SALVATION TRUTHS

“And say, save us, O God of our salvation; gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise” (1 Chron. 16:35 KJV).

Here in 1 Chron. 16, we have a record of one of David’s Psalms. This Psalm which gives some important truths about salvation. It speaks about the source of salvation, the society from salvation, the separation of salvation, and the service after salvation.

Source of salvation – “God of our salvation.” Salvation is not something that man on his own has thought up or that man can do by himself. Salvation is of the Lord; it is solely of God. He provided the plan (Calvary), the passion (His love), and the person (Jesus Christ) to make salvation possible. The salvation of a soul has been established by Divine decree. It is of God from start to finish; absolutely and completely.

Society from salvation - “Gather us together.” Salvation brings together the redeemed into one family. Relatives normally like to be together, especially those who have been redeemed. Those who do not desire the fellowship of the saints may be revealing that they have never been saved.

Separation of salvation – “Deliver us from the Gentiles.” Salvation results in a separation of fellowship between believers and unbelievers in this life. It will also result in separation for all eternity. There are some folks take issue with this idea of separation. However, they are only going against what the Word of God teaches regarding separation of the holy from the unholy and the redeemed from the unredeemed. The believer should not mix with the world (2 Cor. 6:17).

Service after salvation – “To give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise.” Salvation brings service. This service involves both appreciation and adoration. Appreciation has to do with our giving “thanks” to God. Our prayers should be more than just petitions but should also include thanksgiving. Adoration involves the praise of God. Our society does not want to give honor to God, but the redeemed must be earnest in giving Him praise.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“When you receive Christ, God’s work in you has just begun!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Devout

In Titus 1:7-8 we read, “For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled" (NASB).

Devout is the Greek word hosios (ὅσιος = hos'-ee-os). The word means pious, holy, religiously right, sanctioned. In Classical Greek hosios is not restricted to a religious connotation but can be used for any moral imperative. Thus a man would be considered devout for following an ancient custom or a natural law.

In the Septuagint, hosios describes one who is faithful. God is described as “just and right” (dikaios kai hosios) and “holy” (hosios) in all His works. In the New Testament, hosios describes the Lord Jesus as the prophesied Holy One (Acts 2:27, 13:35), the Great High Priest (Heb. 7:26), and the One Who reigns forever as the Holy One (Rev. 16:5).

The word therefore describes a person who lives right before God and so is described as devout, dedicated or holy. It describes the man who reverences the fundamental decencies of life. The idea in this word includes personal piety, an inner attitude of conforming to what is felt to be pleasing to God and consistent with religious practices. The man who is hosios keeps himself free of anything which would ‘stain’ him in the eyes of God.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – That His miracles would not be believed (Isa. 53:1)

New Testament Fulfillment – John 12:37-38

Bible Facts

Incalculable number of stars (Jer. 33:22). At a time when less than 5,000 stars were visible to the human eye, God stated that the stars of heaven were innumerable. Not until the 17th Century did Galileo glimpse the immensity of our universe with his new telescope. Today, astronomers estimate that there are ten thousand billion trillion stars – that’s 1 followed by 25 zeros! Yet, as the Bible states, scientists admit this number may be woefully inadequate. .

Bible Quiz

What did Job’s wife encourage him to do after things went wrong?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: What tribe was King David from? Judah (2 Sam. 2:11).

That’s in the Bible

"Wolf in sheep clothing”

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves!” (Matt. 7:15 NKJV ).

In this verse, the Lord Jesus is warning His followers about false prophets pretending to be ministers of the gospel when in reality they were ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing.’ A child of God should be able to recognize these charlatans because Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Anyone can recognize a wolf; it’s the wolf in sheep’s clothing of whom we need to be wary.

Did You Know – Christian History

James Guthrie was born about 1612 in the county of Angus, Scotland. He was a Scottish Presbyterian minister. He was educated at St. Leonard’s College where he met the godly and profound pastor Samuel Rutherford, attended non-conformist prayer meetings, and was converted to Christ. After that, he became a zealous preacher of the gospel.

Guthrie was to be executed for publishing a work that declared God’s wrath was coming upon Scotland for, among other things, setting up the King of England as head of the church. Only Christ could fill that role. At the close of his defense to the Scottish Parliament, James Guthrie said, “...My conscience I cannot submit to you. But this old crazy body and mortal flesh I do submit, to do with it whatsoever you will, whether by death, or banishment, or imprisonment, or anything else; only I beg you to ponder well what profit there is in my blood. It is not by killing me or many others that you will kill the Covenant or the work of the Reformation...”

Although he led a busy life as pastor and writer, he always made time for Christ. On the day of his execution, he got up at four in the morning so that he could meditate and pray. When his children visited him for the last time, he assured them he was dying for a worthy cause. At the scaffold, James preached his last sermon and urged his listeners to seek Christ’s free grace. He then gave a copy of this last speech to a friend to keep, asking him to pass it on to his little boy when he was old enough to understand what it meant. The napkin was put over his face and shortly afterward, James swung into space. Just as ordered, his head was placed on a pike over the gate. There the skull bore its testimony for 27 years, until a daring student risked his life to climb up, take it down, and bury it.

A Little Humor

A minister was forced to stop by a traffic cop to pull over for speeding. As the cop was about to write the ticket, the minister said to him, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” The cop handed the minister the ticket and said, “Go thou and sin no more.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“If you keep rejecting the ‘come’ of salvation, you will have to accept the ‘depart’ of damnation!”