By This We Know Love

Another great song - I love this album!

By This We Know Love from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

C.J.Mahaney sermon - "The Troubled Soul"

Thought I would post a link to this sermon, that I would recommend listening to. It's based on Psalm 42, around talking truth to yourself rather than listening to your own feelings. Here's the link:

http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Resources/CJMahaneySermons/TheTroubledSoul.aspx

That's the audio link, or here's the video:

The Troubled Soul from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Serving Christ joyfully

"Impatient spirits may fret and fume because they are not called to the highest places in ministry; but, reader, learn to rejoice that Jesus calls those He desires. If He leaves me as a doorkeeper in His house, I will cheerfully bless Him for His grace in allowing me to do anything in His service. The call of Christ's servants comes from above."

(From Alistair Begg's "Truth for Life" Daily Devotional for Thurs 10/9/09- adapted from C.H Spurgeon http://www.truthforlife.org/site/PageServer?pagename=tls_overview)

Really challenging quote for me. We are not just called to be content or put up with what Jesus calls us to do but to rejoice that he would even call any of us! Psalm 84:10 "10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Rather than complain about what we have not been called to do, we should return to God with gratefulness for his grace in allowing us to serve him at all!

God's grace and mercy - R.C.Sproul quote

"We soon forget that with our first sin we have forfeited all rights to the gift of life. That I am drawing breath this morning is an act of divine mercy. God owes me nothing. I owe Him everything. If He allows a tower to fall on my head this afternoon, I cannot claim injustice"

(R.C.Sproul - The Holiness of God, Chapter 6 - Holy Justice p126)

Spurgeon - Justification by Grace

In this quote, Spurgeon talks about the level of debt that Christ paid, I have found it helpful when meditating and considering the wonder of Christ's sacrifice at the Cross and the daily wonder of sanctifying & saving grace that we, as Christians, have the joy of experiencing:

"Now, concerning this ransom, we have to observe, that it was all paid, and all paid at once. When Christ redeemed his people, he did it thoroughly; he did not leave a single debt unpaid, nor yet one farthing (penny in modern speech!) for them to settle afterwards. God demanded of Christ the payment for the sins of all his people; Christ stood forward, and to the utmost farthing paid whate'er his people owed. The sacrifice of Calvary was not a part payment; it was not a partial exoneration, it was a complete and perfect payment, and it obtained a complete and perfect remittal of all the debts of all believers that have lived, do live, or shall live, to the very end of time. On that day when Christ hung on the cross, he did not leave a single farthing for us to pay as a satisfaction to God; he did not leave, from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, that he had not satisfied. The whole of the demands of the law were paid down there and then by Jehovah Jesus, the great high priest of all his people. And blessed be his name, he paid it all at once too. So priceless was the ransom, so princely and munificent (lavish) was the price demanded for our souls, one might have thought it would have been marvellous if Christ had paid it by instalments; some of it now, and some of it then. King's ransoms have sometimes been paid part at once, and part in dues afterwards, to run through years. But not so our Saviour: once for all he gave himself a sacrifice; at once he counted down the price, and said, "It is finished," leaving nothing for him to do, nor for us to accomplish. He did not drivel out a part-payment, and then declare that he would come again to die, or that he would again suffer, or that he would again obey; but down upon the nail, to the utmost farthing, the ransom of all people was paid, and a full receipt given to them, and Christ nailed that receipt to his cross, and said, "It is done, it is done; I have taken away the handwriting of ordinances, I have nailed it to the cross; who is he that shall condemn my people, or lay anything to their charge? for I have blotted out like a cloud their transgressions, and like a thick cloud their sins!"

C.H Spurgeon, taken from a sermon entitiled "Justification by Grace" (http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0126.htm)

Take a step back for a moment and consider these words from the quote: "The sacrifice of Calvary was not a part payment; it was not a partial exoneration, it was a complete and perfect payment, and it obtained a complete and perfect remittal of all the debts of all believers that have lived, do live, or shall live, to the very end of time"

If Christ's sacrifice had been in any way lacking in achieving the payment of the debt for our sins, then we would still be dead in our sins, and without hope. But, thanks to God's glorious grace that he has shown us, we are not bound by sin anymore, the complete payment has been paid, Christ took our punishment, stood in our place, and not only that, we have been clothed with Christ's righteousness!! We can enter God's presence without blame or fault, not based on anything we have done, but based on Christ's sacrifice at the Cross, his full and complete payment for our sins!!

Another reminder why our wonderful Saviour, Jesus Christ, is so worthy of all the worship, praise and adoration that he receives!

The Heart of the Gospel

Spurgeon reinforces the necessity of holding fast to the truths of the Gospel and not deviating and being distracted by the latest new thing. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:2: "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified":

"...God grant us this day that our ship may have nothing on board it that may merely gratify the curiosity, or please the taste, but that there may be necessary Truths for the salvation of souls. I would have each one of you say—“Well, it was just the old, old story of Jesus and His love and nothing else.” I have no desire to be famous for anything but preaching the old Gospel. There are plenty who can fiddle to you the new music—it is for me to have no music at any time but that which is heard in Heaven—“Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, to Him be Glory forever and ever!”... "

- C.H.Spurgeon
(http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols31-33/chs1910.pdf)
from Monergism.com

New Song from Sovereign Grace's Next 2009 album

All I Have Is Christ from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.


Fantastic album, I've just downloaded it myself. Available from here

http://sovereigngracemusic.org/albums/category/sovereign_grace_music/next_2009_live

Only costs $5.00 (currently £3.08 to be precise) for 15 songs! 2 of them are free downloads