“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation! Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Most people view Christianity as a superficial thing, consisting in a bare assent to certain notions, and a formal observance of certain religious rites. If they have some general views of Christianity; if they occasionally attend a church service; and finally, if they are not guilty of any scandalous sins–they think they have all the religion they need! But they merely substitute the shadow for the substance, and the external for the internal.
True and saving religion is widely different from this! It is a radical conversion of the soul, turning from sin, and turning to God.
True religion, as it exists in the soul, is a heaven-born principle that pervades and operates in all our faculties. It . . . restrains our passions, corrects our desires, and purifies our affections. It enters into all our motives, and subjects everything to itself.
Saving religion will endure no rival; nor will it make a truce with any sin–however dear and habitual.
It will reign over the whole man. It brings its votary to the foot of the cross. It constrains him to walk in the steps of his divine Master. It progressively transforms him into the image of Christ!
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you, and cause you to follow My decrees, and be careful to keep My laws!” Ezekiel 36:26-27
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content; whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.” Philippians 4:11-12
Paul knew how to manage in every state–he learned to be content whatever his circumstances. If he was in prosperity, he knew how to be thankful. If he was in adversity, he knew how to be patient. He was neither lifted up with prosperity, nor cast down with adversity.
A Christian should be content in any and every situation. Many are contented in someconditions–but not in every condition. They can be content in a wealthy state. When they have the streams of milk and honey–now they are content; but if the wind turns and is against them–now they are discontented. While they have a silver crutch to lean upon–they are contented; but if God breaks this crutch–now they are discontented.
Many would be content with their affliction–if God would allow them to pick and choose! They could better endure sickness–than poverty; or bear loss of estate–than loss of children. If they might have a cross of their own choosing, they would be content!
But a contented Christian does not desire to choose his cross–but leaves God to choose for him! He is content both for the kind of the afflictions, and the duration of the afflictions, which God gives him. A contented man says, “Let God apply whatever medicine He pleases, and let it lie on as long as He desires. I know when it has done its cure, and eaten the venom of sin out of my heart–that God will take it away!”
A contented Christian, being sweetly captivated under the authority of the Word, desires to be wholly at God’s disposal, and cheerfully lives in whatever circumstances that God has placed him in. “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.” (2 Corinthians 12:10) He does not only submit to God’s dealings, but rejoices in them!
O precious saint! Three questions call for your answer: 1. What were you? 2. What are you? 3. What shall you be?
1. What were you? Dead in your transgressions and sins, a rebel to your God, a prodigal to your Father, a slave to your lust, the devil’s captive, on the highway to Hell!
2. What are you? Redeemed by Christ, a royal child of God, the spouse of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the heir of a priceless eternal inheritance!
3. What shall you be? A glorious saint, a companion of angels, a triumphant victor, a crowned king, an attendant on the Lamb, a participant in those soul-ravishing and ineffable excellencies that are in God! You shall behold the King of Glory face to face, and enjoy immediate communion with Jesus Christ!
Nay more, you are made one with Him: clothed with His excellencies, enthroned with His glories, crowned with His eternity, and filled with His felicity!
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined . . . what God has prepared for those who love Him!” 1 Corinthians 2:9
O stand amazed at His free grace–and render all the glory to God!
If you meet that poor wretch who thrust his spear into My side!
(Benjamin Grosvenor, “The Temper of Jesus Christ towards His Enemies, and His Grace to the Chief of Sinners”) LISTEN to Audio!Download Audio
“Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47
It is very affecting that the first offers of grace should be made to those who, of all people in the world–had done Him the most harm!
One would rather have expected the apostles would have received another kind of charge, and that Christ wouldhave said: “Let repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached–but do NOT carry it to Jerusalem, that wicked city, that has been the slaughter-house of my prophets, whom I have often sent. Last of all, I myself, the Son, came–and with wicked hands, they have crucified and murdered Me! They may do the same to you! Do not let the gospel enter those wicked gates, through which they led Me, its Author, to crucifixion!”
But Christ singles out exactly these murderous people of Jerusalem–to make monuments of His mercy, and commands the first offer of eternal life to be made to them!
As if our Lord had said: “Lest the poor house of Israel should think themselves abandoned to eternal despair–as cruel and vile as they have been–go, make the first offer of grace to them! Let those who spilled My blood–be welcome to its healing virtue. Tell them that there is repentance and forgiveness, even for them!
“Nay, if you meet that poor wretch who thrust his spear into My side, tell him that there is another way, a better way of coming to My heart–even My heart’s love! Tell him, that if he will repent, and look upon Me whom he has pierced, and will mourn–then I will cherish him in that very bosom which he has wounded! Tell him that he shall find the blood which he has shed–to be an ample atonement for the sin of shedding it! And tell him from Me, that he will put Me to more pain and displeasure by refusing this offer of My blood–than when he first drew it forth!”
“For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance!” Matthew 9:13
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“Leaving you an example so that you should follow in His steps.” 1 Peter 2:21
“He who says he abides in Him, should walk just as He walked.” 1 John 2:6
We see, in our Divine Leader, the several precepts of God’s Word drawn out in living characters. We behold them reduced to practice, and represented to the life–in the whole of His conduct towards God and man. We see one in our nature, amidst all the assaults of temptation, amidst all the opposition which malignity could invent, and all the allurements of this glittering world–behaving in a manner exactly agreeable to the dictates of the Divine law, and leaving us an example that we should follow His steps.
Surely it must be delightful, not only to contemplate His character–but to the utmost of our power to imitate the most perfect pattern which was ever exhibited. It must be desirable, by constant and strenuous exertions, according to our measure, to endeavor to trace the steps of His lovely feet.
It is impossible to contemplate the character of Jesus, with serious and devout attention–and not be charmed with it. We see in Him, all the human virtues in the highest perfection. His joys were grave, his griefs were just; his gentleness and his severity, his holiness and his humanity–were in perfect harmony with each other. He manifested great tenderness, and genuine affection, and sensibility to human woe–on all occasions.
As He did no sin–so, on the other hand, every shining virtue was exemplified in Him to highest degree. His humility and meekness; His contempt of the world; His heavenly temper; His love to the Father, and zeal for His honor; His activity and diligence in doing good; His submission to the Father’s will; His patience amidst the heaviest and severest sufferings; His constancy in the exercises of retired devotion; and His praying for His enemies who spilt His blood –can never be sufficiently admired.
When you are tempted to any vanity–set the blessed Redeemer before you, consider His example, and ask yourself, “How would Jesus, my Lord and Master, have acted in such a case? Would He have spent His time upon such trifles? Would He have spoken such and such; or done this or the other thing, which I am solicited to do? And shall I give way to that which would be a manifest deviation from His example? God forbid!”
O Christians, fix your eyes intensely on the great exemplar! Thus you will, through Divine grace, daily grow in love with meekness, patience, and lowliness of heart.
The more I contemplate His lovely character while He sojourned on earth–the more I am delighted with it. To have the same mind in me which was in Christ Jesus, and to tread in His steps–should be my constant aim. Those who are received by Him to the possession of everlasting felicity in Heaven–have humbly traced His footsteps upon earth. Of them it is said, “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes!” They are forevermore led by Him, even in the celestial world–to the enjoyment of ever-new delights and pleasures!
The gospel is the master-work of Jehovah, presenting the greatest display of His manifold wisdom, and the most costly exhibition of the riches of His grace. In constructing it, He would seem to have summoned all the resources of His own infinity to His aid . . . His fathomless wisdom, His boundless love, His illimitable grace, His infinite power, His spotless holiness –all contributed their glory, and conspired to present it to the universe as the most consummate piece of Divine workmanship!
The revelations it makes, the facts it records, the doctrines it propounds, the effects is produces– proclaim it to be the “glorious gospel of the blessed God.”
We live encircled by shadows . . . our friends are shadows, our comforts are shadows, our supports are shadows, our pursuits are shadows, and we ourselves are shadows passing away!
But in the precious gospel we have substance, we have reality, we have that which remains with us when all other things disappear, leaving . . . the soul desolate, the heart bleeding, and the spirit bowed in sorrow to the dust.
But the gospel . . . guides our perplexities, mitigates our griefs, sanctifies our sorrows, heals our wounds, dries our tears, because it leads us to . . . the love of Jesus, the tenderness of Jesus, the sympathy of Jesus, the grace of Jesus!
The gospel . . . reveals Jesus, speaks mainly of Jesus, leads simply to Jesus, and this makes it “glad tidings of great joy,” to a miserable, lost, and Hell-bound sinner!
🎶 “Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King…His love endures forever. For He is good, He is above all things, his love endures forever. Sing praise, sing praise!” 🎶 🎤🎸🥁
I do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14)
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath!” Ephesians 2:1-3
The heart of an unregenerate man is as spiritually dead and senseless as the nether millstone!
The Gospel, with all its alluring promises, may be proclaimed to him–but the unregenerate man does not receive it. The Gospel has no allurements for him. Nor do the denunciations of judgment and Hell excite any alarm in him.
But when God gives him a new heart, and puts a new spirit within him, and takes away his heart of stone–then all of his views, desires, and pursuits, become changed! Being alive to God–he will be alive to all holy exercises, and find his happiness in the enjoyment of his God!
“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved!” Ephesians 2:4-5
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and cause you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:25-27
“How I love Your teaching! It is my meditation all day long.” Psalm 119:97
Chrysostom compares the Scripture to a garden–every truth is a fragrant flower which we should wear, not on our bosom, but in our heart!
David counted the Word “sweeter than honey and the honeycomb”. There is that in Scripture which may breed delight. It shows us the way . . . to riches, Deuteronomy 28:8, Proverbs 3:30; to long life, Psalm 34:42; to a Kingdom, Hebrews 12:28.
Well then may we count those the sweetest hours, which are spent in reading the holy Scriptures. Well may we say with the prophet, “Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart!”
Conform to Scripture. Let us lead Scripture lives. Oh that the Bible might be seen printed in our lives! Do what the Word commands.
Obedience is an excellent way of commenting upon the Bible. “Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walkin Your truth.” Let the Word be the sun-dial by which you set your life.
What are we the better for having the Scripture, if we do not direct all our speech and actions according to it?
What are we the better for the rule of the Word, if we do not make use of it, and regulate our lives by it?
What a dishonor is it to religion, for men to live in contradiction to Scripture!
The Word is called a “light to our feet”. It is not only a light to our eyes to mend our sight–but to our feet to mend our walk.Oh let us lead Bible lives!
Be thankful to God for the Scriptures. What a mercy is it that God has not only acquainted us what His will is, but that He has made it known by writing!
The Scripture is our pole-star to direct us to Heaven–it shows us every step we are to take. When we go wrong–it instructs us; when we go right–it comforts us.
Adore God’s distinguishing grace, if you have felt the power and authority of the Word upon your conscience–if you can say as David, “Your Word has quickened me.” Christian, bless God that He has not only given you His Wordto be a rule of holiness–but His graceto be a principle of holiness. Bless God that He has not only written His Word, but sealed it upon your heart, and made it effectual. Can you say it is of divine inspiration, because you have felt it to be of lively operation?
Oh free grace! That God should send out His Word, and heal you. That He should heal you, and not others! That the same Scripture which to them is a dead letter, should be to you a savor of life!
“The blood of Jesus cleansesus from all our sin!” 1 John 1:7
Christ’s blood is a CLEANSING blood.
As the merit of Christ’s blood pacifies God, so the virtue of it purifies us. Christ’s blood is heaven’s bath. It is a laver to wash in. It washes a crimsonsinner, milk-white!
The Word of God is a looking-glass to show us our spots, and the blood of Christ is a fountain to wash them away!
“On that day a fountain will be opened, to cleanse them from all their sins and defilement!” Zechariah 13:1
But this blood will not wash, if it is mingled with anything. If we mingle our good works with Christ’s blood, it will not wash. Let Christ’s blood be pure and unmixed, and there is no spot which it cannot wash away! It purged out Noah’s drunkenness, and Lot’s incest!
“Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow! Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool! Isaiah 1:18
“They are without faultbefore the throne of God!” Revelation 14:5
In this petition we pray to be delivered fromthe evil of our heart, that it may not entice us to sin.
The heart is the poisoned fountain, from whence all actual sins flow. “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.” Mark 7:21-22
The cause of all evil lies in a man’s own bosom–all sin begins at the heart! Lust is first conceived in the heart, and then it is midwifed into the world. Whence comes rash anger? The heart sets the tongue on fire. The heart is the shop where all sin is contrived and hammered out!
The heart is the greatest seducer, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” James 1:14. The devil could not hurt us, if our own hearts did not give consent. All that he can do is to lay the bait, but it is our fault to swallow it! How needful, therefore, is this prayer, “Deliver us from the evil of our hearts!” It was Augustine’s prayer, “Lord, deliver me from that evil man–myself!”
Beware of the bosom traitor, the flesh. The heart of a man is the Trojan horse, out of which comes a whole army of lusts! O let us pray to be delivered from the lusts and deceits of our own heart!
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,and desperately wicked! Who really knows how bad it is?” Jeremiah 17:9
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life!” Proverbs 4:23
“Blessed are thepure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
External morality is not heart-purity. A person may be clothed with great moral virtues, such as justice, charity, prudence, and temperance–and yet go to Hell.
We must not rest in mere outward morality. A swine may be washed–yet be a swine still. Morality does but wash a man, grace changes him. Morality may shine in the eyes of the world–but it differs as much from purity, as a pebble differs from a diamond!
Morality is but strewing flowers on a dead corpse!
A man who is but highly moral, is but a tame devil!
How many have made ‘morality’ their savior! Morality will damn, as well as vice! A boat may be sunk with gold, as well as with dung!
The moral person, though he will not commit gross sins–yet he is not sensible of heart sins. He is not troubled for unbelief, hardness of heart, vanity of thoughts. He abhors gross-sins, not gospel-sins.
The snake has a fine appearance, but has a deadly sting! Just so, the moral man is fair to look on, but has a secret antipathy against the holy ways of God.
Morality is not to be rested in. The heart must be pure. God would have Aaron wash the inner parts of the sacrifice. Leviticus 9:14 Morality does but wash the outside–the inside must be washed.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
In books I converse with men; in the Bible I converse with God. The more I read, the more I long to read. The Scripture is always new, always instructing, always delightful.
The value of the Bible is inestimable. It is not only a perfect map of the spiritual world; but the believer surveying its riches and beauties and pleasures, has a good warrant to say, “All these are mine, for God Himself is mine!”
God has spared me to read through His Word once more. Oh, what a treasure–what unsearchable riches there are in this golden mine! I have never dug deeper, nor found more precious jewels than upon this last perusal. Indeed, upon every reading of the Bible it grows more precious to me, as it has become the conveyance of the unsearchable riches of Christ to me.
This I chiefly seek for, that I may get a growing experience of the wisdom of God and of the power of God in His Word–and may thereby enjoy the blessings of His love promised in it.
It is our duty to read and meditate on the Word, but we should always do it with the fixed dependence of our hearts upon His divine teaching; without which the Word itself will profit us nothing. May the Spirit keep us in the use of means, but entirely dependent upon Him in the use of them. The Word of God can be made useful to us, only by the enlightening of the Spirit of God.
It is by continual dependence on the teaching of the Spirit, in and by the Word, and by mixing faith with it–that we come to find its value and to taste its pleasures. For it then opens a new world to us, a spiritual and eternal world.
Thanks be to Him . . . who revealed His Word to me, who opened my eyes to see wondrous things out of His law, who often made me look up and say, “Oh, how sweet are Your words to my taste; yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
God has made His Word very precious to me. My love for it has grown much in taste and value: in taste, it is sweeter than honey; in value, it is more precious than gold, yes, than much fine gold! As I dig deeper, themine becomes richer, and the treasures of grace are greatly enhanced by their being the pledges of glory.
The great end and design of the Scripture, is to conform us to itself. When the Word is understood and believed and lived upon–He then makes it the means of conforming the whole man to it. The believer is cast into the mold of it; he takes the impression–every feature. It is so assimilating that every tint is to be seen upon him. He lives the Word–it is to be read in his looks, visible in his walk, manifest in his tempers. See him, study him–he is the living picture of a Bible-Christian!
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your hearts on things above! Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things!” Colossians 3:1-2
Paul reminds us that those who believe on Christ, should live a risen life.
We live on the earth at present. We walk on earth’s streets. We live in material houses, built of stones, bricks, or wood. We eat earth’s fruits, gathering our food from earth’s fields, orchards and gardens. We wear clothes woven of earthly fabrics. We adorn our homes with works of art that human hands make. We engage in the business of earth. We find our happiness in the things of this life.
But there will be a life after this! We call it Heaven. We cannot see it; there is never a rift in the sky, through which we can get even a glimpse of it. We have in the Scriptures hints of its beauty, its happiness, its blessedness. We know it is a world without sorrow, without sin, without death. Paul’s teaching is that the Christian, while living on the earth, ought to begin to live this heavenly life.
One day a friend sent me a splendid butterfly, artistically mounted, known as the Lima Moth. This little creature is said to be the most beautiful of North American insects. Its color is light green with variegated spots. In its caterpillar state, it was only a worm. It died and entered its other or higher state, as we would say–and then the worm became a splendid butterfly!
This illustrates the two stages of a Christian’s life. Here we are in our earthly state; after this will come the heavenly condition. “The things that are above” belong to this higher, spiritual life. But the Christian is exhorted to seek these higher things, while living in this lower world. We belong to Heaven, although we are not yet living in Heaven.
Paul presents the same truth in another form, when he says, “Our citizenship is in Heaven.” Though we are in this earthly world, we do not belonghere. We are only strangers and pilgrims.
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13
“Dear friends, I urge you, as strangers and pilgrims in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!” Romans 8:28
All things? Yes! Everything that happens to the Christian is directed and overruled by God’s special Providence for his good! The experience may be very bitter, it may lay him very low and try him to the core; it may keep him in the dust for a long time. But it will do him good, not only in the end, but while it lasts.
Believer, your present trial is for your good. Nothing could be better for you! You may not see it now; you may even feel as if you never could think so, but the time is coming when you will bless God for it.
You love God–and God loves you with an infinite and eternal love! You came to the cross as a poor sinner, and you looked to the Lord Jesus to be your perfect Savior. This proves that you have been called according to God’s purpose. You are one of God’s beloved ones, and as such, you may have the assurance that all things . . . light and darkness, health and sickness, hatred and love, prosperity and adversity, life and death, will work together for your good!
Dark clouds bring rich blessings, and sharp winters introduce fruitful springs. Even so, sore troubles often precede the sweetestconsolations. Your present affliction, whether it is . . . sickness of body, trouble of mind, bereavements, losses, crosses, or whatever else –is working for your good. It will work for good in the future, and it is working for good now. While your heart is bleeding, and you are tempted to think that all is against you–all is working together for your good!
Dear Lord, I do not see how my affliction can be good for me. But help me, Lord, to accept it as such by faith, so that I may receive what You have for me through it.
“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope!” Romans 5:3-4
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you!” Isaiah 43:5
The presence of a friend in trouble is cheering and consoling. But it is too often the case that our friends, like the friends of Job, prove to be miserable comforters. They do not enter into our troubles–or they can not help us. The advice they give at times–only aggravates our woe, and adds to our distress.
But, believer, your God says, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you!” What a thought is this! God, the great, the glorious, the omnipotent Jehovah–is with me! With me to help me, with me to comfort me, with me to sanctify me, with me to save me, with me as a kind benignant Father, with me in every place, in every trouble, in every conflict, with me through all my journey and for evermore, with me on the bed of sickness, with me to hold communion with me, with me to listen to my sighs, with me to number my tears, and with me to secure me from all injury!
Appearances may be very dark; the night may seem very long; and your pains, weakness, and fears may be many and great. Still, if the Lord is with you, you may sing, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty–yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” Habakkuk 3:17-18
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!” Isaiah 43:1-3
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
Most of us arebad-tempered in various degrees. The dictionary has been well-near exhausted of adjectives, in giving the different shades of bad-temper: aggressive, angry, bickering, bitter, capricious, choleric, contentious, crotchety, despotic, domineering, easily offended, gloomy, grumpy, hasty, huffy, irritable, morose, obstinate, reproachful, peevish, sulky, surly, vindictive–these are some of the qualifying words!
We do not like to believe that the case is quite so serious, that many of us are unamiable in some offensive degree. It is easier to confess our neighbor’s faults and infirmities, than our own! So, therefore, quietly taking refuge for ourselves among the few good-tempered people–we are willing to admit that a great many of the people we know, have at times rather ungentle tempers. They are easily provoked; they fly into a passion on very slight occasion; they are haughty, domineering, peevish, fretful or vindictive!
What is even worse, most of them appear to make no effort to grow out of their infirmities of disposition! The sour fruit does not come to mellow ripeness in the passing years; the roughness is not polished off the diamond to reveal its lustrous hidden beauty. The same petulance, pride, vanity, selfishness and other disagreeable qualities are found in the life, year after year!
Where there is a struggle to overcome one’s faults and grow out of them, and where the progress toward better and more beautiful spiritual character is perceptible, though ever so slow–we should have sympathy. But where one appears unconscious of one’s blemishes, and manifests no desire to conquer one’s faults–there is little ground for encouragement!
Man-like it is–to fall into sin. Fiend-like it is–to dwell therein. Saint-like it is–for sin to grieve. God-like it is–for sin to leave.
Bad temper is such a disfigurement of character, and, besides, works such harm to one’s self and to one’s neighbors, that no one should spare any pains or cost to have it cured!
The ideal Christian life, is one of unbroken kindliness. It is dominated by love, the love whose portrait is drawn for us in the immortal thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” That is the picture of the ideal Christian life!
We have but to turn to the gospel pages, to find the story of a life in which all this was realized. Jesusnever lost his temper. He lived among people who tried Him at every point–some by their dullness, others by their bitter enmity and persecution–but He never failed in sweetness of disposition, in patience, in self-denying love. Like the flowers which give out their perfume only when crushed; like the odoriferous wood which bathes the axe which hews it with fragrance; the life of Christ yielded only the tenderer, sweeter love–to the rough impact of men’s harshness and wrong. That is the pattern on which we should strive to fashion our life and our character! Every outbreak of violent temper, every shade of ugliness in disposition–mars the radiant loveliness of the ‘picture’ we are seeking to have fashioned in our souls!
Bad-tempered people are continually hurting others, ofttimes their best and truest friends.
Some people are sulky, and one person’s sulkiness casts a chilling shadow over a whole household!
Others are so sensitive, ever watching for slights and offended by the merest trifles–that even their nearest friends have no freedom of fellowship with them!
Others are despotic, and will brook no kindly suggestion, nor listen to any expression of opinion!
Others are so quarrelsomethat even the meekest and gentlest person cannot live peaceably with them!
It would be easy to extend this portrayal of the evils of bad temper, but it will be more profitable to inquire HOW a bad-tempered person may become good-tempered. There is no doubt that this happy change is possible in any case. There is no temper so obdurately bad, that it cannot be trained into sweetness. The grace of God can take the most unlovely life, and transform it into the image of Christ!
“The love of Christ which surpasses knowledge!” Ephesians 3:19
No love stoops like Christ’s love. It abandoned place and prospects and power–to save me! It traveled from the heights of Heaven, to the depths of sinful earth. God, pure and holy, chose voluntarily to make His home with me a sinner!
The sole qualification I need to commend myself to Him is not my conviction of worth, but my conviction of worthlessness–my knowledge that I am devoid of goodness and holiness! Then, when I confess myself penniless, He will invest me with His treasures. He banishes no self-destroyed and forlorn and penitent man outside the pale of His grace.
His love stoops!
No love suffers like Christ’s love. The test of affection is its willingness to suffer sacrifice and pain for another. Never has any affection stood the test like the love of Jesus.
“It is certain,” one writes, “that not for one hour on earth, was our Lord without the anguish of His passion.” And at last He made the supreme offering of His life, for me. Such bitterness, such dereliction, such unspeakable sorrow–there were in my Savior’s death. For me He bore the hiding of His Father’s face on Calvary. It is an unfathomable pre-eminence of grief. It is a horror of great darkness which I may not pierce.
His love suffers!
No love gives like Christ’s love. Love is always giving. But when was there human love with such wealth to bestow, and such willingness to communicate it–as the love of Christ? In simple fact, He imparts nothing less than Himself to me! The most unholy, the most tempted, the most despairing–cannot desire anything more sufficient.
His love gives!
And no love lasts like Christ’s love. The truest and tenderest earthly love says farewell to its beloved in death. And too often, even on this side of the grave, doubts insinuate themselves, and suspicions arise, and covenants are snapped and broken. It is not so with the love of Christ. Neither things present nor things to come, the demands of today and the contingencies of tomorrow–chill that great heart of love! Christ’s love is like Himself–eternal and unchangeable.
His love lasts!
Does not His wondrous love deserve my whole soul and body–all that I have, and all that I am? Nothing is stranger, and nothing more sad, than that, bathed in Christ’s love–I should be so indifferent, so forgetful, so cold!
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich!” 2 Corinthians 8:9
(You will find it most helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power!” Colossians 2:9-10
One of the great tenets of Scripture, is the claim thatJesus Christ is completely sufficient for all matters of life and godliness! 2 Peter 1:3-4
He is sufficient for: Creation (Colossians 1:16-17) Salvation (Hebrews 10:10-12) Sanctification (Ephesians 5:26-27) and Glorification (Romans 8:30).
So pure is He, that there is no blemish, stain, spot of sin, defilement, deception, corruption, error, or imperfection in Him! (1 Peter 1:18-20)
So complete is He, that . . . there is no other God besides Him (Isaiah 45:5) He is the only begotten Son (John 1:14, John 1:18) all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him (Colossians 2:3) the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him (Colossians 2:9) He is heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2) He created all things–and all things were made by Him, through Him, and for Him (Colossians 1:16) He upholds all things by the word of His power (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3) He is the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15) He is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3).
He has no beginning and no end (Revelation 1:17-18) He is the spotless Lamb of God (John 1:29) He is our peace (Ephesians 2:14) He is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1) He is our life (Colossians 3:4) He is the living and true Way (John 14:6) He is the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16) He is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11) He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2) He is Captain of our Salvation (Hebrews 2:10) He is the Elect One (Isaiah 42:1) He is the Apostle and High-Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1) He is the Righteous Servant (Isaiah 53:11) He is the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:17) He is the Redeemer (Isaiah 41:14) He is the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 54:5) He is the God of the whole earth (Isaiah 54:5) He is the Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3) He is the Light of the world (John 9:5) He is the Son of Man (Matthew 20:28) He is the true Vine (John 15:5) He is the Bread of Life (John 6:48) He is the Door to Heaven (John 10:7) He is the Sovereign Lord (Philippians 2:10-13) He is Prophet, Priest and King (Hebrews 1:1-3) He is our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9) He is our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6) He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4) He is the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5) He is the Rock of Salvation (Psalm 62:2) He is the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13) He is the Counselor and Comforter (John 14:26) He is the Messiah (John 4:25-26) and He is the great I AM! (John 8:58)
Sin is the seed, the source, the essence of unhappiness. “There is no peace to the wicked”–nor is there any happiness for the sinner in his sins. The carnal mind may find something like pleasure in carnal things–but real, solid, lasting joy, cannot be found, never has been found by the sinner, until converted to God. Carnal pleasure is empty, fleeting, and unsatisfactory in its very nature!
The true Christian has enough to make him genuinely happy: All of his sins are forgiven and forgotten. He is adopted into God’s family. His person is justified before God. He is clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. He is a child of God. He is regenerated by the Holy Spirit. He has the Spirit of adoption in his heart. He is at peace with God, and God is at peace with him.
All the promises of God are his, which represent Jehovah as pledged to support, sustain, comfort, supply, and bless him in time and eternity!
His God is with him. His God is for him. His God will never fail him in any trial, nor leave him under any circumstances for one moment.
Such is the Christian’s blessed state, and such are his blessed privileges–though he may appear poor, afflicted, and despised among men.
In proportion . . . as sin is subdued, as sanctification is deepened, as the Savior is prized, as our talents are laid out for the Lord’s glory –are we happy. But if sin is allowed to conquer, if personal sanctification is neglected, if the intimations of the Holy Spirit are slighted–then the believer is not, and cannot be happy.
Let the Christian therefore . . . cleave unto the Lord with full purpose of heart, cultivate close fellowship with God, walk softly, uprightly, and daily with God. So will his peace be like a river, and his path be like the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You; because he trusts in You!” Isaiah 26:3
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
“These things you have done, and I kept silent. You thought that I was altogether like you!But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face!” Psalm 50:21
The God of contemporary Christianity is only slightly superior to the pagan gods of ancient Greece and Rome, if indeed He is not actually inferior to them–in that He is weak and helpless, while they at least had some imagined power. Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry; for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is, in itself a monstrous sin; and substitutes for the true God, one made after its own likeness. Always this god will conform to the image of the one who created it–and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.
The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow, they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God, and acts as if they were true.
If we insist upon trying to imagine Him–we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts. And an idol of the mind, is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand!
Before a Christian Church goes into a decline, there must first be a corrupting of her Scriptural thoughts of God. She simply gives a wrong answer to the question, “What is God like?” and goes downhill from there. Though she may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false. The masses of her adherents come to believe that God is different from what He actually is, and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind!
The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God, until it is once more worthy of Him, and of her!
I am weary of myself, ashamed of myself–and often turn with disgust from myself! And yet I find a great deal of self-love, self-esteem, and self-pity working within me! I sometimes get into such a state of confusion, into such misery and wretchedness, that I cry out, “Oh, what a wretched man I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death!” Romans 7:24
I feel that I am too carnal, too much like the generality of professors. I do not follow the Lord fully. I am not wholly set apart for God. But I am ashamed of complaining, I have done so, so often, and it has ended there. I need more life, more savor, more love in my religion; and to be more energetic and self-denying in my ministry. I need, alas, what do I not need? I am only a mere skeleton of a Christian. I can keep up the outward form pretty well, but the power–the power is what I need! I want to be like Jesus. O for a Christ-like spirit, temper, and course of conduct!
I am obliged to renounce self entirely–all that I do, all that I feel, and all that I say, and build on Jesus Christ, and on Him alone. This is very mortifying to poor, proud human nature, but so it must be. The creature must be nothing, that the Savior may be all in all!
How swift-footed is time! Soon, very soon, it will land me on the shores of eternity! Well, to die will be gain. I shall then be with Christ–with Christ forever! Then all my trials will be ended, all my sorrows will cease, and I shall sin no more! If I could but live without sin, I would not care how long I lived. Nothing grieves me like sin–and yet I sin daily. I grieve the loving heart of Jesus, and wound the tender bosom on which I lean. What a pleasant thing perfect holiness will be!
“I did not come to bring peace, but a sword!” Matthew 10:34
Not peace, but a sword! Lord Jesus, this is a hard saying! Teach me to believe it, and to submit to the ordeal–sharp and piercing and painful though it may be.
Between me and my world, Christ’s sword may pierce with its remorseless edge. He separates me . . . from old sinful habits, from old sinful employments, from old sinful pleasures, from old sinful friendships.
He divides me from the society in which I was accustomed to move. “Your home is no longer there!”He says. And I go out from the familiar surroundings, into an untrodden region and realm.
Between me and my nearest and dearest, Christ’s sword may pierce pitilessly. Perhaps the loved ones of my own house will have nothing to do with my Redeemer and Lord. Perhaps they see no beauty in Him, that they should desire Him. Then, in the deepest and noblest things, they and I will stand apart–a sundering tide rolling between us. And how immeasurably sad that will be!
Between me and myself, Christ’s sword is sure to pierce with a blade that does not spare! The I, the self, which used to be so vain, so confident, so proud–must be slain outright! Its days of pride, pleasure and selfishness must end–until I can say, “It is no more I who live, but He–my Prophet, my Priest, my King–who lives in me!” What a change that is! What a martyrdom!
It is painful, this stroke of Christ’s sword. But the old confessor was right: “The nearer the sword–the nearer Heaven!” If I am victim–I am victor too. Smitten down by Jesus–I am not destroyed, but crowned!
“Take time to be aware that in the very midst of our busy preparations for the celebration of Christ’s birth in ancient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn in the Bethlehems of our homes and daily lives. Take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the Divine Mystery that looks so common and so ordinary yet is wondrously present.
“An old abbot was fond of saying, ‘The devil is always the most active on the highest feast days.’
“The supreme trick of Old Scratch is to have us so busy decorating, preparing food, practicing music and cleaning in preparation for the feast of Christmas that we actually miss the coming of Christ. Hurt feelings, anger, impatience, injured egos—the list of clouds that busyness creates to blind us to the birth can be long, but it is familiar to us all.”
(Susannah Spurgeon, “Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!” 1898)
“My times are in Your hand!”Psalm 31:15
Why then, need I worry or tremble? That great, loving, powerful hand keeps all the events of my life sealed and secure within its almighty clasp! Only He, my Maker and my Master, can permit them to be revealed to me as His will for me. What a compassionate, gracious arrangement! How eminently fitted to fulfill that sweet promise of His Word, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You!” If we fully believed this, we would be absolutely devoid of the worry which corrodes and chafes the daily life of so many professing Christians.
“My times.” Not one or two important epochs of my history only–but everything that concerns me: joys that I had not expected, sorrows that must have crushed me, if they could have been anticipated, sufferings which might have terrified me by their grimness, had I looked upon them, surprises which infinite love had prepared for me, services of which I could not have imagined myself capable– all these lay in that mighty hand, as the purposes of God’s eternal will for me.
But, as they have developed gradually and silently–how great has been the love which appeared enwrapping and enfolding each one! Has not the grief been measured–while the gladness has far more abounded? Have not the comforts and consolations–exceeded the crosses and afflictions? Have not all things been so arranged, and ordered, and undertaken, and worked out on our behalf–that we can but marvel at the goodness and wisdom of God, in meting out from that dear hand of His, all the “times” that have passed over us?
You agree with me in all this, do you not, dear reader? Then I beg you to apply it to your present circumstances, however dark or difficult they may be. They have come directly from your Father’s hand to you, and they are His dear will for you!
“O LORD, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways! Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely, O LORD!” Psalm 139:1-4
Doctrines are not such cold, lifeless things as some would have us to believe. There is no doctrine of Scripture which is not fitted toaffect the life of him who believes it. Consider the proper influence upon us, of the doctrine and promise of the Savior’s abiding presence with His redeemed people. If we believe and always recollect that Christ is truly with us always–how will it affect us?
For one thing it will make us very thoughtful and careful in all our words and acts. Christ is present in His holiness as well as in His love and tenderness. His pure eyes see all our life, and see into our hearts. He is ever beholding us–our real inner life.
The thought of the Master’s eyeupon us should . . . make us holy, rebuke our sins, and hold us back from evil.
We cannot do wicked things in the presence of even a pure and holy human friend. But could we be continually conscious of Christ’s perpetual presence with us, of His eye ever resting upon us, then . . . Could we run into sin? Could we live carelessly? Could we trifle? Could we speak sharp, bitter, or unkind words? Could we do unholy, unlovely things?
Surely the realizing of His perpetual abiding presence would make us live reverently, purely, lovingly–so as always to please and never to grieve Him.
“By the grace of God, I am what I am!” 1 Corinthians 15:10
The humble Christian will not be easily angered–nor will he be dogmatic and judgmental.
He will be compassionate and tender towards the infirmities of his fellow-sinners; knowing, that, if there is any difference between himself and others–it is grace of God that has made it. He knows that he has the seeds of every evil in his own heart!
Also, under all trials and afflictions, the humble Christian will look to the hand of the Lord, and lay his mouth in the dust–acknowledging that he suffers much less than his iniquities have deserved.
These are some of the advantages and good fruits which the Lord enables us to obtain from that bitter root, indwelling sin.
“The world . . . hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.” John 7:7
“They have hated both Me and my Father!” John 15:24 “They hated Me without a cause!” John 15:25
“Haters of God.” Romans 1:30
“Crucify Him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has He committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!” Mark 15:13-14
Men set up for themselves an idol of their own imagination, instead of the true God–and then fall down and worship it.
Every natural man is an enemy to God–as He is revealed in His Word. The infinitely holy, just, powerful, and true God–is not the God whom he loves, but the God whom he loathes!The Pagans finding that they could not be like God in holiness, made their gods like themselves in filthiness; and thereby they show what sort of a god the natural man would have. God is holy and just; can an unholy creature love His unspotted holiness?
There is not a man, who is wedded to his lusts, as all the unregenerate are–but would desire to blot out the God of justice. Can the malefactor love his condemning judge? Can a heinous sinner love a just and holy God? No, he cannot!
Men naturally would rather have a blind idol–than the all-seeing God! They no more love the all-seeing, everywhere present God–than the thief loves to have the judge witness to his evil crimes. If it could be carried by votes, God would be voted out of the world; for the language of the carnal heart is, “Leave us alone! We have no desire to know Your ways!” Job 21:14
“The carnal mind is a mass of downright, undiluted enmity to the Most High God. Such a mind is opposed, not merely to the thingsof God, the laws of God, and the truth of God–but to God Himself!” Spurgeon
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.” Psalm 53:1
It is in his heart that he says this. This is the secret desire of every unconverted heart. If the bosom of God were within the reach of men, it would be stabbed a million times in one moment!
When God was manifest in the flesh, He was altogether lovely. He did no sin, and went about continually doing good. Yet they they mocked Him and spat upon Him and crucified Him on the accursed tree! Unconverted men would do the same with God again–if they could.
Learn the fearful depravity of your heart. I venture to say that there is not an unconverted man present, who has the most distant idea of the monstrous wickedness that is now within his bosom. When you are in Hell, it will break out unrestrained.
Yes, you have a heart that would kill God if you could. If the bosom of God were nor within your reach, and one blow would rid the universe of Him–you have a heart fit to do the heinous deed!
For a rational man to be so attached to a bubble, is a most irrational thing!
(Don Fortner)
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15
Worldliness is an undue attachment to this world. It is living for this world–its riches, its honor, its joys and its cares. It is living by the principles of this world: greed, covetousness, deceit and lust.
Nothing is more dangerous to the souls of men–than the love of the world. Nothing more effectually chokes out the influence of the gospel in a man’s heart–than the cares of this world. Nothing is more difficult to avoid–than an undue attachment to this world.
Therefore, John sets these four words up as a beacon. They stand in blazing letters to warn us of great danger: “LOVE NOT THE WORLD!”
Beloved, this world and all that it offers, is no more than a bubble that soon must burst! Your money, your farms, your houses, your influence, your families–everything here is temporary. It will all vanish away!
We laugh at the small child who cries when the bubbles he is playing with burst. But, for a rational man to be so attached to a bubble, is a most irrational thing!
What fools they are who love and seek this world! I cannot warn you enough of the danger of worldliness–of loving, seeking, and living for this world!
Are you God’s child? Are you risen with Christ? Do you live in the hope of eternal glory?
Then count this world to be a dead thing. Live no longer for this world. Set your heart on things above. Live above this pile of rubbish that must soon burn. Live to do the will of God, seek the glory of Christ, further the gospel of the grace of God, and serve the people of God. Quit seeking those things for which unbelieving men live, and seek those things which are above–life, immortality, and glory.
There is One who knows just what we are. The Lord Jesus Christ says, “I know your works!” His eye is always upon us. He knows us exactly as we are–each one of us. Mere profession does not deceive Him. Mere head knowledge does not pass with Him for repentance, faith, and holiness. He knows our hearts–and He knows our lives.
The mockery of an empty profession, the mere pretense of a religion that is all in the head or on the lips, the unhumbled heart, the coldness, the hardness, the lack of faith and gratitude and love –He knows them all!
“You do not realize that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked!” Revelation 3:17
The very first lesson we must learn–is what we are.
What are we, then? Just what the Laodiceans were, but did not know themselves to be: “Wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked!”
What–all of us? Yes–all of us!
We are “wretched,” for we are in great misery and danger–and all the more wretched because we do not know it.
We are “miserable,” worthy to be pitied, even while we flatter ourselves that all is well with us, for we are but deceiving ourselves.
We are “poor,” for we have no spiritual wealth–no supply whatever for the needs of our souls.
We are “blind,” ignorant of our own hearts–ignorant of God–ignorant of truth and of the way of life.
We are “naked,” with no righteousness of our own in which we can appear–no covering, no defense, no refuge.
We are all this–and, worst of all, we do not know it! If we knew it and bewailed it–then our case would not be so bad. In other words, if we knew ourselves to be sinners–then it might be hoped that we would seek the Savior of sinners. But we shall never seek Him–until we feel our need of Him!
“You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” John 13:7
A few years ago a young preacher came to me and told me his troubles. He was passing through a time of darkness that he could not understand. Several months ago he called upon me again, and in the course of our conversation he referred to the time of trouble through which he had passed. He said, “Those things that I could not understand at that time, have taught me lessons which have prepared me to help many souls as I never could have, had I not had those severe trials.”
Yes, things look different now. He can now see God’s hand in it. He can see that those difficult things were a blessing to his own soul and to the souls of others. He can see that he had been in God’s school of adversity and knew it not. He thought these things were destructive to him, but when he looked back upon them with clear vision and a knowledge of God’s purpose–he saw real blessing in them. He saw them as manifestations of the wisdom and kindness of God, and he thanked God for those things which had been bitter and hard to bear.
Are you passing through difficult things which you cannot now understand?
Does it look as if these things are ruining you?
Just trust God and be patient. Out of your night of bitterness, out of your darkness and woe–will come strength of character, a blessed realization of God’s faithfulness, and a knowledge of Him and yourself which can come to you in no other way. You will look back in time to come, and thank God for His wise care and tender love for you which brought you to these things, and realize that it was His hand leading you to better and richer things beyond.
Anyone who wishes to check on his true spiritual condition may do so, by noting what his voluntary thoughts have been over the last hours or days. What has he thought about, when free to think of whatever he pleased? Toward what has his inner heart turned, when it was free to turn wherever it desired?
When the bird of thought was let go, did it fly out like the raven to settle upon floating carcasses–or did it like the dove circle and return again to the ark of God?
Such a test is easy to run, and if we are honest with ourselves–we can discover not only what we are, but what we are going tobecome. We will soon be the sum of our voluntary thoughts!
“Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us!” 1 Corinthians 5:7
On a little church in Germany stands a statue of a stone lamb, which has an interesting history. When some workmen were engaged on the roof of the building, one of them fell to the ground. His companions hastened down, expecting to find him dead. They were amazed, however, to see him unhurt. A lamb had been grazing just where he struck the ground, and falling upon it, the little creature was crushed to death, while the man himself escaped injury. He was so grateful for this wonderful deliverance, that he had a statue of the lamb carved in stone, and placed on the building as a memorial. The lamb saved his life, by dying in his place. In the same way, every saved soul can point to the Lamb of God, and say, “I am saved–because Jesus died in my stead!”
What memorial have we set up to witness to our gratitude and love?
“The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me!” Galatians 2:20
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain–to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:12
Whatever means you use to get people into the church, is precisely what you must use to keep them.
If you get them with a ‘religious circus’ then you must keep the circus going–you must keep up the entertainment.
If you get them with biblical preaching and teaching, then that will keep them and you will not need the entertainment.
“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” 2 Timothy 4:2-3
“If we play around the viper’s hole–it no wonder that we are bitten!”
An old proverb advises us not to play with sharp-edged tools, lest we cut our fingers.
It is a sin to trifle with sin!If we must play, we had better find harmless toys!
That evil which caused Christ a bloody death, is no fit theme for any man’s sport.
Playing with wickedness is a hazardous game! Sooner or later, we will pluck the lion of sin by the beard, and we shall be torn in pieces!
This is true of indulgence in strong drink: “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper!”
This is equally true of all other forms of evil, especially of the lusts of the flesh. Lewd words, soon lead to foul deeds. Yet such is the folly of men, that they run dreadful risks in sheer wantonness, as though vipers and cobras were fine playmates, and devils were merry-makers!
“Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Do not let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.” Psalm 19:13
“I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.” Philippians 4:11
These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. Grumbling, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man–as weeds are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and weeds; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth. Just so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education.
“Ill weeds grow quickly.” But the preciousthings of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener’s care.
Now, contentment is one of the flowers of Heaven, and if we would have it–then it must be cultivated, as it will not grow in us by nature. It is the new nature alone which can produce contentment–and even then we must be especially careful and watchful, that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us.
Paul says, “I have learned… to be content;” as much as to say, that he did not know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain to the mastery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, “I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content,” he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave–a poor prisoner shut up in Nero’s dungeon at Rome.
We might well be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him–if we too might by any means attain unto his high degree of contentment. Do not indulge the notion that you can learn contentment without discipline. It is not an ability that may be exercised naturally–but a grace to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush that murmur, natural though it be–and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Contentment.
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed!” John 3:19-20
Be very sure of this–people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it.
They understand it only too well! They understand that it condemns their own behavior. They understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment! They try to believe it is false and useless–because they don’t like to believe it is true.
An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this holy book.
Men question the truth of Christianity–because they hate the practice of it!
“For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
“As the Father has loved Me–so have I loved you!” John 15:9
Believer, you have a home in the heart of Jesus! What a pavilion of comfort is this–the love of Christ! To know that the affections of Jesus embrace and entwine around us, to be assured that He loves us each one as though we were the only one whom He loved–what a privilege and a bliss!
And yet so it is, Jesus loves you, cares for you, watches over and sympathizes with you–as if you were the only one whom He loved. “He loved me–and gave Himself for me!” Seek this individual consciousness of Christ’s love, and you will be supremely happy!
Although one may know, word for word, the entire contents of some chapter of Scripture; and although he may have taken the time to thoughtfully ponder every sentence therein–yet, on every subsequent occasion, provided one comes to it again in the spirit of humble inquiry, each fresh reading will reveal new gems never seen there before and new delights will be experienced never met with previously. The most familiar passages will yield as much refreshment at the thousandth perusal–as they did at the first!
The Bible has been likened to a fountain of living water–the fountain is ever the same, but the water is always fresh!
They seek to banish such a God from their thoughts! (Arthur Pink)
“You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you! But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.” Psalm 50:21
The only God against whom the natural man is not at enmity–is one of his own imagination! The deity whom he professes to worship, is not the living God–for He is truth and faithfulness, holiness and justice, as well as being gracious and merciful.
It is a god of their own devising–and not the God of Holy Writ, whom the ungodly believe in!
“They say: How can God know? Does the Most High even know what is happening?” Psalm 73:11 They would strip Deity of His omniscience if they could! The wicked wish that there might be . . . no Witness of their sins, no Searcher of their hearts, no Judge of their deeds! They seek to banish such a God from their thoughts!
What a proof that “the carnal mind is enmity against God!”
Such is the portion awaiting the lost: eternal separation from the fountain of all goodness; everlasting punishment; torment of soul and body; endless existence in the Lake of Fire; forever locked up with demons and the vilest of the vile; every ray of hope excluded; and utterly crushed and overwhelmed by the wrath of a sin-avenging God! “Consider this, you who forget God–or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue!” Psalm 50:22
“For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle?” 1 Corinthians 14:8
We need a more certain sound about personal holiness. I fear that the standard of holy living is lower just now than it has been for many years. Professing Christians seem unable to realize that there is anything inconsistent in ball-going, theater-going, gambling, card-playing, excessive dressing, novel-reading, and an incessant round of gaiety and amusements!
The line between the Church and the world seems completely effaced and forgotten!
A crucified life of self-denial and close walking with God, a life of real devotedness and zeal for holy living–is hardly ever to be seen!
Yet surely our Lord meant something when He spoke of “taking up the cross!”
Surely Paul meant something when he said, “Come out from among them and be separate!” “Be not conformed to this world!” “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord!”
If Christ returns the second time in this generation, we shall find His words about the days of Noah and Lot fully verified. Those days are upon us!
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all!” “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all!” Luke 17:26-29
“Ask for the old paths, where the good way is–and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16
His mercy is a boundless, fathomless, endless ocean!
(James Smith, “The Evening Sacrifice; Or, A Help to Devotion” 1859)
“You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive–and abundant in mercy to all who call upon You.” Psalm 86:5
What a beautiful representation of God is this! How comforting, at the close of another day’s cares and troubles, sorrows and sins–to be reminded that our “God is good,” and especially that He is “ready to forgive”–ready to pardon all the faults and follies of this day–ready to pass them by, and still treat me as His beloved child!
He only requires me to confess and be sorry for my sins–and in a moment, all is forgiven, all is forgotten, and forgotten forever!
Then He is “abundant in mercy.” The fountain of His mercy has not yet run dry. Run dry! It is not in the least diminished! His mercy is a boundless, fathomless, endless ocean!
God has plenty of mercy for miserable sinners . . . mercy to pardon them, mercy to purify them, mercy to comfort them, mercy to save them– mercy for all who call upon Him!
O my soul, take home tonight this lovely representation of your God, and believing that He is good, ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy–go to Him, call upon Him, and plead with Him. Then you may obtain mercy, and find grace to help you in every time of need.
Good and gracious God, I adore You for Your goodness; I bless You that You are ready to forgive; I rejoice that You are abundant in mercy. And now, O Lord, glorify Your mercy in me–show Your readiness to forgive, in me! Let my heart be eased of every sorrow–and let my conscience be cleansed from every sin! Let me lie down to rest tonight guiltless–rejoicing in the glorious fact that You have blotted out my sins as a cloud, and my transgressions as a thick cloud, and are now at eternal peace with me!
“Affliction does not come from the dust–nor does trouble sprout from the ground. For man is born unto trouble–as surely as sparks fly upward.” Job 5:6-7
Affliction does not come of itself; it does not spring up from the dust of the earth, nor grow naturally from the ground, as plants do; nor has chance anything whatever to do with it. As common as it is–affliction does not come without a cause, or without being sent on purpose by God.
Yet affliction does fall to the lot of all. No one, however prosperous, is without sorrow and trial. Sooner or later: “Man is born unto trouble–as surely as sparks fly upward.” As surely as sparks go up from anything burning, or from iron beaten on the anvil–so surely does trouble in some shape befall every man who is born into the world.
Whence does it come? God sends it–or at least allows it to come. But it is not saying too much, to say that He sends it.
When Adam fell and sin and death entered into the world–then trouble came too. This was God’s appointment. He said to Adam, “Because you have listened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you–cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, until you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken–for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.”
And not only is trouble in general appointed to man by God–but each man’s particular trouble is of God’s appointment as well. Your troubles and mine do not come forth of the dust or spring out of the ground. They do not arise by chance or accident. God sends them! Sickness and sorrow are ordained for us by Him–each sickness and each sorrow as it comes. We do not see the hand that sends them, but a hand there is–the hand of God!
Job’s troubles were many and great–yet let him not despair. Everything was in God’s hand. All that happened was ordered by Him–all was subject to His control. “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.The Lord gave–and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”Job 1:20-21
To all who truly know God–it is a most comforting thought that their affliction comes from Him. It seems to take away the strangeness and the bitterness of it. When once they can realize His hand, then in all their sorrowful thoughts about their afflictions–they think about God too, and this comforts them. It is no longer mere trouble–but trouble which God has sent. If He has sent it–then it is wisely and kindly sent. Is there not a hidden blessing in it? Then the heart goes in search of the blessing and begins to ask why the trouble was sent, what it was meant to do, and how far it has done what it was sent for. And this is the very way to find the blessing.
Besides, when the sufferer thus sees the hand of God in trouble–he reasons that God will never let the trouble be too great. If He sends it–He will not send it too sharply, nor too heavily. There is no chance about it. All is measured and dealt out by an omnipotent hand of wisdom and love! The affliction, therefore, cannot become too sore. When the right point has been reached, when the fit time has come–then He who sent it will say, “Hitherto shall you come, but no further!”
“As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God.” 1 Kings 11:4
The trouble was all in Solomon’s heart! It is the heart which needs watching and keeping with all diligence. The heart must be wholly devoted in its aim and motive, to God and His service.
Solomon had a corner in his heart for the Lord–and then other corners for the gods of all the other nations. The Savior’s words are: “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
We need to be on our guard against Solomonian religion! There is plenty of it these days. It abhors the preaching of the stern truths of God’s Word about sin and punishment, and about holiness. It sends well-near everybody to Heaven–and regards Hell as a mere fable! It calls holy Christians “puritanic” or “strait-laced.” It calls great sins “escapades,” and finds no use for such psalms as the fifty-first.
It is not hard to see in this verse, however–which of the two kinds of religion pleases God best, and which leads to the best end.
We all have a number of self-sins: self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-worth, self-love and a host of others like them! These self-sins are not something we do, they are something we are–and therein lies both their subtlety and their power. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our natures, to come to our attention–until the light of God is focused upon them.
The grosser manifestations of these sins–egotism, pride, arrogance, self-elevation, self-promotion–are strangely tolerated in Christian leaders, even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy! They are so much in evidence as actually, for many people, to become identified with the gospel. I trust that it is not a cynical observation to say that they appear these days to be a requisite for popularity in some sections of the visible Church.
Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ–is currently so common as to excite little notice!
“They do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely” Philippians 1:17
(J.R. Miller, “Practical Lessons from the Story of Joseph“)
“How can I do this great wickedness–and sin against God!” Genesis 39:9
“After hearing his wife’s story, Potiphar was furious! He took Joseph and threw him into the prison!” Genesis 39:19-20
Sometimes it costs very dearly to be true to God. Joseph lay now in a dungeon. But his loss through doing right, was nothing in comparison with what he would have lost–had he done the wickedness to which he was tempted. His prison gloom, deep as it was–was as noonday, compared with what would have been the darkness of his soul under the blight of evil, and the bitterness of remorse. The chains that hung upon him in his dungeon, were but like feathers–in comparison with the heavy chains which would have bound his soul, had he yielded to the temptation. Though in a prison, his feet hurt by the fetters–he was a free man because his conscience was free and his heart was pure!
No fear of consequences should ever drive us to do a wrong thing.
It is better to suffer any loss, any cost, any sacrifice–than be eaten up by remorse!
Better be hurled down from a high place for doing right–than win worldly honor by doing wrong.
Better lose our right hand–than lose our purity of soul.
Better to rot in prison–than to sin against God!
It was the prayer of a young queen, which she wrote with a diamond point on her castle window, “Keep me pure–make others great.” That is the lesson of Joseph’s victory over temptation: dishonor, loss, dungeon, death–anything before sin!
March 25, 2024 
iChristian 
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