None of us would want to have our hearts photographed!

(J. R. Miller, "When the Song Begins" 1905)

"Having loved His own who were in the world—He loved them unto the end!" John 13:1

A friend is one who loves—and does not cease to love. Christ having loved His people—loves them unto the end.

One quality of true friendship, is trust. What could be more sacred than this comfort of feeling safe with a person, absolutely safe? That is the kind of friend Jesus is. You may always feel safe with Him. You may confess all your sins to Him. You may tell Him all your faults and yourfailures—how you denied Him the other night, how you failed to be true to Him, and all the evil thoughts of your heart; and He will be just as tender and gracious—as if you never had sinned! He loves unto the end!

None of us would want to have our hearts photographed, and the picture held up before the eyes of our neighbors! We would not want even our best friends to see a full transcript of our secret life—what goes on within us:
  the jealousies,
  the envyings,
  the bitter feelings,
  the impure thoughts,
  the meannesses,
  the selfishnesses,
  the suspicions,
  the doubts and fears!

Yet Christ sees all this unworthy inner life—He knows the worst that is in us—and loves us still! We do not need to hide our weaknesses from Him. He never withdraws His love. We may trust Him absolutely and forever!

"Having loved His own who were in the world—He loved them unto the end!" John 13:1

link

Luke 15:8-10

8Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

9And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

10Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

The King Gives Victory

By Theodore Epp

      
2 Samuel 5:1-10


      So impregnable did the Jebusites think their fortress to be that they jeered at David and his men, saying that the blind and the lame could hold it against David's army. 


"Nevertheless," we are told, "David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David" (2 Sam. 5:7). David then moved into the city and made it the headquarters for his government, and later on it became the central place of worship for God's people. Eventually Solomon's great temple was erected in Jerusalem. From this city the Lord Jesus Christ will rule in the Millennium and establish His New Jerusalem of which the Prophet Ezekiel spoke.


      There is a rich spiritual lesson for us here. Some habits of sin are so deeply entrenched in our minds and bodies that we have struggled in vain against them from the day of our new birth. We may have felt it was no use to try to overcome these habits and that we might as well give up. What we need, of course, is to let the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, lead us in the battle against this entrenched sin. We can never defeat the Enemy by ourselves. It must always be done through the strength of Christ.


      "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31)

A Famine for the Hearing of the Word by Art Katz

“The time is surely coming,” says the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11-12).

The thought strikes me that the famine is not so much for the lack of speaking as the lack of hearing.  I have had the increasing impression that God’s people do not know how to hear the word of God.  Or, unlike the Thessalonian converts from paganism, they do not believe that the word they are hearing is indeed God’s word.  Therefore, the word is received casually if not indifferently as the word of man, that is to say, without effect.  Perhaps we have been filling up on verbal “junk food” and have dulled our appetites for “real food” by the profusion of much speaking of our own that leaves us sated if not bloated, and therefore we suffer malnutrition in the midst of seeming plenty.  Certainly we lack the evidence of growth and change that the word of God shouldaccomplish, and we seem fixed in our immaturity and shallowness.

Perhaps we need to consider that the act of hearing is as much an act of grace as that of speaking itself.  Surely God’s word requires an attentiveness and retention for which the world has not schooled us.  The sobering caution, “When you hear My voice, harden not your hearts” implies that God’s word will not allow our indifference.  If there is not a hearing, then there will certainly be a hardening!  Even now, vast numbers of us are numb.  We are “hearing” but not hearing.  We are unchanged in both our life and our knowledge of God, and consequently find ourselves itching for any momentary and engaging novelty.   Man shall, after all, “live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” and if people are deprived of the word of God, their spirits will become as gaunt and desperate as the victims of any famine.  Is it not here that our deficit of faith, hope, love, patience, forbearance and all the resiliency of our spirit is to be traced?

How many of us are numbed, unresponsive, not reflecting, not internalizing, and not doing the word?  We do not retain the word, hold it, cherish it, and speak of it in the way to one another, but too quickly dismiss it in a sea of forgetfulness.  We lack a mindset that cultivates and nurtures an attitude toward the word of God as is appropriate to the great privilege that is ours to be able to hear it.  Perhaps it is too late, and we are already under judgment for a callous attitude of indifference and disregard.  If it is only the pure in heart who see God, what corresponding purity of heart is needed to hear God?  How often have we dismissed His word because it has come through an earthen vessel not of our choosing and whose accent and coloration conceals God, but does not make Him mute?

A new existence

(J. C. Ryle, "Regeneration")

"Truly, truly, I say to you—Unless a man
 is born again, he cannot see the kingdom
 of God." John 3:3

To be born again is, as it were, to enter
upon a new existence, to have . . .
  a new mind,
  a new heart,
  new views,
  new principles,
  new tastes,
  new affections,
  new likings,
  new dislikings,
  new fears,
  new joys,
  new sorrows,
  new love to things once hated,
  new hatred to things once loved,
  new thoughts . . .
    of God,
    of ourselves,
    of the world,
    of the life to come,
    of salvation.

He who has been born again, is a new man, a
new creature—for old things are passed away.
He receives an utterly new bias and direction.
All things have become new! It is the implanting
of a new principle which will surely bear good
fruit. It is . . .
  opening the eyes of the blind;
  unstopping the ears of the deaf;
  loosing the tongue of the dumb;
  giving hands and feet to the maimed and lame
—for he that is born again no longer allows his
members to be instruments and servants of
unrighteousness—but he gives them unto God,
and then only are they properly employed.

"You must be born again." John 3:7

  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ 

We have posted a couple of choice
audio sermons by J. C. Ryle:

    The Lord's Garden

    Without Clouds

link

LOT'S WIFE

By Henry Law

"But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:26

How wondrous is God's mercy to the children of His love! It is ever tender, and it never fails. By gentle constraint angels draw Lot beyond the walls of Sodom. They set him in the plain. They urge him forward--"Escape for your life--look not behind you." Genesis 19:17. Thus mercy impels him and gives counsel.

"Look not behind you." He obeys, and safely enters into Zoar. He witnesses not the descent of wrath on the doomed plain. His feelings are not racked by contemplation of the overthrow. The writhing misery is behind him. But in Zoar he looks around. He sees not his wife. He tarries, but she comes not. He searches, and what meets his eye? A pillar stands where she had halted. Her figure is transformed to salt!

Do we inquire the cause of this woe? The faithful monitor replies, "But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." Why did she hesitate? The act was grievous sin, because the precept was precise. "Look not behind you." What excited to this faltering? The reverting eye betrays the heart. Affections were yet in Sodom. The pleasures of the godless city had been, alas! too dear. Circumstances had compelled departure. But fond feelings were not yet uprooted. She casts a wistful glance to her bewitching home. She turns to the scenes which had so often charmed. She sighs over the spot of many a seducing joy. Ah! guilty look! It proved inward unsoundness. It gave evidence of reluctant flight. The separation is in person, not in will. She is but partially estranged. Sodom is left, but Zoar is not reached. There is an intervening plain, and in that plain she perishes. A few more steps of self-denial might have conveyed to safety. A few more persevering moments might have brought deliverance. But she pauses, and dies miserably.

This frightful scene thus glares for special admonition. Until the Lord comes, the record lives. While need shall be, it loudly teaches. The lips of Jesus especially enforce the lesson--"Remember Lot's wife." Luke 17:32. Let her image ever stand before you. Let her sad story be engraved on memory's tablet. View it, and learn. Ponder it, and beware. Heed it, and be wise.

But for whom is this Beacon raised? Who are in peril of sinning as she sinned, and falling as she fell? Not they, who are fast bound in chains of ignorance. Not they, whose life is unresisted sin. Not they, who are blind captives in the devil's cell. Not they, who are strangers to the stings of an upbraiding conscience. Not they, who have never trembled lest perdition should be their endless doom. Not they, who have had no glimpse of heaven's glories. Not they, who have never gazed on Jesus' beauty. Not they, who are wholly indifferent to His dying love--His cleansing blood--His all-atoning offerings--His reconciling sacrifice--His curse-removing agonies--His law-fulfilling life--His rising power--His interceding work. No. The warning is to those within whose hearts some rousing work has stirred--who have been shaken from the sleep of death--who have burst many a detaining fetter--whose conscience has been pierced--who have heard the voice, "Escape for your life--look not behind you, neither stay in all the plain--escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed." "Turn! turn! for why will you die." Ezek. 33:11. "Awake, you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light." Eph. 5:14.

The class is large who thus start for heaven. Some efforts are vigorously made. The city of destruction is left. Some rapid steps commence flight. For a brief time all seems fine. But the march is long. A dreary wilderness must be traversed. Hardness must be endured. Temptations must be trampled down. A fight must be fought. The hand must ever hold the sword. The shield of faith must never be allowed to fall. There is much danger, lest they loiter--be disheartened and look back. To such professors the warning cries, "Remember Lot's wife."

To such, for a while, all may have a hopeful look. But good beginnings secure not happy ends. The morn dawns brightly. The rising beams foreshow a beauteous day. But sudden clouds appear. The skies is dark. The sun descends mantled in gloom and storm. The vernal branches gladden the eye with countless buds. What promise of rich fruit! A night of blight follows. The blossoms fall, and leave a barren stem.

THE LORD MY LIGHT

By Octavius Winslow, 1870

"The Lord is my portion, says my soul."

"The Lord is my light."--Psalm 27:1

Without approaching the Pantheistic idea that all nature is God, the Christian can trace God and Christ in all nature; and affirm that, the religion which glows in the sunbeam, sparkles in the dew drop, breathes from the floweret, is the religion of Christ; because, material though the object be, it yet shows forth the glory of God, images some feature of Christ's person, illustrates some truth of His word, and inculcates some lesson of His gospel. Nature, more true to God than man, ever rises above and beyond itself, elevating the renewed and reflective soul from matter to mind, and from mind to spirit, until, quickened with a life from God, the soul soars to God through Christ, to find its study, happiness, and repose in His infinite fullness as that fullness is embodied and revealed in the person and work of the Lord Jesus.

"Read nature; nature is a friend to truth;
Nature is Christian; preaches to mankind,
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed."--Young

But the natural man is spiritually dark; yes, in the abstract meaning of the term, he is darkness. "The way of the wicked is as darkness." "The light which is in them is darkness." Hence, departing out of this world still in the darkness of an unrenewed state, they go from the inner to the "outer darkness," where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. My unconverted reader, ponder, oh, seriously, prayerfully ponder this dreadful condition and these appalling words! Living in this world without Christ, you live in the darkness of spiritual death; and dying without Christ, you pass to a darkness infinitely and eternally remote from every ray of light and joy--a darkness that is 'OUTER' and 'FOREVER.'

But what is true conversion? The words of inspiration shall answer. It is a "calling out of darkness into God's marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9). Have you so been called--called by the especial and effectual grace of God? Oh, it is of more infinite moment that you should know that you areconverted, born again of the Spirit, that you have become a "new creature in Christ Jesus," that you are a 'child of the light,' and are safe for eternity, than to possess the diadem of the universe! For, "what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Solemn, urgent question!

But Christ is the Christian's Light. The believer is a 'child of the light and of the day,' having passed into God's marvelous light. 'Marvelous light' it is! 'Marvelous,' because it is divine, flowing from Him who is Essential Light, the Fountain of all Light. 'Marvelous,' because it is Incarnate Light, dwelling in Christ Jesus, who is our Light. 'Marvelous,' because it is communicated to us by the Holy Spirit, by whom alone the darkness of the soul is dissipated, and Christ, the true light shines. In a word, 'marvelous,' because of the surprising grace, the free and sovereign mercy by which we who were once darkness are now light in the Lord.

Yes, O my soul, Jesus is your light. He is the Light of your salvation, the Light of your comfort, the Light of your path, the Light of your hope of glory. "In Your light we shall see light." Guided by His light you shall walk through dreary nights and cloudy days, through tempestuous seas and stormy winds of adversity, temptation, and sorrow, until He leads you home to "the inheritance of the saints in light," where "the sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end." Isaiah 60:19-20

http://www.gracegems.org/Winslows/daily_need_divinely_supplied.htm

Things That Differ

by T. Austin-Sparks


The Disaster Resulting from Confusing Divine Truth


"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet" (Acts 2:34-35).


"Jesus standing on the right hand of God..." "The Son of man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55-56).


"If Christ is in you"; "...his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:10,11).


It is a matter that should be clearly understood by all Christians that to confuse the truths of God is very often to nullify their value in the life of a believer, and worse than that, to bring about a condition which is a positive contradiction of what is fundamental to true Christianity. With great seriousness then we seek to discriminate between the different essential aspects of the truth, and the above passages represent one of the instances of immense importance. Although there are three quotations given, there are only two really separate matters signified. The first two are but two sides of one thing, but while those two and the third constitute a full Christian life, and are essential to such spiritual fullness, they are two distinctly different things which must on no account be allowed to overlap.

Christ in Heaven: (a) 'Sitting'

In the first two Christ is represented as in heaven at God's right hand, but in two postures, 'sitting' and 'standing'. There is no contradiction here. We must remember that we are in the presence of language which is figurative. In His "sitting" - "made to sit" (Ephesians 1:20): "Sit thou" (Acts 2:34) - there is the Divine attestation that His work was complete and perfect, and that as Son of Man He had won and inherited the place of absolute honour and glory. "We see Jesus... crowned with glory and honour" (Hebrews 2:9). The right hand is first the place of honour. It is of great significance that the new dispensation commencing with Pentecost begins with Christ sitting at God's right hand. All begins with a work completed! The seventh day the day of rest - becomes the first day. The colours of the rainbow end where they began. It is the law of the octave, the eighth is as the first and marks a new beginning. Our Christian life begins at the point where the work is already completed in our Representative Son of Man. There is nothing to add to it, either in need or possibility. Immediately we try to contribute something to it we in effect, for ourselves, nullify it all, and God stands back. We shall come back to that again presently.

Christ in Heaven: (b) 'Standing'

With regard to the second posture of Christ as in heaven - "standing on the right hand of God" - this is seen when the Church is in the conflict, or when things are needing to be done for her, not in the sense of her justification, but for her defence and support in adversity. Thank God, there is One in the glory standing up for us, and He will see to it that the enemy overreaches himself, as in Stephen's case. Much could be said about that, but it is not our subject just now.


We pass straight to the third position of Christ:

"Christ in You"

Any mental difficulty as to two so widely separated locations of Christ at the same time is got over by the further words "By his Spirit that dwelleth in you". Christ and the Holy Spirit are one.


Here we cross over to another phase of things entirely, and the only link between the two is that the second is the outworking of the first.


"Christ in you" is unto our being "conformed to the image of his (God's) Son" (Romans 8:29). It is to work in us that which has been perfected by Him. It is the whole realm of our being made Christ-like; having all the faculties and features of Christ, which are resident in the new life received at new birth, brought to maturity. Every spiritual and Christly virtue has to be brought to full growth; love, meekness, goodness, gentleness, intelligence, etc.; so that we are not just theoretical and doctrinaire Christians, but real ones, spiritually responsible and accountable, with the root of the matter within. This, however, necessitates much discipline; what is called 'chastening'. This discipline, which employs many forms of adversity and trial, has the effect of bringing to light what we really are in ourselves, and it is an ugly picture. Our own features do not improve as we go on. We know ever more what poor, wretched, and deplorable men we are, and - but for the grace of God - hopeless. But something is being done deep down which will show itself in due time to the glory of God.

Confusion Leads to Paralysis

But here is the point of our peril. Let no child of God whose heart is toward the Lord, who has not deliberately and wilfully and knowingly resisted the Holy Ghost, ever for a single moment confuse 'chastening' and its accompaniments of self-discovery with judgment. You do this at the peril of the joy of your salvation. If a child of God who loves the Lord and wants nothing more than to be well-pleasing unto Him should think that he is under the judgment and condemnation of God because he is finding out how evil his own heart is, that thought carries with it the suggestion that Christ did not die for our sins; that the wrath of God was not exhausted on Him and by Him when He was made sin for us. It goes back behind a completed work and Christ's sitting at God's right hand, and contradicts and denies the very bed-rock of our salvation - justification by faith. Satan is again giventhe place of power so far as such an one is concerned by such a thought. No, a thousand times No! 


Although I may discover unimagined depths of iniquity in my own heart, if I have put faith in Jesus Christ as the bearer away of my sin and myself, His perfections are placed to my account and God sees me in Him. This will never, never become to me an occasion for living complacently on the ground of what I am in myself. Without working through all the reasons for and the nature of Christian growth, with all the values in service which issue from it, let me keep on this emphasis. There are so many dear children of God who have so confused the two things mentioned as to be in an altogether negative condition.


 They are paralysed by their sense of sinfulness. They have seen the need for a subjective application of the Cross of Christ, and have recognized that when Christ died, they died in Him; but the realization that the work is not yet completed in them has resulted in their living in a world of death, and knowing little or nothing of the fact which cannot really be separated from union in death with Christ, that is, union in resurrection and exaltation.


 If such an one should read this, may I say to you that if you are unhappy, worried, depressed, or negative, uncertain, lacking in absolute assurance, and therefore limited in your usefulness to the Lord, you have entirely misunderstood and misapprehended the truth of union with Christ. You are really a contradiction to what you claim to believe. It would be better that you put back your subjective truth until you have got fully and firmly established in the glorious facts of what Christ sitting at God's right hand really means for you. Nevertheless, it is possible to be moving triumphantly and strongly in the path of a deep inward work of the Spirit, while knowing utter dependence and weakness.


Let me appeal to you again that you do not let these two things become confused. If you come upon fresh realizations of your own worthlessness, say, Yes, that belongs to the realm of God's work in me, and He will deal with that, but it makes no difference whatever to my acceptance in the Beloved so long as I do not condone my wrong, excuse it, and accept it. Remember, dear friend, that God demands the first ground, the ground of our settled faith in the finished and perfected work of Christ, in order to make any beginning inside of us. It would be fatal for Him to touch the inside had He not got that objective faith. We must be careful that we do not upset God's order and bring ourselves on to false ground. This can only result in destroyed testimony and much gratification to Satan at the Lord's expense in us.


First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jul-Aug 1965, Vol 43-4

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/001440.html