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, Lema Charlie,
loud and clear. It is my hope and prayer unto
God Most High, the only Holy Father, that His 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 and His unmerited favor to save me and you from our sins
and from hell. The correct formula. I recently
was asked the following question on the internet, what is God
going to do with the people who were baptized in the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit instead of the being baptized
in the name Jesus Christ?" Which I think is a stupid question.
Here's my reply. Thanks for the question. With
respect, a baptismal formula does not justify anyone. I'll say it again slightly differently.
Baptism does not declare not guilty anyone. Christ Jesus alone
saves and the baptism is a public declaration that such is the
case. The baptismal candidate must
first, by faith, be a partaker of the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus. Then the believer is qualified
for baptism. Baptism is a testimony which
declares that salvation has already been accomplished. An incorrect
baptismal formula cannot, therefore, undo the great work that Christ
Jesus effectively accomplished at the cross 2,000 years ago.
You see, it is neither by Christ and a correct baptismal formula
that we are saved, nor by Christ and good works that we are declared
not guilty. We are neither acquitted by Christ
and the church, nor through Christ and any kind of baptism. We are neither saved through
Christ and the confessional box, nor by Christ and doing our best. Salvation is in, by, and through
Christ Jesus alone. Christ and is a perverted gospel. Christ alone, without the and,
is the sinner's only hope and the believer's confidence. In
Him, we receive forgiveness and eternal life. In addition, if
we are ultimately saved by Christ plus a correct baptismal formula,
then the baptismal formula is one of our mediators. But the
scripture boldly asserts that there is only one mediator between
God and man, not two. And that's, of course, speaking
of Christ Jesus, our beloved mediator. Please see 1 Timothy
2.5. If our baptismal formula mediates
for us, then it must be viewed as partly responsible for our
salvation. But the scriptures know nothing
of this. Salvation has already been accomplished by Christ and
His shed blood plus nothing. See Colossians 1.20. We have
been reconciled to God by Christ alone. 2 Corinthians 5.18. And this is as it should be. What works of ours can compare
to those of the Lord Christ? All our works, the good, the
better, and the best, are defiled by imperfections. As one old
saint lamented, Even my repentance needs repenting of. Our works
cannot make an atonement, but rather they need one made for
themselves. And that's the gospel truth from
preacher Miles McKee. Shall man reply against almighty
God himself? We read the reaction of the Lord
Jesus' message In Luke 4 verse 28, And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. Human nature, how lowfallen in
misery and wretchedness! Yet how high doth it rise in
pride! Though the meek Lamb of God is
the preacher of sovereign grace and distinguishing love, yet
the wrath of man dares to exalt itself against his doctrine.
Fury burst forth like fire. Vengeance and resentment break
the bounds of the law of God and man and would have instantly
put Jesus to death. Pride is the firstborn of Lucifer,
where he says, you shall be as gods, hath tainted our whole
nature with the cursed leaven and will be the last enemy that
is destroyed in us. Out of the abundance of pride
in the heart, the mouth is opened against God's sovereign grace,
discriminating love and divine dispensations. Be still and know
that I am God is a lesson the proud nature of man is averse
to. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. See Exodus 33, 19. Those spoke
from the mouth of the Lord, yet the hearts of sinners rise in
wrath against it. They look with an evil eye upon
the good pleasure of the Lord. and dare challenge and call in
question his truths and his dealings with the children of men. Disciple,
this day, a real likeness, a true picture of thy proud nature is
presented to thy view. Behold thyself and thy proud
brethren. See thy natural aversion to the
sovereignty of God's truths and thy Savior's doctrines. All these
worshiping Jews, priests as well as people, conceived wrath even
in God's house. Yea, their teeming hearts were
soon filled with it against Jesus, a man who told them the truth.
The histories of the Serapidon widow and Naaman the Assyrian,
they were all well acquainted with these stories but could
not bear the doctrine of them. Hezekiah humbled himself for
the pride of his heart. See 2 Chronicles 32 26. Do we
not feel the stirrings of it also? Oh, what cause, what daily
cause for His practice? Stout words proceed from unhumbled
hearts. When our voices are heard on
high against God's sovereign determinations, it is a sad proof
that our hearts are not laid low with a sight and sense of
being guilty before God. Those who challenge God's purposes
have some plea founded upon their own imaginary goodness. It is
written in 1 Peter 5, 5, be clothed with humility, for God resisteth
the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Shall man reply against
the Lord and call his maker's ways unjust? The thunder of his
dreadful word can crush a thousand worlds to dust. But, O my soul,
if truth so bright should dazzle and confound thy sight, yet still
his written word Britain will obey and wait the great decisive
day. Good message from old-timer preacher
William Mason. God of mercy, grace and glory,
hear this poor and needy soul. Grant to me thy sovereign favor.
Come and make this sinner whole. Manifest thy loving kindness
unto thee alone, I cry. Meet my need and heal my spirit
or this sinful soul will die. In thy holy word tis written,
Christ for sinners bled and died. By his sacrifice on Calvary,
all thy justice satisfied. Since the Savior paid their ransom,
all thy people shall be free. Look upon the precious Savior
and show mercy, Lord, to me. By the call of thy great spirit
unto Jesus, I will flee. Lo, I humbly bow before him and
confess iniquity. He alone can cleanse and save
me. I shall live at His command. Sovereign Savior, grant Thy mercy. Save me by Thy mighty hand. Amen. It is written in Jeremiah
23 6, the Lord our righteousness While believers always trust
Christ and submit to His righteousness as the sole basis for our acceptance
before God, there are at least four times when we must be especially
careful to look to Him who is the Lord our righteousness. Number
one, when we have sinned and experienced feelings of shame,
conviction, remorse, and despair, we must look to Christ and His
righteousness. The life of a child of God is
lived with the realization of personal guilt. But remember,
the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1.7. Our record before
God is perfect, for He sees us in the Lord our righteousness.
God has never looked to us, but to our surety and substitute,
His Son, for satisfaction to His just demands. We are made
the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus who loved us and gave
Himself for us. Number two, when we feel like
we have done a good work and conducted ourselves in a way
that we believe pleases God, we must look to Christ and His
righteousness because a good feeling about self is really
pride rising up in the heart. We must never look to our obedience
or any work that we have done for comfort or assurance. All
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Isaiah 64 6, there is
not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Ecclesiastes 7 20. Our best deeds
have the stench of sin upon them. Christ alone is our righteousness. We are never accepted because
of our obedience, but we are accepted for His obedience unto
death, even the death of the cross. He is the Lord our righteousness. Number three, when we approach
God with any request, we must look to Christ and His righteousness.
We make our petitions to the Father and ask Him to grant them,
not because of our goodness, but because our mediator is the
Lord our righteousness. To request anything of God in
our name and because of our works would be foolish. We make our
petitions known unto the Lord in the name of our righteous
Savior. Number four. When we face death,
which will be followed by meeting the Lord, we must still be looking
to Christ and His righteousness for all our salvation. In that day when we depart this
life to stand before the Lord, the only righteousness which
will prevail with God is the righteousness established by
Jesus Christ and freely imputed to His chosen people. Then, even
as now, every true believer will stand perfect, spotless, and
without blemish in that one who lived, died, and arose for us. What is His name? God's children
know His name well. In fact, the Father's name for
His church, His people, is the same as our Savior's. Look at
Jeremiah 33, 16. The Lord, our righteousness, Excellent message from preacher
Jim Bird. 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.
And the master also says in Matthew 11, 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.