The Roman Road

                            

“Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one." - Isaiah 44:8

Christians seem to have a lot of difficulty witnessing to unbelievers. It is easier to talk about the church we attend than to talk about Christ. The most common excuse that I have heard from Christians is that they do not know enough Scripture verses. This misconception is a lie from hell itself. From personal experience, I have not led anyone to Christ because of my Scripture knowledge, but I have led many to Christ because of my passion.  Sharing the gospel is a verbal expression of your heart. If I am absolutely convinced that Jesus Christ is real and has changed my life, I will reflect that in my words and it will be evident in my actions. No one can challenge my own personal experience and testimony because it is mine. People hear with their eyes but no one comes to faith in Jesus Christ without hearing about Him. The Holy Spirit only needs a willing heart and an open mouth. His words will not return void because witnessing pleases the Lord and witnessing is God's will for our lives. Just say it.

However, with that being said, there are four scripture verses in the Book of Romans that have been very helpful to me while witnessing. These verses have been called the "Romans Road" implying that All Roads lead to Rome! And the "Romans Road" leads to God. These are great verses to become familiar with and to memorize:

Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 10:9-10 "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Oh Lord, give me an opportunity to share Your love with someone today. Open the doors for me to witness and give me the boldness to open my mouth to share about You

~Daily Disciples Devotional~

A God That Hideth Himself

"Verily, Thou art a God That hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isaiah 45:15)

It is as though the Prophet was suddenly overawed and struck with amazement at what he was being made to prophesy! In the midst of his ministry something of its wonder broke upon himself and he interjected this ejaculation.

Leaving, for the present, much of what this might imply as to prophecy as prediction and its vindication, we will stay with the exclamation itself. That statement is one in principle with several instances in the Scriptures. Looking at the present context we see that it is Israel's release from captivity, and return to the Land to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple, which is contemplated. No doubt there had been much peculation and discussing as to how the  prophecies of their return would be fulfilled. Seventy years had been determined and made known as the duration of their captivity. The Gentile powers were in undoubted ascendancy and there seemed very little prospect or possibility of Israel's regaining their national power and glory among the nations. The state of things in their own country - the destroyed temple, the burnt city, the land overrun with wild beasts, the enemy emissaries installed - and the disintegration among the people themselves in exile, made the outlook one fraught with seemingly insuperable problems, and it might well have led to complete bafflement and even despair.

The the Prophet is made to foretell that it would all come about - this restoration - at the hands or by the will of the Gentile power itself; that the Sovereign Spirit of God would come down upon one who - as yet - was not in the position to do it, and probably whose name was not yet known at all. Babylon was not yet overthrown; the Babylonian Empire was not yet destroyed; Daniel's prophecies were not yet fulfilled. But the one who would do it was mentioned by name and the details of his conquest are given in this forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah's prophecies. (Read it fragment by fragment.) And then, even although this man would be in ignorance of God, he would be constrained and compelled by God like an Anointed one to fulfill the Scriptures, release the people, provide the means, and generally facilitate the restoration.

As the Prophet sees it all in his "vision? (the vision of Isaiah," 1:1, one vision including everything) he is overwhelmed with wonder. All the problems are solved, the questions answered, the "mountains" levelled! Who would have thought of that? Who would have dreamed such a thing? Oh, how deep are God's ways, beneath our imagination, hidden from our most intense speculations. "Verily Thou art a God That hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour."

There have been several other great and outstanding instances of the mystery of God's ways in fulfilling His major purposes. All the race had gone from Him and become involved in Godlessness and idolatry. It was universal. How would God meet His own need? Well, He moved to put His hand on one man, and out of that one man He made a nation. In sovereign grace He made that nation His mystery, His secret, among the nations. Israel was God's mystery, God's hidden way. There was always something mysterious about Israel. Paul, in contemplating this method of God and finding it rise up with such overwhelming power, did just what Isaiah did. While writing it down he just interjected a loud and resounding ejaculation: 

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and Is ways past tracing out!" (Romans 11:33).

He might well have added, "Thou art a God That hidest Thyself." Who would ever have thought of the Incarnation, and that, not in glory, but in humiliation unto offending every expectation of man? Who would have thought of the Cross for God Incarnate as the method and means of solving the greatest problem ever known in this universe? Who would have suspected that it was all embodied in that Man of Nazareth, "the carpenter's son" as they called Him? There was the greatest mystery of God! Did it work? Has it proved to be the way, the only way, and the transcendently successful way?

And what is true as to the mystery of Israel, and the mystery of Christ, is also true as to the mystery of the Church. There is a hiddenness about the true Church. No natural eye can discern it. No natural mind can explain it. Reduce it to human sense and description and you have lost it, you have got hold of the wrong thing. "God's wisdom is a mystery," says Paul. Try to commend the Church to the world without faith and you have stripped your Church of its secret power! Unless men come right up against inscrutable God Who overwhelms  them, that which claims to be His dwelling place is an empty shell.

And we would remind you that what is true in these great epochs of sovereign progress down the ages, these interventions and advents in the history of this world's spiritual life, is true in the life of each one of His true people. Such will be constantly confronted with the how of impossible situations, in order that they may be compelled to repeated exclamations in the presence of His simple solutions - 

"Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself."

"Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill, He treasures up Hid bright designs, And works His sovereign will."

"I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of of secret places, that thou mayest know that it is I, the Lord, Who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel" (Isaiah 45:3)

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(the end)

To Sit With Jesus

John 12:2

Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him.

 

 

 

He is to be envied. It was well to be Martha and serve, but better to be Lazarus and commune. There are times for each purpose, and each is comely in its season, but none of the trees of the garden yield such clusters as the vine of fellowship. To sit with Jesus, to hear His words, to mark His acts, and receive His smiles, was such a favour as must have made Lazarus as happy as the angels. When it has been our happy lot to feast with our Beloved in His banqueting-hall, we would not have given half a sigh for all the kingdoms of the world, if so much breath could have bought them. He is to be imitated. It would have been a strange thing if Lazarus had not been at the table where Jesus was, for he had been dead, and Jesus had raised him. For the risen one to be absent when the Lord who gave him life was at his house, would have been ungrateful indeed. We too were once dead, yea, and like Lazarus stinking in the grave of sin; Jesus raised us, and by His life we live-can we be content to live at a distance from Him? Do we omit to remember Him at His table, where He deigns to feast with His brethren? Oh, this is cruel! It behoves us to repent, and do as He has bidden us, for His least wish should be law to us. To have lived without constant intercourse with one of whom the Jews said, "Behold how He loved him," would have been disgraceful to Lazarus, is it excusable in us whom Jesus has loved with an everlasting love? To have been cold to Him who wept over his lifeless corpse, would have argued great brutishness in Lazarus. What does it argue in us over whom the Saviour has not only wept, but bled? Come, brethren, who read this portion, let us return unto our heavenly Bridegroom, and ask for His Spirit that we may be on terms of closer intimacy with Him, and henceforth sit at the table with Him.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Captivity In The Lord # 3

3. Shame, Reproach and Limitation are often God's Ways of Enriching the Whole Body of Christ

This has always been so. The measure of approximation to the fullness of the revelation has always been accompanied by a relative cost. Every instrument of the testimony has been laid under suspicion and reproach in a measure commensurate with the degree of value to the Lord, and this has meant that, humanly, they were limited to that extent. Many have withdrawn, fallen away, held aloof, doubted, feared, and questioned. But as Paul could say "my tribulations for you, which are your glory" (Ephesians 3:13), or "The prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles" (Ephesians 3:1), so the measure of limitation in the Lord is the measure of enrichment in His people. The fuller the revelation, the fewer those who apprehend, or the greater number of those who stand aloof. Revelation only comes through suffering and limitation, and to have it experimentally means sharing the cost in some way. But this is God's way of securing for Himself a spiritual seed plot.

A seed plot is an intensive thing. There things are narrowed down to very limited dimensions. It is not a great extensive show that is immediately in view, but things are all considered firstly in the light of seed. The real meaning of things is not always recognized there, but you can travel the world over and find a great many gardens which are the expression of that intensive and restricted seed plot. If ever there was such a seed plot it was Paul's prison in Rome.

All this may apply to individual lives in relation to the Lord's testimony. There may often be a chafing against limitation, confinement, and a restless hankering after what we would call something wider or less restricted. If the Lord has willed us to the place where we are, our acceptance of it in faith may prove that it becomes a far bigger thing than any human reckoning can judge. I wonder if Paul had any idea that his prison meant his continuous expansion of value to the Lord Jesus through nineteen hundred years? What applies to individuals also applies to corporate bodies, assemblies, or companies of the Lord's people scattered in the earth but one in their fellowship in relation to the Lord's full testimony. May the Lord be graciously pleased to cause the merely human aspect of prison walls to fall away, and give the realization that, far from being limited by men and circumstances, it is imprisonment in the Lord, and this means that all ages and all realms are entered through that prison.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(end end)

Grace To Keep Going

Acts 15:7-11

As believers, we readily attribute our salvation to God’s grace, but what does “this grace in which we stand” mean to us now (Rom. 5:2)? How does it work out in everyday life, especially when we’re going through periods of trial or suffering?

1. The Lord’s grace releases His supernatural power within us so we can endure life’s hardships with a godly attitude. In fact, we’ll even be able to rejoice in what He is doing in us through the adversity.
2. Grace builds our confidence in the sovereign Lord. Nothing looks hopeless when we focus on Him instead of on our problems.
3. We discover the assurance of God’s sustaining presence as He walks with us every step of the way.
4. Because we’ve experienced His care for us, we are able to show empathy and love to others facing hard times.
5. During fiery trials, grace works to transform our character so that others can see Jesus reflected in us.

Difficulties in life are unavoidable. So we need a daily dose of God’s grace if we are to walk through trials with confidence that there is great reward on the other side. If we rely on our own strength, however, obstacles will appear insurmountable, leaving us discouraged and ready to give up.

Too often believers rely on Christ for their salvation but then try to go solo. If God’s grace was needed to save us, then logic says we would also need it for the rest of our days. Only through a continuous infusion of His sustaining power can we live a victorious Christian life.

Charles Stanley~

Captivity In The Lord # 2

2. The importance and Value of Seeing and Accepting things in God's Light (continued)

When all was accepted according to the mind of the Lord, then "the heavenly places" became the eternal expanses of his walking about, and earthly bondage gave place to heavenly freedom. So it must be with every instrument set apart in relation to the higher interests of the Lord's testimony. Then the reading of certain passages in his letters and the record of his imprisonment shows how this applied to others. Take the following:

"Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner" (2 Timothy 1:8).

"And he abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and received all that went in unto him ... teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus" (Acts 28:30).

"The Lord grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus: for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain, but, when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me" (2 Timothy 1:16).

Clearly the effect of these passages is that there had to be a Divine apprehension and not merely a human appraisement of Paul's position. Human levels of mentality would have produced an atmosphere of doubt, suspicion, question, and would have let in elements of false imputation. Regarded on merely natural lines, association with the prisoner would have involved such associates in the suspicion and prejudice. Doubt of the Lord's servant was very wide-spread, and even many of the Lord's people were not sure of him. But the Lord was shutting up a very vital revelation to this channel, and for such as were really in spiritual need, and such as were to stand in a living relation to a fullness of testimony from identification with Christ in death and resurrection, on to throne-union with Him in power over "Principalities, Powers," and on to the ministry "in the ages to come," there had to be a putting aside of all human, personal, and diplomatic considerations and a standing right in there with the instrument where God had put it in honorable imprisonment. For the possession of that which is to come through the vessel, there has to be a coming where the vessel is, without consideration for reputation, influence, or popularity.

In this way the Lord sifts His people and finds out who really is wholly for Himself and His testimony, and who is actuated in any measure by other considerations and interests. The instrument in this position of popular rejection is thus the Lord's means of searching out the truly needy and pure spirited. They will search it out, and it will thus meet their need.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 3 - "Shame, Reproach and Limitation ...")

Earth's Nests

"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms!"  Deuteronomy 33:27

Embracing arms suggest a father's love, or the love of a very dear and trusted friend. It is very sweet for a child to nestle thus in the arms of father and mother. 

The embrace suggests not only affection--but support, protection, shelter, and secure keeping. The strongest and gentlest human arms will some day fall away, unclasping their embrace. But the arms of God are "everlasting." Nothing can ever unbind them from us. Nothing can ever snatch us out of those arms! 

We know that when once enfolded in the love of God--we shall be kept there forever. Whatever human arms may have dropped away from their embrace, or may hereafter drop away--you know that the arms of God will always enfold you in warm, tender, strong affection!

Another precious word in this old text is the word "underneath." The arms of God are always underneath. No matter how low one sinks away in suffering, or weakness, or pain, or trial--still and always, God's everlasting arms are underneath His redeemed people!

I want you to feel . . .
  that God's love is everlasting,
  that His grace is eternal, 
  that His protection is something which never can be disturbed. 

Earth's nests are all liable to be torn to pieces, for nothing in this poor world is stable and sure. Even the giant mountain peaks shall molder away. But the love of God remains forever the same. "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on you."

(J.R. Miller, "Intimate Letters on Personal Problems")