The Meaning of the Fire

by T. Austin-Sparks


“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, will I do it; for how should My name be profaned? and My glory will I not give to another” (Isa. 48:10-11).


You know that Israel was chosen not just to be something, but to serve a divine end. The being was essential to the doing, and the divine end was the bringing of the Lord into the world, into evidence, into manifestation, into effect. It is a very great purpose; that God should choose that, by human instrumentality, He should come unto His own, and that He should be manifested in His own realm, that He should be in evidence. God chose that the outcome should simply be that He was known, understood, felt, that the one ultimate declaration should be: It is the Lord, that is the Lord. Those are very simple words, but they go to the root of everything.


That great purpose of God, which has now been manifested as bound up with the saints of this dispensation, made necessary refining fires and much affliction, and, although it may be no new thing to be said to you, it can come with a renewed emphasis that the supremely important thing for you and for me and for the Lord’s people to be fully and deeply aware of is that the Lord has no other object where we are concerned than that of bringing Himself in ever-increasing measure into evidence, into manifestation, for time and for eternity. The all-governing thing with God is His self-manifestation, and that can only be along the lines and by means of spiritual life. There is no other way of manifesting God, God becoming really known, only along spiritual lines. 


There is not one of us who knows the Lord Jesus and has that knowledge in any other way. We do not have a physical knowledge of Jesus. We have come into our knowledge of Him in a spiritual way, and every fuller bit of knowledge of Him is spiritual, essentially spiritual, and God cannot be known in any other way. The Lord cannot be manifested in any other way. There is that mystic, strange, inexplicable something which is extra, which is the Lord. I mean, it is not teaching. There may be a great mass of teaching, and perfectly right and true teaching, a great fulness of truth, and yet there may just be lacking that something, that extra something, that mystic something that leaves it as truth, a bulk of truth, and does not get you anywhere. When you have got it all, it has not got you anywhere. 


It is not something objective at all, objective in the way of truth imparted, teaching given, doctrine held. It is not a matter of work done for the Lord, in the Name of the Lord, things that we are doing — even the matter of leading others to accept Him, as an engagement, as a form of activity, of work. It is not the constituting or the constructing of something for the Lord in the same way as we would go to work to build up some other institution in the world and call it by this or that name; it is not that. These may be means, but if there is not that extra, as I call it, that mystical something, if it is just an objective thing, it has failed in its divine value. 


That something, that extra, is the Lord. The Lord has been imparted, and all teaching and truth which does not impart the Lord — not just knowledge, truth and doctrine, material, however right in its place — if it does not carry with it the Lord and impart the Lord and result in people who are alive, who are sensitive, who are open, who are prepared, being able to say, Yes, the Word was good, but the Lord met me in the Word — if it is not that extra, it has failed. If any of the work that is being done, all the activities, all the business, with the best of motives and a great zeal and devotion, whole-heartedness, if the upshot of it is not that the Lord has come in, it is the Lord, something extra to the Word, you have come into touch with the Lord; it has failed.


What the Lord really does want and is after and must have is intrinsic spiritual value, and He may press that into a small compass outwardly, but it becomes tremendously intense in a spiritual way. Do not misunderstand me. I am not talking about our tenseness, but the thing itself becomes of atomic power, crowded into a small compass. That is the explanation of the terrific pressure which those who are chosen to keep spiritual values pre-eminently in view experience. Fire! 


When man sinned, God instituted deliberately the law of travail. Why? Not as mere judgment and punishment. No! God said in principle, ‘There is no blessing that can rest upon the flesh; blessing only rests upon what is spiritual, and if I were to let man now, in his disobedience, get away with it and have blessing upon his work, he would never be concerned about spiritual things, spiritual things would go by the board.’ That lot of suffering and travail is carried right through into the life and service of the Lord’s people and the church. Why so much opposition? 


Why so much adversity? Why so much suffering, when you are right out for God? 

The unchangeable method of God

(Matthew Mead, "The Almost Christian" 1661)

"I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners 
to repentance." Luke 5:32. That is—such as see
themselves as sinners, and thereby in a lost condition.
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the
lost." Luke 19:10

God will have the soul truly sensible of the bitterness
of sin—before it shall taste the sweetness of mercy.
The plough of conviction must go deep, and make
deep furrows in the heart, before God will sow the
precious seed of grace there—so that it may have
depth of earth to grow in.

This is the unchangeable method of God in
bestowing grace—to begin with conviction of sin. 
  First to show man his sin—then his Savior;
  first his danger—then his Redeemer;
  first his wound—then his cure;
  first his own vileness—then Christ's righteousness. 

God in Everything

Stormy seas

by C. H. Mackintosh

But as the ship was sailing along, suddenly the Lord flung a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to send them to the bottom! Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights! And the Lord God prepared a gourd to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah's head, shading him from the sun. This eased some of his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the gourd. But God also prepared a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant, so that it soon died and withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God sent a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. "Death is certainly better than this!" he exclaimed.   Jonah 1:4, 17; 4:6-8 Nothing so much helps the Christian to endure the trials of his path as the habit of seeing God in everything. There is no circumstance, be it ever so trivial or ever so commonplace, which may not be regarded as a messenger from God, if only the ear be circumcised to hear, and the mind spiritual to understand the message. If we lose sight of this valuable truth, life, in many instances at least, will be but a dull monotony, presenting nothing beyond the most ordinary circumstances. On the other hand, if we could but remember, as we start each day on our course, that the hand of our Father can be traced in every scene—if we could see in the smallest, as well as in the most weighty circumstances, traces of the divine presence—how full of deep interest would each day's history be found! The Book of Jonah illustrates this truth in a very marked way. There we learn, what we need so much to remember, that there is nothing ordinary to the Christian; everything is extraordinary. The most commonplace things, the simplest circumstances, exhibit in the history of Jonah, the evidences of divine intervention. To see this instructive feature, it is not needful to enter upon the detailed exposition of the Book of Jonah, we only need to notice one expression, which occurs in it again and again, namely, "the Lord prepared". In chapter one the Lord sends out a wind into the sea, and this wind had in it a solemn voice for the prophet's ear, had he been wakeful to hear it. Jonah was the one who needed to be taught; for him the messenger was sent forth. The poor pagan mariners, no doubt, had often encountered a storm; to them it was nothing new, nothing special, nothing but what fell to the common lot of seamen; yet it was special and extraordinary for one individual on board, though that one was asleep in the sides of the ship. In vain did the sailors seek to counteract the storm; nothing would avail until the Lord's message had reached the ears of him to whom it was sent. Following Jonah a little further, we perceive another instance of what we may term, 'seeing God in everything'. He is brought into new circumstances, yet he is not beyond the reach of the messengers of God. The Christian can never find himself in a position in which his Father's voice cannot reach his ear, or his Father's hand meet his view, for His voice can be heard, His hand seen, in everything. Thus when Jonah had been cast forth into the sea, "the Lord prepared a great fish." Here, too, we see that there is nothing ordinary to the child of God. A great fish was nothing uncommon; there are many such in the sea; yet did the Lord prepare one for Jonah, in order that it might be the messenger of God to his soul. Again, in chapter four, we find the prophet sitting on the east side of the city of Nineveh, in sullenness and impatience, grieved because the city had not been overthrown, and entreating the Lord to take away his life. He would seem to have forgotten the lesson learned during his three days' sojourn in the sea, and he therefore needed a fresh message from God—"And the Lord prepared a gourd." This is very instructive. There was surely nothing uncommon in the mere circumstance of a gourd; other men might see a thousand gourds, and, moreover, might sit beneath their shade, and yet see nothing extraordinary in them. But Jonah's gourd exhibited traces of the hand of God, and forms a link—an important link—in the chain of circumstances through which, according to the design of God, the prophet was passing. The gourd now, like the great fish before, though very different in its kind, was the messenger of God to his soul. "So Jonah was exceeding glad for the gourd." He had before longed to depart, but his longing was more the result of impatience and chagrin, than of holy desire to depart and be at rest forever. It was the painfulness of the present, rather than the happiness of the future—which made him wish to be gone.

With Us-Not of Us

By Theodore Epp

      1 John 2:18-9


      We are able to detect who the antichrists are: "They went out from us, but they were not of us" (1 John 2:19). This does not mean that they left a particular denomination or church. They left the fundamental doctrine of Jesus Christ. The Word says they were never born again. Verse 19 makes that abundantly clear. The words "no doubt" are in italics in some translations, indicating that they were added by the translators. Consequently, the verse actually says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us."


      True Christians are recipients of eternal life, and therefore "they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand," the Saviour said. "My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one" (John 10:28-30). The person who has eternal life cannot be taken away from God.


      A true child of God will not accept any doctrine that denies that Jesus was and is the eternal God. A person who says that Jesus is not God is not a child of God and cannot go to heaven.


      "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2 John 1:7).

Hear Me, Hold Me, Hide Me

By Warren Wiersbe

      Read Psalm 17:1-15 

      Three words summarize David's cry in Psalm 17. The first word is hear. "Hear a just cause, O Lord, attend to my cry" (v. 1). David was saying, "I want the Lord to hear me, because my heart is right." "You have tested my heart" (v. 3). When did God do that? "You have visited me in the night" (v. 3). The dark times of life are when God proves us. He also proves Himself to us--if we let Him. When you're going through the darkness, when the night has come, when you can't see any light, remember, He is proving you and proving Himself to you. God knew that David's heart was right. "Hear a just cause, O Lord" (v. 1). Remember, when you're in the darkness, when you're in danger, when you're facing difficulties, God will hear you.


      The second key word is hold. "Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip" (v. 5). David wasn't simply standing still, doing nothing. He was on the move. When we're in the darkness, we move one step at a time as the Lord directs us. We don't just sit still and wonder what is going to happen next. David was saying, "God, I'm going to get moving. You've got to hold me up. Direct me; I don't want to slip and fall." Jude must have known this verse. He wrote, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24).


      The third word is hide. "Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings" (Ps. 17:8). A shadow is not good protection. But if it's the shadow of God's wings, we can depend on it. What wings did David refer to? The wings of the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. David was saying, "I'm coming to the very throne of God. Please hide me and hold me and hear me." God replied, "David, I'll do it. I'm going to carry you through your dark time."
     
Everyone must face dark times. God allows times of testing because He uses them to accomplish His purposes. Are you facing a difficulty today? Remember, God is faithful. He will hear you and direct you through the darkness. Let Him prove you, and give Him opportunity to prove Himself to you.

For you, a vile Sinner a Rebel Worm.

A huge hodge-podge of ignorance and idolatry! by J.C. Ryle

1816-1900


(J. C. Ryle, "What Do We Owe to the Reformation?")


The Reformation delivered England from an immense quantity of evils, such as gross religious ignorance and spiritual darkness.


In the days when the Roman Catholic Church ruled England, before the Reformation--the immense majority of the Catholic clergy did little more than say masses and offer up pretended sacrifices--repeat Latin prayers and chant Latin hymns, which of course the people could not understand. They heard confessions, granted absolutions, gave extreme unction, and took money to get dead people out of Purgatory. Preaching was utterly at a discount. As Latimer truly remarked, 'When the devil gets influence in a church--up go candles and down goes preaching.'


As to the laity, it is not too much to say that the bulk of them had no religion at all. There was no one to tell them of the love of God, the mediation of Christ, the glad tidings of free salvation, the precious blood of Christ's atonement, and justification by faith. They could only send for the priest, who knew nothing himself and could tell nothing to others; and then at last they received absolution and extreme unction--and took a leap in the dark!



To sum up all in a few words, the religion of our English forefathers before the Reformation, was a religion without knowledge, without saving faith, and without true hope! It was a religion without justification, regeneration, and sanctification--a religion without any clear views of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Except in rare instances, it was little better than an organized system of . . .
Mary-worship,
saint-worship,
idol-worship,
relic-worship,
indulgences,
formalism,
ceremonialism,
processions,
penances,
absolutions,
masses, and
blind obedience to the priests!
It was a huge hodge-podge of ignorance and idolatry! The only practical result, was that the priests took the people's money, and undertook to secure their salvation--and the people flattered themselves, that the more they gave to the priests--the more sure they were to go to heaven!


Such was the IGNORANCE, which was scattered to the winds by the English Reformation!


For another thing, the Reformation delivered England from the most groveling, childish and superstitious practices in religion. I allude especially to the worship of relics. Destitute of the slightest Scriptural knowledge, our forefathers were taught by the priests to seek spiritual benefit from the so-called relics of dead saints, and to worship them!


The following are examples of some of the relics which they honored and worshiped:
the spear-head which pierced our Savior's side;
the apostle James' hand;
a bone of Mary Magdalene;
pieces of our Savior's cross;
the Virgin Mary's smock;
a part of the stone upon which our Lord was born at Bethlehem;
a part of the bread used by Christ at the first Lord's Supper;
a belt of the Virgin Mary, made of red silk;
some of the Virgin Mary's breast-milk!

The Fight of the Faith

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 1 - The Faith

"Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses" (1 Tim. 6:12).
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7).
"Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). 

"I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is; and thou holdest fast my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth" (Rev. 2:13).


These are four passages out of a considerable number in the New Testament which contain the same phrase. I have jotted down some twenty-seven or twenty-eight of such passages, and there are probably more. The phrase that occurs in them all is this phrase - "the faith". "Fight the good fight of the faith": "I have kept the faith": "Contend earnestly for the faith."


Now, wherever that phrase occurs, you will not have to look far for the element of conflict. You will find that conflict is almost invariably associated with that phrase - "the faith". That is to say, the two things always go together in the New Testament, and in true spiritual experience - the fight and the faith, or the faith and the fight. "Fight the good fight of the faith": "Contend earnestly for the faith": "I have fought... I have kept the faith." Thus, although it will not always be as precisely stated as that, I repeat, that you will not have to look far in the context for the element of conflict when "the faith" is in view.


Of course, that may not be very surprising. It is the sort of thing you would naturally expect to find when anything like a new faith which might be a rival faith to other faiths was being introduced.

The Faith Not a System of Teaching

But if you look carefully at the matter here in the New Testament, you will find that it is something more than that. The conflict is not occasioned just because another faith which is a rival to existing faiths has been introduced. It is rather in the very nature and essence of this thing that is called "the faith" that the element exists which sets up this terrific conflict. It is something more than just a new religion coming in to challenge and attempt to oust other religions. There is something about this faith which is far more than that, and to grasp and understand what that something more is should be of tremendous help to the Lord's people.


The fact is that the very presence in this world of those who do truly, in a real New Testament way, stand in the faith and have the faith in them - apart from all their framework and form of religion - even without their saying anything about it - constitutes a conflicting factor in the world, and they become centres of spiritual warfare. What I mean is, that you need not announce that you are a Christian, and you certainly need not state your Christian beliefs, in order to be the focal point of antagonism. If you are really in the good of what is meant by "the faith", you are a centre of antagonism. You cannot help it. To try to avoid it is to destroy that essential of the faith.


Thus, in the beginning, the faith was not a system of doctrine or teaching. It was not a number of tenets and truths, but it was a single, though all-inclusive, truth which carried with it a spiritual impact, altogether apart from the defining of that truth.


The New Testament has a wonderful way of summing up everything in very short sentences. We have several of these. For instance, everything at the beginning was gathered into two words - "the way". They were said to be people of "the way". It became a name for them. Or again - "the Name"; everything is gathered into that. Again and again it was the Name. They were commanded "not to teach in this name" (Acts 5:28). They went forth "for the sake of the name" (3 John 7). On many occasions we have it all summarised in that way. It is the Name; very terse, but tremendously significant, boundlessly full: but just two words - "the Name". Or again, on many occasions it is called "the testimony". "Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you" (1 Cor. 1:6); or, as we are so familiar with it in the book of the Revelation - "the testimony of Jesus".

Let me repeat. That was not a systematised doctrine in the first place, a form of teaching, an interpretation of truth. It was something very much more than that, gathered all into very simple, very brief phrases - the Way, the Name, the Testimony, or the Faith. You would be interested and helped if you just went and turned up each of these passages in which this phrase "the faith" occurs and looked at the context.

As we pass through its foul streets by J.R. Miller

(J. R. Miller, "In His Steps" 1897)


"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this--to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27


Holiness means separation unto God. The life which belongs to Christ--must be kept from sin. The hands which are held up in prayer--must not touch any unclean thing. The lips which speak to God, and sing His praise--must not be stained by any sinful or bitter words. The heart which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit--must not open to any thought or affection which would defile God's temple. The feet which Christ's pierced hands have washed--must not walk in any of sin's unhallowed paths. A Christian's life must be holy.


Unholiness is very subtle. It creeps in when we are not aware. It begins in the heart. At first it is but a thought, a moment's imagination, a passing emotion, or a desire. Hence the heart should be kept with unremitting diligence. Only pure and holy thoughts should be entertained.


It is in the thoughts, that all acts begin. All acts are first thoughts. Our thoughts build up our character, as the coral insects build up the great reefs. "As a man thinks in his heart--so is he." If we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, as we pass through its foul streets--we must see to it that no unholy thing is for a moment tolerated in our heart! A crime stains one's name before the world; a sinful thought or desire stains the soul in God's sight, and grieves the divine Spirit within us! "Above all else, guard your heart, for out of it are the issues of life." Proverbs 4:23


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“Thou art my hope in the day of evil.” ~ Spurgeon

1835 - 1892

Jeremiah 17:17


THE path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God’s Word, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;” and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be “as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer’s sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light.


There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the “green pastures” by the side of the “still waters,” but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, “Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen.” Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness.


The best of God’s saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb; but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God’s full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.


Charles Spurgeon

INSIGHT NOT EMOTION by Oswald Chambers

"I have to lead my life in faith, without seeing Him." 2 Corinthians 5:7 (MOFFATT)


For a time we are conscious of God's attentions, then, when God begins to use us in His enterprises, we take on a pathetic look and talk of the trials and the difficulties, and all the time God is trying to make us do our duty as obscure people. None of us would be obscure spiritually if we could help it. 


Can we do our duty when God has shut up heaven? Some of us always want to be illuminated saints with golden babes and the flush of inspiration, and to have the saints of God dealing with us all the time. 


A gilt-edged saint is no good, he is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and altogether unlike God. We are here as men and women, not as half-fledged angels, to do the work of the world, and to do it with an infinitely greater power to stand the turmoil because we have been born from above.


If we try to re-introduce the rare moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are making a fetish of the moments when God did come and speak, and insisting that He must do it again; whereas what God wants us to do is to "walk by faith." 


How many of us have laid ourselves by, as it were, and said - "I cannot do any more until God appears to me." He never will, and without any inspiration, without any sudden touch of God, we will have to get up. 


Then comes the surprise - 


"Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!" Never live for the rare moments, they are surprises. God will give us touches of inspiration when He sees we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never make our moments of inspiration our standard; our standard is our duty.

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Sighing for Jesus!

James Smith, 1858
 

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God! My soul thirsts for God, for the living God! When can I go and meet with God?" Psalm 42:1-2

I have just been reading of the last days of a believer in Jesus, a kind of reading of which I am very fond. For while I admire the holy and useful lives of Christians, and look upon them as the best and most certain evidences of true faith; yet I love to listen to their dying testimony, and mark how they acted in the swellings of Jordan. I know what it is to live — but I do not know what it is todie, and therefore as I must die, and I know not how soon, or how suddenly — I love to accompany others to the last conflict, and observe now they endure and overcome.

Death-beds differ, even the death-beds of true believers. Some are filled with joy, others are only hopeful. Some glide away smoothly and softly — while others have much hard fighting at the last. Some have no doubts or fears — while others are very much tried with them. Some shout victory — others can only say, "I have a good hope." Some speak much to those about them — others say but very little. This was the case with the good man I was reading of, his whole dying experience was comprehended in one sentence, "I am sighing for Jesus!"

He did not sigh for life, nor for ease — but he was sighing for Jesus. I cannot help observing, how much of my experience now, is expressed in those words, "I am sighing for Jesus." Yes, yes, I can do without riches, or fame, or the honor which man confers. I am pretty well content with whatprovidence sends me — and yet I often sigh, and sigh deeply too. Some would think me unhappy — but I am not. Some may conclude I am discontented with my situation in life — but I am not. Yet I sigh — I often sigh.

I have read of a bird, which if caught and caged, never ceases to sigh, until it obtains its liberty, or dies. I am somewhat like that bird, and I expect I shall continue to sigh — until I obtain my desire. I have had a glimpse of Jesus — and I sigh for a full view of him. I have tasted the sweetness of communion with him — and I sigh for uninterrupted fellowship. I have felt a little of the cleansing influence of his precious blood, and Holy Spirit — and I sigh for a thorough cleansing, that I may be perfectly and forever holy. I sigh to be exactly like Jesus! I sigh to be forever with Jesus! I believe that if I were just like him, and always with him — that I would sigh no more. But I think nothing else will put a complete stop to my sighing.

Perhaps someone is ready to say, "Oh, I have often heard you religious people go sighing about — and I felt sure that you were miserable, notwithstanding all your pretensions."

Stop, not too fast, friend — you have heard us sigh — but we are not miserable. No, no, we have more of real happiness while sighing — than you have while singing. We have been just what you are, and where you are — and know therefore what you enjoy, and we would not exchange our saddest hours, for your most joyous ones! We do sigh — but we sing also; and our sighing very frequently is but like tuning the instrument, in order to the production of sweet and thrilling music. Our sighs always introduce songs now; and our sighs on the bed of death — will end in the glorious songs of Paradise.

We only sigh for what God has promised us. Our sighing is produced by the sweet and ravishing tastes we have had of the love and grace of Jesus. We do not sigh for sinful pleasure, or forbidden objects; no, we sigh for Jesus; that we may know him more perfectly, love him more entirely, andenjoy him uninterruptedly! And this we shall do by and by; the day is coming, and it may be very near, when the days of our mourning shall be ended, and when we shall heave the last sigh, and begin the never-ending song. "The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away!" Isaiah 51:11

A sure and safe anchorage amid the world's heaving ocean of vicissitude!

(John MacDuff, "The Night Watches")

"But You are the same — and Your years will never end!" Psalm 102:27

What a fountain of comfort is to be found in the Immutability of God! Not one ripple can disturb the calm of His unchanging nature. Were it so, He would no longer be a perfect Being — He would un-deify Himself — He would cease to be God!

Change is our portion here on earth. "They shall perish!" is the brief chronicle regarding everything on this side Heaven. The skies above us, the earth beneath us, the elements around us shall be destroyed. "All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved, and the sky rolled up like a scroll! The stars will fall from the sky like withered leaves from a grapevine, or shriveled figs from a fig tree!" Isaiah 34:4

Scenes of hallowed endearment — they have fled! Friends who sweetened our pilgrimage with their presence — they are gone! But here isa sure and safe anchorage amid the world's heaving ocean of vicissitude: "But You are the same — and Your years will never end!"All is changing — but the Unchanging One!

Oh! thus pillowing your head on the Immutability of God, amid the crude buffetings of a changing world, you will be able to say — until the dawn of the morning breaks on you, which knows neither night nor vicissitude, "I will both lie down and sleep in peace,  for You alone, O Lord, make me live in safety!" Psalm 4:8


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The God of the broken-hearted

(J. R. Miller, "The Beatitude for the Unsuccessful" 1892)

"The Lord is near the broken-hearted." Psalm 34:18

The God of the Bible, is the God of the broken-hearted. The world cares little for the broken hearts. Indeed, people oftentimes break hearts by their cruelty, their falseness, their injustice, their coldness--and then move on as heedlessly as if they had trodden only on a worm! But God cares. Broken-heartedness attracts Him. The plaint of grief on earth--draws Him down from heaven.

Physicians in their rounds, do not stop at the homes of the well--but of the sick. So it is with God in His movements through this world. It is not to the whole and the well--but to the wounded and stricken, that He comes with sweetest tenderness! Jesus said of His mission: "He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted." Isaiah 61:1

We look upon trouble as misfortune. We say that the life is being destroyed, which is passing through adversity. But the truth which we find in the Bible, does not so represent suffering. God is a repairer and restorer of the hurt and ruined life. He takes the bruised reed--and by His gentle skill makes it whole again, until it grows into fairest beauty. The love, pity, and grace of God, minister sweet blessing of comfort and healing--to restore the broken and wounded hearts of His people.

Much of the most beautiful life in this world, comes out of sorrow. As "fair flowers bloom upon rough stalks," so many of the fairest flowers of human life, grow upon the rough stalks of suffering. We see that those who in heaven wear the whitest robes, and sing the loudest songs of victory--are those who have come out of great tribulation. Heaven's highest places are filling, not from earth's homes of glad festivity and tearless joy--but from its chambers of pain; its valleys of struggle where the battle is hard; and its scenes of sorrow, where pale cheeks are wet with tears, and where hearts are broken. The God of the Bible--is the God of the bowed down--whom Helifts up into His strength.

God is the God of those who fail. Not that He loves those who stumble and fall, better than those who walk erect without stumbling; but He helps them more. The weak believers get more of His grace--than those who are strong believers. There is a special divine promise, which says, "My divine power is made perfect in weakness." When we are conscious of our own insufficiency, then we are ready to receive of the divine sufficiency. Thus our very weakness is an element of strength. Our weakness is an empty cup--which God fills with His own strength.

You may think that your weakness unfits you for noble, strong, beautiful living--or for sweet, gentle, helpful serving. You wish you could get clear of it. It seems to burden you--an ugly spiritual deformity. But really it is something which--if you give it to Christ--He can transform into a blessing, a source of His power. The friend by your side, whom you envy because he seems so much stronger than you are--does not get so much of Christ's strength as you do. You are weaker than him--but your weakness draws to you divine power, and makes you strong.

"He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3

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Holy, holy, holy

(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity,
 or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)

"Who is like You, glorious in holiness?" Exodus 15:11

God is . . .
  infinitely holy,
  transcendently holy,
  superlatively holy,
  constantly holy,
  unchangeably holy,
  exemplary holy,
  gloriously holy.

All the holiness that is in the best and choicest
Christians is but a mixed holiness, a weak and
imperfect holiness. Their unholiness is always
more than their holiness.
Ah, what a great deal . . .
  of pride is mixed with a little humility,
  of unbelief is mixed with a little faith,
  of peevishness is mixed with a little meekness,
  of earthliness is mixed with a little heavenliness,
  of carnality is mixed with a little spirituality,
  of harshness is mixed with a little tenderness!

Oh, but the holiness of God is a pure holiness, it is
a holiness without mixture; there is not the least
drop or the least dreg of unholiness in God! "God
is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5

In God there is . . .
  all wisdom without any folly,
  all truth without any falsehood,
  all light without any darkness, and
  all holiness without any sinfulness.

God is universally holy.
He is holy in all His ways,
and holy in all His works.
His precepts are holy precepts,
His promises are holy promises,
His threatenings are holy threatenings,
His love is a holy love,
His anger is a holy anger,
His hatred is a holy hatred, etc.

His nature is holy,
His attributes are holy,
His actions are all holy.

He is holy in sparing;
  and holy in punishing.
He is holy in justifying of some;
  and holy in condemning of others.
He is holy in bringing some to heaven;
  and holy in throwing others to hell.

God is holy . . .
  in all His sayings,
  in all His doings,
  in whatever He puts His hand to,
  in whatever He sets His heart to.
His frowns are holy,
His smiles are holy.
When He gives, His givings are holy giving;
when He takes away, His takings are holy takings, etc.

"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty!" Isaiah 6:3

God is eminently holy.
He is transcendently holy.
he is superlatively holy.
He is glorious in holiness.

There is no fathoming,
there is no measuring,
there is no comprehending,
there is no searching, of that
infinite sea of holiness, which is in God.
O sirs! you shall as soon . . .
  stop the sun in its course, and
  change the day into night, and
  raise the dead,
  and make a world, and
  count the stars of heaven, and
  empty the sea with a cockle-shell,
as you shall be able either to conceive or express
that transcendent holiness which is in God!

God's holiness is infinite.
It can neither be . . .
  limited, nor
  lessened, nor
  increased.

God is the spring of all holiness and purity. All that
holiness which is in angels and men flows from God,
  as the streams from the fountain,
  as the beams from the sun,
  as the branches from the root,
  as the effect from the cause.
Ministers may pray that their people may be holy,
parents may pray that their children may be holy;
but they cannot give holiness, nor communicate
holiness to their nearest and dearest relations.
God alone is the giver and the author of all holiness.
It is only the Holy One who can cause holiness to flow
into sinners' hearts; it is only He who can form, and
frame, and infuse holiness into the souls of men.
A man shall sooner make make a world—than he shall
make another holy. It is only a holy God, who can . . .
  enlighten the mind, and
  bow the will, and
  melt the heart, and
  raise the affections, and
  purge the conscience, and
  reform the life, and
  put the whole man into a holy gracious temper.

God is exemplary holy. He is the rule, example, and
pattern of holiness. "Be holy, as I am holy." 1 Pet. 1:15.
God's holiness is the copy which we must always have in
our eye, and endeavor most exactly to write after.


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God has two fires

(Thomas Watson, "The Beatitudes" 1660)

"I have refined you in the furnace of affliction."
     Isaiah 48:10

"Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal
 fire prepared for the Devil and his demons! And they
 will go away into eternal punishment!" Mt. 25:41, 46

God has two fires—
  one where He puts His gold,
  one where He puts His dross.

The fire where He puts His gold, is
the fire of affliction—to purify them.

The fire where He puts His dross, is
the fire of damnation—to punish them.

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He that triumphed gloriously

By A.B. Simpson

      God calls us to victory. Have you given up the conflict, have you surrendered? Have you said, "This thing is too much?" Have you said, "I can give up anything else but this?" If you have, you are not in the land of promise. 


God intends that you accept every difficult thing that comes into your life. He has started with you, knowing every difficulty, and if you dare to let Him, He will carry you through not only to be a conqueror but "more than conquerors." 

DESERTER OR DISCIPLE? by Oswald Chambers

"From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." John 6:66


When God gives a vision by His Spirit through His word of what He wants, and your mind and soul thrill to it, if you do not walk in the light of that vision, you will sink into servitude to a point of view which Our Lord never had. Disobedience in mind to the heavenly vision will make you a slave to points of view that are alien to Jesus Christ. Do not look at someone else and say - Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why cannot I? You have to walk in the light of the vision that has been given to you and not compare yourself with others or judge them, that is between them and God. 

Thomas Boston ~Search From The Book Of The Lord

Mentality of the Spiritual Warrior

by T. Austin-Sparks

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds); casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

We wish to consider the matter of mentality in relation to our great spiritual warfare. The marginal alternative to "casting down imaginations" is "casting down reasonings" and William Barclay renders this "destroying plausible fallacies". In any warfare there are perils and threats to victory where there is a wrong mentality. On the other hand, the warrior has a tremendous advantage when he is of a right mentality. What are the plausible fallacies which must be destroyed if we are to share in Christ's victory?

A WRONG MENTALITY AS TO THE HIGHER COMMAND

The first consideration in warfare is that of the Supreme Command. When we consider the Church as the fighting army we realise how important it is that there should exist no wrong mentality concerning the Lord Jesus who is the Supreme Commander. One aspect of a wrong mentality concerning Him is this: that He is One from whom we GETeverything, instead of the One to whom we GIVE everything. There is a great danger of always thinking in terms of what we are to get from Headquarters, of what advantages are to accrue to us, of drawing toward ourselves; in effect - although we would never admit this - really putting ourselves, our interests, in the place of those of the Supreme Command. That is how it works out.

It is just at this point that "popular" Christianity has done a great deal of harm. Christianity has been put on a wrong basis, or perhaps to be a little more charitable, upon an inadequate basis, and the preaching is almost exclusively in terms of what we are toGET. We are to get salvation; we are to get eternal life, peace, joy and satisfaction - all this and Heaven too! But the emphasis is so largely upon what we are to get from the Lord Jesus, our Supreme Commander. It is at least an inadequate mentality, if not an altogether wrong one when it is made a principle; it is a misinterpretation of the whole Christian life. The right mentality - and the only one that is going to serve the great purpose and to minister to the great objective - is the mentality that is governed by the principle: "Give everything to the Lord" and not "Get everything from the Lord".

This is the governing principle of the Godhead, that to give is the way of fulfilment. In the case of the Lord Jesus, that is made very clear in one classic passage where we are told that He "...emptied himself... Wherefore also God highly exalted him..." (Philippians 2:7-9). Fulfilment, the restoration of His voluntarily laid aside fullness, came to Him along the line of emptying, giving, pouring out. That is the principle of the Godhead, and it should be the mentality of all who are engaged in the great spiritual warfare. We shall be knocked about, brought up short and defeated if we are all the time thinking in terms of what should come to us. The self-centred life is always the discontented life.

But the out-going life is the life of abundant return - it all comes back. "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over" (Luke 6:38). Those are the words of the Lord Jesus. Do you want eternal possessions? The way to receive is to give. We must not think only of the Lord Jesus in terms of receiving from Him, as though He were only there for our benefit. Those who have this mentality may feel that He is not giving as they expected, so they lose interest and become paralysed in the battle, useless as fighters and powerless as servants. The true mentality about the Supreme Commander is that He should receive the honour and the glory, the dominion and the power, and everything. It is true that He will give and go on giving eternally, our relationship must be not on the basis of what WE can get but of how much He is going to get from us.

A WRONG MENTALITY AS TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Secondly, there are the perils of wrong ideas about the Christian life. There is a prevalent idea that this is merely a matter of being saved and blessed. For many, salvation and personal blessing are the sum of the Christian life, a mentality which is sometimes encouraged by preachers and leaders. The Word of God makes it perfectly clear, however, that this life is something far more. We need to realise that the Christian life involves being actively engaged in the great conflict of the elemental forces of this universe.


That is the issue. Long, long ago, something tremendous was set in motion; and ever since then, down through the centuries, the great purpose of God has been challenged and disputed. All through these generations the people of God have given themselves in relation to that one great battle in the universe; and it still goes on - the battle is not over yet. The real nature of the Christian life is that you and I, immediately we become related to the Lord Jesus Christ, are called into this spiritual conflict. We are involved in what I have called the ultimate elemental forces of the universe in conflict. This means no less than that the whole hosts of the kingdom of God and of heaven are on one side, while on the other side is the vast and vicious kingdom of Satan.

Do not have any illusions about the Christian life. The Lord Jesus did not allow His disciples to harbour any illusions: "Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27). "Whosoever would save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it" (Luke 9:24). That is frank and straight-forward. This is what we are in! It is a great privilege to be in it, but we should have no wrong mentality about the costliness of the honour. There IS joy and there IS peace. Thank God for all the blessings. We need, though, to recognise and adjust to the fact that we are in a battle, a fierce and unrelenting battle; a warfare from which there is no discharge in this life.

A WRONG MENTALITY AS TO THE CHURCH

Thirdly, there can be wrong ideas about the army itself, that is the Church. The Church is the army, but it would be a wrong mentality to imagine that the Church is the end and object of everything. We are accustomed to say much about the greatness of the Church and we do not exaggerate when we do so. We speak of it in superlative terms as, "God's masterpiece" and we are right to do so. We are encouraged by the Word of God to think of the Church of Christ as something great and wonderful, even magnificent. It is a wonderful conception in the mind of God from all eternity; it has a very large place in the divine counsels; and it is to be at last presented to the Lord Jesus as a glorious Church. All this is true.

His children began to hiss!

(Excerpts from the letters of William Tiptaft) Dear brother, Since I last wrote, I have preached in Abingdon Great Church, on Christmas evening. I preached the truth, I trust, to a very crowded congregation, supposed to be (sitting and standing, who were able to get in) about 5,000 people. I pleased the believers; but very much displeased the carnally-minded, who were never before so puzzled and confounded in all their lives! I spoke the truth faithfully, and so as all could hear; but I had no idea that the gospel would have given so much offence!  It is the truth that offends and disturbs Satan's kingdom! The neighboring clergymen, who are in darkness, say of me, "Away with such a fellow from the earth; it is not fit that he should live!" My mind is not moved by the persecution. I believe if God has a work for me to do, I shall do it, in spite of the devil and all his children! Nature is not changed, the gospel is not changed, and Christ is not changed. What reason is there why they should not hate the truth now, as much as in the time of the apostles? I never saw any fruits of my labors until I roused and disturbed the 'roaring lion'. When, through the grace of God, I began to disturb his kingdom, I soon found that his children began to hiss! The world and Satan hate believers. The Pharisees hate me the most. I cut off all their rotten props, and all their fleshly devotion! It is not coming near to the truth, it is not the 'mere letter' of the gospel, that will convert men; but the Holy Spirit. Make the Word of God your study. Pin your faith to no man's views! I scarcely read any other book. Beware of those who want to exalt man in any manner. Yours very affectionately, William Tiptaft, Jan. 30th, 1830

I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword

Charles Spurgeon
Evening, December 28
I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword.

Matthew 10:34

The Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to make none; but if to do the right, and to believe the true, should cause him to lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in heaven will be yet more friendly, and reveal himself to him more graciously than ever.

O ye who have taken up his cross, know ye not what your Master said? I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. Christ is the great Peacemaker; but before peace, he brings war. Where the light cometh, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must flee; or, if it abideth, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth cannot and will not lower its standard, and the lie must be trodden under foot.

If you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the world yelping at your heels. If you would live so as to stand the test of the last tribunal, depend upon it the world will not speak well of you. He who has the friendship of the world is an enemy to God; but if you are true and faithful to the Most High, men will resent your unflinching fidelity, since it is a testimony against their iniquities. Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right.

You will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which shall turn your best friend into your fiercest foe; but for the love of Jesus you must thus be courageous. For the truth's sake to hazard reputation and affection, is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you; yet turn not your back like a coward, but play the man.

Follow right manfully in your Master's steps, for he has traversed this rough way before you. Better a brief warfare and eternal rest, than false peace and everlasting torment.

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THE SON OF THUNDER

Discipline and Other Sermons, 17 - THE SON OF THUNDER

By Charles Kingsley

ST. JOHN i. 1.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

We read this morning the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John.

Some of you, I am sure, must have felt, as you heard it, how grand was the very sound of the words. Some one once compared the sound of St. John's Gospel to a great church bell: simple, slow, and awful; and awful just because it is so simple and slow. The words are very short,--most of them of one syllable,--so that even a child may understand them if he will: but every word is full of meaning.

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.'

Those, I hold, are perhaps the deepest words ever written by man. Whole books have been written, and whole books more might be written upon them, and on the words which come after them. 'That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.' They go down to the mystery of all mysteries,--to the mystery of the unfathomable One God, who dwells alone in the light which none can approach unto, self-sustained and self-sufficing for ever. And then they go on to the other great mystery--how that God comes forth out of himself to give life and light to all things which he has made; and what is the bond between the Abysmal Father in heaven, and us his human children, and the world in which we live:- even Jesus Christ, God of the substance of his Father, begotten before the worlds, and man of the substance of his mother, born in the world.

Yes. The root and ground of all true philosophy lies in this chapter. Its words are so deep that the wisest man might spend his life over them without finding out all that they mean. And yet they are so simple that any child can understand enough of their meaning to know its duty, and to do it.

Remark, again, how short the sentences are. Each is made up of a very few words, and followed by a full stop, that our minds may come to a full stop likewise, and think over what we have heard before St. John goes on to tell us more.

Yes. St. John does not hurry either himself or us. He takes his time; and he wishes us to take our time likewise. His message will keep; for it is eternal. It is not a story of yesterday, or to-day, or to-morrow. It is the story of eternity,--of what is, and was, and always will be.


Always has the Word been with God, and always will he be God.

Always has the Word been making all things, and always will he be making.

Always has the Spirit been proceeding, and always will the Spirit be proceeding, from the Word and from the Father of the Word, giving their light and their life to men.

St. John's message will last for ever; and therefore he tells it slowly and deliberately, knowing that no time can change what he has to say; for it is the good news of the Word, Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, because he is God of very God, eternally in the bosom of the Father.

Now St. John, who writes thus simply and quietly, was no weak or soft person. He was one of the two whom the Lord surnamed Boanerges, the Son of Thunder--the man of the loud and awful voice. Painters have liked to draw St. John as young, soft, and feminine, because he was the Apostle of Love. I beg you to put that sentimental notion out of your minds, and to remember that the only hint which Holy Scripture gives us about St. John's person is, that he was 'a Son of Thunder;' that his very voice, when he chose, was awful; that he, and his brother James, before they were converted, were not of a soft, but of a terrible temper; that it was James and John, the Sons of Thunder, who wanted to call down thunder and lightning from heaven on all the villages who would not receive the Lord.

A Son of Thunder. Think over that name, and think over it carefully, remembering that it was our Lord himself who gave St. John the name; and that it therefore has, surely, some deep meaning.

PLEASANT PLANTS AND DESPERATE SORROW

Plants

Preached at North Street Chapel, Stamford, on December 23rd, 1860, by J. C. Philpot

"Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength, therefore shall you plantpleasant plants, and shall set it with strange slips. In the day shall you make your plant to grow, and in the morning shall you make your seed to flourish--but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow." Isaiah 17:10-11

Ever since the fall, sorrow and disappointment have been the decreed lot of man; for on that sad and evil day when Adam sinned and fell, God cursed the ground for his sake, and declared that in sorrow he would eat of it all the days of his life. Thorns also and thistles--emblems of vexation and disappointment--was it to bring forth to him, and in the sweat of his face he was to eat bread, until he returned unto the ground from whence he was taken. "Dust," said God to him, "you are, and unto dust shall you return." Ge 3:17-19.

Sorrow, therefore, and disappointment being, by God's decree, the determined lot of man, no exertion of human skill or subtle contrivance of earthly wisdom can possibly avert them. As, then, a sailor putting out to sea, however softly the wind may blow, feels sure of encountering storms before the end of his voyage, and makes provision accordingly, so it will be our wisdom, however fair may be our present sky, to anticipate stormy winds and rough seas before we reach our destined harbor. But of all sorrows, the most cutting is that which we bring upon ourselves; and of all disappointments, the most keen is that of which we feel ourselves to be the main and miserable authors. 

There is not a more true nor a more stinging reproof from the mouth of God to one under his chastening hand than this, "Have you not procured this unto yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God?" nor a severer sentence against a disobedient child than, "Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you--know, therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord God of hosts." Jer 2:19.

Let me illustrate this point, for it is one of much importance, by one or two figures. When a ship leaves the harbor on a foreign voyage, it is naturally expected that she will be tossed by wind and wave; and no skill or care of the captain can always preserve her from being cast upon the rocks. But if the captain of a ship, from sheer wilfulness or drunkenness, when he hears the cry "Breakers ahead!" still holds on his course without slackening his sail or shifting his helm, and thus rushes on to destruction, although the eye of pity may drop a tear over the loss of vessel and crew, yet it can scarcely compassionate the case of the author of the calamity as perishing by his own madness and folly.