Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me—those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—so that they should live on forever and not see decay. (Psalm 49:5-9)
There is only One who can ransom me from my death sentence. Jesus tasted death for me that I may live. Jesus became my sin and imputed to me His righteousness. It is only to Him that I look for my rescue!
But God will redeem me from the power of Sheol (the place of the dead); for He will receive me. Selah—pause, and calmly think of that! (Psalm 49:15 AMPC)
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Charles Spurgeon. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Spurgeon” in the search box to read more entries.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.
It’s Not About Me
Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:22 NKJV)
To whom does God tell us to look for salvation? Oh, does it not lower the pride of man when we hear the Lord say, ‘Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth’? … How frequently you who are coming to Christ look to yourselves. ‘Oh!’ you say, ‘I do not repent enough.’ That is looking to yourself. ‘I do not believe enough.’ That is looking to yourself. ‘I am not worthy.’ That is looking to yourself.
‘I cannot discover,’ says another, ‘that I have any righteousness.’ It is quite right to say that you have not any righteousness. But it is quite wrong to look for any. It is ‘Look to Me.’ God will have you turn your eye off yourself and look to Him. The hardest thing in the world is to turn a man’s eye off himself. As long as he lives, he always has a predilection to turn his eye inside and look at himself, whereas God says, ‘Look to Me.’ …
It is not a consideration of what you are but a consideration of what God is and what Christ is that can save you.
For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all (Romans 11:32). He has passed a sentence of condemnation on all so that the free grace of God might come upon many to salvation. ‘Look! Look! Look!’ This is the simple method of salvation. ‘Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!’
From Sovereignty And Salvation
One of the greatest—and most effective—lies that satan keeps whispering is that you have to do something to be saved. Or you have to do something to stay in God’s favor. Or your salvation is hanging by a flimsy thread.
No, no, no! A thousand times no!
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant just that: everything is done. Salvation is a free gift of God’s grace extended to you through faith in Jesus alone. Jesus paid it all, so there is absolutely nothing you or I can add to it. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Tell the devil he is a liar. Then, as Spurgeon said, look away from yourself and what you think you have to do and look only to the completed work of Calvary. True freedom and eternal joy come to the heart that looks away from itself and keeps its gaze on its Savior! When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it! It is no longer what I must do, but what Jesus already did!
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Charles Spurgeon. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Spurgeon” in the search box to read more entries.
Jesus Is All We Need
So is it with every other ordinance, whether ordained of God or of man. It must never be placed in the front as if it were the means of salvation! I say to you who may have been sprinkled, or to you who may have been immersed; to you who may bow at your altars, or to you who may come to the communion table, I do not place these rites on a level, certainly, for some are of God and some are not. But I do place them all on a par in this respect: that they enter not into the essence of our salvation! And I say to all of you, “These things cannot save you, for ‘Christ is all’” [Colossians 3:11]. Be you who you may, and do you what you may, you will not be saved because of your natural birth or because of any supposed holy acts that you may perform! Neither will you be saved by any transactions that may be the work of a human priest! You must have Christ as your Savior and you must rest in Him alone, or you cannot be saved! He is the one foundation, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11), for “Christ is all.” The Lord Jesus Christ sums up everything that ordinances can possibly mean and all that pedigree and descent can possibly bring, and He is infinitely more than all of them! …
You must not add anything to Christ as your ground of confidence, but just lean the weight of your sin, your sorrow, your needs, and your desires wholly and entirely upon Him who lives to stand for you before God. Christ, then, is all our trust!
From All And All In All
It’s not our family lineage, it’s not our church attendance, it’s not our religious activities. It’s all Jesus.
Jesus alone paid for our salvation, and it’s by faith in Him alone that we have the forgiveness of our sins. Don’t let anyone try to convince you that it’s “Jesus plus something else.” Nothing else needs to be added—Jesus is completely sufficient in and of Himself!
I know we covered a lot of ground today in part 5 of the Sola series. Several folks have asked me to make available the resources I shared this morning, so here they are. Enjoy!
The “Sola pyramid” shows how each of the sola statements build on each other, pointing to the apex of God’s glory.
Sola scriptura is the foundation because it gives us the authority of God’s Word on which we build all the other statements.
Faith comes by hearing the Word (sola scriptura) and so it leads to the understanding of sola fide.
God’s mercy is extended to us in justification, but then his grace is the amazing, above-and-beyond gift to us in sola gratia.
We remember grace with this acrostic: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. So grace is possible sola Christo—only through the work of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself said that all He did was to bring glory to the Father, so sola Deo gloria becomes the penultimate focal point of everything else.
Here are the quotes I shared:
“We were made to know and treasure the glory of God above all things; but when we trade that treasure for images, everything is disordered. The sun of God’s glory was made to shine at the center of the solar system of our soul. When it does, all the planets of our life are held in their proper orbit. But when the sun is displaced, everything flies apart. The healing of the soul begins by restoring the glory of God to its flaming, all-attracting place at the center.” —John Piper
“The shop, the barn, the scullery, and the smithy become temples when men and women do all to the glory of God! Then divine service is not a thing of a few hours and a few places, but all life becomes holiness unto the Lord, and every place and thing, as consecrated as the tabernacle and its golden candlestick.” —Charles Spurgeon
“If God’s glory is the only all-satisfying reality in the universe, then to try to do good for people, without aiming to show them the glory of God and ignite in them a delight in God, would be like treating fever with cold packs when you have penicillin.” —John Piper
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16, Amplified Bible)
And, finally, here is the picture of George Friederic Handel’s signature on all his music. “S.D.G.” is Sola Deo gloria, which appears before the initials “G.F.H.” of his own name.
Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me—those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—so that they should live on forever and not see decay. (Psalm 49:5-9)
Craig T. Owens 