Joe Carter

JESUS! In Word and Song

Posted by

0

WEEK 27

PENTECOST

Pentecost Sunday is a commemoration and celebration of the official birthday of the Christian church, marked by the receiving of the Holy Spirit by the early believers. Pentecost Sunday is observed on the seventh Sunday after Easter and ten days after Ascension.1

“[Y]ou will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5 ESV).

The effects are seen in the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost changed all their outlook. The Scriptures were made luminous in the light of the Holy Ghost. The change in their characters was even greater than the change in their knowledge. The Gospels portray these men as proud and contentious, selfish and cowardly; but the first pages of the Acts of the Apostles tell another story. Pentecost transformed them.2

Under the training of Christ the disciples had been led to feel their need of the Spirit. Under the Spirit’s teaching they received the final qualification, and went forth to their lifework. No longer were they ignorant and uncultured. No longer were they a collection of independent units or discordant, conflicting elements.3

“[L]et us recall and realize all the mighty and marvelous signs of this first Pentecost, and its instant and immediate results and effects; of conquered cowardice, of utterance, of courageous speech, of other tongues.”4

The preaching of the cross of Christ was the very center and heart of the message of the apostles. It was not the teaching of Christ, nor the example of Christ either. What they preached was His death on the cross and the meaning of that event.5

[T]hey were to proclaim to the world the truths entrusted to them. The events of Christ’s life, His death and resurrection, the prophecies pointing to these events, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, the power of Jesus for the remission of sins.6

“[T]he gospel must be proclaimed. The wonderful truth that through Christ alone could remission of sins be obtained, was to be made plain.”7

[W]e should read the writings of the New Testament as God’s very words, still living and powerful to speak to our hearts today with the authority of God himself. No other words spoken today can ever equal the words of Scripture itself in authority, in purity, or in power.8

To purchase song book
see BOOK in main menu

ENDNOTES

(27) Abiding Miracle

            1. Joe Carter, “9 Things You Should Know About the Christian Calendar,” 1 December 2019, The Gospel Coalition, 3 July 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-know-christian-calendar/.

            2. Samuel Chadwick, The Way to Pentecost (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2000) 169-170.

            3. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 45.

            4. W.C. Doanne, “Commentary on Acts 1:2,” 1876, James Nisbet’s Church Pulpit Commentary, 16 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/acts/2-1.html#verse-cpc.

            5. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Walking With God Day by Day (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) April 2nd.

            6. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 27.

            7. White, 31-32.

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

            9. W.C. Doanne, “Commentary on Acts 1:2,” 1876, James Nisbet’s Church Pulpit Commentary, 16 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/acts/2-1.html#verse-cpc.

            10. Samuel Chadwick, The Way to Pentecost (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2000) 35.

            11. Chadwick, 37.

            12. Chadwick, 40.

            13. Chadwick.

            14. Chadwick 43.

            15. W.C. Doanne, “Commentary on Acts 1:2,” 1876, James Nisbet’s Church Pulpit Commentary, 16 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/acts/2-1.html#verse-cpc.

            16. Alexander MacLaren, “Commentary on Acts 2:1,” Alexander MacLaren’s Expositions of Holy Scripture, 16 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mac/acts-2.html.

            17. MacLaren.

JESUS! In Word and Song

Posted by

0

WEEK 26

THE ASCENSION

“Ascension Day commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter although some denominations move it to the following Sunday.1

“The ascension has been included in every important creed of the church because it teaches the enduring complete humanity of Jesus as the only mediator between God and man.”2 “[E]verything that stands between us and God has been dealt with and has been removed.”3

“The ascension is Christ’s return to heaven from earth. Jesus lives, now and forever, as true man and true God to mediate between God and man. He will come again as he left, fully God and fully man.”4

“[T]he God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, according to the working of his great might, raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated him at his right hand” (Eph 1:17,19-20 ESV).

“Jesus ‘sits’ to portray the sufficiency of his saving work on earth; he continues a vital, active ministry as he reigns over all creation.”5

Christ’s new status as the God-Man meant God gave Him privileges He did not have prior to the incarnation. If He had not lived among men, He could not have identified with them as the interceding High Priest. Had He not died on the cross, He could not have been elevated from that lowest degree back to heaven as the substitute for sin.6

Though the full penalty for our sins was paid at the cross, Christ’s priestly work didn’t end there. It continues to this day in heaven, where Christ ‘appears in the presence of God on our behalf’ (Heb 9:24). Our eternal redemption was secured—not simply by Jesus dying on the cross—but through Jesus entering heaven by means of his own blood. In short: no ascension, no salvation.7

“[T]he ascension wasn’t simply Jesus going home; it was Jesus being enthroned.”8

Christ is a teacher that He may be a king; Christ is an example that He may be a king; Christ is a Savior that He may be a king; this is the great end and object that He has in His life, His death, His resurrection, and His second coming—that He may set up a kingdom among the sons of men to the glory of God.9

“Jesus Christ, [is] the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev 1:5 ESV). “O King, live forever, and we shall find our life in Your life, and glory in promoting Your glory.”10

To purchase song book
see BOOK in main menu

ENDNOTES

(26) The Savior Lives No More to Die

1. Joe Carter, “9 Things You Should Know About the Christian Calendar,” 1 December 2019, The Gospel Coalition, 3 July 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-know-christian-calendar/.

            2. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2517.

            3. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Great Doctrines of the Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) I:348.

            4. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2526.

            5. ESV Study Bible.

            6. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 501.

            7. Justin Dillehay, “What Jesus’s Ascension Does for Us,” May 30, 2019, The Gospel Coalition 15 February 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/4-reasons-ascension-matters/.

            8. Dillehay.

            9. Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons on New Testament Men (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications 1994) 115.

            10. Spurgeon.

            11. Isaac Watts, “Christ’s Victory, Death, and Dominion,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/168/.

            12. Watts.

            13. Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring, “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” 1851, Hymnary, 15 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/crown_him_with_many_crowns.

            14. Isaac Watts, “Christ’s Victory, Death, and Dominion,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/168/.

            15. Watts.

            16. Samuel Medley, “Because I Live, Ye Shall Live Also,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/751/.

JESUS! In Word and Song

Posted by

0

WEEK 20

THE RESURRECTION

“Easter Sunday is celebrated on the first full moon following the vernal equinox, when the Sun crosses the equator going north. For this reason, Easter can fall on any date from March 22 through April 25.”1

“God raised him on the third day. [H]e is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.  To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:40,42-43 ESV).

He was dead. His enemies thought they had done him in, and they were glad. His friends thought he was done for, and they were sad. But heaven watching was preparing the music that should ring around the world declaring the defeat of evil, the mastery of sin, and the ransom of the race.2

It is a pledge and assurance that our sins are forgiven. Death was the penalty of our sin; the debt we owed to God; Christ engaged to discharge that debt for us; till He discharged it in full, He was to remain in the prison of the grave. His liberation from that prison was to be the token to us that the anger of God was appeased, that our whole debt was paid to the uttermost.3

[O]ur Lord by His work upon the cross, in addition to bearing the penalty and punishment of our sins as our substitute, was also destroying the works of the devil. He was delivering us from the bondage and the dominion of the devil, and was also delivering us from the territory of death. We are no longer dead in trespasses and sins; we do not belong to the realm of death, we are alive unto God. And likewise He has delivered us from the tyranny and power of sin.4

“It means that the Atonement is complete; it means that God the Father has accepted Christ’s work as a satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. It means that the problem of a future life has been solved.”5

Jesus the Messiah has come; he has lived, died, and risen among us, atoning once for all for our sins. [H]e has written his laws on our hearts. This new covenant is the ‘eternal covenant’ in Christ, through which we shall forever have fellowship with God, and he shall be our God, and we shall be his people.6

JESUS, I stood at the foot of the cross knowing in my heart You were the Son of GOD. Today I’m at the garden tomb where the stone has been rolled away. Now I believe history and again see with the eyes of my heart that You are the Son of GOD!

To purchase song book
see BOOK in main menu

ENDNOTES

(20) Have You Heard?

            1. Joe Carter, “9 Things You Should Know About the Christian Calendar,” 1 December 2019, The Gospel Coalition, 3 July 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-know-christian-calendar/.

            2. G.C. Morgan, “Commentary on John 20:1,” 1983-1999 Coffman Commentaries on the Bible, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/john-20.html.

            3. H.L. Nicholson, “Commentary on John 20:1,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tbi/john-20.html.

            4. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Great Doctrines of the Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) I:345.

            5. J.H. Coward, “Commentary on John 20:1,” 1876, Church Pulpit Commentary, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/20-1.html#verse-cpc.

            6. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994) 522.

            7. Edmond L. Budry and George Friderick Handel, “Thine is the Glory,” 1904, Hymnary, 4 June 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/thine_is_the_glory_risen_conquering.

            8. Charles Wesley, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” 1739 Hymnary, 11 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/christ_the_lord_is_risen_today_wesley.

            9. Edmond L. Budry and George Friderick Handel, “Thine is the Glory,” 1904, Hymnary, 4 June 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/thine_is_the_glory_risen_conquering.

            10. Budry and Handel.

            11. Budry and Handel.

            12. Budry and Handel.

            13. Charles Wesley, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” 1739 Hymnary, 11 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/christ_the_lord_is_risen_today_wesley.

JESUS! In Word and Song

Posted by

0

WEEK 7

EPIPHANY

“The glory of the LORD is his manifested presence with his people.”1

The term Epiphany is taken from the Greek word for ‘manifestation; and is a date to celebrate the incarnation of Christ. In some traditions the season of Epiphanytide ends on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season. In most Protestant churches, though, Epiphany is usually just celebrated on the Sunday closest to January 6.2

“Epiphany is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ.”3

The Cambridge English Dictionary calls Epiphany “a Christian holy day that celebrates the revelation of the baby Jesus to the world.”4

God’s ultimate purpose in redemptive history is to create a people to dwell in his presence, glorifying him through numerous varied activities, and enjoying him forever. The story begins with God in eternal glory and it ends with God and his people in eternal glory. At the center stands the cross, where God revealed his glory through his Son.5

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

It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that He might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God and the power of death; give worth and efficacy to His sufferings, obedience, and intercession; and to satisfy God’s justice, procure His favour, purchase a peculiar people, give His Spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to everlasting salvation’ (Westminster Catechism, 1643).6

“God with us. Applied to Christ in the highest and most glorious sense: God incarnate among us, He is still Immanuel, God with us; once He came among men and identified himself with them; now He saves men and identifies them with Himself.”7

“That almighty Friend we now have in heaven, in whose hands all our high interests are placed, though once ‘Man of sorrows’, was, and is, no less, at the same time, one with the Father.”8

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

To purchase song book
see BOOK in main menu bar

ENDNOTES

(7) Linking Clay with the Divine

            1. Joe Carter, “9 Things You Should Know About the Christian Calendar,” 1 December 2019, The Gospel Coalition, 3 July 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-know-christian-calendar/.

            2. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 1503.

            3. “Epiphany,” Wikipedia Wikipedia, 26 January 2021 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(holiday).

            4. “Epiphany,” The Cambridge English Dictionary The Cambridge English Dictionary, 26 January 2021 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/epiphany.

            5. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2495.

            6. Arthur W. Pink, “The Mediation of Christ,” Studies in the Scriptures, (Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library) XI (January 1932) : 2.

            7. Philip Schaff, “Commentary on Matthew 1:23,” 1879-90, Schaff’s Popular Commentary on the New Testament, 18 January 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/scn/matthew-1.html.

            8. R. Hawker, 1825 quoted in Arthur W. Pink, “The Mediation of Christ,” Studies in the Scriptures, (Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library) XI (January 1932) : 3.