Jul 18
22
Lord, Make Us To See Our Need
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass (Isa. 40:6-7).
Unless the Lord is pleased to teach us and reveal to us what we are by nature (Eph.2:1-3), we will never see our need for Christ and the gospel of His free grace (Rom.3:24). We will never understand our need of Jesus Christ and His great salvation, unless the Holy Spirit is pleased to move upon our heart (John 6:44-45). Only when He reveals unto us our sinful condition, will we seek His salvation in Christ Jesus the Lord (1 Tim.1:12). Only when He speaks to us about our righteousness as being filthy rags, will we seek His righteousness that is performed and provided freely by His grace (1 Cor. 1:30). Only when God reveals to us our total ruin, will we seek redemption through the spotless blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:7). Only when God is pleased to show us how unworthy we are, will we seek Him who is Worthy (Rev. 5:12). Lord, make us to know and see what our need is, so by thy Spirit and grace we can seek thy mercy where it can be found (Phil 3:9; 4:19). – Tom Harding
And the Helpless Sinner
Matthew 11: 27
“…no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him.”
There are two words in this verse of scripture that overwhelms the believer’s heart—and he. If not for these words then all would be excluded from ever knowing the God of all grace. The words and he could just as well be interpreted, ‘and the helpless sinner’ for the natural man is unable to know God apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ. Adam secured, for every man, a gulf between God and man, which none but Christ could cross. We may imagine a god. We may worship a god with all sincerity. But unless the living God quickens the dead by his Spirit, giving life where there was no life, then we are like men groping about in darkness. The revelation of the triune God in the face of who we are and what we were, is the very reason why every true believer bows in complete submission ever thankful for God’s grace to helpless sinners.
Clay Curtis
What We Need
What we need in this thing of salvation is not merely to be acquainted with Christ but to have His righteousness! It is nothing to reform a man, to get him religious and make some decisions for Jesus, but what is needed is regeneration from the Holy Spirit. “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son IN me….” (Gal 1:15,16). The passage did not say to reveal Christ TO me but IN me, now there’s the difference for sure; that’s the problem with today’s preaching, the pulpiteer is more interested in the facts and trivia surrounding the Son of God than he is in the Person of Christ. In John’s gospel and the 14th chapter Christ himself is saying the same thing when he mentioned ‘At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I IN you.’ We must have a vital union with Christ Jesus for there to be life! He has eternal life and this life is IN Him; ‘…Christ IN you, the hope of glory’ (col. 1:27). Do you abide with Him, in Him? If not you will wither and fall away like the grass that dries up and blows away or the chaff that is sifted from the threshing floor. Oh, to be found IN him not having mine own righteousness! Drew Dietz
He that hath the Son hath life
1 John 5:12
Tommy Robbins
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” Romans 8:9
Those to whom the Omnipotent God has revealed His blessed Son has been made well aware of their sinful nature. Our sinful nature is exposed by His sinless nature. Our sinful nature is confirmed by the Word of God and by the indwelling Spirit of God. This sinful flesh we live with every day in the experience of grace and in the experience of life. To deny this is insanity. However those to whom God, by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, has imparted the Spirit of Christ has a new nature. New as opposed to the old man, or the sinful nature. Christ dwells in them, effecting life where there was none before. This new life the believer lives with every day in the experience of grace and in the experience of life. In the text and context of the above verse there are two distinct persons. One has not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him; the other does have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in Him. These two men are still men but vastly different. The impartation of Spiritual life is our salvation because “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His”. The impartation of Spiritual life is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Col 1:27. “Christ in you” separates the living from the dead. God imputes the righteousness of Christ to our account, establishing our righteousness, thereby justifying the believer. He imparts the Righteous Christ to us thereby giving those whom He justified life. We cannot have the one without the other. Those sinful creatures who have the Spirit of Christ gladly confess both their sin and “The Lord our Righteousness”.
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2Co 13:5
The Poor man’s Morning and Evening Portions.
“Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”—Isa. xxx. 21.
My soul, who is this Almighty Teacher, out of sight, but the Holy Ghost? And to what way doth he point but to Jesus, who is both the way, and the truth, and the life? Art thou ever at a stand? listen to this voice. Art thou about to turn to the right or left? See how seasonably he is promised to come to direct thee. Condescend, thou gracious, matchless Instructor, to guide me. I shall not fail then to know the wholesomeness of thy teaching, when thou hast opened mine eyes, to see the wondrous things of thy law. I shall indeed know that thou art my Director, because thou hast said, “I the Lord teacheth thee to profit.” And when thy word comes not in word only, but in power, and in thee, the Holy Ghost, surely I shall know it, in that it not only reaches my ear, but will influence my heart: not only will instruct and teach me in the way wherein I should go, but will incline my feet to walk in it. Yes, thou infallible Teacher! I shall know thee to be the Spirit of truth, by guiding me into all truth. I shall know the voice of the Spirit of Jesus, because it will prompt me to follow Jesus. Did I hear a voice telling me of a way of salvation in a righteousness of my own: did I sit under a teaching, which sent me to my tears, and repentance, and alms-deeds, by way of recommending me to God: did I listen to the siren song, which told me of safety in myself, and my own best endeavours, and that Christ would do the rest: or did any teach me, that I must not come to Jesus, until that, by some previous acts of soul-cleansing in prayers and fastings, I had made myself fit: in all these cases, and the like, I should know that they could not be the voice behind me. promised to direct; because it is thy one glorious office, thou Holy and Eternal Spirit, to testify of Jesus, and to glorify him. When, therefore, I hear the voice behind me, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it;” and when it directs me wholly to Jesus; when every thing in this divine teaching enlightens my mind in the knowledge of the person, relation, work, power, grace, righteousness, and love of the Lord Jesus Christ; and when that blessed voice bids me to come unto him, just as I am, a poor, vile, needy, perishing sinner, to venture upon him for life and salvation, and how to receive and improve the Lord Jesus, in his infinite suitableness to all my necessities: Oh how fully verified to my experience is this sweet promise of my God to my soul! Holy Father, cause me to hear this blessed voice, in the daily, hourly paths of my pilgrimage; and grant me the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of thy dear Son.
The Poor man’s Morning and Evening Portions.
Faith is necessary for salvation. But we do not look to our faith to save us; rather, in faith, we look to Christ. Repentance is necessary for salvation. But we do not look to our repentance to save us; rather, in repentance, we turn to Christ. There are graces, which God works in us as He saves us. But these graces are never to be the object of our trust, confidence, or hopeful gaze. All the graces God gives us in salvation are to be used to look to, turn to, appreciate, and lay hold of Christ, who is our Salvation! ~Joe Terrell
Those who have been saved are those who are “being saved” (I Cor. 1:18; Phil 2:12, 13). Those who have learned of Christ are those who “are learning” of Him (John 6:45; Matt. 11:29). Those who truly know the Lord are those who “desire to know Him” (Phil 3:7-10). Those who have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ are those who continue to cry unto the Lord, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory” (Ex. 33:18). These are the people who say, from the heart, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness” (Psalm17:15). ~Maurice Montgomery
“Sir, we would see Jesus”. Jn 12:21
May the Lord make this our constant prayer. If He does, it will be because He is pleased to answer it. If that happens, it will be to our everlasting joy. Oh, to see Jesus. To see Him in His Word. To see Him bearing our sins. To see Him rising from the dead. To see Him on His throne interceding for His church. To see Him coming again to establish His everlasting kingdom. O Lord, rend the heavens and open the eyes of our understanding that we might set our affection on things above where Christ is seated at thy right hand. -Greg