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Full Assurance Of Faith
The genius of the Epistle to the Hebrews is the pre-eminence given to the Lord Jesus Christ, showing Him to be the fulfilment of the types and shadows of the Mosaic law with its sacrifices and rituals. The Levitical priesthood points to Christ’s office as our Great High Priest. The legal sacrifices prefigured the unique and perfect sacrifice Christ offered for us. Hebrews explains that the gospel does not modify the law of Moses. It supersedes and abolishes it. Grace pleases God We have seen how the person of Christ and all aspects of gospel revelation, from electing grace to final glory, please the Lord Jehovah. This is no surprise. The covenant of peace and the plan of redemption is designed according to the will…
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For Ever And Ever. Amen.
There is a majesty in the Bible that testifies to its divine revelation and supernatural origin. In holy scripture we learn how God has intervened extraordinarily in the course of this sinful world’s history for the salvation of men and women otherwise lost. The scriptures reveal God’s gospel purpose of grace. They tell us, ‘while we were yet sinners Christ died for us’ and that we are ‘saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation’. The Ancient of Days Today’s portion is one such majestic passage. Daniel speaks of a vision of Jehovah God, the Ancient of Days; the Eternal Three In One. He tells us, ‘A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times…
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The Quick And The Dead
The word ‘quick’ has an old meaning of ‘alive’ or ‘animated’ and this is the sense in our Bible verses today from Ephesians. Here Paul tells the church that God the Father has quickened, or given spiritual life to them when they were spiritually dead in sin. The emphasis in Paul’s words is that spiritual life comes from God when sinners, being dead in trespasses and sins, are incapable themselves of doing anything for their own spiritual good. The new birth Paul shows the Ephesian believers that the motivation, or moving power, for quickening comes from God’s love and mercy. The spiritual transformation that follows is a new creation into which spiritual life is infused. Spiritual sense is enabled where before there was none. Suddenly,…
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Even God Has Limits
The wickedness of man filled the earth following the fall of Adam, yet the purpose of God to save a remnant from among His sinful creatures stood firm. In the covenant of peace, before the foundation of the world, God committed the care and wellbeing of His chosen people into the hands of His dearly beloved Son. Everything required to deliver the guilty from condemnation and prepare them for glory became the responsibility of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ’s fitness to serve It was needful that Christ should represent us. God’s holiness requires justice and satisfaction for sin. The Law of God weighs, measures and marks every transgression of word, thought and deed. No mere man can carry the burden of his own guilt or…
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Election? Is That Fair?
Election is a common Bible theme and the word in its various forms is used so frequently in the Old and New Testament that we might expect the doctrine of election to be generally accepted and believed. That is not, however, the case. Despite Old Testament prophets such as Moses, David and Isaiah clearly explaining election, and notwithstanding Jesus and all the New Testament writers doing the same, many professing Christians are either ignorant or ashamed of ‘the purpose of God according to election’. God’s right to choose Election simply means choosing. The Bible teaches that before the world began, God the creator chose a fixed number of individuals to salvation and everlasting glory. These people were chosen unconditionally. This means their election by God…
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I’m Not That Bad
No one ever seeks God’s grace until they discover a need for it. One of the great failures of modern evangelistic practices is trying to convert people who have no real sense of sin and no felt need of forgiveness. Until a man or a woman come to grasp their true sinful state before the holy Lord God they will have little interest in what freewill preachers have to offer and no appetite for what true preaching has to say. In Adam all die We believe God created the first man, Adam, after His own image, and in His likeness; an upright, innocent creature, capable of serving and glorifying Him. However, Adam, in disobeying God, came short of the glory of God, fell into sin…