Sour Grapes

By G. Campbell Morgan

In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Jeremiah 31:29; 30

What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine; the soul that sinneth, it shall die.Ezekiel 18:2-4


Divine religion has no more insidious and deadly foe than misrepresentation, whether in the lives of those who profess it or in the interpretation of its sacred writings.

Nothing can be more disastrous in its effect upon men than a false doctrine; that is, a misinterpretation of what God has said to men, resulting as it must in a false conception of God and of man's relation to Him. And I am growingly convinced that amongst the most pernicious misrepresentations are those which are popular, general, superficial, based upon some isolated passage, and resulting from a conception due to superficial observation. General, popular, superficial, are words I have used of set purpose. These general impressions, resulting from a glance at things upon the surface and expressing themselves in some passage of Scripture, which seems to square with the opinion formed as the result of such superficial observation; these, after all, are far more deadly and perilous heresies than those more familiar ones of the Christian church against which we so often protest.

It is to one such misinterpretation that I desire now to direct attention, because it is so common, and because it is in many respects doing harm. I refer to the popular quotation and interpretation of that proverb which occurs in both of my texts; "... The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Let me say immediately that the statement is not true. It is constantly quoted today, glibly quoted, in the course of conversation in order to clinch an argument. It is constantly quoted in order to prove the helplessness of a man because of his relationship to his father. A man has yielded to certain courses of vice, certain habits of meanness, and either he himself or someone else will say in excuse for him, "... The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." That is to say, this man cannot help these things because he has inherited the tendency from his father.

It is constantly quoted also in regard to that most pernicious and evil doctrine that God punishes children for the sins of their fathers. Neither of these statements is true.

Let us consider, then, first the history of this proverb; "... The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"; in the second place, God's answer to the proverb as we have it here in Holy Writ. From that twofold consideration, let us finally attempt to state the resulting truths which are of importance to ourselves.

Let us first take the proverb itself. What is its place in Scripture? There is a reverent yet mischievous worship of the Bible which leads people away from its spiritual value and corrective force. Let me give you a characteristic illustration of what I mean. It is said that the Abyssinian church, having canonized all the names in the Bible that were the names of good men, proceeded to canonize Pontius Pilate because his name is in the Bible, and he became Saint Pilate." That is a very grotesque illustration of what I mean. 

Sermons have sometimes been preached upon this proverb as if it were true, because it is in the Bible. Let us see how it comes to be in the Bible. It is found twice and only twice--once in Jeremiah and once in Ezekiel. The prophecy of Jeremiah having been uttered somewhere about the time of Ezekiel's, perhaps a little earlier, I refer first to it. This particular proverb is found among those which Jeremiah uttered in the last days before the fall of Jerusalem. It was a wondrous ministry that ministry of Jeremiah, because it was a ministry foredoomed to failure. 

Others of the prophets spoke the great Word of God, always in hope that the Word might be listened to and obeyed, and that there might be some improvement in the circumstances of the people as they turned to God; but Jeremiah had to face the certainty that men would listen to him, and then laugh at him, and sin again. 

Nevertheless he had to go on proclaiming the great message. It was a ministry of failure. If we study his prophecies carefully, we discover this most interesting and wonderful fact, that in the darkest days, when Jeremiah was in the dungeon, his prophecies broke out into their most optimistic notes. The prophecies of hope were uttered from the dungeon. It is in the midst of these prophecies of hope that this particular proverb is to be found.

 At the close of chapter thirty-one, the great message of hope is singing itself out; through all the darkness the prophet was looking toward the light, from the midst of adversity he was gazing upon a restoration. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel.... Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.... Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will build the city...." These are the opening words of three strophes. He was looking on to wonderful days that are yet to be. But, remember, he was in the dungeon, he was in the prison, he was in the midst of the most dark and evil hours of the history of Judah. 

"Behold, the days come.... Behold, the days come.... Behold, the days come.... In those days ye shall no more say, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every soul that eateth the sour grapes,... it shall die." 

He was looking to the days of restoration when men shall return to true conceptions of God, and he declared that in those days false proverbs shall cease.

I turn to Ezekiel, and there I find the text again. Ezekiel received his great call to prophetic ministry six years before the fall of Jerusalem, but never exercised his ministry in Jerusalem. Away yonder in Babylonia on the banks of the River Chebar, in the midst of the influence of Babylonish things where he saw those mystic representations of God, the revolving wheels, the burning electron, there this wonderful prophet of hope exercised his ministry. While he was doing so, there visited him certain elders from Jerusalem who came to talk with him about the situation. 

The prophet received the elders of Israel, and among other things, he said to them, "Why do you use this proverb in Jerusalem? The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. What do you mean by it?" All chapter eighteen is in refutation of that proverb.

When the proverb was born I cannot say, but here it came into use. This is its first appearance in biblical history, and its last; but it has persisted in the speech of men until now. The days in which we first find the proverb were days of national ruin, days of national disaster, of spiritual deadness and moral turpitude. There is an acidity about it that bites. It is striking and suggestive. I can hardly recite it without feeling my teeth are on edge; "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." 

I go back to the day of Isaiah, the great prophet of the theocracy, and I hear him singing a song of a vineyard, and the owner of the vineyard says he has planted a very pleasant vineyard with a very fruitful vine. "... he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and behold it brought forth wild grapes." I wonder if someone took hold of that thought of the vineyard, and said, "Yes, and the fathers have eaten the wild grapes that are green and acrid. The fathers in the days of Isaiah not only produced wild grapes; they ate them; and as a result, the children are suffering, their teeth are set on edge." 

The men of Israel, whoever formed the proverb, were using it in that sense of excuse for their sin of reflection upon God. It was the utterance of a word of despair, "We cannot help it. Jerusalem is going to pieces. Zedekiah is playing the fool; punishment is falling upon us. We cannot help it.... The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge."

The proverb is used today in exactly the same way. That use of the proverb persists in the most remarkable way through the millenniums, and we hear it still. Sometimes it is used with more flippancy than in the case of these men; sometimes with the same despair. Many a man will look into the face of the Christian worker and say, "Look at me. See what I am. I cannot help it. My father has eaten sour grapes, and my teeth are set on edge." Another man will say, "What does God mean by this? I am suffering for my father's sins." It is important that we should consider God's answer to the proverb. 

John the Forerunner

 
George H. Morrison - Devotional Sermons

      John the Forerunner
     
     
 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight--Luk 3:3-4
     
      Forerunners Precede Great Events or Persons
     
      It is one of the ways of God in the ordering of history to grant forerunners of great events or persons. The widespread superstition that such things as meteors or earthquakes are the heralds of mighty happenings in history, is nothing but a mistaken application of heaven's great principle of forerunning, in the stormy gusts and the sweeping rains of March we have the forerunners of the beauty of the summer, in illness and sorrow and the open grave we have often the forerunners of changed and useful lives. Before the full sunshine of the Reformation there was the dawn in Wycliffe and his "poor preachers." And the earthquake and the bursting of gates at midnight, was the preparation for the Philippian jailer's joy. So John was the great forerunner of Jesus. It was he who roused the people from their lethargy. He touched the national conscience by his preaching. He made men eager, expectant, and open-eyed. In the far-reaching words of his great namesake he was sent "to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe" (Joh 1:7). What then was the character of John? What features impress us in these verses from Luke? That is what we must endeavor to find out.
     
      John Stood Alone and Yet Undaunted
     
      First, then, we note that John stood alone, and yet he was undaunted. We know that it is easier to be brave when we have brave friends on our right hand and our left. It is a great assistance to a soldier's heart to be one of a regiment of gallant fellows. A little boy will not mind the darkness much, so long as he knows that someone is beside him: it is when he wakens, and finds that he is solitary, that we hear the bitter crying in the night. Now remember that John the Baptist was alone. He lived in the desert of the Jordan Valley. He cut himself off from the haunts and homes of men; he did not mingle in glad human companies. Yet from first to last he was conspicuously brave. His courage shone like a star in the dark night. His voice never lost its trumpet-note though other voices failed to answer it. John came (we read) in the spirit of Elijah. But in this respect John was greater than Elijah. He was more than cousin, in this matter, to the Savior, whose prophet and whose forerunner he was. For Jesus trod the winepress alone; in His great hour all forsook Him and fled; yet He set His face steadfastly towards Jerusalem, and cried on Calvary, "It is finished."
     
      John Was a Dreamer and Yet He Was Most Practical
     
      Again, we observe that John was a dreamer, and yet he was most practical. When I call him a dreamer I do not use the word slightingly, I use it in its best and noblest sense. It was to be one mark of Messianic times that the old men were to dream dreams in it, and though John was far from being an old man, yet this touch of the latter day was on his heart. The word of the living God had come to him. He was preparing for a coming Savior. He woke and worked and preached and prayed, with the vision before him of the advent of Messiah. Yet read his preaching, when the people flocked to him, and tell me if anything could be more intensely practical. "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father" (Luk 3:8). "Exact no more than that which is appointed you" (Luk 3:13). "Do violence to no man, and be content with your wages" (Luk 3:14). What teaching could be more plain and practical than that? Let us learn from John, then (the greatest born of women), that the highest character embraces dream and duty. It knows the value of the present task; but it has its vision of a Christ-filled tomorrow. It does not lose itself in things to be. Nor does it despise the humble round of drudgery. It does life's common work with strenuous faithfulness, but never forgets that Jesus is at hand.
     
      John Was Very Stern and Yet He Was Most Wonderfully Humble
     
      Once more, we mark that John was very stern, and yet he was most wonderfully humble. We always think of John as the stern prophet. There is the mark of severity about the man. The spirit of the wild and desolate wilderness, where the dislodging of any stone might show a viper, seemed to have cast its tincture on his heart. Now we do not associate sternness with humility, it is the sister of pride more often than of lowliness. And the great glory of John's character is this, that with all his severity he was so humble. Men had been deeply stirred by the Baptist's message. They began to question if he might not be Messiah. Was it not just such a leader that they needed if the kingdom of Israel was to be restored? So all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not (see Luk 3:15). it was then that the grandeur of John's character shone forth. "He confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ." "He must increase, but I must decrease." "I am not worthy to unloose His shoe-latchet." Stern in the presence of evil and of vice, stern in the presence of Herod and his court, John was as humble as a little child before the feel of Him who was to come. Other prophets have been as stern as John. Other saints have been as true and lowly. But it is the union of his matchless heroism with lowliness and joyous self-effacement that makes John the greatest born of woman.
     
      John Had Imperfect Views of Christ and Yet He Glorified Him.
     
      Then, lastly, we see that John had imperfect views of Christ, and yet he glorified Him. What kind of Messiah, think you, did John expect? Read over the verses again and you will see. it was a Messiah whose fan was in His hand, and who would burn the chaff with fire unquenchable (Luk 3:17). Now when Christ came, He did indeed come to winnow. What John foresaw was true, and terribly true. But it was also true that He would not strive nor cry; that He was gentle, and loved the gatherings of men; that a bruised reed He would not break, and smoking flax He would not quench. All that had been but dimly seen by John. It was that which vexed him as he lay in prison. The Baptist had imperfect views of Christ--and yet how nobly did he glorify Him! So you and I may have imperfect views of God--for clouds and darkness are around His throne--yet if we be brave and earnest as our hero was, knowing God's infinite worth and our unworthiness, we too shall glorify Him, and enjoy Him forever.

Responsibility For What We Have (Luke 16:29,31)

T. Austin-Sparks 

 Responsibility For What We Have (Luke 16:29,31)

"They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.... If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead" (Luke 16:29,31).

That is a strange parable, or illustration, that our Lord gave about the rich man and the poor man and their places and conditions after having passed from this life! How much speculative teaching has been read into or made out of it! And yet, in truth, the Lord was not propounding a doctrine of life after death. Anything in that connection was quite incidental.

What He was really touching, as the context shows, is the matter of responsibility. Whenever He came into touch with the existing traditional religious system this was the issue which He deliberately raised and pressed. If the after-this-life factor does have a place in the above story - and it certainly does - it is this factor of responsibility which dominates the situation.

The rich man represents those who:

1. have had every facility and possibility of obtaining a wealth of the things of God:

2. have accumulated all that information, or a great deal of it:

3. have, by reason of it, come to a place of spiritual complacency, smugness, and contentment, or even pride and superiority:

4. have not grown spiritually although so well provided for:

5. have failed to realize that every bit of spiritual provision is a trust; it must not stay with them, but must enrich the needy always at the gate, as represented by the beggar - the sufferer, the suppliant, the hungry.

There is no need to spend many words in order to try to make the Lord's meaning clear. It just amounts to this:

A. Have we available to us those Divine resources, those riches of Christ, those ministries - personal or printed - which are intended by God to make us spiritually wealthy and of Christly stature?

B. If so, are they just THINGS to us, 'teachings', subjects, themes, 'lines of truth', Christian tradition, interesting and informative treatises, etc? How much are we REALLY 'growing thereby'?

C. What is the interest value to the Lord Who gave them? Do they stop at us, or is 'our profiting' the gain of others? Not the passing on of truth as such, but the value of our life with the Lord.

The Lord has been strong, almost severe in His warning that a very big responsibility lies at the door of everyone who is in touch with His Divine resources, and that what has issued from them will find us out in eternity.

From "A Witness and A Testimony" July-August 1971.

Abundance of Grace

By James Smith

"Abundant grace." 2 Corinthians 4:15

"The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly." 1 Timothy 1:14

Grace IN God is the loving tendency of his nature to pity the miserable, pardon the guilty, and bless the unworthy. It is the graciousness of God. Now our God is the God of grace--the God of all grace. He is naturally inclined to sympathize with the suffering, and to confer blessings on the unworthy. The grace of God lies at the foundation of salvation, and is the hidden spring from which flows every good and perfect gift. If God were not gracious--then man could have no hope; we would never have heard of a Savior, or found a way of escape from the wrath to come.

Grace FROM God comprises every good thing that is bestowed on sinners, whether temporal or spiritual; but it particularly more refers to those spiritual blessings with which he has blessed us in Christ, and which he freely bestows on the most unworthy through Christ. Grace never looks for any payment from its object--but gives, simply because it will give, for its own honor and glory.

God has grace to confer on sinners--grace provided and laid up, on purpose to give to those who cannot merit, who do not deserve:

grace which just meets man's condition;
grace which supplies all his needs;
grace to make him alive from the dead;
grace to pardon him as guilty;
grace to cleanse him as polluted;
grace to supply him as needy;
grace to elevate him as depraved;
grace to protect him as defenseless;
grace to crown him with everlasting glory!

In a word, grace to work in him, grace to work by him, grace to confer on him, and grace to glorify him.

The grace which God has provided--he has revealed. The gospel is called "the glad tidings of the grace of God." It tells us there is grace in God, and grace in God for sinners--sinners of every class, climate, or color--grace for sinners as sinners, nothing but sinners, in whom there is no good thing, and by whom no good thing has ever been done. 

The gospel presents grace to sinners, and invites them to receive it; the very grace that suits their case, and meets their condition. The grace that the gospel presents, includes all the good things that a sinner can need--or God can consistently give; and it presents all as free, without money and without price. The grace of the gospel is to be received and enjoyed; received by whoever will, and enjoyed by all that receive it.

And to encourage us, the Apostle assures us there is "abundance of grace." Many have received--but there is an abundance still. However much you need--there is an abundance to supply your need. It is not the abundance of some large vessel, it is the abundance of the ocean! It is not the abundance of some artificial light--but the abundance of the sun! There is enough for every one, there is enough for all.

This abundant grace will pardon any sin, and all sin. It will save any sinner, or all sinners; for sinners do not perish because grace cannot save them; but, as Jesus said to the Jews, "You will not come unto me, that you might have life." So may we say to sinners who perish under the sound of the gospel, "You would not come for grace which God had promised, nor receive the grace which is in the gospel he presented to you."

Nor is it because grace would not be given, for it would. As Jesus said to the carnal selfish Jews, "Labor not for the food which perishes--but for that food which endures unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto you." Nothing can be plainer than this. Jesus was willing to give unto them--but they were unwilling to receive. Jesus was authorised by the Father to give unto them--but they would not receive it from His hands.

Just in the same manner he expresses his willingness to give, when man is willing to receive, in His words to the woman of Samaria, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says unto you, Give me to drink, you would have asked, and he would have given you living water." So now Jesus, who is full of grace and truth, is both ready and willing to give grace to any and every sinner who is willing to receive grace from Him, and, as He exhorted the Jews to believe on Him, so that they might have everlasting life, so He exhorts sinners now, and says "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

They which receive abundance of grace

By A.B. Simpson


God's people sometimes fight tremendous battles to attain to righteousness in trying circumstances. Perhaps they feel guilt because temptation has been allowed to overcome them or, at least, to turn them aside from their singleness of purpose toward God. 

The resulting conflict is a terrible one as they seek to adjust and be right with God. They find themselves baffled by spiritual foes, and they are helpless and perplexed. How dark and dreary the struggle! 

At such times how helpless and ineffectual we seem to be! We are almost sure to strive in the spirit of the law; such striving will always result in condemnation and failure. Every disobedience is met by a blow of wrath and discouragement, and we are close to despair.

 If the tempted and struggling one could only understand, or remember what perhaps he has learned before, that Christ is our righteousness, and that it is not by law but by grace alone that we conquer. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14). That is the secret of the battle.

RETURN, O wanderer, to thy home

By A Collection of Hymns


C.M.
1 RETURN, O wanderer, to thy home!
Thy Father calls for thee;
No longer now an exile roam
In guilt and misery.

2 Return, O wanderer, to thy home!
'Tis Jesus calls for thee;
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come;"
O now for refuge flee!

3 Return, O wanderer, to thy home
'Tis madness to delay;
There are no pardons in the tomb,
And brief is mercy's day!

PRAYER OF A SERVANT

By A.W. Tozer


Lord, I have heard Thy voice and was afraid. Thou hast called me to an awesome task in a grave and perilous hour. Thou art about to shake all nations and the earth and also heaven, that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Lord my Lord, Thou hast stooped to honor me to be Thy servant. No man taketh this honor upon himself save he that is called of God as was Aaron. 

Thou hast ordained me Thy messenger to them that are stubborn of heart and hard of hearing. They have rejected Thee, the Master and it is n6t to be expected that they will receive me, the servant. My God, I shall not waste time deploring my weaknesses nor my unfittedness for the work. 

The responsibility is not mine but Thine. Thou hast said, "I know thee; I ordained thee; I sanctified thee." Who am I to argue with Thee or to call into question Thy sovereign choice? The decision is not mine but Thine. So be it, Lord; Thy will, not mine be done.

A NAIL FASTENED IN A SURE PLACE

By Bible Names of God


Isai 22:23 And I will fasten him [as] a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

What a strange declaration is this! How wonderful are the ways and the methods used by the Holy Spirit to make Christ REAL to us! A nail is something, of iron or steel, which can be driven into a wall, and can be used to fasten things together. What does the Book say Christ did with our sins? That He "blotted out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, NAILING it to His Cross!" (Col 2:14). Our sins were fastened "in a sure place" for they were nailed -WITH- Him to the Cross, and thus the sin question is settled forever [In-Christ]. Hallelujah!

Our wonderful Saviour, we can never cease to praise Thee for the prints of the nails in Thy hands. Amen.

THE HUMBLE PLACE

By A.W. Tozer
I have met two classes of Christians; the proud who imagine they are humble, and the humble who are afraid they are proud! There should be another class: the self-forgetful men and women who leave the whole thing in the hands of Christ and refuse to waste any time trying to make themselves good. They will reach the goal far ahead of the rest. 

The truly humble person does not expect to find virtue in himself, and when he finds none he is not disappointed. He knows that any good deed he may do is the result of God's working within him. 

When this belief becomes so much a part of any man or woman that it operates as a kind of unconscious reflex, he or she is released from the burden of trying to live up to the opinion they hold of themselves. They can relax and count upon the Holy Spirit to fulfill the moral law within them. 

Let us never forget that the promises of God are made to the humble: the proud man by his pride forfeits every blessing promised to the lowly heart, and from the hand of God he need expect only justice!

The Initiative Against Drudgery

By Oswald Chambers


'Arise, shine.'
Isaiah 60:1

We have to take the first step as though there were no God. It is no use to wait for God to help us, He will not; but immediately we arise we find He is there. Whenever God inspires, the initiative is a moral one. We must do the thing and not lie like a log. If we will arise and shine, drudgery becomes divinely transfigured.

Drudgery is one of the finest touchstones of character there is. Drudgery is work that is very far removed from anything to do with the ideal - the utterly mean grubby things; and when we come in contact with them we know instantly whether or not we are spiritually real. 

Read John 13. We see there the Incarnate God doing the most desperate piece of drudgery, washing fishermen's feet, and He says - "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet." 

It requires the inspiration of God to go through drudgery with the light of God upon it. Some people do a certain thing and the way in which they do it hallows that thing for ever afterwards. It may be the most commonplace thing, but after we have seen them do it, it becomes different. 

When the Lord does a thing through us, He always transfigures it. Our Lord took on Him our human flesh and transfigured it, and it has become for every saint the temple of the Holy Ghost.

MY FIRST BORN

By Bible Names of God


Psal 89:27 Also I will make him [my] firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

Israel is called "a first born son" in Ex 4:22, and in Jer 31:9 we read, "I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born", but Jesus Christ the Righteous is the "Only Begotten of the Father", --- the only true "First Born", higher than the kings of the earth, the First and the Last. How marvelous is the thought of such an One we are a part, --- by Faith! Through the eternal years we will be one -WITH- Him and will share in His glory, the glory as of the "Only Begotten of the Father"!

Dear Lord, help us to live in the consciousness of all it means for us to be a part and partner -WITH- Thee, the First Born! Amen.

Stumble Causers

By A.W. Tozer


When we are first converted, especially if we come from a non-Christian background, we are likely to be almost too naive for our own good. 

The wondrous experience through which we have just passed, or perhaps I should say into which we have entered, has predisposed us to believe in everybody. Our trust in other Christians is likely to be boundless. That there could be hypocrites, double-minded professors, religious pretenders, carnal camp followers, never once enters our minds. 

The result is that our first encounter with a worldly church member comes as a frightful shock to our sensitive minds. Some never recover from this shattering of their confidence. They become religious cripples. Their growth is stunted and their usefulness destroyed, or at the least greatly hindered from that moment on.

That I speak truly here may be proved by everyday experience; but there is a more sure word of Scripture: "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin [shall offend any one of these, KJV] it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" (Matthew 18:6).

When we learn that the word offend actually means cause to stumble or to sin, we know how serious the whole thing is. Better to die than to imperil the faith of a weak disciple. Christ's words may mean more than that, but they can hardly mean less.

False Religion and its Doom

Light and Truth: The Old Testament: Chapter 70 -


By Horatius Bonar
"I will scatter your bones round about your altars." -- Ezekiel 6:5

IT is of Israel's idolatries that the prophet is speaking; her false gods, her idol-altars, her lying prophets and priests. Jehovah abhorred them, for he is a jealous God, and with him there is but one religion, one creed, one Bible, one God. Men may speak of their right to believe as they please, and worship as they think fit. But God claims the right of deciding for us in these things. We are not under man in these, but we are under God. He will not tolerate falsehood, or error, or unbelief, or superstition, or anything inconsistent with His revelation. Every false religion He will destroy, every false religionist He will condemn. 

The true and the false religion are in His eyes as far asunder as east and west, as unlike as night and day. There can be no compromise, no fellowship of light with darkness, of Christ with Belial, of the believer with the infidel. God is not a man that he should lie, or that he should overlook the lies of others. If he is the true God, let us follow him, let us worship him in spirit and in truth. Man says that he wants sincerity and earnestness; but what God asks is truth, THE truth, the one truth, the one religion which he has revealed. Mark these three things, (1.) false religion; (2.) its uselessness; (3.) its. hatefulness; (4.) its doom.


I. False religion. There is such a thing as false religion. It may be earnest and zealous, yet false. No amount of sincerity or zeal will make that true which is in itself false. False religion is the worship of a false God, or the false worship of the true God. In general both are mixed, though in different proportions. To worship Baal or Molech would be to worship a false God. But have we not, unconsciously, perhaps, many Baals and Molechs, which we worship under the name of Jehovah, as the statue of Jupiter at Rome is adored as that of Peter. 

We worship a false god when we do not worship the very God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and we worship the true God untruly when we give him only half a heart, half a soul, when we go to Him with the doubt, and the gloom, and the unbelief that belong to Baal. Go to Baal with your uncertain and doubtsome worship, go not to the living God, and think not that the utterance of some true words or the expression of a little sentimental devotion is the true worship of the true God.


II. Its uselessness. It profits nothing and nobody, either here or hereafter. It is not acceptable to God. It will not be counted a substitute for the true. It does not satisfy the conscience. It does not make the man happy. It does not fill the heart. It does not heal diseases nor remove burdens. It does not give a man a good hope toward God, or brighten his prospects for eternity. It is irksome and unprofitable, only cheating the poor worshipper into the belief that he has felt or performed something good and worthy. It will not stand the fire. It is but wood, and hay, and stubble. The judgment will sweep it all away. It does neither for time nor eternity, neither for earth nor heaven. It is so unreal.


III. Its hatefulness. God abhors it. It has not one feature that is pleasing to Him. It is outward, it is untrue, it is against His revelation, it is dishonouring, it is self-exalting. Therefore God abhors it. He wants the heart, it has not that. He wants love, trust, peace, joy, child-like confidence, reverence; it has none of these. It is deficient in every essential element that God expects in worship. 

Against false worship His prophets were commanded to speak. It was as smoke in His nostrils,-- abominable in His eyes. It is hateful in itself, it makes the worshipper hateful, it is pure mockery. It is rottenness and death; a skeleton, not a thing of flesh and blood, a mouthful of words, a handful of dust and ashes. Surely it is hateful to Him who is true, who desireth truth in the inward parts.


IV. Its doom. The worship shall be destroyed and the worshipper covered with shame and everlasting contempt. The scattering of the bones of the worshippers round the altars (2 Kings 23:16), like that of mingling their blood with their sacrifices, was the indication of utter contempt as well as condemnation. It was vengeance extending even to the dust, (1.) Certain condemnation, for God is to do it, and he will not lie. (2.) Utter condemnation, for here is God's hand interposing to judge completely. (3.) Visible condemnation. Before men's eyes, in a visible and striking form, so that there may be no mistake, not in a corner but in open day before all. (4.) Expressive condemnation, such as will mark the sin; not at random, nor general, each man's sin shall bear its own peculiar brand of punishment. (5.) Contemptuous condemnation, mingling the worshipper and his worship in one common ruin. Both shall perish,--perish together, perish in the same doom; God shall laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear cometh. (6.) Everlasting condemnation. Their altars shall never rise again. They and their false religion shall perish forever. No falsehoods in hell. No hollow religion amid the everlasting burnings.

See that your religion is true,--your worship real. Beware of hollowness, falsehood, externalism,--of everything that will not stand the fan of the great Husbandman when He comes in his glory for sifting and for judgment.

"I have seen slaves on horseback—while princes go on foot like slaves." Ecclesiastes 10:7

Morning and Evening

by Charles Spurgeon

"I have seen slaves on horseback—while princes go on foot like slaves." Ecclesiastes 10:7

Upstarts frequently usurp the highest places, while the truly great pine in obscurity. This is a riddle in providence whose solution will one day gladden the hearts of the upright; but it is so common a fact, that none of us should murmur if it should fall to our own lot.

When our Lord was upon earth, although He is the Prince of the kings of the earth—yet He walked the footpath of weariness and service as the Servant of servants—what wonder is it if His followers, who are princes of royal blood, should also be looked down upon as inferior and contemptible people? 

The world is upside down, and therefore, the first are last—and the last are first. See how the servile sons of Satan rule in the earth! What a high horse they ride! How they lift up their horn on high! Haman is in the court, while Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the mountains, while Saul reigns in state; Elijah is complaining in the cave, while Jezebel is boasting in the palace; yet who would wish to take the places of the proud rebels? and who, on the other hand, might not envy the despised saints?

When the wheel turns—those who are lowest rise, and the highest sink. Patience, then, believer,eternity will right the wrongs of time. Let us not fall into the error of letting our passions and carnal appetites ride in triumph, while our nobler powers walk in the dust. Grace must reign as a prince, and make the members of the body instruments of righteousness. 

The Holy Spirit loves order, and He therefore sets our powers and faculties in due rank and place, giving the highest room to those spiritual faculties which link us with the great King. Let us not disturb the divine arrangement—but ask for grace that we may keep our body under subjection. We were not new created to allow our passions to rule over us—but that we, as kings, may reign in Christ Jesus over the triple kingdom of spirit, soul, and body, to the glory of God the Father!

None to Help But God

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman


"Lord, there is none beside thee to help." (2 Chron. 14:11, RV).

Remind God of His entire responsibility. "There is none beside thee to help." The odds against Asa were enormous. There was a million of men in arms against him, besides three hundred chariots. It seemed impossible to hold his own against that vast multitude. There were no allies who would come to his help; his only hope, therefore, was in God. 

It may be that your difficulties have been allowed to come to so alarming a pitch that you may be compelled to renounce all creature aid, to which in lesser trials you have had recourse, and cast yourself back on your Almighty Friend.

Put God between yourself and the foe. To Asa's faith, Jehovah seemed to stand between the might of Zerah and himself, as one who had no strength. Nor was he mistaken. We are told that the Ethiopians were destroyed before the Lord and before His host, as though celestial combatants flung themselves against the foe in Israel's behalf, and put the large host to rout, so that Israel had only to follow up and gather the spoil. Our God is Jehovah of hosts, who can summon unexpected reinforcements at any moment to aid His people. Believe that He is there between you and your difficulty, and what baffles you will flee before Him, as clouds before the gale. --F. B. Meyer

"When nothing whereon to lean remains,
When strongholds crumble to dust;

When nothing is sure but that God still reigns,
That is just the time to trust.

"'Tis better to walk by faith than sight,
In this path of yours and mine;

And the pitch-black night, when there's no outer light
Is the time for faith to shine."

Abraham believed God, and said to sight, "Stand back!" and to the laws of nature, "Hold your peace!" and to a misgiving heart, "Silence, thou lying tempter!" He believed God. --Joseph Parker

Why Peter Failed in the face of Warnings

By John Daniel Jones


"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

Peter did not fall for lack of warning. He fell because he paid no heed to the warnings given. More than once our Lord told him in set terms what would happen. But, so far as Peter was concerned, the warnings fell on absolutely deaf ears. He could not claim that the rock on which his barque struck and well-nigh foundered was a sunken and uncharted rock; he sailed straight on to it, though its bells were clashing out their warnings and telling him of danger. 

The reason for Peter's neglect of these repeated warnings was, I believe, twofold.

First of all, he had complete confidence in his own courage. He was by nature a strong and forceful personality, and he honestly believed he could stand up to any menacing peril without flinching. 

And, secondly, he was so entirely and completely devoted to Jesus that the very idea of defection and cowardice seemed wildly and absurdly impossible. Peter really meant what he said when he declared that with Jesus he was ready to go both to prison and to death. For his love for Jesus was, in very truth, the master-passion of Peter's life. 

That a man thus strong in will and so entirely devoted to Jesus as Peter was should fall so shamefully and disastrously as he did lends peculiar point and emphasis to the apostolic exhortation, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

ANSWERING GOD'S CALL

By A.W. Tozer


When will men and women realize that when God calls us out He is completely faithful to call us into something better? 

In his faith, Abraham was against idolatry and idol-making, but that was not his crusade. Because of his faith, God led him into a promised land, into possessions and into the lineage that brought forth the Messiah. 

The call of God is always to something better-keep that in mind! God calls us into the joys and reality of eternal life. He calls us into purity of life and spirit, so that we may acceptably walk with Him. 

He calls us into a life of service and usefulness that brings glory to Himself as God. He calls us into the sweetest fellowship possible on this earth - the fellowship of the family of God! 

If God takes away from us the old, wrinkled, beat-up dollar bill we clutch so desperately, it is only because He wants to exchange it for the whole federal mint, the entire treasury! He is saying, "I have in store for you all the resources of heaven. Help yourself!"

The Lord Shall Answer

By Mary Wilder Tileston


Then shall thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am.
ISAIAH 58:9

EVER quickly Thou dost hear
Thy children's feeble cry,
And dost keep them everywhere
Beneath Thy watchful eye;
And 'midst the worlds that lean on Thee
Thou hast faithful thoughts of me.
ANONYMOUS

"HE will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry." That has comforted me often, more than any promise of answer; it includes answers, and a great deal more besides; it tells us what He is towards us, and that is more than what He will do. And the "cry" is not long, connected, thoughtful prayers, a cry is just an unworded dart upwards of the heart, and at that "voice" He will be very gracious. What a smile there is in these words!
F. R. HAVERGAL

He that hath not tempted you hitherto above your strength will continue so to the end. If, for a time, He hide His face from you, yet He doth it but for a moment, to make you the more heartily to cry to Him; and surely He will hear you, not only when you are in crying, but also whilst you are in thinking how to cry. He is with you in trouble, and will indeed deliver you.
JOHN BRADFORD

Mistaking Effect for Cause

By A.W. Tozer
No matter how sincere they may be, ministers without discernment are sure to err. Their conclusions are inevitably false because their reasoning is mechanical and without inspiration. I hear their error in our pulpits and read it in our religious periodicals; and it all sounds alike: revived churches engage in foreign missions; hence let us plunge into missionary activity and spiritual refreshing is sure to follow. 

The healthy church wins souls; let us begin to win souls and we will surely be revived. The early Church enjoyed miracles, so let's begin to expect mighty signs and wonders and we will soon be like the early Church. We have neglected the 'social implications' of the gospel; let us engage in political activities and charitable endeavors and all will be well again.

Miserable counselors these, and physicians of no value. Their advice is not only poor; it is spiritually damaging.

What doctor in his right mind would tell a patient dying of tuberculosis, "Healthy men play football; go out and play ball and you will regain your health".

 Such advice given under such circumstances would reveal only that effect was being mistaken for cause; and that is exactly what is happening these days in religious circles. The effects of revival are being mistaken for the causes of revival. And this to the confusion of everyone concerned and to the effective blocking of the spiritual refreshing for which so many are praying.

THE DIVINE SUMMONS

By F.B. Meyer

"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." Genesis 12:1-2.

EXCERPT

(5) THIS CALL GIVES THE KEY TO ABRAHAM'S LIFE. -- It rang a clarion note at the very outset, which continued to vibrate through all his after history. The key to Abraham's life is the word "Separation." He was from the first to last a SEPARATED MAN. Separated from his fatherland and kinsfolk; separated from Lot; separated, as a pilgrim and stranger, from the people of the land; separated from his own methods of securing a fulfillment of the promises of God; separated from the rest of mankind by special sorrows, which brought him into closer fellowship with God than has ever been reached by man; separated to high and lofty fellowship in thoughts and plans, which God could not hide from him.

BUT IT WAS THE SEPARATION OF FAITH.

There is a form of separation known amongst men, in which the lonely soul goes apart, to secure uninterrupted leisure for devotion; spending the slow passing hours in vigil, fasting, and prayer; hoping to win salvation as the guerdon of its austerities. This is not the separation to which God called Abraham, or to which we are summoned.

Abraham's separation is not like that of those who wish to be saved; but rather that of those who are saved. Not towards the Cross, but from it. Not to merit anything, but, because the heart has seen the Vision of God, and cannot now content itself with the things that once fascinated and entranced it; so that leaving them behind, it reaches out its hands in eager longing for eternal realities, and thus is led gradually and insensibly out and away from the seen to the unseen, and from temporal to the eternal.

May such separation be ours! May we catch the Divine Call, irradiated by the Divine Promise! And as we hear of that fair land, of that glorious city, of those Divine delights which await us, may we leave and relinquish those lesser and injurious things which have held us too long, spoiling our peace, and sapping our power; and, striking our tents, obey our God's behest, though it may lead us whither we know not!


READ FULL ARTICLE HERE:

Abraham 2 - THE DIVINE SUMMONS

The Potter's Broken Vessel

By J.G. Bellet

Jeremiah 18, 19.


EXCERPT

All seems to be quiet around us at present, and even more than that, things are greatly and rapidly advancing, as far as all the accommodations of social life extend. But the moral of the scene, in the eye of faith, is more serious than ever. The apostate principles of man's heart are but ripening themselves into their most fruitful and abundant exhibition. There is something of rivalry in the different powers that are in action just at present. The secular and the religious are apart to a great extent. Each has its respective worshippers; but ere long confederacy will take the place of rivalry, I believe. The world must, even for its own ends, adopt religion for a time, that man's system may grow solid, as well as extended and brilliant, and propose itself as that which has earned a title to conform all and everything to itself.

Separation is the Christian's place and calling - church separation--separation because of heavenly citizenship and oneness with an already risen Christ. Abraham's separation was very peculiar; it was twofold. He was separated from the natural associations of Mesopotamia, "country, kindred, and father's house," and from the moral associations of Canaan, or its iniquity and its idols.

In the thought of these solemn truths, beloved, may the Lord Himself be more real and near to us! May the hope of His appearing be found lying more surely and calmly in the midst of the affections and stirrings of our hearts! All was reality with Jeremiah, to whom I have referred. The present corruption was a reality to him, for he rebuked it and bewailed it; the approaching judgment was a reality to him, for he wept at the thought of it, and deprecated it; the final glory was a reality to him, for he laid out his money upon it. He had occasional refreshments of spirit. His sleep, and the dream that accompanied it, in Jer. 31, was, as he says, "sweet unto him." It was a moment on "the holy hill" to him; for a light from the kingdom, or the glory, visited him. He had likewise revelations, and he could speak and write of them--but not only as thus refreshed and gifted in spirit; he was real and true in moral power. He testified against this "present world" unto suffering, and laid out his money, his expectations, and labours, on "the world to come."

It was this which completed his character, and all would have been poor without it. We may speak of Christ, and teach about the kingdom--one's own soul knows it well; but to witness for Him against the world, and to be rich towards God, this is to fill out and realize our character as saints. We may covet these elements of the Christian character. Some of us, if one may speak, are but half Jeremiahs. We can talk of Christ, but can we suffer for Him? We can teach about the kingdom, but can we lay out our money upon it?

All this may admonish us, beloved, but I have another word in my heart just at present also.

The parable of the potter, in Jer. 18, 19, was designed to let Israel know that, though brought into covenant, they were still within the range and reach of the divine judgments, and that such judgments would overtake them because of their sins. In John Baptist's time, Israel is found in the like character of self-confidence. If in Jeremiah's day they would say, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these;" in the Baptist's day they said, "We have Abraham to our father." But John, like Jeremiah, would again teach them that, though in covenant, judgment could reach them. In the Lord's ministry we find the same. Israel still boasted. They talked of Abraham being their father, and of God being their Father (John 8), but we know how the Lord again and again warned them of the coming judgment. All this has a lesson for our learning.

Christendom or Babylon has taken this ancient place of Israel. She trusts in security in spite of unfaithfulness. She boasts in the Lord, though her moral condition be vile. She says, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow" (Rev. 18: 7), though blood, and pride, and all abominations, stain her. But Rev. 18 is another action. Like that of the prophet in the potter's house, it teaches the unfaithful one that the doom of the broken vessels, or of the millstone cast into the sea, awaits her. This is for our learning. God never sanctions disobedience. He did not go into the garden of Eden to accredit Adam's sin, but to bring relief in the way of grace for it. So, in the gospel, He utterly condemns sin, while delivering the sinner.

Nor does He ever commit Himself to His stewards. He commits Himself to His own gifts and calling (Rom. 11: 29), but never to His stewards. They are always held responsible to Him, and disobedience works forfeiture. Christ is the only Steward that ever stood and answered for Himself in the conditional place, and in this respect, as in every other, He is the moral contradiction of man. In the temptation (Matt. 4) the devil sought to inspire the Lord with confidence in spite of disobedience. He partially cited Ps. 91, quoted the promised security, omitting the required obedience. But he was utterly defeated. The Lord in answering cited Deut. 6, and acted accordingly; for in that chapter obedience is declared to be Israel's ground of security. In this way did Jesus keep His own blessings under Psalm 91, and His Israel's blessings under Deut. 6. But all other stewards, in their several turn and season, have failed, and Babylon's boast, which we have already listened to, is a lie.

All this may now-a-days be had in our remembrance seasonably; for we live at a time when Babylon is filling herself afresh with this boast, just before her overthrow, when she is to meet the doom of the millstone. (Rev. 18: 21.) For the boast of "the eternal city," as she calls herself, only the more awfully signalizes her for the judgment of God. It is a favourite thought with her, that while other churches tremble for their safety, she is above such fears--she is God's city, and has His walls around her. This is imposing; but, when considered by the teaching of the Word, it only the more distinctly declares what she is, and witnesses her more advanced ripeness for the judgment of God. Because this boast is defiance. It is not faith in God, but disavowal of His rights and authority. It is the denial of her subjection to Him, of her stewardship or place of being answerable to Him and His judgment. This boast of being "the eternal city" so far identifies her with the Babylon that says, "I sit a queen, and am no widow," and it leaves her for the doom of the potter's vessel in the valley of the son of Hinnom, or of the millstone in the hand of the angel. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again." (See Jer. 19: 11.) J. G. B.

The people of God should wait with the girdle and the lamp, which are the beautiful standing symbols of their calling, till the Lord appears--that is, with minds girt up unto holy separation from present things, and with hearts brightened up with the desire and expectation of coming things. J. G. B.

Christian Friend, vol. 7, 1880, p. 32.

Read full article here

The Root and the Star

  
George H. Morrison - Devotional Sermons

      The Root and the Star
     
      I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star--Rev 22:16
     
      Nothing is more notable in Jesus than the union of apparent contradictories. Qualities of the most diverse characters are brought into a perfect harmony in Him. When we set out to copy any brother, we are wrested from our true development. For other lives, even at their finest, are fragmentary and incomplete. But nobody who aims at following Christ can ever be false to his true self, for the character of Christ is universal. He combines the most opposing temperaments and reconciles diversities of being.

 Everything that all are meant to be, our blessed Savior actually was. That is the truth which lies in the assertion, so often fiercely combated, that our Lord was not a man but man. Speaking evangelically, it is only the redeemed who are in Christ. Not till we are born again are we in Him as the branch is in the vine. Yet in the matter of ideal character, in all its infinite diversity, there is a mystical sense in which our Savior embraces the whole human race. 

Nobody becomes anybody else when he aims at imitating Jesus. He grows nearer to his highest self when he becomes more like his Lord. For all the partial ideals of life which give to it an infinite variety blend into a perfect unity in the perfect character of Jesus.
     
      The Union of the Diverse
     
      Now, something of that reconcilement is seen in the imagery of our text. Between a root and a star there is a world of difference, and yet Jesus tells us He is both. He takes objects from two different worlds, and in both of them He finds Himself. He selects things that seem to have no unity, and He compares Himself with both of them. He brings together in a single sentence objects that are utterly unlike, and yet He sees in each of them something that is an image of His being. 

Take these figures separately and they are rich in spiritual significance. Take them together and they are big with hope for all the diversities of character. Men who are as different from each other as a root is different from a star may find all that they seek for in the Savior.
     
      One notes, for instance, how this twofold figure combines the local and the universal. A root is embedded in a single spot; a star rains its influence on the world. If a root is to grow it needs a certain soil, for there and there alone it finds its nutriment. To that environment must come the searcher if he wants to get his hand upon the root. But in the crowded city and the lonely glen and far away on the solitudes of ocean a man may lift his eyes towards the heavens and be comforted by the shining of a star. 

The root is grounded in one place; the star sheds its light on every place. The root is fixed in a definite locality; the star is the joy of all localities. And then one thinks of Jesus, born in Bethlehem and growing up in Nazareth and yet today the light of the world. 

Go to Africa, and there you find Him. Travel to India, and He is them. Multitudes who have never been to Bethlehem have experienced the power of His name. Rooted deep in the rich soil of Palestine, the image of a root is not enough. On sinful men a million miles from Palestine He has shone as the bright and morning star.
     
      The Union of the Hidden and the Evident
     
      Another aspect of this twofold figure is the union of the hidden and the evident. A root is something concealed from observation; a star is conspicuous in its shining. There are roots which lie very near the surface, and there are others which run very deep. But one mark of every root is this, that it shuns the light and moves into the darkness. And just there, between root and star, what a world of difference there is, for a star is something that is seen. Nobody in the brightest day can see a root. It lives and moves concealed from human eyes. But in the darkest night the stars are shining in the wonder of the heavens. And does not one feel at once that it takes both, infinitely diverse though they be, to picture for us the mystery of Jesus? 

The kingdom cometh not with observation, yet Jesus could not be hid. The mighty world knew not when He came, and yet He is the light of every man. He lives in the secret of the heart and in our hidden being has His dwelling, and yet in the outward and habitual life He reveals the shining of His presence.
     
      The Unity of the Earthly and the Heavenly
     
      And then lastly in this twofold figure we have united the earthly and the heavenly. For a root is one of the children of the earth, and a star one of the glories of the sky. You find the root where common feet are treading, where lovers walk and little children play. 

You find the star beyond all human reaching in the infinite heights of heaven that are above us. And then we think of Him, whom we discover on our Emmaus roads, while He shines on us from the altitude of glory. One cannot explain these things nor understand them. 

They are mysteries beyond our fathoming. How can one be here, where the green grass is, and yet radiant in a world beyond our reach? And then we remember how these contradictions were reconciled in the consciousness of Him, who called Himself a root, and then--a star.