THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS

“Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.” (II Chronicles 20:15)

This blessed instruction applies to every enemy a believer faces. The multitude of our sins would damn us but Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. The Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner’s substitute, was made sin for His people (II Cor. 5:21). He “bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (I Peter 2:24) and by His sacrifice put the multitude of that sin away forever (Heb. 10:14). Every believer hates our sin but there is no reason to fear sin’s condemnation because Christ already put that multitude away.

There are many other multitudes of enemies facing God’s children but there is no reason to be afraid or dismayed by any of them. Satan and his host of demons had their power crushed by Christ at the cross. The whole world stands opposed to those who believe the gospel of Christ but don’t be dismayed, our Savior has overcome the world (John 16:33). Never forget “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) The enemies of the gospel are a multitude but their end is destruction (Philippians 3:19) because they can never defeat Almighty God.

Let us remember when facing every enemy, every danger, every toil and every snare to “Be not afraid, only believe.” (Mark 5:36)

On true doctrine rests the worship of the true and living GOD. There is a tendency among many religious people to undervalue true doctrine, to exalt morality at the expense of the character of GOD and the teachings of our Lord, and to deny the importance of a sound creed. I do not doubt that sound creed has often covered an unsound life. But when I hear it said, “Such and such do not believe the doctrines of sovereign grace and substitution, but they love the Lord and are saved,” I wonder and ask, “What then was the Bible written for?” Is it no infallible expression of the mind of GOD? Is it no standard of Truth? Are we to believe what appeals to us and deny the rest? GOD FORBID! God’s Word declares the oneness of Truth and condemns every departure from the Truth as a DIRECT ATTACK ON GOD HIMSELF! Do not tell me that a man’s heart is right with God when his head contains a creed of error and denies the person and work of the redeemer.

Horatius Bonar

Liberty or Legalism

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

I can have liberty in Christ or I can have legalism by the law; but, I cannot have both. Law and Grace never mix. The salvation of the soul is not a mixture of Christ’s obedience and my obedience (so-called). If I do anything to help save my soul, then Christ is of no value to me; in fact, He becomes useless to me in salvation.

The word of God says, “If the Son shall therefore make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Jn. 8:36). The word of God never says anything about the law making a person free. Why? Because the law never sets the guilty free. Only in Jesus Christ is a sinner set free, justified, and cleared of all charges by His obedience and the sacrifice of His death. In Christ alone is the sinner holy, just, and free from all condemnation.

However, if a man insists on clinging to both, he will find himself set in a slippery place, cast down into destruction (Ps. 73:18).