurgeon
FELLOW CITIZENS WITH THE
SAINTS.
What is meant by our being
citizens in heaven? (Ephesians 2:19)- It means that we are under heaven's
government. Christ the King of heaven reigns in our hearts; our daily prayer is,
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The proclamations
issued from the throne of glory are freely received by us: the decrees of the
Great King we cheerfully obey. Then as citizens of the New Jerusalem, we share
heaven's honors. The glory which belongs to beatified saints belong to us, for
we are already sons of God, already princes of the blood imperial; already we
wear the spotless robe of Jesus' righteousness; already we have angels for our
servitors, saints for our companions, Christ for our Brother, God for our
Father, the Holy Spirit for our Helper, and a crown of immortality for our
reward.
We share the honors of
citizenship, for we have come to the general assembly and Church of the
first-born whose names are written in heaven. As citizens, we have common rights
to all property of heaven. Ours are its gates of pearl and walls of chrysolite;
ours the azure light of the city that needs no candle nor light of the sun; ours
the river of the water of life, and the twelve manner of fruits which grow on
the trees planted on the banks thereof; there is nought in heaven that belongeth
not to us. "Things present, or things to come," all are ours. Also as
citizens of heaven we enjoy its delights. Do they there rejoice over sinners
that repent, prodigals that have returned? So do we. Do they cast their crowns
at Jesus' feet? Such honors as we have we cast there too. Are they charmed with
His smile? It is not less sweet to us who dwell below. Do they look forward,
waiting for His second advent? We also look and long for His appearing.
If, then, we are thus
citizens of heaven, let our walk and actions be consistent with our high
dignity.
Charles H.
Spurgeon
WATCHFUL
IN ALL SEASONS
Then was Jesus led up of
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Matthew 4:1
A holy character does not
avert temptation: Jesus was tempted. When Satan tempts us, his sparks fall upon
kindling. In Christ's case, however, it was like striking sparks on water, Yet
the enemy continued his evil work.
Now, if the devil goes on
striking when there is no result, how much more will he do it when he knows what
flammable stuff our hearts are made of. Though you become greatly sanctified by
the Holy Spirit, expect that the great dog of hell will still bark at you. In
the company of men, we expect to be tempted; but even seclusion will not guard
us from the same trial. Jesus Christ was led away from human society into the
wilderness by the devil. Solitude has its charms and its benefits and may be
useful in checking the lust of the eye and the pride of life, but the devil will
follow us into the most lovely retreats. Do you suppose that it is only the
worldly-minded who have dreadful thoughts, and blasphemous temptations, for even
spiritually-minded persons endure the same. We may suffer the darkest temptation
in the holiest place.
The utmost consecration of
spirit will not insure you against satanic temptation. Christ was consecrated
through and through. It was His meat and drink to do the will of Him who sent
Him, yet He was tempted!
Your heart may glow with an
angelic flame of love for Jesus, yet the devil will try to bring you down to
Laodicean lukewarmness. If you tell me when God permits a Christian to lay aside
his armor, I will tell you when Satan gives up temptation. Like the old knights
in wartime, we must sleep with helmet and breastplate buckled on, for the
arch-deceiver will seize our first unguarded hour to make us his prey. May the
Lord keep us watchful in all seasons and give us a final escape from the jaw of
the lion and the paw of the bear.
Charles H.
Spurgeon
The
Free Will of Man
The following is an excerpt from an article written by Dr.
R.C. Sproul discussing the free will of man.
Though many secular determinists have denied both the
reality of mind and the reality of will to human beings, that is not the case
with historic Christianity. The issue in the church has been not so much whether
we have wills, but the extent to which our wills are free. The issue in theology
(as distinguished from philosophy, wherein the question of free will encounters
other obstacles) has two foci.
The first has to do with the relationship between man's
will and God's will with respect to predestination and divine providence. Here,
most agree (at least certainly Calvinists) that in the mystery of concurrence,
or the point at which the human will intersects the divine will, man's freedom
is neither violated nor destroyed. That is, the human will does not fall victim
to coercion; God works out His divine will in and through the choices made by
the human will. At no time does He reduce humans to the level of impersonal or
non-volitional puppets who can move and act only as their strings are pulled
externally. We are free but not autonomous.
The second focus of theological concern regarding free will
has to do with the degree to which our liberty has been impaired by the fall.
This is the issue I chronicled historically in my book Willing to Believe.
This is the issue that was at the heart of the Pelagian controversy that pitted
the British monk Pelagius against St. Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century.
In that debate, Pelagius argued that man not only was created free but that his
nature was created immutable. He denied the reality of the fall, arguing that
Adam's sin affected Adam and only Adam. There was no fall into a state of moral
corruption called original sin, which was transmitted to the entire human race.
Against Pelagius, Augustine argued that the fall produced
dire consequences for humanity that involved the loss of original liberty. He
distinguished between "free will" and "liberty." He argued
that since the fall man still has a free will — that is, he retains the
faculty of choosing. He still can act intentionally, according to his desires.
What he lost was any desire for the things of God. Thus, he never will choose
God precisely because he doesn't want to choose God. This is freedom without
liberty. This state of affairs is rooted in man's bondage to sin. The sinner is
both free and enslaved at the same time, but not in the same relationship. He is
free to do what he wants, but what he wants to do is sin. Therein is his
bondage.
Pagan and humanistic views of man, while admitting that we
sin, do not agree that we sin because of a fallen nature that is enslaved to
sin. Sin is seen as peripheral to human experience, not at its core. The
humanist argues that a free will is always an indifferent will that has no
pre-inclination to sin but is always able, in any circumstance, to choose sin or
righteousness. It is this "indifference" that is on a collision course
with the biblical view of man.
Fueling a Passion for
Christ
By: Charles F.
Stanley.....In Touch Magazine
Studying God's Word is the essential first
step to developing zeal for Christ---we must understand His ways and promises
before we can fall deeply in love with Him. While the Bible creates the first
spark of passion, we must continue to add fuel. Believers described as "on
fire" for the Lord practice several principles.
Like any loving relationship, our intimacy
with Jesus requires that we give Him our time. These quite moments are meant for
worship or meditation instead of working through a request list. Too often we
Christians stretch out our hands, but not our hearts---we rather know Him as the
One who answers prayer instead of loving Him for Himself. To achieve a true
friendship, we must talk with Christ as our Friend and listen for Him to speak.
Passionate believers also seek evidence of
Christ's work in everyday circumstances. He assures us of direction and
provision. If we are on the lookout, we will witness the promise in action.
Sometimes events seem too random or tragic to yield good, but continued
scriptural study, prayer, and patience often reveal God's greater purpose. We
are wise to record the Lord's work as we see events unfold. When our faith
falters, a written testimony outlining His daily divine management of earthly
affairs encourages us to trust and obey.
Fueling passion for Jesus is not a one-day
affair but rather a lifetime pursuit---one that believers cannot undertake
without laying aside everything that competes with Christ-centered devotion.
Fueling a passion for Christ brings the believer rewards as nothing else can.
The Mission of the Holy
Spirit
By:
Charles F. Stanley.....In Touch Magazine
Do you ever wonder why some believers are
spiritually vibrant while others act unexcited about their salvation or even
despondent about life? Some churches are on fire, but others seem asleep, their
worship services are cold, and no one is preaching the truth of the Gospel. What
accounts for the difference is our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
God's Spirit is essential to the life of
faith, but tragically, many believers do not understand who He is, why He came,
or how He works in our lives. First of all, the Holy Spirit's ministry is
crucial to salvation, even though the person is unaware of His work while being
attracted to Jesus and investigating the claims of Christianity. The Father uses
the Spirit to draw us toward the Savior. (John 6:44) Before we are saved, we are
spiritually dead and unable, on our own, to understand the things of God.
(Ephesians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 2:14) The Holy Spirit illuminates Scripture's
meaning; that is, He enlightens our mind so that we are able to understand what
the Word says. In addition, He convicts unbelievers of their sin and convinces
them about the Savior's righteousness as well as the coming judgment for sin.
Through the Holy Spirit, we receive new life in Christ, upon our salvation, He
indwells us in order to live the Christian life through us. (John 3:1-21)
Another aspect of the Spirit's ministry is our
sanctification. Though we will never be perfect in this life, the Holy Spirit is
at work building godly character in us so that we increasingly resemble Jesus
Christ. A brand new revelation about a familiar verse or a peaceful reaction to
a trial can be evidence of this progressive transformation. (Galatians 5:22) A
third characteristic is that the Spirit's ministry is vital to our service.
Every believer is called to serve the Lord for the greater good of the entire
body, and the Spirit of God endows each Christian with a spiritual gift for that
purpose. (1 Corinthians 12:7)
Jesus assigned His disciples an impossible
mission, humanly speaking, but then sent the empowering Holy Spirit, who enabled
them to succeed. (Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 24:49) God has a purpose for each of
us, too, but in our own strength, we are doomed to failure. How reassuring that
our success is guaranteed through the outworking of God's indwelling Spirit!
DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY AND HUMAN
RESPONSIBILITY
By: William
MacDonald....Believer's Bible Commentary
When we say that God is sovereign, we mean that
He is in charge of the universe and that He can do as He pleases. In saying
that, however, we know that, because He is God, He will never do anything wrong,
unjust, or unrighteous. Therefore, to say that God is sovereign is merely to
allow God to be God. We should not be afraid of this truth or apologize for it.
It is a glorious truth and should cause us to worship.
In His sovereignty, God has elected or chosen
certain individuals to belong to Himself. But the same Bible that teaches God’s
sovereign election also teaches human responsibility. While it is true that God
elects people to salvation, it is also true they must choose to be saved by a
definite act of the will. The divine side of salvation is seen in the words,
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me." The human side is
found in the words that follow: "and the one who comes to Me I will by no
means cast out" (John 6:37). We rejoice, as believers, that God chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). But we believe just as
surely that whoever will may take of the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17). D.
L. Moody illustrated the two truths this way: When we come to the door of
salvation, we see the invitation overhead, "Whosoever will may come."
When we pass through, we look back and see the words "Elect according to
the foreknowledge of God" above the door. Thus the truth of man’s
responsibility faces people as they come to the door of salvation. The truth of
sovereign election is a family truth for those who have already entered.
How can God choose individuals to belong to
Himself and at the same time make a bona fide offer of salvation to all people
everywhere? How can we reconcile these two truths? The fact is that we cannot.
To the human mind they are in conflict. But the Bible teaches both doctrines,
and so we should believe them, content to know that the difficulty lies in our
minds and not in God’s. These twin truths are like two parallel lines that
meet only in infinity.
Some have tried to reconcile sovereign election
and human responsibility by saying that God foreknew who would trust the Savior
and that those are the ones whom He elected to be saved. They base this on
Romans 8:29 ("whom He foreknew He also predestined") and 1 Peter 1:2
("elect according to the foreknowledge of God"). But this overlooks
the fact that God’s foreknowledge is determinative. It is not just that He
knows in advance who will trust the Savior, but that He predetermines this
result by drawing certain individuals to Himself.
Although God chooses some men to be saved, He
never chooses anyone to be damned. To put it another way, though the Bible
teaches election, it never teaches divine reprobation. But someone may object,
"If God elects some to blessing, then He necessarily elects others to
destruction." But that is not true! The whole human race was doomed to
destruction by its own sin and not by any arbitrary decree of God. If God
allowed everyone to go to hell—and He could justly have done that—people
would be getting exactly what they deserved. The question is, "Does the
sovereign Lord have a right to stoop down and select a handful of
otherwise-doomed people to be a bride for His Son?" The answer, of course,
is that He does. So what it boils down to is this: if people are lost, it is
because of their own sin and rebellion; if people are saved, it is because of
the sovereign, electing grace of God.
To the man who is saved, the subject of God’s
sovereign choice should be the cause of unceasing wonder. The believer looks
around and sees people with better characters, better personalities, and better
dispositions than his own, and asks, "Why did the Lord choose me?"
Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come? (Isaac
Watts)
The truth of election should not be used by the
unsaved for excusing their unbelief. They must not say, "If I’m not
elect, there’s nothing I can do about it." The only way they can ever
know they are elect is by repenting of their sins and receiving the Lord Jesus
Christ as Savior (1 Thess. 1:4–7).
Neither should the truth of election be used by
Christians to excuse a lack of evangelistic zeal. We must not say, "If they’re
elect, they’ll be saved anyway." Only God knows who the elect are. We are
commanded to preach the gospel to all the world, for God’s offer of salvation
is a genuine invitation to all people. People reject the gospel because of the
hardness of their hearts, and not because God’s universal invitation is
insincere.
There are two dangers to be avoided in connection
with this subject. The first is to hold only one side of the truth—for
example, to believe in God’s sovereign election and to deny that man has any
responsible choice in connection with his salvation. The other danger is to
overemphasize one truth at the expense of the other. The scriptural approach is
to believe in God’s sovereign election and to believe with equal force in
human responsibility. Only in this way can a person hold these doctrines in
their proper biblical balance.
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