God's Sovereign Grace

I've recently been reading John MacArthur's book, "The Gospel According To The Apostles" and came across a great section on Irresistible Grace that I thought I'd share with you. Pastor MacArthur does a great job of breaking down and showing how salvation is through God alone and we can effect none of it. He states:

"Don't misunderstand; we are not idle in the process. Nor does saving grace force people to believe against their will. That is not what irresistible grace means. Grace is not coercion. But by transforming the heart, grace makes the believer wholly willing to trust and obey.

Scripture makes clear that every aspect of grace is God's sovereign work. He foreknows and foreordains the elect (Rom. 8:29), calls the sinner to Himself (Rom. 8:30), draws the soul to Christ (John 6:44), accomplishes the new birth (John 1:13; James 1:18), grants repentance (Acts 11:18), and faith (Rom. 12:3; Acts 18:27), justifies the believer (Rom. 3:24, 8:30), makes the redeemed holy (Eph. 2:10), and finally glorifies them (Rom. 8:30). In no stage of the process is grace thwarted by human failure, dependent on human merit, or subjugated to human effort. "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:30-32). That's Grace.

Many people struggle with the concept of sovereign grace, but if God is not sovereign in the exercise of His grace, then it is not grace at all. If God's purposes were dependent on some self-generated response of faith or on human merit, then God Himself would not be sovereign, and salvation would not be wholly His work. If that were the case, the redeemed would have something to boast about, and grace wouldn't be grace (Rom. 3:27; Eph. 2:9)."

Speaking about being saved by grace, MacArthur continues by looking at God's actions in Ephesians 1: "Paul's central point was God's sovereignty in graciously saving the elect. He wrote that God chose us (v.4), predestined us (v.5), guaranteed our adoption (v.5), bestowed on us His grace (v.6), redeemed us (v.7), forgave us (v.7), lavished riches of grace on us (v.8), made known to us His will (v.9), obtained an inheritance for us (v.11), guaranteed that we would glorify Him (vv.11-12), saved us (v.13), and sealed us with the Spirit (vv.13-14). In short, He "has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (v.3). All of this was the work of His sovereign grace, performed not because of any good in us, but simply "according to the kind intention of His will" (v.5,cf. v.9) and "according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will" (v.11)."

Wow! What an amazing God we serve. God bless.

Scriptural Response To False Teachers

I've been reading Walter Martins book, "Kingdom of the Occult." It is absolutely amazing to me how many cults have used the name of Jesus but twisted it to fit their own ideologies. There have been so many of these cults throughout the centuries its no wonder so many people are confused as to what to believe. Here are just a few of them:

• The Ancient Magick Jesus


• The Mystical Kabbalist Jesus


• The Jupiter and Mars Jesus


• The Full Moon Jesus


• The Masonic Jesus


• The Great White Brotherhood Jesus


• The Sleeping Prophet Jesus

And there are dozens more. I'm not going to get into them now or what they all believed. Just suffice it to say that the Jesus they believed in was not at all the Jesus of the Bible.

We as a church need to do a much better job at teaching the truth of God's word to people so they know who the real Jesus Christ is and why He came. So what should our response be when we come across the doctrines of false teachers or false religions?

Our response should be Scriptural.

Jesus Christ, in the true essence of His being, cannot be changed by man's whimsical or capricious desires. The doctrine of Christ's immutability, which refutes all of man's changes to his nature, is clearly laid out in Hebrews 1:8-12

But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

10 And,

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”

God, the Father, addressed these statements to Jesus Christ, His Son. He quoted Psalm 102:25-27 directly applying these words to His Son. He was saying that Jesus created the heavens and the earth, He remains, He is the same and He will never fail. These facts, coupled with Hebrews 12:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever," give ample support to the immutability of Christ's nature.

When those within the cults, the occult or any false religion reinterpret Jesus, they directly contradict Scripture.

"A Christian who understands Christology, as grounded in the new Testament texts, should have no difficulty exposing the errors of man's twisted Jesus. There is only one true Jesus, so any "other Jesus" must be labeled false. (Galatians 1:6-9). In crafting their corrupted image of Him, these false teachers betray themselves and reveal that they know nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ." - Walter Martin

Although Christians differ on many lesser doctrines there are a few core doctrines that one must absolutely believe if he considers himself to be a follower of Jesus Christ:

1. There is only one God who exists and there are no others.


2. Jesus Christ has always existed from eternity past and always will exist.


3. Jesus Christ is God. He is the second person of the Trinity, wholly co-equal, co-substantial and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit


4. He became God incarnate on Earth through the miraculous conception of the virgin Mary and was declared Lord and Christ at His birth.


5. Jesus is the Christ, and no others can be "a Christ." He lived a sinless life. He vicariously atoned for our sins through His death upon the Cross. He rose from the dead in the same body as was crucified, yet it rose as a glorified immortal body. He ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the glory of God. He will personally return for His Church in the same manner in which He left.

The Bible explicitly teaches that no gods exist except the true and living God. Deuteronomy 6:4 states, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the LORD is one!" Isaiah added that no God existed before or after Him, "Before Me there was not God formed, nor shall there be after Me." (43:10). The psalmist expressed the same doctrine in Psalm 86:10, "You alone are God." Since occultists and false teachers often portray Jesus as one among many gods, then we can rest assured in the biblical testimony that there is only one God.

(Taken from Walter Martin's book, Kingdom of the Occult)

A Spurgeon Devotional

A Psalm of Remembrance


"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us." 1 John 4:16a

"Have you considered my servant Job?" "Ah," says Satan, "he serves you now, but you have set a hedge about him and blessed him, let me but touch him." Now he has come down to you, and he has afflicted you in your estate, afflicted you in your family, and at last he has afflicted you in your body. Shall Satan be the conqueror? Shall grace give way? O my dear brother, stand up now and say once more, once for all, "I tell you, Satan, the grace of God is more than a match for you; He is with me, and in all this I will not utter one word against the Lord my God.

He does all things well - well, even now, and I do rejoice in Him." The Lord is always pleased with His children when they can stand up for Him when circumstances seem to belie Him. Here come the witnesses into court. The devil says, "Soul, God has forgotten you, I will bring in my witness." First he summons your debts - a long bill of losses. "There," says he, "Would God suffer you to fall thus, if He loved you?" Then he brings in your children - either their death, or their disobedience, or something worse, and says, "Would the Lord suffer these things to come upon you, if He loved you?" At last he brings in your poor tottering body, and all your doubts and fears, and the hidings of Jehovah's face. "Ah," says the devil, "Do you believe that God loves you now?"

Oh, it is noble, if you are able to stand forth and say to all these witnesses, "I hear what you have to say, let God be true, and every man and everything be a liar. I believe none of you. You all say, God does not love me; but He does, and if the witnesses against His love were multiplied a hundredfold, yet still would I say, "I know whom I have believed."

C.H. Spurgeon - Sermon #253

HE IS RISEN!!!!!!

Praise the Lord!!

As this is the greatest day in the history of the world! Because Christ arose from the grave and defeated death, we who are sinners can now freely approach the Throne of Grace in repentance and faith and receive eternal life. There has never been, nor will there ever be again, so precious a gift.

Below I've taken a few different passages of Scripture and tried to encapsulate the true Easter story for everyone. Not only has He risen from the dead but He will one day soon return to call all of His elect home. Enjoy the verses below. Then turn up your speakers as I've embedded a couple of video's from the Accapella Christian group, GLAD. If you love Accapella singing, these guys are the best and these two songs are a real blessing. They follow right along with the Easter theme. Enjoy

"Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. See, I have told you." Matthew 28:1-7

"Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:16-20

"And when He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into Heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into Heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into Heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into Heaven"
Acts 1:9-11

Praise God!! Now scroll down, turn up your speakers and enjoy some great Easter music from GLAD.

God bless and have a great Easter.

Rob