A GREAT MOUNTAIN

By Bible Names of God


Dani 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

What a theme! What a picture of our Lord in a few words! "A Stone" appears, "cut out of the mountain without hands" which smites the image and the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold become "like the chaff of the summer-threshing floor" and in their place rises "A Great Mountain". Kingdoms rise and fall. Nations perish. From the manger of Bethlehem comes a Child, with a sword in His hand (Mt 10:34), Who will yet conquer all His enemies and sit upon the throne of His father David and rule and reign forever.

Oh, Thou Great and Mighty One, we bow to Thee; we worship Thee; we cry to Thee to come quickly. Amen.

The sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 2 Kings 15:9,18,24,28

  
Our Daily Homily

      The sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 2 Kings 15:9,18,24,28
    
      THIS chapter anticipates the final overthrow of the kingdom of the tribes. It describes the corruption and disorganization of the people which made them the easy prey of Assyria. One puppet king after another was set upon the throne to fall after a brief space of rule, and four times over it is said that they followed in the steps of Jeroboam, "who made Israel to sin." The seed sown two hundred years before had at last come to maturity, issuing in the ruin of the nation. 'What a comment on the inspired words, "Sin, when it is finished, bridgeth forth death."
    
      Twelve times in the story of the kingdom of Israel we are told that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, made Israel to sin. The institution of the calves on his part seemed to be a piece of political wisdom, but it was an infraction of the Divine law; and what is morally wrong can never be politically right. The house cannot stand unless the foundation can bear the test of the Divine plummet. The kingdom of Israel fell, to prove to all after time that the disregard of God's law is a foundation of sand, which can never resist the test of time.
    
      Why is Jeroboam so frequently called "the son of Nebat"? Why should the father be for ever pilloried with the son, except that he was in some way responsible for, and implicated in, his sins? There was a time when perhaps Nebat might have restrained the growing boy, or led him to the true worship of God; or perhaps his parental influence and example were deadly in their effect. How important that parents should leave no stone unturned to promote the godliness of their children, bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

The Consciousness Of The Call

By Oswald Chambers


'For necessity is laid upon me: yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!'
1 Corinthians 9:16

We are apt to forget the mystical, supernatural touch of God. If you can tell where you got the call of God and all about it, I question whether you have ever had a call. The call of God does not come like that, it is much more supernatural. The realization of it in a man's life may come with a sudden thunder-clap or with a gradual dawning, but in whatever way it comes, it comes with the undercurrent of the supernatural, something that cannot be put into words, it is always accompanied with a glow. At any moment there may break the sudden consciousness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life - "I have chosen you." The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. It is not because you are sanctified that you are therefore called to preach the gospel; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a necessity laid upon him.

If you have been obliterating the great super natural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances and see where God has not been first, but your ideas of service, or your temperamental abilities. Paul said - "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" He had realized the call of God, and there was no competitor for his strength.

If a man or woman is called of God, it does not matter how untoward circumstances are, every force that has been at work will tell for God's purpose in the end. If you agree with God's purpose He will bring not only your conscious life, but all the deeper regions of your life which you cannot get at, into harmony.

The Midnight Cry

By Andrew Miller


The long-suffering and patient grace of the Lord Jesus shine very sweetly to faith in the parable of the ten virgins, which represents the great body of professing Christians, true and false, wise and foolish. The heart loves to dwell on Him who lingers in His compassion for those who are still outside; who have the lamp of profession, but no oil to sustain the light. He is unwilling to shut the door. Wide open it stands, both night and day, speaking after the manner of men. Seven times the blood of the cross is sprinkled on the throne, and seven times before it. God's claims are fairly and fully met; the throne and the way up to it are reconciled; and whosoever will may now enter in through faith in that precious blood. All who come are pardoned and "accepted in the beloved." . . . "Him that cometh to me," says the blessed Lord, "I will in nowise cast out." Thus the way is open to faith, and thus it remains, during the period of the Lord's long-suffering. "And account," says Peter, "that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation." He lingers on the throne, He keeps the door open, for the salvation of souls. Precious thought! He waits for the salvation of lost sinners. May we share in His sympathies, and seek to win souls for Him. Ephesians 1: 6; John 6: 37; 2 Peter 3: 15.

But not only is the door open, and the Lord waiting in grace to receive and pardon all who come to Him, His love is active and unwearied - it goes out to seek as well as to save the lost. The midnight cry, so full of solemn warning to the utterly careless and mere professor, is full of comfort to those who are looking and longing for His coming. To the latter it will be a morning of cloudless joy, the dawn of eternal day: to the former it will be the beginning of endless sorrow, confusion, and eternal night.

But why not listen to the cry now? It is full of the purest mercy and affectionate warning, It as good as says, "Why will ye die?" . . . . . . "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Once more hear and weigh these words, of priceless value, because they seek to awaken the careless from their fatal slumbers, and the wise virgins from their unwatchfulness. "And at midnight there was a cry made. Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." 

Who can mistake the meaning of these words? The midnight, we are assured, is past, the morning must be near; hope springs up in the heart; like the chilly night traveller, who hails with transports of delight the first appearance of the morning star. There, unbelief would be folly, or worse. Who would think of denying that the morning must be near when the midnight is past? And thus it is now to faith and hope, "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Already the church, as awakened by the Spirit, has heard His voice, and responded to His expecting love. "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Revelation 22: 16, 17.

But we dwell not at present on the beautiful attitude of the church as here presented; our thoughts turn for a moment to the foolish virgins and the utterly careless.

It is not always ugly!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate!" Revelation 2:6

So I must live, with equal aloofness from every wicked and dubious way — with equal abhorrence of all which my divinely enlightened conscience may not approve. Christ expects me to hate the works of the Nicolaitans!

If I am to escape the seductions of sin — I require such intolerance and hatred.
There is great enticement in sin's gaieties, fascinations, and charms!
It beguiles!
It entraps!
It enthralls! 
It is not always ugly — often it has a mesmerizing enchantment. My one safety is have an unflinching opposition to that which is both so fair and so foul at the same time. If I dull the keen edge of my hostility to sin — the plausible and insinuating foe will quickly have me at his mercy!

There is a type of weakness which is all for concession and clemency in the presence of evil. It parleys with sin, and it dallies in its society. It can say a great deal in sin's defense — perhaps it discerns admirable qualities in it.

But the holiness to which I am called, is more manly and soldierly. It will have no friendship with the foul adversary!

If I am to imitate Christ — I require such severities and aversions to sin. He also hates the works of the Nicolaitans. I misread Him if I think of Him as altogether meek and gentle. He sends a sword, He kindles a fire, upon the earth. Before His pure gaze, sin blushes, and droops its proud head, and withers away! He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and He will not rest until He has trodden every iniquity under His feet!

"I hate every false way!" Psalm 119:128

BOOK-WANDERINGS OF A PILGRIM By David Harsha

WANDERINGS OF A PILGRIM By David Harsha, 1856. This World a Wilderness, and the Christian a Pilgrim Commencement of the Christian's Journey- Difficulties in the Way Encouragements- Provision by the Way The Christian Pilgrim in the Valley of Baca The Christian on Pisgah's Mount The Posture of the Christian Pilgrim in Coming up from the Wilderness of this World Passage over the Jordan of Death

Above all, wait at the cross-foot!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"Wisdom's dole is given at wisdom's gates!"

Those who wish for it — must go there for it.

Resort to the 'Beautiful Gate' of the temple — if you would obtain that healing which is given by the gospel.

Search the Scriptures — if you would find eternal life.

Hasten humbly to the gate of prayer — if you would obtain God's covenant blessings.

Above all, wait at the cross-foot — for the purchased blessings of Jesus' love.

The dole is free and large, but God has His place appointed for its distribution — be often there.

Lord, I would not be absent when Your alms are being distributed, for I am as poor as poverty itself! See, I am even now waiting at the portal of Your grace. Give me, I beseech you, my daily bread from Heaven, and send me on my way rejoicing.

   ~  ~  ~  ~

The Nature of Man

By Robert S. Candlish


"Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips..." (Isa. 6:5).


Ah! It is high time for me to place myself where Isaiah was, and to prostrate myself as Isaiah did. And let it not be as if this uncleanness of my own lips and tolerance of the uncleanness of the lips of the world were a casual infirmity, an outward excrescence upon my character and life. Ah, no! It is myself; my very self! I am a man of unclean lips! The unclean lips constitute my very manhood, my very nature. They are the sign and index of what I am. It is not that I have them, hanging as an uncongenial burden around me. But I am what they express. They proceed out of my heart. They are what my inner man, my whole inner man, truly is. It is my nature that I feel to be so deeply, thoroughly, hopelessly vitiated. Not only are my lips unclean, I am myself a man of unclean lips! That is my very nature. That is myself. Myself as I see myself, when mine eyes see the King, the Lord of Hosts.

Even though he had a shipload of such rubbish!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

The more abundance of truly valuable things a man has — the more he has of true riches.

A child counts himself rich when he has a great many marbles, and toys, and rocks — for these suit his childish age and imagination.

Just so, a worldly man counts himself rich when he has a great store of gold and silver, or lands and houses.

But a child of God counts himself rich when he has . . .
  God for his Portion,
  Christ his his Redeemer, and
  the Spirit for his Guide, Sanctifier, and Comforter.
This is as much above a carnal man's estate in the world, as a carnal man's estate is above a child's toys and trifles — yes, infinitely more!

It is above all things desirable, that we adopt a correct scale to estimate things. When we make our personal audit, we shall fall into grievous error if the principles of our reckoning are not thoroughly accurate. If we reckon buttons as silver, and brass as gold — we shall dream that we are rich, when we are in poverty!

In taking stock of our own condition, let us be sure only to reckon that for riches, which is really riches to us. Wealth to the worldling is not wealth to the Christian. His currency is different, his valuables are of another sort.

Am I today poorer in money than I was ten years ago. And at the same time, am I more humble, more patient, more earnest, more loving? Then set me down as a rich man! 

Have my worldly goods largely increased during the last few years? And at the same time, am I also more proud, more carnal-minded, more lukewarm, more petulant? Then I must write myself down as a poorer man, whatever others may think of my estate.

A Christian's riches are within him! External belongings are by no means a sure gain to a man.

A horse is none the better off for all its gilded trappings. Just so, a man is in truth, none the richer for his sumptuous surroundings.

Paul was richer than King Croesus, when he was able to say, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want!" Philippians 4:11-12

Such contentment surpasses riches! Solomon, after summing up all his possessions and delights, was compelled to add, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!"

If a man should labor to be rich after the fashion of the poor African natives, and should accumulate a large store of shells and beads — yet when he came home to England he would be a beggar, even though he had a shipload of such rubbish!

Just so, he who gives his heart and soul to the accumulation of gold coins — is a beggar when he comes into the spiritual realm, where such coins are reckoned as mere forms of earth, non-current in Heaven, and of less value than the least of spiritual blessings!

O, my Lord, let me not merely talk thus, and pretend to despise earthly treasure — when all the while I am hunting after it! Grant me grace to live above these perishable things, never setting my heart upon them; nor caring whether I have them, or have them not. But give me grace to exercise all my energy in pleasing You, and in gaining those things which You hold in esteem. Give me, I beseech You, the riches of Your grace — that I may at last attain to the riches of Your glory!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

He asks for every niche and cranny of my soul!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you!" 1 Samuel 12:24

Here is a simple RULE: "Only fear the Lord." 

It gathers in my wandering thoughts and desires. It reduces the thousand schemes and interests of my life, to singleness and unity. It writes the briefest and the most hallowing inscription over all my days and nights. It brings everything to one sure touchstone.

If I reverence and worship God,
if I love Christ Who first loved me,
if I cherish and obey His Holy Word —
then nothing more is demanded of me.

Here is a principle which will conduct me infallibly and securely through the difficulties and perplexities which now environ me — to the Celestial City!

Here is a penetrating TEST also: "And serve Him in truth with all your heart." Does it not probe deep? Does it not flash a searching light into the secret crevices of my heart? My Sovereign will not be satisfied with fair professions, and lovely words, and external obediences. He comes to reign within my heart. He puts my most hidden feelings, my secret purposes and intentions — into His unerring scales! He asks for every niche and cranny of my soul! 

Here is an appropriate PLEA also: "Consider what great things He has done for you!"

There is nothing good in my daily life — but has come by His blessing and gift. There is no deliverance from danger, no sudden incoming of joy, no softening and mellowing and sanctifying through trial — which He did not devise and send. "Minutes come quick — but God's mercies are more fleet and free than they!"

And then the unmeasurable marvel of His best treasure — Christ and His wondrous salvation! The Son of God gave Himself for me! Jesus never fails me, and never forsakes me. He will perfect that which concerns me. Does not love so amazing deserve my all? Shall I not be a willing captive to a Lover so gracious, so patient, so persevering, so victorious?

Rule, and test, and plea — together they constitute the blessed life!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Fear not!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

I have many agitations and misgivings. But when heart and flesh faint and fail, my Lord has three whispers for me that banish fear and alarm.

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you!" Isaiah 43:1
My PAST brings me trouble . . .
  the sins I have committed,
  the duties I have neglected,
  the guilt I am chargeable with,
  the penalty I merit —
these make the retrospect of my days and years sad in the extreme.
I have wrecked my own life.
I have injured others.
I have sinned against God.
Sometimes I am overwhelmed by self-contempt.

But there is redemption — there is forgiveness. God concerns Himself with the locust-eaten yesterday. He forgives it through the might of Christ's Cross. He may transmute my very sins and errors and falls into means of grace — as nature can convert the battlefield that was strewn with the dead, into the greenest of pastures. He redeems me from my past!


"Fear not, for I am with you!" Isaiah 41:10
My PRESENT stirs in me great disquietude.
Apart from my Savior, I am still . . .
  as weak as water before temptation,
  an easy prey to the enemy,
  the willing servant of sin.
But then God remains with me, to preserve . . .
  my soul from death and
  my feet from falling and
  my eyes from tears.
By His providence, His Gospel, His Spirit — He sanctifies and makes me holy.

I know not which to marvel at more: His suffering for me on the cruel Tree — or His long-suffering with me always.


"Fear not, I will help you!" Isaiah 41:13
The FUTURE has its distresses.
Peering ahead, what do I see?
Many perplexities,
many trials and afflictions,
much weariness and struggle.
But my Lord will go before me.
As feeble as I am in myself, I shall be more than a conqueror over all the contingencies of the future, when the Lord helps and strengthens me.

To His thrice-repeated "Fear not!"
I reply, "I will not fear, for . . .
  You have redeemed me,
  You are with me, and
  You will help me!"

   ~  ~  ~  ~

The rich man and Lazarus

(Thomas Sherman, "Divine Breathings!")

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire!'
But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here — and you are in agony!'" Luke 16:19-25

The wicked have their Heaven here — and their Hell hereafter.

But the righteous have their Hell here — and their Heaven hereafter.

Dives had his good things in this life — and Lazarus his evil things.

Now Lazarus is comforted — and Dives is tormented!

I will not, therefore, envy the prosperity of the wicked,

                    nor be cast down at the afflictions of the righteous;

                    seeing the one is drawn in pomp to Hell —

while the other swims in tears to Heaven!

           ~  ~  ~  ~

In everything give thanks!

(Thomas Watson, "All Things for Good")

"We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

See what cause the saints have to be frequent in the work of thanksgiving! In this, Christians are defective; though they are much in supplication, yet they are little in thanksgiving. The apostle says. "In everything give thanks!" 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Why so? Because God makes everything work together for our good. We thank the physician, though he gives us a bitter medicine which makes us nauseated — because it is to make us well. We thank any man who does us a good turn; and shall we not be thankful to God — who makes everything work for good to us?

God loves a thankful Christian! Job thanked God when He took all away: "The Lord has taken away — blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:21). Many will thank God when He gives; Job thanks Him when He takes away, because he knew that God would work good out of it.

We read of saints with harps in their hands — an emblem of praise (Revelation 14:2). Yet we meet many Christians who have tears in their eyes, and complaints in their mouths! But there are few with their harps in their hands — who praise God in affliction.To be thankful in affliction — is a work peculiar to a saint.
Every bird can sing in spring — but few birds will sing in the dead of winter!
Everyone, almost, can be thankful in prosperity — but a true saint can be thankful in adversity!

Well may we, in the worst that befalls us — have a psalm of thankfulness, because God works all things for our good. Oh, be much in giving thanks to God!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

And did the Holy and the Just,
The Sovereign of the skies,
Stoop down to wretchedness and dust,
That guilty worms might rise?

Yes, the Redeemer left His throne,
His radiant throne on high,
(Surprising mercy! love unknown!)
To suffer, bleed, and die!

He took the dying traitor's place,
And suffered in his stead;
For man (O miracle of grace!)
For man the Savior bled!

Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell
In Your atoning blood!
By this are sinners snatched from Hell,
And rebels brought to God!

What glad return can I impart
For favors so divine?
O take my all, this worthless heart,
And make it wholly Thine!
   Anne Steele, 1859

           ~  ~  ~  ~

A Higher Source

By D.L. Moody


"I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him" (Ps. 91:15).


First, "I will deliver." When God called Moses to go down into Egypt to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, in all the world there wasn't a man who, humanly speaking, was less qualified than Moses. He had made the attempt once before to deliver the children of Israel, and he began by delivering one man. He failed in that, and killed an Egyptian, and had to run off into the desert, and stay there forty years. He had tried to deliver the Hebrews in his own way, he was working in his own strength and doing it in the energy of the flesh.

He had all the wisdom of the Egyptians, but that didn't help him. He had to be taken back into Horeb, and kept there forty years in the school of God, before God could trust him to deliver the children of Israel in God's way. Then God came to him and said, "I have come down to deliver," and when God worked through Moses three million were delivered as easy as I can turn my hand over. God could do it. It was no trouble when God came on the scene.

Learn the lesson. If we want to be delivered, from every inward and outward foe, we must look to a higher source than ourselves. We cannot do it in our own strength.

To Love Jesus

By E.M. Bounds


To love Jesus is to long to be with Him. To love Jesus is to think about Him. To love Jesus is to obey Him, to obey Him readily and implicitly, not feebly and reluctantly. The certainty of heaven is assured when we keep Jesus in the center of our hearts, in the center of our lives. He is to be the author of impulse and desire, of effort and action. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Will you get to heaven? What is Jesus to you? Does He charm you? Does He draw you heavenward? Is it to be with Him that you seek heaven? Is He the fairest flower in all its garden? Is He the rarest and most precious of all its jewels? Is He sweeter than all its songs? Does He beget the longings for its blissful abodes? Does the desire to see and be with Him stir the profoundest ambition of your soul? Jesus and heaven are bound up together.

To love Him with an untold passionate devotion is heaven begun, heaven continued, and heaven ended. Paul says: "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing."

The crown is not only personal to him, but universal, only limited "unto all them that love his appearing." Here it is not simply love for Jesus personally, but love for the great fact which is to culminate in the great glory of Jesus. To "love his appearing" there is the absolute necessity for loving His Person. The loving His coming is the test of loving His Person. We love the fact because we love the Person. We are not charged to love any theory or opinion about the manner of His coming, or the time, but the fact. Let Him come when He will, how He will, and for what purpose He will. We love his coming because we love Him. "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus," and bring Thy heaven with Thee.

Unbelief

By George Mueller


What an evil it is that keeps sinners from coming to Jesus Christ? And that evil is unbelief: for by faith we come; by unbelief we keep away. Therefore it is that by which a soul is said to depart from God: because it was that which at first caused the world to go off from Him, and that also, that keeps them from His to this day. . . .

This sin may be called the white devil. . . In its mischievous doing in the soul, shows as if it were an angel of light: yea, it acts like a counselor of heaven. . . .

1. It is that sin, above all others, that has some show of reason in its attempts. For it keeps the soul from Christ, by pretending its present unfitness and unpreparedness: as want of more sense of sin, want of more repentance, want of more humility, want of a more broken heart.

2. It is the sin that most suits with the conscience. The conscience of the coming sinner tells him, that he has nothing good! . . . that he is a very ignorant, blind and hard-hearted sinner, unworthy to be once taken notice of by Jesus Christ; and will you (says unbelief) in such a case as you re now, presume to come to Jesus Christ?

3. It is the sin that most suits with our sense of feeling. The coming sinner feels the workings of sin, of all manner of sin and wretchedness in his flesh; he also feels the wrath and judgment of God due to sin and ofttimes staggers under it. Now, says unbelief, you may see you have no grace; for that which works in you is corruption. You may also perceive that God does not love you, because the sense of His wrath abides upon you. Therefore, how can you bear the face to come to Jesus Christ?

4. It is that sin above all others that most suits the wisdom of our flesh. . . . And this wisdom unbelief falls in with.

5. It is the sin above all others, that continually is whispering in the ear the soul, with mistrusts of the faithfulness of God, in keeping promise to them that come to Jesus Christ for life. It also mistrusts about Christ's willingness to receive it, and save it. And no in can do this so artfully as unbelief.

6. It is also that sin which is always at hand to enter an objection against this or that promise, that by the Spirit of God is brought to our heart to comfort us. And if the poor coming sinner is not aware of it, it will by some exaction, slight, trick, or cavil, quickly wrest from him the promise again, and he shall have but little benefit of it.

7. It is that above all other sins, that weakens our prayers, our faith, our love, our diligence, our hope and expectations. It even takes the heart away from God in duty.

8. Lastly, this sin . . . even now, appears in the soul with so many sweet pretenses to gather safety and security, that it is, as it were, counsel sent from heaven; bidding the soul be wise, wary, considerate, well advised, and to take heed of too rash a venture upon believing. "Be sure, first, that God loves you; take hold of no promise until you are forced by God unto it; neither be sure of your salvation; doubt it still, though the testimony of the Lord has often been confirmed in you. Live not by faith, but by sense; and when you can neither see nor feel, then fear and mistrust, then doubt and question all." This is the devilish counsel of unbelief, which is so covered over with specious pretenses, that the wisest Christian can hardly shake off these reasonings. . . . (Excerpted from The White Devil by John Bunyan).

The Right Lines Of Work

By Oswald Chambers


'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.'
John 12:32

Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is a farce, there was no need for it. What the world needs is not "a little bit of love," but a surgical operation.

When you are face to face with a soul in difficulty spiritually, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the Cross. If that soul can get to God on any other line, then the Cross of Jesus Christ is unnecessary. If you can help others by your sympathy or understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You have to keep your soul rightly related to God and pour out for others on His line, not pour out on the human line and ignore God. The great note to-day is amiable religiosity.

The one thing we have to do is to exhibit Jesus Christ crucified, to lift Him up all the time. Every doctrine that is not imbedded in the Cross of Jesus will lead astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is banking on the Reality of Redemption, the people he talks to must be concerned. The thing that remains and deepens is the worker's simple relationship to Jesus Christ; his usefulness to God depends on that and that alone.

The calling of a New Testament worker is to uncover sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Saviour, consequently he cannot be poetical, he must be sternly surgical. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful discourses. We have to probe straight down as deeply as God has probed us, to be keen in sensing the Scriptures which bring the truth straight home and to apply them fearlessly.

And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel! 1 Samuel 3:10

  

Our Daily Homily




And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel! 1 Samuel 3:10

See the urgency of God! Four times He came, and stood, and called. Mark how He stands at the door to knock. At first He was content to call the lad once by name; but after three unsuccessful attempts to attract him to Himself, He uttered the name twice, with strong urgency in the appeal, Samuel! Samuel! This has been called God's double knock. There are seven or eight of these double knocks in Scripture: Simon, Simon; Saul, Saul; Abraham, Abraham.

How may we be sure of a Divine call? 
We may know God's call when it grows in intensity. If an impression comes into your soul, and you are not quite sure of its origin, pray over it; above all, act on it so far as possible, follow in the direction in which it leads and as you lift up your soul before God, it will wax or wane. If it wanes at all, abandon it. If it waxes follow it, though all hell attempt to stay you.

We may test God's call by the assistance of godly friends. The aged Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child, and gave him good advice as to the manner in which he should respond to it. Our special gifts and the drift of our circumstances will also assuredly concur in one of God's calls.

We may test God's call by its effect on us. Does it lead to self denial? Does it induce us to leave the comfortable bed and step into the cold? Does it drive us forth to minister to others? Does it make us more unseIfish, loving, tender, modest, humble! Whatever is to the humbling of our pride, and the glory of God, may be truly deemed God's call. Be quick to respond, and fearlessly deliver the message the Lord has given you.

Behold my hands--Luk. 24:39

  


George H. Morrison Devotional Sermons



Hands Beautiful
Behold my hands--Luk. 24:39

The Hand--A Symbol of the Active Life
The Bible is signally distinguished for this, that with a message from God it reaches the human heart, but not less remarkable is the attention which it directs to the human hands. In our Western speech, with its leaning toward abstraction, we speak of character and its outflow in conduct; but in the Eastern speech, which has always been pictorial, men spoke of the heart and its witness in the hands. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ....? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart." "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off." "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." And Pilate, wishing to assert his innocence in a manner which the Jews could comprehend, did not cry, "My conduct is reproachless," but in the presence of them all he washed his hands. That is the symbolism of the hand in Scripture. It is conduct incarnate, the sign of the active life. It is the organ through which is sketched, as on a screen, the thought that is singing or surging in the heart.

Behold My Hands
Now if that be true of every human hand, it will be very specially true of the hands of Christ. He is always saying to us "Behold My heart": but in the same voice He says, "Behold My hands." Could any meditation, then, be more appropriate for some quiet evening of communion on a Sabbath? Try to conceive that Christ is in your midst, that Christ on whose body and blood mystical you fed today. Try to conceive that He is standing there and saying to everyone of you, "Behold My hands." What are these hands? What do they signify? We shall run through the Gospel story that we may see.

Hands of Brotherhood
Behold His hands, then, for they are hands of brotherhood. When Jesus came into Peter's house, we read, He saw his wife's mother sick of a fever. And what did He do? He put out His hand and touched her, and she arose and ministered to them. When He was in Bethsaida they brought a blind man to Him, beseeching Him that He would heal him. And what did He do? He took the blind man by the hand, and hand in hand they left the town together. And the world will never forget that scene at Nain, when Jesus met the sad procession to the grave, and moved with compassion He put forth His hand, and touched the bier. In all these cases, and in a hundred others, what men recognized in the touch was brotherhood. Here was no cold pity, no condescension, no distance of heart from heart. Christ came alongside of suffering and sorrow, brought Himself into living and actual touch with it; and the men who were standing by, and who saw it all, said, "Behold His hands, they are the hands of brotherhood."

And always, where the Gospel is at work, it stretches out its hands in the same way. Is not this the glory of the Christian spirit that it pulsates with the sweet sense of brotherhood. The poet Crabee, talking about charity, says:

A common bounty may relieve distress,
But whom the vulgar succor they oppress.

But the Christian never lowers when he helps, for with everything he gives, he gives his hand. It is not the way of the Gospel to isolate itself, and to give cold advice and help as from a distance. It bears men's burdens, understands their need, calls the poorest, brother, and the fallen, sister. Until men feel that the hands stretched out today are the very hands that touched the bier at Nain, and they know that the hands of Christ are hands of brotherhood.

Hands of Power
Again, behold His hands, for they are hands of power. When Jesus went back the second time to Nazareth, do you remember what the villagers said about Him? What they could not fathom was how this carpenter's Son was endued with His unquestionable power. "What wisdom is this that is given Him," they said, "that even such mighty works are wrought by His hands." They had seen these hands busy at carpentering once, but now there was a power in their touch that baffled them. And then I turn to the Gospel of St. John, where our Savior Himself is speaking of His sheep; and He says, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Behold His hands, then, for they are hands of power; they are powerful to do and powerful to keep. There have never been hands on earth like those of Jesus, so mighty in action and in guardianship.

I read the other day in some book about China a remark that had been made by a young Chinese convert. He belonged to the literary class, and had studied Confucius, and the remark he made was something of this kind. He said, "The difference between Confucius and Christ is not so much a question of morality: for I find the golden rule in the sacred books of the East, and a great deal more that Jesus might have uttered; but the difference is that once I was told what to do, but left quite helpless and powerless to do it; but now with the ideal comes the power." The hand of Confucius was a cold, dead hand; it had written the maxim--it could not inspire the man. There was no power in its touch to kindle the dark heart, to animate the will, to change the life. But in contact with Jesus it was very different--that was the meaning of this Chinese student--there was healing and there was power in His touch. What is the power that has abolished slavery? What is the power that has given us a free Scotland? What is the power that has changed ten million lives, inspired the missionary, and made the social worker? The power is the power of the touch of Jesus; it is the impress and the impact of His hand. Behold His hands, then, in the advance of Christendom. Behold His hands in the change of countless lives. Behold them in the new ideals of the multitude; in the graces and perseverance of the saint. They are not only hands of brotherhood, for their very touch has been an inspiration. Behold His hands, for they are hands of power.

Hands of Tenderness
Then again, behold His hands, for they are hands of tenderness. Of all the exquisite pictures in the Gospel I think there is none more exquisite than the scene when "the mothers of Salem their children brought to Jesus." With a mother's instinct for a Man who was really good, they wished their children to be blessed by Him. And the disciples would have kept the children off: Christ was too busy with great affairs to heed an infant. They had never guessed yet that the kingdom of heaven was mirrored for Jesus in these childish eyes. Then Jesus drew the little children to Him, and blessed them; but He did more than that. It has sunk deep into the memories of the evangelists that in blessing them He laid His hand upon them. Do not spoil the act by making it sacerdotal. Do not imagine that He was communicating grace. It was an act of the sweetest and most natural tenderness, the gentle and caressing touch of love. When He laid His hand upon the infant's head, He was laying it upon the mother's heart. Do you think these mothers ever would forget it? Some of them would see that hand again. It would be pierced then, streaming with red blood, and they would say, "Look! that hand was once laid upon my child." Behold His hands, then, they are hands of power; but the mothers could tell you that they were hands of tenderness.

Is not that one of the wonders of Christ's touch--the union of power and gentleness that marks it? It is mighty to heal, mighty to raise the dead; but a bruised reed it will not break. Christ is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, so is He named in the Book of Revelation; but when John looked in heaven for the Lion, behold, in the midst of the throne a Lamb as it had been slain. Why is the Gospel so precious when the chair is empty and the grave is full? Can you tell me why in seasons of disappointment, in times of distress, anxiety, and sorrow, men find in the Bible their best and truest Comforter? It is not only because the hand of Jesus is powerful to console and to assuage; it is because when every other touch would pain, the touch of Jesus is exquisitely tender. Why are our Christian homes so full of gentle love, so different from the stern spirit of antiquity? There is only one answer, it is "Behold His hands": it is the touch of Christ which has achieved it. In the tender and happy grace of Christian womanhood--behold His hands. In the kindness and care that is shown to the dumb creatures--behold His hands. The very dogs, says Dr. Laws of Livingstonia, the very dogs here feel the benefits of Christianity. His touch is mighty, then, mighty to heal and save--there are those who vouch for that. But the hand that was laid so gently on the children has never been withdrawn from humanity.

Hands of Suffering
Once more, behold His hands, for they were once disfigured. Their beauty was torn away from them with wounds. They were pierced with nails, and fastened to the cross, in the hour when Jesus Christ was crucified. I have often thought that the scribes and Pharisees must have had a twice-distilled pleasure when the hands were nailed. They would say "Behold these hands that once wrought such mighty deeds; they will never trouble or vex us anymore. Look at them ragged and torn, pierced through and through." It was an exquisite morsel of revenge. These hands had played havoc with the priest's hypocrisies: they had plaited the scourge and used it in the Temple. Look at them now on the cross--what hands in the world so powerless--their little day of authority is dead.

But the strange thing is that it is the hands which were pierced that have been the mightiest power in human history. Not the hands laid upon the blind man's eyes, not the hands laid upon the children's heads, have been so mighty in the world's redemption as the hands that were marred and wounded on the cross. Is not that strange? There was a little maiden whose mother was very beautiful--she was very beautiful excepting her hands, and her hands were shrunken and shriveled and unsightly. For a long time, with the delicate reticence of girlhood, the little girl said nothing on the matter; but at last her curiosity overpowered her. "Mother," she said, "I love your beautiful face, and I love your beautiful eyes and brow and neck; but I cannot love your hands, they are so ugly." Then her mother told her the story of her hands. She said, "When you were an infant sleeping in your cradle, one night the cry of fire rang through the house. I rushed upstairs--the nursery was ablaze--but God led me right to the cradle and I saved you; but ever since then my hands have been like this." The little girl was silent for a moment. Then she said "O mother, I still love your face: but I love your hands now. best of all. "Behold His hands, for they were pierced for us!

Hands of Reassurance
Lastly, behold His hands for they are hands of reassurance. After Jesus was risen from the dead, the disciples gathered together and Thomas was with them. And Jesus appeared standing in their midst, and said to them "Peace be with you." We all know how Thomas had doubted Him. He had said, "except I see in His hand the print of the nails." Nothing would satisfy or convince that realist except the print of the nail upon the palm. And Jesus said to him, "Thomas, behold My hand; is not that the hand that was nailed upon the tree?"--which, when hearing and seeing, Thomas falls before Him crying "My Lord and my God." I ask you ever to remember, then, that the hand of Christ is a reassuring hand. When we are tempted to doubt if He still lives and reigns, to us as to Thomas He says, "Behold My hands." Much may be dark to us and much may be inexplicable; we may not fathom the mysteries of grace. We know not where Jesus is, nor can we behold Him; but like Thomas we can behold His hands. In a thousand deeds and in a thousand lives there is the unmistakable touch of the Redeemer. Does not that reassure us and kindle our faith again? Does it not inspire our hope and nerve our faint endeavor? It is the risen Savior saying, "Behold My hands"; it is our answering cry "My Lord and My God."

The Struggle With Unforgiveness

By Charles Stanley


Matthew 6:9-15

If you constantly struggle to forgive people who have wronged you, you may consider yourself incapable of that kind of forgiveness. Many people are convinced that forgiveness is simply a feeling that can be experienced in the face of conflict. What a poor understanding! True forgiveness is not a feeling, but an action. If you find it hard to forgive others, take an active role in the process by following these four guidelines:

1. Acknowledge and confess an unforgiving spirit. No, it is not always easy to forgive someone. We are sometimes the targets of tremendously hurtful offenses. However, we are not responsible for other people's behavior; we are responsible only for our own. God commanded us to be loving, forgiving people. If we are unforgiving, that is our problem and no one else's - we must repent of this sin and ask God to help our unforgiveness.

2. Release the other person. Make a conscious decision to release the offender in your mind. When you find yourself reliving the details of the upsetting behavior, force yourself to stop.

3. Forgive the offender forgetfully. When you keep the details fresh in your mind, you trap yourself in a cycle of pain. Choose instead to separate the individual from the painful memory.

4. Forgive with finality. True forgiveness is complete. This means that you cannot "forgive" someone and then continually bring the subject up. Forgive them and move on.





If you have been nursing a grudge against a specific person, ask God for the strength to forgive. Then, do it!

Are You Ready To Be Offered?

By Oswald Chambers


'Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.'
Philippians 2:17

Are you willing to be offered for the work of the faithful - to pour out your life blood as a libation on the sacrifice of the faith of others? Or do you say - "I am not going to be offered up just yet, I do not want God to choose my work. I want to choose the scenery of my own sacrifice; I want to have the right kind of people watching and saying, 'Well done.'

It is one thing to go on the lonely way with dignified heroism, but quite another thing if the line mapped out for you by God means being a door-mat under other people's feet. Suppose God wants to teach you to say, "I know how to be abased" - are you ready to be offered up like that? Are you ready to be not so much as a drop in a bucket - to be so hopelessly insignificant that you are never thought of again in connection with the life you served? Are you willing to spend and be spent; not seeking to be ministered unto, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work and remain saints because it is beneath their dignity.

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." Philippians 1:29

  

J. C. Philpot - Daily Portions






"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." Philippians 1:29

After the Lord, by his special work on the conscience, has called us to repentance and confession of sin, as well as to faith in Jesus; after he has called us to godly sorrow; to live according to the precepts of the gospel; and to walk in the ordinances of his Church; he then calls us to suffer for and with Christ. But we cannot "suffer according to the will of God," that is, in a gospel sense and from gospel motives, till the Lord enables us in some measure to look to him. The same Spirit, who calls the believer to walk in a path of suffering, strengthens and enables him to do so. To suffer aright, we must walk in the steps of the great Captain of our salvation, who "though a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered." The Father in this sense spared not his only-begotten Son, but led him into the path of tribulation. If the Lord of the house, then, had to travel in this dark and gloomy path of suffering, can his disciples escape? 

If the Captain of our salvation was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," must not the common soldiers, who occupy the ranks of the spiritual army, be baptized into the same sufferings, and taste in their measure of that cup which he drank to the very dregs? Thus, every child of God is called, sooner or later, to "suffer with Christ;" and he that suffers not with Christ, will not reign with him (2 Timothy 2:12). But the Lord, who sees what we are, as well as what we need, apportions out suffering to our several states and necessities. And however the suffering may differ, all have to pass through the furnace; for the Lord bringeth "the third part through the fire." All have to walk in the footsteps of a self-denying and crucified Jesus; all have painfully to feel what it is to be at times under the rod, and experience those chastisements of God, whereby they are proved to be sons, and not bastards.

A Man in the Glory

By T. Austin-Sparks

      From "The Work of the Ministry" - Volume 1.

Reading: Hebrews 2:5-12.

      This portion of the Scriptures is a condensation of all that the Bible, and especially the New Testament, is about. It is a strange thing to say, yet it is quite true, that at this late hour in the New Testament dispensation our greatest need, as the people of God, is to know what we have come into, what Christ means, and what we, as the Lord's people, are called unto.

      The Need of Assurance

      That need has several aspects. You will, I am quite sure, agree that one aspect of our need is that of assurance, of confidence, of being settled, rooted, grounded with an unwavering hope. We all have need of being so confirmed in the faith, so established, that we are not easily shaken in our minds nor moved in our confidence. That need is present with us, and that need, I think, is going to be felt more and more, as things become increasingly difficult - the need for the Lord's people in this world to be established and fully assured. There is need of strength, real strength, amongst the Lord's people, deliverance from weakness, from feebleness, so that they can go on, make progress, and really grow, for where there is uncertainty, where there is weakness, then there will be slowness of progress, then there will be real limitation in spiritual development.

      The Need of Understanding

      Further, there is the great need of understanding, especially understanding of God's ways and God's dealings with His people, to know why the Lord deals with them and with us as He does, to have the meaning of the Lord's ways and the Lord's works which are so strange and often so difficult for us to understand. These are aspects of the great need which we all feel.

      The Meaning of the Incarnation the Answer to all Our Need

      This passage of Scripture, as I have said, is a condensed statement of that which goes to the very heart of that need. It brings us to the infinite wonder and mystery of the incarnation. If we could grasp the meaning of the incarnation, God manifest in the flesh, we should have an answer to all our questions, and all our many-sided need would be met.

      Notice this twofold "not". "For NOT unto angels did he subject the world to come" (verse 5), and "verily NOT of angels doth he take hold" (verse 1:6, A.R.V. margin), "but he taketh hold of the seed of Abraham". "Not unto angels", "not of angels". The first is not angels, but man. What is man? The second, not of angels but of the seed of Abraham. Man - that is humanity; the seed of Abraham - that is covenant love, love in covenant. You look in your margin and you probably find a reference, taking you back to the Old Testament, about the seed of Abraham (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8), and you find the immediate context is 'Abraham, the friend of God' - of the seed of Abraham, the friend of God - God's covenant love. 

That is the direction in which this wonderful mystery of the incarnation lies, in the direction of man, of humanity, and in the direction of man brought into the covenant love of God.

      Here the upshot, the issue, the grand climax of this whole paragraph is - "We behold... Jesus". Oh, the music of that Name - for we are permitted in the right connection to use that name by itself. I know the modern school drops all the other titles, speaks not of Jesus Christ or the Lord Jesus, but is always talking about 'Jesus', making Him one amongst many, though perhaps somewhat better than other men; and that of course is evil. But here and there in the New Testament we have this name used by itself, and rightly so. "We behold... Jesus... crowned with glory and honour". Jesus is the name of Him who emptied Himself, of Him who became man, who took our humanity, a body like our body, a soul like our souls. He took our manhood - He, Jesus, crowned with glory and honour - to bring to glory and honour our humanity, our manhood. That is the heart of Christianity.

THE END OF THE AGE

By A.W. Tozer


Everywhere around us we are experiencing a great new wave of humanity's interest in spiritism and devil worship. I must take this as one of the signs that God's age of grace and mercy is approaching the end point. It tells us that the time may be near when God proclaims: "I have seen enough of mankind's sin and rebellion. It is time for the trumpets of judgment to sound!" 

If we are willing to add the appeals from the book of Revelation to the weight of the other Scriptures, we discover God saying to us that the earth on which we live is not self-explanatory and certainly not self-sufficient. Although the earth on which we spin is largely populated by a rebel race, it had a divine origin. Now God is about to enforce His claim upon it and judge those who are usurpers. He is saying that there is another and better world, another kingdom, that is always keeping an eye on the world we inhabit!