Put on the Lord Jesus Christ by Don Bell

(Romans 13:14)
What does it mean to put on the Lord Jesus? It doesn't mean that we can put Him on, and take him off as putting on and taking off clothes. It means that we are to arm ourselves, arm our minds with Christ. We are to arm our minds with the whole person of Christ, as God and sinless humanity. Arm our minds with his love, his eternal electing love, with his righteousness (it is the only one acceptable to God Almighty), also arm our minds with his atonement, his bloody sacrifice put away sin once and for all. He alone makes us at-one with God. Put on Christ in his offices, as Prophet to teach us, as Priest to appear in the presence of God for us, as King to rule us and provide us our needs. Put on The Whole Christ, his whole salvation, for there is no salvation in any other name, any other way. (Acts 4:12, John.14:6) "We are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof."

Our fallen natures will seek to control us, and will excuse us when we fulfill the lusts of our flesh. We fulfill the lusts of our flesh when we indulge our minds to wander where they shouldn't, our tongues to say what they shouldn't, our bodies to do what they shouldn't, our feet to take us places we should not go. Why would any believer want to provide for their flesh? Why wouldn't a believer want to put on Christ so they would not make provision for the flesh? I am persuaded that those who continually make provision to fulfill the lusts of the flesh are not believers. "How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein" (Rom.3:2)? By Don Bell

God Rules! by Don Fortner

Our God is in control of this world- absolutely in control of it (Ps. 76:10). God, and God alone, is in absolute, total control of the entire universe. We can and should trust Him with implicit confidence in all things, and with all things. The Word of God, the promises of God, the prophecies of Holy Scripture are all utterly meaningless unless our God is the God who rules everything, whose will is always performed, whose purpose stands fast, whose thoughts are irresistible!

Here is the basis of our faith and the foundation of our comfort- Our God is in control- as fully in control of Satan, the demons of hell, and the thoughts and deeds of wicked men as he is of the angels about his throne. We live in a world of woe. We are often tossed to and fro in this world, confused and perplexed by many things. Let us ever rest ourselves in our God.

"All things are of God." All things are ordered by our heavenly Father for our good. All things are arranged by God's infinite wisdom and omnipotent arm for his glory. Nothing is beyond his dominion. If the god you trust can be controlled, hindered, or even influenced by you, by Satan, or by all the powers of earth and hell, then the god you trust is no God at all, and you are an idolater.

Our God is not a spectator or even a competitor in this world. He is the Ruler of it. Salvation is knowing him, the only trueand living God as he is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ his Son, the God-man, our Savior (John 17:3). He who is our God is the only God you can trust. by Don Fortner

The Word of This Salvation by Chris Cunningham

We see from the context what this word is. It is concerning Jesus, the promised Savior (vs. 23) and Him crucified (vs. 29) by Whom is the forgiveness of sins (vs. 38) through faith in Him alone, without the deeds of the law (vs. 39). This is the gospel of free grace through faith in the crucified Redeemer. The word is life (Phil. 2:16) and by divine, distinguishing grace these people could be told, it is sent to you!

There are vast multitudes of whom this could never be said. Psalm 147:19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. Even today, there are many people who have never heard, and probably never will hear, the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Even many who have the Bible, God’s complete and infallible revelation of Himself, have not the word of this salvation in the sense that we do!

What greater blessing could God bestow upon any sinner than to send to him the word of salvation? This good news from a far country is vital and refreshing as cold waters to a thirsty soul. It is thus with you and me? Could we live without the gospel? If so, then surely our life is death. Sooner could this flesh thrive without water than my soul without the water of life! For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. John 6:55 There is no substitute for HIM. This world has nothing that can sustain us; give us Christ or we perish!

What cause for endless praise and thanks! While the masses starve for lack of bread, we feast upon bread from heaven itself, without any want. What grace that of all the peoples upon this earth, the word of this salvation is sent...to you.

Gratitude
O Thou whose bounty fills my cup
With every blessing meet!
I give thee thanks for every drop
The bitter and the sweet.

By Chris Cunningham

CHRIST PRECIOUS by Wy. Fulton

"Unto you therefore which believe HE IS PRECIOUS" (2 Peter 2:7).

The ONE who is precious to saved souls is the One who suffered the curse of God for them. He is the rejected cornerstone to those who believe not, as we note from the context, vs. 2 - 10. The natural man can only oppose Him and will never understand the relationship of sweetness and preciousness that exists between a saved soul and his Savior!

Notice:
A persecuted Christ is precious to persecuted souls.
A wounded, beaten Christ is precious to wounded and beaten souls.
He is precious to souls under the immediate attack of Satan.
A Crucified Christ is precious to crucified souls.
A Dying Christ is precious to dying souls.
He is precious to souls who have been killed to Satan, to the Law and to sin, and risen to new life in HIM.
A Risen Christ is precious to risen souls.
A Justifying Christ is precious to justified souls.
A Conquering Christ is precious to conquering souls.

And did you know, my friends, that it is only the one who has suffered the pangs of death in the House of Holy Spirit Conviction, been brought from a time of his own suffering into the glorious liberty of the sons of God — it is only that crucified and resurrected sinner, justified in Christ Jesus and living the life of faith in Him — it is only the soul with an experimental acquaintance with these things who can truly say,"UNTO ME, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS PRECIOUS!"

Christ Jesus our Living Lord is the very Preciousness of God, and we are complete in Him. HE is all that God can give to a poor lost, fallen, hell-deserving sinner like me that can bring me into a right relationship with HIMSELF.

In the midst of trials, sufferings, disappointments of this life, I come back to the one point. He delivered my poor soul, and I know that still HE IS PRECIOUS TO ME. Can you say that? - A saved sinner, Wy. Fulton

The Question Nobody is Asking by Todd Nibert

The Question nobody is asking is stated in Job 25:4, "How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of woman?" To the natural man, the answer to this question would be placed under the category of dull and uninteresting subjects. We are by nature so selfish and man centered that this question simply is not important to us. But the fact that nobody is asking this question does not take away from its importance. If we can learn the answer to this question, we have learned the gospel!

The issue behind the question can be stated like this. How can God be consistent with His justice, and yet justify somebody who is unjust? If somebody asks, "Why bring up the question in the first place? Does it really even matter? It matters because the word of God brings it up. But let me answer the question by asking another question. What would you think of a human judge who justified people who were guilty? What would you think of a judge who let a serial killer go free to walk our streets? Would it matter to you? If God does let people who are guilty into heaven without His justice being satisfied, than God would be no more just the human judge who let the serial killer go free. We shudder at the implications of a God who is not just. The God of the Bible is holy. In His holiness He hates sin. In Hebrews 1:9 we read, "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity." God is so holy that He cannot let sin go unpunished. When He described Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:7, He said that He "would by no means clear the guilty". But not only is God holy; we are sinful and guilty! The scriptures say in Romans 3:10-12, "There is none righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is non that doeth good, no not one."

If God is so holy that He "will by no means clear the guilty", and we are guilty, how can God bring any guilty sinner into heaven? The Bible does provide us with an answer to this question. We read in Romans 3:25-26, "God set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness.....that He might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus".

The word "propitiation" means literally "an atoning victim". The sins of God's elect were placed upon Christ on the cross. God was the one who placed them there. Only He had the authority to do it. Christ was actually made sin. "For He hath made Him to be sin." God laid this sin on Christ, and the He poured His wrath out upon Him. He punished the sins of His people in Christ. Christ was guilty as the sinner's substitute. He was charged with the sins of His people. But the imputation of guilt was not the only imputation going one. That perfect righteousness that Christ worked out was imputed to everybody that He died for. And now everybody that He died for is counted not guilty. By virtue of what Christ did on the cross, the people that God brings into heaven are not guilty! That is how God can be just and yet justify the ungodly. They are actually made just by imputation. Many believe that Christ was making salvation a possibility on the cross if we will just do our part. But Christ was not making salvation a possibility. He was saving! He literally accomplished the salvation of all of God's elect. This is how an unjust man can be just with God.

And dear friends, we can trust the Saviour who accomplished a salvation like that!

by Todd Nibert

No Works Added to Christ by Wylie Fulton

"CHRIST died for you," we are told by today's preachers, "but He also died for Judas. It is what you do, what you add to His death that results in salvation." Then Christ is not sufficient and He lied when He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Also when He said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

Every species of Arminianism and legalism is criminal, for it steals from the glory that belongs to CHRIST ALONE in salvation. The Arminian will say, "You have to accept His atoning death, or He died in vain as far as you are concerned." The preacher of works will say, "Accept Christ but you must also do good works, hold out to the end, live by the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule [or whatever his favorite works are] — because if you don't DO THESE THINGS, the work of CHRIST ALONE is not enough!" This is implied if not spoken.

We are not Arminians, we are not legalists, nor are we antinomian. We believe it's all of GRACE. What Christ did and what He is now doing is all our salvation. We cannot and dare not add anything to it. He is sufficient. True, a believer will live a good consecrated life, but that's the evidence of salvation, not the condition.

A good preacher of grace was once asked, "Don't you believe in good works?" He replied, "Yes, of course, I believe in good works. I also believe in chimneys, but I wouldn't want a chimney to be the foundation of my house! Neither are good works the foundation of my spiritual house; they are the adornment, the evidence, but CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK ALONE IS MY FOUNDATION!"
"On Christ the SOLID ROCK I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand."
— Editorial by Wylie Fulton in our old periodical Truth for Today, 1991

Do You Hear What the Law Says? By Scott Price

Many times in my life I have heard folks talk about doing the best they can and being accepted by God on that basis. You hear folks talk about how the saints in the Old Testament where save by keeping the Law. You hear of folks who believe in a "second work of grace" wherein they may live a sinless life. All of this is simply hogwash. All men and women without exception are practicing sinners. We all sin more often than not. Sad to say this means it is their "tenor of life". Everything we do is stained with sin. To say otherwise is to be self righteous.

How may we test this statement? An honest reading of Romans 7 would prove it easily. Some have gone as far as saying that chapter speaks of Paul BEFORE his conversion. Another test: Do you think you keep the Law? Do you think you have EVER kept the Law? If so, let me ask you a another question. On your very best day when you where at your spiritual peak could you keep just one Law? If you say yes then let me ask you if you can keep that one Law at your spiritual peak like Christ kept it. NOT POSSIBLE!! God's standard is to continue always to keep the Law like Christ did. That is God's absolute standard: The perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything short of that is a curse (Gal 3:10).

The Scripture is clear in Psalm 39:5 that man at his very best state is altogether vanity. That is at his best! Isaiah, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said that all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. That is our best deeds! The only remedy is for a Representative and Substitute to be responsible for my sin, all of it. He must purge it, remit it, put it away as far as the East is from the West. This takes the blood of the God-Man Mediator. He then puts me in a perfect state of justification and will not ever impute sin to me because He has imputed righteousness to my account. He gives me a new heart to want to serve Him and do good works by faith. Should we sin that grace abound? God forbid! Repent! Repent for thinking you could ever keep the Law and repent for breaking that same Law. Think on it. By Scott Price (exert from the Gospel of Grace Newsletter)

The Simplicity that is in Christ by Chris Cunningham

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."2 Cor. 11:3

The word here does not mean "shallowness" or "easiness." Though the Gospel is simple in the sense that it is all Christ and only Christ, it is certainly not shallow or easy. It (He) is foolishness to the natural man and we cannot receive it (Him) without a miracle of grace (1 Cor. 2:14). Religion has a "simple gospel" which anyone can receive; even those who go on despising and rejecting the true Christ of the Bible. Man has devised an easy way to escape hell without ever meeting or bowing to the sovereign Christ (Matt 7:13). Anyone can walk the so-called "Roman Road," but only the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit can turn a God-hating rebel into a loving son of God. The Spirit only does this work as Christ is presented in the pure, unadulterated Gospel.

The word here means "singleness" or "bountifulness" signifying that in Christ there is complete fullness so that there is no need to add anything to Him. In fact if anything or anyone is added to Him, He will "profit you nothing" Gal 5:2. This is the reason for Paul's fear. If Christ does not profit you, there is no profit for you anywhere in heaven or earth and you must experience God's unrestrained wrath upon you in your sin. It is Christ alone Who saves and sustains the sinner. Acts 4:12 It is not only that He is the only one Who can save a sinner, but that it is Him, without the addition of man's will or works, Who saves.

Many preach hell to frighten people, heaven to bribe people or works to motivate people. The Scriptures say much about hell, heaven and works, but the "simple" message of God's word is Christ and Him crucified. There is no reason or excuse for ever preaching anything or anyone else. 1 Cor 1: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. By Chris Cunningham