Saturday, December 29, 2018

The Cross of Christ - Or Sinners Saved By Unmerited Kindness # 2

The Cross of Christ - Or Sinners Saved By Unmerited Kindness # 2

Now have the purest churches ever doubted the necessity of this change. They also remarkably agree concerning its nature. The Westminister Assembly teaches that "God is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call His people by His Word and Spirit out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace." The Latter Confession of Helvetia says, "In regeneration the understanding is illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that it may understand both the mysteries and will of God. And the will itself is not only changed by the Spirit, but is also endued with faculties, that, of its own accord, it may will and do good," and quotes in proof, Romans 8:4; Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:27; John 8:36; Phil. 1:6, 29; and 2:13. The Synod of Dort says, "This regenerating grace of God works not upon men as if they were stocks and stones, nor does it abolish the will and properties of their will, or violently constrain it; but does spiritually revive it, heal it, rectify it, and powerfully yet gently bend it: so that where formerly the rebellion of the flesh, and stubbornness did domineer without control, now a willing and sincere obedience to the Spirit begins to reign; in which change the true and spiritual rescue and freedom of our will does consist. And surely, unless the wonderful Worker of all goodness should deal with us in this sort, there were no hope left for man to arise from his lapse by his free-will, through which, when standing, he threw himself headlong into destruction."

The truth is, that if we give up regeneration, the last hope that a sinner may ever again be either holy or happy is gone forever. The Church of Ireland hold that "All God's elect are in their time inseparably united unto Christ, by the effectual and vital influence of the Holy Spirit, derived from him, as from the head, unto every true member of His mystical body. And being thus made one with Christ they are truly regenerated, and made partakers of Him and all His benefits." Indeed nothing could more distress one, who rightly considered his lost estate, than to have the hope, which springs from the doctrine of regeneration, destroyed or seriously shaken. In other words, God does in regeneration but graciously respond to an urgent demand of every enlightened conscience. Every man who has ever had his eyes opened to see his own wretchedness and vileness, will agree to the saying of Usher: "It is not a little reforming will save the man, no, nor can all the morality of the world, nor all the common graces of God's Spirit, nor the outward change of the life: they will not do, unless we are quickened and have a new life wrought in us."

In his old age, when he could no longer see to read, John Newton heard someone recite this text: "By the grace of God I am what I am." He remained silent a short time and then, as if speaking to himself, he said: "I am not what I ought to be. Ah, how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be. A abhor that which is evil, and I would cleave to that which is good. I am not what I hope to be. Soon, soon I shall put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Though I am not what I ought to be, what I wish to be, and what I hope to be, yet I can truly say, I am not what I once was, a slave to sin and satan! I can heartily join with the apostle and acknowledge - By the grace of God I am what I am!"

God's people are born three times, once into this world, once into a state of grace, and once into glory. They and the finally impenitent have the first, and none but the first birth in common. It brings the same to all. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." This natural birth is a great wonder. Devout men have always so regarded it. David says, "You are He who took me out of my mother's womb; my praise shall be continually of you." Warm should be the heart and thankful should be the song of her, who is made the joyful mother of a living healthy child. To how many, is the womb the grave. The wonder is that it is not so to more. Every good man is ready to say, "I bless God that ever I was born." "Those born once only, die twice. They die a temporal, and they die an eternal death. But those who are born twice, die only once; for over them the second death has no power."

Our second birth brings us into a state of grace. It is one of the richest of God's covenanted mercies. When one is born anew, a fatal blow is given to satan's kingdom in the heart; for "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

This is the work of amazing power. It was for good cause that the Synod of Dort taught "that God, in regenerating a man, does employ that omnipotent strength, whereby He may powerfully and infallibly bow and bend his will unto faith and conversion." Paul uses all the strong words he is master of, to teach us that we are renewed by power, by amazing energy. He prayed that his Ephesians might know "what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead." (Eph. 1:18, 19). We know of no greater power than that which accomplished the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet the same power  converts the soul!

~William S. Plumer~

(continued with # 3)

The Cross of Christ - Or Sinners Saved By Unmerited Kindness # 1

The Cross of Christ - Or Sinners Saved by Unmerited Kindness # 1

"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved" (Acts 15:11).

From first to last salvation is all of grace. Paul says: "For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the goodness and love for man appeared from God our Saviour, He saved us - not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:3-5). So that it is clearly by the grace and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit is sent down to renew our natures, and to accomplish in us the new birth. Pardon saves a sinner from the curse of the law and the lake of fire; acceptance through Christ gives him a title to heaven; but in regeneration the dominion of sin begins to be destroyed, and the soul begins to be fitted for the Master's use. 

The new birth is a great mystery, yet it is much insisted on in Scripture. "The washing of regeneration" is as necessary as washing in the blood of Christ. "The renewing of the Holy Spirit" is as essential as the "justification of life." Within the space of four verses our Lord thrice declares how necessary it is to salvation. Hear Him: "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again" (John 3:3, 5, 7). The fallow ground must be broken up or the good seed will not take root in our hearts. The wild olive tree must undergo the operation of engrafting with the good olive tree, or it will remain worthless. All the Scriptures teach as much.

Christ taught that a vile sinner must undergo a great spiritual change, before he could be fit for the service of God. Perhaps there is not a more driveling error that that which teaches that baptism with water is the regeneration, which Jesus Christ and His apostles insist upon. When men can confound the "washing of regeneration" with the washing with water, they are fully prepared to follow, in fact they are already following, in the footsteps of those, who confounded "that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh," with that circumcision, which is "of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Perhaps too, no error is more mischievous than this. It is monstrous that such error and folly should be taught in lands where God's Word is in general use. To baptism some add an outward reformation, and insist that this should be admitted as sufficient. Supposing this to be the meaning of Christ and His apostles, it is impossible to defend them from the charge of using very mysterious language to convey so simple an idea. But such belief is never entertained by those, who have a fitting respect for God's Word.

It will therefore claim no more attention at this time. Sound divines have very remarkably agreed in telling us what regeneration is. Witherspoon says: "A new birth implies an universal change. It must be of the whole man, not in some particular, but in all without exception." And he shows at length that it is not PARTIAL, EXTERNAL, IMPERFECT;  but that it is UNIVERSAL, INWARD, ESSENTIAL, COMPLETE, AND SUPERNATURAL. Charnock says: "regeneration is a mighty and powerful change, wrought in the soul by the efficacious working of the Holy Spirit, wherein a vital principle, a new habit, the law of God, and a divine nature are put into and framed in the heart, enabling it to act holily and pleasingly to God, and to grow up therein to eternal glory." Thomas Scott quotes with approbation another definition, but does not give his author. He says: "Regeneration is a change wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the understanding, will and affections of a sinner; which is the commencement of a new kind of life, and which gives another direction to his judgment, desires, pursuits, and conduct."

Although this change is called by various names, yet the doctrine of Scripture respecting it is uniform. Sometimes it is called a holy calling, a creation, a new creation, a translation, a circumcision of the heart, a resurrection; but whatever be the name, the thing signified is everywhere spoken of in very solemn terms and as a rich fruit of God's grace. Thus says Paul, "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me" (Gal. 1:15, 16). Again: God "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim. 1:9). Again Peter says that "the God of all grace has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus" (1 Pet. 5:10).

~William S. Plumer~

(continued with # 2)

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Every Eye # 4 (and others)

Every Eye # 4 (and others)

What will be the sight of that city pictured to us in the Revelation in such glowing words - but whose true glory and beauty no heart of mortal man has ever yet conceived?

Christian rejoice! This sight is for you! This hope is for you! Unworthy in your own eyes; oft lamenting your own infirmities, your lack of love, your failings in the Master's service - yet your eyes shall see and your heart shall overflow with the joys which are at God's right hand.

"Every eye shall see Him!"

Then let your eye now ever be toward Him. Watch, lest your eye be turned aside. Let it never be found "beholding vanity." Let it not be accustomed to delight itself in the unwholesome sights of the theater, or the vain display of self-adornment, or in that which only ministers to the gratification of pride and self-indulgence. Let not your eye shoot forth glances of envy, passion, covetousness, or any unholy thought or desire. Let it not slumber in carnal ease and selfish sloth, while souls are perishing around.

Nay, let your eye be upward, seeking daily aid and grace from above. Be ever looking unto Jesus as your great Pattern and Exemplar, and also as the Fountainhead of all supplies of wisdom, strength, and consolation.

But more than this. Let your eye look around to see the needs and miseries of mankind. Then, with a heart of sympathy and a tongue of love, go forth to cheer and help your brothers and sisters in their distress, and to guide the wanderer back to the fold.

As the good Samaritan looked on the man who had fallen among thieves, and then in self-denying pity stretched out his hand to help, to heal, and to save him - so be it your happy privilege to minister, whenever you can, to the child of sorrow and of need. Let not your "eye affect your heart" - and then spare neither time, nor trouble, nor toil, nor means to raise the fallen, to  comfort the mourning, or to save the lost.

Then with double joy shall your eye behold the coming King, and shall receive from His lips a double reward, that inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of His brethren, you have done it unto Him.

You shall rise! my dust, you shall arise,
Not always closed your eyes;
Your life's first Giver
Will give you life forever.
Ah, praise His name!

Then as they who dream, we shall arise,
With Jesus to the skies,
And find that morrow,
The weary pilgrim's sorrow,
All past and gone!

Then within the holiest I tread,
By my Redeemer led,
Through Heaven soaring,
His holy name adoring,
Eternally!

~George Everard~

(The End)
__________________________

The Martyr's Crown

The saints of old were beaten, tried,
Condemned and even crucified.
These martyr men beat no retreat
When flames were licking at their feet.
They saw the tyrants' brandished steel,
But still they offered no appeal.
They struck no bargain for their lives,
For their children or their wives;
All slowly roasted in the flames
While angels wrote each of their names
Within a book God calls His own,
To be proclaimed before His throne.
Then we shall know of their renown
When each receives his martyr's crown,
When God shall say to them, "Well done -
You ran the race, pressed on, and won
When in that race men said "insane!"
But now I gladly own your name.
Now you are home - "come dwell with Me
In joy through all eternity."

~Leonard Ravenhill~

Every Eye # 3

Every Eye # 3

Or look at it in another way. Here is a man who has long set his heart on the accomplishment of some great and noble object. It has been his one aim and prayer for many a year. Perhaps it has been the building of a church in some poor or neglected neighborhood. Perhaps it has been the founding of an asylum for orphan children. And now the desire of a lifetime has been fulfilled. What untold pleasure and thankfulness it awakens within him as he sees the reward of his toil and the answer to so many prayers!

And in the believer's sight of the coming King, something similar to every one of these elements of grateful joy will be found, and will burst forth in fullest measure. It will be gladness in its highest form, and with no single cause of alloy.

I remember well an old servant of Christ who faithfully followed the Master upwards of sixty years. A few years before his death his sight suddenly failed him. He sought advice, but he was told that it was impossible to provide a cure. He would never see again while he lived. A bright and happy thought awoke within the heart of the good man. "Then the next person I shall see will be my Saviour!" said this faithful servant of his Lord.

And what that sight will be to a Christian man, who can express?

In that sight, all heart-joys meet. Raise your thoughts to the very highest conceptions of sanctified hope and expectation - and that moment will surpass them all.

Here the desire of the soul will be fully satisfied. We read that "hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." Through long centuries has the Church waited for the return of her Lord.

Year after year has the earnest and wakeful believer been looking for "that blessed hope," even the glorious appearing of the Son of God. And now the day has come. No more waiting, weary days. No more triumphing of the wicked. No more hiding the pure truth of God beneath the covering of human traditions. No more sorrow or sin to trouble the Christian's heart. The blessed day has come with all its rich treasury of deliverance, peace, felicity and victory.

Here mutual love will be abundantly satisfied. The Bridegroom will rejoice in the Bride - and the Bride will be satisfied forever in the presence of her Lord. It is said by Solomon, "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing," and we find it true in our present state. But it will not be true then. "Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty!" - and this sight will be enough. It will be the one great joy of the redeemed forever. To see Christ, to be with Him, to look deeper into His loving heart, and to share that love through endless ages - this will be the chief element in the pleasures which are at God's right hand.

"The King there in His beauty
Without a veil is seen;
It were a well-spent journey
Though seven deaths lay between.

The Lamb with His fair army
Does on Mount Zion stand,
And glory, glory dwells
In Emmanuel's land.

The Bride eyes hot her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of Grace.

Not at the crown He gives,
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Emmanuel's land."

Here will be the transforming power of this sight. Consider the words of John in his First Epistle, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is!" There will be perfect conformity to His image. Sin will be annihilated in the soul, and no temptations ever be able to stir one thought of evil. This mortal body will put on its garments of glory and immortality. In heavenly purity, in unwearied brightness and activity, in an atmosphere of love, born of the love that inflames the heart of Christ - the risen saint will be satisfied as he awakes in the likeness of His Saviour. And with the sight of Christ Himself, there will be ten thousand sights that will multiply indefinitely the Christian's joy. What will it be to behold angel and archangel, cherubim and seraphim, and all doing homage to Him whom we love?

What will it be to see the saints of olden times, prophets, apostles, martyrs - those whose words have been a guide to us along our journey here? What will it be to see those who have been dear to us in the flesh, and who fell asleep in Christ before ourselves? What will it be to see those to whom God has made us instruments of spiritual good - who through our prayers, efforts, or influence have been led to the Saviour's feet?

~George Everard~

(continued with # 4)

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Every Eye # 2

Every Eye # 2

1. Is not the eye frequently the inlet of the greatest possible display, alarm, terror, and distress? Imagine the men of the old world as they saw the door of the Ark close, and then by and by saw the huge raindrops descend, and watched the rising waters until every ray of hope was quenched.

Imagine the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah as they saw the words of Lot fulfilled, and the fire descend from above on the doomed cities.

Imagine the company of Korah as the ground began to heave beneath their feet and the vast chasm open its mouth to receive them.

Imagine the conscience-stricken Ahab as he saw the prophet Elijah standing in the field of Naboth - the very sight of the faithful servant of Jehovah awakening him to all the judgments which his sin was bringing upon him.

Imagine a man coming home from Australia with the earnings of a life's labor, and seeing the vessel with it all sinking in the depths.

Or imagine the parent watching by the deathbed of the child in whom all his hopes were centered, who had been the idol of his home and the one object for whom he lived.

Now think what will the sight of Christ be to the unsaved man. In that sight will be every possible element of grief and distress.

Every idol of his heart will be dashed to pieces in a moment. Whether it be home or wife, or child, a high position or a store of wealth, the fruit of a life's work or the usual enjoyment of some gift of Divine Providence - whatever it may be, it becomes a thing of the past. The stream is dried up; time is no more, and time's possessions have passed out of his hand.

From that sight will arise the shame of discovery. However cleverly the plot has been laid or the deed of evil hidden from the eyes of men, there will be no more possibility of concealment.  The eyes which are as a flame of fire see through every disguise. The impenitent sinner must stand naked and confounded, with his sin open and known to all.

Then, too, conscience will speak out, and can no longer be silenced. As the sight of Elijah brought the sin of Ahab to his remembrance, what will it be when men see Him against whom they have sinned, and who knows them altogether? Ah! the reproach, the remorse, the sting of conscience on that day! Too often conscience slumbers now - it is drugged by the devil's opiates. It sleeps on, silenced by false hopes, by low views of sin, by promises of future amendment, or by the idea of mercy in God, even where that mercy has been despised and rejected!

But then it will sleep no more. The sight of a coming Judge will effectually and forever dispel all its delusions. In no uncertain tone will the voice be heard: "You are the man! What have you done?" Moreover, that sight will be to the sinner, the token of the coming day of wrath.

We have a glimpse given of the scene that we may look for. "The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks: Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?~ (Revelation 6:14-17).

Yes, every eye shall see Him! For through rock and mountain and cave, that eye shall still behold him. No hiding-place will be deep enough or dark enough to cover him from sight.

Think of it, friend, you who are yet in your sins. Think of it, friend, who are yet back from Him by the shadows of earth. Would it not be well to seek a hiding place now? Would it not be well, even this very day, to flee from the anticipation of His wrath - to the arms of His mercy? Would it not be well now to fix your eye on Him, in deep self-abasement and humble trust? Hidden in Him, covered with His all-sufficient merit, and arrayed in His snow while robe of righteousness - what then shall you fear? What then will the presence of His glory be to you, but the most blissful sight that every you have seen!

2. The brighter side of this subject, must not be forgotten.

If the eye is the inlet of fear and dismay - it is no less the inlet of joy, too deep for words to express.

Imagine the joy of Abraham and Sarah in the sight of the child so long promised and so long waited for!

Remember the old patriarch Jacob and the gladness he must have experienced when again he saw his long-lost son, and saw him as ruler of the land of Egypt?

Think of the delight of the shepherds as they beheld the infant Jesus, in whom they had learned to recognize the Saviour of the world; or of the Eastern Magi, as with exceeding great joy they again beheld the ship which brings her husband home to her after a long voyage.

~George Everard~

(continued with # 3)

Every Eye! # 1

Every Eye! # 1

"Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him!" (Revelation 1:7).

There is many a "behold" in Holy Scripture, but in this passage, we reach the climax of them all.

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him" (Psalm 33:18).

"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1).

"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

"Behold the Man" (John 19:5).

"Behold your King" (John 19:14).

Every one of these views of God's love and of the Saviour's grace, are full of deepest meaning and instruction to us.

But in grandeur and solemn awe, none can for a moment reach the "behold" of the Revelation. It sounds the keynote of the whole Apocalypse. It gathers within itself the great prophecy of Daniel spoken centuries before, and the bold utterance of Christ as He stood before the Jewish Council. Look at the words of the prophet Daniel 7:13, "I saw in the night visions, and behold One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of Heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him, and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom," etc.

Consider the words of Christ when standing before His bloodthirsty judges (Matthew 26:64), "Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of Heaven!"

Then take the words of John as given in Revelation, "Behold, He comes with clouds, and every eye shall see Him!"

In each of these passages two points are very prominent.

It is everywhere distinctly affirmed that He comes in the clouds of Heaven. When He ascended to the Father, we are told that a cloud received Him, and hid Him from the sight of His disciples. And as He ascended, so the angels declared that He must come again. So shall it be. In a cloud He departs - and in a cloud He shall return to the earth. And is there not here a plain evidence of His Divine power and authority?  Is it not this one of the symbols of Jehovah's majesty and glory? We read in Psalm 18 something of the greatness which appertains to God, and here is one part of that description: "He made darkness His secret place. His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies". Look again at Psalm 104:3, "Who makes the clouds His chariot - who walks upon the wings of the wind."

To none but Jehovah's fellow, to none but the coequal  Son of the Most High, would it have been granted thus to come back to our earth, mighty and glorious, seated on the very chariot of Jehovah Himself!

No less impressive is the second point. The Lord Jesus is to be the one object on which every eye is to be fixed. "Every eye shall see Him!"

These words have never been true of any who yet has lived. Kings and conquerors have had their days of triumph, and perchance hundreds of thousands have looked upon them as they celebrated the victories they had achieved. We read of notable scene in olden times, when a monarch gathered together an army of some three million, and placed his throne where he could gain a sight of them all, and where a large proportion of them might be able to see him.

But far higher, grander, vaster, is the prospect set before us of Christ at His appearing. In that concourse, none are absent. All ages, countries, races, and divisions of mankind are present there. None can escape that vision. None are lost or hidden amidst the assembled myriads. How it can be, no thought can possibly fathom. That it shall be, no room is left for doubt.

He who once trod the shore of Galilee's lake.
He who once was the Friend of the fishermen,
He who was meek and lowly of heart,
He who endured so patiently the scorn and the shame of His bitter Cross - it is He who shall then be manifested as the Glorious King and Judge of human kind, and upon whom every eye of sinner and of saint shall then be turned!

By that look, there will arise an extremity of woe and of gladness, the possibility of which has never yet been realized. There are the two sides. It may be well to consider both.

~George Everard~

(continued with # 2)

Saturday, December 8, 2018

More Than Conquerors # 5

More Than Conquerors # 5

You see, we've got the idea that you've got to be anointed of the Holy Spirit to be a missionary or a preacher. Well, that's great! You must have that. Let me tell you about three things here. Look. This man says we are more than conquerors. You know, when those three Hebrew children went into the burning, fiery furnace, they were conquerors. But when the form of the fourth, like unto the Son of God, came and they walked out, they were MORE THAN CONQUERORS.

When Daniel went into the lion's den, he was a conqueror. But when they pulled him out and made them change the laws of the Medes and the Persians, he was more than a conqueror.

When Jesus went to the Cross, He could have just went quick, and destroyed every man that was living. He could have cursed these people like He cursed the fig tree. But He kept His mouth shut. When He went to the grave with the sin of the world He was a conqueror. When He rose from the dead He was more than a conqueror. That's why this marvelous 8th chapter is so majestic. The Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead. Has He raised you from the dead? And touched death? And trespasses? And sin? Has He raised you from the death of formality and self-righteousness? If He has, you're indwelt by God the Father! You're indwelt by God the Son! You're indwelt by the Holy Spirit!

You know what America needs more than it needs some revivalist? It needs some Holy Spirit filled mothers and fathers. I owe my spiritual life after God to the saintly mother who influenced my life. I never heard my mother gossip. I never heard her criticize anybody. I never saw her get angry. All I got when I came home from school was mother in one chair and grandmother in the other singing, "Take Time to Be Holy," usually off-key. But they were singing "Take Time to Be Holy." If it wasn't that, it was "Trust and Obey." Man, I was born in a home where the father was godly and the mother was a saint.

People say to me sometimes, "You know, I often ask the Lord to make me humble." I'll tell you how to make yourself humble. Go home and sit down before your little kids. Just sit down and say, "Do you think that I am like Jesus?"

I'm a debtor to America. Do you know why? Because outside of the New Testament, the greatest thing I ever read was the life of David Brainerd. I read that when he was about 18 years of age, he met God. I read that he died at the age of 28. The ripe old age of 28! I read that he used to kneel in the snow when it was up to his chin, when he had to make a hole in it. And pray! He said, "I'd pray from sunrise to sunset. I couldn't touch the snow with the tips of my fingers. The heat of my body melted the snow." He had tuberculosis and when he sneezed he sprayed the snow with his blood.

Friend, listen. You have only one life. Twill soon be passed. Only what's done for God will last. When you are dying how glad you shall be, if the lamp of your life has been burned out for Him. So now, die to  self-seeking. Die to public opinion. Die to ambition. God doesn't use men that are alive. He uses men that are dead. He doesn't use sober men. He uses drunk men. He doesn't use somebody. He uses nobody.

"In all these things..." Where's your point of defeat tonight? Is it prayerlessness? Is it lack of love? Is it self-pity? Self-seeking? Self-glory? Self-promoting? What is it? You may be the one key holding up revival. Maybe just you, nobody else. I don't know. I want to tell you, God can put an end to all these things and you can leave this house tonight free, if you obey God. You can be more than conquerors by the indwelling God, by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. But you'll have to confess it. I can't confess for you. I can't do it. You have to do it. God can't do it for you. You have to do it.

Your repentance, your humility, your sincere seeking God for that cancer within the breast, whatever it is, will bring the compassion and love of God, the cleansing in the Blood, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

~Leonard Ravenhill~

(The End)

Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: this file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "freeware" without charge - and cannot be sold with charge.  (c) 1995 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.

More Than Conquerors # 4

More Than Conquerors # 4

They he says in Romans 9:33, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." Here is your strength. Notice in this verse again, verse 34: "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died." Can Christ's death be contested? satan knows better than that. Then says, he "is risen again...at the right hand..." Can the sovereignty of Jesus Christ be contested? And at the end of the verse it says, he "maketh intercession for us." Is there any way that the prayers of Jesus Christ can be sabotaged?

You see, if I'm a believer, this is what this verse says: I have the protection of the death of Jesus. If He is risen, I not only have protection, I have propitiation. He is the One that satisfies. Not only that, if He justifies me, I've not only protection and propitiation, I have prayer that's offered by Him. Then the old accusing devil comes and says, "Now, just look at this and look at that." You know what Tozer used to say to me? "Len, I talk back to the devil." Do you ever talk back to him? Tell him where to go and how to get there? Or do you just constantly get whipped by him?

We suffer accusations, as long as you live, till you get to the pearly gates, satan will accuse you. That's his job. He's the accuser of the brethren. Even if you've done nothing wrong, he'll try to make you feel bad. He's a liar from the beginning.

In Washington - in the Smithsonian museum, I guess, there's a bit of an apron with a dirty brown mark on it. And the Rockefellers have a bit of money and yet the Rockefellers can't can't buy that apron. It looks like a chocolate stain and the apron isn't worth much. But when they were carrying the great emancipator Lincoln out of that theater, as they passed a little girl, his blood fell on that apron and immediately somebody said, "that is sacred for America, get hold of it." There's nothing in the world can buy that thing which is stamped with blood! And I want to tell you tonight in the face of the world, the flesh, and the devil and all hell that if the blood of Jesus Christ is on you tonight you're worth more than all the wealth in Fort Knox or anywhere else in the world. You're precious to Him...Why?... Because His blood is upon you, that's why!

What are you going to do with this text? What is this text? "In all these things," verse 37, "we are more than conquerors." That's beyond the bounds of logic. How can you be MORE than a conqueror?

You can do three things with this text. You can say, "It's a statement by an ignorant, irresponsible person. The kind who overload you with confidence." You can say, "It's an unbalanced statement by a super-optimist." Or you can say, "Here's a man talking about out of experience." In all things," he says, "we are more than conquerors."

You know, there isn't a man on God's earth who knows how the next phase of revival will come. It's coming. Don't make any mistake about it. But God's going to do it His way. God has wonderful ways of working.

One pastor said, "My people come to church and pay their tithes. Routine. There's no passion. No vision. They're worldly. They enjoy bowling a lot more than groaning. They like fishing for fish much more than fishing for men. More of them are traveling than travailing." He said to his wife and another man in the church, "Can we agree together that God will send us revival?" And they did! They prayed.

Oh my! Sometimes it's very painful. In fact, I don't know when God works any blessing without painfulness. If He could have done it with pain, He'd have done it for His Son. But His Son had to go through the horrors of Gethsemane and the Cross. 

So this preacher and his wife, and the other man and his wife - she was the organist, I think - prayed. And God began to move. He moved them nearly all out of the church. From about 450 people, they went down to about 45. And they thought: "Now, Lord, Lord, put the brakes on here. It's going to stop here, isn't it?" The Lord said, "No, not yet." And they went down until they were a very select company: the preacher, his wife, the oldest deacon, and the organist. Four of them. Instead of shutting the shop, he said, "Keep on praying." Great! God was moving! They never asked Him to move that way. But after all, you ask God to move and He does it! The preacher said, "Four weeks, I preached to four people." It didn't take long to take the offering. For once the church was united. Then, he said, "God began to turn the tide and they started coming back. People got saved." Now he had hundreds of people.

You see, the Holy Spirit is so wonderful. As I said last night, He's a Spirit of truth and He convicts us of error. He's a Spirit of life and He convicts of death. He's a Spirit of power and He convicts of weakness. He's a Spirit of joy and He convicts of sorrow. And He's a Spirit of LOVE! I'm going to tell you this, I believe tonight, if the Church of Jesus Christ, every true believer, in America had the baptism of love, the Church would be "back in business."

Love works many, many miracles that theory, philosophy, and theology don't work. The Word of God says that the first thing the Holy Spirit does in you life when He comes in is hang His shingle out. That's what He does. You know what it says on this shingle? "The fruit of the Spirit is power..." No, No. What is it? Oh, you know what it is. The first thing...LOVE.

~Leonard Ravenhill~

(continued with # 5)

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Saturday, December 1, 2018

More Than Conquerors # 3

More Than Conquerors # 3

All right. Let's come down a bit further in the chapter. Look at verse 22. "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travileth in pain together..." Do you think it is doing that tonight? Men have dreamed of Utopia, from Augustine's City of God. Moore had his Utopia. Francis Bacon had his Utopia. And I'm going to tell you how many more. Hitler said you could dominate the world by a pure race. The Marxists say the only way to clean the world up is to get rid of the fluff and bourgeois folk we have heard around here and rule by revolution. The creation groaneth.

The whole creation groaneth! I've asked you more than once. Did it cost you a tear when you heard that fifty million people were signed off in Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia? Fifty million people went into captivity! Did it cost you a tear? Millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. Has it cost you a tear? - or are you still rehearsing your choir number for Sunday? Yes, I believe every earthquake we have, is a sign of the whole groaning creation. Creation groans.

Will you notice what Paul says a little further down? In the next verse, verse 23: that we, not only creation, but we ourselves also have the first fruits of the Spirit. If you have the first fruits of the Spirit, here's the proof that you have it. That you groan within yourself. Do you? After the Holy Spirit comes in - and He knows the mind of God, and nobody does but the Spirit - the Spirit whispers the secret of God to you. Some nights you're like the woman who wants to get delivered of something. It isn't time, and you groan within yourself.

I'll tell you the secret of getting revival in the church. Find half a dozen people who know how to groan. You won't have the same church in a year.

You can't learn groaning except by the Holy Spirit. It's the school of the Holy Spirit.

If you think that's unusual, then look at verse 26 in which he says, "Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with GROANINGS that cannot be uttered." And verse 27, "the Spirit...because maketh intercession...according to the will of God."

Now, I've heard people say that to pray "with groanings," means praying in tongues. It's nothing of the kind. Because if it was, God would say so. It's beyond that.

The greatest language of prayer has no vocabulary.

The greatest prayers in the Bible have no words.

Do you remember Hannah? How she prayed? Even the man of God, the priest, thought she was drunk. She groaned. She travailed. She was barren.

I suggest to you that with all the pretty little conferences we have going on now about the Holy Spirit and all the rest, we're a barren people before God. We have no revival in the land. But I'll tell you this, when the Holy Spirit comes and begins to burden people, it's a pretty, pretty rough thing to learn the true language of intercession. But the Spirit helpeth our infirmity.

Let's come to this verse right here for a minute or two. "In all these things..." He mentions them. Sort them out when you go home, will you? Tribulation, distress, famine, peril, nakedness, sword, perils of the deep, and so forth and so on. Sort them out. You'll find that some are the things that attack the body. Some attack the mind. Some attack the spirit. And he says, "in all these things..." There is no area in your life where, as a Christian, you are expected to be defeated.

You say, "I can't be perfect." Can't you? Are you sure? Jesus said in one Sermon on the Mount, "Be ye therefore perfect." He said of Job to the devil, "Hast thou considered my servant Job? He's perfect and upright." He set a path for Abraham before the Holy Spirit was given as we know. He said, "Walk before Me and be thou perfect." You can't have Adamic perfection in your body. You can't have mental perfection. You can't have perfection, but you CAN have perfect obedience!

We sing the song, "Perfect Submission. All is at rest." The only way you can have rest is by perfect submission - to know there's no rebellion in your spirit in any area at all.

"In all these things we are more than conquerors. "You know, very often we get so discouraged. We get so earthbound. We lose sight of the majesty of God. We forget this: that God has branded you as a child of God. He lives in you. His Spirit lives in you. Christ lives in you. And we let little rubbish around us upset us?

~Leonard Ravenhill~

(continued with # 4)

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More Than Conquerors # 2

More Than Conquerors # 2

I'm persuaded tonight that neither height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate me from the love of God. "For I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor THINGS present nor THINGS to come..." If that isn't defiance I don't know what is.

One day, this man was going down the Damascus Road. Look! You know what? A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.

He was going down the Damascus Road, breathing out threatenings. He carried documents that said he could put any Christian he liked to death. (It's exactly what the blundering, blind, bankrupt world that you and I live in did), but he did not reckon with Jesus Christ Himself. And Jesus sits on His throne and met him in the road. Paul said, "Who art thou, Lord?" On that road, he said, "he revealed Himself to me." He said, "In the wilderness. In the school of silence." (It's still open if you want to go. It'll cost you nothing.) "On the Damascus Road God revealed Himself to me. There in the wilderness, He revealed Himself to me."

Then he soared up into heaven. I don't know all he saw except it was just so marvelous. The Lord said "Don't ever say a word about it. As long as you live, you can't tell anything you saw." And he never did! Sometimes I wonder if God rolled out the plans of the ages from the incarnation to the consummation. I wonder if he saw the day in which you and I live. I wonder if he saw the depravity that was going to strangle the world silent before Jesus comes?

There where he and God were alone, and God stripped him, what happened? I tell you, he became spiritually pregnant. He birthed these churches to whom he was writing here. He birthed these epistles in the Holy Spirit.

God put something in him that, when later he is put in the waters, thirty-six hours in the Mediterranean; the waves couldn't wash it out. They lashed him one hundred ninety-five times; they couldn't whip it out. The devils chased him; they couldn't scare it out of him. They wouldn't give him any food; they couldn't starve it out of him.

Brothers and sisters, you and I had better get an experience like that before long because the roof is going to come in before we go much further. God hasn't raised you up  to be bottle-fed babys from here to eternity. He's coming to gather His jewels out of your life. He's invested a lot in you. He didn't save you that you might escape eternal fire. That's fringe benefit. He saved you that you might be conformed to the image of His Son, however costly that may be.

A lot of people say today when they talk about victorious life, "Well, you know what Paul said..." in the end of Romans chapter 7: "Oh wretched man that I am!" Well, I didn't need the Lord to tell me that. I know that well enough. But you see, we tack onto that another statement. We say - listen now to what the Scripture says: "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." But read the next verse: "Ye are NOT in the flesh." Now, what do you do with it? This flesh...Yes. But a fleshy nature, a lusting, sinful, greedy, lustful nature...No.

You see, Paul here uses one of the most amazing things in all his career. He says, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Now what will you do? Is that the end of the story? In the original there are no chapters. There's no 7th chapter and 8th chapter. The 7th goes right on into the 8th chapter. Now what do you do? Do you stop at the end of Romans 7 and say Paul is saying all through his life, "O wretched man that I am! I've another war raging in my members?" What does he say? He says, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Well, tell me tonight, can Buddha do it? Can Confucius do it? Can transcendental meditation do it? No sir. A thousand times over. There is One who is able to do it.

You know, there were over 120 different types of crosses. There was a traditional cross. There was a cross like the letter "T" on which a man's head was allowed to drop back. There was a cross like the letter "X" where a man's body was stretched up. His arms went up into each section of the "X" and there he was crucified. There was another cross. It was a straight tree like this, with a spike. They pushed the man's body on it and turned it any old way they liked - like a propeller - and left him to hang and the birds to eat him.

Now Paul had been talking about the Law in chapter 7. He says the Law is holy. He says the Law is spiritual. But, you see, the Law could bring condemnation. It could point out sin, but it couldn't cast out sin. Can the Law break you free? No. Who shall deliver me from this wretched man? He says there's no end to this! But then he says, "Yes, there is - Thanks be unto God through Jesus Christ my Lord...!" Romans 6:6 says that "Knowing this, that our old man is (not was, but is) crucified with Him."

The trouble in the church of God today is that we preach half a salvation. We tell people how to get rid of the lousy sin, yet we don't tell them how to get rid of the principle inside that has dominion over them. This is exactly what Paul is talking about in this epistle. This is why I say it's the song of the soul set free. Come over to verse 9. "You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." Are you in the Spirit? Or in the flesh? Have you got secrets? What's biting you on the inside? An unforgiving spirit? Laziness? Jealousy? Anger? Secret lusts? What is it?

He says, "ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be..." Now listen! "...the Spirit of God dwelleth in you!" Look at the next verse (verse 10): "If Christ be in you." Look at the 11th verse: "The Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus...dwell in you." My! Oh my! How in God's name can you be indwelt by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit and be defeated? Don't argue with me about it. Scratch it out in your Bible if you don't believe it. If you're a Christian, you're an indwelt person. God dwells in you. The Father dwells in you. That's what it says. I didn't write that. The Holy Spirit wrote it. I want you to know; if you're really born of God, God dwells in you. And the Son dwells in you. "He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son..." It doesn't matter if they baptized you three times a day, it won't make you a Christian. Who is a Christian? He that hath the Son. He that is born of God, and He that hath the Spirit of God indwelling in him.

~Leonard Ravenhill~

(continued with # 3)

Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: This file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "Freeware" without charge. Copyright 1995 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas."

More Than Conquerors # 1

More Than Conquerors # 1

Romans, Chapter 8 verse 37: "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

This 8th chapter, as many of you know, begins a new section in this wonderful epistle to the Romans.

The 7th chapter is a chapter of gloom, the 8th chapter is a chapter of glory. The 7th chapter is a chapter of condemnation, the 8th chapter is a chapter of emancipation. The 7th chapter is a funeral march, the 8th chapter is a wedding march. It's the song of a "soul set free," to use the phrase of a lovely hymn. Romans 7 is a chapter on the tomb. Romans 8 is a chapter on triumph. (If you want to use the phrase of John Milton,) The 7th chapter is the chapter of paradise lost. It's a chapter of depravity. The 8th chapter is a chapter of deliverance and delight.

Now this is a magnificent chapter. If you want to make a special bonding here, chapter 7 is a chapter of misery and condemnation. The 8th chapter is a liberated soul. You can explain this by this fact: chapter 7 is a chapter on a self-centered person. The 8th chapter is a chapter about the Christ-centered person. In the 7th chapter you read that first person over and over and over until you get weary of reading "I, I, I, I..." "I want to do this, but I can't...", and "I find I'm in bondage..." and so forth and so on. If you count you'll discover 41 times you find that "I", and no mention of the Holy Spirit. In the 8th chapter there is no mention of the "I" except in two verses where he says " reckon" and "I am persuaded" (where there is no alternative.) But the difference in the 8th chapter is that there is all the mention in the world about the Holy Spirit. Nineteen times the Holy Spirit is mentioned.

"There is therefore now no condemnation..." So, the chapter begins away in the heights - there is no condemnation. And it ends - "there is no separation." "What shall separate us from the love of God?" But it does not say there is no tribulation. In fact, it marks tribulation out for us very, very carefully. A wretched, sin-bound man in the 7th chapter and no Holy Spirit. A liberated man in the 8th chapter, and over and over again he pays tribute to the Holy Spirit of God.

This is an amazing Word of God. Here is a man talking about emancipation. He's talking about an individual having under his feet the world, the flesh, and the devil. We'll get to it a bit later, but he says "In all these things..." and he doesn't leave you to fill in the blanks. He fills them in himself.

I love to read the apostle Paul! You know why, he'd go out and snub the devil! The devil never pushed the apostle around. He pushed the devil around! I'm going to make a guess that when Paul died they had a half-day's holiday in hell. They were so glad about it. satan never had the victory over the apostle Paul. He tried. No man ever had such a massive theology as Paul. No man ever saw further, deeper into the pit of human depravity.

I think one of the most alert writers today - that is no scholarly, or sensational stuff, but a deep writer - is that wonderful man of the Labri Fellowship, Switzerland. That gracious man, Shaeffer, said in his book "Death in the City," God has given up on the cities in America. He's written "Finished!" on them. That's why they're dead in their rebellion. That's why we've got whole cities that are bankrupt. The whole world has been asking, "Why is the greatest city in the greatest country in the world, New York, why is it bankrupt?" The millionaires of different cities are saying we are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But you see, our biggest problem is we are morally bankrupt! We are spiritually bankrupt!

I remember again that gracious man says, "For 40 years we've watched America going down the drain." He's like Jeremiah. He saw the nation after nation with fits of depression and  and darkness and devils. Then coming around and trying to say they were the chosen people of God. Then slumbering down in the mire again. He reminds us that eight centuries ago, every town and city in China had a thriving New Testament church. Eight hundred years ago. Where is she tonight?

Nobody, I say, saw the depth of depravity Paul saw. He saw that because men had rejected the message of the Son of God, God gave them up to uncleanness. If you want to read a very vivid, dramatic, stirring, disturbing account of that, read J. B. Phillips translation of the first chapter of Romans.

Paul doesn't say how terrible the malady is. He's not concerned about the malady. He's concerned about the remedy! He said in Hebrews 7:25, "He is able to save to the uttermost" and the "guttermost." Therefore, at the end of this amazing chapter he said, "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."

The only reason there is an America tonight is, not because we signed the Declaration of Independence, but because 34 years before that time there was a revival that struck this country.

I quote Dr. Tozer, he said to me, "as soon as man got alienated from God, he got interested in 'things'." Now I was reading through these chapters, and I noticed how many times Paul says that, "They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit."

And then that very famous, popular verse: Romans 8:28. "All things work together for good." Not some things. ALL THINGS. Losses as well as gain; invisible things as well as visible; those that are bitter as well as those that are sweet. All things work together for good. Mr. Chadwick used to tell us the only way to read that verse is backwards. "To them that love God, to them who are the called, according to His purpose, all things work together for good." It you read it the right way, the forward way, it doesn't make too much impression. But if you read it from the back, so then that love God, all things work together for good. To them that are called according to His purpose. Now verse 31, "What shall we say to these THINGS? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

He says in verse 37, "Nay in all these THINGS..." You can almost hear his contempt there, can't you? "Things. So what?" And then he finishes the verse there in 38. I believe he throws his shoulders back and laughs in the face of the devil and says you haven't an invention in hell that can separate me. That's what he says, doesn't he? Because he says here, at the end of verse 38, "I am persuaded." Are you persuaded tonight? Paul was a persuaded man. He was persuaded that God was able to keep that which he'd committed unto Him.

~Leonard Ravenhill~

(continued with # 2)

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Is Christ Your Lord?

Is Christ Your Lord?

We do not ask: Is Christ your "Saviour"? - but is He, really, and truly, your LORD? If He is not your Lord, then He is most certainly not your "Saviour."  Those who have not received Christ Jesus as their "Lord" and yet suppose Him to be their Saviour, are deluded, and their hope rests on a foundation of sand. Multitudes are deceived on this vital point, and therefore, if the reader values his or her soul, we implore you to give a most careful reading to this little tract. When we ask, is Christ your Lord? we do not inquire, Do you believe in the Godhead of Jesus of Nazareth? The demons do that (Matt. 8:28-29) and yet perish notwithstanding! You may be firmly convinced of the Deity of Christ, and yet be in your sins. You may speak of Him with the utmost reverence, accord Him, His divine titles in your prayers and yet be unsaved. You may abominate those who traduce His person and deny His divinity, and yet have no spiritual love for Him at all. When we ask, Is Christ your Lord, we mean, does He in very deed occupy the throne of your heart, and does He actually rule over your life? "We have  turned everyone to his own way" (Isa. 53:6) describes the course which we all follow by nature. Before conversion every soul lives to please "self". Of old it was written, "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." and why? "In those days there was no king in Israel." (Judges 21:25). Ah! that is the point we desire to make clear to the reader. Until Christ becomes your King (1 Tim. 1:17); Rev. 15:3), until you bow to His scepter, until His will becomes the rule of your life, self dominates, and thus Christ is disowned.

When the Holy Spirit begins His work of grace in a soul, He first convicts of sin. He shows me the real and awful nature of sin. He makes me realize that it is a species of insurrection, a defying of God's authority, a setting of my will against His. He shows me that in going my "own way" (Isa. 53:6), in pleasing myself, I have been fighting against God. As my eyes are opened to see what a lifelong rebel I have been, how indifferent to God's honor, how unconcerned about His will - I am filled with anguish and horror, and made to marvel that the thrice Holy One has not long since cast me into hell. Reader, have you ever gone through this experience? If not, there is very grave reason to fear that you are yet spiritually dead! Conversion, true conversion, saving conversion, is a turning from sin to God in Christ. It is a throwing down of the weapons of my warfare against Him, a ceasing to despise and ignore His authority. New Testament conversion is described thus: "You turned to God from idols to serve (to be in subjection to, to obey) the living and true God" (1 Thess. 1:9). An "idol" is any object to which we give what is due alone unto God the supreme place in our affections, the molding influence of our hearts, the dominating power of our lives.

Conversion is a right about face, the heart and will repudiating sin, self, and the world. Genuine conversion is always evidenced by "Lord what will You have me to do" (Acts 9:6); it is an unreserved surrendering of ourselves to His holy will. Have you yielded yourself to Him? (Romans 6:13). There are many people who would like to be saved from hell, but who do not want to be saved from self-will, from having their own way, from a life of worldliness. But God will not  save them on their terms! To be saved, we must submit to His terms: "let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord (having revolted from Him in Adam), and He will have mercy upon him" (Isa. 55:7). Said Christ, "Whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:33). Men must be turned (by God) "from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God," before they can "receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified" (Acts 26:18). "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him" (Col. 2:6).

That is an exhortation to Christians, and its force is - Continue as you began. But how had they "begun?" By receiving "Christ Jesus the Lord," by surrendering to Him, by subjecting themselves to His will, by ceasing to please themselves. His authority was now owned. His commands now became their rule of life. His love constrained them to a glad and unreserved obedience. They "gave their own selves to the Lord" (2 Cor. 8:5). Have you, dear reader, done this? Have you? Do the details of your life evidence it? Can those with whom you come into contact see that you are no more living to please self (2 Cor. 5:15)? Oh my reader, make no mistake upon this point: a conversion which the Holy Spirit produces is a very radical thing. It is a miracle of grace. It is the enthroning of Christ in the life. And such conversions are rare indeed. Multitudes of people have just sufficient "religion" to make them miserable. They refuse to forsake every known sin, and there is no true peace for any soul until he does. They have never "received Christ Jesus the Lord" (Col. 2:6). Had they done so, "the joy of the Lord" would be their strength. But the language of their hearts and lives is, "we will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14). Is that your case? The great miracle of grace consists in changing a lawless rebel into a loving and loyal subject. It is a "renewing" of the heart, so that the favored subject of it has come to loathe what he loved, and the things he once found irksome are now winsome (2 Cor. 5:17). He delights "in the law of God after the inward man" (Rom. 7:22). He discovers that Christ's commandments are not grievous" (1 Jo. 5:3), and that in the keeping of them there is great reward" (Psalm 19:11). Is this your experience? It would be if you received Christ Jesus THE LORD! But to receive Christ Jesus the Lord is altogether beyond unaided human power. That is the last which the unrenewed heart wants to do. There must be supernatural change of heart before there is even the desire for Christ to occupy its throne. And that change, none but God can work (1 Co. 12:3).

Therefore, "Seek you the LORD while He may be found (Isa. 55:6). Search for Him with all your heart (Jer. 29:13). Reader, you may have been a professing Christian for years past, and you may have been quite sincere in your profession. But if God has condescended to use this tract to show you that you have never really and truly "received Christ Jesus the LORD," if now in your own soul and conscience you realize that SELF has ruled you hitherto, will you not now get down on your knees and confess to God. Confess to Him your self-will, your rebellion against Him, and beg Him to so work in you that, without further delay, you may be enabled to yield yourself completely to His will and become His subject, His servant, His loving slave, in deed and in truth?

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Denying Self And Following Christ # 3

Denying Self And Following Christ # 3

All moments of unhappiness in life are ultimately due to this separation. A person who is in real communion with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ is happy. It does not matter whether he is in a dungeon, or whether he has his feet in the stocks, or whether he is burning at the stake; he is still happy if he is in communion with God. Is not that the experience of the saints down the centuries? So the ultimate cause of any misery or lack of joy - is separation from God; and the one cause of separation from Him is "self." Whenever we are unhappy it means that in some way or other we are looking at ourselves and thinking about ourselves, instead of communing with God.

Man, according to the Scriptures, was meant to live entirely to the glory of God. He was meant to love the Lord God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind and with all his strength. The whole of man was meant to glorify God. Therefore, any desire to glorify "self" or safeguard the interests of "self" is of necessity a sin, because I am looking at myself instead of looking at God and seeking His honor and glory. And it is that very thing in man which God has condemned. It is that which is under the curse of God and the wrath of God.

And as I understand the teaching of the Scriptures, holiness eventually means this - deliverance from this self-centered life. Holiness, in other words, must not be thought of primarily in terms of actions, but in terms of an attitude towards "self". It does not mean essentially that I do not do certain things - and try to do others. There are people who never do certain things that are regarded as sinful - but they are full of pride of self. So we must look at it in terms of "self" and our relationship to ourselves, and we must realize again that the essence of holiness is that we should be able to say with George Muller that we have died, died completely, to this "self" that has caused so much ruin in our lives and experiences.

Now, lastly, let us come to the highest level and look at the problem of "self" in the light of Christ. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God ever come into this world? He came ultimately in order to deliver mankind from "self". We see this selfless life so perfectly in Him. Look at His coming from the glory of Heaven to the stable in Bethlehem. Why did He come? There is only one answer to that question. He did not consider Himself. That is the essence of the statement that Paul makes in Philippians 2. He was eternally the Son of God and was equal with God from eternity, but He did not consider that; He did not hold on to that and to His right to the manifestation of that glory. He humbled Himself and denied Himself. There would never have been the incarnation had it not been that the Son of God put "self", as it were, aside!

Then look at His selfless life here upon earth. He often said that the words He spoke He did not speak of Himself, and the actions He performed He said "are not Mine; they have been given to Me of the Father." That is how I understand Paul's teaching of the self-humiliation of the Cross. It means that, coming in the likeness of man, He deliberately made Himself dependent upon God; He did not consider Himself at all. He said: "I have come to do your will, O God," and He was wholly wholly dependent upon God for everything, for the words He spoke and for everything He did. The very Son of God humbled Himself to that extent. He did not live for Himself or by Himself in any measure. And the apostle's argument is, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

We see it supremely of course in His death upon the Cross. He was innocent and guiltless, He had never sinned or done anyone any harm, yet when He was reviled - He reviled not again; when he suffered - He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23). That is it. The Cross of Christ is the supreme illustration, and the argument of the New Testament is this, that if we say we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that He has died for our sins, it means that our greatest desire should be to die to self.

That is the final purpose of His dying, not merely that we might be forgiven, or that we might be saved from hell. Rather it was that a new people might be formed, a new humanity, a new creation, and that a new kingdom be set up, consisting of people like Himself. He is "the firstborn of many brethren." He is the pattern. God has made us, says Paul to the Ephesians: "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." We are "to be conformed to the image of His Son." So that we may say that the reason for His death on the Cross is that you and I might be saved and separated from that life of self. For this reason, "that those who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again." That is the life which we are called. Not the life of self-defense or self-sensitivity, but such a life that, even if we are insulted - we do not retaliate; if a man comes and asks something of me I do not say, "This is mine!" I say rather, "If this man is in need and i can help him, I will." I have finished with self, I have died to myself, and my one concern now is the glory of God.

That is the life to which the Lord Jesus Christ calls us and He died in order that you and I might live it. Thank God the gospel also goes on to tell us that He rose again and that He has sent into the Church, and into every one who believes on Him, the Holy Spirit with all His renovating and energizing power. If we are trying to live this kind of life in and of ourselves, we are doomed before we start. But with the blessed promise and offer of the Spirit of God to come and dwell in us and work in us, there is hope for us. God has made this life possible. If George Muller could die to George Muller, why should not every one of us who is a Christian die in the same way to that "self" that is so sinful, that leads to so much misery and wretchedness and unhappiness, and which finally is such a denial of the blessed work of the Son of God upon the Cross on Calvary's Hill.

~Martyn Lloyd-Jones~

(The End)