The Most Difficult Thing in the World

By T. Austin-Sparks


      READING: Heb. 4:1-13; 11:5-6.

I am going to speak for a little while on the most difficult thing in the world, that is, faith. So far as the Lord's people are concerned, it can be truly said that the whole of their life in every aspect - salvation in its first step and every subsequent step, spiritual growth, spiritual sustenance, spiritual victory, spiritual work and service, fellowship with the Lord and ultimate glory is all resolved into one thing and that one thing is faith. Faith is the key to everything in our relationship to the Lord. It is all just a question of faith - not faith as something in itself, but faith in God. That is something which has to be faced and as far as possible at any point, settled; but it is not a thing which is settled once and for all. There has to be a settlement made again and again on this point. We are really continually confronted with this question; in the presence of new situations and trials and perplexities and seeming contradictions, am I going to believe God or not, am I going to repose faith in Him or not, am I going to trust the Lord or not? That is true all the way along, and it always will be so. And sometimes those testings are very, very acute and severe. A brother wrote to me this week, one who has been greatly used of the Lord in other lands as well as in this one, who knows the Lord, and has a very real walk with the Lord, and he just put this in his letter. "It sometimes seems as though the Lord is a thousand miles away and has no interest whatever in me. It sometimes seems as though He has just cut me off". You may think that is very extreme, but some of you will not. You know quite well that such experiences are true to the life of a child of God. I was saying that this is something that has to be faced. That is the life to which we are called. The Lord has not covered it, has not veiled it, hidden it from us. We are called unto a life of faith, and we had better face it; and then we must, as far as possible, if we are going to get through, settle it, for I repeat there is no step or stage or aspect of the life of the child of God from first to last, from the beginning to the end that is not a matter of faith. Well, that is a fact, and let us be quite honest about it, and quite frank with ourselves. That is the situation. It will help to a very large extent if we have looked this thing straight in the face and not shelved it, not tried to evade it, but accepted it.

A Key to Faith

But we want to get inside of this matter of faith, and here in this letter to the Hebrews which is, as you know, from start to finish, a letter on the matter of faith, we have amongst others one very helpful clue and key to faith. It is in this fourth chapter. You may not think that it really is a matter of faith for it does not seem to lie on the face of it, but when you examine it, you find that that is the thing that it is touching - this strange, somewhat technical language - "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit". You will notice that that statement begins with a 'for', and that 'for' links you with Israel in the wilderness failing to enter into rest. It is said that they had the Gospel preached to them, but the word spoken did not profit, not being mixed or united by FAITH. It did not profit, not being united by FAITH. Then there follows, "I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest". They could not enter in because of unbelief. Then more about the rest and their failure to enter in, and then - 'FOR the word of God divides between soul and spirit'. This is the key to faith, or a key to faith. What is it? It is the conquest of the soul, and that is said to explain the whole of the wilderness failure and the subsequent not entering into the rest.

You know what soul is. I am not going to stay with soul and spirit very much. We know in this matter that the soul is the self-conscious life. By our souls we are conscious of ourselves and other people and all that world of things here. Spirit is just the God-conscious life. By our spirit we are conscious of God Who is Spirit, and all that realm. Self-conscious and God-conscious life, and because those two things were not defined, put apart and recognised in their difference, but allowed to overlap and bring about a state of confusion, they did not enter in. They failed because of unbelief. Well, what does that amount to? The self-conscious life predominated, and the God-conscious life did not predominate, was made subject and subservient. In other words, for them, everything was a matter of how self was affected by the situation and by the prospect. You find them again and again full of enthusiasm, full of zeal, full of what looked like real interest in the things of the Lord. Oh yes, they were going on, they were full of apparently real devotion to the Lord. But that was when the situation was pleasing them and when the prospect was presented so that it brought a great sense of possibilities for them, prospects for them, and their gratification. Oh, this is fine, this is good; tell us more about this wonderful land to which we are going, keep telling us about all its glorious wonders, and resources; go on, we are most interested in this, we are in for that! But it was all soul, self-conscious self-interest, self-gratification. And when there arose some situation, either present or in relation to that prospect which made it a matter of denying, sacrificing self, letting go self-interests, and having to face up to a very difficult situation which was going to be very costly to them, they were not so interested; their zeal went, and unbelief rose up; it was there and it rose up. They were not so concerned about this thing now, it was not now for them. What was it for? It was for the Lord ONLY first, and their interests were entirely eclipsed. They would only come into their inheritance when the Lord got His. The Lord first; "Seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33), and that putting first often meant a letting go of everything personal.

The Morning Breaketh

By J. Wilbur Chapman


      TEXT: "Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night."--Isaiah 21:11-12.

It is very interesting to note that, whether we study the Old Testament or the New, nights are always associated with God's mornings. In other words, he does not leave us in despair without sending to us his messengers of hope and cheer.

The Prophet Isaiah in this particular part of his prophecy seems to be almost broken-hearted because of the sin of the people. As one of the Scotch preachers has put it, he has practically sobbed himself to sleep. A great shadow has fallen upon the people of God and he is in despair because of it. They have sown to the wind and now they are reaping the whirlwind, a result which is inevitable. They are away from Zion with its temple, and are deprived of the view of those mountains which are round about Jerusalem and to this day are clad with vines and olive trees. They are in captivity and are the abject slaves of the enemies of God. Isaiah's heart is well-nigh crushed, but in the midst of the despair he has a vision of the chariots coming and hears a cry which rejoices his soul, "Babylon is fallen." It is because of these tidings that he cries out in the words of the text.

What a night they had had of it! They had been in darkness that was ever increasing, and the song of thanksgiving which used to fill their souls because of the nearness of Jehovah had entirely departed from them.

The figure of the watchman is often used in the Bible, as for example when he stands upon the city walls and is told that if he sounds the trumpet telling of the approach of the enemy and the people hear and do not take warning their blood is upon their own heads, while if he fails to sound the trumpet and the people are cut off, their blood is required at the watchman's hand. And again in the first chapter of Zechariah the eighth to the eleventh verses, "I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled and white. Then said I, O my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest." For here the man standing in the midst of the myrtle trees is him of whom the prophets did speak, while the messengers are those who bring him tidings of the progress of his kingdom. But again where David comes to the watch tower and sees the two messengers running, the second one bringing him tidings of the death of his son, and from this watch tower he staggers back again to his room crying out, "O Absalom, my son, would God I had died for thee!"

The poet usually sings of the night as a time of beauty. He sings of the moon and the stars; but in the Bible night always stands for that which is dark, foul, loathsome, sinful, cold and deadly. There are different nights mentioned in the Scripture, for the most part in the Old Testament. There was that night in Eden when sin blinded the eyes of Adam and Eve and a great darkness fell round about them. There was the night of the flood, all because the people had neglected God; and there was the night of the destroying angel passing over the cities of Egypt, all because of the indifference of those who knew not God. But even in these nights God does not leave his people without help, for in Eden we read, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head"; while in the flood behold the Ark; and in the Passover night we see the blood of the Paschal lamb sprinkled upon the lintels of the door.

A Famine to be Feared

With New Testament Eyes: 82 

By Henry Mahan


      Amos 8:11-13

The nation of Israel often disobeyed God, rebelling against his law and commandments. Yet the Lord continued to send his prophets to warn them, to instruct them, and to call them.

Though they were a stiff-necked people who 'erred in their hearts and did not know my ways,' even followed other gods, yet the Lord owned them, restrained them, and would not suffer them to be without 'a word from the Lord.'

Now in this chapter of Amos, the Lord announces judgment upon Israel, the very worst thing that can come upon them, 'I will take my word from you and there will be no message from the Lord' (Amos 8:11-13). If men are deprived of light, they wander in darkness. If men are deprived of truth, they walk in error.

Judicial blindness and no word from God is our greatest fear. It was said of Ephraim, 'Leave him alone;' and of the Pharisees, 'Leave them alone.' Nothing could be worse.

David feared this and said, 'Take not thy Holy Spirit from me' (Psa. 51:11).

Jeremiah wrote, 'The prophets also find no word from the Lord' (Lam. 2:9).

Micah said, 'There is no answer from God' (Micah 3-7).

Amos wrote, 'They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.'

These servants of God all feared for the people when the heavens were silent.

1. What are the signs of 'a famine of hearing the words of the Lord'

Religion does not cease; for religion is as much a part of man as any emotion, as revealed in John 1:11, 'He came unto his own (nation, priesthood, and tabernacle) and his own received him not.' But when there is a famine of hearing the word of the Lord: Ministers go on preaching but without the power of the Holy Spirit. The voice of a man is the only voice the people hear. The gospel is heard in 'word only' (1 Thess. 1:5); and there is no regeneration, no conviction, no revelation of Christ, and no comfort nor growth.

Assemblies gather together on the Lord's day, but the Lord is not present with them. Like Mary and Joseph, 'They travel a day's journey supposing Jesus to have been in the company' (Luke 2:44), but he was not there and they sought him sorrowing.

The word of God is read, but there is no application to the heart. The disciples said, 'Did not our hearts burn within us while he opened to us the scriptures?' Dear friends, someone said, 'We have listened to the preacher, truth by him has been shown; but we need a great teacher from the everlasting throne; application is the work of God alone!'

The ordinances (baptism and the Lord's table) are observed, but they are meaningless rituals and ceremonies without him. The formality of prayer is kept up; but if the Lord God 'has no respect to the prayer of his servants,' it is useless to pray (1 Kings 8:28).

The famine is in full drought when the scriptures become a source of controversy instead of comfort, a source of debate instead of instruction and inspiration.

When we are more concerned with proving our doctrine than proving ourselves, then our table becomes a snare and the means of salvation becomes a means of delusion (2 Thess. 2:10-12).

2. By the grace of God, how can such a famine be prevented in our area? In our day?

I urge you to look at Psalm 51--the seeking sinner's guide and the believing sinner's comfort. God heard David when he lived and prayed this Psalm, and he will hear us when we do!

A CASE OF BLUES, ELIJAH

Biblical Characters, 10 - A CASE OF BLUES, ELIJAH By Clovis G. Chappell       1 Kings 19:4 One day you were reading in the New Testament and you came to that surprising word from James: "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are." And if you were reading thoughtfully you stared at that sentence in wide-eyed amazement. And then in your heart you said, "It isn't true. Elijah's story doesn't read a bit like mine." Then you thought of how he came and put his finger in Ahab's face and made that face go white. You thought of how he carried Heaven's key in his pocket for three years and six months. You thought of his lifting the dead boy into life; of his victory on Carmel; of his quiet walk to the little station beyond the Jordan where the Heavenly Limited met him and took him home. And again you felt like saying that James was altogether mistaken. To fortify yourself more fully you reread his story. Then you came to this passage and you read it with a gasp: "And he came and sat down under a juniper tree," etc. And down by the print of your foot you saw the big footprint of the old prophet and you said, "After all, we are very much alike. After all, he got in the dumps, fretted and broke his heart with the blues, even as I." Now, what was the matter with Elijah? He was not a natural and deliberate pessimist. There are some folks that are, you know. There are some people who study to be pessimistic. They are the "self-appointed inspectors of warts and carbuncles, the self-elected supervisors of sewers and street gutters." They pride themselves on being guides to the Slough of Despond and on holding a pass key to the cave of Giant Despair. One such woman, being asked how she felt, said, "I feel good to-day. But I always feel the worst when I feel the best because I know how bad I am going to feel when I get to feeling bad again." Two buckets went to a well one day. One sobbed and said, "Oh, me! it breaks my heart to think that however full we go away from the well, we always come back empty." And its companion laughed outright and said, "Why, I was congratulating myself on the fact that however empty we come to the well, we always go away full." One morning when the world was brimming with spring, two little girls ran out into a garden where the dewdrops and the sunlight and God had wrought the miracle of a hundred full-blown roses. They looked at the lovely scene and one went back and said tearfully, "Oh, mother, the roses are blooming, but there is a thorn for every rose." The other looked and went back singing and said, "Mother, the roses are blooming and there is a rose for every thorn." No, this man was not a deliberate pessimist. Had he been his name and memory would have rotted long ago, for the men that bless us are the hopeful men, the forward-looking men. I read of a man who was put in jail during the Boer War simply because he was always prophesying disaster. He was a discourager. He refused to see anything hopeful. And a man of that kind ought to be in jail because he is as harmful as a man with the small-pox. "He who steals my purse steals trash, but he who filcheth from me" my sunny outlook, my expectation of the dawn of a to-morrow, "takes that which not enriches him, but makes me poor indeed." What was the matter with Elijah? Well, in the first place, he was tired. He was utterly spent. He had just passed through a very trying and exacting ordeal. We can well imagine that the days just preceding the test upon Carmel were toilsome days and the nights were sleepless nights. Then came the great day of contest and victory. There was, of course, no rest that day. And, in the exhilaration of victory, you know how he ran before the chariot of Ahab from Carmel to Jezreel, a distance of seventeen miles.

Psalm 102

By Henry Law       The soul trembling under God's displeasure is in extreme anguish. Its misery pours out a multitude of complaints. Various images lend their aid. Hope is found only in God and His unchanging love. 1-2. "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto You. Hide not Your face from me in the day when I amt in trouble; incline Your ear unto me; in the day when I call answer me speedily." An inviting hand is always beckoning us to the mercy-seat. Its gates are widely open. Tender compassion calls us. Abundant promises insure success. We may draw near boldly and plead the all-atoning blood. Especially in times of distress we are encouraged to utter the desires of our hearts. We may use holy violence, and wrestle with our God. We may refuse to give Him rest until responses come. It is not presumption to be urgent for immediate answers, and to pray that God would speedily cause His smile to dissipate our trouble. 3-5. "For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin." Prayer should be more importunate when sorrows press with overwhelming weight. The effects of such distress are soon apparent. The strength of the frame quickly declines. It vanishes like the curling smoke, which rises to evaporate in air. The bones grow feeble, and crumble to decay as fuel on the burning hearth. Mourning withers all energy. The grass when cut soon becomes dry and sapless, in like manner the smitten heart loses all freshness. The appetite declines. There is no desire for food, no relish for the customary sustenance. Misery finds vent in moans and sighs, so that the flesh is wasted, and the form moves as a living skeleton. 6-7. "I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop." Images from nature aid the portrait of this misery. The afflicted shuns all companionship. He retires as the lonely pelican, seeking the solitude of the wilderness, or, as the owl, hiding in the recesses of the desert. Alone he utters wails to heaven, as a solitary sparrow moping on the summits of the house. 8-11. "My enemies reproach me all the day; and those who are mad against me have sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, because of Your indignation and Your wrath; for You have lifted me up, and cast me down. My days are like a shadow that declines; and I am withered like grass." Misery is enhanced by the cruel mockery of the ungodly. No compassion melts their hearts. They rather rejoice to aggravate the sufferer's woe. No comfort is found in natural refreshment. Bread is rejected, as unpalatable ashes, and tears are mingled with the cup. Again we hear that the days are as a fleeting shadow, and as the withered grass. The cause of this misery is the withdrawal of God's presence. The mercies once so dear are hidden in displeasure. 12. "But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and Your remembrance unto all generations." But let the fear never intrude that there is variableness with God. He is unchangeable in all His attributes. There may be change in outward manifestations, but He ever lives, the eternal and immutable One. Let this thought be cherished constantly. Let it be as a companion ever walking by our side. Let our delighted gaze dwell on the eternal oneness of our God. His power and love endure forever. All generations shall give this testimony. 13-14. "You shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, is come. For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof."

Deliverance from this Present Evil World

By J.C. Philpot


      Preached at North Street Chapel, Stamford, on Lord's Day Morning, October 13, 1861

      "Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. To whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen." Galatians 1:4, 5

What an amount of sorrow and misery beyond all calculation, and indeed beyond all conception, there is in this wretched world, this vale of tears, as it is so often justly called, in which our present earthly lot is cast! Not a house, not a family, not a heart is there which does not sooner or later taste more or less deeply of this most bitter cup. How many, for instance, this morning have risen from their lowly beds, or rather their miserable floors, sunk into such poverty that they scarcely know where to get a morsel of bread to eat, or the poorest, meanest raiment to put on! How many, if not sunk into the same depths of absolute want, yet, like a drowning man in a deep and rapid stream, can scarcely keep their head above water in their daily struggle for the means of existence! How many are now mourning over family bereavements, the delight of their eyes being taken from them at a stroke, or by lingering illness! How many youthful hearts, just in the first opening dawn of life, are bleeding under the deepest wounds inflicted upon their tenderest and warmest affections! How many are lying upon their beds of pain and languishing, and some at this very moment struggling and gasping in the agonies of death, and leaving this world without hope!

Thus, as we cast our eyes around us, or frame in our own minds a faint conception of the sorrows heaped upon the sons of men, we may almost say of this wretched world, that it is like Egypt when the angel passed through the land and smote the first-born. "There was a great cry in the land, for there was not a house in which there was not one dead." (Ex. 12:30.) Or like the inhabitants of Ekron, when God smote them for their sins, and

"the cry of the city went up to heaven" (1 Sam. 15:12.) Or like Ezekiel's roll, which was "written within and without; and there was written therein lamentations, and mournings, and woe." (Ezek. 2:10.)

But there is something still worse behind. Is there not a cause for all this sorrow and misery? Does God afflict willingly the sons of men? Would there be such an amount of human wretchedness, unless there had been some provocation on the part of man, to bring down all these chastisements upon his guilty head? There is something then in this world, and something too in the heart of man worse than sorrow. There is sin. When we look at the stream of misery which runs down this wretched world and examine it a little more closely, we see that it is not a stream of pure unmingled sorrow. It is rather a sewer of corruption than a flowing river of unmixed grief, for ever and anon out of this sewer of corruption, there surge to the top such sad exhibitions of human wickedness and crime, as must appall the mind which is not altogether deadened to every moral and religious feeling.

Look, for instance, at the crimes of the present day. What murders, suicides, deeds of violence, robberies, and hideous acts of uncleanness continually come to light; and how these in some instances, almost accidental discoveries, show what depth of corruption is really working and festering in the heart of man. As the leprosy which broke forth upon the forehead of King Uzziah only revealed the disease itself that had taken possession of his body (2 Chron. 26:19) so these open crimes that come from time to time to light, are merely marks and tokens of the deep-seated leprosy, that works underneath in the fabric of society as well as in the corrupt nature of man.

But in what a desperate, what a deplorable state should we be if there were no remedy for this misery and wretchedness, which has disjointed earth, and, like a mighty earthquake passing over it, made all its foundations out of course. (Ps. 82:5.) What less than a present hell would it be if there were nothing in this world but sin and sorrow; if we had just for a few short weeks, or months, or years, to drain deep the cup of affliction, to be immersed in the floods of sin, to go down mourning to our grave, and then to open our eyes in endless misery! But O look up, ye mourning saints, who are often bowed down with worldly grief and sorrow, and much more frequently and much more heavily by the deep corruptions of your heart, look up and see that ray of heavenly light which even now seems to shine across this black gloom, this dense darkness, as a beam of sun sometimes in a moment lights up the face of the earth. "Through the tender mercy of our God, the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:78, 79.)

Sleeping sickness

(Arthur Pink "Sleepy Saints!" 1948)

"So then, we must not sleep, like the rest — but we must stay awake and be serious!" 1 Thessalonians 5:6

What an anomaly! Drowsing on the verge of eternity! 

A Christian is one who, in contrast to the unregenerate, has been awakened from the sleep of death in trespasses and sins, made to realize the unspeakable awfulness of endless misery in Hell, and the ineffable joy of everlasting bliss in Heaven; and thereby brought to recognize the seriousness and solemnity of life! A Christian is one who has been experientially taught the worthlessness of mundane things — and the preciousness of divine things! He has turned his back on Vanity Fair and has started out on his journey to the Celestial City.

Nevertheless, it is sadly possible . . .
  for him to suffer a relapse,
  for his zeal to abate,
  for his graces to languish,
  for him to leave his first love, and
  become weary of well-doing.
Yes, unless he is very much on his guard, drowsiness will steal over him — and he will fall asleep!

Corruptions still indwell him — and sin has a stupefying effect!
He is yet in this evil world — and it exerts an enervating influence!
Satan seeks to devour him, and unless resisted steadfastly — will hypnotize him!
Thus, the menace of this spiritual "sleeping sickness" is very real.

Slumbering saints! What an incongruity!
Taking their ease, while threatened by danger!
Lazing, instead of fighting the good fight of faith!
Rusting, instead of wearing out in His service! 
Trifling away opportunities to glorify their Savior, instead of redeeming the time!

How startling and reprehensible is a careless Christian, who has departed from God, bewitched by a world which is doomed to eternal destruction!

"It is high time to awake out of sleep!" Romans 13:11

~  ~  ~  ~

A bubble that rises, and shines, and bursts!

(John Angell James, "Redeeming Time" 1825)

"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as fools
 but as wise, redeeming the time, because the
 days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

Paul implies that a man can give no greater proof
of folly, nor more effectually act the part of a fool,
than to waste his time. While on the other hand,
a just appreciation and right improvement of time
are among the brightest displays of true wisdom.

We must value time correctly, and improve it diligently.

Time is the most precious thing in the world. God
distributes time miserly--by the moment--and He
never promises us another moment! We are to highly
value, and diligently to improve the present moment,
by the consideration that for anything we know, it
may be our last.

Time, when once gone, never returns. Where is
yesterday? A moment once lost, is lost forever!

We should never forget that our time is among the talents
for which we must give account at the judgment of God.
We must be tried not only for what we have done--but for
what we neglected to do. Not only for the hours spent in
sin--but for those wasted in idleness. Let us beware of
wasting time.

It might stir us up to diligence in the improvement of our
time, to think how much of it has been already misspent.
What days, and weeks, and months, and years, have
already been utterly wasted, or exhausted upon trifles
totally unworthy of them. They are gone, and nothing
remains of them but the guilt of having wasted them.
We cannot call them back if we would. Let us learn to
value more highly, and to use more kindly, those days
which remain.

How much of our time is already gone--and how little 
may be yet to come? The sands of our hour-glass may
be almost out! Death may be at the door! 

When you begin a day, you don't know that you shall end it!
When you lie down, you don't know that you shall rise up!
When you leave your house, you don't know that you shall
ever return!

For what is your life? It is even as a vapor that appears for
a little while and then vanishes! Life is a bubble that rises,
and shines, and bursts! We know not in any one period of
our existence--but that it may be the last. Surely, surely,
we should then improve our time, when we may be holding,
for anything we know, the last portion of it in our hands!

You are immortal creatures, and must live forever in torment
or in bliss! And certainly you cannot be forming a right
estimate of the value of time, nor be rightly employing it,
if the soul be forgotten, salvation neglected, and eternity
left out of consideration!