May 31^st 2020

10:00 am ------------------------------------------------------------------Here To Hear Out of Fear – Acts 10:33

Prove All Things – 1 Thess.5:21

The true Christian was intended by Christ to prove all things by the Word of God, all churches, all ministers, all teaching, all preaching, all doctrines, all sermons, all writings, all opinions, all practices. These are his marching orders. Prove all by the Word of God; measure all by the measure of the Bible; compare all with the standard of the Bible; weigh all in the balances of the Bible; examine all by the light of the Bible; test all in the crucible of the Bible. That which can abide the fire of the Bible, receive, hold, believe, and obey. That which cannot abide the fire of the Bible, reject, refuse, repudiate, and cast away. – J.C. Ryle

“ If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than ye do.” – William Tyndale, 1500-1536. Spoken before a counsel of Cardinals and Bishops which condemned him for translating scripture into English. He was later burned at the stake for doing so.

The Exalted Lord

The Exalted Lord Christ must be preached where he is now if we are to preach the gospel of his glory! Men will preach about, even accept, Christ as prophet, teacher, healer, and even as Saviour; but, the preaching of Christ as sovereign Lord of lords and King of kings, men will not tolerate. If Christ is exalted at the right hand of God, everything else about him is easy to believe. His resurrection declared him to the Son of God; his exaltation declares him to be Lord! Peter closed his message in Acts 2 with these words; “God hath made this same Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Christ.” This is the climax of true gospel preaching—Jesus Christ is Lord! God hath delivered all things, all authority, all judgement, and all revelation into his hands.

Christ must be preached where he is now if we are to correctly receive him and call upon his name! Romans 10:9 says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord…thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:13 says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” One cannot confess, call upon, or receive a false conception of Jesus Christ and be saved. He is not a pitiful, helpless exile waiting to see what will happen. He is the enthroned Lord who has all power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him.

Christ must be preached where he is now if we who believe on him are to have a good hope! I can have a good hope of salvation because my exalted Lord is able to save, to keep, and to raise my vile body. I can have a good hope of success in preaching the gospel because my exalted Lord has all authority in heaven and earth. I can have a good hope of living in heaven because my exalted Lord has entered and taken possession of that heavenly kingdom and wills for me to be with him and behold his glory! – Henry Mahan

The following quotes are by Thomas Brooks, England, 1608-1680. Brother Spurgeon esteemed Brooks so highly that he published a whole book of his sayings, entitled ‘Smooth Stones From Ancient Brooks.’

-- “Humility makes a man richer than other men, and it makes a man judge himself the poorest among men. “

-- “Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.”

-- “Every thing that a man leans upon but God, will be a dart that will certainly pierce his heart through and through. He who leans only upon Christ, lives the highest, choicest, safest, and sweetest life.”

-- “Consider that spiritual safety comes through spiritual unity. Christians united together are difficult to separate, difficult to break, difficult to pick off and destroy. It is when you isolate yourself by disrupting or denying unity that you are most at risk.”