“Jesus Only”
Matthew 17:8
What
a blessing it would be if, everywhere we look, we saw “Jesus only.” In all that I write and preach, I am determined to
point eternity bound sinners to “Jesus
only.” Anything less is a mockery to the souls of men and a waste of
energy.
The
apostle Paul wrote, “I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
He resolved that when he wrote or preached to men in the name of God, as his
ambassador, the only knowledge he would display was Christ crucified. The only
subject he would preach was Christ crucified. The only person he would discuss
was Christ, the crucified Substitute. He labored to make immortal souls know “the breadth and length, and depth and
height” of “the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge,” that they “might
be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph.3:18-19). He counted all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ (Phil. 3:8).
There is, in the knowledge
of Christ, an excellency which immeasurably exceeds all other knowledge in the
world. There is nothing in all the world so pleasing and comfortable, so
ravishing and inspiring, so consuming and soul-contenting as the knowledge of
Christ.
Christ
alone is the sum and substance, the sun and center of all revealed truth.
Christ alone is the object of our faith. He is our salvation. Believing hearts
find increasingly, as they grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, that
truer words were never spoken than these - “Christ
is all!” He is the Sun to enlighten us, the Physician to heal us, the
Shepherd to lead us, the Wall of fire to defend us, the Friend who comforts us,
the Pearl of great price who enriches us, the Ark to save us, the Rock which
sustains us, and the Hiding Place in whom we take refuge. That man, “Jesus only,” who is our God, is “an hiding place from the wind, and a covert
from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great
rock in a weary land” (Isa. 32:2).
Christ
alone is the ladder between heaven and earth, the Mediator between God and men.
This is a mystery which even the angels of heaven desire to pry into and
understand (1 Pet. 1:12). I read nowhere of them having any interest in any
other subject. How much more ought redeemed sinners desire to pry into and
understand the mystery of Christ crucified!
“This is life eternal, that they might know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John
17:3). Happy is that immortal soul, forever happy, who knows the one true and
living God in Christ, the only Mediator between God and men. Let us ever look
into the Sun of Righteousness. If “the
light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart” (Pro. 15:30), how much more shall
the Light of the world! Christ is infinitely more excellent than all the world.
The sight of Christ is more excellent than all other sights. The knowledge of
Christ is more excellent than all knowledge. May god enable us to see and know
nothing, but “Jesus only!”
Grace Baptist Church of Danville - Grace For Today Radio Message #583
2734 Old Stanford Road -
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net