Thursday, July 31, 2008

Mark Cahill

I am a big fan of Mark Cahill and he is a great example of someone that not only proclaims Christianity but lives it every day. He is always inspiring to hear and he recently was interviewed on Way of the Master Radio. I guarantee it will inspire you. You can listen to the interview here. He starts at minute four.

Monday, July 28, 2008

The Shack


I was given a book a few weeks ago by a Brother in Christ called "The Shack". He told me how powerful the book was and that it was a great way to tell others about Christ. He told me that he had distributed several copies and that everytime he went to the Christian Bookstore he saw several people buying multiple copies to give out to others. In fact, during my next trip to the local Christian Bookstore, an employee told me he was reading it for the second time and it was "unbelievable."

As a law enforcement officer, I can be very skeptical and in this case I must admit I was. Come to find out, I may have been the only person that had not heard of this book. It was self published with a $300 budget and has now sold over one million copies and is number one on the best seller list. I had high hopes. A million copies of the Gospel Message going out to many unbelievers. Well, "The Shack" didn't exactly turn out like I was told it would.

Denying the Trinity, Universalism, and many religions leading to Heaven are just some of the serious problems with Christians handing this book out to others. Of course this is not new. Christians have been combating half truths and no truths for some time and it simply makes the Great Commission even more important.

Let me encourage you to watch the below video and read the detailed review below.



A reader's review of The Shack

Waiting on the Promises of God

"For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory" 2 Corinthians 1: 20.

By nature, God is a promiser. He's made a ton of them to His children. A promise is the assurance that God gives to His people so they can walk by faith while they wait for Him to work.

You don't realize how much you need God's promises until your smooth and easy life suddenly turns sideways. This is the time to dig into God's Word and get something to wrap your faith around.

Now the Christian life would be easy if the space in time is small between when you claim God's promises and when you receive what He promised. Read it one day and get it the next. Wow - wouldn't that be great!?

But life's not like that.

The hard part is in the waiting between the promise and the answer; and even harder, when the waiting comes with uncertainties.

Where's this going? Where am I going to end up? What's my future look like?

The reality is, we just don't know and it's this not-knowing that crushes us. We doubt because we don't know. We worry and despair because we don't know. We falter and sometimes fail - all because we don't know. If only we knew how this trial was going to play out, we would be OK. But we don't.

I can take a bad day. I can take a bad month. I can even take a bad year or bad decade, if I have to, as long as I know how it will end up. For some of you it's a health crisis. For another, it's a question about your marriage or an uncertainty with a child. For someone else, it's a restlessness in your soul. We all have areas of uncertainty where we need to hold on to what God has said. His promises are what we cling to while we wait for Him to work. Our faith is in God. He knows what He has promised, He can't lie, and He can't forget. He will deliver on time, all the time. Who else can make promises like that?

Now I wish I could tell you that it always figures out perfectly in our lifetimes, but I would be lying to you. You cannot make sense of the promises of God with this life only. You must factor the reality of eternity into the equation. Eternity brings it all together. The promises of eternal life and the assurance of hope in heaven are what make God's promises exceedingly great and precious.
--James MacDonald

Friday, July 25, 2008

New Website Domain

We are so thankful for your visit to The Centurion Papers. In order to help you find the site again, you can type in www.centurionpapers.com and you will be taken to the Blog of Ten Four Ministries.

Christ: The End of the Law

By: C. H. Spurgeon

A Sermon Delivered on Lord’s Day Morning

November 19th, 1876, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth (Romans 10:4).

You remember we spoke last Sabbath morning of “the days of the Son of man.” Oh that every Sabbath now might be a day of that kind in the most spiritual sense. I hope that we shall endeavor to make each Lord’s Day as it comes round a day of the Lord, by thinking much of Jesus by rejoicing much in Him, by laboring for Him, and by our growingly importunate prayer, that to Him may the gathering of the people be. We may not have very many Sabbaths together, death may soon part us; but while we are able to meet as a Christian assembly, let us never forget that Christ’s presence is our main necessity, and let us pray for it and entreat the Lord to vouchsafe that presence always in displays of light, life and love! I become increasingly earnest that every preaching time should be a soul-saving time. I can deeply sympathize with Paul when he said, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.” We have had so much preaching, but, comparatively speaking, so little believing in Jesus; and if there be no believing in Him, neither the law nor the gospel has answered its end, and our labor has been utterly in vain. Some of you have heard, and heard, and heard again, but you have not believed in Jesus. If the gospel had not come to your hearing you could not have been guilty of refusing it. “Have they not heard?” says the apostle. “Yes, verily” but still “they have not all obeyed the gospel.” Up to this very moment there has been no hearing with the inner ear, and no work of faith in the heart, in the case of many whom we love. Dear friends, is it always to be so? How long is it to be so? Shall there not soon come an end of this reception of the outward means and rejection of the inward grace? Will not your soul soon close in with Christ for present salvation? Break! Break, O heavenly day, upon the benighted ones, for our hearts are breaking over them.

The reason why many do not come to Christ is not because they are not earnest, after a fashion, and thoughtful and desirous to be saved, but because they cannot brook God’s way of salvation. “They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge,” We do get them by our exhortation so far on the way that they become desirous to obtain eternal life, but “they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.” Mark, “submitted themselves,” for it needs submission. Proud man wants to save himself, he believes he can do it, and he will not give over the task till he finds out his own helplessness by unhappy failures. Salvation by grace, to be sued for in forma pauperis, to be asked for as an undeserved boon from free, unmerited grace, this it is which the carnal mind will not come to as long as it can help it: I beseech the Lord so to work that some of you may not be able to help it. And oh, I have been praying that, while this morning I am trying to set forth Christ as the end of the law, God may bless it to some hearts, that they may see what Christ did, and may perceive it to be a great deal better than anything they can do; may see what Christ finished, and may become weary of what they themselves have labored at so long, and have not even well commenced at this day. Perhaps it may please the Lord to enchant them with the perfection of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. As Bunyan would say, “It may, perhaps, set their mouths a watering after it,” and when a sacred appetite begins it will not be long before the feast is enjoyed. It may be that when they see the raiment of wrought gold, which Jesus so freely bestows on naked souls, they will throw away their own filthy rags which now they hug so closely.

I am going to speak about two things, this morning, as the Spirit of God shall help me. The first is, Christ in connection with the law—He is “the end of the law for righteousness.” And secondly, ourselves in connection with Christ—“to everyone that believeth Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.”

First, then, Christ in connection with the law. The law is that which, as sinners, we have above all things cause to dread; for the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. Towards us the law darts forth devouring flames, for it condemns us, and in solemn terms appoints us a place among the accursed, as it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.” Yet, strange infatuation! Like the fascination which attracts the gnat to the candle which burns its wings, men by nature fly to the law for salvation, and cannot be driven from it. The law can do nothing else but reveal sin and pronounce condemnation upon the sinner, and yet we cannot get men away from it, even though we show them how sweetly Jesus stands between them and it. They are so enamored of legal hope that they cling to it when there is nothing to cling to; they prefer Sinai to Calvary, though Sinai has nothing for them but thunders and trumpet warnings of coming judgment. O that for awhile you would listen anxiously while I set forth Jesus my Lord, that you may see the law in Him.

Now, what has our Lord to do with the law? He has everything to do with it, for He is its end for the noblest object, namely, for righteousness. He is the “end of the law.” What does this mean? I think it signifies three things: first, that Christ is the purpose and object of the law; secondly, that He is the fulfillment of it; and thirdly, that He is the termination of it.

First, then, our Lord Jesus Christ is the purpose and object of the law. It was given to lead us to Him. The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, or rather our attendant to conduct us to the school of Jesus. The law is the great net in which the fish are enclosed that they may be drawn out of the element of sin. The law is the stormy wind which drives souls into the harbor for refuge. The law is the sheriff’s officer to shut men up in prison for their sin, concluding them all under condemnation in order that they may look to the free grace of God alone for deliverance. This is the object of the law: it empties that grace may fill, and wounds that mercy may heal. It has never been God’s intention towards us, as fallen men, that the law should be regarded as a way to salvation to us, for a way of salvation it can never be. Had man never fallen, had his nature remained as God made it, the law would have been most helpful to him to show him the way in which he should walk: and by keeping it he would have lived, for “he that doeth these things shall live in them.” But ever since man has fallen the Lord has not proposed to him a way of salvation by works, for he knows it to be impossible to a sinful creature. The law is already broken; and whatever man can do he cannot repair the damage he has already done: therefore he is out of court as to the hope of merit. The law demands perfection, but man has already fallen short of it; and therefore let him do his best. He cannot accomplish what is absolutely essential. The law is meant to lead the sinner to faith in Christ, by showing the impossibility of any other way. It is the black dog to fetch the sheep to the shepherd, the burning heat which drives the traveler to the shadow of the great rock in a weary land.

Look how the law is adapted to this; for, first of all, it shows man his sin. Read the Ten Commandments and tremble as you read them. Who can lay his own character down side by side with the two tablets of divine precept without at once being convinced that he has fallen far short of the standard? When the law comes home to the soul it is like light in a dark room revealing the dust and the dirt which else had been unperceived. It is the test which detects the presence of the poison of sin in the soul. “I was alive without the law once,” said the apostle, “but when the commandment came sin revived and I died.” Our comeliness utterly fades away when the law blows upon it. Look at the commandments, I say, and remember how sweeping they are, how spiritual, how far-reaching. They do not merely touch the outward act, but dive into the inner motive and deal with the heart, the mind, the soul. There is a deeper meaning in the commands than appears upon their surface. Gaze into their depths and see how terrible is the holiness which they require. As you understand what the law demands you will perceive how far you are from fulfilling it, and how sin abounds where you thought there was little or none of it. You thought yourself rich and increased in goods and in no need of anything, but when the broken law visits you, your spiritual bankruptcy and utter penury stare you in the face. A true balance discovers short weight, and such is the first effect of the law upon the conscience of man.

The law also shows the result and mischief of sin. Look at the types of the old Mosaic dispensation, and see how they were intended to lead men to Christ by making them see their unclean condition and their need of such cleansing as only He can give. Every type pointed to our Lord Jesus Christ. If men were put apart because of disease or uncleanness, they were made to see how sin separated them from God and from His people; and when they were brought back and purified with mystic rites in which were scarlet wool and hyssop and the like, they were made to see how they can only be restored by Jesus Christ, the great High Priest. When the bird was killed that the leper might be clean, the need of purification by the sacrifice of a life was set forth. Every morning and evening a lamb died to tell of daily need of pardon, if God is to dwell with us. We sometimes have fault found with us for speaking too much about blood; yet under the Old Testament the blood seemed to be everything, and was not only spoken of but actually presented to the eye. What does the apostle tell us in the Hebrews?


“Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people saying, this is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is not remission” (Hebrews 9:18–22).

The blood was on the veil, and on the altar, on the hangings, and on the floor of the tabernacle: no one could avoid seeing it. I resolve to make my ministry of the same character, and more and more sprinkle it with the blood of atonement. Now that abundance of the blood of old was meant to show clearly that sin has so polluted us that without an atonement God is not to be approached: we must come by the way of sacrifice or not at all. We are so unacceptable in ourselves that unless the Lord sees us with the blood of Jesus upon us He must away with us. The old law, with its emblems and figures, set forth many truths as to men’s selves and the coming Savior, intending by every one of them to preach Christ. If any stopped short of Him, they missed the intent and design of the law. Moses leads up to Joshua, and the law ends at Jesus.

Turning our thoughts back again to the moral rather than the ceremonial law, it was intended to teach men their utter helplessness. It shows them how short they fall of what they ought to be, and it also shows them, when they look at it carefully, how utterly impossible it is for them to come up to the standard. Such holiness as the law demands no man can reach of himself. “Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” If a man says that he can keep the law, it is because he does not know what the law is. If he fancies that he can ever climb to heaven up the quivering sides of Sinai, surely he can never have seen that burning mount at all. Keep the law! Ah, my brethren, while we are yet talking about it we are breaking it; while we are pretending that we can fulfill its letter, we are violating its spirit, for pride as much breaks the law as lust or murder. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” “How can he be clean that is born of a woman?” No, soul, thou canst not help thyself in this thing, for since only by perfection thou canst live by the law, and since that perfection is impossible, thou canst not find help in the covenant of works. In grace there is hope, but as a matter of debt there is none, for we do not merit anything but wrath. The law tells us this, and the sooner we know it to be so the better, for the sooner we shall fly to Christ.

The law also shows us our great need—our need of cleansing, cleansing with the water and with the blood. It discovers to us our filthiness, and this naturally leads us to feel that we must be washed from it if we are ever to draw near to God. So the law drives us to accept of Christ as the one only person who can cleanse us, and make us fit to stand within the veil in the presence of the Most High. The law is the surgeon’s knife which cuts out the proud flesh that the wound may heal. The law by itself only sweeps and raises the dust, but the gospel sprinkles clean water upon the dust, and all is well in the chamber of the soul. The law kills, the gospel makes alive; the law strips, and then Jesus Christ comes in and robes the soul in beauty and glory. All the commandments, and all the types direct us to Christ, if we will but heed their evident intent. They wean us from self; they put us off from the false basis of self-righteousness, and bring us to know that only in Christ can our help be found. So, first of all, Christ is the end of the law, in that He is its great purpose.

And now, secondly, He is the law’s fulfillment. It is impossible for any of us to be saved without righteousness. The God of heaven and earth by immutable necessity demands righteousness of all His creatures. Now, Christ has come to give to us the righteousness which the law demands, but which it never bestows. In the chapter before us we read of “the righteousness which is of faith,” which is also called “God’s righteousness”; and we read of those who “shall not be ashamed” because they are righteous by believing unto righteousness.” What the law could not do Jesus has done. He provides the righteousness which the law asks for but cannot produce. What an amazing righteousness it must be which is as broad and deep and long and high as the law itself. The commandment is exceeding broad, but the righteousness of Christ is as broad as the commandment, and goes to the end of it. Christ did not come to make the law milder, or to render it possible for our cracked and battered obedience to be accepted as a sort of compromise. The law is not compelled to lower its terms, as though it had originally asked too much; it is holy and just and good, and ought not to be altered in one jot or tittle, nor can it be. Our Lord gives the law all it requires, not a part, for that would be an admission that it might justly have been content with less at first. The law claims complete obedience without one spot or speck, failure, or flaw, and Christ has brought in such a righteousness as that, and gives it to His people. The law demands that the righteousness should be without omission of duty and without commission of sin, and the righteousness which Christ has brought is just such an one that for its sake the great God accepts His people and counts them to be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The law will not be content without spiritual obedience, mere outward compliances will not satisfy. But our Lord’s obedience was as deep as it was broad, for His zeal to do the will of Him that sent Him consumed Him. He says Himself, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God, yea Thy law is within my heart.” Such righteousness He puts upon all believers. “By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous”; righteous to the full, perfect in Christ. We rejoice to wear the costly robe of fair white linen which Jesus has prepared, and we feel that we may stand arrayed in it before the majesty of heaven without a trembling thought. This is something to dwell upon, dear friends. Only as righteous ones can we be saved, but Jesus Christ makes us righteous, and therefore we are saved. He is righteous who believes on Him, even as Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. “There is therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” because they are made righteous in Christ. Yea, the Holy Spirit by the mouth of Paul challenges all men, angels, and devils, to lay anything to the charge of God’s elect, since Christ has died. O law, when thou demandest of me a perfect righteousness, I, being a believer, present it to thee; for through Christ Jesus faith is accounted unto me for righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is mine, for I am one with Him by faith, and this is the name wherewith He shall be called—“The Lord our righteousness.”

Jesus has thus fulfilled the original demands of the law, but you know, brethren, that since we have broken the law there are other demands. For the remission of past sins something more is asked now than present and future obedience. Upon us, on account of our sins, the curse has been pronounced, and a penalty has been incurred. It is written that He “will by no means clear the guilty,” but every transgression and iniquity shall have its just punishment and reward. Here, then, let us admire that the Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law as to penalty. That curse and penalty are awful things to think upon, but Christ has ended all their evil, and thus discharged us from all the consequences of sin. As far as every believer is concerned the law demands no penalty and utters no curse. The believer can point to the Great Surety on the tree of Calvary, and say, “See there, oh law, there is the vindication of divine justice which I offer to thee. Jesus pouring out His heart’s blood from His wounds and dying on my behalf is my answer to thy claims, and I know that I shall be delivered from wrath through Him.” The claims of the law both as broken and unbroken Christ has met: both the positive and the penal demands are satisfied in Him. This was a labor worthy of a God, and lo, the incarnate God has achieved it. He has finished the transgression, made an end of sins, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness. All glory be to His name.

Moreover, not only has the penalty been paid, but Christ has put great and special honor upon the law in so doing. I venture to say that if the whole human race had kept the law of God and not one of them had violated it, the law would not stand in so splendid a position of honor as it does today when the man Christ Jesus, who is also the Son of God, has paid obeisance to it. God Himself, incarnate, has in His life, and yet more in His death, revealed the supremacy of law; He has shown that not even love nor sovereignty can set aside justice. Who shall say a word against the law to which the Lawgiver Himself submits? Who shall now say that it is too severe when He who made it submits Himself to its penalties? Because He was found in fashion as a man, and was our representative, the Lord demanded from His own Son perfect obedience to the law, and the Son voluntarily bowed Himself to it without a single word, taking no exception to His task. “Yea, thy law is my delight,” saith He, and He proved it to be so by paying homage to it even to the full. Oh wondrous law under which even Emmanuel serves! Oh matchless law whose yoke even the Son of God does not disdain to bear, but being resolved to save His chosen was made under the law, lived under it and died under it, “obedient to death, even the death of the cross.”

The law’s stability also has been secured by Christ. That alone can remain which is proved to be just, and Jesus has proved the law to be so, magnifying it and making it honorable. He says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” I shall have to show you how He has made an end of the law in another sense, but as to the settlement of the eternal principles of right and wrong, Christ’s life and death have achieved this forever. “Yea, we established the law.” said Paul, “we do not make void the law through faith.” The law is proved to be holy and just by the very gospel of faith, for the gospel which faith believes in does not alter or lower the law, but teaches us how it was to the uttermost fulfilled. Now shall the law stand fast forever and ever, since even to save elect man God will not alter it. He had a people, chosen, beloved, and ordained to life, yet He would not save them at the expense of one principle of right. They were sinful, and how could they be justified unless the law was suspended or changed? Was, then, the law changed? It seemed as if it must be so, if man was to be saved, but Jesus Christ came and showed us how the law could stand firm as a rock, and yet the redeemed could be justly saved by infinite mercy. In Christ we see both mercy and justice shining full orbed, and yet neither of them in any degree eclipsing the other. The law has all it ever asked, as it ought to have, and yet the Father of all mercies sees all His chosen saved as He determined they should be through the death of His Son. Thus I have tried to show you how Christ is the fulfillment of the law to its utmost end. May the Holy Ghost bless the teaching.

And now, thirdly, He is the end of the law in the sense that He is the termination of it. He has terminated it in two senses. First of all, His people are not under it as a covenant of life. “We are not under the law, but under grace.” The old covenant as it stood with father Adam was “This do and thou shalt live”: its command he did not keep, and consequently he did not live, nor do we live in him, since in Adam all died. The old covenant was broken, and we became condemned thereby, but now, having suffered death in Christ, we are no more under it, but are dead to it. Brethren, at this present moment, although we rejoice to do good works, we are not seeking life through them, we are not hoping to obtain divine favor by our own goodness, nor even to keep ourselves in the love of God by any merit of our own. Chosen, not for our works, but according to the eternal will and good pleasure of God; called, not of works, but by the Spirit of God, we desire to continue in this grace and return no more to the bondage of the old covenant. Since we have put our trust in an atonement provided and applied by grace through Christ Jesus, we are no longer slaves but children, not working to be saved, but saved already, and working because we are saved. Neither that which we do, nor even that which the Spirit of God works in us is to us the ground and basis of the love of God toward us, since He loved us from the first, because He would love us, unworthy though we were; and He loves us still in Christ, and looks upon us not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Him; washed in His blood and covered in His righteousness. You are not under the law, Christ has taken you from the servile bondage of a condemning covenant and made you to receive the adoption of children, so that now ye cry, Abba, Father.

Again, Christ is the terminator of the law, for we are no longer under its curse. The law cannot curse a believer, it does not know how to do it; it blesses him, yea, and he shall be blessed; for as the law demands righteousness and looks at the believer in Christ, and sees that Jesus has given him all the righteousness it demands, the law is bound to pronounce him blessed. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Oh, the joy of being redeemed from the curse of the law by Christ, who was “made a curse for us,” as it is written, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Do ye, my brethren, understand the sweet mystery of salvation? Have you ever seen Jesus standing in your place that you may stand in His place? Christ accused and Christ condemned, and Christ led out to die, and Christ smitten of the Father, even to the death, and then you cleared, justified, delivered from the curse, because the curse has spent itself on your Redeemer. You are admitted to enjoy the blessing because the righteousness which was His is now transferred to you that you may be blessed of the Lord world without end. Do let us triumph and rejoice in this evermore. Why should we not? And yet some of God’s people get under the law as to their feelings, and begin to fear that because they are conscious of sin they are not saved, whereas it is written, “He justifieth the ungodly.” For myself, I love to live near a sinner’s Savior. If my standing before the Lord depended upon what I am in myself and what good works and righteousness I could bring, surely I should have to condemn myself a thousand times a day. But to get away from that and to say, “I have believed in Jesus Christ and therefore righteousness is mine,” this is peace, rest, joy, and the beginning of heaven! When one attains to this experience, his love to Jesus Christ begins to flame up, and he feels that if the Redeemer has delivered him from the curse of the law he will not continue in sin, but he will endeavor to live in newness of life. We are not our own, we are bought with a price, and we would therefore glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are the Lord’s. Thus much upon Christ in connection with the law.

Now, secondly, Ourselves in connection with Christ—for “Christ is the end of the law to everyone that believeth.” Now see the point “to everyone that believeth,” there the stress lies. Come, man, woman, dost thou believe? No weightier question can be asked under heaven. “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” And what is it to believe? It is not merely to accept a set of doctrines and to say that such and such a creed is yours, and there and then to put it on the shelf and forget it. To believe is, to trust, to confide, to depend upon, to rely upon, to rest in. Dost thou believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Dost thou believe that He stood in the sinner’s stead and suffered the just for the unjust? Dost thou believe that He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him? And dost thou therefore lay the whole weight and stress of thy soul’s salvation upon Him, yea, upon Him alone? Ah then, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to thee, and thou art righteous. In the righteousness of God thou art clothed if thou believest. It is of no use to bring forward anything else if you are not believing, for nothing will avail. If faith be absent the essential thing is wanting: sacraments, prayers, Bible reading, hearings of the gospel, you may heap them together, high as the stars, into a mountain, huge as high Olympus, but they are all mere chaff if faith be not there. It is thy believing or not believing which must settle the matter. Dost thou look away from thyself to Jesus for righteousness? If thou dost He is the end of the law to thee.

Now observe that there is no question raised about the previous character, for it is written, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” But, Lord, this man before he believed was a persecutor and injurious, he raged and raved against the saints and haled them to prison and sought their blood. Yes, beloved friend, and that is the very man who wrote these words by the Holy Ghost, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” So if I address one here this morning whose life has been defiled with every sin, and stained with every transgression we can conceive of, yet I say unto such, remember “all manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.” If thou believest in the Lord Jesus Christ thine iniquities are blotted out, for the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s dear Son, cleanseth us from all sin. This is the glory of the gospel that it is a sinner’s gospel; good news of blessing not for those without sin, but for those who confess and forsake it. Jesus came into the world, not to reward the sinless, but to seek and to save that which was lost; and he, being lost and being far from God, who cometh nigh to God by Christ, and believeth in Him, will find that He is able to bestow righteousness upon the guilty. He is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, and therefore to the poor harlot that believeth, to the drunkard of many years standing that believeth, to the thief, the liar, and the scoffer who believeth, to those who have aforetime rioted in sin, but now turn from it to trust in Him. But I do not know that I need mention such cases as these; to me the most wonderful fact is that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to me, for I believe in Him. I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day.

Another thought arises from the text, and that is, that there is nothing said by way of qualification as to the strength of the faith. He is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, whether he is Little Faith or Greatheart. Jesus protects the rear rank as well as the vanguard. There is no difference between one believer and another as to justification. So long as there is a connection between you and Christ the righteousness of God is yours. The link may be very like a film, a spider’s line of trembling faith, but, if it runs all the way from the heart to Christ, divine grace can and will flow along the most slender thread. It is marvelous how fine the wire may be that will carry the electric flash. We may want a cable to carry a message across the sea, but that is for the protection of the wire, the wire which actually carries the message is a slender thing. If thy faith be of the mustard-seed kind, if it be only such as tremblingly touches the Savior’s garment’s hem, if thou canst only say “Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief,” if it be but the faith of sinking Peter, or weeping Mary, yet if it be faith in Christ, He will be the end of the law for righteousness to thee as well as to the chief of the apostles.

If this be so then, beloved friends, all of us who believe are righteous. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ we have obtained the righteousness which those who follow the works of the law know nothing of. We are not completely sanctified, would God we were; we are not quit of sin in our members, though we hate it; but still for all that, in the sight of God, we are truly righteous and being qualified by faith we have peace with God. Come, look up, ye believers that are burdened with a sense of sin. While you chasten yourselves and mourn your sin, do not doubt your Savior, nor question His righteousness. You are black, but do not stop there, go on to say as the spouse did, “I am black, but comely.”

“Though in ourselves deform’d we are,
And black as Kedar’s tents appear,
Yet, when we put Thy beauties on,
Fair as the courts of Solomon.”
Now, mark that the connection of our text assures us that being righteous we are saved; for what does it say here, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” He who is justified is saved, or what were the benefit of justification? Over thee, O believer, God hath pronounced the verdict “saved,” and none shall reverse it. You are saved from sin and death and hell; you are saved even now, with a present salvation; “He hath saved us and called us with a holy calling.” Feel the transports of it at this hour. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God.”

And now I have done when I have said just this. If any one here thinks he can save himself, and that his own righteousness will suffice before God, I would affectionately beg him not to insult his Savior. If your righteousness sufficeth, why did Christ come here to work one out? Will you for a moment compare your righteousness with the righteousness of Jesus Christ? What likeness is there between you and Him? As much as between an emmet and an archangel. Nay, not so much as that: as much as between night and day, hell and heaven. Oh, if I had a righteousness of my own that no one could find fault with, I would voluntarily fling it away to have the righteousness of Christ, but as I have none of my own I do rejoice the more to have my Lord’s. When Mr. Whitefield first preached at Kingswood, near Bristol, to the colliers, he could see when their hearts began to be touched by the gutters of white made by the tears as they ran down their black cheeks. He saw they were receiving the gospel, and he writes in his diary “as these poor colliers had no righteousness of their own they therefore gloried in Him who came to save publicans and sinners.” Well, Mr. Whitefield, that is true of the colliers, but it is equally true of many of us here, who may not have had black faces, but we had black hearts. We can truly say that we also rejoice to cast away our own righteousness and count it dross and dung that we may win Christ, and be found in Him. In Him is our sole hope and only trust.

Last of all, for any of you to reject the righteousness of Christ must be to perish everlastingly, because it cannot be that God will accept you or your pretended righteousness when you have refused the real and divine righteousness which He sets before you in His Son. If you could go up to the gates of heaven, and the angel were to say to you, “What title have you to entrance here?” and you were to reply, “I have a righteousness of my own,” then for you to be admitted would be to decide that your righteousness was on a par with that of Immanuel Himself. Can that ever be? Do you think that God will ever allow such a lie to be sanctioned? Will He let a poor wretched sinner’s counterfeit righteousness pass current side by side with the fine gold of Christ’s perfection? Why was the fountain filled with blood if you need no washing? Is Christ a superfluity? Oh, it cannot be. You must have Christ’s righteousness or be unrighteous, and being unrighteous you will be unsaved, and being unsaved you must remain lost forever and ever.

What! Has it all come to this, then, that I am to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for righteousness, and to be made just through faith? Yes, that is it: that is the whole of it. What! Trust Christ alone and then live as I like! You cannot live in sin after you have trusted Jesus, for the act of faith brings with it a change of nature and a renewal of your soul. The Spirit of God who leads you to believe will also change your heart. You spoke of “living as you like,” you will like to live very differently from what you do now. The things you loved before your conversion you will hate when you believe, and the things you hated you will love. Now, you are trying to be good, and you make great failures, because your heart is alienated from God; but when once you have received salvation through the blood of Christ, your heart will love God, and then you will keep His commandments, and they will be no longer grievous to you. A change of heart is what you want, and you will never get it except through the covenant of grace. There is not a word about conversion in the old covenant, we must look to the new covenant for that, and here it is:


Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (Ezekiel 36:25–27).

This is one of the greatest covenant promises, and the Holy Ghost preforms it in the chosen. Oh that the Lord would sweetly persuade you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that promise and all the other covenant engagements shall be fulfilled to your soul. The Lord bless you! Spirit of God, send thy blessing on these poor words of mine for Jesus’ sake. Amen

Friday, July 18, 2008

It's Not Over

Must See Message

Some of you may have heard this sermon by Paul Washer. I've used it several times since I heard it including showing it in my Sunday School Class. I listened to most of it again this week and it continues to bless me. I encourage you to listen as well.

Friday, July 11, 2008

A Look At Open-Air Preaching

The subject of Open-Air Preaching is a controversial topic for many. I must admit that years ago the idea and thought of it confused me. We often think bad about things we know nothing about. The fact is that Open-Air Preaching can be a very effective method to reach the lost. By doing it, you are following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Peter, the Disciples, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon and many other great preachers. A good Open-Air Preacher has the opportunity to reach more un-saved people in one day than a church may in an entire year.

I have done this several times and there are many things that one must consider. While the location and setting are important, the tone of the speaker is crucial. An Open-Air Preacher must come across with a soft, loving tone. If you are unable to use amplification and you have to speak loudly your tone becomes even more critical.

Bill is a great brother in Christ and is passionate about reaching the lost. Let me encourage you to watch the below video from beginning to end. If you are not familiar with Open-Air or if you are concerned about its effectiveness, this video will surely touch you. Please watch and feel free to let me know what you think.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Fire Proof The Movie


Fire Proof is a movie that is scheduled to start in theaters on September 26, 2008. Kirk Cameron's character, Fire Captain Caleb Holt, is on the brink of divorce with his wife of seven years when he asks his father "How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?" His father explained to him that this is the love Christ shows us and Caleb makes a life-changing commitment to love God.

Marriage is a struggle for so many in America and there is so much pain. This is especially true in the first responder community. One of the most frequent requests the ministry gets is prayer and help for marriages. If you would like prayer or some resources to help you, please contact us.

We believe that Fire Proof will be a tremendous blessing and I encourage you to go see it. We hope to have the opportunity to review the movie prior to it's release and we will certainly pass on our impressions.



You can watch the Trailer above.

Check back for additional updates on what looks to be a wonderful movie addressing a real concern for our first responder community.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Repent & Believe

"It doesn’t say in the book of Mark that the time was fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand now who would like to pray and ask me to come into their heart.

But rather he said “Repent and Believe the Gospel

And never forget throughout all the teaching of the New Testament and the Old Testament repentance is evidenced by fruits, by the way someone lives. Most people today believe their saved because they are trusting in the sincerity of their decision and not the Work of Christ nor the Power of God in Salvation.

Are you saved? Yes. How do you know? Well three years ago I prayed a prayer and asked Jesus to come into my heart. Really, and how many others have done that?

The evidence of salvation, the evidence of repentance, the evidence of faith, is a changed and a changing life. How do you know that you repented unto salvation years ago? Because you continue to repent today. How do you know that you believed unto salvation years ago? Because you continue to believe today. How do you know that God had an encounter with you years ago? Because he continues to have an encounter with you. Through the work of sanctification he has not only changed your life he continues to change your life.”

Paul Washer
Director - Heart Cry Missionary Society
Itenerant Preacher
First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Ambassadors' Academy Promotional Video



Click here for more information about how you can be a part of the Ambassadors' Academy.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Must See Messages

If you are new to this Blog you may have noticed that there is deep concern almost weekly about the lost not only in the law enforcement profession but even within our own churches. I speak from experience. I spent a decade within the walls of a church building, felt something was truly wrong with my salvation, and never had anyone in that church tell me what it meant to be a true Christian. Sadly, I speak to those same lost people almost daily where it appears something is wrong but they do not see it.

If you are new to the Blog, been around a while or wonder what in the world I am talking about, let me encourage you to watch the two messages below. I promise they will be worth your time.

Hells Best Kept Secret

True and False Conversion

Both of these important teachings are available for audio download on the Evangelism page of Ten-Four Ministries.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

You're Doing This All Wrong!


"You're doing this all wrong!" That was the exclamation of a professing Christian Lifeguard as she approached us in the middle of a one-to-one conversation (see above photo).

I had approached a city security guard and two citizens in front of a public pool. The security guard seemed to be enjoying the conversation until I told her that her belief that simply believing in God was not enough to get her to Heaven. As I discussed repentance and trust In Jesus Christ alone for her salvation, she walked away. This can happen and fortunately two others were excited to hear it. Why did she walk away? I really don't know but the false God she had made up did not match up with what I and the Bible was telling her. She unfortunately made the decision to leave but she would be back....

Immedidately following a great conversation with the two remaining people, a life guard approached myself and Jeremy. She was very upset and close to tears. She said that we were doing this wrong and that we should make friends with people first. I asked her if she had friends that would go to hell tonight if they died and she acknowledged that she did. We spoke with her for a few minutes but she left abruptly.

The conversation with the young girl bothered all of us and we spent some time afterwards reflecting what we could have said or done to express our concern that her friends needed to hear the Gospel. The entire ordeal left me heartbroken.

The Gospel cannot be compromised but this is exactly what is happening today. Not only can it not be compromised but the greatest story ever told does not need an introduction and certainly doesn't need to be kept for just friends. I will write later about why the Gospel is offensive to so many but for now what about that security guard?

Well, she came back and first told us we couldn't take pictures. I questioned why we couldn't take photographs in a public place but that I would gladly stop. Since I am keenly aware of the laws in the city, I asked her what ordinance she was talking about. She couldn't cite one but then said we weren't allowed to take photos of any city property. Once again she couldn't produce the ordinance or law but I agreed to stop taking pictures. I told her that it would be a good idea to keep a copy of the ordinance with her because it would help others to understand her demands. Since there is no ordinance or law. that would be difficult to do but we complied and were privileged to share the Gospel with her and others.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Show Your Independence

Thousands of towns and cities are scheduled to have firework events which makes it a great opportunity to present the Gospel. I had the honor of doing that very thing in my hometown.


Jason and Jeremy joined me as we passed out hundreds of tracts before the event. We had a great conversation with two guys, one that admitted he was going to hell and that he was concerned about it (see above photo).


We also saw a pretty cool hat at the event (see above). The next stop was my home church as they were having a "non-sanctioned" event which consisted of about 50 church members and friends gathering to watch the fireworks.


We passed out tracts in the crowd and had the opportunity to witness to a 14 year old whose mother had told me about concerns with his salvation decision a few weeks earlier. We stopped to watch the fireworks. During the fireworks, Jason, Jeremy and I felt and agreed the crowd needed to hear the Gospel. Knowing it was my home church, Jeremy graciously told me he would do it but I would have none of it. We agreed to team preach and Jeremy went to the outskirts of the crowd to catch anyone that may be leaving.

I started in the natural by discussing what Independence Day meant and quickly moved to God's Judgement (Hebrews 9:27-28) and how we have failed by the standard of the Ten Commandments. Jason then stepped in and transitioned to the Gospel and gave an incredible sermon (see above picture). It was a great a great night where the Gospel was presented to hundreds and preached to around 50.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

What Do You Care About?

It probably doesn't take you long to look on this site to notice that a major theme is witnessing. While the goal of Ten-Four Ministries is to bring the Gospel to the first responder community, our primary goal is to reach the lost. This is regardless of one's occupation. This week alone I had the honor to hit the streets and witness to several folks and only one of them was in law enforcement. I had an incredible e-mail conversation with someone about their salvation and they were a school teacher. While it is exciting to develop new resources to help reach the first responder community, ultimately we have to reach everyone that is lost.

I hope that is your goal as well. While I am often broke hearted at my fellow Christians that seem to ignore the Great Commission, it certainly should not surprise me considering that Jesus himself told us this was the case(Matthew 9:37).

What is the excuse? Why do we not see more of an effort to reach the lost? After all, with the tools available today it is as easy as it has ever been. The internet, post office, bumper stickers, radio, tracts and I could go on and on.

Before I was a Christian I cared about what people thought. I cared about what the world thought about me. As a Christian, I could care less what others think. I care about one thing and this is what Jesus Christ thinks of me. I've had professing Christians look at me funny, question my zeal for the lost and generally disagree with what I do. I could care less what they think.

I've heard church leaders say that I only think about the lost. What? They are wrong. I think about two things. How I can glorify God in everything I do and how I can get the Gospel to as many people as possible.

Let me pose a question to professing Christians and leaders of churches. What else is there? What else should we be doing? Church carnivals, musicals, retreats, sports or a myriad of other "activities" we keep ourselves busy doing that has nothing to do with the Gospel? While those activities certainly makes a comfortable environment for the lost, what good is it if we don't tell them the Gospel?

So why don't we actively present the Gospel to those that are dying in their sins? I've heard all the excuses but the answer is simple.

We care more what others think of us than what Jesus thinks of us.
What do you care about?

Let's Go Serve Our King!