October 13^th 2024

10:00 am -------------------------Lord, I Believe; Help Thou Mine Unbelief – Mark 9:24

Wednesday: 7:00 pm

Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” -- Colossians 1:27

To have a good hope of resurrection, of deliverance from judgment, of eternal life, and glory with Christ; in all honesty, is not this the goal of our faith? Is not this our reason for searching the Scriptures? Is not this my reason for preaching and yours for hearing? Paul gives us the only real hope of glory in this brief sentence: "Christ in you!" Two words catch our attention immediately; Christ and you. All that the law requires of you is fulfilled in Christ. All that justice demands of you is met in Christ. All the righteousness you need is in Christ. But there is a little two-letter word in this sentence that is all important; the word “in.” Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is not just Christ in the covenant, or Christ in the manger, or Christ in the world, or Christ on the cross, or Christ in the tomb, or Christ on the throne but Christ in you. Our hope of glory is Christ in us!—Christ believed in the mind, Christ received in the heart, Christ loved in the soul, and Christ followed in the life.

The Dinner Bell -- by David Eddmenson

I recently went to an auction where there was a triangle dinner bell for sale. The auctioneer began to ring it again and again. After a few seconds, I must confess that it got a little irritating and monotonous as it rang the same note over and over. Not several notes, not two notes, but the same note again and again. When he stopped and the auction proceeded, I realized, that is exactly what God’s preachers do week after week. They sound clearly the one note of the Gospel, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. Has that one note become irritating and monotonous to you like the dinner bell did to me? I bet that dinner bell was a sweet sound to those who were hungry and called to dinner by the sound of that one note. Revelation 19:9 “And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Seeing Things As They Are

“And the devil, taking Him (Christ) up into an high mountain, shewed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto Him, ‘All this power will I give thee and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.’ ”-- Luke 4:5-7

We cannot fully understand what power has been given to Satan by our Lord, yet the Lord does not dispute what he says here. Apparently the Lord has given the devil some power to bestow material things upon some. Since this is so, it is not necessarily a blessing of God to have an abundance of things. These things may be a temptation of Satan. Oh that we could see things as they are; see things as the Lord sees them and was not in the least tempted by them. It is significant that these things were viewed from “an high mountain.” Perhaps that is how we need to view things.

If you have ever traveled by airplane then you have been afforded a ‘bird’s-eye-view’ of things. You have seen things the way our Lord saw them and the way we should view them. I recently flew a long way over many different states, in which were all manner of things to be seen. Way down there I saw all the things that people love, live, and die for. There were houses by the sea, which looked like little sand castles which could be so easily swept away by the ocean which came so precariously close. There were farms with animals grazing, where the finest horse looked no different than a mule from on high. There were playgrounds and sporting fields, where everyone looked like little ants scurrying around needlessly, and aimlessly. There were many automobiles running around everywhere, each looking no different than another . . . all looking like little toys. Anything and everything which human beings live and die for, all looked so insignificant and fragile from on high. Let us view things as they really are. May we see earthly things as vanity and spiritual things as vital.

“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” “For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (Col.3:2, II Cor.4:18)

Death

“A believer’s last day is his best day.” – Thomas Brooks

“Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied.” – Matthew Henry