My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

What a comfort this stanza has been to me over the years, especially the words, “My sin not in part but the whole.”

I don’t know about you, but sometimes it is hard for me to sing those words. It is hard to sing those words because I am so filled with thanks.  And this isn’t some sappy emotional vortex that I put myself into for a spiritual high.  This is the truth of Scripture that I am rightly moved by.  He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into his kingdom (Colossians 1:13).  For you and me, he made peace by the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20).  God made us alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This he set aside, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14).  Biblical doctrine drives our devotion, and that is how it should be.  May the Lord grant that our spirits are truly moved by the truth of his Word.

Speaker: Mike Law Jr.

Series: 1 Thessalonians

Location: Grace Baptist Church of Arlington

A few weeks back I jumped for joy (not literally) when a friend pointed me to a copy of What Baptists Believe: The New Hampshire Confession, an Exposition.  The book was written in 1913 by O.C.S. Wallace and while I’m only a ten or so pages in, I’ve already found a few nuggets.  Like this one, “We have the Bible because we have God.”  What a simple, profound, and truth-filled statement.  We have the Bible because we have God.

I’m so grateful that we have God’s revelation of himself (the Bible), and I’m so grateful that he is who he has revealed himself to be.  He is, to use his own words, “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7).  We have the Bible because we have God, and because we have God we have worship.  That is why in Exodus 34:8 Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.  Our Bibles lead us to God, and thus lead us to worship.  May our God use our reading of his Holy Word to fan into flame our worship of him.

Speaker: Aaron Kraft

Series: 1 Corinthians

Location: Grace Baptist Church of Arlington

This reality, in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, is our “only comfort in life and in death.”  The Heidelberg Catechism goes on to make clear that because we belong to Christ and are empowered by the Spirit that we are made ready and willing to live for him.  This seems to me to capture precisely what Paul was saying in Philippians 3:12.  Our belonging to Christ is what motivates our living for him.  May we continue to grow in the knowledge of our Savior’s love for us, so that we might grow in love for our Savior.

Speaker: Mike Law Jr.

Series: 1 Thessalonians

Location: Grace Baptist Church of Arlington

“Eyes that have wept over our own sin will always be most ready to weep over the sins of others. If you have judged yourselves with candor, you will not judge others with severity. You will be more ready to pity than to condemn, more anxious to hide a multitude of sins than to punish a single sinner.”

May God give us the grace to “love one another earnestly, since love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).  He has surely loved us earnestly, and covered the multitude of our sins in the blood of Christ.

(C.H. Spurgeon  from a sermon on Titus 3:3-8 entitled, “THE MAINTENANCE OF GOOD WORKS,” NO. 2042, given on September 2, 1888 at Metropolitan Tabernacle.)

Speaker: Mike Law Jr.

Series: 1 Thessalonians

Location: Grace Baptist Church of Arlington

In those first three verses we meet the author of the letter, those who receive the letter, and the God of grace (no, that’s not necessarily the outline of Sunday’s sermon, but it may become the outline!).  The advanced work that you could do in preparing to hear from God’s Word on Sunday includes three simple things.  First, consider reading through the whole letter.  It is not long, but it is rich.  Second, consider reading about Paul’s first trip to Thessalonica in Acts 17.  I think you’ll find Acts 17 to be intense.  Let’s just say that Paul knows how to draw a crowd. Finally, pray.  Pray that God would give me wisdom as I study and prepare, and pray that the Lord would be pleased to make our hearts soft to hear from him.

Speaker: Mike Law Jr.

Series: Psalms

Location: Grace Baptist Church of Arlington