JESUS! In Word and Song

WEEK 48

THIS JESUS—

WHAT HE DID FOR ME_2

JESUS pities my weaknesses: (Heb 4:15).

“Jesus is able to identify with his people because of his human experience and the sufferings he endured while being tempted.”¹

My sin was assigned to CHRIST and His righteousness to me: (2 Cor 5:21).

“God has imputed the believer’s sin to Christ and likewise imputes Christ’s righteousness to the believer.”²

In CHRIST I am blessed with every spiritual blessing: (Eph 1:3).

“God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in which life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel,”³ “in things suited to prepare us for heaven.”⁴

JESUS gave me the HOLY SPIRIT: (Titus 3:5-7).

“I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you’ (John 15:5-7).”⁵

I have fellowship with the FATHER and the SON: (1 Cor 1:9).

Only upon the broad basis of His Law honored, His holiness secured, and His justice satisfied, can God, in the way of mercy, have communication with the sinner. Here we see the great glory of Jesus as the God-Man Mediator. His atoning work opens a channel through which God, without compromising a single perfection of His nature, can communicate the saving and sanctifying power of His grace to the soul.⁶

He saved me from GOD’s wrath: (1 Thes 1:10).

“Christians go beyond avoiding God’s wrath and actually rejoice in the same God who would pour our wrath on them were it not for Christ.”⁷

CHRIST gives me eternal life: (Heb 9:12).

“[T]he Lord Jesus obtained eternal redemption for His people, and, by rising as the Representative, gave pledge that they too should rise after His example, through His merits and power.”⁸

The believer’s participation in the divine nature of Christ: (2 Pet 1:4).

“From Christ as from a fountain sanctification flows into the souls of the saints.”⁹

As was the Master, so must the servant be. On His way to the cross, He looked round and said, ‘Follow me’ (Joh 12:26). On his way to the throne, after He had passed the cross, He said the same (Joh 21:22). To the cross and to the crown alike, then, we are to follow Him. It is one way to both.¹⁰

ENDNOTES

(48) JESUS Is the Mediator

1. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2367.

2. ESV Study Bible, 2231.

3. Adam Clarke, “Commentary on Ephesians 1:3,” 1832, Adam Clarke Commentary, 2 March 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/ephesians/1-3.html#verse-acc.

4. Albert Barnes, “Commentary on Ephesians 1:3,” 1870, Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible, 2 March 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/ephesians/1-3.html#verse-bnb.

5. Arthur W. Pink, “The Exaltation of Christ,” Studies in the Scriptures XI (August 1932) : 2.

6. Octavius Winslow, “Christ and Sanctification,” Free Grace Broadcaster 215 (2011) : 15.

7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2166.

8. Arthur W. Pink, “The Exaltation of Christ,” Studies in the Scriptures XI (August 1932) : 1.

9. Dane C. Ortlund, Deeper (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021) 51.

10. Horativus Bonar, “Let Us Then Shine!,” Free Grace Broadcaster 215 (2011) : 42.

11. “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant . . .” (Hebrews 9:15 ESV).

12. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5 ESV).

13. “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant . . .” (Hebrews 9:15 ESV).

14. “For it is witnessed of him, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’” (Hebrews 7:17 ESV).

15. “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22 ESV).

16. “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14 ESV).

17. “ . . . the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26 ESV).

18. “. . . the Lamb . . . is Lord of lords and King of kings . . .” (Revelations 17:14 ESV).

19. “ . . . Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:5 ESV).

20. “ . . . To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18 ESV).

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 43

HOUND OF HEAVEN

The Fall of man and the consequential depravity places GOD’s creatures on the edge of a chasm where a retreat to our original condition is impossible. But GOD has better plans. “We have in Christ a full reconciliation with God, and an advancement into higher favour with Him, than the first Adam had in the state of innocency.”¹

Because He shuts us all up in our disobedience and unbelief, it enables Him to provide mercy to us all (Rom 11:32). Thus begins the activity of the Godhead to restore His chosen.

This activity of drawing children back to Him can be fierce—a provoking, prodding or forcing (Acts 26:14), or He can do it gently—as a quiet knocking (Rev 3:20).

[W]e may experience either the ecstasy of underserved love or the acute pain of unrequited love, because we know instinctively that love is the greatest thing in the world. It is in such moments as these that Jesus Christ draws near to us and uses his hand to knock or to goad.²

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow [us] all the days of [our] life” (Psalm 23:6 ESV).

Author, Gautrey points out that the Hebrew word here translated by the mild verb ‘follow’ should be rendered more forcefully; for instance, ‘goodness and mercy have hunted me, haunted me, dogged my steps all the days of my life.’ ‘It is a pursuit, patient but purposeful, affectionate but relentless.’³

“If we love Christ, it is because he loved us first. If we are Christians at all, it is not because we have decided for Christ, but because Christ has decided for us. It is because of the pursuit of ‘this tremendous lover.’”⁴

“’The Hound of Heaven’ is a striking expression invented by Francis Thompson.”⁵

When we were running full speed the other direction, he chased us down, subdued our rebellion, and opened our eyes to see our need of him and his all-sufficiency to meet that need. We were not drowning, in need of being thrown a life-preserver; we were stone-dead at the bottom of the ocean. He pulled us up, breathed new life into us, and set us on our feet—and every breath we now draw is owing to his full and utter deliverance of us in all our helplessness and death.⁶

Ultimate reality is an eternal fountain of endless, unquenchable love. A love so great that it could not be contained within the uproarious joy of Father, Son, and Spirit but spilled out to embrace fallen humans into it. Divine love is inherently engulfing, embracing, overflowing. God made you so that he could love you.⁷

ENDNOTES

(43) Hound of Heaven

1. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866,1994) 229.

2. John Stott, Why I Am a Christian (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press 2003) 31.

3. Stott, 16.

4. Stott, 18.

5. Stott, 15.

6. Dane C. Ortlund, Deeper (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021) 27.

7. Ortlund, 70.

8. Hal Leonard, The Hymn Fake Book (Milwaukee, WI: Hall Leonard Corporation) 194.

9. John Stott, Why I Am a Christian (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press 2003) 29.

10. Stott, 30.

11. Stott, 17.

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 42

THIS JESUS—

What He Did_2

“It’s easy to forget that nothing we do will make us more acceptable to God. Jesus came to set us free to serve Him in the freshness and spontaneity of the Spirit, and to receive the ABUNDANT blessing God has for us.”¹

JESUS gave redemption through His blood:(Eph 1:7).

“By it, [the cross of CHRIST] the body of sin is wounded, and wounded fatally. From it, pardon, peace, and holiness flow. And through it, the soul daily rises to God in a holy surrender of itself to His service.”²

He became a curse for His spiritual children:(Gal 3:13).

“Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:5-6 ESV).

JESUS broke down the dividing wall of hostility:(Eph 2:13).

“Jews and Greeks [have] been transcended by a new entity in Christ: ‘the church of God’.”³

He is the high priest:(Heb 7:26).

CHRIST “has become a priest by the power of an indestructible life”(Heb 7:16 ESV). “[T]he high priest acts on behalf of men in relation to God. That is he acts as a mediator.”⁴“Jesus’ resurrection from the dead indicates his eternal priesthood. Death could not conquer Jesus; therefore, his priesthood lasts forever.”⁵

JESUS became the Perfecter of Faith:(Heb 12:2).

“Through his atoning work, Christ’s perfection leads to the perfection of his people.”⁶

JESUS abolished death and brought life:(2 Tim 1:10).

“We come to Him for life, or rather, first of all, He comes to us with life.”⁷

He is the wisdom and knowledge of GOD:(1 Cor 1:24).

“Christ is the image of God. God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:4,6).

He filled believers with His SPIRIT:(2 Tim 1:14).

“[T]he Spirit does His work not exerting a mere influence, but coming into us and abiding with us; so that being filled with His company, as well as pervaded by His power, we are thoroughly ‘transformed.’”⁸

JESUS became the first-born of the dead:(Rev 1:5).

“Jesus Christ [is] risen from the dead” (2 Tim 2:8 ESV). “He alone came back from death never to die again, being the first of many to triumph over death.”⁹

ENDNOTES

(42) JESUS Is Founder of Faith

1. Roy and Revel Hession, We Would See Jesus (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 1958, 2010) back cover.

2. Octavius Winslow, “Christ and Sanctification,” Free Grace Broadcaster 215 (2011) : 15, brackets mine.

3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2265.

4. Jared Dymond, “Hebrews 5:1-10,” New Hope Church sermon notes, 06 March 2022: 3.

5. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2371.

6. ESV Study Bible, 2383.

7. Horatius Bonar, “Let Us Then Shine,” Free Grace Broadcaster 215 (2011) : 42.

8. Bonar, 43.

9. James Burton Coffman, “Commentary on Revelation 1:5,” 1983-1999, Coffman Commentaries on the Bible, 1 March 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/revelation/1-5.html#verse-bcc.

10. “ . . . Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith . . .” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV).

11. :Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand . . .” (Romans 5:2 ESV).

12. “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14 ESV).

13. “ . . . that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,” (Ephesians 2:15 ESV).

14. “ . . . Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith . . .” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV).

15. “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14 ESV).

16. “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,” (Ephesians 1:22 ESV).

17. “ . . . the church submits to Christ . . .” (Ephesians 5:24 ESV).

18. “ . . . the Lamb . . . is Lord of lords and King of kings . . .” (Revelations 17:14 ESV).

19. “ . . . Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:5 ESV).

20. “ . . . To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18 ESV).

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 39

THE WORD

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt 5:17-18 ESV).

“God considers what he has told us in the Bible to be enough for us, and that we should rejoice in the great revelation that he has given us and be content with it.”¹ “Scripture today is exactly what God wanted it to be, and it will stay that way until Christ returns.”²

“To read the Bible ‘theologically’ means to read the Bible ‘with a focus on God’: his being, his character, his words and works, his purpose, presence, power, promises, and precepts.”³

“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes” (Ps 119:11-12 ESV)!

“He that would be like Christ must study Him. We cannot make ourselves holy by merely trying to be so, any more than we can made ourselves believe and love by simple energy of endeavor.”⁴ We do not know truth on our own. “The truth is something that always enlightens us.”⁵

“He that would be holy must steep himself in the Word. It is through the truth that we are sanctified (John 17:17). Exposing our souls constantly to this light, we become more thoroughly ‘children of the light.’”⁶

“We don’t create our own salvation by our actions but we reflect and express it and so grow in our certainty of it. Because we Christians are liable to deceive ourselves, we should give ourselves to the study of God’s Word to be instructed and encouraged in our salvation.”⁷

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col 3:16 ESV). “Since Satan’s primary weapon is the lie, your defense against him is the truth. Dealing with Satan is not a power encounter; it’s a truth encounter.”⁸

In our daily lives, it is the words of Scripture alone that must have first place in our hearts and our minds. We must read them, believe them, memorize them, love them, and cherish them as the very words of our Creator speaking to us. All other gifts and teachings today are to be subject to the words of Scripture and are to be judged by them. No other gift or teaching or writing should be allowed to compete with them for absolute priority in our lives.⁹ “The God of the Scriptures has preserved his divine Word. [I]t promises to instruct us in walking humbly before him in reverence and awe.”¹⁰

ENDNOTES

(39) Whether the Word be Preached or Read

1. Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1988, 2000) 258.

2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994) 68-69.

3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2567.

4. Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness (Pensacola, FL: Mt. Zion Publications) 88.

5. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 112.

6. Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness (Pensacola, FL: Mt. Zion Publications) 88.

7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2503.

8. Neil T. Anderson, Victory Over the Darkness (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990) 170.

9. Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1988, 2000) 49.

10. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2565.

11. Charles Wesley, “Whether the Word be Preached or Read,” 1783, Hymnary, 25 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/whether_the_word_be_preached_or_read.

12. Phillip P. Bliss, “Wonderful Words of Life,” 1874, Hymnary, 27 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/sing_them_over_again_to_me_wonderful.

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 35

CHRIST, NOW HEAD OF THE CHURCH

The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration was accomplished. According to His promise He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers as a token that He had, as priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed One over His people.¹

“[I]n Messiah Jesus alone dwells the Plenitude of the Godhead, that He is the only Mediator, the only Saviour, the Head of the Church, the Source of life; that whatever celestial beings exist are subjected to Him.”²

“Jesus Christ is preeminent over all creation, Lord over all human rulers and cosmic powers.”³ “Through his sacrificial death, Jesus Christ has conquered Satan, the accuser, and has ransomed people from every nation.”⁴ “World history, including its woes and disasters, is firmly in the control of Jesus, the victorious Lamb.”⁵

“[I]mmortal God and mortal man is the only Saviour of the world.”⁶

“[T]he God of our Lord Jesus Christ seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body” (Eph 1:17,20-23 ESV).

“He is the image of the invisible God. And he is the head of the body, the church, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:15,18,20 ESV).

“Christ is Lord over all creation, including the invisible realm. He has secured the redemption for his people, enabling them to participate with him in his death, resurrection, and fullness.”⁷

“’Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Rev 5:12 ESV).

“It is impossible to overvalue Christ.”⁸

ENDNOTES

(35) King of Kings, JESUS

1. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 39.

2. Arthur S. Way, Letters of Paul, Hebrews and the Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1901, 1981) 164.

3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2290.

4. ESV Study Bible, 2455.

5. ESV Study Bible.

6. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 85.

7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2089.

8. I.D.E. Thomas, ed., Puritan Daily Devotional Chronicles (Oklahoma City, OK: Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd., 1995) 152.

9. “ . . . he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:20 ESV).

10. “ . . . in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, . . .” (Hebrews 1:2 ESV).

11. “ . . . ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Revelation 5:12 ESV).

12. “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion . . . not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:21 ESV).

13. “And he is the head of the body, the church. . . .” (Colossians 1:18 ESV).

14. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 85.

15. Bonar, 232.

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 34

THE MEDIATOR

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Tim 2:5 ESV).

The Father gave a people to the Son, and the Son voluntarily made Himself responsible to God for them. God the Father said He would grant forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, new life, and a new nature to all who belonged to His Son. The condition was that the Son should come into the world and take human nature and the sin of mankind upon Himself to bear its punishment, stand for them, represent them, and suffer for them.¹

Because we were alienated from God by sin, we needed someone to come between God and ourselves and bring us back to him. We needed a mediator who could represent us to God and who could represent God to us. There is only one person who has ever fulfilled that requirement: ‘There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim 2:5). In order to fulfill this role of mediator, Jesus had to be fully man as well as fully God.²

“The grand end of Christ’s mediation is the appeasing of God’s anger and the securing of His favor. He is the Advocate with the Father on behalf of His sinning people, pleading His righteousness and blood for them.”³

“The Lord Jesus is the anointed Mediator.”⁴ “Christ presents His people before God as those who are inestimably dear unto Him. He not only died for them, but lives for them (Rom 5:10). He died to render satisfaction to God on their behalf; He lives to keep them secure.”⁵

Christ sits at God’s right hand as no silent and inactive Spectator, but as an industrious and mighty Intercessor: to prevent the sins of His people making any breach, to preserve a perpetual amity between God and them. Thus we have ‘a Friend at court’ who spreads before the Father the odours of His merits as the all-sufficient answer to every indictment which Satan prefers against us. He requests not the Father to show mercy at the expense of justice. There is no compromise of holiness in God’s pardoning His children, for Christ made full atonement for all their sins.⁶

[Christ’s] mediation on the throne is as real and indispensable as on the cross. [I]t engages all His time and powers [and] is His unceasing occupation at the right hand of the Father. And we participate not only in the benefits of this His work, but in the work itself.⁷

ENDNOTES

(34) I See a Man at GOD’s Right Hand

1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “God’s Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 3.

2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994) 541.

3. A.W. Pink, 1 John, Part One 1:1-2:11 (Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library, 2005) 123.

4. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Purpose Consummated,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 27.

5. A.W. Pink, 1 John, Part One 1:1-2:11 (Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library, 2005) 120.

6. Pink, 120-122.

7. Andrew Murray, “With Christ in the School of Prayer,” PC Study Bible by Biblesoft, Inc, 2003, twenty-sixth lesson.

8. Horatius Bonar, “I See A Man at God’s Right Hand,” 1872 Hymnary, 20 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/i_see_a_man_at_gods_right_hand.

9. “Oh the Valley,” music and melody, author unknown.

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WEEK 33

APOSTLES DAY

“Then [Jesus] opened [the Apostles] minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in [my] name. You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:45-48 ESV).

The Holy Spirit energized the hearts and minds of the apostles in their ministry, helping them to produce the NT Scripture. The disciples had failed to understand many things about Jesus and what He taught, but because of his supernatural work, they came to an inerrant and accurate understanding of the Lord and His work and recorded it in the gospels and the rest of the NT Scriptures.¹

“The Holy Spirit was to be given them in its fullness, sealing them for their work.”² “So long as they obeyed His word, and worked in connection with Him, they could not fail.”³

The Sent One (Jesus) has now become the Sender, commissioning his followers to serve as his messengers and representatives. All three persons of the Godhead are involved in this commissioning: as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends his disciples equipping them with the Holy Spirit.⁴

“The whole position of the Apostles is that they have something to declare, something to say. They have seen something, they are reporting it. [I]t is a proclamation; there is an urge and an authority behind it.”⁵

“The disciples were to carry their work forward in Christ’s name. Their every word and act was to fasten attention on His name, as possessing that vital power by which sinners may be saved.”⁶

They told that ancient world of certain things which had happened; they talked about a person, and they reported what had happened to Him. And with a very special emphasis, they told people of the amazing fact of the Resurrection; how this person, Jesus of Nazareth—who had been completely misunderstood, not only by the common people, but by the rulers and elders of the people—how He had been put to death. But, they said, God had raised Him from the dead, and He had manifested Himself to them, His chosen witnesses.⁷

“[The Apostles] had the amazing privilege of seeing Him, of hearing Him, of examining Him and touching Him and listening to Him.”⁸

“The authority of the Apostles in the Church was unquestionable from the very beginning. Their powers were derived from Christ Himself. They preached boldly and acted as His representatives, teaching and speaking ‘in the Holy Spirit.’”⁹

ENDNOTES

(33) Stay Close on His Heels

1. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 415.

2. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 30.

3. White, 29.

4. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2070.

5. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 45.

6. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 28.

7. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 316.

8. Lloyd-Jones, 51.

9. Rev. Fr. Andrew G. George, “Feast of the Twelve Apostles,” Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1 September 2021 https://www.goarch.org/-/feast-of-the-twelve-apostles?inheritRedirect=true.

10. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 57.

11. “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” (Ephesians 1:11 ESV).

12. “To the sound of musicians . . . they repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD . . .” (Judges 5:11 ESV).

13. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . .” (Acts 1:8 ESV).

14. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26 ESV).

15. “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5 ESV).

16. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . .” (Acts 1:8 ESV).

17. “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” (Ephesians 1:11 ESV).

18. “’This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,’” (Hebrews 10:16 ESV).

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WEEK 31

GOD’S MASTER PLAN

[H]ere are you and I, miserable worms in this world, miserable worms with our arrogance and our pride and our appalling ignorance. We deserve nothing but to be blotted off the face of the earth. But what has happened is that before the foundation of the world this blessed God considered us, considered our condition, considered what would happen to us and planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed.¹

“God’s act of choosing His people in Christ was without the consideration of the fall, nor was it upon the foresight and footing of works, but was wholly of grace, and all to the praise and glory of it.”²

“[I]n love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” (Eph 1:4-5 ESV). “God predestined his elect to redemption and holiness in Christ according to the free council of his will.”³

“God has imputed the believer’s sin to Christ and God imputes Christ’s righteousness to the believer.”⁴ “[We] are pardoned because [our] sin is punished in Christ. And [we] are restored because his righteousness becomes [ours].”⁵

“Christianity rest on an unveiling of the hidden Creator Himself.”⁶ “[B]eing creatures, we cannot know God unless He acts to make Himself known to us. Even Adam in Eden needed direct divine speech to make known to him all God’s will.”⁷ “God created man in his own image. And God blessed them. And God said to them . . . And God said . . . ”(Gen 1:27-29 ESV).

“Revelation does not mean man finding God, but God finding man, God sharing His secrets with us, God showing us Himself.”⁸

It always bothers me when we gather for worship and people say things like, ‘Lord, we invite you into our presence.’ When we should be humbly thanking him for allowing us into his presence. You see, proper worship begins with a proper perspective of who we are and who God is. When we gather to worship, it’s good for us to remember that God is not in our presence, we are in his.⁹

“He is a friend to us, and we to Him, He finding His joy in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving Him thanks.”¹⁰

ENDNOTES

(31) GOD’s Love Self-generated

1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “God’s Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 4.

2. A.W. Pink, “The Mediator Chosen,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 25.

3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2260.

4. ESV Study Bible, 2231.

5. G. I. Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing Company, 1964, 2004) 105.

6. J.I. Packer, God Has Spoken (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979) 45.

7. Packer, 53-55.

8. Packer, 46.

9. Denny Johnson, “The Intimacy of God’s Sovereignty,” NHC sermon notes, 7 February 2021: 4.

10. Packer, 50.

11. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 550-551.

12. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 126-127.

13. “ . . . Jesus Christ—Loyal Witness, Firstborn from the dead, Ruler of all earthly kings” (Rev 1:4-7 MSG).

14. Isaac Watts, “Jesus Shall Reign,” 1719, Hymnary, 19 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_shall_reign_whereer_the_sun.

JESUS! In Word and Song

Posted by bonniefaurote

Today starts volume 2 of JESUS! In Word and Song. See SONG in main menu for more information.

WEEK 28

TRINITY SUNDAY

“Trinity Sunday is a day when Christians think of the nature of God rather than, as with other festivals, commemorating historical events of special significance.”¹

“[T]he three blessed Persons in the Trinity divided up the work: The Father planned, the Son put it into operation, and the Holy Spirit applies it.”²

God was so sure of the depth and expansiveness of your sin, of your inability to grasp how desperate your condition is (and, even if you were able, your complete inability to free yourself from it), that he was willing to harness the forces of nature and to carefully control the events of human history so that at a certain point Jesus would come to live the life you could not live, die the death that you should have died, and rise again, conquering death. Why did God go to this elaborate and sacrificial extent? There is only one answer to the question. God the Father planned it, God the Son was willing to do it, and God the Holy Spirit applied this work to your heart and mine because there just was no other way.³

“When God brought His work of revelation to its climax by sending into the World His Son and His Spirit, He thereby showed Himself to be tri-personal—three Persons in one God.”⁴

“God exists eternally as one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person within the Trinity possesses the same essence and attributes of deity and is co-equal in power and glory.”⁵

“While each ‘personage’ is distinct in function, each shares together in the same deity and each reflects the divine attributes of the one living God.”⁶

[T]he Father plans, directs, and sends; the Son is sent by the Father and is subject to the Father’s authority and obedient to the Father’s will; and both Father and Son direct and send the Spirit, who carries out the will of both. Yet this is somehow consistent with equality in being and in attributes.⁷

“All that can be felt of God is in the Holy Spirit; all that can be known of God is in the Son; and all that is of God is in the Father.”⁸

“It requires a whole Trinity to keep a saint of God.”⁹

To him that sits upon the throne,

The great eternal Three-in-One;

To him let saints and angels raise

An everlasting song of praise.¹⁰

ENDNOTES

(28) SPIRIT, FATHER, Son

1. “A Guide to Christian Festivals and Dates,” Church of Scotland, 4 July 2021 https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/festivals-and-dates.

2. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Gods Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 1.

3. Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014) February 29^th.

4. J.I. Packer, God Has Spoken (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1979) 47.

5. New Hope Church Statement of Fatih, “2. God,” Spring 2021 https://www.newhopechurchofoxford.org/statement-of-faith.

6. “Holy Spirit,” 2002-2020, All About God, 17 February 2021 https://www.allaboutgod.com/holy-spirit.htm.

7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2514.

8. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 340.

9. Bonar, 332.

10. J. Swain, “To Him That Loved Us, Ere We Lay,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 17 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/721/.

11. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Covenant in Eternity,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 6-7.

12. Spurgeon.

13. Spurgeon.

JESUS! In Word and Song

Posted by bonniefaurote

WEEK 23

PREPARING DISCIPLES FOR HIS DEATH

JESUS prepares His disciples at the Passover meal and on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane: “He wants to prepare them for what is about to happen. The New English Bible characterizes the five chapters of John, chapters thirteen through seventeen, as ‘farewell discourses.’”¹

In the first ‘farewell discourse,’ JESUS gives an example of how to treat each other by washing His disciples’ feet. (John 13).

“The whole matter of Christ’s death and resurrection was not grasped by the twelve. The reason may have been that they were enamored with other ideas about the Messiah and how His earthly rule would operate.”²

“Ignoring the Lord’s repeated instruction that He was going to Jerusalem to die, the disciples still thought the physical manifestation of the kingdom was about to appear and were busy maneuvering for the places of prominence in it.”³

[T]hey were thinking about who was the greatest of them, so that none was willing to stoop to wash feet. When Jesus moved to wash feet, they were shocked. Through this action Jesus taught the lesson of selfless service.⁴

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21 ESV). “The Sent One (Jesus) has now become the Sender, commissioning his followers to serve as his messengers and representatives.”⁵

[T]hey shall know that Christ continues in them, communicates his power to them, and has not forsaken them by his resurrection, by his abiding and conversing with them for forty days after, by his going to heaven to prepare a place for them, by his sending his Spirit to them, and by his indwelling presence, to administer every degree of comfort, light and power, which would be requisite to render their afflictions supportable, their own souls holy and happy, and their ministry successful.⁶

“We must learn from the four Gospels and for a doctrinal exposition of it we must turn to the Epistles. ‘Abide in Me,’ ‘learn of Me,’ ‘follow Me,’ are the contents and summing-up of the Christian statute-book.”⁷

Only those willing to carefully assess the cost and invest all they had in His kingdom were worthy to enter. This speaks of something far more than mere abandonment of one’s material possessions; it is an absolute, unconditional surrender.⁸

ENDNOTES

(23) I Go Prepare a Place

1. Thomas Lane Butts, “Jesus Prepares the Disciples,” 18 February 2012, Ministry Matters, 12 February 2021 https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/2477/jesus-prepares-the-disciples.

2. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 339.

3. MacArthur, 340.

4. MacArthur, 403.

5. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2070.

6. Thomas Coke, “Commentary on John 14:20,” 1801-1803, Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible, 12 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/14-20.html#verse-tcc.

7. Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness (Pensacola, FL: Mt Zion Publications) 86.

8. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 305.

9. “ . . . if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3 ESV).

10. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do . . .” (John 14:12 ESV).

11. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth . . .” (John 16:13 ESV).

12. “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14 ESV).

13. “A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest” (Luke 22:24 ESV).

14. “Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet . . .” (John 13:5 ESV).

15. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 ESV).

16. “I am the vine; you are the branches . . .” (John 15:5 ESV).

17. “ . . . take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 ESV).

Bonnie's Prayer Affair

Keeping myself in CHRIST

Horatius Bonar

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song