Hymn of the Day
Tune: There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood
(This hymn was inspired by two texts from Lamentations)
Lamentations 1.12-14
Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Behold! and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger. From above He sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them: He has spread a net for my feet, He has turned me back: He has made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand: they are wreathed and come up upon my neck: He has made my strength to fall, the Lord has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.
and:
Lamentations 3.22-24
It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness! "The LORD is my portion," saith my soul, "therefore will I wait for him."
As on the cross of Christ I thought,
It seemed I heard one cry,
"Is all this nothing in your eyes,
"You who this day pass by?
"Is not such suff'ring greater than,
"That which you've seen before?
"And was there ever any man,
"Who grieved or suffered more?"
I looked again, and what I saw,
I cannot fully tell;
It seemed within His very bones,
There raged the fire of hell.
"What caused your grief?" I asked the man,
"What crimes could you have done?
"That God, Jehovah, struck you down,
"And left you all alone?"
His answer cut my heart like steel,
And left me void of breath;
"'Tis for your sins this pain I feel,
"For you I go to death!
"Your soul, before my Father's throne,
"Could find no place to hide.
"This is the way God can be just,
"And you be justified."
Jehovah's mercies never fail,
Each morning they are new;
Great is His faithfulness and love,
Therefore, we're not consumed!
Jehovah God, in Christ the Son,
Shall all my portion be,
My soul shall, therefore, wait for Him,
And live eternally.
Today's Hymns
He Surrendered All #cb12
He Included Me #cb15
Hallelujah, God Has Saved Me #cb10
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Special Dates: Katie Koedam – 31 ~ James and Maria – 31 ~ Garen and Jean Rozeboom - 1
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The longer I live, the more I feel that if there were one thing left undone if the devil were not conquered, sin not expiated, justice not satisfied, the law not honored and magnified, death not overcome, and every burden not carried I should not have a ray of hope. I used to think I saw this as clear as noonday thirty or forty years ago; but I saw it differently then to what I see now; for I see and feel now that if one hairbreadth is left for me to do to merit heaven or bring as a plea before God, I am undone forever and ever. But on the mount of Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ undertook the cause of His people, and there is not a jot or a tittle that He left undone, but "by one offering He perfected them that are sanctified," and "there is therefore, now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." HERE IS COMPLETE PERFECTION! "Saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." -John Warburton
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It is an amazing thing to me that people are so opposed to the doctrine of the gospel that declares man to be totally depraved and God to be absolutely sovereign. Those who oppose such doctrine would do well to consider the alternative. If the gospel is not for the "Totally Depraved," then it must be that I am required to produce my own righteousness, a thing I know by experience is impossible for me. If my salvation did not come about by the sovereign, electing will of God, then my salvation is left up to my will which I know to be a perverse and changing thing. If my redemption was not utterly paid by Jesus Christ in such a fashion that His work cannot fail to save me, then I am left with the job of redeeming myself, a price far too high for me to pay. If my knowledge of the gospel and faith in Christ is not by the omnipotent, and therefore, undeniable work of the Spirit of God, then I am left with the job of teaching myself and generating my own faith, a task which I tried and failed at for a long time. If my preservation and perseverance in the faith are not by the continual love of God for me, the continual, effectual intercession of Christ in my behalf, and the unlimited patience and power of the Holy Spirit to create and maintain life in me, then I am on my own from now until I reach heaven, and I know myself to be too weak for such a long and strenuous march. In short, if my salvation is not by the sovereign grace of God, then it is up to me. It is a head-shaking amazement to me that men demand the right to damn themselves if they choose to do so. I exult and magnify the sovereign, free, omnipotent grace of God which saved this depraved sinner, and rejoice in the gospel of Isaiah (52:7) which says, "Thy God REIGNETH!" -Joe
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Election is not the cause of anybody going to hell, for election is unto salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Neither is non-election responsible for the damnation of sinners. Sin is the thing that sends men to hell, and all men are sinners by nature and practice; they are sinners altogether apart from election or non-election. It does not follow that because election is unto salvation that non-election is unto damnation. Sin is the damning element in human life. Election harms nobody. -C.D. Cole
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Where is boasting then? It is excluded! (Romans 3:27)
What would you think if someone said to you, "I have been so good today, I'm just certain that I am a child of God"? I am sure you would be shocked by such a statement and might well wonder if, indeed, such a one was a child of God. The self-righteousness of such a statement would be revolting to any believer.
Why then, do we often think, "I have been so bad today, I wonder if I am really a child of God"? Since we do not believe that it is by our righteousness we stand, why do we believe that by our lack of it we shall fall? Sin cannot help but grieve the child of God, BUT IT NEVER NEED BE AN OCCASION OF DOUBT! Those who, by grace, have learned the meaning of, "Where then is boasting? It is excluded!" can go on to say, "Where then is despair? It is, likewise, excluded!" The same grace that excludes boasting in our righteousness also excludes despair over sin. When you fall, grieve, for sin is a grievous thing. But, if your hope is in the Living God and His Son, Christ Jesus, never think for a moment that a failure in your righteousness has brought you once again into condemnation. Your acceptance before God does not rest one iota upon your righteousness, so any failure in the same can have no effect on that acceptance. No, if you are accepted at all, you are "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6 KJV) and His righteousness never fails! -Joe
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The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor... -Isaiah 61:1
This has always been the one undeniable mark of the Holy Spirit's presence. The Spirit of God can enable a man to do many things, but, in every case of the Holy Spirit's anointing of a man, the preaching of the good news, the gospel, is found. May the Spirit give us this anointing! -Joe