Still Unsaved

(Article for publication week of 12-26-2012 AD)

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20). We are coming to the end of another year, and many of you are still unsaved. Unsaved! Oh! What a terrible condition!

Some of you have had a prosperous year. You have prospered in your business and in your family, but you are not saved. God has given you His sunshine and rain, and His goodness has not moved you to seek salvation. What good will your temporal prosperity be if you remain unsaved?

Some of you have had sadness, tragedy and adversity this past year, yet your afflictions have not broken your heart in repentance. You remain unsaved. Should you remain unsaved, you will face eternal tragedy and sadness.

Some of you joined the church this past year, but you are still unconverted. Some of you taught Sunday School this year, but you are still unsaved. Some of you sang in the choir this year, but you are still unsaved. Some of you preached many sermons this year, and perhaps were an instrument of conversion to others, but you yourself are in the bond of iniquity and the gall of bitterness.

Some of you have lived very wicked lives this year. Though your sins have brought pain and suffering to yourself and others, you refuse the One Who can fix your terrible plight.

Why are you not saved? It is not because you have not been warned. I have warned you all year of the wrath to come through this column. Perhaps other ministers have preached Christ to you. I have set forth the way of salvation by grace alone, through faith in Christ Alone week after week. There are churches on every road in Simpson County, and some of them preach the true gospel. You have friends and kindred who have pleaded with you to repent and come to Christ, but you remain unsaved. You have folks who care enough for you to pray for your salvation, and yet you are lost. Christ has said, “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”, and yet you will not come to Him. You have no excuse to remain unsaved since the Saviour is able and willing to save, and you have been told the way of salvation through Him. There is only one reason you are unsaved- you are stubborn and rebellious and plainly say by your inaction “I will not be saved.” You, by your inaction declare that you love your sins and your self-righteousness more than you love Christ. You are declaring that you despise holiness, and prefer sin. This is the reason you are unsaved; you prefer it.

Will you ever be saved? Will you live another year and remain obstinate? You have no guarantee you will live another year. You have no guarantee you will see the last day of this year. If you remain as you are it will be forever said of you as it was of Judas Iscariot, “ it would have been good for that man if he had never been born!

Poor sinner, as far as I know, you do not have to remain unsaved. I plead with you to repent of your sins and trust in Christ Alone for salvation right now. Christ is able and willing to save the chief of sinners. I know because he saved this one.

Christ, the Only Way

(Article for publication week of 12-20- AD2012)

"Jesus saith unto him, 'I am the way,the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John14:6).

The Bible is clear as a bell that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only way that a man can get to heaven. You cannot get to heaven on your own. You cannot get to heaven by some man. You cannot get to heaven by Mohammed. You cannot get to heaven by Confucious. You cannot get to heaven by the saints or the martyrs. You cannot get to heaven by anyone or anything except by the Lord Jesus Christ.

First of all, this is the way that God has ordained for sinners to be saved. It does no good to speculate as to whether our all wise and all powerful God could have saved sinners some other way. The fact is the scriptures plainly tell us that Christ is the only way for a poor sinner to be saved. The Bible, the inspired and inerrant and infallible word of God makes it clear that God has ordained salvation through His Eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ is not one of several ways to heaven, but the exclusive way. Dear reader, do not be fooled by the false prophets that tell you that you may choose your own way to heaven. It is popularly believed today that all religions ultimately lead to God, but this is a soul damning lie and those who are deceived thereby will end up in hell forever. Mark it down friend, the Bible says that everything and everybody outside of Christ will spend eternity in hell.

The Bible tells us that there is but one Mediator between God and man , and that is the Lord Jesus Christ (I Timothy 2:5). The Lord Jesus Christ is the God-Man Who is able to put one hand on God and the other on a poor sinner and bring him to God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Person in the universe that could make the atonement that was necesaary to put away our sins. He is the only One who could live a perfect and sinless life that would be imputed to a believer for his whole and sole righteousness. The only righteousness that can ever fit you to get to God and to heaven is the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to all who truly believe in Him.

Hear another text. Acts 4:12 , " neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved." Get it now, there is salvation in none but Christ. Hear John 10:1, "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some otherway, the same is a thief and a robber." Don't you see my friend that if you are trying to get to God and heaven some way but by Christ you stand condemned as criminal. How do you think you can stand before God when He says you are a thief and robber.

I urge you to get down off your high horse right now and repent of your sins and come to God through His Son and be saved. If you will call me at 601-927-5070, I will tell you how to be saved.

Perfected Forever

(Article for publication week of 12-12- AD 2102)

"For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). If you are a believer in Christ this text says you are perfect. Of course we know that this perfection is not in ourselves, but in Christ Alone and His saving work. No one has reached a place where they can honestly say they are perfect in and of themselves. I John 1:10 plainly says, "if we say that we have not sinned. we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." Our Lord taught us to always pray "forgive us our sins" (Luke 11:4). Believers are perfect judicially before God because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to them, though they are far from perfect in their own right.

It is by "one offering" that God's people are perfected- that is the offering of our Lord Jesus Christ made "once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). That is the only offering that ever has, or ever will make a sinner right before God. All the blood of the ceremonial offerings of animals under the Old Testament never took away anybody's sins (Hebrews (10:4), or perfected anyone. The Old Testament offerings pointed to the True Lamb of God Who would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29), but they never took away sins themselves. All those offerings were necessary because God had commanded them to teach believers and point them to the coming Saviour, but God never appointed any offering except that of His Son to perfect us (I Peter 1:18). Any pretended "offering" by any man today will not take away your sins. The offerings you give to the church will not take away sin. (Although God loves a cheerful giver and we are commanded to support the Cause of Christ as we are enabled by the Lord.) Note well our text says by ONE offering Christ perfected those who are sanctified. That is as clear as the nose on your face if you will just believe what it says! Christ accomplished the Great Atonement by a singular act. The Bible plainly says that salvation is all of the Lord (Jonah 2:9), it is in no sense a joint effort between God and man.

Now, notice who it is that has been perfected by the one offering made by Christ. Our text says it is those who are "sanctified." Lord willing, we shall have a series of articles on sanctification as soon as we finish with justification, but for now I want you to see that God sanctified His elect people in eternity. Ephesians 1:4 sweetly informs us that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be "HOLY and without blame before Him." "Without blame" refers to our justification, and "holy" refers to our sanctification. At the appropriate time, when we write on sanctification we shall , with the help of the Lord show you how that sanctification is positional, experimental, practical and progressive, but I want you to see today that our text is talking about positional sanctification. God chose His elect in Christ, before the foundation of the world and set them apart for His Own holy use. God sanctified His people in this sense from all eternity. By an eternal, and unalterable decree, God ordained the salvation of His Church. He gave His Son an innumerable (for man) number of folk as His bride. In this eternal decree, God set this vast host apart for His holy use. He chose them in Christ to finally be actually holy (II Thessalonians 2:13), but there was this setting apart by His Sovereign decree even before they had an existence in themselves. These sanctified ones are the ones that Christ has perfected forever by His one offering.

Next I want to point out that Christ made this offering to His Father. In chapter nine, verse fourteen of this same epistle we read, that Christ "offered Himself without spot to God." Christ did not offer Himself to men, nor to angels, not to devils, but He offered Himself to God. In other words, the death of Christ was a sacrificial offering to God the Father as a satisfaction for sin. And God has accepted this offering as the only payment that ever will have to be made to redeem us from our sins.

Finally, note well that Christ has perfected His people FOREVER. By His one and only offering, Christ secured eternal redemption for us. Dear readers, "forever" means just what it says! This text declares the eternal security and final perseverance of everyone for whom Christ died. Since we are perfected forever, it is impossible that any who are in Christ can ever fall away finally and be lost.

Perfected forever! What a grand and glorious gospel!

As Christ Loved the Church

(Article for publication week of 12-5- AD 2012)

“Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25).

The usage of the word “church” in our text is the same as we saw in last week’s Narrow Way article as the context clearly shows. The Church that Christ loved, and for which He gave Himself is the whole election of grace, that is, all that are now, have been , or ever will be gathered into Christ. The scriptures use the word “church” in two general senses. First as it is used here in our text, and then in other places to refer to a local and organized assembly of believers. One day we may write on the doctrine of the church, but this is as much as we need for our present business. Husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loved the Church.

It should be clear from a text like this that love is much more than feelings over which we have no control. Husbands have no choice but to love their wives, for Christ commands us so to do. I have known more than a few people who deserted their spouse with the announcement that they just didn’t “love them any more“. This is rank disobedience to the word of God, and therefore a great evil, for we are commanded to love our spouse (see also Titus 2:4 for the reciprocal duty of wives). Our Lord purposed to love His people in eternity and is bound and determined to love them forever.

Now, as I say, love is a command to be obeyed, not a feeling that may change. And this is most evident in that Christ is the example for us husbands to love our wives. “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.” Christ loves His church by providing for her, and caring for her, and by governing her. Christ loves His Church particularly and persistently. But above all, He gave Himself for her. That is he died for our salvation. Our Lord laid down His life to redeem His people from sin and save them with an everlasting salvation. Christ loved His Church sacrificially. He gave Himself !

Whatever may be said about our Lord’s general benevolence and goodness to the whole world (and there is much to be said), it is evident from this text that His saving love is set upon His Church. It should be evident that His saving love for His people is special and particular. The context of our passage clearly shows that. Just as a faithful husband loves his own wife in a way he loves no others, so Christ loves His church (to repeat for emphasis and clarity) which is comprised of all who are now, have been, or ever will be gathered into Christ.

Christ loved His people so much that He left heaven’s bright world to come into a sin cursed world to bleed and die for the salvation of all who would ever believe in Him (another way of describing Christ’s church). He gave Himself for us. That is He gave Himself as a Substitute for us. Christ’s church was under penalty of death with the whole Adamic race, but Christ gave Himself for us to satisfy the justice of God’s law. In giving Himself for us, Christ actually and definitely secured the salvation of every heir of promise. Every one that is in the True Church of Christ is saved because Christ died for them. And because Christ loves His people with an everlasting love they can never fall finally and be lost.

Much more could be written, and we hope we will be permitted so to do for the glory of our Great God, the advancement of His kingdom, and the eternal good of His people. May the Lord bless you all my, dear readers.