The religionists of the day

(J. C. Philpot, "Faith's Standing-Ground" 1862) "And everyone will hate you because of your  allegiance to Me." Luke 21:17 Professors of religion have always been the deadliest enemies of the children of God. Who were so opposed to the blessed Lord as the Scribes and Pharisees? It was the religious teachers and leaders who crucified the Lord of glory! And so in every age the religionists of the day  have been the hottest and bitterest persecutors of the Church of Christ. Nor is the case altered now. The more the children of God are firm in the truth, the more they enjoy its power, the more they live under its influence, and the more tenderly and conscientiously they walk in godly fear, the more will the professing generation of the day hate them with a deadly hatred. Let us not think that we can disarm it by a godly life; for the more that we walk in the sweet enjoyment of heavenly truth and let our light shine before men as having been with Jesus, the more will this draw down their hatred and contempt. "And the world hates them because they do not  belong to the world, just as I do not." John 17:14

Swallowed up in a worldly church!

(James Smith, "Man's Treatment of Gods People" 1859)

"If the world hates you—keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world—it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world—but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you!" John 15:18-19

Such is the testimony of the Lord Jesus.

Real Christians have never been favorites of the world—and while it continues what it is, they never can be.

Nor can the pure and simple gospel be pleasant to the world, because it lays the sinner in the dust, and exalts God as supreme and sovereign. Let us not be surprised then, if we hear worldlings speak against the gospel, and traduce the Lord's people; for what the Romans told Paul, is in a good measure true in the present day, "For concerning this 'sect', we are aware that it is spoken against everywhere!" Acts 28:22

This 'sect' originated with Jesus, the hated Nazarene, who came into the world for its good, and to save His people from their sins. He gathered around Him many—but they were principally the poor and unlearned. There was nothing in them, or about them, to recommend them to the proud and sensual world.
They were begotten of God, and made new creatures in Christ.
They embraced the truth that He taught.
They observed the precepts that He gave.
They copied the example that He set.

Their creed consisted pretty much in these facts:
that man is a lost sinner,
that salvation by works is impossible, and therefore it must be all of grace—or not at all;
that the Lord Jesus came into the world to take the sinner's place, fulfill the law in the sinner's stead, and die as the sinner's substitute.

By such hopes, they were animated,
by such rules, they walked, and
at such objects, they aimed.

And yet, they were spoken against and despised, because they poured contempt on the luxuries, pride, and honors of this world. They were treated as the offscouring of all things, unfit for society, unfit to live.

"Do not be surprised, my brothers—if the world hates you!" 1 John 3:13

And yet, like Israel in Egypt, the more they were persecuted, the more they multiplied and grew; until at length they spread not only over the Roman empire—but nearly over the world. And, had they retained . . .
the simplicity of their lives,
the spirituality of their minds, and
the correctness of their creed—
they would no doubt have encircled the globe!
But at length they were . . .
courted by royalty,
loaded with wealth,
became intoxicated with worldly honors,
and then their glory departed!
They drank into the spirit of the world,
conformed to its maxims and customs,
sought its approbation and applause—and
so fell from their exalted station, and lost their real dignity. The 'sect' that had been spoken against everywhere, with the exception of a few—was swallowed up in a worldly church!

There are still some, who, like the ancient sect of the Nazarenes, are spoken against everywhere. They will not swim with the stream. They will not compromise their Master's honor, or give up their Master's truth. According to the light they have—they walk; and they rejoice to exalt the Savior, humble the sinner, and proclaim salvation, all of grace. They rejoice that they are counted worthy to suffer shame, for His dear name.

Reader! Do you belong to this sect? Is there anything in your religion that is distasteful to the world, anything that draws forth its opposition, or excites its contempt? The carnal mind is still enmity against God, and if we are godlike—that enmity will manifest itself against us!

If we copy Christ's example, as set before us in the gospel; if we testify against the world, that its works are evil, and call upon it to repent, as Christ did—we shall soon be hated by the world!

Characteristics of Sonship

By Walter L. Surbrook

      Text: "Lord. teach us to pray." -- Luke 11:1.

      My text is a request. You will no doubt desire, long for, and yearn after many things in life that you will never receive. If you were to receive an answer to some of your requests, it would, perhaps, not be any special hindrance to you, and yet it would be no blessing. You will long for and seek after other things that you will never receive. If you were to receive an answer to some of your requests, it would, perhaps, prove to be the greatest hindrance in your life, and God, in mercy, does not grant your desire. If you always knew when you were desiring something that is not God's highest plan for you, you would cease; but it sometimes takes weeks, and even months, to he sure of God's best thought. But here is a request you are always safe to make, "Lord, teach us to pray."

      

You may be filled with ambition to tower a thousand leagues above your fellow-men, in the pursuits of this life, but no greater desire ought ever to fill your bosom than that which was expressed in the words of this disciple, "Lord, teach us to pray." This request was made by a disciple after he had heard, and perhaps had seen, Jesus in prayer. His heart was stirred. He caught a new glimpse of the possibilities of prayer. His soul was gripped by the passion and fire of the Lord. It so wrought upon him that he, no doubt, paced around anxiously waiting until Jesus was through; and, as soon as He had ceased praying, this disciple rushed right up into His presence with a soul that was stirred and said, "Lord, teach us to pray".

      You will notice he did not say, "Teach us how to pray," but He said, "Teach us to pray." There is a vast difference in being taught how to pray and being taught TO pray. This disciple knew, as well as we know, that no matter who the individual is, if he gets in a close place, if he gets in a corner, he will not need to he taught how to pray. He will pray something, even if he does not pray any more than the sinner who went up to the temple with the Pharisee, who bowed his head in humility, smote himself on the breast and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner". This disciple did not ask to be taught how to pray; he asked to be taught to do the only thing in the world that will keep us spiritual, on fire, and in touch with God. An answer to this request will save us from dead formality, on the one hand, and fanaticism on the other.

      Jesus now answered this disciple's request in two respects: 

First, by example, for He prayed; and second, by precept, for He gave His disciples the prayer which has often been called the "Lord's prayer". But Dwight L. Moody stated that this is not the Lord's prayer, but the disciples' prayer. He further stated that the Lord's prayer is in the seventeenth chapter of John, where Jesus poured out his soul in that inimitable, incomparable, intercessory prayer for the sanctification of His people. Here his burden was, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." This is the Lord's prayer. But the prayer which Jesus gave to His disciples was intended for an illustration, or an example to follow; not that you always have to pray this prayer, but that it serves as a splendid model, or example, for Jesus said, "After this manner pray ye", etc.

      Since this prayer has been given to the disciples, and we are disciples, it is as much for us as it was for them. Now that it is for us, let us examine the prayer a little. We may not touch the edges of what is contained in it but let us take a passing glance at it. First, we will notice the introductory words. Jesus said, "When ye pray, say, Our Father." Who has a right to address God as Father? No one but a son. But you are not a son when you are born into this world, neither are you a son when you are old enough to vote. No one has a right to address God as Father unless he is a son. If he is a son, it necessitates that he has been born into the family, and he is not born into the family of God until he is horn again. No sinner has a right to this prayer, no one but a son can say, "Our Father."

In order for one to be able to say, "Our Father," he must have experienced that radical, instantaneous new birth which Jesus pointed out to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John's Gospel. Nicodemus had been under the law and its teachings all his life. He seems to have gotten a little light on the new birth and came over to Jesus for further help. But it took Jesus quite a while to lead him, step by step, line upon line, out of Judaism and away from his legal thinking into a heartfelt experience in salvation. Nicodemus' soul was so dead that it was hard for him to comprehend spiritual things. He could not see how a man could be born again after he was old. But after talking to him for a considerable time Jesus used an illustration concerning the wind, which seems to have cleared Nicodemus up in spiritual things, and from that time on his only question was "How can these things be?"

      In Jesus' reference to the blowing of the wind, He likened it to the birth of the Spirit. He showed Nicodemus that the wind blows and you do not see it; it may be blowing and you do not hear it. But how do you know the wind blows? You FEEL it! So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. You may not see anything when you are born again, you may not hear anything, but you will FEEL the birth of the Spirit. In spite of the fact that modernists, dead religionists, and backslidden preachers are trying to divorce feeling and emotionalism from religion, it is still there; and as long as a man keeps God in his life, he will have feeling in his religion. When one loses his religions feelings, that sweet, tender peace and joy that came to the soul in conversion, he is a backslider.

      Let us now notice some characteristics of sonship:

      I. RELATION OF A SON TO A FATHER. Being a son of God gives you that sweet, precious, tender feeling that a son holds toward a father. There is a great deal of preaching (and rightfully so) on the love of a mother being likened to the love of Jesus; but there is very little preaching on the relation of a son to a father. This is a phase of truth which is seldom preached; but when one becomes a son of God, it gives him a feeling of confidence, faith, dependability, and mutual interest. Every true son gratefully confides in his father and with great faith depends upon him.

     

 II. A HOMELIKE FEELING. When I go to my mother's home I do not feel ill at ease, as if I were a stranger. I do not feel that I am an intruder. I neither ring the door-bell nor rap at the door, because I am a son. I walk right in and feel at home. Mother never has to say to me, "Walter, make yourself at home", for she knows I am at home. I feel at home and act as if I am at home! You could not do that in my mother's home, because you are not a son. Nobody else can enjoy the privileges of my home that I can enjoy because I am a son.

      In a good many homes where I have been entertained in evangelistic work, my host has said to me, "Now, Brother Surbrook, we want you to feel perfectly at home." They showed me my room but insisted that I should not confine myself alone to that room. Pastors have said, "Here is my study;" housewives have said, "Come and sit in the parlor and enjoy the deep, overstuffed furniture." They have said to me, "If there is anything you want, please be free to mention it, for we want you to feel at home." I have appreciated this kindness and believed that they meant what they said, but I am an outsider; I am not a member of the family, I am not a son, so there are certain ethical bounds beyond which I dare not cross and be a Christian gentleman. There is a certain restraint because I am not a son; but in my mother's home, where I am a son, there is no restraint and I feel perfectly at ease. So it is with a son of God in the house of the Lord; he does not feel that be is a stranger. He may never have visited that church or congregation before, but if he is spiritual and the church is spiritual, he is not an intruder, but he feels perfectly at home because he is a member of the same family.

"I am the vine, you are the branches--He that abides in me, " John 15:5

DAILY WORDS FOR ZION'S WAYFARERSor, THROUGH BACA'S VALLEY
 
Selected from the works of J. C. Philpot by his daughters, 1893

"Blessed are those whose strength is in You,
 who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, ("weeping")
 they make it a place of springs;
 the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
 They go from strength to strength,
 until each appears before God in Zion."
       Psalm 84:5-7

"I am the vine, you are the branches--He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit--for without me you can do nothing." John 15:5

Without a union with Christ, we have no spiritual existence; and we may boldly say that we no more have a spiritual being in the mind of God independent of Christ, than the branch of a tree has an independent existence out of the stem in which it grows. But you will observe, also, in this figure of the vine and the branches, how all the fruitfulness of the branch depends upon its union with the vine. Whatever life there is in the branch, it flows out of the stem; whatever strength there is in the branch, it comes from its union with the stem; whatever foliage, whatever fruit, all come still out of its union with the stem. And this is the case, whether the branch be great or small. From the stoutest limb of a tree to the smallest twig, all are in union with the stem and all derive life and nourishment from it.

So it is in grace--not only is our very being, as sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, connected with our union with Christ, but our well-being. All our knowledge, therefore, of heavenly mysteries, all our faith, all our hope, and all our love--in a word, all our grace, whether much or little, whether that of the babe, the child, the young man, or the father--flows out of a personal, spiritual, and experimental union with the Lord Jesus; for we are nothing but what we are in him, and we have nothing but what we possess by virtue of our union with him.

As we pass along the miry paths of life

(Henry Law, "Family Prayers")

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. From Your high throne behold with gracious eye—Your humble servants. We would not cross the threshold of this day, without committing ourselves, our souls and bodies, all our concerns, and all our friends—to Your guardian care. We know that we are not our own; we desire to be wholly Yours. Watch over us, keep us, guide us, direct us, sanctify us, and bless us. Incline our hearts to delight in Your holy ways.

As the potter frames the clay—may You mold us wholly into the blessed image of Jesus! Make us vessels of honor, fitted for Your service. May our lips, as well-tuned harps, sound the sweet melody of Your heavenly praise. May all around take knowledge of us—that we have been much with Jesus—that we are dead to earthly vanities—crucified with Christ—yet living by Your Spirit—trampling the world beneath our spurning feet—having no conformity to its lying vanities—but entirely transformed by the renewing of our minds—clad in the whole armor of God—shining as lights in the dark world—and having "holiness to the Lord" conspicuous on our brow!

We do not know with what matters, we may be intermingled with this day. Let no evil soil our hands. Help us, as we pass along the miry paths of life—to keep our garments pure from all spot and stain. While transacting needful concerns, may our affections be high in heaven with You. As the flame tends upward, so may the fire of heavenly love in our souls, kindled and fanned by Your Holy Spirit—be ever ascending in brighter and purer blaze! 

Keep our gaze immovably fixed, not on the things which are seen—but on the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal—but the things which are unseen are eternal. Open our eyes to see "emptiness, fragility and mockery" inscribed on all earth's vanities! They cannot satisfy! As a shadow—they depart and flee away! While we grasp them—they are gone! May we view all things in the 'mirror of eternity!'
Impress on us the solemn truth, that in a little while, "the heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare!" May we move through this world, with one aspiration ever swelling within our hearts, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!"

"Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation. I wait for You all day long." Psalm 25:5

Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

"Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation. I wait for You all day long." Psalm 25:5

When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a little child upheld by its parent's helping hand, and he craves to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental heart teaching, is the theme of this prayer. David knew much—but he felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord's school—four times over in two verses he applies for a scholarship in the college of grace.

It would be well for many professors, if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would inquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech the Holy Spirit to give them sanctified understandings and teachable hearts.

"For you are the God of my salvation." The Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation to His people. Reader, is He the God of your salvation? Do you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining further blessings! If the Lord has ordained to save you, surely He will not refuse to instruct you in His ways. It is a happy thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in trial.

"I wait for You all day long." Patience is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith. We cheerfully wait—when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried faith, and if it is of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God—if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited for us!

Constant religious engagements

Constant religious engagements

("The Marvelous Riches of Savoring Christ,
The letters of Ruth Bryan" 1805-1860)

"They made me the keeper of the vineyards; but
my own vineyard have I not kept." Canticles 1:6

We may be active in our Lord's cause--but not
spiritual in our own souls. We may be earnest
for the salvation of others--but not be living in
the joys of salvation ourselves. We may be
instrumentally distributing the bread and water
of life--but not be enjoying daily refreshment
in our own experience. I do sorrowfully think
that this is too much the case in the present day.

The reason why I thus judge, is from finding people
so lively in conversing upon what they are doing for
the Lord--yet so slow to speak of what He is doing for
them. They seem delighted to tell of the great things
which are going on all around--but immediately shrink
back if any 'heart subject' is brought home to them.

In fact, if one speaks of personal enjoyment of the love
of Jesus, there is no response from some--but they put
it down to the score of egotism. While others refer to
years past, when they did feel Him to be precious--but
they confess that they know little of it now. They are
so occupied in what they call 'working for Him,' that they
hear little from Him, say little to Him, enjoy little of Him,
and may truly say, "While I was busy here and there,
He had left."

It is most lamentable for any living soul to be in
constant religious engagements for the good of
others--while following Jesus "afar off." Very many
such I fear there are; as well as hundreds who only
know Him in the judgment--and yet are continually
reading, teaching, and conversing on His blessed
name. This is a day of great profession--but yet real
vital godliness is at a low ebb, and close walking with
God in sweet communion is too little sought after.

Solemn, indeed, are these facts!

We may well say, with David, "Search me, O God,
and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead
me along the path of everlasting life." Ps. 139:23-24