Rescue Baptist Church
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Preaching God's Sovereign, Electing Grace

   

 

Articles by Gene Harmon


Nothing Shall Separate Us

  “Knowing, in part, my sinful nature, and being painfully aware of my sinful weaknesses, I find great comfort and overwhelmingly wonderful peace in this Divine Promise from God who cannot lie: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, NOT EVEN DEATH ITSELF,  ‘.. shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom. 8:38 - 39)Oh, dearly beloved!  You who have been purchased with the precious blood of Christ our Redeemer - let this sweet morsel of Heavenly Manna delight and excite your spiritual taste buds with joy unspeakable and full of glory: NOTHING ‘.. shall be able to separate us (you; me) from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’.  Dwell on this wonderful God-honoring truth when you’re on any bed of affliction; when you’re in any valley of despondency; when your little frail vessel is sailing on any rough sea of adversity: NOTHING ‘.. shall be able to separate us  from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”’.

     Hell, that place of eternal torment, is eternal separation from God.  If God had set His love upon those who are turned into the Lake of Fire, something separated those hell-deserving sinners from His love.  THAT JUST CANNOT HAPPEN!  NOTHING ‘.. shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’.  Reader, are you in Christ?  You can never be assured of God’s love until you know that you’re in Christ.  Know this also, God’s elect have been in Christ, by God’s own eternal purpose and grace, from all eternity, and will be for all eternity.  By God-given faith, run into the loving arms of God who chose you in Christ before the world began; who poured out His wrath on you when you were in Christ when He laid down His life for you; who has made you to sit in heavenly places in Christ when He ascended to His Sovereign Throne of Power in heaven after His resurrection.  Believe on the Christ of God “Who is the blessed and only Potentate, King of kings, and Lord of lords”, and be filled with this blessed assurance: NOTHING ‘.. shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’.”


Christ Made Sin for Us

2 Corinthians 5:21

   “Christ our Lord had no sin, knew no sin and did no sin.  He was perfect before the law of God (1 Peter 2:22; Heb. 4:15).  Our sins were reckoned to him.  He was identified and numbered with the transgressors and, though he personally had no sin, yet by imputation he was the world’s greatest sinner and was dealt with as such and died under the wrath of God (Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:28; Rom. 8:32).  All of this was done that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ and, by our identification and oneness with Christ justified.  Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us that we, who have no righteousness, might be made righteous before God in him (Rom. 10:1-4).  With his spotless garments on, we are as holy as his Son (Isaiah 45:24).  Someone said, ‘The gospel can be summed up in two words – substitution and satisfaction.’  Christ, as our Substitute, made full and complete satisfaction for us before God’s holy law and righteous justice.  In him we are wholly sanctified, completely and eternally saved.”


 

A Peculiar People

God’s mercy is freely bestowed upon a peculiar people - His purchased, special people. But not at the expense of His Holy Justice. God CANNOT, and WILL NOT, pardon you or me, unless we have honored His Holy Law perfectly. He CANNOT, and WILL NOT, have mercy on you, or me, unless we have perfectly satisfied His Holy Justice! Jesus Christ is the only man who walked on this earth in perfect obedience to God our Father. He didn’t come to change God’s law; He came to fulfill it - AND HE DID JUST THAT! Jesus Christ, the Perfect God-man, represented all of His chosen people when He honored God‘s law. And He established a perfect righteousness for all those He represented. His perfect obedience is the perfect obedience for all of those who were in Christ when He walked on this earth. Jesus Christ, by His Substitutionary death, so perfectly satisfied the Holy Justice of God for all of His chosen people, that absolutely NOTHING can be laid to our charge. That’s why God has mercy on some hell-deserving sinners, and not on others. He sees only His elect in Christ. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth” (Rom. 8:32 - 33). God sees His chosen, blood-bought people in Christ, JUST-AS-IF-WE-HAD-NEVER-SINNED! That’s good news for any hell-deserving sinner.


Are We Really Thankful?

"Are We Really Thankful" in all things and for all things (1 Thess. 5:18; Eph. 5:20)?  Do we really thank God for our salvation; for His Unspeakable Gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ?  Our Savior, by Himself, purged our sins.  He obtained eternal redemption for us, for His chosen people (Heb. 1:3; 9:12; John 17:1 - 3).  Those who attribute any part of God's salvation to the works of the flesh are not grateful to God for the salvation of their immortal souls.  Rather, they are patting themselves on their sinful backs, and thanking themselves for what they have done.  Those who think they have lifted one of their polluted fingers to the perfect work of the Great Triune God in the salvation of His chosen, blood-bought people are only deceiving themselves.  They are still in their sins, and will die in their sins, unless God the Holy Spirit is pleased to raise them from their state of spiritual deadness, revealing Christ in them and to them (John 6:63; Eph. 2:1 - 9; Gal. 1:15 - 16; Matt. 11:25 - 26).  Brethren, God's name is Jealous and He will not share His glory with anyone or anything  (Ex. 34:14; Isaiah 42:8; 1 Cor. 1:26 - 31).  The hope of every true believer is Christ, and only Christ.  Our Lord Jesus said, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given ALL THINGSinto his hand.  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 abideth on him (John 3:35 - 36).  We MUST believe on Jesus Christ according to the Holy Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:1 - 4).  We MUST believe that He who suffered and died for His people is NOW on His sovereign throne in heaven.  We MUST believe that God our Father has put ALL THINGS into the hands of His Darling Son, that He has put ALL THINGS under His feet.  When God our Father gave us His Son, He gave us ALL THINGS that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).  Believing on Jesus Christ is the work of God (John 6:29).  Faith in Jesus Christ is God's gift to His people (Eph. 2:8; Heb. 12:2).  Once again, "Are We Really Thankful" to God for ALL THINGS"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us  " (Rom. 8:32).  "For it pleased the Father that in him (in Christ) should all fullness dwell (Col. 1:19).  If we have Christ, WE HAVE EVERYTHING - WE HAVE IT ALL!  It is only fitting, then, that we show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9 - 10).