Ten Big, Daily Reminders (Matt Reagan)

Ten Big, Daily Reminders
by Matt Reagan

1. God exists. 
2. God loves you. 
3. Jesus died for you, and the Father has now bound himself to give you only good things. 
4. God sees you as perfect. 
5. That is because of Jesus’ perfection, not yours. You deserve hell. 
6. You will die. 
7. You will live forever in the new heavens and the new earth. 
8. For now, you are an exile on the earth. 
9. Nothing on earth is truly worth putting your hope in. 
10. You have no right to be unhappy. 

Ref: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/ten-big-daily-reminders

PRAYER 

Father, in heaven. 

You are mighty. You are sovereign. You exist. 

May you always be glorified. 

Father, how can we be saved if there is nothing good in us? 

We thank you for Jesus, Your Son. 

You have punished your own Son just do you can have us back. 

Though we have nothing in relation to you, You adopted us. 

Father, forgive us for our unbelief. Forgive our lack of faith. 

Forgive us of our constant and daily disobedience to you. 

Father, enable us with Your Spirit to know You more and more. 

May we be filled with gladness and thankfulness for all blessings and sufferings. 

Father, thank You for Your love, for disciplining us because we are yours; 

Molding us, shaping us, making us to become like Your Son, Jesus Christ. 

Father, how majestic You are. 

May you forever be glorified. 

Yours is Your kingdom, Your power, and Your glory. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

True Faith (Can someone believe w/o being born again?)

Anyone can believe w/o being born again.. even demons believe.. (James 2:19)
But not everyone who professes faith is a True believer/truly born again (Matt 7:21-23)

And if I may say, we need the gospel to be preached to us constantly to feed us and remind us of what faith we believe we have in Christ, just as Jesus had been teaching about the gospel, the kingdom of God.. (Mark 1:15)

As Paul had said about the gospel, "it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" and "for in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, 'the rightoues shall live by faith'." (Rom 1:16-17)

Faith doesn't come from us just as salvation doesn't come from us. Both are gifts from God himself. "..saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—" (Eph 2:8)

Faith comes from God and "faith comes from hearing, hearing through the word of Christ" (Rom 10:17)

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Rom 10:14)

Lord's Day 7

20. Q. Are all men, then, saved by Christ just as they perished through Adam?

A. No.

Only those are saved

who by a true faith

are grafted into Christ

and accept all his benefits. 1

1. Mt 7:14; Jn 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; Rom 11:16-21.

21. Q. What is true faith?

A. True faith is a sure knowledge

whereby I accept as true

all that God has revealed to us in his Word. 1

At the same time it is a firm confidence 2

that not only to others, but also to me, 3

God has granted forgiveness of sins,

everlasting righteousness, and salvation, 4

out of mere grace,

only for the sake of Christ's merits. 5

This faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart

by the gospel. 6

1. Jn 17:3, 17; Heb 11:1-3; Jas 2:19.
2. Rom 4:18-21; 5:1; 10:10; Heb 4:16.
3. Gal 2:20.
4. Rom 1:17; Heb 10:10.
5. Rom 3:20-26; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-10.
6. Acts 16:14; Rom 1:16; 10:17; 1 Cor 1:21.

22. Q. What, then, must a Christian believe?

A. All that is promised us in the gospel, 1

which the articles of our

catholic and undoubted Christian faith

teach us in a summary.

1. Mt 28:19; Jn 20:30, 31.

23. Q. What are these articles?

A.I. 1. I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

II. 2. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord;

3. he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary;

4. suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell.

5. On the third day he arose from the dead;

6. he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty;

7. from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

III. 8. I believe in the Holy Spirit;

9. I believe a holy catholic Christian church, the communion of saints;

10. the forgiveness of sins;

11. the resurrection of the body;

12. and the life everlasting.

R.C. Sproul (What is The Gospel?)

What is the gospel?
Maybe you said something like this:

"The gospel is the good news that God love us and has a wonderful plan in our life."
"The good news is that Jesus can give purpose to my seemingly chaotic personal existence."
"The good news that gospel is that I can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."
"The good news of the gospel is that I can have my sins forgiven."

All of those things may seem to be true, but not. But not one of them, individually or collectively, is the gospel.

The gospel has a specific content. The gospel has an objective content to it as well as a subject of element added to it.

What the gospel is, in biblical terms, is the good news of the person and work of Jesus....

There is no gospel without atonement. There is no gospel without resurrection....

The gospel is about who Jesus is and what Jesus did.

~R.C. Sproul, What is the Gospel?

Kevin DeYoung (What is True Faith)

Faith is "knowledge and conviction." Here we have the proverbial head and heart of the Christian faith. True faith is knowledge: We must understand something and know something about God and the gospel; we are not saved by a content-less Christ. And true faith is conviction: We must trust and embrace and feel something of the glory of the knowledge we possess. Even the demons have good theology (James 2:19). Knowledge is necessary, but it is not enough.
Faith is also "a deep-rooted assurance." It is not arrogant, but it is confident. We should have mercy on those who doubt (Jude 22), but double is not the goal. We want a faith that is not constantly wandering and wondering but sure and established. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1).
Faith is "created... by the Holy Spirit through the gospel." Genuine trust in God does not come by virtue of superior intellect or by luck of a credulous personality. It is the work of God's Spirit birthed in us through the hearing of the good news about Christ. The salvation we receive by faith is a gift, and so is faith itself.
Faith is humble. It puts an end to all boasting except in the cross, and puts to flight any thoughts of merit except that which was won for us by Christ.
Faith is personal. Faith is not trust in an abstract principle that God is love or that Jesus died on the cross for sinners. Faith is personal, believing that God loves me, that Jesus died for me. Faith trusts that God did not send His Son merely to do something wonderful for people out there in the world. He sent His Son to live and die in my place. Salvation is more than a concept, it's a conviction. True faith believes "I am forgiven, I am right with God, and I will live forever."

~Kevin DeYoung, The Good News We Almost Forgot

Charles Spurgeon (How did you come to be a Christian?)

"The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord, But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment--I should not have sought him unless there had been some precious influence in my mind to make me seek him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that he was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, "I ascribe my change wholly to God." - Charles Spurgeon