Sep 26
14
ONE ANSWER TO TEN THOUSAND HOW’S
Faith brings God unto the scene. Therefore, it knows absolutely nothing of difficulty; it laughs at impossibilities. In the judgment of faith, God is the answer to every question; He is the salvation to every difficulty….Unbelief says, how can such things be? Unbelief is full of flaws; but faith has one great answer to ten thousand how’s and that answer is God Almighty. – Scott Richardson
I AM NOT INTERESTED IN…
I am not interested in knowing who the Antichrist is. – I am not interested in knowing when Armageddon will be. – I am not interested in learning more about Satan. – I am not interested in studying the universe just for the sake of knowing what is beyond it. I am not interested in knowing anything apart from Christ. Paul wrote: 1 Corinthians 2:2 — “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
Here is my Interest. I am interested in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul expressed this desire in Philippians 3:10: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings…”
I want to know Christ. I want to know, without question, that Christ is my righteousness. – I want to know the power of His blood to cleanse me from sin. – I want to know the power of His grace working in my daily life. – I want to know His love in a deeper and more intimate way. – I want to know Christ not just as a subject of study, but as my Lord and Savior. – I want to know Him as the God of my salvation. – I want to know the One who loved me, the One who gave Himself for me, the One who shed His blood for me, and the One who rose again for my justification. – There are many things I could spend my life trying to understand. There are mysteries concerning prophecy, the end times, Satan, the heavens, and the things yet to come. – But at the end of the day, I want to know Christ.
As our Lord said: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:29 – John Chapman
“CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY!” (Romans 5:6)
To redeem poor sinners, Jesus came down from heaven, put on the rags of our morality, agonised, bled and died. Jesus is made His people’s substitute, burden-bearer, sin-remover, guilt-sustainer. Their debt is placed to His account. His riches pay the full amount. Sin is removed from the sinner and placed on the Sinless! Their curse is rolled on Him, and He endures it, until no more remains! God deals with Jesus as the guilty one! He, as spotless Deity, receives imputed sins, and fully expiates them all. In the vicarious victim, God’s justice is satisfied, and wrath expires! Jesus, in His life, in the garden, on the cross suffers their sufferings, dies their death, and so becomes their uttermost salvation! His pains are their pardon! His stripes are their healing! His agony is their recovery! “Christ died for the ungodly.”
Henry Law
As I was putting together this bulletin, a housefly landed on an article I was copying, walked around a bit, and then flew over to my Bible. I watched as the little creature moved over the page from here to there in “fits and starts.” I suppose it was looking for something to eat, some morsel, some crumb to sustain it for its brief existence. It didn’t stay long. After moving over just about an entire page and finding nothing to fulfil its hunger, it took wing and went elsewhere. That fly is like natural man. Man, as he is born, has EXACTLY as much ability to understand scripture as that fly. He, in his search to sustain his existence, may happen upon the Bible for a time, he may move across the pages, even stop here and there, but soon will fly away as empty as when he arrived. The feast of fat things that is the Word of God is not food for natural man any more than it is for the fly. It is FOOD, but food for the spiritual man, the man whom God has made alive by the new birth. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14). “But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (I Cor. 2:9-10).
Tim James
GOD’S WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS
I thought to prepare myself for great things only to learn that it was the tough voice in the wilderness He planned to use and not the polished preacher; it was the weak, impulsive shepherd with the sling that He planned to use and not the mighty warrior with his armour of wit and arsenal of facts, doctrines, and learning. If we do not pour contempt on ourselves, God will!
Henry Mahan
The apostle Paul wrote, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (I Timothy 1:15). The closer a believer is brought to Christ, the more clearly he sees the depth of his own sinfulness and the greatness of God’s grace. “They that be whole need not a physician,
Ps 22:16. “For dogs have compassed me.”
Here he marks the more ignoble crowd, who, while less strong than their brutal leaders, were not less ferocious, for there they were howling and barking like unclean and hungry dogs! Hunters frequently surround their game with a circle, and gradually encompass them with an ever-narrowing ring of dogs and men.
Such a picture is before us. In the centre stands, not a panting stag, but a bleeding, fainting man, and around him are the enraged and unpitying wretches who have hounded him to his doom.
Here we have the “hind of the morning” of whom the psalm so plaintively sings, hunted by bloodhounds, all thirsting to devour him! The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me. Thus the Jewish people were unchurched, and that which called itself an assembly of the righteous is justly for its sins marked upon the forehead as an assembly of the wicked. This is not the only occasion when professed churches of God have become synagogues of Satan, and have persecuted the Holy and the Just One.
C.H.Spurgeon
We have wolves in our own hearts!
(John MacDuff, “The Shepherd and His Flock”)
“And the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep.”
John 10:12
The wolf coming and scattering the sheep, is a
pertinent symbol of the fierce temptations with
which His people in every age might expect to
be assailed. Who can attempt to describe these
wolf-like temptations?
Apart from those more peculiar to the world around
us; the countless absorbing influences and interests
of sense and time; a man’s worst foes are too
often those in his own bosom. We have wolves
in our own hearts, lurking insidiously; fettered
vices, longing to burst their bands, and go forth
on missions of death and ruin.
There are the wolves of temper . . .
envy,
jealousy,
hatred,
malice,
each hidden in his den; crouching in his lair; ready
to make the spring when temptation offers.
Covetousness, the wolf with the golden fleece, how
it has strewed earth’s highway with the bones of men!
Even our daily business and avocations may become
to us a dangerous foe. Our very prosperity may turn
into a ravening wolf.
Wherever we look, the world is bristling with
temptations. Wolves lurk on every side, “The lust
of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride
of life,” each the leader of a hungry pack waiting
for their prey!
Let these wolf temptations drive you closer to the Shepherd.
His sheep feed in the midst of wolves!
(John Newton)
“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my Shepherd! This is a comprehensive word. The sheep can do nothing for themselves. The Shepherd must guide, guard, feed, heal and recover. It is well for us–that our Shepherd is the Lord Almighty! If His power, care, compassion and fullness were not infinite–the poor sheep would be forsaken, starved and die! But we have a Shepherd full of care, full of kindness, full of power, who has said, “I will search for My lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak!” Ezekiel 34:16. How tender are these expressions, and how well fulfilled! His sheep feed in the midst of wolves–yet are safely preserved; for, though they cannot see Him–His eye and His heart are ever upon them!
Which of God’s children have not cause to say, “My soul is among lions!” But our Shepherd stops their mouths, or only permits them to gape and roar, and show their teeth. He does not allow them to bite and tear us at their will. Let us trust our Shepherd–and all shall be well.
As to daily occurrences, it is best to trust that a daily portion of comforts and crosses–each one the most suitable to our case–is adjusted and appointed by the hand which was once nailed to the cross for us! We must trust, that where the path of duty and prudence leads us–that there is the best situation we could possibly be in, at that time.