Christ is the answer
What a joy it is to write this simple statement!
Divine Revelation and human experience bear witness to its truthfulness.
We are faced with many perplexing problems
- sin, sorrow, death, judgment, eternity,
and Christ is the ultimate answer to everyone of them.
CHRIST is God's remedy for man's ruin.
What people do with Christ is a matter of life or death:
"For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" Romans 6:23
The wages of sin is eternal death;
the gift of God is eternal life.
The wages of sin is eternal separation from God;
(death means separation)
the gift of God is eternal union (life means union) with God.
The wages of sin (ultimately) is hell;
the gift of God (ultimately) is heaven.
The difference between death and life, hell and heaven is Christ.
- "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:
- and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life;
- but the wrath of God ahidcth on him"
John 3:36
Your attitude toward Christ will determine your eternal destiny.
Outside of the Saviour there is nothing but death, judgment, and hell.
In Him there is life, eternal life, heaven.
- "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"
Romans 6:23b
Christ said:
- "T am the way, the truth and the life:
- no man cometh unto the Father but by me"
John 14:6
- "For God so loved the world,
- that he gave his only begotten Son,
- that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life"
John 3.16
Accept God's gift of salvation now
and let this day be the day of salvation for you.
If you are lost, Christ is the answer.
The church cannot save you.
Neither can the two ordinances of the church,
baptism and the Lord's Supper, save you.
These pictorial ordinances point to Christ,
but they do not save the lost.
It is tragic to trust the pictures
rather than the one pictured.
The powers of redemption are not found within the heart of the sinner.
God demands perfection and the sinner cannot meet this standard.
However, Christ who knew no sin
met every demand of God's law and then died for sinners.
With joy, then, we read,
- "Christ is the end ofthe law for righteousness to every one that believeth"
Christ, and Christ alone, can save you.
- "Neither is there salvation in any other:
- for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
- whereby we must be saved"
Acts 4: 12
When Heaven gave Jesus Christ,
Heaven gave all.
That Christ is the only Saviour
is not a doctrine found only in the New Testament.
It is the teaching of the Old Testament as well.
Every Old Testament prophet preached salvation through believing in Christ.
- "To Him give all the prophets witness,
- that through his name whosoever believeth in Him
- shall receive remission of sins"
Acts 10:43
If it were possible to call
all the Old Testament prophets on the witness stand
and ask them the simple question,
"To whom did you point the people for salvation?"
they would answer in unison, "Christ."
The promised Messiah of the Old Testament
is the resurrected Christ of the New.
Some people who want to believe this glorious doctrine
have some difficulty understanding how faith can be placed
in one who has not yet come.
Our faith in the second coming of Christ
illustrates the simplicity of the whole matter.
We look forward to His return when we will be given a body redemption.
The saints of today wait for his second coming
while the saints of old waited for his first coming.
- "On Christ the solid rock I stand,
- all other ground is sinking sand."
If you are saved but living an unhappy, defeated life,
Christ is the answer.
Our Shepherd Saviour reminds us
that He came that we might have the abundant life
John 10: 10
Christ not only wants us to have life,
but He also wants us to have the abundant life.
Visiting the hospitals,
one finds people in varying degrees of health.
Here is one who is walking down the corridor.
Another is sitting on the side of his bed.
Others lie still on the bed.
Some have lapsed into coma.
They all have physical life.
The physically strong (able to walk, run, work, etc.)
when compared with the sick in the hospitals have abundant life.
Hold this idea in your mind.
Now take it across into the spiritual realm.
God wants his children to live actively, triumphantly, victoriously.
We who have been born from above
are not made to live like the earthworm,
but rather we are to "mount up with wings as eagles."
Through submission to Christ
we can rise above the harassing circumstances of life.
A friend of mine was asked how he was getting along.
He replied, "Pretty good under the circumstances."
That is just it.
We live too much of our lives under the circumstances.
It need not be so if we wait upon the Lord
Isaiah 40:31
Want a deep settled peace
which will enable you to face a frustrating world?
This inside peace is not immunity from the storms,
but it is peace in the storm.
This tranquillity of mind comes to those
who recognize the lordship of Christ.
Worry wears down; faith builds up.
Paul writes from prison:
{"Don't worry over anything whatever;}
{tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, }
{and the peace of God,}
{which transcends human understanding, }
{will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds }
{as they rest in Christ Jesus"}
{J.B. Phillip's Translastion}.
- 6 Be careful for nothing;
- but in every thing by prayer and supplication
- with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
- 7 And the peace of God,
- which passeth all understanding,
- shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4.6-7
All of God's children have peace with God
Romans 6.1
but relatively few experience the peace of God
which passes all understanding.
Want to win others to salvation and to service'?
We are born to reproduce and failure to do so is tragic.
"Follow me," said Christ,
"And I will make you fishers of men."
Christ ... Listening to Him, trusting Him,
following Him brings the abundant life.
If you are in deep sorrow,
Christ is the answer.
The prophet Isaiah tells us Christ was sent
"to bind up the broken-hearted."
David proclaimed the same glorious truth when he said:
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee."
How will the Lord accomplish this?
How will He sustain us when we cast our burdens upon Him?
This He will do in one of two ways.
He will take away the burden
or He will send us additional strength to bear up under it.
The Apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh.
None of us would conclude this was a literal thorn in the flesh,
but it was some kind of trouble that was like a thorn in the flesh.
It was a constant hurt which would not go away.
Three times Paul prayed about this matter,
but God did not remove the thorn.
But we must not conclude God was insensitive
to the petitions of this peerless preacher.
In tenderness God reminds Paul:
- "My grace is sufficient for thee:
- for my strength is made perfect in weakness."
With gladness Paul accepted this answer
and went away with a song in his heart.
Note his response,
a practical and praise-worthy example for all of us,
"Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:
for when I am weak, then am I strong."
This writer has never been shaken by the foolish claims that God is dead.
He has communed with God many times
since this "God-is-dead" heresy from hell was first propagated.
God is.
There are ten thousand demonstrations which prove his existence.
It need not be argued. God lives, and He loves and He cares.
Sorrow is the lot of all men everywhere.
What does a man do in deep sorrow?
This is the test.
Some deny it,
but the answer is not that simple.
Others try to drown their sorrows in revelry
only to find they have added to their sorrows.
Some suffer on in stoic silence
determined to be unmoved no matter what happens.
People who know God through Jesus Christ
cast their care upon Him
knowing that He does care for them,
and God is present help
to them in time of trouble.
Our Creator and Saviour does give comfort and super-human strength
to those who trust Him.
SOMEBODY CARES
Somebody knows when your heart aches,
And everything seems to go wrong,
Somebody knows when the shadows Need chasing away with a song.
Somebody knows when you are lonely,
Tired, discouraged and blue,
Somebody wants you to know Him,
And know that He dearly loves you.
Somebody cares when you are tempted,
And the world grows dizzy and dim;
Somebody cares when you are weakest,
And farthest away from Him.
Someone grieves when you are fallen,
Though you are not lost from His sight;
Somebody waits for your coming,
Taking the gloom from your night.
Somebody loves you when weary;
Somebody loves you when strong;
Always is waiting to help you,
Watches you - one of the throng.
Needing His friendship so holy,
leeding His watch-care so true.
His name? We call His name Jesus.
His people? Just I and just you.
Author Unknown
If your life is one long round of worry and fretfulness,
Christ is the answer.
It was Vance Havner who declared
this age is characterized by three words - hurry, worry, and bury.
Many of God's people live under the constant strain of worry and anxiety.
This would not be if we took seriously the saying of our Saviour.
Trusting in our Heavenly Father's care,
placing spiritual things first and material things second,
would relieve us of many burdening cares
Matthew 6:25-34
The little girl who misquoted a part of the 23rd Psalm
was right in her philosophy when she said,
"The Lord is my shepherd and that is all I want!"
This is a simple thought, and yet it is profound.
This writer once heard L.D. Capell say,
"To the extent you worry,
to that extent you lack faith in God."
The statement was a rebuke and at first brought resentment in my heart.
Years of experience and study have brought me
to a wholehearted acceptance of the statement.
It is when we take things out of God's hands
that we really begin to worry about them.
When anxiety begins to dominate a life
it means prayer life, meaningful, trusting prayer, has stopped,
and the worried, fretful child of God
has taken over to work out his own problems
in his own strength and wisdom.
It isna foolish sheep who refuses the care and protection of the Shepherd.
The Apostle Paul had many troubles,
but he did not let adversity become his master.
"In nothing be anxious," he said.
Pray with thanksgiving in your heart
is the advice of him who went through some deep waters.
"With thanksgiving" is a key phrase.
Gratitude in the heart will do wonders for the whole personality,
and there is a reason for gratitude
in the heart of a child of God no matter what the situation may be.
Pray.
Anything big enough to disturb and disrupt your life
is big enough to take to the Lord in prayer.
People who pray as Paul instructs us to pray in Phi1.4:6,7
will possess a peace which defies understanding,
and this peace which guards our hearts and minds is through Christ Jesus.
Read Philippians 4.6-7 and make it your own.
If you, like many people, live in bondage to the fear of death,
Christ is the answer.
Some even speak of their dread of going to the graveyard.
It is a dismal thought indeed,
but this writer is bold in declaring he is not going to the grave -
has no intention of attending his own funeral.
The body is likened to a house (II Cor.S:l).
One day there will develop a leak in the roof
or the walls will cave in and the tenant will be evicted.
For the child of God this will mean a leaving of the body
and a going to be with Christ (II ce-.s :8).
The apostle Paul calls death a departure -
a trip to Paradise (Phil.l :23).
No need to worry about transportation
because God will have on hand a great convoy of angels
to carry his child home (Lk.16:22).
Every funeral this writer conducts or just attends
leaves with him the idea that whatever else a man may have
if he does not have the answer to death
he really does not have anything.
We who still have physical life
do not know what it is like to die,
and when we shall have gained this knowledge by personal experience
there will be no way to pass it back to the living,
but our Saviour died and arose from the dead never to die again.
He tells us not to be afraid:
"Fear not; I am the first and the last:
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold,
I am alive for evermore, Amen;
and have the keys of hell and of death."
In another precious promise our Redeemer assures us
that because He lives we shall live also (John 14:19).
It is Christ who shall come back to earth and give us body redemption.
{"But we are citizens of Heaven; }
{our outlook goes beyond this world}
{to the hopeful expectation of the Saviour }
{Who will come from Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ.}
{He will re-make these wretched bodies of ours}
{to resemble His own glorious Body, }
{by that power of His which makes Him the Master of everything that is" }
(Phi1.3:20,21. Phillips Translation).
- 20 For our conversation is in heaven;
- from whence also we look for the Saviour,
- the Lord Jesus Christ:
- 21 Who shall change our vile body,
- that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
- according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
In Christ there is the answer to death.
In Him there is strength for today and hope for tomorrow.
If you tremble at the thought of judgment,
Christ is the answer.
Do you fear that you may be condemned and cast off from God forever?
You need not have such fear if yo u are trusting Christ to save you.
Our Saviour said:
- 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you,
- He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
- hath everlasting life,
- and shall not come into condemnation;
- but is passed from death unto life.
John 5.24
We who have our faith in
( 1,!'ic,l Il<lVL: already crossed the bridge from
.icurh l!J1!() life, and we shall never be
t , .J-':I;:i"! hl'L~!lJSC We have accepted Him
\"hn was condemned in our place.
In the pioneer West, prairie fires used to break out
and sweep along at a rapid pace.
People were burned to death in tll' ,.,t;' fires.
The old timers knew what to do
when they saw a prairie fire coming.
They simply set fire to the grass where they were standing.
Soon a spot was burned over and there they took their stand
without any fear of windswept fires moving toward them.
They stood unafraid because the fire
know the judgment fires of God have already burned over it.
The fiery judgment of God against sin raged at Calvary.
God the Father spared not his Son.
It was no make-believe.
The wrath of God against sin was spent on Jesus Christ.
We go free because He was condemned for us.
We live forever because He died for us.
This is the love of God, the goodness of God, the grace of God.
Yes, Christ is the answer to judgment.
If you would like to be sure you are on the right road -
the road that leads home to God,
Christ is the answer. Many live in a fog of doubt and uncertainty.
When asked about their salvation they reply,
"I am trying to live right,
and I hope I can go to heaven when I die.
I had already burned over where they were standing.
There is one place 'where we can take our stand and
hope [ am on the right road."
You can be sure. Get on the "Jesus Road"
and it will lead you home.
Our Saviour said,
"I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Scholars tell us the word rendered "way" means road.
Jesus is the road to the Father, the only road.
All other roads will inevitably lead to a dead end of destruction.
It is Christ who died for our sins
and rose again the third day (I Cor.15:1-4).
It is Christ who saves us to the uttermost
because He ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb.7:25).
It is Christ who shall give us final and complete victory
at His second coming
- 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
- and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
- but we know that,
- when he shall appear,
- we shall be like him;
- for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3.2
"Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ."
1 Corinthians 15:57
Commit yourself without reservation into His hands now.
Let Him save you, and you will never have cause to regret it.
- "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
Grace Missionary Baptist Church
Sounding Out The Word Ministry
