The Remembrance of Christ - Charles Spurgeon Sermon

The Danger of Heart-hardening

The Danger of Heart-hardening

By A.W. Tozer 

Another breakdown in the truth--feeling--act sequence comes when the heart for selfish reasons deliberately hardens itself against the Word of God. This is the state of all who love darkness rather than light and for that reason either withdraw from the light altogether or when exposed to it stubbornly refuse to obey it. 

The covetous man looks on human need and sternly refuses to be moved by it. To yield to the impulse of generosity naturally aroused by the sight of poverty would require him to give up some of his cherished hoard, and this he will not do. So the fountain of generosity is frozen at its source. 

The miser keeps his gold, the poor man suffers on in his poverty and the whole course of nature is upset. Is it any wonder that God hates covetousness? But be sure that human feelings can never be completely stifled. If they are forbidden their normal course, like a river they will cut another channel through the life and flow out to curse and ruin and destroy.

 The Christian who gazes too long on the carnal pleasures of this world cannot escape a certain feeling of sympathy with them, and that feeling will inevitably lead to behavior that is worldly. And to expose our hearts to truth and consistently refuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of life within us and, if persisted in, to grieve the Holy Spirit into silence. 

The Scriptures and our own human constitution agree to teach us to love truth and to obey the sweet impulses of righteousness it raises within us. If we love our own souls we dare do nothing else.

Having The Spirit: Old Paths - J. C. Ryle

Nor Mine Eyes Lofty - Puritan Thomas Manton / Sermons on Psalm 131

Isaiah 6

Isaiah 6

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 

 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 

 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 

 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 

 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 

 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 

 12 And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

 13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

Charles Spurgeon Sermon - Oh, How He Loves!

Mark Clark on How to Effectively Reach More People in a Post-Modern, Post-Christian Culture

Keynote: Tim Keller - How To Change Deeply

Robert Murray M'Cheyne - The Good Way (Reformed Christian Devotional)

Janette: Central African Republic

Jeremiah 1

Jeremiah 1

1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: 

 2 To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 

 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

 4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

 5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. 

 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

 7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 

 8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

 9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. 

 10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. 

 11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. 

 12 Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. 

13 And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.

 14 Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. 

15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. 

 16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. 

 17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

 18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

 19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.

"Therefore, choose" (Deut. xxx. 19).

Days of Heaven Upon Earth Devotional

 "Therefore, choose" (Deut. xxx. 19).

  Men are choosing every day the spiritual or earthly. And as we choose we are taking our place unconsciously with the friends of Christ, or the world.

 It is not merely what ye say, it is what we prefer. 

When Solomon made his great choice at Gibeon, God said to him, "Because this was in thine heart to ask wisdom, therefore will I give it unto thee, and all else besides that thou didst not choose." 

It was not merely that he said it because it was right to say, and would please God if he said it. 

But it was the thing his heart preferred, and God saw it in his heart and gave it to him with all besides that he had not chosen. 

What are we choosing, beloved? It is our choice that settles our destiny.

 It is not how we feel, but how we purpose. Have we chosen the good part? Have we said, "Whatever else I am or have, let me be God's child, let me have His favor and blessing, let me please Him?" 

Or have we said, "I must have this thing, and then I will see about religion." 

Alas, God has seen what was in thine heart, and perhaps He has already said, "They have their reward."

Keynote: Tim Keller - An Identity That Can Handle Either Success or Failure

Puritan Thomas Watson - God is His People's Great Reward (Christian audiobook)

Full Redemption - Charles Spurgeon Audio Sermons

J. C. Ryle - Jelly fish Christianity (Christian devotional reading)

J. R. Miller - Beautiful Old Age

Duncan Campbell | When God Stepped Down

North Korea: Underground University

Mark 16

Mark 16

 

1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 

 

2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 

 3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 

 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. 

 5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 

 6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. 

 7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

 8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid. 

 9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.  

10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 

 11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 

 12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 

 13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

 14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 

 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;  

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 

 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.  

20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Say No to Depression

The Enchanted Ground - Charles Spurgeon Sermon

Tim Keller on How to Bring the Gospel to Post-Christian America

Hardness of Heart in Christians - Puritan John Owen / Christian Audio Books

Sang-chul: North Korea

Causes of Backsliding - A. W. Tozer

As The Wind Blows by O. Winslow

As The Wind Blows

“The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell where it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8.

Mark how striking is the figure. The wind bids defiance to man’s governing power. It is as sovereign in its influence as it is irresistible in its strength. We cannot command it, nor can we control it. It is alike out of our power to summon it, as it is to soothe it. It comes, we know not where; it goes, we know not where. “So is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

We do not say that the Spirit is not resisted- He is resisted, strongly and perseveringly. But He is not overpowered. All the enmity and carnality of the heart rises in direct opposition to Him; but, when bent upon a mission of love, when, in accordance with the eternal purpose, He comes to save, not all the powers on earth or in hell can effectually resist Him. 

Like the mighty force, He bears down all opposition, sweeps away every barrier, overcomes every difficulty, and the sinner, “made willing in the day of His power,” is brought to the feet of Jesus, there meekly and gratefully to sit, “clothed, and in his right mind.” Who can withstand the power of the Spirit? Whether He speaks in the “still small voice” of tender, persuasive love, or whether He comes in the “mighty rushing wind” of deep and overwhelming conviction, His influence is quenchless, His power is irresistible. He effectually works in those who believe.

But His operation is as sovereign as it is mighty. He comes to whom He will; He comes when He will; He comes in the mode He will. He blows where He wills; we hear the sound, we see the effects; but how He works, why He works, and why in a particular way He works, He reveals not to mortals. Even so, O blessed and eternal Spirit, for so it seems good in Your sight.

Soul Depths: Mental Darkness - Octavius Winslow

The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly: A Divine Cordial - Puritan Thomas Watson

Colombia: A Martyrs Wife, The Story of Kelly Saenz

Words of Expostulation - Charles Spurgeon Sermon

And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates? (Jeremiah 2:18)

Robert Murray M'Cheyne - He Will Let None of His Words Fall to the Ground

The Two Creations | Watchman Nee

Psalm 32

Psalm 32

1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 

 3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 

 5 I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 

 6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. 

7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. 

 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

 9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. 

 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. 

 11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Be Thou my Vision - Christian Hymn with Lyrics

North Korea: Mrs. Lee’s Amazing Life and Ministry!

 

When Mrs. Lee was 85 years old, she began the next chapter of her life. 

Mrs. Lee, a North Korean defector, graduated in 2015 from a discipleship training school known as Underground University, which is operated by The Voice of the Martyrs Korea in Seoul, South Korea. 

She is very active in her ministry to North Koreans wherever they are found.

 VOM Canada's Greg Musselman spent time with this amazing follower of Christ as she shares her story of coming to faith in Jesus and the many challenges she has experienced throughout life -- including her harrowing escape from North Korea. 

 Length 6:45

 From The Voice of the Martyrs Canada and Korea

The Glorious Right Hand of the Lord - Charles Spurgeon Sermon

Break up the fallow ground (David Wilkerson)

Find Happiness and Peace in Your Worst Moments - Sermon 13 by Rev Robert Murray McCheyne

A PRAYER FOR REVELATION by Watchman Nee AudioBook Christian Book

The Fight of Faith - A. W. Pink / Studies in the Scriptures / Christian Audio Books

Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 

 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 

 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 

 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 

 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard -David Pawson

 

David Pawson speaking at the 21st Dublin International Divine Mercy Conference on the 18th/19th of February 2012

 [David's talk starts at 3 minutes 0 seconds] .

Jehovah Tsidkenu (Robert Murray M'Cheyne 1813-1843)

175. The Two Talents - Charles Spurgeon Sermon Audio - Matthew 25:22-23 Parable

Plato's Wish

Plato's wish!

(J.R. Miller, 1911)  LISTEN to audio!  Download audio

(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
 

"You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved; there is no flaw in You!" Song of Songs 4:7

Plato expressed a desire that the moral law might become a living personage—that men seeing it thus incarnate, might be charmed by its beauty.

Plato's wish was fulfilled in Jesus Christ! The holiness and the beauty of the divine law were revealed in Him. 

The Beatitudes contain an outline of the ideal life—but the Beatitudes are only a transcript of the life of Christ Himself! What He taught about love—was but His own love stated in a course of living lessons for His friends to learn. 

When He said that we should be patient, gentle, thoughtful, forgiving, and kind—He was only saying, "Follow Me!"

If we could gather from the most godly people who ever have lived, the little fragments of lovely character which have blossomed out in each, and bring all these fragments into one personality—we would have the beauty of Jesus Christ!

In one person you find gentleness, in another meekness, in another purity of heart, in another humility, in another kindness, in another patience.

 But in the holiest of men, there are only two or three qualities of ideal beauty—along with much that is stained and blemished, mingled with these qualities.

In Christ, however, all that is excellent is found, with no flaw!

"You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved; there is no flaw in You!" Song of Songs 4:7

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Rich Stearns on How to Beat Failure in Leadership

 

Rich Stearns on How to Beat Failure in Leadership, the Value of Persistence, and What For-Profits and Non-Profits Can Learn from Each Other

The Broken Heart - Sermon 16 by Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne

The Secret of the Lord

 The Secret of the Lord

By Peter Taylor Forsyth
     

 "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant"

      (Ps. 25:14).       

Not to pray is not to discern--not to discern the things that really matter, and the powers that really rule. 

The mind may see acutely and clearly, but the personality perceives nothing subtle and mighty; and then it comforts and deludes itself by saying it is simple and not sophisticated; and it falls a victim to the Pharisaism of the plain man. The finer (and final) forces, being unfelt, are denied or decried. The eternal motives are misread, the spell of the Eternal disowned.

 The simplicity in due course becomes merely bald. And all because the natural powers are unschooled, unchastened, and unempowered by the energy of prayer; and yet they are turned, either, in one direction, to do Christian work, active but loveless, or, on the other, to discuss and renounce Christian truth. 

 It is not always hard to tell among Christian men those whose thought is matured in prayer, whose theology there becomes a hymn, whose energy is disciplined there, whose work there becomes love poured out, as by many a Salvationist lass, and whose temper is there subdued to that illuminated humility in which a man truly finds his soul.  'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.' 

The deeper we go into things the more do we enter a world where the master and the career is not to talent but to prayer.

Psalm 16

Psalm 16

1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. 

 2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; 

 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 

 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. 

 5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. 

 6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. 

 7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 

 8 I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 

 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 

 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

The Two Builders - A. W. Pink / Studies in the Scriptures / Christian Audio Books

Sermon 24 My Beloved is Mine by Robert Murray McCheyne - man used greatly by God

EXPLORE GOD'S WORD

By A.W. Tozer

      What a strange paradox! The atheistic free-thinker rants and raves about the Bible being a "dangerous" book at the very same time that the Word of God is speaking life to my soul!

 Strange indeed that some humans have the idea that the Word of God can only be approached with shivering fears. But that is true only of those who love their sin and hate their Savior.

The blessed truth is that if I hate my sin and love my Savior, the Word of God is a wonderful revelation, indeed, and a trustworthy guide. We need to be aware always that if we do not keep the Word of God on our side, we will be miserable in our souls continually. It is up to us. 

What do we sincerely will to do with God and His revealed Word? Years ago, the saintly George Mueller said he had read the Bible hundreds of times, and then he added: "with meditation!" Let us see to it that we read the Word. More than that, we should actually explore it!

Isaiah 23: 15-18

Isaiah 23: 15-18

15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. 

 16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

 17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. 

 18 And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

Why did God Create the World? - Charles Spurgeon Devotional

1957 Billy Graham How to live the Christian Life-Full

Christ's Silence by Robert Murray McCheyne

Duncan Campbell - Young Donald Mcphail Prays

Duncan Campbell sharing a testimony of a glorious incident during revival in Hebrides 1949-1952.

 Jesus is Lord!

 

Fight the Good Fight

Streams in the Desert  

      Fight the Good Fight
      
      "The last drops of my sacrifice are falling; my time to go has come. I have fought in the good fight; I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:6, 7).
      
      As soldiers show their scars and talk of battles when they come at last to spend their old age in the country at home, so shall we in the dear land to which we are hastening, speak of the goodness and faithfulness of God who brought us through all the trials of the way. I would not like to stand in the white-robed host and hear it said, "These are they that came out of great tribulation, all except one."
      
      Would you like to be there and see yourself pointed at as the one saint who never knew a sorrow? Oh, no! for you would be an alien in the midst of the sacred brotherhood. We will be content to share the battle, for we shall soon wear the crown and wave the palm. --C. H. Spurgeon
      
      "Where were you wounded?" asked the surgeon of a soldier at Lookout Mountain. "Almost at the top," he answered. He forgot even his gaping wound--he only remembered that he had won the heights. So let us go forth to higher endeavors for Christ and never rest till we can shout from the very top, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."
      
      "Finish thy work, then rest,
      Till then rest never;
      The rest for thee by God
      Is rest forever."
      
      "God will not look you over for medals, degrees
      or diplomas but for scars."
      
      Of an old hero the minstrel sang--
      
      "With his Yemen sword for aid;
      Ornament it carried none,
      But the notches on the blade."
      
      What nobler decoration of honor can any godly man seek after than his scars of service, his losses for the crown, his reproaches for Christ's sake, his being worn out in his Master's service

Psalm 136

I Never Understood Burnout or Depression—Until It Happened to Me

Death, Burial and Resurrection... An Interview with Tullian Tchividjian

Exodus Forty by T. Austin-Sparks

 

Exodus Forty

by T. Austin-Sparks

Edited and supplied by the Golden Candlestick Trust.

Reading: Exodus 40.

We have in this book of Exodus, in a very comprehensive and yet crystallised form, the setting forth in the form of a mystery - that is, by means of types and symbols and parables - of the eternal thoughts and counsels of God.

We must not look upon the Old Testament as something that has been - long centuries ago, some history, something to do with the Jews, with Israel, and something out of which, of course, we draw lessons for our own lives now day by day. If we dismiss it like that, we miss the whole object, and it can only be of very limited value. We must realise that the thoughts of God are eternal thoughts, and that they do not just apply to one time. They come out from eternity, they go through time, and they go into eternity. And those thoughts are governing and shaping the whole course of history and are intended to be fully realised, and manifested in their realised form in the ages to come. 

The counsels of God, as Paul speaks of them, from before the foundation of the world, are now being wrought out: "Who works all things after the counsel of His will". Those counsels are being wrought out now, and those counsels are going to be consummated and displayed, again, as Paul says, in the ages to come. So that in the book of Exodus we have eternal counsels, eternal thoughts expressed in the form of what Paul calls "mystery". That is, unclosed secret things, hidden from perception. 

The real meaning is not perceived in the Old Testament, but the meaning is there.

We must recognise that when Paul says the thing was not made known in other generations, he does not mean that it was not there. It was there, it is there everywhere, but not recognised. Our knowledge of it now is because we have the illumination of the whole by the Holy Spirit, and so all ages and all dispensations break open into light with their full content and meaning in the dispensation which is the chief dispensation of all, and that is the one in which we live; the dispensation of the Holy Spirit for revealing the full purposes of God.

Here are the counsels and thoughts of God which are eternal, being set forth in this way by means of types and symbols and parables in the meaning of the word "the mystery", a hidden thing.

These thoughts and counsels from eternity have a twofold connection: firstly, all-inclusively, primarily concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ, whom He appointed Heir of all things; and secondly concerning His church. 

Those two things are brought out very clearly and very definitely in this book of Exodus.

Now, if we wanted a very concrete and yet very comprehensive fragment of New Testament Scripture to cover all that, we have it in Ephesians 1:17-19. It covers everything:

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (here you have that which is necessary to disclose the mystery, the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him); having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe."

We can leave it there, although the whole of this letter, bit by bit, is an unfolding, a revelation of what we have in mystery in the book of Exodus. It is Christ and His church, and their place in the eternal counsels of God.

Recognising the object of the book, and that we, in this dispensation more than people in any other dispensation that has gone, are bound up with this revelation, we today are in the book of Exodus, in its eternal and essential meaning and value.

 Israel was in the book of Exodus in a temporal, earthly way. We are in it in an eternal way, and all that is here affects us in a way in which it has never affected a people before, carrying us out into a realm and range of things far beyond anything else in the history of this world. And what is here so applies to us that in the ages to come all the Divine thought lying behind this book is to be manifested and expressed in us, in the church which is the chief object of the Lord's activity in this dispensation. 

Seeing that, we can break up the unfolding of these thoughts of God into its main movements.

Redemption in Christ Jesus

The first, of course, is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You deal with the whole thing from the two sides:

(1) Redemption from the World and the Kingdom of Satan

First of all you see Christ, Christ redeeming and Christ the Redeemer. You see the means and method of His redemptive activity, redeeming by His Blood, redeeming by His death and resurrection. You see the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And then you see the church in type, in figure, redeemed; the Lord's people, the chosen people, the elect, redeemed. 

Firstly, redeemed from Egypt, that is, from the world as a kingdom of darkness and a kingdom of Satan. That redemption was individual and corporate. Every man had to take a lamb. It had to be of individual appropriation and application, but inasmuch as a nation was concerned through the individual act, it became a corporate thing, so that the ultimate effect and result is a church out.

We must not lose the individual place in the light of the church, and we must not lose the light of the church by becoming merely individualistic. We must remember that salvation, while it is an individual appropriation, in God's full thought is corporate; that is, salvation is related to a whole Body, the church, and no individual as an individual can come into God's full purpose. 

That is why two men who wholly followed the Lord, and on their own ground might well have gone into possession of the land, Joshua and Caleb, had to go back and wait for the rest. They had to get back into the wilderness while that whole generation died, and God had a new church, and they went in with the church. They could not inherit alone because God's thought is the church inheriting and not individuals as such. You must have the whole church in. It is individual in appropriation but it is corporate in God's full intention. That is one side of redemption; it is redemption from.

(2) Redemption unto God

The other side is redemption unto God. The song of the redeemed in the book of the Revelation is, "...and has redeemed us unto God". And so you find that when these people are redeemed from the world, then they are hallowed, and they are hallowed by the feast of unleavened bread. And unleavened bread means the setting aside of the whole life of nature, the ferment of the natural life, the flesh, with all natural desires, natural interests, all fleshly concerns, all that belongs to the old creation. That is the leaven which is eliminated and ruled out, and it is unleavened bread which means that there is none of the ferment of the natural old creation life in the purpose of God. It has to be set aside. This is hallowing unto God; it is not only deliverance from the world, but it is deliverance from self.

Life in the Spirit

After that redemption from the world, and redemption unto God, you have life in the Spirit. They were all baptized, says the apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. The cloud is typical of the Holy Spirit coming to take possession of the Lord's people, and you have other types of the Spirit marking that they were called by redemption from the world, redemption unto God, into a life in the Spirit. That is, in other words, a life which is heavenly in all matters.

Now, it is not long after they are out, redeemed unto God, that the water question arises, and they come to Marah, and there it becomes a matter of life and death. The Lord, in that which is a figure of the Cross, the tree cast into the waters, saves their life by that water, and you have here a first suggestion that the life of this people separated unto God by the Cross is to be a life maintained by the Holy Spirit, lived by and in the Spirit.

 And then within three days the food question arises, and manna is given from heaven, again suggesting that the life of this people redeemed unto God is to be sustained from heaven, a heavenly provision for their life here. 

That is life in the Spirit. This is heavenly in its basis; it is heavenly in its maintenance. 

Presently again the water question will arise in a new connection, but once more it will be by the Cross that their life is brought into fulness in the Spirit.

Joan Bakewell Interviews Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones

How to deal with dark times | Tim Keller

The Christian Warrior - Puritan Isaac Ambrose

Ruth Graham on Forgiving Her Famous Father - Billy Graham

Hosea 6: 1-3

Hosea 6: 1-3

1 Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 

 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 

 3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

The Pierced One Pierces the Heart (Zechariah 12:10) - C.H. Spurgeon Sermon

No Mind has Imagined - Puritan Thomas Brooks / Christian Audio Devotionals

Tim Frakes Productions Inc. Major Ian Thomas Interview

A Prayer of Isaac Ambrose Read by Tim Chester

Philippians 1

Philippians 1

1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 

 2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 

 4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, 

 5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; 

 6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

 7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. 

 8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 

 10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. 

 12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 

 13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 

 14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 

 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 

 16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 

 17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. 

 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 

 19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 

 20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  

22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 

 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 

 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. 

 25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; 

 26 That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. 

27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 

 28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. 

 29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 

 30 Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Wesley Impact! TV: Nicky Cruz

 

If anyone was ‘unsavable’, it would have been Nicky Cruz. 

A violent upbringing led him to the top of one of New York City’s most infamous gangs as a young man.

 All it took was a few meetings with a skinny country preacher and his life was turned around.

"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called" (I. Cor. vii. 20).

Days of Heaven Upon Earth

 

"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called" (I. Cor. vii. 20). 

 O ye who complain about your calling or fret about the changes and trials of life, how do you know but that these very changes are the divine methods by which God's purposes of blessing and usefulness concerning you be fulfilled? 

Had Aquila not been compelled to leave Rome and break up his home and business, he would probably have never met with Paul, and been called to the knowledge and service of Christ through this providential meeting. 

Had he not been a working man, and pursuing his ordinary avocation he would not have been brought into contact with the apostle. 

It was in the line of their calling, their common duties, and the providential changes of their life that God called them. And so He meets us. 

Do not try hard to run away from it, but, as the apostle has so finely put it, "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he is called, let him therein abide with God." Make the most of your incidental opportunities.

The Indwelling and Outflowing of the Holy Spirit - Charles Spurgeon Audio Sermons

Anne Graham Lotz on Growing Up in Billy Graham's Home

Robert Murray M'Cheyne - He is The Way (Christian devotional)

1 Timothy 1

I Timothy 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

 2 Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. 

 3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

 4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

 5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

 6 From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; 

 7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

 8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

 9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,  

10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 

 11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. 

12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

 13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 

14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 

 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 

 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 

 17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

 18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

 19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 

 20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

ACTIVITY IS NOT ENOUGH

 

ACTIVITY IS NOT ENOUGH

By A.W. Tozer

      Those who try to give warnings to the Christian church are never very popular. 

Still, I must voice the caution that our craze for "activity" brings very few enriching benefits into our Christian circles. 

Look into the churches, and you will find groups of half-saved, half-sanctified, carnal people who know more about social niceties than they do about the New Testament. 

It is a fact that many of our church folks are activists engaged in many religious journeys-but they do not seem to move up any closer to Jesus in heart and in spirit. 

This modern religious emphasis on activity reminds me of the Japanese mice I have seen in the pet store windows. They are called waltzing mice-but they do not waltz. They just run continually! 

Many in our churches hope to have a part in "something big and exciting." But God calls us back-back to the simplicity of the faith; back to the simplicity of Jesus Christ and His unchanging Person!

Gordon MacDonald on the Damage Driven Leaders Create

Sermon 21 Christ in You the Hope of Glory by Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne

Withholding the Truth! - Charles Spurgeon Sermon

Reality of Christ - Joan "Mrs T" Thomas (uncut) ( Wife of Major Ian Thomas)

The Best Security for the Best Life - Ebenezer Erskine

Now This Explains It By Oswald Chambers

Now This Explains It 

By Oswald Chambers

 'That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.' John 17:21 

 If you are going through a solitary way, read John 17, it will explain exactly why you are where you are - Jesus has prayed that you may be one with the Father as He is. 

Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or have you some other end for your life? Since you became a disciple you cannot be as independent as you used to be. The purpose of God is not to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God, and this is revealed in John 17. 

There is one prayer God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus - "that they may be one, even as We are One." Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that? God is not concerned about our plans; He does not say - Do you want to go through this bereavement; this upset? He allows these things for His own purpose. 

The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men and women; or they are making us more captious and fault-finding, more insistent upon our own way. The things that happen either make us fiends, or they make us saints; it depends entirely upon the relationship we are in to God.

 If we say - "Thy will be done," we get the consolation of John 17, the consolation of knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom. 

When we understand what God is after we will not get mean and cynical. Jesus has prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself as He was one with the Father.

 Some of us are far off it, and yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him, because Jesus has prayed that we may be.

Isaiah 11

Isaiah 11

1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 

 2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; 

 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 

 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 

 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 

 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 

 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 

 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 

 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 

 10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

 11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 

 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 

 13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 

 14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. 

 15 And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. 

 16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Gordon MacDonald on The View From 80, 15 Life and Leadership Lessons After Eight Decades of Life

Make Yourself Small: Meekness

Impressions of You Are Fading. Sermon 18 by Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne - Revivalist

A Fear of the Lord- Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Abiding, Faith Hope and Love

Abiding Faith, Hope and Love

By William Graham Scroggie

      "And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love"

      (1 Cor. 13:13).

      The Corinthians had thought that the Gifts were the abiding things, but Paul says these must pass away "Now," therefore, does not mean now in time, for then these three would not differ from the Gifts in any wise....Here we have the anomaly of three nouns governed by a singular verb, "and now abideth Faith, Hope, Love." 

The great truth preserved in this piece of apparent grammatical irregularity is that Faith, Hope, and Love are one in essence, that they are a trinity in unity and they are therefore coextensive with one another....

      We shall never be able to dispense with Faith and Hope, both shall go on for ever....We must all carefully distinguish between Eternal and Final; Eternity does not mean Finality, but to reach finality would be to fall short of Eternity. And we must distinguish also between Perfection and Finality. 

In Heaven there will be perfection, but there will be differences of attainment even as one star differs from another star in glory....There will be be progress from stage to stage. "In My Father's house are many mansions" means "many resting-places," a figure which refers to those stations on the great roads where travellers can get rest and refreshment before proceeding on their journey. 

The notions both of repose and progress are in the words....Every further acquisition of God will make fuller acquisition possible; every new height of glory scaled will reveal yet more glorious heights beyond: Eternal progress..

Psalm 87

1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.

 2 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. 

 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.

 5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. 

 6 The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. 

 7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.

The Glory of God's Will

Tim Keller on How Culture is Changing and the Future of the Church

Holiness Demanded - Charles Spurgeon Sermon

The Fruit of the Spirit is Love Andrew Murray

Quicken Us

Streams in the Desert

 

Quicken Us 

 "Thou, who hast showed us many and sore troubles, wilt quicken us again" (Ps. 71:20, RV).

 God shows us the troubles. Sometimes, as this part of our education is being carried forward, we have to descend into "the lower parts of the earth," pass through subterranean passages, lie buried amongst the dead, but never for a moment is the cord of fellowship and union between God and us strained to breaking; and from the depths God will bring us again.

 Never doubt God! Never say that He has forsaken or forgotten. Never think that He is unsympathetic.

 He will quicken again. There is always a smooth piece in every skein, however tangled. 

The longest day at last rings out the evensong. The winter snow lies long, but it goes at last.

 Be steadfast; your labor is not in vain. God turns again, and comforts. And when He does, the heart which had forgotten its Psalmody breaks out in jubilant song, as does the Psalmist: "I will thank thee, I will harp unto thee, my lips shall sing aloud." --Selected 

  

"Though the rain may fall and the wind be blowing, 

  And old and chill is the wintry blast; 

 Though the cloudy sky is still cloudier growing, And the dead leaves tell that the summer has passed; 

 My face I hold to the stormy heaven, 

 My heart is as calm as the summer sea, Glad to receive what my God has given, 

 Whate'er it be. 

 When I feel the cold, I can say, 'He sends it,' 

  And His winds blow blessing, I surely know; For I've never a want but that He attends it;

  And my heart beats warm, though the winds may blow."