Sunday, January 31, 2016

After Surrender - What? By Oswald Chambers





After Surrender - What?

By Oswald Chambers


'I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.'
John 17:4

Surrender is not the surrender of the external life, but of the will; when that is done, all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great crisis is the surrender of the will. God never crushes a man's will into surrender, He never beseeches him, He waits until the man yields up his will to Him. That battle never needs to be re-fought.

Surrender for Deliverance. "Come unto Me and I will give you rest." It is after we have begun to experience what salvation means that we surrender our wills to Jesus for rest. Whatever is perplexing heart or mind is a call to the will - "Come unto Me." It is a voluntary coming.

Surrender for Devotion. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself." The surrender here is of my self to Jesus, my self with His rest at the heart of it. "If you would be My disciple, give up your right to yourself to Me." Then the remainder of the life is nothing but the manifestation of this surrender. When once the surrender has taken place we never need "suppose" anything. We do not need to care what our circumstances are, Jesus is amply sufficient.

Surrender for Death. John 21:18-19. ". . . another shall gird thee." 


Have you learned what it means to be bound for death? Beware of a surrender which you make to God in an ecstasy; you are apt to take it back again. It is a question of being united with Jesus in His death until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.

After surrender - what? The whole of the life after surrender is an aspiration for unbroken communion with God.



The Acceptable Sacrifice



The Acceptable Sacrifice


By John Bunyan


Table of Contents

    Preface - T H E Acceptable Sacrifice; OR, The Excellency of a Broken Heart: Showing the Nature, Signs, and Proper Effects of a Contrite Spirit. ...read
    Chapter 1 - The Text Opened in the Many Workings of the Heart - THE ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE; OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART. 'THE SACRIFICES OF GOD ARE A BROKEN SPIRIT: A BROKEN AND A CONTRITE HEART, O GOD, ...read
    Chapter 2 - Doctrine, Assertion, Demonstration, and Conclusion - [II. THE DOCTRINE, ASSERTION, DEMONSTRATION, AND CONCLUSION, THAT A BROKEN AND TRULY CONTRITE HEART IS AN EXCELLENT HEART.] But we will demonstrate ...read
    Chapter 3 - What a Broken Heart, and a Contrite Spirit Is - I come now in order to show you what a broken heart and what a contrite spirit is. This must be done, because in the discovery of this lies both the c ...read
    Chapter 4 - The Necessity There is that the Heart Must be Broken - I come, in the next place, to speak to this question. But what necessity is there that the heart must be broken? Cannot a man be saved unless his hea ...read
    Chapter 5 - A Broken Heart is Esteemed by God - [V. THE REASONS WHY A BROKEN HEART IS ESTEEMED BY GOD SUCH AN EXCELLENT THING.] And thus have I done with this, and shall come next to the reasons ...read
    Chapter 6 - Advantages of a Tender Heart - [VI. ADVANTAGES THAT A CHRISTIAN GETS BY KEEPING HIS HEART TENDER.] And here, as in a fit place, before I go any further, I will show you some of t ...read
    Chapter 7 - The Use - Let us now, then, make some use of this doctrine. As, FIRST USE. From the truth of the matter, namely, that the man who is truly come to God has had ...read
    Chapter 8 - Objections Answered - Object. First. But some may object, that in this saying I seem too rigid and censorious; and will, if I moderate not these lines with something milder ...read




The Law of Surrender





By A.W. Tozer


The Bible says that we are to present our bodies "as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God." Of course, if you give your body, you give everything it contains. That means giving yourself wholly to God, and the idea of giving yourself wholly to God contains three laws. 


The first law is the law of surrender. If you do not surrender, it will be totally impossible for the Lord to do anything for you. Surgeons have to have the surrender of their patients. If I went to a surgeon and insisted that I was going to tell him how to do the job and not only that but stay awake and resist him, the surgeon could not work. It would be impossible. Surgeons must put their patients to sleep so they cannot resist, so they are in a state of surrender. That is the law of surrender. 

A more beautiful and biblical description is the story of the potter and the clay, which illustrates the law of surrender further. The potter has soft, yielding clay, but if the clay does not surrender, the potter cannot do a thing with it. If there are burnt places, hard places or unsurrendered places in the clay, though the potter be a genius in making vessels, the artist still could not make anything useful and beautiful out of an unyielding blob of clay. 

It is possible for an object to be useful but not beautiful, like a garbage can. It is also entirely possible to be beautiful and not useful, like the lily. The lily has no utilitarian place in the world. It is possible to have a vessel that is useful without being beautiful. The old cream crocks in our spring house on the farm were useful all right. You could pour the milk in them, wait for the cream to rise and skim it off. They were not beautiful, but they were quite useful. Everybody has in their home beautiful little knickknacks. They are utterly useless, simply to be enjoyed for their beauty. But God wants His vessels to be both useful and beautiful.

 If God is going to make those kinds of vessels out of us, however, we are going to have to yield to the law of surrender. Give yourself to God as a living sacrifice and let Him have you--all of you.


Friday, January 29, 2016

Superstitious Shadows





By A.W. Tozer


Faith honors God by accepting the biblical revelation of the divine character. Faith lets God be what He says He is and adjusts its concepts accordingly. Superstition degrades the reputation of God by believing things unworthy of Him. One rests upon fact and the other upon fancy. 


As I said before, there is probably a streak of superstition in everyone, even in the genuine Christian. Any notions we may have of God that have not been corrected and purified by the Word and the Spirit are likely to have some element of error in them, and the religious beliefs resulting from them will of necessity contain a certain amount of superstition. The Christian who flares indignant at such a statement as this and denies that it describes him is not therefore free from superstition; he merely compounds his faults by adding bigotry and anger to the rest.

But if superstition dishonors God, is it not an evil thing and is not the Christian who harbors it guilty of serious sin against the Majesty in the heavens? . . .



"Thy way is in the sea." Psa 77:19

  George H. Morrison - Devotional Sermons






      The Highway in the Sea
     
      "Thy way is in the sea." Psa 77:19
     
      Doubtless when the psalmist penned our text, his first thought was the crossing of the Red Sea. He was seeking to revive his drooping heart by recalling the saving power of God in Israel's past. But the words of a true poet never end when we have found their literal significance. It is one mark of poetic inspiration that it is capable of indefinite expansion. It is not by narrowing down, it is by widening out, that we get to the real genius of a poet, and the writer of this psalm had the true gift. Thy way is in the sea--were there not glimpses in that of truths which the Exodus never could exhaust? So did the writer feel--so must we all feel--and it is on two of these suggestions that I wish to dwell.
     
      The Sea As an Object of Dread
     
      There were two places above all others dreaded by the Jew. The one was the desert and the other was the sea. The desert--for it was the home of the wild beasts and the haunt of the robbers who plundered the Jewish villages, and it was across the desert that those armies came which besieged Jerusalem and pillaged it. And the sea--because it was full of storms and treachery in Jewish eyes; it was the hungry, cruel, insatiable deep. It is very difficult for us who are an island nation to enter into that feeling of the Jew. The ocean is our defense and our great ally, and we have loved the sound of its waves since we were children. But to the Hebrew it was very different. For him there was no rapture in the lonely shore. He loved his fields and his vineyards and his markets, but the element he dreaded was the sea.
     
      But now comes the voice of the great Jewish singer and says to the people, God's way is in the sea. In the very sphere and element they dread there is the path and purpose of divinity. They loved their gardens and the Lord was there. They loved their vineyards and the Lord was there. In places that were sweet and dear to them, there was the presence of the God of Israel. But nonetheless in the realm of what was terrible and in the regions which they shunned instinctively, there was the ordered path of the Almighty.
     
      I think we should all do well to learn that lesson--God's way is in the very thing we dread. We are so apt to cry that God has forgotten us when the experience which we loathe arrives. We all love health, but we all dread disease. We love success, but we dread disappointment. We love the energy and glow of life, but we dread the silence of death and the cold grave--but the way of the Lord of heaven is in the sea. Believe that He is working out His purposes through what is dark as well as through what is bright. Believe that what is hardest to bear or understand is never disordered nor purposeless nor pathless. What is the object of thy greatest dread, O Hebrew? Is it the sea? "God's way is in the sea."
     
      The Restless Sea
     
      And second, the sea is the element of restlessness. That is a familiar thought in the Old Testament, receiving its noblest and most poetic expression in Psa 107:1-43. It is not easy for us to realize how vividly this thought impressed the ancient world, for the most ignorant among us has been taught by science that nothing in the whole universe is at rest. The earth is flying with tremendous speed around the sun; and the solar system itself is hurrying somewhere; we hardly need to turn to the waves of the sea to get our parable of restless energy. It was very different with the Jew. For him, the earth was fixed under a fixed heaven. It was set fast by the ordering of God. And over against it, in the sharpest of all contrasts, rocked and surged the restless sea. The sea was the element of change, the home of restlessness. One day it was as calm as if it were asleep; the next it was tossed and rent in a storm. It was all that of which a Jew would think when the word came to him that God's way was in the sea.
     
      Now, there is an unrest in our life that is the consequence and issue of our sin. It is as true today as when the prophet wrote it, that "there is no rest for the wicked, saith my God." Let a man deliberately choose the lower levels and yield up the reins to his baser nature, and his whole existence becomes one of great discontent there is nothing of God's way in that.
     
      But there is a restlessness that is inspired; there is a discontent that is divine; there is a spirit within us that will not let us rest, and it is the very spirit of the wind-swept sea; and if there is one thing written clear in human history, it is that the way of God is there.
     
      In one of Shakespeare's sonnets there is a memorable line, "With what I must enjoy, contented least." There can be little doubt, from the connection, that Shakespeare is referring to his plays. "With what I most enjoy, contented least"--then Shakespeare was not satisfied with Hamlet. There is a grand unrest there like the unrest of the ocean, and through the heart of it there runs the track of God. We are not here to be satisfied and indifferent. We shall be satisfied when we awake. We are here to strive and yearn and toil and pray for things that are too large for our three-score years. And in that distressing and yet divine unrest, there is the way and ordering of God. God's way is never in the stagnant pool; His way is ever in the restless sea. It is He who says to us, "This is not your rest." It is He who fills us with eternal hope. It is He who makes us rise after each failure to strive again for what we cannot reach. So we toil on and all we do is fragmentary, but we shall be satisfied in the eternal morning. He keeps us "climbing up the climbing wave" here, but in heaven there shall be no more sea.


"What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter" (John 13:7).

  

Streams in the Desert


Like the Cedars of Lebanon



"What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter" (John 13:7).

We have only a partial view here of God's dealings, His half-completed, half-developed plan; but all will stand out in fair and graceful proportions in the great finished Temple of Eternity! Go, in the reign of Israel's greatest king, to the heights of Lebanon. See that noble cedar, the pride of its compeers, an old wrestler with northern blasts! Summer loves to smile upon it, night spangles its feathery foliage with dewdrops, the birds nestle on its branches, the weary pilgrim or wandering shepherd reposes under its shadows from the midday heat or from the furious storm; but all at once it is marked out to fall; The aged denizen of the forest is doomed to succumb to the woodman's stroke!

As we see the axe making its first gash on its gnarled trunk, then the noble limbs stripped of their branches, and at last the "Tree of God," as was its distinctive epithet, coming with a crash to the ground, we exclaim against the wanton destruction, the demolition of this proud pillar in the temple of nature. We are tempted to cry with the prophet, as if inviting the sympathy of every lowlier stem--invoking inanimate things to resent the affront--"Howl, fir tree; for the cedar has fallen!"

But wait a little. Follow that gigantic trunk as the workmen of Hiram launch it down the mountain side; thence conveyed in rafts along the blue waters of the Mediterranean; and last of all, behold it set a glorious polished beam in the Temple of God. As you see its destination, placed in the very Holy of Holies, in the diadem of the Great King--say, can you grudge that "the crown of Lebanon" was despoiled, in order that this jewel might have so noble a setting?

That cedar stood as a stately prop in Nature's sanctuary, but "the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former!"

How many of our souls are like these cedars of old! God's axes of trial have stripped and bared them. We see no reason for dealings so dark and mysterious, but He has a noble end and object in view; to set them as everlasting pillars and rafters in His Heavenly Zion; to make them a "crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of our God." --Macduff

"I do not ask my cross to understand, My way to see-- Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand, And follow Thee."



"A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident."--Proverbs 14:16

 

J. C. Philpot - Daily Portions




"A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident."--Proverbs 14:16

I believe no living soul can be satisfied with a notional religion: though a miserable backslider, and driven into the fields to feed swine, he cannot feed on their husks, but sighs after the bread of his Father's house. The eyes being enlightened to see the nature of sin, the justice and holiness of God, and the miserable filthiness of self, the quickened soul can find no rest in anything short of a precious discovery of the Lamb of God; and the more that the soul is exercised with trials, difficulties, temptations, doubts, and besetments of various kinds, the more does it feel its need of that blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 


What is a Christian worth without inward trials and exercises? How dead and lifeless are our prayers; how cold and formal when the soul is not kept alive by inward exercises! Where are the sighs, cries, groanings, wrestlings, and breathings of a soul that is at ease in Zion? The world is everything and Christ nothing, when we become settled on our lees, and are not emptied from vessel to vessel; but inward exercises, fears, straits, and temptations stir up the soul to cry, and pray, and beg for mercy. 

The certainty, the power, the reality of eternal things are then felt, when guilt, and wrath, and fear, and disquietude lay hold of the soul. Mere notions alone of Christ, false hope, a dead faith, a presumptuous confidence, a rotten assurance, are all swept away as so many refuges of lies, when the soul is made to feel its nakedness and nothingness, its guilt and helplessness before God. And thus all these inward exercises pave the way for discoveries of Christ--those views of his blood and righteousness, that experimental acquaintance with his Person, love, grace, and work, which is life and peace.


But a few days, for the Love he had. Genesis 29:20



Our Daily Homily




But a few days, for the Love he had. Genesis 29:20

That touch is enough! We can fill in all the rest. This old-world love was of the same quality as our own. Oh, blessed God I what a priceless inheritance this is! Time itself never tedious, but always too short; labor never hard; distance never long; sacrifice unheard of, the word almost in disuse - where Love is queen. This is how we would feel to our dear Lord: so that the missionary away from home and friends, as well as the invalid suffering for Jesus, might feel years of loneliness and pain but a few days, for love of the beloved Master. We may acquire such love thus:-

Meditate much on the love of Jesus. - Sit with the Apostle beneath his cross, and say, each time with deeper appreciation: He loved me, He gave Himself for me. Do not think of your love to Him, but of His. It is well to take the Lord's Supper frequently, as affording opportunities for remembering His dying love.

Be on the alert to detect His love in daily providence and trifles. - It is amazing how much is ever being arranged by His tender thoughtfulness to alleviate and brighten our lot. If you cannot detect it, dare still to believe it.

Ask the Holy Spirit to breathe His love into your heart. - He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit; and when the doors are open between Christ and the soul, the aroma of His love freely enters.

Show His Love to every one. - Whether you like people or not, do to them as He would do; let His love flow through you to them; what we manifest to others for His sake, we shall come to feel toward Him, and them also. "This commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."


An infallible test of our real self

An infallible test of our real self


(J. R. Miller, "Psalm 19" 1912)

We have a beautiful prayer at the close of Psalm 19: 


"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." There could be no higher standard of life, than is set for us in this prayer.

The conduct may be blameless—while the thoughts are stained with sin. It is easier to keep our acts without fault—than to keep our feelings, our desires, and our affections pure. We may do no outward act of cruelty or unkindness; while our hearts may be full of jealousies, envies, and all selfishness. We are to seek that our thoughts be so white and clean—that they will be acceptable in God's sight.

The prayer covers our words, our thoughts, and our meditations; each a closer test than the one before. 


It is a great thing to be faultless in speech—but perfect grammar is not enough. Our words may be beautiful and graceful—and yet our thoughts may be full of hypocrisy, of deceit, of all evil! The prayer here is that our thoughts may please God. This is a higher spiritual attainment, than merely faultless words.

Then, a still higher test of life—is our meditation


Meditations are our deepest thoughts, the quiet ponderings of our hearts. Meditation is almost an obsolete word in these times of hustle and bustle. The word belongs rather to the days when men had much time to think—and think deeply. We meditate when we are alone, when we are shut away from others. Our minds then follow the drift of our own desires, dispositions, and imaginations. If our hearts are clean and good—our meditations are pure and holy. But if our hearts are evil and unclean—our meditations are of the same moral quality. Thus, our meditations are an infallible test of our real self. "As a man thinks in his heart—so is he." Proverbs 23:6

This prayer is, therefore, for a life of the highest character—one acceptable to God, not only in words and thoughts—but also in meditations. Such a life, everyone who loves God and would be like God—should seek to live!




"(but they are but vain words)" Isaiah 36:5


OLD TESTAMENT PARENTHESES (20)

"(but they are but vain words)" Isaiah 36:5

WE have now reached that part of the Old Testament in which there are few parenthetical statements, so perhaps I may be permitted to make use of this one which is only to be found in the Authorised Version.

IT is part of the harangue made by the multilingual Rabshakeh, who was Sennacherib's Public Relations Officer. The all conquering Assyrians found Jerusalem a very hard nut to crack, so they tried cajoling threats when they did not quite know how to use their customary force. This is a constant stratagem of our spiritual enemies, and it is sometimes successful.

THE point of emphasis being made was that it would only be a vain matter of empty words if the Jews claimed to have resources in themselves. 'You are saying', reasoned Rabshakeh, 'that you have counsel and strength for this war, but your claims are absurd.' This would have been quite true if it had been Hezekiah's position, but it was not. He made no such claims.

HAD he made them, it would indeed have been a foolish boast. The might and experience of the Assyrians were all too great for any resistance by puny little Jerusalem. If the Jews had relied on their own skill and strength, they would undoubtedly have been defeated. But they were not defeated. God's people never need be defeated. There is another factor in their spiritual warfare, a factor of which the natural mind has no knowledge. Defeat is turned into total victory when the Lord is brought into the fight.

CLEAR and persuasive as were the arguments of the loud-mouthed Rabshakeh, they in their turn proved to be quite vain, for Hezekiah had ample resources to withstand the attack, though those resources were in the Lord and not in himself.

HEZEKIAH did not say that he had them. He never used the words which the lying Rabshakeh tried to put into his mouth. What he did say was that he had no strength (37:3), his only hope being in God's ability to answer prayer or perhaps in His willingness to do so. Hezekiah himself was not too sanguine. "It may be" he suggested. Isaiah the prophet had a much more robust faith. But little faith or great faith, the two men prayed and sought help from heaven. The answer came quickly and comprehensively (2 Chronicles 32:21). And it was all because they prayed.

IF Hezekiah had said, or even thought, what was alleged by Rabshekah, he would have indeed been frustrated. His words would have been vain. And if we say or think in those terms, imagining that we can tackle the task, there can be no hope of victory for us. Our way, like that of Hezekiah, must be the way of humbling and prayer. What a pity we so seldom take it!
----------------


Friday, January 22, 2016

Disturbing the hornet's nest?

Disturbing the hornet's nest?

(Krummacher, "The Suffering Savior")

The world feels that the teachings of Christ...
  destroy their false peace,
  condemn their carnality, and
  demand the sacrifice of their idols.

Hence they are averse to, and incensed against Him.

The Christian religion disturbs the hornet's
nest, tears away the plasters and coverings
from secret wounds, and awakens conscience,
which had been rendered lethargic by a variety
of magic potions.

Hence their hatred and animosity to it.


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

The Light That Fails





The Light That Fails

By Oswald Chambers


'We all with open face beholding ... the glory of the Lord.'
2 Corinthians 3:18

A servant of God must stand so much alone that he never knows he is alone. In the first phases of Christian life disheartenments come, people who used to be lights flicker out, and those who used to stand with us pass away. We have to get so used to it that we never know we are standing alone. "All men forsook me . . notwithstanding the Lord stood with me" (2 Tim. 4:16-17). We must build our faith, not on the fading light, but on the light that never fails. When "big" men go we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, the one thing that remains is looking in the face of God for ourselves.

Allow nothing to keep you from looking God sternly in the face about yourself and about your doctrine, and every time you preach see that you look God in the face about things first, then the glory will remain all through. A Christian worker is one who perpetually looks in the face of God and then goes forth to talk to people. The characteristic of the ministry of Christ is that of unconscious glory that abides. "Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him."

We are never called on to parade our doubts or to express the hidden ecstasies of our life with God. The secret of the worker's life is that he keeps in tune with God all the time.



Tuesday, January 19, 2016

The Trial of Faith





The Trial of Faith
By Andrew Bonar


Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 1 Peter 1:6,7

The prevailing state of our mind should be great joy - 'Wherein ye greatly rejoice.' Have you got at the Gospel at all if you have not great joy, if it does not every day make you glad? Our joy comes from a great Fountain - Christ Himself. Are you a disciple? Then can you bear to live below this standard? In spite of this joy you may be 'in heaviness through manifold trials.' Indeed, it is your great joy that enables you to bear them. What is the trial of faith? It is the outward pressure of circumstances, the waves dashing upon you as you stand on the Rock of Ages. Christ was tried. He was the crystal vessel, full of the purest water, and Satan was allowed to shake it to see if there was any mud in it, and there was not. The trial of faith came to Abraham in a strange way, threatening to bereave him of his beloved son. Abraham stood the test, and went on step by step till God said, 'Now I know that thou fearest Me,' etc., and the trial ended in 'praise, and honour, and glory.' 


The 'trial of faith' may come in disappointment in those we trusted in; it may come directly from the devil it may come from the state of the church; it may come from persecutions, bonds, imprisonments. It is quite natural to feel these trials. Down in the trough of the wave, then up again on the crest; that was Paul's experience. Then it is only 'for a season.'

I. God's deep interest in the trial of faith. - He says it is much more important than the goldsmith's trial of his gold. It is said that the goldsmith waits till he sees his face reflected in the gold, then he knows it is ready to be taken out. If we had seen with what intense interest the Father watched His beloved Son when He was 'tried' on the mount of temptation and on Mount Calvary! So with the members of His body. It is said, 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints,' and the word is literally 'deathpangs' - what they may be suffering at the time of their death. The Lord watches them with intense interest. You have multiplied trials; are you murmuring? Do you say 'It is very hard'? Would you say that to God? He is standing by and saying, 'See how faith sustains this disciple of mine!' Catch His eye, and you will be able to bear the 'trial.'

II. The result of this process. - 'Unto praise and honour and glory,' etc. This means to our praise, to our honour, to our glory. It will be to God's praise and honour and glory, for we will see that all His ways are excellent. An old Puritan says, 'A stick in the water looks crooked. Take it out, and it is quite straight.' So it will be when we look at God's dealings with us. When we see all, we will say of our bitterest sorrows that it would have been unkind in God not to have sent them. But it will be to our praise and honour and glory too. Angels will serve us all the more willingly because we never permitted a doubt or surmise of God's love to enter our mind. We shall have the greater glory, the more we have borne the trial of our faith. We are to be rewarded, not only for work done, but for burdens borne, and I am not sure but that the brightest rewards will be for those who have borne burdens without murmuring. Are you not often saying, 'Oh, that that day would arrive, when God will reveal His Son Jesus Christ!' On that day He will take the lily that has been growing so long among thorns and lift it up to the glory and wonder of all the universe, and the fragrance of that lily will draw forth ineffable praises from all the hosts of heaven.

Is it not worth while being 'tested' for a season ?


Transcribed from Reminiscences of Andrew A. Bonar D.D.

The Inseparability of Faith and Obedience





The Inseparability of Faith and Obedience


By A.W. Tozer


The truth is that faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin and are always found together in the Scriptures. As well try to pry apart the two sides of a half-dollar as to separate obedience from faith. The two sides, while they remain together and are taken as one, represent good sound currency and constitute legal tender everywhere in the United States. Separate them and they are valueless. Insistence upon honoring but one side of the faith-obedience coin has wrought frightful harm in religious circles.


 Faith has been made everything and obedience nothing. The result among religious persons is moral weakness, spiritual blindness and a slow but constant drift away from New Testament Christianity.
Our Lord made it very plain that spiritual truth cannot be understood until the heart has made a full committal to it. "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own" (John 7:17). The willing and the doing (or at least the willingness to do) come before the knowing. Truth is a strict master and demands obedience before it will unveil its riches to the seeking soul.

For those who want chapter and verse here are a few, and there are plenty more: Matthew 7:21; John 14:21; First John 2:4, 3:24, 5:2; First Peter 1:2; James 2:14-26; Romans 1:5; and Acts 5:32.

To sum it up, saving faith is impossible without willing obedience. To try to have one without the other is to be not a Christian, but a student of Christianity merely.



Justification by Faith, Out of Date?





Justification by Faith, Out of Date?


      We have been saved by grace through faith. The apostle Paul emphatically states, "a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified." (Galatians 2:16).


      Justification is a legal standing with God based upon Christ's death and resurrection and our faith in Him. The word Paul uses (dikaioo), comes from Roman legal courts meaning to declare to be righteous, or to pronounce righteous. Therefore, justification is the legal and formal acquittal from guilt by God who is Judge. It is the pronouncement of the sinner as righteous, who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

      Let's suppose for a moment that I died tonight and stood before the Lord God who is the Supreme Judge of the Universe. No doubt He would ask me, "Wil Pounds, why should I let you into my heaven? You are a guilty sinner. How do you plead?"

      My response would be, "I plead guilty, Your Honor."

      My advocate, Jesus Christ, who is standing there beside me speaks up for me. He says, "Your Honor. It is true that Wil Pounds is a grievous sinner. He is guilty. However, Father, I died for him on the cross and rose from the dead. Wil Pounds has put his faith and trust in Me and all that I have done for Him on the Cross. He is a believer. I died for him, and he has accepted Me as his substitute."

      The Lord God turns to me and says, "Is that true?"

      I will respond to Him, "Yes sir! That is the truth. I am claiming the shed blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse me of all my sins. I have put my faith in Jesus to save me for all eternity. This is what You have promised in Your Word. Jesus said, 'For God so loved the world (and this includes Wil Pounds), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'"

      The Lord God responds: "Acquitted! By order of this court I demand that you be set free. The price has been paid by My Son."

      Furthermore, I get to go home and live with the Judge!

      Justification means that at the moment of salvation God sovereignly declares the believing sinner righteous in His sight. The believing sinner is declared to be righteous in His standing before God. From that moment on throughout life, through death, that sinner who has believed is now and forever right before God. God accepts him, and he stands acquitted of his sins.

      A man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified (Galatians 2:16).


Saturday, January 16, 2016

King of Peace


King of Peace

By Bible Names of God


"After that, also, King of Salem, which is King of peace." Hebrews 7:2

Righteousness is the basis of peace. There is no peace for the wicked. "He is our peace, who hath make both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, and hath made of twain one new man, so making peace." Remember what the King of Peace said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." He dwells in us and we dwell in Him. He came and preached peace. He went to the cross and made peace possible. "Great peace have they which love Thy law."

Oh, Thou King of Peace, may Thy peace which passeth all understanding, garrison our souls this day.. Amen.


Love of the Truth or For the Truth






Love of the Truth or For the Truth

By A.W. Pink


It is not simply a knowledge of the Truth that saves, but a love of it that is the essential prerequisite. This is clear from 2 Thessalonians 2:10, "Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved..."

Since then there is love for the Truth in contradistinction from a love of the Truth, and a natural love for Christ in contrast with a spiritual love of Him, how am I to be sure which mine is? We may distinguish between these "loves" thus.

First, the one is partial, the other is impartial; the one esteems the doctrines of scripture but not the duties it enjoins, the promises of Scripture but not the precepts, the blessings of Christ but not His claims, His priestly office but not His kingly rule; but not so with the spiritual lover.

Second, the one is occasional, the other is regular; the former balks when personal interests are crossed, not so the latter.

Third, the one is evanescent and weak, the other lasting and powerful; the former quickly wanes when other delights compete, and prevails not to control the other affections; the latter rules the heart, and is strong as death.

Fourth, the former betters not its possessor; the latter transforms the life.


Tuesday, January 12, 2016

"Ask and it shall be given you" (Matt. vii. 7).

  
Days of Heaven Upon Earth






      "Ask and it shall be given you" (Matt. vii. 7).
     
      We must receive, as well as ask. We must take the place of believing, and recognize ourselves as in it. A friend was saying, "I want to get into the will of God," and this was the answer: "Will you step into the will of God? And now, are you in the will of God?" The question aroused a thought that had not come before.
     
      The gentleman saw that he had been straining after, but not receiving the blessing he sought.
     
      Jesus has said, "Ask and ye shall receive." The very strain keeps back the blessing. The intense tension of all your spiritual nature so binds you that you are not open to the blessing which God is waiting to give you. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
     
      He tells me there is cleansing
          From every secret sin,
      And a great and full salvation
          To keep the heart within.
      And I take Him in His fulness,
          With all His glorious grace,
      For He says it is mine by taking,
          And I take just what He says.


Sunday, January 10, 2016

"I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness...And I will give her her vineyards from thence" (Hosea 2:14-15).

  
Streams in the Desert





      
Vineyards in the Wilderness
     
      "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness...And I will give her her vineyards from thence" (Hosea 2:14-15).
     
      A strange place to find vineyards--in the wilderness! And can it be that the riches which a soul needs can be obtained in the wilderness, which stands for a lonely place, out of which you can seldom find your way? It would seem so, and not only that, but the "Valley of Achor," which means bitterness, is called a door of hope. And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth!Yes, God knows our need of the wilderness experience. He knows where and how to bring out that which is enduring. The soul has been idolatrous, rebellious; has forgotten God, and with a perfect self-will has said, "I will follow after my lovers." But she did not overtake them. And, when she was hopeless and forsaken, God said, "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." What a loving God is ours! --Crumbs
     
      We never know where God hides His pools. We see a rock, and we cannot guess it is the home of the spring. We see a flinty place, and we cannot tell it is the hiding place of a fountain. God leads me into the hard places, and then I find I have gone into the dwelling place of eternal springs. --Selected


The Fear of the Lord





The Fear of the Lord

By Charles Stanley


Psalm 112:1-9

As we saw yesterday, the fear of the Lord does not have to do with terror or trepidation, but rather refers to appropriate awe and reverence for who God is. It is a quality that we as Christians should seek and nurture. Though we don't hear the expression often enough today, it should still be a great compliment to be known as a God-fearing man or woman.

To fear God produces all manner of fruit in the Christian's life. It leads to our hating evil as God does, and the Bible also tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10) The more we acquire divine understanding, the greater will be our love for the Bible and God's commandments.

In addition to all these assets, we find that the person who learns to fear God will have a strong family (v. 2), with children who grow to be courageous for the truth.

God-fearing people also find that "light arises in the darkness for the upright." (v. 4) This doesn't mean that we will never have dark times or periods of distress in the valley - we will have trials, headaches, and tears like the rest of mankind. But in our hardships, we are promised the light that comes from God's angels of deliverance. These protective messengers encamp around those who fear the Lord. They surround believers above and beneath so that nothing can get at you without divine permission. Ask God to help you have a proper, reverential fear of Him. It is a request He will be pleased to honor.



How to Determine Our Calling






Converts Guide: Chapter 17 - How to Determine Our Calling


      "Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee" (Jer. 1:17).

      In the chapter before us we have one of the most delicate subjects in the catalog of a Christian's experience. The question, no doubt, arises from the heart of the reader: How may one know for a certainty that he is called to the work of the Lord?

      Some of the ways by which this can be determined will be seen in the following lines.

      1. When the Lord calls one to a certain work that person is generally the first one to know it. At times, the thought of the work will be so prominent in his mind and the drawing of the Spirit so great upon his heart that he will not be able to rest night or day.

      2. Usually, whenever people are called of God it can readily be seen in their testimony. Nearly every time they get up to testify they will unintentionally drift into exhorting.

      3. Those who are called of God are given a quick memory, a free delivery, a deep insight into spiritual things, a love for prayer and a passion for souls.

      4. One who is called of God to the ministry does not have to be hired and promised a stipulated amount, but the burden is resting upon him so heavily that he sometimes exclaims with St. Paul, "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel." He is willing to take the job on any terms and thus throw himself into the breach and head someone off from going into the flames of everlasting damnation.

      5. Again, those who have the call upon their hearts can not make themselves satisfied pursuing any other calling in life, neither will they be successful at any other occupation. The holy oil is upon their heads and the call and responsibility will follow them to the grave. No matter if they fly the track and run away from God, yet they will never get away from that peculiar anointing and strange conviction. We believe, even if they go down to hell they will be and feel different from all other human spirits.

      6. Persons who are called of God to preach the gospel can never keep an even, victorious, satisfying experience by pursuing any other occupation. It is true they may become book-agents, solicitors, financial agents, deans, orphan home managers, etc., but there will always be an aching void in their hearts.

      If preachers who are now filling such offices would tell the clean judgment-day truth, they would acknowledge that they do not possess the degree of joy, peace, sweetness, clearness and deep soul satisfaction that they did while devoting their whole time to the ministry of the Word and the salvation of souls. Many of them are placing the blame of their spiritual condition to ill health, domestic trouble, financial pressure, etc., but if they would return to the ministry for just one year there would be as much difference in their spiritual temperature as there is between night and day.


Friday, January 8, 2016

Faith Is What You Want


By Samuel Logan Brengle


Once in one of our holiness meetings I met a sister who was evidently in great spiritual distress, with intense hunger for full salvation. After a few moments' conversation, I felt assured that she was ready to accept the blessing, and so we knelt in prayer; but for some reason our prayers did not prevail. I then asked her if she was sure her consecration was complete. She at once declared it was; she was willing to die for it.

'Then,' said I, 'sister, there are three things you must believe. First, do you believe God is able to sanctify you wholly?'

'Yes.'

'Second. Do you believe He is willing?'

'Yes.'

'Then, with your perfect consecration, there is but one other step to take, and the wonder work of grace will be done. Will you believe that He doeth it? For the promise is: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive (are receiving) them, and ye shall have them' (Mark xi. 24). Will you believe this?'

'But I don't feel that He does.'

'That makes no difference, sister; your faith must precede all feeling.'

'But I can't believe that He has done it.'

'I don't ask you to believe that He has done it, but that He is doing it, in answer to your present faith. You must believe that He doeth it, if ever you are to get the witness of the Spirit. Say, "I will believe God."

'Well, I will try.'

'No, that won't do; you must believe, not try to believe.'

'Well, I am determined to struggle on till the blessing comes.'

'No, sister, your struggles will do no good unless you believe; and, until you do this, you are making God a liar.'

'But won't I be lying to say I will believe, when I don't feel like it?'

'No, for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. x. 17), and the word of God to you is, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John xv. 3). "Ask, and ye shall receive" ' (John xvi. 24).

That evening I saw the sister again. She said, 'I have committed myself to God, and shall trust Him, till the witness of my acceptance comes.'

The next day she was in the meeting, and related her experience, telling us that in the night God awoke her with an assurance of His love, and gave her the clear witness of the Spirit that she was entirely sanctified, putting glory in her heart, and hallelujahs on her tongue.

Entire consecration is not entire sanctification. You are commanded to 'present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God' (Rom. xii. 1). This is entire consecration; but it is also said, 'For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation' (Rom. x. 10). So then, there must be entire consecration, unwavering faith, and a frank, artless confession of both to Jesus. This is man's part, and, when these simple conditions are met and steadfastly maintained, against all contrary feelings, God will suddenly come into His Holy temple, filling the soul with His presence, purity, and power. This twofold work by man and God constitutes the one experience of entire sanctification. When this experience is yours, at your very earliest opportunity confess it before men.