Proverbs 16:29: A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and
leadeth him into the way that is not good. 30: He shutteth his eyes to devise
froward things: moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass.
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Believer, hear and look to
Christ alone! Your sovereign Redeemer is ruling and reigning. Immerse yourself in the gospel of Christ until
your affection is set on things above where Christ your life sits at God’s right
hand. The Spirit of God will settle you in
the assurance that Christ is your Righteousness, the Righteousness of your brethren
and that your Master is able to make you and your brethren stand. Look to Christ!
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It is strange that pride should ever
find anything in my experience to feed upon; but this completes my character for
folly, vileness, and inconsistence, that I am not only poor, but proud; and though
I am convinced I am a very wretch, and nothing before the Lord, I am prone to go
forth among my fellow creatures as though I were wise and good.
–John Newton
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It was not the children but the head of the house that applied the blood of
the passover lamb to the doorpost. Christ is both the Lamb who laid down his life
in place of his guilty people and the Head of the house who applies his precious
blood to our hearts—“as a Son over his own house” (Heb 3:6). Christ makes us willing
to believe and “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto
the end.” God promises to all the children in the house, “When I see the blood,
I will pass over you.”
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WHY REGENERATION IS CALLED A NEW CREATION
“Therefore, if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (II Cor. 5:17).
1.
The old creation and
the new creature HAVE THE SAME AUTHOR. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Paul
said in Eph. 2:10, “We are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus.”
2.
The first thing
in the new creation as well as the old is LIGHT! “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” II Cor. 4:6,
“God, who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory
of God in Christ.”
3.
The first creation
is OUT OF NOTHING; so is the new creation! I Pet. 2:10, “In time past you were not a people, but are now
the people of God.” Eph. 2:1, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead.”
4.
The SPIRIT OF
GOD and THE WORD OF GOD gave the world its being even as we were born again by the
SPIRIT and the WORD. Moses wrote, “The
SPIRIT of God moved upon the face of the waters and GOD SAID, Let there be light;
and there was light.”
5.
The same word
and power which created the world NOW SUSTAINS AND SUPPORTS IT! II Pet. 3:7, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now,
by the same word are kept in store.”
Even so, “We are KEPT BY THE POWER
OF GOD through faith unto salvation.”
6.
When the Lord
God finished the first creation, He surveyed it with SATISFACTION. Gen.1:31, “And God saw everything that He had made, and
behold, it was very good.” Even so, “We are made the very righteousness of God in
Christ.”
Philip Doddridge wrote in 1755;
“That spotless robe, which He hath wrought, Shall cleanse and cover all around;
and by the Holy eye of God not one blemish shall be found.”
–Henry Mahan
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CHRIST’S MESSAGE
“I will declare
thy name unto my brethren…” (Ps 22:22)
Christ declares God’s name, JEHOVAH Jireh,
“The LORD will provide”, “the LORD will see to it”, “in the mount of the
LORD it shall be seen.” (Gen 22:14). In God’s holy mount on the cross, it was
seen. God has provided salvation for his
elect by saving us from our sins by Christ Jesus’s death in our place.
Christ declares God’s name, JEHOVAH Rapha, “I AM the LORD that healeth
thee” (Ex 15:23-26). By Christ’s death in our place “with his stripes we are
healed.” (Is 53:5)
Christ declares God’s name, JEHOVAH Nissi, “I AM the Lord your banner.”
(Exo 17:15). Christ was lifted up like Moses rod was lifted up: on the cross,
into heaven, in the gospel we preach and in the hearts of his people. Thereby, believers
are more than conquerors through him that loved us in this war against sin, death
and hell. We rally to Christ like soldiers
on a battle field rally to their flag.
Christ declares God’s name, JEHOVAH Tzidkenu, “I AM the Lord your Righteousness”
(Jer 23:6; 33:16). Christ Jesus is the righteousness of God. (Rom 10:3-4) By
his irresistible grace making us willing to believe on Christ his righteousness
is ours. “This is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.”
(Jer 23:6; 33:16)
Christ declares God’s name, JEHOVAH Shalom, “I AM the Lord your peace”
(Judges 6:24). Christ reconciled his people unto God, working peace between
us and God (Rom 5:6-11). Through faith in Christ God says to his child, “Peace be
unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.” (Ju 6:23)
Christ declares God’s name, JEHOVAH Shammah, “I AM the Lord who is there”
(Eze 48:35). This is why his church is the guarded city; it is why the gates
of hell shall not prevail against his church, Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there.
Christ declares God’s name, JEHOVAH Raah, “I AM the LORD your Shepherd”
(Ps 23). This cursed earth is the valley of the shadow of death. Only Jehovah
Raah makes his sheep lie down in green pastures.
These are the seven
names of God. Seven is the number of perfections. God’s name is perfect. The perfection
of God’s great name is summed up in our Lord Jesus, “I AM the LORD your Savior”
(Is 43:3; Mt 1:21).