Warm greetings, friends, near
and far. The Lord Jesus Christ be magnified
forever and ever. His loving kindnesses, tender
mercies, and compassions are new every morning. Great is His
faithfulness. His mercy endureth forever. This is sinner saved coming at
you with the following short evangelistic gospel message and
God willing this broadcast will reach you, Lima Charlie, loud
and clear. It is my hope and prayer unto
God most high, the only holy father, that is only begotten
son, Christ Jesus, the Lord our righteousness. be greatly exalted,
that his everlasting gospel be clearly proclaimed, that the
pride of mere flesh and blood men be humbled, and that his
elect saints be greatly encouraged, cheered, and comforted in these
evil and perilous days. Please consider having paper
and pencil handy to jot down the scriptural references for
your own follow-up study. And so we begin with the weekend
gospel message to follow for all hands. Heads up! Please find enclosed encouragement
in so great salvation by the perfect and finished work of
our Lord Jesus Christ. in saving poor, needy, and wretched
sinners by His sovereign, free grace. That is to say, Almighty
God, in His unmerited favor to save me and you from our sins
and from hell. Eternal, faithful, gracious Lord,
we bow before Thy throne. Come as we gather in Thy name
and make Thy glories known. Oh, send Thy Spirit from above
to touch these lips of ours that we would sing our praise to Thee
with all our earthly powers. When to our ears the gospel comes,
Lord send it deep within. Come fill each heart with grace
and faith and cleanse us from our sin. May all who gather in
this house by faith to Jesus flee. No other one could save
our souls or give us peace with thee. Lord, grant us grace to
bless thy name as one, to raise our voice, to honor and adore
our God, to worship and rejoice. Amen. Nothing is so well fitted
to put the fear of God, which will preserve men from offending
Him, into the heart as an enlightened view of the cross of Christ.
There shines spotless holiness, inflexible justice, incomprehensible
wisdom, magnificent grace, omnipotent power, and holy love. None of
these excellencies darken or eclipse the other, but every
one of them rather gives a luster to the rest. They mingle their
beams and shine with united eternal splendor. The just judge, the
merciful father, the wise governor. Nowhere does justice appear so
awful, mercy so amiable, or wisdom so profound. That was from Jerry
Bridges, a 19th century Scottish preacher and theologian. Good
message. The death of deaths. Christ died
for us, Romans 5.8. There is a sense in which many
have died for us that we might live. The brave men and women
of our military who were killed in the service of our country,
they died for us to preserve our freedom and keep us safe.
Their lives were sacrificed, but not in vain, for we live
because of their commitment to liberty. We would not, however,
begin to compare the deaths of those patriots with the death
of the Son of God. His death was infinitely more
meaningful and preeminent than any other death. He, his rather,
was the death of deaths, for he laid down his life in the
stead of his people to make satisfaction to God for our guilt. When Christ
died, he made atonement for the sins of the children of God. He died the just for the unjust
to bring us to God. He died as both God's sacrifice
for sins and as the substitute in the stead of defiled sinners. His death was the ransom price
paid to satisfy divine justice for the freedom of the slaves
of sin. By his death he redeemed his
people from the curse of the law for he was made a curse for
us. If we fail to press home the
sacrificial aspect of the death of our Savior, the bloody offerings
of the Old Testament make no sense whatsoever. If we do not
declare the substitutionary nature of His death, then the types
and shadows under the law which pointed to His sacrifice have
no substance, and the prophecies have no fulfillment. Did the
Son of God die merely as a martyr or example? Then what was the
meaning of the deaths of all those animals on Jewish altars?
Of what benefit to us is the record of the Passover Lamb if
Christ, the Lamb of God, did not die to actually deliver true
Israel from the bondage of sin and the cruel servitude of Satan?
If Christ did not die as the sin offering, then the river
of blood that flowed through the Old Testament is without
meaning. Surely you see that the death of the Lord Jesus was
the death of all deaths. It was absolutely necessary that
he laid down his life because of the sentence of the law of
God. The wages of sin is death. Mercifully,
Christ died in the stead of his people, was buried, arose, and
ever lives to make intercession for us. Outstanding message from
preacher Jim Bird. It is written in John 3.30, he
must increase, but I must decrease. This was spoken of the Redeemer
by his forerunner, John, and it is not to be considered as
the language of complaint or sullen agreement, as if he would
say, I dislike it, but it is unavoidable. It is my grief,
and I must bear it. No, it was as agreeable to his
feelings as it was firm in his belief, and it showed a fine
and a noble soul in John. The spirit that is in us lusts
to envy. We love to be distinguished above
others. We wish to rise even by the fall
of others. It is trying, even to a good
man, to withdraw and see a successor filling his place better than
himself. And, as the honors he has worn
are transferred to another, to say, he must increase, but I
must decrease. It is not an easy thing to go
down well or for a setting star to exalt in a rising sun. But
it was thus to John. He knew his rank and approved
his place. He was the servant, not the master,
the friend, not the bridegroom, the sinner, not the savior. The
church was not married to him. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease. That was from preacher William
J. Jesus, my great high priest,
offered his blood and died. My guilty conscience seeks no
sacrifice beside. His powerful blood did once atone,
and now it pleads before God's throne. My advocate appears for
my defense on high. The Father bows his ears and
lays his thunder by. Not all that hell or sin can
say shall turn his heart, his love, away. To this dear surety's
hand will I commit my cause. He answers and fulfills his father's
broken laws. Behold, my soul at freedom set,
my surety paid the dreadful debt." That was from preacher Isaac
Watts. Soldiers of Christ, stand fast! as it is written in Ephesians
6.14, Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,
and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Soldiers of
Christ, hear and obey the word of command. Stand against every
enemy. Stand to your arms against all
opposition from within and without. Maintain your ground. Face all,
fight all, conquer all. Does sin attack, Satan assault,
the world threaten? Do corruptions rage, temptations
beset, and carnal nature rebel? Are thine enemies many and potent?
Is their fury great? Is the battle strong? Stand therefore."
Why? Because you have put on the whole
armor of God. Jesus is with you, upon you,
over you, and engaged for you. Therefore, stand fast in the
Lord, 1 Thessalonians 3, 8, and in the power of his might, having
your loins girt. Long-standing makes the loins
faint and weak. Is there much pain in the loins?
Here is thy Lord's command. Gird up the loins of thy mind. Make thy loins strong. Fortify thy power mightily, as
it's written in Nahum 2.1. How? Here is a girdle for thee,
girt about with truth. What is truth? Christ answers,
I am the truth. John 14 6. Christ and the truth
as it is in him is like a girdle to the loins, to brace up and
strengthen the mind. Hast thou not often found it
so, O soldier of Christ? When weary and faint in thy mind,
under long and sharp conflicts with the enemy, hath not thy
soul been revived and thy mind animated with fresh strength
and vigor? By again, girding thy loins with
the love, the grace, the truth, and the salvation of Jesus. This
was David's experience. Thou has guided me, or I'm sorry
folks, thou has girded me with gladness. Psalm 30 verse 11,
Thou hast girded me with strength to battle, as it's written in
2 Samuel 22 40. Oh, think not of standing without
the girdle of gladness. Let Christ and his truths be
the strength of thy loins and the glory of thy soul, having
on the breastplate of righteousness, not our own. That is defective,
as well have on a spider's web. It will not defend the heart.
The enemy will wound the breast through it. No other righteousness
than that in which we stand perfectly justified in the sight of God
can effectually defend our breast against the enemy. This is the
one perfect, everlasting righteousness of Him who is the Lord our righteousness."
Jeremiah 23, 6. Christ, by His obedience unto
death, wrought it out. The Spirit convinces us of our
want of it. God the Father imputes it. The
sinner accepts it by faith, glories of it, and rejoices in it. No
enemy can stand against it. It is a guard against and repels
the accusations of Satan and is security against all condemnation. If I could keep God's holy law
and every jot fulfill, my righteousness I would not know, but glory in
Christ still. But since I sin in all I do and
yet would never sin, I'll daily to my Savior go for peace and
joy within. Good message from old-timer preacher
William Mason. It is written in Isaiah 45, 22,
where our Lord Jesus Christ commands, look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. The master, Christ Jesus, says
in Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30, come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest unto your
souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Friends, it is imperative that
you flee to Christ Jesus today, not tomorrow, for none of us
are promised another day on this planet. Today is the day of salvation. Call upon the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ while he may be found, and seek him while he
is near. Only by being in Christ, the
ark of our salvation, may we be delivered from the fierce
wrath of Almighty God, which is coming soon upon the wicked. holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
which was, and is, and is to come. Great is our Lord Jesus
Christ, and greatly to be praised. Take heart, friends, our mighty
and glorious King of glory is inbound for His afflicted saints. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus,
Maranatha,