God does not need to save us from our sins. He is does not have any debt to anybody. But Hes saves because He is love.
We have offended the most glorious Being in the universe. There is no hope for us apart from His mercy and grace. Run to Christ. Flee to Him and ask Him to save you. He is such a Mighty Savior.
Christians are owned because they were bought with a price. They were bought not with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ–the Lamb of God without blemish or spot.
The Greek word doulos means nothing more than a slave. Look that up in a Greek dictionary. Some Christians are afraid of the idea that we are slaves of God because the word slave has a derogatory idea. This is not the case if God is your Owner.
If your owner is the One Who loves you so much and all that He does is for His glory and your good, there is nothing better than to be His slave.
The real Jesus according to the Bible is God in human flesh. Chapters like John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1, and Revelation 1 deal with the Divinity of Christ at length; though there are plenty of short verses that mentioned the Divinity of Christ like Romans 9:5, 2 Peter 1:1, etc.
The liberal scholars are not liberals because of the evidence from history and archaeology; it is rather because of their sins that they would pervert the truth and lead others astray.
No elect of God would ever be lost because of these pseudo scholars. However, we must honor God by proclaiming and defending the truth. We cannot simply ignore the blasphemies of these outright liars. And we must proclaim and defend these truths for the glory of God, and for the sake of the elect; that those who are not yet saved would be saved by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that those who are already believers would have a boost of confidence in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that faith and trust are made possible by the Holy Spirit through the testimony of Scripture. Let us therefore hold fast to the written Word of God and not waver from its testimonies.
(Horatius Bonar, “Christ and the New Creation”)
“If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
What condemnation do these words pronounce upon the shallow, meager religion so common among us–making us feel that hardly any description of its professors could be more exaggerated or unreal, than that of being “new creatures.”
Take yon member of the church. He wears the garb and bears the name of Christ. He is a fair average specimen of a large class. He has the profession of being a Christian; yet . . . he is fond of the world; he grasps at its gold; he loves its fashionable gaiety; he reads its novels; he frequents its haunts of amusement; he enjoys its company; he relishes its foolish talking and jesting. Is he “a new creature” in Christ Jesus?
Is it possible that, with . . . so much worldliness, so much selfishness, so much self-indulgence, so much pleasing of the flesh, he can have been “born again,” whatever his profession may be?
“A new creature!” Then . . . old feelings, old habits, old tastes, old hopes, old joys, old sorrows, old haunts, old companionships –all are gone! Old things have passed away, all things have become new!
Formerly, I sought the things of this world. So now, by the necessity of my new nature, I seek the things above. Sin has become hateful, holiness supremely attractive. My vision has been purged, so that now I see everything as with a new eye; the evil, with an eye which loathes it; the holy, with an eye which loves it. I approach everything with . . . new feelings, new tastes, new sympathies, new antipathies. I behold everything in a new light, and from a new point of view. Myself, this world, the world to come, God, Christ, and the everlasting joys–all these are to me now, what they have never been before! My whole inner man has changed respecting them. There has been a new creation! What, then, have I to do with sin, with the flesh, with the vanities of so vain a life, as the men of this world are leading?
Oh, the unimaginable blessedness of those on whom this new creation has taken place! Oh, the unutterable, the endless misery of those on whom no change has passed–in whom old things still remain!
What is True Christianity?
True Christianity
(J. C. Ryle, “What Is Needed?” 1895)(1) True Christianity has always taught the inspiration, sufficiency, and supremacy of Holy Scripture. It has told men that “God’s written Word” is the only trustworthy rule of faith and practice in religion; that God requires nothing to be believed that is not in this Word; and that nothing is right which contradicts it. It has never allowed reason, or the voice of the Church, to be placed above, or on a level with Scripture. It has steadily maintained that, however imperfectly we may understand it, the Old Book is meant to be the only standard of life and doctrine.
(2) True Christianity has always taught fully the sinfulness, guilt and corruption of human nature. It has told men, that they are born in sin, deserve God’s wrath and condemnation, and are naturally inclined to do evil. It has never allowed that men and women are only weak and pitiable creatures, who can become good when they please, and make their own peace with God. On the contrary, it has steadily declared man’s danger and vileness, and his pressing need of a Divine forgiveness and atonement for his sins, a new birth or conversion, and an entire change of heart.
(3) True Christianity has always set before men, the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief object of faith and hope in religion—as the Divine Mediator between God and men, the only source of peace of conscience, and the root of all spiritual life. The main things it has ever insisted on about Christ, are—the atonement for sin He made by His death, His sacrifice on the cross, the complete redemption from guilt and condemnation by His blood, His victory over the grave by His resurrection, His active life of intercession at God’s right hand, and the absolute necessity of simple faith in Him. In short, it has made Christ the Alpha and the Omega in Christian theology.
(4) True Christianity has always honored the Person of God the Holy Spirit, and magnified His work. It has never taught that all professing Christians have the grace of the Spirit in their hearts, as a matter of course—because they are baptized, or because they belong to a Church. It has steadily maintained that the fruits of the Spirit are the only evidence of having the Spirit, and that those fruits must be seen! It has always taught, that we must be born of the Spirit, led by the Spirit, sanctified by the Spirit, and feel the operations of the Spirit—and that a close walk with God in the path of His commandments, a life of holiness, love, self-denial, purity, and zeal to do good—are the only satisfactory marks of the Holy Spirit.
Such is true Christianity. Well would it have been for the world, if there had been more of it during the last nineteen centuries! Too often, and in too many parts of Christendom, there has been so little of it—that Christ’s religion has seemed extinct, and has fallen into utter contempt!
This is the Christianity which, in the days of the Apostles, “turned the world upside down!” It was this which emptied the idol temples of their worshipers, routed the Greek and Roman philosophers, and obliged even heathen writers to confess that the followers of the “new superstition,” as they called it, were people who loved one another, and lived very pure and holy lives!
Let it never be forgotten, that its leading principles are those which are least likely to please the natural man. On the contrary, they are precisely those which are calculated to be unpopular and to give offense. Proud man does not like to be told that he is a weak, guilty sinner—that he cannot save his own soul, and must trust in the work of another—that he must be converted and have a new heart—that he must live a holy, self-denying life, and come out from the world.
Yet, this is the Christianity which is doing good at this day, wherever real good is done. The only religious teaching which can show solid, positive results—is that which gives prominence to the doctrines which I have endeavored to describe. Wherever they are rightly taught, Christianity can point to fruits which are an unanswerable proof of its Divine origin. There are myriads of professing Christians who have no life or reality in their religion—and are only nominal members of Christ’s Church. Except for going to church on Sundays, they give no evidence of true Christianity. If you mark their daily life—they seem neither to think, nor feel, nor care for their souls, or God, or eternity. Men and women who crowd churches on Sundays—and then live worldly selfish lives all the week—are the best and most efficient allies of the devil.
True faith is not a mere “mental assent” to certain theological propositions—but a living, burning, active principle—which works by love, purifies the heart, overcomes the world, and brings forth much fruit of holiness and good works. Let us live as if we really believed every jot and tittle of Scripture—and as if a dying, risen, interceding, and coming Christ, were continually before our eyes!
There is a caption to this video; just click on the cc button if the caption does not appear. Maximize the video if it does not play smoothly on the player. The musical symphony was arranged by Brent Fischer.
Theophilus Maranatha 