Hymn of the Day
(tune: "How Firm a Foundation" p.268)
With harps and with vials there stands a great throng,
In the presence of Jesus and sings this new song;
"To Him who hath loved us and washed us from sin,
To Him be the glory forever, Amen"
All these once were sinners, defiled in His sight,
Now arrayed in pure garments, There voices unite;
"To Him who hath loved us and washed us from sin,
To Him be the glory forever, Amen"
He maketh the rebel a priest and a king,
He hath bought us and taught us this new song to sing;
"To Him who hath loved us and washed us from sin,
To Him be the glory forever, Amen"
Aloud in His praises our voices shall ring,
So that others, believing, this new song shall sing;
"To Him who hath loved us and washed us from sin,
To Him be the glory forever, Amen".
Today's Hymns
Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed? - #110
Look, Ye Saints! The Sight Is Glorious - #141
My Faith Has Found a Resting Place - #228
-----0-----
Special Dates: Katie Koedam - 31
James and Maria – 31 ~ Garen and Jean Rozeboom - 1
-----0-----
When was the last time you looked at a beautiful painting and thought anything about the brush the artist used? Or when was the last time you read some inspiring words and had any thought of the pen the author used? That's absurd. Never. No, all the glory from the enjoyment of these works goes to the artist and the author. The instruments they use are insignificant. One brush or pen would be pretty much as good as the next. When Paul and Barnabas came back to Antioch after their first missionary journey; "they rehearsed all that GOD HAD DONE with them and how that HE had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." Acts 14:27. Yes, God uses His church to plant and water the seeds of the gospel. Might we be found faithful in so doing. But let us never forget, except The Lord give the increase there will be no fruit. We are nothing than "unprofitable servants" (Luke 17:10), indistinguishable brushes and pens in the hand of the Master who Himself gets all the glory. -Greg Elmquist
-----0-----
As the people of God, we don't deny Adam's sin and guilt before God. We also confess and own that in Adam all have sinned, all have spiritually died, and we are all guilty by imputed sin and imputed guilt. (Rom 5:12). However, I have never read in the scriptures of anyone praying forgive me for Adam's sin, or Adam's guilt. Rather, the people of God are always praying, Lord forgive me for my sin, like the publican prayed, or like David prayed, "Against thee and thee only have I sinned." We must understand, (and that only by sovereign revelation) that we are the guilty party, that we are ruined and lost and guilty before God. Until we do, we will never earnestly beg for pardon, or mercy or say with Job, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42: 5-6). -Tom Harding
-----0-----
I wish your soul was bankrupt! You may not think this is nice to wish on someone, but I know that is the only time we will seek Christ. Spiritual need is what gives courage to our soul to cast itself upon the Sovereign Grace of Christ! "If we stay here, we will die." -Milton Howard
-----0-----
For the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen,
unto the glory of God by us. -2 Corinthians 2:20
Our God has given many promises to His believing children. These promises are all IN CHRIST JESUS, since only He existed when they were made and since only He can and has fulfilled all conditions by His obedience and death. Therefore, these promises are all "YES" in Him and in Him "AMEN," or "So be it," "unto the glory of God by us." His promises, Christ fulfilling them, our preaching Him, and your believing are all for the glory of God. -Henry Mahan
-----0-----
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us,
who can be against us? ~Romans 8.31
We do not have to reach back very far to find the things which give rise to Paul's question, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" In verse 28, Paul begins a chain of statements in which the salvation of God's elect is founded upon the eternal and unalterable purpose of God. All events have been arranged by God to work together for their good. The God of their salvation has always known them intimately, and motivated by that intimate knowledge, He has predetermined their destiny to be a people conformed to the image of His Son. All those He so predestined, He also called to Himself. All those He called, He declared to be righteous. And those He declared to be righteous He made to be righteous, gloriously righteous like His Son.
Paul has cast these events as already accomplished. Each is described as happening on a single occasion. From our viewpoint, these events are spread over time. At various times, God calls each of His elect individually, He justifies them, and at the resurrection, shall glorify them. But, from the viewpoint of God, all these things are already accomplished. It is not "as if" they are already accomplished; they are already accomplished. The sequence of events in time does not determine our eternal destiny. No, our predetermined eternal destiny has determined what shall happen in time. Eternity does not bend to time; time bends to eternity.
When an author sets his pen to paper, he already knows the end of the story. Therefore, the plot is nothing more than the author's way of bringing about that end over the course of the story. If you are a character in that story and the author is for you, who of the other characters in the story can be against you?
God is the author of our world, our reality. We are the characters in His story and the events of time in our world are simply the plot He has written to bring about His purposed end. So, if God is for us, quite literally, who in the world can be against us? -Joe