WORDS FROM MARTIN LUTHER

Three A.M. February 18, 1546
Martin Luther’s dying words:

“We are beggars, this is true. God is free, utterly free in His grace,and we are beggars, ‘pray-ers’. That is how we live. That is how we study, so that God gets the glory, and we get the grace.”

LUTHER'S GREAT HYMN
A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD
This song has been called “the great­est hymn of the great­est man of the great­est per­i­od of Ger­man his­to­ry” and the “Bat­tle Hymn of the
Ref­or­ma­tion.”

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Martin Luther (click link for more)
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/i/mightyfo.htm

By Charles Woodruff email: oursong2000@yahoo.com
Compiled June 29, 2006

REJOICE THE LORD IS KING--W.F.BELL

SCRIPTURE MEDITATIONS

Psalm 2:6; 10:16; 45:1; 149:2; Luke 1:33; Acts 17:7

REJOICE, THE LORD IS KING!

Rejoice, the Lord is King;

Your God and King adore!

So began Charles Wesley's great hymn about our great King and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. What joy to sing this! What Christ-exalting theology is here proclaimed! "Rejoice, the Savior reigns!" Does He really? "His kingdom cannot fail; He rules o'er earth and heaven." Can we truthfully sing this, meaning it? According to Scripture, indeed we can! "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion....This day have I begotten thee" (Psalm 2:6-7), fulfilled in Christ's victorious resurrection (Acts 13:33). But many say Christ is not now King. How blasphemous! What joyless unbelief to believe such. Even the psalmist knew better, saying, "My heart is inditing a good matter; I speak of the things which I have made touching [concerning] the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips; therefore God hath blessed thee forever" (Psalm 45:1-2). "The King." "Fairer." "Grace poured." "Blessed forever." What a subject, the Kingship and Kingdom of the holy Son of God!

"Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King" (Psalm 149:2). Yes, for we read, "The Lord is King forever and ever" (Psalm 10:16). Jesus plainly said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). If Christ has a kingdom, then He is King of it. Paul and his companions traveled the Roman world, not proclaiming Caesar to be king, but that "there is another King, one Jesus" (Acts 17:7). We, as Christ's ambassadors today, must do the same. Jesus is Lord and King, and without the present reign of Christ over all sinners, no one could bow to Him or truly call Him, "Lord." Listen to this dogmatic statement of the apostle Paul, "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him" (I Corinthians 8:6). Do we need any further proof?

But there is more: "And hath put all things under his feet" (Ephesians 1:22). When was this? Right after His crucifixion and burial. For then, Christ was "raised from the dead," and "set" at the Father's "own right hand in the heavens, FAR ABOVE all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" (Ephesians 1:21). Human language and human words could not possibly be any plainer than this!

So, with Wesley we sing, "Rejoice in glorious hope, Jesus the Judge, shall come." Nothing thrills true believers more than to know Christ lives, Christ reigns, Christ will return, Christ will raise the dead, Christ will judge all men at last, and Christ will rule and reign forever (Luke 1:33). The Lord Jesus Christ is not just a "teacher," a "good example," a "prophet," etc., but HE IS UNIVERSAL KING. And indeed, because He is so, we continue our song,

He all His foes shall quell;

Shall all our sins destroy;

And every bosom swell

With pure seraphic joy!

EXTOLLING GOD WITH OUR MOUTH--C.H. SPURGEON

I have used this before a couple of years ago, but it is so good that I wanted to use it again. Please read it and ponder it.cw

Happy is he whose fingers are wedded to his harp. He who praises God for mercies shall never want a mercy for which to praise....Our thankfulness is not to be a dumb thing; it should be one of the daughters of music. Our tongue is our glory, and it ought to reveal the glory of God. What a blessed mouthful is God’s praise! How sweet, how purifying, how perfuming! If men’s mouths were always thus filled, there would be no repining against God, or slander of neighbours. If we continually rolled this dainty morsel under our tongue, the bitterness of daily affliction would be swallowed up in joy. God deserves blessing with the heart, and extolling with the mouth—good thoughts in the closet, and good words in the world.
—C. H. Spurgeon, Psalm 34:1, The Treasury of David