Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Keep God First

In the old time, Adam, Enoch and Noah were men that knew God. Most of the men of that time had a knowledge of the Creator God, but they worshipped Him not as God. They didn't glorify God, neither were they thankful. They didn’t give God the right place, so they started down the road to degradation. Their heart and mind became darkened; they could not see things spiritually. Men today are in the same vile condition. God is essential to spiritual discernment and apprehension. Christ-rejecting men think they are smart, wise, and intelligent. Men can't think right without recognizing and glorifying God. The devil and sins blind men, and they go on and on through life groping in the darkness of their sins and folly.  They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

God cannot be forgotten without evil consequences happening to you (the wrath of God, mind being darkened, God giving you up to own evil ways). Sin always leads to disintegration, decay, deception and debauchery. So when men knew God, they didn't glorify Him as God, neither were they thankful. The natural man checks God off, he leaves God out of his daily life, he doesn't recognize, regard or acknowledge God - this is every lost man's main problem. The dirty mind of man refuses to retain the thrice-holy God in their knowledge, because God Himself is Pure Holiness. Man wants to take over his own life, so God lets him, and God gives him up to a reprobate mind.

A reprobate mind is a mind that doesn't understand God or His holy and merciful nature; a mind that is empty of God, incapable of discerning what is truly good, or disapproving what is evil; a reprobate mind has a defiled and seared conscience, and is without understanding of divine and moral things. A reprobate mind is one that will not seek to God for counsel or aid, it will not pray to God, it will not enquire into the will of God, to know what is right or what is wrong, but will do what is best in its own eyes. If a reprobate mind ever thinks of God, the thoughts of God are wrong.

True worship is the submission of all our being to God, the quickening of our conscience by His holiness, the nourishment of our mind by scriptural truth, the purification of our imagination by His beauty, the opening of our heart to His love, and the yielding of our will to His purpose.

Lost religionists, scientists and politicians think they can fix up this present evil world without Jesus Christ. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. Human nature is wicked and depraved and has no claim on God through merit.  Verily every man in his best state is altogether vanity. Every man by nature is completely destitute of a righteousness. 

Men are spiritual perverts first, because they cannot tolerate a thrice-holy God, so they make up their own god, so they can feel comfortable and decent in their sins. Lost men make up gods of their own, out of their own thoughts, that will suit their sinful ways. Your main problem is a spiritual problem called Sin. What human nature doesn't understand is that no man has ever played with Sin and won in the end. Sin always complicates life.

What place is given to God in your life? You can’t take out of man his religious instinct; every man is going to devote himself to something. Every unregenerate man has some kind of god that he spends his time, money, efforts and thoughts on. If he doesn’t worship some other god, he will worship himself, the vilest god there is. The thing that is first with you is your god. What’s the first thing you think about in the morning, throughout the day, and before you go to bed? That’s your god. Some people worship music, art, money, entertainment, religion, sports, intellect, liquor, lust, career, education, and science.

Unsaved men always put an over emphasis on "things"; he continually leaves God out of what he is doing.  Then he begins to devote himself to "things" and "its", and then those "its" become his gods. When something else gets ahead of God in your life, you better look out. When God is forgotten or replaced, then you start twisting God in your mind, and then first you become spiritually twisted, and then you become morally twisted. Man twists himself within by sinning against God; he wrongs his own soul. Men become religious perverts, because they love false deities. Men want to build a new world today on fallen human nature and depraved intellect, but that is a rotten foundation. Human nature devotes itself to money making, money grabbing, and enjoying itself as much as possible.

You cannot change the living Creator God, for He changes not. Man has to have some kind of god, so he fabricates one in his mind which is convenient for him. They walk out on God, and then God backs off, and man wanders out into the darkness. Worship God, not yourself. Man tries to worship in his own way, not God's way. Man's religion says, "Do something for yourself." Man is all wrong, because he loves sin. Whenever you put something ahead of God Almighty, you are headed for the hog pen. Give God his rightful place, that is, first place, or you may become a scornful hater of God. *Psalm 1:1* Every man has a little bit of Hell burning in his bosom called Sin. You better be afraid of your sins. Once you forget God, you could fall into any sin known to man. The only safe place is close to Jesus. Your danger and peril increases, according to the distance you move away from God. You're not safe anywhere on earth without God. Where does God fit into your life?

Be actively passive, cheerfully submissive, be willing to give up your will.  Seek the Lord by prayer, praying much for God to be glorified, cheerfully seeking to extend the Redeemer's kingdom.  Be strong  in the Lord and the power of His might, and fight with your sins.  

You can be a great church-man, and still be a lost, religious pervert. Man fixes up his own god. What kind of god are you worshipping today? Many people go to church today, but they never really think of and adore the living God - The Lord Jesus Christ. They have their eyes on man, not God. Jesus is the only Light in this whole universe. Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Unsaved men can’t stand the true Light. *John 1:9* Today men try to drown the cries of their conscience, soul, and heart with alcohol, drugs, and entertainment. Man’s poor darkened soul worships men, animals, and nature, but not Jesus Christ. Men worship the things that God created, and the things that sinful men have invented, but they refuse to worship the Crucified Creator.

The devil’s approach is always a subtle approach. He works in the mental processes of this world that is lost in sin. Men will focus their attention and energy on anything or anyone but Jesus Christ. Christ-less men worship their worldly ambitions. Some men magnify prophecy, doctrine, or convictions in their sermons, and leave Jesus Christ completely out, because they don't know Jesus Christ.  Sir, we would see Jesus. The glory and exaltation of Jesus Christ and giving Him the preeminent place is taboo in most churches today. Men wear themselves out in religion today trying to sell everything but Jesus Christ in order to get lost religious superstitious people to come back to a building, so they can get their money. They use programs, ordinances, education, or own peculiar denominational slant. The lost world can’t see Jesus today for all the religious confusion, drama and nonsense.

Religion always tries to divert your attention away from the Lord Jesus Christ. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. We must worship God in the beauty of holiness. The only hope for this lost world is Jesus Christ Himself, God manifest in the flesh crucified for sinners. Always make God supreme in your life. Do you have a God consciousness? Do you remember God all through the week? What you think about is what you are.

Truly worshipping God, really adoring the Lord Jesus Christ, actually communing with the Holy Ghost. Adoring gratitude and thankgiving to the Savior. Draw near to God in private devotion, become more dependent upon the Holy Spirit. Be more watchful, prayerful, and self-denying. When you get away from God, the Bible becomes dull, and prayer is dreary. Walk circumspectly, be very careful with your soul.

Clean thoughts lead to noble living. You better be dead sure you keep God first. Keep God in His right place. Keep close to God; don't try to get out on your own. Be sure Jesus Christ runs your life. God gave you life, live it well by glorifying His Son. When you wake up in the morning, think of God first, look for God all through the day. Keep Jesus always in the forefront of your working, spending, singing, praying, teaching and preaching. Love Jesus, worship and fellowship with Him. Exalt and magnify Jesus Christ above all, lift *Him* up practically in your daily activities.  Keep God first, glorify Him, retain Him in your knowledge, be ye thankful, keep your eyes on Jesus.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Remember Now thy Creator

All things were made by the Lord Jesus Christ; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. *John 1:3* But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. *Mark 10:6* Hath not one God created us? *Malachi 2:10* Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. *Ecclesiastes 12:1* For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed. *Exodus 31:17* Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth. *II Kings 19:15* Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth. *Isaiah 40:26* For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. *I Chronicles 16:26*

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that made heaven and earth. *II Chronicles 2:12* Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. *Nehemiah 9:6* By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. *Psalm 33:6* My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. *Psalm 121:2* O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. *Isaiah 37:16*

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. *Isaiah 40:28* Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. *Psalm 124:8* To the LORD that by wisdom made the heavens: for His mercy endureth for ever. *Psalm 136:5* Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever. *Psalm 146:5-6* The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. *Proverbs 3:19*

I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. *Isaiah 45:12* For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is His name. *Amos 4:13* For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. *Isaiah 45:18* In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. *Genesis 1:1* Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. *Isaiah 42:5*

JEHOVAH hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion. *Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15* Ah Lord GOD! behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee. Jeremiah 32:17* I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. *Jonah 1:9* Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. *Romans 1:25* The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. In God's hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. *Psalm 95:4-6*

Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is. *Acts 4:24* I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. *Isaiah 45:12* We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein. *Acts 14:15* God that made the world and all the things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. *Acts 17:24* Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. *Revelation 14:7*

For by Jesus Christ were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him. *Colossians 1:16* Thou art worthy, O Lord Jesus, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. *Revelation 4:11* All things were made by the Lord Jesus Christ; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. *John 1:3*

Here's some Good News for real sinners - The Creator of heaven and earth was crucified in your place to pay for all your sins. God in the person of the Man Christ Jesus bore all the penalty that was due to human sin on Calvary's Cross. Every sinner must be saved by Blood. You don't have to go to Hell and pay for your sins. All your sins can be freely forgiven right now. You can be delivered from the wrath to come. All your guilt can be eternally expunged for Jesus' sake. Plead guilty before God. Condemn yourself, or God will condemn you. Trust only The Great Atoner and His atoning blood. You have been diagnosed with the deadliest disease ever - SIN.

Sin plagues your heart, soul, and mind daily - your guilt weighs on your mind, the fear of death and the coming Judgment haunts and startles you at times. The Bible's right, and you're flat wrong. The very best time to trust Jesus Christ with your sinful soul is Now. Don't continue to forget God, reject His Son, and break His laws. Believe now in the literal Substitution of Jesus Christ for sinners. Christ suffered what was due to you, even your curse and wrath and shame. NOW is the day of salvation. Come on to Jesus, come at once, without delay. Close with the Blood of Christ. Salvation by Precious Blood is the way to Heaven. If you are proud and don't need a Savior, then you will go your own way, and perish forever in your sins.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Snippets of Truth 6

If you steal your soul from God, you will lose it forever.  In Eternity there are two realms - everlasting life or everlasting fire.  Your soul has a great need for Christ; receive Christ into your soul, and He will meet your soul's needs instantly.  Come unto Jesus, and you will find rest unto your soul.  Lift up your soul to God.  Take the Bible very seriously.  If you die unpardoned and unconverted without Christ Jesus as your Sin-Bearer, you will suffer eternal recompense for the sins you have committed against God all of your life.  Human nature is always ducking and avoiding to answer the question concerning the salvation of the soul.  Man loves second-hand superficial religion.  Take special of your soul, not just your body.  Care much for your soul's eternal interests.

Deny ungodliness, that is, stop living as if God does not exist.  Men reject Christ because they are too busy; they are caught with the daily cares of this life.  They are too learned to believe something so simple as the Gospel of Christ.  They are too proud to receive Christ as a little child; His own received Him not.  They are too evil to receive Christ, because they love sin and darkness rather than light and truth.  Man's guilt has hardened his heart, and darkened his understanding.  The Holy Spirit must move and convince a man of his sins, and help him to foresee his doom, and change his mind towards the Savior, and make him willing to hear the Gospel message and receive Christ Jesus as His personal Sin-Bearer and Savior from the love of sin and the wrath to come.  The wrath of God abides on every Christ rejecter.  It's either works or grace, ceremonies or faith, self or Christ, church or the Cross, baptism or the Blood, sacraments or the Substitute, morality or the Mediator; it's your choice.  You can have free eternal life instantly through faith in the Atoning Blood of God manifest in the flesh, because the Lamb of God paid for your sins with His own life.

Make Christ the only pillar of your hope, and never seek to prop Him up with your own works.  All that God asks of you is just to trust what Jesus did for you on Calvary's Cross.  Your very first business is not to do, but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ's Precious Blood.  Behold the Lamb of God - Look only to Jesus right now, and your soul shall live.  It's not your repentance that saves you, it is just the Blood of Christ that redeems the soul from sin.  Turn your eyes to the Cross of Christ and find rest for your soul.  Make Christ's finished work your soul's only Shelter from the wrath to come.  Only the Holy Spirit can convince a man of his sins against God, and lead him to seek the Righteousness of God which is Jesus Christ.  Really and at once seek the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart.  The living and loving Savior wants to save your soul from its enslavement to sinning.

Make a full surrender of yourself to Jesus.  Take the Christ of Salvation, not just the Salvation of Christ.  When you make sin little, you also make Christ little.  When you sense the heinousness and weight of your sins, you will see the preciousness of the Savior.  Make Christ all your goodness, for you are no good at all.  Sinners are devoid of everything that is pure and good.  You will find Christ as soon you lose yourself.  The end of yourself is the beginning of Christ.  Your self-righteousness cannot make Christ's Righteousness any better, and your sins cannot weaken it.  All your good works can never make your soul any safer.

Always try to make Christ known.  Make Christ great; hold Him in high esteem.  Make Christ your inward strength, and not yourself.  Get fresh grace and strengthening faith from Jesus every chance you get.  Get all your power for purity and usefulness from Jesus, and Him alone.  Everyday try to make Christ known to somebody around you, through good works and good words.  Devote all you have to Christ, spend and be spent in His service.  Be active for Christ, and you will be full of joy, but not any safer.  Be abundant in good works, and diligent in the service of God.  Our eternal security lies not in anything we do, or do not do.  The only basis for my Salvation is that Christ died for the ungodly.  Make Christ the grand object of your faith and life; seek always and everywhere to glorify Christ and make Him known to those around you.  Make Christ your Banker; deposit your soul into His hands for safekeeping; remember, if you try to hang on to your soul, you will surely lose it.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Goodness and Mercy

Grace is when God gives you what you don’t deserve; Mercy is when God doesn’t give you what you do deserve. Goodness and Mercy from God is what you need most of all, but they are only found at the Cross.  You've tried to cover your tracks in the past, but the record of your sins is recorded in Heaven waiting for you at the Judgment to come.  Apart from God's mercy, you don't have a chance.  You're as guilty as sin. If you die hugging your sins, you're going to get what you deserve.

Only the Blood of Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, can erase the record of your sins before God.  You've been caught red-handed, because God has witnessed all of your sins in the past.  Your very soul needs cleansing.  Just like a guilty person entering a jail or courthouse that has been accused of heinous crimes tries to cover his face; at the Judgment, you will want to run and hide your face, but there will be no hiding place before the White Throne Judgment.

Repentance is when you uncover your face, look God in the eye, and confess plainly, "Yes, these are my sins, I committed them all, it's all my fault too, not someone else, I'm a mess, I did it, I was wrong, I am in my very nature a sinner, my sin problem is all mine, my inward nature is so corrupt, what I have done shows what I really am, no good thing dwells in me, my sins were directly against You God, I am so guilty and deserve your wrath, but God be merciful to me a sinner, for Jesus' sake please have mercy on my ungodly soul."

You have committed transgressions against God's holy Law.  You have crossed the line morally, and trespassed over a forbidden boundary and entered into forbidden territory morally.  With your thoughts, words and actions, you have crossed the line; and those sins must be paid for by someone.  Morally, you have fallen short of God's holy standard, and missed the mark.  Surely every man is vanity.  You've been way off target with your thoughts and words.  The Law of God clearly reveals your guilty sinful nature within.  Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Surely Christ's Salvation is nigh them that fear Him.

Every time you sin against God, you prove that you have inherited Adam's sinful nature. Whenever you are driving and you see a police car, you automatically bump your brakes, and then look in the rearview mirror to see if the blue lights come on, because you know you're probably guilty.  Your main problem is stubbornness, rebellion, pride, self-will - an inward sinful corrupt nature which kicks at divine moral constraints and authority.  Sinful self is what will damn you straight to Hell.

Nothing but sinless Blood can take away your soul's sin stains.  Religion cannot do the job.  The Blood of an innocent Sacrifice (The Lamb of God) must be sprinkled on your soul by the Holy Ghost Himself.  Ye must be born again.  Only God's Blood can purify a sinner within. The Atoning Blood of God manifest in the flesh was shed for the complete and final payment of your sins and guilt.  Faith in His Blood is absolutely needful; count on Jesus' Blood to save your soul, and nothing else, that is all.

Once Christ's Precious Blood is applied to your soul, it will bring first pardon and then personal, practical purity which is what the Bible calls Repentance.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  The very moment you trust to the Lord Jesus Christ, God does a miracle and creates a clean heart within you out of nothing.  Self-reform will not work, you cannot get your act together, you cannot help yourself spiritually.  You have nothing pure to offer God at all, for you are a filthy sinner within.

God has to create a pure heart within you out of nothing, or there will be no hope or salvation for you.  Be wise now - Come directly to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself by Faith in His Precious Blood, and bypass religion altogether.  Mercy, Quickening, Grace, Blood, Goodness, Repentance, Perfect Atonement, Simple Faith, Instantaneous Forgiveness, Eternal Life, Gratitude, Purity, Sincerity, Concern for the Lost.  Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

A Different Tune

You may have never been a drunkard or a dope fiend. A profane word may have never dropped from your mouth.  You may have been upright in your business, and in all intents and purposes you think yourself to be a reputable and respectable man in your community, worthy of divine regard. But you must be brought down spiritually by the Holy Ghost from a prince to a penniless beggar.  You must understand the hollowness of an outward morality, and the emptiness of superficial religion which does not proceed from a renewed heart.

The sins which you have committed against such a good God are exceeding sinful, and the religious professions you have made before man are nothing better than mere pretenses, for your heart does not go with them.  Your religiousness is nothing but a mockery of God and an insult to the Son of God.  Have you been a professor of religion for many years and been honored in your church or ministry?  Without Christ, you are still lost in your sins and your in religion.  The very worst place to be lost is in religion, for you are then twice dead, and twofold more the child of hell.

Have you maintained an upright character before man?  Have you paid your bills, taken care of your family, and given money and time to some worthwhile charity? Have you had moral courage and resolution enough to make yourself all you ought to be?  Have you ever done anything good that you can boast about?  Is there some good thing that you've done that you could speak of? Have you gotten yourself right with God?  Do you deserve a pat on the back if you make it to Heaven?  When you get to Heaven, will you throw your hat up in the air and shout, "Glory be to myself, I made it!" Can you say, like the Pharisee of old, "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are"? Have you been very good and zealous in your religious convictions, very consistent and persevering?  Do you feel you deserve a good deal of esteem and honor in your religious circles as an acknowledgment of your distinguished services?

All this religious nonsense may be acceptable with man, but it will never be accepted by God Almighty in Heaven.  God is no respecter of persons; the only Person that God ever will regard is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no one in glory land that ever says - "I have done well; I deserve credit and honor; I have earned my right to be here." It is the quite the reverse in New Jerusalem,  you see. There is a different tune, a new song, played up there in Emmanuel's Land, "Not unto us, O LORD, Not unto us, but unto Thy name we give glory, for Thy Mercy, and for Thy truth's sake!  Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and blessing!" Have you learned that tune?  Is that your spirit every day?

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

An Excellent Spirit

An excellent spirit is a calm spirit that is not hasty, not soon angry, calm, and not easily provoked to wrath.  A right spirit is full of faith and love.  A spirit of grace and supplications is tenderhearted, and a sympathizing and forgiving spirit.  A meek and quiet spirit in the sight of God is of great price.  The LORD looks to them such who are of an humble and contrite spirit.  God dwells with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.  To the contrite spirit God gives more grace.

A patient and longsuffering spirit is an excellent spirit which bears afflictions and reproaches quietly.  God grants us life and favor, and His visitation preserves our spirit.  A faith-ful spirit seeks to please God in all things.  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  A spirit of truth is always looking into God's words for help, guidance and answers.  Honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.  A right spirit desires to think clean.

A contrite spirit is sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and is troubled when it grieves the Holy Spirit.  The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.  A wise and pure spirit is shocked and recoils at the thought of sin.  An excellent spirit waits for God's own time for hearing and helping them, and lives expecting an answer from heaven.  A spirit of integrity manifests itself throughout a man's entire conduct and conversation.  To this man will God look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at His word.  A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  We should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  That ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

With urgency, be earnest to help save lost souls.  Hell is as hot as ever; unconverted souls are rushing into it.  Christ's free pardon of sin is as sweet as ever.  Be busy for Jesus; be on the move for the Gospel's sake.  Satan is busy, sin is busy, death is busy everyday damning souls.  The Spirit of God is busy saving souls.  Men are entering an unchangeable Eternity as we speak.  Confirm Jesus' disciples, help their joy.  Be willing to leave your home, comforts, and carnal ease to feed lost souls.  Jesus left His home in Heaven to seek and save your soul.

Ask God for heavenly compassion, and long for the conversion of lost souls. Lead a holy life practically, pray to be kept from temptation and evil, your usefulness depends on the Spirit's presence and blessing.  Be not covetous, or a lover of pleasure or praise.  Cast yourself at the feet of Christ; implore His Spirit to make you pure in private and public.  Get your thoughts and words from God.  There are spots on the blazing sun, and sins in the best of men.  Christ in us - gold in a ragged purse, pure water in a chipped glass, treasure in an earthen vessel.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.  The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Glad Tidings of Good Things

Christ Jesus must be the King and Lord in the work of Salvation; you must take His Salvation (instantaneous forgiveness of sins, irreversible eternal life) as a free gift, or die in your sins without Him.  "Come and welcome to the Cross!" Christ Jesus' salvation is free, gratis, given to all who are willing to receive Him. Salvation is not to be earned or bought by way of human merit, or works; but it is to be had freely by the way of divine mercy and grace.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. To Believe means to take and receive what God gives freely.

The Gospel is the simplest thing that can be. I would have trouble explaining to you what it means to drink water; but to do so, I will put a glass to my lips, and actually perform the action. Then you would see what it is. The water would be put up to my lips, and be allowed to flow into my mouth and down my throat, and so it is drunk. Christ is the Water of Life, take Him just like that. Take Him first up to the very lip of your thoughts and mind, there He begins to flow; open the mouth of your soul, and take Him into yourself through implicit faith in His atoning blood.  Salvation is only freely given, not because a man merits it, but because JEHOVAH JESUS only gives it to needy sinners. His Gospel banquet is spread with a free hand; He helps poor sinners very freely and mercifully.

Grace is everything for nothing, for sinners who don't deserve anything.  Peace with God comes from the Blood of Jesus Christ, at the expense of the Lamb of God as a result of His bloody death on Calvary's Cross. No sinner can earn the forgiveness of sins, Jesus takes care of that on His own without our help.  The work of the Cross (Atonement for human sin) is finished; there is nothing left for a sinner to do, but trust what Jesus has already done for him.  Jesus died for the despairing, thirsting, needy, and guilty soul.

Hell is simply Sin on fire; sin is highly flammable in Eternity.  Now listen closely - all sins have to burn out in Eternity; and if you still have your sins on your soul when you die, those sins have to burn for all Eternity.  If you love your sins so much that you will not forsake them, you will have to pay for those sins all by yourself when you didn't have to.  Immorality or ImmorTality? It's your choice.  No man has to go to Hell; just see John 3:16.  Jesus bore your sins in His own body on the Cross, and He paid for those sins, and suffered the penalty due to them already.  He didn't have to, but thank God He did.

The things of Christ are freely given to us of God. "Freely given." The word "given" is enough to express the meaning.  And it should be enough, if men were only willing to understand the Gospel; but the additional word "freely" is meant to make the meaning of the Gospel doubly plain.  The Lord Jesus Christ is God's unspeakable gift, freely bestowed on all who by faith will receive Him. Only grasp what God holds out to your soul. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.  By His agony and bloody sweat, by His Cross and passion, by His bloody death and burial, by His glorious resurrection and ascension, I beg you to trust to the Son of God, who came here to Earth to put away your sins by the bloody Sacrifice of Himself.

Come to Jesus now just as you are. But what does it mean to come to Jesus?  Coming means trusting: to trust your soul with Jesus Christ, and He will save it instantly. Trust Him, not yourself at all, He died in your place, believe in Him, and you shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Only the Holy Spirit can lead and persuade a sinner to believe in Jesus, that is, trust to Him.  Have you ever believed in Jesus?  That is, have you trusted in Him who being the Creator God became a Jewish man that He might suffer instead of you what was due from God on account of your sins?  When it comes to saving souls, Jesus is the Best in the business, in fact, He's the only Person in the soul-saving business.

Come directly to the Cross, and receive Christ's grace freely. Bring none of your good works, no good words, no good feelings, no good resolves; come with an empty hand, and trust the Lamb of God by faith. Come empty-handed, and simply receive!  Come undeserving, and be graciously forgiven!  Close with the Savior, come into contact with Jesus, who is the Fountain of Life Eternal, and you shall be saved.  Freely receive Christ by God's grace; make Jesus to be your only hope now.

God spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all. The Creator God who was offended by sin was Himself the sufferer on sin's account. The Lord has made a clean sweep of all my sins. The Lord has cast them all behind His back. He has blotted out the record which accused me.  He has cast my sin into the depths of the sea. Freely, out of His mere love, the Lord Jesus Christ forgives.  No payment on our part, of suffering or service, is required. The Lord pardons sinners freely for His own name's sake. He blots out sin, because He delights in mercy. Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.  Faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate God, saves from guilt, despair and the love of sin.

Faith in Jesus changes our inward nature from meanness to love, from sinning to purity. True contrition, sincere repentance, hearty confession, brokenness of spirit, personal purity, devout gratitude.  The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Christ came into this world to save sinners who have broken the laws of God, sinners whom the law curses, and those who have no means whatsoever of escaping from the curse, unless Jesus opens the way.

Now understand, Jesus did not come to save the righteous and respectable; Christ died for the ungodly and the lost.  This is the only way of safety - None but Jesus. Nothing of yours at all — not one red cent — only Christ, Christ, Christ — Christ at the top, Christ at the bottom, Christ at the beginning, Christ at the end; Christ first, last, and throughout. You must have nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you do this day depend upon Him, your sins are all forgiven.  Whosoever believeth on Jesus hath everlasting life and shall never perish.

The essence of saving faith is simply this — an implicit trust in Christ Jesus Himself — a dependence on His Finished Atoning Work on Calvary's Cross; a hearty reliance upon His Person and Blood.  Christ Jesus is the only Savior of the world, and His Precious Blood is the one and only Atonement for all human sin; Saving Faith is a personal trusting in the finished work of Christ to save your guilty soul.  Faith is coming to Christ by empty-handed and receiving Christ’s fullness; to come to Christ spiritually naked, and to take His Righteousness to be your soul's covering; to come filthy to the Blood of Christ and be washed clean.  Genuine faith is to have done with all self-righteousness, and to fix your whole reliance in a living person, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Real faith depends only on what Christ has done for the salvation of sinners.  Nothing but Jesus do I know, and what He has done for my soul is all my Rest and all my Rejoicing.  Glory to God in the highest; Let God be magnified; Worthy is the Lamb!

As He That Serveth

Seek more grace and faith from God in order to be a happy, joyful, cheerful, thankful Christian servant daily.  Never be ashamed in any company to avow that you are a servant and soldier of the Cross, a follower of the Lamb of God. The fruits of true Christianity are charity, purity, and humility. Christ is Perfect, I am full of sin; He is just, I am unjust; He is meek and lowly, I am proud and arrogant. For Jesus' sake, always try to display a meek, quiet, humble disposition.  Joyfully undertake the lowest service; there is always a door to be kept, a floor to be swept. The last shall be first, and the first last. Labor with the degraded and fallen sinner. The neglected and despised outcasts need your service. Be eager for the lowest work, and the lowest place. Glorify God with a pure, thankful, loyal love. To serve God is the highest honor.

Take your Christianity up a notch; seek to be as one that serveth.  Jesus dissuades us from own selfish ambitious views of superiority over each other, and leads us by love to serve one another. Seek the most menial work. Look out for other's interests, lay yourself out for others' good and benefit. Bear with ill manners, sweetly correct errors and mistakes, be patient with slow hearts. Never be domineering or exacting in your demands, never seek your own comfort at the expense of others. Seek others' welfare rather than your own. Seek to be less than the least among them. A servant is a person that cares for other people's needs, wants, and comforts. A servant is always moving and laboring quietly and unnoticed. A servant forgets himself in thinking of others. Aim at the conversion of sinners, and the edification of the body of Christ.

A real servant ignores his own will and forsakes his own ambitions. He does what his Lord tells him to do. He engages and lives as a servant and joyfully obeys the will of his Employer. A servant bears all manner of hardness, hardship, misjudgments, and harshness. A servant will be lonely at times, avoided, shunned and snubbed, but still he seeks the good of those that despise him. Always seek the good of others. Whose smile gladdens you? Whose frown depresses you? Whose honor do you seek in all the things you do? Find rest in service to God and His Son. *Matthew 11:29-30*  Meditation upon the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ is always good for the soul. 

Only a humble few ever came into a close intimate acquaintance with Jesus. Jesus' whole care was for others. I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. He always had to be about His Father's business. Jesus' sole concern was to be a Servant. He was infinitely great and wise, but meek and lowly in heart. Jesus was pure and good, He was Holiness, Meekness, and Goodness Incarnate. Jesus came down here to Earth to simply bless us poor sinners. He was heavenly Light in the midst of human darkness. He was so truly Great, yet the humblest of all. Jesus was so Great, that He willingly did little unknown things for nobodies. Jesus has unspeakable love to us sinners. Wondrous love would not let Jesus stay in Heaven in the midst of His glory, but Bleeding Love made Him come here to seek and to save us which were lost in sin.

The little selfish man always tries to wriggle himself into the limelight in order to be noticed somehow. He wants to be seen, and do something by which he will gain the preeminence. He is so little that he could never rise to such a dignified position as a servant. It is the nature of a great heart to be willing to do any necessary thing for those in need. Love is always happiest when it is doing something to benefit others. It is a servant's joy rather than bondage to take care of others. Loves holds us near to those in need. Nothing seems to be a stoop to a servant. We must follow in Jesus' footsteps, as he that serveth.

Seek to fill the very lowest office. At all times be lowly in your own self-esteem. Be ready, servants at times may be insulted or treated in a disrespectful manner. People will often find fault with a servant, wiping their boots on them. Have a lowly estimate of yourself, do not retaliate when you receive unkind words and untrue accusations. Always be seeking to do good to others. It is a high office to be the least and the lowest.  The carnal mind seeks its own good; the mind of Christ seeks the good of others.  How much good have I done to others this week? The Christian's way of living is to give out to others. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Serve someone first in your home. Always be trying to bless others for their good at home. Everyone should enjoy being home, and be glad when you're home. Do everything you can do to minister to the comfort of others.  Don't be peevish, snarly or snappy when under duress. Seek to display an affable, gracious, loving spirit in the midst of trials. The Holy Spirit can help you live the life that God wants you to live. Really love others and desire their present, future and eternal Welfare. Be willing to forgive and forbear. Be willing to bear and suffer wrong rather than inflict wrong to others.

Faith is the ability that God gives to us to please Him.  Lord, increase our Faith.  Forgive as quickly as possible. And the one that wrongs you, pay them back the next day by doing them some kindness which you would not have done if they had not treated you badly. Always try to speak as well of everybody you can. Exhibit a humble, forgiving, gentle, gracious spirit in afflictions. As he that serveth.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Snippets of Truth 5

Treat every day like its a gift and a chance to do something to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ; and be always thinking cleaner, living more graciously, and searching for the next opportunity to make the most of what life eternal has to offer.  Time is so precious, make your life useful, reaching forward to do something that will matter in Eternity, with less of self, more of the Spirit, and more victory in Christ.  Through the strength of the Spirit of God press toward the mark for the prize of high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

When the Lord Jesus Christ forgives a man's sins, the hardness of that man's heart melts down; his uneasiness and restlessness within is quietened; his tendency to sin is changed by the Holy Spirit imparting and infusing a new tendency into him - a tendency to purity and humility.  Jesus makes the hardened sinner to become a gentle babe of grace.  A sinner who had lived a vicious life, a worn-out waster of his life, is transformed into a new creature in Christ.  The main reason why some people question the Bible so is not because the Bible contradicts itself; it is because the Bible contradicts their sins which they love so dearly.

"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Ye must be born again." The mercy of God is that you may be born again even now.  New life can enter sinful hearts; sin-loving hearts can be made new by the Spirit of God and filled with the life eternal. Turn your eye to the great Atoning Sacrifice, even Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, and cry out to Him the prayer of faith, and His Spirit will come upon you, and work miracles in your spirit and soul, and will make you a new creature in Christ Jesus.  If you are humble and hungry for Jesus, you will find Mercy from God very soon.  Jesus has won my soul to Himself with His free grace and undying love.  Yield to the prompting and influence of the Holy Spirit and become His instrument of mercy and compassion in this world today, and seek to win souls over to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Come to the Cross by Faith which is a gift from God, tell God the sin plague of your heart plainly with your eye on the Lamb of God.  Plead earnestly with God, saying, "O God, save my soul for Jesus' sake. O Lord, save me. I am lost, please have mercy on ungodly soul.  There is a sinful plague in my heart, heal it.  I confess my great sins against You, please Lord, blot out my transgressions against your Law.  I acknowledge my sinfulness and tendency to sin, O Lord, tear up my sins by the roots. You know my heart's hardness and disquietude, Lord, give me Your peace. O God, there is an enmity within me towards You, I do not know what it is, but I want to be rid of it; O Lord, rid me of my pride and love for sin, for Jesus' sake. Oh Lord, for Jesus' sake, for His Blood's sake, for His Cross' sake, for His Resurrection's sake, I beseech you, hear my plea." Earnest, childlike pleading like this shall certainly get an answer from God.

What is the sin that troubles you most from day to day? Take an honest look at it. Write it down and see it in black and white. What is the tendency to sin that enslaves you?  What is your wretched addiction?  Ask Jesus for a diagnosis of the disease, and make sure it is a correct one.  Look at your own case through and through. It  helps very much towards Salvation when a sinner knows something of his need of forgiveness, and he will be very much helped to a sense of his need, if he will openly examine his own sinful state.  The only Person who can forgive your sins is the Person you have sinned against - God.

Sit down in a quiet place today, look into the state of your heart before God, and then write on a piece of paper one of these two words, "Saved" or "Lost"?  Do not write the word "Saved" unless you can honestly and sincerely say, "I have looked to the Savior, and He has saved my lost, sinful soul." If in honesty to your own conscience and God, you write down the word "Lost" as your true description, it will be both honest and useful to do so.  If you simply look to Jesus for all your Salvation, you will soon be writing on that piece of paper the comforting Gospel word "Saved." Only a fool would object to enquiry as to his soul's true state: be not one of them.  Write down the true condition of your soul in private today. Take inventory within, and make sure. Write down "impenitent," if you are so, put it before you in black and white. Write down "unbelieving," if you are so.  Write down on that piece what you really are inside.  It cannot hurt you to know the truth, and it may be of lasting benefit to you.

You cannot help your sinful self, and nobody on Earth can help you, especially some vain religion. Your case, apart from the divine grace of God, is desperate. Your heart-plague will not die out of its own accord, neither will any change of your outward condition by self-reformation eradicate the sinful disease deep within your heart and mind.  Turn now to the great Physician and cry to Him, "Lord God, you made me, and you you can mend me. You made me, and you can make me over again.  I am lost and undone.  Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Sanctifier, only You can save me."

Look heavenward and Christ-ward.  Look directly to the bleeding Lamb, to the risen Redeemer.  To look within will only increase your despair, but to look to Christ on the Cross, and to Christ, now at the right hand of God, will give you a lively hope.  Jesus is now "able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." To look to Him is the  the true cure of your sin problem. Bring God into the mix; bring Christ into your sin trouble, for therein lies your healing.  Look and Live, and when you have looked to the Lamb of God, spread out your sin trouble before God.  Some do not know how to pray, because they do not really want to get rid of their sins. Tell it all to Jesus without reserve.  If you will confess your sins to God, you will soon find Mercy from on high.  The Lord Jesus' Blood will speedily relieve your guilty conscience.  If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to save us from all unrighteousness." Pour out your heart before Jesus.

Humbly pray and plead with your heart's eye upon the Lord Jesus. Pleading the blood of Jesus, be importunate for pardon.  Your prayer doesn't save you, the Object of your prayer will save you.  No man has ever truly sought God in prayer looking only to Jesus Christ and been refused, and there never shall be such a man.  Faith in Jesus' Blood and Person is the starting point of Salvation; Faith brings you nigh to Jesus Himself who is Salvation.  Believe in the Savior's dying, bleeding love; cast your defenseless soul upon Him now.  The way of Salvation is to simply rest in Christ Jesus.

Jesus is the Son of the Highest. He came into this world, and took the form of a Jewish man, and in that form He suffered, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God.  The merits and saving power of His precious blood is exceeding great beyond compare. He who suffered on Calvary's Cross is God manifest in the flesh. The incarnate God died this shameful death to save the guilty, especially for your sins.  As a cup hangs on a nail, so must we hang on Christ. As a baby lies in his mother's arms without fear, so must we lie in the arms of Jesus. We must be nothing, and let Christ be Everything. When you do this, you shall get Rest; Rest from Sin.  Here are the two keys to Joy - Behold the Lamb, and Worthy is the Lamb!  Religionists will never ever tell you that.