Bits and Pieces – 61st Edition – May 2, 2021

The whole Free Presbyterian Church, especially in North America, was saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Mark Allison on Monday.  He was 68 and went home to be with the Lord after a valiant three-year battle with a brain tumour. His wife Charlene, daughter Hannah, and several other family members survive him.  He was buried on Saturday from Faith Free Presbyterian Church, Greenville, S.C.  Mark ministered in Malvern FPC for a number of years.  It was while there he got involved in founding the mission in Liberia. He also served as Mission Board Chairman.  He was then made President of the Geneva Reformed Seminary, a position he held until his death.  We extend to Charlene and Hannah our heartfelt sympathy at this time.

“I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end”  [Jer. 29:11]

 Strange things happen to us at times.  They baffle us, they distress us, and they try us.  Often we feel like Jacob’s sons when they asked in bewilderment. “What is this that God hath done unto us” [Genesis 42:28]?  What in the world is going on?

There is nothing new in all this.  The psalmist Asaph had so many troubles in his life that he felt the Lord had forsaken him. [Psalm 77:7-9].  Have we not all felt like this?  And has not Satan used every such trial to try to embitter our souls and make us become wearied and faint in our minds.  [Hebrews 12:3].

Let us always remember this: when we do not know what in the world is happening, the Lord does.  He is working out His purpose of grace toward us.  “All things work together for good” to all His people.  All things, not just some things, are for our good – even when we cannot see how.

When circumstances are difficult in the extreme, we should remember that the Lord is thinking about us.  “I am poor and needy: yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” [Psalm 40:17].  Instead of worrying, think of Him who thinks constantly of us.  Then see how much lighter the burdens of life are. [Dr. Alan Cairns}.

The Toronto Church has two new outreaches.   Please remember it is often easy to forget things that we ought to remember, especially when they are new to us.  Let me remind you of two.  “Behind the Wall” is the bi-weekly program for children put on by Daniel and Rebekah Sima’an.  It goes out at 2.00 pm on alternate Sundays on sermonaudio and is enjoyed by kids and adults alike.  It lasts 20 minutes.  Click here to view the episodes. Do pray for this outreach.

Also, remember the new radio broadcast on WDCX 99.5FM.  The Rev Ian Goligher snapped up this vacant spot once it became available, and now “Let the Bible Speak” goes out each Sunday at 9.00 am.  Both of these outreaches are well worthy of our support and prayer.

Christian doctrines often have a key book, chapter, and verse in the Bible.  Leviticus is undoubtedly the key book on the blood sacrifice, having over eighty references to it, and Exodus 12, the great Passover section, is the key chapter.  The key verse on the blood atonement is Leviticus 17:11, “It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

This emphasis on the blood has caused many to attack Leviticus and deride the blood sacrifice, using the term “Slaughterhouse religion.”  But whether proud, sinful man likes it or not, the blood sacrifice is God’s way and the only way for sinful man to be reconciled to God.  The multitude of Old Testament sacrifices are but signposts to the “one great sacrifice for sins” [Hebrews 10:12] offered by our great High Priest, Jesus Christ.

Look anywhere in the Bible and you are immediately confronted with the awful fact of the sinfulness of mankind.  The dark thread of iniquity is everywhere to be seen, even in the lives of the holiest of men and women.  “All have sinned” and “There is none righteous” are the dread pronouncements of God’s Word [Rom. 3].

Thankfully, running parallel to this dark thread of man’s sin is the crimson thread of God’s redemption.  The Bible is crying out, ”There is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin.”  That is the way of the cross.

The apostle John declares, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” [1 John1:7].  How many sins does His blood atone for?  The answer is all sin.

Christian, do not let the devil rob you today of assurance of sins forgiven.