BY THE GRACE OF GOD I AM WHAT I AM

A believer should never (in false humility) deny having the gifts that God has given them. A believer should also never (in false pride) act like they are better by nature than anyone else. “By the grace of God I am what I am.” (I Cor. 15:10) The reason we have everything we have is God’s grace. If you believe God it is only by the gift of God’s grace that He gave you faith. If you know God it is only because of the gift of God’s grace that He revealed Himself to you. If you love God it is only by the gift of God’s grace that God loved you first. If you persevere to the end it is only by the gift of God’s grace that He kept you. A believer should be known as a person thankful for and dependent upon God’s grace. Let us never be guilty of pride of grace. “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (I Cor 4:7)

Pastor

NO LEPRECHAUN’S ON THE THRONE OF GOD

One cannot truly believe in a sovereign God and at the same time believe in luck. The Bible is clear that God works all things after the counsel of His own will and for the good of His elect people. (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 8:28; Dan. 4:35) Recently a friend of mine, a highly educated individual, was telling me about how lucky he had been. I told him that I did not believe in luck and that God was either in control of all things, or God was in control of nothing. I told him that God in sovereign providence had blessed his situation favorably. His response to me was this. “All luck, like all blessings, are heaven’s gifts.” No, they are not! There are no leprechauns on the throne of heaven. God sits on His throne saying, “Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.” (Isa. 14:24) To attribute divine providence to luck, chance, fate or accident is to deny that God is on the throne and in control of all things. “But our God is in the heavens, He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” (Psa. 115:3) “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.” (Psa. 135:6) Aren’t you glad that God is on His throne?

Pastor David Eddmenson

THE EFFECTUAL ATONEMENT OF CHRIST

Christ shedding His blood assures that every elect person will be brought to faith in His blood. There are those who believe that their faith makes the death of Christ effectual. That Christ died for all men without exception - as much for one as the other - the only difference being that one believes, and the other does not. But it is not faith that makes the death of the Lord Jesus effectual, but it is the death of Christ that assures us that every elect soul will be justified by faith in time. Listen to this Scripture; “He (God) shall see of the travail of his (Christ) soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge SHALL MY RIGHTEOUS SERVANT JUSTIFY MANY; FOR HE SHALL BEAR THEIR INIQUITIES.” Why is any man justified by faith? Because Jesus Christ bore his iniquities. Christ shedding His blood assures that every elect person will be brought to faith in His blood.