Christ's Love for us

By Thomas Brooks

Let us stand still, and admire and wonder at the love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners; that Christ should rather die for us, than for the angels. They were creatures of a more noble extract, and in all probability might have brought greater revenues of glory to God: yet that Christ should pass by those golden vessels, and make us vessels of glory, Oh, what amazing and astonishing love is this! This is the envy of devils. and the admiration of angels and saints.

The apostle, being in a holy admiration of Christ's love, affirms it to pass knowledge, Eph. iii. 18, 19; that God, who is the eternal Being, should love man when he had scarce a being, Prov. viii. 30, 31, that he should be enamored with deformity, that he should love us when in our blood, Ezek. xvi., that he should pity us when no eye pitied us, no, not our own. Oh, such was Christ's transcendent love, that man's extreme misery could not abate it. The deploredness of man's condition did but heighten the holy flame of Christ's love. It is as high as heaven, who can reach it? It is as low as hell, who can understand it? Heaven, through its glory, could not contain him, man being miserable, nor hell's torments make him refrain, such was his perfect matchless love to fallen man. That Christ's love should extend to the ungodly, to sinners, to enemies that were in arms of rebellion against him, Rom. v. 6, 8, 10; yes, not only so, but that he should hug them in his arms, lodge them in his bosom, dandle them upon his knees, and lay them to his breasts, that they may suck and be satisfied, is the highest improvement of love, Isa lxvi. 11-13.

That Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his Father, to a region of sorrow and death, John i. 18; that God should be manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature, Isa. liii. 4; that he that was clothed with glory, should be wrapped with rags of flesh, 1 Tim. iii. 16; that he that filled heaven, should be cradled in a manger, John xvii. 5; that the God of Israel should fly into Egypt, Mat. ii. 14; that the God of strength should be weary; that the judge of all flesh should be condemned; that the God of life should be put to death, John xix. 41; that he that is one with his Father, should cry out of misery, 'O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!' Mat. xxvi. 39: that he that had the keys of hell and death, Rev. i. 18, should lie imprisoned in the sepulcher of another, having, in his lifetime, nowhere to lay his head; nor after death, to lay his body, John xix. 41, 42; and all this for man, for fallen man, for miserable man, for worthless man, is beyond the thoughts of created natures.

The sharp, the universal and continual sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the cradle to the cross, does above all other things speak out the transcendent love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners. That wrath, that great wrath, that fierce wrath, that pure wrath, that infinite wrath, that matchless wrath of an angry God, that was so terribly impressed upon the soul of Christ, quickly spent his natural strength, and turned his moisture into the drought of summer, Ps. xxxii. 4; and yet all this wrath he patiently underwent, that sinners might be saved, and that 'he might bring many sons unto glory,' Heb. ii. 10.

Oh, wonder of love! Love enables Jesus to suffer. It was love that made our dear Lord Jesus lay down his life, to save us from hell and to bring us to heaven. As the pelican, out of her love to her young ones, when they are bitten with serpents, feeds them with her own blood to recover them again; so when we were bitten by the old serpent, and our wound incurable, and we in danger of eternal death, then did our dear Lord Jesus, that he might recover us and heal us, feed us with his own blood, Gen. iii. 15; John vi. 53-56. Oh love unspeakable! This made [Bernard] cry out, 'Lord, you have loved me more than yourself; for you have laid down your life for me.'

God's Simplicity

F.B. Hole

The works and ways of God are marked by simplicity. His simplicity is perfect. We can not improve upon it. We may attempt to alter it, but then we only corrupt it. The Gospel is the essence of simplicity. It sets Christ before us as the One who is the expression of all that God has to say to us, as also He is the One who has wrought the necessary work of redemption, and in whom we now stand before God.

It brings us into complete subjection to Him. But Satan is a master of craft and subtlety. Using these men who were the opponents of Paul, he did not totally deny Christ whom Paul preached. Verse 4 is clear evidence of this. If they could have come with another gospel, announcing another Jesus, and conferring another spirit, there might have been something to say on their behalf, especially if it could have been an improvement on what they had already received.

Instead of denying Christ they came under the pretense of adding something to Christ. A fuller idea of their position may be gleaned from the epistle to the Galatians, where we find them adding the law to Christ teaching that, though we may be justified by Him, we are put under the law in order that holiness may be promoted. That Christ should be made righteousness to us they were prepared to admit, but that He should also be made sanctification seemed to them much too simple.

It is not otherwise today. The tendency to hanker after the elaborate, the abstruse, the complicated, the far-fetched is always with us. The intellectual men of the world find the Gospel far too simple, and they stumble at it. The trouble is however that believers, whose strong point is their intellect, always have a tendency in the same direction, unless they walk in the spirit of self-judgment as regards intellectualism. If they do not maintain self-judgment, all their elaborations, their deep and abstruse thoughts, only eventuate in something that corrupts from simplicity as to the Christ. (Italics added)

It is very important that we should remember that Satan so commonly transforms himself into an angel of light, and his servants into servants of righteousness. That being so, we must expect sin and error to frequently present themselves in a pleasing and delightful guise. Again and again we find the advocates of error to be quite nice men.

It is unsafe to receive the message because the man who brings it appears so good, so charming, so eloquent, so like an angel of light. The only safe test is, Does he bring the doctrine of Christ, the true Gospel? If he does, receive it by all means, even if he is a bit uncouth, a poor speaker, or of ugly appearance. "Prince Charming" is all too often a servant of Satan in plain clothes.

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Oswald Chambers ~ The Soul of a Christian

Oswald Chambers 
1874 - 1917


Soul Satisfaction

O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Psalm 139:1

None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (for the redemption of their soul is costly, and must be let alone for ever). Psalm 49:7-8 (rv)

Beware of believing that the human soul is simple, for it is not true. Read Psalm 139, and look into yourself, and you will soon find you are much too complex to touch. Charles Wagner* was the apostle of naturalness, “the gospel of temperament”—Be simple! How can anyone who is wide-awake be simple?

We befool ourselves into moral imbecility if we believe those who tell us the human soul is simple. As long as we think we understand ourselves we are in a lamentable state of ignorance. The first dose of conviction of sin, or of the realisation of what the Psalmist states, viz., the unfathomable depths of our own souls, will put an end to that ignorance.

The only One who can redeem the human soul is the Lord Jesus Christ and He has done it, and the Holy Spirit brings the realisation of this to us experimentally. All this vast complex “me” which we cannot begin to understand, God knows completely, and through the Atonement He invades every part of our personality with His life.

Soul is the responsible expression of the ruling personal spirit, and when the personal spirit is filled with God’s Spirit, we have to see that we obey His Spirit and reconstruct another soul. God’s Spirit entering my spirit does not become my spirit, but quickens my spirit, and I begin to express a new soul. It is not the nature of the working of the soul that is altered, that remains the same in a regenerate human spirit as in an unregenerate human spirit, but a different driving power expresses itself.

When God’s Spirit comes into my personal spirit, instantly I am introduced to a life which manifests itself in contradiction to my old way of reasoning and expressing myself, and the consequence is that the life whereby I have affinity with other people is upset and they wonder what is the matter with me, a disturbing element has come in which cannot be estimated.

The incoming of the Spirit of God disturbs the reasoning faculties, and for a while the soul that is born from above (rv mg) is inarticulate, it has no expression; the equilibrium has been upset by the incoming of a totally new spirit into my spirit, and Jesus Christ says, “In your patience ye shall win your souls” (Luke 21:19 rv)—acquire your new soul with patience .

Satisfaction and the demand for satisfaction is a God-given principle in human nature, but it must be satisfaction in the highest. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

*Charles Wagner (1852-1918): Protestant clergyman and writer in Paris; author of [i]The Simple Life,[/i] published in 1904

Oswald Chambers
The servant as His Lord

Walking with God - Thomas Reade (1837)

Enoch Went Home To Be With God

"Enoch walked with God." Gen. 5:22

The word of God, unlike any other book, has this remarkable feature- that materials for a volume are often compressed in a few words; "God is love." Here is matter for eternal contemplation. All the understandings of men- all the capacities of angels will never exhaust the inexhaustible fullness of this short sentence.

"Enoch walked with God," expresses in its condensed form the principles and practice, the privileges and perseverance, of the true believer. These few words may be expanded, until volumes are written to display in all its loveliness the character so concisely exhibited by the apostle. "It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—suddenly he disappeared because God took him. But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God. So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him."

Enoch possessed a principle of faith. He believed in the great sustaining promise of the patriarchal age- in the seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent's head. "He pleased God;" but without faith it is impossible to please him, therefore Enoch was a believer. He was justified by faith, and by works was his faith made perfect. His practice condemned the world; so also did his prophecy. For, says Jude– "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men (of the apostates in the latter days): "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Paul declared the same truth– "And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don't know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power when he comes to receive glory and praise from his holy people. And you will be among those praising him on that day, for you believed what we testified about him."

John saw in vision the same overwhelming judgment; "Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the one sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True. For he judges fairly and then goes to war. His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him, and only he knew what it meant. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword, and with it he struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod, and he trod the winepress of the fierce wrath of almighty God. On his robe and thigh was written this title: King of kings and Lord of lords." "Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him."

Thus, in every age, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. "Enoch walked WITH GOD." He enjoyed the privilege of adoption. He could call God, Father. He lived in a state of communion with the God of his salvation. But how can two walk together except they be agreed? Enoch pleased God, and was made happy in His love. He was in a state of reconciliation through faith in the promised seed; for all who lived before the advent of Christ were delivered from the curse through faith in the Savior to be revealed- Jesus Christ, the Righteous- the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh! how great are the privileges of the saints!

"Enoch WALKED with God." This implies PROGRESSION. He persevered in the ways of holiness. He did not grow weary in well-doing. He was not offended with revealed truths, like those who walked no more with Jesus when he declared himself to be the food of their souls. He endured unto the end; and God took him, by an immediate translation, from earth to the Paradise above.

How wonderful are the was of God, and yet how gracious! Each period of time, Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian, was blessed by the manifestation of the divine goodness. Adam was driven out of Paradise. By his transgression, heaven was barred against him; but Mercy, in the person of the Eternal Son, opened the gates of heaven to all believers. To animate the hopes of the redeemed, and to assure them of another and a better world, Enoch was translated during the Patriarchal age; Elijah during the dispensation of Moses; and the blessed Redeemer, when he had finished his work of love, ascended up on high- thus manifesting his victory over death, and entering as our forerunner into the kingdom of glory.

Do not be deceived, Oh! my soul, by false appearances. It is one thing to profess the Gospel of grace, and another thing to possess the grace of the Gospel. It is not the noisy talker about Jesus, but the humble walker with Jesus, who is the beloved of the Lord. The heart of Paul was deeply wounded by hollow professors of the truth. "Dear friends, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. 

For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. Their future is eternal destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and all they think about is this life here on earth." "For there are many who rebel against right teaching; they engage in useless talk and deceive people. This is especially true of those who insist on circumcision for salvation. They must be silenced. By their wrong teaching, they have already turned whole families away from the truth. Such teachers only want your money."

The gifts of eloquence and learning may raise a man in the estimation of the world, even though he is destitute of the Spirit of Christ. The humble, but despised Christian, adorned with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of God, of great value, will be owned by the Searcher of hearts, while the pompous professor is no better than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. He that says he abides in Christ ought himself also so to walk even as he walked. Are these things so? Then, O my soul, unfold the sacred volume, and examine which is the way to heaven, and how you must walk therein. Jesus is the way- the only way, to Heaven. Hear his own blessed words; "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no man comes unto the Father but by me."

Gracious Savior! I bless you, I praise you for this soul-invigorating declaration. There are many ways to hell, but only one to heaven, and You are that Way. Oh! that I may never leave this true, this living, this consecrated way, on which the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apostles and Saints, have journeyed to the celestial Canaan. But how may I be assured that I am walking on this sacred road; that I am in the way to everlasting glory? You have said; "Search the Scriptures; for in them you think have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me."

O, blessed Jesus, open my understanding, that I may understand the Scriptures. Show me Yourself in all the fullness of your power- in all the freeness of your love. Guide me by your Spirit, for it is not in man that walks to direct his steps. Study, O my soul, the records of eternal life. There you will discover, through the teaching of the Spirit of Truth, whether you are a pilgrim on the road to Zion. In that precious Book you are informed how you are not to walk, if a believer in Jesus– 

Walk not after the flesh.
Walk not after the course of this world.
Walk not in darkness.
Walk not by sight.

Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.

These important passages stand as beacons, to guard you against the threatened danger. Whatever your profession may be, if you are walking in any of these downward ways, you are going, with hasty steps, to the torments of hell!

Lord! you have said, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." Fulfill this gracious promise to your servant, who is now seeking to walk in the light of your countenance, and by the guidance of your Holy Spirit. Cause me to walk in your statutes faithfully unto the end. Renew my strength that I may run and not be weary, and walk and not faint; yes, that I may mount with wings like an eagle, until I reach your abode of glory.

Search the Scriptures again, O my soul, and learn from these oracles of truth, how you are to walk as a believer, and how you may be assured that you are a believer, if your walk be correspondent to these sacred marks– 

Walk with God.
Walk after the Spirit.
Walk in Christ.
Walk by faith.
Walk in love.
Walk in truth.
Walk in wisdom toward those who are without.
Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.
Walk in the light.
Walk as a child of light.
Walk in the fear of the Lord.
Walk worthy the vocation with which you are called.
Walk in newness of life.
Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory.
Walk as Christ walked.

Thus must you walk, if you will be a disciple of Jesus– a child of God– a temple of the Holy Spirit. And if, through grace, you thus walk and endure unto the end, hear what the Lord says for your unspeakable comfort. "You shall walk with me in white." "You shall come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon your head; you shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

Blessed Emmanuel! you know that I desire to walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, but to walk with my whole heart "in the way of your laws, and in obedience to your commandments," to walk by faith in your blood and righteousness, to the honor and glory of your holy name. Like Enoch and Noah may I walk with you. Like Abraham may I walk before you with a perfect heart. Like David may I set the Lord always before me.

Oh! allow me not to walk in the vain imagination of my heart; but in mercy teach me the good way wherein I should go. Then when I walk in the midst of trouble you will revive me; yes, when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil, for you will be with me, your rod and your staff they shall comfort me. O God, who declares your Almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity; mercifully grant unto me such a measure of your grace, that, running in the path of your commandments, I may obtain your gracious promises, and be made a partaker of your heavenly treasure through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Oh! that like Enoch I may walk
With God in fellowship divine,
Enjoy the witness of his love,
And in his blessed image shine.
When you shall call me hence away,
I then shall prove the promise true;
While hastening to the eternal world,
Your glory, Lord, bursts on my view.
Like Abraham may I talk with You,
As friends converse who dearly love,
And taste the comforts of your grace,
'Till I shall reach the world above.
As blessed Elijah, strong in faith,
Was borne aloft on wings of fire,
So may my heart on You be fixed,
Ascending on intense desire.
O may I walk with You in love,
And live, as ever in your sight,
Until far removed from sin and woe,
I walk with You arrayed in white.

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The desires of the flesh and of the mind --J. C. Philpot

J.C. Philpot
1802-1869


(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on Ephesians")

"All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying
the cravings of our sinful nature, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. Like the rest, we were
by nature objects of wrath." Ephesians 2:3

We may observe here a distinction drawn by the Apostle
between the desires of the flesh and the desires of the
mind. Both are opposed to God and godliness, both are
the fruits of our fallen nature.

But the desires of the FLESH seem to be those grosser
and more sensual lusts and passions which are connected,
so to speak, with the lower part of our nature. The desires
of the MIND are those which are connected with its higher
qualities.

Thus some are steeped up to the very lips in all manner
of vile abominations of sensual lust, in the gratification of
which they find all their pleasure. While others, who would
scorn, or at least are not tempted to the baser lusts of the
flesh, carry out with equal ardour the promptings of a more
refined character and disposition. Ambition to rise in the
world, thirsting after power over their fellow-men, a craving
for fame and distinction in any particular branch of art or
science, discontent with their present situation in life,
envying everyone superior to them in birth, wealth, talent,
accomplishments, position, or worldly happiness; attempts,
more or less successful, to rise out of obscurity, poverty,
and subjection, and to win for themselves name, fame, and
prosperity--how wide a field does this open to our view, as
embracing "the desires of the MIND!"

And observe how the Apostle puts upon a level the desires
of the flesh and the desires of the mind, and stamps them
both with the same black mark of disobedience and its
consequences--the wrath of God.

We look around us. We see the drunkard staggering in the
street, we hear the oath of the common swearer, we view
the sons and daughters of Belial manifesting in their very
looks how sunk they are in deeds of shame. These we at
once condemn.

But what do we think of the aspiring tradesman, the energetic
man of business, the active, untiring speculator, the man who,
without scruple, puts into practice every scheme and plan to
advance and aggrandize himself, careless who sinks if he rise?
Is he equally guilty in our eyes? What do we think of the artist
devoting days and nights to the cultivation of his skill as a painter,
as an architect, as a sculptor; of the literary man, buried in his
books; of the scientist, devoting years to the particular branch
of study which he has selected to pursue; or similar examples
of men, whose whole life and all whose energies are spent in
fulfilling the desires of their mind?

As far as society, public welfare, the comfort of themselves
and their families, and the progress of the world are concerned,
there is a vast difference between these two classes; and we
would do violence to right feeling to put them upon a level.

But when we come to weigh the matter as before God, with
eternity in view, and judge them by the word of truth, we see
at once that there is no real difference between them; that
the drunkard does but fulfill the desires of his flesh--and the
scholar, the artist, the man of business, the literary man, in a
word, the man of the world, whatever his world be, little or
great, does but each fulfill the desires of his mind.

Both are of the earth, earthy; both are sworn enemies to God
and godliness; and could you look into the very bottom of his
heart, you might find the man of intellect, refinement, and
education--to be a greater foe to God and His word than the
drunkard or the profligate!

The sin in both is one and the same, and consists in this,
that in all they do they seek to gratify that carnal mind
which is enmity against God, which is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. God is not in all, or
indeed in any of their thoughts. Instead of living to and
for Him in whom, as creatures of His hand, they live and
move and have their being, they live wholly unto and for
themselves, and thus are practical rebels against God,
as rejecting his rightful claims upon their obedience.



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Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28

"And we know that God causes everything to work
 together for the good of those who love God and
 are called according to His purpose for them." 
Romans 8:28


(adapted from Winslow's, "All Things Working for Good")


It is palpably clear and emphatically true that all
that occurs in the Lord's government of His people
conspires for, and works out, and results in, their
highest happiness, their greatest good.

The gloomiest and most painful circumstances in
the history of the child of God, without a solitary
exception, are all conspiring, and all working
together, for his real and permanent good.

The painful and inexplicable dispensations, which
at the present moment may be thickening and
deepening around your path, are but so many
problems in God's government, which He is working
out to their certain, satisfactory, and happy results.

And when the good thus embosomed in the lowering
cloud of some crushing providence, accomplishes its
benevolent and heaven sent mission, then trial will
expand its dark pinions and fly away; and sorrow will
roll up its somber drapery and disappear.

All things under the government of an infinitely great,
all wise, righteous, and beneficent Lord God, work together
for good. What that good may be, the shape it may assume,
the complexion it may wear, the end to which it may be
subservient, we cannot tell. To our dim view it may appear
an evil, but to God's far seeing eye it is a positive good.

Oh, truth most divine!
Oh, words most consolatory!


How many whose eye traces this page, it may be whose
tears bedew it, whose sighs breathe over it, whose prayers
hallow it, may be wading in deep waters, may be drinking
bitter cups, and are ready to exclaim: "All these things
are against me!"

Oh no, beloved of God, all these things are for you!
Do not be afraid!

Christ restrains the flood upon whose heaving bosom
He serenely sits. Christ controls the waters, whose
sounding waves obey the mandate of his voice.
Christ's cloudy chariot is paved with love!

Then, fear not!

Your Father grasps the helm of your storm tossed
bark, and through cloud and tempest will steer it
safely to the port of endless rest.

Will it not be a good, if your present adversity results in...
  the dethronement of some worshiped idol;
  in the endearing of Christ to your soul;
  in the closer conformity of your mind to God's image;
  in the purification of your heart;
  in your more thorough fitness for heaven?

Will it not be a real good if it terminate...
  in a revival of God's work within you;
  in stirring you up to more prayer;
  in enlarging your heart to all that love the same Savior;
  in stimulating you to increased activity...
     for the conversion of sinners,
     for the diffusion of the truth,
     and for the glory of God?

Oh yes! good, real good, permanent good must result
 from all the Divine dispensations in your history.

Bitter repentance shall end in the experienced sweetness of Christ's love.
The festering wound shall but elicit the healing balm.

The overpowering burden shall but bring you to the tranquil rest.
The storm shall but quicken your footsteps to the Hiding place.

The north wind and the south wind shall breathe together
  over your garden, and the spices shall flow out.

In a little while; oh, how soon! you shall pass away
from earth to heaven, and in its clearer, serener light
shall read the truth, often read with tears before,
"And we know that God causes everything to work
 together for the good of those who love God and
 are called according to His purpose for them."

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You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

(Arthur Pink, "The Ten Commandments")

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes His name in vain." Exodus 20:7

This commandment bids us to speak of God with that frame of spirit which is agreeable to His dignity and solemnity and the majesty: that is, with the utmost sincerity, humility and reverence. O what high thoughts ought we to entertain of such a Being! In what holy awe should we stand of Him!

Anything pertaining to God should be spoken of with the greatest sobriety.

God’s Name is taken in vain—when we use it without due consideration and reverence. Whenever we make mention of Him before whom the seraphim veil their faces—we ought seriously and solemnly to ponder His infinite majesty and glory—and bow our hearts in deepest prostration before that Name.

God's Name is not to be sported with and tossed to and fro upon every light tongue. O my reader, form the habit of solemnly consideringwhose Name it is you are about to utter. It is the Name of Him who is present with you, who is hearing you pronounce it. He is jealous of His honor, and He will dreadfully avenge Himself upon those who have slighted Him!

It has become almost impossible to walk the streets or to enter mixed company without hearing the sacred Name of God treated with blasphemous contempt. The novels of the day, the stage, and even radio (and more lately television, the cinema, and the press) are terrible offenders, and without doubt this is one of the fearful sins against Himself, for which God is now pouring out His judgments upon us.

God is dreadfully incensed by this sin, and in the common commission of this Heaven-insulting crime, our country has incurred terrible guilt! "The Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in vain." Sore punishment shall be his portion, if not in this life, then most assuredly so, eternally so, in the life to come!

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The Valley of Achor

J.C. Philpot
1802-1869

Preached at North Street Chapel, Stamford, on April 14, 1861, by J. C. Philpot

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and in the valley of Achor, a door of hope—and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." Hosea 2:14, 15

The prophetical books of the Old Testament contain, stored up in them, a rich mine of instruction and edification for the Church of God. But though the mine is so rich, it is proportionately deep; though the ore is so precious, it is locked up in its darkest recesses. Thus we may say of this mine, as Job speaks of another no less deep and valuable, "The stones of it are the place of sapphires—and it has dust of gold." But we may add, with him, "There is a path which no fowl knows, and which the vulture's eye has not seen. For it is hidden from the eyes of all humanity. Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it." (Job 28:6, 7, 21.)

But, besides these inherent difficulties of the prophetical scriptures, an additional hindrance arises to the right understanding of them from this circumstance—that people either do not know, or do not bear sufficiently in mind—that they are open to various kinds of interpretation. To explain my meaning more distinctly, let me observe that the interpretation of the prophetical books of the Old Testament is frequently, if not universally, of a three-fold nature—

First, there is the literal and historical interpretation, which was suitable to the time, place, and circumstances under which the prophecy was first and originally delivered.

Secondly, there is the spiritual and experimental interpretation, which the Holy Spirit has couched in the letter for the edification of the Church of God in all times.

And, thirdly, there is the future or prophetical interpretation, when these prophecies shall be accomplished in their full meaning, and every jot and tittle of them receive a complete fulfillment. Until, therefore, that period arrives, very much of the prophetical scriptures must lie buried in obscurity. This full accomplishment will take place in those times of which the apostle Peter speaks in the Acts of the Apostles, as, "The times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:21.)

As it is the spiritual and experimental interpretation which chiefly concerns the Church of God, and that from which we are to draw our supplies of instruction and consolation, I shall this morning chiefly confine myself to that signification; and, in so doing, I shall, with God's help and blessing, bring before you the Lord's words in our text, and thus divide them by showing you:

First, the way in which God allures his people—by the drawings of his grace.

Secondly, where he brings them by means of these allurements—"into the wilderness."

Thirdly, what he does to them when he has brought them there—he speaks comfortably unto them; gives them their vineyards from thence; and opens in the valley of Achor, a door of hope.

Fourthly, what is the blessed fruit and effect of these gracious dealings of God with them in the wilderness—that "they sing there as in the days of their youth, and as in the day when they came up out of the land of Egypt."

We cannot, however, well understand these dealings of God with the souls of his people unless we first cast our eye upon the preceding part of the chapter. The Lord there lays open the sins that a soul, even a gracious soul, is capable of committing; what it does and ever will do when not restrained by his powerful grace—"For their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful way. She said, 'I'll run after my lovers and sell myself to them for food and drink, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil.'"

Here is the opening up of what we are by nature, what our carnal mind is ever bent upon, what we do or are capable of doing, except as held back by the watchful providence, and unceasing grace and goodness of the Lord. These "lovers" of ours, are our old sins and former lusts that still crave for gratification. To these sometimes the carnal mind looks back and says, "Where are my lovers that gave me my food and drink? Where are those former delights that so pleased my vile passions, and so gratified my base desires?" These lovers, then, are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—all which, unless subdued by sovereign grace, still work in our depraved nature, and seek to regain their former sway.

The Question Of Questions

By T. De Witt Talmage

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30).

In a cell of the Philippian dungeon, dark, damp, chill, unilluminated save by the torch Of some official who comes to see whether they are yet alive, are two Ministers of Jesus Christ; their feet fast in instruments of torture, their shoulders dripping from the strokes of leather thongs, their mouths hot with inflammation of thirst, their heads faint because they may not lie down. In another room of the same building is a man asleep on a comfortable couch. He is a supervisor, a paid officer of the government to look after that prison. I take him to have been a moral and an honorable man from the trust reposed in him. It is twelve o'clock at night. No sound in all the corridors and wards in that prison, save as some culprit turns over in his chains or there is the cough of a slow consumptive or some wanderer, far away from her father's house, cries out in her dream: "Mother! mother!"

At midnight, Crash! Go the prison walls, and the two Ministers of religion, Paul and Silas, are free. The supervisor of the jail, although he had been accustomed to the shadows hovering around the dungeon, is startled beyond all bounds; and flambeau in hand he rushes through between the falling walls, and throws himself down at the feet of his Apostolic prisoners, crying out in the memorable words of my text: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

There are hundreds and thousands with more or less earnestness asking the same question, and in this severe crisis of your soul I meet you with a message from the throne of God. There may be some who could surpass me in skillfulness of argument, there may be many who could drink from deeper fountains of knowledge and science, there may be many before whom, in some respects, I would be willing to bow as the inferior to the superior; but I yield to no one in this presence in a wish to have all the people saved; and with an all conquering desire that sometimes well nigh overcomes my utterance, I beg you to accept the eternal life of the Gospel. Lord, help us! Lord, help us now!

I proceed to characterize this question of the jail warden, and I characterize it in the first place as a courteous question. He did not come up to these men and say: "You outragers of the law, you miscreants, you vagabonds against society, you have upturned the whole city with excitement, and now you are trying to break down the walls of our prison, destroying government property; let me put on you these handcuffs and hopples, or else get out beyond the confines of the city." He said no such thing. He addresses them with that one word, "Sirs," a synonym for lords - as much as to say: "I acknowledge the dignity of your mission. I acknowledge the honor of your manhood, and I am here to see what you can do for my soul." It was a courteous question.

But it is often the case when people begin to inquire about religion they become impertinent, and they denounce all Christians as hypocrites, and the Church of God as a cheat, and they criticize this and they denounce that and they complain of something else. Is that fair? Is that right? Is that courteous? Suppose I should come into an audience of lawyers and denounce them all as pettifoggers, or an audience of physicians and denounce them all as quacks? "Oh," you say, "that would not be fair." It would be just as fair as for you to denounce all Christians as hypocrites. There are pettifoggers among lawyers, and there are quacks among physicians, and there are hypocrites among Christians; but that is not the character of all lawyers or all physicians or all Christians. It was a courteous question, it was a gentlemanly question, it was a polite question, it was a deferential question. "Sirs! Sirs!"

I go further, and I characterize the question of the jail supervisor as a practical question. He did not ask why God let sin come into the world - he did not ask how the Christ about whom they were preaching could be God and man at the same time; he did not ask who Cain married; he did not ask who was Melchizedek; he did not ask the proportionate number of the finally saved and the finally lost. No; his question involved his present and his everlasting welfare. Was not that a practical question? Yet a great many people, when they begin to seek after religion, begin to find fault with the Bible, and they say, "If this is so, how can that be so?" And they complain of this and they complain of that and they go fishing after snapping turtles instead of fishing after the truth. They do not seem to be satisfied with the plain Gospel of the Son of God. Now, the question for you is not whether John Calvin or Arminius was right, not what will be the proportion of the finally saved and the finally lost, not who was Melchizedek, not who Cain married; the question for you is, "Where will I spend eternity?" It is a practical question.

I go further and I characterize this question of the jail supervisor as a question personal to himself. He may have had hundreds of friends; he is not asking about them. In that catastrophe of the failing prison some or those friends may have perished. He is not asking about them. He throws all the emphasis of his question upon the pronoun of the first person: "What shall I do to be saved?" When a man becomes a Christian, of course he is anxious to have everybody else saved. You are not a Christian if you are not anxious to have all the world saved; but until your own sins are pardoned, my brother, you must look at home. The difficulty is, we are so anxious about the lack of culture in our neighbor's yard that we let our own garden go to weeds - we are so anxious to get the people into the lifeboat of the Gospel that we ourselves drown in the wave. We cry, "Fire! fire!" because our neighbor's house is consuming; while ours is in a blaze. Now, let us blot out everything, let us obliterate all other considerations, let it be as though you were the only person present, the rest of the audience all gone. Your sin - is it pardoned? Your Heaven - is it secure?

I come up to the door of your soul with a message from the throne of God -about your pardon, your repentance, your enthronement, your exile, your eternal residence. This man of the text knew that there was coming an earthquake mightier than that which shook down the Philippian dungeon. The foundations of the earth shall give way. At one tremor of the world, all the modern cities will fall into the dust. Temples and towers that have stood a thousand years will fall as quickly as a child's block house. The waves of the sea will roll over the land, and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will join hands above the Sierra Nevadas and the Alps and the Pyrenees. This man of the text was guarding not more against the falling of the prison than he was against the falling of a world.

I go further, and characterize this question of the jail supervisor as a question of incomparable importance. Perhaps he was anxious to have his salary raised as a supervisor; perhaps he wished to have better apartments; perhaps he was discussing some questions of prison reform, something about warmth, light, ventilation, medical treatment, discipline. Men are wonderfully alike, and I suppose he may have had a hundred questions to discuss; but all earthly questions are submerged, are bushed up, are annihilated by the one question: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And what question have you, my brother, comparable with that in importance?

Is it a business question? Do you not realize that you will soon have to go out of that store, that you will soon have to resign that partnership, that soon among all the millions of dollars' worth of goods that are sold in New York you will not have the handling of a yard of cloth or a pound of sugar or a pennyworth of anything, that soon, if a conflagration should start at Central Park and sweep everything to the Battery, it would not disturb you; that soon if every cashier should abscond, and every bank should suspend payment, and every insurance company should fail, it would not affect you? What are all the questions that stop this side the grave compared with the questions that reach beyond it? Are you making losses that are to be everlasting? Are you making purchases for eternity? Are you retailing for time, when you might be wholesaling for eternity? What question of the store is so broad at the base, and so altitudinous, and so overwhelming as the question, "What must I do to be saved?"

Or is it a domestic question? Is it something about father or mother or companion or son or daughter that you think is comparable with this question in importance? Do you not realize that by universal and inexorable law all these relations will be broken up? Your father will he gone, your mother will be gone, your companion will be gone, your child will be gone, you will be gone; and then this supernal question will begin to harvest its chief gains or deplore its worst losses, roll up into its mightiest magnitude or sweep its vastest circles - a question deciding whether you will live unending ages with God, the Blessed, or go into exile; whether you will take wing and fly, or chain and drop; whether you will forever be built up or pulled down; whether for all the future you will be praising or blaspheming, chanting or groaning, living the life that always lives, or dying the death that always dies. Is there any question comparable with that?

Source of Fruit

By Ray Stedman

" . . . How can you know when you are in the flesh and when you are in the Spirit?" The answer is: by what is produced in the life! The flesh invariably produces one kind of life; the Spirit invariably produces another king. Jesus has this truth in mind when he says: "By their fruits you shall know them" (Matt. 7:20).

. . . . Until one becomes born again as a Christian, he has no choice but to live by the flesh and produce the life of the flesh. . . . On the other hand, to be born again only supplies the possibility of living in the Spirit; it does not make it automatic. The true Christian can, and often does, manifest the phony righteousness of the flesh, though he can also (and does, as he learns to live by faith) manifest the wholesome qualities of the Spirit.

. . . . When we learn how to recognize which force is at work within us, then we shall be ready to learn what to do in order to change from the flesh to the Spirit.

The flesh produces death, the Spirit produces life! " . . . the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life." . . . What is being dispensed in the ministry of the flesh? It is death. What is being dispensed in the ministry of the Spirit? It is life. To depend on everything coming from you, in response to the demand of the law, produces immediate death. To depend on everything coming from God produces immediate life.

. . . . What is death? . . . the absence of life. . . . Life produces its own distinctive marks; death is the absence of those marks. . . . Jesus said, "I am come that you may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). . . Life lived to the full--love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. That's life!

In contrast then, what is death? It is the absence or opposite of those qualities of life. What is the absence of love? Hate. What is the absence of joy? Misery, weariness of spirit. Thus fear, frustration, boredom, worry, hostility, jealousy, malice, loneliness, depression, self-pity--these are all marks of the absence of life, therefore, they are forms of death. We do not need to wait till we die to experience these; they are part of our experience while we are yet living. They represent death in the midst of life.

. . . . Whenever the qualities of joy, trust, confidence, beauty, worth, fulfillment are present, they come only from the new covenant. It is the Spirit of God who produces them. They can come from no other source.

. . . . Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." . . . . God already loves you as much as He ever will, and nothing you could ever do, or not do, would change that fact.

What is the source of my activity? Is it the flesh, or the Spirit? Is it my background, my training, my education, my personality? Or is it God--at work in me through Jesus Christ?

The new covenant refreshes the spirit continually. When the human spirit weakens in the face of continued demand (as it was meant that it should), it looks immediately to the God who dwells within and from that Fountain of Living Water takes vigor and vitality to meet even the routine demand before it with unflagging zeal. People who live on that basis are a delight to work with. . . . They know the secret of their activity is "nothing coming from me but everything from God." That is the permanent glory which never fades. The activity of the flesh is always a fading glory (Authentic Christianity, pp. 63-75).

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A Message for the Hour

By T. Austin-Sparks

The Vital Importance of Spiritual Vision

      "Where there is no vision the people cast off restraint" Proverbs 29:18. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" Hosea 4:6.

      The first quotation above is from the Book of Wisdom. The wisdom of that statement has been overwhelmingly proved by much history and experience. There is a sense in which this explains a vast amount of spiritual tragedy, both individual and collective. This will be explained as we proceed. But first we must define the terms.

      1. The Text - Its Interpretation and Meaning

      (a) "Vision" - What is Meant by the Word?

      This is the word used to define and summarise the message of the Prophets: e.g. "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz".

      Sometimes it was as in a trance, or dream, but this was by no means general or invariable. It certainly was not essentially a matter of ocular or objective presentation, so that the matter took visual or oral form to the senses. The "vision" came in various ways, and the method is of little account. It is what it amounted to that is important. That was

      The Message from the Lord for the Hour

      We should resolve it all into that. If we have the message of the Lord for the hour we have what the Bible means by "Vision". If we have what the Bible calls vision, we have the message of the Lord for the hour; although the full fulfilment may reach far ahead.

      It can therefore be easily seen that the absence of such a message - especially if the hour is a critical one - could have grave results. The Bible give various instances and explanations of the absence of "vision".

      Hosea 4:6,7 gives 'rejection' as the cause, and note the serious reaction of the Lord to this rejection.

      In 1 Samuel 3:1 spiritual declension is the cause.

      Or it might be because of diversion and preoccupation with things other than the supreme purpose of God.

      Again, the spiritual organ of vision may be so injured by selfish interests, or sinful indulgences, or neglect, as to make seeing almost impossible.

      Whatever may be the cause, the result is serious.

      That leads us to

      (b) "Perish" (A.V.) "Cast off Restraint" (R.V.)

      But neither translation gives the full content. By using various words or phrases we could get nearer the meaning. 'The people let go: fall to pieces: go loose: run wild: or disintegrate.'

      A good example is seen in Israel at the foot of Sinai worshipping the calf. The Lord told Moses that they had "broken loose".

      It may be disconcertedness, bewilderment, consternation, distractedness, terror. Or it may be disappointment, grief, perplexity, or impatience.

      The causes may be many, but the effect is disintegration. A disintegrated life or community is one that is useless and helpless; weak, defeated, and paralysed.

      So much for the definition - at present.

      2. The Message

      (a) If what is indicated above is true, then surely the first part of the message is that of the vital importance of there being a word from God for the hour.

      It is essential to God's purpose that there is in critical times and ominous days a vessel with the essential message of God.

 It is difficult to imagine a more grievous and tragic situation than that of there being no voice to interpret nor message to govern in a day when people are pealed, broken and bewildered.
      (b) What is the essential element in 'vision', or the message from God?


      It is certainly authority - the voice of authority.


      We could almost paraphrase our text thus - "Where there is no voice of authority the people go to pieces".


      But this authority is not in the tone or strength of voice or utterance. It is not in the force of personality, or in any human factor in itself.


      What is


      The Nature of Authority?


      (a) It is clarity and certainty as to God's end and objective. That is a statement made. We do not intend at this point to indicate or discuss what that end is, but it will readily be seen and realised that if there is not clarity and certainty as to what God is set upon, working toward, and supremely concerned with, there most certainly lacks the essential integrating factor in life and work. For things to be ends in themselves; merely to be doing things without an all-dominating, adequate, and supremely justifying Divine purpose is to result in collapse, loss of heart, and 'going to pieces' in the day of the fiery ordeal.


      (b) Then it is clarity and certainty as to God's method. Again, without at the moment trying to indicate what God's method is, we but emphasize that God does have a method - His own appointed and designed method - of reaching His end. That end is not going to be reached either willy-nilly or by ways of man's inventing, choosing, or designing. It is just on this point that a vast amount of miscarriage, frustration, and loss have marked so much expenditure.


      To be able to indicate the boundless method of God is to have that kind of authority which, though it may be flouted or rejected meantime, will be vindicated by eventual proof.


      (c) Further, it is clarity and certainty as to God's means. Does it need stressing that God has always shown Himself to be very jealous regarding the means employed for His purpose? To be clear and sure on this matter is to be where God can commit Himself, and that is always authority. While this matter of means may apply to numerous things, it is discernible in Scripture that God has His means chosen and appointed for reaching and realising His end, and that He does not normally depart from it; and never so, finally.