Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Gary J. Hall
Read between
March 3 - March 22, 2023
Personal holiness and good deeds can never merit salvation. If living moral lives saved then there was no need for Christ to come. Saving faith is by grace alone, but it does produce holiness and good works in the believer as a result.
A truly born-again person does not continue in sin, instead he desires to please God by living a sanctified life.
The almost Christian knows that God’s word is true, but will not commit himself to following it. He may live a good, moral, even religious life, and even go beyond others with regards to human compassion. His humanitarian spirit causes him to give to others that which he has need of. He may hate all unrighteousness and sin in society to the point of protesting and petitioning against it, but does not recognise sin in his own life. In this he has a “form of godliness” but reveals that he does not have “the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5).
It is impossible to be a Christian without being born again. Those who do put their faith solely in Christ for salvation become the children of God …
Lastly, the altogether Christian knows that his sins are forgiven, and is delivered from damnation through the blood of Jesus Christ. He knows that his new life is given upon the merits of Christ rather than of self, thus his confidence is in God alone. He lives a godly life by the power of God.
If we are honest with ourselves, many of us are not even close to being almost Christians let alone altogether Christians. We have never laid down our lives as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). We think that it is enough to go by the name of Christ, doing a few good works here or there, and attending church occasionally, but we continue to fall far short of God’s standard. We must get back to believing that Christ alone saves our souls from sin, and gives us the power to live godly lives (John 15:5).
The sleeper is satisfied with living in sin, depravity and worldliness. He certainly has no desire to flee from the wrath to come (Matthew 3:7).
There are sleepers to be found in the church too. They may profess Christ as Saviour, but there is very little sign of it in their lives. Such people usually feel uncomfortable amongst those who truly love the Lord. They will as much as possible avoid true Christian fellowship. The sleeper may even detest and ridicule those who are determined to live the Christian live by following Christ.
They get to the point where they no longer feel any emotion, remorse or conviction when the Word of God is preached. They no longer understand even the basics of spiritual matters. They continue to harden their hearts and resist the Holy Spirit.
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” should teach us something about what it means to be a Christian. Is it a set of principles or a system of doctrine? No, instead it is the power of a changed life and heart in the follower of Jesus Christ.
The law says, “Do this, and live,” but grace says, “Believe, and live.” But how many Christians are still trying to be accepted by God through works? They will not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.
Do you desire to be right with God? If your answer is ‘yes’, then do not go about trying to conquer your sin. Do not attempt to cleanse yourself before approaching the Holy God. Try and you will fail miserably. Do not try to please God by good deeds, church-going, and prayers. Instead, seek His righteousness by faith, in other words, simply believe what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on your behalf on the cross. Remember, you will never be good enough because you are incapable of doing anything truly good for God. Only the precious blood of Christ washes away sin and makes the soul
...more
The Kingdom of God is not ‘meat and drink,’ meaning that a person is not saved by observing rituals and ceremonies. These are just outward forms of religion. True religion on the other hand is ‘righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost’ – or inward and heart religion.
True religion does not consist of orthodoxy, right opinions, and doctrines. A man may hold to these and still not be a child of God. Why? Because his religion is not of the heart.
Those who have the greatest ignorance of God are those we call ‘men of learning.’ They boast of their faculties and achievements, and consider that their minds are open to spiritual truth, but the “light of the glorious gospel of Christ” has never shined upon them (2 Corinthians 4:4). They may congratulate themselves on personal wisdom, yet they are bent on discrediting and disbelieving the plain teaching of Scripture on almost every issue. They indeed have wisdom, but not that pure “wisdom that cometh from above” (James 3:17).
Each person must ask, “Do I really love God or am I just pretending to do so?” Remember that “he that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). So who will you serve today? Jesus Christ came to deliver you from Satan’s grasp (1 John 3:8), so it is Him you must turn to. If you do you will be born again.
The natural mind disregards the plain teaching of God’s word. He thinks that it is possible to be a Christian without obeying the Scriptures.
By ‘means of grace’ we refer to outward signs, words, or actions ordained by God to be ordinary channels whereby He might convey grace. The chief of these means is prayer, studying the Scriptures, and the Lord’s Supper. Yet if we separate these from the reason for them, we are left with nothing but false religion.
We should take care that we do not limit Him in any way. Along with Eli, we should say, “It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good” (1 Samuel 3:16). But remember, there is no power or merit in the means themselves. The mere practicing of them does not please God, so we cannot congratulate ourselves by thinking we have done some great thing. None of them are able to save the sinner from damnation. Those who have true faith can use the means to grow deeper in the grace of God. The means that God has ordained are for the refreshing of our souls in righteousness and true holiness.
There will always be those who think they will obtain the promise without dealing faithfully with God. These blasphemers persuade themselves that they are guiltless. Such a vain hope! Every child of Adam must come by the “strait gate” (Matthew 7:13), “take up his cross” (Matthew 16:24), and be “sanctified” (1 Corinthians 6:11) to win the prize.
Should we not obey Him whom we claim to love? Should we not be zealous, and hunger and thirst to please Him in every possible way?
The moment we are born again a vast inward change occurs within us. We no longer want to live the way we did before.
Notice how one progresses from grace to sin one step at a time: [1] Born again by the Spirit of God. [2] Temptation arises in the heart, be it fleshly or devilish in origin. [3] The Holy Spirit warns about the consequences of the sin. [4] The flesh crumbles, and the thought of the sin becomes tantalising. [5] The Holy Spirit is grieved; faith is weakened, and love for God grows cold. [6] The Holy Spirit sharply reproves him and calls him to remain on the right path. [7] The Holy Spirit is ignored as the voice of the desires is listened to. [8] The evil desire spread through the soul, and he is
...more
Loss of faith and commitment is the result of committing outward, wilful sin. We are all liable to temptation, particularly to the sin that so easily besets us (Hebrews 12:1), but it must be overcome by fixing our eyes upon God and His word. We sin when we are take the bait of our own desires …
Let us cast ourselves upon Him who saved our souls; let us continue in faith, love, studying His word, prayer and praise, for in doing so we’ll find that sin no longer dominates our lives (Romans 6:14).
Who then are the poor in spirit? Surely it is they who know what they really are! They acknowledge themselves to be “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” without Christ (Revelation 3:17). They know that they have a bias towards the flesh, deserve God’s wrath, and so often grieve His Holy Spirit. They realise that there is nothing they can give in exchange for their souls (Matthew 16:26), meaning that no amount of good deeds will ever merit eternal life. There is the awareness that it is impossible to obey God without the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.
The believer will always be considered as a fanatic and a lunatic to those who are lost in sin, yet we know that they stand on the very edge of destruction. It is our responsibility to warn them.
The world will never be won to Christ through religion or military strength, even though some have used such methods in the past. The Jews, the Muslims, and the Heathen will never come until they see real Christianity being displayed in this world. The church has a great need of meekness, righteousness and mercy today. Each individual believer must lay down his life for Christ’s sake, and continually overflow with His love, or else we will never be effective witnesses (Romans 12:1; 1 John 3:16). The lost will not know Christ through opinions or circumstantial religion. It will take a wonderful
...more
Inward purity always produces outward holiness, thus peacemakers reveal themselves to be the true children of God.
Christianity is a Social Religion To make Christianity a mere personal religion is to nullify its power. It is a religion that must be shared with the world.
We must acquaint ourselves with the lost; otherwise we are of little use as believers.
It is a fact, our godly character and personal holiness will make us as conspicuous in society as the sun in the heavens. You may be a shy person, but there can be no fear about sharing your faith in Christ. Even the most timid of believers should walk in holiness, be zealous, and be noticed as a lover of God and men.
The Lord does not forbid us having things, but He does warn us against allowing things have us.
Whatever holds our attention while we live in this world will transform our nature, character and outlook. Have the treasures of this present life so attractive that we are unable to see God? Has “gross darkness” invaded our souls that we no longer know what holiness means (Isaiah 60:2; Jeremiah 13:16)? By looking to Christ, and laying up treasures in Heaven, we can be filled with heavenly light.
We have a generation of Christians today who resemble these ancient worshippers. They love God but do but serve Him exclusively, for they honour gods of gold and silver, even teaching their children to do likewise. By trying to serve the Lord and riches many believers are careering unto the unavoidable consequences of such an attempt. They will end up hating and denying the true God, for God and Mammon cannot mix.
The highest act of worship is to imitate Christ in our daily lives, for our aim should be to be as loving, merciful, gentle and pure as He is.
Man glorifies what he serves. If we truly serve God, then we will glorify Him in every aspect of our daily lives with a single eye and a pure heart. We will glorify Him by walking in holiness. We will glorify Him by being obedient to His commands and zealously avoiding that which He has forbidden.
If Christian love exists within us we will love, respect and deal with others mercifully instead of slandering them. This is a part of what is meant by loving our neighbour. If we are to live by this rule we must first love God, then not only will we abstain from everything which is contrary to love, such as every unkind thought, word and deed. Then we will bestow kindness on others, just as we desire them to do towards us.
Too many still think that there is an easier way to the Kingdom than the one prescribed by the Master. The majority of every age is doomed to perish because of their flagrant and blatant disregard of God’s word. Have we only an outward show of godliness? Are we void of the true righteousness of God?
Why do people choose the road that leads to destruction? The answer is simple. It requires no effort at all to go along with what everyone else is doing.
Sinners cannot enter through the narrow gate that leads to eternal life until they are willing to be saved from their sin. One who is on the narrow road must exhibit evidence of a transformed life, which is, sanctification. This involves and includes a thirst after righteousness and a genuine love for God and others.
Fear of being thought of as a religious fanatic keep many from the narrow way.
Millions of souls populate the regions of Hell because they refuse to be guided by the truth, but would rather follow error. God has ordained watchmen to direct the lost to the only place of salvation. What if the watchmen have fallen into a snare! The church has now become the den of false teachers, who, as agents of the devil, guide souls into Hell. Who these false prophets are These men twist the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:16). They misuse God’s word to fit into their false notions and doctrines. They never teach others to follow the path of holiness and righteousness, but instead invent easier
...more
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
We must be careful about what we hear (and read) if we are to avoid being deceived by false teachers. We should receive nothing until it is fully tested against the authoritative word of God. This means that we are to completely reject everything that does not line up with the Scriptures.
Why on stone rather than our hearts? Because the heart has become hardened by sin.
Paul makes it very clear that the gospel is the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16), and Peter declared that “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12.) Therefore no one is justified through the works of the law. Faith frees us from the ‘ceremonial law’ but not from the ‘moral law.’ To think otherwise is to totally misunderstand what the New Testament teaches.
The moral law was given to convince people of their sin and awaken them to their need of Christ. Not to preach it is actually undermining the gospel. If we faithfully preach Christ we must make use of the law. We must proclaim all His promises, warnings, and commands – all that is written in the Scriptures. By preaching the whole Biblical message we preach Christ without overthrowing the law.
We must not water down any part of the word of God to make it acceptable to sinners and the disobedient. This means, just as the Lord Jesus taught from the moral law, we too should proclaim, for in doing so we are preparing the ground for them to come to Him.
Many preachers, just like the Pharisees of old, misrepresent and misinterpret God’s infallible and inspired word. They think that their outward acts of humanitarianism can atone for the lack of inner holiness. Because they do not really love God the spiritual meaning of the law is completely hidden from their eyes. As a result their lives are impure. The outward form of religion may be there but there is no desire, let alone power, to live according to God’s righteousness … “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5.)
No matter who is offended, we must speak the truth as Christ taught it. Whether they listen or not, they must be warned. We are not here to be pleasers of men but to please God. We know that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16.) Let us never apologise for standing firm on the solid rock of God’s truth. Let us never be ashamed of the one who saved us.
