A tax auditor came many years ago to a poor servant of the Lord to determine the amount of taxes he would have to pay.

        “What property do you possess?” asked the auditor.

        “I am very wealthy,” replied the Christian.

        “List your possessions, please,” the auditor instructed.

        “First, I have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “Second, I have a mansion in heaven” (John 14:2). “Third, I have peace that passes understanding” (Phil. 4:7). “Fourth, I have joy unspeakable” (1 Pet. 1:8). “Fifth, I have divine love that never fails” (1 Cor. 13:8).

        “Sixth, I have a faithful wife” (Prov. 31:10). “Seventh, I have healthy, happy, obedient children” (Exod. 20:12). “Eighth, I have true, loyal friends” (Prov. 18:24). “Ninth, I have songs in the night” (Psa. 42:8). “Tenth, I have a crown of life” (Jas. 1:12). “Eleventh, I have a Saviour, Jesus Christ, who supplies all my need” (Phil. 4:19).

        The tax auditor closed his book and said, “Truly you are a very rich man, but your property is not subject to any taxation!”

        The Lord Jesus enjoined, “When you pray, enter into your closet” (Matt. 6:6), and by His oft-repeated example enforced the admonition. Often were His footsteps traced to some secluded spot for the purpose of private prayer. So Isaac was apt to retire to meditate in the field at eventide (Gen. 24:63). The psalmist communed with his own heart and his spirit made diligent search (Psa. 77:6; 119:164). Daniel knelt three times a day in his private chamber (Dan. 6:10). Peter retired to the housetop to be alone with God, about the sixth hour (Acts 10:9). Mark the lives of men of God and you will find them often on their knees before their Maker in their closets.

        The object of these seasons of retirement is communion with the Lord, reading His Word, and engagement in self-judgment. Secluded from the world and its cares, the secret sins of our heart and the presumptuous faults of our life are brought to our view. We unburden our souls with supplications and tears, seeking forgiveness and grace through the merits of our glorified Redeemer, saying, “Search me, O God” (Psa. 139:23,24).

        Secret prayer should be attended to at regular seasons. Regularity in this activity is as necessary to the health of our soul as regularity in meals to that of our body. Let the habit become so fixed by custom that the consecrated hour cannot pass without awakening our conscience.

        Let us take care that we do not become so absorbed in any of the exciting enterprises of the day, however important they may be in themselves, as to neglect our own heart and our communion with God. Be assured that such enterprises will, under the blessing of God, succeed only as we seek for wisdom and grace daily in secret places.

        (From Help and Food, Vol. 26.)

        We are all “creatures of habit.” Sometimes the habits we develop are good; at other times we acquire bad habits which we need to break. God’s Word instructs us as to both. I have found eight excellent habits that Scripture encourages us to incorporate into our lives on a daily basis. If we would practice these, we would most surely benefit spiritually, and even more importantly, our blessed Lord Jesus would be glorified.

        1. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things we so” (Acts 17:11). Our first daily habit should be to search the Scriptures. Whether we are a babe in Christ, or one who has been on the road to heaven for many years, the Word of God is to be, as another has said, “food for our soul, and light for our path.” It is that by which we grow spiritually (see 1 Pet. 2:2). Notice it does not say “read the Scriptures daily, but “search the Scriptures daily.” This implies that we are to be diligent in our study of Scripture, and desirous of learning the Word of God so we can in turn obey the truth that we learn. I take it this was true of those in Berea, for “they received the Word with all readiness of mind.” They did not even take what the great apostle Paul taught them as gospel truth; they searched the Scriptures to see if what he had preached to them lined up with the Word of God. What diligence and zeal that we would do well to emulate!

        The question now is, “When is the best time to search the Scriptures?” To answer that I would turn our attention to Isaiah 50:4:“The LORD God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary; He wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as the learned.” This verse is speaking prophetically of our Lord Jesus Christ and it is humbling to see Him who was “God manifest in the flesh” taking the place of a learner (see also Luke 2:40-52 for another example of our blessed Lord, in His perfect humanity, taking the place of a learner). Here we are being taught that every morning He would awake and take His place as learner before the Father, and God would instruct Him by the Word. Before the Lord met the day, with all its duties and trials, He would begin the day in the Scriptures, which in turn would prepare Him to meet the day and to do God’s will. In this the Lord has given us an example to follow, for if we would meet the pressures of the day in God’s strength, we too must start our day searching the Scriptures.

        2. “Blessed is the man who hears Me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors” (Prov. 8:34). Another daily habit we should cultivate is to look for Christ in the Scriptures. Proverbs 8 speaks of Christ as the “wisdom of God.” The Lord Jesus is appealing to us in this chapter to be on the lookout for wisdom (that is, Christ Himself!) as we hear the Word of God. It is all too easy to take up the Scriptures and study them as we would any other book. But God’s desire is for our hearts to be taken up with His beloved Son, to have our affections set upon Him (see Col. 3:1,2). Our main objective, as we search the Scriptures, is to see Christ in those very Scriptures.

        The religious leaders of Jesus’ day failed to do this. They thought they were well-acquainted with God’s Word and yet when their Messiah appeared in their midst, according to all the Old Testament prophecies that outlined His birth and life’s ministry—He was born in Bethlehem as Micah predicted, He was born of a virgin as Isaiah had foretold, He was born of the tribe of Judah as Jacob had prophesied, and He preached the gospel of the kingdom and performed miracles to confirm the Word as Isaiah had written many years before—they not only rejected Him, but conspired to kill him. In a timely rebuke the Lord told them, “Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they that testify of Me” (John 5:38).

        Even those who believed in and loved the Lord Jesus failed to recognize Christ in some of their Old Testament Scriptures. You may recall that scene in Luke 24 where two of His own were making their way home from Jerusalem and they were sad because the One in whom they had trusted to redeem Israel had been crucified (Luke 24:13-21). Jesus had to gently rebuke them as well with these words, “O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (24:25-27).  They had believed in Jesus as their Messiah, but they had failed to see Christ in those passages that spoke of His suffering and death! How gracious of the Savior to have taken them aside to reveal to them all the Scriptures that spoke of the necessity of His sufferings and death. What a Bible study that must have been! Perhaps He took them first of all to the promise of the woman’s seed in Genesis 3 and said, “I am the woman’s seed!” And then He may have read a few verses further where we see the coats of skins God clothed Adam and Eve with, which are a blessed picture of Christ being offered up in death in order to provide sinners with the garments of salvation. In the very next chapter we see Abel, who by faith offered up a lamb in sacrifice to God, which provides another glimpse of Christ as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” On and on the Lord went, giving them one blessed view after another of Himself. Is it any wonder that later they declared, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures” (24:32). And so it will be with us dear fellow-believer, if we have our eyes opened to see Christ in the Scriptures.

        3. “Be merciful unto me, O Lord:for I cry unto Thee daily” (Psa. 86:3). “My eye mourns by reason of affliction; LORD, I have called daily upon Thee, I have stretched out my hands unto Thee” (Psa. 88:9). Equally important in our daily living is the need to pray. The Lord desires fellowship with us, which means He wants to hear from us just as much as He wants us to hear from Him. He desires us to be in a constant state of dependency, which is what prayer really is. Notice the language David employed to speak of his daily prayer to God:“I cry unto Thee.” He didn’t simply “say his prayers”; he cried out to the Lord with a felt need, and with faith depending on God to respond to the afflictions he was facing. Do we not face the same needs today, brethren? We too are afflicted at times and thus we need to cry out daily to our God who can meet our needs. The apostle wrote to the Hebrews, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).

        When is the best time to pray? I think all would agree with the apostle Paul when he exhorts us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17), in other words, at all times. But just as we learned that we should begin our day searching the Scriptures, we learn also that the morning is the best time to pray:“My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee and will look up” (Psa. 5:3). Before the enemy assails us and our responsibilities begin, we need to cry out to the Lord in dependence and faith.

        4. “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits” (Psa. 68:19). We have just read of the afflictions David suffered, but David was equally aware of the blessings God had bestowed upon him. This surely implies that David was thankful for God’s blessings. I have been studying many of Paul’s Epistles over the last year or so and it has been impressed upon my heart how often Paul lifted up His voice to God for the blessings he received. One such occurrence is Ephesians 1:3:“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Paul was keenly aware of how God had “daily loaded him with benefits,” and it is absolutely vital for us to count our blessings daily and to give thanks to God for them.

        5. “And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba:prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised” (Psa. 72:15). We have just learned how important it is to thank God for our daily blessings; here we learn it is equally important to praise the Lord Jesus daily. This Psalm speaks primarily of Solomon who was to succeed David on the throne and to be honored by the nations round about him. But as we look closely at this Psalm we see that a “greater than Solomon” is before us. Verse 8 speaks of a king who will have universal dominion, something that was never true of Solomon. But in a coming day, when the Lord Jesus comes as “King of kings, and Lord of lords” to assume His throne and reign supremely over the entire world, He will then receive the praise that He deserves. If that is true of a coming day, should it not be true in this day of grace in which we find ourselves? Surely it should! He deserves all the praise our hearts can muster for His redeeming grace manifested at Calvary, and for the love and grace showered upon us daily. “From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s Name is to be praised” (Psa. 113:3).

        Let us muse for a moment on how powerful praise can be. Consider that scene in Acts 16:16-24 where the apostle Paul and Silas were imprisoned for faithfully preaching the gospel. There they were in a deep, dark, and dank cell, with bleeding backs and nothing to encourage them. Yet we read, “At midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them” (16:25). What a foreign sound that must have been to all who heard these hymns of praise. I am sure the men were accustomed to hearing complaints, angry threats, and profanity from their fellow inmates, so what a testimony to the grace of God to hear notes of praise ascending to God in view of the circumstances they were in. We know that God used this testimony to save the poor jailor who later fell at the feet of Paul and Silas with those memorable words, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved” (16:31). Those words of praise uttered by Paul and Silas resulted in the conversion of this precious soul, which in turn led to the formation of the assembly at Philippi. Such is the power of praise dear brothers and sisters! May it be found in our lives daily, that we too may prove its power as we testify of God and His saving grace!

        6. “Exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). The previous Scriptures in this article were not picked at random, for there is a definite order here. If we find ourselves in fellowship with God (by daily searching the Scriptures, looking for Christ in the Scriptures, praying, being thankful for our blessings, and praising our Lord and Saviour), we shall be prepared to reach out to other believers to “encourage one another daily.” Our fellowship with the Father and the Son fills our hearts to overflowing and the natural result is we want to be a channel of blessing to others. We will never lack for opportunity, for there will always be the need to encourage others. I had thought of preparing a list of ways in which we can encourage one another, but time and space forbid doing so. Suffice it to say that one of the greatest ways we can encourage one another is to point them to the preciousness of Christ that we have seen from the Word. This can be done by a phone call to a brother or sister, or a letter or e-mail, or even better by a personal visit. But perhaps the most opportune time to minister encouragement to our brethren is when we are assembled together for that very purpose; I am speaking of assembly meetings! Hebrews 10:25 states, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting [encouraging] one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.” Oh, how needful it is to come together, brethren, and in doing so to encourage one another. Sometimes just the presence of other saints serves to encourage us. We are, no doubt, living in the last days (as this verse intimates), where the world that hates Christ is becoming increasingly wicked and ungodly. This cold, sinful world can leave its influence on us if we are not diligent in seeking out other believers to encourage them and to be encouraged by them.

        7. “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their bread with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:46,47). I had verse 47 in mind, but I included verse 46 because it illustrates the need that we just saw of coming together for fellowship. As you will notice, there is no direct command in verse 47 instructing us to do something on a daily basis. Rather, we learn what the Lord Himself is doing daily:He is “building His Church.” That is, He is saving souls by sinners believing the gospel and then making them members of His body, which is the Church (see Eph. 1:13; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:22,23). We learn elsewhere that the gospel has been entrusted to believers (see 1 Thess. 2:4) and it is our responsibility as well as our privilege to reach out to sinners with the good news so they can be saved and become part of the Church of God. So, indirectly we learn from verse 47 that we should be concerned daily with evangelizing souls. In short, one of our daily habits should be to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5). This may involve speaking directly to souls of their need of Christ, passing out tracts, enclosing tracts in letters and bills, preaching a gospel meeting at a conference, and many other ways. Surely there will be days when there is not a direct opportunity to witness to souls, but even then we can be praying for those who are dealing directly with souls. I have often thought that the desire we have to see souls saved is a “spiritual barometer”; if we have that desire we are spiritually healthy; if we lose that desire we have drifted spiritually and are in need of being stirred up.

        8. “And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Last, but not least, we should respond to this command of our Lord and take up our cross daily. What does that mean? What is involved in a man taking up his cross? We know that our blessed Lord Himself took up His cross, for we read in John 19:16,17:“Then delivered he Him there unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led Him away. And He “bearing His cross” went forth into a place … called in the Hebrew Golgotha.” What did people think when they saw a man bearing his cross on his way to be crucified? I believe when they saw such a man they instantly thought, “Well, that is the end of that man’s life.” And beloved, I believe that this is the meaning of our Lord’s words to us as well. In telling us to take up our cross He is, in essence, telling us “this is the end of your life.” It is the end of our life as sinners in this world! This is confirmed by the next verse, “For whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:24). To lose my life for His sake is to deny living for myself and the world; it is to live for Christ and for the world to come!

        I believe the cross is also an object of shame and contempt. When a man was bearing his cross on his way to be crucified he was ridiculed and persecuted, for he was looked upon as a criminal and one worthy of death. So, in “taking up our cross” we are willing to suffer reproach for Christ, to be hated by the world that hated Christ, and even to suffer martyrdom if called upon to do so. All this, and perhaps more, is involved in those weighty words, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

                In closing, may the Lord impress these thoughts deeply upon our minds and hearts. As I stated at the beginning, if we were to incorporate these eight things into our daily lives we would be spiritually blessed (beyond measure!) and the Lord Jesus (who is so deserving of honor and praise) would be glorified. If we have already made them part of our daily lives, let us, by the grace of God, continue in them. If we have not, may the Spirit be pleased to use these few lines to produce in us the desire to make them our daily habits.

        What a priceless heritage we possess in the Word of God (Psa. 119:111). Both the inspiration and the preservation of Scripture have been miraculous. It has stood the test of ages, and in spite of the many assaults upon it by unbelieving men, the Book has stood, has continued, and we possess it now.

        What a source of light, comfort and strength it has been throughout many generations! It has been the one perfect standard by which to test every doctrine, every preacher, every teacher. “What says the Scripture?” was the divine test used by the apostle Paul, and it remains still the divine standard after almost 2,000 years since his time.

        Neglect in reading the Scriptures is now very common. Considering their great value and importance, we should read and search them daily as for hidden treasure, value their contents more than silver and gold, and would thus find them sweeter than honey to our taste (Psa. 119:103,127).

        We read that in the early days of Christianity the Bereans “searched the Scriptures daily.” Paul’s preaching and teaching were such that whole cities and countries were stirred and moved to earnest inquiry; to ascertain the truth, these Bereans searched the records daily. What a fine example they have left us!

        Some of us can remember early days when this daily searching of the Scriptures was still characteristic, clear evidence of the Holy Spirit’s leading. But conditions have changed in these later years. In all spheres of life things move with more rapid pace, and these changed conditions have had a far-reaching effect, both upon the Church as a whole and on the lives of individual Christians. The change has not been for the better, spiritually, but rather for the worse. Among professing Christians generally less time is given to reading and especially less time is given to “searching the Scriptures daily.” Wherever the two prominent features of spiritual life—constant prayer and daily reading the Word of God—are neglected, spiritual declension will ever follow.

        While admitting the changed conditions of today, the marks of a pious life and of distinct witnessing for Christ ever remain the same. Enoch, in the early days, “walked with God,” and the God-given word of prophecy he possessed influenced and governed his life in the days before the flood. In a world of ungodly men, as the judgment was approaching, he walked with God and bore a distinct witness for Him before the world. In our day, we too are called by grace to bear a distinct witness for God as we approach the end of all things on earth.

        We may boast of being saved, and be able to discuss the doctrine of eternal security, or even to open up the subject of prophecy with a fair degree of intelligence, but mere knowledge of those things will not benefit us at the judgment-seat of Christ if our lives have not also been governed by the Word of God and guided by the Holy Spirit. This is an important consideration for every believer (Isa. 66:2).

        With these facts before us let us pause to take a fresh inventory and so learn what is our present condition before God. If such examination shows us to possess things that are a hindrance to spiritual progress, or that we lack others that are necessary to progress in our testimony for the Lord, such an exercise will be healthful and helpful. This exercise will concern first our individual life, then our home circle, and finally our relation to the assembly. It will test us if we have given the Word of God its proper place in our whole testimony.

        The daily reading of the Scriptures, both individually and in the home circle, should be our constant exercise. And preferably in the morning, if possible, for after a night’s rest of body and mind all our perceptions are more keen and ready to take in the daily lesson.

        The reading of the Scriptures imparts strength and tone to the spiritual life. Such an exercise at the beginning of the day resembles the gathering of the manna each morning by the children of Israel, by which they were furnished with food for their daily need (Exod. 16:15-20).

        It was in the morning that the Lord instructed Moses to present himself before Him to receive fresh communications, later to be conveyed to the children of Israel. “Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai and present yourself to Me” (Exod. 34:2).

        With David the King, we learn that the early morning characterized his spiritual devotions and prayers; in his psalms he describes his ardent desires, his heart-breathings in the morning. Also, led by the Holy Spirit, in those psalms he prophetically opens up lessons concerning the Lord Jesus upon the earth, by which we are furnished with instruction for a life of devotion and heavenly-mindedness here upon earth (Psa. 5:3; 55:17; 59:16; 88:13; 92:2; 143:8). “O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee:my soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh longs for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is” (Psa. 63:1).

        Still later, in the days of Ezekiel the prophet, when the nation had departed from Jehovah and were worshiping idols, and the Word of God was not only neglected, but openly disobeyed, we are told, “In the morning came the word of the LORD to me” (Ezek. 12:8). The prophet was thus furnished with his message to deliver to Israel.

        Again, the early morning had a special place in our Lord’s life here on earth. The prophet Isaiah wrote concerning Him, “He wakens morning by morning, He wakens My ear to hear as the learned” (Isa. 50:4). Mark, the evangelist, describing the heavenly character of the perfect life of God’s perfect Servant displacing Israel, the imperfect servant, writes, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35). Both the prophet and the evangelist unite in their testimony that our Lord and Master received His fresh daily communications from the Father, and engaged in the sacred exercise of prayer to the Father, in the early morning.

        How necessary in our busy age to be reminded of this. To the examples mentioned could be added a long list of men and women who have followed the example of saintly Lois and Eunice, Timothy’s mother and grandmother, in observing the custom established in Israel, reading the Scriptures daily in the home circle. The family altar was a sacred spot around which parents and children gathered; its sanctity we need to establish and safeguard today.

        Since the days of Timothy, a host of men and women, among them many faithful, earnest preachers, have left their testimony that it was in the home circle, sanctified by the daily, reverential reading of Scripture, that they received their first light, changing the whole character of their lives and fitting them for future usefulness as witnesses for Christ (Deut. 4:9; 6:6-12; 11:18-21; 2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14-17).

        This maintenance of the family altar, the daily reading of the Word of God, brings into the home each day a spiritual and heavenly influence. For those in the pressure of business life, how necessary to carry from the home the sweet and hallowed influence and spirituality that the reading of the Word of God alone supplies. This testimony and influence in the home was also illustrated by the children of Israel in Egypt. At a time (as in the world today) when darkness covered the whole land, a people under the shelter of the blood of the lamb had “light in their dwellings” (Exod. 10:21-23).

        We remember a man who, the first morning after professing faith in Christ, read a chapter to the family at the breakfast table, and then upon bended knees thanked God for forgiveness of sins and the knowledge of present salvation, and implored the Lord to guide and safeguard each member of the family through the day. Writing a servant of Christ to tell of his new-found joy, he said, “Although it was but the humble home of a poor man, yet the home that morning was gilded all over with the glory of God.”

        (From Help and Food, Vol. 48.)

Begin the day with God;

        Kneel down to Him in prayer;

Lift up your heart to His abode.

        And seek His love to share.

 

Open the Book of God,

        And read a portion there;

That it may hallow all your

                thoughts,

        And sweeten all your care.

 

Go through the day with God,

        Whate’er your work may be;

Where’er your are—at home, abroad—

        He still is near to thee.

 

Converse in mind with God,

        Your spirit heavenward raise:

Acknowledge every good bestowed,

        And offer grateful praise.

 

Conclude the day with God,

        Your sins to Him confess;

Trust in the Lord’s atoning blood,

        And plead His righteousness.

 

Lie down at night with God,

        Who gives His servants sleep;

And when you tread the vale of

                death,

        He will you guard and keep.

        When Christ was about leaving the world, He said, “Father, the hour is come!” not an hour, but “the hour.” That hour, in its far-reaching results embraced every hour since time began. In our lives there are periods that mold and shape our destiny. These are seed-hours; so that we reap, in the long harvest days that follow, what has been sown in these hours. Probably no hour in our lives molds and shapes our well-being for time and eternity as the morning hour spent with God. Then we are fresh and vigorous, and can take in and digest more truth than at any other time. To spend this best hour with our best Friend, for our best possible good, seems so suitable and so important that we should take time out to commune with Him.

        “An hour spent with God is worth a lifetime with man.” This hour will govern the day. The influence of family worship is wonderful on the whole household. It seems to anchor each heart to the truth for the day. It girds up the loins of the mind for work for God and man. It prepares us te resist temptation, to endure trials, and not to be drawn away by success. We go forth from this Divine granary to sow the seed of truth during the day.

        I see increasingly in Scripture that you cannot take up the directions that are so plainly marked out in God’s Word with reference to any time in our history or to any conduct that God looks for from His children, apart from moral condition. That I see everywhere in Scripture. You might have the most perfect code of directions marked out by God, but what good are they to me if my condition of soul is not in some way answering to them? I cannot use them for myself unless I am walking with God; and you will find that this is the way people break down. It is in the application of the truth where they break down, rather than in their intelligence of it.

        There must be a condition of soul suited to God Himself before I can really take His truth and use it for myself in the clearing away of difficulties or in the marking out of my path in the midst of all the confusions in which I find myself enveloped in these times.

        This is very important for every one of us, old or young, because, be assured of it, half the difficulties of saints of God arise from their condition of soul. It is the state people are in that produces the difficulties; and I do not know anything more detrimental than handling the things of God if I am not in communion. I do not know anything that is more searing to the conscience, or that has a more lowering effect upon the whole moral tone of a man, than to take up the things of God out of communion. It has a peculiarly deadening effect upon the soul. That is the reason why I believe you will see, everywhere in Scripture, that there is no thought in God’s mind of a saint of God, either in his individual walk, or as a member of the Church of God, being led apart from that moral quality and tone of soul, under the power of His Spirit. Be assured there is no provision of God for saints not walking with Him. That is an important thing to get clearly before our souls. God has made no provision available to us, apart from characteristics in us, suitable to Himself. Without this, you cannot get people to see and comprehend the things of God; and that is where I think the harm and mischief has been, that there have been attempts to educate people into God’s things. You can never do it. It is through moral condition of soul, and this alone, that we are able truly to discern the mind of God.

                (From “The Resources of Faith Amidst Present Confusion.”)

“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it, and whoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it” (Matt. 16:24,25).

        Our Lord turns to the disciples and puts before them that not merely is He going to the cross, but they must be prepared to follow Him there. If I am to be in the true path of Jesus, I must deny myself and take up the cross and follow—not the disciples, not this church or that church, but—Jesus Himself. I must turn from what is pleasing to my heart naturally. I must meet with shame and rejection in this present evil world. If not, depend upon it, I am not following Jesus. And remember, it is a dangerous thing to believe in Jesus without following Him. Following Jesus may be like losing one’s life. At the present time much confession of Christ is, comparatively, an easy matter. There is little opposition or persecution. People imagine that the world is changed; they talk of progress and enlightenment. The truth is, Christians are changed. Let us ask ourselves whether we desire to be found taking up our cross and following Jesus.

        The flesh easily assumes superiority over the spirit; and indulgence to the path of ease comes in (though of Satan) under the plea of love and kindness. Is the cross of Christ our glory? Are we willing to suffer in doing His will? What a delusion is present honor and enjoyment!

                (From Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew.)

The Trinity and the Gospel

        The voice of holy Scripture bears the clearest testimony to the fact of the interest of the Trinity in the work of the gospel. Who first preached the gospel? Who first announced the good news of the bruised seed of the woman? The Lord God Himself in the garden of Eden. Further, who was the most earnest, laborious, and faithful preacher who ever trod this earth? The Son of God. And who has been preaching the gospel for the last 18 1/2 [now 20] centuries? The Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. Thus then we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all actually engaged in the work of evangelization; and if this be so, who are we to dare to speak slightingly of such a work? Rather may our whole moral being be stirred by the power of the Spirit of God so that we may be able to add our fervent and deep “Amen” to those precious words of inspiration, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things” (Isa. 52:7; Rom. 10:15).

 

The Earnest Seeker

        “A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us” (Acts 16:14,15).

        Here we have a picture of one who, having through grace gotten a measure of light, was living up to it and earnestly seeking for more. Lydia, the seller of purple, had something in common with the eunuch of Ethiopia and the centurion of Caesarea. All three appear on the page of inspiration as souls who have been drawn to the Lord but lacking the teaching that would give their souls rest and satisfaction.

        The eunuch had gone from Ethiopia to Jerusalem in search of something on which to rest his anxious soul. He had left that city still unsatisfied and was devoutly and earnestly studying the Scriptures. The eye of God was upon him and He sent His servant Philip with the very message that was needed to answer his questions and set his soul at rest (Acts 8:27-39).

        Cornelius was a man of the same stamp. He lived up to the light that he had. He fasted, prayed, and gave alms, the three branches of practical righteousness set forth by our Lord in Matthew 6. His righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. He earnestly followed the light as it streamed in upon his soul and he was led by the apostle Peter into the full blaze of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 10).

        Lydia belonged to the same school. She was a worshiper of God and could be found meeting with other pious Jewish women for prayer. She was found at the place of expressed need and expected blessing. There God met her as He is sure to meet all who frequent such scenes in Lydia’s spirit. “God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). He sent a Philip to the eunuch in the desert of Gaza; He sent a Peter to the centurion in the town of Caesarea; He sent a Paul to the seller of purple in the suburbs of Philippi; and He will send a message to the reader of these lines if he or she is a really earnest seeker after God’s salvation.

 

The False Professor

        “It came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, who show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour” (Acts 16:16-18). Here was a case eminently calculated to test the spirituality and integrity of the evangelist. Most people would have hailed such words from the lips of this damsel as an encouraging testimony to the work. Why then was Paul grieved? Why did he not allow her to continue to bear witness to the object of his mission? Was she not saying the truth? Were they not the servants of the most high God? And were they not showing the way of salvation? Why silence such a witness? Because it was of Satan, and most assuredly the apostle was not going to receive testimony from him. He could not allow Satan to help him in his work.

        It is deeply important for the Lord’s workman to weigh this matter. We may rest assured that this narrative of the damsel has been written for our instruction. It is not only a statement of what has occurred, but a sample of what may occur and indeed what does occur every day. Christendom is full of false profession of Christ. We are surrounded by those who give a merely nominal assent to the truths of the Christian religion. It is our firm persuasion that the forms of professing Christianity are doing more to ruin precious souls than all the forms of moral depravity put together. How few, comparatively, are clear and settled as to the question of forgiveness of sins. Though your sins rise like a dreadful mountain and threaten to sink you into eternal perdition, yet do these words shine with divine and heavenly luster on the page of inspiration:”The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

 

The Hardened Sinner

        It was very unlikely that the Philippian jailor would ever have found his way to the prayer meeting at the river side. He was neither an earnest seeker nor a false professor. Very likely he was a hardened sinner, pursuing a very hardening occupation. Jailors, from the occupation of their office, are, generally speaking, hard and stern men. No doubt there are exceptions. There are some tender-hearted men to be found in such situations; but as a rule jailors are not tender. It would hardly suit them to be so. They have to do with the very worst class of society. Much of the crime of the whole country comes under their notice; and many of the criminals come under their charge. Accustomed to the rough and the coarse, they are apt to become rough and coarse themselves. The Philippian jailor does not seem to have shown much tenderness to Paul and Silas. “He thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks” (Acts 16:24). He seems to have gone to the utmost extreme in making them uncomfortable. But God had rich mercy in store for that poor, hardened, cruel jailor; and, as it was not at all likely that he would go to hear the gospel, the Lord sent the gospel to him. As to Paul and Silas, it is very evident that they were in their right place in the prison. They were there for the truth”s sake and the Lord was with them. Hence they were perfectly happy. Nothing can hinder the joy of one who has the Lord with him. “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises to God, and the prisoners heard them” (16:25). We may safely say that no such sounds had ever issued thence before.

        The Lord had His eye upon the jailor. He had written his name in the Lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world, and He was now about to lead him into the full joy of His salvation. “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed” (16:26). If Paul had not been in full communion with the mind and heart of Christ, he would assuredly have turned to Silas and said, “Now is the moment for us to make our escape.” But Paul knew better. The claims of truth had brought him into prison; the activities of grace kept him there. “The keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled” (16:27). This proves that the earthquake, with all its attendant circumstances, had not touched the heart of the jailor. He could not imagine a number of prisoners sitting quietly in jail when their chains were loosed and the doors lay open. Then what was to become of him if the prisoners were gone? How could he face the authorities? He was about to take his life when a voice of love fell upon his ear, “Do yourself no harm.” This was irresistible. A hardened sinner could meet an earthquake; he could meet death itself; but he could not withstand the mighty melting power of love. He “came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas … and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Love can break the hardest heart. We hear not one reproving word about the harsh treatment, the thrusting into the inner prison, the stocks. Rather, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house.” Such is the rich and precious grace of God. It delights in taking up hardened sinners, melting and subduing their hard hearts, and leading them into the sunlight of a full salvation.

 

Individual Gospel Work

        I have been impressed with the simplicity with which the work of evangelizing was carried on in early days. We are apt to think that in order to evangelize there must be a special gift, and even where there is this special gift, there must be a great deal of machinery and human arrangement such as great public halls and large audiences. But I find in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles that a quantity of most blessed evangelistic work was done by persons who were not specially gifted at all, but who had an earnest love for souls and a deep sense of the preciousness of Christ and His salvation. What is more, I find in those who were specially gifted, called, and appointed by Christ to preach the gospel, a simplicity, freedom, and naturalness in their mode of working, which I greatly covet for myself and for all my brethren.

        Let us look a little into Scripture. Take that lovely scene in John 1:36-43 where John the Baptist pours out his heart in testimony to Jesus:”Behold the Lamb of God!” His soul was absorbed with the glorious object, and what was the result? “Two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” What then? “One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter”s brother.” What did he do? “He first found his own brother Simon, and said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus.” Again, “The day following Jesus … found Philip and said unto him, Follow Me…. Philip found Nathanael and said unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph…. Come and see.” Here is the style of thing for which I earnestly long:this individual work, this laying hold of the first man that comes in our way, this finding one”s own brother and bringing him to Jesus. I do feel we are deficient in this. It is all right enough to gather congregations and address them as God gives ability and opportunity. But do we not also want more of the individual work? more of the private, earnest, personal dealing with souls?

        Do you not think that if we had more “Philips” we should have more “Nathanaels” and if we had more “Andrews” we should have more “Simons”? I cannot but believe it. There is amazing power in an earnest personal appeal. Do you not often find that it is after the more formal public preaching is finished, and the close personal work begins, that souls are reached? How is it then that there is so little of this latter? I speak not now of the preacher who cannot possibly reach every case, but of the scores of Christians who have been listening to him. They have seen strangers enter the room and they have sat beside them; they have, it may be, noticed their interest, seen the tear stealing down the cheek; and yet they have let them pass away without a single loving effort to reach them or to follow up the good work. To be sure, it needs tact and judgment and direct spiritual guidance to be able to deal with souls, to know whom to speak to, and what to say. But, allowing all this, is there not a lack of that deep, personal, loving interest in souls that will express itself in a thousand ways that act powerfully on the heart?

        Let us all be on the look out for souls; then we may rest assured we should see soul-stirring results.

 

Sobriety and Quietness in Gospel Work

        We need to remember at all times that we can do nothing, and that God the Holy Spirit can do all. It holds good in the great work of evangelization. It is “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts” (Zech. 4:6). The abiding sense of this would keep us humble, and yet full of joyful confidence. Humble because we can do nothing, full of joyful confidence because God can do all. Moreover, it would have the effect of keeping us very sober and quiet in our work”not cold and indifferent, but calm and serious, which is a great matter just now. I was much struck with a remark lately made by an aged workman in a letter to one who had just entered the field. He wrote, “Excitement is not power, but weakness. Earnestness and energy are of God.” There are many, I fear, who would regard as “excitement” what you and I might really consider to be “earnestness and energy.” I love a deep-toned earnestness in the work. I do not see how a man can be otherwise than deeply and thoroughly in earnest, who realizes in any measure the awfulness of eternity, and the state of all those who die in their sins. How is it possible for any one to think of an immortal soul standing on the very brink of hell, and in danger at any moment of being dashed over, and not be serious and earnest? But this is not excitement. What I understand by excitement is the working up of mere nature and the putting forth of such efforts of nature as are designed to work on the natural feelings”all high pressure”all that is merely sensational. This is all worthless. We never find any of this in the ministry of our blessed Lord or His apostles:and yet what earnestness! what untiring energy! what tenderness! We see an earnestness that wore the appearance of being beside oneself; an energy that hardly afforded a moment for rest or refreshment; and a tenderness that could weep over impenitent sinners. All this we see, but no excitement. In a word, all was the fruit of the Eternal Spirit, and all was to the glory of God.

 

The Necessity of the Word of God in Evangelism

        The Word of God is the grand instrument to be used in the work of evangelization. Many passages of holy Scripture establish this point with such clearness and decision as to leave no room whatever for dispute. In James 1:18 we read, “Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth.” In 1 Peter 1:23 we read, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever.” The evangelist is to preach the Word, and he is to preach it in simple dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the true secret of success in preaching. It matters not what agency may be used to make the furrow, or in what form the Word may clothe itself, or by what vehicle it may be conveyed; it is only by “the Word of truth” that souls are begotten.

        Sometimes persons who undertake to preach the gospel are apt to leave the domain of the evangelist and travel into that of the teacher and lecturer. I know I have erred in this way myself, and I mourn over the error. The Lord has of late deepened immensely in my soul the sense of the vast importance of earnest gospel preaching. I do not think the less of the work of a teacher or pastor. I believe that wherever there is a heart that loves Christ, it will delight to feed and tend the precious lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ that He purchased with His own blood. But the sheep must be gathered before they can be fed, and how are they to be gathered but by the earnest preaching of the gospel? It is the grand business of the evangelist to go forth upon the dark mountains of sin and error, to sound the gospel trumpet and gather the sheep. Using the Word of God he gives the warning voice, the solemn appeal, the faithful reasoning of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, the awakening presentation of death and judgment, the dread realities of eternity, the lake of fire, and the worm that never dies. In short, beloved, we want preachers who have both a keen appreciation of the Word of God and an intense love for souls.

 

Prayer and Evangelism

        I deeply feel our lack of a prayerful spirit in carrying on the work of evangelization. I have referred to the subject of the Spirit”s work, and to the place that God”s Word ought ever to get; but it strikes me we are very deficient in reference to the matter of earnest, persevering, believing prayer. This is the true secret of power. The apostle says, “We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). Prayer brings in the power of God and this is what we want. It is not the power of eloquence, but the power of God; and this can only be had by waiting upon Him. “He gives power to the faint; and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall:but those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa. 40:29-31).

        There is too much of what I may call going through a service. I greatly fear that some of us are more on our legs than on our knees; more in the railway carriage than in the closet; more on the road than in the sanctuary; more before men than before God. This will never do. It is impossible that our preaching can be marked by power and crowned with results if we fail in waiting upon God. Look at the blessed Master Himself. See how often He was found in prayer. Again and again we find that blessed One in the attitude of prayer. At one time He rises up a great while before day, in order to give Himself to prayer. At another time He spends the entire night in prayer, because the day was given up to work. What an example for us! May we follow it! May we know a little better what it is to agonize in prayer! We cannot convert souls. God alone can do this; and if we go on without waiting on Him, if we allow public preaching to displace private prayer, we may rest assured our preaching will prove barren and worthless. We really must “give ourselves to prayer” if we would succeed in the “ministry of the Word.”

        (From “Papers on Evangelism” in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. 3).

These parables are our Lord’s answer to the murmuring of the Pharisees—“This Man receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). They are His divinely perfect way of vindicating the love and grace of God. So far from denying the charge, the Lord displays the truth and blessedness of that with which they charge Him. To do this He uses not one but three parables, each giving different aspects of the same love and grace, and all blending together to reveal the heart of God. And in this we have displayed the whole Trinity.

 

The Lost Sheep (15:1-7)

             Fittingly, the Lord begins with Himself, the Son. He had come into the world for this very purpose—to save sinners. The sheep belongs to Him (as all things are His), but has gone astray, beyond all hope of recovery by its own efforts. In fact it does nothing toward that recovery; both the shepherd in the parable and the true Shepherd do it all—leave all to accomplish this purpose. It includes Christ’s coming in flesh, His perfect life showing His absolute sinlessness, and above all His atoning death—the finished work of divine love, in making possible its saving the lost.

             “But none of the ransomed ever

                 knew

How deep were the waters crossed;

Nor how dark was the night that

                 the Lord passed through,

             Ere He found the sheep that was

                 lost.”                                                                                                                                                          (E.C. Clephane)

             As the work of saving was His, so the power to keep and bring home is His. The joy in it all and over the lost one found is His also. Indeed the joy throughout these parables is looked at as chiefly on God’s part. The reflection of that is in the saved soul. 

The Lost Piece of Money (15:8-10)

             Here in the woman seeking to find the lost coin it is not difficult to think of the present work of the Holy Spirit in the people of God, seeking diligently by the light of the Word, and the zeal of love, to reach those hidden in the dust of the world—behind their business, cares, pleasures—whatever hides them. Those who believe in the truth of their sin and of Christ as Saviour are “found.” The Spirit’s work is accomplished in working “repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18). Again there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. 

The Lost Son (15:11-24)

             In the first two parables the lost is seen largely or entirely passive. But in the last is seen the working of grace in the person, leading to a sense of misery, a turning to God, and coming with confession, to Him from the place of distance and of shame. And yet, may we not say, this is but the background upon which to display the love of the Father. It is the Father who is waiting, who sees the poor wanderer at a great distance—for who has ever “repented enough” or come all the way alone? With divine haste, the Father anticipates all, and with the kiss of pardon welcomes the lost to the best in His house—robe, ring, sandals, and feast. All are the gift of the Father whose joy He only, with the Son and Spirit, knows in its divine eternal fullness.

             To God the Father be the praise now and ever, by the Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord.

                (From Help and Food, Vol. 38.)

             Have you ever been burdened to go and give out tracts, or to speak to your neighbor about the Lord, or to engage in some other type of gospel work? Or have you ever been asked by a fellow Christian to join him in such activities? No doubt, all of our readers, if truly saved, have experienced this—hopefully many times in their lives since new birth. But doesn’t it often happen that before you have an opportunity to act upon such a thought or burden that you start thinking of all sorts of excuses why you should not engage in such activity? And more often than not, perhaps, the burden passes away without the deed being accomplished.

             What are some of the excuses we think of for not doing gospel work?

             1. I might be rebuffed or mocked by someone.

             2. I might meet someone from the office while I am giving out tracts, and that person might tell others at the office what I was doing, and what will they think of me then?

             3. I might be challenged with a question that I cannot answer.

             4. If it is the Lord’s purpose for certain persons to be saved, He can accomplish this purpose without my help.

             5. If Mr. X, with whom I lost my temper last month, sees me giving out tracts, he will think I am a hypocrite!

             6. I have a headache.

             7. I have too much else to do (the children’s swing set needs another coat of paint, I haven’t read last night’s newspaper or this week’s Newsweek yet, the bathroom faucet has been dripping for the past two months and something should be done about it).

             8. I have too much else to do (I should take the children on an outing today).

             9. I have too much else to do (I should be studying for next week’s Bible study; I should be writing that article I promised for Words of Truth).

             We could go on and on thinking of excuses why we should not do the work that is so pleasing to the Lord-sowing the seed of the gospel. Whenever one has a thought or desire to do work for the Lord, particularly when that work is aimed at wresting lost souls out of Satan’s kingdom, we can be certain that Satan and his helpers are going to be making every attempt to prevent thought or desire from resulting in action.

             It might be useful to consider some of the excuses just listed so that we can be prepared to respond to them in the right way.

             One of the greatest hindrances to gospel work is pride. This often takes the form of fear that our reputation or popularity among our neighbors or colleagues may be adversely affected if we are “caught” doing gospel work or witnessing for Christ. About the only way to deal with this is to confess to God our pride, to recognize it as sin and as something abhorrent to God. “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 16:5; see also 8:13). We must remember that we belong to the One who “made Himself of no reputation” (Phil. 2:7).

             What about the problem of being rebuffed or mocked by someone? Consider the words of the Lord Jesus in John 15:19,20:“The world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” Far from being a problem, should it not rather be counted a privilege to suffer for Him who suffered so much for us? “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12). “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29).

             Concerning excuse number three, what will people think of me if I cannot defend my faith or answer all of their questions or objections? Won’t that be worse than not talking to them at all? The response to this is that most persons have great respect for the person who is willing to admit that he does not have all the answers. If you find you are not immediately able to answer a certain question, ask the other person if he would be willing to meet with you on another occasion to discuss the matter further after you have had an opportunity to think about it and to search the Scriptures to find the answer. Among other things, this will also reveal whether the other person is sincere in his questioning or is just trifling with you and with God.

             As to excuse number four, it is most certainly true that the Lord can save persons without my help. But consider the following illustration:My son comes to me one day and says, in a very frustrated tone of voice, “Daddy, will you help me with my model airplane? I can’t get the wings to stick to the fuselage.” I look up at him over my newspaper and reply, “Son, if God wants the wings to stick to the fuselage, He will find a way for it to be done.” Whereupon he says, “Okay, Dad. Say, I have an idea. I’ll ask Mr. Matthews next door. He is good at fixing things.” Do you get the point? The airplane gets put together, but Daddy loses out on the blessing of helping his son, and misses a wonderful opportunity to strengthen the relationship with his son. In like manner do we lose out on the blessing of working with and for the Lord in the matter of winning souls to Himself.

             If you are afraid of being called a hypocrite because of your ungodly behavior in the past toward another, the solution is simple—simple in theory, that is, but oh, so difficult to carry out in practice. If I have sinned against my neighbor or offended him in any way, it is my obligation to go to him and confess my sin and ask his forgiveness (Jas. 5:16). And it does not matter if he was wrong too—even if his part of the wrong was 95 percent and mine only five percent. It is still my obligation to confess my sin to him and seek his forgiveness. “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt. 5:23,24).

            If the excuse is “I am not feeling well,” try to imagine what your response would be if a friend called and asked you to play tennis with him or go to a concert with him. Often this excuse

is offered as a substitute to excuses number one and two, for it is easier on the conscience than those other two.

          Perhaps the most common excuses for not working for the Lord are those of “no time” or “too much else to do.” Now, God has no intention for us to neglect our responsibilities in the home or at work; that is, it is never valid to shirk our earthly responsibilities by saying we have to spend our time serving the Lord. But the Lord does expect to be placed first in our lives, and if we set aside time to devote to Him (whether for studying the Bible, praying, or working for Him), He will honor us by helping us to be more efficient in our other duties and responsibilities. We will find that we are spending less time cleaning up messes, correcting mistakes, taking the car to be fixed, and the like, if we have given Christ the time due to Him each day.

          With regard to excuse number eight, it is important to maintain a proper balance between the time devoted to the family and time devoted to the Lord. Neither should be stressed to the neglect of the other. (Thus, this particular excuse may indeed be valid at times, that is, the Lord may prefer that the time be spent with the family—cementing those relationships—rather than away ministering to others.) Often the two can be effectively combined. For instance, the home can be an effective sphere for evangelism by having our children’s friends over to spend the night and presenting the gospel to them as they join in the family devotions, as well as our joining with the children in their games. Often, if one is not particularly gifted in evangelism, a person might use the excuse that he is too busy exercising his gift (be it teaching, pastoring, helping, or whatever) to engage in evangelistic work. But it is clear from Scripture that God intends for all of His children, whatever their gift might be, to cultivate a longing desire for the salvation of souls, to be “fishers of men.” “Do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5).

          May the Lord encourage each of us in the work of the gospel. May we value the love of Christ and of the Father toward us, and the sacrificial work accomplished for us at Calvary. May we have a compassion for the lost, hell-bound souls around us on every hand. There is no want of opportunity to give out the gospel, to speak a word for our dear Saviour. May we gird up our loins and be ready for each opportunity as it arises. And may we be cognizant of Satan’s devices to hinder us from capitalizing on these opportunities, and not yield to the excuses he plants in our minds. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).

             When I was in Melbourne, Australia as a minister, I kept hearing stories about a woman, a cripple, but I never believed them. I did not think the stories could be true. I went one day to offer comfort to her, but before I had been in the room ten minutes it was I who was receiving instruction, broken down, and dissolved in a flood of emotion. When she was 18 she was seized with a dread malady, and the doctor said that to save her life he must take off the foot. Both feet went. They followed the disease up the body, took off her legs to the knees, still followed it up, and cut as far as the trunk. Then it broke out in her hands. The first arm went to the shoulder, and the second to the shoulder, and when I saw that woman, Miss Higgins, all that remained of her was a trunk, nothing more than a trunk. For 15 years she had been there. The walls of her room were covered with Scripture texts, all of them radiating, speaking of joy, peace, and power.

             One day while lying in bed she asked the Lord what she could do, a dismembered woman without a joint in her body. Then an inspiration came to her, and she got a friend who was a carpenter to come. He fitted a pad to her shoulder and then a fountain pen, and she began to write letters with it. Remember, when you write, you write with your arm. As there was no joint, she wrote with the whole of her body. There may be clever calligraphists in this place, but I will undertake to say there is no woman who could write a letter one-half so beautiful from the point of view of calligraphy as that woman wrote in my presence. She had received 1,500 to 1,600 letters from people who had been brought to Christ through the letters she had written in that way from that room.

             I said to her:“How do you do it?” She smiled and replied, “Well, you know Jesus said, “He who believes on Me … out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). I believed in Him and that is all.”

                If one in such an absolutely helpless condition as this Christian woman could by the help of God accomplish such amazing results in winning souls, who of us after this need despair? Who is there so crippled in body or circumstances that cannot in some way be made a blessing to others? God seems to glory in doing the impossible. He still takes “the weak things … to confound the things that are mighty” (1 Cor. 1:27). Nothing is too hard for Him. Give Him a chance.

             “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes” (Rom. 10:2-4).

             I have been a most self-righteous man. For years I groaned, expecting to find peace by regulating my life according to the Scriptures. They proved to be “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). I sought carefully for the commandments of the New Testament, but the more I sought, the more I got into difficulty. I read, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15), and “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36), and others of the same character, and they terrified me. I read also, “Sell whatever you have, and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21), and then I wished, “Oh that I were only rich, that I might sacrifice all!” Then I found baptism and the Lord’s supper; but after doing all, and living an irreproachable church life, I got no peace. The “rejoice evermore” (1 Thess. 5:16) I read was only a mockery to me. When I was baptized, I expected some mysterious change, but there was none; I wept at the Lord’s table, but there was no peace; I prayed in secret and in public, often so earnestly that others thought me mighty in prayer, but yet there was no peace. “O Lord!” I cried in my agony, “Speak to me and tell me what to do; I will run and do it even at the peril of my life.” But there was no answer. I now visited the sick and spent much time in prayer. I preached too—yes, dear reader, I preached—I pretended to be a bearer of glad tidings, while my own heart writhed in agony. What did I preach? What others had preached to me—“Do your best; be a valiant soldier of Jesus Christ, and then He will save you.” But still I found no peace! In spite of all this supposed duty fulfilled, there was no peace!

             One day I called on a sick man, and quickly introduced the subject of religion, as that was my object in calling. “Ah, sir,” he said, “they used to tell me to do my best, and I tried and tried, until I found that there was no best to be reached. When I examined myself, I found that I was still the same poor sinner. Then I watched my instructors to see if I could detect in them what I found in myself, and they failed so visibly to live up to what they taught and professed that I set them all down as hypocrites, and turned infidel. But here, read this.” He passed to me a Testament opened at Romans 3. I had often read it before, but now the declaration, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (3:10) was strangely solemn to me. I read on:“There is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus … whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood … that He might be just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus” (3:22-26). As I read, the Holy Spirit opened my blinded heart, and I saw it all. Then and there, in that log cabin, I got what Cornelius got as Peter spoke the wonderful message, “To Him [Jesus] give all the prophets witness, that through His name whoever believes in Him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43).

             I was then two miles from home, and my path lay mostly through fields of corn and tall grass; but all I remember of it that evening is finding myself several times on my knees on the ground, praising God for His love. What shall I do when I get to heaven?

             I now had God’s answer to all my difficulties in His precious Word, and there it was all the time, but I was blind to it. Is it not wonderful we should be so intelligent about so many things and yet so stupid about matters so important and so simply and clearly stated in the Word of God?

             My heart now turned toward all men, especially to those already dear to me by the ties of nature. It was no more praying and preaching and visiting to perform some worthy thing, it was fishing after souls of men. A friend who was preparing to go into Christian ministry was most of all on my heart. I knew he was just where I was before. I wrote to him and told him that I had been blind but now I saw. I told him of that Man who is called Jesus, of the work that He finished on the cross, and of the wonderful results of apprehending it by faith. He replied that he was “in great distress sometimes, and he did not know whom to believe. One said this, another said that, and all seemed earnest. It was very puzzling.” One day he wrote, “All you tell me is true. I have compared it with the Word. One thing only I cannot understand. You say, ‘It is useless to try to better that which cannot be bettered,’ and add, ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh’ (John 3:6). Surely you do not mean to say we must not strive to improve ourselves.”

             I prayed to the Lord that He would guide me in my answer, and thought of the joy of being made the instrument in bringing that dear one to Jesus. I then replied, “Yes, that is just what I meant to say. I meant that it is useless, and even folly, to strive to better what cannot be bettered. ‘You must be born again.’ Your only hope is in what another, even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has done for us. This is humiliating, but there is no other way. ‘He who believes on Him is not condemned; but he who believes not is condemned already!’ (John 3:18). This is the testimony of the whole Scripture.”

             A few days later I received his answer:“Give glory to God, my beloved brother. I see! I see! It is Jesus, and Jesus alone. He is now my all. Since yesterday, it seems I understand more than half the Word, which before was all darkness. I received your letter yesterday morning and, as usual, I read it over and over. I read the passages you mentioned, and they were there:I could deny nothing; but I was miserable. I went to my task heartlessly. Toward evening, a gleam of hope reached me. I fell on my knees and prayed, and while there, the whole redemption that is through Christ Jesus was opened up to me. I desired to see and feel it with such force that my heart might leap high for joy, but I got only a deep, solemn, strange peace within. My wonder is, that in view of such a salvation I can remain so calm. I almost tremble lest I should lose such a precious rest.”

             Lose such a precious rest! No, never! It cannot be lost, for it rests on a foundation that cannot be moved. It produces feelings—blessed feelings—but feelings are no part of it. What God did for us over 1800 years ago when He “laid on [Jesus] the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6) is what true peace rests upon, and that never can be undone, nor can it ever lose its value. Blessed is the soul who rests there!

                “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief … He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows:yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:3-6).

             A circumstance that aptly illustrates the great truth of Christianity happened not long ago in a small village on the west coast of Scotland. The sewerage of the place needed improvement and cleansing; in the progress of the work, one of the principal wells in the town, from which pure water had been supplied to families in the vicinity, became polluted by contact with the sewer. As soon as the cause of the disaster was discovered, remedial measures were established in the hope of restoring the now foul spring to its original purity. Every effort that skill and ingenuity could suggest was taken into consideration, but to no purpose. It was thought possible to clean and wash out the old well as far as it could be seen, but this was abandoned as useless. It was next suggested that if the old building of the well, stones, sand, etc., were removed, and a new well built instead thereof, the desired object would be attained. Many conflicting opinions prevailed as to the possibility of success of this plan. At last it was resolved to call in a man whose occupation had been that of a constructor of wells, and whose experience justified the expectation that his counsel would lead to a proper decision. Nor did he disappoint this hope; for when called and questioned, his reply was unequivocally, “It is not possible to procure pure and sweet water from a spring polluted as this by sewage, either by cleansing it out as far as you can see or by removing the old building and constructing a new one. You must build a new well with new stones, new sand, and in an entirely new place.”

             I happened to walk into the shop where these facts were being told, and when I heard them it struck me what a picture of Christianity that is! It also struck me how little known or understood Christianity is! And now, do you not see, dear reader, how true all this is, that man, in his natural state, is the polluted well—defiled in his spring, his nature corrupt? What is to be done? God’s heart is overflowing in its love for guilty man, while man’s heart is overflowing with hatred to, or indifference toward the blessed God. What is to be done? God must set that filthy well—man—aside. There is nothing else for it. The spring is polluted at its source, man is irreparable.

             So God sends His own blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world, the scene of the dishonor done to Himself, as well as the witness of man’s ruin and degradation, and here where man had utterly failed to glorify God, He, that blessed One, that beautiful and perfect Man, perfectly glorified God:“I have glorified Thee on the earth” (John 17:4), and thus exhibited what a dependent and subject man ought to be. And not only this, but as He walked this world, He manifested God His Father:“He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). What a wonderful thought:“The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). This is the One who came into this poor world that was at a distance from God, to tell out the secrets of that bosom towards poor man on it. Inasmuch as judgment is resting on man by reason of sin, and that he is, moreover, walking the world in a forfeited life, God’s Son bore the judgment, gave up His own life for man’s that was forfeited, and at the same time presented His own personal excellency to God. Man’s history is now closed; the old well is declared, as to its standing and state, to be irremediable; but this is not all, for He who in grace thus gave Himself, “was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rom. 6:4) and becomes now in Himself, thus risen, the new standing for the new well. Therefore is it written, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God” (2 Cor. 5:17,18).

             Dear reader, what wonderful words these last five are, “all things are of God”; the position is of God, the building on it of God, the builder, God. Even, as in the case of the well, the old position, mortar, stones, and sand were all set aside as good for nothing, so in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the believer once a sinner, as a child of Adam, was entirely judged and put away out of God’s sight:not only his sins but that which did them, his nature. In the Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead, the new era or second volume of our history is opened, and on the title page of this volume is inscribed—“ All things are of God.”

             May the Lord the Spirit open hearts to see the great salvation of God, how He has settled the question of the old well with its corrupt spring, and what a magnificent well He has opened in His Son risen from the dead, the second Man, the last Adam, the completer of the old creation, and Head of the new.

             During a recent visit to the town of Buxton, Derbyshire, I was asked by a Christian lady to visit a woman in whose spiritual welfare she was interested. One afternoon I called at the house, and in the course of conversation was amazed at her deplorable ignorance. On my enquiring if she was prepared for eternity, she replied that she did not know. Asked if she was a sinner, her response was, “Oh, yes; we are all sinners.”

             “God’s Word tells us that ‘The wages of sin is death’ (Rom. 6:23). Have you earned these wages?” “I don’t know,” she responded.

             “Have you been ‘born again’?” (John 3:3). “I have not.”

             “Have you been ‘converted’?” (Matt. 18:3). “No.”

             “Are you a hell-deserving sinner?” “No; I am not so bad as that.”

             “If, then, you are not a hell-deserving sinner, are you a heaven-deserving one?” “Yes; I believe I am.”

             “What! Do you mean to say that you deserve to go to heaven?” “I do.”

             “Why do you think so?” “Because I never did any harm in my life.”

             This woman is a representative of thousands of decent, respectable persons all over the land. They seem to be utterly unconcerned about their guilt and danger. Ask them if they expect to get to heaven, and they unhesitatingly declare that they “hope” or “expect” to reach it “at last.” Enquire the ground of their confidence, and they tell you that they “never did any harm,” and have tried to “do their duty.” They admit in a general way that they are “sinners,” but they don’t believe that they are hell-deserving sinners. Ask them how long it is since they were “born again,” “converted,” or “saved,” and they reply that they have not got “that length” yet.

             Is the reader “heaven-deserving” or “hell-deserving?” Surely you don’t believe that you have always been what you should have been, and always done what you should have done.

                “I know that I am a sinner.” Then, according to your admission, you deserve to be punished. All unsaved, unconverted sinners are lost and guilty, helpless and hell-deserving, for God’s Word declares that “The soul who sins, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:20). What, then, is to become of you? Can you pay the debt that you owe to God? Will future well-doing blot out the past? Surely not. Thank God, there is deliverance for you at this very moment. Christ died for “sinners” (Rom. 5:8), for the “ungodly” (5:6), for you (1 Tim. 2:6). On account of His “finished” work God’s claims have been fully met, and by simply believing on Him who did it all and paid it all, you may now pass from death unto life, from darkness into light (Rom. 10:9). Settle the important question now—“Are you heaven-deserving or hell-deserving; are you bound for heaven or Hell—WHICH?”

             First it may be well to observe what repentance is not. Repentance is neither penitence (simple sorrow for sin), nor penance (the effort in some way to atone for wrong done), nor reformation (an attempt to replace bad habits with good ones).

             Repentance is a complete reversal of one’s inward attitude. To repent is to change one’s attitude toward self, toward sin, toward God, toward Christ. John the Baptist came preaching to publicans and sinners, hopelessly vile and depraved, “Repent [or change your attitude], for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). To the haughty scribes and legalistic Pharisees came the same command, “Change your attitude,” and thus they would be ready to receive Him who came in grace to save. To sinners everywhere the Saviour cried, “Except you [change your attitude], you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3,5).

             True repentance implies that the pleasure lover sees and confesses the folly of his empty life; the self-indulgent learns to hate the passions that express the corruption of his nature; the self-righteous sees himself a condemned sinner in the eyes of a holy God; the man who has been hiding from God seeks to find a hiding place in Him; the Christ-rejecter realizes and owns his need of a Redeemer, and so believes unto life and salvation.

             To own frankly that I am lost and guilty is the prelude to life and peace. It is not a question of a certain depth of grief and sorrow, but simply the recognition and acknowledgment of need that lead one to turn to Christ for refuge. None can perish who put their trust in Him. His grace superabounds above all our sin, and His expiatory work on the cross is so infinitely precious to God that it fully meets all our uncleanness and guilt.

             (From Except Ye Repent.)

             The apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ were specially charged to preach “repentance and remission of sins” (Luke 24:47). Some of us are apt to overlook the first part of this commission in our eagerness to get to the second. This is a most serious mistake. It is our truest wisdom to keep close to the actual terms in which our blessed Lord delivered His charge to His earliest heralds. Do we give sufficient prominence to the first part of the commission? Do we preach repentance?

             Our Lord preached repentance (Mark 1:14,15) and He commanded His apostles to preach it; they did so consistently (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30,31; 20:21; 26:20). With the example of our Lord and His apostles before us, may we not ask whether we preach repentance as we ought? No doubt it is very important to preach the gospel of the grace of God in all its fullness, clearness, and power. But if we do not preach repentance, we will seriously damage our testimony and the souls of our hearers. What would we say if we saw a farmer scattering seed on a hard road? We would pronounce him out of his mind. The plow must do its work. The ground must be broken up before the seed is sown; and we may rest assured that, as in the kingdom of nature, so in the kingdom of grace, the plowing must precede the sowing. The ground must be duly prepared for the seed or the operation will prove altogether defective. Let the gospel be preached as God has given it to us in His Word.

             What is this repentance which occupies such a prominent place in the preaching of our Lord and His apostles? We are not aware of any formal definition of the subject furnished by the Holy Spirit. However, the more we study the Word in reference to this great question, the more deeply we feel convinced that true repentance involves the solemn judgment of ourselves, our condition, and our ways in the presence of God; further, this judgment is not a transient feeling but an abiding condition, not an exercise to be gone through as a sort of title to the remission of sins, but the deep and settled habit of the soul, giving seriousness, tenderness, and profound humility which should characterize our entire lives.

             We greatly deplore the light, superficial style of much of our modern preaching. It sometimes seems as if the sinner were led to suppose that he is conferring a great honor upon God in accepting salvation at His hands. This type of preaching produces levity, self-indulgence, worldliness, and foolishness. Sin is not felt to be the dreadful thing it is in the sight of God. Self is not judged. The world is not given up. The gospel that is preached is what may be called “salvation made easy” to the flesh. People are offered a salvation which leaves self and the world unjudged and those who profess to be saved by this gospel often exhibit a great lack of seriousness in their Christian lives.

             [Editor’s note:Perhaps this reminds us of some modern evangelism which says, in effect, “Accept Christ and enjoy good fellowship”; “accept Christ and play better football”; or “accept Christ and solve all your problems.”]

             Man must take his true place before God, and that is the place of self-judgment, contrition of heart, real sorrow for sin, and true confession. It is here the gospel meets him. The fullness of God ever waits on an empty vessel, and a truly repentant soul is the empty vessel into which all the fullness and grace of God can flow in saving power. The Holy Spirit will make the sinner feel and own his real condition. It is He alone who can do so; but He uses preaching to this end. By preaching, He brings the Word of God to bear upon the conscience. The Word is His hammer wherewith He “breaks the rock in pieces” (Jer. 23:29); it is His plowshare wherewith He breaks up the “fallow ground” (Jer. 4:3; Hos. 10:12; Matt. 13:23). He makes the furrow and then casts in the incorruptible seed to germinate and bear fruit to the glory of God.

             Let us be careful that we do not draw from these remarks that there is anything meritorious in the sinner’s repentance. This would be to miss the point completely. Repentance is not a good work whereby the sinner merits the favor of God. True repentance is the discovery and hearty confession of our utter ruin and guilt. It is the finding out that my whole life has been a lie, and I myself am a liar. This is serious work. There is no flippancy or levity when a soul is brought to this. A repentant soul in the presence of God is a solemn reality.

             May we more solemnly, earnestly, and constantly call upon men to “repent and turn to God” (Acts 26:20). Let us preach “repentance” as well as “remission of sins.”

             (From “The Great Commission” in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. 4.)

As we think back over the year gone by, many of us are impressed by the remarkable growth—both physical and mental—exhibited by our little children or grandchildren in just one year’s time. But this, in turn, reminds us afresh that we older ones, too, are growing. Or at least we ought to be! It comes to our mind that we are often exhorted in the New Testament to grow, and that these exhortations are given not merely to babes in Christ but to all believers. Consequently, each of us is led to examine himself and to address the searching question to himself:“How much have I grown, spiritually, this past year?”

             If we desired to witness an example of rapid physical growth, we would be advised to observe a well-nourished baby during the first few months of its life. And is it not likewise true that in order to manifest steady spiritual growth, we must become, in certain respects, like an infant? The apostle Peter exhorts, “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:12). This in no way contradicts the verses in 1 Corinthians and Hebrews that speak of our need to leave the milk and to go on to the solid food. The emphasis here is on our craving for the Word of God and on our state of soul while feeding upon that “milk of the Word.”

             If we are to grow by the milk of the Word, we must come, in the consciousness of our own weakness, littleness, and ignorance, to receive food from the Word of God.

             It is not the acquiring of a mere intellectual knowledge of the Word that will provide spiritual growth, but rather it is the laying hold of that grand Object presented in the Word, the One who is known as “The Word” and who is the full expression of that Word. “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” we are told (2 Pet. 3:18). How we need, each one of us, to learn the riches of His grace manifested in such varied and wondrous ways to His saints (see Ephesians 1). How we need to be found ever “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10); entering more fully into the glories, perfections, ways, and purposes of the Father and the Son; and having our affections drawn out and centered in Christ.

             Is there any end to such growth? The apostle Paul gives us the answer:“Till we all come … unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Which of us has attained it?

                May there be a deep desire and prayerful longing in our hearts for the manifestation of steady spiritual growth, both for ourselves and for each of our brothers and sisters in Christ—until that blessed day comes when we shall be with Him and like Him and conformed to His image (1 John 3:2; Rom. 8:29).

“Encouraging one another … as you see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25, JND).

             One often hears persons speak of the apostasy of the end, of the day of small things, etc., in such a way that it leads one to ask, “Is the approaching end a time for such Elijah-like discouragement?” (1 Ki. 19:10).

             Elijah’s words and attitude were wrong; it is significant that his otherwise noble and honored testimony was in consequence superseded by that of Elisha. In reading William Kelly’s smaller book on Revelation, I was struck with his remarks on the bride’s sweet answer to the Lord’s twice repeated declaration, “Behold, I come quickly [or speedily or without delay]” (Rev. 22:7,12). With beautiful suitability she first says, simply:“Come.” Again, in response to “Surely I come quickly,” it is simply, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (22:20).

             Why do not the Spirit and the bride say, “Come quickly”? How sweet it is to have real fellowship with the heart of God and the patience of Christ—that long-suffering patience which, while waiting for His bride and kingdom when His enemies shall be made His footstool, is coupled with yearning love for perishing men. “The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation” (2 Pet. 3:15). Selfishly occupied with our blessing, we often grow impatient, while the “Lord is not slack concerning His promise … but is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (3:9).

             It is nearly 2,000 years since He said, “Behold, I come quickly.” But in God’s reckoning of love, if need be, “a thousand years is as one day” (3:8). His long delay is due to His longsuffering love—love that still yearns and holds open the door of grace, for love finds judgment its “strange work.” Love is still blessing while it still finds souls to bless.

             Our Lord may come at any moment. How that quickens the pulse and gladdens and sanctifies the heart! With responding, longing love, the bride says with the Spirit—“COME.” But the Holy Spirit came to gather others also to our Lord Jesus, and to wait for Him. So in the same breath, as it were, she speaks again, “Let him who hears say ‘Come.’” There is no narrow selfishness there! She wants the chorus to swell in the welcome of her Lord. Oh, for more hearts to say “Come” to Him. So to such hearts as may be concerned in the great destinies that lie before the souls of men she repeats that precious word “Come.” If they can not say “Come” to Him, she will plead “Come” to them; whoever thirsts, whoever will, let him “come,” and “take of the water of life freely.”

             It is the message that was brought from heaven to earth by that gracious One whose lips made sweet that word “Come.” And the Spirit of Him who said “Come unto Me” is in the bride, and the message is now to us a precious trust. The Lord’s coming, then, should make us faithful stewards of the gospel.

             There are indeed other good reasons for the Church being left down here in the world, but it is certain that the day of grace has been lengthened, so to speak, for one great purpose:the salvation of souls through the gospel; and it continues for the same reason (2 Pet. 3:8,9).

             Therefore the work of salvation will go on until the end, whether through us or through others. Shall we be so occupied with evil prophesied of, and now around us on every side, that we begin to forget the grace of God to ruined man? “Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down!”

             “You have a little strength,” says “He who has the key of David,” and “Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it” (Rev. 3:7,8). That open door surely is a door of opportunity and testimony including the gospel. The precious opening up of God’s word is not for ourselves only to enjoy, but involves a responsibility to communicate to others—saved and unsaved.

             If the Spirit is hindered now from working in larger ways, still He is working. And there is much to encourage in various fields, both at home and abroad, in spite of human failure and much of the flesh in it. We can thank God, for example, for the wonderful working of His grace in places like Korea and China. Can we not be thankful for the opening up of the Spanish-speaking countries to the gospel, and for the share that some of our friends have in it? Prayerful study of the mission fields would doubtless give us much cheer.

             But have we prayerfully and earnestly striven, unitedly, or separately, for the gospel in our own communities? Perhaps in the failure to find large results, we have overlooked the possibilities of quiet, persistent individual work that may even be large in the aggregate. One of the prime conditions in having blessing in service is in faith expecting it in the Lord’s way, which is usually starting small and growing. Are we reaching out to fields nearby like the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 1:8)? Are we doing what we can to support those who can go further than we and who are giving their whole time and energy to the gospel?

             May we be warned, while intelligent as to the “last days,” not to let our hands hang down as if there was nothing more to be done. The “last days” were already present with the apostles, inasmuch as failure had already come in the Church; but God’s blessings in grace have continued to be poured out ever since, and through many dark periods.

                The Hebrew Christians could already “see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25). They not only knew of it, they could “see” it from the signs then present. That was just the occasion to “exhort,” or rather, “encourage one another.” As we see the day approaching, let us, too, encourage one another.

             (From Help and Food, Vol. 32.)

“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence:a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him” (Psa. 50:3).

             “Behold, it is written before me:I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom” (Isa. 65:6).

             “Our God shall come”. Precious thought and hope for the believer. Although this coming is in reference to the Lord’s coming to set up His kingdom on the earth, it is still an event to be eagerly anticipated by the believer. What a wonderful day it will be when the Lord judges the nations and, having eradicated all that is dishonoring to His name, begins his thousand year reign on the earth. It will, however, be a sad day, to be sure. Many will be judged. In order to maintain His own holy standards, the Lord MUST judge.

             What a sobering thought it is that the Lord will judge and not keep silence. While it may seem that the Lord is relatively silent now, the day is coming in which He will not keep silence any longer. He will judge. He will judge without mercy. He will judge without grace. His judgment will be harsh, but fair. How can any stand before Him and dispute with Him when He speaks from His throne? His own righteousness will be evidenced by His piercing judgments. How it saddens the Lord to judge. Isaiah refers to judgment as being God’s “strange work” (28:21). God is love and He desires, yes demands, that all men everywhere repent (Acts 17:30). Without repentance, there is nothing left but for God to judge … and to judge completely. We find the Lord saying, “Say unto them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live:turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die?” (Ezek. 33:11). There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. There is no joy in executing judgment on the wicked. There is not the slightest notion that God delights in punishing the sinner. However, judgment must come and the day is approaching when the Lord no longer will keep His silence.

             When the Lord Jesus first came to the earth, He kept His silence in relation to judging. “He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets” (Matt. 12:19). There is a time for silence (Eccl. 3:7), but that time is soon over. It will be time for the Lord’s silence to end. He refuses to be silent any longer. Sin must be dealt with in harshness and without prejudice.

             Thankfully, the believer will never experience the judging hand of God. Being in Christ, we are free from condemnation. Never will the harsh hand of God be raised against us. We are His, precious thought! However, we are surrounded by precious souls who are in danger of facing the Lord in His wrath against sin … where He will not keep silence. He will speak in complete and fiery condemnation against the rejecters of His grace. Brethren, if the day is coming in which the Lord will not keep silence, then it must be that the day is here in which we must not keep silence. “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night:you who make mention of the LORD, keep not silence” (Isa. 62:6). Shout it, fellow believer. Proclaim the name of the Lord from the rooftops, in the streets, in the factories and businesses. Speak His name in the schoolyards, in the malls, in the highways and byways. We have been silent for too long. There is a time to keep silence, but that time is not now … not when it concerns the proclamation of the gospel of salvation. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14). What a grand privilege and responsibility we have.

             Without a doubt, we live in a day of apathy. People care very little about one another. People do not want to be bothered with the problems of their neighbors. This is indicative of the Laodicean age in which we live. “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would you were cold or hot” (Rev. 3:15). This is a true characteristic not only in the professing Church, but in the real Church as well. How important is it to you that your friend is saved? How concerned are you that your neighbor is destined for hell? How much will you go out of your way to tell a lost, precious soul that salvation is a free gift from God through faith in Christ Jesus? Will you risk being ridiculed or rejected to tell someone that God loves them? Consider Paul’s earnest, soul-wrenching longing for the salvation of Israel, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3). Can you believe that? Paul said, in effect, that he would give up his salvation for the salvation of Israel. Sometimes, I won’t even give up one of my free afternoons for the opportunity to tell someone of God’s saving grace, and that is to my own shame.

                There is an old saying that says, “Silence is golden.” I was once told by a dear, older brother that sometimes silence is not golden, it is just plain yellow. May the Lord give us the resolve to commit ourselves to doing the work of an evangelist. May our battle cry be, “I will not keep silent.” May the Lord give us such a burden for the lost that we cannot ignore it. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14).

The “Love” chapter (1 Cor. 13} and the “Faith” chapter (Heb. 11) are well known and loved, but have you ever read the “Go” chapter? Matthew 8 contains five specific miracles and the mention of many others, showing the Lord’s mastery over the human body, the weather, the sea, and demons. Interspersed throughout the chapter are many instances of this word of action—“Go.”

        Go and be a testimony. “And Jesus said unto him, See that you tell no man; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them” (Matt. 8:4). Let us also go and show to others what our Lord has done for us as a testimony to them.

        Go and obey. “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it” (Matt. 8:9). This centurion was accustomed to obeying his superiors and to having his words be obeyed. Has the Lord asked you to do something? Are you dragging your feet or are you obeying Him promptly?

        Go and believe. “And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go your way; and as you have believed, so be it done unto you. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour” (Matt. 8:13). The Lord marveled about the faith of only one person in the Scriptures and that is of this Gentile Roman soldier. Go on your way trusting the Lord for each need, casting every care upon Him for He does care for you.

        Go and serve Christ. “And He touched her hand, and the fever left her:and she arose, and ministered unto them” (Matt. 8:15). There are times that we may be laid aside due to illness and not able to do what we did when we were healthy. If the Lord chooses to heal us, we have the opportunity to serve Him and others with renewed strength. The word “minister” also has the thought of “to wait upon” as a waiter or waitress would do. How can we go today and attend to the needs and desires of the Lord?

        Go and avoid. “Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto the other side” (Matt. 8:18). The Lord was not impressed nor drawn by great numbers of people. He was on a mission given to Him by His Father and He was not moved by how His popularity ranked with the public. The Lord rewards those who are faithful to Him, not those who are politically correct or otherwise enmeshed with what our culture promotes.

        Go and follow. “Master, I will follow Thee wherever Thou goest” (Matt. 8:19). This bold statement is met with a proclamation of the Lord’s lack of a place to lay His head. A follower of Christ is not promised wealth, position, or power in this world. We are called to come apart and rest awhile when needed, but walking as He walked would keep us actively completing the mission that we are called to do, just as He did.

        Go and serve self? “Lord, suffer [allow] me first to go and bury my father” (Matt. 8:21). “Me first.” This is a common statement that is repeated by children and adults alike through our actions and decisions. It has been said many times by young parents that they never realized how selfish they were until they had children of their own who interrupted their sleep and wouldn’t let them do what they wanted to do. We need to replace “me first” with “Jesus first” and learn the words of the song, “Jesus and Others and You; What a wonderful way to spell JOY.” The Lord’s response to this person’s request is, “Follow Me.” To follow Him requires looking at Him, studying Him, and going where He is going,

        Go to sleep “Behold there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves:but He was asleep” (Matt. 8:24). The only record we have of the Lord sleeping is on a boat during a storm. He knew the importance of sleep to his body and took advantage of this sailing trip to get some refreshment. The National Sleep Foundation’s website states, “Before Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb, people slept an average of 10 hours a night; today Americans average 6.9 hours of sleep on week nights and 7.5 hours per night on weekends.” A well-rested body is better suited to resist temptation and serve the Lord cheerfully and energetically.

        Go with God’s Word “If Thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And He said unto them, ‘Go’” (Matt. 8:3l,32). The Lord spoke one word and it was instantly obeyed by the demons, just as the wind and waves obeyed the rebuke He gave to them previously. The power in the Word of God is beyond compare! Read it. Memorize it. Speak it.

        Go away “And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of their coasts” (Matt. 8:34). If we go out with the gospel, we may be received with open arms, treated with indifference, or told to leave. The Lord didn’t press these people to accept Him. He departed but He left behind a healed man who published in ten cities “how great things Jesus had done for him:and all men did marvel” (Mark 5:20).

 

The Lord Jesus
Left the glory and love of the
     Father’s presence
To come to earth to be …
Abused, ridiculed, beaten,
Mocked, whipped, humiliated,
     crucified.
Wonderful love!

He who did no sin,
Who knew no sin,
Who hated sin because He was holy,
Willingly became sin for us
And bore our sins.
Wonderful love!

He who had been in the bosom of the
     Father,
Who was one with the Father,
Who always did the will of the
     Father,
Who had loved and been loved by the
     Father through all eternity,
Was forsaken by God in order to bear
     the judgment for our sins.
Wonderful love!
Infinitely wonderful love!

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5-8).

        In order that the mind of Christ may be formed in us, the apostle in this passage presents Christ before us as our perfect Pattern. We have a touching presentation of the lowliness of mind that was expressed in Him in His marvelous journey from Godhead glory to the cross of shame. Let us note that the force of the passage is to present, not simply the downward path He took, but the lowly mind that marked Him in taking the path.

        First, Christ is presented as “being in the form of God.” No man could pretend to describe the form of One “whom no man has seen nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16); nevertheless we are told what was the mind of Christ while yet in the form of God. His mind was so set upon serving others in love that He thought not of Himself and His reputation, but “made Himself of no reputation,” and laid aside the outward form of God—though never ceasing to be God.

        Second, He exhibits the lowly mind by taking the form of a servant. Not only does He serve, but He assumes the form that is proper to a servant.

        Third, still further does He express the lowly mind by the particular “form of a servant” that He assumed. The angels are servants, but He passed the angels by. He “was made a little lower than the angels” (Heb. 2:9) and took His place in the likeness of men. He passed by the higher form of servant to take the lower. He was made in the likeness of men, a word that surely implies manhood in its full constitution—spirit, soul, and body. However, let it be remembered that His was not manhood in its fallen condition nor even with the capability of sinning (2 Cor. 5:21; John 5:19,30).

        Fourth, still further is the lowly mind expressed in Christ, for when found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. He did not take occasion by “being found in fashion as a man” to exalt Himself among men according to the natural thought of His brethren who said, “If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world” (John 7:3,4), but He humbled Himself. He did not claim His rights as a man.

        Fifth, yet further He expressed the lowly mind by becoming “obedient.” He might have become a man and commanded, but He takes the place of obedience. This implies the laying aside of individual will to do the will of another.

        Sixth, then again the lowly mind is seen by the measure of His obedience, for He was “obedient unto death.” This was more than obedience. In obedience He gave up His will; in death He gave up His life.

        Seventh, finally His lowly mind is expressed in the death that He died. There are many forms of death, but of all the deaths that man can die, He died the most ignominious of deaths—“the death of the cross.” This was more than an ordinary death, for while in going to death a man gives up his life, in going to the death of the cross a man gives up, not only his life, but his reputation before men. Thus it was with the Lord. In going to the death of the cross, such was His lowly mind—so truly did He ignore self—that He gave up His reputation before men and “was numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12).

        Let it be impressed upon our souls once again that the purpose of this wonderful passage is to set forth the pattern that Christ Himself has given for us to follow.

        (From Scripture Truth, 1930.)

“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15).

        We are in danger on several sides of superficial and shallow conceptions of a religious life. One of these is that it consists in correct doctrinal beliefs, that holding firmly and intelligently to the truths of the gospel about Christ makes one a Christian. Another is the liturgical, that the faithful observance of the forms of worship is the essential element in the Christian life. Still another is that conduct is all, that Christianity is but a system of morality. Then, even among those who fully accept the doctrine of Christ’s atonement for sin, there is ofttimes an inadequate conception of the life of faith, a dependence for salvation upon one great past act of Christ—His death—without forming with Him a personal relation as a present, living Saviour.

        In the New Testament the Christian’s relation to Christ is represented as a personal acquaintance with Him, which ripens into a close and tender friendship. This was our Lord’s own ideal of discipleship. He invited men to come to Him, to break other ties, to attach themselves personally to Him, to leave all and go with Him (Matt. 4:19-22; 8:22; 10:37,38). He claimed the full allegiance of men’s hearts and lives:He must be first in their affections and first in their obedience and service; He must “have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18). He offered Himself to men, not merely as a Helper from without, not merely as One who would save them by taking their sins and dying for them, but as One who desired to form with them a close, intimate, and indissoluble friendship. It was not a tie of duty merely, or of obligation, or of doctrine, or of cause, by which He sought to bind His followers to Himself, but a tie of personal friendship.

        The importance of this personal knowledge of Christ is seen when we think of Him as the Revealer of the Father (John 1:18; 14:9). The disciples first learned to know Christ with His divine glory veiled. He led them on, talking to them, walking with them, winning their confidence and their love, and at length they learned that the Being who had grown so inexpressibly dear to them was the manifestation of God Himself, and that by their relation to Him as His friends, their poor, sinful humanity was lifted up into union with the Father (Rom. 8:15-17; Eph. 1:5).

        But how may we form a personal acquaintance with Christ? It was easy enough for John and Mary and the others who knew Him in the flesh. His eyes looked into theirs; they heard His words, they sat at His feet, or leaned upon His bosom (Luke 10:39; John 13:23; 1 John 1:1-3). We cannot know Christ in this way for He is gone from earth, and we ask how it is possible for us to have more than a biographical acquaintance with Him. If He were a mere man, nothing more than this would be possible. It would be absurd to talk about knowing the apostle John personally, or forming an intimate friendship with the apostle Paul. We may learn much of the characters of these men from the fragments of their stories that are preserved in the Scriptures, but we can never become personally acquainted with them until we meet them in heaven. With Christ, however, it is different. The Church did not lose Him when He ascended from Olivet. He never was more really in the world than He is now. He is as much to those who love Him and believe on Him as He was to His friends in Bethany. He is a present, living Saviour. We may form with Him an actual relation of personal friendship, which will grow closer and tenderer as the years go on, deepening with each new experience, shining more and more in our hearts, until at last, passing through the portal that men misname death, but which really is the beautiful gate of life, we shall see Him face to face, and know Him even as we are known (1 Cor. 13:12; 1 John 3:3).

        Is it possible for all Christians to attain this personal, conscious intimacy with Christ? There are some who do not seem to realize it. To them Christ is a creed, a rule of life, an example, a teacher, but not a friend. There are some excellent Christians who seem to know Christ only biographically. They have no experimental knowledge of Him:He is to them at best an absent friend—living, faithful and trusted, but still absent. However, no word of discouragement should be spoken to such. The Old Testament usually goes before the New, in experience as well as in the Biblical order. Most Christians begin with the historical Christ, knowing of Him before they know Him. Conscious personal intimacy with Him is ordinarily a later fruit of spiritual growth; yet it certainly appears from the Scriptures that such intimacy is possible to all who truly believe in Christ. Christ Himself hungers for our friendship, and for recognition by us, and answering affection from us; and if we take His gifts without Himself and His love, we surely rob ourselves of much joy and blessedness.

        The way to this experimental knowledge of Christ is very plainly marked out for us by our Lord Himself. He says that if we love Him, and keep His words, He will manifest Himself unto us, and He and His Father will come and make their abode with us (John 14:23). It is in loving Him and doing His will that we learn to know Christ; and we learn to love Him by trusting Him. Ofttimes we learn to know our human friends by trusting them. We may see no special beauty or worth in them as we pass through the ordinary experiences of life. But when we enter into difficult and trying circumstances, then the noble qualities of our true friends appear as we trust them, and they come nearer to us, and prove themselves true. In like manner, most of us really get acquainted with Christ only in experiences of need, in which His love and faithfulness are revealed.

        The value of a personal acquaintance with Christ is incalculable. There are men and women whom it is worth a great deal to have as friends. As our intimacy with them ripens, their lives open out like sweet flowers, disclosing rich beauty to our sight, and pouring fragrance upon our spirits. A true and great friendship is one of earth’s richest and best blessings. It is ever breathing songs into our hearts, evoking impulses of good, teaching holy lessons, and shedding all manner of benign influences upon our lives. But the friendship of Christ does infinitely more than this for us. It purifies our sinful lives; it makes us brave and strong; it inspires us ever to the best and noblest service. Its influence woos the most winsome graces out of mind and spirit. The richest, the sweetest, and the only perennial and never failing fountain of good in this world is the personal, experimental knowledge of Christ.

        That Christ should condescend thus to give His pure and divine friendship to sinful people like us is the greatest wonder of the world; but there is no doubt of the fact. No human friendship can ever be half so close and intimate as that which the lowliest of us may enjoy with our Saviour. If we but realize our privileges, the enriching that will come to our lives through this glorious relationship will be better than all gold and gems and all human friendships upon this earth.

        (From Reiner Publications, Swengel, Pennsylvania.)

In this passage we find the One who was presenting all the value and preciousness of that work that was yet to be accomplished in His own holy Person down here, and who could attract by His grace a poor, wretched, miserable creature into the one place where she was least likely to be welcome. There was not one spot where this woman could expect to find so little interest and appreciation as in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and there was no person on this earth that was less likely to be tolerated in such a place than this woman of the city.

        Observe the contrast between Simon and the woman. The Pharisee probably thought very highly of his own goodness, and, no doubt, wanted to gain some credit for himself by asking the Lord into his house. At the same time, this poor woman, owning herself as a miserable and brokenhearted creature, had Christ filling her thoughts. What was it, beloved, that first of all drew her in there? She did not know the forgiveness of sins—she did not bring that in, for as yet she did not possess it. But what did she bring in? only a broken heart. And let me assure you of this one thing, a broken heart is the very condition that gets the knowledge of the blessedness of the Person of Christ. It was the misery of man that brought Christ here.

        It is a wonderful thing to think of it, and yet it is true of us all, saints as well as sinners, that in our joys we were far away from Him, but in our miseries He came near to us. You will find it was nearly always a scene of sorrow and misery that was the occasion for His displaying the grace of His Person down here in this world. I have often thought that it was in the Lord that that word found its fullest and most blessed verification, “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting” (Eccl. 7:2). Was it not to the house of mourning that He came? What is this world but a great scene of misery? It was that which attracted Him, and He made known in it all the grace of His Father and all the love of His heart. It was that which brought this woman in to Him—the grace that shone in His blessed Person. And now see the effect of it. The first thing is that she must get where He is. That is always the effect of grace; the desire to know Christ is not natural to any of us.

        There is a possibility of our attempting to work up feelings of love and affection for Christ in our hearts by our own efforts. I feel increasingly the need of being watchful as to this. That which Christ delights to receive from us is the affection of the new man that is called out and satisfied by His own Person. It is not a matter of working up feelings in our hearts for Christ; instead it is the objective presentation to faith of the Person of Christ which is the spring of the subjective affection of the new man; and therefore you find that you have desires after Christ and long to know Christ just in proportion as He is objectively before your soul. If He is the One before your soul, you will long to be with Him; but it is all formed by Him, and gratified by Him, and therefore Christ Himself becomes the spring and maintainer of the affections of the new man.

        It was grace that drew this poor woman in. What is so beautiful in it is to see how she faced all the difficulties; all that stood in her way in Simon’s house were never once thought of. Oh, the power of having One who is above all the difficulties simply before you! You never then think of difficulties. Mary Magdalene, in John 20, was the same way; she was so intent upon finding Him that nothing deterred her—nothing would keep her away.

        May the Lord, by His grace, grant that we may know what has been called the “expulsive power of a new affection,” even that blessed Person of Christ in the soul. It is that alone which drives all other things out.

1. The Passover (Exod. 12:1-14;

Lev. 23:5)

        When God wanted to deliver the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, He told Moses that each family should select a perfect male lamb from their flock and pen it up for four days to make sure it was healthy. At the end of the four days, on the fourteenth day of the first month, they were to kill the lamb and put the blood on the two door posts and on the lintel (making an outline of the cross).

        God told Moses that He would destroy the firstborn of every family in the land unless He saw the blood on the door posts and lintel; if the blood was there He would pass over that house and spare the firstborn.

        We know that the spotless Passover lamb whose blood saved from judgment is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 5:17; 1 Pet. 1:19,20) who shed His blood “for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28) on a Passover Day many hundreds of years after the first one. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, that cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Have you come to Jesus, counting upon His precious blood to wash your sins away?

 

2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread

(Exod. 12:15-20; Lev. 23:6-8)

        The seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread points to the whole course and character of the believer’s life on earth, from the day of his/her conversion onward. It speaks of communion with God based upon redemption, sustained by feeding on Christ, and maintained in holiness and separation from evil. The apostle Paul makes this connection:“Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8). This is followed by instructions to the Corinthians concerning purging the one from their midst who was living an unholy life. The purging is the negative aspect of the feast. Eating the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, examining ourselves according to God’s standards, would be the positive aspect of the feast and the basis for communion and fellowship with God and our fellow Christians (1 John 1:5-9).

 

3. The Feast of Firstfruits

(Lev. 23:9-14)

        The Feast of Firstfruits marked the beginning of the spring grain harvest. (In the Mediterranean lands, such as Israel, with rainy, mild winters and hot, dry summers, wheat was planted in the late fall or early winter and harvested in the spring.) Although no specific day or month, such as is given for the Passover, is mentioned for this feast, it would probably have occurred close in time to the Passover. It was always on the first day of the week, “on the morrow after the Sabbath.” The sheaf of firstfruits is a type of Christ risen from the dead. The Lord Jesus hinted at the analogy between grain harvest and His resurrection in John 12:23-26. The apostle Paul stated the analogy clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. Because Christ was raised, we can look forward to being raised at His coming. Even now we have been raised with Christ and seated “together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).

4. The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost

(Lev. 23:15-21)

        This feast is a type of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). The two loaves, waved before Jehovah as the sheaf of firstfruits, point to the fact that by the Holy Spirit Jews and Gentiles were formed into one body (1 Cor. 12:13), “one new man” (Eph. 2:15). These two loaves were baked with leaven (usually a type of sin), further indicating that they are a type of Christ’s people, not of Christ Himself. No sin offering was offered with the sheaf of firstfruits, but a sin offering was to be offered with the two wave loaves (Lev. 23:19). God’s people are “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6), but only in the Beloved.

 

5. The Feast of Trumpets

(Num. 29:1-6)

        The first four feasts took place in the first two months of the Israelite year. After an interval of four months, the Feast of Trumpets began a series of three feasts, all taking place in the seventh month. The Feast of Trumpets took place on the first day of the seventh month. In Numbers 10:1-10, Jehovah gave Moses instruction for making two trumpets which were to be used to gather the people together. This feast, a holy “calling together” or assembly, looks forward to the raising of those who have died in Christ, the changing of those Christians still living, and the gathering of both groups of believers together to meet the Lord in the air at the time of the rapture (or Lord’s coming). “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment … at the last trump” (1 Cor. 15:51,52). “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout … with the trump of God; … so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

 

6. The Day of Atonement

(Lev. 16:1-34; 23:26-32)

        The characteristic aspects of the Day of Atonement are the blood taken within the veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat and the ceremony of the scapegoat. These ceremonies were performed once a year on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, and at no other time. We have boldness now “to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19). After the rapture we will be in the very presence of God and we will appreciate the value of the blood of Christ as we never did before. So also will we understand the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the marvelous grace of God, and the fullness of Christ’s redemption. Our songs in glory will express eternal praise for the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 1:5,6; 5:9,10).

 

7. The Feast of Tabernacles

(Lev. 23:33-36,39-43)

        The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated for eight days beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The first day was a day of rest and the eighth day was a day of rest. It was a harvest festival after the grain and the wine had been gathered in and rejoicing was expected (Deut. 16:13-15). A unique aspect of this feast was the requirement to make tabernacles or booths out of tree branches and to live in these booths for seven days. This was a reminder of the temporary dwellings the people of Israel had lived in during the journey from Egypt to Canaan.

        This feast is a picture of Christ’s millennial reign on the earth when the earth will be more fruitful than ever before and God’s people will rejoice that their beloved Lord and Saviour is at last being given the honor He deserves. Part of the joy of this time will be the remembrance of God’s care and grace during our own “wilderness journey.” The eighth day, the last “great day of the feast” (John 7:37), points to the dawn of the eternal day, the long Sabbath of Eternity, where, in a new heaven and a new earth, righteousness will dwell (2 Pet. 3:13) and God will be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).

The Lord Jesus
Left the glory and love of the
     Father’s presence
To come to earth to be …
Abused, ridiculed, beaten,
Mocked, whipped, humiliated,
     crucified.
Wonderful love!

He who did no sin,
Who knew no sin,
Who hated sin because He was holy,
Willingly became sin for us
And bore our sins.
Wonderful love!

He who had been in the bosom of the
     Father,
Who was one with the Father,
Who always did the will of the
     Father,
Who had loved and been loved by the
     Father through all eternity,
Was forsaken by God in order to bear
     the judgment for our sins.
Wonderful love!
Infinitely wonderful love!

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5-8).

        In order that the mind of Christ may be formed in us, the apostle in this passage presents Christ before us as our perfect Pattern. We have a touching presentation of the lowliness of mind that was expressed in Him in His marvelous journey from Godhead glory to the cross of shame. Let us note that the force of the passage is to present, not simply the downward path He took, but the lowly mind that marked Him in taking the path.

        First, Christ is presented as “being in the form of God.” No man could pretend to describe the form of One “whom no man has seen nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16); nevertheless we are told what was the mind of Christ while yet in the form of God. His mind was so set upon serving others in love that He thought not of Himself and His reputation, but “made Himself of no reputation,” and laid aside the outward form of God—though never ceasing to be God.

        Second, He exhibits the lowly mind by taking the form of a servant. Not only does He serve, but He assumes the form that is proper to a servant.

        Third, still further does He express the lowly mind by the particular “form of a servant” that He assumed. The angels are servants, but He passed the angels by. He “was made a little lower than the angels” (Heb. 2:9) and took His place in the likeness of men. He passed by the higher form of servant to take the lower. He was made in the likeness of men, a word that surely implies manhood in its full constitution—spirit, soul, and body. However, let it be remembered that His was not manhood in its fallen condition nor even with the capability of sinning (2 Cor. 5:21; John 5:19,30).

        Fourth, still further is the lowly mind expressed in Christ, for when found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. He did not take occasion by “being found in fashion as a man” to exalt Himself among men according to the natural thought of His brethren who said, “If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world” (John 7:3,4), but He humbled Himself. He did not claim His rights as a man.

        Fifth, yet further He expressed the lowly mind by becoming “obedient.” He might have become a man and commanded, but He takes the place of obedience. This implies the laying aside of individual will to do the will of another.

        Sixth, then again the lowly mind is seen by the measure of His obedience, for He was “obedient unto death.” This was more than obedience. In obedience He gave up His will; in death He gave up His life.

        Seventh, finally His lowly mind is expressed in the death that He died. There are many forms of death, but of all the deaths that man can die, He died the most ignominious of deaths—“the death of the cross.” This was more than an ordinary death, for while in going to death a man gives up his life, in going to the death of the cross a man gives up, not only his life, but his reputation before men. Thus it was with the Lord. In going to the death of the cross, such was His lowly mind—so truly did He ignore self—that He gave up His reputation before men and “was numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12).

        Let it be impressed upon our souls once again that the purpose of this wonderful passage is to set forth the pattern that Christ Himself has given for us to follow.

        (From Scripture Truth, 1930.)

I desire to bring before you the way in which the Lord draws our hearts to Himself. I do not speak of how the conscience is set at rest. I trust all of my readers are at rest in the conscience, through the work of Christ, as to all questions of sin and judgment. But it is possible to know the work of the Lord and greatly rejoice in it and yet never really to have experienced His company. Let us look at some Scriptures that show how the Lord values our company, our affections, our love.

 

Simon Peter

        In Peter (Luke 5:4-11) we get the way the soul is first set at ease in the company of the Lord. If a poor man received a great benefit from a nobleman, he would better enjoy his gift than his company. This feeling needs to be removed. We may appreciate the grace of the Lord in having paid our debts, while little knowing His love. There is a difference between grace and love. We can enjoy grace a great way off, but to enjoy love there must be nearness; we must be in the company of the one who loves us. When the Lord came from heaven, He did not come into the midst of angels but of men in order to find companions for eternal glory. Peter had already known the Lord, but now it dawned on him who the One was whom he knew. He learned by the miraculous draught of fishes that Christ was the Lord of earth and heaven, who could command the fish to come into his net. When we apprehend in some measure the Person of the Lord, we wonder that He should want to bring such as we are into His own company. Peter says, “Depart from me,” for he felt that he was a sinner; yet he was attracted to Him all the while. Notwithstanding our sense of disparity, He sets us at ease in His presence. He says, “Fear not.” Christ would not only have us to believe what He has done for us on the cross, but He would take away every suggestion of fear and make us at home in His company. He has been here with us and we shall be with Him for ever, but do we enjoy His company now?

 

Mary and Martha

        In chapter 5 the Lord had come down in grace to minister to man, and Peter was drawn into His company. In Luke 10:38 we have an advance. The time was come that the Lord should be received up; thus we find Him here on His way to suffer. “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). “As they went, He entered into a certain village” (10:38). After the Mount of Transfiguration, where Moses and Elias spoke to Christ of His decease, He was on His way to death. On the way “Martha received Him into her house.” She had not the sense of the path the Lord was taking, that He was not staying in this world. So she invited Him into her house and sought to entertain Him with her things. She did not understand what was before the Lord at this time and she was cumbered about much serving, making the Lord her guest. Mary was, so to speak, the Lord’s guest, and He was entertaining her with His things. No doubt Martha served Him to the best of her ability with her house, her means, her time, her labor. Mary was in the company of the Lord. Martha wanted to bring the Lord to her side of things. Mary went to the Lord’s side. Do we know a little of that? He has this object in bringing us into His company, to lead us to His side of things. The Lord did use what was Peter’s—his boat—but this is more. He wants to bring us to the path that Mary chose. Martha blamed her for idleness. The Lord says, “Mary has chosen that good part.” What is the good part? It is the Lord’s things. It cannot be taken away. We might be using our wealth for the Lord, and it might all be taken away; but if I get to His side of things and let Him open that out to me so that I become His guest, and He entertains me with His things, it is a good part that cannot be taken away.

 

Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Judas

        Turn now to John 12:1-8, and you will find a yet further advance. The Lord has reached Jerusalem and His circumstances are greatly altered. The Lord’s heart was most gratified to turn aside to Bethany and to find those who would appreciate Him. There will be a moment in the history of the earth when the rejected One will know a people who will gladly receive and welcome Him. This is foreshadowed here in Martha. Her brother Lazarus, who had recently been raised to life again by the Lord, is also there. He represents the nation of Israel that will be brought back again to life in this world. It will be a wonderful thing when the remnant of Israel receives Him and the nation is brought back as from death. Judas, as one who had companied with the Lord, represents apostate Christendom, those who have had to do with Christianity and its blessings and yet who will turn and give up Christianity and apostatize from Christ. Judas was about to sell Christ; he had not the smallest appreciation of Him. Only think how people may have all the love and grace of Christ put before them, and yet not appreciate Him. They may do good to men, and yet not have one atom of appreciation of Christ. How very much even Christians are tainted with this spirit of the world!

        But finally we have in Mary one who already in spirit had gone to the Lord’s side of things. She stands out beautifully and represents the affections of the true Church. She has a sense, no doubt taught of God, that Christ is going out of the world. The most precious thing she has she pours out on Him for His burial. Christ interpreted it so. I do not say she fully understood the meaning of her act; but a kind of instinct in her apprehended the danger that awaited Him, and she appreciated Him the more. But the Lord understands and puts the full meaning on it:“Against the day of My burying has she kept this.” If drawn into His company, where do our affections go? Are we free from the spirit of the world that can have all the grace of Christ before it, and yet withhold from Him? May the Lord give us to understand how He lays hold of our hearts to draw us into His company, and to lead us outside this world to where He has gone!

 

Mary Magdalene

        In John 20:14-18 the Lord has come out of death in resurrection. In Mary Magdalene we have one greatly attached to Him. He had cast out from her seven demons, and she, along with other women, “ministered unto Him of their substance” (Luke 8:2,3). Now she seeks Him in death, but in very deep affection. She thinks she has lost Him. When we have lost a friend, we find out how much we love him. Mary’s affections for Him make her inconsolable; the one thing she wants is Himself. Would to God we had more of such affection for the Lord! He must be first in His love drawing forth ours; we often want to put our love first. George Herbert puts it thus:“As when the heart says (sighing to be approved), Oh, could I love! and stops; God writes—Loved.”

        Do not say, “Oh, could I love!” Be occupied with His love and love because He loves (1 John 4:19). Mary Magdalene loved Him and she was the one to whom the Lord first appeared. He said unto her, “Mary.” She is a figure of the Church learning Him in resurrection. At first she thought she had got Him back here again; she sprang forward as much as to say, “I have got Him back.” “No,” says the Lord, “touch Me not.” He is conducting her out of the place of the Jewish remnant into the place of the Church. “I ascend unto My Father, and your Father, and to My God, and your God.” He is going to re-enter, as a man, that scene of holy love where He was before. “Go and tell My brethren”—they were to be with Him where He is. He brings us to His position as sons before the Father, into the affections that He knows with the Father. Surely that is deep and blessed intimacy! If you have been conducted along this line, if you know the Lord now in resurrection and in ascension, you will be prepared for the next thing to take place—His coming again.

 

The Bride of Christ

        Turn now to Revelation 22:16-20. Here, at the close of the book, the person of the Lord shines out. Throughout the book He has been revealed in many and various characters, as Jehovah, the First and the Last, the One clad in a priestly garment, the Lamb, and others. Spiritual perceptions may say in many cases, “I see the Lord in these varied characters”; but when we come to this last chapter, all at once the sweet words break in, “I Jesus.” It is as when the disciples were in the storm. “They were afraid.” But He said unto them, “It is I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received Him into the ship” (John 6:20,21). It is the Person of the Lord there brought out. So here, at the close of the book, “I, Jesus … am the Root and the Offspring of David.” That is what He is for the earth:the Sun of righteousness will arise and the remnant will receive and know the Lord.

        “The bright and Morning Star” is a heavenly Christ, the portion of the Church. She belongs to Christ while He is in heaven and she knows Him there. The Jews will not know Him till He comes back to earth. His relationship will be renewed with them on earth. The Church belongs to heaven, associated with a heavenly Christ, but her light—and a heavenly Christ is her light—will be seen on earth. It is the privilege of the Church here to respond for both the earth and the heavens. “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” All the administration of heavenly glory to the earth will be by the Bride. The Church must go into heavenly glory before the earth can get its blessing.

        “I Jesus.” Do you say, “I know Him”? You may not understand all connected with His person; but can you say, “I know Him”? Immediately “the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” If I know what it is to be found in the company of Christ, to have tasted His love in the smallest way, I must surely know a little what it is to desire His coming. I do not doubt there are many hindrances; but the Lord is expressing to us His affection in the words, “I come quickly,” and He counts on a response from His Church. The Spirit utters it in the Bride, “Come, Lord Jesus.” The Lord is bringing His own person before His beloved saints, conducting them to intimacy with Himself. The response will be, “Come!” It does not hinder service, for we shall surely all the more invite thirsty souls. We shall say, “Let him who is athirst, Come.” May the Lord lead our hearts more into full communion with Himself, for His name’s sake!

In this passage we find the One who was presenting all the value and preciousness of that work that was yet to be accomplished in His own holy Person down here, and who could attract by His grace a poor, wretched, miserable creature into the one place where she was least likely to be welcome. There was not one spot where this woman could expect to find so little interest and appreciation as in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and there was no person on this earth that was less likely to be tolerated in such a place than this woman of the city.

        Observe the contrast between Simon and the woman. The Pharisee probably thought very highly of his own goodness, and, no doubt, wanted to gain some credit for himself by asking the Lord into his house. At the same time, this poor woman, owning herself as a miserable and brokenhearted creature, had Christ filling her thoughts. What was it, beloved, that first of all drew her in there? She did not know the forgiveness of sins—she did not bring that in, for as yet she did not possess it. But what did she bring in? only a broken heart. And let me assure you of this one thing, a broken heart is the very condition that gets the knowledge of the blessedness of the Person of Christ. It was the misery of man that brought Christ here.

        It is a wonderful thing to think of it, and yet it is true of us all, saints as well as sinners, that in our joys we were far away from Him, but in our miseries He came near to us. You will find it was nearly always a scene of sorrow and misery that was the occasion for His displaying the grace of His Person down here in this world. I have often thought that it was in the Lord that that word found its fullest and most blessed verification, “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting” (Eccl. 7:2). Was it not to the house of mourning that He came? What is this world but a great scene of misery? It was that which attracted Him, and He made known in it all the grace of His Father and all the love of His heart. It was that which brought this woman in to Him—the grace that shone in His blessed Person. And now see the effect of it. The first thing is that she must get where He is. That is always the effect of grace; the desire to know Christ is not natural to any of us.

        There is a possibility of our attempting to work up feelings of love and affection for Christ in our hearts by our own efforts. I feel increasingly the need of being watchful as to this. That which Christ delights to receive from us is the affection of the new man that is called out and satisfied by His own Person. It is not a matter of working up feelings in our hearts for Christ; instead it is the objective presentation to faith of the Person of Christ which is the spring of the subjective affection of the new man; and therefore you find that you have desires after Christ and long to know Christ just in proportion as He is objectively before your soul. If He is the One before your soul, you will long to be with Him; but it is all formed by Him, and gratified by Him, and therefore Christ Himself becomes the spring and maintainer of the affections of the new man.

        It was grace that drew this poor woman in. What is so beautiful in it is to see how she faced all the difficulties; all that stood in her way in Simon’s house were never once thought of. Oh, the power of having One who is above all the difficulties simply before you! You never then think of difficulties. Mary Magdalene, in John 20, was the same way; she was so intent upon finding Him that nothing deterred her—nothing would keep her away.

        May the Lord, by His grace, grant that we may know what has been called the “expulsive power of a new affection,” even that blessed Person of Christ in the soul. It is that alone which drives all other things out.