Hymn of the Day
(tune: "Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned" p.52)
A Man there is, a real Man,
With wounds still gaping wide,
From which rich streams of blood once ran,
In hands, and feet, and side.
This wondrous Man of whom we tell,
Is true Almighty God;
He bought our souls from death and hell;
The price, his own heart's blood.
That human heart he still retains,
Though throned in highest bliss;
And feels each tempted member's pains;
For our affliction's his.
Come, then, repenting sinner, come;
Approach with humble faith;
Owe what thou wilt, the total sum,
Is cancelled by his death.
His blood can cleanse the blackest soul,
And wash our guilt away;
He will present us sound and whole,
In that tremendous day.
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Today's Hymns
Be Still My Soul - #290
Crown Him with Many Crowns - #62,
Grace Greater than Our Sin #209
Special Dates: Oliver Van Beek - 25
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Brother Scott Richardson used to say, "Ever since I heard the good news, I haven't heard any bad news." He did not say this as though there were no sad news. Rather, he had learned the blessed truth that, being under the care and protection of the Almighty, nothing truly bad can happen to the child of God. Indeed, all things work together for the eternal good of God's elect. There will be times for tears, but there will never be times for despair. There will be circumstances that bewilder us, but there are none that need to overthrow us. Many events will drive us to our knees in prayer, but that, in itself, is good, and even those events have been knitted together by the Sovereign to bring about a wealth of glory for His people that far surpasses the worst suffering of any saint of God.
I can understand the skeptic or outright atheist being overthrown by his troubles for, to him, they are at best, the cruel hand of fate. But the believer can see all things as the loving hand of a Father bringing him home! -Joe
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The Apostle exhorted us to "lay aside every weight and THE SIN which so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1). THE sin he is talking about "that doth so easily beset us" is the sin of unbelief. Unbelief is the Mother of all sins. It is the ONE sin from which all sin derives its life. Every sin, every disobedience, every act that is contrary to God begins with unbelief.
This awful sin manifests itself in many different forms. One form of it is INDIFFERENCE. How can anyone be indifferent about Christ, the gospel, and the church unless they are beset by the sin of unbelief? Unbelief also takes form in murmuring, covetousness, and discontentment.
It was because of unbelief that God said "So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest" (Heb. 3:11). What shall we do about this horrible sin that so easily besets us? There are two things. One is, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). The second remedy is to do as the man who brought his child to our Lord. "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF" (Mark 9:23-24). -Donnie Bell
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To believe that Jesus is the Christ is to believe that the man, Jesus of Nazareth, is the woman's promised Seed, the incarnate God, and that by his obedience unto death he actually accomplished all that the Old Testament Scriptures prophesied He would accomplish. — He saved his people from their sins! -Don Fortner
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The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are... – Luke 18:11
No person is less likely to be saved than the very religious professor. He wears an armor of presumption. You cannot tell him anything of grace and mercy, his head is helmeted with much religious knowledge and tradition. You cannot touch his heart for he wears the breastplate of self-righteousness. He gives assent to every fundamental truth, yet believes nothing. He attends to every religious holiday, service and moral law, yet knows nothing of heart repentance and faith. No other suit of armor is one half so effective for warding off the strokes of truth as that which is forged in the arsenal of religion. I have more hope for the drunkard and the harlot than for the gospel-hardened religionist! -Scott Richardson
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By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
–Hebrews 7:22
Christ is to be answerable for all those that are given to Him, at the last day, and therefore we need not doubt but that He will certainly employ all the power of His Godhead to secure and save all those that He must be accountable for. Christ's charge and care of these that are given to Him extends even to the very day of their resurrection, that He may not so much as lose their dust, but gather it together again, and raise it up in glory to be a proof of His fidelity; for, saith He, "I shall lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day." –Thomas Brooks
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Faith does not come to Calvary to do anything. It comes to see the glorious spectacle of all things done, and to accept this completion without a misgiving as to its efficacy. It listens to the "It is finished!" of the Sin-bearer, and says, "Amen!" -Horatius Bonar