Jun 21
22
Gathered
“Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20
The Holy Spirit is the only Gatherer. Christ Himself is the only object to which we are gathered, and our assembly, when convened, is to be characterised by holiness. The Holy Spirit can only gather to Christ. He doesn’t gather to a system, a name, a doctrine or an ordinance. He gathers to a Person and that Person is a glorified Christ in Heaven.
Scott Richardson
Glad Worshippers
Some will read this and think that it is an attempt to shame or rebuke those who have fallen away. It is not. Not much chance they’ll read it anyway. If these words cause us to feel anything other than humility and fear for our own souls, they have been misunderstood. Why do some who have professed faith in Christ and are able to attend public worship, end up forsaking the assembling of themselves with the church? If you ask them, it is always someone else’s fault. Truth is, if one can leave, they eventually will leave. Something will happen. Someone will offend them. One reason will be as good as another when men seek to justify themselves before men. But God knoweth the heart.( Lk. 16:15). Hungry men must have the bread of life. Thirsty men must come to the fountain for the water of life. Those in love with the Lord Jesus Christ also love His people. (I Jn. 4:21). Those who have seen the beauty of Christ want to be where He has promised to show forth more of His glory. (Matt. 18:20). They have tasted of the heavenly gift and it is impossible for them to fall away. (Heb. 6:4-5). What about those of us who remain? We are kept BY the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Pet. 1:5). He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (I Cor. 1:31).” I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord.” Ps. 123:1. Greg Elmquist
“But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Isaiah 40:31
J.C.Philpot
How different the religion of a living soul is from the religion of a dead professor! The religion of a dead professor begins in self, and ends in self; begins in his own wisdom, and ends in his own folly; begins in his own strength, and ends in his own weakness; begins in his own righteousness, and ends in his own damnation! There is in him never any going out of soul after God, no secret dealings with the Lord, no actings of faith upon the divine perfections.
But the child of God, though he is often faint, weary, and exhausted with many difficulties, burdens and sorrows; yet when the Lord does show himself, and renews his strength, he soars aloft, and never ceases to mount up on the wings of faith and love until he penetrates into the very sanctuary of the most High. A living soul never can be satisfied except in living union and communion with the Lord of life and glory. Everything short of that leaves it empty. All the things of time and sense leave a child of God unsatisfied. Nothing but vital union and communion with the Lord of life, to feel his presence, taste his love, enjoy his favour, see his glory–nothing but this will ever satisfy the desires of ransomed and regenerated souls. This the Lord indulges his people with.
“They shall renew their strength.” They shall not be always lying groaning on the ground, not always swooning away through the wounds made by sin, not always chained down by the fetters of the world, not always hunted in their souls like a partridge upon the mountains. There shall be a renewal of their strength; and in their renewal, “they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
A certain cure for every ill.
(by Spurgeon)
“Abide in Me.” John 15:4
Communion with Christ is
a certain cure for every ill.
Whether it be the wormwood of woe,
or the cloying excess of earthly delight,
close fellowship with the Lord Jesus
will take bitterness from the one, and
satiety from the other.
Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is matter
of secondary importance whether you live on the
mountain of honour or in the valley of humiliation.
Living near to Jesus, you are covered with the wings
of God, and underneath you are the everlasting arms.
Let nothing keep you from that hallowed
communion, which is the choice privilege
of a soul wedded to the ‘well beloved’.
Do not be content with an interview now and then,
but seek always to retain His company, for only in
His presence have you either comfort or safety.
Jesus should not be unto us a friend who calls upon us
now and then, but one with whom we walk evermore.
You have a difficult road before you: see, O traveler
to heaven, that you go not without your guide.
You have to pass through the fiery furnace; enter it
not unless, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
you have the Son of God to be your companion.
You have to storm the Jericho of your own
corruptions: attempt not the warfare until,
like Joshua, you have seen the Captain of the
Lord’s host, with His sword drawn in His hand.
You are to meet the Esau of your many
temptations: meet him not until at Jabbok’s
brook you have laid hold upon the angel,
and prevailed.
In every case, in every condition, you will
need Jesus; but most of all, when the iron
gates of death shall open to you.
Keep you close to your soul’s Husband,
lean your head upon His bosom, ask to
be refreshed with the spiced wine of His
pomegranate, and you shall be found of
Him at the last, without spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing.
Seeing you have lived with Him, and lived in
Him here, you shall abide with Him forever.
Come and eat!
(Horatius Bonar, “The Bread of Immortality”)
“I am the bread of life.” John 6:48
“I am the living bread.” John 6:51
All food is for the sustaining of life.
Jesus announces Himself as the bread which will sustain
the life of the soul. Not merely some doctrine—but Himself.
He is the bread; not merely bread—but the bread—the one
true bread; without whom the soul cannot grow, nor its life
be sustained. For only by this life-sustaining bread, can
such sickly souls be nourished. As such, Jesus is necessary
to the soul as its food—its bread.
Outside of Him, there is no nourishment, no sustenance.
He feeds—He alone. He feeds us on Himself! All else is
husks, or mere air and vapour. Jesus, in His glorious person,
is our food—the true bread and sustenance of the soul;
the hidden manna.
Jesus applies various names to it:
“bread from heaven”
“true bread”
“the bread of God”
“bread of life”
“living bread.”
All these are names indicative of its excellence, its power,
it’s suitableness. It is the very bread we need; no other
would do. Jesus is the soul’s eternal food. This
storehouse is inexhaustible—and ever accessible!
Come as you are, poor prodigal, starving on husks—come
and eat! Eat, O friends! Eat, and live! Eat, and be strong!
Eat, and be in soul health!
I will satisfy her poor with bread.” Psalm 132:15
J.C.Philpot
What a sweetness there is in the word “satisfy!” The world cannot satisfy the child of God. Have we not tried, some of us perhaps for many years, to get some satisfaction from it? But can wife or husband “satisfy” us? Can children or relatives “satisfy” us? Can all the world calls good or great “satisfy” us? Can the pleasures of sin “satisfy” us? Is there not in all an aching void? Do we not reap dissatisfaction and disappointment from everything that is of the creature, and of the flesh? Do we not find that there is little else but sorrow to be reaped from everything in this world? I am sure I find, and have found for some years, that there is little else to be gathered from the world but disappointment, dissatisfaction, “vanity and vexation of spirit.” The poor soul looks round upon the world and the creature, upon all the occupations, amusements and relations of life, and finds all one melancholy harvest, so that all it reaps is sorrow, perplexity, and dissatisfaction. Now when a man is brought here, to want satisfaction, something to make him happy, something to fill up the aching void, something to bind up broken bones, bleeding wounds, and leprous sores, and after he has looked at everything, at doctrines, opinions, notions, speculations, forms, rites and ceremonies in religion, at the world with all its charms, and at self with all its varied workings, and found nothing but bitterness of spirit, vexation and trouble in them all, and thus sinks down a miserable wretch, why, then when the Lord opens up to him something of the bread of life, he finds a satisfaction in that which he never could gain from any other quarter. And that is the reason why the Lord so afflicts his people; why some carry about with them such weak, suffering tabernacles, why some have so many family troubles, why others are so deeply steeped in poverty, why others have such rebellious children, and why others are so exercised with spiritual sorrows that they scarcely know what will be the end. It is all for one purpose, to make them miserable out of Christ, dissatisfied except with gospel food; to render them so wretched and uncomfortable that God alone can make them happy, and alone can speak consolation to their troubled minds.
The way to spiritual wealth!
The following is from Spurgeon’s sermon,
“Peter After His Restoration” #2035. Luke 22:32
Communion with Christ is the happiest life.
If you gained all the world and did not lose
your soul but only lost the light of Christ’s
countenance for a few days, you would have
made a poor bargain.
There is Heaven in every glance of His eye!
There is infinite joy in every word of His mouth
when He speaks comfortably to His servants.
Do not go away from Him.
Abide in Christ and let His Words abide in you.
Closer, closer, closer- this is
the way to spiritual wealth!
To follow afar off and live at a distance from
Christ, even if it does not make your soul
perish, yet it will wither up your joys and make
you feel an unhappy man, an unhappy woman.
REST IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
John MacDuff
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
“I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” John 14:16
A gracious Hospice opened by Christ to His disciples in the near prospect of His departure, was the promise of a divine Comforter, whose advent would more than compensate them for His own personal absence and loss; not a temporary visitant, like the angels who from time to time gladdened both dispensations; not like the Abrahams, and Elijahs, and Isaiahs, and Davids, and Baptists–brilliant passing meteors shining for a season and then lost in the darkness–no satellite with reflected or derivative light, but an abiding Presence and glory “above the brightness of the sun.”
This heavenly Paraclete was to “teach them all things;” to “guide them into all truth;” to energise, with superhuman wisdom and power–a continued strength and inspiration for His people in the time to come. And, best of all, He was to be the ever-present Revealer of an absent Lord, magnifying Him in the affections of His Church and people–“He shall glorify Me for He shall receive from Me, and shall show it unto you.”
At Pentecost there was the full realisation of the promise. The windows of heaven were then opened, and showers of blessing descended. The gathered disciples were “baptised with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” each brow haloed with flame–a radiance of unearthly brightness. It was the predicted “times of refreshing.” The prophetic announcement was fulfilled–“He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth.” Multitudes were enabled to call Christ “Lord, by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3).
Living as we do under “the dispensation of the Spirit,” we have in His bestowal and name a true Refuge and House of Rest. He is emphatically the Spirit of peace, brooding with halcyon calm over the chaos of unrest. COMFORTER is surely the most precious of balm-words for the weary and heavy laden, the sin-burdened and sorrow-burdened. Filled with all joy and peace in believing, we “abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
“Filled with the Spirit”–that is the secret and explanation of the rest this Hospice affords. Its every window is thrown open to catch the divine breath and echoes from the everlasting hills. There, replenished and recruited with His varied gifts, the traveler is ready to prosecute his upward and onward way, with the new song on his lips–“Your Spirit, O God, is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” The chalice of joy given by the divine Agent is so full of the living water of which He is the emblem, that there is no room in it for the poison-drops of sin, the contamination of any baser earthly admixture. Rather, in His hands, life is like the vessels of Cana, not only filled to the brim, but the contents are gradually transfused and transfigured into the wine of heaven. Commonest blessings and joys are in Him sanctified, and become sacramental.
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me, and drink. This spoke He of the Spirit” (John 7:37, 39).
May it be mine personally to appropriate this richest boon and legacy bequeathed by the departing Saviour to His Church and people; recognising in the presence and supporting grace of “the Comforter” the chief well of refreshment for pilgrims “passing through the Valley of Baca.” It is an additional encouragement, too, in pleading for the peerless gift, that the divine Father is harmonised with the divine Son in the loving and bountiful bestowment. Does an earthly parent delight in lavishing tokens of affection on his offspring? “How much more shall your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit unto those who ask Him?”
Happy those who are able, in some feeble measure, yet with lowly confidence, to join in the apostle’s testimony– “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us.”
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest. This is the place of repose.” Isaiah 28:12