THE PROVISION OF THE GOSPEL

(Part 1)

Rev. 22:17

Morning Meditation 10/10/17

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

There are many things that the gospel of Christ provides for the lost sinner. I want to mention some of those things:

IT PROVIDES ACCEPTANCE FOR THE UNWORTHY

Ephesians 1:5-6, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." One of the things that is becoming more evident as time goes on is to get the unsaved to admit they are sinners. This is what repentance is. It is agreeing with what God says about us. This is what He says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Rom. 3:23. Then He says in Romans 3:10, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" These verses set before us plainly that we are sinners and in need of salvation. The Lord plainly says that we cannot save ourselves: Romans 3:19-20, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." A Jew born under the law had a strict regiment of standards taught him from birth. He knew from his earliest understanding what God required if a man were to make it to heaven by his own good works.

Wherein was man unable to reach heaven by the works of the law? Romans 8:2-3, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:" Paul fully explains the weakness of the law to save. He said, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh." There it is. We are weak through the flesh. The flesh was so weakened through Adam's sin that there is not a single descendant who was able to keep God's standard of righteousness. The temptation to sin is not just from without. It is also from within. There is a relentless hunger for sin some of which we have named here. The unsaved man does not have to acquire a taste for sin. He comes born with the taste built in.

Psalms 58:1-3, "Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." We see that man is wicked from birth but God in grace has made provision for his salvation.

THERE ARE BLESSINGS FOR THE CURSED

Galatians 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" The words "hath redeemed" translates "exagorazo" and means, "by the paying of a price to recover from the power of another, to ransom. Metaphorically it is used of Christ freeing the elect from the dominion of the Mosaic Law at the price of his vicarious death." --Lexicon from Online Bible

The Lord Jesus has provided a blessing for the cursed. It is a blessing that will take him and remove him from the curse of the law. Have you been redeemed from the curse of the law by faith in Jesus Christ?

There is only one way to have the curse removed. It is a curse removed by Jesus on the cross. Then to apply what He did for us on the cross we must repent and accept His sacrifice by faith what He did for us. At that point the death He died becomes our death in payment for our sins. The resurrection that He accomplished is ours also. Romans 6:11 says, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

THERE IS CLEANSING FOR THE POLLUTED

1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." The word "cleanseth" in the Greek grammar means to continually cleanseth us. So it is not just something that happened at a point of time but something that happened and will keep on happening as long as we live and that eternal life will be ours and go with us forever. This is a quality of life not just life in generic form. Once a person is saved He continues to be ours without end.

There is no question that we will be polluted along the way. It is sad, but the saved of this world demonstrate that fact on a regular basis. That is the reason John said in 1 John 1:8-9, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We are God's property not only by creation but also by recreation and when we sin there must be forgiveness. So we must confess our sins and come back for cleansing and have our conscience cleansed. A renewed and cleansed conscience will keep us walking down a straight path as we wait on the glorious Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

THERE IS ALSO DELIVERANCE FOR THE CAPTIVE

2 Corinthians 1:10, "Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;" Those sins that the Christian gets caught up in are unable to dominate his life. Because our sins are forgiven both past, present, and future. That is something for which we should be eternally grateful. Sin is something for which we need to be forgiven as an act in the past but also for a slip and an act in the present. And thanks be unto God that we can have forgiveness in the present tense of our Christian lives.

THERE IS ALSO ENRICHMENT FOR THE POOR

2 Corinthians 2:9-11, "For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."

Satan is full of devices. This word means carefully laid traps that he sets to trap the believer and then preach a false gospel of false religion. It might surprise that we believe in salvation by grace apart from works and then we switch to works so far as keeping it is concerned. Now first of all, it would be foolish and completely out of sink to believe that God would save us by grace and say to us, "Now I have saved you by grace, but you are on your own from now on." We are saved by grace and kept by grace. Sometimes we Christians complain because things don't seem to be going right for us. But the fact is that the grace of God clears the path for us to get to God for salvation and blocks the way for Satan to get to us to steal our salvation after we get it.

This is a great enriching truth for a believer.

THERE IS FULNESS OF PARDON FOR THE GUILTY

Luke 7:42-49, "And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." The sins of a harlot had built up in her life. She was mightily depressed with the weight of sins. While her profession had paid her well. It was not long until she had realized there was a great cost to her body in the committing this sin. There is much suffering that goes with the life of a harlot. She loses all respect. She loses all self respect. This woman had probably wished a thousand times that she could be delivered from this life style. Today she was set free. Jesus had looked her straight in the eyes. He had hit the nail on the head. It was not just another legitimate way to make a living. It robbed one of her clear conscience. It made her feel used. None of the men who lay with her had any respect for her. However, when she met Jesus there was something different about Him. He didn't want to use her. He did not despise her for her sin.. There seemed to be a warmth of love in His look that melted her as she stood before Him. She really found one who had both respect and love, who wanted to restore her lost her humanity. Verse 48 says, "And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven . . . Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.." When those words come from the Lord of heaven and earth, they penetrate, they set free. This woman suddenly realized that something had happened to her. Something that had freed her from her slavery to sin. Only someone in that condition could possibly know the burden that was lifted that day. Jesus said as His look of love and compassion pierced her very soul, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." The guilt was taken away. When Jesus said, "go in peace," where was she to go? Possibly to her children, or, possibly to her Mom and Dad who had a desperate longing to see this prodigal daughter come home clean and free from this sin of the life of a whore.

God's commands were strong against this sin. Leviticus 21:9, "And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire."

Deuteronomy 24:14-20 says, "Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widows raiment to pledge: But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing. When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow."

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ, Bro. White