Editorial
I BELIEVE
When was the last time you prayed? When did you last ask God for something in prayer? When did you last lift your voice in praise and thanksgiving to God? I suppose the answer to these questions would be that you have done so recently.
But have you ever told God in prayer that you believe what He has written and revealed in His Word the Bible? Have you ever told the Lord Jesus Christ that you believe what is written of Him in the Bible, and what He claims for Himself?
Of course if you do not believe, then you better not try this.
One morning recently as I entered my "prayer closet," this thought came to mind -- How often have I taken the time just simply to tell the Lord that I believe what the Bible affirms Him to be? So I began:
Lord, I believe Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Anointed of God, the Messiah of Israel, the King, in fact the King of kings and Lord of lords;
I believe Thou art the Saviour of the world, my Saviour; for this wast Thou born, for this didst Thou die;
I believe that Thou wert pre-existent, born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit, altogether holy, that Thou didst die as a sacrifice for our sins, rose bodily from the grave as the first-born from the dead, the first-fruits of resurrection, ascended bodily to the Father, and that Thou art coming again in like manner;
I believe Thou art God manifested in the flesh, God with us, one with the Father, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, Creator and Sustainer of the world, Lord of heaven and earth;
I believe Thou art the Son of Man, and wast tempted in all points like as we, yet without sin, that Thou didst suffer to bring us to God, that Thou art exalted as Man at the right hand of the Majesty on high, there to intercede on our behalf and to mediate our cause;
I believe Thou didst perform the miracles the Bible attributes to Thee, I believe ALL the Bible claims for Thee, ALL Thou dost claim for Thyself, I believe Thy words and works; Lord, I BELIEVE!!
I believe Thee, I believe in Thee, I submit to Thee, commit myself to Thee for time and eternity.
With all our asking, I can imagine the Lord likes to hear such a prayer of confession occasionally from our lips. Do you believe what the Bible says about Christ? Then will you not spend some time in your next private prayer session just telling Him so? It will refresh your heart, too.
Sincerely yours & HIS,
Art Gordon, Editor
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"The scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him (Jesus) shall not be put to shame." -- Romans 10:11
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The second in a series on
HIS CLOTHES
"ROBES OF CHARITY"
There were . . . women . . . who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him . . . " (Mark 15:40,41).
These women saw to the temporal needs of Christ and His disciples. Among other things they supplied them with clothing -- second-hand clothing, if you please! We sometimes call them "hand-me-downs."
Yes, Jesus wore the "robes of charity." He was poor, Paul says of Him, "Though he was rich, yet . . . he became poor." He was personally acquainted with poverty. His mother and step-father were poor. Poverty followed Him from the cradle to the grave. He lacked the bare necessities of life. "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests," declared He to a would-be follower, "but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
One day a young man approached Jesus with the question: "What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" Among other things, Jesus said, "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor . . . and come, follow me." The young man "was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions." "How hard is it," confided Jesus to His disciples later, "for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!"
What was Jesus asking this rich young man to do? He was asking him to turn his back on his earthly security and to come follow Himself, the poor Galilean, who wore second-hand clothes, without even a home to call His own. He was asking him to trust in the lowly Son of man rather than in riches. This man didn't know what it was to wear hand-me-downs, he owned a luxurious home and all that goes with it. To forsake this to follow the poor Teacher was too much. He preferred social security to eternal security. Earthly wealth was keeping him from inheriting eternal wealth.
God may not ask you to sell all you have to inherit eternal life, but He does ask you to turn your back on anything that keeps you from having eternal life. You must forsake everything in which you now trust, and trust only in the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter into the kingdom of God.
The young man preferred treasure on earth to treasure in Heaven. "Sell all that thou hast," said Jesus, "and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." This is the prospect set before each of us who follow Him. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."
Christ became poor that we might be eternally rich. He yielded His body to hand-me-downs that we might wear the robes of righteousness, salvation, and glory. He donned the humble clothes given Him by faithful friends that we might don the glorious robes of God's own making and giving.
Let us willingly identify ourselves with Him now, that we might be identified with Him later. Despise not His humble estate; He has long since been seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And this is the heritage of all who put their trust in Him.
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I am just a bondman and it is no honour to me that I do what my Master tells me to do. How beautifully the Lord puts Himself before us! He never works on negative lines; He does not simply hold up the mirror for me to look at and see what a wretched creature I am but He always displaces what I am by what He is. He shows me Himself; He displaces me and I love Him more than myself. I look at myself and see hideous deformity; I look at Him and see surpassing excellence, glory and perfection that exceed my power to compass. -- C. A. Coates
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The memory should be a cabinet full of Christ; the conscience a witness for Christ; the will the servant of Christ; the affections the throne of Christ; and the whole character a mirror of Christ. -- J. G. Paton
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SELF - DEVOTEDNESS
By Robert M. McCheyne
Edinburgh, Scotland
March 6, 1839
The most striking example of self-devotedness in the cause of Christ of which I ever heard in these days of deadness, was told here last week by an English minister. I will relate it to you, just as I heard it, to stir up our cold hearts, that we may give ourselves to the Lord.
The awful disease of leprosy still exists in Africa. Whether it be the same leprosy as that mentioned in the Bible, I do not know, but it is regarded as incurable, and so infectious that no one dares to come near the leper. In the south of Africa, there is a large lazarhouse for lepers. It is an immense space, enclosed by a very high wall, and containing fields, which the lepers cultivate.
There is only one entrance, which is strictly guarded. Whenever anyone is found with the marks of leprosy upon him, he is brought to this gate and obliged to enter in, never to return. No one who enters in by that awful gate is ever allowed to come out again.
Within this abode of misery there are multitudes of lepers in all stages of the disease. Dr. Halbeck, a missionary of the Church of England, from the top of a neighboring hill, saw them at work. He noticed two particularly sowing peas in the field. The one had no hands, the other had no feet -- these members being wasted away by disease.
The one who wanted the hands was carrying the other who wanted the feet, upon his back, and he again carried in his hands the bag of seed, and dropped a pea every now and then, which the other pressed into the ground with his feet; and so they managed the work of one man between the two. Ah! how little we know of the misery that is in the world! Such is this prison house of disease.
But you will ask, who cares for the souls of the hapless inmates? Who will venture to enter in at this dreadful gate, never to return again? Who will forsake father and mother, houses and land, to carry the message of a Saviour to these poor lepers? Two Moravian missionaries, impelled by a divine love for souls, have chosen the lazarhouse as their field of labor. They entered it never to come out again; and I am told that as soon as these die, other Moravians are quite ready to fill their place.
Ah! my dear friends, may we not blush, and be ashamed before God, that we, redeemed with the same blood, and taught by the same Spirit, should yet be so unlike these men in vehement, heart-consuming love to Jesus and the souls of men?
(From Memoirs of McCheyne, Moody Press, Chicago IL.)
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Jesus grants that the curse is fully merited and that it must be fully borne. Let it, then, all descend, He cries, but not on the poor sinner; I offer myself, as substitute, to endure the whole; and upon Him the whole is poured. He is made a curse for us. The sword of vengeance to the very hilt is sheathed in His breast. The last dreg of wrath is drained by Him. Not one drop remains for those whom He represents. Thus He takes all the curse out of the hands of God, and stands the one Blessing for the world. -- Things Concerning Himself
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Christ is the treasure of the field of Scripture. If you win Him, you are rich and wise for ever. If you win Him not, all other wealth is penury; all other knowledge is a brilliant folly. -- Things Concerning Himself
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The second in a series on
HIS NAMES
"JEHOVAH-SABAOTH"
When has there been in the history of mankind such a troublous time as at the present? If there was ever a time when the words of the Psalmist -- "the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved" -- were literally carried out, certainly it is today.
The mad race is on to conquer space. Why conquer space? The better to conquer the earth. "Wars and rumors of wars" is the order of the day. With all the talk of peace, the world has never been more threatened by devastating destruction.
Where does this frightening situation leave us? For the Christian it leaves us just where we have always been: under the protection of our God. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Psalm 46:1,7).
"The LORD of hosts" is the translation of "Jehovah Sabaoth." This is the name in manifestation of God's power. God is omnipotent, all-powerful. He is this for us against our enemies. And He is with us.
So what is it, oh child of God, that threatens your peace? An enemy from without? within? Is it Satan perhaps, the god of this world? or some besetting sin? or maybe that monster called slothfulness? or perhaps it is what John Bunyan calls "the Slough of Despond."
Satan is our arch enemy. He is vowed to do us harm. He is stronger than we. He will have us groveling in the dust if he can. And this would surely be our present condition were it not for the fact that "greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." "The LORD of hosts" has dealt the death blow to the enemy of our soul. And He fights for us daily till this evil monarch is finally "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone . . . and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
Sin is our enemy. It would slay us as non-Christians; it would defeat us as Christians. As long as the earth is our abode, this ever-present evil will dog our steps. It would master us were it not for Jehovah Sabaoth. "Sin shall NOT have dominion over you." "Who shall deliver?" "Jesus Christ our LORD!" Not lord Sin, but Lord Jesus.
Slothfulness is our enemy. Who is not threatened by its subtle workings? Eat, drink, and be merry; take thine ease: is too often the lazy attitude of the Church while the world plunges to destruction. We have pretty much become -- especially U. S. Christianity -- a bunch (for lack of a better word) of sluggish idlers, trifling with trivial trinkets. This should not be; it need not be; the enemy Slothfulness need not best us. Our God is the Warrior God; His Church, the Church Militant. He is ever the One riding "forth conquering, and to conquer." The Same is with us.
The Slough of Despond is our enemy. We tumble head-long into it without the slightest warning. Before we know what happened we are up to our neck in the muck and mire of fears, doubts, and discouraging apprehensions. How often have you found yourself therein? This seems to especially afflict the already-afflicted. We struggle to get free but only sink deeper. Despondency sweeps over us like a thick cloud. We reach the end of our resources and cry out in desperation to our God. He is nearby. He hears. He comes to our rescue.
"I beheld . . . that a man came to him (Christian) whose name was Help, and asked him what he did there. 'Sir,' said Christian, 'Fear followed me so hard, that I fled . . . and fell in.' Then said Help, 'Give me thine hand.' So he gave him his hand, and he drew him out, and set him upon sound ground, and bid him go on his way." (Pilgrim's Progress).
Are you presently caught in this Slough of Despond? Know this, that One has been sent alongside you to help. You cannot lift yourself out, you cannot by your own ingenuity beat this tenacious enemy which holds you. But be assured Jehovah Sabaoth will lift you out. He will defeat for you this foe. Give Him your hand. Let Him draw you out, and set you upon firm ground. Cease your struggling and give yourself to His strong arm. He wants you to rely upon Him, to cast yourself upon His strength. He wants "to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him."
Joshua had this to learn before Israel's military campaign against the enemy stronghold Jericho. Joshua saw a stranger on the beach west of the Jordan River, who stood "over against him with his sword drawn in his hand." He questioned the stranger: "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" The man's answer startled Joshua: "Nay, but as Captain of the host of the LORD am I now come."
"And the Captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." No wonder Joshua "fell on his face to the earth, and did worship."
Joshua learned that there was another Joshua (which means: Jehovah is salvation) nearby. Jesus is the Greek equivalent of Joshua, or Jehovah is salvation, and He was so named "for he shall save his people from their sins." Joshua met Jesus that day on the beach. And he bowed to His leadership. Joshua had thought he was Captain, but found that there was present One greater than he. Israel went forward in the strength of the Lord to conquer the enemy.
The Captain of our salvation is with us today. All power is His in heaven and in earth. He commands us "Go!" "And, lo, I am with you alway." He promises, "even unto the end of the age." Is there an enemy in the way? Take courage. "The LORD of hosts is with us." Yield to His leadership. The victory is assured.
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OUR PATTERN
By H. M. Hooke
Being pardoned and having peace with God, I now need a pattern to walk by as I go through this world on my way to glory; and the same blessed Person through whom I have pardon and peace becomes my pattern. "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps" (I Peter 2:21); "he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (I John 2:6). We become more and more like what we are occupied with. If we are occupied with the world, we become worldly; if with ourselves, selfish -- but being occupied with Christ, we become Christ-like.
When I went to school I had a copy set before me to write; being desirous of pleasing, I endeavoured to copy the headline exactly: on looking at it my schoolmaster praised me for the first line, but found fault with the lines which followed, as each one was more unlike the headline. I assured him that I had done my best, when he kindly pointed out the secret of my failure; my first line was well written because I had kept my eye steadfastly on the headline, which I failed to do in writing the second and following lines, and thus my copy grew worse and worse. Since I have been converted I have profited by my school lesson and have endeavoured to keep my eye on the headline -- CHRIST.
"Oh! fix our earnest gaze
So wholly, Lord, on Thee,
That with Thy beauty occupied,
We elsewhere none may see."
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GUEST SERMON
THE FAITHFUL GOD
(Part 1)
Rev. Herbert L. Roush
"Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God,
the faithful God . . . " (Deuteronomy 7:9a)
"Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."
(I Thessalonians 5:24)
The testimony of the writers of the Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments abound with a single theme: the faithfulness of God. No time is wasted in dwelling on the unfaithfulness of man, for every believer is well aware of the deceitful and desperately wicked heart within; and when walking under its influence and dragging its heavy chains of unbelief, his only hope is in the faithfulness of God.
We are also defeated by a morbid introspection of the heart and mourning over our unbelief, our failure and sin, when the source of victory is not to be found in our hope of perfect obedience, but in the perfect faithfulness of God to us. We seem to forget that if we should succeed in doing all those things commanded us, an honest heart would still force us to say, "We are unprofitable servants . . . "
Therefore, this message will be of no profit to those who are satisfied with their own steadfastness and fascinated with their own faithfulness; but it will gender hope to the soul who languishes in his lethargy, and will, by the grace of God, move him in all his ways.
When the heart is painfully aware of its own unworthiness and filled with doubt that God will hear and undertake in its deepest trial, doctrine cannot afford the heart the rest it desires and longs for. This is the time for testimony. Testimony of past experiences, when time after time God brought delivering grace into the midst of impossible circumstances in our lives.
It was the remembrance of God's great faithfulness that brought courage to the heart of Jeremiah when his strength and hope had perished from the Lord. It was the constant rehearsal of God's past faithfulness to Israel that caused the Psalmist to walk once more in the light of His countenance. If the disciples had considered the miracle of the loaves, their hearts would not have been hardened by fearful unbelief in the midst of the contrary winds that threatened to destroy them.
Remember, it was the faithful God who first revealed Christ to you when you were dead in trespasses and sins and on your way to eternity in hell (Matthew 16:17); and it is by His continued faithfulness that He will meet your every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, and faithfully perform the work of grace He has begun in you until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 4:19; 1:6).
GOD'S FAITHFULNESS IN OUR MATERIAL NEEDS
"And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Luke 12:29-31).
The believer's needs are not all of a spiritual nature, nor are they entirely material. Being both body and soul, there are many 'things' of this present life necessary to his welfare. In these 'things' our Father delights to show His great faithfulness; and, strange as it may seem, I have found that He especially delights in doing exceeding abundantly above all that I have asked or thought at the height of my own unfaithfulness to Him. He does this to ever remind me that every good and perfect gift comes from Him and that it comes by the purest grace, not depending upon my works or faith.
I see this in Elijah, who slept under his juniper tree in unbelief and fearful defeat; yet, the faithful God would not let him go hungry because of his unfaithfulness, but sent an angel to bake him a cake and set a cruse of water at his head. So abundant was the supply of his physical needs, that Elijah went 40 days and nights in the strength of that ministry.
This was not the first experience of this nature for the prophet; for the faithful God sent His ravens morning and evening throughout the long exile at the brook Cherith with bread and flesh for His hungry servant. When the brook went dry, God faithfully commanded a widow to take the last handful of meal in her barrel and the little oil remaining in her cruse and bake Elijah a cake. This she did, wondering where the next meal for her and her son would come from, only to find the hand of the faithful God upon the barrel and cruse so that they failed not.
Elijah's life was one long testimony of the faithfulness of God to meet every material and spiritual need for His own name's sake; and when the prophet was old and tired, God picked him up at Jordan and gave him free transportation to heaven by a whirlwind. (II Kings 2:11).
Elisha caught his mantle, stood on Jordan's banks, and called upon the faithful God to meet him in his need. The waters parted at the touch of the mantle; and crossing over he soon found all 'things' provided by grace; for, a great woman was constrained to feed him and prepare a special chamber that he might have a place of rest. (II Kings 4:8-11).
Israel wondered 40 years in the wilderness of Sin because of unbelief; yet the faithful God fed them, and cared for them, and caused neither their clothes nor shoes to wax old. (Deuteronomy 29:5).
When a widow couldn't pay her dead husband's debts, and his creditors threatened to take her sons as bondmen, the faithful God caused a pot of oil in her house to multiply until all her neighbor's vessels were filled. So gracious was the supply of her material needs that she sold the oil, paid her just debts, and there was still enough left over to keep her and her children. (II Kings 4:1-7).
When Paul was enroute to Rome and his ship was wrecked in a fierce storm, he found himself stranded on the island of Melita among barbarous people, without provision or help. The faithful God prevailed upon these heathen to show him no little kindness, kindle a fire to warm him and receive him into their homes. When he left, weeks later, they honored him with many honors and laded him with all necessary things for his journey. (Acts 28:1-10).
When 5,000 hungry folk found that the day was far spent and they had been too interested in the Word of God to think about food, the Lord Jesus took a little boy's lunch, blessed and broke it into enough for the multitude and 12 baskets of left-overs. (John 6:1-13).
When Peter couldn't pay his taxes, due to lack of funds, the Lord Jesus Christ provided a coin in the mouth of a fish swimming in the sea and caught by Peter's hook. (Matthew 17:27).
So faithful is God in providing every need of His own people that He remembers to clothe the lilies, and Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them. He feeds the ravens who never sow, reap, or build storehouses; and He never forgets a single sparrow that falls to earth.
It would require a large volume for the personal testimony of this writer alone to record the faithfulness of God in meeting the material needs of a large family; but truly I can say, "Amen," to David when he testified: "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." (Psalm 37:25).
GOD'S FAITHFULNESS IN OUR SPIRITUAL NEEDS
"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: to shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night." (Psalm 92:1,2).
When the believer is walking in the sunshine of fellowship with the Lord, his heart is filled with praise for His loving kindness; but it requires for deepening shadows of the night experiences to magnify His exceeding great faithfulness to us. Gethsemane and Calvary's long night were necessary before the faithfulness of God in resurrection could be seen. Only in the long nights of suffering, sin, and unbelief in our lives, is the faithfulness of God made clear to our poor hearts, and we learn that "God giveth songs in the night." Consider then:
IN OUR SUFFERINGS
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (I Corinthians 10:13).
Paul must have felt that he had more than he could bear when God allowed a messenger of Satan to buffet him. When this thorn cut deeply in his flesh, he cried three times in prayer to God for deliverance; but God did not remove the thorn, but revealed to Paul the way of escape He had made. This escape from the unbearable circumstances of his suffering was through the all-sufficient grace of God. By this means, God, in faithfulness to Paul, made the strength of the Lord Jesus perfect in him, filled his heart with pleasure and glory, kept him from being exalted above measure, and caused the power of Christ to rest upon him. Surely he could say with the Psalmist, " . . . thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." (Psalm 119:75).
Joseph must have often thought his troubles were unbearable, when first he was rejected of his brethren, put in the place of death in the pit, sold into slavery in a strange land far away from home and loved ones, only to be falsely accused by his employer's wife and cast into prison as a common criminal. How heavy his chains were, and how much heavier must his heart have been, as he sat in the gloom of that prison with no hope for the future. But witness the faithfulness of God in the life of Joseph. It was his contact with the butler, made while in prison, that placed him on the throne of Egypt and eventually restored him to the arms of his father and brethren.
Jacob surely must have considered his cup too bitter to drink, when the bloody garment of his beloved son was offered as mute evidence of Joseph's tragic death. The Scriptures record how he refused to be comforted and vowed to go down to his grave in mourning for his son, as he rent his clothes, put sackcloth upon his loins and bitterly wept under the temptation that had taken him, that was more than he could bear.
No escape was to be seen in the sore famine that next came into his land and threatened his life and the lives of his sons. In desperation he sent his sons into Egypt to buy corn, only to have his sorrows multiplied by Simeon's imprisonment and the demand for Benjamin to be brought to Egypt. Jacob wept that he would be brought gray haired to his grave with sorrow. It was not until the daybreak of Jacob's long night of trouble that the shadows fled away and he saw that the hand of his faithful God had overruled it all for His glory and Jacob's good.
In all of his sufferings, God was faithfully bringing Jacob to the glorified son on the throne, who was the source of all nourishment and life.
Oh, dear reader, hear now this testimony of God's faithfulness, and know that if the cup of your suffering seems to be more than you can bear at this moment, it is because God is driving you to the blessed Son on His throne, who wants to nourish you and give you of His life.
(Concluded next month)
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