Will You Help Me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, as your pastor, I desperately need your help. I\u2019m not\nasking for something which is unimportant or optional, but something which is\nessential to the spiritual well-being of ourselves, our children and all who\nfrequent this assembly. Nor am I asking for something which can be done by\nanyone and everyone, but is a privilege exclusive to you, the saints of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brothers and Sisters, I am asking for your prayers. As you have\ngraciously granted me many requests through the years, for which I am thankful,\nI earnestly implore you to grant me this request. For your sakes and for mine,\ndon\u2019t permit me to stand before you from time to time without being uplifted\nbefore the throne of grace by your personal and united prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am a mere man whom God has chosen to deal with the souls of\nmen and the consequences are solemn and eternal. My message will either be a\nsavour of life unto life, or of death unto death, \u201cAnd who is sufficient for\nthese things?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I earnestly want my preaching to be profitable unto you and\nblessed to the salvation of your children. These spiritual blessings descend\nfrom heaven on the wings of pure grace, but God has chosen to disseminate this\nprecious treasure through \u201cearthen vessels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBrethren, pray for us\u201d. I Thess. 5:25 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
~Maurice Montgomery (1939-2015)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(and your pastor says: Amen and Amen)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No person is less likely to be saved than the very religious\nprofessor. He wears an armour of presumption. You cannot tell him -anything of\ngrace and mercy; his head is helmeted with much religious knowledge and\ntradition. You cannot touch his heart for he wears the breastplate of\nself-righteousness. He gives assent to every fundamental truth, yet believes\nnothing. He attends to every religious holiday, service and moral law, yet\nknows nothing of heart repentance and faith. No other suit of armour is one half\nso effective for warding off the strokes of truth as that which is forged in\nthe arsenal of religion. I have more hope for the drunkard and the harlot than\nfor the gospel-hardened religionist!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
~Scott Richardson (1923-2010)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COMFORT IN TROUBLE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a sign of grace to\nknow one\u2019s need of grace.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n An omnipotent hand created us out\nof nothing, and the like omnipotence is needed to bring us to feel that we are\nnothing. We can never be saved unless we are made alive by infinite power, nor\ncan we be made alive at all unless that self same power shall first slay us. It\nis amazing how much is needed to strip a man, and lay him in his true place.\nOne would think that so penniless a beggar must be aware of his penury; but he\nis not, and never will be, unless the eternal God shall convince him of it. Our\nimaginary goodness is more hard to conquer than our actual sin. Man can sooner\nbe cured of his sicknesses than be made to forego his bouts of health. Human\nweakness is a small obstacle to salvation compared with human strength; there\nlies the work and the difficulty. Hence it is a sign of grace to know one\u2019s\nneed of grace. He has some light in his soul who knows and feels that he is in\ndarkness. The Lord himself has wrought a work of grace, upon the spirit which\nis poor and needy, and trembles at his Word; and it is such a work that it\nbears within. It the promise, yea, the assurance of salvation; for the poor in\nspirit already possess the kingdom of heaven, and none have that but those who\nhave eternal life. Charles Spurgeon<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A very sweet promise\nfor the poor and needy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen the poor and need seek\nwater and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will\nhear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in\nhigh places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the\nwilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.\u201d Is.\n41:17-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we gather for public\nworship we come as poor and needy sinners seeking the Water of Life. Though we\nall have temporal needs, our true interest lies in the matters of the\nsoul. Our need is to know and worship God. It is to be forgiven of sin and\nto have a sure hope in Christ. The broken cisterns of this dry and thirsty land\nin which we live are unable to quench our thirst. We come to that place\nwhere there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel\u2019s veins. What a\nsweet promise we have from our Lord to meet with us and manifest his grace and\nglory to us. Let us prepare our hearts in prayer that He might show us a pure\nriver of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God\nand of the Lamb. Rev. 22:1 \n \n ~GE<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perfect in Him<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is nothing that will\nmake a NEEDY SINNER look to Christ alone or a BELIEVER cling to, and rest in,\nChrist alone more than to realise that everything God is, everything that God\nrequires, and everything that a sinner needs or will ever need is IN JESUS\nCHRIST (1 Cor. 1:30). We are perfect in Him (Col. 1:21-22; Jude 1:24)! He is\nperfect, and our being in Him makes us perfect (John 1:16-17; Col. 2:9-10).\nThis is not speaking of what we shall be, but what we are right now in Christ\nbefore God. \n ~Henry Mahan<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their religion is hollow, unsubstantial, and unreal<\/strong>
\nBeing a believer in Jesus Christ and resting in His good providence does not\nexempt us from trouble, trial, sorrow and heartache in this life. Our Lord\nsaid, “In this world you shall have tribulation<\/em>.\u201d (John 16:33) But\nhere is our comfort and help, “God is our refuge and strength, a very\npresent help in trouble<\/em>.\u201d (Psalm 46:1) Our blessed Lord said, “Come\nboldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to\nhelp in time of need<\/em>.\u201d (Hebrews 4:16) Our gracious God has promised wisdom\nto understand the trial. (James 1:5) Grace to endure and bear the trial. (2\nCorinthians 12:9) Faith to trust and believe God through the trial. (Romans\n4:19-20) Peace to rest in His purpose, knowing that this trial works to our\neternal good (Romans 8:28-35). Hope to rejoice in our Lord and Saviour, Who\nsaid, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.\u201d<\/em> (Hebrews\n13:5) Surely, we must conclude that we are needy and sinful creatures and that\nthe Lord Jesus Christ is our only resource of help and hope! (Philippians\n4:19) Tom Harding<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(From Winslow’s, “Christ’s Intercession for Tried Faith”)
\n<\/em>
\nThe most beautiful ritual,
\nthe most accurate creed,
\nthe most costly religion,
\nthe most splendid profession,
\nwithout Christ in the heart,
\nis but as fuel preparing for the
\nfinal and eternal conflagration.
\n
\nWhat, my reader, if your religion
\nshould prove to be nothing but chaff?
\nDoes the bare probability startle you?
\n
\nAh! there are multitudes whom it might well
\nstartle; for multitudes are thus deceived.
\n
\nNot a grain of saving grace is found in their souls.
\n
\nThere is….
\nno vitality in their faith,
\nno solidity in their profession,
\nno substance in their religion.
\n
\nBefore every wind of false doctrine they bend, and
\nby each blast of temptation they are carried away.
\n
\nThe stubble of the field, and the chaff of the
\nthreshing floor (fit emblems of their profession),
\nare not more unsubstantial and fleeting than it.
\n
\nAll is woeful deception!
\n
\nThey have substituted….
\na form of godliness for its power;
\nunion to the church for union to Christ;
\nthe baptism of water for the regeneration of the Spirit;
\ngospel ordinances for sanctifying grace;
\nworks of benevolence for faith in the Lord Jesus.
\n
\nAnd thus their religion is hollow, unsubstantial, and
\nunreal<\/strong>; possessing a “name to live, they are dead.”
\n
\nAnd what will be the end of such?
\n
\nDeparting into eternity in this state of soul deception;
\nbuilding their hope of heaven upon this false foundation;
\nin their sad experience must be realised the awful
\ndescription which the evangelist gives of the judgment
\npower of Christ; “whose fan is in his hand, and he will
\nthoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into his
\nbarn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
\n
\nThus will perish….
\nall human religions,
\nall false hopes,
\nall hollow professions,
\nall soul destroying doctrines;
\nthe ‘wood, the hay, the stubble,’ of a
\nform of godliness, destitute of the power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n