So what are the Essentials to be a Christian?

 The answers may surprise you.
As many mainline Evangelicals (theological liberals) either flatly reject these outright or say they believe them in a "statement of belief" but never teach or preach these subjects and spending 30 years in their church would give you no understanding of the very foundation blocks of Historic Christianity. 

1 - The Bible must be considered the very Word of God. 
2 Peter 1 : 19-21 And we have something more sure, the prophetic Word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.  
2 - Belief in a Personal Triune God.
Acts 17 : 24-27 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us.
3 - Person and Work of Christ: including the Virgin Birth, Christ's Sinless Life, the Substitutionary Atonement for Sin, His bodily Resurrection, Ascension and future Return of Christ.
VB -Matthew 1 : When his (Jesus) mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. But as he (Joseph) considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
CSL - 2 Peter 2 : 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
SAfS - Isaiah 53: 4-5 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.2 Corinthians 5 : 21 For our sake He (God) made Him (Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

BR-John 20 : 24-29 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

A-Acts 1 : 6-11  So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

RoC- 1 Thessalonians 4 : 13-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

 

Augustine of Hippo AD 354-430

In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.

Charles H Spurgeon - On Grace (the Mercy of God)

It is undeserved mercy. There is nothing little in God; His mercy is like Himself - infinite. You cannot measure it. His mercy is so great - that it forgives great sins of great sinners, after great lengths of time; and then gives great favors and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great Heaven of the great God!

It is manifold mercy. As John Bunyan says, "All the flowers in God's garden are double." There is no single mercy. You may thing you have but one mercy - but you shall find it to be a whole cluster of mercies.

I trust in the steadfast love (Mercy) of God forever and ever. Psalm 52:8

Braver than the World!

From the Letter by Ignatius to the Church at Rome saying goodbye and asking them not to intervene in his upcoming martyrdom. 

How good it is to be sinking down below the World's horizon towards God, to rise again later into the dawn of His presence!
For my part, I am writing to all the churches and assuring them that I am truly in earnest about dying for God- if only you yourselves put no obstacles in the way. I pray, leave me to be a meal for the beasts (Rome's Colosseum), for it is they who can provide my way to God.
Let them not leave the smallest scrap of my flesh, so that I need not be a burden to anyone after I fall asleep.
So intercede with Him for me, that by their instrumentality I may be made a sacrifice to God.
I am chained to half-a-score of savage leopards (in other words, a detachment of soldiers),
How I look forward to the real lions that have been readied for me! All I pray is that I may find them swift. I am going to make overtures to them, so that, unlike some other wretches whom they have been too spiritless to touch, they may devour me with all speed. And if they are still reluctant, I shall use force on them. You must forgive me, but I do know what is best for myself. This is the first stage of my discipleship; and no power, visible, or invisible, must grudge me my coming to Jesus Christ. Fire, cross, beast-fighting, hacking and quartering, splintering of bone and mangling of limb, even the pulverizing of my entire body - let every horride and diabolical torment come upon me, provided only that I can win my way to Jesus Christ!
All the ends of the Earth, all the kingdoms of the World would be of no profit to me; so far as I am concerned, to die in Jesus Christ is better than to be monarch of Earth's widest bounds! He who died for us is all that I seek; He who rose again for us is my whole desire.
Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips, and the world in your heart, my friends.
Here and now, as I write in the fullness of life, I am yearning for death with all the passion of a lover. Earthly longings have been crucified; in me there is left no spark of desire for mundane things, but only a murmur of living water that whispers within me, 'Come to the Father'. There is no pleasure for me in the meats that perish, or in the delights of this life; I am fain for the bread of God, even the flesh of Jesus Christ, who is the seed of David; and for my drink I crave that Blood of His which is love imperishable.
Remember the church of Syria in your prayers; it has God for its pastor now, in place of myself, and Jesus Christ alone will have the oversight of it - As I write this, it is the twenty-fourth of August. Farewell now until the End, and wait with patience for Jesus Christ.

False teachers & unity

To the Church -
Beloved and enlightened in your love for our God Jesus Christ, joined together by the Will of Him who wills into being all things:

Flee for you lives from men who deny God, who have no faith, who deny Christ's genuine sufferings (theological liberals); they are poisonous growths with a deadly fruit, and one taste of it is speedily fatal. They are none of the Father's planting; if they were, they could at once be known for true branches of the Cross, and there would be no corruption in their fruit. It is by the Cross that though His Passion He calls you, you who are parts of His own body, to Himself. A Head cannot come into being alone, without limbs; for the promise that we have from God is the promise of unity, which is the essence of Himself.

To the Church at Tralles in Asia

You are beloved of God the Father of Jesus Christ, Elect and godly.
And so I entreat you (not I, though, but the love of Christ Jesus) not to nourish yourselves on anything but Christian fare (Biblical Doctrine), and have no truck the foreign foods of Heresy (False Theology). There are men who in the very act of assuring you of their good faith will mingle poison with Jesus Christ; which is like offering a lethal drug in a cup of honeyed wine, so that the unwitting victim blissfully accepts his own destruction with a fatal relish.

What stamp are you showing the world

All things must come to an end, and there are two alternatives before us. they are life and death; and every one of us will have to go to his own particular place. There are two different coinages, so to speak, in circulation, God's and the world's, each with its own distinctive marking. Unbelievers carry the stamp of this world; while the faithful in love bear the stamp of God the Father, through Jesus Christ.Unless we are ready and willing to die in conformity with His Passion, His life is not in us.
But how you show the correct coinage?
If we are still living in the practices of our old lives, like Judaism/Moralism/Lawlessness, it is an admission that we have failed to receive the gift of grace. For in the local body of the Church Universal we can see how former adherents of the ancient customs have since attained to a new hope; so that they (former Jews) have given up keeping the Sabbath (which means Saturday - the 7th day of the week), and now order their lives by the Lord's Day (Sunday) instead.
But what should we now believe?
I want you to be unshakably convinced of the Birth (Incarnation), the Passion (Christ's Atoning death on the Cross), and the (Bodily) Resurrection which are the true and indisputable experiences of Jesus Christ, our Hope, in the days of Pontius Pilate's governorship. God grant that none of you may ever be turned aside from that Hope.  

What Ignatius taught

Humility -
It is true I am a prisoner for the Name's sake, but I am by no means perfect in Jesus Christ as yet; I am only a beginner in the discipleship, and I am speaking to you as fellow-scholars with myself. I, who was the last and least of the faithful, yet I have been deemed worthy to set forward the honor of God.
Unifying - 
I can count myself as one of you, and rejoice with you that your affections are not set upon things of this Earthly life, but on God alone.
Salvation -
From now on, then, we must bear ourselves with humility, and tremble at God's patience for fear it should turn into a judgement upon us. Let us either attempt to flee from His future Wrath, or else embrace His present Grace. As, for me my Spirit is now all humble devotion to the Cross; the Cross which so greatly offends the unbelievers, but is the salvation and eternal life to us. 
Sanctification -
For life begins and ends with two qualities. Faith is the beginning, and Love is the end; and the only Union of the two is found in God.

Ignatius on False Teachers

I did hear of a visit paid to you by certain men from another place, whose teaching was pernicious. However, you refused to allow their dissemination among you, you stopped up your ears against the seed they were sowing.

There are some people who persistently bandy about the Name with the greatest hypocrisy, besides behaving in a number of other ways that do no credit to God. You must keep away from these men as you would from a pack of savage animals; they are rabid curs who snap the necks of unaware people, and you need to be on your guard against their bites, because they are by no means easy to heal.

The Calvanist Ignatius about 100 AD

this is just an introduction to a letter from Ignatius its subtle but see if you can pick out the Reformed parts:

To the deservedly happy Church at Ephesus in Asia; notably blessed with greatness by God the Father out of His own fullness (they are great because of His work, not theirs); Marked out since the beginning of time for glory unfading and unchanging; and owing its Unity and its Election to the true and undoubted Passion (Christ's work on the Cross), by the Will of the Father and Jesus Christ our God (owing their unity and election to Him, not to themselves).

Remembering Historic Christianity

I'm sorry did you say Prosperity Gospel? Because Church History and Scripture make it sound more like, Those whom the Lord loves, He chastises; everyone whom He acknowledges as a son, He scourges.
When you (sinner) call on God, you will not find Him listening; the wicked will not find Him, because they hate wisdom (or fear/respect for the Lord); they would not listen to His advise, but mocked His reproof. Therefore they shall have the fruits of their own to eat, and be filled full with their own ungodliness. The examination of the Ungodly shall spell their own destruction.
Then let us show ourselves (Christians) obedient to His all-holy and glorious Name, so that we may escape the doom that was pronounced of old by Wisdom upon the Ungodly.  This is true, as surely as God lives, as Christ Jesus lives, and the Holy Ghost also on whom are set the Faith and Hope of God's Elect. For our part we will take care to be innocent of any such offense; and we will entreat the sum of His Elect, as it has been numbered throughout all the world, may ever be preserved intact through His beloved Son Christ Jesus, by whom He has Called us out of darkness to light, and from ignorance to the clear knowledge of the glory of His Name.
Let all the nations of the Earth know that thou art God alone, that Jesus Christ is thy child, and that we are thy people and the sheep of thy pasture. Direct our goings, O Lord, and make us obedient both to thine own almighty and glorious Name - causing or granting belief, repentance, true Christian love, self-discipline, discretion, perseverance.

Forgotten Christianity

From Abraham to Jacob to the Levites to Judah and beyond:
On all these great honor and renown were bestowed; yet not for their own sakes, or because of their own achievements, or for the good works they did, but by the Will of God. For was it not by their faith, that prompted them to their acts of righteousness and truth?
Similarly, we - The Called of Christ Jesus - are not justified by ourselves or or own wisdom or understanding or even our own godliness, nor by such deeds as we have done in the holiness of our hearts, but by faith through which alone Almighty God has justified all men (who are Justified) since the beginning of time. Glory be Him for ever and ever, amen.
So, what shall we do brothers? Should we relax our efforts of doing good, and cease to exercise Christian love? God forbid; therefore let us spare no effort to obey His will, but put all our energies into the work of righteousness. And let us place all our boasting and confidence not in ourselves but in Him, and submit ourselves (happily) to His will for our lives.
By all means be pugnacious and hot-headed but (only) about things that lead to Salvation. And this is the very way that we find our Salvation, brothers, even in Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest by whom all our gifts offered, and the Protector by whom all our feebleness is aided. He will carry us along. Yet fear not, there is no time lost between when we fall on our knees before the Master and give up imploring Him with tears to be but gracious and pardon us, and He (at that very moment) brings us back again into the honorable and virtuous Way, the way of those who love Him.
By all means let a man be a true believer, let him Capable of expounding, expound the Revelation of our Lord, let him be judicious in what he hears, and let his life be a pattern of virtue in all he does.
It was in Love that all of God's Chosen saints were made perfect; it was in Love that the Lord drew (or dragged) us to Himself because of the Love that He bore for us, our Lord Christ Jesus, at the Will of God, gave up His blood for Us - His flesh for our flesh, His life for our lives. And this blessing was theirs who were Chosen by God through Jesus Christ our Lord. To Him be glory for ever and ever, amen.

James Smith (Puritan) This is for Christians (only), Bob Rell!

"We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God, and are Called according to His purpose!" Rom 8:28
If you are a sincere believer in Jesus, whatever may be your present difficult circumstances, however trying, however perplexing, "It will all end in Mercy!"
You may not think it now.
You may be writing bitter things against yourself.
You may be misinterpreting the designs of God's Providence.
You may be doubting the precious promises of God's holy Word.
But, notwithstanding your mistakes, your doubts, your fears, your false conclusions -
"It will all end in Mercy!"
You do not think so - nor did Jacob once, nor did Joseph once, nor did Job once, nor did thousands once - who are now in glory!
They are mistaken - and so are you!
They judge by appearances and so do you!
They changed their minds - and so will you!
All your troubles are appointed in infinite love!
They are all weighed out by sovereign goodness!
They are all limited by perfect wisdom!
There is no 'chance' in what happens to the Christian!
Everything is divinely arranged and appointed!
Cheer up, my poor weary fellow-traveler! You will soon arrive at Home, and then you will see clearly and enjoy sweetly the blessed truth - that to the believer "all will end in mercy!"
Take comfort, poor afflicted fellow-Christian! Your afflictions are God's furnace, in which He is refining you! He is only fitting you to occupy a mansion in Heaven, and to sing the sweet and everlasting song - the theme of which will be, "It all ended in mercy!"
Fear not, poor feeble, fickle, faltering, follower of Jesus!
Though your faith is weak,
though your fears are strong.
though your doubts are painful,
though you conclude that your case is singular and your condition hopeless - "the year of release is at hand," and then ...
your doubts will expire,
your fears will flee away,
your groans will be silenced.
your feeble hopes will be realized,
for "It will all end in Mercy!"
My brother, are you in poverty, under persecution, or in bodily sickness? Cheer up! Your light shall soon "break forth as the morning!" Write it down in your memorandum book, or impress it upon your memory, or, what is better still - pray the Holy Spirit to give you the sweet inward assurance of the fact, that "It will all end in Mercy," for "we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God, and are Called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28

What Christians once knew and now have forgotten.

Clement to the Corinthian Church,

Let us bow, then, to that Sovereign and Glorious will.

Thus, by His own Almighty will, He has confirmed His desire that repentance should be open to every on of His beloved.

Besides these men of Saintly life (the Apostles), there are many more of the Elect who have undergone hardships and torments instigated by the jealousy of this World, but provided admirable object lessons for ourselves.

Yet this is He who carries the burden of our sins, and suffers pain on our behalf. - Christ, the Scepter of God's Majesty. On His shoulders He bore the sins of many, and for their sins He was delivered up.

O God, in your great mercy have mercy on me; in the fullness of your compassion blot out my transgressions.

The Heavens (everything in the Universe), as they revolve beneath His government (God's sovereign rule), do so in quiet submission to Him.

The right thing, then, is not to run away from His will; but to reverence the Lord Jesus Christ whose blood was given for us.

His is the breath that is in us, and at His own good pleasure will He take it away (He will cause us to die when our time is up). Truly, His purpose will accomplish itself just as swiftly and suddenly.

Think, my dear friends, how the Lord God offers us proof after proof that their will be a [bodily] resurrection, of which He has made Jesus Christ the first-fruits by raising Him from the dead.


He will act at all times as, and when, He chooses; and not one of His decrees shall fail. The entire universe lies open before Him; and there is nothing that is hidden from His council! Therefore, since there is nothing He does not see and hear, let us approach Him with awe, and have done with this Hateful fondness for mischief-making, so that we may find shelter in His mercy from the judgement to come. For where can any of us flee to, from His mighty hand; or what sort of world will receive one who is a fugitive from Him?

The gracious and compassionate Father who has Chosen us to be His own. Behold, the Lord takes a people for Himself out of the midst of the nations, as a man may take the first-fruits from his threshing floor; and it is out of that people that the Holy of Holies (Christ Jesus) has come. Since then we are the Holy One's special portion, let us not omit any means of Sanctification.

The World today is no different than 96AD!

From Clement to the Church at Corinth,

Everywhere men are renouncing fear of God; the eye of faith has grown dim, and instead of following the commandments, and living as becomes a citizen of Christ, each one walks after the desires of his own wicked heart.

My Prayer - from Clement

It would be my prayer that it could be said of me, what Clement said 
to the Corinthian Church. 

"Day and night you would wrestle on behalf of all the brotherhood,
that in God's mercy and compassion the whole number of the Elect
might be saved."

Francis Turretin - theologian

"The work of our conversion is a creation, resurrection, regeneration and the production of a new heart by which God not only gently persuades but powerfully effects in us to will and to do. As, however, man can contribute nothing to his creation, resurrection and regeneration, so neither can the sinner contribute anything to his conversion."

Titus 1 & Man, I love the Bible!

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the Faith of God's Elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in His word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;


Its really heartbreaking coming out from a non-Bible believing, non-Bible teaching church that so many "Christians" would have no idea what or who - Election and the Elect are even though its Rampant throughout Scripture.


May we all pray for the Salvation of God's Elect in every nation, in all generations.

No man cometh to the Father.

No man cometh to the Father. This is an explanation of the former statement; for he is the way, because he leads us to the Father, and he is the truth and the life, because in him we perceive the Father. As to calling on God, it may indeed be said, with truth, that no prayers are heard but through the intercession of Christ; but as Christ does not now speak about prayer, we ought simply to understand the meaning to be, that men contrive for themselves true labyrinths, whenever, after having forsaken Christ, they attempt to come to God. For Christ proves that he is the life, because God, with whom is the fountain of life, (Ps. 36:9,) cannot be enjoyed in any other way than in Christ. Wherefore all theology, when separated from Christ, is not only vain and confused, but is also mad, deceitful, and spurious; for, though the philosophers sometimes utter excellent sayings, yet they have nothing but what is short-lived, and even mixed up with wicked and erroneous sentiments.

Calvin Commenting on John 14:6

the Holy, Holy, Holiness of God

John is not very novel.  He sounds very Old-Testament-ish, not only in the way he writes, but in the way he responds to God.  In Rev. 1:17, he says “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.”  John differs from those in our Generation who have claimed to see Jesus but were not moved to tremble.  John is just like Ezekiel, “So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking” (Ez. 1:28).  John is like Daniel, “Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength” (Dan. 10:8). John is like Isaiah who was ushered into the throne room to behold the glory of the pre-incarnate Christ and his response was “Woe is me, for I am undone!  Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Is. 6:5).  Whenever sinful man is given a view of the holiness of God, humility is the biblical response.

A.A. Hodge, Creeds and Confessions

If men refuse the assistance afforded by the statements of doctrine slowly elaborated and defined by the church, they must severally make out their own creed by their own unaided wisdom. The real question between the church and the impugners of human creeds, is not, as the latter often pretend, between the word of God and the creed of man, but between the tried and proved faith of the collective body of God’s people, and the private judgment and the unassisted wisdom of the individual objector.

John Calvin

Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.

Martin Luther

It is a miracle how God has so long preserved this book!
How great and glorious it is to have the Word of God!

A W Pink

No verse of Scripture yields it meaning to lazy people.

John Calvin

Justification by faith alone is the hinge on which all true religion turns.

D L Moody

I never saw a useful Christian who was not a student of the Bible.

A W Tozer

Unity in Christ is not something to be achieved;
it is something to be recognized.

Matthew Henry

None can know their election but by their conformity to Christ!
For all that are Chosen are Chosen to Sanctification.

Charles H Spurgeon

I believe that one reason why the Church of God at the present moment
has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much
influence over the Church.

Building Together

Again we can see that Salvation (or Justification) is a work of the Triune Godhead, Christ is the cornerstone, on whom we must trust (or rest upon) for Atonement. According to the goals established by the Trinity prior to Creation, God chose to save a People for Himself (Election). While the Father is attainable only through the Son, yet the Father works in bringing believers together into a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit (Regeneration).

This is God's work in Salvation: the Son is the Atonement of Sin, the Spirit re-creates and indwells believers, the Father brings together the Stones of His dwelling place (those believers) according to His eternal plan. Our Salvation is indeed a glorious thing, being the entirety of His work in Reality throughout Time, beginning with His plan from the Beginning (or "before the beginning" as it preceded time itself). God is not trying to do anything else besides Salvation - like establish the perfect form of government on Earth or create a carnal Atheist Utopia or get people to reject their fleshly bodies and meditate themselves to a higher plane of existence.

As an outflow of the Redemption accomplished on Calvary, God, in the process of Sanctification, knits us together with other believers (all those of the Church Universal) that we might become His Sanctuary in which He can rightly and eternally dwell. This is all of Grace, for in ourselves we are not deserving of this great honor, yet because of His abundant mercy and love, we indeed are growing into His holy temple as we respond to the Spirit's work to make us holy. 
 

Thomas Watson - Dearly Beloved

Matt 7:15 
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 

Take heed whom you listen to! Let me tell you, the Devil has his ministers - as well as Christ! There are some, who by the subtlety of their wit, have learned the art of mixing error with truth, and give poison in a golden cup!


Take heed WHO you hear, and how you hear. Be like those noble Bereans, who searched the Scriptures daily, to see whether the things they were taught, were true or not. Acts 17:11


Your ears must not be like sponges which suck in puddle-water, as well as wine. But your ears must be like a winnowing fork, which sorts out the chaff - but retains the pure wheat. You must be like those in the parable, who gathered the good fish - but cast the bad away. 


The Saints are called virgins for their wisdom - they will not let everyone defile their souls with error! They have both a judicious ear, and a critical palate - which can distinguish between truth and error; and discern the difference between God's pure food, and the Devil's cooking!
 

James Smith (Puritan)

And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. -  Psalms 55:6


The Trials of a believer are often severe. Many a storm has he to endure, many a river to ford, and many a fire to pass through - on his way home to the Promised Land. Little did the Christian think, when he first stepped into the gospel - that there were such tough roads, dark nights and terrible storms before him; but more or less, every traveler to Mount Zion must experience them. It is generally found to be a rough road, which leads to the Celestial City. Many a Christian has found his courage fail him, and his heart misgive him, on this way home.

Never is Christ so precious - as in times of particular trial. Never is the Bible so valued - as in the day of trouble and distress. The wilderness with its barren burning sands, its storms and tempests, its dangers and its difficulties - endears the believer to his Promised Land.  

Rest! O how sweet is the thought of rest - to the weary, way-worn, exhausted traveler! Rest! O how sweet is the thought of rest -to the afflicted, tried, and tempted Christian! He most generally thinks of Heaven as a place of rest.

We have the foretastes of it occasionally now, which makes us at time long for its fullness and perfection. Like the grapes of Eshcol, which when tasted, stimulates us to hasten across the wilderness, that we may take possession of the promised land; so the inward calm, the secret repose, the rest at times enjoyed in the soul - urges us on, and makes us cry aloud, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest."

James Smith (Puritan)

the gospel reveals ...
a Savior - in whom we must trust
a Sovereign - whom we must obey
a Priest - on whose atonement we must rest
a Prophet - from whom we must learn
a Friend - in whose love we must confide
a Brother - from whom we may expect
a Father - whose authority we must revere
an Apostle - whose mission we must proclaim
an Advocate -to whom we must commit our cause

the gosple...
flows from the free love, rich grace, and abundant mercy of our God
is founded in the Savior's person, mediation (work on our behalf) and death
and only becomes effectual through the revelation, operation,
and application of the Holy Spirit. By this Spirit, He creates faith and
grants it, imparts love and excites hope and when accompanied by His
blessing - the gospel is received in demonstration and power.

1 Thessalonians 1:4-5

For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

Most errors in teaching today have to do with heretical universalism - saying that everyone is Called by God to be a Christian, or everyone is Chosen to be a Christian. But any child who knows how to read can see that isn't so. Here we have the Apostle teaching that even he only knows the Elect once they have been Effectually bought to faith in the Christ Jesus.

Beloved has He Chosen you? 
Knowing all your sins and failures, as you do, knowing how unworthy you are; do you still feel His divine Calling on you today? Believe on Christ - not Santa Jesus, not Buddy Jesus, not Social Activist Jesus, not Health and Wealth Jesus - But on the Biblical Jesus! The one who came to live a Godly life - because you didn't, the one who took the punishment for sins - you should have born, the one who died and rose again. Believe on this Jesus!

James Smith - My Favorite Puritan!

The true church comprises ...

all who were Chosen by the Father

all who were Redeemed by the Son

all who were Sanctified by the Holy Spirit

all whom the Father Chose - the Son died to Redeem

all whom the Son Redeemed - the Holy Spirit Quickens, Calls and Sanctifies