Show Thyself A Man # 2
Settle the question in self-control by making timely decisions about what you are going to do about such important matters as temperance, morality and religion. Settle the question very early that your life shall be directed by principles and not by impulse. If you are not willing to deliberately take the risk of becoming a good-for-nothing sot, settle the question at once and finally that you will never take your first drink. Not to do this is to have about half decided that you will yield when the temptation comes. It means that you have concluded that you may yield, and so the probability is great that you will.
If you are not willing to take the risk of becoming a social outcast, decide as Joseph did long before he reached Potiphar's house that you will have a moral life.
To be a man means to be strong in purpose and self-control. If our manhood is buried under doubt, dig it out. There's a Gettysburg in every man's life which he has to fight. To be ready is half the secret of success.
Having oil or no oil in your lamp is the difference between light and darkness, between happiness and despair.
If you are not willing to run the risk of losing your soul take the only step that can make it safe by taking Christ into your heart and life at once.
Decision determines what life is to become for every man in this world, and also decides it for eternity.
The man who lets the devil choose his company for him will soon do anything the devil wants him to do. Strive for self-control by forming good habits before bad ones fasten themselves upon you. A thread can be broken, but a rope will hang you.
Be prudent by learning your own strength and weakness. Get the best training possible. Remember that knowledge is power. There is no excuse for ignorance in this day, when colleges are everywhere, and books seem to almost grow on trees.
The life of an uneducated man is like that of a mole living in the dark, while that of the man with culture is like the eagle, mounting above the clouds and soaring towards the sun.
Take the great men of the Bible and stand before them long enough to realize how great they were, and then ask yourself what there was in them that you ought to have in you, and then spend some time every day in considering the man who had in himself the great and manly qualities of them all in a superlative degree - the divine man - the God man - the man of Galilee.
Learn how to behold Christ's glory and so be changed into His likeness from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Let your soul go out to Him and be filled with Him, and you will soon begin to see that everything that is not like Him is unmanly and mean. Spend three months in studying His life on its man-ward side, and you will have a more exalted knowledge of what it means to be a man than you ever before possessed. A knowledge that will quicken you and inspire you to live for God and man as you never lived before.
Study the purpose of Christ and notice that He never swerved from the business for which He came into the world.
Study His prudence and courage and you will also find it true of His self control, faithfulness, charity, unselfishness, benevolence and sympathy.
Surely this man was the Son of God and the most glorious promise for us ever given that when He shall appear we shall be like Him. "Be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man."
~Billy Sunday~
(The End)
A Proliferation of Christian Devotionals and Sermons
Saturday, March 30, 2019
A Sermon For Erring Christians # 1
A Sermon For Erring Christians # 1
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Theme: Plain directions to Christians who are out of the King's highway, telling them how to get back into the way.
This text is God's answer to Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple. That prayer is remarkable for these three things:
1. A distinct recognition of the fact that all of God's people will and do sin.
2. That divine chastisement for purposes of correction will certainly follow every such sin.
3. A petition that God would accept and honor as adequate provision for the forgiveness of such sin.
These three notable characteristics of this famous prayer are very carefully stated because they embody a great deal of doctrine. And doctrinal statements ought never to be loosely and incautiously worded. Let us elaborate somewhat on each characteristic of this prayer.
Observe carefully that the first notable characteristic is not a recognition of the fact that some of God's people will sin nor the mere possibility that all of them may sin, but that all of them will and do sin - all of them, without one exception. If this statement be correct, it forever settles some things. It forever negatives as unscriptural certain modern doctrines touching sanctification. If it be urged as an objection that Solomon in his prayer continually said, "If Thy people sin," the "if" implying contingency only, or mere liability, the answer to such objection is obvious, conclusive, and crushing that he himself carefully guarded against such construction of his language. The possibility expressed by the "if" relates only to the particular form of the sin and never to the fact that sin would come in some form. The "if" was designed to cover any or all forms. It is as if he had said, "If it take this form or that?, whatever form it may take and some form it will take - then hear thou in heaven and forgive."
Would you hear and consider some of this proof? We have two inspired records of this prayer. In both, the "if" is not designed by him to convey the idea of doubt or uncertainty as to the fact of sin.
"If they sin against Thee (for there is no man that sinneth not" (1 Kings 8:46 and 2 Chronicles 6:36).
The full import of this broad negative as to the existence of sinless men is emphasized by its enlarged restatement by Solomon in another and much later connection: "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastics 7:20). This, for the present, at least, is sufficient proof of the correctness of the first statement, that Solomon's prayer distinctly recognizes the fact, not that some of God's people will sin, nor that all of them may sin, but that all of them will and do sin.
The second characteristic of the prayer is that divine chastisement, for purposes of correction, inevitably follows such sin. There is no doubt here, no ambiguity. Every element of uncertainty is excluded. You, O Christian is not the only inalienable and precious heritage of every child of God, but it is also a distinguishing mark to evidence the fact that he is a child of God. No chastisement, no child. What saith the scripture?
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. And scourgeth every son whom He recevieth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not. But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore we have had the fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. But He for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet; let that which is lame be not turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." Now, do observe how this Scripture corroborates the first proposition that all God's people sin. All His people are partakers of chastisement. Any self-styled child of God who is without chastisement is a bastard and not a son. He chastises to correct come wrong, to heal some lameness. He chastises not willingly, but for love and for profit. Mark this, that the object of chastisement is that "Ye might be partakers of His holiness."
To claim to be holy as God is holy is to claim that you have passed out of the realm of chastisement. The school of discipline for the spirit ends only with death of the body or its glorification without death. Death is the last stroke of discipline. With death all chastening of the spirit ceases. Seen after death they are at last "the spirits of just men made perfect." (Hebrews 12:23).
~B. H. Carroll~
(continued with # 2)
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Theme: Plain directions to Christians who are out of the King's highway, telling them how to get back into the way.
This text is God's answer to Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple. That prayer is remarkable for these three things:
1. A distinct recognition of the fact that all of God's people will and do sin.
2. That divine chastisement for purposes of correction will certainly follow every such sin.
3. A petition that God would accept and honor as adequate provision for the forgiveness of such sin.
These three notable characteristics of this famous prayer are very carefully stated because they embody a great deal of doctrine. And doctrinal statements ought never to be loosely and incautiously worded. Let us elaborate somewhat on each characteristic of this prayer.
Observe carefully that the first notable characteristic is not a recognition of the fact that some of God's people will sin nor the mere possibility that all of them may sin, but that all of them will and do sin - all of them, without one exception. If this statement be correct, it forever settles some things. It forever negatives as unscriptural certain modern doctrines touching sanctification. If it be urged as an objection that Solomon in his prayer continually said, "If Thy people sin," the "if" implying contingency only, or mere liability, the answer to such objection is obvious, conclusive, and crushing that he himself carefully guarded against such construction of his language. The possibility expressed by the "if" relates only to the particular form of the sin and never to the fact that sin would come in some form. The "if" was designed to cover any or all forms. It is as if he had said, "If it take this form or that?, whatever form it may take and some form it will take - then hear thou in heaven and forgive."
Would you hear and consider some of this proof? We have two inspired records of this prayer. In both, the "if" is not designed by him to convey the idea of doubt or uncertainty as to the fact of sin.
"If they sin against Thee (for there is no man that sinneth not" (1 Kings 8:46 and 2 Chronicles 6:36).
The full import of this broad negative as to the existence of sinless men is emphasized by its enlarged restatement by Solomon in another and much later connection: "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastics 7:20). This, for the present, at least, is sufficient proof of the correctness of the first statement, that Solomon's prayer distinctly recognizes the fact, not that some of God's people will sin, nor that all of them may sin, but that all of them will and do sin.
The second characteristic of the prayer is that divine chastisement, for purposes of correction, inevitably follows such sin. There is no doubt here, no ambiguity. Every element of uncertainty is excluded. You, O Christian is not the only inalienable and precious heritage of every child of God, but it is also a distinguishing mark to evidence the fact that he is a child of God. No chastisement, no child. What saith the scripture?
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. And scourgeth every son whom He recevieth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not. But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore we have had the fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. But He for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet; let that which is lame be not turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." Now, do observe how this Scripture corroborates the first proposition that all God's people sin. All His people are partakers of chastisement. Any self-styled child of God who is without chastisement is a bastard and not a son. He chastises to correct come wrong, to heal some lameness. He chastises not willingly, but for love and for profit. Mark this, that the object of chastisement is that "Ye might be partakers of His holiness."
To claim to be holy as God is holy is to claim that you have passed out of the realm of chastisement. The school of discipline for the spirit ends only with death of the body or its glorification without death. Death is the last stroke of discipline. With death all chastening of the spirit ceases. Seen after death they are at last "the spirits of just men made perfect." (Hebrews 12:23).
~B. H. Carroll~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Classic Christian Quotes From Classic Ministers
Classic Christian Quotes From Classic Ministers
The most unpopular, hated and feared teaching in the entire Bible!
(Brian Schwertley, "The Biblical Doctrine of Hell Examined")
"The rich man also died and was buried. In Hell, where he was in torment . . ." Luke 16:22-23
The doctrine of eternal punishment is probably the most unpopular, hated and feared teaching in the entire Bible. The thought of people burning in Hell for eternity is most repugnant to the human mind.
Yet in spite of the terrifying nature of the doctrine, and in spite of the fact that people find the idea of everlasting torment revolting, the strongest support of the doctrine comes from the lips of Jesus Christ. Think of it: the most terrifying imagery and detailed descriptions of Hell are found in the discourses of the Redeemer! Jesus continually warned men and women of the danger of going to Hell. Jesus Christ, who foretold that He would come again to judge the entire human race, spoke more about Hell and its terrors than all the prophets and apostles combined. To ignore and disregard the clear teaching of Jesus, is to deny Christ.
The Bible sets before us many differing aspects of the torments in Hell as a warning. The torments of Hell help us to understand how much God hates sin. Oh what dreadful torments await those who die without Christ!
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell." Matthew 10:28
"They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" Matthew 13:42
"Then He will say to those on His left: Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!" Matthew 25:41
____________________________
The most unpopular, hated and feared teaching in the entire Bible!
(Brian Schwertley, "The Biblical Doctrine of Hell Examined")
"The rich man also died and was buried. In Hell, where he was in torment . . ." Luke 16:22-23
The doctrine of eternal punishment is probably the most unpopular, hated and feared teaching in the entire Bible. The thought of people burning in Hell for eternity is most repugnant to the human mind.
Yet in spite of the terrifying nature of the doctrine, and in spite of the fact that people find the idea of everlasting torment revolting, the strongest support of the doctrine comes from the lips of Jesus Christ. Think of it: the most terrifying imagery and detailed descriptions of Hell are found in the discourses of the Redeemer! Jesus continually warned men and women of the danger of going to Hell. Jesus Christ, who foretold that He would come again to judge the entire human race, spoke more about Hell and its terrors than all the prophets and apostles combined. To ignore and disregard the clear teaching of Jesus, is to deny Christ.
The Bible sets before us many differing aspects of the torments in Hell as a warning. The torments of Hell help us to understand how much God hates sin. Oh what dreadful torments await those who die without Christ!
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell." Matthew 10:28
"They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" Matthew 13:42
"Then He will say to those on His left: Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!" Matthew 25:41
____________________________
0-12
(10) And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. (11) "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us!" (12) But he answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you."
New King James Version
New King James Version
The door is shut with finality. The verb tense says the door is shut to stay shut. Therefore, at that point, no one's repentance, prayer, or pleading can change that fact. Noah's ark having its door sealed shut is a similar vivid illustration of its finality (Genesis 7:16) - it was shut to stay shut throughout the Flood. All the pleading in the world would not open the ark's door to others after it was shut. Once Christ has come or we have died, our opportunity to be among the firstfruits of the Kingdom will have been decided. The door's closing is fair because everyone had ample time to prepare for the bridegroom's coming. He does not come early in the evening but late. He is even delayed (verse 5), giving extra time to be ready. We have our whole lives - all the years of Christ's longsuffering and patience with us - to prepare. Therefore, it is just and fair that the door is shut when our last hour comes. Isaiah recognizes man's tendency to procrastinate in his warning, "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6).
The foolish Laodicean attitude dictates that one needs nothing else spiritually, but such a one will be rudely awakened to realize his terrible unpreparedness. This attitude is bankrupt of vision and foresight. It sees no need to prepare for the eventualities of life either physically or, more importantly, spiritually. Opportunities come and go through life, and no opportunity is so greatly lost than that of the foolish virgins. They fail to realize that the bridegroom would probably come later than expected. They lack faithful perseverance in thought and action.
The lesson Christ emphasizes in this parable is to be prepared for the future, namely, the coming of Christ. The prophet Amos expresses this powerfully: "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" (Amos 4:12). Human beings have little trouble preparing for everything, except meeting God. The last verse of the parable (verse 13) makes its purpose ring in our ears: "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."
~Martin G. Collins~
Show Thyself A Man # 1
Show Thyself A Man # 1
"Be thou strong and show thyself a man" (1 Kings 2:2).
No one can read the Bible in a thoughtful way without being impressed with the fact that it makes much of manhood, and holds it up as something that should be sought after with diligence and perseverance.
In fact the Bible exalts and emphasizes manhood in a remarkable way, and shows that real manhood is a great thing in the world. The book of Genesis contains sixty chapters and covers 2,300 years of human history, and yet one half of it is devoted to telling us about the colossal manhood of Abraham, and a third to that of Joseph.
The story of creation is told in 800 words, but a great deal more space is given to the story of Caleb's rugged manhood. A whole book is occupied with the story of Job, and another with that of Daniel, while long chapters here and there tell us of other men who are safe examples to follow.
God has thus shown very plainly what He considered important by where He has put the italics. The Lord is not a respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of character, and a very good respecter of it, too. Indeed, He does more than respect it. He admires it.
Hear His admiration of the character of Job, in the strongest language that even God can use, in declaring, "He is perfect!"
Abraham towers like mountains above molehills when he pushes aside the spoils of the unrighteous king of Sodom, lest he should say that Abraham was depending on him. Look at Daniel keeping himself pure in that pestilential palace. Look at David.
We are also told that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and that he delighteth in his way; and this, I take it, means in plain English, that God loves to watch a real man go out and grow!
Let me ask you to note, first of all, that David wanted Solomon to be anchored to a noble purpose. He didn't want the young man to drift along in an aimless way, like a log in a whirlpool, but he wanted him to have his eye set on something for which it would be worth his while to spend every energy to reach.
And so with his dying breath he said, "Don't be a mere floater, my son. Don't be a drifter on the stream of time, but stem the current that would carry you down, but be a man."
David himself had been a man of high and lofty purpose. His own life must have been greatly influenced by the character of Moses and the other mighty men of God who had preceded him. That his aim was high and his purpose lofty is clearly evident from his life and his writings.
It is not as accident that he went from the sheep fold to the throne. Success like that never comes about to mere change. One reason why there are so many bones bleaching along the highway of life is those who once started out with bright and shining faces never expect to go anywhere in particular.
David was faithful to all his duties as a shepherd, but he looked higher than that humble calling, and made it a stepping stone. While a shepherd he improved his opportunities, trained his powers and qualified himself to be a king.
David was anxious that Solomon should have a high aim. He wanted him to reach out for the top of the mountain. He didn't want him to be content with a summer house in the valley. He wanted him to own the very best estate in the country where the giants were.
He didn't want him to be an old woman or a sissy sort of a fellow, but a man with knotted muscles on his arms, a big heart in his body and plenty of matter in his head. He wanted him to aim high, as a king's son should, knowing that if his aim was high his endeavor would not be wasted.
He wanted his son to raise his chin high enough to look the sun in the face, and so he said, "Solomon, be a man!"
Manhood - true manhood - princely manhood, like that of David, is one of the grandest things in the world, and it is something that counts as nothing else does.
It does not depend upon the size of the body. There are men of small stature, like Paul and Napoleon, who tower above other men as the mountains above the plain, and there are physical giants who are middle-weights in manhood.
Samson was a giant in stature and a baby in self-control. It was not the Philistines who destroyed Samson. It was Samson himself.
The man who is able to say "no" whenever it should be said is walking in a way that will lead straight to his own good.
Strive to be strong in self-control by making timely decisions about what you are going to do about such important matters as temperance, morality and religion.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 2)
"Be thou strong and show thyself a man" (1 Kings 2:2).
No one can read the Bible in a thoughtful way without being impressed with the fact that it makes much of manhood, and holds it up as something that should be sought after with diligence and perseverance.
In fact the Bible exalts and emphasizes manhood in a remarkable way, and shows that real manhood is a great thing in the world. The book of Genesis contains sixty chapters and covers 2,300 years of human history, and yet one half of it is devoted to telling us about the colossal manhood of Abraham, and a third to that of Joseph.
The story of creation is told in 800 words, but a great deal more space is given to the story of Caleb's rugged manhood. A whole book is occupied with the story of Job, and another with that of Daniel, while long chapters here and there tell us of other men who are safe examples to follow.
God has thus shown very plainly what He considered important by where He has put the italics. The Lord is not a respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of character, and a very good respecter of it, too. Indeed, He does more than respect it. He admires it.
Hear His admiration of the character of Job, in the strongest language that even God can use, in declaring, "He is perfect!"
Abraham towers like mountains above molehills when he pushes aside the spoils of the unrighteous king of Sodom, lest he should say that Abraham was depending on him. Look at Daniel keeping himself pure in that pestilential palace. Look at David.
We are also told that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and that he delighteth in his way; and this, I take it, means in plain English, that God loves to watch a real man go out and grow!
Let me ask you to note, first of all, that David wanted Solomon to be anchored to a noble purpose. He didn't want the young man to drift along in an aimless way, like a log in a whirlpool, but he wanted him to have his eye set on something for which it would be worth his while to spend every energy to reach.
And so with his dying breath he said, "Don't be a mere floater, my son. Don't be a drifter on the stream of time, but stem the current that would carry you down, but be a man."
David himself had been a man of high and lofty purpose. His own life must have been greatly influenced by the character of Moses and the other mighty men of God who had preceded him. That his aim was high and his purpose lofty is clearly evident from his life and his writings.
It is not as accident that he went from the sheep fold to the throne. Success like that never comes about to mere change. One reason why there are so many bones bleaching along the highway of life is those who once started out with bright and shining faces never expect to go anywhere in particular.
David was faithful to all his duties as a shepherd, but he looked higher than that humble calling, and made it a stepping stone. While a shepherd he improved his opportunities, trained his powers and qualified himself to be a king.
David was anxious that Solomon should have a high aim. He wanted him to reach out for the top of the mountain. He didn't want him to be content with a summer house in the valley. He wanted him to own the very best estate in the country where the giants were.
He didn't want him to be an old woman or a sissy sort of a fellow, but a man with knotted muscles on his arms, a big heart in his body and plenty of matter in his head. He wanted him to aim high, as a king's son should, knowing that if his aim was high his endeavor would not be wasted.
He wanted his son to raise his chin high enough to look the sun in the face, and so he said, "Solomon, be a man!"
Manhood - true manhood - princely manhood, like that of David, is one of the grandest things in the world, and it is something that counts as nothing else does.
It does not depend upon the size of the body. There are men of small stature, like Paul and Napoleon, who tower above other men as the mountains above the plain, and there are physical giants who are middle-weights in manhood.
Samson was a giant in stature and a baby in self-control. It was not the Philistines who destroyed Samson. It was Samson himself.
The man who is able to say "no" whenever it should be said is walking in a way that will lead straight to his own good.
Strive to be strong in self-control by making timely decisions about what you are going to do about such important matters as temperance, morality and religion.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, March 16, 2019
The Lord Our Righteousness
The Lord Our Righteousness
Wonderful words! May I use them? May I say this? Will it not be presumption in one like me - so unworthy and sinful? No, there is no presumption in doing what God says we may do. Every believer in Christ may say to Him, "The Lord our righteousness," for this is one of the name given to Christ in the Bible: "This is His name by which He shall be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jeremiah 23:6).
Reader, do you believe with the heart on the Lord Jesus Christ? Then take to yourself all the comfort of this name of His. He is your righteousness. You are joined to Him, as a branch to the vine ("I am the vine, you are the branches" John 15:5); not for any goodness of yours, but simply through your faith in Him. And because you are thus joined to Him, He is your righteousness: Christ is righteousness to every believer for He "became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).
But what does this mean, that Christ is our righteousness? Just this: that the union between Christ and believers is so complete, that His righteousness is accounted theirs - imputed to them, or set to their account. They are not righteous in themselves, far from it; they are still sinful, weak, and imperfect. But being in Christ, they are no longer looked on by God as what they are in themselves - but as what they are in Him. Thus He is their righteousness.
This doctrine is not received by all. To some it seems "foolishness," "a hard saying," a doctrine which is unmeaning, confused, and impossible. But to him who really feels his need - it is full of comfort, for it gives him what he needs. Would anything short of this meet his case? If he was only almost holy - could he stand before God in judgment? Would not the least remnant of sin, be enough to drive him from the presence of Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity? But when a perfect righteousness is imputed or reckoned to him - then and only then he can appear before God with acceptance.
Now this is perfect righteousness, for "the Lord" is our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah Himself. What an answer is this to the evil spirit, the accuser, when he sets our sins in array against us and tries to frighten us from our faith! What an answer will this be in that great day when he will hurl his last dart at us and accuse us for the last time before the Judge of the living and dead! What an answer has God Himself put into our mouth: "The Lord our Righteousness!" The Holy Spirit authorizes every believer to make these words his own: "The Lord our righteousness."
Believer, let not weakness of faith or slowness of heart rob you of this comfort. The peace of your soul rests on that great substitution which has been made, a double substitution: Christ standing in your place - and you standing in His. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us - that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). He stood between you and the wrath of God, bore your burden, endured your stripes, paid your debt; and He puts you, as it were, into His place instead of your own. Therefore, though sinful, your are looked upon as holy - yes, perfectly holy, without a spot of guilt, because clad in the robe of Christ's righteousness. Oh, how happy this will make you, and how active in serving God! Happy, for you will walk in the light of God's countenance; active, for you will feel a spring of motive within, constraining you to the service, the loving service, of Him who stood in your stead and has become the Lord your righteousness.
There must be a linking of faith between Christ and the soul. If this is lacking - then there is no union with Christ, and so no righteousness imputed. If there is no faith, no living faith in Jesus, no looking to Him, no resting of the heart on Him - then all is vain; the Lord is not the righteousness of anyone in such a state. And how can you stand before God, unless the Lord Jesus Christ is your righteousness?
Even now, if you could see God as He is, and see yourself also as you are - you would tremble to think of His eye being always upon you, seeing all you that do and think. But ah! What will you do and how will you feel - on that great day when you must stand before the Judge and see Him face to face? When the books are opened; when numbers will be saying "to the mountains and rocks: Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" (Rev. 6:16). How will you be able to stand in that great day of His wrath, unless the Lord is your righteousness?
No righteousness but His will serve you then; no name but His will avail you. Will you find yourself without a "wedding garment?" "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" (Matt. 22:13). Be wise. Think of that day before it comes. Seek now, and at once, to have the Lord Jesus Christ for your righteousness. Seek a personal interest in Him, a living union. Be content with NO outward religion, but seek to be a branch of the true vine. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). Then you need fear nothing - for having Christ, you will have all.
~Francis Bourdillon~
(The End)
Wonderful words! May I use them? May I say this? Will it not be presumption in one like me - so unworthy and sinful? No, there is no presumption in doing what God says we may do. Every believer in Christ may say to Him, "The Lord our righteousness," for this is one of the name given to Christ in the Bible: "This is His name by which He shall be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jeremiah 23:6).
Reader, do you believe with the heart on the Lord Jesus Christ? Then take to yourself all the comfort of this name of His. He is your righteousness. You are joined to Him, as a branch to the vine ("I am the vine, you are the branches" John 15:5); not for any goodness of yours, but simply through your faith in Him. And because you are thus joined to Him, He is your righteousness: Christ is righteousness to every believer for He "became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).
But what does this mean, that Christ is our righteousness? Just this: that the union between Christ and believers is so complete, that His righteousness is accounted theirs - imputed to them, or set to their account. They are not righteous in themselves, far from it; they are still sinful, weak, and imperfect. But being in Christ, they are no longer looked on by God as what they are in themselves - but as what they are in Him. Thus He is their righteousness.
This doctrine is not received by all. To some it seems "foolishness," "a hard saying," a doctrine which is unmeaning, confused, and impossible. But to him who really feels his need - it is full of comfort, for it gives him what he needs. Would anything short of this meet his case? If he was only almost holy - could he stand before God in judgment? Would not the least remnant of sin, be enough to drive him from the presence of Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity? But when a perfect righteousness is imputed or reckoned to him - then and only then he can appear before God with acceptance.
Now this is perfect righteousness, for "the Lord" is our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah Himself. What an answer is this to the evil spirit, the accuser, when he sets our sins in array against us and tries to frighten us from our faith! What an answer will this be in that great day when he will hurl his last dart at us and accuse us for the last time before the Judge of the living and dead! What an answer has God Himself put into our mouth: "The Lord our Righteousness!" The Holy Spirit authorizes every believer to make these words his own: "The Lord our righteousness."
Believer, let not weakness of faith or slowness of heart rob you of this comfort. The peace of your soul rests on that great substitution which has been made, a double substitution: Christ standing in your place - and you standing in His. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us - that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). He stood between you and the wrath of God, bore your burden, endured your stripes, paid your debt; and He puts you, as it were, into His place instead of your own. Therefore, though sinful, your are looked upon as holy - yes, perfectly holy, without a spot of guilt, because clad in the robe of Christ's righteousness. Oh, how happy this will make you, and how active in serving God! Happy, for you will walk in the light of God's countenance; active, for you will feel a spring of motive within, constraining you to the service, the loving service, of Him who stood in your stead and has become the Lord your righteousness.
There must be a linking of faith between Christ and the soul. If this is lacking - then there is no union with Christ, and so no righteousness imputed. If there is no faith, no living faith in Jesus, no looking to Him, no resting of the heart on Him - then all is vain; the Lord is not the righteousness of anyone in such a state. And how can you stand before God, unless the Lord Jesus Christ is your righteousness?
Even now, if you could see God as He is, and see yourself also as you are - you would tremble to think of His eye being always upon you, seeing all you that do and think. But ah! What will you do and how will you feel - on that great day when you must stand before the Judge and see Him face to face? When the books are opened; when numbers will be saying "to the mountains and rocks: Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" (Rev. 6:16). How will you be able to stand in that great day of His wrath, unless the Lord is your righteousness?
No righteousness but His will serve you then; no name but His will avail you. Will you find yourself without a "wedding garment?" "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" (Matt. 22:13). Be wise. Think of that day before it comes. Seek now, and at once, to have the Lord Jesus Christ for your righteousness. Seek a personal interest in Him, a living union. Be content with NO outward religion, but seek to be a branch of the true vine. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). Then you need fear nothing - for having Christ, you will have all.
~Francis Bourdillon~
(The End)
Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 7
Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 7
Think of Judas - the incarnation of infamy today! Shakespeare called him "the base Judean who sold a pearl richer than all his tribe." Judas, given a great opportunity by Christ Himself, had part of "the ministry and apostleship on which angels longed to serve." Did not this position place its participant on a level with Moses and Elijah?
But the glory of this individual began to grow dim when he began to wonder about the course that Jesus chose in refusing the kingship and in antagonizing the rulers. The glory grew even dimmer when he began to worry about the future - and dimmer still when he began to pilfer the bag. And his glory departed completely when he when he went out into the night to bargain to betray Jesus for the price of a hog! Truly over it all you can write: "Thy glory hath departed."
And think of Lot - called just and righteous. "And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day, with their unlawful deeds.) "He was driven to Egypt when famine came, yet his soul in many ways became a famished soul. A business man, an opportunist, maker of a bad choice that he thought was a good choice. He certainly added no brightness to manhood's torch by marrying a woman of Sodom - the wickedest city mentioned in man's literature, hopelessly corrupt. Lot escaped with only his family when God burned Sodom to the ground. Lot's last act was one of incest. From his daughters came the nations of Ammon and Moab.
And think of Saul - first king of Israel. His glory, which was as a burning bush of splendor, faded into lusterless cold ashes. Let us see what the Scriptures tell us: "And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua, Saul's sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armour bearer, "Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his Armour bearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it" (1 Samuel 31:2-4).
Again and again, with tragic repetition, do the pages of history testify that individuals who once gave light as steady stars came to the time and place where their light was the flame of a fluttering candle. In our churches we see people who once served faithfully who proved their kinship with Demas - to the hurt of some and to the sorrow of many. In some homes we have those who once held as sacred the marital vow who have gone as wild as the winds which know no barriers in making these vows perjury. "Tis true that many know not, or, if knowing, give no heed to the truth that to leave Jesus out of his life is to say goodbye to glory. Against all things and against all evils that bring people to the place and time where they say goodbye to glory,
I would that all men would take an unwavering stand remembering God's promise:
"And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee" (Jeremiah 1:19).
~Robert G. Lee~
(The End)
Think of Judas - the incarnation of infamy today! Shakespeare called him "the base Judean who sold a pearl richer than all his tribe." Judas, given a great opportunity by Christ Himself, had part of "the ministry and apostleship on which angels longed to serve." Did not this position place its participant on a level with Moses and Elijah?
But the glory of this individual began to grow dim when he began to wonder about the course that Jesus chose in refusing the kingship and in antagonizing the rulers. The glory grew even dimmer when he began to worry about the future - and dimmer still when he began to pilfer the bag. And his glory departed completely when he when he went out into the night to bargain to betray Jesus for the price of a hog! Truly over it all you can write: "Thy glory hath departed."
And think of Lot - called just and righteous. "And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day, with their unlawful deeds.) "He was driven to Egypt when famine came, yet his soul in many ways became a famished soul. A business man, an opportunist, maker of a bad choice that he thought was a good choice. He certainly added no brightness to manhood's torch by marrying a woman of Sodom - the wickedest city mentioned in man's literature, hopelessly corrupt. Lot escaped with only his family when God burned Sodom to the ground. Lot's last act was one of incest. From his daughters came the nations of Ammon and Moab.
And think of Saul - first king of Israel. His glory, which was as a burning bush of splendor, faded into lusterless cold ashes. Let us see what the Scriptures tell us: "And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua, Saul's sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armour bearer, "Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his Armour bearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it" (1 Samuel 31:2-4).
Again and again, with tragic repetition, do the pages of history testify that individuals who once gave light as steady stars came to the time and place where their light was the flame of a fluttering candle. In our churches we see people who once served faithfully who proved their kinship with Demas - to the hurt of some and to the sorrow of many. In some homes we have those who once held as sacred the marital vow who have gone as wild as the winds which know no barriers in making these vows perjury. "Tis true that many know not, or, if knowing, give no heed to the truth that to leave Jesus out of his life is to say goodbye to glory. Against all things and against all evils that bring people to the place and time where they say goodbye to glory,
I would that all men would take an unwavering stand remembering God's promise:
"And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee" (Jeremiah 1:19).
~Robert G. Lee~
(The End)
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 6
Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 6
Can there be a real Christian home without union with the church? Can there be Christian homes without churchgoing as a habit as well as a duty and a privilege?
Jesus had the habit of churchgoing, for "tis written: "He was in the synagogue as was His custom on the Sabbath day."
When I was a boy it as was natural to go to church on Sunday as it was to work on Monday or to play games on Saturday afternoon, but the present idea is that it is a terrible thing, a species of mental and physical punishment.
Dr. Macartney tells how when Grover Cleveland lay dying at Princeton, his mind reverted not to any of the fierce political battles through which he had passed, nor to the presidential honors and burdens which he had borne, but to the old home in the Presbyterian manse, where his minister father at family worship prayed for the eternal salvation of his children.
The dying man asked that a copy of the hymnbook out of which they used to sing be procured, so that with its music and its memories he might face the eternal world. And then this great preacher says:
"All kinds of doctors are abroad today with all kinds of remedies for our national and social diseases, but a filled family pew in God's house on the Lord's day is the best thing that an ever happen to a family, a city, or a nation."
An Individual May Lose the Glory
It is possible for an individual so to live that it can be said in earth and declared in Heaven: "Thy glory has departed" - as light departs from a lamp in which there is no oil, as fruitfulness departs from a tree wherein is no sap.
The old poet must have had some experience of this truth when he wrote:
I remember, I remember,
But now 'tis little joy
To know I'm farther off from Heaven
Than when I was a boy.
What tragedy when "Ichabod" - "Thy glory hath departed" - is written above and over a once believing heart! What sorrow sufficient to make angels weep - when "thy glory hath departed "is the autobiography of a life once faithful, once loyal, once devoted. What cause for grief when the life once a life of unselfish service becomes a life of stagnant selfishness - a life that centers in self. What tragedy for earth and man and God when the life once possessed of the fruit of the Spirit - "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, faith, self-control" - is now a life in which is manifest the works of the flesh - "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like.
Yet that you see, that you find, in the lives of some individuals who have gone from us - and in the lives of some who now live in our midst. So many who call themselves Christians have lost the old-time glow. With them the sacred fervor of other years is lacking.
Men and women there are who once believed in prayer and believed that we forfeit peace and bear needless pain because we do not carry everything to God in prayer; but now they are prayerless altogether or are weak in prayer and look upon it as a useless exercise.
People I know who, when they were young, believed the Bible to be the Word of God - infinite in scope, infallible in authority, regenerative in power, personal in application - who now say that it is a book of myths and allegories. Of them "tis tragically true they have hewn themselves cisterns where no water is and have forsaken the fountain of living waters.
I know young people who have attended schools that once, in the days of our forefathers, were bulwarks for the most holy faith. Entering these schools they were believers in the miraculous and the supernatural, but now, deceived by the evil seducers who wooed and won them with strange and fantastic myths, they are adrift - without chart or compass.
From them the glory hath departed, even as it had departed from schools which serve the devil in the livery of Heaven. Instead of believing the certainties of God's Word, they put their trust in the unscriptural surmises of men. Instead of feeding on God's Word, they have grown lean on the diet of guips given them by those who, calling themselves scholarly teachers, plant "probabilities" and "perhapses" and "maybes" or "not-at-alls" in the minds of youth.
Thus has glory departed from the teachers and from the taught. Thus has glory departed from the schools in which there teachers teach. The students so taught and the teachers who, like vandals, break into the house of their faith should realize that man's wisdom is to be laughed at.
~Robert G. Lee~
(continued with # 7)
Can there be a real Christian home without union with the church? Can there be Christian homes without churchgoing as a habit as well as a duty and a privilege?
Jesus had the habit of churchgoing, for "tis written: "He was in the synagogue as was His custom on the Sabbath day."
When I was a boy it as was natural to go to church on Sunday as it was to work on Monday or to play games on Saturday afternoon, but the present idea is that it is a terrible thing, a species of mental and physical punishment.
Dr. Macartney tells how when Grover Cleveland lay dying at Princeton, his mind reverted not to any of the fierce political battles through which he had passed, nor to the presidential honors and burdens which he had borne, but to the old home in the Presbyterian manse, where his minister father at family worship prayed for the eternal salvation of his children.
The dying man asked that a copy of the hymnbook out of which they used to sing be procured, so that with its music and its memories he might face the eternal world. And then this great preacher says:
"All kinds of doctors are abroad today with all kinds of remedies for our national and social diseases, but a filled family pew in God's house on the Lord's day is the best thing that an ever happen to a family, a city, or a nation."
An Individual May Lose the Glory
It is possible for an individual so to live that it can be said in earth and declared in Heaven: "Thy glory has departed" - as light departs from a lamp in which there is no oil, as fruitfulness departs from a tree wherein is no sap.
The old poet must have had some experience of this truth when he wrote:
I remember, I remember,
But now 'tis little joy
To know I'm farther off from Heaven
Than when I was a boy.
What tragedy when "Ichabod" - "Thy glory hath departed" - is written above and over a once believing heart! What sorrow sufficient to make angels weep - when "thy glory hath departed "is the autobiography of a life once faithful, once loyal, once devoted. What cause for grief when the life once a life of unselfish service becomes a life of stagnant selfishness - a life that centers in self. What tragedy for earth and man and God when the life once possessed of the fruit of the Spirit - "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, faith, self-control" - is now a life in which is manifest the works of the flesh - "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like.
Yet that you see, that you find, in the lives of some individuals who have gone from us - and in the lives of some who now live in our midst. So many who call themselves Christians have lost the old-time glow. With them the sacred fervor of other years is lacking.
Men and women there are who once believed in prayer and believed that we forfeit peace and bear needless pain because we do not carry everything to God in prayer; but now they are prayerless altogether or are weak in prayer and look upon it as a useless exercise.
People I know who, when they were young, believed the Bible to be the Word of God - infinite in scope, infallible in authority, regenerative in power, personal in application - who now say that it is a book of myths and allegories. Of them "tis tragically true they have hewn themselves cisterns where no water is and have forsaken the fountain of living waters.
I know young people who have attended schools that once, in the days of our forefathers, were bulwarks for the most holy faith. Entering these schools they were believers in the miraculous and the supernatural, but now, deceived by the evil seducers who wooed and won them with strange and fantastic myths, they are adrift - without chart or compass.
From them the glory hath departed, even as it had departed from schools which serve the devil in the livery of Heaven. Instead of believing the certainties of God's Word, they put their trust in the unscriptural surmises of men. Instead of feeding on God's Word, they have grown lean on the diet of guips given them by those who, calling themselves scholarly teachers, plant "probabilities" and "perhapses" and "maybes" or "not-at-alls" in the minds of youth.
Thus has glory departed from the teachers and from the taught. Thus has glory departed from the schools in which there teachers teach. The students so taught and the teachers who, like vandals, break into the house of their faith should realize that man's wisdom is to be laughed at.
~Robert G. Lee~
(continued with # 7)
Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 5
Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 5
When a young girl dresses so skimpily they attract the attention of every google-eyed man and boy - do not their mothers the same?
When boys argue over the relative "values" and "quick-stirring" powers of advertised brands of liquor - do not their fathers drink booze and vote for legalizing it, forgetting that you can control a powder can in a fire as easily as you can control booze?
Is there not too much laxness on the part of parents toward spiritual values? Often children are allowed to stay out of Sunday School and to miss church services - to remain in almost complete ignorance of the spiritual values. Is it not perilous to children, this easy-come, easy-go attitude of parents? Is not the use of intoxicating beverages one of the greatest evils responsible for juvenile delinquency?
Are not children from homes where indiscriminate drinking is done sent out to "play the game" with two strikes against them? Do not thinking people believe that youth delinquency would be negligible if it were not for delinquent adults, especially delinquent parents? Can one pass judgment on these young people without indictment of ourselves for failure somewhere down the line?
Do not boys and girls get into trouble when too much leisure time is theirs?
Are not city governments extremely unwise to say they have no money for further improvement of playgrounds while they allot large sums of taxpayers money for the cost of punishing the youth for committing crimes?
Is it not shortsightedness bordering on imbecility to pay so much for the cost of juvenile delinquency and so little for its prevention?
Some months ago Judge Edmond P. Mahoney, Municipal Court, Portland, Maine said: "Any law should be so framed to penalize the delinquent parent as well as the delinquent child... We must first give God His rightful place in the American home... Until the cardinal principles of God are implanted in the hearts of the youth of our nation...until there is instilled in the hearts of the parents of these youth of our nation a God-like sense of responsibility in that home, we shall continue to experience wave upon wave of crime, mounting and growing steadily day by day, until it reaches a magnitude beyond the scope of the law-enforcement agencies and the American people to control."
But if parents distinguish themselves by the profession of truth, the worship of God, the practice of virtue, they will be sure to draw others after them; whereas if they are irreligious and un-Christian, they are infested fountains that poison. Parents can no more dispense with personal piety without malicious influence on children than a tree can dispense with sap and bear fruit.
Adam and Eve sinned! And Cain became a murderer. Had they not sinned, Abel would have lived. If a rock is a quotation from the quarry, if a flower is a quotation from the garden, if a tree is a quotation from the forest, if a bird is a quotation from the flock, if every child is a quotation of his parents - what sort do the children make make?
Today the situation is desperate. Character is at a premium in the land. Criminality of all kinds is rampant. The daily prints are filled with record of deeds almost too revolting for public consumption.
An ever-rising wave of lawlessness is hurling its weight against the bulwarks of the nation. Much of this is because of godless homes - because too many fathers and mothers have abdicated.
Now parents ought to rejoice for the opportunity of living close to God, of hearing the motion of angel's wings in the patter of little children, and of being Christlike in the home.
Glory in the home is made secure when Christian conduct is evident. Unless you serve God yourselves as parents you will plant vines on which will grow grapes of bitterness. "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?" (Ezekiel 18:2).
Nothing is so infectious as example: "We can do more good by being good than in any other way". "A father who whipped his son for swearing and swore while he whipped him, did more harm by his example than good by his correction". "Noble examples stir us up to noble actions". "Live with wolves and you will learn to howl."
A drinking or drunken father is a poor preacher of sobriety to sons. A proud father is a miserable recommender of humility to sons. They will do as you do rather than as you say. Your example will counteract all the effect of your counsel - and all the convictions you would fix in the mind will fall like arrows from an impenetrable shield. You should therefore begin "both to do and to teach."
You should be able, in a humble measure, at least, to say to those under your care: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ..." "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God? (Romans 2:21-23).
If parents suffered their children to go naked, to beg their bread, to lie unattended in sickness, to perish with hunger in a ditch, they would be shunned as monsters. But parents act a far more criminal and a far more infamous part by disregarding their spiritual and everlasting welfare.
Doubtless Herod, after killing the infants in Bethlehem, was viewed and shunned with horror. But he was far less cruel than some modern parents. He only destroyed the body.
"But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (1 Timothy 5:8).
Let us remember and teach others to remember - lest glory depart from our dwellings - that there is a difference in a house and a home: that a house is built by human hands but a home is built by human hearts, that a house is built of visible materials but a home is built of the invisible things of the Spirit; that a house may be destroyed, but fire and flood and earthquake and storm can not destroy a real home; that there is only one calamity can ruin a home, the death of love; that the real food of a home is not meat and bread but thoughtfulness and unselfishness.
The basis for Christianity in the home, the preventative of departed glory, is Jesus and the Church.
~Robert G. Lee~
(continued with # 6)
When a young girl dresses so skimpily they attract the attention of every google-eyed man and boy - do not their mothers the same?
When boys argue over the relative "values" and "quick-stirring" powers of advertised brands of liquor - do not their fathers drink booze and vote for legalizing it, forgetting that you can control a powder can in a fire as easily as you can control booze?
Is there not too much laxness on the part of parents toward spiritual values? Often children are allowed to stay out of Sunday School and to miss church services - to remain in almost complete ignorance of the spiritual values. Is it not perilous to children, this easy-come, easy-go attitude of parents? Is not the use of intoxicating beverages one of the greatest evils responsible for juvenile delinquency?
Are not children from homes where indiscriminate drinking is done sent out to "play the game" with two strikes against them? Do not thinking people believe that youth delinquency would be negligible if it were not for delinquent adults, especially delinquent parents? Can one pass judgment on these young people without indictment of ourselves for failure somewhere down the line?
Do not boys and girls get into trouble when too much leisure time is theirs?
Are not city governments extremely unwise to say they have no money for further improvement of playgrounds while they allot large sums of taxpayers money for the cost of punishing the youth for committing crimes?
Is it not shortsightedness bordering on imbecility to pay so much for the cost of juvenile delinquency and so little for its prevention?
Some months ago Judge Edmond P. Mahoney, Municipal Court, Portland, Maine said: "Any law should be so framed to penalize the delinquent parent as well as the delinquent child... We must first give God His rightful place in the American home... Until the cardinal principles of God are implanted in the hearts of the youth of our nation...until there is instilled in the hearts of the parents of these youth of our nation a God-like sense of responsibility in that home, we shall continue to experience wave upon wave of crime, mounting and growing steadily day by day, until it reaches a magnitude beyond the scope of the law-enforcement agencies and the American people to control."
But if parents distinguish themselves by the profession of truth, the worship of God, the practice of virtue, they will be sure to draw others after them; whereas if they are irreligious and un-Christian, they are infested fountains that poison. Parents can no more dispense with personal piety without malicious influence on children than a tree can dispense with sap and bear fruit.
Adam and Eve sinned! And Cain became a murderer. Had they not sinned, Abel would have lived. If a rock is a quotation from the quarry, if a flower is a quotation from the garden, if a tree is a quotation from the forest, if a bird is a quotation from the flock, if every child is a quotation of his parents - what sort do the children make make?
Today the situation is desperate. Character is at a premium in the land. Criminality of all kinds is rampant. The daily prints are filled with record of deeds almost too revolting for public consumption.
An ever-rising wave of lawlessness is hurling its weight against the bulwarks of the nation. Much of this is because of godless homes - because too many fathers and mothers have abdicated.
Now parents ought to rejoice for the opportunity of living close to God, of hearing the motion of angel's wings in the patter of little children, and of being Christlike in the home.
Glory in the home is made secure when Christian conduct is evident. Unless you serve God yourselves as parents you will plant vines on which will grow grapes of bitterness. "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?" (Ezekiel 18:2).
Nothing is so infectious as example: "We can do more good by being good than in any other way". "A father who whipped his son for swearing and swore while he whipped him, did more harm by his example than good by his correction". "Noble examples stir us up to noble actions". "Live with wolves and you will learn to howl."
A drinking or drunken father is a poor preacher of sobriety to sons. A proud father is a miserable recommender of humility to sons. They will do as you do rather than as you say. Your example will counteract all the effect of your counsel - and all the convictions you would fix in the mind will fall like arrows from an impenetrable shield. You should therefore begin "both to do and to teach."
You should be able, in a humble measure, at least, to say to those under your care: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ..." "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God? (Romans 2:21-23).
If parents suffered their children to go naked, to beg their bread, to lie unattended in sickness, to perish with hunger in a ditch, they would be shunned as monsters. But parents act a far more criminal and a far more infamous part by disregarding their spiritual and everlasting welfare.
Doubtless Herod, after killing the infants in Bethlehem, was viewed and shunned with horror. But he was far less cruel than some modern parents. He only destroyed the body.
"But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (1 Timothy 5:8).
Let us remember and teach others to remember - lest glory depart from our dwellings - that there is a difference in a house and a home: that a house is built by human hands but a home is built by human hearts, that a house is built of visible materials but a home is built of the invisible things of the Spirit; that a house may be destroyed, but fire and flood and earthquake and storm can not destroy a real home; that there is only one calamity can ruin a home, the death of love; that the real food of a home is not meat and bread but thoughtfulness and unselfishness.
The basis for Christianity in the home, the preventative of departed glory, is Jesus and the Church.
~Robert G. Lee~
(continued with # 6)
Saturday, March 2, 2019
Dear Gently...
Deal Gently...
"And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, "Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom" (2 Samuel 18:5).
Recently in my regular Bible reading I came to that tender appeal of King David to his generals as they were going forth to fight with Absalom: "Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom:" (2 Samuel 18:5), and my heart was touched with its likeness to Jesus.
Absalom was in rebellion against David the king, his father, and driven him forth from his throne, had outraged his father's marital ties, had sacrificed filial affection and trampled upon filial and civic duty, and was now seeking his father's life. But David knew him only as his wayward boy, loved him still, and commanded his warriors to deal gently with him in the coming battle. He would have the rebellion crushed, but the rebel saved; the sin destroyed, but the sinner rescued.
How like Jesus that is! Is not that the way Jesus feels toward the most desperate backslider, the most careless sinner? Does not His heart yearn over them with unutterable tenderness? And is not this written for our admonition? Does He not say to us, "Deal gently for My sake"?
The battle went against Absalom that day, and hard-hearted, willful, stubborn, old Joab slew him deliberately in spite of the king's wish. And so it often is today. Joab's tribe has increased, and while Jesus would have the backslider and sinner dealt with gently, Joab rises up and trusts him through with reproaches and bitter words and sharp looks, slays him utterly, and the heart of Jesus is broken afresh, as was the heart of David. The elder brother, with his ungenerous jealousy and cruel words and hardness of heart, as surely grieved the loving old father as did the prodigal with his riotous living.
There are many reasons why we should deal gently.
1. That we may be like Jesus. When Peter denied Jesus and cursed and swore, Jesus loved him still, and turned and gave him a tender look that broke Peter's heart, and he went out and wept bitterly. And after the resurrection Jesus did not rebuke and reproach Peter, but tenderly asked him, "Lovest thou Me?" and then commissioned him to feed His lambs and sheep. Should we then, who at our best are only "sinners saved by grace," despise the example of our Lord, and deal with His sheep that have gone astray? Since He has freely forgiven us our ten thousand talents, shall we not forgive our brother a hundred pence? (Matthew 18:23-35).
2. We should deal gently with them lest we ourselves grieve the Spirit and become backsliders. Paul wrote to the brethren in Galatia, saying, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." (Gal. 6:1). I have noticed that when professing Christians bear hard upon backsliders it is usually only a question of time when they themselves shall backslide. In fact, it is pretty certain that they are already backsliders in heart. In the very act of killing the rebellious Absalom Joab himself rebelled against the expressed wish and command of his king, though he did it under the cloak of loyalty.
3. We should deal gently that we may save the backslider. Jesus loves him still, is married to him, seeks him continually and waits to forgive him and cleanse him and restore to him the joy of salvation the moment he returns, and we must not hinder, but help. But we shall win him.
Firmness of manner may unite with great gentleness of spirit. I may be as tender in spirit in warning and commanding my child to beware of the fire, as I am in soothing him after he is burned.
While harshness and severity will only harden the wanderer from God on the one hand, a gospel of gush will fill him with indifference or contempt on the other. The soul-winner, then must not have the hardness and brittleness of glass or cast iron, nor the malleability of wrought iron or putty, but rather strength and flexibility of finest steel that will bend but never break, that will yield and yet retain its own form.
But how shall one who has not this spirit of perfect gentleness secure it? There is but one way. It is a fruit of the Spirit, and is to be had only down at Jesus' feet. Jesus is like a "lamb slain," mutely gentle, and yet again He is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" - firm and strong. He combines the strength of the lion with the gentleness of the lamb.
You then, that would have His Spirit, confess wherein you have it not. Tell Him and ask Him to destroy this carnal mind and give you His mind. (Phil. 2:5). And as you ask, believe. "All things are possible to him that believeth."
To maintain this spirit you must walk in the footsteps of Jesus and feed on His words. Only to those who seek Him day by day with the whole heart, and that with joy, is it given to be like Him in these heavenly tempers and dispositions.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" Amen!
~Samuel Logan Brengle~
(The End)
"And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, "Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom" (2 Samuel 18:5).
Recently in my regular Bible reading I came to that tender appeal of King David to his generals as they were going forth to fight with Absalom: "Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom:" (2 Samuel 18:5), and my heart was touched with its likeness to Jesus.
Absalom was in rebellion against David the king, his father, and driven him forth from his throne, had outraged his father's marital ties, had sacrificed filial affection and trampled upon filial and civic duty, and was now seeking his father's life. But David knew him only as his wayward boy, loved him still, and commanded his warriors to deal gently with him in the coming battle. He would have the rebellion crushed, but the rebel saved; the sin destroyed, but the sinner rescued.
How like Jesus that is! Is not that the way Jesus feels toward the most desperate backslider, the most careless sinner? Does not His heart yearn over them with unutterable tenderness? And is not this written for our admonition? Does He not say to us, "Deal gently for My sake"?
The battle went against Absalom that day, and hard-hearted, willful, stubborn, old Joab slew him deliberately in spite of the king's wish. And so it often is today. Joab's tribe has increased, and while Jesus would have the backslider and sinner dealt with gently, Joab rises up and trusts him through with reproaches and bitter words and sharp looks, slays him utterly, and the heart of Jesus is broken afresh, as was the heart of David. The elder brother, with his ungenerous jealousy and cruel words and hardness of heart, as surely grieved the loving old father as did the prodigal with his riotous living.
There are many reasons why we should deal gently.
1. That we may be like Jesus. When Peter denied Jesus and cursed and swore, Jesus loved him still, and turned and gave him a tender look that broke Peter's heart, and he went out and wept bitterly. And after the resurrection Jesus did not rebuke and reproach Peter, but tenderly asked him, "Lovest thou Me?" and then commissioned him to feed His lambs and sheep. Should we then, who at our best are only "sinners saved by grace," despise the example of our Lord, and deal with His sheep that have gone astray? Since He has freely forgiven us our ten thousand talents, shall we not forgive our brother a hundred pence? (Matthew 18:23-35).
2. We should deal gently with them lest we ourselves grieve the Spirit and become backsliders. Paul wrote to the brethren in Galatia, saying, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." (Gal. 6:1). I have noticed that when professing Christians bear hard upon backsliders it is usually only a question of time when they themselves shall backslide. In fact, it is pretty certain that they are already backsliders in heart. In the very act of killing the rebellious Absalom Joab himself rebelled against the expressed wish and command of his king, though he did it under the cloak of loyalty.
3. We should deal gently that we may save the backslider. Jesus loves him still, is married to him, seeks him continually and waits to forgive him and cleanse him and restore to him the joy of salvation the moment he returns, and we must not hinder, but help. But we shall win him.
Firmness of manner may unite with great gentleness of spirit. I may be as tender in spirit in warning and commanding my child to beware of the fire, as I am in soothing him after he is burned.
While harshness and severity will only harden the wanderer from God on the one hand, a gospel of gush will fill him with indifference or contempt on the other. The soul-winner, then must not have the hardness and brittleness of glass or cast iron, nor the malleability of wrought iron or putty, but rather strength and flexibility of finest steel that will bend but never break, that will yield and yet retain its own form.
But how shall one who has not this spirit of perfect gentleness secure it? There is but one way. It is a fruit of the Spirit, and is to be had only down at Jesus' feet. Jesus is like a "lamb slain," mutely gentle, and yet again He is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" - firm and strong. He combines the strength of the lion with the gentleness of the lamb.
You then, that would have His Spirit, confess wherein you have it not. Tell Him and ask Him to destroy this carnal mind and give you His mind. (Phil. 2:5). And as you ask, believe. "All things are possible to him that believeth."
To maintain this spirit you must walk in the footsteps of Jesus and feed on His words. Only to those who seek Him day by day with the whole heart, and that with joy, is it given to be like Him in these heavenly tempers and dispositions.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" Amen!
~Samuel Logan Brengle~
(The End)
What Shall I Do With Jesus? # 5 (and others)
What Shall I Do With Jesus? # 5 (and others)
Look at Him in His baptism of John, when God the Father stopped making worlds and leaned over the battlements of Heaven and said: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).
Herschel the astronomer was a Christian. So were Jonathan Edwards, Blackstone, Gladstone, Washington, Lincoln, Lee, Queen Victoria, Grant - honored in his tour around the world as no man has ever been honored before. When Grant reached Jerusalem a feast was proposed for him, and he said: "No, not in this city where my Saviour bled and died. Let me get alone; I want to weep."
Look at the love the pure and holy bear Him. "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?"
I am not worshiping a sleeping Christ in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea, but a living, ruling reigning Christ, at the right hand of God, the Christ who is coming to judge the quick and the dead.
"What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" You ought to have to do because of the sacrifice He made for you.
If Shakespeare should enter this tabernacle, we would all stand up and bow. If Jesus Christ should sweep down that aisle, we would all kneel and bow our heads in humility as He swept by in all His regal splendor.
Oh, if Jesus could come down here, I wouldn't let Him get all the way here. I would jump from the platform and go to meet Him. He saved me and my wife and children, and I'll go where He commands me to go, I'll go where He wants me to go. We ought to do that for Him because of the sacrifice He made for us.
Savonarola stood speaking in the square at Florence. The people surged around God's lionhearted preacher who told that gang of ecclesiastical crooks and thugs where to head in. He hurled the anathemas of God at them until they incinerated him to ashes because he dared rebuke their crookedness and their infamy. Savonarola stood preaching. He knew that these were the questions uppermost in the minds of the Italians: What sort of government will emerge from all this? Will it be a Republican form or will it continue the monarchy with the king? The second question was, What will be our religion? Will it be the star and the crescent of the Mohammedan, or will it be the Cross of Jesus Christ?
Those were the questions, and as they all surged to hear him, he climbed on top of his pulpit where the great crowd could see him and cried out, "Jesu Christo al nostero sino salvatoro" - Jesus Christ, our King and Saviour."
Down the streets of Florence they surged. Through every building and every alley they met the oncoming crowd, and they caught the spirit. Out into the country they went until it seemed to leap as by magic from mountain peak to mountain peak, until all Italy rang with the cry: "Jesus Christ is our King and Saviour." Tonight the Cross of Jesus Christ waves over Italy instead of the star and crescent of the Mohammedan.
Oh, Jesus Christ waits to be your King. What is your answer? Are you ready to crown Him? Are you ready to say, "Christ is ours"? Or will you dip the Cross of Jesus into the forces of evil? What is your answer?
Get up and let me look at you. Come on, whoever you are. I don't give a rap where you come from or who you are in the world, come on! Come on!
Don't sit down; come on. You wouldn't sit down if we played the Star Spangled Banner. Come on! The Cross of Jesus Christ is waving over the crowd. Come on, and give me your hand and stand with me.
~Billy Sunday~
(The End)
___________________________
Two Great Things Which Jesus Christ Undertook
Our Lord Jesus Christ, by once suffering, suffered for all the sins of the elect - past, present, and to come. The infinite wrath of God the Father fell on Him, for all the sins of the chosen ones. The wrath of God was infinite wrath, and the sufferings of Christ were infinite sufferings.
All the sins of God's people, in their absolute number, from first to last, were laid upon Christ; who meritoriously purchased perfect remission of all their sins.
There are two great things which Jesus Christ undertook for His redeemed ones. The one was to make full satisfaction to divine justice for all their sins - this He did by His suffering and death. The other was to yield most absolute conformity to the law of God, both in nature and life. By His suffering and death, He has freed all His redeemed ones from hell. By the imputation of His absolute conformity to the law of God, He has qualified all the redeemed ones for heaven.
~Thomas Brooks~
Look at Him in His baptism of John, when God the Father stopped making worlds and leaned over the battlements of Heaven and said: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).
Herschel the astronomer was a Christian. So were Jonathan Edwards, Blackstone, Gladstone, Washington, Lincoln, Lee, Queen Victoria, Grant - honored in his tour around the world as no man has ever been honored before. When Grant reached Jerusalem a feast was proposed for him, and he said: "No, not in this city where my Saviour bled and died. Let me get alone; I want to weep."
Look at the love the pure and holy bear Him. "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?"
I am not worshiping a sleeping Christ in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea, but a living, ruling reigning Christ, at the right hand of God, the Christ who is coming to judge the quick and the dead.
"What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" You ought to have to do because of the sacrifice He made for you.
If Shakespeare should enter this tabernacle, we would all stand up and bow. If Jesus Christ should sweep down that aisle, we would all kneel and bow our heads in humility as He swept by in all His regal splendor.
Oh, if Jesus could come down here, I wouldn't let Him get all the way here. I would jump from the platform and go to meet Him. He saved me and my wife and children, and I'll go where He commands me to go, I'll go where He wants me to go. We ought to do that for Him because of the sacrifice He made for us.
Savonarola stood speaking in the square at Florence. The people surged around God's lionhearted preacher who told that gang of ecclesiastical crooks and thugs where to head in. He hurled the anathemas of God at them until they incinerated him to ashes because he dared rebuke their crookedness and their infamy. Savonarola stood preaching. He knew that these were the questions uppermost in the minds of the Italians: What sort of government will emerge from all this? Will it be a Republican form or will it continue the monarchy with the king? The second question was, What will be our religion? Will it be the star and the crescent of the Mohammedan, or will it be the Cross of Jesus Christ?
Those were the questions, and as they all surged to hear him, he climbed on top of his pulpit where the great crowd could see him and cried out, "Jesu Christo al nostero sino salvatoro" - Jesus Christ, our King and Saviour."
Down the streets of Florence they surged. Through every building and every alley they met the oncoming crowd, and they caught the spirit. Out into the country they went until it seemed to leap as by magic from mountain peak to mountain peak, until all Italy rang with the cry: "Jesus Christ is our King and Saviour." Tonight the Cross of Jesus Christ waves over Italy instead of the star and crescent of the Mohammedan.
Oh, Jesus Christ waits to be your King. What is your answer? Are you ready to crown Him? Are you ready to say, "Christ is ours"? Or will you dip the Cross of Jesus into the forces of evil? What is your answer?
Get up and let me look at you. Come on, whoever you are. I don't give a rap where you come from or who you are in the world, come on! Come on!
Don't sit down; come on. You wouldn't sit down if we played the Star Spangled Banner. Come on! The Cross of Jesus Christ is waving over the crowd. Come on, and give me your hand and stand with me.
~Billy Sunday~
(The End)
___________________________
Two Great Things Which Jesus Christ Undertook
Our Lord Jesus Christ, by once suffering, suffered for all the sins of the elect - past, present, and to come. The infinite wrath of God the Father fell on Him, for all the sins of the chosen ones. The wrath of God was infinite wrath, and the sufferings of Christ were infinite sufferings.
All the sins of God's people, in their absolute number, from first to last, were laid upon Christ; who meritoriously purchased perfect remission of all their sins.
There are two great things which Jesus Christ undertook for His redeemed ones. The one was to make full satisfaction to divine justice for all their sins - this He did by His suffering and death. The other was to yield most absolute conformity to the law of God, both in nature and life. By His suffering and death, He has freed all His redeemed ones from hell. By the imputation of His absolute conformity to the law of God, He has qualified all the redeemed ones for heaven.
~Thomas Brooks~
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