======================================================================== WRITINGS OF ROBERT E NEIGHBOUR - VOLUME 1 by Robert E. Neighbour ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Robert E. Neighbour (Volume 1), compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 00.00. Neighbor, Robert E. - Library 2. 01.0.1. Sermons and Bible Studies On 3. 01.0001. Volume 1: The Deeper Life and Service 4. 01.0002. Following the Lord Fully 5. 01.0003. Following Christ in Salvation 6. 01.0004. Following Christ Through Deprivations 7. 01.0005. Following Christ Above Relatives 8. 01.0006. Following Christ Above Riches 9. 01.0007. Following Christ Above Self 10. 01.0008. Following Christ Even Unto Death 11. 01.0009. Following Christ Amid the Raptured Saints 12. 01.0010. Following Christ and Reigning with Him 13. 01.0011. Following Christ No Matter What Others Do 14. 01.0012. Elisha Follows Elijah 15. 01.0013. The Setting 16. 01.0014. Elisha at Gilgal 17. 01.0015. Elisha at Bethel 18. 01.0016. Elisha at Jericho 19. 01.0017. Elisha at Jordan 20. 01.0018. Elisha's Blessing 21. 01.0019. The Aftermath 22. 01.0020. Christ--All in All 23. 01.0021. Christ Predestinated My Life 24. 01.0022. Christ Produced My Life 25. 01.0023. Christ--The Product of My Life 26. 01.0024. Christ--The Purpose of My Life 27. 01.0025. Christ--The Princely Leader of My Life 28. 01.0026. Christ--The Praise of My Life 29. 01.0027. Christ--The Propelling Power of My Life 30. 01.0028. Sanctification 31. 01.0029. Sanctification Defined 32. 01.0030. Sanctification God's Will 33. 01.0031. The Scope of Sanctification 34. 01.0032. Sanctification God's Work 35. 01.0033. Sanctification Brings Blessing 36. 01.0034. Second Coming Instils Sanctification 37. 01.0035. The Will of God 38. 01.0036. The Will of God Our Chief Aim 39. 01.0037. Standing in the Will of God 40. 01.0038. Standing Perfect in the Will of God 41. 01.0039. Standing Complete in the Will of God 42. 01.0040. Standing in All the Will of God 43. 01.0041. Doing God's Will 44. 01.0042. How May We Ascertain God's Will? 45. 01.0043. The Two Covenants 46. 01.0044. The Law Covenant 47. 01.0045. The Law Covenant--Results 48. 01.0046. The Covenant of Grace 49. 01.0047. Grace Better Than Law 50. 01.0048. A Solemn Warning 51. 01.0049. The Law Insufficient 52. 01.0050. Conclusions 53. 01.0051. The Rewards of the Righteous 54. 01.0052. The Fact of Rewards Set Forth 55. 01.0053. Acts That Merit Reward 56. 01.0054. Rewarded According to Works 57. 01.0055. Rewards at Our Lord's Return 58. 01.0056. Rewards May Be Lost 59. 01.0057. Rewards an Inspiration for Service 60. 01.0058. The Life of Prayer 61. 01.0059. The Avenue of Prayer 62. 01.0060. Prayer and Fellowship 63. 01.0061. Prayer and Petition 64. 01.0062. Prayer a Cure for Worry 65. 01.0063. Prayer--Preparation for Service 66. 01.0064. Prayer the Source of Power 67. 01.0065. Call to Prayer 68. 01.0066. Seven Characteristics of the Believer 69. 01.0067. A Study of II Timothy, Chapter 2 70. 01.0068. The Believer Is a Son 71. 01.0069. The Believer Is a Soldier 72. 01.0070. The Believer Is a Wrestler 73. 01.0071. The Believer Is a Workman 74. 01.0072. The Believer Is a Vessel 75. 01.0073. The Believer Is a Servant 76. 01.0074. The Believer Is a Husbandman 77. 01.0075. Fishing for Men 78. 01.0076. Preparation for Those Who Would Fish for Men--Win Souls 79. 01.0077. Purpose in Soul-Winning 80. 01.0078. Plan in Soul-Winning 81. 01.0079. The Place to Practice Soul-Winning 82. 01.0080. Prayer in Soul-Winning 83. 01.0081. The Practice of Soul-Winning 84. 01.0082. The Pay for Soul-Winning 85. 01.0083. Why the Saved Are Safe 86. 01.0084. Salvation Is a Gift 87. 01.0085. The Gift Is Eternal Life 88. 01.0086. The Life Is a Spiritual Birth 89. 01.0087. A Life Hid with Christ in God 90. 01.0088. A Life Secure in the Father's Hands 91. 01.0089. A Life Secured by an Unfaltering Love 92. 01.0090. A Life Sealed by the Spirit 93. 01.0091. A Life Possessing God's Earnest 94. 01.0092. A Life Secured by the Will of Christ 95. 01.0093. A Life Secured by the Grace of God 96. 01.0094. Apostates From the Faith 97. 01.0095. Apostates From the Faith--Foretold 98. 01.0096. Apostates From the Faith--Within the Fold 99. 01.0097. Apostates From the Faith--Their Denials 100. 01.0098. Apostates From the Faith--Their Character ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 00.00. NEIGHBOR, ROBERT E. - LIBRARY ======================================================================== Neighbour, Robert E. - Library Neighbour, Robert E - Sermons and Bible Studies On Neighbour, Robert E - The Baptism in the Holy Ghost - Exegesis of Acts 1-2 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 01.0.1. SERMONS AND BIBLE STUDIES ON ======================================================================== SERMONS AND BIBLE STUDIES ON 12 VOLUMES ___ 1. The Deeper Life and Service 2. Characters and Types 3. Real Salvation Themes 4. The Psalms and Prophecy 5. Christ, The Holy Spirit, and Satan’s Strategies 6. Sermons and Bible Studies in Christ Jesus 7. the Glory That Will Follow 8. God’s Men and Their Message 9. From the Cross to the Crown 10. Helpful Messages for God’s People 11. God’s Message for His Church 12. God’s message for Israel ___ BY R.E. NEIGHBOUR Union Gospel Press Cleveland, Ohio 1920-30 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 01.0001. VOLUME 1: THE DEEPER LIFE AND SERVICE ======================================================================== Volume 1: The Deeper Life and Service ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 01.0002. FOLLOWING THE LORD FULLY ======================================================================== Following the Lord Fully This lesson should be fruitful in a deep searching of hearts. There were many who went out of Egypt under a true token, the shed blood, but there were very few who never failed God in the days of wilderness journeyings. It is said of Caleb that he followed the Lord fully. What we should wish above all things else is to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Our highest aim should be to know the will of God and to do it. Others may seek and may choose God’s second best, we want His very best. We want to go all the way with God. We want to go with Him through the garden; we want to go with Him outside the camp; we want to go with Him, bearing His reproach. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 01.0003. FOLLOWING CHRIST IN SALVATION ======================================================================== Following Christ in Salvation "And as Jesus passed forth from thence, He saw a man, named Matthew, * * and He saith unto him, Follow Me" (Matthew 9:9). Matthew was a Jew, but a despised Jew. He was a collector of the taxes imposed upon the Jewish people by the Roman government. It would seem that a man of Matthew’s character and position, would have been one of the last men that Christ would have chosen as a follower. Our Lord, however, knew what was in men. Christ saw Matthew not as he was, in his sin, but as he would become in grace. What Christ did for Matthew He has done for many another sinner who was even deeper dyed in sin. Illustrations: 1. The Lord Jesus coming along the way saw Isaac Newton. Newton was a man who had gone to the deepest depths in sinning. He had traveled from shore to shore, and, finally, had landed in Africa and lived in the most abominable and heinous way with the natives. But, the grace of God found Newton, and he was saved. 2. The Lord Jesus, coming along the way, saw Sam Hadley. Hadley was one of those men wholly given to drink. He was a drunkard, and a wharf thief. He had spent years in prison, and seemed an absolutely hopeless case. Jesus Christ said unto Sam Hadley, "Follow thou Me," and he arose and followed Him. We heard him once at Northfield as he stood on Round-top, near Mr. Moody’s grave, and sang the pulsings of his very heart. "Oh, it is wonderful Very, very wonderful. All of His love, So rich and free. "Oh, it is wonderful, Very, very wonderful. All of His love, And His grace to me." 3. The Lord Jesus, passed by, and saw Thomas Needham. Needham had gone so far from God that no one would have dreamed that he could be saved. Yet, Christ saw him, and said, "Follow thou Me," and he arose and followed Him. We heard Thomas Needham tell his story, as he stood in our own pulpit. He pulled up his sleeve and showed the audience where a sea-captain had once tattooed upon his arm a picture of Christ hanging upon the Cross. Later on the captain put Needham off the boat, on the shores of Brazil. Some cannibal tribes were about to kill him, when they saw the tattooed form upon his arm. They became afraid and released him. Needham said, "That was the first time I was saved by the Cross." After years of sinful life Thomas Needham dropped into a church in Boston where his brother George was preaching Christ crucified. That night Thomas said, "I was saved, the second time, by the Cross." The first time he had been physically saved, the second time he was saved for Glory. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 01.0004. FOLLOWING CHRIST THROUGH DEPRIVATIONS ======================================================================== Following Christ Through Deprivations "A certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head" (Luke 9:57-58). It is quite certain that this "certain young man" had an idea that Christ Jesus was soon to take the Davidic throne, and he wanted to have a place with Him in His glory. The Lord disabused his mind. He did not deny the fact that He would some day reign on David’s throne, but He emphasized the fact that He was without any present prospect of such a glory. He promised the young man no flowery bed of ease, no earthly glory in following Him. Those who today would follow Christ fully, may assure their hearts that it will mean suffering. "All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution". "Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake". Who then is ready to go outside the camp with Christ and bear His reproach? Who is willing to bear the Cross? Can we sing that precious verse: "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee, Naked, poor, despised, forsaken; Thou, from hence, my all shall be: Let the world despise and leave me, They have left my Saviour, too, Earthly looks and friends deceive me, Thou art not like them untrue." There are many who seek to follow Christ solely for the loaves and fishes; they want to join the big church, the popular church, the worldly church. With them it is not a question of "What wilt Thou have me to do"? but of "What advantage wilt Thou be unto me?" It sounds wonderfully well to say, "I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest"; but, to say it, is not enough. We must be ready to pay the price, and go all the way with God. We must be ready to say: "I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain or plain or sea, I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord, I’ll be what You want me to be." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 01.0005. FOLLOWING CHRIST ABOVE RELATIVES ======================================================================== Following Christ Above Relatives "And He said unto another, Follow thou Me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. "And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house" (Luke 9:59-62). If we are going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we must place Him above father, and above mother, and above husband, and above wife. In all things Christ must be first (Colossians 1:18). We should remember the words of Christ: "He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me". If we are going to follow Christ Jesus, we must not say, "Suffer me first" to do anything. It is all right for us to love the ones at home. The fact is, that if we love Christ truly, we will love them all the better; but we cannot even obey father or mother, if it means disobedience to Jesus Christ. Many a missionary has been called upon to leave his home, and all of his loved ones in order to follow his Lord. When Christ says, "Follow thou Me" we must not turn so much as one wistful glance backward, toward those human environments, which might woo us from the will of God. Jesus said, "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God". "Remember Lot’s wife"! When she started out with Lot, and her two daughters, to flee from Sodom, she left behind her two other daughters, and two sons-in-law, many friends, and all of her earthly possessions. Therefore she turned and looked back. Her heart was still in Sodom. Because of this infidelity to God, she became a pillar of salt; a warning to all who turn and look back. We should always be able to say with the poet: "Fade, fade, each earthly joy, Jesus is mine; Break ev’ry earthly tie, Jesus is mine." Young people, particularly, must guard their love life. They must allow no love to creep into their hearts that would cripple their love for Him. "It is permitted unto a woman to marry only in the Lord." A divided home is sure to spell spiritual disaster. How can two walk together except they be agreed? ’What part hath he that believeth with an infidel, (or with an unbeliever)"? We must put Christ above all earthly ties. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 01.0006. FOLLOWING CHRIST ABOVE RICHES ======================================================================== Following Christ Above Riches "Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come and follow Me" (Matthew 19:21). The story before us is that of the rich young ruler. He possessed many things which were praiseworthy. He was earnest and he was moral, and he was interested, but, he lacked one thing--he was unwilling to give up his riches. Jesus Christ does not always demand that we should place our possessions on the market, and sell them, giving the proceeds to the poor; but He does demand of every one, who would follow Him, that all possessions shall be made subservient to Him, subject to His call. If we would follow Christ fully, we must recognize His Lordship over our possessions. There are a great many people, who would like to "serve God and mammon"; Christ, and riches. They want Christ, but they want riches also; in fact, they want riches more than they want Christ. They want to drag Christ in somewhere; they would be willing to put Him in the rear of their procession, but they will not let Him lead the way. The Bible warns: "And they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil". A follower of the Lord Jesus Christ should flee such things, and "follow after righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness". It is not wrong to labor, that we may have to give to him that needeth; but it is wrong to labor that we may have to lay up treasures for ourselves. Our money is ourself turned into coin, and when we bring our money and yield it to Christ and to His service we are yielding ourselves to Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 01.0007. FOLLOWING CHRIST ABOVE SELF ======================================================================== Following Christ Above Self "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24). Jesus Christ had been telling the disciples how He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders, and of the chief priests, and of the scribes, and be killed. Peter had taken Him and said unto Him, "Be it far from Thee, Lord (pity Thyself, Lord): this shall not be unto Thee". Christ, in turn, had rebuked Peter and said, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men". Among men there is a notable saying: "This first of all to thine own self be true." Another saying, much more vulgar, is this one: "Look out for number one." In either case, such words place "self" in the wrong place, positionally. We must, first of all, be true to God; and then be true to ourselves and true to our fellow-men. There is much taught these days about self-denial, that does not go far enough. We have, in many churches, a self-denial week. We are asked to deny to ourselves certain luxuries, or even certain necessities. This may be commendatory, but. it is not what Christ meant, when He said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me". To deny something to ourself, is not denying ourselves. Take, by way of example, the life of the Apostle Paul. How wonderfully was he fore-spent for God. He threw himself and all that he was into the service of God. He counted no sacrifice too great, no journey too hazardous, and no service too sacrificial for Christ. Under the statue of Nathan Allen in New York city, are inscribed the words, "Would that I had two lives to give to my country." Nathan Allen had the spirit for his country that we need toward our Christ. We should be willing to give our lives for Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 01.0008. FOLLOWING CHRIST EVEN UNTO DEATH ======================================================================== Following Christ Even Unto Death "I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whithersoever thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not" (John 21:18). Christ spoke these words signifying by what death Peter should glorify God, and when he had so spoken, He said unto him: "Follow Me". Peter had once, as we have just seen in the preceding theme, told Christ to "pity Himself." Now the months have gone by, and Jesus Christ has died and been raised from the dead. He is standing before Peter, and He tells him that he will be called upon to die as a martyr to the faith, then He said: "Follow thou Me". Although Peter had hesitated when Christ spoke of His own death, there seems to be absolutely no hesitancy now. Peter is ready to go all the way with Christ. Years later Peter said: "Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me". Thus during all the years of his ministry, Peter knew that he would be called upon, finally, to suffer martyrdom. "I saw the martyr it the stake, The flames could lot his courage shake, Nor death his soul appall: I asked him whence his strength was given; He looked triumphantly to Heaven, And told me ’Christ was all.’" The Word of God speaks of some who "loved not their lives unto the death". The Word of God admonishes us: "Be thou faithful unto death". We are living in the twentieth century of the Church of Christ; we are living in a land where there is religious freedom. It hardly seems that there is any immediate danger of our being called upon to die for our faith, but we should always hold ourselves in readiness for that very thing. If we are called upon to give our lives for Jesus Christ, we must remember that we will have a martyr’s crown, a crown of life. "Must Jesus bear the Cross alone, And all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for every one, And there’s a cross for me." "A beautiful crown in Heaven to wear, For those who here the cross will bear, Then bear it, my brother, and when you get there A beautiful crown you’ll wear." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 01.0009. FOLLOWING CHRIST AMID THE RAPTURED SAINTS ======================================================================== Following Christ Amid the Raptured Saints "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth" (Revelation 14:4). There is no more beautiful verse in the Bible than this. The Lord seems to draw back the curtain in order to give us a glimpse of coming scenes. There are those who were undefiled; those who have kept their garments white; those who, ’mid earth scenes and tribulation scenes, followed Christ fully. These will follow Him by and by. It is worth while for us to look in and behold, through the drawn back curtain, the bliss of those who walk with Him in white. Moses had followed Christ down here, and so had Elijah. They had experienced many a trying time. They had suffered much for their Lord. They had never counted any earth task too great an undertaking for the glory of Jehovah. God has drawn back the curtain, and allows us to see them in their glory on the transfiguration mount, as they talk with the Lord. What will it be when we stand with Him in the glory, among the raptured ones, beholding His face? What abundance of joy will be ours, should Christ say unto us, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant". Surely our present sufferings will be nothing comparable to the glory that shall then be revealed. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 01.0010. FOLLOWING CHRIST AND REIGNING WITH HIM ======================================================================== Following Christ and Reigning with Him "Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore? "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:27-28). There came a day in the life of Peter, the fisherman, when Christ said unto him, "Follow Me". Immediately, he left his net; he left his father; he left his all, and followed Him. There were times after this, when Peter failed the Lord. Once he went so far as to say, "I know not the Man". Such times, however, were but little "eddies" in his life. The great current of his discipleship, was one of absolute fidelity to Christ. Others of the Twelve left their nets, or some other occupation. They followed Jesus in the way. They were with Him in His sufferings and deprivations. Jesus Christ promised these disciples a part in His early reign. They were to sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. What was promised the disciples is likewise promised, in substance, to all of those who follow fully in His sufferings. The Bible says: "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him". Our abundant entrance into the Millennial reign of Christ upon the earth; our position in the earth-service of that reign, is dependent upon our following Christ here and now. The one who had gained ten talents was given authority over ten cities. We need not doubt the propriety of daily serving Christ, with Millennial rewards in view. Such rewards are a true incentive to fidelity. Our Lord endured the Cross, despising the shame, because of the joy that was set before Him. Abraham looked for a city whose Builder and Maker was God. Moses had respect unto the recompense of reward. Paul said, "There is laid by for me a crown of righteousness". So let us keep before us also, the wonderful rewards that Christ will bring with Him, when He comes again. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 01.0011. FOLLOWING CHRIST NO MATTER WHAT OTHERS DO ======================================================================== Following Christ No Matter What Others Do "And what shall this man do? "Jesus saith unto him, * * What is that to thee? follow thou Me" (John 21:21-22). When Peter was told by the Lord by what death he should glorify Christ, he did not hesitate to follow on; but Peter did ask concerning one of the other disciples, "And, what shall this man do"? The Lord said unto Peter: "What is that to thee? follow thou Me". There are many among us, who are too much concerned with what others may do, or say, or think. Illustration: A lady once stopped us, on the street, and said, "I’m thinking of uniting with your church, but, first, I want to have a talk with you." We replied: "What do you want to talk about?" She said, "I want to talk to you about what everybody will say if I take my stand." This young woman was a school-teacher in our city, and she valued very highly the estimation in which she was held among the people. She had a strong conviction that the Lord was calling her to have fellowship with us, in our church, but she was afraid of what others might think. Do you imagine that she stands alone? Are there not others who love the praise of men more than the praise of God? Are there not others who are more influenced by what the people will say than by what the Lord will say? Suppose an offering is to be taken for the work of the Lord. How many there are who ask, "And what will this man do?" But, "What is that to thee"? Suppose there is a call for full consecration. You are deeply impressed that you should go to the altar and yield yourself wholly to God; but, one of your friends is sitting near, and you wait to see what she will do. For very shame, "What is that to thee"? Let us follow Christ no matter what others may say or think or do. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 01.0012. ELISHA FOLLOWS ELIJAH ======================================================================== Elisha Follows Elijah We have one great quest in this study, and that is to follow the steps that mark the believer in his walk with God; the steps that lead to the higher ground; the distinct stages of the Christian as he passes out of carnality and into spirituality. 1. An important feature before us is the tenacity with which Elisha pressed on toward his goal. He would allow nothing to turn him back. He had his goal in sight, and, in order to lay hold on that for which he had been laid hold upon by Christ, he counted the things behind as refuse and pressed on toward the things before. 2. Another thing is the glorious success that crowned Elisha’s quest. He received that for which he sought. He followed on until he was the recipient of Elijah’s mantle. When he had first plowed twelve yoke of oxen in the field, Elijah had cast his mantle upon him. That occasion was only prophetical. Elisha knew that the fulfilment of that pledge must be found in going all the way with God. Therefore he followed on, until, at last, he once more caught up the mantle of Elijah, as the mighty man of God was disappearing in a chariot of fire. 3. Last of all it is worthy of note that Elisha after he had received the mantle of Elijah, wrought mightily, even as his master had formerly wrought. Elisha could do what Elijah had done, because he was honored by the same God who honored Elijah. It was not the mantle, it was God who wrought. The mantle was only the sign of God’s anointing. As Elisha stood by the Jordan on the return, he cried, "Where is the God of Elijah"? then he smote the waters. In after days he wrought mighty miracles through the same mighty God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 01.0013. THE SETTING ======================================================================== The Setting "So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him" (1 Kings 19:19). 1. Let it be noted that the call of God came to Elisha while he was busy in the daily task. God is looking for the man who is doing well his present duty, and not for the idler and the lounger. The Word of God commends the one who toils. The command, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread", has never been rescinded. God does say: "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour"; and again: "This we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat". 2. God calls us, ofttimes, to leave our present task, when He desires us to do a definite work for Him. Christ came to Peter and to John, Christ came to Matthew the publican. He called them. Immediately they left all, whether it was their nets or the "seat of custom," and followed Him. Elisha, after Elijah had cast his mantle upon him, went and slew a yoke of oxen, and gave to the people and they did eat. "Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him". We should hold every earthly call, in subjection to a higher call, and be ready at a moment’s notice to leave all and follow Christ. 3. There must be the full consecration to the new task. Elisha manifested no "looking back" toward the old path. He burned the bridges behind him, as truly as did George Washington, when he crossed the Brandywine. He bade adieu, forever, to the old life and old place and gave himself wholly to the new. Who is ready this day to hear and heed the call of God to some definite service and then to go all the way in that service? No "looking back," as Lot’s wife looked back. "I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain, or plain, or sea; I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord, I’ll be what You want me to be." 4. Finally, there must be not only the call, and then the leaving of the old and the dedication to the new task; but there must be the daily "following on" in the new. Herein Elisha is an admirable example of true discipleship. Nothing could deter Elisha from following Elijah. Whether discouraged by the young prophets, or whether seemingly hindered by Elijah, there was always but one answer from Elisha’s lips: "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee". We are only playing at consecration when the first flutter of the leaves alarms us and turns us back from following our Lord. He that putteth his hand to the plow, and looketh back, is not fit for the Kingdom of God. Let obstacles arise, let circumstances come, God is able to give victory. Fear not: by thy God thou canst run through an host; and, by thy God, thou canst leap over a wall. Any host and any wall that Satan may place over against your pathway of obedience, will easily be overcome, if you follow on. "I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice, And I yield my all to Thee; Yea, I rise to go, and to follow on In the way Thou leadest me." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 01.0014. ELISHA AT GILGAL ======================================================================== Elisha at Gilgal "And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into Heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal" (2 Kings 2:1). "Gilgal" means rolling. It bears its name from the journeyings of Israel. "And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho" (Joshua 4:19). 1. It was at Gilgal where God rolled away the reproach of the Egyptians. Forty years before Israel had left Egypt, but they had never reached the place of victory in the wilderness. Now they had, at last, crossed the Jordan and encamped at Gilgal. No more could Egypt say, "The Lord is not able" to bring them into their Canaan. Believers need to get out of the old life of sin’s dominion. Out of Egypt? Certainly. We came out of Egypt the day we were saved. Came out, under a true token,--the blood upon the lintel and the two side posts. But we need more than the getting out of Egypt. We need also to get out of the wilderness of defeat and despair. Gilgal is station number one. The place where God rolls off the reproaches of a carnal life. It is the place of "no condemnation in Christ Jesus." 2. As the children came through the Jordan, Joshua gave orders that twelve stones should be taken from the Jordan bed, and "those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal" (Joshua 4:20). Thus Gilgal stands also for the place where God rolled upon Israel a new pledge of full allegiance. In Ephesians 2:1-22, we are not only quickened with Christ and raised from the old life, but we are made to sit together with Him, in a new life. Thus Gilgal pictures the place of our tryst, our promise of a new walk, a new consecration. 3. But Elijah did not allow Elisha to tarry long at Gilgal. Gilgal must be entered. It stands just over the Jordan, and marks the entrance into a life wholly dedicated to God. But Gilgal is no more than a place of departure. We must not tarry there. When we take an attitude of surrender, we must follow on to know the Lord. The act must be taken, but the life must be lived out, day by day. It was at Gilgal that Joshua made a covenant with the Gibeonites; it was at Gilgal that Saul was chosen king; it was at Gilgal that Saul spared Agag. So while at Gilgal we may yield ourselves to God, and know that reproach is rolled away; yet we must not, for one moment, think that our act of consecration or of yielding our all to God is enough. We must do more than consecrate and dedicate and pledge and yield, we must obey. We must live out in our daily walk what we pledge at Gilgal; or else we will soon drift back again into the wilderness of our carnal life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 01.0015. ELISHA AT BETHEL ======================================================================== Elisha at Bethel "And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el" (2 Kings 2:2). The word Bethel means the "House of God." It was at Bethel that Jacob met God when running away from Esau, and his self-life effort to steal the blessing. "And Jacob awaked * * and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. * * This is none other than the house of God (Beth-Elohim, Bethel), and this is the gate of Heaven" (Genesis 28:17). If the believer is to follow God fully, he must know the place and the power of prayer. 1. At the place of prayer, Bethel, we discover the will of God. How can we do His will, if we know it not? How can we know it unless we seek His face? Habakkuk said: "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me" (Habakkuk 2:1). We will never get the purpose of God in our lives, if we have no Bethel, no time to be quiet, no time to wait on God, no time to hear His voice. "My soul, be thou silent unto God." 2. At the place of prayer, Bethel, we will find ourselves dying to our old self-life and living to the new. Jacob had his Bethel, he also had his Peniel. Beth-El meant the "House of God," while Peni-El meant the "face of God." It was at the latter place that Jacob’s name was changed. After a night of intense struggle Jacob could do no more than cling to the Heavenly wrestler, for the angel of the Lord had touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh and it was out of joint. Then the man who wrestled with Jacob said: "Let me go, for the day breaketh". "And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel". It is in prayer, intense prayer, that the believer comes to the end of his self-life, and God gives him a new name. As we behold His face we are transformed into His image, from glory unto glory. 3. At the place of prayer, Bethel, we will get power to undertake and to carry through our new task, our God-given service. "Pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:6). "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled". Charles H. Spurgeon, the great London preach-er, felt that much of his success lay in the prayers of a dear old saint who never failed him at the throne of grace. Charles Finney was greatly empowered in his testimony, through the prayers of Father Nash. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 01.0016. ELISHA AT JERICHO ======================================================================== Elisha at Jericho "And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho" (2 Kings 2:4). Jericho has some important suggestions for us. 1. Jericho is the place where faith triumphed over the world. Jericho was straitly shut up against Israel, but under Joshua’s leadership the Children of Israel marched around the wall seven days, and seven times on the seventh day, then the walls fell down. When the life has known its Gilgal and its Bethel, it can overcome at Jericho. Achan could not withstand the allurements of the city of Palm Trees. It was at Jericho that he saw some goodly Babylonish garments, and some wedges of silver and gold. He saw, he coveted, and he took these cursed things and then he hid them in his tent. Achan suffered for his sin. Believers are in the world, but they are not of it. We who know the Lord must beware how we touch the things at Jericho. Our glory should be our separation from the world and our crucifixion to the world. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world". 2. Jericho is the place we begin to make encroachments onto Satan’s territory. Certainly, we may expect to find every possible resistment will be made. Yet we must pass round the walls that withstand our coming and claim victory in Christ’s Name. No one can pass on to overcome the nations in the land until Jericho falls. Praise God for marvelous examples of men who have passed through Vanity Fair without being subdued by its vanities. Abraham gave up Haran. Moses gave up Egypt. Paul gave up Jerusalem. In your life of following fully, have you come to Jericho and conquered there? Are you ready to press on toward other planes of triumph? Can you say with C. G. Trumbull: "I yielded all, my struggles ceased, Self died, the dear Christ lived instead Within the soul that He released, When He came in and self was dead. "How wondrously He keeps me now, In whom I live, who lives in me! The thorn-crown pressed upon His brow My coronet of victory." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 01.0017. ELISHA AT JORDAN ======================================================================== Elisha at Jordan "And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on" (2 Kings 2:6). 1. The Jordan stands, in Christian experience for the death of the self-life. This is the lesson of the twelve stones in the river bed. How difficult is the journey to the Jordan. We may gladly give up the world and conquer at Jericho, but self dies hard. Self spelled backward is almost "flesh." Self is the old man, the "I," the "in me" in which there dwells no good thing. Self delights to beautify itself; it boasts of its piety, is proud of its humility, and rejoices in its own praise. Self feasts on commendation, fattens on prominence and feels always its own importance. Our self-life seeketh its own, it cannot bear criticism; it gets a sore case of the blues when complained against; it is greatly concerned in "what the people will think and say about it." Our self-life wants its own way, makes its own plans, and pleases its own self. It cannot bear to be disputed. The believer who wants to go with God must go by way of the Jordan. It is there he learns what it means to say: "I am crucified with Christ", and "Not I, but Christ"; and it is there that he learns the meaning of "if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me". 2. The Jordan stands, in Christian experience, for resurrection to a new life. This is seen in that twelve stones were also placed at the river bank, on the Canaan side. Not only is the old man reckoned dead, crucified, buffeted, denied, made powerless; but the new life is made manifest. We are "raised * * together with Him". We are lifted up to new ground. We walk in "newness of life". Blessed hour, when the new life is ours, when we are made to sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It is not enough to put off the old; we must put on the new. It is not enough to come out of the tomb; we must be loosed indeed from our grave clothes and made to walk in real resurrection power. "No more need fear, and no more doubting, No more need pride control my life: I may be free from condemnation I can have victory in the strife. There is a place, praise God, I’ve found it, There is a place where we may be free; Free from defeat, with power surrounded; Yes, there is victory, Lord, in Thee. I take this life of victory, Not I but Christ, Himself, in me; He conquers now, He sets me free; He gives, I take the victory." --Paul Rader. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 01.0018. ELISHA'S BLESSING ======================================================================== Elisha’s Blessing "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven. "And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more" (2 Kings 2:11-12). Some gracious lessons are before us. 1. Those who follow all the way, will get the blessing. For Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he smote the waters, and cried, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah"? Then the waters stood back, and "parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over", and the sons of the prophets who saw the proceedings said: "The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha". When Abraham held his hand over his only son, Isaac, ready in full obedience to slay him, then God spoke quickly out of the blue and said: "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God". Then God said: "Because * * thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed". If we want the blessing we must go all the way with God. 2. Those who go not, receive not. The sons of the prophets, went not with Elijah. When they passed through Jericho, these young theologues said: "Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today?" And Elisha said: "Yea, I know it, hold ye your peace." Then we read "And they two went on." How striking is the word, "they two." Why not they three, or they four, or they fifty. Not so, it is only they two. Thus Elisha alone received the blessing. How many are living beneath their privileges. Illustration: Mr. Mac Grudder of South Georgia told me one day of his friend who went by steamer from Savannah to New York. His friend took with him some cheese and dried herring and crackers, thinking thereby to save his pocket book. After a few meals on the cheese and dried herring and crackers, with a ravenous appetite greatly nagged by the smell of good things from the dining-room, the friend of Mac Grudder said to the purser of the ship: "How much would one good, square meal cost me?" "It is already yours, sir," said the purser, "it is all included in the ticket." Alas, Christ has His blessings for us all, as we read, "All things are yours", but how few there are who are willing to go in and possess their possessions! "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord". Elisha followed on, the theologues stayed behind. "God has His best things for the few Who dare to stand the test, God has a second choice for those, Who will not take His best." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 01.0019. THE AFTERMATH ======================================================================== The Aftermath "Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send" (2 Kings 2:16-17). The desire of these students seems unheard of. They certainly were of a different fiber, in their conception of things than was Elisha. They insisted that Elisha permit their search, until Elisha was shamed at their request and granted it. Of course, the result was just as Elisha knew it would be. "They * * found him not", and gave up the search. Is it not true that these sons of the prophets could not accept the miraculous? They perhaps wanted to explain that it was a simple whirlwind that caught away Elijah, and that he was dropped somewhere on mountain or valley, and would lie exposed and unburied, a prey to the vultures. In the schools of the prophets today, there is, alas, much of the same rationalistic conception. The miracles must be explained upon some reasonable and scientific basis. Schools are always searching the woods for some tangible basis for every miraculous act of God. The dead were not really raised, the lame did not really walk, the dumb did not really speak. The waters of the sea did not stand up a wall on each side of the Red Sea, nor did the Jordan permit the Israelites to go through dry shod. Daniel was not miraculously kept from the lions’ mouths, nor were the three Hebrew children actually walking in the midst of the flames. Too bad that the schools of the prophets cannot accept the miracles. If they would only believe "In the beginning God", they would find it easy to believe all the rest. Why could not the same God who spoke worlds into existence by His creative power, make a big fish that could swallow and keep Jonah during three days and three nights? Away with this infidelity that robs God of all His power and leaves Him no more than the creatures whom He created. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 01.0020. CHRIST--ALL IN ALL ======================================================================== Christ--All in All Jesus Christ is the one dominant, all-important thought that pervades the whole Bible. Christianity is not a system which promulgates a creed. It is not an accumulation of dogmas. It is not a setting forth of ethical idealisms. Christianity is Christ. Every other religion could well afford to do without its founder; in fact, many of the religions of this world would be better off if separated from their originators. However, when we come to Christianity, it is so insolubly linked to Jesus Christ that the one is inseparable from the other. The whole Church is builded upon Christ crucified. He is its solid rock foundation. The whole Church is in vital touch with the risen Christ: He is the Head of the Church. Jesus Christ is more than the inseparable Christ, He is the incomparable Christ. Men may contrast Him with others, but they can never compare Him with others. Saul, the son of Kish stood head and shoulders above the men of Israel; Jesus Christ stands so far above man that He remains forever in a class to Himself. It is the purpose of this study to notice how Christ is "all-in-all" in the life of a believer. If Christianity cannot live severed from Christ--the believer cannot live severed from Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 01.0021. CHRIST PREDESTINATED MY LIFE ======================================================================== Christ Predestinated My Life "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will" (Ephesians 1:4-5). Predestination is a doctrine that has brought many question marks to the minds of some of God’s children; and yet it is one of the most helpful and blessed doctrines of the Bible. Predestination does not have to do so much with the common salvation, as with the marvelous preparations which God has in store for those who love Him. It is true: "Whom [God] did foreknow, He also did predestinate". It is true that we are, "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ". It is true: Our names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world. It is true that those who were ordained unto eternal life, believed. Predestination, however, places its emphasis upon the exceeding riches of grace which God has purposed for us in Christ. It has to do mostly with ordained blessings, which lie beyond salvation and effect our lot in the ages to come. When God created Adam and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, Adam opened his eyes upon an earth beautifully equipped and fully supplied. There was nothing lacking that nature could impart, and everything was pronounced good. When God called us unto eternal life, He had every spiritual blessing, every Millennial blessing, and every after-the-Millennial blessing which unborn ages will reveal, all afore prepared in His will and purpose. Some day we will open our eyes upon all of these predestinated and before arranged blessings. The believer is not born into a realm of uncertainties; his ship is not floundering about, without a steersman at the helm. Jesus Christ has his whole life mapped out. He holds His children in His hand. He goes before them and picks out the place where they shall pitch their tents. He has prepared wonderful things for those who love Him. When, at last, we stand with Christ in Glory, having entered into the possession of the things before ordained, we will find that there hath not failed one good thing of all that was promised. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 01.0022. CHRIST PRODUCED MY LIFE ======================================================================== Christ Produced My Life "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). A Christian is God’s masterpiece. It was with His fingers that God created the heavens and the earth; it was with His fingers that He threw innumerable worlds into space; but, when God created man anew in Christ Jesus, He brought into play His whole omnipotent Deity to work out His plan; He emptied Heaven of His Son, and gave Him to die upon Calvary’s Cross. Man’s redemption and regeneration was made possible only when Jesus Christ, God’s Son, travailed in the agonies of death. Ephesians 2:2-3, describes what we were when we were dead: "We walked according to the course of this world", we fulfilled "the desires of the flesh and of the mind", we were "by nature the children of wrath"--then, God passed by and we were quickened in Christ, created--born anew. We need to consider the mighty power which God wrought in Christ when He produced our life. Salvation is not achieved by cultivation. It is a new birth. It is a life produced--a life begotten. We hear much of evolution these days and some are so foolish as to speak of the evolution of a rose or of a chrysanthemum. But it is impossible for any man by cultivation, or by fertilization, or by any method known by man, to evolve a rose from a dead rose bush. The sinner is dead; the saint is one, made alive--created in Christ Jesus. Men talk of "producing" and, in a sense, they do produce, but they never create. Everything that man has is borrowed. If he wears a silk necktie, he borrowed it from a worm. If he wears a wool suit, he borrowed it from a sheep. If he wears shoes, he borrowed them from some animal’s skin. Christians are created anew. Nothing in the new life is borrowed from the old. We are commanded to "put off the old man", which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts. We are told to "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness". God is the Father of our spirits and we are children of God. Our life did not lie within one breast, waiting for some outward power to fan the smoldering embers into a new birth. Our life did not evolve from some embryo, which lay dormant within our own breasts. We were born from above, born anew--our life was produced by Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 01.0023. CHRIST--THE PRODUCT OF MY LIFE ======================================================================== Christ--The Product of My Life "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Php 1:21). Beyond all doubt our key verse includes the thought that, for me to live is to produce Christ. The Holy Spirit transfigures the believer "from glory to glory", until he is the very image of the Master. Every phase of the perfect character of Christ is brought in and developed in the life of the believer, by the Holy Spirit. If we are to produce Christ, we must have, resident within us, the character of Christ. Let me give you a few passages of Scripture well worth noting. 1. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost". We are not trying to imitate God in His love, we have His love placed within us. When this love is produced, Christ is produced--for it is the love of God which is shed abroad. 2. "That My joy might remain in you". It is not striving to attain a joy similar to His. Christ places His joy within us. Thus when this joy is made real within us, Christ is the product of our life. 3. "My peace I give unto you". When we sit down and consider the perfect peace of the spotless Christ, we know well enough that children of the flesh can never produce such a peace. But Christ says He will give us His peace. Thus, in us, Christ is living out His own blessed attributes, and He becomes the product of our lives. The ideal Christian’s life is not imitating Christ, but producing Christ. If we are to walk as He walked, He must walk in us. If we are to work out; He must work in. 2 Corinthians 5:20, says: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead", etc. If then we are His ambassadors, if we are in Christ’s stead, how all-important it is then that we truly represent Him. Yet, in order to represent Him, we must have Christ in us. It is not for bringing our humanity up to the standard of His Deity, but it is Christ bringing the power and the holiness of His Deity and making that resident by the Holy Ghost within us. This is just what we mean when we say that Christ is the product of our life. He Himself said, "I will take up My abode in you." If therefore He dwells in the believer, what we must do is to so yield ourselves to Him that He will find an outflow through our words and deeds. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 01.0024. CHRIST--THE PURPOSE OF MY LIFE ======================================================================== Christ--The Purpose of My Life "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). If Christ is the predestinator of my life, if He produced it, certainly everything that I have and everything that I do, should center in Him. It should all be done to His glory. David said, "I have set the Lord alway before my face". Alas, many of us have set many ideals before our face, other than Christ. Some are living for self, some are living selfishly for others. Some are rushing along after the goddess of pleasure. Some are pursuing fame, some are seeking riches. All of these things, the Spirit-filled believer will cast behind him. Everything that he does will be to the glory of Christ. Everything will sum up in Him. Paul said sadly, "All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s". Paul even recognized this tendency in his own life, when he wrote, "As soon as I can look away from the things concerning myself." How few there are who have sunk out of self and into Christ. The Apostle Paul early learned to throw out as refuse, the many things which might have accrued to him as a member of the Sanhedrin, or a Pharisaical zealot, or as a leader among the Christ-rejecting Jews. The Apostle Paul counted no service too hard, no trial too severe, to endure in behalf of Christ. Where is the believer today who has suffered more, borne more, or served more than Paul? If, for a moment, he really did think of himself, it was but for a moment; for his life, even until he drew his last breath, was poured out as a drink offering to his Lord. May the passion which possessed Paul possess every one who reads these lines. May our lives have one aim, one purpose--to live for Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 01.0025. CHRIST--THE PRINCELY LEADER OF MY LIFE ======================================================================== Christ--The Princely Leader of My Life "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, "Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1-2). The word translated "finisher" has been, perhaps, more correctly translated "file leader" or, "princely leader." Jesus Christ stands before every one of us as the shepherd stands before his sheep. He does not get behind us and drive us, He leads the way. If we are called to go to the uttermost parts of the earth, we will have Him blazing out the way in our behalf. Illustration: We saw at the Capitol in Washington, D. C., the painting of an historic American scene. The picture described the early days when the cry, "Westward, ho!" was upon many a lip. There were horses, baggage-laden; there were caravans, pressing onward over the rugged hewn-out road, all with their faces turned toward the West. In the picture, leading the crowd was a man, half raised in the stirrups of his saddle; his face was turned backward toward the crowd who followed him, and his hand was swung forward with his finger pointing toward the setting sun--every line of the picture centered in the man on the horse--he was the file-leader. So Christ stirs our souls with the visions of what lies ahead. His finger points beyond the present day, beyond the mountain sweep which hides the farthest West. He tells us of a better land, kissed with a never-sinking sun; a land where the olives and the pomegranates grow; a land filled with milk and honey, with oil and wine. Jesus Christ proclaims a better day. Just around the next bend of the shore line, we will burst upon the glorious vista of Millennial rest. We may well follow the One who leads us on, He will bring us Home at last. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 01.0026. CHRIST--THE PRAISE OF MY LIFE ======================================================================== Christ--The Praise of My Life "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them" (Acts 16:25). There can be no scene more soul-stirring than the scene presented in Revelation 4:1-11 and Revelation 5:1-14. In this scene Jesus Christ is seated upon a throne and before Him lies a sea of glass, around Him are gathered, first, the four living ones and then the four and twenty elders, and then a great multitude of the Heavenly hosts; then, if you will include Revelation 7:1-17, a multitude which no man can number who have come up out of the Great Tribulation. These all rend the heavens with praises to Christ, the worthy Lamb. The time is coming when the heavens will rend with the mighty shout of praise that shall ascend from these angelic and redeemed hosts. The glory of that day will eclipse by far the day of old, when God created the worlds and the stars shouted for joy. If such a day of praise awaits our Lord, surely those of us who love the Lord and who have been redeemed, should not await that blessed day to shout the praises of our God. The praises of our God should be continually upon our lips. O that men would praise the Lord for all of His wonderful works! How can we but praise Him? No wonder that Paul and Silas sang at the midnight hour. What cared they if their feet were in the stocks and their bruised backs pressed the hard earth. They could not restrain their overwhelming joy; the very prison walls were shaken with their shouts. It was when the Temple was being dedicated, and the trumpeters and the singers were all filled with joy, and praise, that the glory of the Lord filled the House. When Christ becomes the praise of our lives, then His glory will rest upon us. "Crown the Saviour! angels, crown Him! Rich the trophies Jesus brings: In the seat of power enthrone Him, While the vault of Heaven rings. "Hark the bursts of acclamation! Hark those loud triumphant chords! Jesus takes the highest station: Oh, what joy the sight affords!" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 01.0027. CHRIST--THE PROPELLING POWER OF MY LIFE ======================================================================== Christ--The Propelling Power of My Life "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). Back of every deed of ours; back of every service rendered; back of every prayer uttered; back of every gift that is given, there lies the propelling power of a risen Christ. Jesus Christ does not only produce our lives but He gets in behind us and gives us power to serve Him and to fulfil His will. For instance: Christ says unto us, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification". Then, when in our utter weakness, we stagger at the thought of living the sanctified life, He encourages us with, "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it". Again, Jesus Christ bids us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling; and when we despairingly begin to stagger at everything that a truly saved life should work out, every fruitage of salvation that should be born, we would give up the task if it were not for that other word, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure". Blessed be God! We are not left alone. Christ is the propelling power of the believer’s life. We might, in our rashness, think that we could serve apart from Him; but how quickly would He rebuke us for our folly, and remind us of His words: "Without Me ye can do nothing". We might, on the other hand, think that, since we are so weak, we had better give up and not attempt any service for our God. How quickly, again, would He rebuke us, and encourage us with the recorded words of Paul: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me". It behooves every believer to run his race, looking unto Jesus. The street car cannot run if the trolley has slipped the wire. The train cannot run if disconnected from the engine. The believer must get power from God. If he breaks connection, he will stumble and fail. How blessed then are the words of our key verse: "All authority," or, "All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. Go * * and, lo, I am with you". Backed with the propelling power of a risen and all-victorious Christ, we have nothing to fear. He will lead us in the train of His triumph. Illustration: When I was but a lad of nineteen, Dr. John B. Turpin asked me to conduct an evangelistic campaign at the First Baptist Church of Charlottesville, Va. After two weeks, preaching twice a day, I had used up my twenty-eight sermons--all my stock. Then it was that I learned that God could give power and supply me with words. For three more weeks the meetings continued and more than one hundred were baptized. Thank God, we have a living, all-powerful Christ behind us. He will give grace and glory. He will inspire us to renewed service. He will back us up with His encouraging Word. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 01.0028. SANCTIFICATION ======================================================================== Sanctification Sanctification is one of those Scriptural terms which has been abused by many, and yet it is a term which stands forth with deep significance, and is suggestive of God’s best thought for us. Satan’s chief aim has always been to get man out of the center of God’s will. He wants us to work in our own way and will. God wants us to return to the heart of His own love and purpose. When we get God’s will, we will learn that there is nothing He desires of us more than holy living and consecrated serving. To be sure, it is vastly important that we have a true doctrine, but it is equally important that we have a true life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 01.0029. SANCTIFICATION DEFINED ======================================================================== Sanctification Defined "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness"? (2 Corinthians 6:14). Cramer, in his Greek Lexicon, says that the root of the word sanctification is "hagios," and that it means, "pure, clean, free from stain." Young says that it means "to separate, to set apart." Webster adds, "to set apart for holy use." From the definitions, we learn three things, all of which are included in the Bible use of the word "sanctification." First, Sanctification means separation. Jesus Christ said to the man with the withered hand, "Stand forth". The call of our key text is, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate" (2 Corinthians 6:17). There should be one glory in the heart of the believer concerning this world, and that is expressed in Galatians 6:14 : "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world". It was Demas who forsook Paul, having loved this present world (2 Timothy 4:10). Christ said plainly, "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). Jesus Christ was undefiled and separate from sinners. It behooves every believer in Him to go with Him outside the camp and to bear His reproach. "Take the world, but give me Jesus That true Friend who loves me so, Gladly all I leave to follow In this world below." Second, The word "sanctification" means cleansing. It is not only separate from, but cleansed within. Our key verse says: "Be ye clean". The Bible clearly teaches us that we should be clean. "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth" (Colossians 3:8). "Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord" (Isaiah 52:11). "If a man therefore will purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use" (2 Timothy 2:21). The difficulty with too many church people lies in the fact that they are good on Sunday and bad the rest of the week. Their religion is like the preacher’s Sunday coat; put on for special occasions: Illustration: A little girl was asked by her mother as to why she fell out of bed every night. She replied: "I dess it’s ’cause I goes to sleep too near where I dets in." That is the difficulty with the average church-member. They go to sleep too near where they join the church. God wants us to renounce the world and to be clean in heart and in life. Third, Sanctification means dedication. It is not only separation from the world, and cleansing within, but it is the separation and cleansed life, dedicated to God. Our key verse says: "And I will receive you"--dedication accepted. Concerning the seventh day, we read that "God rested on the seventh day * * and sanctified it"--that is, He set it apart. The Tabernacle was sanctified. The Church was sanctified. Both of them were set apart for the service of God. The Bible says concerning Christ, "Therefore I sanctify Myself"--suggesting not that God made Himself holy, for He was always holy, but rather suggesting that the Holy One set Himself apart, dedicated Himself, in behalf of His people. Dedication suggests three things: The acknowledgment of God’s ownership. A presentation of the purchased possession. A full committal--leaving upon the altar, what is placed there. "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee; Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shalt be." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 01.0030. SANCTIFICATION GOD'S WILL ======================================================================== Sanctification God’s Will "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Above all things else, we should desire to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Jesus Christ, on one occasion said, "Who is My mother, or My brethren? * * whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in Heaven". If you want to hold a place as near to the heart of Christ as that of His mother, or brother or sister, you must live in the center of God’s will. When we read, therefore, that "this is the will of God, even your sanctification", we should immediately seek to stand complete in that will. When you enter college, there are certain studies which are marked "optional." You must have so many units for graduation, but it is optional as to the studies you take to secure these units. God, however, has never written the word "optional" over sanctification. The believer who is not sanctified, is not in the center of God’s will; he is falling short of God’s purpose. We know very well that man has used the word "sanctify" and "sanctification" to suggest extreme and other unscriptural conditions, but that does not alter the fact that true Scriptural sanctification is the will of God. Sanctification shall be mine; It is God’s holy will, Divine; And the enabling is of God, Who sanctifieth by His Word. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 01.0031. THE SCOPE OF SANCTIFICATION ======================================================================== The Scope of Sanctification "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Sanctification includes spirit, soul and body. Man is a trinity. The spirit is that part of the man through which we have contact with God. The soul is that part of the man through which we have contact with one another. The body is that part of the man which houses the spirit and the soul. The body is the implement or the instrument through which both spirit and soul express themselves. 1. God wants us to be sanctified in "spirit." When man fell, the spirit lost its touch with God; the spirit has eyes, but it sees not; it has ears, but they hear not; it has senses, but they are blighted by the fall. The purpose of God is to impart sonship, and to restore fellowship. The one who by sin was afar off, is made nigh by the Blood of Christ. The world seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but we both see Him and know Him. God restores to the "spirit" of man its function of seeing God, and then tells us that the very God of peace will sanctify us wholly: and that our spirit should be preserved blameless. God hath promised and He will enable His children to be kept in His love, to abide in Him, and to live in constant fellowship with the Father and with the Son. We are sanctified in spirit when having been renewed in the "spirit of our minds" we have learned the secret of living "Godly" in this present world. 2. God wants us to be sanctified in soul. This is our intellectual life--the life of thoughts, ideas, opinions, imaginations, memory, will, affection. All of these should be made subject to Christ. We want to bring our thoughts into the obedience of Christ. 3. God wants us to be sanctified in the body. Romans 12:1 makes it plain, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice". In Romans 6:13, we read, "Yield * * your members as instruments of righteousness unto God". God wants our eyes and our ears, our feet and our hands; in fact, God wants every part of our body for His use. Having been cleansed in spirit, soul and body, and having been separated from the walks and ways of the world, we bring this, the whole man, and pour it out as sacrifice to God. "All to Jesus, I surrender, Now I feel the cleansing flame; Oh, the joy of full salvation, Glory, glory to His Name!" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 01.0032. SANCTIFICATION GOD'S WORK ======================================================================== Sanctification God’s Work "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). When we think about separation from the world and cleansing within and a life wholly yielded to God, we wonder how it can be accomplished. The Bible says, "The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The Bible says of God: "Who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). It is quite as impossible for one to carry out the full meaning of sanctification, apart from the empowering of the Holy Spirit, as it would be for one to crucify himself. The life of sanctification certainly begins in the yielded will; but man cannot, alone, work out the riches of this life. We turn our back upon the world; He gives us the power to forsake the world. We confess our sins; He cleanses us from our sins. We yield ourselves to God; He receives our yielded offering. We desire to serve Him, He says: "All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. * * "Go * * I am with you" (Matthew 28:18-20). In sanctification, as in every sphere of Christian experience and life, Christ is All, and in all. There is nothing apart from Him. Apart from Christ we can do nothing. In Christ and through Him who strengtheneth us, we can do all things. Thus it is Christ who is made unto us sanctification. He is the One who enables us. He gives us victory in our separation from the world. He cleanses us in life and gives us power to walk in the newness of life. He accepts of our consecration and enables us to be faithful in following Him in all things. Sanctified wholly by power Divine, Living and walking by power not mine; Looking to Jesus while glory doth shine, Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. (Arranged). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 01.0033. SANCTIFICATION BRINGS BLESSING ======================================================================== Sanctification Brings Blessing "And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies" (Genesis 22:16-17). When Abraham offered up Isaac, God cried, "Stay thy hand." Instead of his son, Abraham offered up a ram. But this was not all. That night, God said to Abraham, "Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing, I will bless thee" (Genesis 22:16-17). It is only when we give ourselves wholly to Him that He can give Himself in fullness unto us. Jesus Christ said, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life" (John 10:17). And, when we bring our all, and yield ourselves to God, a new love springs forth toward us from the heart of God. Illustration: A young girl had always delighted in the fellowship of her father. She greeted him continually upon his return from work and delighted in his society. There came a time, however, when day after day passed and there was no little girl waiting at the gate. The daughter kept herself in her own room. The father’s heart was hungry, but he said nothing. Finally, his birthday came around, and the little girl, in great delight, rushed into his presence and handed him a pair of bed-room slippers. She said, "Oh! papa, see what I made for you with my own hands." Then it was that he understood why she had been hiding herself away. He appreciated the slippers, but as he kissed her, he said to her, "Darling, you didn’t know how much papa would have rather had you than the slippers." Let us not for a moment think that we can satisfy God by giving Him our things. He wants our hearts, our love, our selves, our all: and, to one who gives himself, his heart, his love and his all, God will multiply the blessings of His grace. "Jesus! I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart. Oh, how great Thy loving-kindness, vaster, broader than the sea! Oh, how marvelous Thy goodness, lavished all on me! Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved, know what wealth of grace is Thine, Know Thy certainty of promise, and have made it mine. Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art, And Thy love so pure, so changeless, satisfies my heart: Satisfies its deepest longings, meets, supplies its every need, Compasseth me round with blessings; Thine is love indeed!" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 01.0034. SECOND COMING INSTILS SANCTIFICATION ======================================================================== Second Coming Instils Sanctification "And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3:3). God wants us to be preserved blameless unto the Coming of the Lord. As we consider the thought of Christ’s imminent Return, we are led to separate ourselves from the world. If Christ may appear at any moment, we should at every moment be living soberly, righteously and Godly in this present world. When the Coming of Christ grips the heart and the life, it purifies the heart and the life. Illustration: Brother Dowkont, of New York city, told us that his little boy one day said: "Papa, may Jesus come again at any moment?" The father answered, "Yes." Then after a few moments of reflection, the young lad said:--"Then, papa, we’ll have to be on the job all the time." In Colossians 3:4 we read of Christ’s Appearing in glory and of our appearing with Him. Then in Colossians 3:5 we get the aftermath: "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth". Sanctification and the separated, cleansed, and dedicated life is all intimately connected with the Second Coming of Christ. When Christ’s Second Coming Grips firmly the heart, From sin and all evil We surely will part; The Hope will correct us, Our hearts sanctify, And we will rejoice that His Coming is nigh. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 01.0035. THE WILL OF GOD ======================================================================== The Will of God Epaphras was a man who prayed. He did not pray as men usually pray, loungingly and lazily and leisurely. The Bible says he labored fervently in prayer. It is said that David Brainerd, who wrought so faithfully among the Indians of this country, years ago, was accustomed to pray out in the snow, in such an agony of petition, that great drops of sweat stood upon his brow. We need to pray as Epaphras prayed, and as Brainerd prayed. It is to be noted also, that Epaphras prayed always, continuously. Prayer, to this man of God, was not a mountain peak here and another mountain peak far away, with a valley of prayerlessness lying between. He prayed without ceasing. Again, we notice that Epaphras was definite in his prayers: He prayed, laboring fervently; He prayed that the saints at Colosse might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. The theme of the prayer of Epaphras is the theme of our study. We trust that a great blessing will be received as we study together the supreme passion of the heart of the man whose chief asset was his prayer life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 01.0036. THE WILL OF GOD OUR CHIEF AIM ======================================================================== The Will of God Our Chief Aim "And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22). There is nothing more important for a Christian, than to find out the will of God in his life. To seek the will of God is certainly a holy ambition. Jesus Christ said, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will". We, too, should delight in His will. Christ said, "Mine ears hast Thou opened", or "bored". The words suggest that Jesus Christ was the yielded bond slave of the Father. We too should be His bond slaves. Does it seem too much to us, that God has a plan for every life? A definite purpose? A revealed will? Does not the architect present to the builders a plan? Must not the building be erected according to specifications? God has a distinct purpose for every life: because He says: "To every man his work". The believer should constantly seek to know that purpose, and to fulfil it. To miss God’s plan will be fatal to ourselves, and it will be fatal to all with whom we have to do. Illustration: Recently, in crossing Lake Michigan, at night, we stood at the prow of the ship, looking over the dark waters; we knew not the direction in which we were going. There was no star visible, to give us aid. The night was cold, and dark; yet, we had no fear, for just above us, and behind, was one who held his hand upon the wheel. We knew he would bring us safe to port. And God knows; He leads the way; He holds our hand; He has everything afore prepared. The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. He will guide us with his eye. Illustration: It is said that when the Brooklyn bridge was building, the architect received an injury which laid him up for many months. From his bed he gave instructions to the builders. Finally, when the work was completed, he was carried out on a cot, to view the bridge. After he had examined it in every detail, his eye lighted up with gladness, and, clapping his hands, he cried, "It is just according to the plan." We too, should be able, when our life’s task is completed, to say, "We have finished the work which He gave us to do; it is just according to His plan." "Thy will, O Lord, not mine, teach me to say; Not my will, Lord, but Thine, I would obey; Then shall I know the joy, And Thy Name glorify, When I, on earth, shall try to follow Thee. "My weakness, Lord, I own, from day to day; I listen for Thy voice to lead the way; Oh, wilt Thou send the light To make my pathway bright, And show me what is right, the only way. "I cannot see just where the Spirit leads, But know that Christ is there, who intercedes; Oh, help me now to rest On Jesus’ loving breast, Till He shall manifest His love in me!" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 01.0037. STANDING IN THE WILL OF GOD ======================================================================== Standing in the Will of God "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth" (John 16:13). In order to stand in the will of God, we must first lay down all plans of our own. Illustration: It is said that once the Emperor William of Germany, rushed upon the captain aboard his own imperial ship and commanded full speed ahead. The captain was going at half speed because of dangerous shoals. Full speed would endanger the safety of all aboard. The captain therefore refused his Emperor’s demands. The Emperor, in irritation, rang the bell, giving orders to the engineer below for full speed. Immediately, the captain reversed the Emperor’s orders and demanded that he be left alone in the running of the boat. The captain in reality was only refusing to run the risk of the life of his Emperor. He fully expected to be dismissed when shore was reached. Instead, he was commended and promoted. Whether this is true, I do not know, but one thing I know,--we must keep our hands off the wheel. It is not ours to choose the path which we must follow. We must walk in the way of His choosing. It is not in a man to direct his steps. We do not know what the future holds, nor do we know the enemies which may lurk in ambush,--but God knows it all. He knows and He cares, and we should stand in the will of God. "One step I see before me, ’Tis all I need to know; For o’er each step of my onward way, He makes new light to glow." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 01.0038. STANDING PERFECT IN THE WILL OF GOD ======================================================================== Standing Perfect in the Will of God "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2). There are two ways in which we might speak of this word "perfect." 1. We want to stand in His perfect will. The Bible speaks of "the good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God". What we want is God’s very best--His perfect will. Jesus prayed "nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt". Are we willing to go anywhere, to be anything, to pay any price, to get God’s best in our life? So many are satisfied with His second choice. They want to be blessed, but they do not want the full blessing. 2. We want to stand perfectly and not half-heartedly in His will. We do not want to stand complainingly in His will. We want to say "Amen," that is, "the will of God be done." We also want to say, "Hallelujah," that is, "I am glad that the will of God is done." In walking through life, when we put down one foot, let us always say "Amen," and when we put down the other foot, let us say "Hallelujah," and thus it will be "Amen, Hallelujah," all the time. "O Blessed life! the heart at rest, When all without tumultuous seems That trusts a higher will, and deems That higher will, not mine, the best. "O blessed life! heart, mind, and soul, From self-born aims and wishes free; In all, at one with Deity, And loyal to the Lord’s control. "O life! how blessed, how Divine! High life, the earnest of a higher! Saviour, fulfil my deep desire, And let this blessed life be mine." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 01.0039. STANDING COMPLETE IN THE WILL OF GOD ======================================================================== Standing Complete in the Will of God "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me" (John 14:21). We should hold nothing back from God. We should have no reserve, no dread, no fear in following our Lord fully. No matter where God leads, we must be willing to go. If He tears up our nest, we will trust and not be afraid. If He leads us into the place of quietude, where our life is not as loud as we might have planned; if He leads us into the place of suffering, where our life might not be as long as we had planned; if He leads us into the place of smaller things, where our life might not be as large as we had planned; still, let us rejoice and stand complete in His will. It is only the life that does the will of God that abides forever. It is only the life that works in Him down here that will receive His "well done" up there. Who will go all the way with God? "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee; Naken, poor, despised, forsaken, Thou, from hence, my all shalt be. "Perish every fond ambition, All I’ve sought, or hoped, or known, Yet how rich is my condition! God and Heaven are still my own." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 01.0040. STANDING IN ALL THE WILL OF GOD ======================================================================== Standing in All the Will of God "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do" (John 17:4). Certainly our Lord is the only one who has ever stood perfect and complete in all the will of God. Christ never once deviated from the Father’s perfect plan. Therefore as He stood that day in the upper room with the Cross just ahead, and His earth life about completed, He could say, "I have finished the work". There was no task left uncompleted. May our great aim be all of God’s will. To miss the mark in one small item may bring disaster and dismay. Let us go all the way with God. No tryst left unkept; no duty left undone. There are three stages of experience with some-- 1. There was the time when, in our sin, we had no room or place for God at all--It is thus expressed by the song: "Oh the bitter pain and sorrow, That the time could ever be, When I proudly said to Jesus, ’All of self and none of Thee.’" 2. There came a time of conviction. We saw ourselves as lost, and we saw Christ as a Saviour, and yet we would not give up all and follow fully, and then we said: "Yet He found me; I beheld Him Bleeding on the accursed tree: Heard Him pray: ’Forgive them, Father!’ And my wistful heart said faintly, ’Some of self, and some of Thee!’" 3. There came a time, soon after, when we opened our hearts and received Christ, and then we sang: "Higher than the highest Heaven, Deeper than the deepest sea, Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered; Grant me now my supplication-- ’None of self, and ALL of Thee!’" Now since we are saved may it always be, "all of Thee." We must earnestly seek to stand "perfect and complete in all the Will of God." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 01.0041. DOING GOD'S WILL ======================================================================== Doing God’s Will "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in Heaven" (Matthew 7:21). 1. It is the will of God to save us out of this present evil age (Galatians 1:4). God wants us to be a people separate unto Him. 2. It is the will of God that we should be sanctified, for "this is the will of God, even your sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). God wants His children to be clean and free from stain. God wants His children to be yielded, separated unto Him; dedicated unto His service. 3. It is the will of God that we should give thanks in everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18). God wants us to praise Him for our disappointments, and to spell disappointment with a capital "H" instead of a little "d." 4. It is the will of God that we should be placed as sons (Ephesians 1:5). This is the will that looks on into the future. We are His sons by birth; we shall receive our blessing and our inheritance, by and by. This is the will of God. 5. It is the will of God that we should be with Christ where He is (John 17:24). Certainly in all these things, every true believer desires to stand perfect and complete. "Through me, Thou gentle Master, Thy purposes fulfill I yield myself for ever To Thy most holy will. What though I be but weakness, My strength is not in me; The poorest of Thy people Has all things, having Thee." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 01.0042. HOW MAY WE ASCERTAIN GOD'S WILL? ======================================================================== How May We Ascertain God’s Will? "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:1-2). 1. We must know His Word. David said, "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee". He also said, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path". To stand perfect and complete in the will of God, we should never do anything contrary to His Word. We should seek to know what the Word says on every salient point. 2. We should not be conformed to this world. If we are to know the will of God, we must keep our ears closed to the calls of the world. The words and thoughts of the world are as far from the words and thoughts of God, as the heavens are far above the earth, as the east is far from the west. If we would know His will, we must "be not conformed" to the world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind. 3. If we are to know the will of God, we must be taught by His Spirit. Jesus Christ was led of the Spirit, and we, too, may be led of the Spirit. We will know His leadings, by the still, small, inaudible voice within. We will also be assured that we have the leadings of the Spirit, when, in the performance of His will, we have rest of mind and are established in our hearts. 4. If we should know the will of God, we must pray as Epaphras prayed. Habakkuk 2:1 says: "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me". We will never know the will of God in those things not specifically set forth in the Bible, unless we labor in prayer. 5. If we should know the will of God, we must weigh every "open door" in the light of what has just been said. It is true that many doors may open which are not of God. Jonah found a ship going to Tarshish, as he supposed, but in reality, it led him to a whale’s belly. We must be careful to know that the open door is in the line of duty and not in the pattern of disobedience. 6. If we would know the will of God, we must be quick to obey when He speaks. Hosea 6:3 : "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord". The man who hears God’s commission, and delays obedience, will be in danger of getting into the midst of doubts. It is when we do His will, not when we discuss it; that we know of the doctrine (John 7:17). When God spoke, Abraham obeyed. When God spoke, Philip arose and went into the way to Gaza, which was desert. When God spoke, Paul immediately obeyed. He was not disobedient to the Heavenly vision. If we would know His will, we must pursue promptly each command He gives. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 01.0043. THE TWO COVENANTS ======================================================================== The Two Covenants Galatianism was a mixture of Law and of Grace. The Epistle to the Galatians clearly distinguishes between Law and Grace, and seeks to correct the errors of Galatianism. The message is one which is greatly needed. There are so many Christians who desire to be under the Law, yet when they place themselves under Law, they place themselves under the curse. We suggest the following parallelism, setting forth the two covenants, illustrated in Abraham. THE FIRST COVENANT THE SECOND COVENANT Law Grace Moses Christ Sinai Jerusalem (from above) Ishmael Isaac Son of Bond woman Son of Free woman Flesh Spirit Cannot justify Justifies Worketh wrath Worketh peace Shuts every mouth Opens every mouth with praise Kills Makes alive Brings knowledge of sin Brings knowledge of life Separates from God Brings nigh to God Condemnation Acceptance Condemns the best Justifies the worst The first covenant is likened unto Hagar, the bond-maid, and to her son Ishmael, born after the flesh--this covenant is Mount Sinai in Arabia. The second covenant is likened unto Sarah, the freewoman and to her son Isaac, born after the promise,--this covenant is Jerusalem, which is from above. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 01.0044. THE LAW COVENANT ======================================================================== The Law Covenant "Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar" (Galatians 4:24). 1. Law, as set forth by the Commandments, written on two tablets of stone, is a covenant which worketh wrath. When the Law was given, Mount Sinai did exceedingly quake. It was covered with "blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; * * And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake" (Hebrews 12:18-21). The one who comes under the Law of God is under the curse, because it is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them" (Galatians 3:10). 2. The covenant of the Law demands obedience of man. "If ye will obey My voice indeed, * * then ye shall be", etc. (Exodus 19:5). This was the condition of every blessing which man could receive under the Law. It is illuminating to study the wonderful promises which Moses gave, as written in the closing chapters of Deuteronomy; everywhere it is: "Do this and thou shalt live." 3. The covenant of the Law was not unto salvation, but unto privilege. Through the keeping of the Law, the Children of Israel were to become established as a peculiar treasure, and a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, etc. (Exodus 19:6). 4. The covenant of Law became operative when the people accepted the covenant and the people said, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8). 5. The Law covenant was quickly broken, even before it was received, engraven upon stones. Moses had been forty days in the mountain, and returning with the two tables, he found the people dancing around a golden calf which they had set up. Moses cast down the tables of stone and broke them. Israel had already broken them by her disobedience. 6. The Law covenant being broken, Moses had no claim in Israel’s behalf, save the covenant of grace. In Exodus 32:7-8, Exodus 32:10, we read, "And the Lord said, * * They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them * * let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them". Then it was that Moses pled the unconditional covenant of Grace, which had been given unto Abraham. God pity the one today, who seeks to camp under the Law, surrounded by the thunders of Sinai. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 01.0045. THE LAW COVENANT--RESULTS ======================================================================== The Law Covenant--Results "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them" (Galatians 3:10). 1. The first covenant, the Law given at Sinai, was holy. "The Law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12). 2. Man utterly failed to keep the Law. "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). There is no one on the wide earth, who has kept all the Law. All are sinners. 3. The Law could not give life. "What the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh" (Romans 8:3). "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law" (Galatians 3:21). The Law could not justify, because men could not keep the Law. "Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them" (Romans 10:5). "For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). In these Scriptures we see the utter helplessness of the Law to save. 4. "As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse" (Galatians 3:10). The Law was no more than "the ministration of death" (2 Corinthians 3:7), and, "the ministration of condemnation" (2 Corinthians 3:9). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 01.0046. THE COVENANT OF GRACE ======================================================================== The Covenant of Grace "And if by Grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise Grace is no more Grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more Grace: otherwise work is no more work" (Romans 11:6). 1. The second covenant was Isaac, born of a free woman, the son of promise, born after the Spirit, answering to Jerusalem which is from above. This covenant was given unto Abraham. It was an everlasting covenant, an unconditional covenant, and a covenant of Grace. 2. The covenant was not dependent upon what Abraham was, or upon what Abraham might do. The covenant was sealed with the oath of Almighty God. 3. The covenant was made operative by faith. "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness". 4. This covenant emphasizes the glories of Grace. "If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; * * now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of Grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:2, Romans 4:4-5). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 01.0047. GRACE BETTER THAN LAW ======================================================================== Grace Better Than Law "For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. "For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth" (2 Corinthians 3:9-10). The Law which passed away, had glory; but Grace, which remaineth, excels in glory. It is by Grace that we are saved, not of works (Ephesians 2:8). It is the Grace of God that hath appeared, bringing salvation (Titus 2:11). It is Grace through which we are justified and made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:7). We are "justified freely by His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). Our salvation and our election in Christ Jesus are all to the praise and the glory of His Grace. It is in Him, by His Blood that we have our redemption, it is not by the good which we have done, nor by the works of the Law. Let us get back to Grace. Law says, "do;" Grace says, "done;" Law looks to the flesh, Grace looks to Christ; Law considers salvation a debt, Grace considers salvation a gift. "Saved by Grace alone, This is all my plea; Jesus died for sinful men, By Grace He set me free." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 01.0048. A SOLEMN WARNING ======================================================================== A Solemn Warning "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the Law; ye are fallen from Grace" (Gal, Romans 5:4). 1. The individual who is seeking Heaven under the Law makes void the Cross of Christ. If we are saved by what we do in life, we are not saved by what Christ did on Calvary. 2. If salvation is of works, it is of debt and not of Grace; for, "to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of Grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:4-5). 3. If salvation is of works, then there is room for boasting, "for if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory" (Romans 4:2). "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith". If we were saved by what we do, we would be forever expecting to be praised and honored; we would be waiting to change the hymns of Heaven, which ascribe all glory and honor and might and dominion and strength unto Jesus Christ, so that we might receive such glad acclaim. 4. If salvation is by Grace, then it is no more by works; "otherwise Grace is no more Grace". But if it is of works, then it is no more Grace; "otherwise work is no more work" (Romans 11:6). By the four points above, it is established that whosoever should be saved by works, he has fallen from Grace (Galatians 5:4). ’Tis Grace alone, not Law plus Grace, For fleshly works can find no place In Adam’s sinful, fallen race; The Blood alone can wash us clean And make us fit to enter in To Heaven’s joys, to reign with Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 01.0049. THE LAW INSUFFICIENT ======================================================================== The Law Insufficient "For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3). If we are saved by the works of the Law, salvation would not be equally in the reach of all, because men live under different environment. Men have inherited different tendencies toward sin. Some men are born of moral parents, thus they have received by natural inheritance, a disposition more genial, more loving and more true than others. Some men are thrown under more severe temptations and testings than some others. To sum up what we mean: If salvation were a matter of the works of the flesh, and of right living, it would be much easier for some people to be saved than others; but, since salvation is of grace, the promise is sure and equally assured to all the seed. Jesus Christ is just as able to save the vilest of the vile as the purest of the pure. His hand is not shortened that He cannot save; His ear is not heavy that He cannot hear; by Him, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Therefore the door is open to all. Let "whosoever will" come and enter in. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 01.0050. CONCLUSIONS ======================================================================== Conclusions "Nevertheless what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. "So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free" (Galatians 4:30-31). Some solemn questions: Under which covenant would we prefer to stand? Under the covenant dependent upon man, or under the covenant dependent upon God? Under the Law or under Love? Under works or under Grace? Where can righteousness be found? Where is salvation assured? Israel found nothing but condemnation under the works of the Law. Until this day, Israel is kept secure in the hand of God, under the election of Grace. Let us not go to Mount Sinai, with its thunderings and lightnings, with its condemnation and death; but let us go "to Mount Sion, and unto the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the Blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel" (Hebrews 12:22-24). The time is coming when God will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven; when God will remove all those things that are shaken. Let us have no part in Law works for such works will be shaken; they will receive nothing but judgment. Let us hide ourselves in Him; shelter ourselves under His wings; hover under His Grace: there and there alone will we find that we are in the place where we cannot be shaken. God pity those who are camping under Law works, and spurning saving Grace. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 01.0051. THE REWARDS OF THE RIGHTEOUS ======================================================================== The Rewards of the Righteous There is no confusion and contradictions in the Word of God concerning the doctrines of grace and of rewards. We suggest a parallelism which will show their distinctions. The parallelism follows:-- GRACE REWARDS Unmerited Merited No obligation An obligation A free gift Pay for service Received by faith Recompense for work Without money With great cost Best service useless Least service remembered Depends on Christ Depends on believer Looks to God’s faithfulness Looks to believer’s faithfulness Cannot be lost Can be lost Rewards are reckoned unto the saved. They are reckoned upon worth. Grace is the unmerited kindness of God manifested in Christ Jesus. Rewards are wages for work accomplished, for Christian virtues lived out, and for faith held fast. Grace is received in Christ by virtue of His atonement. There is the Grace that saves in Ephesians 2:8. There is the Grace that meets our daily needs in Hebrews 4:16. There is the Grace which shall be brought to us at Christ’s Second Coming. There is the Grace which will be manifested in the eternal ages yet unborn (Ephesians 2:7). All of these manifestations of Grace are over and above any and all merit upon our part. Grace is an obtainment through riches of mercy. Rewards are an attainment reached through our own service, holy living, and fidelity to the faith. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 01.0052. THE FACT OF REWARDS SET FORTH ======================================================================== The Fact of Rewards Set Forth "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Revelation 22:12). The idea, held by so many, that in Heaven all believers will be alike, possess the same honor, wear the same crowns, and receive the same "well done," is altogether unscriptural. We want, first of all, to establish the fact that rewards are to be given. Luke 6:23 --"Your reward is great in Heaven". John 4:36 --"He that reapeth receiveth wages". Ephesians 6:8 --"Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord". Colossians 3:24 --"Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ". Revelation 22:12 --"My reward is with Me". The above Scriptures will suffice to establish the fact of rewards. Our Lord is not unfaithful, that He should forget our labor of love. Illustration: A young man lay dying. His mother sat devotedly at his side. She had marked from time to time, a shadow passing over the face of her son. Finally she said, "My dear boy, are you not satisfied that you are saved, upon the merits of Jesus Christ?" The answer was reassuring. "Yes, mother, I know I am saved. Six months ago I received the Lord Jesus and my sins were washed away." After awhile, the same cloud returned and the mother once more said, "My boy, if you know you are saved, why does that look of deep concern come upon your countenance?" The boy replied, "Mother, I have never done anything for Him; and I have just been thinking that I must meet the One who died for me, without any sheaves to lay at His feet." The story we have just told, as near as we can remember it, was related to C. C. Luther, and Geo. C. Stebbins wrote the music to the beautiful song, "Must I Go and Empty Handed?" upon the dying statement of this dear young man. "Must I go--and empty handed? Thus my dear Redeemer meet Not one day of service give Him, Lay no trophy at His feet? Not at death I shrink or falter, For my Saviour saves me now; But to meet Him empty-handed, Thought of that now clouds my brow." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 01.0053. ACTS THAT MERIT REWARD ======================================================================== Acts That Merit Reward "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). 1. There are some who seem to think that rewards lie wholly in the realm of Christian service, but the Bible clearly teaches that believers are to be rewarded for the way they live as well as for what they do. The Christian who fails to add to his faith, the blessed graces of Christian living, suggested in 2 Peter 1:5-7, will certainly fail to have the reward of an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord. 2. "Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it. * * If any man’s work abide * * he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss" (1 Corinthians 3:13-15). The believer is to be rewarded according to his works, whether he builds wood, hay, stubble, or gold, silver, and precious stones. The service which is rendered unto God in the energy of the flesh is the former; the service in the Spirit, is the latter. How important that we should serve aright. We should be careful both as to how we build and as to what we build. "We are building every day A temple the world may not see; Building, building, every day, Building for eternity." 3. "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day" (2 Timothy 4:7-8). The Lord will reward His servants accordingly as they are faithful in the fight, as they keep the faith, and as they complete their God-given tasks. The value of these three primal requirements, cannot be overestimated. 4. "I know thy works, and love (charity), and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; * * I will give to every one of you according to your works" (Revelation 2:19, Revelation 2:23). The believer is to be rewarded for works and love and service and faith and patience. Let us see that we excel in all of these things. 5. "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1 Corinthians 9:27). The believer is to be rewarded accordingly as he subjects his flesh. He must buffet his body and bring it into subjection; he must so run and so fight that he may obtain the prize, and stand approved in the day of the Bema of Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 01.0054. REWARDED ACCORDING TO WORKS ======================================================================== Rewarded According to Works "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour" (1 Corinthians 3:8). When we stand before the throne of Christ, we are to be rewarded, not according to our good intentions and our holy ambitions, and our large promises, but we are to be rewarded strictly upon the basis of what we did. Revelation 22:12 --"My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be". 1 Corinthians 3:8 --"Every one shall receive his own reward according to his own labour". Galatians 6:7-8 --As you sow, so shall you reap. Our Lord will be just in rendering wages to those who have served Him in this life. Let not that believer who is living carelessly and negligently, think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. He shall be saved by grace. Certainly. But he shall be rewarded according to his works. Those who sow sparingly shall reap also sparingly; those who sow bountifully shall reap bountifully. Some will be saved so as by fire--they will suffer loss; some will have an abundant entrance--they will be richly rewarded. Each of the five crowns mentioned in the Bible are rewards for specific service rendered. All rewards are proportioned according to what we have done. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 01.0055. REWARDS AT OUR LORD'S RETURN ======================================================================== Rewards at Our Lord’s Return "And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Revelation 22:12). According to the Word of God, the believer during this age may expect persecutions and sorrows and sufferings. The more truly we live for God, and the closer we walk with God, the more will we be hated of the world. Our rewards, for the great part, lie beyond this age. Down here, we may receive blessed tokens for Christian life and service, but these are only foretastes of what awaits us when our Lord appears. Matthew 16:27 --"For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father * * then He shall reward". Luke 12:43-44 --"Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath". Luke 14:14 --"Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just". 2 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:7 --"That ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer * * and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven". Revelation 2:23, Revelation 2:25 --"I will give unto every one of you * * hold fast till I come". Revelation 11:18 --The time hath come "that thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants and prophets, and to the saints". Revelation 22:12 --"Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me". The above passages suffice to show us that Jesus Christ will bring His rewards with Him. "When Jesus comes to reward His servants, Whether it be noon or night, Faithful to Him will He find us watching, With our lamps all trimmed and bright? "Blessed are those whom the Lord finds watching, In His glory they shall share; If He shall come at the dawn or midnight, Will He find us watching there?" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 01.0056. REWARDS MAY BE LOST ======================================================================== Rewards May Be Lost "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1 Corinthians 9:27). It is absolutely impossible for a believer to lose his salvation. There are those who hold this error, and they hold it, we believe, because they fail to discern between eternal life, which is of grace; and rewards, which are of works. The passages commonly used to prove that the believer can finally be lost, are passages which teach that the believer may lose his rewards. Let us notice a few of these Scriptures. 1. "I therefore so run, * * so fight I; * * I keep under my body, * * lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). The Apostle Paul never doubted his salvation, but he knew very well that he could stand before the Bema of Christ without a victor’s crown, and he knew that he might be saved and yet be rejected, and not approved so far as the incorruptible crown was concerned. 2. "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; * * I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Php 3:12, Php 3:14). The Apostle Paul again suggests that the prize of the up-calling, is to be attained through following after the Lord Jesus. There are certain things Christ has put before us. Things which pass beyond the realm of salvation and enter into the realm of rewards. These we must apprehend or else lose them. 3. "Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17). The word "if" suggests the possibility of not being joint-heirs in the reign of Christ. We may be saved by grace and raptured by grace and even then lose our blessed position in the reign. We must remember that while that servant who had traded well with his talent, was rewarded well; the servant who had hid his talent, suffered loss. 4. "Yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully" (2 Timothy 2:5). The runner or the wrestler in the ancient games, was never crowned unless he strictly followed the rules of the game. We too, may stand before our Lord, uncrowned, unless we faithfully follow the rules of the Divine race course. "Hold fast that thou hast, that no man take thy crown". There is nothing in the Bible about losing our salvation. There is much in the Bible about losing our crown. Let us deeply consider the warning of 2 John 1:8, "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward". ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 01.0057. REWARDS AN INSPIRATION FOR SERVICE ======================================================================== Rewards an Inspiration for Service "And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together" (John 4:36). If all that has been set forth concerning rewards, is true, we have certainly found a tremendous inspiration for fidelity in life and faithfulness in service. No wonder that Paul said "I therefore so run * * so fight I", that I may obtain. No wonder he said, "I press * * for the prize". Surely, if there is to be a crown of life given to those who love Him, we will seek to endure temptation that we may obtain (James 1:12). Surely, if there is a possibility of our losing the things which we have wrought, we will look to ourselves that we may receive a full reward (2 John 1:8). Surely, if our God is coming to judge every man’s work, without any respect of persons, we should pass the time of our sojourning here with fear (1 Peter 1:17). We read of Christ, "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). If Christ "endured the Cross" and despised the shame, inspired with the blessed joy of seeing the redeemed, set before Him: should not we also keep before us the joy of seeing those who may be won for Christ, through us? Thus, it was that Paul said in substance, concerning the Thessalonian Christians, "Ye shall be my joy and crown of rejoicing at the coming of the Lord". Moses forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King; Moses suffered affliction with the children of God, because he saw the "recompense of the reward" and "he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:26-27). Should we not then also be inspired to serve and to sacrifice, with the same blessed "recompense of reward," inspiring us? Let us so run that we may obtain. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 01.0058. THE LIFE OF PRAYER ======================================================================== The Life of Prayer Perhaps the greatest danger that confronts a believer lies in his failure in prayer. The world is traveling along at a tremendous rate; it is hurry here and rush there. There seems to be no time any more to step aside and talk to God. If saints knew the value of prayer; if they realized the preciousness of its practice, they would take time to pray. We fear that most Christians spend but a few moments a day alone with God, and when they do pray, they choose the worst hour of the day for their devotions, the bed-time hour, when they are wearied from the day’s activities. The tired and sleepy are in no physical condition to pray. David said, "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I * * cry aloud". Daniel opened his windows toward Jerusalem three times a day, and surely the Christians of this age cannot afford to pray less. Every morning there are certain flowers which turn their faces to the sun; would that we might linger a little while and turn our faces toward Him who is the all-present help in every hour of need. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 01.0059. THE AVENUE OF PRAYER ======================================================================== The Avenue of Prayer "And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My Name, I will do it" (John 14:13-14). We have but one approach to God. There is but one way open through which we can have access to the Father. Our access must be upon the merits of Jesus Christ. It is in His Name that we are commanded to pray. We do not have an approach to God upon any claims of our own. We do not deserve God’s favor, nor can we demand His blessing. Jesus Christ said: "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me". Ofttimes in the lodge room there may be Jews present and there may be Buddhists, or Mohammedans, and all of these deny the Lord Jesus. Therefore, in the lodge room, it is customary to pray unto God, but not in the Name of Christ. To mention Christ’s Name would be an offense to those who defame Him. Therefore, there is no real prayer possible. There may be a form and a fashion of prayer, but there is no approach to God. There are some who vainly think that it is through the mediation of Mary, the mother of our Lord, that we must have our approach to God. This is also wrong. Mary did not die the just for the unjust, that she might bring us to God. We approach God in Christ, because it is through the death of Christ that we are justified and made whiter than snow. God is a holy and a just God who can neither fellowship the unclean nor justify the ungodly. Jesus Christ is our Daysman, who by virtue of His atonement became sin for us and made us the righteousness of God in Him. When Christ died the veil in the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom. Now, in Christ, we can enter the Holy of Holies and have communion with the Father. Blest hour of prayer, blest hour of prayer, For thee I would my heart prepare, And thus approach the Father’s throne Upon no merit of mine own; But in Christ’s Name, I seek His face And plead the merit of His grace, And thus approach in righteous dress While God comes down my soul to bless. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 01.0060. PRAYER AND FELLOWSHIP ======================================================================== Prayer and Fellowship "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My Words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him" (John 14:23). The one who never prays is the one who knows nothing of walking with God, or with his Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. If we really love the Lord, we would often seek His face. How beautifully did Miss Havergal write: In the secret of His presence. How my soul delights to hide; O how precious are the lessons That I learn at Jesus’ side. The man who is never at home with his wife and children; the man who purposely allows this and that and the other thing to keep him away from the family fireside, has certainly lost the ardor of his first love. The Christian who never steps aside from business or from pleasure, who never gets alone with God and looks up into His face, who never communes with God in prayer; is certainly not in love with Christ. Prayer is not merely a bank window which we approach to present and to cash the check made out according to our needs. Prayer presses beyond the cashier’s window, and goes inside and fellowships the president of the bank. Petition is not as precious as praise. Praise is an avenue of worship; it is ofttimes a Jabok where God wrestles with us, or it may be a Bethel where the angels of God ascend and descend with visions of God. Let us cultivate prayer in its highest privilege--fellowship. God will delight to come in and take His abode with us; Christ will delight to come in and sup with us, if we will keep open the doorway of prayer. "What various hindrances we meet In coming to the mercy-seat! Yet who, that knows the worth of prayer, But wishes to be often there? Prayer makes the darkened clouds withdraw, Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw, Gives exercise to faith and love, Brings every blessing from above. Restraining prayer, we cease to fight; Prayer makes the Christian’s armor bright; And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 01.0061. PRAYER AND PETITION ======================================================================== Prayer and Petition "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Php 4:6). While prayer does not mean merely petition, yet it includes petition. When we pray, we should give much time to praise and thanksgiving, and to worshipful confiding, but prayer also is the avenue through which we seek the supply of our needs. It is in prayer that we make our requests known to God. The prayer of petition is sanctified by the life of Christ. He prayed for strength and help and succor, He also prayed for His disciples: He said to Peter, "I have prayed for thee" (Luke 22:32). The Lord Jesus Christ also carried in the arms of His petition all of those who afterwards would believe on His Name (John 17:20). He prayed in behalf of His enemies and said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). We should delight in presenting unto the Father the simplest, as well as the most intricate, need of our life. We should draw nigh that we may find grace to help in time of need. We have a God who is both able and willing to supply every need. Our temporal, physical or spiritual needs are all provided for us in Him. 1. Our Temporal Needs "Your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they"? "If God so clothe the grass * * shall He not much more clothe you"? "Your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things" (Matthew 6:25-34). 2. Our Physical Needs "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31). "Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day" (Acts 26:22). 3. Our Spiritual Needs "Blessed be * * God * * who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings" (Ephesians 1:3). 4. All Our Need "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus" (Php 4:19). "Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! That calls me from a world of care, And bids me at my Father’s throne Make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief, And oft escaped the tempter’s snare, By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 01.0062. PRAYER A CURE FOR WORRY ======================================================================== Prayer a Cure for Worry "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Php 4:6-7). If we have confidence in the Lord and we have told Him all about it, why should we be anxious? We should cast all of our care upon Him for He careth for us. When we pray, our eyes turn away from ourselves and from our plans and our environment, unto God. We are led to confide in Him. We are constrained to commit our all unto God as unto a faithful Creator. If, therefore, we are anxious and fearful, we are not living in the practice of confiding prayer. Christ Jesus is our Great High Priest. He is managing our affairs for us; He has our names written upon the epaulettes of His shoulders, the place of His strength; upon His breastplate, the place of His love; and, upon the palm of His hands, the place of loving care. Why should we worry? If we come to Him and make our requests known, with a believing heart, we will be without care, and the peace of God will garrison our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. "My God, is any hour so sweet, From blush of morn to evening star, As that which calls me to Thy feet-- The hour of prayer? "No words can tell what sweet relief Here for my every want I find: What strength for warfare, balm for grief, What peace of mind! "Hushed is each doubt, gone every fear; My spirit seems in Heaven to stay; And e’en the penitential tear Is wiped away." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: 01.0063. PRAYER--PREPARATION FOR SERVICE ======================================================================== Prayer--Preparation for Service "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. "And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away" (Acts 13:2-3). All of God’s great men have been men of prayer. Abraham communed with God on the plains of Mamre, fatness. Lot, to whom the Lord could not personally speak, lost his all in the rush of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses, at the back side of Mount Hebron, knew how to call upon his God. David, the shepherd lad, found much time for fellowship as he tended his father’s sheep. Elijah could talk to God at Jericho and Zarephath. John the Baptist was in the desert until the day of his showing to Israel, and there he talked with God. Peter knew a place of prayer in the quiet of the housetop. Paul sought the Father’s face, in the heart of Arabia. Spurgeon, Hudson Taylor, Mueller, and Moody, all knew the place of prayer. Before we go forth to meet men, we should get alone with God. Before Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, He had prayed to the Father. Before any great task is accomplished for God, there must be the preparation in the place of prayer. Father Nash prayed while Finney preached. The early Church prayed and fasted and the Spirit sent forth Paul and Barnabas. It was while Peter prayed that the call came from God to go to Caesarea. When Isaiah communed with God and saw in a vision His holiness, he heard the voice: "Whom shall I send, and who will go"? Prayer and service are vitally and indissolubly linked. In prayer I sought my Saviour’s face, And asked Him what His will for me, At once He pointed out the place Where I should serve with victory. I went, obedient to His Word, He went with me, blest be His Name. I preached the message of His love, He made the Word a mighty flame. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: 01.0064. PRAYER THE SOURCE OF POWER ======================================================================== Prayer the Source of Power "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:6). When we ask, God acts. In the closet alone with God, we pray, in the public God rewards us with power as we serve. If we would get behind every great victory in the realm of evangelism or in the realm of missions, or of any truly great victory for God, we would find that prayer had played its part. Illustration: We are reminded how Dr. Dixon once, in an evangelistic campaign, saw a blacksmith arise in his audience. The blacksmith said, "Dr. Dixon, I believe that we should pray to God for the salvation of twenty-five souls to-night, and I want to lead the prayer." That night, twenty-five souls made profession of faith. The next day, the same blacksmith arose and said, "Dr. Dixon, I believe that we should ask God for fifty souls to-night, and I want to lead the prayer." That night, fifty souls were saved. Not forty-nine or fifty-one, but fifty. Dr. Dixon said he wondered the next day what the blacksmith brother would do, but there seemed to be no more of the burden of prayer upon him, and that night only three or four were saved, and so on until the meetings closed. When Joash was commanded of Elijah to shoot with bow and arrows, he smote the ground but three times. The Prophet was greatly displeased and he said, "Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice" (2 Kings 13:19). If we want God to do great things through us and carry out His purposes to the full, we must not faint in prayer. It was when they prayed, that the house was shaken, and God’s power filled the room. It was when they had prayed that the jail doors flew open and the angel led Peter forth. It was when Paul and Silas prayed that the jailer came trembling and astonished and sought the Lord (Acts 16:25-31). Then let us pray, and make our stay, Upon the greatness of the Lord; He’ll surely move, His power prove, And magnify His precious Word. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: 01.0065. CALL TO PRAYER ======================================================================== Call to Prayer "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). 1. The Day of Temptation Is a Call to Prayer. We are taught, "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation". Christ taught His disciples to say, "Lead us not into temptation". The conies are but a feeble folk, yet they build their houses in the rocks. We too may be feeble, and fall to the tempter’s wiles, but if we will hide ourselves in Him, in prayer, He will deliver us. 2. The Hour of Need Is a Call to Prayer. In the Psalms we read of the ship that was in the midst of a storm and when they called unto the Lord, He heard them pray and brought them to their desired haven (Psalms 107:28-30). Illustration: During the war of the sixties, a man on picket duty became inwardly alarmed. He was a Christian, and in the hour of his fear, he sang, "Jesus Lover of My Soul." Years afterward, when crossing the Atlantic, the same man was singing the same song in the parlor of the ship. When he had finished, a stranger walked up and asked him if he had not, on a certain night during the war, been on picket duty, and if he had not sung that song. When he replied in the affirmative, the stranger said, "I had slipped up near, and I held up my gun, ready to fire, when I heard you sing, ’Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing.’ I turned away; I could not kill a man who trusted in his God." 3. The Greatness of Our Task Is a Call to Prayer. We should pray the Lord of the harvest to thrust forth laborers into harvest (Matthew 9:38). 4. The Need of Israel Is a Call to Prayer. We should pray for the peace of Jerusalem, "They shall prosper that love Thee". 5. The Yearnings of the Holy Spirit within Us Is a Call to Prayer, and whenever there is a burden upon our spirit that will not let us go, we must not refuse to pray (Romans 8:26). Illustration: A mother felt a tremendous drawing to prayer in behalf of her son, who was a missionary. She prayed until the burden went away and she was assured that all was well. Later on, her son wrote her, and it turned out that at the very hour at which she prayed, he was miraculously delivered from a bear. Without any possible explanation, a bear, that was about to attack him, had turned upon his heels and gone away. Bless God for the privilege of prayer. "O Thou that hearest prayer How sad this life would be-- How hard each heavy cross to bear, Could we not come to Thee! When faith seems lost in fear, And hopes are dimmed by care, In Thee we find refreshing cheer. Thou blessed hour of prayer!" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: 01.0066. SEVEN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BELIEVER ======================================================================== Seven Characteristics of the Believer ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: 01.0067. A STUDY OF II TIMOTHY, CHAPTER 2 ======================================================================== A Study of II Timothy, Chapter 2 We Are Sons--and should be strong in His grace (2 Timothy 2:1). We Are Soldiers--and should endure hardness (2 Timothy 2:3-4). We Are Wrestlers--and should strive lawfully (2 Timothy 2:5). We Are Workmen--and should know our tools (2 Timothy 2:15). We Are Vessels--and should be clean (2 Timothy 2:20-21). We Are Servants--and should be patient, gentle (2 Timothy 2:24). We Are Husbandmen--and shall be partakers of the fruits (2 Timothy 2:6). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: 01.0068. THE BELIEVER IS A SON ======================================================================== The Believer Is a Son "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:1). 1. How Do We Become "Sons of God"? Answer. From the human side: We become sons by receiving Christ. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name" (John 1:12). Answer. From the Divine side: We become sons by the new birth; "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God". Illustration: A darky was carrying a drummer over a squally lake in his sail boat, when the drummer said: "Mose, you handle your boat so well, I wonder if you understand the philosophy of the wind." The darky replied: "No, sir, boss, I don’t understan’ de philosophy of de wind, I jus’ knows how to hold de sails." And this is true. We cannot understand the philosophy of the new birth, but, bless God, we know how to hold up the sail of faith and to catch the breath of the Spirit, and God does the rest.--"So is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:6-7). 2. What Should "Sons" Do? Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Sonship is one thing, fellowship is quite another. We cannot lose sonship; we may lose fellowship. When sons sin, they break fellowship. We should carefully guard our daily walk lest we lose our Heavenly Father’s smiles. A good proof text is: "Keep yourselves in the love of God" (Jude 1:21). Hebrews 12:5-11 shows how God deals with sons when they sin against Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: 01.0069. THE BELIEVER IS A SOLDIER ======================================================================== The Believer Is a Soldier "Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:4). 1. Read 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 and 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 and note some of the things Paul himself endured as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2. Read Ephesians 6:13-17 and speak of the armor that is given to panoply Christian soldiers for their fight against Satan and his hosts. 3. Read Php 1:29 and tell how all of us are called upon to suffer for Christ: that is to endure hardness as good soldiers. 4. Read Romans 8:18 and show how the glory, when the battle and its sufferings are past, will by far outweigh the anguish of the conflict. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: 01.0070. THE BELIEVER IS A WRESTLER ======================================================================== The Believer Is a Wrestler "If a man also strive for masteries (contend in the games), yet is he not crowned, unless he strive lawfully" (2 Timothy 2:5). 1. Read Hebrews 12:1-2 and describe the scene as based upon the Roman amphitheater race course. The successful runner, of course, was compelled to go in training. Everything in eating and drinking and in living that might hinder his being "fit for the race" had to be laid aside. So we should lay aside every weight and the sin (perhaps referring to "unbelief") and run our Heavenly race. A few words might also be said about the witnesses, whose race has been run and whose valor should inspire us; and a final word on Christ Jesus as the Princely Leader in our race, upon whom we should always fix our gaze. 2. Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Note, first, the need of keeping under the flesh; and second, the glory of the incorruptible crown to the successful runner. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: 01.0071. THE BELIEVER IS A WORKMAN ======================================================================== The Believer Is a Workman "Study to shew thyself * * a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). The workman must know his tools--that is, the believer must know the Book. 1. Read Joshua 1:8. The need of daily Bible study. 2. Read Jeremiah 23:29. God will honor the use of His Word. 3. Read Matthew 7:24, Matthew 7:25. Whatsoever is not builded on the Word will surely fall. 4. Read Hebrews 4:12. The power of the Word of God. 5. Read 1 Peter 2:2. The vital need of the Word for growth. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: 01.0072. THE BELIEVER IS A VESSEL ======================================================================== The Believer Is a Vessel "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use" (2 Timothy 2:20-21). 1. God’s great demand is for His servants to be clean: Read Isaiah 52:11. Education, talents, influence--nothing takes precedence over the clean life. 2. Read Deuteronomy 34:1-12. To be unclean is to lose God’s presence and approval. David said: "Create in me a clean heart, * * then will I teach transgressors Thy ways". God can only use clean vessels in His service. 3. Read the following poem. Better memorize it and recite it. "The Master stood in His garden Among His lilies so fair, Which His own right hand had planted And trained with tenderest care. "He looked at their snowy pinions, And marked with observing eye, That His lilies were drooped and fading, And their leaves were parched and dry. "Close, close to His feet in the pathway, All empty, and frail and small Was an earthen vessel lying, That seemed of no use at all. "But the Master saw it, and raised it, From the dust in which it lay, And said, as He sweetly whispered: ’My work it shall do today.’ "’It is but an earthen vessel, But close it is lying to Me, It is small, but clean and empty, That is all it needs to be.’ "So forth to the fountain He bore it; And filled it to the brim. How glad was the earthen vessel To be of some use to Him. "His own hand drew the water, Refreshing His flowers so fair, But He used the earthen vessel To convey the waters there. "And then to itself it whispered, As He laid it aside once more: ’I still will lie in His pathway Just where I was before. "’Oh, close would I keep to the Master, Clean and empty would I remain, For day by day He may use me To water His lilies again.’" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: 01.0073. THE BELIEVER IS A SERVANT ======================================================================== The Believer Is a Servant "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient" (2 Timothy 2:24). Jesus Christ girded Himself with a towel and served. We too are to serve. "Saved to Serve" is a good motto for believers. If servants we should act as servants. Paul continually wrote of himself as "The servant (Gk. "doulos"--bondslave) of Jesus Christ". The servant is one first of all yielded to the Master. 1. Read Psalms 40:6-8 and Romans 12:1 on The Surrendered Life. The servant is also one who is serving--ready to help--patiently assisting, gently teaching, extending the helping hand. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: 01.0074. THE BELIEVER IS A HUSBANDMAN ======================================================================== The Believer Is a Husbandman "The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits" (2 Timothy 2:6). Here we have the glory of the harvest. This is our reward for service. Paul wrote, in substance, of the Thessalonian converts: "Ye shall be my joy and my crown of rejoicing at the Coming of the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20). 1. Read Romans 8:17. Our present toil is nothing comparable to coming glory. 2. Read John 4:35, John 4:36. The present call for reapers, and the coming wages our Lord will pay. 3. Read Revelation 22:12. The real rewards for our labors await the Second Coming of Christ. There the crowns are given; there the full fruition of our labor is received. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: 01.0075. FISHING FOR MEN ======================================================================== Fishing for Men Preparation (2 Timothy 2:19-21). Purpose (Nehemiah 4:6). Plan (John 4:5-7). Place (Luke 8:39). Prayer (Luke 22:31). Practice (Philemon 1:10). Pay (1 Thessalonians 2:19). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: 01.0076. PREPARATION FOR THOSE WHO WOULD FISH FOR MEN--WIN SOULS ======================================================================== Preparation for Those Who Would Fish for Men--Win Souls 1. 2 Timothy 2:19-21 shows clearly that the one who would be "meet for the Master’s use", must be clean in his own life. David prayed, "Create in me a clean heart * * then shall I teach transgressors Thy ways". The ones who would bring men to God must not only be saved, but they must be clean. Isaiah gives us the vision of the seraphim calling forth, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts". Then the Prophet saw his own guilt and the guilt of his people and cried, "I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips". Quickly the angel flew with a live coal from off the altar, and said: "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged". Then it was that Isaiah heard the voice saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go"? And he answered the angel, "Here am I; send me" (Isaiah 6:1-8). So God places cleansing of life before service. 2. Romans 9:1-4 explains how Paul had a real heart yearning for his kinsmen, and so also we must have a preparation of heart as well as of head. No man will prove a winner of souls until he has a yearning and a burning for the lost. In Ezekiel 9:1-11, the cry is made: "Go through the midst of the city * * and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof". If this were done today, how many are there who would be found with a real ache of heart over the condition of lost men? If Christ wept over Jerusalem, should we not weep over our lost? 3. 2 Timothy 2:15 shows that we not only need a preparation of life and of heart to be soul-winners, but we need a preparation of mind. We must be able to "rightly divide the Word of Truth", especially being taught in those simple but fundamental truths that teach the way of life. It is not enough to give our personal experience--we need to give a clear passage of Scripture that will show the lost with whom we are dealing what God says about his sins, his Saviour and the faith that saves. Soul-winners must know the Book. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: 01.0077. PURPOSE IN SOUL-WINNING ======================================================================== Purpose in Soul-Winning "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work" (Nehemiah 4:6). The enemy had broken down the wall, and Nehemiah had undertaken to rebuild it. He called upon his own people, the Jews, to help him in this mighty task, and the people "all had a mind to work". So if we are to win souls for Christ we must have a strong purpose, a determination that cannot be set aside. This illustration may be helpful. A certain sea captain was making his first, and record trip with a newly launched steamer. He had been crossing the Atlantic with splendid speed and everything bid fair for a splendid finish. Then as he sped along he heard the cannon sounding its call for help from some sinking ship. The captain gave no heed, but kept his own ship in high speed, straight on its course. But he was destined to pass very near the sinking ship which lay near his course, farther ahead. As he passed within sight of the steamer he could hear the cries of "Help!" but he kept on his way. He entered New York harbor in splendid time, making a wonderful record for his ship. The steamer officials warmly congratulated his success--but alas, as he left them, their praise seemed to chafe him, for he could not rid himself of the vision of the sinking ship. Their cries of Help! Help! grew louder and louder in his ears. Finally his reason reeled and he became a mad-man crying ever and anon, "Can’t you see the sinking ship, hear their cries, oh, stop the engines, and save those drowning folk." Is it not true that many of us are so deeply engrossed in earthly pursuits, that we have no ear for the cries of dying men and women? We need to fall on our faces and consecrate ourselves to God for the work of soul-winning. Who has a mind for the work? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: 01.0078. PLAN IN SOUL-WINNING ======================================================================== Plan in Soul-Winning "Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. "Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink" (John 4:5-7). The best plan in soul-winning is personal work,--that is, the "one by one" method of reaching the lost. Christ gave notice to the disciples, "I must needs go through Samaria". There lies back of this "must needs", the vision of a lost woman, a sinner, who surely possessed a broken heart and a contrite spirit. What she needed was the personal touch of Christ. And so the scene is given. There is Christ sitting, wearied, at the well curb, talking salvation to the woman from Sychar. It is the hand-picked fruit that is the marketable fruit. We need to press the importance of personal work. Today the unsaved seem to be staying away from the churches, more than ever before. If we are to win them, it must be by going to them, where they are, and by going to them one by one. Even if the unsaved attend the church they often need the personal word to seal the preacher’s testimony. There may be some difficulty in the way, or there may be needed just the helpful aid of some interested friend to complete the work which has begun within their life. The eunuch had been to Jerusalem for to worship, and was returning without the longed-for peace of soul. The Holy Spirit saw his plight and quickly summoned Philip to speed along the desert road toward Gaza. Thus Philip overtook the eunuch, and found him reading in the Prophet of Isaiah, concerning the Cross of Christ. To Philip’s query of "Understandest thou what thou readest"? the eunuch replied: "How can I, except some man should guide me"? This is ever true. The great need of the lost man is the helping hand of some one who knows the way of life and who can explain the message of the Cross. May God help us to be equipped and ready for personal work. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: 01.0079. THE PLACE TO PRACTICE SOUL-WINNING ======================================================================== The Place to Practice Soul-Winning "Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee" (Luke 8:39). 1. The first place to do soul-winning work is in one’s own home. Surely we should "learn to show piety first at home," and we should seek first of all to win those next to us unto God. How many young men and women are hindered in their longing after God, because they of their own household seem so utterly indifferent to their lost estate. The fact is, that too often the ones at home, who are saved, would feel utterly at a loss if their unsaved loved ones asked them to point them out the way of salvation. If we cannot talk Christ to the ones at home, who know us best and love us most, the reason is because our life "behind the doors," our home life, is inconsistent with our Christian profession. If one can talk to some other person’s brother or sister better than he can talk to his own, the reason doubtless lies in the fact that his own brother or sister knows him too well. 2. The second place to do personal work is in the church and the Sunday School. There are always those who are truly interested, and who need just a word to encourage them on their way. A believer awake to his opportunities can quickly find some one to point to Christ. Soul-winning churches must always be those where Christ is faithfully preached from the pulpit, and where Spirit-led personal workers are active in the pew. 3. Another place for personal work is on the street. This may be done in many ways. The giving of a tract, or the turning of a conversation, may prove very fruitful in leading to the all-important question of salvation. 4. Perhaps the personal visit to the home across the street, or over town, or even miles away, is just what the Spirit will want you to do. Illustration: The story is told of a minister’s daughter who spent a restless night, because God had laid heavily upon her heart the lost estate of a man, a big man, an infidel, who lived across the street. In the morning the daughter begged her father to go and speak to the infidel--but the father said, "Has God told you to go?" The young lady responded: "But, papa, he is so smart and so full of his infidel tricks that I could not speak with him." But the father told her that if God wanted her to go, He would give her words to speak. She went. The infidel met her at the door. She followed him to his "den." When she was seated he asked her quest. The girl at once lost all her poise. She cried, and stammered out the words, "Oh, I couldn’t sleep all night for thinking about your being lost. I do want you to be saved--oh so much, so much." And then the trembling girl ran from the room and out the door and across the street and fell upon her father’s neck and sobbed out, "Oh, papa, I spoiled it all." But not so. The infidel had heard her words, seen her emotion; he followed her with his eye, from the door, as she ran across the street; he imagined the scene within the preacher’s home. The infidel went back to his room heart-broken, convicted of his lost estate. He fell upon his face and cried for mercy, and there the Lord spoke peace unto his soul, and he was saved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: 01.0080. PRAYER IN SOUL-WINNING ======================================================================== Prayer in Soul-Winning "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; "But I HAVE PRAYED FOR THEE, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:31-32). If we are to win men to God, we must pray for them by name. The Old Testament priest had a twofold work--first, he was to tell God of the people; second, he was to tell the people of God. So we are all God’s priests. Our duty is to tell the people of God, to press home upon them the story of the Cross, the Risen Lord, and the Coming Christ; but, that is not our first duty. First, we must tell God of the people. We are in no heart preparation, nor are we panoplied for the work until we have spent our while alone with God. Before you see the matchless Spurgeon standing before the gathering crowds and preaching grace; go, and steal within the secret closet where he prayed. Think not of David Brainerd pleading with the Indians of our far North lands, but think of him in agony of prayer as he kneels in banks of snow and pleads in prayer until the sweat rolls down his face. The picture that thrills the soul, is not that of David Livingstone traversing the African Wilds and teaching Christ, so much as it is that of David Livingstone spending nights in prayer to God. And most stirring is the scene of Livingstone, after many a hardship and many a completed task of love, at last found dead upon his knees. He had borne the people of his heart’s desire to God in prayer so long, that, as he prayed God said, "It is enough" and took him home to his blest reward. If we are to win souls, we too, must pray, pray, pray. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: 01.0081. THE PRACTICE OF SOUL-WINNING ======================================================================== The Practice of Soul-Winning "Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds" (Philemon 1:10). In a prayer-meeting a man was talking something like this: "I aim to be a better man;" "I aim to do more for Christ, than ever before;" "I aim to do personal work and win some souls for God;" "I aim, I aim." Suddenly a huntsman in the crowd cried out, "My brother, why don’t you fire?" To aim is not enough. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them". Illustration: After the two armies of the North and the South had ceased firing and had fallen back behind their ramparts, a young Southern soldier said to Colonel Kershaw--"Colonel, hear the boys crying for water on the battle-field. Let me leap the wall and give them to drink." The officer said "No, you cannot go. A hundred bullets would be through your body as soon as you showed yourself beyond the wall." "But, Colonel, can’t you hear them cry? Please let me go." Permission was given and the lad leaped the wall. The boys in blue saw and fired, then stopped, for see, the Southern lad was leaning down and holding a canteen to the lips of both the blue and grey. Then the Northern army rose en masse and gave three cheers for the man who risked his life to give water to the dying lips of friend and foe alike. We, too, must surely take the Water of Life and leap the walls of separation and give to drink, to the men who die. Illustration: When the first railroad was being built through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, the river had swollen its banks, and crowds stood by watching the maddened waters rushing down the way. Suddenly from a half submerged tree far out across the turbulent tide, came the cry for help. A youth was seen clinging to the tree. "Who will go, and rescue the man?" was the murmur that ran through the crowd. Then a young civil engineer gave answer, "I will go." He took a boat far up stream, and started on his perilous trip--through swiftly swinging debris and dashing waves he guided his canoe. At last he came to the tree, he caught it with his arms, and as the boat swung round, he held it with his feet. Then the crowd watched him as he helped the youth into the boat. When next he grasped the oars, a mighty cry of cheer went up from the shore. Then all were stilled with fear. Could the brave man safely make back his way? Yes, he did. God that day worked with him as he rowed. To this day, they tell of the hero who risked his life to save the one who else had drowned. And shall not we get busy for our God? Shall not we reach out our hand and at every sacrifice seek to save those who are lost? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: 01.0082. THE PAY FOR SOUL-WINNING ======================================================================== The Pay for Soul-Winning "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His Coming"? (1 Thessalonians 2:19). No work is so fruitful in its rewards as the work of soul-winning. Paul had entered the city of Thessalonica and preached and alleged that Christ must needs have died, and that He must needs have been raised from the dead, and that the Jesus whom he preached was the Christ. Great persecution arose, and he was compelled to flee the city. However the living seed had been faithfully sown and the harvest was sure to follow. In later days he wrote back, in the Holy Ghost, a Letter to the saints at Thessalonica. He reminded them of the manner of entering in, he had among them, and how they turned from their idols to serve the True and the Living God; and to wait for His Son from Heaven. Then, Paul said a word that should cheer us all. He saw those whom he had won for God as standing before the Lord in Glory. He saw, in vision, the time when the Lord should come; saw himself translated and standing with the Lord and round him standing those whom he had led to Christ--then he wrote his words, "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His Coming"? And who can doubt the pay that Christ will give to the one who wins souls? He that winneth souls, he that turneth many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars in God’s galaxy of the glorified. Illustration: A boy lay dying. He had been saved only a few months before. His mother, who sat at his side, saw a troubled look. "Son," said she, "are you not satisfied that you are saved?" "Oh, yes, mother, I have no doubt, the way is clear." Again the mother saw the look of pain. "My son, if you are saved, then why the anguish that crosses o’er your face?" "Mother," said the youth, "I was just thinking that I must meet my Lord with empty hands." This story was told a servant of our God, and he wrote the song: "Must I go and empty handed, Thus my dear Redeemer meet, Not a soul with which to greet Him, Lay no trophy at His feet. "Oh the years of sinning wasted, Could I but recall them now, I would give them to my Master, At His feet, I’d gladly bow." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: 01.0083. WHY THE SAVED ARE SAFE ======================================================================== Why the Saved Are Safe There are many who seem to object to that blessed Scriptural teaching which we have called the Safety of the Saved. There are those who think that one truly born of God can be lost. That one can be regenerated today and unregenerated tomorrow. Those who deny the safety of the saved, imagine that the doctrine of eternal security gives to Christians a license to live licentiously. That if your daily life does not assure your salvation, you will naturally give reign to your passions and live as you list. Such teaching is absolutely erroneous. If a child of God sins, he will be punished. He will soon learn that it does not pay to sin. If a child of God sins, he loses his rewards. In fact, grace teaches us how to live, and the security of the believer, when rightly understood, and Scripturally explained, never leads to lewdness. We rejoice that when Christ saves, He does not do a half work. We are not taken up, out of the miry clay, to be fastened by the thin and easily broken rope of our own deeds, over the horrible pit of hell. When God saves a sinner, He implants within him a new nature and He saves forevermore. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: 01.0084. SALVATION IS A GIFT ======================================================================== Salvation Is a Gift "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Salvation being God’s gift, is wholly independent of what we are or of what we do. Eternal life is received by faith; it is not a reward for service. Eternal life is wholly of grace; and, being of grace, it is not of works. Grace represents an unmerited bestowal. If salvation depended upon what we are, it would lie beyond the reach of all, because there "is none righteous, no, not one". If salvation was dependent upon our merit, we could never have any assurance of salvation because we would never know whether we had done enough to merit eternal life. The Word of God, however, clearly establishes the fact that "the gift of God is eternal life", and God’s gifts and callings are without repentance. We mean by that, God does not give us something today and retract His gift tomorrow. That is the proverbial Indian way of giving. God’s gifts are unconditional; He places no strings upon them. When we know the gift of God, we know that we have a salvation that is made secure in the grace of God. Sinners, come, for grace is free, Gladly given unto thee; Wilt thou then on Christ believe, And His wondrous gift receive? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: 01.0085. THE GIFT IS ETERNAL LIFE ======================================================================== The Gift Is Eternal Life "God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). When one receives Jesus Christ as Saviour, he becomes immediately the possessor of eternal life. The Bible clearly says: "He that hath the Son, hath life". Eternal life, then, is a present possession never a future obtainment. We read in John 5:24, "He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life". This verse is conclusive inasmuch as it shows that eternal life begins when faith begins, and that the life which then began is eternal. If a person could be saved today and lost tomorrow, the life that he had today could not be called an "eternal life". Certainly, the word "eternal", outreaches, by far, the narrow confines of a few passing weeks. Illustration: Dr. Pettingill once asked a man if he was saved. The man replied: "No, sir, not now." "But," said the man, "I was saved until recently." Dr. Pettingill then asked him if he had been truly born again, and he replied, affirmatively. "And what did you receive when you were born again?" asked the preacher. The man responded: "Eternal life." "And how long did it last you?" "Six months," was the response. The folly of all this is easily seen. If we receive eternal life when we become children of God, then we have a life that never ends. We are saved unto the ages of the ages. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: 01.0086. THE LIFE IS A SPIRITUAL BIRTH ======================================================================== The Life Is a Spiritual Birth "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). Regeneration implants within the believer, the Divine nature. When we are born again, we become children of God. We are children in no mere theoretical or ethical sense; we are children by birth. When Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, He was begotten by the Holy Ghost. When we, who believe, are born, we too are begotten of the Holy Ghost. The new life, which Christians possess, is a life wholly distinct from the life which they received in their natural birth. Those who are saved, are members of Christ; they are one body in Christ. When we are born into an earthly family; it is impossible to be unborn. When we are born into the Heavenly family, it is equally impossible to be unborn. In the first birth, we were joined to the first Adam and we can never lose that life. In the second birth, we are born to the Last Adam and we can never lose that life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: 01.0087. A LIFE HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD ======================================================================== A Life Hid with Christ in God "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). This is a step in advance. We have an imperishable life because we have a life that is secured by the Lord Jesus Christ. Until Satan has been able to break through the life of Christ and to overthrow the power of the Almighty God, he cannot in any way, succeed in touching the life of the believer. Jesus Christ said in John 14:19 : "Because I live, ye shall live also". Christ thus insures the believer’s life by His own. Paul, in the full assurance of faith, said: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). Let us trust Him, for our security is in Him. "We have a firm foundation, whose hope is in the Lord; We have a blessed haven, who anchor in His Word; Though surges break around us, and clouds our sky may dim, He will not leave to perish one soul that clings to Him. "Give praise to our Redeemer, oh, magnify His grace; Our everlasting portion, our sure abiding-place. "We have a strong Deliverer, who trust His mighty arm; Not all the hosts of darkness His chosen ones can harm; His arm that brought salvation defends them from above; They rest within His mercy, o’ershadowed by His love." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: 01.0088. A LIFE SECURE IN THE FATHER'S HANDS ======================================================================== A Life Secure in the Father’s Hands "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; * * "My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand" (John 10:28-29). God says that He will hold us in His hand, and "God is faithful, by whom we were called into the fellowship of His Son" (1 Corinthians 1:9). No one need fear to commit their souls unto God as unto a faithful Creator. If salvation depended upon our holding on to God, we might lose our grip; but our safety depends on God holding on to us. He says: "Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand". We "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (1 Peter 1:5). The business man deposits his money in the bank; when the deposit is made, the security of that money depends entirely upon the bank. It depends upon the vault, upon the safety lock, upon the integrity of the bank officials. The believer’s life depends upon the faithfulness of God. The ones who trust in Christ the Lord, Have full assurance in His Word; Their hope is not in shifting sand, He holds His children in His hand. By many a wave we may be tossed, Yet not a soul shall e’er be lost. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: 01.0089. A LIFE SECURED BY AN UNFALTERING LOVE ======================================================================== A Life Secured by an Unfaltering Love "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, "Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). The believer is kept secure in the unchangeable love of an unchangeable God. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ: for "having loved His own, * * He loved them unto the end". There is nothing, neither Satan, nor sin, nor the world, nor the flesh, there is nothing--neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor peril, nor the sword, that can separate us from the love of God. There is no created thing, there is no height, there is no depth, there is nothing present and there is nothing to come, that can separate us from the love of God. "Loved with everlasting love, Led by grace that love to know; Spirit, breathing from above, Thou hast taught me it is so! Oh this full and perfect peace! Oh this transport all Divine! In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine. "Things that once were wild alarms Cannot now disturb my rest; Closed in everlasting arms, Pillowed on the loving breast. Oh to lie for ever here, Doubt and care and self resign, While He whispers in my ear-- I am His, and He is mine." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: 01.0090. A LIFE SEALED BY THE SPIRIT ======================================================================== A Life Sealed by the Spirit "In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, "Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:13-14). Illustration: The life of the believer is a sealed life. In the lumber districts of Northern Michigan, the logs are cut down during the winter months, then they are sealed or stamped with the distinctive mark of the owner. When the spring comes, they are carried down by the freshets toward the lake. James McConkey, in one of his books, has suggested how certain men, make a livelihood by running over the logs, turning them about and looking for those timbers which have escaped their sealing. Whenever a log bears the mark of an owner it cannot be touched; but, if the log has somehow slipped through, as many do, and it bears no seal or stamp, then any one may claim it and put his own stamp upon it. Satan can easily move about among the church-members and examine their genuineness. Wherever there is one who has not the mark of regeneration, and of the Spirit’s sealing, Satan may claim that one. There are many who have the mark of baptism, or, who have the mark of having partaken of the Lord’s Supper; or, they have the mark of faithful attendance at church, but they have never been born again. These have never been sealed by the Spirit, and therefore they are not secured. Those who are sealed of God the Spirit, sealed through to Glory, sealed until the day of the redemption of their bodies; those, and only those, are secure. Blessed sealing of the Spirit, Fills my soul with joy Divine; Fills and thrills me with assurance, I am His and He is mine. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: 01.0091. A LIFE POSSESSING GOD'S EARNEST ======================================================================== A Life Possessing God’s Earnest "Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased (God’s own) possession, unto the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:14). The sealing mentioned on preceding subject, is God’s earnest of our inheritance. When one purchases a possession from another, he frequently passes over to the grantor, a few dollars, to seal the trade. This is earnest money. When God saves us, He gives us, in the Holy Spirit’s sealing, an earnest of our future redemption. Of course, God has not yet completed His work. We are used to saying that we are already saved; and, so we are, so far as sin’s penalty is concerned; so far as the possession of a new life is concerned; but, we have not yet received our new inheritance; we have not yet received our resurrection body; we have not yet entered into the praise of His glory. We are, however, just as sure of getting all of these things, as if we already possessed them. We have God’s earnest, and He will never fail. He has spoken and no one can disannul it. He has stretched forth His hand and none can draw it back. Certainly He who hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Christ has given us the earnest, By the Spirit’s life within; That He will to Heaven bring us, Raised and raptured, saved from sin. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: 01.0092. A LIFE SECURED BY THE WILL OF CHRIST ======================================================================== A Life Secured by the Will of Christ "I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory" (John 17:24). When Jesus Christ says "I will," who can tell Him "nay"? He made worlds! He raised the dead! He is now upholding all things by the Word of His power. He can certainly save His own. In our key verse, Christ speaks. He manifests His pleasure. He reveals His will or purpose. He says, "I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me". We need never doubt His power to perform His purpose. We shall yet stand with Him, and behold His glory. It is quite unbecoming for a Christian to say, "I want to go to Heaven," or, "I want to be saved," or, "I hope I will reach the Glory Land." When God says, "I will," let us not throw over it any human words which display a doubt of His power to fulfil His purposes. We are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. We were predestinated unto the adoption of sons. This was all done according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glory and of His grace. He who worketh all things according to the counsel of His will, will certainly fulfil His purposes. "He wills that I should holy be: What can withstand His will? The counsel of His grace in me He surely shall fulfil. "Jesus, I hang upon Thy Word: I steadfastly believe Thou wilt return, and claim me, Lord, And to Thyself receive." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: 01.0093. A LIFE SECURED BY THE GRACE OF GOD ======================================================================== A Life Secured by the Grace of God "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). If salvation depended upon ourselves, upon what we are or upon what we do, it would never be sure; but, if salvation depends upon grace, and if grace is absolutely foreign to any merit of our own, and is wholly dependent upon Him, then salvation is sure. A salvation dependent upon God and not upon man, is an assured salvation. We can truly say, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus". We know we shall never be brought into the judgment. There is One who ever liveth, and He is able to save unto the completion. "’Twas grace that wrote my name In life’s eternal Book; ’Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb, Who all my sorrows took. Grace taught my wandering feet To tread the Heavenly road, And new supplies each hour I meet, While pressing on to God. Grace taught my soul to pray, And made mine eyes o’erflow; ’Twas grace which kept me to this day. And will not let me go." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: 01.0094. APOSTATES FROM THE FAITH ======================================================================== Apostates From the Faith The Book of Jude stands as a preface to the Revelation. It particularly presents the conditions that will prevail during the days that close the present age and that immediately precede the manifestation of the man of sin. There are many signs of the Lord’s soon Coming, but of these none stand forth more clearly than two: First, the prevalence of the Advent cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh"; and Second, the prevalence of the apostasy from the faith. Believers need to be informed concerning the wide sweep of the denials of the faith, that meet us today on every hand. The apostasy has gotten a strong and unyielding grip on our schools and colleges. Students about to enter college would do well to "Stop, Look and Listen," before making choice of the college where they are preparing to spend the four most formative years of their lives. The apostasy has entrenched itself in many a supposedly orthodox pulpit. Churches calling pastors need to look carefully into the doctrinal beliefs of the men they are considering to lead their flocks. The apostasy has even entered the foreign mission fields, and numerous men and women are teaching and preaching to the heathen an ethical gospel, filled with denials of the faith. In some mission fields, such as in China, certain missionaries who still believe the old Book, have banded themselves together into a union in order to contend for the faith once for all delivered. The apostasy is here, and a study of Jude, which so clearly describes the twentieth century apostates, will not be amiss. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: 01.0095. APOSTATES FROM THE FAITH--FORETOLD ======================================================================== Apostates From the Faith--Foretold "But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; "How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts" (Jude 1:17-18). Some may doubt the advisability of studying a Book like this. They will fear lest it will shake the faith of some to learn that there are so many deniers of the faith. However, when one reads in the Bible, clear and positive predictions of the apostasy during the last days, their faith in the integrity of the Scriptures will be strengthened. To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed. God wanted to tell us where the hidden rocks would lie, so we could steer our barks away from danger. No one can live today without coming full face into heterodoxy. One meets it in the public schools, in the daily newspapers, in the novels and magazines, in college life, in the church and on the street. The prophesied apostates, who mock and who scoff the true sayings of God have come. The believer will find in the following quotation from J. Clyde Stillions, a splendid word on how he should turn away from the false prophets: It is God’s Word: Flee from the voice of the "False Shepherd," and follow the voice of the "Good Shepherd;" stop gazing at the "clouds without water," and watch for the "cloud of glory;" refrain from feeding upon the "trees, autumnal, without fruit," and feast upon the "tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth His fruit in His season." It is God’s call: Abandon the barren shores where the "raging waves of the sea foam out their shame," and abide amid the "green pastures where the still waters lie;" renounce the pursuit of "wandering stars," and patiently await the appearing of the "Morning Star;" forsake the men who "speak great swelling words" and sit at the feet of Him, whose words "are Spirit" and "Life." It is God’s plea: Turn from those who hold "men’s persons in admiration," unto Him, with whom there is "no respect of persons;" cease from running "after the error of Balaam for reward," and press forward to the day of rewards, when He comes and brings His reward with Him; withdraw from men who deny "the only Lord God," and trust in "The Lord Jesus Christ." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: 01.0096. APOSTATES FROM THE FAITH--WITHIN THE FOLD ======================================================================== Apostates From the Faith--Within the Fold "There are certain men crept in unawares" (Jude 1:4). A few centuries ago Jude’s certain apostates went under the names of "infidels," or agnostics, or even atheists; they dwelt outside the fellowship of the churches, and were considered enemies to the cause of Christ. Today these same apostates are camping within the gates of the churches. They are called "modernists," or, "liberalists," or, "destructive critics." It is true that not all of the critics have gone as far as Ingersol, Hume, Paine, and Voltaire; but they are fast on the road to their denials. In fact, some of them, in their blasphemous utterances, have even passed beyond the infidel and skeptic of a century ago. The fact that these men are within the church, teaching in our colleges, preaching in our pulpits, holding office in every phase of official church life, make them all the more dangerous. An enemy outside the city gates is bad enough, but an enemy strongly entrenched, within the very strongest citadels of the city itself, is worse. There are some today who believe that the church should arise en masse and put out the critics. This sounds well, but our key verse tells us that these men crept in unawares, and we know that they have so securely entrenched themselves, that to dislodge them is, generally speaking, an impossibility. A true believer can come out from among them and be separate. Individual Christians should seek churches which are true (thank God, there are still many of them); and they should refuse in every way to contribute either their money, or their service in support of those who deny the faith. Jude in Jude 1:23 tells us plainly that we may save some with fear, pulling them out of the fire; but Jude does not tell us to go around trying to put out the fire. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: 01.0097. APOSTATES FROM THE FAITH--THEIR DENIALS ======================================================================== Apostates From the Faith--Their Denials "Denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain" (Jude 1:4, Jude 1:11). The above verses set forth the two great denials of these certain men, these apostates from the faith. Let us observe them one at a time. 1. They deny the Sovereign Lord, and our Lord Jesus Christ. These certain men have fallen under Satan’s Edenic stroke, the dethronement of the sovereign Lord with the consequent enthronement of dependent man. With the sovereignty of God and the Deity of Christ Jesus denied, every step of the apostasy, as set forth in Jude’s Epistle, is made easy. If Christ is God and Sovereign Lord, we are dependent servants--servants who seek Truth, not shun it; servants who preach Truth, not prevent it; servants who live the Truth, not libel it. These certain men would bring Christ down to man’s level, and exalt man to Christ’s level. If the one is Divine, so is the other. If one is the Son of God, so is the other. Distinction lies in attainment, not in attributes. The Divine in Christ merely reached a higher state of development than the Divine in the average man. Christ was not Deity. These certain men make Christ no more than a perfect human. They say that Christ, in a moment of rapturous emotion, saw within Himself the Divine nature and declared Himself to be the Son of God. In like manner, all men are sons of God, and should recognize in themselves the Divine spark, fanning it until it glows with God-like splendor. With the Lordship of Christ renounced and the Sonship of man recognized, the ascendancy of the apostasy is assured, and the day of the apostate teachers has dawned. Men who renounce the Lordship of Christ find it easy to repudiate the Book of Jonah although in doing so they make Christ, who accepted it, a liar. Men who renounce the Lordship of Christ find no difficulty in refusing to believe Moses and the Prophets, although the Lord Jesus, beginning with Moses and the Prophets, expounded in them the things concerning Himself. Men who renounce the Lordship of Christ can readily reject Moses and the Prophets, and still accept the Pauline writings; although the Apostle Paul believed "all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets". 2. They deny the Blood for they have gone in the way of Cain (Jude 1:11). Abel offered unto God an acceptable sacrifice because, in faith, he slew the firstling of his flock, and so foretold the coming of the Christ of Calvary. Cain in unbelief, offered up the bloodless fruit of the ground, and was condemned, although a blood offering was couching at his very feet. These "certain men" speak of salvation by the Blood, as a "slaughterhouse religion." They defame the Cross and exalt an ethical and bloodless salvation. 3. They will meet God on common ground, parading their "wondrous works," their "scientific achievements," their vain "reasonings;" but they will not seek approach to God through the Christ of Calvary. The "way of Cain" is a better way to them than that of Abel. The "new thought" is an improvement upon the "old theology." The way of the Cross is no longer absolute, it is obsolete. The atonement is a bloody relic of past ages. The bleeding sacrifice is a story of the shambles. The "new way" has forgotten that Jesus Christ is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life". It is builded upon advanced scientific knowledge; it bristles with ethical conceptions. It breathes forth the spirit of the twentieth century. The "new religion" denies the old foundations. The Cross is a fabric of the faith doomed to fade. Philosophy needs no Cross. Modern science and the modern social spirit would make Christ of no effect. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 100: 01.0098. APOSTATES FROM THE FAITH--THEIR CHARACTER ======================================================================== Apostates From the Faith--Their Character "These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage" (Jude 1:16). We are not at all sure that the apostate teachers of our day will really relish this portraiture of their characters, but God who speaketh knoweth what is in man. 1. They are murmurers, complainers. They murmur at the Divine teaching of God’s Word. They complain at the Divine justice of God’s dealings. They walk after their own coveting. What is there in the Book of books that these up-to-date murmurers and complainers have left to simple saints? Some deny the Pentateuch. Some denounce the Prophets. Some defame the Poets. The story of the Creation is a myth. The story of the Cross is a phantasma. The story of the Coming is an illusion. The historicity of the Word is doubted. The scientific accuracy of the Word is disputed. The verbal inspiration of the Word is done away. Christ was not born of the Holy Ghost and Mary. Christ was not in very fact the Son of God--Deity. Christ was not the eternal, unchangeable, omniscient God. Job and Jonah were not actual characters. The miraculous must be scientifically explained, or else expunged. Prophecy and revelation express the poetical fancies of the writer. 2. They walk after their own desires. They are men dominated by self. They walk in the flesh and in the mind. This charge is vital. For we read, "They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh * * If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die" (Romans 8:5, Romans 8:13). Yet the charge is true for Jude positively states in Jude 1:19, "These be they who separate themselves, sensual (psuchikoi), having not the Spirit". These men have forgotten that "the natural man receiveth not the things of God". These men have spurned the fact that "God has made foolish the wisdom of the world". These men have disdained the fact that "the Spir-it searcheth * * the deep things of God"; and, "the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God". Men who are soulish, having not the Spirit, are not fit guides in spiritual things. Men who are soulish, having the spirit of the world, cannot know "the things that are freely given to us of God". Men who are soulish, walking according to the spirit of their minds, cannot receive "the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned". ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-robert-e-neighbour-volume-1/ ========================================================================