Praise the Lord

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. 

(Psalm 103:2)

One of the best ways to begin or end a day is by a conscious remembering of all God’s benefits. Those who know the Lord are prone to suffering in this world so it can become very easy for us to complain.  The absence of some of the blessings we see others enjoying can make us forgetful of what blessings God has poured out on us.  So the Psalmist says, "forget not all His benefits."  Then he goes on to list some of God’s great blessings to us who fear Him: 

1.) God forgives of all our iniquities.  One could easily bear all the suffering of a thousand lives for that one blessing alone!  Imagine in your mind the enormous mass of your sin in all its great wickedness.  See God the judge take His seat to pass judgment on you.  Then hear Him say, “All is forgiven; this one’s sins and iniquities I will never recall again.”  Already our resentment over some worldling’s blessings is falling away, is it not!  But, this is just the beginning - there is more! 

2.) God heals all our diseases. Even in this life we experience God’s healing grace, but someday, we shall be altogether delivered from sickness and death.  One experienced saint was about to undergo heart surgery.  When his pastor came to visit him, he said, "I shall soon be better or all the way well."  As it turns out, that dear brother was made all the way well, and is now with the Lord.  His surgeon might have made him better than he was, but God chose to make him all the way well.  For some years, God will let doctors make us better; but someday, God will make us all the way well.

3.) God redeems our souls from destruction.  You and I know very little of what God’s wrath is like.  In fact, I suppose only those in hell know what God’s wrath is.  There is only one other who knows, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore God’s wrath for God’s people.  Because Christ was forsaken and experienced the wrath of God, all of us who are in Him shall never experience it. 

4.)  God crowns us with His loving-kindness and mercy.  The word translated “crowned” also means “encircle” or “surround.”  The crown of glory on the believer is God’s loving-kindness and mercy; and not only does it crown our heads, it encircles and surrounds us so that we are protected from all eternal harm. 

5.) God gives His people full satisfaction.  The world rushes after its glories, and no matter how much it receives, it is never satisfied.  But every believer shall be satisfied with Christ, and shall someday be satisfied IN Christ.  When the worlding dies, he loses all of His blessings.  When the believer dies, He receives the full measure of His heart’s deepest longings.

6.) God does not deal with us according to our sins.  Is that not a relief!  If God were to deal with you in justice, where would you be? 

7.) God pities us.  His eye toward us is not full of the wrath of a judge, but the pity, understanding, and compassion of a father. 

With such blessings, how can we complain?  With such abundance of goods, how can we ever consider ourselves anything less than the most blessed of all people in the world?  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

Grace Community Church Web Site

It Shall Be Well With Them

Say to the righteous, "It shall be well with them." Isaiah 3:10

 

There are none righteous in themselves, but there is a multitude of whom it can be said, "They believed God and it was credited to them for righteousness."  To them, and only to them does this blessed comfort go, "It shall be well with them."  

It shall be well with them at all times.  Day or night, any season, work or play, it shall be well with them.  

It shall be well with them in all circumstances.  It may not always be pleasant, but it shall always be well.  It is as well with them upon their death bed as upon the familiar pillow of their bed room.  Whether they travel by land, sea or air, it shall be well with them.  In war time as well as peace time, it shall be well with them.  It shall be well with them regardless of their weaknesses and failures.  Is today a day of seeming victory and advancement in the things of God?  It shall be well with them.  Is today a day of seeming defeat and retreat in those same matters: it shall still be well with them! 

It shall be well with them no matter how it is with anyone else. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. (Psalm 91:7)  

But most of all, say to the righteous - those sinners who trust the Lord Jesus, that in that day when God shall unleash the pent‑up fury of Divine wrath on this world and the inhabitants thereof, when God shall judge this entire world by Jesus Christ, when many an outwardly righteous man along with the obviously wicked and perverse of this world shall be bound hand and foot and cast into the lake of fire ‑ that in that day, it shall be well with them!

Grace Community Church Web Site

email

Holy Spirit Anointing

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor...(Isaiah 61:1)

This has always been the one undeniable mark of the Holy Spirit's presence.  The Spirit of God can enable a man to do many things, but, in every case of the Holy Spirit's anointing of a man, the preaching of the good news, the gospel, is found.  May the Spirit give us this anointing! 

Grace Community Church Web Site 

email

The Way of Eternal Life

And a Highway will be there, it will be called "The Way of Holiness," The unclean will not journey on it, it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it...But, only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
(Isaiah 35:8-10)

Jesus answered, "I am the Way."
(John 14:6)

It is a pity the many believe that Christ is the way to the Father as a door is the way into another room. The word translated "way" is commonly translated "road." The way to the Father does not just begin with Christ, but THE WHOLE WAY IS CHRIST. All of the spiritual travels of the believer are on the "Christ-way." It is sometimes a mountain-way, sometimes a valley-way; it is sometimes a bright-way, it is sometimes a dark-way: but it is always the "Christ-way." 

Thomas Manton once said, "Who would not go to heaven when Christ is the way?" Let us not act as though the way to glory is not glorious itself. We are on the "Christ-way," a beautifully scenic road to glory. I can understand why many a religious person is sour and grumpy: he is traveling a heavily congested roadway of rush-hour religionists - hurry here, rush there, try to pass this fellow, cut off that fellow, "honk, honk," "screech," all the way to hell. 

But the Christ-way: it is certainly not congested, there is no rush-hour traffic, and there is beautiful scenery around every bend. Acceptance on one side, righteousness on the other; bright sunshine blessings on every hill-top, cool mercy-streams in every valley. And how gracious the other drivers are! If you have a flat tire, they do not honk their disapproval that you are blocking traffic - they get out and help fix it. There are no thieves to fear, every hitch-hiker is safe. There are no policemen for there are no law-breakers. There are plenty of way-stations at which the traveler may stop, there to fellowship with other travelers, and refresh himself with free food and drink. A glorious road to a glorious destination! 

It is all too easy for us to dwell on the troubles of this life and bemoan the condition of God's church. But the fact is, brothers, this is Immanuel's land,! Let us be happy. Slow down; enjoy the trip. We shall arrive at our destination at the appointed time. Let us, for now, delight ourselves in the glories of the Way.

Grace Community Church Web Site

pastor@rvgrace.com 

A Word to You

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2.39

A Reformed believer looking at this text might seize on the line, “And to your children,” and try to make a case for covenant theology and infant baptism. A modern-day fundamentalist might see “and to them that are far off,” and promote some missionary endeavor. A Calvinist would likely point out the line, “even as many as the Lord our God shall call,” to show the sovereignty of God’s grace in the promise. 

But I ask you, have you looked at the first part? “The promise is unto you.” It is of no importance what God has said to others until you have submitted to what God has said to you. The promise is to you. What have you done with it? Have you repented and been baptized according to the promise? Do not move one word further into the text until the part about you is settled. Do not allow Satan to occupy your mind with questions about others until the question about you has been answered. 

Here is a promise to you. Does not your heart rejoice that God has made a promise to you? Can you not see how gracious He is to promise the forgiveness of sin on such simple terms? Can you refuse such a promise in any point? Will you refuse to repent in the face of such mercy? Will you ignore the simple directive to be baptized when it comes from One so ready to forgive all your offenses against Him?

I wonder: If Christ Himself were to appear to you and say, “So and so, repent and be baptized in My name for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” would you then refuse? Well, He has not appeared to you, but He has recorded His word in the Bible and you have now seen and heard it. The promise is to you. What will you do with it?

Grace Community Church Web Site 

email

A Simple Gospel

If God has called "not many wise," why does it seem that so many preachers design their messages to appeal to the wise? Is it not the height of foolishness to preach with such “wisdom" that those for whom the gospel was intended cannot understand it? But note how God explains His gospel. While men write volumes to explain salvation, God says, "Look unto Me." While men seek to expound the gospel with high-sounding words and phrases, God speaks with one-syllable words like "come," "seek," and "flee." The most complicated word that God uses in telling us how to gain salvation is "believe." One of the greatest glories of the gospel is its simplicity. Therefore, let us always seek to declare the gospel in simple words and simple sentences.

Grace Community Church Web Site 

email

Weary - Not Weary

“….they shall run and not be weary.” Isaiah 40.31

I confess that I am weary of some things. I am weary of the ease with which sin can find a home in my thoughts and deeds. I am weary of the difficulty with which I meet virtually every time I try to pray or focus on the things of Christ. I am weary that I fret so much and trust so little.
 
But I am not weary of Christ or of hearing of Him. I am not weary of the message of His grace – either to hear it or to preach it. I am not weary of meeting with others of God’s people to worship with them. I am not weary of singing the “songs of Zion.”

I press on, not because I am good but because Christ is good, and I can find no rest or satisfaction until I am in His presence, beholding His glory, being conformed to His image. Weariness of this life strengthens us to press on to lay hold of the next life. We run but are not thus made weary; we are made strong.

Grace Community Church

email