Messiah

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Itching Ears

A.W. Tozer

Religious people are psychologically conditioned to the trite phrase and the hackneyed expression. True, the stereotyped pattern varies slightly between different groups, but there would seem to be no reason why a clever speaker could not preach tonight to Calvinists, tomorrow to Arminians, the next day to Pentecostals, the next to Holiness people, and successively to Separatists and Adventists, and preach acceptably to each one by the simple expedient of finding out what they were conditioned to expect and giving it to them. A clever man could do this, I say, but an honest man would not. And the reason the clever man could do it is that the ability to create a specific pattern of words is all that is demanded of the speaker. That he may be talking about something he has never experienced to people who do not understand him seems not to occur to anyone. The reassuring drone of safe and familiar religious phrases is enough to give the listeners an enjoyable sense of well-being. The absence of reality is not even noticed.

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Slavery

Bible Q & A with John MacArthur – Grace to You

(Titus 2 )

Urge bond-slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. (Titus 2:9–10)

The fifth category of believers about which Paul admonishes Titus is not based on age but on social standing. Douloi (bond-slaves) refers to slaves, those who were owned and controlled by their own masters.

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Witnessing Women and Doubting Disciples


John MacArthur – Grace to you

Luke 24:1-12

Let’s open the Bible now to the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke’s gospel, Luke chapter 24. We have begun to look at the opening twelve verses which is Luke’s treatment of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I’m going to read these verses for you so that you have them in mind as we look at them. Luke 24, beginning in verse 1.

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel. And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again?’ And they remembered His words and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James, also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. And these words appeared to them, the apostles, as nonsense and they would not believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in he saw the linen wrappings only and he went away to his home, marveling at that which had happened.”

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What makes my soul dance…

C H Spurgeon

There was nothing in the character of Jupiter, or any of the pretended gods of the heathen, to make glad a pure and holy spirit, but there is everything in the character of Jehovah both to purify the heart and to make it thrill with delight. How sweet is it to think over all the Lord has done; how he has revealed himself of old, and especially how he has displayed his glory in the covenant of grace, and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How charming is the thought that he has revealed himself to me personally, and made me to see in him my Father, my friend, my helper, my God.

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Scripture, Tradition, and Rome, Part 4 (Antinomianism discussed)

Scripture, Tradition, and Rome, Part 4

John MacArthur – Grace to You

Long Before Luther: Jesus and the Doctrine of Justification

No doctrine is more important to evangelical theology than the doctrine of justification by faith alone–the Reformation principle of sola fide.Martin Luther called it the article that determines whether the church is standing or falling.

History provides plenty of objective evidence to affirm Luther’s assessment.Churches and denominations that hold firmly to sola fide remain evangelical.Those willing to yield at this point inevitably capitulate to liberalism, revert to sacerdotalism, or embrace even worse forms of apostasy.Historic evangelicalism has therefore always treated justification by faith as a central biblical distinctive–if not the single most important doctrine to get right.It would not be far from the truth to define evangelicals as those who believe in justification by faith alone.

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How can we determine what doctrines are essential and what are they?

John MacArthur – Grace to You

To begin with, the strongest words of condemnation in all the New Testament are aimed at false teachers who corrupt the Gospel. Therefore the Gospel message itself must be acknowledged as a primary point of fundamental doctrine.

But what message will determine the content of our gospel testimony? The biblical message of instantaneous justification through faith alone-or a system of rituals and sacraments that are supposed to convey grace to the participants with no guarantee of ultimate salvation? What authority will we point people to? The Scriptures alone-or a papal hierarchy and church tradition? Those two gospels are flatly contradictory and mutually exclusive.

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Standing for Truth

A.W. Tozer

We have developed in recent times a peace-loving, soft-spoken, tame and harmless brand of Christian of whom the world has no fear and for whom it has little respect. We are careful, for instance, never to speak in public against any of the false cults lest we be thought intolerant. We fear to talk against the destructive sins of modern civilization for fear someone will brand us as bigoted and narrow. Little by little we have been forced off the hard earth into a religious cloud-land where we are permitted to wing our harmless

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Why We Believe While Others Reject

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16

John MacArthur – Grace to You

It was about 25 years ago in my life that I was asked to write a little book and the original title of that little book was Focus on Fact, you’ve probably never seen it, it didn’t last very long. It came out in another edition with another title a couple of years later and that title was Why I Trust The Bible, it was 1983. And as I was preparing to write that book about why I trust the Bible, which is really what the first one was about as well, I had to answer the question why did I trust the Bible. What was it about the truth of Scripture that made it believable to me? Was I smarter than everybody else? Had I been presented a more powerful set of evidences about Scripture? And certainly such can be presented. Why did I have such immense confidence in the Bible?

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The Importance of Sound Doctrine

A W Tozer

IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE to overemphasize the importance of sound doctrine in the life of a Christian. Right thinking about all spiritual matters is imperative if we would have right living. As men do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles, sound character does not grow out of unsound teaching.

The word doctrine means simply religious beliefs held and taught. It is the sacred task of all Christians, first as believers and then as teachers of religious beliefs, to be certain that these beliefs correspond exactly to truth. A precise agreement between belief and fact constitutes soundness in doctrine. We cannot afford to have less.

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God’s Sovereignty in the Salvation of Men

Jonathan Edwards

ROMANS 9:18.
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hardeneth.

THE apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, expresses his great concern and sorrow of heart for the nation of the Jews, who were rejected of God. This leads him to observe the difference which God made by election between some of the Jews and others, and between the bulk of that people and the christian Gentiles. In speaking of this he enters into a more minute discussion of the sovereignty of God in electing some to eternal life, and rejecting others, than is found in any other part of the Bible; in the course of which he quotes several passages from the Old Testament, confirming and illustrating this doctrine. In the ninth verse he refers us to what God said to Abraham, showing his election of Isaac before Ishmael – “For this is the word of promise; At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son:” then to what God had said to Rebecca, showing his election of Jacob before Esau; “The elder shall serve the younger:” in the thirteenth verse, to a passage from Malachi,

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Seeking a Closeness to God

John MacArthur – Grace to You

“Draw near to God.”
– James 4:8

The sincerely humble will want a closer relationship with God.
The expression “draw near” was originally associated with the priesthood in Israel. Under the regulations of the Old Covenant, the priests represented the people before God. Prior to coming near God’s presence, the priest had to be washed physically and be ceremonially clean. That meant he had to bathe, wear the proper garments, and offer sacrifices that made his own heart right with God. Then he could draw near to God on the people’s behalf.

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How should a Christian handle demonic attack?


Q & A with John MacArthur from Grace to you LISTEN

THEN READ THIS SERMON.

Understanding the Seducing Spirit

1 Timothy 4:1-3

Let’s open our Bibles this morning to 1 Timothy chapter 4. As you know, we are studying this great epistle of Paul to Timothy and we are coming back to it after a little bit of a break. Looking at chapter 4…I want to read to you the first five verses so you’ll have in mind the theme of our message today. Paul writes:

“But the Spirit speaks explicitly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy having their conscience burned with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by them who believe and know the truth, for every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.”

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Your Best Life: Now or Later?


John MacArthur – Grace to You

1 Peter 1:3-5

Lately I’ve had the occasion to fly a lot around the country, preaching here and there. Even though I’m here on Sundays, it seems like my weeks have been spent in airports, sometimes for a long time, as I’ve had mechanical delays and things like that. And I’ve become very much aware of a book that I knew was out there but I see literally all over all the airports that I’ve been in, in the last month or so, it has been labeled, at least, the best selling religious book of the time. The title of it is Your Best Life Now. I have seen stacks and stacks and stacks of those books everywhere I’ve gone.

Out of curiosity, I want to know what’s in the book and so I found this on page 5, “God wants this to be the best time of your life.” On another page it says, “Happy, successful, fulfilled individuals have learned how to live their best life now. On another page it says, “As you put the principles found in these pages to work today, you will begin living your best life now.” And that is absolutely true if you’re not a Christian. This is it, you better get the book because your next life is going to be infinitely worse than this one.

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Psalm 73

Psalm 73 (King James Version)

1Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

2But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

3For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

5They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

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The Crown which is Life

John MacArthur – Grace to You

How to Endure Trials, Part 1

James 1:2-12

s I mentioned to you this morning, I am often asked about coping with the troubles of life. We all have them. They come in waves, it seems, none of us really escapes them. And as you know, in my own life through the years the Lord has done His work of refining by trials. As a young boy I went through an automobile accident in which I was injured and wound up three months in bed. From the physical standpoint, other illnesses that come and go in our lives cause us to be tested as to our trust and confidence in God. I’ve gone through a number of those, even recently when I came very near death with blood clots in my lungs. Our son, Mark, when he was a college student at the Master’s college was discovered had a brain tumor, the Lord took us through that, took him through it as well. And it was six years ago last summer that Patricia they said should have taken her life when she broke her neck. And not long ago my sister died and a week ago my mother died.

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