Promises for Christians!

“JEHOVAH JIREH – the Lord Will Provide,” Genesis 22:14.

Under the title of JEHOVAH, we consider various aspects of God’s beautiful provision as we are dealing with temporal necessities. We can turn again to our “JEHOVAH-JIREH” and find in such a designation the guarantee of material supplies.

He cares for all that concerns our life here below.

If I trust Him, I will get enough for comfort, if not enough for luxury, enough to rid me from unworthy solicitude if not enough to free me from wholesome dependence and continuous faith.

Every modest and present want He is surely to satisfy.

Tuesday, September 4, 2001

Appetite Promises!

Closely allied to the enjoyment of food, God provides us Appetite without which the best of foods seems tasteless and wasteful. There are wealthy people who can afford the most costly foods. But have little appetite to appreciate them.

The Bible word for appetite covers “desire” and “lust,” good or bad.

A normal appetite supposes life and is regulated by nature. A carnal appetite is satisfied with carnal things. In the spiritual realm, the Christian can only be satisfied with spiritual things.

The appetite is fixed on its object, and it is only as it feeds upon the Lord that he enjoys satisfaction. Psa 107:9, “For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”

Daniel and his three friends knew how to curb their appetites. They did not live to eat, but ate to live. ”Let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink,” Dan 1:12.

God Was the First Tailor!

“God clothed them,” Genesis 3:21

God, then, was man’s first Tailor. Adam and Eve, conscious of their nakedness, sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons or loin coverings. But such aprons afforded no efficient and permanent covering.

Thus, God made them coats, coats of skin, longer than aprons and more durable than leaves. Man’s first bodily covering was made of skins. And skins imply the death of animals.

God condemned the leaves – Adam provided by his own effort. Our self-righteousness is filthy rags in the Lord’s sight. Isa 64:6.

Apart from the sacrificial covering of Divine righteousness, we are “naked before God.”

”Naked we come to Thee for dress.”

God Was Man’s First Tailor

“God clothed them,” Genesis 3:21

“They have no covering in the cold,” Job 24:7.

“They cause the naked to lodge without clothing that they have no covering in the cold,” Job 24:7.

When old man winter comes around, are we pained as we think of the many who lack sufficient clothing to keep out the cold? Are there those living near us whose raiment is somewhat scanty? Who are poor and unable to provide what they sorely need as the cold, wintry days approach?

As you count your blessings, are you also sharing them with others?

”I was naked and ye clothed Me. When saw we Thee naked? Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, ye did it unto Me,” Matt 24:35-40.

”Buy of me white raiment that thou mayest be clothed,” Rev 3:18.

”For in this we groan desiring to be clothed upon with our home which is from Heaven,” 2 Cor 5:2.

God is Not Only Man’s First Tailor, But God is in the Clothing Business

A study of raiment verses in the Bible reveals that God is in the clothing business in a large way.

He Himself is described as “being clothed with light, honor, and majesty, with garments of vengeance in a vesture, dipped in blood, in a cloak of zeal.”

As for ourselves, we are “to be clad in garments of salvation, humility, and righteousness.”

With fine linen, clean and white. The bride wore white. All promised and provided by God, should be our daily garb. 1 Pet 3:3-4, the girdle of humility.

If it is true that clothes make the man, we have the right kind of clothes to make us the “Christ-man.”

”Let your garments be always white,” Solomon’s practical advice.

White frequently denotes victory and the favor of God. If however we magnify ourselves against the Lord, He will clothe us with shame and dishonor.

We are urged to “buy” of Christ the spiritual raiment we need and such a purchase is not made with silver, but surrender. Abandonment to His claims is the only currency He will receive for the performance of any of His Promises.

The Lord Clothed Them!

Behold the lilies as they grow,
They neither toil nor spin.
Yet human never wore robes so fine
As God hath clothed them in.

Could He, who clothes the fragile flower
Forget to clothe His own?
In faith lay hold upon His power,
To Him thy cares make known.

All of God’s Children Have Shoes!

Does it surprise you to learn that God’s consideration for His own includes shoes they wear as well as clothes?

God promised and provided shoes for His pilgrim people.

Shoes are very needful for traveling along rough roads and for trampling upon deadly foes. We shall not go barefoot. This would be unsuitable for princes of royal blood.

Our shoes shall not be all the common sort, for they shall have soles of durable metal, which will not wear out even if the journey be long and difficult. We shall have protection proportionate to the necessities of the road and the battle.

Wherefore let us march boldly on, fearing no harm even though we tread on serpents. Or set our feet on the dragon himself.

”He shall bruise Satan under your feet.”

Divine Promises for Money!

Among our material requirements, money occupies a most prominent place. Some of the Divine Promises are specially related to what may become filthy lucre, 1 Pet 5:2.

By Heaven money is a beautiful gift. But it is a beautiful gift only when it is received as a trust from Heaven. And used in ways pleasing to Him to whom the silver and the gold belong.

The world with all its mines of wealth
Is Thine, O Lord, alone.
We thank Thee for Thy riches here,
For they are not our own.

Divine Promises for Money

It is most profitable to go over some of the Bible Promises referring to money and gather from them God’s mind in the use of our material substance today.

”Thy silver and gold is Mine,” 1 Kings 20:3.

Haggai 2:8, “Thy...Mine.”

What we call our own is not our own, but His. Money is hoarded, saved, or spent without any reference to God’s will regarding its disposal. If the silver and the gold are His, and they are, because He created all metals, then He has the prior claim upon such.

There would never be any lack of support for God’s work at home or abroad if only all His children looked upon their substance as the Lord’s money to which He has every right of access.

Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.

A Thought for Today!

The Mercenary Spirit of Eliphaz – One of Job’s Miserable Comforters

“Lay up gold as dust ... thou shalt have plenty of silver,” Job 22:24-25.

While Eliphaz was a religious dogmatist who said many true things, much of his philosophy was his own. In his third discourse, he propounded the old theory that Job must have sinned, therefore he was allowed to suffer.

If only Job, poverty-stricken as he was, would return to God, material prosperity would come his way again. Plenty of silver would be his. Such advice, however, revealed the mercenary mind of Eliphaz.

But the Bible, history, and experience prove that some of the purest of men have been the poorest. The majority of God’s children are not able to lay up gold as dust.

What the Lord does promise is sufficient for our needs. When our money is used for God’s glory, it becomes treasure in Heaven. Eliphaz erred in urging Job to get right with God simply that he might have earthly riches.

The spiritual riches gained through being right with God are of greater value.

“I Have Made Gold My Hope,” Job 31:24

The patriarch confessed that gold, and not God, had been his confidence. His hope had been in the gift and not the Giver.

If it be true that money talks, then with a loud commanding voice it demands worship and gold-greedy souls bow in allegiance to that which makes them as hard as the metal they worship.

And worshipping the “golden calf,” they too perish in the wilderness. The Laodicians are described as being “rich and increased with goods,” but the Lord saw them as “being poor and miserable.” How to be miserable with money!

The Lord urged them to turn from gold to Grace.

The richest man is the poorest if his soul is destitute of Him whose price is above rubies. Heaven’s millionaires are those who revel in the riches of His Grace.

Money talks. He says, “Goodbye.” “Riches fly away.”

“I Will Make a Man More Precious Than Fine Gold,” Isaiah 13:12

Because gold is the most valuable of all metals, it is used to typify God’s Word, tried saints, sound Doctrine, and the New Jerusalem.

In this promise before us, Isaiah reminds us that a man is worth more than money. But wherein is a man more precious than gold, even than a golden wedge of Ophir?

1. Well, man has life. Gold is inanimate.
   
2. Man has personality, talents, feelings, whereas gold is merely metal and void of all the gracious powers of man.
   
3. Man is eternal, but gold is only temporary.
   
4. Man is indestructible. His body may perish, but he, himself, can never be destroyed, his soul. But gold can easily be reduced to nothingness.
   
5. Man has been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Gold can never experience His love and Grace.
   
6. When war breaks out, human life is of little value, yet the Word of the prophets stands that “a man is more precious than gold.”
   
7. Especially if he is a new man in the Lord Jesus Christ.

”What is man that Thou art mindful of him?”

Wednesday, September 5, 2001

“Wherefore Do Ye Spend Money for That Which is Not Bread,” Isaiah 55:1-2

What the prophet is here condemning is the expenditure of money on useless things. As a nation we spend more money on cosmetics than for spreading the Word of God. More on crime than on education. A great many Christians spend more money on amusements, sports, personal pleasure, and non-essentials than they do for the furtherance of the Gospel.

Money prayerfully and wisely spent produces bread which God, ourselves, and others can feed. Bread represents that which is sustaining and satisfying and is therefore a fitting type of the good our gold can accomplish when it is used as a trust from God.

Isaiah likewise had a paradox about buying without money. Faith and obedience form Heaven’s purchase price for all its spiritual commodities.

“Ye Are Not Redeemed With Corruptible Things as Silver and Gold, But With the Precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Peter 1:18-19

Whether rich or poor, God’s priceless salvation is offered to all in a gift. “The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less,” Exodus 30:15.

As my Kinsman Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the atonement money, paid it in the currency of Heaven – the silver and gold of His true body and reasonable soul.

We do not even have to bring the temple a half-shekel in our hands. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the whole shekel. While it is true that money cannot buy us back from sin’s bondage, once we become the Lord’s, our substance must be dedicated to Him.

Although saved from sin and hell without money and without price, we cannot serve our Saviour without money or without price.

”We dare not offer Him that which cost us nothing.”

“He That Loveth Silver Shall Not be Satisfied,” Ecclesiastes 5:10

It seems as if the more the natural man has, the more he wants. Thus, the love of money, and not the money itself, becomes the root of evil.

It is always dissatisfying to love money for money’s sake. Whether we have much or little may the Grace of satisfaction be ours. “My Grace is sufficient for thee.” “Taste and see that the Lord is gracious.”

An ever-deepening love for the Lord will deal most effectively with any love in our hearts for the passing possessions of this world. 2 Tim 4:8, 10.

”Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day. And not to me only but unto all them that love His appearing.”

“The Prophets Divine...for Money,” Micah 3:11

Paul speaks of those who, coveting money, “erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

There are times when the lure of money ruins the influence of God’s servants. Micah asks, “How can the Lord work among us if we judge for reward, teach for hire, preach for money?”

Those who are called to minister the Word are under the solemn obligation of ministering to all without undue concern of the cash value of opportunities, knowing, that since “the laborer is worthy of his hire,” the Lord will provide all necessary remuneration. Have we not the Promise that our every need will be supplied?

A nationally-known preacher confessed that as he faced an audience he found himself weighing it, and saying to himself. “I wonder what I can get out of this crowd?”

It should be the sincere desire of a prophet to give, not to get, all he can, and rest in the assurance that God is ever a good Paymaster.

”In the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of money.”

“Givest Thou Not my Money Into the Bank,” Luke 19:23

We gather from this statement that there is a legitimate trading of money. A man is no less a saint because of a wise and safe investment of his money.

As a Christian, he will be careful how and where he invests and how he uses accruing interest. He must not be fascinated by quick and high returns offered by unreliable companies. Nor gamble with the markets and possibly loose precious money the Lord Jesus Christ could have used in spreading the Word.

Get all you can.
Save all you can.
Give all you can.

“They Brought the Money and Laid it at the Apostle’s Feet,” Acts 4:37

Is there not something fascinating about the Pentecostal Church and the “common-ism” of the early Church? ”Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed “was his own,” “but they had all things common.”

Lands and houses were sold and the money put in a common purse for distribution as each person had need.

Ananias and Sapphira were smitten with sudden death because of an acted lie on their “partial surrender.” Professing their all was on the altar, they kept back part of the price. Are we not guilty of the same dark sin when lustily we sing,

”All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I give”

but yet withhold many of our coveted treasures?

“The Thirty Pieces of Silver,” Matthew 27:3-10

Judas is a tragic illustration of the love of money being the root of all evil.

As the treasurer of the little band of disciples, Judas betrayed his trust, for he kept what was in the bag. Evidently he was chosen to handle the money matters of the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples because of his administrative ability. But his gift was his downfall.

Disgusted over Mary’s expensive expression of love, Judas thought of her love-gift in terms of money. He expressed pity for the poor and said that the 300 pence Mary spent on her alabaster box of ointment were wasted.

Something like $50 seemed too much to waste in such a way. Yet how inconsistent Judas was! He grumbled at Mary sacrificing $50 to anoint the Lord Jesus Christ for His burial, yet he sold His Lord for some $19.

It is the abuse, not the use of money which the Bible condemns.

“Doth Not Your Master Pay Tribute?” Matthew 17:24

In these days of heavy taxation, when various taxes claim a large part of our income, it is somewhat consoling to learn that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself willingly paid His annual tribute. He met every required demand.

Rather than evade the tax-collector, He performed a miracle to provide sufficient tribute money for Himself and for Peter. And how many times I wished that He would perform a miracle for me at income tax time! The apostle found the silver piece in the fish’s mouth.

Money is found in other ways to meet Church obligations, schemes, many of which are unworthy of high and holy calling are undertaken to raise money.

A strong spiritual Church where Grace giving is taught and practiced should not need gimmick giving!

“But When Thou Doest Alms, Let Not Thy Left Hand Know What Thy Right Hand Doeth,” Matthew 6:3-4

There are times when our right hand would be ashamed if he did know what the left hand gave to the needy. There is no promise for those who give to the poor in order to be seen of men. Telethon…

Those who desire recognition have their reward at once and cannot be expected to be rewarded twice.

Alms lose their significance when the giver whispers to himself, “How generous I am.”

It is fatal to reward ourselves for giving, both here and hereafter. The Lord from Whom nothing is hid, will personally see to the rewarding of the secret giver of alms.

“He That Hath Pity Upon the Poor Lendeth Unto the Lord, and That Which He Hath Given Will He Give Again,” Proverbs 19:17

1. It is not Christian to give to the poor out of pity.
   
2. Nor to be seen and applauded.
   
3. Much less to get influence over them.
   
4. Sympathy and compassion should prompt our giving.
   
5. Neither shall the poor be helped with the expectation of return.
   
6. Whether in kind or gratitude.
   
7. What we give is a loan to the Lord.
   
8. And His Promise to repay is better than gold or silver.
   
9. And He promises to pay you back double, i.e., He will pay again.
   

“Simon Thought That the Gift of God May be Purchased With Money,” Acts 8, 18, 20

The sorcerer, being accustomed to receiving payment for his sorceries and enchantments, evidently thought that Peter was a dealer in a particular power of the Holy Spirit, and a gratuity was necessary for the transfer of such.

But whatever faults Peter may have had, making a quick buck in any way was not one of them. Neither Peter nor what he had could be bought.

Judas was tempted to sell the Lord Jesus Christ. But Peter had no temptation to dispose of spiritual power on a cash basis. The incident of the silver piece in the fish’s mouth had taught him that his Lord could supply all necessary money.

The lesson of the narrative is evident. Spiritual treasures cannot be bought with material means. Nothing is sold over Heaven’s counter. A pauper can enjoy as much sunshine as a prince.

God’s provision is of Grace, and can only be received by faith.

Thursday, September 6, 2001

Riches!

The above and many other passages dealing with material wealth, surely prove two things:

1. That God is the Source of it.
   
2. And that few can endure the doubtful privileges of being rich.

It is most difficult to have riches and not set your heart upon them. Affluence has the tendency to draw the soul away from God like a magnet draws iron.

How grateful we should be that not a penny is necessary to buy anything the soul requires.

The precious things we can buy without money! Salvation!

The Poor!

Many of God’s saints are poor in respect to this world’s goods, yet rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which God has promised to them that love Him.

Those saints in Smyrna were plundered and persecuted, tried and tortured, but the Lord Jesus Christ said to them, “Thou art rich.”

So are all God’s people... rich... even if their pockets are empty. They are rich in the relation to the blessed Trinity.

Poor, But Making Many Rich

Earth has honor, wealth, and pride,
Earth has joy and fancies gay.

These are but bubbles on the tide.
Where wilt thou be on Judgment Day?

What shall it profit to gain the whole?
What wilt thou give in exchange for your soul?

”What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
”Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.”

Prosperity and Honor!

Prosperity and honor are among other passages associated with the material realm which the Bible takes cognizance of.

Israel was made “plenteous in goods” that as a nation, she might be able to lend to all nations and borrow from none.

“The Lord Shall Open Unto Thee His Good Treasure,” Deuteronomy 28:12

The work of Israel was blessed, not only because God delighted in her, but in order that she might become the medium of blessing to others. Prosperity was hers – not to retain, but to scatter.

We have struck a partnership with God and we promise to dispense whatever the Almighty provides.

It was thus that Israel functioned.

Have we learned the lesson of sharing what we receive?

“The Prosperity of Fools Shall Destroy Them,” Proverbs 1:32

Asaph was somewhat disturbed over the prosperity of the wicked. Profane, yet they were prosperous. Defiant, yet they were affluent. Godless, yet they escaped the trials and afflictions of life.

”I saw the prosperity of the wicked,” Psa 73:3, 37:7.

Asaph himself was pure in heart, yet poor. Righteousness had failed to bring him any of the riches fools enjoyed. Consistent, yet he was chastened every morning.

Such seeming inequality was too painful for him. Then something happened. Asaph went into the sanctuary, and looking at the prosperity of the wicked from the Divine Viewpoint, he understood how transient their vaunted treasures were. Psa 73:17-19, “Until I went into the Sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.”

Does not experience teach us that the gains of the Godless often result in grief? Their wealth that is often secured in dishonorable ways produces misery. Opulence ends in a tragic overthrow.

“I Spake Unto Thee in Thy Prosperity, But Thou Saidst, I Will Not Hear,” Jeremiah 22:31

In so many ways, Israel had been honored of the Lord. As a nation, however, she was committed to the folly of glorying in her prosperity rather than in the Lord who sent it. Divine warnings passed unheeded.

The Grace of God should have begotten humility and confession. But the nation, puffed up with conceit over their Divinely-bestowed possessions, lived to see their treasures plundered by ruthless hands.

Is not Israel’s tragedy that of many a professed Christian? God was gracious in sending prosperity their way. But a more affluent position, instead of being used of God, gradually withered up their spirituality.

Gains were not dedicated to the Lord Who sent them, but used on the gratification of selfish desires. God lovingly warned them, but their ears were deliberately closed to the Divine appeal.

Prosperity became their God, and the God of their prosperity was forgotten.

Like Jeshurun, “They waxed fat and forsook the Rock of their salvation.”

“The Upright Shall Have Good Things in Possession,” Proverbs 28:10

The Book of Proverbs, like the Psalms, is saturated with Promises.

Faith learns how to turn the Promises into Psalms of praise and Proverbs of wisdom. If hidden in the hollow of the Divine hand, all the malice and cunning of our foes cannot rob us of what God gives.

”All are yours.”

Whether the possessions are material or spiritual, or both, we have them in possession. When God commanded His blessings upon the storehouses of His people, He made it clear that He always blesses what He bestows.

Prosperity is no curse when blessed of the Lord. It is when men have more than they require for their immediate and future needs, and pull down their barns and build greater out of greediness, that the dry rot of covetousness or the blight of hard-heartedness follows accumulation, and God’s blessing is lost.

But when prudence arranges the saving, liberality directs the spending; gratitude maintains the consecration, and praise sweetens the enjoyment; then His benediction rests upon our possessions.

Friday, September 7, 2001

“Blessed be Ye Poor for Yours is the Kingdom of Heaven,” Luke 6:20

There is a sense in which all the Lord’s people are poor. They see and feel that sin has stripped them of every excellence and has left them poor and naked.

It appears that God has deep solicitation for the poor. His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, rich as He was, for our sakes “He became poor.” And how poor! He had to borrow a penny to enforce a lesson on allegiance both to God and rulers. At the end, His friends had to bury Him in another man’s grave. And in going over these Promises, there are some you can point out for singular notice.

Those who give liberally to all men are endowed with riches and glory. But in dealing with those who are poor materially, how rich the believer is when he contemplates all the Lord has for us.

Poor at present, but fabulously rich by and by, for ours is the kingdom of Heaven – because the Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour and Friend, whether spiritually or materially it is true.

What want shall not our God supply
From His redundant stores?
What streams of Grace from on high
An Arm Almighty pours?

“The Expectation of the Poor Shall Not Perish Forever,” Psalm 9:18

What a heartening Promise this is! All of God’s Promises raise our expectation!

What the Promise has engaged to give, providence seems loath to bestow, “But no good Word of His can possibly fail.”

If in straitened circumstances God knows our need, therefore we can expect Him to support us under all trials and supply us with all necessary good as we strive to make Him our Daily Portion.

Poverty is a hard heritage, but those who trust in the Lord are never forgotten of Him, even though it looks as if they have been overlooked in His providential distribution of good things.

“The Poor Committeth Himself to Thee,” Psalm 10:14

Those who appear to be the poorest are yet rich in faith and are blessedly contented even though frugality is theirs.

They also may appear to be the most friendless, yet theirs is the truest best Friend who has pronounced never to forsake them.

They have committed themselves to Him and have the assurance that He knows all about their struggles.

They have committed themselves…

To His Grace – to be saved by it;
To His power – to be kept by it;
To His providence – to be fed by it;
To His Word – to be ruled by it;
To His care – to be preserved by it;
To His arms – to be safely landed in glory.

“As Having Nothing But Possessing All Things,” 2 Corinthians 6:10

Paul knew what it was to suffer penury for Christ’s sake. At times he existed upon the gifts of fellow believers. If help was not forthcoming, he turned to his trade as a tentmaker to make ends meet.

Because the Lord was his Inheritance, he was never downcast when he had nothing. His bare necessities were usually met. And having learned to “rejoice in the Lord always,” he was content.

He lived not only for the Lord, but upon Him. Why should he charge his soul with temporal cares when he knew that:

No wonder Paul could say, although destitute of these material possessions calculated to make other people happy, that he possessed all things.

“Poor Promises”

“He shall deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him that hath no helper,” Psa 72:12.

1. The needy cries. What else can he do?
   
2. He is heard of God. What else need He do?

Let the needy take to crying at once, for this will be his wisdom. Do not cry in the eye of friends for even if they can help you, it is only because the Lord enables them.

The nearest way is to go straight to God and let your cry come up before Him. Straightforward makes the best runner. Run to the Lord and not to secondary causes.

No saint, no matter how poor, can say he has no helper if, without material supplies and human friends, God can undertake in both capacities.

He is the Helper of the helpless and able to supply all temporal mercies.

“Poor Promises”

“Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right,” Prov 16:8

The advice of Solomon, who never knew what poverty was, is in this verse worthy of recognition.

Poor? No, of course not. Why, how could I be?
When Christ my King is taking care of me?

Worthy? Oh, no! The marvel of it is
That I should know such gracious love as His!

And so, I’m rich, with Christ I am joint-heir
Since He once stooped my poverty to share.

“The Liberal Soul Shall be Made Fat,” Proverbs 11:25

If we desire to flourish spiritually and materially, then we must not hoard up our possessions, but share them with the needy.

Does not the Bible say, “There is he that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is he that withholdeth more than is meet and it tendeth to poverty?”

The more we give, the more we receive. If we hoard up what we receive and do not have bowels of mercy, then too great riches might make me unwieldy as corpulent persons usually are, and cause me the dyspepsia of worldliness, and perhaps bring on a fatty generation of the heart.

“Fret Not Thyself Because of Him Who Prospereth in His Way,” Psalm 37:1, 7, Psalm 73:3

The psalmist confesses that he fell into hidden envy when he saw the prosperity of the wicked. Nothing vexes a man so sorely as his bitter sense of unfairness in the ordering of things. But the wealth of Heaven has no canker staining it and is far more precious than money.

The prosperity of the wicked is of a short duration. But the believer’s pleasure is eternal.
”Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be.”
”He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

If our trust in Him in Whom alone is sweet contentment, then may He save us from all discontentment, envy, and fret. The poorest of His saints is loftier in rank and riches and treasure than the world’s millionaires and princes.

Fret not, poor soul, while doubt and fear
Disturb thy breast,
The pitying angels who can see
How vain thy wild regrets must be
Say, “Trust and rest.”

Saturday, September 8, 2001

Work Promises!

“If any man would not work neither shall he eat,” 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

Work of some sort or other is essential for the majority of us if we are to eat, drink, and have sufficient necessary clothing and housing accommodation. Whether our labor is manual or mental, or both, we can find some practical advice in what the Bible has to say about the day’s labor.

”Blessed shalt thou be in the field... Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store,” Deut 28:35. The underlying principle is these Promises are the same whether work is in a field on in a factory.

Obedience to God brings a blessing on our industry and also upon all the provisions our industry earns for us. If our work provides just enough for our needs, with very little to put by for a rainy day, we have the Lord’s Promise that His blessing will be ours. Even if we do live from hand to mouth, getting each supply in the day.

As long as it is from His hand to our mouth, what else matters?

Work Promises!

“Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work will be rewarded,” 2 Chronicles 15:7.

The God who accomplished great things for kings Asa and Judah when they were feeble, is able to strengthen us for life’s responsibilities.

Whether we think of our labor to live or serve the Lord, the promised reward is the same. Our labor, as His, is never in vain. Our present reward is to go through our work with determined diligence.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all thy strength unto the Lord.

“The Lord Thy God Shall Bless Thee in All Tthat Thou Doest,” Deuteronomy 15:18

The spirit of the Promise bound the Hebrew of old to treat working people well.

Bondslaves, in particular, had to be dealt with graciously. And when liberty was due, the masters had to start the freed slaves in a new life with a liberal portion.

Employers have much to learn from these Mosaic exhortations.

God cannot fulfill His Promise of blessing on their behalf if they fail to treat their employees in a just and honorable way.

Work Promises!

“He that gathereth by labour shall increase,” Proverbs 13:11.

The lazy, idle rich, who never worked for their money, often see it diminish. Having never labored for it, they do not fully value it.

Hard and earnest work, whether related to the brain or the body, brings with it a right estimation of the money it secures.

That which we inherit or receive as a gift does not seem as precious as that which mind or muscle produces. So as Solomon puts it, “in all labor there is profit.”

The Lord places no premium upon indolence, whether it be in our work or in His.

If he won’t work, he won’t eat.

Work Promises!

“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings,” Proverbs 22:29.

Here is a declaration history confirms. In England when William Crooks was elected to Parliament, there was great excitement prevailing all over. He was born in a workhouse, and having a very hard life as a boy, yet he persevered until he achieved fame in national life. Thus through Bill Crooks, who came from obscurity, by his unceasing diligence, he had royalty as friends.

We may never have the honor of standing in the presence of an earthly potentate, even though we labor hard and long at the work of our hands. But of this we are confident, that if we labor for the Lord from the dawn to the setting sun, the blessed privilege will be ours of standing before the King of glory.

Salvation will bring us into His royal presence and service will determine our reward from His hand.

Work!

“My Father worketh... I work,” John 5:17.

How untiring the Father and the Son, and likewise God the Holy Spirit, work for the spiritual and eternal welfare of our souls!

While it may appear that Truth is on the scaffold and wrong is on the throne, the Father and the Son are tireless in Their united effort to take the prey from the mighty foe. Divine forces are silently operating and will one day emerge victorious over all the dark, satanic powers arrayed against the Lord and His own.

Often we hear the question, “Why does not God do something about war?”

Let us never forget that God is not a detached spectator of world travail and anguish. While it is true that Satan is still the god of this world, God overruled the machinations of our archenemy.

God is not inactive, indifferent, or ignorant. As the Omnipotent One, He reigns along with His Divine Son. He is working out the best for His own.

“Study to Shew Thyself Approved, a Workman That Needeth Not to be Ashamed,” 2 Timothy 2:15

“Study and work” were favorite words in Paul’s vocabulary. Here he is found using them to enforce our double relationship.

Continuous study must be ours if we would have lives approved of God. Then as diligent workman, we must rightly divide the Word of Truth.

All who handle the Word are spoken of as workmen. The Books of the Bible are our tools, and with them we have to work until we are able to rightly divide the Word of God. All preachers should be specialists in the Scriptures. Observation, however, compels us to admit that the Bible is the one Book a great many preachers know least about. One has only to listen to them to discover that they wrongly divide the Word of Truth.

They are peddlers in small wares, instead of skilful workmen, well able to handle the august themes of Holy Writ.

“Do Your Own Business and Work With Your Own Hands,” 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Paul was spiritually practical. He knew how to combine and harmonize work and worship, then sandwiched in between a solemn injunction regarding sanctity of life and the revelation of Christ’s return.

He has this matter-of-fact note about “studying to be quiet,” “doing our own business,” and “working with our own hands.”

Evidently Paul had met those who made plenty of noise and knew a great deal about other people’s business, but who did little with their own hands. They could talk a lot, but toil little.

Paul was likewise a man who practiced what he preached. A prince of preachers, an astute theologian, and a gifted writer, he yet worked with his own hands in tent making in order to live.

Declaring that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel, Paul saw to it that he was not dependent on others. There was a laborer who, worthy of his hire, yet made his trade support him.

Promises About the Cares of This Life

“The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word,” Matthew 13:22

“Be not overcharged with... the cares of this life,” Luke 8:34, 21:34.

”Casting all your cares upon Him for He careth for you,” 1 Pet 5:7.

A fixed and a constant attention to the Promises, a firm faith in them and the audacious claiming of them delivers us from all fear, doubt, and anxiety associated with the cares of this world.

The acceptance and the reality of the Promises quiets the mind and fosters composure amid the crises and changes of life, and prevents our souls from sinking when faced with the severe and several troubles the flesh is heir to.

Sunday, September 9, 2001

The Comfort of Claiming the Promises of God!

“In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul,” Psalm 94:19

When we fail to appropriate the Promises of God, we deprive ourselves of their solid comfort – the comfort of the Word. And we give way to unbelief or to forgetfulness of the “Promiser Himself.”

We must never forget that there is no extremity, no matter how great, but there is a Promise suitable to it, and, through it, sufficient relief.

From comfort of the Scriptures we have confidence.

“Carefulness”

“I would have you without carefulness,” 1 Corinthians 7:22.

Certainly we are to be careful, but the word “carefulness” here means, “undue anxiety,” which can be very injurious.

Such inordinate care divides and distracts the mind and chokes the Word and leads to distrust, and destroys our peace, which is inconsistent with our profession as Christians.

Because we are His, the entire responsibility of our life is upon His shoulders.

That means we should consider our homes, our property, our business as being His, and trusting Him to undertake and over-rule in all things.

Because of His veracity, fidelity, and immutability, no Promise of His can be broken or forfeited. He has each one of us upon His mind.

Therefore, to fret, worry, or yield to unbelieving anxiety injures our souls and is opposed to contentment and resignation, nourishes impatience and lack of faith, hinders our usefulness, hardens our hearts, cuts off supplies, and procures the Divine rod and frown.

How blessed we are when our souls are reliant upon our bountiful Lord.

I have no cares, O blessed Lord,
For all my cares are Thine.
I live in triumph, too, for Thou
Hast made Thy triumphs mine.

“Great Things, Unsearchable Marvelous Things Without Number”

Job 5:8-9, “I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause. Which doeth great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number.”

With such an all-powerful Creator, Whose wonders are displayed in the universe and Who is also our loving heavenly Lord, we should be content to leave our cares and cause to Him.

The marvels in His created world will be matched by His gracious provision of His kindly providence for those who rest in His will.

Consider the little bee that organizes a city, that builds 10,000 cells for honey, 10,000 cells for larvae, and finally, a very special cell for the mother queen. A little bee that observes the increasing heat and when the wax may melt and the honey be lost, organizes the swarm into squads, puts sentinels at the entrance, glues the feet down and then with flying wings creates a system of ventilation to cool the honey that makes an electric fan look tawdry – a little honey bee that will include 20 square miles of the field over which flowers it has oversight. If a tiny brain in a bee performs such wonders, who are we that we should question the guidance of our Lord?

Lift up your eyes and behold the Hand that supports the stars without pillars, the Lord Who guides the planets without collision.

”It is He who cares for you.”

Our times are in Thy hand
Lord, we wish them there.
Our life, our souls, our all we leave
Entirely to Thy care.

“The Lord Has You on His Mind”

“The Lord hath been mindful of us, He will bless us,” Psalm 115:12.

All the Lord has been, He is, and will ever be.

All the saints can set their seal to the first part of this sweet Promise. “The Lord hath been mindful of us” because our part is strewn with numerous tokens of Divine Grace.

Praise ascends as we meditate upon the way the Lord has thought of us, provided for us, comforted us, delivered us, and guided us. His mind has been full of us. Without a single break, He has cared for us. And the Promise is that because He is unchangeable, He will continue to bless us.

O God, our Help in ages past
Our Hope for years to come;
Be Thou our Guide while life shall last
And our eternal home.

“Nothing!” “Everything!” “Anything!”

“In nothing.... Be anxious. Let your requests be known unto God,” Phil 4:6.

In this blessed invitation to approach the Mercy Seat with all our requests, there is the latent promise of relief. Paul actually gives us a three-fold cord, a trinity of Truth in unity.

1. We should be careful for nothing.
   While God expects us to use sanctified common sense in the ordering of our lives, and to exercise our minds calmly and judiciously whether in our temporal or spiritual affairs, whatever goes beyond our careful planning and prudence is sin. It is a sign of distrust when we allow ourselves to be shaken with vague uncertainties and ceaseless alarms. For today and tomorrow we must trust the Lord.
   
2. We should be prayerful for everything.
   Prayer safeguards us against and counteracts the manifold dangers surrounding us. Prayer corrects the feverish restlessness of our minds, and brings us into the atmosphere of calm. Prayer enables us to continue steadfastly in well-doing, giving us back old energy. Prayer endues us with marvelous influence over others, opening not only the door of the Celestial City, but the door of human souls, and our King comes in.
   
3. We should be thankful for anything.
   How lacking in gratitude we are. Note the scope of such thankfulness – anything. Not only thankful for the pleasant things of life, but the unpleasant experiences as well. For trials as well as triumphs. For losses as well as gains. The Lord could take the bitter cup and give thanks. While it may be hard to thank the Lord for sorrow, we can bless Him because He knows what is best for us and for the fact that He cannot make any mistake in what He may permit a child of His to bear.
   

“The Silence of the Lamb!”

”There was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building,” 1 Kings 6:7.

”Building in silence”

“The temple (which spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ) was built in silence. It rose like an exaltation.” No hammer fell. No ponderous axes rang like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung. Perhaps it was merely for convenience of transport and to save time that the stones were dressed in the quarries, but more probably the silence was due to an instinct of reverence.

We have a couple of lessons here.

1. How the Lord’s house is mostly built in silence.
   
   ”The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation.”
   
   God was in “a still, small voice,” not in wind or earthquake or fire. Drums are loud and empty, the spread of the Kingdom was unnoticed by the world’s great ones.
   
   An encouragement to those whose work is inconspicuous. A lesson not to mistake noise and notoriety for spiritual progress.
   
2. Secondly, in reference to its growth in our souls.
   
   Silence is needed for that, there must be much still communion and quiet reflection.
   
   If we are to grow in Grace and in the knowledge or our Lord and Saviour, we must silently drink in the sunshine and dew and so prosperously pass from blade to ear, and then to full corn in the ear.
   
   Surely nothing is more needed in these days of noisy advertisement and measurement of importance of things by the noise that they can make, than this lesson of the place of silence in Christian progress both for individuals and for the Christian Church as a
   whole.
   
   Not as sounding brass.
   

“The Silence of the Lamb,” Part 2

How God’s house is built of prepared stones.

That is true, in regard to the Church on Earth for there must be the individual act of faith before a soul is fit to be built into the fabric of the Church. There is providential training of men for their tasks before these are given to them.

But the highest application of this symbol in our text here is the relation between the earthly and the heavenly life. This world is the quarry where the stones are dressed for the temple in the Heavens... Living stones.

We may be sure that the prepared stones will be brought to the temple site and built into it. No one will ever be able to say of the Divine Builder, “He began to build and was not able to finish.”

The Architect of the “house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens” knows how to bring every stone that has been prepared here, to the place prepared for it and for which it has been prepared.

”He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it.”

Or on the more sure Word of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, “He that overcometh I will make him a pillar in the house of My God.”

Building in silence – 1 Kings 6:7. No hammers, no axes, no tools of iron were heard in the house while it was in building.

Monday, September 10, 2001

“Casting All Your Cares Upon Him for He Careth for You,” 1 Peter 5:7

The last part of this wonderful Promise can be translated, “He has you upon his heart.”

If this is so, and it is, why are we so often fretted by the annoying cares of daily life? Why look forward to what may happen tomorrow?

The same everlasting Father who cares for us today will take care of us every day. When we cast all our sins upon the Lord Jesus Christ there is no sin upon us. And so we enjoy pardon.

When we cast all our cares upon Christ, there is no care upon us, and so we enjoy peace. If we keep the cares, we cannot have the peace. If we cast the cares, we cannot help but having the peace.

Through every moment of the day
Whatever may meet thee on life’s way
This thought shall be thy strength and stay
He cares.

When shadows veil the fairest scene
And pleasures fade that might have been
On the unchanging Saviour lean
He cares.

“One Thing is Needful...That Good Part,” Luke 10:42

Martha was cumbered about many things. The Lord Jesus Christ did not upbraid her for being solicitous about home responsibilities, but for their encroachment upon the more needful and good part. Namely, mediation upon Him! Being occupied with Him!

The many trifles of time must not affect, distract, and bewilder us, thereby robbing us of precious fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

”As thy servant was busy here and there he was gone,” 1 Kings 20:40.

If the heart is in a sanctified and healthy state, the home will not be neglected, neither will the deeper things of the soul.

Engage this roving, treacherous heart
To fix on Mary’s better part
To scorn the trifles of the day,
For joys that none can take away.

“Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God,” Matthew 6:33

What a copious Promise this is! “These things will be added unto you.”

”These things” – food, raiment, home – God undertakes to add to us if we put Him first. If we give His business pre-eminence, He will give our business His primary concern.

If you want paper and string, you get them given in when you buy more important goods. Just so all that we need of earthly things we have thrown in with the Kingdom.

Covetousness is poverty. And anxiety is mercy. Trust in God is an estate, and likeness to God is a heavenly inheritance.

“Bring Them Hither to Me,” Matthew 14:18

Does not this invitation cover the bringing of our trials, troubles, and needs to Him?

If we carry all things to Him, small as well as great ones, then by doing so, trials are surmounted, foes are conquered, tribulation is gloried in, and God becomes so real.

Seek ye first not Earth’s aspirings,
Ceaseless longings, vain desirings,
But your precious soul’s requiring.
Seek ye first!

Promises and the Physical Realm!

We have seen Promises connected with the body, such as food, water, raiment, and money, so necessary for the welfare of the body. Now we come to examine another group of Promises definitely connected with the body itself, aspects of our physical, natural life, the length of which is in the hands of the Lord.

It is somewhat surprising how wide is the coverage of these Divine Promises in respect to the stages, needs, and emotions of our life in the flesh.

Winston Churchill’s favorite admonition to writers was, “Clarity and cogency can be reconciled with a greater brevity. It is slothful not to compress your thoughts.” A characteristic feature of Bible Promises, not only of the explicit ones, but all of them is their “clarity and cogency.”

How they compress in a remarkable way Divine thoughts. Not a word is wasted. They are “multum in parvo,” much in little, and their designed brevity is impressive. Truth is stated in a clear, concise way as to be easily understood.

”Better is the day of death than the day of one’s birth,” Ecc 7:1.

Bible Promises for Birth!

“Better is the day of death than the day of one’s birth,” Ecc 7:1.

At birth we enter a world with all its sin, suffering, sorrow, and separation.

But our hope, if we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we say farewell to all that the flesh is heir to. It is in this respect that death is gain, as Paul expressed it. “For me to die is gain.”

We are born to live, but sooner or later we die. And the Proverb has it, “For life is nearer every day to death.”

If however, we die in the Lord Jesus Christ, then death is the commencement of life for evermore.

”Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

Bible Birth Promises!

“Many shall rejoice at his birth,” Luke 1:14. Zacharias and Elizabeth were assured that the birth of their Divinely-promised and provided son John would result in much joy.

He came as the forerunner of Him whose birth was also to be accompanied with much joy. The birth of a child usually produces happy hearts. Unwanted children are not joyfully welcomed, much to the detriment of the babes themselves.

Are you still a joy to those who gave you birth?

“Travailing in Birth,” Revelation 12:2

“I travail in birth,” Gal 4:14.

We should never forget what our birth cost the mother who bore us. Many a mother forfeits her life in the birth of her child. She dies that it may live.

But if spared, the agony and travail are soon forgotten in the joys of radiant motherhood. And as she faces the future with the promise of happy companionship.

“The Promise is Unto You, and to Your Children,” Acts 2:39

Not many parents, we fear, realize that children come as gifts from God, Who giveth to all life and as soon as they are born, have every right to the Promises of God who are able to understand and appropriate them.

We should teach our children the Promises of God early in life so they can be a benefit to them through the rest of their lives.

“That Which is Born of the Flesh is Flesh, and That Which is Born of the Spirit, is Spirit,” John 3:6

In this renowned chapter, so full of the Promises of regeneration and redemption, our Lord Jesus Christ emphasizes the necessity for a second birth.

If we are to carry with us the Promises of eternal life, we must be born from above. Our physical birth, by natural generation, introduces us into an earthly family. The second birth, by regeneration, brings us into the heavenly family and makes us the children of God.

Our natural birth is necessary to the spiritual birth, but it matters little where, or of whom, we were born naturally.

The question of paramount importance is, “Have you been born again?” You must be born again!

”In Adam all die. In Christ all are made alive.”

Bible Birth Promises!

“The third day which was Pharaoh’s birthday,” Genesis 40:20.

”When Herod’s birthday was kept,” Matt 14:6.

Birthdays, whether natural or spiritual ones, should always be associated with grat i tude. As we reach each new milestone, we should be found reviewing the past with grat i tude for God’s unfailing Grace and stepping out into the future with renewed dedication to service.

Here are two birthdays observed in different ways.

Joseph interpreted to the butler and baker what would happen to them as soon as Pharaoh’s birthday came around. As prophesied, the butler was released from prison but the baker died.

It was a good day for the butler as with wine he added to Pharaoh’s merriment on the anniversary of his birth. What a good opportunity it was to speak a kind word in Joseph’s favor. But the story reads, “Yet did not the butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.”

May no birthday of ours should be marred by forgetfulness and ingrat i tude.

A terrible tragedy was enacted when Herod’s birthday was kept. John the baptist was beheaded. Yet for John himself, that orgy of a happy birthday was a happy occasion since he witnessed his liberation from the toils, trials, and tears of Earth.

The moral, however, is this, when birthdays are misspent, they usually bring sorrow in their trail.

Bible Birth Promises!

“The birth of Jesus Christ,” Matthew 1:18

This momentous Birth changed the calendar of the world! This is why we have B.C. and A.D. and recognize this as the year 2001.

In the fulness of time the Lord Jesus Christ came as the promised Saviour. What a dark, sad world our world would have been if He had not been born of a virgin, as prophesied and promised.

The first birthday of His caused Heaven to rejoice and hell to rage. Christ was born to give us a second birth.

Do you recognize two birthdays in a year?

When you celebrate the day of your natural birth are you happier over another day which reminds you of all you are heir to because of Christ’s incarnation and death?

Do you ever pause to wonder what thoughts the Lord Jesus Christ had as His birthday came around? What emotions must have been His as He remembered His Deity and His humanity and that He appeared as the God-man in order to bring man to God.

Countless millions in Heaven and Earth praise Him for His lowly birth, knowing that He came into the world to save sinners.

Is the world better for your birth? What enrichment has your birth added to life?

When you reach your next birthday, ask yourself the question, “As my years come and go, is my life telling for God on others around me?”

Voltaire, the French skeptic, died groaning, “I wish I had never been born.”

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Terrorist Attack on the United States of America!

Why Are There Disasters?

The Bible declares that when disasters occur it is time for people to focus their attention on eternity.

One of the illustrations is where earthquakes occur in Scripture, and one is in the case of the Philippian jailer and his question was, “What must I do to be saved?” and the answer was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

A Thought for the Day in Regard to Disasters!

Give God time and even when the knife flashes in the air, the ram will be seen caught in the thicket.

Give God time and even when Pharaoh’s host is on Israel’s heels, a path through the water will suddenly be opened.

Give God time and when the bed or the brook is dry, Elijah shall hear the guiding voice.

Thought for the Day!

“No weapon formed against thee shall prosper,” Isaiah 54:17

What a blessed Promise this is to cling to today. When the sharp weapons of hatred are formed against us, God knows how to blunt the instruments of the wicked. Our Heavenly Defense is ever near to deliver.

Think of these Promises:

1. He never forsakes His saints when persecuted. “Persecuted but not forsaken,” 2 Cor 4:9.
   
2. He is able to deliver out of persecution. Dan 3:25, 28, 1 Cor 1:10, 2 Tim 3:11.
   
3. He assures us of the reward of blessedness, if persecuted. Matt 5:10, Luke 6:22. “Reproaches and afflictions, in Heaven a better and an enduring substance,” Heb 13:33-34.

Persecuted but not forsaken
Cast down, but not destroyed,
Bearing still ”His light affliction”
For Him who for us died.

Soon the exceeding weight of glory
We shall share above,
With the thousand times ten thousand
In that home of love.

Yesterday We Added Four New Bible Studies to Our Web Site

Very timely for today’s terrorist attack!

1. When Will the Nuclear Disaster Happen?
   
2. A Survival Kit for a Nuclear Holocaust
   
3. Promises for Warfare
   
4. Promises for Prisoners of War

The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a declaration of war.

Attacking public buildings in New York and Washington D.C. not being military bases is also a declaration of war.

Thought for the Day

Let the things that can be shaken, be shaken. But we have a Foundation that cannot be shaken.

Promises for Our Defense

God’s coverage and protection for His own is described in so many interesting ways. It would seem as if He ransacks the range of suitable metaphors to reveal His ability and willingness to shelter and preserve those who are covered with His wings.

Scores of Promises are connected with Him as our Refuge, High Tower, Fortress, Hiding Place, Rock, Covert, Eagle wings, etc.

It would take more space than time and space allows to fully quote all the passages dealing with these most profitable metaphors. A few selected examples will suffice to convince us that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, One whose omnipotence and omnipresence and omniscience make possible the most perfect protection for the weakest of all believers.

Make each Promise of Divine preservation your own!

We rest upon Thy Promise Lord,
Thy Word Thou will not break.

Thou never failest, and we know,
Thine own will never forsake.

Lord, keep us looking, trusting Thee,
Our helplessness, our own plea.

Defense Department!

“I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire about,” Zech 3:5.

”He only is a Rock...my Defense...I will not be moved,” Psa 62:6, 69:18.

”A Tabernacle for a shadow...a Refuge...a Covert,” Isa 4:6, 25:4, 32:2.

”Abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” Psa 91:1, Deut 33:12.

”He shall cover thee with His feathers (wings, shield),” Psa 91:4, 17:6.

”Thou art my Hiding Place,” Psa 32:7, 2 Tim 4:17-18.

”The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress...my High Tower,” Psa 18:2.

”The Lord is a Refuge for the oppressed, a Refuge in times of trouble,” Psa 9:9, Prov 14:26.

”Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered.”

The Twin Towers in New York City

Should be a constant reminder to all of us!

Religion kills but Christ and Christianity make alive.

Lest we forget!

America Attacked Again!

We were attacked at Pearl Harbor, and that was a military base. We were attacked in New York City. That was not a military base

No guns were fired, no rockets were set off, no missiles were fired, no bombs were dropped, no nuclear weapons were used. But even so, thousands of people were killed without a gun being fired. Do we register planes now?

Cain killed Abel and he didn’t have a gun.

“From a Child Thou Hast Known the Holy Scriptures,” 2 Timothy 3:15

How gratifying it is when children, like the child Samuel, grow up in the fear of the Lord. How preserved they are if their young minds are saturated with the Truths of the Bible.

”Joash was seven years old when he began to reign,” 2 Chronicles 24:1.

Seven was a very early age for the son of Ahaziah to be crowned king. Joash had been but a year old when he was preserved from the slaughter and kept hidden for six years. Now, on his seventh birthday he is produced and acclaimed king of Judah.

Is there a boy or a girl in your home or Sunday School class celebrating a seventh birthday? Well why not use the coronation of Joash as the basis of an appeal for a decision?

If he was not too young to be crowned king, surely the child at your side is not to young to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ.

”He began to reign.” And reign he did, for he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. The youngest can be taught how to reign in life by the Lord Jesus Christ.

”Suffer little children to come unto Me.”

Youth Bible Promises!

The Bible holds attractive stories for young hearts. How gripping are its records of youthful exploits like that of David.

The Bible has much to say about youth and promises the favor of God in those who in life’s fair morning are willing to buy the pearl of great price.

1. Divine blessing is promised if the young honor the aged.
   ”Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man and fear thy God. I am the Lord,” Lev 10:32.
   
2. Divine favor is promised if a godly example is followed.
   ”My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother,” Prov 1:8, Jer 3:4.
   
3. Divine counsel is given the youth to live right.
   ”Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth” ... But know. Ecc 11:9.
   ”Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,” Ecc 12:1.
   ”Let no man despise thy youth...take heed unto thyself and unto the Doctrine,” 1 Tim 4:11-16, Ezek 16:60.
   ”The child grew, and waxed strong in the Spirit,” Luke 1:80.
   ”Jesus Christ increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man,” Luke 2:52.

Here is a youth program for home and Church.

“The Kindness of Thy Youth,” Jeremiah 2:2

It is to be regretted that in these days of increasing juvenile delinquency, “the shades of the prison house,” close upon many youths, guilty of the most heinous crimes.

May God richly bless all those and prosper all those movements seeking to win the young for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Would that more young people could be found nourishing affection of Truth and righteousness and acting more kindly to those who gave them birth.

Does not the poet remind us that an unkind, unthankful child is sharper than a serpent’s tooth?

God uses the phrase, “the kindness of thy youth.”

“I Love Them That Love Me, and Those That Seek Me Early Shall Find Me,” Proverbs 8:17, see Hosea 11:1

“ I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”

What a blessed Promise this is!

While Solomon, in personifying wisdom in the verse before us and saying that wisdom has her lovers and seek her (seekers), the Lord Jesus Christ Himself became the personification of the Wisdom of God. “Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God.”

The Promise is that if we love and seek Him, in return we shall enjoy His love, and find Himself. The appeal is to the young, early in life.

How happy are the young whose morning of life is spent with the Lord Jesus Christ. The younger we see and find Him, the better.

”Early seekers make certain finders.”

“It is Good for a Man That He Bear the Yoke in His Youth,” Lamentations 3:27

A good deal of rubbish is uttered about putting an old head on young shoulders, implying, of course that youth should not be burdened with too much labor and responsibility. To youth I have but three words to say, “Work, work, work,” a quote from Bismark.

Jeremiah’s word is as good as a promise. It was good, it is good, and it will be good to bear the yoke. Many a yoke prepares a young person for future honor.

The yoke of affliction, of disappointment, of hard work, make for character. Soft times in one’s youth do not make for endurance.

As a lad, the Lord Jesus Christ toiled at the carpenter’s bench and grew up with a love for those whose day’s work was hard.

Some of the most conspicuous in the ministry, in commerce, in politics, are those who as youths had to work hard in some realm or other. Success has a sweeter taste if it has sprung from rough soil.

Youthful burdens and responsibilities create compassion, understanding, large heartedness, and contentment. Can it be that you are young with little time to spare? And other young people are free and have plenty of time and money for sport and pleasure, but you have to keep your nose to the grindstone? Are there times when your yoke is sometimes irksome?

Remember that a yoke is “made for two” and that the Lord Jesus Christ has promised to share your yoke. If your burdens seem heavy, bear in mind that the Lord offers to bear both the burden and its bearer.

“When the Young Man Heard That Saying He Went Away Sorrowful,” Matthew 19:22

The rich young ruler’s tragic lack was the willingness to surrender the very thing that came between the Lord Jesus Christ and himself.

He loved his money, and to be told to part with all that he had was a drastic condition of discipleship the wealthy youth was not willing to fulfill. ”He went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.”

But the Young Man pleading with the young ruler was not asking the impossible. He was only urging the youth to follow His step. Did He not surrender all when He left His Father’s home above? Rich for the ruler’s sake and ours, He became poor.

Are you young, strong, and free, and yet lacking in one thing? What hinders your abandonment to the Lord Jesus Christ? With the rich young ruler it was his possessions. What is it with you?

As the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest of all possessions, let everything else go and secure Him.

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

A Prayer That Delivered a City!

King Hezekiah received the promise of deliverance from the overwhelming forces of Assyria because he recognized his utter inability to do anything apart from God. In the end God did it all. Hezekiah had not to raise a finger in defense. The Assyrian host of 185,000 were slain by one angel, The Lord Jesus Christ.

”Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the Earth; Thou hast made Heaven and Earth. LORD, bow down Thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, Thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the Earth may know that Thou art the LORD God, even Thou only.”

“For I will defend this city, to save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the Angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” 2 Kings 19:14-19, 34, 35.

A firm unmistakable faith in God and the recognition of Him in every phase of national life, then, is the strongest and most Impregnable Defense any nation can have.

“The Prince That Wanteth Understanding is Also a Great Oppressor But He That Hateth Covetousness Shall Prolong His Days,” Proverbs 28:16

God has promised that kings can prolong their reign if covetousness is hated. Abolish justice and what are kingdoms but robberies.

Sacrificing all justice and honor, kings lustful for more power and possessions build up kingdoms on robbery.

God, Who is able to reprove kings, 1 Chr 16:21, is the avowed enemy of covetousness in any shape or form.

Israel’s first king was given thus in anger. “I gave thee a king in Mine anger, and took him away in My wrath,” Hosea 13:11. God gives kings in His wrath.

Israel coveted all the glitter and glory, pomp and pride of gentile kings and demanded of Samuel, “Make us a king to judge us like all nations,” 1 Sam 8:5.

Thus the people rejected theocracy for monarchy with dire results as their future history proves. The avarice and pride of rulers have deeply stained the Earth with the red blood of millions.

“He That Ruleth Over Men Must be Just Ruling in the Fear of God,” 2 Samuel 23:3

Divine rules for rulers to obey with promises of Divine favor if God is honored in national life are scattered throughout the Bible.

Monarchs and rulers must fear God and rule in the fear of God.

In this verse before us are the words among the last spoken by King David, whose reign was an honored one. While guilty of a dark sin marring his royal influence, in the main, David was just and sought to rule in the fear of God. The bent of his life was Godward.

This illustrious king left a promise for all those willing to rule as unto God. ”He shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass upspringing out of the Earth by the clear shining rain.”

How different civilization would be if only kings had kept David’s precept and promise in mind. Rulers are exhorted to promote the interest of Divine institutions, i.e., nationalism, free will, etc.

Rules for Rulers Ruling in the Fear of the Lord

1. Rulers should maintain the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
   ”The words of King Lemuel. Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction, open thy mouth, judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and the needy,” Prov 3:1; 1, 8, 9
   
2. Judgment must never be perverted.
   ”Pervert not the judgment of any of the afflicted,” Prov 31:5.
   
3. All matters relating to the subjects must be fully investigated.
   ”The honour of kings is to search out a matter,” Prov 25:2.
   
4. There are warnings against all kinds of evil.
   ”Give not...thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. It is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink,” Prov 31:3, 4.
   ”It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness for the throne is established by righteousness,” Prov 16:12.
   ”Excellent speech becometh not a fool, much less for lying lips a prince,” Prov 17:7.
   ”If a ruler hearkens to lies, all his servants are wicked,” Prov 29:12.
   ”A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes,” Prov 20:8.
   ”Righteous lips are the delight of kings,” Prov 16:13.

Maybe America is under attack because our leaders have not ruled in the fear of the Lord.

From the Scriptural Rules for Ruling We Can See That the Influence of a Ruler’s Reign “Depends Upon His Morals”

Often when a ruler’s ways are corrupt and his judgments warped, our national life becomes the mirror of his own life.

The witness of history, Bible and secular, shows that when kings are godly and wise, and pledge allegiance to the King of kings, then their reign is most beneficial to their subjects.

Not only so, but promised blessings are for those who reign in Truth and righteousness. If only all sovereigns and potentates could have

1. Grace poured into their lips, Psa 46.
   
2. And favor for the wise, Prov 14:35.
   
3. And honor for the diligent, Prov 22:20.
   
4. And keep the Divine law, 1 Kings 2:3.
   
5. And study the Scriptures, Deut 17:19.
   
6. And serve the Lord Jesus Christ, Psa 2:10-12.
   
7. How enriched their reign and lives would be.
   

The Tragedy is That Through Our History Many of Our Rulers Have Set Themselves and Have Taken Counsel Against the Lord, Psalm 2:2

Divine restraints have been discarded. The language employed by the psalmist describes a deliberate and planned hostility to God on the part of our earthly rulers.

They are unified in their determination to abolish all restraints, then the rage and rejection depicted carry a prophetic significance.

Before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to this Earth as the “King of kings,” Earth rulers will be against God. But the promise is that His King, His Beloved Son, will take unto Himself power and reign.

“The Lord Hath Broken the Staff of the Wicked and the Sceptre of the Rulers,” Isaiah 14:5

Time’s glory is to calm contending kings. Time, however, is not calming contending kings. What bitter contention characterizes the meeting of the rulers of the United Nations today! How utterly Godless some of these rulers are!

But He who sits in the Heavens shall laugh and He can afford to laugh for His day is coming. And when He does, all will bow before Him and recognize His supremacy as the World Emperor.

Is it not the United Nations, but He will unite the nations.

If only those who have the destinies of the nations in their hands would presently acknowledge God’s sovereignty and make the patriotic prayer of Daniel the prime minister of Babylon, their own cry, “O Lord, to us becometh confusion of faces, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee,” Dan 9:3-19.

Promises for Wars and Rumors of War

Our headlines today, which say we are at war just emphasizes the principle of “wars and rumors of war.”

When we examine the passages in the Bible which relate to wars, we find that wars will not be abolished until “the Prince of peace takes over the government of the Earth.”

Ever since humanity was divided into nations, and there appeared kings, princes, and rulers, there have been feuds and conflicts between them, resulting in terrible bloodshed. Monarchs and wars have been, and still are synonymous. What holocausts of destruction the world has experienced. Millions have looked up Heaven, and now do, through their blinding tears and cried, “O God, Why do men make wars?”

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself declared that until the Gentile Age has run its course “wars and rumors of wars” can be expected. And we are seeing that prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes today. Matt 24:6, Rev 6:24.

But the bright promise is that when “the Son of God goes forth to war,” the bloody religious wars of Earth will end.

“He Maketh Wars to Cease Unto the End of the Earth,” Psalm 46:9

“The nations...shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,” Isa 2:4.

Summit conferences for rulers to meet and plan for peace in our time are to be commended, but the United Nations in New York, the city where America was attacked, was conceived to banish wars from the Earth.

Yet, since its inception we have had nothing but a succession of wars and the rape of nations like Hungary and Tibet by larger and more power-hungry nations. And before that, we had the League of Nations started by Woodrow Wilson.

So, with our Bibles open before us, we know that any respite from war will only be temporary. The prerogative of “world peace” belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is coming to break the bow asunder.

The recurring personal pronoun in the Promise of the psalmist must not be lost sight of. “He... He... He... He... He… ” The abolition of war and the complete destruction of munitions of war await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if they hit the United Nations building?

An Attack on America

Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
”This is my own my native land,”
Whose soul hath within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned,
From wandering on a strange strand?

If such there breathe, go, mark him well,
For him no minstrel raptures swell,
High though his titles, proud his name
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,
Despite those titles, power and pelf,
The wretch, concentrated all in self.

Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprang
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

Thursday, September 13, 2001

Arise America!

O beautiful, our country
Around thee in love we draw.
Thine is the grace of freedom,
The majesty of law.

Be righteous thy sceptre,
Justice thy diadem,
And on thy shining forehead,
Be peace the crowning gem.

“The Lord Thy God Walketh in the Midst of Thy Camp, to Deliver Thee, and to Give Up Thine Enemies Before Thee,” Deuteronomy 23:14

“LORD, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go against this multitude. O LORD, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee,” 2 Chr 14:11.

“Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion,” Psalm 27:3, 5

”Through God we shall do valiantly for it is He that treadeth down our enemies,” Psa 60:12.

While these Promises and others do not guarantee the immunity from the sorrows of war, they nevertheless imply that if we should be swept along by the current of war, we have a Source of consolation and hope of which the godless are ignorant. Proverbs 3:24-26.

The Attack on America

“The body they may kill, but God’s Word abideth still.”

”He shall redeem thee in war from the power of the sword,” Job 5:30.

Through the ages the instruments of war have become more deadly until we have succeeded in creating the most fearful implements of destruction ever known. But Job’s promise declares that God is both able to preserve both man and family in time of war.

True, Christians perish as well as non-Christians when battles rage. But for Christians who perish by the way, there is the consolation “that warring forces are not able to kill the soul,” Matt 10:38. Bombs only deliver the believers from the sordidness of Earth, for them sudden death is sudden glory.

Some of the early martyrs could kiss the flames encircling them, seeing they only hastened their entrance into Heaven.

”Absent from the body face to face with the Lord,” 2 Cor 5:8.

“No Weapon, No Weapon That is Formed Against Thee Shall Prosper,” Isaiah 54:17

“No Weapon”

While this is a Promise directly related to restored Israel, like many of the other Promises, we can claim the “life-rest” of it. God is still able to break the bow and cut the spear in sunder.

Modern weapons of war are indeed fearful and diabolical, but the Lord knows how to bring them to naught. Often He rallies the forces of nature to combat the cruelty of men. It was thus that God used the snow against Napoleon and the miracle mists at Dunkirk.

”He discomfits the enemy.”

“Shall Your Brethren Go to War and Shall Ye Sit Here?” Numbers 32:6

Whenever war breaks loose upon a nation, the question of Christian participation always arises. Pacifists and conscientious objectors become conspicuous as they affirm their unwillingness to take up arms against any man.

”War is anti-Christian,” it is said – diametrically opposed to the witness and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. In our democracy such individual conscience is respected.

Still, the problem is, what should be the attitude of a Christian when war arises? Is he, like the children of Gad, and the children of Reuben, to sit in comfort while others go out to bleed and die?

A Christian, although a citizen of Heaven, is likewise a citizen of the United States of America and must decide whether or not he has corresponding responsibilities and should be in subjection to the powers that be.

Peter gives us clear instructions on this matter. 1 Pet 2:12-25. ”Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” “Whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as those who are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well,” etc.

Bravely to do whatever the time demands whether with pen or sword, and not to flinch. This is the task that fits heroic hands. So are Truth’s boundaries widened inch by inch.

War and Prisoners of War!

“Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee; according to the greatness of Thy power preserve Thou those that are appointed unto death,” Psa 79:11.

”To hear the sighing of the prisoners, to loose those that are appointed to death,” Psa 102:20.

One of the grim casualties of any war is the capture and plight of prisoners. From ancient times captors have been guilty of inhumane treatment toward their captors. The Philistines delighted in the degradation they made Samson to suffer when they put out his eyes, bound him with fetters of brass, and made him grind in the wretched prison house, Judges 16:21.

A similar fate overtook King Zedekiah at the hands of the king of Babylon. Jer 52:11.

Jeremiah the prophet begged to be kept from a death-infested prison. Jer 37:15, 20.

In Bible times, then, prisoners were subjected to extreme suffering. Promises of either deliverance from prison or Grace to bear such a trial, if deliverance was not forthcoming, however, were graciously given.

”His feet that hurt with fetters, he was laid in chains of iron,” literally, his soul entered into iron. “Until the time that His Word came to pass: the Word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him,” Psa 105:19, 20.

”The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed and that he should not die in the pit,” Isa 51:14.

Thou Will Not Turn Thy Face Away

Thou will not turn Thy face away
From those who work Thy will,
But send Thy peace on souls that pray
And guard Thy people still.

Remember how since time began
Thy dark eternal mind,
Through lives of men that fear not man,
Is light to all mankind.

Thou will not turn Thy face away
From those who work Thy will,
But send Thy peace on souls that pray,
For strength to serve Thee still.

“I Will Feed That Oppress Thee with Their Own Flesh and They Shall be Drunken with Their Own Blood as with Sweet Wine,” Isaiah 49:26

The Romans had a singular method of fettering their prisoners. The one end of a long chain was fixed about the right arm of the prisoner, and the other end was fastened to the left arm of a soldier.

Thus a prisoner was always attended and guarded, which occasioned one of the most pathetic affecting strokes of true oratory ever displayed either in the Grecian or Roman Senate. ”I would to God that not only thou but also all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds,” Acts 26:29.

Can you not imagine how Paul would accompany his words with the parade and dangling of the chains? Yet his bonds were a blessing for they gave the apostle great opportunities of winning his guards to the Lord. “Because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with the chain.”

We can picture him proclaiming such a hope in his changing guard. Grace was his to fashion a pulpit out of his prison. That Peter and Paul both endured imprisonments yet received promised help and deliverance is fully dealt with in the Bible.

“The God That Made the World and All Things Therein He, Being Lord of Heaven and Earth, Dwelleth Not in Temples Made with Hands...He Giveth to All Life, and Breath, and All Things,” Acts 17:24-26

In his appeal to the men of Athens, Paul using as his text the altar inscription, “to the unknown God,” declared that such a God was as in this verse.

The heart-inspiring Truth emphasized throughout the Bible is that God, as the Lord of nature and of providence, promises us an abundance of good things as the seasons, which He has determined, to come and go. Acts 17:26.

The universe offers itself to view as Earth, sky, and sea.

1. He is the Creator and the Controller of the sea.
   ”The sea is His and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land,” Psa 95:4-5, Rev 21:1.
   ”In six days Jehovah made Heaven and Earth, the sea, all that in them is,” Exodus 20:11.
   ”The Lord caused the sea to go back,” Ex 14:21, Prov 8:29.
   ”He shall have dominion from sea to sea,” Psa 72:8, 66:6, Matt 8:26.
   

September’s Heroes!

What heroes thou hast bred
America my own country,
I see the mighty dead
Pass in line,
Each with undaunted heart
Playing his gallant part,
Making thee what thou art
America mine.

Then let us take our place
America my own country,
Amid the gallant race
That is thine.
Ready to hear her call,
Ready to give thee all,
Ready whatever befall,
America mine.

Friday, September 14, 2001

The Promise of All Promises – “The Promise of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ”

After God’s first Promise of the Lord Jesus Christ as “the Seed of the woman,” Gen 3:15, the Lord Jesus Christ is never lost sight of in the Old Testament as “the Promised One.”

In all of the 39 Books, there is an air of expectancy. ”Someone is coming.”

Hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus Christ came, God graciously unveiled Him. It has been asserted that exclusive of numberless typical predictions of Him that the prophecies and references to the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures which are expressly cited in the New Testament either as predictions fulfilled in Him, or as provisions applied to Him, number not less than 333.

Therefore, it is with utmost confidence that we can affirm that He dominates the Old Testament and is before us as “the One who is the substance of its messages and the God of its hope.”

All the avenues lead to Him! He is the Golden Thread binding the diverse Books together giving them an amazing unity.

The Promise of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Out of all the Promises found in the Bible for the physical and spiritual, and for the temporal and for the eternal, there is none greater than the Promise of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have our Lord’s own authority for the fact that He is the Key to Old Testament Promises, profiles, and pictures.

”In the volume of the Book it is written of Me,” Hebrews 10:7.

What Book? And what Person? There is only one Book – the Bible, the Word of God. There is only one Person – the Lord Jesus Christ.

The pre-eminent purpose then of the pre-eminent Book is to magnify and extol the pre-eminent Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

At all times, and especially in these days of terrorism.

The Attack on America in Light of Romans 8:28

Before this terrorist attack all we read about and heard about was not having prayers in school and removing the Ten Commandments from different institutions. But now after an attack on America, we hear everyone mentioning prayer and God and God’s will. What about separation of church and state? So called.

We even hear senators mentioning God and prayers and even heard the 23rd Psalm quoted by our President.

All things have worked together for good for our country if we only get back with the Lord Jesus Christ who is God and our Saviour.

The Promise of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

“Beginning at Moses and all the prophets He expounded unto them all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me,” Luke 24:27, 44.

The Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible are inseparably wedded. The Written Word and the Living Word are one.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the secret of the structural, historical, prophetic, doctrinal, and spiritual aspects of the Bible.

In our quest for Truth, whether we deal with facts or figures, prophesies or promises, let us realize that the secret of interpretation is to find the man, the Lord Jesus Christ, because all Scripture exists to reveal Him.

It brings sustenance to our souls when we discover how the Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures are similarly preserved.

The Promise of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures are similarly preserved so that we always have the Promise of our Saviour in view.

For instance think of these features.

1. Both are called the Word of God.
   ”His Name is called the Word of God,” Rev 19:13, John 1:1.
   ”The Word of God which liveth and abideh for ever.” 1 Pet 1:23.
   
2. Both are spoken of as Truth.
   ”I am the Truth,” John 14:6. “Full of Truth,” John 1:14.
   ”All Thy commandments are Truth,” Psa 119:151.
   
3. Both are described as Light.
   ”In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men,” John 1:4, 8:12.
   ”The law is Light,” Prov 6:23, Psa 119:105.
   
4. Both are defined as Life.
   ”I am the Life,” John 14:6, John 5:11, 20.
   ”Holding forth the Word of life,” Phil 2:16.
   
5. Both are praised as being Precious.
   ”Unto which believe He is Precious,” 1 Pet 2:7.
   “Exceeding great and Precious Promises,” 2 Pet 1:4.
   
   More permanent similarities to follow.
   

   

   The Promise of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Similarity Between the Living and the Written Word of God

6. Both are extolled as being Wonderful.
   ”His Name shall be called Wonderful,” Isa 9:6.
   ”Thy Testimonies are Wonderful,” Psa 119:129.
   
7. Both are written of being Tried.
   ”I lay in Zion...a Tried Stone,” Isa 28:16.
   ”The Word of the Lord is Tried,” Psa 18:30.
   
8. Both are presented as being Everlasting.
   ”The Lord shall endure for ever,” Psa 9:7.
   ”The Word of God endureth for ever,” 1 Pet 1:25.
   
9. Both are said to contribute to our Salvation.
   ”Born of God,” 1 John 5:18.
   “Born again by the Word of God,” 1 Pet 1:23.
   ”Wherefore He is able to save,” Heb 7:25.
   ”The engrafted Word which is able to Save your souls,” James 1:21.
   
10. Both are channels of Cleansing.
    ”The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin,” 1 John 1:7.
    ”Now ye are clean through the Word,” John 15:3.

More to come – eternal identification between the Living and the Written Word.

Saturday, September 15, 2001

The Recovery of a Nation!

Deuteronomy 7:9, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.”

Isaiah 54:13-14, “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.”

The reason for the moral decline in Judah was the fact the people neither took in the Word of God nor established it in their heart. It is the Word of God in the mind that delivers a people. As long as we have any freedom left, the Word of God can be taught, as long as the Word of God is taught, it can be taken in, and as long as the Word of God is taken in, there is a hope for our country. The hope resides in any pulpit in our country where the Word of God is taught, verse by verse, categorically, exegetically.

We are in a national crisis but we are not without the Remedy – the Word of God!

Jeremiah 12:11, “They Have Established Her (Judah) a Desolation”

Judah has become a historic pattern for national destruction. No nation survives the loss of its spiritual heritage. No nation survives the neutralization of its military establishment. No nation survives the destruction of free enterprise. No nation survives social disintegration. And no nation can survive the conscience been seared with a hot iron and the revolt in the soul of its people.

Jeremiah 12:11, “It mourneth unto Me.” Literally, “She (Judah) mourns for Me.” Even though Judah had gone negative to the Word of God and rejected God’s principles for the perpetuation of the national entity, she will periodically mourn for the Lord. Of course, after Judah suffers the fifth cycle of discipline, she will mourn perpetually.

”The whole land is made desolate,” Jer 12:11. Or a better translation, “All the land makes itself desolation.” The verb in this phrase is reflexive and indicates that Judah made herself a desolation. Ultimately every person is responsible for his own decisions, because every person has free will.

When a person goes negative toward the Word of God and God, that person has made a decision from his own free will to do so, and therefore has no one but himself to blame when the discipline comes. This is self-induced misery.

If a country becomes desolate, the reason is that the individual of that country has made it desolate.

The best thing you can do for our country is to begin to take in the Word of God on a daily basis and apply it to the circumstances of your life and become spiritually self-sustaining.

Jeremiah 12:11, “All the Land Makes Itself Desolation”

A nation like ours which has freedom, can use its freedom either to maintain that freedom or to destroy that freedom.

God is always on the side which sponsors freedom, but the very existence of freedom means that you possess the free will to destroy your own freedom.

God has set up all the laws that include laws of economics, the laws of military concepts, laws of social life, and laws pertaining to spiritual life and the soul.

The very freedom we have at this present time is in grave danger and the problem begins with the spiritual decline which overflows into the military and the military decline affects the economy and the economic decline overflows to the social area, which in turn affects the soul.

The only solution to the problem is the Word of God.

”Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

The Attack on America and the Prayers That Are Offered Up!

At this time in our nation’s history, I have been doing my personal study on the life and times of the prophet Elijah. We all remember Elijah from our Sunday School lessons where he called down fire on the unbelievers in Baal worship.

Many Americans are offering up prayers today, but are their prayers heard? I heard someone say on TV say that Muslims should not be hated because they believe in the one God. But the one god they believe in is not the Lord Jesus Christ. Aside from that, do you remember Elijah’s prayer on Mt. Carmel? It is fitting to follow it when it comes to us praying for our country.

1 Kings 18:36, “And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel. And that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy Word.”

Notice the substance of this petition.

1. The deep desire of a believing soul is that God would make His Name known. Zeal for God’s honor and love for the lost make that the front and the head of a true believer’s prayer.
   
2. And for himself Elijah desired only to know and be recognized an obedient servant.
   
3. And not having done anything at the bidding of his own will or judgment.
   
4. But only in accordance with the all-commanding Word of God.
   
5. The last petition is beautiful because Elijah asks for the restoration of his nation and to their true worship of the Lord.

And that prayer was answered by fire.

A Model Prayer for Today That the Lord Will Answer

1 Kings 18:36, “Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel, Let it be known this day that Thou art the God of Israel and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy Word.”

1 Kings 18:37, “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again.”

1. The whole brief prayer is in calm confidence.
   
2. The adoring recognition of the Name/character.
   
3. The past dealings of JEHOVAH as the Ground of Trust.
   
4. The throbbing of earnest desire for the manifestation of His character before men.
   
5. A consciousness of personal relation to God.
   
6. Which humbles rather than puffs up.
   
7. The reaching of an answer that men may know God and fasten their souls on Him.

This may well stand as a pattern of prayer for us today.

National Recovery!

Jeremiah 12:11, “They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.”

In order for the restoration process to be reversed, there must be a change of mind in the soul. The change of mind in the soul is indicated in the last phrase of verse 11. ”Because no man layeth it to heart.” The literal translation is, “because no man establishes it in his heart.” The heart is the dominant part of the soul, the mind. “As a man thinketh in his mind so is he.”

In the mind there are three things – a memory center with its frame of reference, norms and standards (sometimes called conscience), and a viewpoint about everything you know.

Recovery begins with the principle of salvation. “The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate,” Psa 34:22. In salvation it is the soul that is saved, not the body, 1 Pet 1:9. The soul of the person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is given eternal life.

”But we are not of them that draw back into perdition but believe in the saving of the soul,” Heb 10:9. Believing is non-meritorious thinking in the mind.

”With the mind man believeth unto salvation.”

Sunday, September 16, 2001

The Recovery of a Nation – Part Two!

“Man can not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4.

Once the soul is saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the next thing is the daily intake of the Word of God. The food for the soul is the Word of God – soul-food.

Then the soul must be stabilized through the daily intake of the Word of God through growing in Grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Pet 3:18.

The Word of God is taught and received through the filling of the Holy Spirit, Eph 5:18, and it is stored in the mind so that you have a norm or standard and a memory center and a frame of reference.

The Word of God is transferred by faith and God the Holy Spirit places it in the human spirit.

The reason for the moral decline in Judah was the fact that the people neither took in the Word of God nor established it in their mind. It is the Word of God in the mind of believers that delivers a nation, the salt of the Earth, and the light of the world.

The Word of God can be taught and as long as the Word of God is taught, it can be taken in, and as long as the Word of God can be taken in, there is hope for our country. The hope resides in any pulpit in this country where the Word of God is taught verse by verse, categorically and exegetically.

We are in the midst of a crisis but we are not without a remedy. The remedy is “the Word of God that liveth and abideth for ever.”

“Therefore, Behold, I, even I, Will Utterly Forget You and Will Forsake You and the City That I Gave You and Your Fathers, and Cast You Out of My Presence,” Jeremiah 23:29

Everywhere we turn we find our country falling apart – the drug problem, the system of education with its subjectivity, the psychological and social perversions – are all indications that there is very little time for us as a free country.

We are rapidly on our way to destruction.

Therefore, this passage is not only for Jeremiah’s day, but for us today as well.

The fifth cycle of discipline can descend on us at surely as it did on Judah!

”Arise and awake from sleep.”

“Therefore, Behold, I Am Against the Prophets, Saith the Lord, That Steal My Words Every One From HiN neighbour. Behold, I Am Against the Prophets, Saith the Lord, That Use Their Tongues, and Say, He Saith,” Jeremiah 23:30-31

Prophets in those days, preachers in this day. They say they have a message from God when in reality they do not.

What is said about the clergy in the day of Jeremiah can be said about a large percentage of the clergy in the United States of America today.

Most of all clergymen in America are apostates. Although some may have personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, they represent religion and cosmos diabolicus (the satanic system).

They are for social action and social reform instead of regeneration. They are breast beaters and bleeding hearts and they are leading us to national destruction.

One of the strongest political organizations in this country today is the National Council of Churches and everyone is listening to what its leaders have to say. Even today while America was being attacked, they have people protesting the statement that our president made about being in a war.

What they advocate in effect is national destruction.

“Many Pastors Have Destroyed My Vineyard,” Jeremiah 12:10

“Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard”

Please notice it takes many pastors to destroy, but only one to keep things going. That is the Grace of God!

The pastor in our passage is the prophet Jeremiah. And if people, from king Zedekiah on down, had listened to him, they would have survived.

But they were negative to the Word of God and in time of national crisis, the Chaldean invasion came, and the nation went out under the fifth cycle of discipline.

But in the day of Hezekiah there was a similar national crisis which was the impending Assyrian invasion of Judah under Sennacherib. In that day, too, God raised up a prophet, Isaiah, one man among many false prophets. And because the people responded to the Word of God he taught, that nation was preserved.

The same thing was true in the northern kingdom in the days of Elijah. One prophet was raised up, one prophet against many false prophets and the nation was positive toward the Word of God and the national catastrophe was averted.

We have Bible classes for you on our web site.

America at War!

“A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace,” Ecclesiastes 3:3, 3:8

There will always be war, in spite of man’s efforts for peace. Jesus Christ said, “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled, for such things must needs be,” Mark 13:7, cf Matt 24:6, Luke 21:9.

Man relies on his own systems to solve his problems – problems such as poverty, war, and environment, when he should rely on his personal salvation and then turns his problems, personal and national, over to the Lord.

This is God’s plan for the human race.

America at War!

You may alleviate poverty, but not eradicate it, Deut 15:11, John 12:8

War cannot be completely abolished because of the old sin nature, which resides in every person and because of Satan’s rulership of this world. John 12:31.

Only the Lord Jesus Christ can and will abolish poverty and war when He returns to this Earth.

During the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, the “swords will be turned into plowshares, the spears into pruninghooks, and man shall learn war no more.” Isa 2:4, Micah 4:3.

Until then, war continues to be a bona fide manifestation of the Word of God. Ecc 3:8. In fact, there is a “book of the wars of the Lord” which is mentioned in Numbers 21:14.

Monday, September 17, 2001

Promises for America at War!

“When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them,” Deut 20:1.

You cannot function in a military situation when you are neutralized by a mental attitude of fear. Fear in the face of overwhelming odds is natural, but catering to it becomes a sin for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, since God has made provision for it.

”For the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,” Deut 20:1.

The provision is the Word of God.

”Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the Earth,” Psa 46:10.

”The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge. Selah,” Psa 46:11.

”The Lord of hosts” is a title for the Lord Jesus Christ and “hosts” is “Lord of the armies.”

“The Lord of Hosts is with Us. The God of Jacob is Our Refuge,” Psalm 46:11

Verse 11 was the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ after the destruction of the Assyrian army by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word of God produces norms and standards in the mind providing a relaxed mental attitude in the midst of fear.

Prior to going into combat, every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should have the Word of God stored in his mind. There is where you develop moral courage and character as well as battle courage.

”And it shall be when you come nigh unto battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,” Deut 20:2.

Here is the procedure the Jews always followed when they came to battle. The Jewish priest was the “chaplain.” He was the communicator of the Word of God. Before the battle it was the chaplain’s responsibility to speak to the troops.

”And he shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your minds faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the Lord your God is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you in battle,” Deut 20:3-4.

For the great key to successful military activity is spiritual strength.

Promises for America in War!

Military officers also have responsibility along with the priests.

”And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? (He has a new house and a new wife, and he hasn’t lived in it with his wife for a year) Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it,” Deut 20:5.

We see the principle that war is for adults, single minded, mature adults.

This man’s mental attitude would not be conducive to either moral or battle courage because, quite naturally, he would be occupied with his bride. He is a double-minded man and therefore unstable.

He is thinking about their new house, not yet dedicated. In fact, he may think so much about it that he becomes a casualty.

He could not be an effective part of a combat team because of the instability of his mind. When one member of a combat team is ineffective, the team is weakened.

“A Double-Minded Man is Unstable in All His Ways”

“Rueben is unstable as water.”

”And what man is he that planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in battle, and another man eat of it,” Deut 20:6.

Here is another double-minded man, who is unstable in all his ways, “dies in battle.”

If he thinks too much about his business – planted a new vineyard and didn’t gain the first year’s profits – and he will be killed and he cannot function as a member of a combat team.

”And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife and hath not taken her? Let him go and return to his house lest he die in battle and another man take her,” Deut 20:7.

Betrothed a wife, engaged; and hath not taken her, the marriage has not been consummated.

There is a legitimate reason for the removal of certain people from the military – those whose attitude is not conducive to the necessary concentration. At another time it would be, but under these circumstances they are double minded, unstable.

They cannot be depended upon. In a tactical situation there must be complete concentration and stability. Single men are preferred.

“And the Officers Shall Speak Further Unto the People, and They Shall Say What Man is There That is Fearful and Fainthearted? Let Him Go and Return Unto His House, Lest His Brethren’s Heart Faint as Well as His Heart,” Deut 20:8

Fainthearted is a coward

Notice what the Jews did. They allowed every individual to determine for himself after military training whether or not he was qualified to continue as a soldier.

These were trained troops, not a mob. They were about to go into combat and must make a decision with regard to their own mental attitude. Am I a coward or not?

The officers were not worried so much that the cowards would be killed, but that they would have a detrimental influence on the other men.

”Lest his brothers mind faint as well as his own mind.”

America at War!

“And when the Lord Thy God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword...thou shall utterly destroy them as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee,” Deut 20:13, 17.

We see here the objective of battle! Total annihilation! The motto in World War II was “Kill or be killed.”

To do this requires courage, battle courage. Knowing through the Word of God that you are in God’s Plan and that in war you have a job to do. Kill the enemy is the Divine norm or standard that produces courage.

”Whatever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord and not unto men,” Col 3:23. The believer’s testimony is to be the best soldier, the best killer, in his outfit, if that is his job. That is the Word of God and that is why we are here today.

That is why we are free, because fine American men went into combat and became the best killers. Now some mothers don’t like this, but they might as well learn that if this country is preserved, it was because their son has killed the enemy, as unto the Lord.

God Prepares Believers for War!

“He teacheth my hands to war,” Psa 18:34, cf 2 Sam 22:35.

David is speaking and David was a shepherd. He knew nothing about war. But during his shepherd years he learned the Word of God. The shepherd with the Word of God went to war and he made a fantastic beginning.

In single combat he dispatched the arrogant challenge to the Israelite army... Goliath and after that he learned war. God taught him.

But please notice God does not teach us to murder. When war is legitimate, killing is necessary. When it is not, then killing becomes murder.

”He teacheth my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms,” Psa 18:34. ”The breaking of the bow” is an idiom for the annihilation of enemies.

The same principle is found in Psa 144. This is dedicated to those who still think of themselves as conscientious objectors.

”Blessed be the Lord my Strength,” the Source of military training, “which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.”

“The War Was of God”

“For there fell down many slain because the war was of God,” 1 Chr 5:22.

The war was God’s will and the enemy was slain, killed. This phrase should answer once and for all the question of being a conscientious objector.

Not all warfare is justified. Obviously, war for personal or political aggrandizement, such as the Nazi movement of World War II or the present aggressions and terrorism, is not justified warfare.

As a mad dog must be destroyed, so oppression and evil must be stopped. God uses warfare to judge nations which have become totally depraved and whose viewpoint is incompatible with Divine Institution Number Four, Nationalism.

Many times in the Old Testament God destroyed a nation through war to keep the corruption from spreading or to preserve His own people.

”And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full,” Gen 15:14, 16. Historically this was the Jews in slavery to the Egyptians.

”And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomited out her inhabitants.” Lev 18:25 cf Amos 2:9. The iniquity of the Canaanites, Amorites, and Hittites was full.

The Preservation of America!

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are the only hope for our country!

The rest of the world, along with our nation, are completely deluded by forms of socialism with shades of pink, and behind it that ever-encroaching menace, Communism. The next generation may not even know what the word “freedom” means, except as a historical heritage of this country.

Did you ever wonder why the Communists always talk about peace? Because they have so infiltrated this country they need not necessarily go to war with us. What is the greatest Communist weapon? Intercontinental ballistic missiles? No! It is the infiltration of dialectical materialism into the minds of individuals within our country. Some say, “I am not a Communist. Communism is dead. I don’t like Communism. It is anti-God.”

Well what about your political attitudes? You may go right down the line with Communist propaganda.

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you have a tremendous responsibility in relation to the Divine Institutions. You must recognize that you have the right and freedom of individual choice and you must recognize that you have a duty to protect and provide for your family. Do you recognize that you are also to protect and provide for other families? How? By understanding the principles and the dissemination of principles which guarantee our freedom.

The Preservation of Our Nation!

An eleventh-hour deliverance of our nation is possible. Such a deliverance has primarily a spiritual solution, but this does not mean that we lay down our arms and look toward Heaven with a pious expression.

It is time we woke up in this country, because, humanly speaking, we would be gone by now apart from that long thin line of dedicated professionals who stick it out in spite of all the pressures, animosity, and general anti-military sentiments.

There is always a ray of daylight spiritually. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are the salt of the Earth, the preservation of our country, Matt 5:13. Salt in the ancient world was a preserver. The first solution then for the preservation of our nation is the personal salvation of its people.

”Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men, wherby we must be saved,” Acts 4:12.

You didn’t hear that the other day at the National Cathedral.

Tuesday, September 18, 2001

America at War and the Biblical Importance of the Military

1. The protection of America is two-fold.
   A. Interior – objectivity of law and good law enforcement.
   B. Exterior – the military establishment, Neh 4:14-15.
   
2. In spite of man’s efforts for peace, warfare will continue until the Millennium. Matt 24:6, Mark 13:7, Luke 21:9. Therefore, warfare is not only a bona fide part of history, Ecc 3:8, Num 21:14, but very necessary for the maintenance of national sovereignty and freedom.
   
3. In both the struggle for and the perpetuation of Jewish freedom after the Exodus, Jesus Christ Himself was the Lord of the armies under the title Lord of hosts. Isa 1:24, Joshua 5:13-6:2.
   
4. Armies both defend freedom and destroy freedom. In Jeremiah 34:7 the Jewish army fought to defend Jewish freedom while the Chaldean army fought to destroy Jewish freedom.
   
5. The issue of national sovereignty.
   Integrity and freedom depends upon which army wins. The Chaldean army won and the Jews lost their freedom. Jer 40:1.
   
6. God uses the military in action to demonstrate the degeneracy of a nation.
   Failure of the military on the battlefield indicates the lack of self-discipline, spiritual incentive, motivation for courage, and respect for authority, which are so basic in perpetuating freedom. Failure of the military indicates lack of character and stability among the citizens of a national entity.
   The Jewish military failure in 587-586 B.C. can be attributed to both the spiritual and moral decline of the people.
   
7. Since the battlefield decides freedom, universal military training is an important function in national life. Num 31:3-5, Luke 14:31.
   
8. The importance of military leadership is an index of the national character. Prov 24:1-6.
   
9. The importance of military training is useless if men of the nation are apostate, with a seared conscience, and the soul in revolt, degenerate, and addicted to drugs, etc.
   
10. Part of Divine judgment against a nation is military defeat which precedes the fifth cycle of discipline.
    Ephraim – 721 B.C. Assyria – 612 B.C. Judah – 586 B.C. Chaldea – 530 B.C.
    

America at War and the Characteristics of Military Leadership

1. Self and group discipline.
   
2. Relaxed mental attitude plus mental dynamics and the ability to think under pressure.
   
3. Sense of responsibility and character to fulfill responsibility.
   
4. Knowledge of military science, strategy, and tactics, or whatever one’s part is within the military establishment. Confidence in leadership depends on knowledge of the job.
   
5. Common sense and good judgment.
   
6. Loyalty and recognition of authority.
   
7. Fairness to all personnel under one’s command in spite of personal prejudice.
   
8. The understanding of others.
   
9. Executive ability – ability to organize, categorize, synthesize, systematize, and delegate authority.
   
10. Heath, endurance, and emotional stability.
    
11. Presence, poise, dress, carriage, courtesy, flair.

Who qualifies?

America at War and an Attack on Nationalism!

There are four Divine institutions which are principles set up by God under the Divine Laws of Establishment for the perpetuation of the human race.

1. Volition or free will, the basis for freedom.
   
2. Marriage, the stabilizer of the human race.
   
3. Family the basis for an orderly society.
   
4. Nationalism.
   Nationalism exists to keep the world from evolving into chaos and to prevent Satan from completely taken over the world. Isa 14:12. Nationalism protects freedom and guarantees effective evangelism. The Bible never advocates internationalism. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3.
   
   Human government was established in Gen 9. God divided the people into nations to prevent them from being destroyed. In Gen 11:1-9, internationalism became the breeding ground for a concentration of wickedness and rejection of God. God’s indictment against internationalism at the Tower of Babel was the dispersion of the human race. He gave them different languages as a barrier to prevent future international schemes.
   
   God Himself ordained geographical boundaries so that they would seek the Lord. Acts 17: 26, 27.
   
   Nationalism provides law and order and protects individual volition so that people may have freedom and privacy within the law, freedom to own property, freedom to make decisions, and freedom to conduct a legitimate business apart from governmental interference. A national entity must provide a system of free enterprise where there is opportunity for advancement compatible with ability, acquired or inherent.

Are we losing our freedoms?

Authority in a Nation!

The Divine establishment of authority in the nation is enucleated in Rom 13:1-4.

”Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God,” Rom 13:1.

This verse declares that the national entity is a Divine Institution. Every person, believer and unbeliever, who is a member of a national entity is commanded to be subject or obedient to the authority of the national entity.

Although nations which are not in compliance with the structure as ordained by God, such as Russia, China, etc., cannot be classified as a Divine Institution, the principle of obedience remains in force.

The exception would be when a law of the state conflicts with the law of God as in Acts 4:18-20. The only other alternative is to get out, never to revolt.

Rom 13:1 is amplified in the next five verses.

Authority in a Nation!

“Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves judgment.”
”For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of the power? Do that which is good and thou shall have praise of the same,” Rom 13:2-3.

”God is not the Author of confusion,” 1 Cor 14:33.

There must be order in the human race if it is to survive. Rulers refer to authority under nationalism, or the government which administers justice. Paul is dealing here with the principle of leadership, not the practice of it. The book of Romans was written during the reign of Nero. Paul is not condoning the practices of Nero, but the principle of authority in government.

There is authority in each of the Divine Institutions.

1. Volition – Authority of the individual to make decisions in life. Joshua 24:15.
   
2. Marriage – The authority of the husband over the wife. 1 Pet 3:1.
   
3. Family – Authority of the parents over children. Eph 6:1-2.
   
4. Nationalism – Authority of rulers over the citizens of the nation. Rom 13:1.

How far have we fallen?

“For Us”

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” Luke 23:34.

”For Christ entered into Heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us,” Heb 9:24.

”Christ Jesus who maketh intercession for us,” Rom 8:34.

”I pray for them which shall believe on Me,” John 17:20.

For me??

Petition!

“He continued all night in prayer to God,” Luke 6:12.

”Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder,” Matt 26:36.

”Abba Father, all things are possible unto Thee. Take away this cup from Me, nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt,” Mark 14:36.

”Now is My soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy Name. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again,” John 12:27-28.

”Who in the days of His flesh when He had suffered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared, though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered,” Heb 5:7-8.

Authority in a National Entity

“For rulers are not a terror to good works,” Rom 13:3. ”Good works” describe the essence of the law.

”The evil” in this passage is crime, or the violation of the law. The believers in a national entity are commanded “to do that which is good,” which is to obey the laws of the land.

Even though there may be individual violations by those in the government, that does not constitute any excuse for disobedience or revolution.

Under Divine Institution Number Four, nationalism, the believer’s responsibilities include participating in civic affairs, voting, jury duty, etc., payment of taxes, obedience to traffic laws, and participation in the defense of our country.

The best citizens within the state should be those who are born again.

Authority in a National Entity!

“For he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil,” Rom 13:4.

Under the concept of Divine Institution Number Four, nationalism, the leaders or the authorities of the state are ministers of God who are appointed to judge and execute the criminal.

Nationalism is the basis for protection both externally, through the military, and internally, through law enforcement and capital punishment.

Biblically, the penalty for first degree murder is death. Gen 9:6, Ex 21:12, Num 35:16-18, 30, 31, Deut 21:22, 23, Matt 22:6, 7, Heb 12:20.

The state cannot fulfill its function in keeping law and order in a national entity without the enforcement of capital punishment. Our departure from capital punishment is a great tragedy. Crime increases in direct proportion to the declining of executing the criminal.

Is the governor of your state a minister of God when it comes to capital punishment?

Who’s Who?

1. I arrived early in the place of glory before my time.
   
2. About to be killed by my father, but an angel forbade it.
   
3. Under a king’s hostility, but protected and dismissed in peace.
   
4. Facing constant famine, but always digging deep.
   
5. I lived to be 180.
   
6. But I was gathered to my people old and full of years.
   
7. The folly of men who are anxious about tomorrow.

Answer: Isaac. Heb 11:17-20, Gen 22:12, 26:1-35.

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

“Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the land. He maketh wars to cease to the end of the Earth; He breatheth the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire,” Psalm 46:8-9

The Sennacherib invasion of Judah is the background for this passage. The description of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself slaughtering the enemy and making an end to war in the land is found in Isa 37:36-37 and in 2 Kings 19:35. The Lord Jesus Christ shouted and the Assyrian army of 185,000 infantry men were destroyed.

”He maketh wars to cease.”

How? History proves that wars end when the enemy is totally annihilated. How do you bring about peace in the devil’s world? By the destruction of the enemy, decisive defeat.

General Douglas Macarthur said, ”In war there is no substitute for victory.”

“And the Land Rested From War,” Joshua 11:23b

But not until the enemy was destroyed. The land had peace because the Israelites slaughtered and defeated the enemy. This one passage, Joshua 11:20-23, shows how 50,000 American lives could have been saved had we gone into North Vietnam and destroyed it.

We don’t stop wars by sitting behind perimeters and forbidding our troops to shot the enemy. This only encourages the rest of the world to attack us. Nations are proclaiming that America is weak. Going into Vietnam was not wrong. The Communists are still trying to take over the world.

What was wrong about the Vietnam and the Korean Wars is that we did not go far enough. We should have blasted our enemies out of existence. That stops wars. How do we know?

The Bible says so. But this requires the proper mental attitude, and the question now is, do we have that kind of an attitude now?

The Importance of the Word of God in War!

“Though an host should encamp against me, my mind shall not fear,” says David. “Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.” This is a qal, active, participle of the verb “BATAK.” Literally, “I will keep on putting my faith in the Word of God.”
”One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple,” Psa 27:3-4.

The secret of David’s confidence is found in verse 4.

”The house of the Lord” – there was no temple when David wrote this. The word “house” indicates a permanent structure as opposed to a tent, emphasizing the permanence of the Word of God in the soul.

In the history of our Country there have been many outstanding generals who illustrate the importance of the Word of God in military leadership. To mention a few in the event you should wish to study their biographies.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson, Douglas Macarthur, Robert E. Lee, John Brown Gordon (wounded eight times in battle), and George Patton were all believers, and some knew the Word of God well.

It is interesting to note that George Patton had to make a decision as to whether he was called to the ministry or should he accept an appointment to West Point.

In your study of military leadership, don’t forget to study the life of Theodore Roosevelt and his sons who all died in battle.

I notice the first ship that is mentioned today when it comes to the new war is called the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

The Importance of the Word of God in Military Leadership!

“Be thou not envious against evil men; neither desire to be with them,” Prov 24:1.

The greatest enemy of the Word of God is mental attitude sins. Jealousy is one of the basic mental attitude sins. The jealousy and envy of the religious people killed the Lord Jesus Christ. “For envy they killed Him.”

It destroys both moral and battle courage and neutralizes military leadership. In WW II there were many officers who were jealous of General Douglas MacArthur, a man who personally had great battle courage.

Interesting enough, he was jealous of no one. Their envy was expressed in the nickname they gave him “Dugout Doug.” It was demonstrated in some of their military operations that jealousy wiped out the effectiveness of many of those same officers.

”Jealousy is as cruel as the grave,” S.O.S. 8:6-7.

“Every Purpose is Established by Counsel (Wise Planning) and with Good Advice (Leadership Decisions) Make War,” Proverbs 20:18

Verse 18 actually says in effect, that successful military action is established or planned through professional expertise of military strategy and tactics, plus wise decisions by leadership. We must have good military leadership!

We must have men who can formulate strategic and tactical plans. Men who have good counsel. Men who can make effective war. This is “sound doctrine.”

And yet in our country we have been destroying military leadership.

It is going to be interesting to watch in the up and coming days the strategy and tactics of our military leadership in this new war. Personally, I don’t think there is anything new about war.

Who’s Who?

1. Scheming and cheating.
2. Bargaining and lying.
3. Fearful and crafty
4. Hebrews only mentions my faith in connection with my death bed.
5. I blessed the younger grandson.
6. Not the first-born
7. I, the younger twin, received the blessing.
8. I loved my youngest best.

”Thou hast chosen the weak to confound the strong, the under-privileged to surpass the over-indulged, the under-developed to surprise the over-developed, young to teach the old, the little child in the midst of the elders.”

Thine own first-born became the servant of all the least and lowest of his brethren.

Who is who? Jacob. Heb 11:22, Gen 48:17-21, Mark 10:45.

Are We Seeing the Repeat of the Coalition of Religious and Political Parties??

We know how religion operated in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ. They tried to trap Him. And the Pharisees formed a strange alliance with a completely anithetical group, the Herodians.

”And they went out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in Truth, neither carest Thou for any man: for Thou regardest not the person of men,” Matt 22:16.

This is the oddest group of bed-fellows you would ever expect to encounter. To the Pharisees, true religion was strict observance of the ceremonial law, and they tyrannically controlled the religious life of the Jews through legalism. On the other hand, the Herodians were a political party of Jews organized and perpetuated to support the dynasty of Herod against the claims of both Rome and the Jewish nationalists.

The Pharisees wanted neither Herod nor the Romans. They wanted to rule the state themselves through religion. When the religious crowd united with this particular political group, there had to have been a dire emergency.

And the emergency was the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thought for the Day!

Whatever happened to the Levys, their missing daughter, and the Senator?

Did the Levys forget all about their daughter in light of the terrorist attack on America? I don’t think so.

Christian Alert!

Don’t be so occupied with this terrorist attack that you nullify your testimony before the Lord. Feed your soul now as never before.

”Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

”You are the salt of the Earth, and the light of the world.”

The Promises and the Fulfillment of the Lord Jesus Christ as to His Universal Domain

The Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Promised!

When you consider the evidence of the indissoluble union between Christ and the Scripture, we think of the Promised One Himself.

Throughout Scripture there are hundreds of profiles of our blessed Lord both direct and applied and to take them all is to declare all that He is in Himself and all that He is willing to accomplish in and through His own true followers.

No matter what gate of Scripture is opened, you will always scamper across the fields to the Lord Jesus Christ. May such a holy scamper be everyone of ours. To look for Christ in all we read is to add delight to our Bible study.

Cameos of our Lord Jesus Christ are before us in Truth and type, in Promise and parable, in fact and figure.

And as you look at a few of His conspicuous profiles, your love for Him will be intensified and your zeal to serve Him will be quickened by God the Holy Spirit, Who ever glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.

Latent in every profile of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is a promise of all we can appropriate by faith.

“Many Pastors Have Destroyed My Vineyard,” Jeremiah 12:10

“Have destroyed” is intensified in the Hebrew and it indicates that the religious leaders had already completed their work of destruction. By now it was merely a matter of how the mechanics would be carried out.

The Hebrew word means “to overthrow or to corrupt.” It does not mean that the prophets and the priests had actually done the destroying. But that they had corrupted the nation to such an extent that destruction was inevitable.

The coup de grace would occur when the Chaldeans entered Jerusalem. They fell from within.

“Many Pastors Have Destroyed My Vineyard”

The reference to the “vine” or the “vineyard” in the Old Testament either applies to nationalism as a principle or to the national entity of the Jews, specifically the passage in Isa 5:1-5 and Jeremiah 2:21, which tells us that the vineyard in this case is the southern kingdom of Judah. The product of the vineyard is the grape, which, although it is used in many ways, always depicts happiness and joy or something pleasant. “From the vine came the grapes.”

As a result, the Jews, like all national entities under God’s Plan, were designed to have great happiness and blessing, a condition which can only exist where Divine laws are followed.

God looked for ripe grapes but He found stinking grapes. Isa 5:1-5. That is a description of a nation.

“They Have Trodden My Portion Under Foot”

Which means that the National Council of Prophets and Priests had contributed immeasurably to the destruction of the people. This council was responsible for the eventual enslavement of Judah.

”My portion” is a Hebrew phrase which means “that which belongs to the Lord,” which indicates that Judah is the Lord’s specially-designed nation and He wants them to be blessed. But they have rejected the only means by which they could be blessed.

We are facing the same condition today. Because of an attack upon our country, many people are saying, “God Bless America,” when He can’t because of those who have rejected the only means of blessing, the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.

”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

How Religion Destroyed a Nation, i.e., Spain

How did the Jewish religious leaders destroy “that which belonged to the Lord,” His portion?

Jeremiah deals entirely with these pastors and describes exactly how the overthrow of the nation was accomplished.

The Hebrew word for “pastors” in Jer 12:10 is the same word which begins in Jeremiah chapter 23:1. “Woe to the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture, saith the Lord.” ”The sheep of My pasture” refer again to the southern kingdom of Judah and those who destroyed it are the so-called clergy of that day.

”Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, against the pastors that feed My people (they are teaching false Doctrine), ye have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not visited them (have not come to them with True Doctrine). Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord,” Jer 23:2.

We may be suffering for the self-same reason.

When in the Name of the Lord False Doctrine is Proclaimed on a National Scale, the Result is Inevitably National Disintegration

Jeremiah however had a soul full of “sound Doctrine.”

”Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the Words of His holiness,” Jer 23:9.

Do you ever feel that way about false Doctrine when you see what it is doing to our country? Well, Jeremiah did, and that is why he is called “the weeping prophet.” He watched his nation go out under the fifth cycle of discipline.

I wonder if we are not watching that now?

“The Word of His Holiness,” Jeremiah 23:9

The activities of the prophets stagger Jeremiah when he views them in the light of God’s Plan.

”His holiness” refers to God’s justice and righteousness, which are clearly delineated in the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the “Magna Carta of human freedom.”

In setting up His modus operandi for man, God also provided the Divine Institutions. All of these were designed for the blessing and the prosperity of the nation. But how have the Jews responded to God’s Grace?

”The land is full of adulterers.” This is a double entendre for spiritual apostasy as well as adultery, for because of swearing (lying in the courtroom), the land mourneth, the pleasant places of the wilderness (desert) are dried up (economic disintegration), and their course is evil (national and personal degeneration), and their force is not right (that is, the military is not properly organized), Jer 23:10.

What an indictment!

“Wherefore God Also Gave Them Up to Uncleanness Through the Lust of Their Own Minds,” Romans 1:19-23

Lust generates from the old sin nature with its mental attitude sins and area of weakness (lust pattern and human good). The lust pattern takes over the emotions and the emotions revolt over the mentality of the soul, which contains the frame of reference and memory center, norms and standards, and viewpoint.

The result is that we actually have an emotional revolt in the soul stated at this particular point, “to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.” The dishonoring of the bodies and the national degeneration did not occur until the Word of God had been rejected. “When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God.”

”Who changed the Truth of God into a lie,” Romans 1:25. What are the mechanics of this? Negative volition toward the Word of God forms calluses on the soul and a seared conscience, and that opens up a vacuum in the soul and false doctrine comes in.

”Who changed the Truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” This is exactly what the National Council of Churches is doing in our country today. And then what happens? Next… coming up!

“Changing the Truth,” Romans 1:25

“Who changed the Truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.”

Now what happens?

”For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet,” Rom 1:26, 27.

In other words, homosexuality and lesbianism are definitely related to national degeneration. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah followed the same pattern in 2 Pet 2:6-14.

Therefore, the Lord warned Judah through Jeremiah, “Thus said the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets who prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own mind, and not out of the mouth of the Lord,” Jer 23:16.

They have from their own imaginations worked up these things. And they make you vain, empty, void. That is in your souls.

Thursday, September 20, 2001

War Can be the Means for Discovering the “Right-Woman”

When a Single Man Goes to War He Has a Chance of Finding His Right-Woman

“When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldst have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go into her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.” ”And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandize of her, because thou hast humbled her,” Deut 21:10-14.

The opportunity of finding the Right-Woman in a wartime situation apparently occurred frequently among the Jews. If any one made a decision to marry a girl among the captive women, he was to bring her home, then her head was shaved and her nails cut. This was the “cooling off” period in which she went through the ceremony of putting off her captivity. After a month he was free to take her as his wife.

During this time if this were a case of Right-Man/Right-Woman, the courtship ended satisfactorily. But if it were not the Right-Woman, then he had to be fair and let her leave. The principle of Deut 21:14 made the man responsible before the Lord for the protection of the woman. If he did not comply with this principle, he was in effect guilty of rape and would be disciplined accordingly. Deut 22:25-27, Judges 19:22-30.

A Time for War and a Time for Peace!

Should we fight in another country for the protection of our own nation?
Answer: Numbers 32:5-23

“Wherefore, said they, if we have found Grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession and bring us not over Jordan,” Num 32:5.

These are the tribes of Reuben and Gad. They wanted to be cowboys and they had found some good ranching country on the other side of the Jordan, the country now called Jordan.

”And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here?” Num 32:6. Moses is saying, it is not fair for the tribes to fight while you sit here and ranch.

”And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them,” Num 32:7.

”Ye are acting like those people at Kadesh Barnea,” Moses goes on to say in verse 8, as he reviews the cowardice at Kadesh Barnea, Num 13 and Num 14. Finally he makes the analogy between those crybabies at Kadesh Barnea and the tribes of Gad and Reuben.

”And behold ye are risen up in your father’s stead, an increase of sinful men to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel,” Num 32:14.

“For if Ye Turn Away From Him, He Will Again Leave Them in the Wilderness and Ye Shall Destroy All These People,” Numbers 32:15

Reuben and Gad were dragging their feet. They had found good land and they wanted to stay there, but it was time for them to go to war, in fact, it is sinful not to go to war.

Those who avoid military service are not only involved in carnality, but they can also bring the Lord’s wrath down upon the entire country.

A few conscientious objectors can cause a whole nation to be destroyed. The disease spreads.

This is what the National Council of Churches is trying to inflict upon us. They are attempting to neutralize our military and thus put us in slavery. And when that happens, they will get a front row space behind barbed wire, and how shocked they will be.

Teddy Roosevelt quoted Woodrow Wilson, who was president of this county at that time, and said, Woodrow Wilson said, “Well I kept you out of war” and Teddy Roosevelt said, ”Yes, when we should have been at war.”

There is a time for war and a time for peace. We are at war.

A Time for War and a Time for Peace

“And they came near unto him (the two tribes and Moses), and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: But we ourselves we go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them into their place, and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance,” Num 32:16-18.

”And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if you will go armed before the Lord to war, and will go all of you armed over the Jordan before the Lord, until He has driven out His enemies from before Him, And the land be subdued before the Lord: then afterwards ye shall return, and be guiltless before the Lord,” Num 32:20-22.

In other words, it was time to go to war and if they had not gone to war, they would have been guilty before the Lord.

Notice the alternative which Moses states. ”But if ye will not do so, behold ye have sinned against the Lord (by not going to war) and be sure your sin (of cowardice) will find you out. Your country will be conquered and you will be in slavery if this sin is on a large enough scale. Num 32:23.

”Your sin will find you out.” Not the sin of fornication or drunkenness, but the sin of cowardice or refusal to go to war. When is it right to go to war? Coming up next!

When is it Right to Go to War?

What happened after Moses’s famous speech? Numbers 32:23

“And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered saying, As the Lord God hath said into thy servants, so will we do we will pass over armed before the Lord unto the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance on the side of the Jordan may be ours,” Num 32:31, 32.

Here is a principle in justified warfare. While Reuben and Gad were on the other side of the Jordan, they said in effect, “We are fighting for our country by going across the Jordan to fight over there.” Our land is over here, but we will fight for our land over there.

In other words, you do not wait until the enemy hits Washington D.C. or New York City or New Jersey, Philadelphia, or some beach on the coast. You don’t wait till the enemy attacks. You go out and hit him. That is justified warfare.

WWI and WWII we fought on foreign soil but we were still fighting for our country on foreign soil we are now fighting for our country on our own soil.

Thought for the Day!

Many of you are not old enough to remember WWII, but when Pearl Harbor was bombed December 7th, 1941, I immediately went down and enlisted in the Army.

We landed in England and we were stationed in London before hitting the beaches of Normandy. I was an eyewitness to the V2 rocket bombing of London, which were unmanned rockets. And London was completely devastated. There was not one building destroyed, but all the buildings in London were destroyed.

We were not allowed as soldiers to live in the subway as the population of London was doing, but we stood and protected the bombed-out buildings and people.

At the end of WWII, I was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany in the Army of Occupation. There also I personally saw not one building standing, and again I had the duty of protecting the bombed-out buildings and people.

So, when I look out upon the two twin towers and the Pentagon, I have a vivid memory of what can happen when a city is totally destroyed and the many, many American soldiers who gave their lives for our country on foreign soil.

I hope we still have the mental toughness of WWII. It remains to be seen.

”Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

That is the question.

The Promise of Christ’s Abiding Presence!

Our Abiding Companion!

The Promises of the Lord are all precious and He will not be slack fulfilling any one of them. There is something, however, that is better than His Promises, namely, His realized presence.

Amid all the separations that life may hold for us, there is One of whose companionship we can be certain until our traveling days are done.

”Thou remainest.”

As the Lord promised Moses that He would favor his servant with His presence, so we can experience how the same presence is our glory, yielding us support under loses, crosses, and bereavements.

No one, and nothing, can act as a substitute for the Lord’s abiding presence.

Did not the Lord Jesus Christ tell us that the Father and He would make Their abode with us?

O Lord, be ever near us,
Fix in our hearts, Thy home.
By Thine appearing cheer us,
And let Thy kingdom come.

“I Will Never Leave Thee Nor Forsake Thee”

We have the gracious Promise that the Lord Jesus Christ will never leave us and never leave us alone. Anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ would have left us long ago, but He is gracious and longsuffering.

We can rely on Him to go through the whole journey of life with us and to be:

He will never forsake His people for His great Name’s sake.

Having loved His own, He will love and accompany them unto the end.

Read Exodus 33:12-23, Matthew 28:16-20, and Hebrews 13:5-8.

Since He said, “I will never depart,”
I will bind His Promise to my heart.
Rejoicing in His care
This shall support while here I live.
And when in glory I arrive
I will praise Him for it there.

A Biblical Approach to a Terrorist Attack!

He shall cover thee with His feathers
And under His wings shall you trust
His Truth shall be Thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night,
Nor for the arrow that flieth by day.

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness,
Nor for the destruction that cometh at noonday.

Psa 91:4-6, “The arrow that flieth by day, destruction that cometh at noonday.”

But if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye.
And be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.
And be ready always to give an answer.
To every man that asketh you a reason.
Of the Hope that is in you with meekness and fear. 1 Pet 3:14-15.

Paste this on your refrigerator! Or vanity mirror!

The Lord Jesus Christ as the Invincible Lion!

Grouped around the tabernacle each of the 12 tribes had their own particular flag. That which designated Judah was a lion.

The Lord Jesus Christ came of the tribe of Judah as the true Lion, as the King of beasts. The lion is known for its strength, fearlessness, and invincibility.

Satan is also likened as a lion, “a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,” 1 Pet 1:8. But he is no match for Judah’s Lion. At Calvary all the hatred of hell and men was heaped upon the Lord Jesus Christ as Heaven’s strong Lion, but He prevailed.

The Promise is – that we, too, can tread upon the lion, Psa 91:13. Why should we dread any foe? Satanic forces may combine to tear us to pieces, but standing watch over us is God’s majestic Lion who waits to deal with any who dare to touch His redeemed ones who also by the Grace of God can be as bold as a lion. Prov 28:1.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God We Can Handle

John’s contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom he dearly loved, was blessed and intimate. He had leaned upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ and is also spoken of as the disciple that the Lord Jesus Christ loved.

After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ invited His somewhat frightened followers to handle Him or touch and hold Him. And to prove clearly that He was no spirit or apparition, but the very same Lord Jesus Christ whose human form was so familiar to them.

”Handle Me and see.”

“Handle Me and See”

John, probably more than the others, knew what it was to have such close contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. He it is who gave us several glimpses of the intimate fellowship he enjoyed.

No wonder that John goes on to say that having seen Him, he lived to show Him to others.

While our actual hands have not touched the Lord Jesus Christ, yet ours can be the touch of faith. And as the Holy Spirit makes Him real through the Word of God, we can lay hold on Him and make Him our very own.

Sometimes we receive a package marked, “Handle with care,” which means the contents are either fragile or valuable and must not be thrown about carelessly.

As we handle the Lord Jesus Christ, it must be with pure hands.

Terrorist Attack and the Power of the Lord Jesus Christ

“Upholding all things by the Word of His power,” Hebrews 1:3.

Promises of the manifestation of the Divine power are too numerous to mention. Among the captivating profiles of the Lord Jesus Christ is that of the human personification of Divine power. He moved among the sons of men as the Son of God, having all power to enforce His Word.

The omnipotence of the Lord Jesus Christ extends to every realm He upholds. Not some things, but “all things” by His authoritative Word. Where the word of a king is, there is power. Our sovereign Lord holds the reins of creation, redemption, prophesy, history, and our personal life in His all-powerful hands.

Sometimes we hear despondent souls moan, “Why the world is going to pieces.” Broken, it may be, by wickedness, terrorists, and war, but it is still among “the all things” upheld by His power.

He overrules as well as rules, and therefore is even able to make the wrath of man to praise Him, even terrorists. And coming to the narrower world of our own individual life, do we believe that He is able to uphold all things by the Word of His power?

As of old, He can still speak, and it is done. Trouble comes when we take the control out of His hands and transfer it to our own hands. The Almighty One alone is the sole Source of our strength.

”Christ the Power of God.”

Friday, September 21, 2001

The Greatest Bible Teacher! Dr. Who??

What would we not give to sit in a Bible class and listen to the gracious Words proceeding out of His mouth! And every Word of His is a royal Promise to believe and prove.

Vain and idle words never left those lips of His, into which Grace had been poured. Every Word was a benediction. The Lord Jesus Christ was never verbose. He was never guilty of using unnecessary words or exaggerated speech. Each Word as it left His lips was rightly coined and timed and was shot as an arrow to a given target.

Life would be saved much of its friction if only we would set a watch upon our lips and utter words acceptable in His sight. Psa 19:14.

The Living Word teaching the Written Word!

“The Homeless One”

Tragic, is it not, that He who has created all the materials homes are built of, was yet denied a home of His own? He, Himself, declared He was less fortunate than the foxes with their sheltering holes and the birds with their warm nests.

The people could retire to their comfortable homes at eventide, but there was no one with decency to offer the Lord Jesus Christ a bed. Out He went to the Mount of Olives, where with the darkness of the night as a blanket to cover Him, He spent the lonely hours in fellowship with His Father, in Whose bosom He had dwelt.

What privation, ostracism, and humiliation He willingly endured for our sakes. How privileged we are to offer Him our souls as His home, and our houses as His dwelling place. How blest we are when He takes up His abode with us.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the One Believers Remember!

The Lord assures us that He ever remembers us. He never forgets the humblest of His own. But how gracious it is of Him to ask us to remember all He has accomplished on our behalf and to attach so many rich Promises to such a remembrance.

Truly every day ought to be a “remembrance day” in the believer’s life. Knowing how faulty the human memory is, and how soon we are apt to forget, the Lord Jesus Christ has left us blessed tokens of remembrance.

“A Present All-Sufficient Friend: The Lord Jesus Christ

How privileged we are to be called the Lord’s friend, and to have Him as our never-absent, all-bountiful Friend. Promises of His nearness to relieve and bless abound in Scripture.

He is always at hand, cheering us, yes, and reproving us as any true Friend should. As “the Lord, our Friend,” He is the Master of every situation and able to undertake accordingly.

How comforting it is to know that He is with us all! This includes you no matter how simple, ordinary, inconspicuous you may be. All He is and has can be appropriated by each and all.

How tragic it is when we neglect to take advantage of the abundant provision of such a constant Friend. Or when we become His enemy through courting the friendship of the world. James 4:4.

An Ever-Welcome Visitor!

Some visitors are always welcome, others are not. When certain people visit us we wish they would prolong their stay. With others, the sooner they leave the better.

Have you ever thought of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Visitor Whose visits are sometimes gladly welcomed and at other times unwanted?

When He visited the sin of His people upon them, they resented such a visitation. Yet have warmly received Him when He came down to visit and deliver them. Exodus 13:19.

Are you grateful as “the Dayspring from on high” He visited the world with His salvation? Gentiles would have been of all men most miserable had He not visited them. Acts 15:14.

A dreadful day of visitation awaits the godless Earth, and His visit in judgment will not be an appreciated one.

Do we welcome the daily visits of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Have we the joy of opening the door to the Lord Jesus Christ every morning? “He comes to abide,” Luke 24:29. Visiting our souls in salvation, He closes the door behind Him and remains.

”I am the Door.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is Our “Guiding Star”

There is no more beautiful Promise and profile of our Lord Jesus Christ than this. Balaam’s prophecy of Christ as a Star concerns His return to set up His kingdom.

At His birth, the brilliant Star, called “His Star,” guided the wise men.

In His Promise to Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ is “the Star” Himself to guide His people Israel.

With undiminished light and radiance, He will provide direction to all who follow Him.

As “the Morning Star,” He is the Promise of a better day both for Israel and the world at large. The old philosopher has told us to “hitch our wagon to a star.” We never lose our way when the wagon of our life is hitched to the Lord Jesus Christ, “Who is the ever-shining Star.”

This would make a good Christmas message for budding preachers.

“Oh Captain, My Captain”

The word Paul uses for “Captain” means, princely, leader, or organizer. That is, one who initiates and carries through. It is the same word used of “author” in Heb 12:2.

It was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Captain, who initiated and carried through our so great salvation.

The man Joshua saw and who declared Himself to be the Captain of the Lord’s host, was doubtless the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Theophanic form. Immediately Joshua recognized the Superior Command of the One intercepting him and wisely accepted His Divine leadership.

The hosts of Israel stood before the gateway of the Promised Land. No swords were drawn on their part, yet Jericho and all the giants of the land were forced to submit as Israel went forth under the leadership of the Divine Captain.

As the Captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ valiantly met the satanic foe and triumphed gloriously over him. Now as our Prince-Leader, He waits to lead us out of bondage into liberty as our Captain. His orders may be obeyed, and His plan gladly executed.

The Lord Jesus Christ as “Our Provident Husband”

What a tender Promise this is of our Lord Jesus Christ as our Husband.

Isaiah spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ both as “Maker and Husband.” He is our Maker. We speak of those who are “self-made men,” but actually there are no self-made men for He is the “Maker” of us all.

Would that men knew how to bow before this marvelous Maker. As the “Husband,” He is related both to Israel and the Church, both of whom are referred to as “His wife.” How unfaithful both Israel and the Church have proved themselves to be. But as “the Husband,” He will win faithless ones back to His side and will forgive their evil wanderings. Isa 54:5-10.

But is there not another phase of His “Husbandhood”?

Has He not promised to be a “Husband to the widow,” and as a “Father” to the fatherless? Has death robbed you of a loving, provident husband? Is your soul and home terribly vacant? Take courage. The Lord Jesus Christ is near, Who offers to fill that dear departed one’s place, and be more to you than ever a husband could be.

”He that provideth not for His own is worse than an infidel, especially those of His own household.”

What it Means to be an American! – by Theodore Roosevelt

“To bear the name of American is to bear the most honorable of all titles, and whoever does not so believe, has no business to bear the name at all.”
–The Forum, 1894.

”We Americans have many great problems to solve, many threatening evils to fight, and many deeds to do, if, as we hope and believe, we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage, and the virtue to do them. But we must face the facts as they are. We must neither surrender ourselves to foolish optimism, nor succumb to a timid and ignoble pessimism.”

”Don’t let them bluff you out of the use of the word “American.” I don’t think anything better has been done than your calling yourself the American Ambassador and using the word American instead of the United States.”
–Letter to John Hay, American Ambassador to the Court of St. James in London, Washington, D. C., June 7, 1897.

”Is America a weakling to shrink from the work of the great powers? No! The young giant of the west stands on a continent and clasps the crest of an ocean in either hand. One nation glorious in youth and strength, looks into the future with eager eyes, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.”

”Our country has been populated by pioneers, and therefore it has more energy, more enterprise, more expansive power than any other in the whole world.”
–Minnesota State Fair, September 2, 1901.

”The American people are slow to wrath, but when their wrath is once kindled, it burns like a consuming fire.”
–First annual address to Congress, December 3, 1901.

What it Means to be an American! – by Theodore Roosevelt

“Stout of heart, we see, across the dangers, the great future that lies beyond, and we rejoice as a giant refreshed, as a strong man girt for the race, and we go down into the arena where the nations strive for mastery, our hearts lifted with the faith that to us and our children and our children’s children it shall be given to make this republic the mightiest among the peoples of mankind.”
–Detroit, Michigan, September 22, 1902.

”Ours is not the creed of the weakling or the coward. Ours is the gospel of hope and triumphant endeavor.”

”The steady arm of this nation, as of all enlightened nations, should be to strive to bring nearer the day when there shall prevail throughout the world the peace of justice.”
–Fourth annual message to Congress, December 6, 1904.

”This nation is seated on a continent flanked by two great oceans. It is composed of men who are the descendents of pioneers, or, in a sense, pioneers themselves, of men winnowed out from among the nations of the old world by the energy, boldness, and love of adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such a nation, so placed, will surely wrest success from fortune.”
–The White House, December 2, 1902.

An Attack on America in the Light of a President’s Philosophy! – Theodore Roosevelt

“Americans learn only from catastrophes and not from experience.”
–Autobiography, 1913.

”We stand against all tyranny, by the few or by the many.”

”We, here in America, hold in our hands the hope of the world, the fate of the coming years, and shame and disgrace will be ours if in our eyes the light of hope resolve is dimmed, if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.”
–New York City, March 20, 1912.

”If we fail, the cause of self-government throughout the world will rock to its foundation.”

”We are the hope of the ages.”
–Inaugural address, March 4, 1905.

The Destruction of the United States??

The things that will destroy America are:

1. Prosperity at any price.
2. Peace at any price.
3. Safety first instead of duty first.
4. The love of soft living.
5. The get rich quick theory of life.

How are we doing?

Dear Abba

Q. I understand you have in-depth Bible studies on a web site. I want to know how I can get on there as I am enjoying your emails (Sugar Sticks) and the Dear Abba column, and what does it cost to get on the web site for these Bible studies?

A. The web site is www.divineviewpoint.com and we don’t charge anything but we are supported by free will offerings. If people have benefited from these Bible studies, they send us free will offerings to :

Anderson Bible Church
404 Nursery Rd.
Anderson, IN. 46012

Or to Buddy Dano at the same address.

Saturday, September 22, 2001

We Have an Compassionate Father!

The Bible abounds in the tender-heartedness of God, how kind, gentle, and understanding He is. Yes, and His gentleness is able to make us great.

The Lord Jesus Christ exhibited this Divine tenderness, especially as He died, where Grace was His to pray for His enemies.

What a precious portrait of the Lord this is. “Father” – His patience and tenderness as such carried Him to great lengths to extricate His wayward children out of trouble. All strength, wisdom, and provision are His as Father of the fatherless.

While in the sense of creation He is the Father of all, we cannot look up into His face and speak to Him as our heavenly Father unless the Lord Jesus Christ is our personal Saviour. Once regenerated, we have the right to cry “Abba, Father.” It was His compassion as a Father that led Him to surrender His Son for the redemption of the prodigal world.

Are we resting in our heavenly Father’s compassion and provision?

The Lord Jesus Christ is Our Rejoicing Bridegroom

Here is another gracious Promise and likewise a sacred glimpse into the tender heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How does a bridegroom rejoice over his bride? In the first place, union is the consummation of love. The Church is the bride, Rev 22:17. And by God the Holy Spirit believers are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ in a union death cannot break.

As the bridegroom claims his bride at the altar, so the Lord Jesus Christ has possessed us for ever. As the bridegroom promises to endow the bride with all his worldly goods, so the Lord Jesus Christ makes His own the sharers of all His possessions.

For His Church, the joyful marriage of the Lamb is not far away. How He will rejoice over His bride when He returns for her future bliss. And what joy will be the bride’s when she eyes not His garment, but her dear Beloved’s face, with His own around Him and eternally united to Him, He will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.

When the Bridegroom Cometh By and by

When the Bridegroom cometh by and by
Will your wearied soul rejoice
At the sound of Christ’s own voice?

When the Bridegroom cometh by and by?
”Behold the Bridegroom cometh.”

Promises for Pastors Who Faithfully Feed the Flock Among Them

Promised pastors were to function as shepherds feeding the sheep. Pastor and pasture have a vital connection. The knowledge and understanding a true pastor provides form the pasture needy souls feed upon.

My pastor is my pasture.

A flock is always well fed when it has a pastor according to God’s heart.

But too many pastors correspond to the description Jeremiah speaks of in Jer 10:21, 23;1, 2. “Pastors who destroy and scatter the sheep.”

When the Tower Fell!

Luke 13:1-3

“Those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell.”

Evidently a faulty tower had collapsed, jarred perhaps by an earthquake, and a number of men had been killed. There was a tendency to say, “Well, they must have been great sinners to have been exposed to such a death as that. Otherwise a good God, a gracious, kind Creator would have protected them from that accident.”

But that does not follow because accidents come to good and evil alike. The righteous as well as the unrighteous suffer from them – pestilence, hurricanes, and natural disturbances of various kinds.

So the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked the people for supposing that those who died were sinners above others and so He repeated, “I tell you, nay, but except you change your mind ye shall all likewise perish.”

The call to a change of mind about the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the missing links in the preaching of modern times. Some are almost afraid to speak about changing your mind about Jesus Christ. A change of mind is not a work of merit, but it is an acknowledgement that one has no merit, that in himself he is just an undeserving sinner exposed to the judgment of God.

God “commandeth all men everywhere to repent,” to change their mind about the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “repent” is META NOEO. META means change and NOEO means mind.

So, when tragedies occur, it is to awaken the population about the importance of changing their mind about the Lord Jesus Christ.
”What think ye of Christ?” is the issue, not sin.

Eternal Love, the Foundation of All of God’s Promises

In his prayer for inner fullness and knowledge, Paul makes it clear that to know the unmovable love of Him whose love surpasses that of a woman’s, one must have a soul saturated with such in Divine love.

To know the love of Christ we must first know the Christ of love.

”The love of Christ which passeth knowledge,” Eph 3:19.

”The love of Christ constraineth me,” 2 Cor 5:14.

Sunday, September 23, 2001

The Bible Promises That the Love of God Delivers

Paul links love on to deliverance from injury.
John links love on to deliver us from iniquity.

The Promise is that the love freeing us from sin will see to our emancipation from all that would separate us from our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

Once we clasp the hand of love Divine, no one and nothing can ever separate us “from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Like Paul, John was ever practical in the application of the Truth. He taught, therefore he exhorted the Ephesians, “Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us,” Eph 5:2. How incumbent upon us to live a life of love, in a love generated in the soul by the loving Holy Spirit Himself.

”Through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren,” 1 Pet 1:22.

The Christian Way of Life is Described as “Walking in Love”

Eph 5:2, “Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us.”

Are we walking in love?

We use two feet in walking and we take one step at a time. Paul refers to the two feet of love – love in Church and love in the home.

Believers are to love one another as believers.

And believing husbands are to love their wives, Eph 5:25, “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.” Love in the Church and love in the home. The two feet of love.

May Grace be ours to walk as to leave behind “the footsteps of love.”

But now we pray for love,
Deep love to God and man.
A living God that will not fail
However dark God's Plan.

Another Bible Doctrine with Which Are Associated so Many Rich Promises is That of “Divine Righteousness”

To gather all that is recorded of this Divine attribute would fill pages. Look at these pearls of righteousness, on such a necklace of Truth.

”Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,” Psa 119:42.

You have to have everlasting life in order to have everlasting righteousness which is imputed at the point of salvation.

”Being found in Him not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness of God which is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Phil 3:9, which qualifies us for Heaven.

”I will bring near My righteousness, it shall not be far off,” Isa 46:13.

”My righteousness shall be for ever,” Isa 51:8.

”I will betroth thee to Me in righteousness,” Hosea 2:19.

”In righteousness doth He judge and make war,” Rev 19:11.

There is such a thing as a righteous war.

Thy righteousness forever stands secure,
Though worlds shall all decay.
No Word of Thine, but shall endure,
When thrones and kingdoms pass away.
Thy righteousness, so rich, so free
It covers... shelters... even me.

The Words “Just” and “Righteousness” Are Equivalent Both in the Hebrew and the Greek

The root meaning of these terms are “straight, right,” the quality of being just or righteous in dealing with others.

God’s righteousness or justice is His faithfulness in protecting His government and laws and rendering to each person his dues.

It is that attribute of God which causes Him always to be right, whether it be in inflicting punishment or in giving rewards or in judging between right and wrong.

”The righteousness of God which is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In dealing with any of the Doctrines it will be found that the ever-blessed Godhead are One in the Gracious gifts enshrined in the Promises all of which come to us from God the Father through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, by God the Holy Spirit.

The Father conceived the Promises.
The way was open to them by God the Son.
The appropriation of them is inspired by God the Holy Spirit.

Another way to look at the Trinity.

“If I Had a Choice Between Righteousness and Peace, I Would Take Righteousness,” Theodore Roosevelt

1. God the Father is just or righteous.
   ”Justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne.”
   “He shall judge the world in righteousness.” Psa 89:14, 96:13, 98:9, etc.
   
2. God the Son is just or righteous.
   ”The just One,” Acts 3:14, 7:52.
   ”The righteous Judge,” 2 Tim 4:8.
   ”Jesus Christ the Righteous,” 1 John 2:2, 29, 3:7.
   
3. God the Holy Spirit is just or righteous.
   ”He will reprove the world...of righteousness,” John 16:7-11.
   ”Filled with the Holy Spirit...thou enemy of all righteousness,” Acts 13:9-10.

A great way to look at the Trinity.

“God the Holy Spirit Will Reprove the World of Righteousness”

The gracious ministry of God the Holy Spirit is to bring the lost face-to-face with the justice, righteousness, and the holiness of God.
”God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.”

God the Holy Spirit enables us to realize the sufficiency of the Divine righteousness, which is the only covering for the lost sinner.
“Clothed in fine linen and righteousness.”

God has told us what He thinks of the garment of self-righteousness that we try to weave in order to hide our nakedness in His sight.
”All our righteousness are as filthy rags in His sight,” Isa 64:6.
”Found in Him not having mine own righteousness,” Phil 3:9.
”Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?” Jer 2:22, 13:23.

Through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came as the personification of Divine righteousness, there was provided for a sinful and sinning race a perfect covering of righteousness.

When free Grace awoke me by light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die.
No refuge, no safety, in self could I see,
”JEHOVAH TSIDKENU,” my Saviour must be.

The Lord my righteousness!

Some Divine Briefing Before America Goes to War!

”Of what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace,” Luke 14:31-32.

“Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.
”Neither let the mighty man glory in his might.
”Let not the rich man glory in his riches.
”But, let him that glorieth, glory in this,
”That he understandeth and knoweth Me.”

”That I am the Lord that executeth lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the Earth.”

”For in these things do I delight, saith the Lord,” Jer 9:23-24.

We are told that we are richest most powerful nation in the world. Are we really? Are we ready to go to war?

Thought for the Day!

Whatsoever you do, do it as unto...

I am as patriotic as any one. I served in the Army in WWII and served as a chaplain in the Civil Air Patrol, which is a part of the Air Force. I am a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a member of the American Legion. I was patriotic when it was not popular to be patriotic. In fact, I have been patriotic more years than most people are alive.

And yet, it is time for us to not do it as unto our country…

but to do it as unto “our Lord,” whatever it is you have to do.

Christ Died For the Sins of the Whole World!

Therefore sin is no longer the issue. The issue is what do you think about the Lord Jesus Christ?

If you are troubled about your sins, which, if you try to cover you will never prosper, Prov 23:13. Just run your eyes over these Promises regarding what the Lord has done with sin.

1. He covered it. Rom 4:7.
2. He blots it out. Isa 43:25, 44:22, Col 2:14.
3. He removes it beyond recall. Psa 123:12.
4. He hides it beyond discovery. Jer 50:20.
5. He casts it into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19.
6. He casts it behind His back. Isa 38:27.
7. He cleanses the sinner whiter than snow. Isa 1:18, Psa 51:7.
8. He will not impute it once forgiven. Rom 4:8.
9. He will forgive it. Psa 103:3, Col 1:14.

God is able to deal with sin because He laid it all on His “sinless Son” and because He, by His death, bore it away. Isa 53:6, John 1:29.

This should convince you that sin is not the issue in Salvation, but the Son is the issue... What think ye of Christ?

Have You Ever Tasted the Grace of God??

All of God’s Promises would be of no practical value if we did not have the revelation of His matchless Grace. Because of His Grace and His power, He can accomplish that which He pleases.

Grace implies that we get from God just the opposite to what we deserve. Our sins deserve eternal death. But through the Grace of God we have eternal life.

Grace is a comprehensive word of boundless reach and infinite depth of significance, signifying unlimited favor to the undeserving, all whom by reason of transgression have forfeited every claim to Divine favor and have lost all capacity of meritorious action.

Another Taste of the Grace of God!

“The God of all Grace,” 1 Pet 5:10.

God is the Source and the Giver of Grace, Psa 84:11, James 4:6.

And such Divine Grace needs no supplement. How wonderful it is that the One sinned against was the One whose soul provided salvation from sin. The hands torn by man’s sins offer free Grace to all.

Although God, because of His holiness can never excuse iniquity, yet as the God of all Grace, He deals kindly with the sinner.

He is not a tyrant or a despot, but One whose Grace is sufficient.

”My Grace is sufficient for thee.”

Another Taste of Grace!

“Grace did much more abound,” Rom 5:20.

Sin reigned! Grace reigned!

What a contrast of sovereigns Paul presents in Romans chapter five, exalting the Grace of God.

Abounding Grace, however, making possible our liberty, does not mean license. We must shrink from the false Doctrine that once saved we can do as we like. Grace makes us free to serve.

Divine Grace demands that we must live as He likes. Grace must never be presumed upon.

”Shall we sin that Grace may abound?” “God forbid,” literally, may it never happen or be said.

When Grace reigns, all other claimants for the throne of the soul are disposed.

Another Taste of Grace!

“Grow in Grace,” 2 Pet 3:18.

It will be noticed that we do not grow into Grace, but in the sphere of Grace.

Regeneration is a crisis. Once within the sphere of Grace, we grow within it. Just as the child begins to grow once it has life and is in the world.

Are we growing in Grace? As in nature, so in Grace, dwarfs are a monstrosity.

”Good stewards of the manifold Grace of God,” 1 Pet 4:10.

Grace imputed and Grace imparted must become Grace communicated. Receiving the gift of the Grace of God we must transmit it.

Once the Lord Jesus Christ saves us, we must tell others the story. “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord.”

With such good tidings we dare not hold our peace.

Monday, September 24, 2001

Another Taste of Grace – Salvation Grace!

The Bible makes it clear that salvation is all of Grace. “Lest any man should boast.” But what exactly is this promised salvation?

The Lord Jesus Christ, Whose Name means “salvation,” came as the promised Saviour, Matt 1:21, Gen 3:15.

As to our salvation so fully provided by our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, Promises abound as to its fact and features.

”There is no other name given unto men under Heaven whereby we must be saved.”

Notice it is not Mary as I was taught.

The Fact and Features of Our So Great Salvation!

As to the extent and character of this salvation it is:

Heb 2:3, 5:9,7:25, Jude 3, Isa 45:17

Our so Great Salvation is All Embracing Saving Us

1. From our sins – Matt 1:21, “And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call HiN name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.”
   
2. From coming wrath – Rom 5:9, ”Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
   
3. From our enemies, Satan and human – Luke 1:69-71, “And hath raised up an Horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;”
   
4. From all our troubles – Psa 34:6, “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”
   
5. From all uncleanness – Ezekiel 36:29, “I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.”
   
6. From sinful dwelling places – Ezekiel 37:23, “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.”
   
7. From our distresses – Psa 107:13, “Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.”
   

Another Taste of Salvation Grace

In studying the cardinal Doctrine of salvation, we must bear in mind its three tenses or aspects which Paul so clearly defines.

Tuesday, September 25, 2001

Grace Promises of Redemption!

Another great Doctrine of our Christian faith related to Promises is that of redemption.

The kindred terms “redeem,” “redeemed,” “redeemeth,” and “redemption” appear over 150 times in the Bible. The New Testament word for “redeem” carries a three-fold significance.

1. Buy a captive in a market place.
   
2. To take away from the market place what was purchased.
   
3. To set free, or to let go.

Does it not take all these meanings to unfold the Gospel of sin, bondage, and emancipation?

”Ye are bought with a price,” 1 Cor 6:20.

“Ye Are Bought with a Price,” 1 Corinthians 6:20

The English word employed here implies the act of buying back from slavery, or captivity, or death by the payment of a price. It further carries the idea of substitution.

The price paid is called a “ransom,” which brings us to the infinite cost of our redemption from satanic slavery.

Grace Promises of Redemption!

In our redemption there was a real transaction between God the Father and God the Son. The Father sending the Son to redeem and the Son willingly purchasing redemption with His own blood.

One of the marvelous aspects of the manifold provisions of God is the fact that they are all personified in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus redemption is not something, but Someone.

Attention is focused not so much on gifts, but the Giver.

“The Right of Redemption is Thine to Buy it,” Jeremiah 32:7-8

The Old Testament supplies us with several illustrations of redemption by ransom, or price, and the price being silver and gold.

Silver was used in the sockets of the tabernacle to represent redemption.

There is the well-known incident of Boaz purchasing Ruth’s inheritance and becoming her kinsman-redeemer.

Jeremiah supplies us with another illustration of redemption in his purchase of Hanameel’s field.

The redeemer Moses wrote of and prefigured in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Redeemer.

”Their Redeemer is strong,” Jer 50:34.

“Their Redeemer is Strong,” Jeremiah 50:34

Both Solomon and Isaiah also join with Jeremiah in extolling the might of our Redeemer, who mighty as He is, can stoop to the sinner’s weakness and empower him to live free from the old sin nature.

How mighty the Lord Jesus Christ might have been when at Calvary He laid hold of the dark forces of hell and spoiled them of their power. Satan, the slave owner, was conquered and the sin-bound were delivered from the curse of the grave. Then His resurrection added to His might. His became the strength of a glorious Conqueror.

The human race was wholly lost, sentenced to death, and excluded from the inheritance of spiritual and eternal life. No mere created being could redeem. By the dominion of sin over them, they were captives of Satan, and justly doomed to eternal woe. They had no kinsman to vindicate their cause, to interpose for them by power or force. The glory of the Gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ came and by giving Himself a ransom provided a perfect redemption.

“With Him is Plenteous Redemption,” Psalm 130:7

With His own blood, the Lord Jesus Christ obtained a plenteous and an eternal redemption for all mankind.

Millions in Heaven and on Earth have participated in His sacrifice of salvation. And yet there is provision for millions more. How stupendous and far-reaching was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. The tragedy is that while the Lord Jesus Christ died for all, only a few in comparison have appropriated their redemption.

What were we redeemed from in the eternal redemption the Lord Jesus Christ obtained for us? Go over the some 150 references and see if you have claimed all your promised redemption rights.

”Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood,” Acts 20:28.

Have You Claimed Your Christian Rights?

Here are your promised redemption rights.

1. Redeemed from iniquity. Titus 2:14, Psa 130:8.
   
2. Redeemed from the curse and bondage of the law. Gal 3:13, 4:5.
   
3. Redeemed from the power of sin. Rom 6:18, 22.
   
4. Redeemed from a vain manner of life. 1 Pet 1:18.
   
5. Redeemed from any kind of bondage. Ex 6:6, Deut 15:15, Micah 6:4.
   
6. Redeemed from evil, trouble, distress, adversity. Gen 48:16, 2 Sam 4:9, 1 Kings 1:29, Psa 25:22.
   
7. Redeemed from deceit and violence. Psa 72:14.
   
8. Redeemed from death, destruction, and hell. Job 5:20, Psa 49:15, Psa 103:4, Hosea 13:14.
   
9. Redeemed from all enemies. Psa 136:24, Micah 4:10.
   
10. Redeemed from the great enemy, the terrible one. Psa 106:10, Psa 107:2, Jer 15:21, 31:11.

You have rights as a Christian. Claim them!

Prophesy in Light of the Current Attack on America

1. We may be seven years away from the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ to this Earth.
   
2. Right before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to this Earth, all the Arab nations will form an alliance against Israel.
   So, it will be interesting to see as we respond to the terrorist attack on America whether or not this causes the Arabs to join together and form an alliance against Israel.
   
3. With our country trying to get support from the nations of Europe (Tony Blair being here at this time), we may in exchange for the support of the European nations, join the western alliance (i.e., the king of the west), which, right before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to this Earth, will also be against Israel. There is pressure now coming from everywhere for the United States to stop supporting Israel. That is what the terrorist attack was all about.

P.S. This is more interesting to watch than the stock market.

P.P.S. Seven years before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to this Earth, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, 1 Thes 4:13-18, 1 Cor 15:51-58, and be delivered from the worst time in all of history, Jacob’s Trouble.

“Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So,” Psalm 107:2

As one redeemed with a plenteous, gracious, precious, and eternal redemption, do you belong to the “Say so society?”

”Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”

Paul reminds us that being redeemed we are not our own. But we are the property of Him Who shed His blood for our redemption, 1 Cor 6:19-20.

Redeemed! Creation joyful brings
Its tribute to the King of kings.
Redeemed Earth’s million voices raise
One sounding anthem to His praise.

Wednesday, September 26, 2001

Atonement! Promised!

Atonement is another evangelical Truth predicted and promised in Scripture. The provision and universality of the Lord Jesus Christ’s atoning work is implied and illustrated in scores of passages.

We will confine ourselves to those references where the actual word “atonement” is used. It is purely an Old Testament word and is not properly found in the New Testament at all.

The word Paul employs means “reconciliation,” implying an exchange from enmity to friendship and is so translated in the original. As used in the Old Testament, “atonement” means “covering” in Christian thought. However, the Lord Jesus Christ’s full atonement represents His work of reconciling the world to God and the satisfaction He rendered His Father thereby.

”By Whom we have now received the atonement,” Rom 5:11.

Paul’s statement indicates the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ both “supplies and applies” atonement. God has nothing to offer apart from His Son and our Lord’s own Word is emphatic on this point.

”No man cometh unto the Father but by Me,” John 14:6.

“No One Cometh Unto the Father But by Me,” John 14:6

The Lord Jesus Christ then is the Mediator and the Medium. Through Him the sinner, estranged from God because of his sin, can be reconciled to God, not God to man. God has never had any need of being reconciled to man. Through the Cross fellowship is restored.

”When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,” Rom 5:10.

”Make ye the atonement that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord,” 2 Sam 21:3.

What would you say is the greatest blessing flowing from the Lord Jesus Christ’s atoning death? True we are blessed with so many spiritual blessings in virtue of Calvary, the principle boon being deliverance from penalty and the guilt of sin.

But the word “atone,” when split up reads, “at one,” which gives us the heart of the atonement, namely, made one with God.

“Jewels of Gold...to Make an Atonement for Our Souls,” Numbers 31:50

The Old Testament word for “atonement” conveys the idea of something being covered. The Israelite was allowed to approach God in various ways.

In this verse before us, the spoil of Midian was presented to the Lord to make an atonement for the soul. But the promise is that under Grace, acceptance with God cannot be bought.

Some there are who try to buy their way into God’s favor, but it cannot be done. All the jewels in the world could not purchase salvation for a conscience-stricken soul. A sinner must come as a pauper and, without money and without price, accept Calvary’s gift of reconciliation.

What the sinner must be reminded of is the fact that he can only be saved through atonement and never through attainment. How many deluded souls there are who seem to think that they must do something in order to gain access to God.

But by their religious activities and moral deeds they can never attain to salvation. Access to God and acceptance by God cannot be gained by human merit.

Salvation can only be obtained by faith, never attained by works. Eph 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, “Not of works.”

“Make an Atonement For There is Wrath Gone Out From the Lord,” Numbers 16:16

Sin occasioned the anger of God. But through the Cross such righteous anger was appeased. That is why the believer is no longer under wrath – present or future.

The unregenerated sinner, however, is under condemnation:

The promise offered the sinner is:

The application of this command is that God cannot save us on a 50/50 basis – partly Grace, partly works. When the Lord Jesus Christ cried, “It is finished,” He referred not to the cessation of anguish, but the consummation of man’s complete deliverance from sin and of a free access into the presence of God.

”There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” Rom 8:1.

“One Died For All...He Died For All,” 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15

“Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life,” John 5:40.

It is evident that the work of the reconciliation by the Lord Jesus Christ was universal, although the realization of it is not. If a sinner finally perishes, it will not be God’s fault.

No man is lost for the want of atonement or because there is any other barrier in the way of salvation than his own most free and wicked will.

The atonement the Lord Jesus Christ provided is universal in that it covers the sinful nature inherited from Adam. And this offers the promise to infants who die, and for those born idiots.

Whenever a person reaches the years of accountability and refuses to accept a provided new nature, allowing inherited sin to become practical sin, then he becomes accountable to God. Yielding to the sinful nature, he must bear the fruit and punishment of it, Rom 5:12-14, 6:1-12, 8:2-3.

When he bowed down His head in the death-hour:

Solemnized love His triumph! The sacrifice was then completed,
Lo, then was rent on a sudden the veil of the temple dividing,
Earth and Heaven apart, and the dead from their sepulchers rising.

Whispered with pallid lips and low in the ears of each other,
The answer but dreamed of before creation’s enigma, atonement
Depths of love are atonement’s depths, for love is atonement.

“Atonement Money for the Service of the Tabernacle,” Exodus 30:16

What a practical lesson can be gleaned from the above requirement!

God has always been practical about the kind of money used in His service. The gold of the godless carries no value in the treasury of Heaven.

God’s work, when done in God’s way, for God’s glory, never lacks the Divine supply.

”Blood money,” that is the substance of blood-washed men and women, is what He uses for the spread of the Gospel.

God has only one way of maintaining and extending His cause in the world and that is through the sacrificial giving of those who realize Calvary has every claim upon all we have and are.

In other words, we should not take money from unbelievers in the service of the Lord. I wonder how many collection plates have been filled with unbeliever’s money and not atonement money.

Thursday, September 27, 2001

Reconciliation

Among the manifold Promises of God is the one proclaiming reconciliation for the fallen sinner. This act of God the Holy Spirit is known as “the new birth” or born from above.

It is the Divine work whereby the believing sinner is brought into a heavenly relationship. As the result of our physical birth we were introduced to an earthly family. Through the new birth we are initiated into a heavenly family with God being our heavenly Father.

John’s first epistle is pre-eminently one of regeneration, the words “born” and “begotten” occurring 10 times in His Gospel. John speaks of being “born again” and “born of the Spirit.” John 3:3-8.

The Word of God is mentioned some six times as the instrument God the Holy Spirit uses in the necessary work of regeneration. John 15:3, 1 Cor 4:15, Eph 5:26, James 1:18, 21, 1 Pet 1:23.

The Lord Jesus Christ emphasized the necessity of this work that Paul calls “a new creation,” Gal 6:15. “Ye must be born again,” John 3:7. Apart from this spiritual birth Heaven cannot be entered.

“Except a Man be Born From Above He Cannot See the Kingdom of God,” John 3:3

While regeneration and conversion are treated as identical acts, there is a difference between the two. Conversion is a human act and one that can be repeated, Luke 22:32, like the prodigal son, which is restoration back to fellowship.

”What God doeth is for ever,” Ecc 3:14. Regeneration is a Divine act and once accomplished can never be repeated, which is salvation.

O ye who would enter this glorious rest,
And sing with the ransomed the song of the blest,
The life everlasting if you would obtain,
”Ye must be born again.”

“Adoption” – Son-Placing

Closely allied to regeneration is adoption, which is to speak, the other side of the coin. Regeneration is a son-making and adoption is a son-placing.

Adoption is of Roman origin, and represents the time when a senator’s son becomes “of age,” and heir to his father’s possessions. At that time the father took his son into the senate and publicly took off the toga of boyhood and put upon him the toga manhood.

We must not read into the word adoption the modern thought of adoption in which a man takes a son not his own and gives him the place of a son in position and advantage.

As God’s children we cannot very well be, born and adopted. If His, then we are His sons now, with all the spiritual rights and privileges.

”Now we are the sons of God, 1 John 3:1.

”We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus,” Gal 3:26.

“Now We Are the Sons of God,” 1 John 3:1

The adoption of the Bible has a future concept also. We are indwelt by the “Spirit of adoption,” which means at the point of salvation we are adult sons positionally.

But as such, God the Holy Spirit, who places us in union with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is the Promise or Pledge of the coming placement in God’s home above. Rom 8:15.

”The Holy Spirit of Promise...of our inheritance,” Eph 1:13-14.

We await, our adoption, which is a phase of and occurs when the body is redeemed at Christ’s return.

”We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body,” Rom 8:21.

Redeemed by the Cross and regenerated by God the Holy Spirit and therefore, the sons of God, John 1:11-12. We await our son-placing or adoption.

”That we might receive the adoption of sons,” Gal 4:5.

”Having predestined us unto the adoption by Jesus Christ to Himself,” Eph 1:5.

The Promises of Security! The Christian’s Rights

A further Promise connected with our Divine relationship is that of security in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not only saved, but we are safe and secure.

The keeping omnipotence of God, which involves our preservation, permeates Scripture.

1. “Hold up my goings in Thy paths that my footsteps slip not,” Psa 17:5.
   
2. “He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved,” Psa 16:8.
   
3. “None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate,” Psa 34:22.
   
4. “He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved,” Psa 55:22.
   
5. “The Lord is my Keeper,” Psa 121:5.
   
6. “The Lord preserveth all them that love Him,” Psa 145:20.
   
7. “I know that I shall not be ashamed,” Isa 50:7, 45:17.
   
8. “He preserveth the way of His saints,” Prov 2:8.
   
9. “He will keep the feet of His saints,” 1 Sam 2:8.
   
10. “No man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hands,” John 10:28-29. And “out of the Lord Jesus Christ’s hands.”
    
11. “There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Rom 8:1.
    
12. “Nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Rom 8:38-39.
    
13. “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” 2 Tim 1:12.
    
14. “The Lord will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom,” 2 Tim 4:18.
    
15. “Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith,” Heb 12:1-2.
    
16. “Kept by the power of God through faith,” 1 Pet 1:15.
    
17. “Now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling,” Jude 24.

Here are some of the Promises of our security. You probably have a larger list of your own.

Friday, September 28, 2001

Promises of Security – “Lose Nothing”

“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 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.

”Lose nothing.” Yes, and the Lord Jesus Christ will see to it that not one of His given ones will perish.

God wills our security and His beloved Son provides it. Thus, when Satan casts doubt upon your eternal salvation, we remind him that the Lord Jesus Christ declared that He will lose nothing.

All who are His will be raised up to meet Him at His appearing. The question of great importance is, are you among the number given to the Lord Jesus Christ by God the Father?

“They Will Never Perish Neither Shall Any Man Pluck Them Out of My Hand” and “Out of My Father’s Hand,” John 10:28-29

With such a double grip we are doubly safe because the Father and the Son are one in Their purpose to preserve Their own.

It must be further noticed that there is no condition attached to this Promise and charter of security.

The Lord Jesus Christ did not say that we can only be eternally safe if we strive to keep ourselves in His hands. Once union with the Lord Jesus Christ has been consummated, it can never be severed. Communion and fellowship with Him can be ruptured, but union with Christ is eternal.

If we can receive life today from the Lord Jesus Christ and lose it tomorrow, how can it be eternal in nature?

”I give unto them eternal life.” Eternal life is a gift.

”The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ,” Rom 6:23.

“He is Able to Keep,” 2 Timothy 1:12

Paul, the apostle of assurance, never had any doubt regarding his standing in Grace. Like the rest of us, his state concerned him. But he clearly taught it was the work of God the Holy Spirit to translate position into practice.

Have you noticed the double committal and the double security in Paul’s positive declaration?

1. The Lord keeps what we commit to Him. 2 Tim 1:12.
   
2. And we keep what He commits to us. 2 Tim 1:14.

Paul’s certainty as to his eternal security comes out again when he asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ would keep him from every evil work and preserve him unto the heavenly kingdom, 2 Tim 4:18.

Have you committed your soul to the Lord? Then believe and be persuaded with Paul that your Heavenly Keeper will guard the deposit.

”I know whom I have believed in and I know He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.”

“The Lord is Thy Keeper,” Psalm 121:5 – Not the Lord is My Keeper

For every sigh God has a Psalm. And in this precious Psalm the sigh of the soul for preservation is the Psalm of Divine security.

Read this Psalm through and underline the three-fold keep and the three-fold preserve.

The emphasis of the Psalm as a whole is upon the fact that our security is the Lord’s responsibility. We do not have to struggle to keep ourselves saved.

The sheep never trouble themselves about keeping the shepherd. That the Lord is well able to keep His own is evidenced by two of His characteristic features.

”He made Heaven and Earth and He neither slumbers or sleeps.”

Count up the realms in which you can expect His preserving power and praise Him anew as thy Keeper,” Isa 27:3.

“Him That is Able to Keep You From Falling,” Jude 1:24

From falling and faultless. What a mighty Preserver we have!

Daily He is able to keep us from stumbling.

And at His advent He will present us to Himself faultless with exceeding joy. Falling has to do with our walk, but such falling does not affect our position in the Lord Jesus Christ.

A closer walk with the Lord Jesus Christ cannot make us more secure, but it will bring us greater peace and reward. What we must not lose sight of is the Truth, while we cannot help the Lord Jesus Christ to keep us eternally secure, yet we can assist Him to keep us from stumbling.

As we keep ourselves in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and keep ourselves from idols, and keep ourselves unspotted from the world, we experience the Lord Jesus Christ’s ability to keep us from sinning.

Saturday, September 29, 2001

“If God Will Keep Me ... Then,” Genesis 28:20-21

Jacob’s error was that of meeting God’s “I will keep thee” with his “if God will keep me.”

May we be delivered from the same folly of driving a bargain with God. “If” must not be the vocabulary of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who takes God at His Word.

Jacob was ever “the man of sight” and takes up with material security. Preservation from danger, bread to eat, and raiment to wear was the patriarch’s interpretation of the Divine Promise of blessing.

Jacob’s vow, however, must not be lost upon us. Eternal security carries with it the full sovereignty of our Keeper.

”Then shall the Lord be my God.” As our God, He has every right to all we have and are.

“Keep Us at the Apple of His Eye,” Psalm 17:8

Frequent references to the apple of the eye. Deut 32:10, Prov 7:2, Lam 2:18, and Zech 2:8 are associated with the keen sensibility of the ball of the eye.

It is a most expressive metaphor, denoting God’s most careful protection and security. The eye is always preserved no matter what may assail it from without. Such a delicate organ is continually protected by the eye lids and continually cleansed by its tear ducts.

God is willing to protect and purge His children, symbolized by the apple of the eye.

Because we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, God will see to it that neither demons nor men rob him of such a treasure as the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Justification

How sweet and satisfying are the Promises attached to the Bible Doctrine of justification, a term implying the act of counting, declaring, pronouncing one righteous, or free from guilt and exposure to punishment.

As saved sinners, we are declared righteous before God because we are covered by the finished substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son.

Justification is an act of God’s free Grace wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

“How Then Can Man be Justified With God,” Job 25:4

Job’s question finds an answer in Paul’s declaration that “God is just and the Justifier of him which believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Rom 3:26. ”Just” and yet “Justifier.”

How is God able to clear the guilty sinner upon on whom He hath pronounced death? “Condemned, yet pardoned.”

The Lord Jesus Christ supplies the answer to Job’s question. He died in the sinner’s place and stead. True to His justice, God punished sin, which He did in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Appropriating the Sin-Bearer, the believing sinner is forever cleared from the law’s just verdict.

“If I Justify Myself,” Job 9:20

From Adam down, man has endeavored to justify himself. Plausible arguments excusing sin have been easy to find. But is a man full of talk justified? Job 11:2.

Elihu was angry with Job because he justified himself rather than God. Job 32:2.

The Lord Jesus Christ condemned the Pharisees for justifying themselves. Luke 16:15.

But in spite of all his self-justification, man stands condemned in the sight of a thrice-holy God.

”In Thy sight shall no man living be justified,” Psa 143:2.

“Being Justified Freely by His Grace,” Romans 3:24

To be justified freely means not only the Lord Jesus Christ’s redemptive work provides a full, complete justification from the just claims of the law, but also the most unworthy can participate in such a provision.

Paul speaks of the free gift, but are not all gifts free? Any article can not be a gift if we have to pay for it.

The value of a gift, however, is determined by the love borne to the one about to receive the gift.

Merit, then, prompts and guides our giving. To give a precious gift to an enemy could be a free gift given without cause or merit. Such is the giving of God.

Although His enemies and altogether without merit, He justified us.

Everlasting peace,
Sure as Jehovah’s Name,
Is stable as His steadfast throne
For evermore the same.

My love is often low,
My joy still ebbs and flows,
But peace with Him remains the same,
No change Jehovah knows.

Communion!

By Christ redeemed, by Christ restored,
We know the memory adored,
And show the death of our dear Lord,
Until He come!

His body broken in our stead
Is pictured in this memorial bread,
And so our feeble love is fed,
Until He come!

His fearful drops of agony,
His life-blood shed for us we see,
The wine shall tell the mystery,
Until He come.

Until the trump of God is heard,
Until the ancient graves be stirred,
And with the great commanding Word,
The Lord shall come.

God’s Pardoning, Forgiving Love!

How rich are the Promises assuring the sinner of the Lord’s willingness to blot out his iniquity.

Such gracious Promises run through the Bible like a golden thread. Both pardon and forgiveness are constituent elements of justification. Even though different phases of the same act are taking place at the same time, there might be a slight difference between pardon and forgiveness.

Pardon: means the release from a penalty, the feelings of the pardoned one may or may not be changed.
”I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other,” Luke 18:9-14.

Forgiveness: implies the surrender of an inward feeling of injury or resentment, the removal of the feeling of anger and the restoration of a feeling of favor and affection.
”Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. And by Him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses,” Acts 13:38-39.

Remission, propitiation, and reconciliation, besides being definite acts of God based upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, also represent phases of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ which made these acts possible.

As Judge, God Pardons. As Father, He Forgives

Sunday, September 30, 2001

“God is Ready!”

What a wonderful glimpse of the Divine character Nehemiah gives us. Not only have we a pardoning God, but One who stands with a pardon in His hand waiting for us to accept it.

”Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful,” Nehemiah 9:17.

”A God ready to pardon.” This God of infinite Grace has not to be coaxed into pronouncing the criminal forever cleared from guilt.

He is ready to pardon if only we were as ready to receive this completed, offered pardon written in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ who died in our stead.

”God is waiting to be gracious unto us.”

“The Lord God Merciful and Gracious, Forgiving,” Exodus 34:6-7

“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and Truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

Nowhere in all of the Bible is there a more satisfying revelation of the Lord’s character than here, where the Lord granted Moses the sublime revelation of His pardoning Grace. No wonder Moses bowed toward the Earth and worshipped Him.

”Mercy is kept for thousands,” which implies that God has an inexhaustible store of it and can draw on it as we need it.

As we read this entire verse, we find

1. That forgiveness covers iniquity.
   
2. The fruit of original corruption.
   
3. Transgression.
   
4. The doing of what is prohibited.
   
5. Sin.
   
6. And failure to do what is commanded.

God’s Grace and mercy are all encompassing.

“I, Even I, Am He That Blotteth Out Thy Transgressions,” Isaiah 43:25

Is it not wonderful to realize that the God who freely offers to forgive us is the One who we so constantly sin against?

Take the last phrase of the previous verse which reads, “Thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities.” And connect it with “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions,” and this will give you a glimpse of the Lord.

The One despised, outraged, scorned, and deserted for idols, was the very one Israel was urged to return to. God further declares His willingness to forgive for His own Name’s sake.

Such a phrase implies that God, because of His loving, righteous character, expressed in many of His Names, His actions must correspond to His attributes which praise Him, and they do.

“But There is Forgiveness With Thee,” Psalm 130:4

To rightly understand this aspect of promised forgiveness we must look at the blessed but introducing it. Something opposite precedes it.

We would have been of all men most miserable if we only had the third verse.

”If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”

”But”

How hopeless our case is if we had an unforgiving God to deal with. All believers are encouraged to confess their sin because of the Promise of God’s unfailing and inexhaustible source of forgiveness.

Further, forgiveness is manifested and freely bestowed that God may be feared, implying not a cringing fear, but awe, reverential trust, obedience, confidence, and worship.

Forgiving Grace enables us to stand before the Lord.

”If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:9.

“I Have Blotted Out...Thy Transgressions…I Have Redeemed Thee,” Isaiah 44:22

The basis of forgiveness is the redemption work on the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because “righteousness and truth kissed each other” at the Cross, a vindicated justice is now able to blot out our sins. By His death, the Lord Jesus Christ purchased pardon for all.

Few in comparison, however, have appropriated that pardon. Although redeemed, they are not healed, restored, forgiven.

Are we among the redeemed who know that God will remember sin against us no more for ever?

“Who is This That Forgiveth Sins Also,” Luke 7:49

In the parable of the creditor and the two debtors, the Lord Jesus Christ had a great deal to say about forgiveness. While one debtor owed ten times as much as the other, both were freely forgiven. But deeper love was expected by the debtor to whom the creditor forgave most.

It is thus that our Lord interprets the action of the woman whom others despised. ”Her sins, which are many, are forgiven for she loveth much, but in whom little is forgiven the same loveth little,” Luke 7:47.

Another application is that the Lord Jesus Christ alone has the prerogative to forgive. “Only God can forgive sins.” Since He is the Creditor, all souls are deep in debt to Him, and of themselves are utterly unable to discharge the debt. But as He paid it all, and all to Him we owe, He has every right to say “Thy sins are forgiven.”

Forgiveness is also an evidence of His Deity. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Luke 5:21.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the unique Member of the human race because He is God and He is man. He is the “God-man,” equal with God and equal with man. “The one Mediator between God and man.”

America’s Lost Loved Ones! – 9/11/01

This isn’t death, it’s Glory.
This isn’t darkness, it’s Light.
It isn’t stumbling, groping or
Even faith. It’s Sight.

This isn’t grief of having their
Last tear wiped away.
It’s sunrise, it’s morning
Of their Eternal Day.

It isn’t even praying
It’s speaking face to face
It’s listening and glimpsing
The wonders of His Grace.

For this is the end of pleading
For strength to bear their pain;
Not even pain’s dark memory
Will ever live again.

How did they bear this Earth life
Before they came up higher?
Before their soul was granted
It’s very deep desire?

Before they knew this rapture
Of meeting face to face,
The One who sought them,
The One who saved them,
The One who kept them by His Grace.

Heroic Departed Firemen! 9/11/01

I’ll see them in Glory.
I’ll talk with them again.
I’ll walk with them in Heaven
Free from sorrow, care, and pain.

They are not dead, they liveth
Not here but over there,
Where Christ liveth also
Who all their sin did bear.

I cannot bring them back here
However I might try,
But I can plan to meet them
In His Presence by and by.

My robes are washed as theirs were
In the precious crimson flow,
My future is safe as theirs is
In My Saviour’s care, I know.

You ask me, aren’t you grieving?
No! My heart knows God’s own peace.
For like them I have a Saviour
Whose blessings never cease.

And the blessing that is greatest
Is that death means gain not loss,
To the soul that has seen the value
Of His death upon the Cross.

And all life takes on new meaning
Which even death can never dim,
So with hope and joy abundant
I will ever walk with Him.

The Promise of Peace From the Prince of Peace!

Among the manifold bestowals of God likewise included among the cardinal truths of the Gospel is that of peace, of which there is much mentioned in Scripture when considering the Divine title JEHOVAH SHALOM. Such a possession, however, carrying with it so many Promises, is worthy of a full consideration.

Peace is the central feeling of all happiness. As the word “peace” and its cognates appear some 400 times in the Bible, the problem of selection is not easily settled. Among so many peace promises, the following glitter like several facets of a diamond. Such a fundamental Doctrine is approached from different angles.

1. There is peace with God which is secured by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
   ”We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Rom 5:1.
   
   This aspect of peace is not a mere feeling, but a permanent state of condition into which believers are brought solely as the result of the Cross. The value of which is placed to their account as the result of faith.
   
   No sinner can make his peace with God. Such peace was made when the Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again. God Himself was the One who made peace.
   
2. There is the “peace of God.”
   Which is imparted by God the Holy Spirit. “The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,” Phil 4:7.
   
   This particular Promise of peace is communicated by God the Holy Spirit upon the three conditions mentioned in the context:
   •  be careful for nothing
   •  be prayerful in everything
   •  be always thankful
   
   The first aspect of peace was the legacy of the Lord Jesus Christ Who died, and this aspect is the gift of the living Christ by the Holy Spirit.
   
   The first is the peace of conscience through the appropriation of the Saviour. The latter is the peace of mind found in full, unhindered fellowship with Him Who bore “the chastisement of our peace,” Isa 53:5.
   

   

“Made Peace Through the Blood of the Cross,” Colossians 1:20

“He is our peace...preaching peace,” Eph 2:12-17.

Peace is not something, but Someone.

Peace is a Person, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Who removed the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, in order that both might be brought nigh to God.

This state of peace we are introduced into by Grace was established when God, Who represented the Divine government, and Christ, Who represented the offending sinner, the sin-hating God met the sin-bearing Christ at Calvary and settled, once and for all, the sin question, providing a peace that knows no change.

“Peace I Leave With You....My Peace,” John 14:27

Materially the Lord Jesus Christ had nothing to leave. He has no need to make a will. Yet the greatest bequest ever bequested is ours in His peace.

Think of His calm, unruffled spirit amid turbulent forces surrounding Him. Why, He could sleep in a wave-tossed boat out in a raging storm.

No wonder there is no peace comparable to His. Such a legacy is for every child of His.

Have you staked your claim?

Thy peace so sweet, so wonderful
None but Thine loved ones know,
The blessed calm, the real peace
Which Thou dost still bestow.
My peace I leave, My peace I give
Bequeathed to all who in Thee live.

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