Adoption may be one of the overlooked blessings of salvation taken as a whole, but the apostles do not neglect it. Paul speaks of this heavenly blessing in Ephesians 1:5, telling us that God has "predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." This teaches us something about the nature, the source, the communication, and the purpose of this gospel privilege.

This world does not satisfy our bodies. It certainly cannot satisfy our souls. In Psalm 81 the Lord offers to satisfy the souls of those who are seeking some needful thing, revealing his goodness, his grief, and his grace. Taking his offered mercies as gospel emblems, here is God offering out of himself both substance and sweetness, and so delighting the hungry soul forever.

Surveying the mighty works of a gracious God, we pause to consider the blessing of redemption through Christ's blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's grace. This is a blessing purchased by Christ, and so possessed by the saints, and sweetly portrayed by the apostle, under the Spirit's influence.

Jesus Christ has come. Do you care? Jesus Christ is calling? Are you coming to him? Consider for whom he came—not for the righteous, but for sinners, a doctor for the sick. Consider how he acts, calling sinners to himself in his gospel, urging them to come for healing and salvation. Consider what he calls us to—to leave sin and all its misery, and to come to God and all his blessing.

A new MP3 sermon from Maidenbower Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details:

Title: Comforts after death

Subtitle: Christian comforts

Speaker: Jeremy Walker

Broadcaster: Maidenbower Baptist Church

Event: Sunday - PM

Date: 7/19/2026

Bible: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Length: 44 min.

Christian comforts do not make believers passive and placid, but rather stir them to lively hope and therefore a hopeful life. We need to know, then, the comforts we have after death. Some come immediately, both for those who fall asleep in Jesus, and for those who remain. Some come eventually and ultimately, when Christ returns, and all his people are glorified together with him. All come substantially, being real, personal, and certain. The alternatives are dreadful to consider, and give us every reason to offer Christ to the lost, and for the lost to come to Christ for hope now and eternally.

Exodus 34:6 is God's own revelation of himself, a declaration to which prophets and preachers return again and again, as here, in Psalm 85:15. As we again delight in the divine declaration, we should appreciate the contrast between God in his faithful mercy and mankind's typical aggressive cruelty. To do that properly, we must contemplate the Lord, "a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth." Then we can accumulate the comforts, casting ourselves upon this God and Saviour as we know him in Christ Jesus to find his help and comfort.

A new MP3 sermon from Maidenbower Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details:

Title: Comforts at death

Subtitle: Christian comforts

Speaker: Jeremy Walker

Broadcaster: Maidenbower Baptist Church

Event: Sunday - PM

Date: 7/12/2026

Bible: Psalm 73:24

Length: 43 min.

Do Christian comforts last for life and evaporate at death? According to Asaph in Psalm 73:24, addressing the Lord, he says, "You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." A Christian's life is not easy, but it is secure, and our death is full of hope, our confidence grounded in the Christ who has overcome death. So we here consider death without Christ, death in Christ, and death for a Christian, full of grace and hope, leading to glory.