The Local Church and Why It Matters

Truth in Palmyra

By: John MacArthur

From: Grace To You Blog

I love the church. It’s the center of my life and has been since childhood. My father was the pastor of a church when I was born, and I grew up in the church. It’s the place where I was led to the knowledge of God, where I learned about the Person and work of Christ, and where I gained the knowledge of saving and sanctifying truth. It’s where I learned how to pray, how to sing, how to worship, how to love, and how to serve. And it was in the church that I experienced the leading of the Spirit of God directing me to a life of ministry.

I met my wife in the church. We raised our children in the church, and now our grandchildren, too. It’s where I’ve made lifelong friends and partners in ministry. The church touches…

View original post 691 more words

Blessings And Privileges

Before God laid the foundation of this earth, before He created the dust out of which He formed Adam, He planned and perfected our complete salvation.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, in Christ; for He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” Ephesians 1:3-8 (HCSB)
The incarnation of Jesus was foreordained from eternity. He was slain before the foundation of the world, and in the same way, at the same time, God foreordained that believers be adopted into the family of heaven, enjoying all the privileges of His own Son.
The blessings and privileges which are ours as children of God became ours “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
In the New Testament Greek there are three words which explain the full meaning of our one word “redemption.” The first Greek word signifies “to buy in the slave market.” The second Greek word means, “to buy out from the slave market,” and the third Greek word means “freedom after paying the price of ransom.” In Paul’s day, a slave could be bought and then re-sold to another master in the same market on the same day; or, he could be bought and then taken out of the market by the one who bought him; or, he could be bought and then set free by the purchaser.
Our redemption through the shed blood of Jesus Christ includes all three. Unbelievers are slaves of sin, sold under sin (Rom. 7:14) in the slave market of the world. Jesus our Savior took a body of flesh, and by His incarnation He came into the world to purchase our redemption, to pay the ransom. He did that, and more.
By His blood shed on the cross, He redeemed us “from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal.1:4). Then, having paid the tremendous price that no one else could have ever paid, thereby having purchased our redemption, Christ in us in the Person of the Holy Spirit has emancipated us and set us free. He has broken the power of sin in our lives. We are no longer victims of sin–we are victors over sin.