“Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Tell of his salvation from day to day.”
Tell of his salvation from day to day.”
- 1 Chronicles 16:23
1. To think right
thoughts about God and His character.
Satan’s ploy in the garden was to deceive Eve into thinking
that God was not who He revealed Himself to be. That same tactic is used by our enemy all the time! We need
to think rightly about God and nothing so sanctifies our thoughts of Him as a
careful contemplation of the cross.
2. To promote His
Gospel.
Over and again the Bible calls us to speak of His salvation
“that the nations might hear!”
Those who are fluent in the Gospel have something to say to the Lost.
1Chronicles 16: 24 “Declare his glory among the
nations, / his marvelous works among all the peoples! / 25 For great is
the Lord, and greatly to be praised, / and he is to be held in awe above all
gods. / 26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, / but the Lord made
the heavens.”
3. To aid in our
worship.
Our corporate worship is massively intensified if we all
come together with fresh thoughts of Jesus and His cross. Our prayers, singing, preaching,
fellowshipping and reading of the Word are enlivened in intangible, but very
real ways.
Psalm 40: 9 “I have told the glad news of deliverance /
in the great congregation; / behold, I have not restrained my lips, / as you
know, O Lord. / 10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; / I
have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; / I have not concealed
your steadfast love and your faithfulness
/ from the great congregation.”
4. To encourage our
own souls.
MLJ said, “Your problem is that you listen to yourself, rather than talk
to yourself.” We are in need of
daily preaching the cross to our own souls – its accomplishments, its
application, and its illustration of the love of God.
Jude 1:3 “Beloved, although I was very eager to write
to you about our common salvation…”
5. To have something
to say to our Accuser!
John Newton said: “Be thou my shield and hiding-place! That, sheltered near thy side, I may my
fierce accuser face, And tell him, "Thou
hast died." Or consider
the words of Charitee Bancroft’s wonderful hymn: “When Satan tempts me to
despair / And tells me of the guilt within / Upward I look and see Him there / Who
made an end of all my sin / Because the sinless Savior died / My sinful soul is
counted free / For God the Just is satisfied / To look on Him and pardon me”
Or consider the words of Psalm 70:3 "Let them turn back
because of their shame / who say, “Aha, Aha!” / 4 May all who seek you / rejoice
and be glad in you! / May those who love your salvation / say evermore, ‘God is
great!’”
6. To Prepare us for
Heaven
Isaiah 25:8 "He will swallow up death forever; / and the
Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, / and the reproach of his people
he will take away from all the earth, / for the Lord has spoken. / 9 It
will be said on that day, / ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him,
that he might save us. / This is the Lord; we have waited for him; / let us be
glad and rejoice in his salvation.’”
Thinking on salvation is one of our primary heavenly
activities. Pondering His saving
work will never grow redundant or tiresome! So, we do good heaven prep work by telling each other now
all that we can discover of His saving grace!
7. To Encourage Each Other
Romans 1: 11 “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you
some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that
is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and
mine. 13 I want you to know, brothers, that I
have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order
that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the
Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks
and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So
I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
Paul writes to Christians, but tells them he wants to preach
the Gospel to them – the Good News of Jesus and His atoning death! Why? Because it will be a source of profound mutual encouragement
to speak to each other about what Jesus did on their behalf (“that we may be
mutually encouraged by each other's faith”).
8. To Strengthen Our Cross-Centered
Authenticity
A growing grasp of justification by grace through faith
alone allows men and women to stand without fear of condemnation before God and
each other. One of the great aids in our personal sanctification is this very
thing – the ability to treat our sin as sin. This kind of authenticity is increased as Believers find
their understanding of Jesus’ cross-work expanded.
