Sovereign Grace Church

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith

(PHILIPPIANS 3:9)

In consequence of being thus preached unto the Gentiles, He is, and will continue to be, believed on in the world. The holy Spirit makes, and will persist to make, the preaching of Christ crucified, the grand channel of His converting power. Pharisees, convinced of sin, shall be dislodged from reliance of their own works, and seek to Jesus for righteousness and strength. Hell deserving offenders, who once saw no comeliness in Christ, but perhaps blasphemed His name, despised His cross, and trod all His commandments under their feet; pierced with the keen, but salutary [health-giving] arrow of penitential anguish, and melted down by effectual grace; shall look for salvation to Him whom they have pierced, and mourn in the bitterness of their souls, as one that mourneth for his first-born. All His people throughout the world shall believe in Him: some with an assured, some with a faltering faith; but they shall all believe: just as, when the Israelites were wounded by the flying serpents in the wilderness, some looked, to the brazen image, stedfastly; others feebly; some had a full, near, and distinct view of the elevated remedy, others had a distant, imperfect, confused sight of it; and many perhaps, could but just raise their eyes toward the object, and hardly caught a glimpse of it: yet they all looked, after some rate or other; and all who did, were healed. So all the people of Christ reach forward towards His righteousness; some with a strong, some with a trembling hand, but they shall all grasp at it, and all utter this prayer (a prayer, which was never, nor ever can be breathed from a graceless heart), O let me be found in thee, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith! They, who thus believe, are careful to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, in all-things.

^{Excerpt from “Jesus seen of Angels” now on our bookshelf.}