USING THE INTERNET FOR GOD'S GLORY- W.F. BELL

I often look at my books here in my study, wondering about their authors, and exactly how all these hundreds of books came to be written and printed. It was once a very laborious task, from the handwritten originals, to corrected copies, to editing for the press, to laying type by hand, to printing on a manual press (before electricity), then collating the pages, and finally binding. What a tremendous amount of work once had to be done to publish a book, including the Bible (and there still is much work involved).

Once I whacked away at a typewriter, using an eraser constantly, then later using white-out to cover over errors, having to make a copy that was acceptable, discarding lots and lots of paper in the process. After editing and comparing, either a Xerox copy had to be made, or some process of filming had to be done to get a finished product ready for the press. Now, as we all know, you can write, edit, correct, process, and then send out to millions worldwide with a click of a button. How times have changed in the communications world.

God our Creator has given us hands and minds to work with. He blesses our knowledge and wisdom to communicate to others. It is a great blessing from God's hand for us to have the Internet. It has often been used wrongly (just as radio and television), but still the benefits of using such a tool are unparalleled in the history of the world. To that end let us ever use such for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the proclamation of His eternal Word. We don't have to travel by foot over land now, or travel by ship on long ocean voyages, or even go by airplane to the distant parts of the earth, in order to actually tell "the greatest story ever told." What a wondrous opportunity and yet responsibility we have to "declare God's glory among the heathen" (Psalm 96:3).

But what we must remember is this: using any means of communication must be in accordance with God's holy Word. That is, we must never have wrong motives, or tell things that are not true. We must do through the Internet the same as we would do in person, when delivering messages personally. God blesses His Word, but not necessarily our interpretations of it. Errors can be mixed in with truth. We must be very careful about speaking the truth faithfully. "Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; shew forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen {the nations}, His wonders among all people" (Psalm 96:2-3). "And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully" (Jeremiah 23:28). In every way possible, we must always say with Paul, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).

In using the Internet for Christ's glory, let us proclaim His Lordship. Men as sinners must bow to Christ as Lord. This is not an option. This is not something to argue about. Either Christ is truly "Lord and God," or He is not (John 20:28). We dare not compromise the holy Person of our precious Savior. We must honor Him, or we do not honor the Father (John 5:23). There is but one true way of salvation, and that is through the Mediator's spotless life, work, and death, that of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6; I Timothy 2:5). We must not put Christ on the same shelf with other gods!

"We preach Christ crucified" (I Corinthians 1:23), and as a successful Savior. He has not been defeated by men or devils. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged," said the prophet (Isaiah 42:4). "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (I Timothy 1:15), and His mission was accomplished. The angel's announcement to Joseph is blessedly true for all time: "And she [Mary] shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). This is the glorious good news we declare to the nations: Christ Jesus is a real and mighty Savior! Come, poor sinner, bow at His feet, and worship only Him. His righteousness alone can cover your filthy rags, justify you before a holy God, and land you safe some day in heaven's pure world (Acts 10:43 and 13:39). There is no other message to declare. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners! Repent, turn from sin, worship Christ, for He is your only Hope, and it is His glory alone we desire!

HEAVENLY FATHER

In truth, YOU and what YOU have given are all I have in time and eternity.
In reality, YOU and what YOU have given are all I need in time and eternity.
And because YOU love me more than I understand I trust YOU with the totality of my being and desire to love and trust YOU even more with each passing day.

Wherever YOU guide and whatever YOU provide ~by YOUR great grace I will be satisfied.
In the Name/Authority of Jesus Christ I ask for only that which will bring YOU glory, honor and
praise, and if in my selfishness I request anything that will not accomplish YOUR eternal will in our lives, please forgive and disregard.

In all things I want YOU to be glorified and magnified in my life and the lives of all these for whom I pray.

Your child because YOU selected, saved and secured me by your sovereign love, mercy and grace.
(Ephesians 1:3-14, Romans 8:28-39)

From my friend and brother Charles Rosson in Arkansas.
heaven-bound3@juno.com

GRACE by Charles Woodruff

“For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2: 8-10).

Dr. James A. Stewart referred to Ephesians as the “Alps of the New Testament.” Surely the teaching found here in chapter two is very lofty. Every evangelical Bible teacher in the world teaches on this passage, and on the subject of grace. All of us say we believe in salvation by grace “plus nothing, minus nothing.” This is the core of fundamental doctrine, but do we really grasp its full meaning?

We must examine the meaning of the Bible word grace. The Greek word for grace is charis. Most of us simply say grace is unmerited, undeserved favor. The definition is good, if incomplete. Strong’s Greek Dictionary gives this definition: “figuratively, literally and spiritually, especially the divine influence on the heart, and its reflection in the life.” Grace bestowed from God is a free gift of divine favor in contrast to doing good works seeking to find favor with God.

It is even in contrast from the works of the law, freely forgiving the sinner who has broken the law, solely on the merits of another who kept the law perfectly. Remember, law allows no failures, no mistakes: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2: 10).

For now, the Lord has not allowed me to locate my notes on a series I preached on Ephesians at the Lakewood Presbyterian Church in Atlanta about 20 years ago. Most of my ministry has been as a missionary worker, and evangelist. As such, most of my preaching has not been in series on certain books of the Bible, or continuing themes. So it was a real thrill for me to do a somewhat detailed exposition at that time. In the course of two years I was able to cover Ephesians, and a study of the Seven Churches of Revelation. I enjoyed it immensely. In that time I was not able to exhaustively study Ephesians, but we covered some ground even though they only had me there an average of two or three times a month.

There are basically three types of preaching. The first is textual preaching. This is where you take a text from the Bible, and either explore (expound), the text, or build a theme around it.

The second is subject preaching. You take a Bible subject and preach a message on it from all over the Bible, and other resources.

The third is expository preaching which takes a book of the Bible, or a chapter, or good sized portion, and attempts to mine the material as deeply as is practical in the allotted time. This is the best kind for a pastor to use because the people can learn much about the Bible this way. Of course, there are many variations on these types of sermons, but these are the basics.

To study the subject of grace, the second chapter of Ephesians is perhaps the best place to be. These verses encapsulate grace showing us what it is, and what it isn’t, in relation to law, works, death, life, God and man. It is not of yourselves. Nothing you could do from within to merit this salvation. You say “What about faith? Isn’t that something I do?” You exercise faith as the vehicle to reach for salvation, but the context of the verse indicates that even the faith is a gift of God. It is not of works lest any man should boast.

Paul, as in all his epistles, tells us from the start to whom he is speaking. In Ephesians 1:1 he says “to the saints”. Paul says it is by grace that we are saved. Sinners are made saints by the Lord. They are saved. This is another great Bible word. It means deliverance. It means life in contrast to the death he talks about in verse one. He says “You hath he (God), quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sin (the broken law) (Ephesians 2:1). He is speaking of spiritual death here, and in the past tense. You were dead! Things are different now. You have been made alive! Our verse {by grace are you saved}, is also past tense. Inverting the words brings it clearer: by grace you are saved through faith. This is the meaning of the text.

John R.W. Stott puts it this way: “You were saved through faith, and even this faith by which you are saved is God’s gift. Theologically, this is true. We must never think of salvation as a kind of a transaction between God and us in which he contributes grace, and we contribute faith. For we were dead and had to be quickened before we could believe. No, Christ’s apostles clearly teach elsewhere that saving faith too is God’s gracious gift.” (e.g. Acts 18:27; Philippians 1:29) From the Message of Ephesians; IVP, Downers Grove, Illinois; 1979 edition (Emphasis mine).

Matthew Henry’s commentary on our text says: “Note, every converted sinner is a saved sinner. Such are delivered from sin and wrath; they are brought into a state of salvation, and have a right given them by grace to eternal happiness. The grace that saves them is the free, underserved, goodness and favor of God; and He saves them, not by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, by means of which they come to partake of the great blessings of the gospel; and both that faith and that salvation on which it has so great an influence are the gift of God.” (emphasis mine).

He says in Ephesians 2:1: “You have been made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins”. He goes on to tell us that these dead sinners were “dead men walking” according to the world system, which is against God, and following “the prince of the power of the air”, which is Satan. These dead also had “their behavior in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (verse 3). In other words, the apostle is saying that these saints mentioned in Chapter one started out as everyone else, all “children of wrath” under God’s curse. In contrast to now being saved, they were lost.

He goes on in verses four and five to reiterate the quickening of God so that they are no longer dead in sin. Nowhere in these two chapters does he give one iota of credit to man regarding their salvation. It is all of grace! The making alive, the undeserved favor, the faith, the union with Christ, the good works that follow as God’s plan after salvation, are all the gift of Almighty God!

Note that it has brought them (and all of us who are saved), to a position in heavenly places spiritually with Christ. In the entire Bible you do not find any scripture that indicates that any man or woman can be saved without Jesus Christ! This goes for elect and non-elect! In the OT; He is the coming Messiah. In NT: He is the realized Messiah. You see this making alive, this grace, this faith we have been discussing has an objective, and the objective is Jesus Christ. This grace leads us to Him, who as Savior had to die for us. He procured our salvation for us. He is the salvation that this grace and faith lead us to. His very name, Jesus, means salvation. Remember: “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).

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father but by me” (John 14:6).

This grace leads one to Christ and no other, and it is absolutely necessary to “look unto Him” by faith to be saved. The goodness of God exhibited in His Grace, leads us to repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 2:4). There is no other way! Praise to His Name!

So we can say grace is:

1) Free Grace---the gift of God.

2) Saving Grace---it brings us to eternal salvation.

3) Sovereign Grace—not of ourselves, but by God’s sovereign will.

4) Sustaining Grace—created in Christ Jesus unto good works. He ordained beforehand that we should walk (move forward) in them.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found,Was blind, but now I see

T’was grace that taught my heart to fear,And grace, my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils and snares,I have already come
‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,And grace will lead me home

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,Bright shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise,Than when we’ve first begun

Song by John Newton in 1779. The world’s best-known hymn. These are the four most commonly used verses, of possibly ten, six of which were definitely written by Newton. Click link for more. These are the ones we know so well in most churches in the South.

www.anointedlinks.com/amazing_grace.html also see this site for more: http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/m/a/amazing_grace.htm

Another great hymn of grace is:

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace!
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor,
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen,
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;

Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry,
Me to realms of endless day.

For more on this great hymn and the author, Robert Robinson, see: http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comethou.htm

A THOUGHT REGARDING CHRIST

When our Lord came down to earth, He drew Heaven with Him. The signs which accompanied His ministry were but the trailing clouds of glory which He brought from Heaven, which is His home. The number of the miracles which He wrought may easily be underrated. It has been said that, in effect, He banished disease and death from Palestine for the three years of His ministry. If this is exaggeration, it is pardonable exaggeration. - B. B. Warfield (1851-1921)

THE NAME by Charles Woodruff

“This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12).

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11.

These two magnificent passages are so beautiful in their poetic elegance, because to take us to the highest mountaintops in the English language, nothing surpasses our Authorized King James Version. Yes, I know some of the language is a bit hard to fully comprehend sometimes for us modern readers. The KJV language is considered “archaic”, but it is more accurate to acknowledge that our language has deteriorated since 1769 when the Authorized Version was last updated.

I know, also, that the New Testament was originally written in Greek, and that the Lord, and most characters in the New Testament spoke in Aramaic. I know there was no English language back then, in Judea, or Galilee, or anywhere else. But, that is why we have resources like Strong’s, or Young’s concordances, Berry’s Interlinear NT, and Thompson Chain Bible, or other reference Bibles, to aid our understanding. After all, we are to study the Bible, not just read it!

In these two texts, we need none of these resources to understand the meaning. Just looking at the plain, naked word of God, without any other aid, we can see the most prominent thing in these verses is The name! This name, Jesus, comes from the Hebrew word Yeshua, or Jehoshua (Joshua). There appear to be two other characters in the Bible with the name trans-lated as “Jesus” in the New Testament, and translated as “Joshua” in the Old Testament. The literal meaning of the word is “Jehovah is salvation”, or simply “salvation”.

Those who crucified Jesus believed He had no power to save. They were looking for a Messiah who would overthrow the Romans and build a new nation. But as these ‘builders’ rejected and crucified Him, he was revealed by virtue of his resurrection, to be the “chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). In other words, the cornerstone of His own church of which He said: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

As Peter states in Acts 4:12, “there is salvation in no other”. No other name given to all mankind. This means there are not a number of different roads to God, but only one. This also means there is not a different savior for Orientals (such as Buddha), for Arabs (such as Mohammed), or Indians (such as Krishna), or any of the many gods that are worshipped in this world. None of them can save because they are all now dead, if they ever lived at all. Some are mere inventions of man, because man is incurably religious and will worship something, even if it is self worship. Atheism worships self, saying in effect, “I am god”. It is the core of humanism, socialism and communism, which also worship the state. There is no salvation in any of these systems! It is all dead religion!

In this day and time if you ask someone if they are saved, they may reply to you, as some have to me; “saved from what?” People do not see themselves as lost, hence no need to be saved. But, God sees it different. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Couple that passage with many more such as: “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:10-11). (Here Paul is quoting from Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1).

I’m sure you must see, today in this day of word twisting and “double speak”, nobody believes there is sin, only “mistakes”. So, because of our society today, and to a lesser extent, throughout the ages, most don’t think they need a savior. But, according to our second text, they will. One day, all will see it. Alas! For so many it will be too late. But, they will bow. Man’s will is in bondage to his sin nature. Only God can “make him willing” to be saved. He is still calling out His elect whom He will one day gather from the entire universe. (Matthew 24:31). I do not know who they are, but God does. My obligation and privilege is to declare the name of Jesus Christ to all men and women that I can reach. (Mark 16:15-16)

The striking thing about the passage I quoted from Philippians is that Paul states that every knee is going to bow, and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus is Lord! This means that Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Khrushchev, Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict (and all the other popes), Madeline Murray-O’Hare, Pol Pot, Hugh Hefner, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin-Laden, Voltaire, the Dali Lama, Judas Iscariot, George Bush, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon, Billy Graham, you and I, and all mankind great and small, will one day confess The Name; The name that is above all others, Jesus Christ!

He said “things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth”. Even Satan and all his legions will bow and will confess The Name! When God wraps up all events in this world, when all is said and done, The Name will be the only name that matters.

I want to be clear here. Just knowing or saying the name of Jesus is not enough. Much of religion does that by chant or rote. It’s not enough to pray a sinner’s prayer coached by a soul winner if Holy Spirit conviction, and the affections of your heart and are not in it.
As Paul stated: “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:8-10). The scripture is saying, confess Jesus as Lord. Believe (trust in, rely on, cling to) in the heart (your innermost being), that He is the risen Christ, and you shall be saved.

When the Philippian jailer in Acts cried out trembling in fear and conviction: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they (Paul and Silas), said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house” (Acts 16:30-32).

It is my sincere prayer for you, dear reader, if you don’t know this One whose name is above every name, that you will be compelled by the Holy Spirit to call on Him. If I can be of any assistance to point you to Christ, please contact me.

God Bless you, Charles Woodruff Sr. Written on May 1, 2006 A.D.
Revised March 11, 2007 my email:oursong2004@charter.net
Snail mail: 90 Raymond Ray Street, Newnan, GA 30265

In memory of my son, Chuck. 12/14/1962- 02/13/2004- (You are missed)!

Check out these:

The Name- Franklin Graham-Nelson Publishing- Nashville- 2002
An interesting and well written book. Reading it sparked my thoughts.

All of Grace - Charles Haddon Spurgeon- Pilgrim Publications- Pasadena, TX- 1999 edition- Most anything By CHS is worth reading!

Names of God (in the Old Testament) - Nathan Stone-Moody Press-Chicago-Original date: 1944.My new edition is 2006.
The copy I had in 1969 I read several times. A very concise, yet satisfying look at God’s compound names in the Old Testament, and the connection to His attributes and actions. I recommend it!

The Names of God in Holy Scripture- Andrew Jukes-Kregel Publishers- Grand Rapids, MI- my copy is 1972 edition- This work was originally published in London in 1888. It is considered by many the classic work on the names of God in the Bible. Spurgeon thought he spiritualized too much in Types in Genesis, but still commended him by saying “Jukes dives deep” (from Commenting and Commentaries by C.H. Spurgeon in the section on the book of Genesis).


Right with God- John Blanchard- Banner of Truth- Edinburgh, Scotland- second edition- 1996. Originally written in the 1980’s, and it is an excellent examination of where you stand with God, what God expects of you, and the way of true salvation. A handy evangelistic tool.

(All available from online stores)

OUR NEWEST GRANDDAUGHTER!!

We welcome our newest grandchild (number 12), a beautiful little eleven pound plus girl named Melody Kaye Woodruff, born March 3, 2007 at Southern Regional Hospital in Riverdale (metro Atlanta), Georgia. Sandra and I, as well as parents Rick and Sheila, are truly blessed! (Please overlook the ugly old man holding this precious child!) May God bless you all- Charles

MARTIN LUTHER ON THE GOSPEL

(16th Century Reformer, Theologian and prolific author. Famous books include "Bondage of the Will" which speaks for itself.)

"We have often said heretofore that the Gospel, properly speaking, is not something written in books, but an oral proclamation, which shall be heard in all the world and shall be cried out freely before all creatures, so that all would have to hear it if they had ears; that is to say, it shall be preached so publicly that to preach it more publicly would be impossible. For the Law, which was of old, and what the prophets preached, was not cried out in all the world before all creatures, but it was preached by the Jews in their synagogues. But the Gospel shall not be thus confined; it shall be preached freely unto all the world." (Sermon on Mark 16:15 Preach the gospel to every creature)