EDITORIAL:
WONDERFUL
There is one word in our language which we seem to like above all others when we are describing something. "The party was wonderful." "We had a wonderful time." "They are doing a wonderful thing." And so it goes. The word "wonderful" seems to sum up pretty well our feelings about something with which we are impressed.
It is our purpose in this periodical to present a "wonderful" Person to our readers. This Person is the Lord Jesus Christ. We present Him as the answer to your every need both for time and for eternity. It is our earnest desire, under the control and power of the Holy Spirit, to make Christ so attractive to you that your heart will be wonderfully attracted to Him, to make Him so desirable that you will truly desire Him. More than anything else through this publication we want Christ to become the very center and substance of your life and love. In short, we want Him to be "wonderful" to you.
In fact, this is His name. Isaiah, years before Christ's coming, said, "And His name shall be called Wonderful" (9:6). He IS wonderful. He is wonderful in His person, in His character, and in His work.
In His person He is Son of man and Son of God. He is the God-Man. God with us. The Word made flesh. In His character He is holy and undefiled. In His work He has wonderfully wrought on our behalf.
Christ's work may be summed up in two phrases: "Christ FOR us"; and "Christ IN us."
CHRIST
FOR US:
Our Justification
Our Confidence
Our Hope
Our Surety
Our Entrance
Our Freedom
Our Perfection
IN US:
Our Sanctification
Our Consolation
Our Help
Our Sufficiency
Our Endurance
Our Friend
Our Performance
Christ is our all and in all. What we as lost sinners needed, God through Christ has wonderfully provided. Christ died for our sins, rose for our justification, lives to intercede on our behalf, and guarantees us everything needful to life and godliness, and a safe and sure conduct Home. We have a WONDERFUL Saviour.
I pray God to reveal Christ to you. I pray HE may become increasingly precious to your heart; more wonderful as the days go by. I pray that God will be pleased to use this paper to that end.
Sincerely yours and HIS,
Art Gordon, Editor
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It is CHRIST "in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."
Colossians 1:14
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BLESSED ARE THE DEAD
By Robert M. McCheyne
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." Revelation 14:13a
THE WORLD says, Blessed are the living; but God says, "Blessed are the dead." The world judges of things by sense -- as they outwardly appear to men; God judges of things by what they really are in themselves. He looks at things in their real color and magnitude. The world says, "Better is a living dog than a dead lion." The world looks upon some of their families, coming out like a fresh blooming flower in the morning, their cheeks covered with the bloom of health, their step bounding with the elasticity of youth, riches and luxuries at their command and long, bright summer days before them. The world says, "There is a happy soul." God takes us into the darkened room, where some child of God lately dwelt. He points to the pale face where death sits enthroned, the cheek wasted by long disease, the eye glazed in death, the stiff hands clasped over the bosom, the friends standing weeping around, and He whispers in our ears, "Blessed are the dead."
Ah, dear friends, think a moment! Does God or you know best? Who will be found to be in the right at last? Alas, what a vain show you are walking in! Disquieted in vain. "Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." Even God's children sometimes say, "Blessed are the living." It is a happy thing to live in the favor of God, to have peace with God, to frequent the throne of grace, to burn the perpetual incense of praise, to meditate on His Word, to hear the preached gospel, to serve God; even to wrestle, and run, and fight in His service, is sweet. Still God says, "Blessed are the dead." If it be happy to have his smile here, how much happier to have it without a cloud yonder! If it be sweet to be the growing corn of the Lord here, how much better to be gathered into His barn! If it be sweet to have an anchor within the veil, how much better ourselves to be there, where no gloom can come! In "thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore." Even Jesus felt this -- God attests it. "Blessed are the dead."
But not all the dead, only those that "die in the Lord." It is truly amazing the multitudes that die. "Thou carriest them away as with a flood." Seventy thousand die every day (early 1800s), about fifty every minute -- nearly one every second passing over the verge. Life is like a stream made up of human beings, pouring on, and rushing over the brink into eternity. Are all these blessed? Ah, no. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." Of all that vast multitude continually pouring into the eternal world, a little company alone have savingly believed on Jesus. "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
It is not all the dead who are blessed. There is no blessing on the Christless dead; they rush into an undone eternity, unpardoned, unholy. You may put their body in a splendid coffin; you may print their name in silver on the lid; you may bring the well-attired company of mourners to the funeral, in suits of solemn black; you may lay the coffin slowly in the grave; you may spread the greenest sod above it; you may train the sweetest flowers to grow over it; you may cut a white stone, and grave a gentle epitaph to their memory; still it is but the funeral of a damned soul. You cannot write blessed where God hath written "cursed." "He that believeth shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned."
Consider what is implied in the words, "in the Lord."
First - That they were joined to the Lord. -- Union to the Lord has a beginning. Every one that is blessed in dying has been converted. You may dislike the word, but that is the truth. They were awakened, began to weep, pray, weep, as they went to seek the Lord their God. They saw themselves lost, undone, helpless, that they could not be just with a holy God. They became babes. The Lord Jesus drew near, and revealed Himself. "I am the bread of life." "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." They believed and were happy, rejoiced in the Lord Jesus, counted everything but loss for Christ. They gave themselves to the Lord. This was the beginning of their being in Christ. Dear friends, have you had this beginning? Have you undergone conversion -- the new birth -- grafting into Christ? Call it by any name you will, have you the thing? Has this union to Christ taken place in your history?
Second - Perseverance is implied. -- Not all that seem to be branches are branches of the true Vine. Many branches fall off the trees when the high winds begin to blow -- all that are rotten branches. So in times of temptation, or trial, or persecution, many false professors drop away. Many that seemed to be believers went back, and walked no more with Jesus. They followed Jesus, they prayed with Him, they praised Him; but they went back, and walked no more with Him. So it is still. Many among us doubtless seem to be converted; they begin well and promise fair, who will fall off when winter comes. Some have fallen off, I fear, already; some more may be expected to fol))low. These will not be blessed in dying. Oh, of all deathbeds, may I be kept from beholding the deathbed of the false professor! I have seen it before now, and I trust I may never see it again. They are not blessed after death. The rotten branches will burn more fiercely in the flames.
Oh, think what torment it will be, to think that you spent your life in pretending to be a Christian, and lost your opportunity of becoming one indeed! Your hell will be all the deeper, blacker, hotter, that you knew so much of Christ, and were so near Him, and found Him not. Happy are they who persevere, who are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, who, when others go away, say, Lord, to whom can we go? In prosperity, they follow the Lord fully; in adversity, they cleave to Him closer still, as trees strike their roots deeper in storms. Is this your case? Endure it to the end. "Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel" (Colossians 1:23). "We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14). Even in the dark valley you will cling to Him still. Come to Him as ye came at first -- a guilty creature, clinging to the Lord our Righteousness. Thou, Lord, wast made my sin. This is to die in the Lord, and this is to be blessed.
(From MEMORIES OF McCHEYNE, edited by Andrew A. Bonar, published by Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1956.)
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WHY ARE WE AFFLICTED?
By Herbert L. Roush
For Jesus' Sake
"For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake . . ."
II Corinthians 4:11
Our text continues, " . . . that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." The afflictions and troubles of our lives are oftentimes the answer of a faithful Father to our own prayers. We often pray for Christ to be seen in us. Paul prayed that he might be found (or discovered) to be in Christ and this could only be when it was discovered that Christ was in him. We often sing:
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity,
Oh, Thou Spirit divine,
All my nature refine,
'Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. We sing it, but how do we react when God takes us at our word and begins His refining process? Do we not realize that the life of Christ cannot be manifested until our death, or utter helplessness, is brought also to light? Do we not remember that the pearl cannot be seen and admired until the oyster has been broken and rendered helpless? Then, why do we murmur against the Lord when He delivers us to death in order that Christ might be seen to be living in us?
We often pray the prayer of Paul in Philippians 3:10, " . . . that I might know Him," and then forget that knowing Jesus intimately comes through the fellowship of His sufferings. Those who hunger and thirst after Jesus' righteousness (I Corinthians 1:30) shall be filled, but that filling is worked when, in the emptiness of our hearts to meet the trials of our life, we lie helpless at the feet of Jesus. I am convinced that we can only come to know Jesus better through the deep need of our lives.
Indeed, it was in the first great need of our hearts that we first came to know Him. We needed life in the place of our death, redemption in the place of our sins, peace in the place of our confusion, joy in the place of our sorrow, righteousness in the place of our unrighteousness, acceptance with God in the place of our alienation. In this great need of our hearts and lives, we first came to know Jesus as the Holy Spirit delivered us to the death of the cross, and the life of Christ became ours. God's principles do not change. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ can only be manifested in our need; hence, God must ever bring us in our experiences to a place of deep need that Christ might meet us there. Every fresh revelation of Himself comes by this path. If Philippians 4:19 states that "God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus," then only as we are in need will His riches in glory by Christ Jesus be revealed in us.
The word "supply" means in the original, "to cram a net full . . . to level up a hollow . . . to fully satisfy." The more often we are brought to a place of deep need in our lives, the more often God fills the nets and levels the hollows of our hearts with the riches of His glory by Christ Jesus.
God's Son is a precious diamond, the facets of which can never be fully revealed until seen from every angle of our lives. That Diamond can never be fully appreciated until laid against the darkest background of our experiences. For instance, how could we learn that He is truly the Lily of the valley until we have been brought low by the enemy of our soul, until we have groped our way alone in the valley of discouragement, disappointment and despair? How precious then the Lily becomes as His fragrance fills our hearts and permeates our garments.
How could we know Him as the Rose of Sharon (plains) until we have been allowed to wander in the trackless wastes of the plains of this world, until our souls languished amid the futile, hopeless plains of life? Then, when it seems as though all is lost, we see Him . . . the Rose of Sharon . . . the morning dew is fresh upon His heavenly brow, and He stands in all His beauty to refresh our lives with His own sweetness.
Or, for instance, how precious He becomes when we have gone from family to friends, yes, even to strangers, in our heart trials and burdens looking for comfort, consolation and encouragement. After we have been turned away by ten thousand without help or hope, we hear His Father say,
Come ye, disconsolate, where e'er ye languish;
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded hearts, here ever learning;
Earth has no sorrow, that heaven cannot heal.
There before your eyes of faith, in all His high priestly compassion, standing at the Father's right hand to receive you, is the Fairest of ten thousand, and in the midnight and darkness of your experience bursts the bright and morning STAR.
It is in these times that we come to know Him as we have never known Him, and adore Him and hold Him by the feet and worship Him whose very Name fills heaven with praises (Song of Solomon 3:4). We are never more assured of His indwelling presence, as when we are made to walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).
Yes, beloved, only the needy ones, the poor in spirit, or as one translator gives it, the "cringing beggars," come to know Jesus better. Remember, that Laodicea is known by her riches and her need of nothing, not even Jesus! Only the naked are clothed . . . the hungry fed . . . the thirsty satisfied . . . the mourners comforted . . . only the seekers find . . . the knockers have Jesus, the door of heaven opened to them . . . only the dead are brought to life . . . only the broken and contrite in heart find a Lord who will not despise them.
Come, beloved, if your life is filled with trouble, it may be the doing of the Father to work in you a deep need that He will in turn fill and satisfy with the precious person of His SON! Lay this to your hearts: we are never as close to the wounded Lamb of Heaven as when the nail-pierced hand is pressed hard upon our hearts and lives. Learn then, my brethren, to look at all pressure, trouble, affliction and trial through that wounded hand, and heaven's peace and Jesus' joy will purge your sorrows.
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PSALM 2
I. MAN'S IMAGINATION 1-3
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
Mankind in general imagines a vain thing: that they can get along all right without God. They connive and scheme together how they might break out of the bounds God has set for them. Just as He has set a boundary for the seas, saying, This far and no farther, so He has set bounds for His creatures. One such bound is seen in Psalm 115:16 -- "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men."
However, man not satisfied with this arrangement, has from Babel to this present day been trying to rid himself of this restraint, wanting to invade God's domain. In the beginning God told man to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the EARTH, and subdue it: and have dominion over . . . the EARTH." But with this work not half done, man has grown starry-eyed and, with his new discoveries and inventions, has thrust himself into outer space, not very far out, to be sure, but with intentions of going the limit if he can. Ambitious intentions indeed! But what has God to say about all this?
II. GOD'S DETERMINATION 4-9
"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh . . . " Doesn't sound like God is much alarmed at man's aggressiveness. On the contrary, He is quite amused by man's puny efforts. " . . . the Lord shall have them in derision . . . " He did this to the united effort at the Tower of Babel. He so thoroughly confused them, they had to leave off building. He shall have them in derision again. One day He will say to our elaborate and united space effort, "This far and no farther!" Then will come tumbling down our towers of Babel. "Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure."
"Yet have I," says God the Father, "set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." King Jesus shall reign! "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou (Jesus) are my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." And what will King Jesus do with these whom He shall inherit and possess, who are determined to revolt against God? "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Some avow that God will not judge people for their rebellion. Do not be deceived. Judgment will fall in due time.
III. YOUR DECISION 10-12
"Be wise now therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear . . . " If you fear the Lord, you need fear nothing else. "And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. Love the Lord Jesus Christ. Show Him your love by obedience. He first loved you and gave Himself for you. "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."
O ye kings, crown Him King of your life. Ye judges, judge Him worthy of your love. Let all men everywhere put their trust in Him. You put your trust in Him. Eternally and blessedly happy are you if you do.
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SERMON SERIES
Romans 8
No. 16
GOD'S MASTER PLAN
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." -- Romans 8:29
OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS we have observed in the lives of certain Bible characters the principle of Romans 8:28 at work. God states emphatically "that all things work together for good to them that love God . . . " We have seen that this is indeed true. And we can testify to the same. Perhaps you, my reader, have likewise discovered the truth of this verse, and you can add your "Amen."
The last phrase of Romans 8:28 says of them that love God, that they "are the called according to his purpose." God has a purpose. He has a plan. His purpose and plan concerns us who love Him. We "who are the called according to his purpose" shall ultimately see and experience the fulfillment of His glorious purpose. Our intent in this present study is to discover what is this "purpose" of God for His children. Our text is verse 29 quoted above.
FOREKNOWLEDGE
"For whom he did foreknow . . . " God is omniscient. He is all-knowing. He knows the past, present, AND future. He knows perfectly what was, and is, and shall be. What happens tomorrow is no surprise to God. "He did foreknow." But more specifically, He foreknows not just events but people. The text says, "For WHOM he did foreknow."
Who did God foreknow? In general He foreknew all things and all people, but in particular He foreknew "them that love God . . . them who are the called according to his purpose." This staggers the imagination, and leaves us at a loss for explanation, and certainly raises many unanswerable questions. What shall we do then? Shall we cast aside God's eternal omniscience because we cannot fully comprehend? Perish the thought! We must believe what God has declared it. If He says "He did foreknow," then He DID foreknow.
I am thankful we have a God who knows the future. It is a mercy many times that we do not know the future, but what if our God did not know either? This is a characteristic of the heathen's false gods who neither see nor know. But ours is the true and living God of heaven and earth Who both sees and foresees, knows and foreknows. And precious thought -- He knows me. And, child of God, whoever you are or wherever you are, God knows you, having known you before ever you knew yourself.
PREDESTINATION
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate . . . " This word means "to appoint beforehand." Here again we must plead ignorance and inability to comprehend. God's thoughts are far above our thoughts. This becomes abundantly evident when we come to truths like the omniscience and sovereignty of God in the Scriptures. We are cast upon an ocean of divine truth with only a thimble of capacity to draw therefrom. What can we say? How can we explain? The best we can do is to state it as God states it and accept it in the same way. This is what we as believers to with all God's truth. That's why we are called "believers."
God says that "whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate." "Them that love God . . . who are the called -- he did foreknow, he also did predestinate." God appointed beforehand something concerning His own. He predetermined a certain thing for those who love Him. He called them "according to his purpose." What is that Divine purpose to which we as His blood-bought children are called?
CONFORMITY
Conformity is a good thing sometimes. Indeed we are not to be "conformed to this world." But we ARE "to be conformed to the image of his Son . . . " "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." This is God's highest purpose. This is His master plan. He purposed in eternity past that those who love Him, who are called out of the world to Himself by the Holy Spirit and through Christ, should finally and completely be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ His blessed and beloved Son.
Let's go back to "foreknowledge" and make an observation. What did God know about us? Did He foresee something in us that might commend us to Him? No, just the opposite. He knew we were the sons of Adam. Adam was first made in the image of God, holy within and righteous outwardly, walking in sweet fellowship daily with his Maker. But Adam fell -- fell into sin. The image was marred. It has been marred ever since. All of Adams descendants, including us, have inherited and perpetuated this sin-marred image.
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made in the likeness of men, and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Like Adam He was tempted of Satan to sin. But unlike Adam He refused the Deceiver's evil overtures. Throughout His lifetime He lived both inwardly holy and outwardly righteous. He knew no sin. He lived completely submissive to the perfect will of God.
The will of God eventually led Him up Mount Calvary. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. Afterwards He ascended back into glory. This is He of whom the Father spoke through Isaiah the prophet: "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased." And this is the One whose image God has predetermined to conform us to.
What was the image of this Man, the "last Adam?" His was the perfect image. He lived sinlessly and holily in this world. The first Adam marred the image by falling into sin; the "last Adam" portrayed the perfect image by living above and apart from sin. God was pleased with the latter Man; but wholly displeased with the former. Adam fell and caused the whole human race to fall, bringing death and destruction; Christ fell not and through His righteous life and sacrificial death bought and brought deliverance and eternal life to Adam's race.
This, then, is God's predetermined will for us who have been thus redeemed, that we be like His holy Son. It is His master plan to conform us to the image of His Son. And what God has purposed shall come to pass, without fail. What can we say to this? Oh, blessed condition! Oh, to be like Jesus! I am willing, aren't you? Are you not tired of your fitful attempts at holiness? Do you not long to be free, entirely free from sin and temptation? Does not your heart long to be like Him whom your soul loves? What a day that will be when the world, the flesh, and the devil are left far behind, and the only influence that tugs at our heart strings is His perfect holiness in the presence of God.
But, you say, that is in the future, what about now? If this is God's ultimate purpose for the believer, what does He purpose for us here and now on earth? And what part do we play in furthering this wonderful end of perfect holiness? We find the answer in Second Corinthians 3:18 -- "But we all with faces having been unveiled beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory (Gk.), even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (KJV).
Our part is the "beholding" -- beholding the Lord Jesus Christ in the sacred Scriptures. It is the Holy Spirit who does the changing -- making us like Christ. The trouble with most of us is that we try to do the Spirit's work. We recognize that we are not what we ought to be, that we should be more like the Master, so we set about in our own strength to right the situation. We try and try and try again to make ourselves different. But we find ourselves faltering, failing, and falling continually. What is wrong? We are trying to do what only the Spirit of God can do. He will do the changing, as we do the beholding.
We look too much at ourselves, beholding the shortcomings and decrying our inability to change. We must take our eyes off of self and set them on Christ. Do you want to be less sinful and more holy? Then look to Jesus. Keep looking unto Him. Look to Him more and more. Practice this holy art. See Him with the eye of faith. See Him magnificently portrayed on every page of the Bible. Pray God to reveal Him to you from the sacred Text. If you keep your spiritual sights on Jesus, if you remain faithful to this God-appointed task, then the Word is clear and the promise sure, your life will be changed accordingly and progressively into the same image "even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
We were born-again by the Spirit when by faith we first beheld Christ in the Scriptures. We are being changed into His likeness by the Spirit as we thus continue to behold Him. And this principle holds true to the end; the transformation will be complete when at last we behold our Lord face to face. "When He shall appear, we shall be LIKE Him, for we shall SEE Him as He is."
Christ Jesus is God's "firstborn among many brethren." In God the Father's estimation Christ is first. Where is He in our estimation? Does He have first place with you? May God help us to be constantly "looking unto Jesus" until that day when we no longer see Him as in a mirror dimly but in person and face to face.
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