I Will Remember My Covenant...

"The bow shall be seen in the cloud." --Genesis 9:14

The rainbow, the symbol of the covenant with Noah, is typical of our Lord Jesus, who is the Lord's witness to the people. When may we expect to see the token of the covenant? The rainbow is only to be seen painted upon a cloud. When the sinner's conscience is dark with clouds, when he remembers his past sin, and mourns and laments before God, Jesus Christ is revealed to him as the covenant Rainbow, displaying all the glorious hues of the divine character and betokening peace. To the believer, when his trials and temptations surround him, it is sweet to behold the person of our Lord Jesus Christ--to see Him bleeding, living, rising, and pleading for us. God's rainbow is hung over the cloud of our sins, our sorrows, and our woes, to prophesy deliverance. Nor does a cloud alone give a rainbow, there must be the crystal drops to reflect the light of the sun. So, our sorrows must not only threaten, but they must really fall upon us. There had been no Christ for us if the vengeance of God had been merely a threatening cloud: punishment must fall in terrible drops upon the Surety. Until there is a real anguish in the sinner's conscience, there is no Christ for him; until the chastisement which he feels becomes grievous, he cannot see Jesus. But there must also be a sun; for clouds and drops of rain make not rainbows unless the sun shines. Beloved, our God, who is as the sun to us, always shines, but we do not always see Him--clouds hide His face; but no matter what drops may be falling, or what clouds may be threatening, if He does but shine there will be a rainbow at once. It is said that when we see the rainbow the shower is over. Certain it is, that when Christ comes, our troubles remove; when we behold Jesus, our sins vanish, and our doubts and fears subside. When Jesus walks the waters of the sea, how profound the calm!

"And I will remember My covenant." --Genesis 9:15

Mark the form of the promise. God does not say, "And when you shall look upon the bow, and you shall remember My covenant, then I will not destroy the earth," but it is gloriously put, not upon our memory, which is fickle and frail, but upon God's memory, which is infinite and immutable. "The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant." Oh! it is not my remembering God, it is God's remembering me which is the ground of my safety; it is not my laying hold of His covenant, but His covenant's laying hold on me. Glory be to God! The whole of the bulwarks of salvation are secured by divine power, and even the minor towers, which we may imagine might have been left to man, are guarded by almighty strength. Even the remembrance of the covenant is not left to our memories, for we might forget, but our Lord cannot forget the saints whom He has graven on the palms of His hands. It is with us as with Israel in Egypt; the blood was upon the lintel and the two side-posts, but the Lord did not say, "When you see the blood I will pass over you," but "When I see the blood I will pass over you." My looking to Jesus brings me joy and peace, but it is God's looking to Jesus which secures my salvation and that of all His elect, since it is impossible for our God to look at Christ, our bleeding Surety, and then to be angry with us for sins already punished in Him. No, it is not left with us even to be saved by remembering the covenant. There is no linsey-wolsey here--not a single thread of the creature mars the fabric. It is not of man, neither by man, but of the Lord alone. We should remember the covenant, and we shall do it, through divine grace; but the hinge of our safety does not hang there--it is God's remembering us, not our remembering Him; and hence the covenant is an everlasting covenant.

From Charles Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening". CLICK HERE for more!

Revival: Why We Need It

The Message is EVERYTHING...

It doesn't take much discernment to see that there is something terribly wrong with most of the Protestant, evangelical church today. A man once said that that the moral temperature of the culture is always directly related to the spiritual temperature of the church. Television has always been a good moral measuring stick of the culture. So to prove the point, think back just 50 years ago to the "I Love Lucy" show. There was a very controversial episode where Lucy & Ricky slept in the same bed together. Even though they were married, wearing pajamas that completely covered them and they were sleeping on opposite sides of the bed, there was an outcry from the culture to ban the show from television for showing a married couple in the same bed together. Now fast forward to television today. Think about your average soap opera. Not only do they show couples in bed together, but they are NOT married, NOT wearing clothes and NOT completely under the covers. Add to that what they DO show while they are in bed together is nothing short of soft pornography, and for the most part these shows are accepted by the culture! To add to the list of shocking changes, think of the liberal movement. Homosexuality. Sex & pregnancy outside of marriage. The lack of respect children show adults. What has changed so drastically over the past 50 years to change our culture so much? I can summarize the culprit with two words: THE CHURCH. Now I want to make it clear that when I refer to this "church" that has changed, I am NOT referring to the Body of Christ. I'm referring to what our culture today views as the church. The Americanized version of the church. The pragmatic church that cares more about pleasing the goats & not realizing they are starving the sheep with a weak, anemic, easy to swallow message that contains no evidence of the biblical Gospel. The Gospel that was faithfully proclaimed a lot more 50 years ago and is almost non-existent today. The Gospel that not only defines wicked behavior, but condemns those who practice it along with those who accept such behavior as if it was no big deal. The Gospel that says nothing of "accepting Christ as your personal Savior" or "asking Jesus into your heart" or "making your decision for Christ" or "saying the sinner's prayer". We do not find any of those concepts in Scripture anywhere. The Apostles, Prophets nor Christ Himself ever conveyed these messages or concepts in any of their evangelism. Their message didn't take into consideration what man thought, how he would respond or whether he would be offended. Their message was filled with truths about the consequences of sinning against a holy God and the great sacrifice that was made to reconcile wicked people to that God. The goal of their Gospel message was to show men their true, eternal condition & squash their pride in order to humble them before a righteous God who will send them to Hell and be perfectly just in doing so. A Gospel that offered a free pardon for sin on the merits of Jesus Christ ALONE. A Gospel that rejects ALL efforts of man to be "good enough to make it to Heaven someday". That is the Gospel that was prominent 50 years ago and has all but vanished from churches today. And what is the result? Churches being FILLED with people who aren't really interested in living separated, holy lives unto God, but only getting a "get out of Hell free card" so they can continue in sin and still get to Heaven. And pastors all over the country feed these goats a false sense of security by assuring them they are OK with God as long as "said the prayer" or were "sincere in their decision" regardless of their lack of genuine repentance. In order to keep their churches full, they remove nearly all offenses of sin, judgment & repentance, along with any challenges to "examine yourself" or to "make your calling & election certain" or to "work out your Salvation with fear & trembling". Then to make matters worse, they add lots of things that will comfort the lost while starving God's true flock at the same time. Cheap grace, weak gospels and man-centered, entertainment focused approaches to evangelism are sending people on a happy & comfortable trip straight into Hell.

Ernest Reisinger in his book "Today's Evangelism" says, "...the supposed converts have missed Bible repentance, and their life and their dedication to Christ and His church testify that they do not perform deeds appropriate to repentance. Many of our serious church leaders and members know that there is something wrong with most of the so-called "converts", but they do not seem to trace the problem to the message of evangelism. This is why they are forever rushing on the contemporary scene with some new method while the real problem is the message. The harvest of poor, lost church members that we have reaped is a result of the seeds that have been sown - seeds that did not include what out Lord clearly commanded to be part of the Great Commission." (pg. 30)

May God Almighty this post as a church wide call to not only examine the gospel message that we're sharing, but also test ourselves in light of the biblical Gospel to be sure we are in the faith, "unless, of course, we fail the test." (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Written by Dennis Swanson, 8-2-10