Divine Sugar Sticks for March 2002

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The Bible is a Light and a Lamp

It gives illumination, radiance, and guidance to the darkness of the natural mind, to the chaos that existed in the Earth before light, life, and order were established by God. “Who commandeth the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts,” 2 Cor 4:6, Isa 8:20, Acts 17:11.

Such gross darkness, however, can be dispelled by the unfailing light of God’s Word. Like the star in the east, it can lighten those who seem to be furtherest away and will lead any honest seeker to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.

Like the seven-branched candlestick in the tabernacle, it shines with a perfect light. Sooner or later all earthly lights upon which men are prone to rely, fail while God’s lamp shines on more and more unto the perfect day.

What the Bible Promises

Promises for Believers Who Make up the “Church of the Living God”

1. She exists to display the wisdom of God.
   “Might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God,” Eph 3:10.
   
2. She manifests the glory of God.
   “Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen,” Eph 3:21.
   
3. She was promised by the Lord Jesus Christ.
   “On this Rock I will build My Church,” Matt 16:18. “The Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner,” Matt 21:41 with Psa 118:23.
   
4. The cement that binds the believers together in the fellowship of the Church is the greatest of all Christian graces, love. “The body edifying itself, building itself up, in love,” Eph 4:16, John 15:13.
   
5. She was promised Christ as her Head.
   “The Head over all things in the Church. The Head, even Christ, Christ is the Head of the body,” Eph 1:22, Eph 4:15, Eph 5:23.
   

Promises for the Church of the Living God

Christ is never called King of the Church. Spiritually, of course, He is the sovereign Lord.

King is one of the Divine titles and the Church in her worship joins Israel exalting, “The King, eternal, immortal, invisible,” Psa 10:16, 1 Tim 1:17. But Christ’s kingship is future and will be realized when the Church reigns with Him.

She has promised completion in her Head. “Ye are complete in Him, which is Head,” Col 2:10.

The Church Has Her Lord’s Promised Love

His undying love for the Church is revealed in His death for her. Acts 20:28, Eph 5:25, Heb 9:12.

His desire is to sanctify her (1 Cor 6:11, Eph 5:26, 27), in making her the object of His Grace (2 Cor 8:1, Isa 27:3).

In His request for her submission to Himself (Rom 7:4, Eph 5:24), she has His promised care. “Nourisheth and cheriseth even as the Lord the Church,” Eph 5:29.

“The flock, He careth for you,” 1 Pet 5:2, 7.

Promises for the Church of the Living God

She had promised protection and preservation.

His Church is invincible and His petition for her in John 17 assures her that all that Christ wishes for her will certainly be granted.

Crowns and thrones may perish,
Kingdoms rise and wane,
But the Church of Jesus,
Constant will remain.

Gates of Hell can never against that Church prevail.
We have Christ’s own Promise and that cannot fail.

The Bible is a Lamp!

Promises of illumination and guidance are associated with this expressive symbol of Scripture. It will be noticed that the psalmist used the double figure of a “lamp and light.” While we look upon these two as one, yet there is a distinction. What is the use of a lamp, costly and ornamental though it may be, if there is no light within to radiate forth?

The internal life is necessary to the external lamp. The Bible as a whole is the external Light but without the Spirit, the Divine light, illuminating Scripture and shining through it, it remains dark.

The Bible as Food

The Bible is so designed that many of its Truths can be understood by the youngest. Within its sacred pages there is much to interest little children. The apostolic use of the emblem of milk is related to those who are young in faith and not necessarily to those who are young in years.

Milk stands for the simplicities of the Gospel, which the youngest believer by the Spirit can grasp. Paul chided the Corinthian Christians for their carnal condition, preventing them from going on from the ABCs of the Gospel to the deeper doctrinal Truths.

While milk is the only necessary food for a baby, it would be tragic if it tried to grow up on nothing but milk. The day comes when the child is weaned and is given more solid food so that it can develop a sturdy human frame, too. Many Christians are dwarfed.

“Bread to the Eater, so Shall My Word be,” Isaiah 55:10

The Lord Jesus Christ sanctified Scripture by appealing to them as He did when implying that the Word was bread. Matt 4:4, Mark 12:10, John 7:12. He also spoke of Himself as the Bread of life, John 8:33.

Such a description offers us the Promise of daily sustenance. Ordinary bread is our staple food. We can do without fancy pastries so long as we have plenty of wholesome bread.

What nourishing bread is Scripture! It is to be hoped that we know what it is to break off a large daily piece of God’s loaf proving thereby its strengthening and satisfying qualities.

Why Call Ye Me Lord? Luke 6:46

Ye call Me Master, and obey Me not.
Ye call Me Light, and see Me not.
Ye call Me the Way, and walk Me not.
You call Me life, and desire Me not.
You call Me wise, and follow Me not.
You call Me rich, and ask Me not.
You call Me faith, and love Me not.
You call Me eternal, and seek Me not.
You call Me gracious, and trust Me not.
You call Me noble, and serve Me not.
You call Me mighty, and honor Me not.
You call Me just, and fear Me not.
If I condemn thee, blame Me not.

“Let Us Not be Weary in Well Doing For in Due Season We Shall Reap if We Faint Not,” Galatians 6:9

Give God time

1. Give God time and even when the knife flashes in the air, the ram will be seen caught in the thicket.
2. Give God time and even when Pharaoh’s host is on Israel’s heels, a path through the water will be suddenly opened.
3. Give God time and when the bed on the brook is dry, Elijah shall hear the guiding voice.
   

Our Redemption Rights

1. From all iniquity, Titus 2:14, Psa 130:8.
2. From the curse and bondage of the law, Gal 3:13.
3. From the power of sin, Rom 6:18, 22.
4. From a vain manner of life, 1 Pet 1:18.
5. From any kind of bondage, Ex 6:6, Deut 15:15, Micah 6:4.
6. From all evil, trouble, distress, adversity, Gen 48:15, 2 Sam 4:9, 1 Kings 1:29, Psa 25:22.
7. From destruction, death, hell, Job 5:20, Psa 49:15, Hosea 13:14.
8. From all enemies, Psa 136:24, Micah 4:10.
9. From the great enemy, the terrible one, Psa 106:10, Psa 107:2, Jer 15:21, 31:11.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

“This is the Father’s Will That I Should Lose Nothing,” John 6:39

There are at least five things the Lord Jesus Christ related to His Father in this wonderful verse.

1. He was sent by the Father.
2. We were given to Christ by the Father.
3. It is His will that surrendered to His Son we should never be lost.
4. Being Christ’s own, our security rests with Him.
5. We are to be raised up at the last day.
   

“Whom Having Not Seen Ye Love,” 1 Peter 1:8

Our eyes have not seen His glorious form as those who were privileged to see Him in the days of His flesh. Nevertheless He is real, though unseen. John 20:29.

His Word reveals His Grace and His glory and the Holy Spirit enables us to visualize all that He is in Himself, because He delights in taking the things of Christ and showing them unto us. To love Him with all our mind and soul means to manifest our love to Him by holy actions and a fruitful life.

We love His adorable Person. His countenance is majesty. His heart is love. His hand is omnipotence. His eye is bountifulness. His bowels are compassion. And His presence and smile is Heaven.

Whom Having Not Seen We Love

We love His precious salvation, its freshness, its completeness, and glory. We love His delightful Promises which anticipate our wants and meet our wishes and fill our souls with peace.

We love His throne where He meets us and attends to our requests and blesses us indeed. We love His holy precepts which exhibit His authority and display His love and call us to holiness.

We love His Heaven-born family who wear His likeness and are the excellent of the Earth and resemble the children of the King.

The Bible Has a Lot to Say About Our Love for the Lord

Is not the Lord worthy of our highest love? Is He not the center and circumference of everything lovely?

We think of Him, of His Word, of Calvary, of His Grace and we ask, what else can we do but love Him?

He it is who gave us life, Who provided us with newness of life, Who bought us, Who promised us eternal bliss. To love Him is happiness, holiness, and Heaven.

“Walk in Love,”

Ephesians 5:2, 1 John 4:21, 5:1, 2, 2 John 5

Christianity is love. “The love of God shed abroad in our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit,” Rom 5:5.

Transforming God’s nature into love, what is received is reflected. Being loved of God and loving Him in return, we walk by the rule of love toward others – the Spirit-filled life.

Love becomes the ruling motive in life, eliminating jealousy, malice, ill will, selfishness, and bitterness.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love and because He was the One responsible for our regeneration, love is the brightest and surest evidence of His work within the soul.

What the Bible Promises You!

1. There is a Promise of profit.
   “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for Doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” 2 Tim 3:16-17.
   
2. There is the Promise of blessing.
   “Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this Prophecy,” Rev 1:3.
   “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it,” Luke 11:28.
   “Doers of the Word shall be blessed,” James 1:22, 25.
   
3. There is the Promise of joy.
   “Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom, singing with Grace,” Col 3:16.
   “The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart,” Psa 19:8.
   “I rejoice at Thy Word as one that findeth great spoil,” Psa 119:162.
   “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them,” John 13:17.
   

What the Bible Promises You

4. Prosperity.
   ”His delight is in the Law of the Lord; whatsoever he doeth shall prosper,” Psa 1:2, 3.
   “These Words shall be in thine heart and houses full of all good things,” Deut 6:6-11, 4:14.
   “Lay up these Words in thy heart that your days may be multiplied,” Deut 11:18-21.
   
5. The Promise of a witness.
   “Search the Scriptures for they are they which testify of Me,” John 5:39.
   “To Him give all prophets witness,” Acts 10:43.
   “Showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ,” Acts 18:28.
   “I declare unto you the Gospel according to the Scriptures,” 1 Cor 15:1-3.
   

“In Quietness and Confidence Shall be Your Strength,” Isaiah 30:15

Does not this wonderful assertion of Isaiah appear as one of the most brilliant of God’s Promises? Quietness, confidence, strength!

What is the nature of this quietness helping to beget strength? Is it not expressive of our submission to God’s holy will, and of a prayerful waiting upon Him as directed by His Word? Are we not enjoined to be silent before Him, assured that our best interests are secured by His Promises?

It is good to quietly wait for His deliverance. And allied to quietness is confidence – a confidence reposing in God’s unalterable Word and in the confirmation of His Promises to every generation.

As we quietly confide, strength becomes ours to witness for Him. And as we know Him by our confidence, He honors us working in and through us.

“The Lord Shall be Thy Confidence,” Proverbs 3:26

Our quiet confidence then is not something, but “Someone.” As the Lord, He is our confidence.

A calm, serene, and confident faith comes from knowing and believing the Lord. As He presents Himself and His power and love and faithfulness, a blessed peace and sacred satisfaction becomes ours.

We make Him our confidence by believing His Promises and frequenting His throne, and seeking His glory in all things. All who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ come to experience nothing but calm.

“His Soul Shall Dwell at Ease,” Psalm 25:13

Here is another aspect of the repose all believers should realize. They tell us that kings are like stars – they rise, they set, they have the worship of the world, but no repose.

How different it is with us. “Kings and priests unto God.” We do not covet the worship of the world, yet amid all the trials and tribulations of the world we have a spiritual repose nothing can destroy.

“We dwell at ease,” which means that we are free from slavish fears, from corroding cares, from all fret and worry. Ours is a state of blissful contentment and solid peace.

With the Lord as our Portion, and His eternal covenant as our stay, His precious Promises as our security, His glorious atonement as our plea, His complete salvation as our shield, His unceasing advocacy as our guarantee, His home as our final abode, what else can we do but dwell at ease?

Because He is the Storehouse of every blessing, all fears are silenced, unbelieving doubts are contradicted, and the Lord is exalted in our lives.

The Source of Calm Repose

The Bible offers us an inspiring number of precious Promises linked to rest – quietness, stillness, peace, repose, serenity. And the supernatural virtue indicated by such is the only perfect antidote to all our anxiety, despondency, and dismay. Shakespeare would have us know that “our foster-nurse of nature is repose.”

But the Lord Himself is presented as the Fount of spiritual serenity.

Thou hidden Source of calm repose,
Thou all sufficient love Divine.

Run your eye over the following verses dealing with quietness and see if you agree with the sentiment. What is virtue but repose of mind?

“That We May Lead a Quiet and Peaceable Life,” 1 Timothy 2:2

How practical the Bible is. It tells me that if a man shuns work, he shall not eat. How about that for human resources?

Then although my sphere may be humble and conspicuous, it can yet be hallowed and sacred. The mostly homely toils and labors can teach us lessons of trust and quietness. Even the kitchen can become the audience chamber of the king.

It is loving and serving,
The highest and best.
It is onwards unswerving,
And that is true rest.

“There is Sorrow on the Sea; it Cannot be Quiet,” Jeremiah 49:23

But there is One who can quiet the angriest sea because He made it and it obeys its Creator.

The Lord Jesus Christ's miraculous power to calm troubled waters extends to the spiritual realm and all that tends to disturb, agitate, and upset the mind of the Christian. The Lord Jesus Christ is near to command all that would annoy His peace to be still.

As Tennyson plucked a daisy from the lawn he said, “All that the sun is to that flower giving it light and strength and beauty and fragrance, The Lord Jesus Christ is to me.”

But I am calm with Thee, my God,
Beneath these glorious skies.
And to the height on which I stand,
No storms, nor clouds can rise.

Along with Promises of Quietness and Calmness We Have the Kindred Ones of Rest and Peace

True rest of mind is found only in the presence, favor, love of the Lord. Apart from Him, our inner life is like a troubled sea, driven to and fro with perplexing doubts and fears.

Only with the Promise of His presence, God vouchsafed to Moses the presence of rest, and the one springs from the other. Thus Moses went forward with quiet unshaken confidence in the Lord. Amid all outward trials he had an inward quiet, the quiet of a loved, confiding child. True Moses had to face long and arduous years of leadership, but with the quiet of a reposing soul on its Lord, Moses delighted in His service.

Labor is rest to the loving soul and congenial work is not toil. The inner peace that the Lord supplies does not mean stoical passivity or sentimental self-absorption.

Thought for the Day!

One of the differences between a religion and Christianity is that when you are involved in a religion, you have to carry your god. You see people today who are involved in a religion walking through the streets celebrating some religious holiday carrying their gods and parading down the street.

Isaiah made this contrast in Isaiah 46 and this is how he described Christianity:

“Hearken unto Me house of Jacob,
“And of the remnant of the house of Israel,
“Which have been carried by Me from your birth,
“Yea, carried from the womb,
“And even unto your old age, I am He.
“And even to hoar heads will I carry you.
“I have made and I will bear,
“Yea, I will carry and deliver you.”

Notice – “carried,” “carried,” “carry,” “carry.” Yea! Yea!

Isaiah 46:4

“Reproach Hath Broken My Heart:” Psalm 69:20

The way in which this Psalm is used in the New Testament proves it to be prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ’s humiliation and rejection. And that His soul was crushed by the shame He endured, which is evident in His cry of desolation. Full of heaviness, the Lord Jesus Christ looked for some to have compassion, but there was none.

Calling upon God to draw nigh and deliver Him from the reproach and dishonor of His adversaries, He yet knew that the flood would overflow Him. Then at Calvary the loving, holy, and kind heart of the Lord Jesus Christ broke. He was saved in His reproach, but not from it. Willingly He bore the terrible load of scorn and shame that His very despisers might have a way to Heaven.

Diligently the Lord Jesus Christ had kept the Divine testimonies, yet reproach and contempt were not removed from Him. Psa 119:22.

He died even as He had lived – the Object of derision.

“The Reproaches of Them That Reproached Thee Fell on Me,” Romans 15:3

In quoting “the reproach Psalm,” Paul links the believer to the self-abnegation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Had he wished the Lord Jesus Christ could have saved Himself of a good deal of the derision that came His way, but silently He bore it all.

“Reviled, He reviled not again.”
“Suffering, He threatened not,”
“But committeth Himself to Him that judgeth righteously,” 1 Peter 2:19-25.

And as He is, so are we in this world. We cannot have His redemption without His reproach. The offense of His Cross has not ceased.

True discipleship involves going to Him “without the camp,” bearing His reproach, Heb 13:13. Do we know what it is to endure shame for our Saviour’s sake?

Because of our allegiance to Him, we are sometimes ostracized by our religious carnal friends. Then we count it a privilege to be identified with our Lord in His rejection.

“Fear Ye Not the Reproach of Men,” Isaiah 51:7

By the mouth of the prophet, God promised Israel that all her reproaches will be righteously punished.

As a people in whose heart His law was, they are bidden to treat their revilers with contempt. Two striking metaphors are used to describe the slow, yet certain destruction awaiting Israel’s foes.

“The moth shall eat them up like a garment and the worm shall eat them like wool.” Moths and worms are very destructive to clothes and books in hot countries. Even in our own country we take every precaution to protect our garments against moths, and the Lord knows how to set in action those hidden forces which silently consume the animosity of those who despise us for Christ’s sake.

Our difficulty is leaving vengeance in the Lord’s hands.

“Esteeming the Reproach of Christ Greater Riches Than the Treasures in Egypt,” Hebrews 11:26

In some unrevealed way Moses, like Abraham, must have rejoiced to see the Lord’s day. Looking down the vista of the ages, the deliverer of Israel endured reproach as he saw Him who is invisible.

And what a choice Moses made! Refusing all the pomp and privileges of the palace, he surrendered his claim as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter and identified himself with the afflicted people of God.

Had he maintained his royal estate, the treasures of Egypt would have come his way. But rich in prospect, Moses felt that the reproach of the Lord’s people outweighed any riches he might possess.

Christians esteem the riches of Egypt greater riches than the reproach of Christ. With their eyes on the muckrake they fail to see the crown of God above their heads.

“If Ye be Reproached for the Name of Christ, Happy Are Ye,” 1 Peter 4:14

As partakers of Christ’s sufferings, believers must not think it strange when the fiery trial appears to try them. They must guard themselves against suffering wrongly.

No Christian would have the least desire to suffer as a murderer or as a thief or an evildoer. Unfortunately few of us escape the last classification as a “busy body in other men’s matters.” 1 Pet 4:15.

If we suffer, it must be because we are Christians who are like Christ and for Him. When reproach comes, we are not to be glum but glad. We are not to bemoan our cruel treatment at the hands of others, and parade ourselves as martyrs, but count ourselves happy warriors.

And Christ makes it clear that the secret of our song in suffering is our future reward for any reproach we bear for His sake. Matt 5:11, 2 Cor 12:10.

“My Heart Shall Not Reproach Me so Long as I Live,” Job 27:6

Because sin is a reproach to any people, especially the Lord’s people, Prov 14:31, every Christian should strive to emulate the vow of Job.

Condemnation will come to us in abundance from a world that is blind to spiritual values. What we must guard against is having a heart within censuring us for our worldly ways.

If our heart condemn us not, then we can look a hostile world in the face and bear its reproaches courageously. As long as we live as unto the Lord, we have nothing to fear.

Monday, March 18, 2002

“Remember the Lord,” Nehemiah 4:14

Whatever or whoever we may forget, may we be found always remembering the Lord, Who never forgets us. We must have Him in mind at all times because He is the Source of our supply and the only proper Object of our faith and worship.

Here is a daily Remembrancer:

1. Remember the Promises He has made.
2. Remember the deliverances He has wrought.
3. Remember the blessings He has conferred.
4. Remember the invitation He has given.
5. Remember the relations He now fills.
6. Remember Him in calamity, to trust Him.
7. Remember Him in prosperity, to praise Him.
8. Remember Him in danger, to call upon Him.
9. Remember Him in difficulty, to expect His interference.
10. Remember to obey His commands.
11. Remember to attend to His exhortations.
12. Remember to keep His company.
13. Remember to seek His blessings.
14. Remember to aim at His glory in all you do.
15. Remember Him, for it is your duty.
16. Remember Him, for it is your privilege.
17. Remember Him in order to strengthen your faith.
18. Remember Him as an antidote to your fears.
19. Remember Him as a Source of encouragement to your souls.
20. Remember Him as a preventative to sin.
21. Remember that He is holy, just, and good.
22. Remember that He will be glorified in all them that draw nigh unto Him.
    

The Bearing of Reproach!

Is it not comforting to know that God’s Promises cover the bad treatment we receive, as well as the good?

As used in Scripture, “reproach” means shame, contempt, being reviled.

The Lord Jesus Christ leads the way when it comes to being rejected by men. What contempt was heaped upon His head!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place, condemned, He stood.

“He shall send from Heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Sela,” Psa 57:3.

The title of this Psalm informs us that when David wrote it, he was fleeing from Saul and was obliged to hide in a cave. It must have been humiliating for such a noble soul as David to be hunted as a fugitive. But his faith in God’s protection was strong. If necessary He would send from Heaven and deliver Hs servant.

No wonder David shouted “Sela,” a word meaning “think of that,” which usually occurs before or after some glorious truth the writer has uttered. This exclamatory term draws attention to the utterance in question. And in the mind of David, whom Saul had derided, it was something to think about that the Lord would deliver him out of the jaws of those who waited to swallow him up.

Is your soul among lions? Because of your allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ and are you the object of scorn? Well, leave it to the Lord to deal with those who reproach you. Psa 144:5, 7.

“Whom Having Not Seen You Love,” 1 Peter 1:8

Our eyes have never seen His glorious face as those who were privileged to see Him in the days of His flesh. Nevertheless He is real, although unseen. John 20:29.

His Word reveals His glory and Grace and God the Holy Spirit enables us to visualize all that He is in Himself. Because God the Holy Spirit delights in taking the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and showing them to us.

We love His precious salvation, its freshness and glory. We love His delightful Promises, which anticipate our wants and meet our wishes and fill our souls with peace.

We love His throne, where He meets us, attends to our requests, and blesses us indeed.

We love His holy precepts, which exhibit His authority and display His love and call us to holiness.

We love His adorable Person, His countenance is majesty, His heart is love, His hand is omnipotence, His eyes are bountifulness, His presence and smile are Heaven.

“Walk in Love,” Ephesians 5:2; 1 John 4:21; 5:1, 2; 2 John 5

Christianity is love. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts is the heart of the Christian, transforming his nature into love.

What is received is reflected. Being loved of God and loving Him in return, we walk by the rule of love to others.

Love becomes the ruling motive in life, eliminating jealousy, self will, malice, selfishness, and bitterness. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love and because He was the One responsible for our regeneration, love is the highest and surest evidence of His work within in the soul.

“The Lord Preserveth All Them That Love Him,” Psalm 145:20

If we truly love Him, then we can claim His Promise to preserve us from sin, the flesh, and the devil. Through His matchless Grace, He offers to preserve us from all foes and preserve us in troubles from its natural effects.

But as He preserves us, let us walk before Him in love and wait upon Him and love His Word.

What the Bible Has to Say About Our Love to the Lord

Is not the Lord worthy of our highest love? Is He not the center and circumference of everything lovely?

We think of Himself, of His Word, of His Cross, of His Grace, and we ask what else can we do but love Him? He it is who gave us life and provided us with newness of life, and bought us, and has promised us eternal bliss. To love Him is happiness, holiness, Heaven.

“The Love That God Hath to Us,” 1 John 4:16

The emphasis here is on the article “the.” What is the nature of His love? And who can describe it?

Twice over John tells us that “God is love,” 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16. Love is not only one of His glorious attributes, but His own inherent being.

He is love! The Source and Ssupply of it. Finite minds cannot fully comprehend His infinite love, yet while we cannot fully understand it, we can bask in it, because Divine love is our present Heaven.

Our friends, feelings, and frames may change, but His love is like Himself unchangeable. Such marvelous love “that will not let us go” is the spring of our happiness and the cause of our safety.

“Beloved of God,” Romans 1:7

Paul, who reveled in the revelation and the experience of Divine love here calls his Roman friends by a most endearing term, “beloved of God.” There is music in the very fall and cadence of these words like the bells ringing through an evening sky.

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. He loves me. He is mine, and I am His, now and forever. The very thinking of the thought gives us light to know, and life to do, and marvelous strength to bear.

“Out of Thee Shall Flow Rivers of Living Water, This Spake He of the Spirit Which They That Believe on Him Should Receive,” John 7:38-39

How marvelous is this figure here of a river. What are the qualities of a river?

Associated With “Humble, Humility” – Words Meaning to Make Low, Poor, Afflicted, Trampled Upon, Bruise

We have the kindred term of “gentleness,” which is derived from the same root as, humility.

In days of military might, men think it strange that greatness should spring from gentleness. But such meekness is not weakness. The most gentle are the truly great.

We Have All Sung in Sunday School, “Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild”

The Lord Jesus Christ certainly was the personification of gentleness and meekness. Yet what strength of character was His!

What righteous indignation He manifested against satanic and hostile religious forces. What defiance of man to do his worst. What magnificent heroism in the face of a most brutal death! References to Christ’s kindness can be linked to His gentleness.

The continuing influence of the gentle Christ puzzled proud Napoleon in the loneliness of his exile. “Tell me Bertrand, how it is that while I dwell alone and friendless on this barren rock, the dead hand of the Carpenter can reach down the centuries and draw millions to follow Him?”

Napoleon’s friend replied, “The Nazarene Carpenter lived for others. Napoleon lived for himself.”

“Be Not High Minded, But Fear,” Romans 11:20

This heart appeal of Paul, who had “sacrificed all for his dear’s sake” forms a fitting conclusion for this section related to humility and lowliness. The more we realize what deep debtors we are to the Grace of God, the less tendency we have of thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to.

Remembering in ourselves that we are still weak and prone to wonder, and open to subtle and designing attacks of Satan, serves to keep us humble and habitually depended upon the Lord.

May Grace be ours to cultivate humility of mind and gentleness of soul.

“Reeds and Flags Shall Wither Away,” Isaiah 19:6

In ancient times the river and canal banks were lined with papyrus and lotus plants. Manufacturing and utilizing these plants formed a great part of the industry of Egypt long into the Christian era.

Today these plants are practically extinct in Egypt. And today one of the most marked features of the river scenery in Egypt is the absence of foliage and reeds along the river bank. Who knew that this result would occur centuries later? Can anyone but the Lord have prophesied it?

What the Bible Has to Say About “Ekron” (i.e., Enron)

Nothing could be a better description of the city of Ekron at the present time than this. Around the small village which stands on the site of ancient Ekron there are no mounds such as mark other ancient cities.

The whole city was literally rooted up. Only ploughed fields mark the site where the city stood. And now and then the ploughman roots out the stone of a hand mill or of an ancient cistern to show that once a city stood upon this site.

The prophecy has been literally fulfilled. Ekron has been rooted up.

Guarding Against False Humility

“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility … which things have a show of … humility,” Col 2:18, 23.

The Proverb expresses it, “Pride perceiving humility honorable often borroweth her cloak.”

Let us beware of spurious humility. Proud of being humble is surely the worst kind of pride.

Uriah Heep, Dicken’s character, proudly confessed, “We are so very humble.” Humility is that strange possession which you lose the moment you find out you have it.

“Nothing is more scandalous than a man that is proud of his humility,” Marcus Aurelius.

If humble, next of thy humility beware;
And lest thou shouldst grow proud of such a Grace, have care.

The Teaching of the Bible Summarizes the Fact That the Christian Way of Life is a Long Lesson in Humility

Humility is necessary in the service of God.

“What doth the Lord require of thee… to walk humbly before thy God,” Micah 6:8.

God has no respect toward them who are proud, but condescends to walk with the humble. His Grace humbles us.

And it is only as we have true humbleness of mind that we can be happy and content. Of ourselves, we have nothing to be proud about or to boast of.

The more we discover the workings of our evil old sin natures, the more our self-abasement. All that we can admire and boast of is the loving mercy and infinite compassion of God in saving such vile, unworthy unbelievers.

There Are Many Promises Connected With Humility

1. It leads to riches, honor, and life. “By humility are riches, and honor, and life,” Prov 22:4.
   

2. It brings the favor of God.
   

Do not these gracious Promises remind us that humble, grateful souls may have anything from the Lord? Because of His great love for us and delight in us, He will never despise nor condemn our petitions if lowliness of mind is ours.

Humility Leads to Increasing Grace and Blessedness

Humble souls seek Grace and secure it. When we humble ourselves because of our sins against humility, the Lord enriches us with His promised Grace.

Humble souls lie in the valley where streams of Grace are flowing and hence drink of them.

Humble souls are grateful for Grace and give the Lord the glory of it, and hence it is consistent with His honour to give it to them.

Humility is the altar on which God wishes us to offer Him sacrifice. It is upon this altar of humility that we offer the sacrifice of praise continually.

Humility is the Garment Saints Should Wear

Here are verses tantamount to Promises. We stoop to conquer. Humility leads to honor. Meekness means spiritual might. The lowly are lifted up.

Once we cherish right views of our littleness and unworthiness and insignificance and vileness apart from the Grace of God, and then go on to possess the meek and quiet spirit of great price in God’s sight, then we are in a position for Him to bless us.

Humility is the most beautiful garment for a justified sinner to wear. God has promised to dwell with the humble.

Christ Had to Take on Flesh in Order to be Our Saviour. He Had to be Equal with God and Equal With Man, Therefore Being Our Mediator.

“There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.”

Studying the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ we can elaborate on the following aspects set forth with clarity in the Bible:

1. In taking upon Himself our nature, Phil 2:7, Heb 2:16.
   
2. In His birth and obedience to parents, Luke 2:4-7, 51.
   
3. In His station in life, Matt 13:15, John 9:29, 13:14-15.
   
4. In His voluntary poverty, Luke 9:58, 2 Cor 8:9, Mark 6:3.
   
5. In His submission to ordinances, Matt 3:13-15.
   
6. In His willing servitude, Matt 20:28, Luke 22:27, John 13:5, Phil 2:7.
   
7. In His identification with our infirmities, Heb 4:15, 5:7.
   
8. In His association with the despised, Matt 9:10-11, Luke 15:1-2.
   
9. In His refusal of worldly honors, John 5:41, 6:15, Zech 9:9.
   
10. In His obedience to His Father, John 6:38, Heb 10:9.
    
11. In His exposure to suffering, reproach, and death, Isa 53:6-7, Psa 22:6, Phil 2:8, Heb 12:2, John 10:15, 17, 18
    

Paul, Who Lived Close to the Heart of the Lord Came to Reflect the Lord’s Humility

“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind,” Acts 20:19.

“I am the least of the apostles,” 1 Cor 15:9.

“Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,” Rom 12:3.

“Though I be nothing,” 2 Cor 12:11.

This is the apostle who counsels to imitate the Lord’s example, and his own.

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

The Promise is ours – the lower we be before the Lord, the happier and holier we will be. Man’s pride and misery is that “he” must be something. But the Christian is willing to become nothing that the Lord Jesus Christ might be all in all.

Apart from Christ we are less than nothing. If we continue empty, the Lord will fill us. Let us beware of thinking too highly of ourselves or to fancy that we deserve more than we receive, either from the Lord or from men.

Humble we are satisfied, helpless we are strong.

Notice that humility is a mental attitude!

“The Good Will of Him That Dwelt in the Bush,” Deuteronomy 33:16

The characteristics by which the Lord is designated here never occurs elsewhere but in this one place. It is intended to intensify the conception of the Grace and the preciousness and all sufficiency of that word “good will.”

If that is spoken of Him that dwells in the bush, then we are sure that is all that we may need. The blessings of blessings is God’s good will. And the word in the Hebrew is RAWSONE which means “delight.”

“The delight of God dwelt in the bush.” Or, God delighted to dwell in the bush. The good will of God that dwelt in the bush may be our possession.

Dwelt in a bush, a strange shrine for God.

That poor, ragged, dry desert bush with apparently no sap in its gray stem, prickly with thorns. With no beauty that we should desire it, fragile and insignificant, yet it was the Lord’s house. Not in the cedars of Lebanon and not in the great monarchs of the forest, but in the forlorn child of the desert did the Lord abide.

The good will, delight, of Him that dwelt in the bush may dwell in you and me.

“The Good Will of God That Dwelt in the Bush”

1. Never mind how small
2. Never mind how sapless
3. Never mind how lightly esteemed among men
4. Never mind that we may be a very poor show by the side of the oaks of Bashan or the cedars of Lebanon
5. It was right that fire did dwell in them.
6. Let no sense of poverty or weakness or unworthiness ever draw the faintest film of fear across our confidence.

For even with us He will sojourn, for it is “the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush” that we evoke for ours.

“The Good Will of God That Dwelt in the Bush”

“He that dwelleth in the bush filled it with fire.” “It burned and was not consumed.”

What is meant by this symbol is just what is expressed by the verbal revelation which accompanies it, and that was “I am that I am.” A non-consuming fire, the fire that did not burn out, is the emblem of the Divine nature which:

1. Does not tend to death because it lives.
2. Does not exhaust because it energizes
3. Does not empty because it bestows
4. And after all time it is still the same
5. And it lives by its own energy
6. And it is independent.

Men say, “I am that I have become.” “I am that I once was not, and again once shall be” is what men have to say.

“I am that I am” is the Lord’s Name. And this ever living, self-sufficing, absolute, independent, unwearied unexhausting God, is the God whose delight is as inexhaustible as Himself and eternal as His own being.

“Therefore the sons of men put their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.”

“The Good Will of Him That Dwelt in the Bush”

He dwelt there in order to deliver and dwelling there delivered. “I have seen the affliction of My people and am come down to deliver them.” That came from the Burning Bush.

So then, if the delight of the eternal delivering God is with us, we may too feel that our trivial troubles and our heavy burdens and all the needs of our prisoned wills and our captive souls are all known to Him. And that we too shall have deliverance from them by Him.

That is a part of the good will, the delight of the Lord that dwelt in the bush.

Fellowship

Breaking up the word fellowship we find it to mean exactly that – the other fellow in the ship.

We sadly confess the lack of the many-sided fellowship among Christians today.

The Bearing of Fruit

As branches of the Vine, it is our responsibility to bear fruit. If fruitlessness, then there must be obstructions in the life which prevent the sap in the Vine reaching the branches.

We have been promised a fruit-bearing life for which life provision has been made. Peter makes it clear that as the life, so the fruit.

“If these things,” see the list in verses 5-7, “be in you, and abound, and make you that ye shall neither be barren not unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 2 Pet 1:8.

What a great Promise for the Christian to claim. Peter enumerates the virtues forming the soil producing the fruit.

Such fruit is the overflow of the life, and we must be full before we can overflow. If we realize that we have been fruitless professors, let us closely observe the graces so essential to fruit bearing.

There Must be Fruit Within if We Are to Bear Fruit Without.

All the graces and the fruit are Divinely provided.

“From me is Thy fruit,” Hosea 14:8.

Only as I abide in Thee,
Can fruit in me be found.
But for thy Grace I long have been,
Destroyed, by God cut down.

But Thou hast bled and Thou hast died,
Thy Grace do so abound.
Or I had perished long ago,
A cumberer of the ground.

The 200 or more passages taken up with fruit and fruitfulness cover natural fruit, moral fruit, physical, spiritual fruit, or blessings.

Look at these passages carrying their own promise, encouragement, and warning.

“I create the fruit of the lips.”

Our speech and our testimony are part of the fruit the Husbandman expects.

Let Us Never be Guilty of the Folly of Trying to Have Fruit Without Root

How variegated is the fruit we are to bear – it represents every phase of life. May we be spared from the folly of functioning as empty vines. “Without Me ye can do nothing.”

“Every Branch in Me That Beareth Not Fruit He Taketh Away:” John 15:2

This is a statement that has caused many believers no little concern. Does it teach, as some affirm, that we can be saved today but lost tomorrow? Certainly not.

First of all, notice where the believer as a branch is “in Me.” Once an integral part of the Lord Jesus Christ, such a union can never be dissolved. Fellowship may be severed, but union with Christ, Never!

The words “taketh away” are literally, “lifted up.” A gardener noticing a branch trailing in the dust, where it cannot enjoy the sun, and the full benefit of nature’s forces, lifts it up, and gives it a higher position.

Often fruit is not ours because we live too near the Earth – our affections are not set on High. So the Divine Gardener comes along and separates us from worldly pursuits and raises us up from fleshly desires.

Are we as Christians trailing along with the world?

“We Should Bring Forth Fruit Unto God,” Romans 7:4

Our Father is glorified when we bring forth much fruit, fruit of holiness, fruit of devotion to Him, fruit of witness and soul winning.

But no union, no fruit. In this narrative Paul is writing about being married to Christ, which means we have renounced our own name, and have taken His. That we live upon His fullness and walk by His Word, and seek to please Him in all things. Only Divine good represents the fruit of our oneness with Him.

Gold, silver, and precious stones.

“The Branch Cannot Bear Fruit of Itself Except it Abide in the Vine,” John 15:4

An aspect of the Truth our Lord unfolds in this chapter is that He is not the Root or the Stem only. He is the whole Vine.

Therefore, what Christ covers is every branch, every leaf, and every tendril of the whole plant. The same idea is present where the name “Christ” is given in the whole body, 1 Cor 12:12 (“ For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.”)

The Christian is to abide in Christ, as the branch abides in the Vine. The function of the branch is to maintain connection with the Stem, to receive the life sap at one end and to bear fruit at the other.

Biblical Forgiveness

1. God is the God of forgiveness. Psa 130:4, “But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.”
   
2. God alone is able to forgive sin. Mark 2:7, “Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?”
   
3. God forgives sin through the Cross. Eph 1:7, “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace;”
   
4. God forgives sin on the basis of a mental attitude. Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;”
   
5. God says we are blessed if forgiven. Psa 32:1, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
   
6. God commands the forgiven to forgive. Eph 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
   

“There is no fear in love, 1 John 4:18

“Only fear JEHOVAH,” 1 Sam 12:24, Psa 128:1, Prov 1:7.

	“Commit a trespass in fellowship,” Lev 6:2.
	“Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee?” Psa 94:20.

	“That ye should have fellowship with demons,” 1 Cor 10:20
	“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful,” Eph 5:11.

Faithfulness!

God Rewards Faithfulness

We imitate the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ when we are in fellowship with Him and controlled by God the Holy Spirit.

Applied to Ourselves, This Virtue of Faithfulness Carries Many Promises of Divine Favor, Preservation, and Reward

Faithfulness to us is obedience to a Divine command, a command as binding as any of those of the law.

There are many privileges we enjoy in the Christian way of life. But it is not our privilege to be faithful, it is our duty. And duty is debt and debt is something we owe another.

Faithfulness is then a debt that must be discharged in a three-fold direction – Godward, among ourselves as Christians, and toward a lost world.

Here are some of the aspects of faithfulness we must emulate:

The Christian Duty of Faithfulness

The Promise of Condemnation to Faithlessness

Happily we are not left to ourselves to produce faithfulness which God commands. When He commands He supplies.

In describing the varied fruit of the Spirit, Paul says, “The fruit of the Spirit is faith,” Gal 5:22, the original language says, “The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness.”

Walking in the Spirit makes it possible for us to produce the loyalty and fidelity which is pleasing to the Lord and brings to us at the end of our days the promised reward:

Check back tomorrow for more Divine Sugar Sticks!

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