An Everlasting Kingdom

Today we have another selection from Day By Day By Grace by Bob Hoekstra.    It behooves us all to remember that God promises an everlasting kingdom.

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And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever . . . And now, O LORD God, You are God, and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant. (2Samuel 7:16, 2Samuel 7:28)

These opening words are promises from the Lord to David. They made certain an everlasting kingdom for David’s line. These closing words are David’s response to God’s promises. They make clear how we should respond to the promises of God.
The kingdoms of man come and go. The kingdom that God establishes for His people is forever. This kingdom is made available to man by the promises of God. The Lord ordained that King David would have a key role in this plan. “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” It would be through David that the promised Messiah would come. This divine King would sit upon David’s throne in a rule that would have no end. “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
When the angel was announcing to Mary the conception of the Messiah, these promises were reiterated. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33). These promises will be eternally fulfilled some day. “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’ ” (Revelation 11:15).
Ultimately, this is the kingdom Jesus offered when He walked upon this earth. “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ ” (Matthew 4:17). For all who would respond in faith like David (“Your words are true“), a place would be given in that everlasting kingdom!

Prayer
Eternal God, I believe Your words are true. I have repented of my sins and have turned to Jesus as my Savior and my King. I praise Your holy name for giving me a place in the everlasting kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

God’s Promise to Deliver Israel

Today’s devotional comes from Day By Day By Grace by Bob Hoekstra and was again moved  by how God works to speak to His people.  I read this right after publishing my post on salvation I AM… a while ago.  It just further affirms all I was saying.

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I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt . . . I will certainly be with you . . . I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt . . . to a land flowing with milk and honey . . . So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. (Exodus 3:10, 12, 17, 20)

Again, we see our God of promises pouring out His guaranteed plans like a cascading river. They encompass God’s promise to deliver Israel. These promises build upon God’s fundamental commitment to Abraham to call out a people for His own glory and purposes. The central promise reveals the rescuing heart of God, who wants to deliver people from bondage, and bring them into blessing. “I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt . . . to a land flowing with milk and honey.“

Our God is a God of compassion. When Israel was in cruel bondage in Egypt, God’s heart was moved with concern. “And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows’ ” (Exodus 3:7). The prophet Isaiah put it this way: “In all their affliction He was afflicted” (Isaiah 63:9). Thus, the Lord committed Himself to deliver them. “So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.”
When the Lord Jesus walked upon this earth, He demonstrated the same compassion. “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36). This same loving compassion led Jesus all the way to the cross to deliver us from the bondage of sin.
The delivering work of God for Israel was not only from bondage; it was to substantial blessing: “to a land flowing with milk and honey.” Israel was not only rescued from great heartache, but they were brought into a joyous bounty. When Joshua and Caleb saw the land, they described it as “an exceedingly good land” (Numbers 14:7). This same pattern (from bondage, to blessing) is how Jesus works on our behalf. He delivers us from spiritual death to fullness of life. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Dear Lord, my deliverer, I praise You for rescuing me from the bondage of sin. I rejoice that You have brought me into the richness of fellowship with You. What a gracious plan You have provided—to make all of this available by means of Your faithful promises!

I AM…

God’s ways never cease to amaze me.  The way He works revealing Himself to those who seek Him, it is incredible.  For example during my Scripture study time this morning I increasing felt His presence as I came to know Him more.  Everything lined up and fit together perfectly even though I am currently all over the place, in three seemingly random books and chapters but all three seemed to come together beautifully this morning.  I began in Exodus chapters 1-10 where verse 3:14 caught my attention:

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.  Exodus 3:14

This phrase was echoed and clarified as being Jesus speaking to Moses in the following verses from my passage in Mark:

But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I AM: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.  Mark 14:61-62

The priests were enraged when Jesus made that statement for they knew He was declaring He is God, and the Son.  They knew the statement in Exodus but failed or refused to see the truth that both were spoken by the same I AM!  They were blinded by their denial, much as the fool from my Psalms reading today.

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.  Psalms 53:1

While the priests did not outright deny God openly by rejecting Him in the form of His Son they were denying Him and the Jews continue to do so to this day.  When we deny Christ we deny God for:

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.  John 14:10

Which brings me to the final chapter from  my study time, the Gospel of Mark, and seeing myself in Peter.  Peter so desperate to be a disciple, to follow where the Shepherd would lead, as we see earlier in the chapter.

But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.  Mark 14:29-31

Peter meant well, truly seemed to believe what he was promising but as we see in just a short while doubt and fear are beginning to take root, to show their ugly effects in his life when Jesus is asking Peter, John and James to keep watch while he goes over yonder to pray alone.

And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.  Mark 14:34

Well we all know how that went, they were watching with their eyes closed if you know what I mean.  All three were asleep when Jesus returned after praying fervently (I mean really fervently, he was sweating blood he was praying so hard!)  and He exhorts them with the following:

And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, “Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?”  Mark 14:37

Jesus only calls out Peter by name here, although all were sleeping.  I can only wonder if this was a gentle encouragement to poor Peter who was about to know the full weight of guilt and remorse as he openly rejects his Lord three times and ultimately plays a large hand in sentencing Jesus to die.  We’ll come back to that though in just a minute, first I want to look at the next words our Savior spoke.

Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.  Mark 14:38

Jesus tells them all but Peter in particular to be watchful and prayerful to avoid temptation for He knows that fear is a temptation that causes us to follow the weakness of the flesh as we see all the disciples do as Jesus is betrayed and arrested to be brought before the council and tried.  But both John and Peter remember the words of Jesus and struggle against the weak flesh and follow Jesus to the palace of the high priest for the rest of this story.

For you see back in the those days the Jewish tradition was that an accused man only needed to witnesses to testify to his innocence and he would be set free.  John follows Jesus into before the counsel in order to be a witness on behalf of Jesus, he defeated his flesh and his spirit overcame which we see in the following passage in John.

And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples? He saith, I am not.  John 18:15-17

We also see that Peter wasn’t as victorious as the passage ends with his first denial.  He allowed his fear for his life, of being arrested and tried alongside Jesus to overpower him, sin and temptation caused him to reject and deny his Savior which actually gives him a role in Jesus’ conviction because had he joined John in standing for Jesus it may have played out differently.  At least that is what Peter thinks after he denies Jesus two more times and realizes that the Son of God was exactly correct when He said Peter would deny Him tee times before the cock crowed twice.  That’s a pretty specific prophecy, by the way, that just further helped prove Jesus is who He says HE is.  He is the great I AM.

And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest: And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew. And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.
Mark 14:66-71

For we see that he weeps bitterly when he realizes the level of his depravity and the consequences thereof.

And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept bitterly  Mark 14:72 &  Matthew 26:75

I weep bitterly when I realize I am no better than Peter, I too once rejected and denied my sweet Savior, my Lord.  I allowed my weak flesh to control me, sin and temptation leading me down the wide pathway that leads to death and destruction.  But just like Peter there was a moment when it all came crystal clear and I realized the folly of my actions, what a fool I was denying God, throwing away the free gift of salvation with both hands.  When Jesus finally got through to me I wept bitterly and cried out to be forgiven for my sins, for my rejection, for my role in hanging Him on that tree.  Just like Peter instead of continuing to reject God I rejected my sin, repented of it and turned from it, instead clinging to the cross of Christ, the only hope of salvation, of forgiveness. Just as Peter repented and went on to do the Lord’s will for the rest of his life, even unto death as he was martyred for his faith, so to do I carry my cross as I do the Lord’s will for my life.

 

Praise God He is merciful and grace is a free gift to all who call upon the name of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, who believe in there heart He is who HE says, the great I AM.  And he forgives us, he accepts us when we are sincere in our repentance, when we are true and lay our lives down to pick up our crosses; as we begin to follow the Light of the world, the Savior of the world, Jesus.

 

I want to petition any of you who may be reading this who have not already picked up your cross, already sought earnestly forgiveness for your sins which put the Lord on that cross and held Him there, to please do so.  Please do not wait any longer, no one knows what the next minute may bring, you might meet your maker soon, do not delay making this decision with such important, eternal consequences until it is too late.  You do not want to die, or miss the rapture of the church of true believers, because you let the spirit in you be overruled by your weak flesh and it’s love of sin, securing your fate for eternity separated from God, doomed instead to an eternity in the lake of fire reserved for those who deny and reject the saving grace of God.  See, He is a loving God and he offers us the choice, we get to choose and He makes the consequences of that choice very clear.   Either you call upon Jesus to save you and restore you to right with God, to pay the price for your sins thereby ensuring that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life or you spend eternity separated from Him in the lake of fire.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:15

If you want to make the choice for life but need to know more, have questions, etc. then please comment below or email me at aR3volut1on@outlook.com, I will go through the Scriptures with you, answer any questions you may have, pray for and with you.  God loves you so very much and He wants to accept you into the family, to come into your heart and change it make it new, give you the gift of grace, eternal life with your Savior.

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If you already my brother or sister in Christ then please be busy about the Father’s work, leading souls to the cross, growing the kingdom before time is up.  Everyday we see that time is growing short, prophecies are being fulfilled everyday and very soon Jesus will be returning for his church, his bride.  I want to see you all up in the sky on that glorious day, I look forward with great anticipation to our Lord’s return for us soon, and as I look up and watch for it I am also about His work, about showing others that He is the only true Light of the world, the only true King, the Lord, and the only hope for a lost and dying world.  He is the Shepherd, my Savior.

As always my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, may God bless and keep you in His perfect peace and love always.

Herein Is Love

I began a study on Revelation and among the many insights and truths mentioned in it at the closing of today’s Introductory lesson the pastor mentioned a verse from 1 John that had my heart exalting with praise for our Father, that we serve such a loving and merciful God.

I talk a lot about His love for us but it just completely amazes me the lengths He has gone to in showing us just how very much!  I mean think about it, the God of the universe, the Creator became a man here on earth in the form of His most precious Son who then suffered arrest and persecution, torture, humiliation and ultimately crucifixion and death as the sacrifice to pay the debt for our sins.  He became sin for Me!  That is love people, unimaginable love!  But it didn’t end there for once He was in the tomb He conquered death completely, rising as the first fruits of the resurrection on the third day, thereby assuring all who believe on Him in their hearts and confess so with their mouths that they also will share in the same glorious hope.

It is a result of that undeniable, unimaginable, unstoppable love in which we have our only true hope, Jesus Christ the Son of God, Light of the World, Savior of men’s souls.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  1 John 4:10

I pray that you already know this, that you have already cried out to the Lord to save you, to allow you to accept that gift He gave so freely so lovingly.  But if not then please do not let another night pass without doing so.   It is not God’s will that any should perish but if  a man dies without securing his soul eternally in the arms of the Savior that is exactly what will happen, he will perish cut off forever from the eternal, matchless love of the one who created him.

God is a holy and just God who created us to love and be loved, He created us to have a relationship with us, He wants to be our Father but when we reject Him by continuing to choose sin and the world over the eternal joys of serving and honoring our Father then we are like small children throwing away with both hands the very thing we most need and want.  We all sin, every single one of us, and according to God’s law we are all guilty.  That means we owe a debt just as a thief in a court would, a fine so to speak.   The Bible tells us what that fine is… death.  That’s a steep price to pay, but there’s some beautifully great news.

That debt was already paid 2,000 years ago when Jesus, God’s only begotten son, suffered and died on the cross at Calvary to pay it for you and me and every one.  He died that we might live, but you have to ask Him to be covered by His sacrifice.  You have to repent of your sins, turn from them, and ask Him to accept you, to come in and dwell in your heart changing you making you a new person. and saving you from eternal damnation separated from Him, separated from God.  It is that simple and that hard.  Repentance is hard, we don’t like admitting we are sinners, but we are.  Turning from that sin is harder because Satan makes that sin look so very good, feel so very good.  But sin is like drinking small amounts of poison everyday and letting it build and build in us till it destroys us completely.  Sin is death, love is life.  God loves you, Jesus died for you, what are you going to choice?

 

 

The Two Petitions of the Prodigal

Yet again the Devotional Sermons of George H. Morrison has hit home.  Speaking on the Prodigal  has feed my soul with the meat it needed.   Sometimes it is hard to stand against the world, to not say give me, but instead to cry out from the heart with utter desperation “Father, make me!”  When our focus is not on our Father and His will but instead on the world and it’s meaningless desires, mere baubles and shinies to distract us from the true glory and riches found when we submit to our Lord completely, crying out “Thy will not mine.  Father, make me.”

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And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.  Luke 15:11-12

Father, Give Me
I wonder if my readers ever noticed that the prodigal made two petitions to his father. The first was: “Father, give me.” “Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.” The son was growing weary of the home. He felt acutely that he was missing things. The world was big, and the days were going by, and he was young, and he was missing things. It is always bitter, when the heart is young, and the world is rich in visions and in voices, to dwell remote, and feel that one is missing things. The fatal mistake the prodigal made was this—he thought that all that he wanted was far off. He thought that the appeasing of his restlessness lay somewhere over the hills and far away. He was destined to learn better by and by; meantime he must have every penny for his journey, and he came to his father and said, “Father, give me.” Mark you, there is no asking of advice. There is no consulting of the father’s wishes. There is no effort to learn the father’s will in regard to the disposition of the patrimony. It is the selfish cry of thoughtless youth, claiming its own to use just as it will: “Father, give me what is mine.”

Father, Make Me
So he got his portion and departed, and we all know the tragic consequences, not less tragic because the lamps are bright, and the wine sparkling, and the faces beautiful. The prodigal tried to feed his soul on sense; and the Lord, in that grim way of His, changes the cups, the music, and the laughter into the beastly routing of the swine. Then the prodigal came to himself. Memories of home began to waken. He lay in his shed thinking of his father. Prayers unbidden rose within his heart. And now his petition was not “Father, give me.” He had got all he asked, and he was miserable. His one impassioned cry was, “Father, make me.” “Father, make me anything you please. Make me a hired servant if you want to. I have no will but yours now. I am an ignorant child and you are wise.” Taught by life, disciplined by sorrow, scourged by the biting lash of his own folly, insistence passed into submission. Once he knew no will but his own will. He must have it, or he would hate his father. Once the only proof of love at home was the getting of the thing that he demanded. But now, “Father, I leave it all to thee. Thou art wise; I have been very foolish. Make me—anything thou pleasest.”

Insisting on Nothing, He Got Everything
And surely it is very noteworthy that it was then he got the best. He never knew the riches in the home till he learned to leave things to his father. When he offered his first petition, “Father, give me,” the story tells us that he got the money. He got it, and he spent it; in a year he was in rags and beggary. But when the second petition, “Father, make me,” welled up like a tide out of the deeps, he got more than he had ever dreamed. “Bring forth the best robe and put it on him.” He got the garment of the honored guest. “Bring shoes and put them on his feet, and a ring and put it on his finger.” All that was best and choicest in the house, the laid-up riches of his father’s treasuries were lavished now on the dusty, ragged child. Insisting on nothing, he got everything. Demanding nothing, he got the choicest gifts. Willing to be whatever his father wanted, there was nothing in the house too good for him. The ring, the robe, the music and the dancing, the vision of what a father’s love could be, came when the passionate crying of his heart was, “Father, make me“—anything thou pleasest.
I think that is the way the soul advances when it is following on to know the Lord. Deepening prayers tell of deepening life. Not for one moment do I suggest that asking is not a part of prayer. “Ask, and it shall be given you.” “Give us this day our daily bread.” I only mean that as experience deepens we grow less eager about our own will, and far more eager to have no will but His. Disciplined by failure and success, we come to feel how ignorant we are. We have cried “Give,” and He has given, but sent leanness to our soul (Psalms 106:15). And all the time we were being trained and taught, for God teaches by husks as well as prophets, to offer the deep petition, “Father, make me.” He gives, and we bless the Giver. He withholds, and we do not doubt His love. We leave all that to Him who knows us, and who sees the end from the beginning. Like the prodigal, we learn a wiser prayer than the fierce insistence of our youth. It is, “Father, make me“—whatso’er Thou pleasest.

Christ’s Prayer
Might I not suggest that this was peculiarly the prayer of the Savior? The deepest passion of the Savior’s heart rings out in the petition, “Father, make Me.” Not “Father give Me bread, for I am hungry; give Me angels, for I stand in peril.” Had He prayed for angels in that hour of peril, He tells us they would have instantly appeared. But, “Father, though there be scorn and shame in it, and agony, and the bitterness of Calvary, Thy will be done; make Me what Thou wilt.” How gloriously that prayer was answered, even though the answer was a cross! God made Him (as Dr. Moffatt puts it) our wisdom, that is our righteousness and consecration and redemption. Leave, then, the giving in His hands. He will give that which is good. With the prodigal, and the Savior of the prodigal, let the soul’s cry be, “Father, make me.”

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Beloved brothers and sisters I pray that your heart joins mine in crying out continually “Father, make me.”  As always may the Lord bless and keep you always.

The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin

I am growing increasing fond of George H. Morrison’s Devotional Sermons.  Each day it’s such a blessing to read them, as they always speak to an issue I am dealing with or that is immediately relevant to y life that day.  Today’s was no exception.  These parables give us such insight into the heart of our Savior, that each individual soul is that important to Him.  Your soul, my soul, every soul! What a love He has in His heart for each of us to seek after us when we were the wandering sheep.  What joy and security we can having knowing how loved we are.  And being so loved once we sheep are found we are like the coin the woman searched for.  We are useful at last in the role we were created for.  When we serve our Lord the service is sweet, the work is not always fun, easy or enjoyable but the result of diligently working to serve the Lord is always worth the cost.  Even if that cost is the highest one we have to offer, our very lives.  For it is only our earthly life, this dusk husk which will then set our souls free to return home to the Son to the Father, a wandering pilgrim no more.

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What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? Luke 15:4-8

“There Is Something Astonishing in the Christian Religion”
In the Catacombs at Rome there is no more familiar painting than that of the Good Shepherd with the straying sheep. Sometimes the other sheep are at His feet, gazing up at Him and at His burden; sometimes He is portrayed as sitting down, wearied with His long and painful journey; but always there is a great gladness in the picture, for the painter had felt, in all its morning freshness, the wonder of the seeking love of God. I trust we shall never lose that sense of wonder. “Let men say what they will,” wrote Pascal, “I must avow there is something astonishing in the Christian religion.” And there is nothing in it more astonishing than this, that God should have come to seek and save the lost. It is that glad news which lights up all our lesson. It is that truth which, like some strain of unexpected music, makes these two parables a joy forever. We shall never know, till all the books are opened, how much sinful and despairing men have owed to the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin.

He Seeks Them One by One
Now as we read these two parables together, one of the first things to arrest us powerfully is the worth of single souls. It was one sheep the shepherd went to find. It was for one coin the woman searched the house. If a score, say, of the flock had gone missing, we could better understand the shepherd’s action. And we might excuse the bustle and the dust if five of the ten coins had rolled away. The strange thing is that with ninety and nine sheep safe, the shepherd should break his heart about the one. The wonder is that for one little coin there should be such a hunt and such a happiness. It speaks to us of the worth of single souls. It tells us of the great concern of God for the recovery of individual men. We are all separated out, and separately loved, by Him who counteth the number of the stars. I have looked sometimes at the lights of a great city, and tried to distinguish one lamp here and there; and I have thought what a perfect knowledge that would be, if a man could discriminate each separate light. But God distinguishes each separate heart. He knows and loves and seeks them one by one. And I can never feel lost in the totality, when I have mastered the chapter for today. I am not one of many with the Master. With Him, souls are not reckoned by the score. I stand alone. He has a hundred sheep to tend, I know it; yet somehow all His heart is given to me.

No Cost Is Too Great
Again this truth shines brightly in these parables: no toil or pains are grudged to win the lost. When the shepherd started after his straying sheep, he knew quite well it was a dangerous errand. He was going to face the perils of the desert, and he took his life in his hand in doing that. True, he was armed; but if a band of robbers intercepted him, what chance had one man of coming off the victor? And who could tell what ravenous beasts lay couched between the shepherd and his vagrant charge? A hireling would never have ventured on the quest. He would have said, “There is a lion in the way.” But this shepherd was not to be deterred; he risked all danger; nothing would keep him back, if only he might find and save the lost. The woman, too, was thoroughly in earnest. She spared no pains to get her piece of silver. She lit her candle and she swept the house, till the whole household grumbled at the dust, and charged her not to fuss about a trifle. But the trifle was no trifle to her; and she persisted and swept until she found it. Do you not see what that is meant to teach us? God spares no pain or toils to win the lost. Do you not see where all that is interpreted? It is in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He, like the woman, was passionately earnest, till all His household—His own: the Jewish people—murmured at Him in their hearts and hated Him. And He, like the shepherd, ventured on every danger, and for His sheep’s sake, took the road to Calvary. No pains, no sorrows, were ever grudged by Him who came into the wilderness to save; and He has left us an example, that we should follow in His steps.

Where Are the Lost?
I want you, too, to mark this in our lesson: there is loss in the house as well as in the desert. It was in the wilderness that the sheep was lost. It was far from the fold with its protecting wail. But the coin was not lost in any wilderness—it had not even rolled into the street. It was still in the house; it was within the walls; it was lying somewhere on the dusty floor. So there are multitudes of men lost in heathendom; lost to the joy of the Gospel and the hopes of God in the far countries where Christ was never known. But are there not multitudes who, like the piece of silver, stamped with God’s image, coined for useful service, are lying lost and useless in the house? They have been born and nurtured in a Christian country, they are encircled by Christian care and love, they are within the walls of the church visible, they have heard from childhood the message of the Gospel; yet they have never yielded their lives to the Redeemer; within the walls of the homestead they are lost. Are there no lost coins in your home? Give God no rest till by the light of His Spirit they are found.

For What Are They Found?
Note, lastly, in a Word, this joyful truth: the sheep, when found, was carried by the shepherd. He did not drive it before the flock. He did not commit it to the charge of any underling. He laid it rejoicingly on his own shoulders, and on his own shoulders bore it home. When the coin was found it was restored to service; it became useful for the woman’s need. But when the sheep was found it was upheld in the strong arm of the shepherd, till the perils of the desert were no more. So everyone who is saved by Jesus Christ is saved to be of service to his Lord. There is some little work for him to do, just as there was for this little piece of silver. But he is not only found that he may serve. He shall be kept and carried like the sheep. He shall find himself borne homeward by a love that is far too strong ever to let him go. It is only when we are leaning upon Christ that we are able to win heavenward at all. He alone keeps us from falling, and can present us faultless before the presence of God’s glory, with exceeding joy.

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As always beloved brothers and sisters in Christ may the Lord bless and keep you!

Christ Within

I have spent much time lately pondering the knowledge that Christ dwells within our hearts, every increasingly, as we follow Him, submit to Him, love Him.  He dwells within and fills our hearts to overflowing with love, with the Holy Spirit, and it is a blessed thing.  I rest secure in the knowledge that my Savior, precious Savior that He is, dwells within my heart every working a great work within me, and that I dwell in Him every striving to be more like Him and less like this world.  It is hard sometimes to submit myself entirely, the heart is willing but the flesh is weak and sometimes struggle to submit, to keep carrying my cross.  But at those times it’s as if He pours an extra portion of His Spirit and Will upon me that I might overcome.  He never leaves nor forsakes me, I know He is always with me because of the changes wrought within me.  I want this same peace, security and promise for each of you my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.  That is why I pray for you daily, that you too would be filled to overpouring with the love of the Son, Jesus the Christ in your hearts, much as Paul did in this passage from Ephesians.

 

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21

Counting the Cost

Today’s reading from Devotional Sermons by George H. Morrison is one we should all read and take to heart.  He points out the beauty and the sacrifice that comes with following Christ, with counting the cost of picking up our crosses.  It is a cost I have counted many times over, it is a steep cost, but it is worth it for the rewards are far sweeter to be following in my sweet Savior’s shadow.  Have you counted the cost?

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For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.  Luke 14:28-30

Life Is a Building
It is notable that in this little parable, and in the one which directly follows it (Luke 14:31), which deal with the great endeavors of the human soul, our Lord brings in the figure of the builder, and of a king making war upon another king. Christ always took human life at its best and kingliest, and even His illustrations have a royal touch. But the point to note is that Christ compared life to building. Life was like architecture or like war. Building and battling—these are the Master’s figures; and I do not think the world has ever bettered them. There are rare souls that seem to grow, not build. And it may be some of us have known one saint—our mother perhaps—who bore no marks of conflict anywhere, and seemed to have reached the highest without a struggle. But for most of us it is the other way. Effort on effort, failure after failure, we have to forge and hammer ourselves towards what is honorable. And there are days when we seem to be building up a prison-house, until God in His mercy shatters that to fragments. Just note, then, that it is in a little parable of building that our Savior teaches us to count the cost.

Christ’s Yoke Is Easy
Now, anyone who has read much in religious literature must have been struck by a kind of contradiction in it. He must have been arrested by two opposite conceptions of what religion really demands. I read some sermons, or I listen to some preaching, and religion seems exquisitely sweet and easy. I thought there was a cross in our religion, but when I read some of our current literature—if there be a cross it is so wreathed with honeysuckle that a poor soul can stumble past it easily. The valley of the shadow seems to have grown antiquated; we are to walk on the delectable mountains all the way. Mark you, we never can insist enough on the true joy of the religious life. We never can forget that to the heavy-laden, Christ said, and says forever, “My yoke is easy.” But that is so interpreted sometimes, and the harder and sterner sayings are so evaded, that religion seems to walk in silver slippers.

Christ Promises a Cross
But when I turn to another class of teachers—and some of the greatest of every age are in it—what impresses me is not the ease of things, but the depth and difficulty of religion. The gate is narrow; the way is strait and mountainous; the cross is heavy, and the flesh cries out against it. Read Dr. Newman’s sermons to see that view of the religious life expressed in matchless English. That, then, is the seeming contradiction. These are the two opposite conceptions. The one says, “If I come to Jesus, happy shall I be.” The other says, “If I find Him, if I follow, what His guerdon here? Many a sorrow, many a labor, many a tear.”
Well, in our text there can be little question that our Lord leans to the latter of these views. It is a great thing to be an earnest Christian, it is a high calling to be a knight of that round table; let a man, says Jesus, deliberately sit down and count the cost, lest the fair fame of it be smirched and sullied by him. Nothing impresses us more in Jesus Christ than His insistence on quality, not quantity. He never hesitated to set the standard high, even though men should be offended at Him. It is better to be served by twenty loyal hearts, than by half a hundred undisciplined adventurers. Think it all out, says Christ. Sit down, count up the cost, find what it comes to. Rash promising is certain to make shipwreck. I want you to be still, and know that I am God.
Now I think it immensely increases our reverence for Jesus to find Him dealing thus with human souls. He never veils the hardship of His calling, He is so absolutely certain of its glory. When Drake and the gallant captains of Queen Elizabeth’s time went out into the streets of Plymouth to get sailors, they told them quite frankly of the storms of the Pacific, and of the reefs in it, and of the fevers of Panama. They honored their brave Devonshire comrades far too much to get them to sign on under any false pretences. But then there was the Spanish gold and treasure, and the glory of it, and all England to ring with it. And the men counted the cost and signed for that daring service, in the spacious times of great Elizabeth. And I honor our Captain for dealing with men like that—that press-gang is an un-Christlike instrument. Christ says: You are a free man; count the cost. Life is before you: choose whom you will serve. I offer you a cross, also a crown. I offer you struggle, but there shall be victory. You shall be lonely, yet lo, I am with you always. You shall be restless, yet I will give you rest. Was there ever a leader so frank, so open, so brave, as the Master who is claiming you tonight?

Counting the Cost
And it is just here that the service of our Lord stands at opposite poles from the service of sin. For the one thing that sin can never do is to say to a man, “Sit down and count the cost of it.” Do you think that tonight’s drunkard ever counted the cost when men called him such splendid company twenty years ago? Do you think that the man who has tried for, and missed, life’s prizes counted the cost when he was sowing his wild oats? Sin is too subtle, too sweet, too masterfully urgent, to give a man time for that arithmetic. “Evil is wrought by want of thought, as well as want of heart.” If that young student will only deliberately count the cost; if he will only remember he is in the grip of law that no repentance ever can annul; if he will think that as he sows, so will he reap, I think he will shake himself and say, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” It is true that you cannot put old heads upon young shoulders. But don’t we begin counting when we are little children? And half the battle of a man’s life is won when he sits down and counts the cost. Sin will keep a man from that, by hook or crook. But “come and let us reason together,” saith the Lord.
Of course we must distinguish this wise deliberation from a merely calculating and cowardly prudence. It is often the man who has counted the cost most earnestly, who shows a kind of splendid imprudence to the world. I mean that what the world calls prudence is very often a somewhat shallow thing. It does not run its roots into the deeps; it is really a kindlier name for selfishness. And the man who has dwelt alone with the great things, and who has been touched by the hand of the Eternal, is not likely in that sense to be worldly wise. I dare say that everybody thought John Knox imprudent when he insisted on preaching in St. Andrews, though the Archbishop had warned him he would slay him. I dare say everybody thought Martin Luther imprudent, when he said he would go to the Diet though every tile on the housetops were a devil. But Knox and Luther had been alone with God; it was deliberate action, and not reckless folly. They had counted the cost for Scotland and for Christendom.
The fact is, that in all the highest courage there is the element of quiet calculation. The truest heroism always counts the cost. The bravery of passion is not a shining virtue. I think that a very ordinary man could storm a rampart, if he were a soldier. They tell us there is a wild forgetfulness of self in that last rush that would fire the blood and thrill the most timid. The test of courage is the long night march, under the fire of invisible guns; it is the sentry duty in the darkness, when the shadows and silence might shatter the strongest nerve: I think that the man who deliberately faces that, who goes through it quietly because it is his duty, is just as worthy of the Victoria Cross as the man who has won it in some more splendid moment. No man, said one of Oliver Cromwell, no man was a better judge than Oliver of what might be achieved by daring. Yet the true heroism of that noble soul was not the heroism of the rash adventurer. He never let texts do duty for tactics, says Mr. Morley. I always admired the answer of that man who was going forward with a comrade to some dangerous duty. And his comrade looked at him, and saw that his cheek was blanched. And he laughed and said, “I believe you are afraid.” And the other, looking straight forward, said, “Yes, I am afraid, and if you were half as afraid as I am, you would go home.” Do not forget, then, that when Jesus says, “Count the cost,” He is really sounding the note of the heroic. He does not want anyone on false pretences. He will not issue any lying prospectus. He comes to you and says, you are a thinking man, with powers that it will take eternity to ripen. Look life in the face. Look death in the face. Sum it all up, measure the value of things. And if you do that quietly and earnestly, with sincere prayer to God to enlighten you, My claims, Christ means, shall so tower above all others, that I shall have your heart and your service from that hour.

The Secret of Calm Persistence
I have been struck, too, in studying the Scriptures, to note how the great men there learned to count the cost. They were not suddenly dragged into the service. There was no unthinking and unreasoning excitement. God gave to everyone of them a time of silence before their high endeavor. It was as if He laid His hand upon them and said, “My child, go apart for a little, and count the cost.” Moses was forty days alone with God. Elijah was in the wilderness alone. Paul, touched by the finger of the Lord whom he had persecuted, took counsel of no flesh, but departed into the loneliness of Arabia. Moses, Elijah, Paul—yes, even Simon Peter going out into the night—were learning the deep lesson of our parable. And whenever I read of the temptations of Jesus, and of how the Spirit of God drove Him apart, and how Satan came and showed Him all the kingdoms, and taught Him a less costly way to sovereignty than by the sweat of Gethsemane and the water and blood of Calvary—whenever I read that and recall how He stood fast, I feel that our Savior had counted the cost Himself. We shall never understand the calm persistence of the glorious company of martyrs and of saints till we go back to that quiet hour at the beginning when they faced every difficulty, weighed every cross, forecast the future, looked at life whole, and then, having counted the cost like reasonable men, took up their stand upon the side of God. A blind acceptance may be justifiable sometimes. But the great hearts were never led that way.
Now I want you to join that reasonable company. I do not know that that is popular doctrine, but I want to get the young men back to the Church of Christ again, and I am willing to risk unpopularity for that. “Come, let us reason together,” saith the Lord. “Sit down and count the cost,” says Jesus Christ. I do not ask any man to become a Christian blindly. It is the most reasonable act in the whole world. For the sake of a saved life and of a rich eternity you ought to make that reckoning immediately.

That’s My King!

I felt the call today to watch this incredibly stirring sermon by Dr. S. M. Lockridge.  It never fails to remind me what a mighty Lord I serve.  May it bless you as well.

As always brothers  and sisters may God bless and keep you.