Power With God # 4
For A Time To Come, continued
You come over to Hebrews 12:22 and 23: "Ye are come ... to the spirits of just men made perfect" (completed). Noah's spirit is among them. What has happened? The Lord Jesus has perfected the work of righteousness, the Son has fulfilled all righteousness. Noah's faith linked him with Christ, with this dispensation, with us, in perfect righteousness. Peter talks about Noah and the flood in chapter three of his first letter: "The longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." John the Baptist would have refrained from baptizing the Lord Jesus, but Jesus said: "Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). The flood, the deluge, says Peter, is a figure of baptism in which all righteousness is fulfilled. But all righteousness stood against the men of Noah's day, but all righteousness stood for him through his faith. Baptism was not his doom, but his way into life, a new creation. "All righteousness"; the spirits of just men made perfect." So Noah in faith came right into this age of perfect righteousness and inherited it. We are come to the spirits of these just men, Noah and all the rest, made complete.
Now, what does it amount to in this particular connection? His life work, after all, was not just that incident of the flood. It ran right on to Christ, and on to the Church. "They"; "we"; these are the two words here. "They without us." "They", "us", brought together in the perfect work of Christ in fulfilling all righteousness.
Righteousness According to Faith
"Though Noah stood before Me." What is the first mighty ground of power with God? It is the ground of righteousness which is according to faith, and you can test it any day that you like, because power with God is not just a matter of somehow persuading God to do something you think ought to be done. Let us get this right over. Power with God is not cajoling God into moving, getting a God Who is reluctant to come in and help, to change His mind and to be kind and intervene. That is all WRONG, completely WRONG! We have a magnificent picture of this whole thing in Zechariah three: "And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary" satan has established himself there in the place of power, which the right hand always represents. Christ is now at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens (Heb. 8:1; Col. 3:1), the place of power and honor, but here satan is getting honor and has power because Joshua "was clothed with filthy garments." One who stood by said: "Take the filthy garments from off him ... I will clothe thee with rich apparel ... let them set a clean mitre upon his head." Now the scene has changed. Righteousness like filthy rags (Isa. 64:6) has been put away; righteousness which is power has been placed upon Him, and: "The Lord rebuke thee, O satan; yea, the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee." satan's rebuke, his dethronement, and his removal from the place of power and getting the honor is related to a change of condition from unrighteousness to righteousness. It is only this that can move God.
That is the background of those passages in Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Why did there come deadlock and impasse? God said it was because unrighteousness had become so universal and absolute that 'I cannot do anything. I just cannot. Even though these men stepped in, it is only righteousness that would save them. If there was righteousness here, they would be saved, but there are none righteous and I can do nothing. Remove unrighteousness and I am released. I can repent and come in. You who want to prevail with Me must provide Me with a ground of righteousness.
That is very practical. We are paralyzed so often and satan is so often getting the glory, the honor and the power, because he gets us to move off this ground of the righteousness which is according to faith, bringing us under condemnation,bringing us back to that old ground outside of Christ, nullifying all this wonderful work of perfect righteousness fulfilled by Christ and our appropriation of it by faith. So often it just heads up to a situation like this. The enemy has got possession, he has fastened upon us and has made all kinds of suggestions and accusations. 'I do not know whether I am right or wrong, whether I have grieved the Lord, or not. I do not know whether the Lord is for me or against me. I do not know where I am.' satan holds us there until we take positively a position of righteousness in Christ by faith, and put that to the enemy, I do not know in what I am - and neither did Noah, nor Job, nor Daniel, nor Moses, nor any of them! Their faith was counted unto them for righteousness. "I do not stand on the ground of what I am; I stand on the ground of Christ's perfect righteousness.' It is the only way to begin to have power with God, and we are nullified while we have a question on that matter. Oh, for a beginning, a foundation of a mighty settled faith in the righteousness of Christ as ours through faith in Him to put us in a place of power with God! Because it is not just persuading God, it is moral power with God. He must have a moral ground for all He does. If there is a question of unrighteousness, He cannot do it. That unrighteousness is dealt with in the Blood of the Lord Jesus: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Therein is our power with God. It is moral power. He is not a reluctant, unwilling God. He is a God Who is only too ready, but He is bound by His own nature of righteousness. Have you got that ground? Show Him on the ground of righteousness that He should do this, and on the ground of His Son why He should do it. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord" (Isa. 1:18). How are you going to reason? Not like Job in the transition stage, reasoning about your own righteousness and why God should do it for you. No, let us reason together - on what ground? What is the issue? "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." How? On what ground are you reasoning? In what way are your sins made as white as snow? We know it is by the precious Blood. That is the reasoning ground with God. It speaks, it works with God. Oh, plead the Blood and you have the greatest argument with God and against satan, the adversary and accuser. I know this is elementary. It is the beginning of things, but, dear friends, it is a thing that follows us through to the end. What is the fear in your own heart that arises so often as to whether right at the end you will be able to hold out and get through triumphantly? Yes, it is the battle right through to the end. The enemy will never leave us alone, but are we just going to be under this condemnation of satan, with the hand of God paralyzed, because we have taken satan's ground instead of God's? God's ground is righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. satan's ground is unrighteousness through doubt, through unbelief.
Well, if Noah begins the great line of examples of power with God, it is that: righteousness which is according to faith, but what a faith! - tested, tried, proved, but faith. I feel that we are in the great test of faith in this day as much as ever the Lord's people were.
As we close this first chapter, let us be reminded that, for power with God, there must be conduct, behavior, and "walk", which is the expression of righteousness. If there is practical unrighteousness in behavior we shall be in weakness with God.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5 - Exemplified In Daniel
A Proliferation of Christian Devotionals and Sermons
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
Power With God # 3
Power With God # 3
A Prolonged Test of Faith
But then, remember the duration of it. He did not start this thing, get so far and say: 'Well, I have been at this for a good long time now. Month passes into month, the months are mounting up and it is getting into years now and nothing has happened. No one takes any notice, no one is influenced and I am making no impression at all. I think there must have been a mistake. Surely there ought by now to be something that indicates that I am on the right line and that I have not taken the wrong course!' One hundred and twenty years! Of course, that was not much out of his whole life of nine hundred and fifty, but a hundred and twenty is enough to test faith. Now the point is that for one hundred and twenty years he went on with it without anything coming in. He went the whole of that time of required, demanded activity with nothing whatever to prove that he was right or to support him in his way, with nothing that looked like some effect of his message, with nothing happening through all his preaching, whether it was by word or act - but what was happening really? There was something happening, but it was one of those thing that you and I do not ever feel happy about. It says that he condemned the world. But his faith and his works of faith, he put everybody else in the wrong and prepared them for judgment. In Paul's words, he was "a savour unto death" (2 Cor. 2:16). There is always that effect of faithfulness. It is not ineffetive and neutral. It does have an effect, although it is a very disheartening bind; nevertheless it counts, is effective, is tremendous. His work of faith just prepared the would for judgment God has to do that to be justified.
For A Time To Come
But over it all there is this element - and you see we are getting at the question of faith and analyzing it - this element of the future aspect of ministry, of service to the Lord. It was for a time to come, and I think there is nothing so testing as that. If only we are going to live to see the result of our ministry! If only it is all going to come about in our lifetime! If only we are going to know here our vindication! If only something is coming to us before we pass from this scene to prove that we have been right, well, we can go on. But note: This, with all the rest, is summed up by the writer to the Hebrews in this: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises" (Heb. 11:13). Oh yes, Noah saw the flood, he went through it and came out on the other side, and made a sorry mess of things afterward. Is that all? No, not a little bit of it, really. There is something very much deeper and greater than that about this whole matter.
But I want to emphasize that it is this "for a time to come" feature which is so testing to faith. We are told, and as frankly as Jeremiah was, that we give our lives, spend our strength and go through all the travail and sorrow and suffering and see very little. We go home to the Lord and do not see all that we hoped for. There is the ultimate test. How far do we come into the picture? What place do we have in it all? Can we eliminate ourselves altogether and go right on without any reservation, and give ourselves for that which we shall never see, for a time to come?
There is a lot of that in the Old Testament. You remember that Jeremiah gave his prophecy. We read in 2 Chronicles 36:22, "That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished," but Jeremiah did not live to see it. His word was fulfilled, and people did go back from Babylon according to his word, but he did not live to see it. He worked for a time to come in which he had no place, so far as this earth is concerned, other than a spiritual place. The spiritual values of his life and work were there. It is a test of faith, because we do, humanly and naturally, crave so much to see something for it all before we pass hence, just to know that it has been worth while. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises." Noah was really living and working for a time to come.
Now let us get right to this thing. By this kind of faith which, to begin with, would not capitulate to what was practically universal departure from God, but, in effect, said: 'Although I may be the only one left standing for God, and for God's full rights, and God's full place, I have that faith in God that it is worth my standing alone for Him. God has something bound up with my aloneness for Him.' That is faith, tremendous faith, the faith which would not surrender, to begin with, a faith which was not passive in standing in a world which was so contrary, a faith which was active, and went on, seeing nothing, with no precedent to work upon, went on building for one hundred and twenty years, and a faith which believed that, although he saw no converts or anyone coming over to the side of righteousness, something was happening. 'This is not all for nothing. Something is happening even now. These people are being brought under the effect of my stand and my ministry and my preaching, even if it is to take all ground from under their feet and leave them condemned, without an argument, without an excuse.' That is something which God must have before He can judge, and that is why He has sent us to preach. He is going to judge the world, but He cannot judge those who have never had an opportunity, those who have no light and have had no witness. He must be justified. That was Noah's faith. It was not a happy side of faith, but again the faith which believed that this thing related to something very much more somewhere ahead in the future. That was the kind of faith that Noah had, and it says: "he ... became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."
'He became heir to the righteousness which is according to faith.' Now we can link up with that Hebrews 11:39, 40, "And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect (the word 'complete'). Here is the great, future, prospective factor in Noah's faith. He, with the rest of these men, was not made complete. Why? Because completeness belongs to our time, to this dispensation. It is the whole argument of the Letter to the Hebrews: "nothing perfect" (Heb. 7:19). But now that which is perfect is come. This is the age of completeness, perfectness. Noah's faith looked on, and he had to die in faith, not receiving because this perfectness, this completeness, belongs to our dispensation, the day in which we live.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 4)
A Prolonged Test of Faith
But then, remember the duration of it. He did not start this thing, get so far and say: 'Well, I have been at this for a good long time now. Month passes into month, the months are mounting up and it is getting into years now and nothing has happened. No one takes any notice, no one is influenced and I am making no impression at all. I think there must have been a mistake. Surely there ought by now to be something that indicates that I am on the right line and that I have not taken the wrong course!' One hundred and twenty years! Of course, that was not much out of his whole life of nine hundred and fifty, but a hundred and twenty is enough to test faith. Now the point is that for one hundred and twenty years he went on with it without anything coming in. He went the whole of that time of required, demanded activity with nothing whatever to prove that he was right or to support him in his way, with nothing that looked like some effect of his message, with nothing happening through all his preaching, whether it was by word or act - but what was happening really? There was something happening, but it was one of those thing that you and I do not ever feel happy about. It says that he condemned the world. But his faith and his works of faith, he put everybody else in the wrong and prepared them for judgment. In Paul's words, he was "a savour unto death" (2 Cor. 2:16). There is always that effect of faithfulness. It is not ineffetive and neutral. It does have an effect, although it is a very disheartening bind; nevertheless it counts, is effective, is tremendous. His work of faith just prepared the would for judgment God has to do that to be justified.
For A Time To Come
But over it all there is this element - and you see we are getting at the question of faith and analyzing it - this element of the future aspect of ministry, of service to the Lord. It was for a time to come, and I think there is nothing so testing as that. If only we are going to live to see the result of our ministry! If only it is all going to come about in our lifetime! If only we are going to know here our vindication! If only something is coming to us before we pass from this scene to prove that we have been right, well, we can go on. But note: This, with all the rest, is summed up by the writer to the Hebrews in this: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises" (Heb. 11:13). Oh yes, Noah saw the flood, he went through it and came out on the other side, and made a sorry mess of things afterward. Is that all? No, not a little bit of it, really. There is something very much deeper and greater than that about this whole matter.
But I want to emphasize that it is this "for a time to come" feature which is so testing to faith. We are told, and as frankly as Jeremiah was, that we give our lives, spend our strength and go through all the travail and sorrow and suffering and see very little. We go home to the Lord and do not see all that we hoped for. There is the ultimate test. How far do we come into the picture? What place do we have in it all? Can we eliminate ourselves altogether and go right on without any reservation, and give ourselves for that which we shall never see, for a time to come?
There is a lot of that in the Old Testament. You remember that Jeremiah gave his prophecy. We read in 2 Chronicles 36:22, "That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished," but Jeremiah did not live to see it. His word was fulfilled, and people did go back from Babylon according to his word, but he did not live to see it. He worked for a time to come in which he had no place, so far as this earth is concerned, other than a spiritual place. The spiritual values of his life and work were there. It is a test of faith, because we do, humanly and naturally, crave so much to see something for it all before we pass hence, just to know that it has been worth while. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises." Noah was really living and working for a time to come.
Now let us get right to this thing. By this kind of faith which, to begin with, would not capitulate to what was practically universal departure from God, but, in effect, said: 'Although I may be the only one left standing for God, and for God's full rights, and God's full place, I have that faith in God that it is worth my standing alone for Him. God has something bound up with my aloneness for Him.' That is faith, tremendous faith, the faith which would not surrender, to begin with, a faith which was not passive in standing in a world which was so contrary, a faith which was active, and went on, seeing nothing, with no precedent to work upon, went on building for one hundred and twenty years, and a faith which believed that, although he saw no converts or anyone coming over to the side of righteousness, something was happening. 'This is not all for nothing. Something is happening even now. These people are being brought under the effect of my stand and my ministry and my preaching, even if it is to take all ground from under their feet and leave them condemned, without an argument, without an excuse.' That is something which God must have before He can judge, and that is why He has sent us to preach. He is going to judge the world, but He cannot judge those who have never had an opportunity, those who have no light and have had no witness. He must be justified. That was Noah's faith. It was not a happy side of faith, but again the faith which believed that this thing related to something very much more somewhere ahead in the future. That was the kind of faith that Noah had, and it says: "he ... became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."
'He became heir to the righteousness which is according to faith.' Now we can link up with that Hebrews 11:39, 40, "And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect (the word 'complete'). Here is the great, future, prospective factor in Noah's faith. He, with the rest of these men, was not made complete. Why? Because completeness belongs to our time, to this dispensation. It is the whole argument of the Letter to the Hebrews: "nothing perfect" (Heb. 7:19). But now that which is perfect is come. This is the age of completeness, perfectness. Noah's faith looked on, and he had to die in faith, not receiving because this perfectness, this completeness, belongs to our dispensation, the day in which we live.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 4)
Friday, April 21, 2017
Power With God # 2
Power With God # 2
Noah Singled Out By God
Having said that - and it is only introductory - we can come to the first of these men, Noah. This is not a study of the life of Noah, and certainly not of the deluge, but just this particular point - power with God. God singled Noah out from among a great host of men and said: 'If I could be prevailed upon, if I could be persuaded, Noah would do it; of all men, he could do it.' Noah is among the few. Perhaps you have not thought of Noah as being so important as that, and all that you know about him is that he made an ark. You always associate the ark and the deluge with Noah, and that is all it amounts to. But here the dispensation is closing, the whole existing order of things is passing, the antediluvians, patriarchs, the Mosaic economy, the whole monarchy, the prophetic ministry in the old dispensation are coming to a close. God looks over the whole and sees men who have prevailed with Him, and brings five out from among them. The first one He mentions is Noah - a man who stands over a great extent of time. God says; 'If I could be moved, Noah would move Me. I would have to yield to him.' Well, that surely forces us to look to see what it is in Noah's case that represents that which prevails with God.
I think the key is in Hebrews 11:7, "By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." That is the summary of it, but it wants breaking up.
Noah Stood Alone For God
First of all, we go back to Noah's time. You read chapters six and seven of Genesis and this whole situation concerning Noah is introduced. The statement is that God looked and saw, and what did He see? A whole race of men, in every imagination of their hearts corrupt, evil, a universal state of iniquity and departure from God, of godlessness and of positive iniquity so utter, so terrible, that God repented that He had made man on the earth, and He said: "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground, both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth Me that I have made them." God has said that, and then the next sentence is: "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." "But Noah ... the exception. Then at the beginning of the seventh chapter you have the reason why. "...for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation."
Well, the first thing about Noah is that: that he stood true to God as one solitary, lonely man in a universe of iniquity, one man among all men, distinguished from them by righteousness over against utter unrighteousness. One man true to God when all others had departed. How easy it would have been for Noah to have been carried away, not only by the sin and the atmosphere and the general course of things, but by this: 'Well, everything has gone. God has not got anything, and what is the good of trying to stand true? What is the use of my trying to hold on when everything has gone?' So often the Lord's people have given up, not because there were no other people of the Lord on the earth, nor because there were no righteous people, nor because there was not another Christian in all the world, but because things have gone so largely astray, have departed so extensively from the Lord's revealed mind, and have got into such an appalling condition that they say: 'Is it any use trying to stand for what is of God in any full sense? We may as well accept things as they are and capitulate, and make the best of a bad job:' - the kind of argument which is the result of the seemingly impossible situation, prospect, and outlook. Death and departure: what is the good of our trying to stand up to this? Probably you, as an individual Christian, placed in a setting of so much that is contrary to God, often ask your heart: Is it any use trying to hold on, to stand for God? You see, the question of power with God does immediately arise. It is a tremendous thing that God is saying: 'Here is one man in the whole human race, one man in the whole world, alone who will not capitulate, and that is the basis of power with Me. If anything can be done, that is the kind of man who will bring it about.'
May we not be tested by the situation in which God places us, so difficult, so contrary, as to whether we are going to stand with God so that we come to a place where we do know the secret of prevailing with God and are able to say: 'I have been in very difficult situations were this whole thing seemed hopeless and impossible, but I have learned that it is possible to prevail, to triumph, to bring God in, and I have seen those hopeless, impossible situations touched by God and dealt with by Him. I have come to know the Lord over against a very dark and seemingly impossible background.' God needs men and women like that. Alone - yes, desperately alone!
Noah Had No Precedent
"Moved with godly fear, prepared an ark." He build an ark, as the context shows, without a precedent. That, I think, is the point here. "Things not seen as yet." First of all, it is fairly generally concluded that rain had never been seen up to this time. "There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground" (Gen. 2:6), but rain was an unknown thing up to Noah's time. They had never seen it, so he had not a precedent for this. Probably there are other things covered by that little statement: "Things not seen as yet." The point is that nothing in history up to this point gave any ground of justification for taking for taking the course that he did. He could never say: 'You see, this happened at such and such a time; this happened there; we have examples of this.' We, today, have examples of almost anything and everything that may come, but Noah had no examples, no evidence, no precedent, nothing to give point. He was simply told by God that it was going to happen, and he could not in the realm of his whole knowledge say: 'Well, I know what that means!' There was nothing like that at all. It was going to be something altogether new, something that had never happened before.
Every individual life with God is something so much by itself. Ten thousand, or a million, may have gone that way before, but when it comes to us, we always feel that no one in all God's universe has ever had this experience before. We feel that we are the only one who has ever gone this way. People can say to us: 'I know all about it. I have been that way.' 'Yes,' we say, 'but you don't understand. You have never really been in my position.' That is our immediate reaction. It is like that - the utter loneliness of a personal walk with God. Noah had no precedent, nothing to go upon. Faith is tested like that. Noah, 'moved with godly fear" - and you know what that word means in the Scriptures: fear of the Lord, that is, just believing God and obeying Him because He is God; not because of any proofs or evidence, but because He is God - 'prepared an ark."
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3 - A Prolonged Test of Faith
Noah Singled Out By God
Having said that - and it is only introductory - we can come to the first of these men, Noah. This is not a study of the life of Noah, and certainly not of the deluge, but just this particular point - power with God. God singled Noah out from among a great host of men and said: 'If I could be prevailed upon, if I could be persuaded, Noah would do it; of all men, he could do it.' Noah is among the few. Perhaps you have not thought of Noah as being so important as that, and all that you know about him is that he made an ark. You always associate the ark and the deluge with Noah, and that is all it amounts to. But here the dispensation is closing, the whole existing order of things is passing, the antediluvians, patriarchs, the Mosaic economy, the whole monarchy, the prophetic ministry in the old dispensation are coming to a close. God looks over the whole and sees men who have prevailed with Him, and brings five out from among them. The first one He mentions is Noah - a man who stands over a great extent of time. God says; 'If I could be moved, Noah would move Me. I would have to yield to him.' Well, that surely forces us to look to see what it is in Noah's case that represents that which prevails with God.
I think the key is in Hebrews 11:7, "By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." That is the summary of it, but it wants breaking up.
Noah Stood Alone For God
First of all, we go back to Noah's time. You read chapters six and seven of Genesis and this whole situation concerning Noah is introduced. The statement is that God looked and saw, and what did He see? A whole race of men, in every imagination of their hearts corrupt, evil, a universal state of iniquity and departure from God, of godlessness and of positive iniquity so utter, so terrible, that God repented that He had made man on the earth, and He said: "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground, both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth Me that I have made them." God has said that, and then the next sentence is: "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." "But Noah ... the exception. Then at the beginning of the seventh chapter you have the reason why. "...for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation."
Well, the first thing about Noah is that: that he stood true to God as one solitary, lonely man in a universe of iniquity, one man among all men, distinguished from them by righteousness over against utter unrighteousness. One man true to God when all others had departed. How easy it would have been for Noah to have been carried away, not only by the sin and the atmosphere and the general course of things, but by this: 'Well, everything has gone. God has not got anything, and what is the good of trying to stand true? What is the use of my trying to hold on when everything has gone?' So often the Lord's people have given up, not because there were no other people of the Lord on the earth, nor because there were no righteous people, nor because there was not another Christian in all the world, but because things have gone so largely astray, have departed so extensively from the Lord's revealed mind, and have got into such an appalling condition that they say: 'Is it any use trying to stand for what is of God in any full sense? We may as well accept things as they are and capitulate, and make the best of a bad job:' - the kind of argument which is the result of the seemingly impossible situation, prospect, and outlook. Death and departure: what is the good of our trying to stand up to this? Probably you, as an individual Christian, placed in a setting of so much that is contrary to God, often ask your heart: Is it any use trying to hold on, to stand for God? You see, the question of power with God does immediately arise. It is a tremendous thing that God is saying: 'Here is one man in the whole human race, one man in the whole world, alone who will not capitulate, and that is the basis of power with Me. If anything can be done, that is the kind of man who will bring it about.'
May we not be tested by the situation in which God places us, so difficult, so contrary, as to whether we are going to stand with God so that we come to a place where we do know the secret of prevailing with God and are able to say: 'I have been in very difficult situations were this whole thing seemed hopeless and impossible, but I have learned that it is possible to prevail, to triumph, to bring God in, and I have seen those hopeless, impossible situations touched by God and dealt with by Him. I have come to know the Lord over against a very dark and seemingly impossible background.' God needs men and women like that. Alone - yes, desperately alone!
Noah Had No Precedent
"Moved with godly fear, prepared an ark." He build an ark, as the context shows, without a precedent. That, I think, is the point here. "Things not seen as yet." First of all, it is fairly generally concluded that rain had never been seen up to this time. "There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground" (Gen. 2:6), but rain was an unknown thing up to Noah's time. They had never seen it, so he had not a precedent for this. Probably there are other things covered by that little statement: "Things not seen as yet." The point is that nothing in history up to this point gave any ground of justification for taking for taking the course that he did. He could never say: 'You see, this happened at such and such a time; this happened there; we have examples of this.' We, today, have examples of almost anything and everything that may come, but Noah had no examples, no evidence, no precedent, nothing to give point. He was simply told by God that it was going to happen, and he could not in the realm of his whole knowledge say: 'Well, I know what that means!' There was nothing like that at all. It was going to be something altogether new, something that had never happened before.
Every individual life with God is something so much by itself. Ten thousand, or a million, may have gone that way before, but when it comes to us, we always feel that no one in all God's universe has ever had this experience before. We feel that we are the only one who has ever gone this way. People can say to us: 'I know all about it. I have been that way.' 'Yes,' we say, 'but you don't understand. You have never really been in my position.' That is our immediate reaction. It is like that - the utter loneliness of a personal walk with God. Noah had no precedent, nothing to go upon. Faith is tested like that. Noah, 'moved with godly fear" - and you know what that word means in the Scriptures: fear of the Lord, that is, just believing God and obeying Him because He is God; not because of any proofs or evidence, but because He is God - 'prepared an ark."
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3 - A Prolonged Test of Faith
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Classic Christian Quotes
Classic Christian Quotes
It was not human misery--but divine love!
(James Smith)
"You are to name Him JESUS--because He will save His people from their sins!" Matthew 1:21
This verse teaches that Jesus came into the world having . . .
a definite people in His mind,
a definite work in His hand, and
a definite principle in His heart.
He had a definite PEOPLE in His mind!
They are simply called "His people." He had . . .
a special interest in them,
a special right to them, and
a special concern for them.
They were given to Him as a pledge of His Father's love--to be His associates, joy and delight--His crown and glory. They were . . .
sunk in sin and wretchedness,
under the condemnation of the law,
the captives of the prince of darkness!
They were His sheep--but lost sheep!
They were His jewels--but jewels in a heap of rubbish!
They were His bride--but in a state of adultery!
He had . . .
the eye of His omniscience watching them,
the love of His heart pursuing them, and
the arm of His omnipotence protecting them!
His eye was upon them . . .
when in Heaven in His Father's bosom,
and when enclosed in Mary's womb!
His eye ever was--and ever will be on them--from the beginning to the end of time--to save and to bring them safely to glory!
He had a definite WORK in His hand!
It was a work for His Father--and a work His people.
He had . . .
the law to fulfill,
justice to satisfy,
sin to remove,
Heaven to open,
Satan to conquer,
death to destroy!
This work He proceeded to perform--until in triumph He exclaimed, "It is finished!"
He had a definite PRINCIPLE in His heart.
And what was that powerful principle, which brought Him . . .
from Heaven--to earth,
from glory--into contempt,
from unutterable bliss--into inconceivable sorrow?
It was LOVE! Love,
the ruling attribute of His nature,
the prominent feature of His character,
the rule of His conduct towards His people!
It was love which . . .
eternally existed in His bosom,
fanned His heart, and
directed His ways!
It was . . .
eternal love,
immutable love,
omnipotent love,
unconquerable love,
unfathomable love!
It was this sacred principle which led Jesus into our world--and conducted Him through all the stages of His redemptive work!
His name then, is 'Jesus'--because He loves and saves all of His people!
Never think that it was merely human misery, or the doleful cries of suffering mortals--which brought Jesus to our world; for if these would move Him--then He would assuredly empty Hell itself!
It was not human misery--but divine love!
It was not man's cries--but His own glory, which brought Jehovah Jesus into suffering circumstances and a miserable condition!
O the love! O the depth of the love of Jesus!
"You are to name Him JESUS--because He will save His people from their sins!" Matthew 1:21
This verse teaches that Jesus came into the world having . . .
a definite people in His mind,
a definite work in His hand, and
a definite principle in His heart.
He had a definite PEOPLE in His mind!
They are simply called "His people." He had . . .
a special interest in them,
a special right to them, and
a special concern for them.
They were given to Him as a pledge of His Father's love--to be His associates, joy and delight--His crown and glory. They were . . .
sunk in sin and wretchedness,
under the condemnation of the law,
the captives of the prince of darkness!
They were His sheep--but lost sheep!
They were His jewels--but jewels in a heap of rubbish!
They were His bride--but in a state of adultery!
He had . . .
the eye of His omniscience watching them,
the love of His heart pursuing them, and
the arm of His omnipotence protecting them!
His eye was upon them . . .
when in Heaven in His Father's bosom,
and when enclosed in Mary's womb!
His eye ever was--and ever will be on them--from the beginning to the end of time--to save and to bring them safely to glory!
He had a definite WORK in His hand!
It was a work for His Father--and a work His people.
He had . . .
the law to fulfill,
justice to satisfy,
sin to remove,
Heaven to open,
Satan to conquer,
death to destroy!
This work He proceeded to perform--until in triumph He exclaimed, "It is finished!"
He had a definite PRINCIPLE in His heart.
And what was that powerful principle, which brought Him . . .
from Heaven--to earth,
from glory--into contempt,
from unutterable bliss--into inconceivable sorrow?
It was LOVE! Love,
the ruling attribute of His nature,
the prominent feature of His character,
the rule of His conduct towards His people!
It was love which . . .
eternally existed in His bosom,
fanned His heart, and
directed His ways!
It was . . .
eternal love,
immutable love,
omnipotent love,
unconquerable love,
unfathomable love!
It was this sacred principle which led Jesus into our world--and conducted Him through all the stages of His redemptive work!
His name then, is 'Jesus'--because He loves and saves all of His people!
Never think that it was merely human misery, or the doleful cries of suffering mortals--which brought Jesus to our world; for if these would move Him--then He would assuredly empty Hell itself!
It was not human misery--but divine love!
It was not man's cries--but His own glory, which brought Jehovah Jesus into suffering circumstances and a miserable condition!
O the love! O the depth of the love of Jesus!
_______________________________
This, and nothing but this, is true Christianity!
(Edward Griffin)
"You do not belong to yourself--for God bought you with a high price!" 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
All that you are and have--are His. You owe Him your whole selves!
The Lord Jesus Christ, who created you and redeemed you from eternal damnation--is your Proprietor, Master, and King.
Whom else then should you serve?
To whom else should you devote your lives?
Whose interest should you rather seek?
"For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. For if we live--we live for the Lord; or if we die--we die for the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die--we are the Lord's." Romans 14:7-8
Our religion is exactly in proportion as we cease to live for ourselves--and live for God alone. We have just as much religion--as we have of self-denial. The only evidence of attachment to Him on which we can rely--is that we make it our design and care to promote His glory and the accomplishment of His benevolent purposes, not now and then, but in the general tenor of our lives.
To live for God, is to regard His will as the rule and ground of our conduct, and His glory as our supreme object. Not merely one day in a week--but in our general course to act from a reference to His authority.
To live for God, is to choose our calling, to pursue our business, to frame our habits, to regulate our actions from hour to hour--from a regard to His will and honor.
To live for God, is to feel and act as those who are not at liberty to live to themselves, but have their work daily assigned them by a heavenly Master.
To live for God, is to live under a sense that we are not our own--not our own masters, not our own proprietors, not at our own disposal.
To live for God, is to live as though our time, talents, influence, property, and all that we are and have--are God's.
To live for God, is to hold everything in readiness to use for Him, or resign all things to Him as He shall direct.
To live for God, is to to be submissive under afflictions, and willing to be at His disposal in all our trials.
To live for God, is to to be ready to deny ourselves for Him in every way which His Word or Providence may point out.
To live for God, is to desire life chiefly that we may serve Him.
To live for God, is to make Him the center in which all the lines of our life shall meet.
To live for God, is to make it the business of our lives to please Him and not ourselves.
The very core of all true religion, is not to live for ourselves--but for God; not to consider ourselves our own--but the property and the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ; not to feel as though we are set up in the world to work for ourselves, to spend the most of our time in pursuing what is termed our innocent gratifications--but to hold our time, powers, influence, and property as talents entrusted to us to be used for Christ--keeping our eye on His Word to learn His will, and aiming habitually to please and honor Him.
This, and nothing but this, is true Christianity! Whatever our creed is--if this is not our character--then all our religion is vain!
"So we make it our goal to please Him--whether we are at home in the body or away from it!" 2 Corinthians 5:9
(Edward Griffin)
"You do not belong to yourself--for God bought you with a high price!" 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
All that you are and have--are His. You owe Him your whole selves!
The Lord Jesus Christ, who created you and redeemed you from eternal damnation--is your Proprietor, Master, and King.
Whom else then should you serve?
To whom else should you devote your lives?
Whose interest should you rather seek?
"For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. For if we live--we live for the Lord; or if we die--we die for the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die--we are the Lord's." Romans 14:7-8
Our religion is exactly in proportion as we cease to live for ourselves--and live for God alone. We have just as much religion--as we have of self-denial. The only evidence of attachment to Him on which we can rely--is that we make it our design and care to promote His glory and the accomplishment of His benevolent purposes, not now and then, but in the general tenor of our lives.
To live for God, is to regard His will as the rule and ground of our conduct, and His glory as our supreme object. Not merely one day in a week--but in our general course to act from a reference to His authority.
To live for God, is to choose our calling, to pursue our business, to frame our habits, to regulate our actions from hour to hour--from a regard to His will and honor.
To live for God, is to feel and act as those who are not at liberty to live to themselves, but have their work daily assigned them by a heavenly Master.
To live for God, is to live under a sense that we are not our own--not our own masters, not our own proprietors, not at our own disposal.
To live for God, is to live as though our time, talents, influence, property, and all that we are and have--are God's.
To live for God, is to hold everything in readiness to use for Him, or resign all things to Him as He shall direct.
To live for God, is to to be submissive under afflictions, and willing to be at His disposal in all our trials.
To live for God, is to to be ready to deny ourselves for Him in every way which His Word or Providence may point out.
To live for God, is to desire life chiefly that we may serve Him.
To live for God, is to make Him the center in which all the lines of our life shall meet.
To live for God, is to make it the business of our lives to please Him and not ourselves.
The very core of all true religion, is not to live for ourselves--but for God; not to consider ourselves our own--but the property and the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ; not to feel as though we are set up in the world to work for ourselves, to spend the most of our time in pursuing what is termed our innocent gratifications--but to hold our time, powers, influence, and property as talents entrusted to us to be used for Christ--keeping our eye on His Word to learn His will, and aiming habitually to please and honor Him.
This, and nothing but this, is true Christianity! Whatever our creed is--if this is not our character--then all our religion is vain!
"So we make it our goal to please Him--whether we are at home in the body or away from it!" 2 Corinthians 5:9
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Classic Christian Quotes
Classic Christian Quotes
We would soon hear all the dogs of Hell baying with all their might against us!
(Charles Spurgeon)
"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 15:19
There would be much more persecution than there is--if there were more real Christians. But we have become so like the world, that the world does not hate us as it once did. If we would be more holy, more true, more Christ-like, more godly--we would soon hear all the dogs of Hell baying with all their might against us!
Remember, my brethren, whoever you may be, that if there is no distinction between you and the world around you--then you may be certain that you are of the world. For, there must always be some marks in the children of God to distinguish them from the ungodly. There is a something in them which is not to be found in the best worldling--something which is not to be discovered in the most admirable carnal man. A something in their character which can be readily perceived and which marks them as belonging to another and higher race, the twice-born, the elect of God, eternally chosen by Him--and, therefore, made to be choice ones through the effectual working of His grace.
"I have given them Your word and the world has hated them--for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world." John 17:14
_____________________________
It will not do to be a saint abroad--and a devil at home!
(Charles Spurgeon)
There is a great importance in the way in which a man lives in his house. It will not do to be a saint abroad--and a devil at home! There are some of that kind. They are wonderfully sweet at a prayer meeting--but they are dreadfully sour to their wives and children. This will never do!
Every genuine believer should say, and mean it, "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." It is in the home, that we get the truest proof of godliness.
"What sort of a man is he?" said one to George Whitefield--and Whitefield answered, "I cannot say, for I never lived with him."
That is the way to test a man--to live with him.
_________________________
I would not make my ear into a common sewer, for all the wealth in the world!
(Charles Spurgeon)
Do you ask, "To whom shall I confess my sins?" Do not come to me with your confession. Oh no, no, no! I could not stand that!
I can never understand how a "Catholic priest" can ask people to confess their sins to him. I would not make my ear into a common sewer, for all the wealth in the world! What foulness must there be on the soul of him who has heard the sins that others have committed, and who knows what sin he has himself committed!
Sin, when we see what it really is, whether in ourselves or in others, horrifies us!
There is an old proverb about a thing being "as filthy as a priest's ear!" I cannot imagine anything dirtier than that, and I have no wish to be a partaker in the filthiness.
Go to God and confess your sin to Him--pour out your heart's sad story in the ear of Him against whom you have offended! Say with David, "Against You, You only, have I sinned--and done this evil in Your sight!"
_________________________________
We would soon hear all the dogs of Hell baying with all their might against us!
(Charles Spurgeon)
"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 15:19
There would be much more persecution than there is--if there were more real Christians. But we have become so like the world, that the world does not hate us as it once did. If we would be more holy, more true, more Christ-like, more godly--we would soon hear all the dogs of Hell baying with all their might against us!
Remember, my brethren, whoever you may be, that if there is no distinction between you and the world around you--then you may be certain that you are of the world. For, there must always be some marks in the children of God to distinguish them from the ungodly. There is a something in them which is not to be found in the best worldling--something which is not to be discovered in the most admirable carnal man. A something in their character which can be readily perceived and which marks them as belonging to another and higher race, the twice-born, the elect of God, eternally chosen by Him--and, therefore, made to be choice ones through the effectual working of His grace.
"I have given them Your word and the world has hated them--for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world." John 17:14
_____________________________
It will not do to be a saint abroad--and a devil at home!
(Charles Spurgeon)
There is a great importance in the way in which a man lives in his house. It will not do to be a saint abroad--and a devil at home! There are some of that kind. They are wonderfully sweet at a prayer meeting--but they are dreadfully sour to their wives and children. This will never do!
Every genuine believer should say, and mean it, "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." It is in the home, that we get the truest proof of godliness.
"What sort of a man is he?" said one to George Whitefield--and Whitefield answered, "I cannot say, for I never lived with him."
That is the way to test a man--to live with him.
_________________________
I would not make my ear into a common sewer, for all the wealth in the world!
(Charles Spurgeon)
Do you ask, "To whom shall I confess my sins?" Do not come to me with your confession. Oh no, no, no! I could not stand that!
I can never understand how a "Catholic priest" can ask people to confess their sins to him. I would not make my ear into a common sewer, for all the wealth in the world! What foulness must there be on the soul of him who has heard the sins that others have committed, and who knows what sin he has himself committed!
Sin, when we see what it really is, whether in ourselves or in others, horrifies us!
There is an old proverb about a thing being "as filthy as a priest's ear!" I cannot imagine anything dirtier than that, and I have no wish to be a partaker in the filthiness.
Go to God and confess your sin to Him--pour out your heart's sad story in the ear of Him against whom you have offended! Say with David, "Against You, You only, have I sinned--and done this evil in Your sight!"
_________________________________
Mr. Hill, I am pleased to see you--I am one of your converts!
A man picked himself up from the gutter and brushed up against Rowland Hill one night as he went home, and he said, "Mr. Hill, I am pleased to see you--I am one of your converts!"
Rowland said, "I thought it was very likely that you were. You are certainly not one of God's converts, or else you would not be drunk."
There is a great lesson in that answer. Rowland Hill's converts could get drunk, but not the converts of the Spirit of God--those are really renewed in the spirit of their mind, by a supernatural operation!
Our converts are no good.
If our preaching does not turn men . . .
from drunkenness--to sobriety,
from thieving--to honesty,
from unchastity--to purity,
then our Gospel is not worth a button!
from drunkenness--to sobriety,
from thieving--to honesty,
from unchastity--to purity,
then our Gospel is not worth a button!
But if it does all this, then this is the evidence that it comes from God--seeing that in the world so sorely diseased by sin, it works the wondrous miracle of curing men of these deadly evils!
"Therefore, 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
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Classic Christian Quotes
Classic Christian Quotes
You keep track of all my sorrows!
(The Preacher's Book)
"You keep track of all my sorrows!
You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book!" Psalm 56:8
Not a single sigh for past sins, escapes His ears;
not a groan of the heart, but is heard by Him;
not a tear falls to the ground, but He puts it into His bottle!
Not a breathing of the soul after His holiness;
not a loathing of our own unholiness;
not an act of self-abasement, or humbling ourselves for sin;
not a yearning of the soul for a purity which it has not;
not a single act of mercy;
not one act of self-denial;
every fragment of our poor sorrow and service--
God gathers and stores up! Nothing is forgotten or lost!
"You keep track of all my sorrows!
You have collected all my tears in Your bottle.
You have recorded each one in Your book!" Psalm 56:8
_____________________________________
You keep track of all my sorrows!
(The Preacher's Book)
"You keep track of all my sorrows!
You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book!" Psalm 56:8
Not a single sigh for past sins, escapes His ears;
not a groan of the heart, but is heard by Him;
not a tear falls to the ground, but He puts it into His bottle!
Not a breathing of the soul after His holiness;
not a loathing of our own unholiness;
not an act of self-abasement, or humbling ourselves for sin;
not a yearning of the soul for a purity which it has not;
not a single act of mercy;
not one act of self-denial;
every fragment of our poor sorrow and service--
God gathers and stores up! Nothing is forgotten or lost!
"You keep track of all my sorrows!
You have collected all my tears in Your bottle.
You have recorded each one in Your book!" Psalm 56:8
_____________________________________
Look! Gaze! See! Behold!
The doctrine of the death of Christ for our sins, should inspire us with greater love for the Lord Jesus.
Can you look at His dear wounds--and not be wounded with love for Him?
Are not His wounds as mouths which plead with you to yield Him all your heart?
Are not His wounds as mouths which plead with you to yield Him all your heart?
Can you gaze upon His face bedewed with bloody sweat--and then go away and be ensnared with the world's painted beauties?
Oh, for the vision of the Crucified!
When shall we see the face that was so marred for us?
When shall we behold the hands and feet which bear the nail-marks still--and look into the wounded side bejeweled with the spear-wound?
Oh, when shall we leave all our sins and griefs--forever to behold Him?
Our hope, our solace, our glory, our victory--are all found in the blood of the Lamb, to whom be glory for ever and ever! Amen.
_______________________________
The Uniqueness of Christ
When Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” they replied, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” But Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:13-16).
What set Jesus apart as the Messiah?
- His birth: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born, as prophesied, in Bethlehem to a virgin. Though angels announced His arrival and He reigns over all creation, Jesus entered our world in a lowly manner so He could be identified with the meek and the poor.
- His wisdom: At age 12, He spent three days with rabbis, asking questions that showed his uncommon understanding.
- His baptism: Though He didn’t need cleansing, Jesus asked John to baptize Him so He could identify with sinners and demonstrate His love to them.
- His temptation: Satan tempted Him relentlessly for 40 days, yet He did not sin.
- His ministry: He challenged man-made religious traditions. And by healing people--regardless of nationality--raising the dead, and forgiving sins, He revealed that God wants to be involved personally in our lives. Leading Pharisees wanted Him dead, but the Father protected His life until the crucifixion.
Many people deny Christ’s deity, calling Him simply a “prophet” or “good teacher.” But Jesus was never merely human. As complex as it is for us to comprehend, He was fully God and fully man. This is the unique way in which our heavenly Father chose to demonstrate His eternal love for us.
~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~
_____________________________
Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it shall be given you.
We know of a place in England still existing, where a dole of bread is served to every passerby who chooses to ask for it. Whoever the traveller may be, he has but to knock at the door of St. Cross Hospital, and there is the dole of bread for him. Jesus Christ so loveth sinners that He has built a St. Cross Hospital, so that whenever a sinner is hungry, he has but to knock and have his wants supplied. Nay, He has done better; He has attached to this Hospital of the Cross a bath; and whenever a soul is black and filthy, it has but to go there and be washed. The fountain is always full, always efficacious. No sinner ever went into it and found that it could not wash away his stains. Sins which were scarlet and crimson have all disappeared, and the sinner has been whiter than snow. As if this were not enough, there is attached to this Hospital of the Cross a wardrobe, and a sinner making application simply as a sinner, may be clothed from head to foot; and if he wishes to be a soldier, he may not merely have a garment for ordinary wear, but armour which shall cover him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. If he asks for a sword, he shall have that given to him, and a shield too. Nothing that is good for him shall be denied him. He shall have spending-money so long as he lives, and he shall have an eternal heritage of glorious treasure when he enters into the joy of his Lord. If all these things are to be had by merely knocking at mercy's door, O my soul, knock hard this morning, and ask large things of thy generous Lord. Leave not the throne of grace till all thy wants have been spread before the Lord, and until by faith thou hast a comfortable prospect that they shall be all supplied. No bashfulness need retard when Jesus invites. No unbelief should hinder when Jesus promises. No cold-heartedness should restrain when such blessings are to be obtained.
~Charles Spurgeon~
_______________________________
Key #1 to Effective Prayer - Being Specific
Over the next number of devotionals, I want to walk you through the keys to effective prayer. To start, I want to focus today's devotional on Mark 10:46-52 where we find a very intriguing story.
Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you." And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight." Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
The question Jesus asked, "What do you want Me to do for you?", seemed obvious, didn't it? Everybody present knew Bartimaeus needed his eyes to be healed. Why would Jesus ask this question?
He wanted us to understand how important it is to be specific when we ask something of God. Bartimaeus' faith had to become specific before it made him well. It was after he said, "Lord, that I might receive my sight," that Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well."
Being specific in what you request of God is the first key to effective prayer.
~Bayless Conley~
Friday, April 7, 2017
Classic Christian Quotes
Classic Christian Quotes
~T. Austin-Sparks~
________________________________
ETERNITY!
"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God. You turn men back to dust, saying, 'Return to dust, O sons of men.' For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away!" Psalm 90:1-6, 10
A thousand years! This is a long stretch of time. How much may be crowded into it--the rise and fall of empires, the glory and obliteration of dynasties, the beginning and the end of elaborate systems of human philosophy, and countless events--all important to individuals, which elude the pens of historians. Yet this period is to the Lord as nothing, even as time already gone. If a thousand years are to God as a single night-watch--then what must be the life-time of the Eternal God! Charles Spurgeon
Before the Eternal God, all the age of frail man is less than one ticking of a clock! Charles Spurgeon
O think a little, how inconsiderable a thing is the longest life of man on earth--compared with an everlasting duration! The psalmist tells us, "You have made my days as an handbreadth, and my age--my life, my time on earth--is as nothing to You"--nothing, as compared with God's duration, which is without beginning or end! John Shower
This life, upon which everything depends--is very brief.
How solemn this is! In Scripture, time is compared to . . .
a flower of the field;
a watch in the night;
a dream;
a vapor.
William Jay
How little a while we are to abide here on earth. After death we must abide forever in eternal bliss--or in eternal torments. We will either be with God in endless glory--or in everlasting fire with the devil and his demons! John Shower
Eternity to the godly, is a day that has no sunset.
Eternity to the godless, is a night that has no sunrise. Thomas Watson
O God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs! Jonathan Edwards
ETERNITY! O that the sinner would study this word--methinks it would startle him out of his dead sleep!
O that the gracious soul would study it--methinks it would revive him in his deepest agony! Richard Baxter
The crosses and comforts of this present time would not make such an impression upon us as they do--if we did but believe the things of eternity as we ought. Matthew Henry
We must not forget that the issues of eternity, are settled in time. Arthur Pink
The great weight of eternity, hangs upon the small wire of time! Thomas Brooks
A mistake about your soul, is a mistake for eternity! J.C. Ryle
"So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
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To him who overcomes I will give the privilege of sitting down with Me on My throne, as I also have overcome and have sat down with My Father on His throne. (Revelation 3:21 WNT)
We all have resurrection Life if we are joined to Christ as Resurrection, but there is something more than that; there is resurrection power, which carries us eventually (if it has its full outworking) to the Throne, and not all will come to the Throne. It is: “to him that overcomes.” Caleb, like Paul, and Paul, like Caleb, stood against the more general course of things amongst the Lord’s people. The majority were content with going so far as to the inheritance, possessing so much, and there staying and settling down. An unfinished course, a curtailed spiritual advance, an accepting of something less than what God had appointed and intended. The majority took that course, but Caleb was never content and he stood against the majority just as he had always stood against a majority that did not represent God’s full mind....
Spiritual leadership always involves loneliness. That is the cost of it. The overcomers will always be, so far as the larger Christian world is concerned, a lonely company, having to go on, with few able to follow. Caleb could not accept the popular voice, his heart was too set upon the Lord. He wholly followed the Lord, not the popular and general standard of Christian life. We may say that Caleb was the very embodiment of all that God meant the whole people to be. When you see Caleb you see what God wished all Israel to be, but all Israel did not come to the standard of Caleb. But the Lord gets in a Caleb the satisfaction of His heart. The Lord realizes His full thought in a Caleb, in the same way as He does in a Paul.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
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ETERNITY!
"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God. You turn men back to dust, saying, 'Return to dust, O sons of men.' For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away!" Psalm 90:1-6, 10
A thousand years! This is a long stretch of time. How much may be crowded into it--the rise and fall of empires, the glory and obliteration of dynasties, the beginning and the end of elaborate systems of human philosophy, and countless events--all important to individuals, which elude the pens of historians. Yet this period is to the Lord as nothing, even as time already gone. If a thousand years are to God as a single night-watch--then what must be the life-time of the Eternal God! Charles Spurgeon
Before the Eternal God, all the age of frail man is less than one ticking of a clock! Charles Spurgeon
O think a little, how inconsiderable a thing is the longest life of man on earth--compared with an everlasting duration! The psalmist tells us, "You have made my days as an handbreadth, and my age--my life, my time on earth--is as nothing to You"--nothing, as compared with God's duration, which is without beginning or end! John Shower
This life, upon which everything depends--is very brief.
How solemn this is! In Scripture, time is compared to . . .
a flower of the field;
a watch in the night;
a dream;
a vapor.
William Jay
How little a while we are to abide here on earth. After death we must abide forever in eternal bliss--or in eternal torments. We will either be with God in endless glory--or in everlasting fire with the devil and his demons! John Shower
Eternity to the godly, is a day that has no sunset.
Eternity to the godless, is a night that has no sunrise. Thomas Watson
O God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs! Jonathan Edwards
ETERNITY! O that the sinner would study this word--methinks it would startle him out of his dead sleep!
O that the gracious soul would study it--methinks it would revive him in his deepest agony! Richard Baxter
The crosses and comforts of this present time would not make such an impression upon us as they do--if we did but believe the things of eternity as we ought. Matthew Henry
We must not forget that the issues of eternity, are settled in time. Arthur Pink
The great weight of eternity, hangs upon the small wire of time! Thomas Brooks
A mistake about your soul, is a mistake for eternity! J.C. Ryle
"So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
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The Effectiveness of God's Way
Exodus 3
Exodus 3
Yesterday we observed the ineffectiveness of Moses' attempt to liberate his people from Egyptian slavery, but today we see him given a second chance to do it God's way. If we could learn the lessons Moses learned about the dangers of self-reliance and the advantages of depending on the Lord, we would save ourselves much hardship.
When we choose to cooperate with God and submit to His way, He will do amazing things in and through us. Despite Moses' past failure, the Lord still used him to accomplish the divine plan, but only after he became usable--that is, humbled and broken of self-will. Just consider what God achieved when Moses did it His way.
* He showed what great things He could do through one yielded, dependent person.
* He got more done in less time, and with fewer resources. There was no insurrection or long, drawn-out war--just a dramatic display of His power.
* He proved the superiority of His way by freeing over two million people without the loss of a single Hebrew life.
* He sent impoverished slaves out of bondage with their captors' riches (Ex. 3:21-22).
* He proved to both the Israelites and the Egyptians that He alone is the God of heaven and earth.
* He received all the glory.
Our past failures never prevent God's willingness or ability to use us. In fact, our weakness is a great opportunity for the display of His glory. In our own strength, we are totally ineffective. But when we submit to the Lord's authority, we can experience His victory in whatever He calls us to do.
~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Classic Christian Quotes
The land which I do give them, even the children of Israel (Joshua 1:2).
God here speaks in the immediate present. It is not something He is going to do, but something He does do, this moment. So faith ever speaks. So God ever gives. So He is meeting you today, in the present moment. This is the test of faith. So long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not faith; for "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The command in regard to believing prayer is the present tense. "When ye pray, believe that ye receive the things that ye desire, and ye shall have them." Have we come to that moment? Have we met God in His everlasting NOW?
--Joshua, by Simpson
--Joshua, by Simpson
True faith counts on God, and believes before it sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe; but when we walk by faith we need no other evidence than God's Word. He has spoken, and according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see because we have believed, and this faith sustains us in the most trying places, when everything around us seems to contradict God's Word.
The Psalmist says, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living" (Ps. 27:13). He did not see as yet the Lord's answer to his prayers, but he believed to see; and this kept him from fainting.
If we have the faith that believes to see, it will keep us from growing discouraged. We shall "laugh at impossibilities," we shall watch with delight to see how God is going to open up a path through the Red Sea when there is no human way out of our difficulty. It is just in such places of severe testing that our faith grows and strengthens.
Have you been waiting upon God, dear troubled one, during long nights and weary days, and have feared that you were forgotten? Nay, lift up your head, and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on its way to you.
~L. B. Cowman~
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The Power of the Holy Spirit
The principle we will explore today is basic but so powerful that it determines whether we experience victory in our lives.
You are probably familiar with the book The Little Engine That Could, in which a small engine keeps repeating the words "I think I can." By using sheer willpower, she pulls an entire train over the mountain. That's a nice children's story, but the truth of the Christian life is very different. In the real world, our efforts and determination often fall short. Only by walking in the power of the Holy Spirit can the godly life be achieved.
Throughout the Old Testament, God's Spirit would temporarily come upon saints for a particular work. However, after Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent the Spirit to dwell permanently within each believer. Consider what this means: If you're a Christian, God is living inside of you, available to help all through life by providing guidance, comfort, and empowerment.
Obedience to Christ is too difficult for anyone relying on his own strength. And discerning what to do in every situation is far too complicated for a fleshly mind. For some reason, though, Christians often try to live life by depending on their own energy and reasoning. Defeat and failure are unavoidable without His power in our lives.
Do you recognize your need for the Lord? Begin each day confessing your dependence upon Him. Ask to be filled with His Spirit so that all you think, do, and say will be an overflow from Him. Then trust Him to work in mighty ways through you. Watch what almighty God can do.
~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~
In Touch Ministries
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Sow Good... Reap Blessing
As I mentioned in yesterday's devotional, God wants to bless your life, and the richer, more frequent blessings come to those who do a particular thing. We find that thing in Galatians 6:9-10,
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
The seasons of blessing come due more often to those who consistently sow, to those who seize opportunities that are afforded them to do good. Notice again in verse 9, Let us not grow weary while doing good. Verse 10 says, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all.
This same truth is reinforced by verse 7, which states,
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
If we sow good, we will reap good. A season of blessing will come.
What many Christians tend to do is stand before a field in which they planted no seed, and pray, "God, give me a miracle harvest."
Now, God is God, and He certainly can do things out of the ordinary. But He also works according to laws and principles that He has set into motion. One of those laws is the law of sowing and reaping.
Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Therefore, do not grow weary while doing good. In due season, you will reap, if you do not faint. When you have opportunity, do good. Get some seed in the ground.
Because the richer and more frequent blessings come to those who sow good.
~Bayless Conley~
Answers for each Day
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Luke 8:47
She was healed immediately.
One of the most touching and teaching of the Saviour's miracles is before us to-night. The woman was very ignorant. She imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity, without His knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a stranger to the generosity of Jesus' character, or she would not have gone behind to steal the cure which He was so ready to bestow. Misery should always place itself right in the face of mercy. Had she known the love of Jesus' heart, she would have said, "I have but to put myself where He can see me-His omniscience will teach Him my case, and His love at once will work my cure." We admire her faith, but we marvel at her ignorance. After she had obtained the cure, she rejoiced with trembling: glad was she that the divine virtue had wrought a marvel in her; but she feared lest Christ should retract the blessing, and put a negative upon the grant of His grace: little did she comprehend the fulness of His love! We have not so clear a view of Him as we could wish; we know not the heights and depths of His love; but we know of a surety that He is too good to withdraw from a trembling soul the gift which it has been able to obtain. But here is the marvel of it: little as was her knowledge, her faith, because it was real faith, saved her, and saved her at once. There was no tedious delay-faith's miracle was instantaneous. If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, salvation is our present and eternal possession. If in the list of the Lord's children we are written as the feeblest of the family, yet, being heirs through faith, no power, human or devilish, can eject us from salvation. If we dare not lean our heads upon His bosom with John, yet if we can venture in the press behind Him, and touch the hem of his garment, we are made whole. Courage, timid one! thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God."
~Charles Spurgeon~
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Today’s Reading: Leviticus 15; >Matthew 27:1-26
Today's Thoughts: As Christ Loves Us
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
Valentine’s Day is celebrated as a day to express love and most notably, romantic love. The history of Valentine's Day, along with the saint for whom it is named, is shrouded in mystery. Both Christian and ancient Roman traditions make up its origins, but the exact details of what happened to St. Valentine are uncertain. What is certain is that through a series of events dating back to the middle ages, February 14 became the date to commemorate Valentine’s Day. Roses and chocolates will be sold at exorbitant prices and in massive quantities, all in hopes to express our love in that special way. What is the most special way to express our love?
The thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians is known as the lovechapter of the Bible. The apostle Paul writes about true love, what it is and what it is not. It “suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;” (verse 4). It “does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;” (verse 5). Paul puts it very simply in verse 8, “Love never fails.” Flowers fade and candies melt, but true love never fades, never dies, never fails. The most special way to express our love is to practice these qualities Paul speaks of as we learn to love beyond ourselves.
Romantic love is a wonderful feeling and being in love is truly a gift from God. Those feelings of heightened joy and excitement seem to make everything else less significant. But today, let’s ask the Lord to help us love beyond the feelings of the gifts and the favors. Let’s pray that we can love as Christ loves us and that we can express that love in ways that bless those around us more than anything else we can give. Why not make today a day to take love more seriously than you ever have before? Pray that love becomes the motivation for all that you do. Enjoy the flowers and candies and candlelight dinners, but remember to keep love in your heart, not just in the festivities.
~Daily Disciples Devotional~
Today's Thoughts: As Christ Loves Us
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
Valentine’s Day is celebrated as a day to express love and most notably, romantic love. The history of Valentine's Day, along with the saint for whom it is named, is shrouded in mystery. Both Christian and ancient Roman traditions make up its origins, but the exact details of what happened to St. Valentine are uncertain. What is certain is that through a series of events dating back to the middle ages, February 14 became the date to commemorate Valentine’s Day. Roses and chocolates will be sold at exorbitant prices and in massive quantities, all in hopes to express our love in that special way. What is the most special way to express our love?
The thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians is known as the lovechapter of the Bible. The apostle Paul writes about true love, what it is and what it is not. It “suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;” (verse 4). It “does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;” (verse 5). Paul puts it very simply in verse 8, “Love never fails.” Flowers fade and candies melt, but true love never fades, never dies, never fails. The most special way to express our love is to practice these qualities Paul speaks of as we learn to love beyond ourselves.
Romantic love is a wonderful feeling and being in love is truly a gift from God. Those feelings of heightened joy and excitement seem to make everything else less significant. But today, let’s ask the Lord to help us love beyond the feelings of the gifts and the favors. Let’s pray that we can love as Christ loves us and that we can express that love in ways that bless those around us more than anything else we can give. Why not make today a day to take love more seriously than you ever have before? Pray that love becomes the motivation for all that you do. Enjoy the flowers and candies and candlelight dinners, but remember to keep love in your heart, not just in the festivities.
~Daily Disciples Devotional~
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