Praise the Lord

"O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men."
Psalm 107:8

If we complained less, and praised more, we should be happier, and God would be more glorified. Let us daily praise God for common mercies--common as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless, that when deprived of them we are ready to perish. Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread we eat, for the raiment we wear. Let us praise him that we are not cast out among the hopeless, or confined amongst the guilty; let us thank him for liberty, for friends, for family associations and comforts; let us praise him, in fact, for everything which we receive from his bounteous hand, for we deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed. But, beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of praise should be of redeeming love. God's redeeming acts towards his chosen are forever the favourite themes of their praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross of Christ--our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no longer slaves, but children of the living God, and can antedate the period when we shall be presented before the throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the palm-branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair linen which is to be our everlasting array, and shall we not unceasingly give thanks to the Lord our Redeemer? Child of God, canst thou be silent? Awake, awake, ye inheritors of glory, and lead your captivity captive, as ye cry with David, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." Let the new month begin with new songs.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

Happiness Hunters!

(Cornelius Tyree, "The Moral Power of a Pious Life")

A higher degree of personal piety, will promote
a higher degree of personal happiness.

"Sin and sorrow are bound together by
adamantine chains." Hence man increases
in misery—as he increases in sin. It is upon this
principle that the devil is the most miserable
being in the universe—because he is the most
depraved.

So, on the other hand, there is an inseparable
connection between holiness and happiness. God
is the most happy being in the universe—because
He is the most holy. And the happiness of His
people is just in proportion as they resemble
Him in righteousness and true holiness.

Heaven is a world of supreme happiness,
because it is a world of supreme holiness.

Hell is a world of supreme misery,
because sin is there fully developed.

God has so ordered it, that our comfort and happiness
in this world can only be found in a pious life. For the
last six thousand years mankind have been happiness
hunters. In all ages and lands the eager query has been,
"Who will show us any good?" But every device has been
a failure! The recorded and unrecorded experience of all
has been, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit!" We can
no more expect to find happiness in the pursuits and
objects of this world—than we may expect to find
luscious grapes growing at the icy North Pole.

But in the likeness and service of Christ, is found
a happiness which is pure, elevating, perennial,
inexhaustible—a happiness that will go with us
in all conditions, all lands, and all worlds!

The great cause of all the sadness and depression
in the followers of Christ, is the small degree of their
piety. The only reason why they are disconsolate,
is because they "follow the Lord afar off." One single
uncrucified, unbemoaned sin—will not only destroy
all pious enjoyment—but open the soul to the devil,
with his whole black train of guilt and misery. It
matters not what this sin is. Any one sin habitually
indulged in, whether it is pride, malice, backbiting,
covetousness, filling the mind with unholy images,
or murmuring under adverse providences—will
exclude from the soul all pious enjoyment.

After all, the great secret of being happy, is
to be holy. He who grows in practical piety has
opened a thousand sources of true bliss.

The "golden fruit of happiness" grows only on the
"tree of holiness". If happiness is sought in any
other way than by being holy—it is sought in vain.

He shall choose our inheritance for us

"He shall choose our inheritance for us."
Psalm 47:4

Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you.

Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask, "Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and deviate so much from a straight line?" His answer wo

uld be, "Because I should not get my vessel into harbour at all if I did not keep to the deep channel."

So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows."

Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love!

"Trials must and will befall--

But with humble faith to see

Love inscribed upon them all;

This is happiness to me."

--C.H. Spurgeon

Three Prayers for Facing Monday (Or Any Tomorrow)

This is one of those really deep, common truths — one which Jonathan Edwards expounds with the intellectual horsepower of a genius, and to which our most common experience testifies:
  
Essential to our present joy is the anticipation of greater joy to come.

This is why, for example, the best part of going on vacation is often the day before we start it. The glad anticipation of what will be compounds in the present and gives us a good feeling. But the closer we get to the last day of vacation, the more the joy diminishes. Sound familiar?

In American culture, the weekend can be a miniature version of this experience. After five days of work, many of us look forward to two days off on Saturday and Sunday. The height of anticipation comes Friday — TGIF! — but by Sunday evening the cheer is gone. Tomorrow we face Monday, with all its certain trials and trying uncertainties.

So how will you face it? How can we make the most of Sunday to prepare for the less-than-enthusiastic tomorrow?  In complement to corporate worship, here are three prayers for facing Monday:

1. Give me a brazen trust in your greatness and your goodness.

Whatever circumstances may come our way tomorrow, the most foundational truth we need to know is that God is in control, and that he is good. Many of us can recite the dinnertime prayer “God is great, God is good…” — but we need more than a good memory for this fact to take effect. We need faith. We need a brazen trust — an indomitable confidence — that our God rules the kingdom of men, that no purpose of his can be hindered, that all he pleases to do he does (Daniel 4:17; Job 42:2; Psalm 115:3). And that he abounds in steadfast love, that he is compassionate and merciful, that his nearness is our good (Exodus 34:6; James 5:11; Psalm 73:28).

Saying it is one thing; believing it is another. So we ask God for this faith.

2. Give me a humble heart towards the people I will encounter.

Most circumstances we face involve faces. Real people. People with their own stories. People with eternal souls. This means oftentimes how we face situations is really about how we relate to others. And what we need is humility. We need a deep, sincere sense that we are creatures. If the first prayer is to know the greatness and goodness of God, this second prayer is to know that greatness and goodness are original to him, not us. We are not that great. We are not that good.

Admitting this doesn’t come natural. So we ask God for this heart.

3. Give me the deep joy that because of Jesus, the best is always yet to come.

This is no cliché. No too-good-to-be-true platitude. For the Christian, the best is always, always, yet to come. The first two prayers come together in this one: a great God will judge all evil, a good God will show mercy, and Jesus vividly showed both for the helpless.

On the cross, Jesus simultaneously absorbed God’s wrath for sinners and demonstrated God’s love for sinners (Romans 3:25; 5:8). And because he did this, because we are united to him by faith, no circumstance in this life is worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us. The best is always yet to come. Even in eternity, as Edwards explains, we will never stop saying this.

And that is reason for unwavering celebration. So we ask for this deep joy.

--Jonathan Parnell

Status Symbols

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man...

Revelation 1:12-13

In our time we have all kinds of status symbols in the Christian church—membership, attendance, pastoral staff, missionary offerings. But there is only one status symbol that should make a Christian congregation genuinely glad. That is to know that our Lord is present, walking in our midst!...

No matter the size of the assembly or its other attributes, our Lord wants it to be known by His presence in the midst. I would rather have His presence in the church than anything else in all the wide world.

Hearing the proud manner in which some speak of the high dollar cost of their sanctuaries must lead people to suppose that spirituality can be purchased. But the secret of true spiritual worship is to discern and know the presence of the living Christ in our midst....

The Christian church dares not settle for anything less than the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the presence of our divine Prophet, Priest and King in our midst. Let us never be led into the mistake that so many are making—sighing and saying, 'Oh, if we only had bigger, wiser men in our pulpits! Oh, if we only had more important men in places of Christian leadership' Jesus Is Victor, 59-60,63.

"Lord, I pray that I might never deviate from that significant thought: 'I would rather have His presence in the church than anything else in all the wide world.' May that be my prayer this morning. Amen."

It is a Faithful Saying

"It is a faithful saying."
2 Timothy 2:11

Paul has four of these "faithful sayings." The first occurs in 1 Timothy 1:15,

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

The next is in 1 Timothy 4:6,

"Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation."

The third is in 2 Timothy 2:12,

"It is a faithful saying--If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him"

and the fourth is in Titus 3:3,

"This is a faithful saying, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works."

We may trace a connection between these faithful sayings. The first one lays the foundation of our eternal salvation in the free grace of God, as shown to us in the mission of the great Redeemer. The next affirms the double blessedness which we obtain through this salvation--the blessings of the upper and nether springs--of time and of eternity. The third shows one of the duties to which the chosen people are called; we are ordained to suffer for Christ with the promise that "if we suffer, we shall also reign with him." The last sets forth the active form of Christian service, bidding us diligently to maintain good works.

Thus we have the root of salvation in free grace; next, the privileges of that salvation in the life which now is, and in that which is to come; and we have also the two great branches of suffering with Christ and serving with Christ, loaded with the fruits of the Spirit. Treasure up these faithful sayings. Let them be the guides of our life, our comfort, and our instruction. The apostle of the Gentiles proved them to be faithful, they are faithful still, not one word shall fall to the ground; they are worthy of all acceptation, let us accept them now, and prove their faithfulness. Let these four faithful sayings be written on the four corners of my house.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Failure and Success: Godliness Is Not Valued

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day....

2 Timothy 4:7-8

After more than thirty years of observing the religious scene I have been forced to conclude that saintliness and church leadership are not often synonymous....

Were the church a pure and Spirit-filled body, wholly led and directed by spiritual considerations, certainly the purest and the saintliest men and women would be the ones most appreciated and most honored; but the opposite is true. Godliness is no longer valued, except for the very old or the very dead. The saintly souls are forgotten in the whirl of religious activity. The noisy, the self- assertive, the entertaining are sought after and rewarded in every way, with gifts, crowds, offerings and publicity. The Christlike, the self-forgetting, the other-worldly are jostled aside to make room for the latest converted playboy who is usually not too well converted and still very much of a playboy....

The wise Christian will be content to wait for that day. In the meantime, he will serve his generation in the will of God. If he should be overlooked in the religious popularity contests he will give it but small attention. He knows whom he is trying to please and he is willing to let the world think what it will of him. He will not be around much longer anyway, and where he is going men will be known not by their Hooper rating but by the holiness of their character.

[Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 97-99.]

"What a sad statement, Lord, that 'saintliness and church leadership are not often synonymous.' Again we're forced to recognize that if we serve You as You want, we may have to wait for recognition. Help me today to focus on 'holiness of... character' whether I'm valued by people or not. Amen."

Blessed are the Meek

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.... Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.—Matthew 5:5-8

We have but to become acquainted with, or even listen to, the big names of our times to discover how wretchedly inferior most of them are. Many appear to have arrived at their present eminence by pull, brass, nerve, gall and lucky accident. We turn away from them sick to our stomach and wonder for a discouraged moment if this is the best the human race can produce.

But we gain our self-possession again by the simple expedient of recalling some of the plain men we know, who live unheralded and unsung, and who are made of stuff infinitely finer than the hoarse-voiced braggarts who occupy too many of the highest offices in the land. . . .

. . . the church also suffers from this evil notion. Christians have fallen into the habit of accepting the noisiest and most notorious among them as the best and the greatest. They too have learned to equate popularity with excellence, and in open defiance of the Sermon on the Mount they have given their approval not to the meek but to the self-assertive; not to the mourner but to the self-assured; not to the pure in heart who see God but to the publicity hunter who seeks headlines.

[Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 96-97]

"Lord, I thank You this morning for all the unknown but faithful pastors serving churches in quiet places. We do place a lot of emphasis on the 'personalities' and big-church leaders. Thank You for the 'quiet heroes' and their faithful service; give them great encouragement today. Amen."

Martyn Lloyd Jones - They Became Fools (Romans 1)

Lord of Patience by Shai Linne w/lyrics

Shai Linne - Faithful God (with lyrics)

“Though You Slay Me” by Shane and Shane (featuring John Piper)

The Mercy of God

"The mercy of God."
Psalm 52:8

Meditate a little on this mercy of the Lord. It is tender mercy. With gentle, loving touch, he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He is as gracious in the manner of his mercy as in the matter of it. It is great mercy. There is nothing little in God; his mercy is like himself--it is infinite. You cannot measure it. His mercy is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners, after great lengths of time, and then gives great favours and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God.

It is undeserved mercy, as indeed all true mercy must be, for deserved mercy is only a misnomer for justice. There was no right on the sinner's part to the kind consideration of the Most High; had the rebel been doomed at once to eternal fire he would have richly merited the doom, and if delivered from wrath, sovereign love alone has found a cause, for there was none in the sinner himself. It is rich mercy. Some things are great, but have little efficacy in them, but this mercy is a cordial to your drooping spirits; a golden ointment to your bleeding wounds; a heavenly bandage to your broken bones; a royal chariot for your weary feet; a bosom of love for your trembling heart. It is manifold mercy. As Bunyan says, "All the flowers in God's garden are double." There is no single mercy. You may think you have but one mercy, but you shall find it to be a whole cluster of mercies. It is abounding mercy. Millions have received it, yet far from its being exhausted; it is as fresh, as full, and as free as ever. It is unfailing mercy. It will never leave thee. If mercy be thy friend, mercy will be with thee in temptation to keep thee from yielding; with thee in trouble to prevent thee from sinking; with thee living to be the light and life of thy countenance; and with thee dying to be the joy of thy soul when earthly comfort is ebbing fast.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, August 17

The Perfection of Bliss

"The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it."
Revelation 21:23

Yonder in the better world, the inhabitants are independent of all creature comforts. They have no need of raiment;
   their white robes never wear out, neither shall they ever be defiled.
They need no medicine to heal diseases,
   "for the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick."
They need no sleep to recruit their frames
   --they rest not day nor night, but unweariedly praise Him in his temple.
They need no social relationship to minister comfort, and whatever happiness they may derive from association with their fellows is not essential to their bliss,
   for their Lord's society is enough for their largest desires.
They need no teachers there;
   they doubtless commune with one another concerning the things of God, but they do not require this by way of instruction; they shall all be taught of the Lord.
   Ours are the alms at the king's gate,
   but they feast at the table itself.
Here we lean upon the friendly arm,
   but there they lean upon their Beloved and upon Him alone.
Here we must have the help of our companions,
   but there they find all they want in Christ Jesus.
Here we look to the meat which perisheth, and to the raiment which decays before the moth,
   but there they find everything in God.
We use the bucket to fetch us water from the well,
   but there they drink from the fountain head, and put their lips down to the living water.
Here the angels bring us blessings,
   but we shall want no messengers from heaven then.
They shall need no Gabriels there to bring their love-notes from God,
   for there they shall see Him face to face.

Oh! what a blessed time shall that be when we shall have mounted above every second cause and shall rest upon the bare arm of God! What a glorious hour when God, and not his creatures; the Lord, and not His works, shall be our daily joy! Our souls shall then have attained the perfection of bliss.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, August 9

Psalm 90

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!" For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

(Psalms 90:1-17 ESV)

The Cure for Difficulties

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." —1 Samuel 16:7

Indeed it may be truthfully said that everything of lasting value in the Christian life is unseen and eternal. Things seen are of little real significance in the light of God's presence. He pays small attention to the beauty of a woman or the strength of a man. With Him the heart is all that matters. The rest of the life comes into notice only because it represents the dwelling place of the eternal being.

The solution to life's problems is spiritual because the essence of life is spiritual. It is astonishing how many difficulties clear up without any effort when the inner life gets straightened out....

Church difficulties are spiritual also and admit of a spiritual answer. Whatever may be wrong in the life of any church may be cleared up by recognizing the quality of the trouble and dealing with it at the root. Prayer, humility and a generous application of the Spirit of Christ will cure just about any disease in the body of believers. Yet this is usually the last thing we think about when difficulties arise. We often attempt to cure spiritual ills with carnal medicines, and the results are more than disappointing. The Next Chapter After the Last, 82-83.

"Problems loom so large, Lord, because they seem so prevalent. Help our church to focus on 'prayer, humility and a generous application of the Spirit of Christ.' Amen."

May the Mind of Christ My Savior

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him.

[Kate Barclay Wilkinson (1859-1928)]

I Will Never, Never Cast Out

"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
John 6:37

No limit is set to the duration of this promise. It does not merely say, "I will not cast out a sinner at his first coming," but, "I will in no wise cast out." The original reads, "I will not, not cast out," or "I will never, never cast out." The text means, that Christ will not at first reject a believer; and that as he will not do it at first, so he will not to the last.

But suppose the believer sins after coming?

     "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

But suppose that believers backslide?

     "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." 

But believers may fall under temptation!

      "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

But the believer may fall into sin as David did!

     Yes, but He will "Purge them with hyssop, and they shall be clean; he will wash them and they shall be whiter than snow"; "From all their iniquities will I cleanse them."

"Once in Christ, in Christ forever,

Nothing from his love can sever."

 "I give unto my sheep," saith He, "eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." What sayest thou to this, O trembling feeble mind? Is not this a precious mercy, that coming to Christ, thou dost not come to One who will treat thee well for a little while, and then send thee about thy business, but he will receive thee and make thee his bride, and thou shalt be his forever? Receive no longer the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby thou shalt cry, Abba, Father! Oh! the grace of these words: "I will in no wise cast out."

[C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, July 30]

The Church: 100 Pianos

 ...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
John 17:21

Someone may fear that we are magnifying private religion out of all proportion, that the "us" of the New Testament is being displaced by a selfish "I." Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life. The Pursuit of God, 90.

"Lord, let this start with me. Give me a closer walk with You today. Then as a leader enable me to encourage others as well, individually, so that all to whom I minister might be in harmony as we individually are close to You. Amen."

Saved by a Covenant

Let us consider what we know about God.  Holiness is one of the attributes of God.  Because God is holy, He cannot lie.  We can trust the immutability of God's covenant because it is impossible for God to lie.  Some things God cannot do, even though He is omnipotent.  God cannot lie, because God is holy.  To lie, He would have to violate His holiness.  God cannot violate His holiness; therefore, God cannot lie.

"Since God cannot lie," someone asks, "does that mean that He is not omnipotent?"  The answer is that omnipotence is not the ability to do anything; it is the ability to do anything He wills to do.  He does not will to lie.  He does not will to cheat, nor to deceive.  He does not will to play false with His people.  God wills to be true to His children, and because He is holy, they are safe.

God is perfect in wisdom, Because our own understanding is so limited, we imagine that God could conceive a scheme to redeem men, but perhaps He cannot fulfill that plan because He had misjudged something.  But that is not possible.

God knows everything that can be known.  When He makes a promise, He is able to make good on that promise because of who He is.  He is perfect in wisdom and knows all the details -- the end from the begninning.

If God were not omnipotent, He could not guarantee His ability to keep His covenant with me.  If God were not omnipotent, I could not be sure I could be saved.  I would think that I was saved, but when God reached a point where somebody was strong than He, I would be lost.  Knowing that "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" (Rev. 19:6), and knowing that omnipotence means God can do everything He wills to do, I have no doubt at all about my salvation, for I am in the arms of the omnipotent God who has sworn to save me.

Suppose God were in the habit of changing His mind.  I have met men who were always starting something new and then changing their minds about it.  I would see them one day, and they would be excited and could hardly eat for talking -- telling me about their new project.  I would shake their hand and wish them well.  When I saw them two years later and inquired about that great work they had started, they would say, "Oh, that?  It didn't go through."

God is immutable.  When He promises something, that promise will be kept.  He has assured us that we will be blessed forever, that His mercies will be upon us forever; and that we will not perish, but will be kept by Him.  God, the immutable, does not change His mind about these things -- or anything.

Human covenants sometimes fail through the mortality of the promiser.  A man makes a promise with every intention of keeping it, then grabs at his chest and tumbles over.  They take him off to the hospital and in a few days, he is gone.  He meant all right.  He was wise enough to do the thing he promised, and was kind enough to want to do it, but he did not live to do it.  The covenant that keeps you and me, unlike promises made by mortal men, is made and kept by the eternal God.

God cannot fail by cessation or discontinuance.  God, the eternal God, lives on -- and because He lives on, we live on as long as He lives on.  Isn't this an awful, a wonderful, and an awesome thought?

We are going to live as long as God lives.  We did not begin when God began, because God never began, but we did.  However, going forward, as long as God, the eternal God, exists and continues to be -- as long as God can say, "I am and continue to be what I am" -- you and I will in the grace of God continue to be what we are, because we are saved by a covenant, sworn to by an oath.

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.  (Hebrews 6:18)

Those familiar with the Old Testament know what the phrase "fled for refuge" means.  Israel had six cities set apart as cities of refuge.  When a man accidentally killed another man, a law in Israel said that the "avenger of blood" -- the next brother, the father or the next relative of the dead man -- could take vengeance on this fellow.

The fellow that had the ax head would take off as fast as his legs would carry him, racing to the nearest city of refuge.  Sometimes he barely made it in, with his tongue hanging out, panting like a tired dog, and the would-be avenger just behind him, almost within reach of the back of his neck.

He raced in, the court trial took place, and it was decided whether or not the man was to blame.  If he was not to blame, then, of course, the dead man's relative could not take vengeance -- to do so would violate the law again and now he would be the murderer.  That was the city of refuge.  The man of God who wrote the book of Hebrews, being a Jew, knew all about these cities.

Whether a man was guilty or not, he had a right to fly to that city of refuge.  If he was not guilty, that would be proved.  But even if he was guilty, he still had a right to go to that city of refuge.  If he made it to that city before his pursuer got to him, then he was safe.

The man of God says that we "have fled for refuge," and I can just see myself, with the devil one hot jump behind me, racing for the cross of Jesus, racing for Calvary's holy mountain.  Just as I come panting in, the doors let down behind me, and the devil runs head-on into the gate and bounces off.  He does not get me, because I have found the refuge and I am safe.

[excerpts from A.W. Tozer's God's Power For Your Life: How the Holy Spirit Transforms You Through God's Word]

I'm Worn

To Him Who Overcomes

Yesterday, one of the main focuses of the Bible study was looking at what Jesus has against the church: abandoning her first love, holding to false doctrine that leads to idolatry and sexual immorality, appearing alive but are really dead, and being lukewarm in the faith.  Despite these problems, there's good news, and that's what I want to focus on now.

Jesus gives us time to repent and return to Him.  And the rewards are many:

"To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." (Rev. 2:7)

"He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." (Rev. 2:11)

"To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it." (Rev. 2:17)

"He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations... and I will give him the morning star." (Rev. 2:28)

"He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." (Rev. 3:5)

"He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name." (Rev. 3:12)

"To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (Rev. 3:21)

Meditate on these glorious promises!  However, before these promises come to pass, we must come to the reality that it's no small thing to overcome sin and all that is opposed to God.  It's one thing to read it and say, "Yeah!  I can do this," and another thing to experience life and know that many times we have failed to overcome.  The joy of the Lord is removed because of sin.  But where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.  Where there is evil in the world, good will always triumph.  Where there's darkness, the Light of the world will overcome it.  "In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world," Jesus tells us in John 16:33.

And in Revelation 12, we hear a loud voice speak from heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren [the Devil and Satan], who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."

How do we overcome?  By the blood of the Lamb!  By the word of our testimony, that is by our preaching the gospel and what God has done in our lives.  By testifying to the truth of the Word of God.  It is God who does the overcoming for us, and we only need to fully surrender to, depend on, and trust in Him.

I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small!
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Scandal of Grace

The Glory and Rubbish of the Universe

We are both the glory and the rubbish of the universe -- but we never would have been the rubbish of the universe if we had not chosen the gutter.  If sin had not entered the world and we had not fallen, we would never have been the rubbish of the universe.  When our Lord is finished with His redemptive work, He will have made His people again the glory of the universe.  He will come then to be admired in His saints and glorified in all them that seek Him.

Man is the weakest creature there is, but he is the only creature that knows how weak he is, and that's where his glory is.  He is able to know how weak he is, and no other creature has such knowledge.  If you were to ask a mosquito (which I consider to be a very weak creature -- touch him and he's dead), "Are you weak?" I do not suppose he would say, "Yes."  He does not know he is weak, and he could not answer you even if he did.  He would not even know what you had asked of him.  I suppose mosquitoes do not particularly like human beings.  If mosquitoes talked, they would call us "the animal that swats" because that is the only thing they know about us.  To mosquitoes, we are simply the creatures that swat them when they land on us.

Man is the unknown, the pitiful, the wonderful, the weak, the mysterious -- and yet he is the only creature who knows that he is all this.  Man is the only creature that sins, and yet he is the only creature that could know that he sins and laments his sin.  Man is the only creature that laughs; he is the only creature that knows how foolish and inconsistent he is, and laughs at himself.  He is the only creature that aspires because there's no other creature dissatisfied with himself.  Man alone is dissatisfied with what he is and longs to become something more.

Man can go up and around the earth now and look down on it -- because he is the only creature who aspires beyond present reality.  The other creatures are exactly as they ever were.  What does this indicate? It indicates that God made man in His own image.  Man bears the image and likeness of God, and of nothing else can that be said.

Man is also the only creature that prays.  God made man to worship; he is the only creature on earth made to commune with God in that way.  The lion roars for his prey, and the bird builds its nest in the thickets.  The stormy wind blows, and the snow falls, but snow does not pray, and neither does the bird, nor the lion, nor the stormy wind.

Seen as a minute physical creature in the vastness of the universe, man is small indeed.  Seen as a spiritual creature in the bosom of God, he is greater than all the winds that blow, all the mountains that rise, all the seas that flow, and all the rivers that run down to the sea.  He is great because God made him in His own image.  That's why the Son came among us as He did.  Why would the eternal Son become a man?  He was the Son of God.  Why did He become the Son of man?  Because the creature bearing the image of God had sinned; he had become the glory and the rubbish of the universe.

[excerpts from A.W. Tozer's God's Power For Your Life: How the Holy Spirit Transforms You Through God's Word]

Before or After?

The facts of Christ's eternity and incarnation give rise to any number of paradoxes.  From a historical viewpoint, this Christ that John is writing about is the "Son of David" -- and yet He antedates David.  This is the marvelous inconsistency we find when we look into the person of Jesus Christ.  How can a son born of a father go back prior to the birth of that father?  Oh, the delightful incongruities we stumble over as God tries to deal with man's limited understanding!  Only by faith can we wrap ourselves around this marvelous truth.

Then He is referred to as the "Seed of Abraham" -- but he was before Abraham as well.  Jesus said to the religious leaders, when they questioned Him, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58).  Imagine those old Pharisees, experts in the religious law, scratching their heads as they tried to figure out what Jesus had just said.

Christ is also referred to as the last Adam, but He dates back to before the first Adam.  Trying to pin Christ down with a time sequence is impossible, because He existed prior to time.  He rises above and beyond time.  It was time that flowed from the mouth of this One who is referred to as the Ancient of Days.

Christ derives no glory from David or Abraham or Adam.  All their glory comes from Him -- and in giving them glory, He does not deplete any of His own glory.  What He has, He has in unlimited supply.  What He gives does not in any way lessen what He has.  "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Rev.1:8).

Christ is often likened to Aaron -- but this parallel breaks down rather quickly.

Aaron had a beginning,

   but Christ was "in the beginning."

Aaron offered a sacrifice for his own sins,

   while Christ offered Himself for the sins of the world.

Aaron took his glory from the priesthood,

   but Christ gave of His glory to others, such as Aaron.

Aaron's priesthood came to an end,

   but Christ has a priesthood that is forever and ever -- a priesthood that extends far into the unsearchable aspects of eternity, up in the rarefied atmosphere where time has no effect.

Whenever we tell a story, it always has three elements: the beginning, the middle and the end.  When we come to the story of Christ, it is impossible to start from the beginning.  John uses the word "beginning in order to communicate to his readers some idea of what he is trying to say.  Jesus Christ was from the beginning in the sense that He was before anything else began.

[excerpts from A.W. Tozer's God's Power For Your Life: How the Holy Spirit Transforms You Through God's Word]

Seeing Pleasure Through a Demon’s Eyes

Seeing Pleasure Through a Demon’s Eyes from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Red Mountain Church - He Rescued Me / My Jesus, I Love Thee

Preaching: Truth Divorced From Life

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.—James 1:22

There is scarcely anything so dull and meaningless as Bible doctrine taught for its own sake. Truth divorced from life is not truth in its Biblical sense, but something else and something less....

No man is better for knowing that God in the beginning created the heaven and the earth.

The devil knows that, and so did Ahab and Judas Iscariot.

No man is better for knowing that God so loved the world of men that He gave His only begotten Son to die for their redemption. 
In hell there are millions who know that.

Theological truth is useless until it is obeyed. The purpose behind all doctrine is to secure moral action....

Any man with fair pulpit gifts can get on with the average congregation if he just "feeds" them and lets them alone. Give them plenty of objective truth and never hint that they are wrong and should be set right, and they will be content.

On the other hand, the man who preaches truth and applies it to the lives of his hearers will feel the nails and the thorns. He will lead a hard life, but a glorious one. May God raise up many such prophets. The church needs them badly. Of God and Men, 25-28.

"Lord, I want to be one of those bold prophets, faithfully declaring Your word, no matter the consequences. Enable me, by Your Spirit, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen."

It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me, the hope of glory.

The great deterrent to victorious Christian living is the idea that once we accept Jesus Christ as Savior and believe that John 3:16 is all there is to it, our life now is on automatic pilot and we can just sit back and enjoy the ride.  This is the source of a great deal of disillusionment that leads to discouragement in the Christian life.

There is no such thing as automatic pilot in our Christian experience; every step is an operation of faith that will be fiercely contested by the enemy of our soul.  This kind of automatic pilot thinking leads to spiritual lethargy.  Breaking out from the tyranny of spiritual lethargy -- whatever the cost -- should be the number-one priority of every Christian.

Begin with your own shortcomings.  The first thing is to recognize the danger of spiritual lethargy.  If you do not know something is dangerous, you are not going to stay away from it.  Your attitude will be rather careless and indifferent, which is the perfect formula for a condition of spiritual lethargy.  The Holy Spirit is faithful in exposing your spiritual condition.  Your responsibility is to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow through on His action.

When the Holy Spirit begins to move in our life, we believe that we can change the Christian community.  As always, it backfires on us, allowing the community to change us and set our standards.  Mob psychology sometimes infests even the Christian community, which may explain all the dead churches in our country today.

You cannot change the community, but you can change yourself.  Or rather, you can allow the Holy Spirit to change you, and that change takes place at the very core of your life.  Then that inward change will slowly begin affecting the outside.  The right kind of change can affect everyone around you.  Spiritual awakening is not dependent on the community, but it can drastically affect the community.  Like a fire that starts small can inflame everything around it, the fire of spiritual awakening within can flow through us and touch everyone around us, in effect, changing our community.

I call this influence intentional Christian living.  By that, I mean we are living out the commands of Scripture, intentionally and purposefully.  Spiritual lethargy results in a Christian lifestyle that is haphazard and lazy.  We are not to look like or act like other people; rather, we are to look like and act like Christ.  We are to do the things that Christ would do in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are a separated people, separated from the world unto God.  Several things are important in maintaining an intentional Christian lifestyle.

Faith

Faith is not a magical formula or ritual, but rather it is a result of a consistent commitment to Bible reading and prayer.  Much is being said of faith these days that is not the focus of the Scriptures.  Faith is not some magical formula or wish that no matter who uses it, saved or unsaved, God has to act upon it.  Such is religious lunacy and borders on witchcraft.  True faith rises in the soul of the man or woman who will fall on his or her face before and open Bible and allow God to be God in any way He chooses.

Obedience and Surrender

In order to obey, you must hear the voice of God clearly.  Again, this is rooted in my relationship to the Word of God.  If we are to live a life of obedience, we must have "ears to hear." Along with this matter of obedience is surrender.  Surrender is a clear act of obedience to the Word of God.  Some would give God as much as 99 perfect of their life, but they want to hold on to the last 1 perfect.  Either God is the Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.  Our Father does not want a partial surrender.  He is jealous toward us -- all of us.

Purity

An important aspect of intentional Christian living is purity.  This purity is the absence of additives.  The evangelical church has become most ingenious in this area of additives.  The intentional Christian life is not diluted with elements of culture or religion.  The purity of our life is simply the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  As I intentionally live the Christian life, I am focused on His purity, and He is living His life through me unencumbered by other things or interests.

On the surface, this looks absolutely impossible to do.  And quite frankly, it is impossible in the flesh.  The more I try to live the Christian life, the more I am bogged down in exterior trappings.  When I put these aside and refuse to be affected or influenced by them, I then give way for God to work through me according to His agenda and His purpose.  The apostle Paul said it this way: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).  It is no longer me; it is Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Enjoying God's Favor

Those of us who are utterly committed to living an intentional Christian life have one great advantage.  This advantage is the way God thinks about us.  God has our best in mind for the longest period of time.

What God is doing in your and my life today has implications for eternity.  When Christ was on the cross, we were on His mind.  The tears that flowed on Calvary were because of us.

The writer of Hebrews refers to the fact that Jesus endured the cross because of the joy before Him: "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).  What was that joy?  It was all those who would put their faith and trust in Him and become part of the Bride of Christ.  We are always on His mind.

God desires to bring our lives into the full sunlight of His favor.  That requires not serving ourselves or pleasing others or ourselves, but giving ourselves completely, in absolute surrender, to God through the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.  The end result is living the intentional Christian life.

Tozer, A.W. "Living as an Intentional Christian" The Danger of a Shallow Faith: Awakening from Spiritual Lethargy, pg. 205-211

Preaching: A Sense of Inadequacy

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God....—2 Corinthians 3:5

I believe I had anticipated that it was going to be a pleasure to expound this beautiful and high soaring Gospel of John. However, I must confess that in my preparation and study a sense of inadequacy has come over me—a feeling of inadequacy so stunning, so almost paralyzing that I am not at this juncture able to call it a pleasure to preach.

Perhaps this will be God's way of reducing the flesh to a minimum and giving the Holy Spirit the best possible opportunity to do His eternal work. I fear that sometimes our own eloquence and our own concepts may get in the way, for the unlimited ability to talk endlessly about religion is a questionable blessing....

None of us can approach a serious study and consideration of the eternal nature and person of Jesus Christ without sensing and confessing our complete inadequacy in the face of the divine revelation. Christ the Eternal Son, 3,9.

"Lord, I've so often been at that place of total inadequacy. I've learned that that is so healthy, because then I step aside, I quit relying on my own 'eloquence,' and I allow the Holy Spirit to take over and do what only He can do anyway! Use me today in my weakness. Amen."

God answers prayer not because you are righteous.

So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." 

Isaiah 6:5

Why does God answer prayer? Let's not imagine that it's because somebody was good. We Protestants think we don't believe in saints, but we do. We canonize them: we have Saint George Mueller, Saint C.H. Spurgeon, Saint D.L. Moody and Saint A.B. Simpson. We get the idea that God answered prayer for them because they were really good. They would deny that fervently if they were here.

Nobody ever got anything from God on the grounds that he deserved it. Having fallen, man deserves only punishment and death. So if God answers prayer, it's because God is good. From His goodness, His lovingkindness, His good-natured benevolence, God does it! That's the source of everything. The Attributes of God, pp. 46-47

but...

what about James 5:16?  "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."  Yes, it's true.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective, but who is the righteous man?  It is the one justified by the righteousness of Christ.

"As it is written:  None is righteous, no, not one." (Romans 3:10)

"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." (Romans 3:21)

"For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.' Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." (Romans 4:2-5)

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, 'Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down) or 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:4-9)

 "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." (Galatians 2:20-21)

"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:9-11)

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith" (Philippians 3:8-9)

Thank You, God, that You are indeed good,

You are faithful,

You are gracious,

You are full of lovingkindness and benevolence.

Thank You that You do in fact answer prayer!

Amen.