Category Archives: the gospel

“Places Everyone!”

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Man is placed in a place remote.  For if his place were among the things of God, Man would try to dethrone Him.

This place of testing, this place of proving, this place of violence or love. 

This place of choices, this place of life or death, this place of time and decay. 

This place of anarchy, this place of treason, this place of hatred or faith.

They refuse to listen.  They despise the one who speaks.  And at every possible convenience, they turn away from knowledge. 

This place of filthy, this place of ludicrous, this place of blood and flesh.

This place of confusion, this place of pride, this place of accomplishment and humiliation.

Lest every man be utterly destroyed, God has set a place for rebellion.

This place of wondering, this hopelessness, place of vile distrust, this place of alienation and rare embrace.

Two doors exit this place.  One is wide to accommodate the masses.  The other is so narrow you cannot point it out.

One is proportioned for the violent fits which company the chaos of rebellion.  The other is only large enough for the soul.

We must all leave this place.  But we do not all arrive in the same Place. 

Every man who owns rebellion alone, will certainly find himself alone. 

But every man who has been stripped of rebellion, to a sort, that which remains cannot die.  Lessened, such men will find good company.

In all things, the endlessly spacious Place of God is utterly unlike ours.

Moment by moment, every man chooses his destiny.  But let us not think that the destiny of man is varied in context.  No!  There is either eternal inclusion, or eternal desperation.

Debate all these things, Oh wandering souls of men.  Or kneel before the Living God in faith.  Plead with him for understanding. 

All that belongs to Man is death.  All that belongs to God is Life in Christ Jesus His holy and Righteous Son.

By His Grace

Grace

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“When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious– that you, LORD God, might dwell there.” (Psalm 68:18)

If you want hope for every day and night of the rest of your life , look at what it says.  “. . . even from the rebellious”.

Jesus lives to save. 

The house of the righteous man is clean and prepared for a visitation of the Holy One.  While the house of the rebellious is infested with tiny crawling venomous snakes.

Faith has cleaned the house of the righteous.  That same faith, drops the rebellious to their knees. 

With Regal Splendor, the Living God’s Holy Son comes to the house of each.  And he is received, in each house, by a flow of tears. 

Everything the righteous man has belongs to this wonderous person, Jesus.  Everything the rebellious one wants, is in the hands of he who is willing to come among his filthy things.

Both of them fall on their face in awe.  Both of them marvel at the Majestic mercy of the Righteous One.  Both of them give the only thing they have left; willing praise to the One who can save their souls.

Burdened with limitations, each one knows they can reach no higher than their skin.  But see how it is God who moves to embrace.

10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3)

This is the nature of our plight.  The righteous man knows these things and lives because he receives from the Living God – that great mercy God has promised.  The rebellious man looks up with pleading, for he knows the same things.

One has.  The other has hopes to attain.  The Apostles walked with the Lord daily.  The man of the tombs was forced to remain.  Yet all of them testified to the willing love of the Living God’s Holy Son.

Who will bring to God the only thing he has to give?  Who will believe this message and live?  Who will offer thanks for the inexpressible gift of God, Grace?

By His Grace

War and Peace

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Peace, peace?

All my days are thankfully rude; that they may keep alive in me the necessity for holy conversion.

Go seek peace, if that is your desire.  I will rather to enter the war of Christ against myself.  That He may bestow upon me (come that immeasurable day) PEACE which escapes me now.

By His Grace

Stunningly Cheap Luxury

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I am struck afresh, by the message of the Gospel.  Who is Man, in the fabric of eternity, that God would give us eternal life?  Something so perfectly vast, yet for a simple price; simply believe.

Yet, look at the cost of that price.  The great majority refuses to believe.  It is evidently too high a price to ask.

Again, I come to the conclusion that if God does not reveal faith to us, we cannot have it. 

What does it take to procure faith from God?  Read or hear the Gospel and respond with humility.

What an absolutely surprising cost.  How absolutely surprising to see how few can afford it.

By His Grace

The Ultimate Citation

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Most people I talk to have not thought through the Judgment very well.  By what they say to me, they figure some how to escape.

But I wonder what they would say to the following.

You’re speeding down the road at 92 miles per hour in a 60 mile per hour zone.  A law enforcement officer comes up behind you with his lights on.  Obediently you pull to the side of the road.

As soon as you turn off the engine, 2000 law enforcement officers appear from the tall grass along the road.  While amazement still covers your mind, they completely encircle your car with guns drawn.  Frankly sir, you have nowhere to go.

Do people really think they will stand one on one with the Most High God?  Do you think you will be allowed to banter and barter your way out?

Almost every angel will be summoned to the judgement of man.  You will be encircled on every possible side, with absolutely nowhere to go. 

Those who are destined to destruction will have absolutely no choice.  The angels will discompassionately obey the Holy Father’s command. 

It is impossible for God to lie.  He has spoken destruction for those who do not love his Holy Son. 

This is no opinion.  It is the final and true Word of God.  Those who do not humble themselves before the Most High God, turning from their sinful ways, will receive the promise of destruction.

There’s a lot more to the gospel than just repenting of your sins.  But let this writing set the stage for all the things that need to come next.

By His Grace

Lordship Salvation

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I can’t afford a lengthy article, I don’t have the time nor the stamina.  But I just stumbled across the phrase “lordship salvation”.

I must be old.  I look at the possibility of a new debate and find myself too tired to care.

The gospel remains as it is.  The Holy Spirit Guides any who will humble themselves before God.  How much they are guided and to what they are guided depends on their willingness to obey.

I see the debate.  I understand the importance of the issues.  But I also see the many debates that consumed Christianity from the beginning until now.  And no number will surface as to how many souls died while the Christian Church debated among itself the proper words and terminology that should be used in following Christ.

Not a single gesture or word from me will stem the tide of confusion.  And this reality causes me a vapor of fear. 

Isn’t the more important question to do with the power of the Holy Spirit to save?  I fear many have leaned back into the power of men.  “If we don’t use just the right words, no one will ever be saved again!”  (that of course is tongue in cheek)

Maybe such arguments are from God, I can’t say for sure.  But I can know this for sure, I’m not about to involve myself in another argument over semantics.

God Himself saved me in Christ.  It will be God Himself in Christ who finishes salvation on that great day.  And since I am an old man, that day comes rather quickly for me.  And it causes me to take note that this bevy of arguments will continue long after my flesh cannot speak.

The gospel remains powerful forever.  The Spirit of God is on daunted by the confusion of men.  And regardless whether Christian’s attention is toward the lost or not, God is saving souls!

To all you wonderful scholars, forgive my apathy.

By His Grace