Thoughts and Meditations

Directing our Prayers to God – Psalm 5:3 states, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” Matthew Henry says this about the practice of directing our prayers to God: “This is directing the prayer, as he who shoots an arrow at a mark directs it and, with a fixed eye and steady hand, takes aim. This is engaging the heart to approach God and, in order to do so, disengaging it from everything else. He who takes aim with one eye, shuts the other. If we would direct a prayer to God, we must look away from all other things, must gather in our wandering thoughts, must summon them all to draw near and give their attendance, for here is work to be done that needs them all and is well worthy of them all. Thus we will be able to say with the psalmist, ‘My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed’ (Psalm 57:7).” –from Experiencing God’s Presence (p.26-27).

Human Pride and the Space Program – “Our space program is like a baby playing with a rubber ball in Wrigley Field. He can’t do anything but bat it around and crawl after it. If he bats it away two feet, he squeals with delight as if he hit a home run. But way out there, 400 feet long, stretches the field. It takes a strong man to knock a ball over the fence. When man sends up his little arrow, and it reaches the moon and goes into orbit round it, he boasts about it for years to come. Go on, little boy, play with your rubber ball. But the great God who carries the universe in His heart smiles. He is not impressed.” –from The Attributes of God: Volume One by A. W. Tozer (p.193). See Psalm 115:16.

May 29, 2006

Dispensationalism Gone to Pot – “When I hear a man say, ‘I have found much in Matthew which does not belong to the Church, I have outgrown much of the Romans and Galatians, and I cannot enjoy the Psalms, for they do not rise to the perfection of my experience; I want something more elevated and spiritual, more abstruse and wonderful;’ I conclude that this brother is spinning his last hank, and spending his last pennyworth of sense.” –from An All-Round Ministry by C. H. Spurgeon (p.139). See 2Timothy 2:15; 3:16.

Published Sermons of Charles Spurgeon – “The influence of Spurgeon’s published sermons at times seems almost unbelievable. On one occasion, Spurgeon counseled with a woman whose husband had left home, and fled the country. The Metropolitan pastor dared her to believe that her husband would be converted, and even become a member of the Tabernacle church. At that very time, on board a ship, her husband stumbled upon one of Spurgeon’s sermons. He read the story of the Gospel and accepted Christ immediately. He returned to home and wife, and a few months later, his wife introduced him to Spurgeon. The couple were happily reunited in Christ and the church.” –from Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers by Lewis Drummond (p.325). See Matthew 17:20.

May 26, 2006

Hymns and Baptists – According to Christopher Hill in A Tinker and a Poor Man (p.262-263), hymn singing in 17^th century England came to be especially associated with Baptists. “Hymns, as opposed to metrical psalms, came to be associated with the more radical sects, Baptists in particular… ‘Hymns’, says their historian, ‘seem to be more congenial to the persecuted’—again especially Baptists. In 1664 Benjamin Keach issued a Child’s Instructor with hymns; but it was seized and destroyed, and he was pilloried and imprisoned for his pains. The book nevertheless went through thirty editions during the next 100 years. Keach introduced regular hymn-singing into church services at his Southwark congregation… Hymn-singing then was regarded by the authorities as potentially dangerous. It was associated with the lower classes, with Baptists and Muggletonians.” See Colossians 3:16.

God is His Own Standard – “God is His own standard. God imitates nobody and is influenced by nobody. That may be hard to take in this degenerate age, when we’ve introduced the idea of the V.I.P., the man of influence. And they say, crudely enough, ‘It isn’t what you know, it’s who you know.’ But you can’t influence God one way or another. And God imitates nobody—He is never forced to act out of character. Nothing can force God to act otherwise than faithfully to Himself and to us—no person, no circumstance, nothing.” –from The Attributes of God: Volume Two by A. W. Tozer (p.164). See Isaiah 40:18; 46:9.

May 25, 2006

Seeing the Beauty of His Holiness – “A ready, active, and sweet discernment of the beauty and glory of divine things constitutes an important element in what we understand by soul prosperity… This discernment or taste of the glory of spiritual things is embraced in what the Scriptures so often denominate understanding. ‘I am thy servant,’ says David, ‘give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies’ (Psalm 119:125). ‘And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true’ (1John 5:20). It was this understanding that the Psalmist desired when he so fervently prayed, ‘Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law’ (Psalm 119:18). This sweet and refreshing perception of the glory of Christ, of truth and holiness, by nature no man possesses… A divine influence is needful to enlighten the eyes of the understanding.” –from Soul Prosperity by Charles Mallary (p. 18-19).

Seek Him with the Whole Heart – “Hannah’s statement to Eli and her defense against his charge of hypocrisy was: I ‘have poured out my soul before the LORD.’ [1Samuel 1:15] God’s serious promise to the Jews was, ‘Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.’ [Jeremiah 29:12-13] Let all the present day praying be measured by these standards, ‘Pouring out the soul before God,’ and ‘Seeking with all the heart,’ and how much of it will be found to be mere form, waste, worthless.” –from The Reality of Prayer by E. M. Bounds (p.26).

May 24, 2006

Logic of Faith – “Faith reasons from God to the difficulties—it begins with Him: unbelief, on the contrary, reasons from the difficulties to God—it begins with them. This makes all the difference. It is not that we are to be insensible to the difficulties; neither are we to be reckless. Neither insensibility nor yet recklessness is faith. There are some easygoing people who seem to get along through life on the principle of taking things by the smooth handle. This is not faith.

“Faith looks the difficulties straight in the face; it is fully alive to the roughness of the handle. It is not ignorant, not indifferent, not reckless; but—what? It brings in the living God. It looks to Him; it leans on Him; it draws from Him. Here lies the grand secret of its power. It cherishes the calm and deep conviction that there never was a wall too high for the almighty God—never a city too great—never a giant too strong. In short, faith is the only thing that gives God His proper place; and, as a consequence, is the only thing that lifts the soul completely above the influences of surrounding circumstances, be they what they may.” –from Noted on the Pentateuch by C. H. Mackintosh (p.506). See Matthew 8:26; Luke 12:28; Romans 4:20.

A Reformed People – John Robinson, the pastor of the Pilgrims when they were in the Netherlands, responded to one who exalted the reformation of the Protestant churches: “You speak much of the reformation of your church after popery. There was indeed a great reformation of things in your church, but very little of the church, to speak truly and properly. The people are the church; and to make a reformed church, there must be first a reformed people.” –quoted from A History of New England Baptists: Volume One by Isaac Backus (p.17). See Acts 14:27; 1Corinthians 12:27.

May 23, 2006

Scriptural Foundation of Faith – In 1524, Balthasar Hubmaier, wrote Eighteen Dissertations Concerning the Entire Christian Life and of What it Consists. He would later become a leader in the Anabaptist movement. Several of his dissertations point to the supremacy of the Bible in all matters of faith and practice:

8. “Since every Christian believes for himself and is baptized for himself, everyone must see and judge by the Scriptures whether he is being properly nourished by his pastor…

11. “All teachings that are not of God are in vain and shall be rooted up. Here perish the disciples of Aristotle, as well as the Thomists [followers of Thomas Aquinas], the Scotists, Bonaventure and Occam, and all teaching that does not proceed from God’s Word…

17. “He who misrepresents the Word of God for temporal gain, or conceals it, sells the grace of God, like red Esau for a mess of pottage and Christ will deny him.”

-from Baptists and the Bible by L. Russ Bush and Tom J. Nettles (p.13-14). See Psalm 119:128; 2Timothy 3:16.

Listening for the Answer – It is “not enough to pray, but after you have prayed, you have need to listen for an answer, that you may receive your prayers; God will not fulfill them else. As he said, the Sermon was not done, when yet the preacher had done, because it is not done, till practiced; so our prayers are not done, when yet made, but you must further wait for, and attend the accomplishment.” Comments on Hebrews 10:36 – “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” –from The Return of Prayers by Thomas Goodwin (p.12-13).

May 19, 2006

True Christianity or Cheap Religion? – According to R. Alan Day in Lordship: What Does It Mean? (p.8), “the lives of many professing believers are not substantially different from those of unbelievers. According to a Gallup Poll, fifty million Americans eighteen years of age and older, claim to have committed themselves to Christ. One would think that with this great number of true believers pornography would not be on the rise, drug-related problems would be diminishing, and the divorce rate would be abating. However, this is not the case. Surveys indicate that the youth in evangelical churches are experimenting with sex at nearly the same rate as their non-Christian counterparts. A reporter asked George Gallup why our society is not morally stronger than it is when there are so many people who claim they have been born again. Gallup responded, ‘There is a huge gap between mere belief, and real conviction and practice.’ ” See Isaiah 29:13; Ezekiel 33:31.

Reading the Lives of God’s People – William Kiffin (1616-1701), English Baptist pastor, believed in the value of reading biographies of the godly. He wrote: “It was the special charge God gave to His people of old that the many signal providences and mercies that they had received from Him should by them be recorded and left to their children’s children, to the end that the memorial of His goodness might cause them to love and fear His name… It is no small favour the servants of God are made partakers of that He people of old have left so many testimonies of the gracious goodness and providences of God towards them; being a means to strengthen the faith of His people, in a dependency upon Him, in all those variety of dispensations that do attend them in this world: that whatever troubles they meet withal in this life, they may know that God deals no otherwise with them than He hath done to those that formerly have feared His name; and may be comforted with the same comforts and supports which His servants formerly have received from God.” –quoted from Stranger Than Fiction: The Life of William Kiffin by B. A. Ramsbottom (p.8). See 2Corinthians 1:4-6; Hebrews 11:39-40 with Hebrews ebrewsH12:1.

May 18, 2006

Freedom of Man – The Presbyterian Bible teacher Arthur T. Pierson in The Believer’s Life; Its Past, Present, and Future Tenses made the following statements: “Election, taught in the Word, must be consistent both with the sovereign will of God and the freedom of man; and if we cannot reconcile these two, it is because the subject is so infinitely lifted up above us. Man is free. There are in your heart and mine seven thunders that utter their voices, such as ‘I am,’ ‘I think,’ ‘I reason,’ ‘I love,’ ‘I judge,’ ‘I choose,’ ‘I act.’ And all these voices unite in affirming ‘I am responsible.’ Moreover, God Himself directly appeals to choice: He says, ‘Why will ye die?’ (Ezekiel 18:31) As the Apocalypse closes, we read, ‘Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’ Thus the last great invitation in God’s Book is an appeal to the will. But—most startling of all—is Christ’s lament over Jerusalem: ‘How often would I have gathered thy children…even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.’ The yearning of God and the stubborn refusal of man are here put in clear antagonism.” –quoted from Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom by Samuel Fisk (p.11).  

Unreached People – In his book Thinking Outside the Box, Charles F. Keen, deals with the people groups throughout the world who have been mostly untouched by the modern missionary movements. They have not been reached by the Great Commission. He gives four reasons he sees that they are unreached (p.9-10):

1. “They are harder to reach than the reached. Though this is obvious, it needs to be stated.

2. “They are unreached because our churches remain unchallenged when missions is presented. Understandably, the missionary challenges the congregation in the direction of his burden and field of service which results in more and more missionaries going where missionaries already are.

3. “They are unreached because it is more expensive to reach them. Therefore, it places a real burden on our already strained missions budget.

4. “They are unreached because we cannot reach them with the same approach to missions that we have used to reach the reached. We must allow ourselves and those that send the missionary to be creative in their approach.”

See Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; Romans 16:26.

May 17, 2006

God Tries the Reins – “ ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins [the hidden part], even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings’ (Jeremiah 17:9-10). What are spoken of as the reins, here and elsewhere in the Bible, are the secret thoughts, desires, and affections of the soul. The heart is so exceedingly complicated and intricate; it is so near the eye which seeks to investigate it, that it baffles our research. There are a few things about the heart which are broad and open, and which we can, in some measure, discover. But there are chambers, receding within chambers, which no human investigation can ever reach. To explore these hidden chambers is the prerogative of God alone.” –from Beyond Humiliation by John Gregory Mantle (p.27-28).

Doctor, Doctor, Why the Title? – Andrew Fuller, the influential English Baptist pastor and theologian, wrote this in a letter in 1796: “I think few have a greater dislike to titles than I have among ministers. That of brother is the most agreeable to me. My brother Ryland, without his own knowledge, desire, or consent, had a D.D. next to forced upon him. It was announced by [John] Rippon and then people would call him by it; but I am persuaded, he would much rather never have had it. He is a very humble, godly man, and he now submits to it, because he would not be always employed in resisting a piece of insignificance. For my part I think with you (but do not know whether any of my brethren think with me) that it is contrary to our Lord’s prohibition, ‘Be ye not called Rabbi.’ ” See Mathew 23:8. –from The Armies of the Lamb (p.151).

May 16, 2006

A Nobler Ambition – The following poem though anonymously written, is found in The Song of the Soul Set Free by S. Franklin Logsdon (p.22). See Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 3:17.

             O souls that are seeking for pleasure,

              Your pleasures and follies pursue;

            Content with the prizes and fortunes

              This world is now offering you.

            Well, mine is a nobler ambition,

              I seek for a richer reward;

            I want to be Christlike and holy—

              I want to be more like my Lord.

Accumulation of Sins – “Sin is like some drugs—cumulative. Take them today, you must have them, and in larger quantity, tomorrow. One sin opens the gate and prepares the way for the next. Herod slew James, and when he saw that it pleased the people, he stretched forth his hand to kill Peter also [Acts 12:1-3].—from The Parables of the Old Testament by Clarence E. Macartney (p.34).

May 15, 2006

Christ Precious in Adversity – Psalm 31:7 states, “I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities.” Octavius Winslow comments: “And that adversity was the time in which you were more fully brought to know Him. Chastening seasons are teaching seasons; suffering times are Christ-endearing times; trying dispensations are purifying processes in the experience of the godly. The whirlwind that swept over you has but cleared your sky and made it all the brighter, but deepened your roots and made them all the firmer. Earth may have lost a tie, but heaven has gained an attraction. The creature has left a blank, but Christ has come and filled it. Reverse has made you poor, but the treasures of divine love have enriched you. In the Lord Jesus you have more than found the loved one you have lost; and if in the world you have encountered tribulation, in Him you have found peace. O sweet sorrow! O sacred grief, that enthrones and enshrines my Saviour more pre-eminently and deeply in my soul!” –from The Preciousness Things of God (p.24-25).

Life and Life More Abundant – “Christ says, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ [John 10:10]. Christ for us, appropriated by faith is the source of life; Christ within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the source of more abundant life; the one fact secures our salvation; the other enables us to glorify God in the salvation of others. How distinctly these two stages of spiritual life are set forth in our Lord’s discourse about the water of life! The first effect upon the believer of drinking this water is, ‘he shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’ [John 4:14]. That is, the soul receives salvation, and the perennial joy and peace which accompany salvation. But the second stage is this: ‘He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive.’ [John 7:38-39]. Here is the divine life going out in service and testimony and blessing through the Holy Ghost.” –from The Twofold Life by A. J. Gordon (p.9-10).

May 12, 2006

Prophecy by the Numbers – “It is not a reassuring thought that the writings of the grief-stricken prophets are often pored over by persons whose interests are curious merely and who never shed one tear for the woes of the world. They have a prying inquisitiveness about the schedule of future events, forgetting apparently that the whole purpose of Bible prophecy is to prepare us morally and spiritually for the time to come.” –from God Tells the Man Who Cares by A. W. Tozer (p.9-10). See 2Peter 3:11.

God Uses Stubborn Men – The unique personality of the Baptist evangelist Mordecai Ham is described by his son: “Whereas a stubborn individualism has disqualified him from working in close harmony with his brethren, even to the point of incurring the animosity of some, it has peculiarly fitted him for the work unto which God called him and enabled him to achieve results that have been singularly spectacular. Men of Mr. Ham’s calling and exceptional endowment, however, have usually had to stand alone. The sympathies of the masses are usually with him who is one of them, rather than with him who is out in front of them, rebuking them for their waywardness and urging them back into the paths of God. Such work demands unusual boldness and plain spokenness. Sensitive souls have no place in the front of the cavalry column, where must ride only the seasoned soldiers. Mr. Ham would have been laid in a casket before he reached fifty had he ever allowed himself to lose sleep over what others thought of his plain spokenness. His only concern was that of delivering God’s prophetic message.” –from A Biography of M. F. Ham by E. E. Ham (p.75-76). See 1Corinthians 4:7.

May 11, 2006

In Awe of God – “The doctrine you believe will shape the prayers that you offer. Someone has criticized certain trends in evangelicalism and what they perceive as an over-developed familiarity with God as a confusion of the Almighty with the all-matey. The fault lies in the worshippers’ perception of God. Dr. Lloyd-Jones held God in awe. His very name should be an object of reverence. He reminded his congregation that the Jews would not voice the name of Jehovah: it was so sacred. A substitute was employed. He bemoaned the fact that the sense of awe appeared to be lacking in some circles. ‘The very thought of God in His transcendence, in His majesty and infinity, and in His glory should humble us. We should speak of Him with reverence and with godly fear.’ ” –from The Sacred Anointing: The Preaching of Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones by Tony Sargent (p.134).

Science Always Uncertain – The methods and conclusions of science are never certain. “Charles Sanders Peirce, who was the principal American philosopher of mind, wrote: ‘the conclusions of science make no pretense to being more than probable,’ and John Venn said: ‘no ultimate objective certainty is attainable by any exercise of the human reason;’ and Immanuel Kant: ‘Hypotheses always remain hypotheses, that is, suppositions to the complete certainty of which we can never attain.’ ” –from The Limits of Science  by P. B. Medawar (p.41).

May 10, 2006

Fervent Prayers – “Modern prayers, for the most part, are lightly spoken. They are said without faith, uttered without burden, compassion or concern. John Welch lived in the little town of Ayr, Scotland. He prayed so much his knees were calloused and enlarged. He would rise shortly after going to bed in the evening, throw a plaid over his shoulders and go out into the mist of the night weeping. He would go to his little church and stay all night on his knees in prayer. Friends and loved ones begged him to go home and get some sleep and rest. John Welch said, ‘I can’t go home and sleep when there are 3,000 souls in this town and I know not how it is with them.’ Very candidly, I know nothing of that kind of intercessory praying today. John Knox wept over Scotland. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. John Welch wept over Ayr. May I ask, ‘Who’s going to weep over your town and mine?’ ” –from Prayer, the Holy Spirit, and Christian Living by Kenny McComas (p.4-5).

Scripture Cannot Be Broken – “Our blessed Saviour assures us in John 10:35 that the Scriptures cannot be broken. Though nothing is more easy than to violate a precept, yet nothing is more impossible than to repeal it; unbelief disparages the promise, but cannot make it void. As a river meets with rocks and mountains that would obstruct its course and current, and may sometimes run under ground, yet it will make its way through all opposition. Psalm 100:5: ‘Thy truth endureth through all generations.’ ” –from Practical Godliness: The Ornament of All Religion by Vincent Alsop (p.54).

May 9, 2006

Seeking God; Not the Experience – E. M. Bounds, the author of many books on prayer, observed a revival during the years 1904-1905. “As the revival ebbed in 1905, many churches focused on activities directed toward self rather than submission to God. Forum and programs became the hallmark of the day instead of submission, obedience, and sacrifice. Church leadership began to try to emulate what God had done through the Great Awakening and to duplicate the experiences. Yet they were unable to duplicate the movement of the Spirit of almighty God. Bounds challenged Christians to the command of Christ to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness [Matthew 6:33]. The will of God is not geographical but positional. Standing ‘holy and acceptable before God is our reasonable service’ and is the perfect will of God for our lives. Otherwise, church ‘activities’ will be just that rather than the result of fresh anointing and empowerment.” –from E. M. Bounds by Darrel D. King (p.139-140).

Murderer Redeemed by Penny Sermon – “One of the most fascinating events surrounding the reading of a Spurgeon sermon occurred in a South American city. There, an Englishman had been confined to prison for life, apparently for murder. An English friend visited him and left behind two English novels. But as the providence of God would have it, between the leaves of one of the novels, a Spurgeon sermon had been wedged. The message influenced the prisoner tremendously, for in the sermon Spurgeon referred to the murder of Palmer. The Gospel presented in the message gave the prisoner such hope in Christ that, though he never expected to be released from prison, he had come to know Jesus Christ as Saviour and would one day experience the great liberation of heaven.” –from Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers by Lewis Drummond (p.325).

May 8, 2006

Holy Travels – In George Whitefield’s Journal entry of February 8, 1739, we read: “I find much service might be done to religion on journeys, if we had but courage to show ourselves Christians in all places. Others sing songs in public houses, why should not we sing psalms? And when we give the servants money, why may we not with that give them a little book, and some good advice? I know by experience it is very beneficial. God grant this may be always my practice.” –from George Whitefield’s Journals (p.208).

On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand – Samuel Stennett (1727-1795) was the English Baptist preacher who wrote the hymn, On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand. His testimony continued to the end of his life. “During his last illness, Stennett spoke in glowing terms of Christ’s finished work. He said, ‘When I reflect upon the suffering of Christ, I am ready to say, “What have I been thinking of all my life?” What He did and suffered are now my only support.’ And again he exclaimed to his son, ‘Christ is to me the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.’ On August 25, 1795, in his sixty-eighth year, Samuel Stennett passed into glory. His body was laid to rest in Bunhill Fields along with so many other Baptists and dissenters.” –from This Day in Baptist History (p.226).

May 6, 2006

With Thee –

• Psalm 130:4 “But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.”

• Psalm 130:7 “Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.”

Of these verses in Psalm 130, Thomas Goodwin in Justifying Faith (p.5) states: “Three things are here said to be with God, which phrase, with God, he again and again chooseth to express the grounds of his hope in God by. He applies it:

1. To mercy, the original and womb of all: ‘Mercy is with him.’ When a quality is in one as a disposition, or his nature, we find it said, that it is with him: of Nabal, ‘Folly is with him; as is his name, so is he,’ 1Samuel 25:25.

2. To redemption, which I understand to be the mediation and satisfaction of the Messiah (which was in those times in the psalmist and other believers’ eyes) the procuring cause of all.

3. To forgiveness, as the fruit and effect of both: ‘Forgiveness also is with thee.’ ”

Wanting What We Do Not Need – “It is a sad thing to be impoverished by the things you want, while God is waiting to give you the things you need. Hezekiah clamored for another fifteen years of life, and he got what he wanted! But he ‘rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him…’ (2Chronicles 32:25). He lived to beget one of the wickedest kings who ever reigned over Judah—Manasseh, who was twelve years old when Hezekiah died fifteen years too late! Manasseh ‘built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down…[and] made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel’ (2Chronicles 33:3, 9). What a pity Hezekiah did not die on schedule! He got what he wanted, and died too old!” –from The Saving Life of Christ by Major W. Ian Thomas (p.79).

May 5, 2006

Depending on the Promises – “We depend not on what we see or feel, but on what the word promises. If God has engaged, it must be fulfilled, be the difficulties—nay, impossibilities—what they may. Fixed, therefore, upon this sure foundation, with our father Abraham, ‘against hope’ from what we see, ‘we believe in hope’ from what God has promised. (Romans 4:18) Thus the word is faith’s sure venture for eternity.” –from Psalm 119 by Charles Bridges (p.215).

Traditions Against the Commandments of God – “The pernicious tendency of these traditions is very strikingly illustrated, in one of our Lord’s discourses, by an example. God commanded them to honour their father and mother, on pain of death [Matthew 15:4]. It appeared hardly possible to set aside so plain a precept, without altogether renouncing the Scriptures. But by one of their traditions, it was not only made of none effect, but its observance actually forbidden; and the process by which this was accomplished was very plausible. It must be granted, that the claims of God upon his creatures are paramount. This was plainly taught in the law [Deuteronomy 13:6-10]. Now, a man devotes to God what otherwise should have been applied to the support of his parents. He consequently says, whatsoever thou mayest be profited by me—whatever you might have been entitled to from me—is corban, a thing devoted [Mark 7:10-13]; and not only was he free from any obligation to maintain his parents, but he was not suffered to do any thing for them.” –from Galatians (p.49-50) by James A. Haldane.

May 4, 2006

Depending on the Promises – “We depend not on what we see or feel, but on what the word promises. If God has engaged, it must be fulfilled, be the difficulties—nay, impossibilities—what they may. Fixed, therefore, upon this sure foundation, with our father Abraham, ‘against hope’ from what we see, ‘we believe in hope’ from what God has promised. (Romans 4:18) Thus the word is faith’s sure venture for eternity.” –from Psalm 119 by Charles Bridges (p.215).

 Traditions Against the Commandments of God – “The pernicious tendency of these traditions is very strikingly illustrated, in one of our Lord’s discourses, by an example. God commanded them to honour their father and mother, on pain of death [Matthew 15:4]. It appeared hardly possible to set aside so plain a precept, without altogether renouncing the Scriptures. But by one of their traditions, it was not only made of none effect, but its observance actually forbidden; and the process by which this was accomplished was very plausible. It must be granted, that the claims of God upon his creatures are paramount. This was plainly taught in the law [Deuteronomy 13:6-10]. Now, a man devotes to God what otherwise should have been applied to the support of his parents. He consequently says, whatsoever thou mayest be profited by me—whatever you might have been entitled to from me—is corban, a thing devoted [Mark 7:10-13]; and not only was he free from any obligation to maintain his parents, but he was not suffered to do any thing for them.” –from Galatians (p.49-50) by James A. Haldane.

May 2, 2006

Satan Rages Against the Godly – “The devil, both a serpent for craft and a lion for cruelty, doth, out of his hatred to God, make it his constant business by his power and policy to hinder godliness… While Satan reigneth in a creature, all may be quiet and calm; but if he be once cast out, he will rage and roar to purpose. While Israel serveth the Egyptians, carrying their crosses, bearing their burdens, doing their drudgery, all is well; but when once they shake off Pharaoh’s yoke, turn, their backs upon Egypt, and set out for Canaan, with what force and fury are they pursued to be brought back to their former bondage! Christ was no sooner baptized than buffeted; he went, as it were, out of the water of baptism into the fire of temptation.” –from The Works of George Swinnock: Volume 1 (p.62-63).

 Knowledge and Mystery – Let “no Christian shrink from the contemplation of the ‘great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh,’ 1Timothy 3:16. So far as it is ‘revealed,’ it ‘belongs unto us,’ Deuteronomy 29:29. Remember, also, that there is nothing mysterious in itself. Knowledge, like the light, makes all things plain. Mystery is but a watchword of creature ignorance. As we advance from the lowest scale of being to the highest, we find that every rank calls that above it a mystery, and that beneath it a simplicity. God looks down from the height of being, and deems universal nature a simplicity.

“He only, whose name is “I am that I am,’ is the great mystery of eternity. We shall ‘understand all mysteries, and all knowledge,’ 1Corinthians 13:2, but we shall be ever learning something further of the mystery of the Godhead, which passes knowledge. What we shall learn regarding God, shall instantly cease to be mysterious, and we shall plainly and fully comprehend it. What we shall not have learned concerning the Divine Being will appear so mysterious and wonderful, that the fresh zest of inquiry shall be kept eternally alive.” –from Christ on the Cross (p.xii) by John Stevenson.

May 1, 2006

Faith in Despair – “Faith is often born in despair. To become exceeding sinful in our own eyes may bring us to Paul’s heart-rending cry: ‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ (Romans 7:24.) God is a tower without a stair, And His perfection loves despair.

“What is the matter? Wherein is our trouble? We have proceeded on the wrong basis. We have missed God’s way of victory over sin. James H. McConkey well says: ‘God lays His foundations deep. Victory over sin He lays in the deeps of death. The Holy Spirit begins His triumphant teaching of the believer’s victory over sin by one terse, striking, graphic phrase, “dead to sin.” ’ Notice in Romans 6 the Spirit’s emphasis on this death to sin: ‘dead to sin’ (v.2); ‘died unto sin’ (v.10); ‘dead indeed unto sin’ (v.11).” –from Born Crucified by L. E. Maxwell (p.21-22).

Topics: Sanctification, Despair

Families of the Imprisoned Preachers – Enoch Wang is a Chinese preacher who spent 16 out of 20 years suffering in prison for his faith. In his testimony, he states: “Many Christians around the world pray for pastors in China when they are sent to prison, and for this we are deeply grateful. However, please remember to pray also for the families of those pastors, as often their ordeal is even worse than that of those in prison. After all, I at least got a couple of coarse meals each day.

 “Visits from my family were bitter-sweet experiences. They never complained about their lives, but their skinny, malnourished bodies revealed their desperate struggle. I longed to see them and was encouraged when they came. But the pain of knowing what they were experiencing was the worst form of persecution the authorities could give me.” –from Back to Jerusalem (p.72). See 2Kings 4:1; Lamentations 1:16.