Second Coming of Christ # 3
A little more than twenty years ago Mr. Moody called a convention of Christian workers to meet in Chicago and that convention was in session there in Moody's church for two months, and out of it came the great Bible institute.
The daily program was to spend the forenoon at the church in prayer and Bible study, and the afternoon and evening in doing practical Christian work.
A man who was my assistant some years ago attended that convention. He told me that one day Mr. Moody asked him to go down among the anarchists, in the hard parts of Chicago, and hold a meeting there. "Do the best you can," said Moody. "and some night I'll come down and help you."
My friend said that promise was a continual incentive to him to keep up his courage and do his very best. He didn't know when Mr. Moody would come, and so he looked for him every night, and the harder time he had, the harder he hoped and looked.
This shows how the constant expectation of the coming of Jesus will inspire and encourage us.
A great many say, "I believe the millennium will come first, then Christ will come at the end of it." What people think has nothing to do with it, but what God says has everything to do with it!
Many have missed railroad trains because they believed they would come at a time that did not correspond with the official time card. You will see God's time card if you carefully read the Bible. Not a word can be found in the Bible that gives the slightest hope for the millennium before the return of Christ - but you can find plenty of verses that tell you to look for the coming of the Lord first!
As we look back over the 2,000 years since Christ, how far we seem to be away from the time when the will of God shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Every edition of the press seems to make it clear that the devil is still having his way. Look at the reign of wickedness in our great cities in both high life and low. No college has ever yet made a saint or ever will. Education may improve conditions, but it can never change or cleanse the heart. Look at the luke-warmness and indifference in the Churches everywhere and see what many of them are compelled to resort to in order to keep from going under. See to what schemes and dodges and foolishness some preachers have to resort to to get anybody to go and hear them.
There can be no millennium until Jesus comes; it is His presence that makes the millennium. You might as well talk of daylight not coming until the sun goes down. The millennium cannot begin until satan has been bound in the pit. Nothing is more certain than that the glory of God shall cover the earth, but it will be after Jesus comes.
Many have an idea the world will grow better and better until the coming of the millennium, and everybody will be converted, and you hear that stuff preached, but the Bible does not teach any such trash!
On the day before the flood there was no doubt many people who were sincere in thinking that the world was growing better, and yet it was so hopelessly wicked that God had to destroy it. Some of the men who married into the family of Lot may have made the same claim for Sodom, only a day or two before its destruction; no doubt Lot's wife was of the same opinion. On the day before the crucifixion there were men in Jerusalem who undoubtedly agreed with each other that the world was growing better. The world will grow worse and worse. They did eat, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
"Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" (Luke 17:27-30). Lawlessness, vice and crime will increase; communism, nihilism, anarchy, adultery, divorce, graft, all will continue to grow until they will finally ripen into the anti-christ.
Many think and preach that the millennium will be brought about by the increase of knowledge, culture, great discoveries, such as the gasoline engine, automobile, electricity, radium, liquefied air, wireless telegraphy, airships, etc. These have nothing to do with bringing the millennium. It is the personal reign of Christ that brings the millennium. Those who have the greatest blessing to the world were filled with this hope and preached it.
The Word of God was vitiated and neutralized by the traditions of men when Jesus first came, and that is very largely the trouble in present times. Instead of going to the Bible to find out what God says, the preacher is too apt to go to his books, to see what the great men of his church have to say about it, and all their preaching and teaching take its color from the glasses the rabbis wear, just as was the cause in the time of Jesus.
The fact that Jesus was not recognized by the high-up authorities, but was rejected and crucified as an impostor, shows what a dangerous and deadly thing it is to accept the traditions of men rather than what God says about things.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 4)
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Second Coming of Christ # 2
Second Coming of Christ # 2
Jesus not only foretold His going away, but charged His followers to expect His return, and be ready for it: "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh" (Matthew 24:42_44).
Jesus said: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14).
Before I started to preach in Omaha God knew the names of every man, woman and child who would be saved as a result of my preaching - if God didn't know that, He wouldn't be God. And God knew all about the fools who wouldn't be saved, and He knew that all of Omaha wouldn't be saved. I tell you that God is pretty wise to who are going to hell and who are going to Heaven - The sooner you get that through your head and don't try to sidestep Jesus, the sooner the devil will let go the stranglehold he has upon most of you.
There is not a nation on the face of the earth that has not had the gospel preached within its bounds. The second coming of Christ is the emphatic doctrine of the New Testament. It is mentioned and referred to more than 350 times, and yet the majority of Church members never heard a sermon on the subject; that is the reason they think so little of looking into the matter themselves.
The Church makes much of Baptism, but in all of Paul's epistles Baptism is only mentioned or referred to thirteen times, while the return of the Lord is mentioned fifty times. This certainly shows which He considered the most important. McCheyne, the great Scottish preacher, once said to some of his friends: "Do you think Christ will come back tonight?" One after another they said: "I think not." Then he solemnly repeated: "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 24:42-44). With such admonitions as this, what right have we to be unconcerned about it and say, as many preachers do, "It is nothing to me; I take no interest in the subject, whatever." Who would care to travel on a train where the engineer would never read his orders? Who would ride on a ship where the captain never looked at the compass? You may call it rubbish, but the disciples called it the "blessed hope."
"Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?" If Jesus had said: "I will not return for 2,000 years," nobody would have begun to look for Him before the time was near, but He expects His followers to be always looking for His return. Just as Simeon and Anna watched and waited for His coming, so we should be watching and waiting for His return.
It is not enough to say, "Oh, I'm a Christian; I"m all right." We are not all right unless we obey the command to watch, for it is certainly as much of a command to look for the coming of the Lord as it is to keep the Sabbath holy. Nothing else will do so much to keep us right where we should be in our religious experience. Knowing that the bank examiner may drop in at any moment keeps many a cashier from becoming dishonest. We should purify the Church that it may be the proper Bride to meet the Lord in the air. How pure is the Church today? How pure are the Church members? How pure are the preachers?
I suppose there would be a mighty scramble to get right with God if you all found out that Jesus was going to return tonight. It wouldn't make any difference to Jesus if you had to do the right thing just because He turned up unexpectedly. You would have to prove to Him that you were on the level with Him, and although you might all be baptized,sprinkled and immersed, there would be nothing doing in the salvation line if you didn't play square with the Lord.
This old world is going to wake up some morning and find that all good men and women have beaten it, and she'll rub her eyes when she finds out that the Lord has been here on the job and taken his own with Him.
Every time I preach and every time you do personal work, I feet that we are helping to bring about the second coming of the Lord, and it sets my bones on fire when I think that the last man or woman need only be saved before this campaign is over in order that the Lord may come. That is my incentive to do the work I am doing. It is my hope that, before I finish here, the Church will be purified as a Bride, ready to meet Jesus, the Bridegroom, in the air.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 3)
Jesus not only foretold His going away, but charged His followers to expect His return, and be ready for it: "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh" (Matthew 24:42_44).
Jesus said: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14).
Before I started to preach in Omaha God knew the names of every man, woman and child who would be saved as a result of my preaching - if God didn't know that, He wouldn't be God. And God knew all about the fools who wouldn't be saved, and He knew that all of Omaha wouldn't be saved. I tell you that God is pretty wise to who are going to hell and who are going to Heaven - The sooner you get that through your head and don't try to sidestep Jesus, the sooner the devil will let go the stranglehold he has upon most of you.
There is not a nation on the face of the earth that has not had the gospel preached within its bounds. The second coming of Christ is the emphatic doctrine of the New Testament. It is mentioned and referred to more than 350 times, and yet the majority of Church members never heard a sermon on the subject; that is the reason they think so little of looking into the matter themselves.
The Church makes much of Baptism, but in all of Paul's epistles Baptism is only mentioned or referred to thirteen times, while the return of the Lord is mentioned fifty times. This certainly shows which He considered the most important. McCheyne, the great Scottish preacher, once said to some of his friends: "Do you think Christ will come back tonight?" One after another they said: "I think not." Then he solemnly repeated: "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 24:42-44). With such admonitions as this, what right have we to be unconcerned about it and say, as many preachers do, "It is nothing to me; I take no interest in the subject, whatever." Who would care to travel on a train where the engineer would never read his orders? Who would ride on a ship where the captain never looked at the compass? You may call it rubbish, but the disciples called it the "blessed hope."
"Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?" If Jesus had said: "I will not return for 2,000 years," nobody would have begun to look for Him before the time was near, but He expects His followers to be always looking for His return. Just as Simeon and Anna watched and waited for His coming, so we should be watching and waiting for His return.
It is not enough to say, "Oh, I'm a Christian; I"m all right." We are not all right unless we obey the command to watch, for it is certainly as much of a command to look for the coming of the Lord as it is to keep the Sabbath holy. Nothing else will do so much to keep us right where we should be in our religious experience. Knowing that the bank examiner may drop in at any moment keeps many a cashier from becoming dishonest. We should purify the Church that it may be the proper Bride to meet the Lord in the air. How pure is the Church today? How pure are the Church members? How pure are the preachers?
I suppose there would be a mighty scramble to get right with God if you all found out that Jesus was going to return tonight. It wouldn't make any difference to Jesus if you had to do the right thing just because He turned up unexpectedly. You would have to prove to Him that you were on the level with Him, and although you might all be baptized,sprinkled and immersed, there would be nothing doing in the salvation line if you didn't play square with the Lord.
This old world is going to wake up some morning and find that all good men and women have beaten it, and she'll rub her eyes when she finds out that the Lord has been here on the job and taken his own with Him.
Every time I preach and every time you do personal work, I feet that we are helping to bring about the second coming of the Lord, and it sets my bones on fire when I think that the last man or woman need only be saved before this campaign is over in order that the Lord may come. That is my incentive to do the work I am doing. It is my hope that, before I finish here, the Church will be purified as a Bride, ready to meet Jesus, the Bridegroom, in the air.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 3)
Saturday, February 16, 2019
The Second Coming Of Christ # 1
The Second Coming Of Christ # 1
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).
The meeting here mentioned is to be the greatest meeting the Bible tells us anything about. There have been some wonderful meetings, but never has there been one to compare with this. It was a wonderful meeting the children of Israel had on the shore of the Red Sea, after Pharaoh's pursuing host have been destroyed in the angry waters, and Miriam, the prophetess, with her timbrel, led the people in singing, "Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea" (Exodus 15:21).
And it was another great meeting they had at the foot of Mount Sinai, when the Law of God was given to them amid thunders and lightenings and fire and smoke.
That was a great meeting, too, on Mount Carmel, when Elijah, the sturdy Tishbite, defiled the prophets of Baal; and that was a great meeting where David danced before the Ark of God, as it was home into Jerusalem. It was a great meeting when Solomon dedicated the temple, and the glory of the Lord came upon the people, and those were great meetings that were held on the banks of the Jordan when Jerusalem and all Judea went out to hear the man who dressed in camel's hair and wore a linen girdle, and lived on locusts and wild honey.
It was a wonderful meeting when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and another when He fed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes. And that was a great meeting on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came like a rushing mighty wind, and under Peter's preaching about three thousand were converted.
All these were great meetings, and any number of others have been held, both in former times and in our own day. Those were great meetings in the early days of Methodism, when Wesley and Whitefield preached to great multitudes in the fields. Those were great meetings when multitudes were flocking to hear Finney and Moody; and great meetings have since been held by other great evangelists all around the world. But no meeting has ever been held anywhere or in any time that could begin to compare in importance with the greatest of all meetings that is to be held in the air, when our Lord comes to make up His jewels.
That meeting is the one for which all others have been preparing the way. It will be the crowning meeting of all history. The purpose of all that has been done in this world up to the present time has been to prepare for that great meeting in the air.
From Adam, mankind has been marching step by step up a grand stairway leading direct to that meeting in the air. The call of Abraham was one step toward it, and Jacob and his twelve sons were another. Joseph ruling Egypt was another; the deliverance under Moses another; the conquest of Canaan under Joshua another, and so on with every event in sacred history. It was for this Jesus suffered on the Cross to make atonement for sin. It was for this He arose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, where He took His place at the right hand of the Father. It was for this the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and it was for this that Churches have been organized and missionaries sent to the ends of the earth.
These things have all been done to prepare the way, and lead up to the meeting which is so graphically described in the text. It was for this meeting God made His plans before He laid the foundations of the earth, and it was of this meeting He was thinking before the morning stars sang together.
We are not told when Jesus will come, but we are told that His coming is sure, and we are charged to watch for it.
Anybody who says that he knows when Jesus is coming is a liar. When they say that they know when He is coming they lie.
Only Jesus and the Father know when the Saviour is coming again. Yet the Church today shows as little concern about His coming again as His disciples did about His going away. All this is fully in accord with Peter: "There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming, for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning until now" (2 Pet. 3:3-4).
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 2)
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).
The meeting here mentioned is to be the greatest meeting the Bible tells us anything about. There have been some wonderful meetings, but never has there been one to compare with this. It was a wonderful meeting the children of Israel had on the shore of the Red Sea, after Pharaoh's pursuing host have been destroyed in the angry waters, and Miriam, the prophetess, with her timbrel, led the people in singing, "Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea" (Exodus 15:21).
And it was another great meeting they had at the foot of Mount Sinai, when the Law of God was given to them amid thunders and lightenings and fire and smoke.
That was a great meeting, too, on Mount Carmel, when Elijah, the sturdy Tishbite, defiled the prophets of Baal; and that was a great meeting where David danced before the Ark of God, as it was home into Jerusalem. It was a great meeting when Solomon dedicated the temple, and the glory of the Lord came upon the people, and those were great meetings that were held on the banks of the Jordan when Jerusalem and all Judea went out to hear the man who dressed in camel's hair and wore a linen girdle, and lived on locusts and wild honey.
It was a wonderful meeting when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and another when He fed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes. And that was a great meeting on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came like a rushing mighty wind, and under Peter's preaching about three thousand were converted.
All these were great meetings, and any number of others have been held, both in former times and in our own day. Those were great meetings in the early days of Methodism, when Wesley and Whitefield preached to great multitudes in the fields. Those were great meetings when multitudes were flocking to hear Finney and Moody; and great meetings have since been held by other great evangelists all around the world. But no meeting has ever been held anywhere or in any time that could begin to compare in importance with the greatest of all meetings that is to be held in the air, when our Lord comes to make up His jewels.
That meeting is the one for which all others have been preparing the way. It will be the crowning meeting of all history. The purpose of all that has been done in this world up to the present time has been to prepare for that great meeting in the air.
From Adam, mankind has been marching step by step up a grand stairway leading direct to that meeting in the air. The call of Abraham was one step toward it, and Jacob and his twelve sons were another. Joseph ruling Egypt was another; the deliverance under Moses another; the conquest of Canaan under Joshua another, and so on with every event in sacred history. It was for this Jesus suffered on the Cross to make atonement for sin. It was for this He arose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, where He took His place at the right hand of the Father. It was for this the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and it was for this that Churches have been organized and missionaries sent to the ends of the earth.
These things have all been done to prepare the way, and lead up to the meeting which is so graphically described in the text. It was for this meeting God made His plans before He laid the foundations of the earth, and it was of this meeting He was thinking before the morning stars sang together.
We are not told when Jesus will come, but we are told that His coming is sure, and we are charged to watch for it.
Anybody who says that he knows when Jesus is coming is a liar. When they say that they know when He is coming they lie.
Only Jesus and the Father know when the Saviour is coming again. Yet the Church today shows as little concern about His coming again as His disciples did about His going away. All this is fully in accord with Peter: "There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming, for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning until now" (2 Pet. 3:3-4).
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 2)
The Deeper Christian Life # 20
The Deeper Christian Life # 20
Brethren, it is our privilege to take part in this great movement, and let us engage in the work more earnestly than ever. Let each of us say my great work is, in preaching Christ, to lead men to the acknowledging of the Holy Spirit, who alone can glorify Christ. I may try to glorify Christ in my preaching, but it will avail nothing without the Spirit of God. I may urge men to the practice of holiness and every Christian virtue, but all my persuasion will avail very little unless I help them to believe that they must have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them every moment enabling to live the life of Christ. The great reason why the Holy Spirit was given from heaven was to make Christ Jesus' presence manifest to us. While Jesus was incarnate, His disciples were too much under the power of the flesh to allow Christ to get a lodgment in their hearts. It was needful, He said, that He should go away, in order that the Spirit might come, and He promised to those who loved Him and kept His commandments, that with the Spirit, He would come, and the Father would also come, and make Their abode with them. It is thus the Holy Spirit's great work to reveal the Father and the Son in the hearts of God's people. If we believe and teach men that the Holy Spirit can make Christ a reality to them every moment, men will learn to believe and accept Christ's presence and power, of which they now know far too little. Then another question presents itself. What are we to expect when the Holy Spirit is duly acknowledged and received? I ask this question, because I have frequently noticed something with considerable interest - and I may say, with some anxiety. I sometimes hear men praying earnestly for a baptism of the Holy Spirit that He may give them power for their work. Beloved brethren, we need this power, not only for work, but for our daily life. Remember, we must have it all the time, in Old Testament times, the Spirit came with power upon the prophets and other inspired men; but He did not dwell permanently in them. In the same way, in the church of the Corinthians, the Holy Spirit came with power to work miraculous gifts, and yet they had but a small measure of His sanctifying grace. You will remember the carnal strife, envying, and divisions there were. They had gifts of utterance, gifts of knowledge and wisdom, etc.; but alas! pride, unlovingness, and other sins sadly married the character of many of them. And what does this teach us? That a man may have a great gift of power for work, but very little of the indwelling Spirit. In 1 Cor. 13, we are reminded that though we may have faith that would remove mountains, if we have not love, we are nothing. We must have the love that brings the humility and self-sacrifice of Jesus. Don't let us put in the first place the gifts we may possess; if we do, we shall have very little blessing. But we should seek, in the first place, that the Spirit of God should come as a light and power of holiness from the indwelling Jesus. Let the first work of the Holy Spirit be to humble you deep down in the very dust, so that your whole life shall be a tender, broken-hearted waiting on God, in the consciousness of mercy coming from above.
Do not seek large gifts; there is something deeper you need. It is not enough that a tree shoots its branches to the sky, and be covered thickly with leaves; but we want its roots to strike deeply into the soil. Let the thought of the Holy Spirit's being in us, and our hope of being filled with the Spirit, be always accompanied in us with a broken and contrite heart. Let us bow very low before God, in waiting for His grace to fill and to sanctify us. We do not want a power which God might allow us to use, while our inner part is unsanctified. we want God to give us full possession of Himself. In due time, the special gift may come; but we want first and now, the power of the Holy Spirit working something far mightier and more effectual in us than any such gift. We should seek, therefore, not only a baptism of power, but a baptism of holiness; we should seek that the inner nature be sanctified by the indwelling of Jesus, and then other power will come as needed.
There is a third question: Suppose some one says to me: "I have given myself up to be filled with the Spirit, and I do not feel that there is any difference in my condition; there is no change of experience that I can speak of. What must I then think? Must not I think that my surrender was not honest?" No, do not think that, "But how then? Does God give no response?" Beloved, God gives a response, but that is not always within certain months or years. "What, then, would you have me do?" Retain the position you have taken before God, and maintain it every day. Say, "Oh God, I have given myself to be filled, here I am an empty vessel, trusting and expecting to be filled by Thee." Take that position every day and every hour. Ask God to write it across your heart. Give up to God an empty, consecrated vessel that He may fill it with the Holy Spirit. Take that position constantly. It may be that you are not fully prepared. Ask God to cleanse you; to give you grace to separate from everything sinful - from unbelief or whatever hindrance there may be. Then take your position before God and say, "My God, Thou art faithful; I have entered into covenant with Thee for Thy Holy Spirit to fill me, and I believe Thou wilt fulfill it." Brethren, I say for myself, and for every minister of the gospel, and for every fellow-worker, man or woman, that if we thus come before God with a full surrender, in a bold, believing attitude, God's promise must be fulfilled.
~Andrew Murray~
(continued with # 21)
Brethren, it is our privilege to take part in this great movement, and let us engage in the work more earnestly than ever. Let each of us say my great work is, in preaching Christ, to lead men to the acknowledging of the Holy Spirit, who alone can glorify Christ. I may try to glorify Christ in my preaching, but it will avail nothing without the Spirit of God. I may urge men to the practice of holiness and every Christian virtue, but all my persuasion will avail very little unless I help them to believe that they must have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them every moment enabling to live the life of Christ. The great reason why the Holy Spirit was given from heaven was to make Christ Jesus' presence manifest to us. While Jesus was incarnate, His disciples were too much under the power of the flesh to allow Christ to get a lodgment in their hearts. It was needful, He said, that He should go away, in order that the Spirit might come, and He promised to those who loved Him and kept His commandments, that with the Spirit, He would come, and the Father would also come, and make Their abode with them. It is thus the Holy Spirit's great work to reveal the Father and the Son in the hearts of God's people. If we believe and teach men that the Holy Spirit can make Christ a reality to them every moment, men will learn to believe and accept Christ's presence and power, of which they now know far too little. Then another question presents itself. What are we to expect when the Holy Spirit is duly acknowledged and received? I ask this question, because I have frequently noticed something with considerable interest - and I may say, with some anxiety. I sometimes hear men praying earnestly for a baptism of the Holy Spirit that He may give them power for their work. Beloved brethren, we need this power, not only for work, but for our daily life. Remember, we must have it all the time, in Old Testament times, the Spirit came with power upon the prophets and other inspired men; but He did not dwell permanently in them. In the same way, in the church of the Corinthians, the Holy Spirit came with power to work miraculous gifts, and yet they had but a small measure of His sanctifying grace. You will remember the carnal strife, envying, and divisions there were. They had gifts of utterance, gifts of knowledge and wisdom, etc.; but alas! pride, unlovingness, and other sins sadly married the character of many of them. And what does this teach us? That a man may have a great gift of power for work, but very little of the indwelling Spirit. In 1 Cor. 13, we are reminded that though we may have faith that would remove mountains, if we have not love, we are nothing. We must have the love that brings the humility and self-sacrifice of Jesus. Don't let us put in the first place the gifts we may possess; if we do, we shall have very little blessing. But we should seek, in the first place, that the Spirit of God should come as a light and power of holiness from the indwelling Jesus. Let the first work of the Holy Spirit be to humble you deep down in the very dust, so that your whole life shall be a tender, broken-hearted waiting on God, in the consciousness of mercy coming from above.
Do not seek large gifts; there is something deeper you need. It is not enough that a tree shoots its branches to the sky, and be covered thickly with leaves; but we want its roots to strike deeply into the soil. Let the thought of the Holy Spirit's being in us, and our hope of being filled with the Spirit, be always accompanied in us with a broken and contrite heart. Let us bow very low before God, in waiting for His grace to fill and to sanctify us. We do not want a power which God might allow us to use, while our inner part is unsanctified. we want God to give us full possession of Himself. In due time, the special gift may come; but we want first and now, the power of the Holy Spirit working something far mightier and more effectual in us than any such gift. We should seek, therefore, not only a baptism of power, but a baptism of holiness; we should seek that the inner nature be sanctified by the indwelling of Jesus, and then other power will come as needed.
There is a third question: Suppose some one says to me: "I have given myself up to be filled with the Spirit, and I do not feel that there is any difference in my condition; there is no change of experience that I can speak of. What must I then think? Must not I think that my surrender was not honest?" No, do not think that, "But how then? Does God give no response?" Beloved, God gives a response, but that is not always within certain months or years. "What, then, would you have me do?" Retain the position you have taken before God, and maintain it every day. Say, "Oh God, I have given myself to be filled, here I am an empty vessel, trusting and expecting to be filled by Thee." Take that position every day and every hour. Ask God to write it across your heart. Give up to God an empty, consecrated vessel that He may fill it with the Holy Spirit. Take that position constantly. It may be that you are not fully prepared. Ask God to cleanse you; to give you grace to separate from everything sinful - from unbelief or whatever hindrance there may be. Then take your position before God and say, "My God, Thou art faithful; I have entered into covenant with Thee for Thy Holy Spirit to fill me, and I believe Thou wilt fulfill it." Brethren, I say for myself, and for every minister of the gospel, and for every fellow-worker, man or woman, that if we thus come before God with a full surrender, in a bold, believing attitude, God's promise must be fulfilled.
~Andrew Murray~
(continued with # 21)
Saturday, February 9, 2019
The Deeper Christian Life # 19
The Deeper Christian Life # 19
Look again at the Epistle to the Galatians. We always talk of this Epistle as the great source of instruction on the doctrine of justification by faith; but have you ever noticed how the doctrine of the Holy Spirit holds a most prominent place there? Paul asks the Galatian church - "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" It was the hearing of faith that led them to the full enjoyment of the Spirit's power. If they sought to be justified by the works of the law, they had "fallen from grace." "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." And then at the end of the fifth chapter, we are told - "If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit."
Again, if we go to the epistles to the Corinthians, we find Paul asking the Christians in Corinth: "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you?" If we look into the epistle to the Ephesians, we find the doctrine of the Holy Spirit mentioned twelve times. It is the Spirit that seals God's people; "Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." He illumines them; "That God may give the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." Through Christ, both Jew and Gentile "have access by one Spirit unto the Father." They are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." They are "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." With "all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering forbear one another in love," they "endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." By not "grieving the Holy Spirit of God, preserve our sealing to the day of redemption. Being filled with the Spirit, we sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord, and thus glorify Him. Just study these epistles carefully, and you find what I say is true - that the apostle Paul takes pains to lead Christians to the Holy Spirit as the consummation of the Christian life.
It was the Holy Spirit Who was given to the church at Pentecost; and it is the Holy Spirit Who gives Pentecostal blessings now. It is this power, given to bless men, that wrought such wonderful life, and love, and self-sacrifice in the early church; and it is this that makes us look back to those days as the most beautiful part of the Church's history. And it is the same Spirit of power that must dwell in the hearts of believers in our day to give the Church its true position. Let us ask God then, that every minister and Christian worker may be endued with the power of the Holy Spirit; that He may search us and try us, and enable us sincerely to answer the question, "Have I known the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit that God wants me to have?" Let each one of us ask himself: "Is it my great study to know the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, so that I may help others to yield to the same indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and that He may reveal Christ fully in His divine saving and keeping power?" Will not every one have to confess: "Lord, I have all too little understood this; I have all too little manifested this in my work and preaching"? Beloved brethren, "The first duty of every clergyman is to humbly ask God that all that He wants done in His hearers may be first fully and truly done in himself." And the second thing is his duty towards those who are awakened and brought to Christ, to lead them on to the full knowledge of the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Now, if we are indeed to come into full harmony with these two great principles, then there comes to us some further questions of the very deepest importance. And the first question is: "Why is it that there is in the church of Christ so little practical acknowledgment of the power of the Holy Spirit?" I am not speaking to you, brethren, as if I thought you were not sound in doctrine on this point. I speak to you as believing in the Holy Spirit as the third person in the ever-blessed Trinity. But I speak to you confidently as to those who will readily admit that the truth and the presence and of the power of the Holy Spirit is not acknowledged in the church as it ought to be. Then the question is, "Why is it not so acknowledged?" I answer because of its spirituality. It is one of the most difficult truths in the Bible for the human mind to comprehend. God has revealed Himself in creation throughout the whole universe. He has revealed Himself in Christ incarnate - and what a subject of study the person, and word, and works of Christ form! But the mysterious indwelling of the Holy Spirit, hidden in the depths of the life of the believer, how much less easy to comprehend!
In the early Pentecostal days of the Church, this knowledge was intuitive; they possessed the Spirit in power. But soon after the spirit of the world began to creep into the church and mastered it. This was followed by the deeper darkness of formality and superstition in the Roman Catholic Church, when the spirit of the world completely triumphed in what was improperly styled the Church of Christ. The Reformation in the days of Luther restored the truth of justification by faith in Christ; but the doctrine of the Holy Spirit did not then obtain its proper place,for God does not reveal all truth at one time. A great deal of the spirit of the world was still left in the reformed churches; but now God is awakening the church to strive after a fuller scriptural idea of the Holy Spirit's place and power. Through the medium of books, and discussions, and conventions, many hearts are being stirred.
~Andrew Murray~
(continued with # 20)
Look again at the Epistle to the Galatians. We always talk of this Epistle as the great source of instruction on the doctrine of justification by faith; but have you ever noticed how the doctrine of the Holy Spirit holds a most prominent place there? Paul asks the Galatian church - "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" It was the hearing of faith that led them to the full enjoyment of the Spirit's power. If they sought to be justified by the works of the law, they had "fallen from grace." "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." And then at the end of the fifth chapter, we are told - "If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit."
Again, if we go to the epistles to the Corinthians, we find Paul asking the Christians in Corinth: "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you?" If we look into the epistle to the Ephesians, we find the doctrine of the Holy Spirit mentioned twelve times. It is the Spirit that seals God's people; "Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." He illumines them; "That God may give the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." Through Christ, both Jew and Gentile "have access by one Spirit unto the Father." They are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." They are "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." With "all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering forbear one another in love," they "endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." By not "grieving the Holy Spirit of God, preserve our sealing to the day of redemption. Being filled with the Spirit, we sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord, and thus glorify Him. Just study these epistles carefully, and you find what I say is true - that the apostle Paul takes pains to lead Christians to the Holy Spirit as the consummation of the Christian life.
It was the Holy Spirit Who was given to the church at Pentecost; and it is the Holy Spirit Who gives Pentecostal blessings now. It is this power, given to bless men, that wrought such wonderful life, and love, and self-sacrifice in the early church; and it is this that makes us look back to those days as the most beautiful part of the Church's history. And it is the same Spirit of power that must dwell in the hearts of believers in our day to give the Church its true position. Let us ask God then, that every minister and Christian worker may be endued with the power of the Holy Spirit; that He may search us and try us, and enable us sincerely to answer the question, "Have I known the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit that God wants me to have?" Let each one of us ask himself: "Is it my great study to know the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, so that I may help others to yield to the same indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and that He may reveal Christ fully in His divine saving and keeping power?" Will not every one have to confess: "Lord, I have all too little understood this; I have all too little manifested this in my work and preaching"? Beloved brethren, "The first duty of every clergyman is to humbly ask God that all that He wants done in His hearers may be first fully and truly done in himself." And the second thing is his duty towards those who are awakened and brought to Christ, to lead them on to the full knowledge of the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Now, if we are indeed to come into full harmony with these two great principles, then there comes to us some further questions of the very deepest importance. And the first question is: "Why is it that there is in the church of Christ so little practical acknowledgment of the power of the Holy Spirit?" I am not speaking to you, brethren, as if I thought you were not sound in doctrine on this point. I speak to you as believing in the Holy Spirit as the third person in the ever-blessed Trinity. But I speak to you confidently as to those who will readily admit that the truth and the presence and of the power of the Holy Spirit is not acknowledged in the church as it ought to be. Then the question is, "Why is it not so acknowledged?" I answer because of its spirituality. It is one of the most difficult truths in the Bible for the human mind to comprehend. God has revealed Himself in creation throughout the whole universe. He has revealed Himself in Christ incarnate - and what a subject of study the person, and word, and works of Christ form! But the mysterious indwelling of the Holy Spirit, hidden in the depths of the life of the believer, how much less easy to comprehend!
In the early Pentecostal days of the Church, this knowledge was intuitive; they possessed the Spirit in power. But soon after the spirit of the world began to creep into the church and mastered it. This was followed by the deeper darkness of formality and superstition in the Roman Catholic Church, when the spirit of the world completely triumphed in what was improperly styled the Church of Christ. The Reformation in the days of Luther restored the truth of justification by faith in Christ; but the doctrine of the Holy Spirit did not then obtain its proper place,for God does not reveal all truth at one time. A great deal of the spirit of the world was still left in the reformed churches; but now God is awakening the church to strive after a fuller scriptural idea of the Holy Spirit's place and power. Through the medium of books, and discussions, and conventions, many hearts are being stirred.
~Andrew Murray~
(continued with # 20)
The Deeper Christian Life # 18
The Deeper Christian Life # 18
Some time ago I read this expression in an old author - "The first duty of a clergyman is humbly to ask of God that all that he wants done in his hearers should first be truly and fully done in himself." These words have stuck to me ever since. What a solemn application this is to the subject that occupied our attention in previous chapters - the living and working under the fullness of the Holy Spirit! And yet, if we understand our falling aright, every one of us will have to say, "That is the one thing on which everything depends. What profit is it to tell men that they may be filled with the Spirit of God, if, when they ask us, "Has God done it for you?" we have to answer, "No, He has not done it." What profit is it for me to tell men that Jesus Christ can dwell within us every moment, and keep us from sin and actual transgressions, and that the abiding presence of God can be our portion all the day, if I wait not upon God first to do it truly and fully day by day?
Look at the Lord Jesus Christ; it was of the Christ Himself, when He had received the Holy Spirit from heaven, that John the Baptist said that "He would baptize with the Holy Spirit." I can only communicate to others what God has imparted to me. If my life as a minister be a life in which the flesh still greatly prevails - if my life be a life in which I grieve the Spirit of God, I cannot expect but that my people will receive through me a very mingled kind of life. But if the life of God dwell in me, and I am filled with His power, then I can hope that the life that goes out from me may be infused into my hearers too.
We have referred to the need of every believer being filled with the Spirit; and what is there of deeper interest to us now, or that can better occupy our attention, than prayerfully to consider how we can being our congregations to believe that this is possible; and how we can lead on every believer to seek it for himself, to expect it, and to accept of it, so as to live it out? But, brethren, the message must come from us as a witness of our personal experience, by the grace of God. The same writer to whom I alluded, says elsewhere : "The first business of a clergyman, when he sees men awakened and brought to Christ, is to lead them on to know the Holy Spirit." How true!! Do not we find this throughout the word of God? John the Baptist preached Christ as the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," we read in Matthew that he also said that Christ would "baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire." In the gospel by John, we read that the Baptist was told that upon Whom he would see the Spirit descending and abiding, He it was who would baptize with the Spirit. Thus John the Baptist led the people on from Christ to the expectation of the Holy Spirit for themselves. And what did Jesus do? For three years, He was with His disciples, teaching and instructing them; but when He was about to go away, in His farewell discourse on the last night, what was His great promise to the disciples? "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth." He had previously promised to those who believed on Him, that "rivers of flowing water" should flow from them, which the evangelist explains as meaning the Holy Spirit. "Thus spake He of the Spirit." But this promise was only to be fulfilled after Christ "was glorified." Christ points to the Holy Spirit as the one fruit of being glorified. The glorified Christ leads to the Holy Spirit. So in the farewell discourse, Christ leads the disciples to expect the Spirit as the Father's great blessing. Then again, when Christ came and stood at the footstool of His heavenly throne, on the Mount of Olives, ready to ascend, what were His words? "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me." Christ's constant work was to teach His disciples to expect the Holy Spirit. Look through the Book of Acts, you see the same thing. Peter on the day of Pentecost preached that Christ was exalted, and had received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and so he told the people; "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." So, when I believe in Jesus risen, ascended, and glorified, I shall receive the Holy Spirit.
Look again, after Philip had preached the gospel in Samaria, men and women had been converted, and there was great joy in the city. The Holy Spirit had been working, but something was still wanting; Peter and John came down from Jerusalem, prayed for the converted ones, laid their hands upon them, "and they received the Holy Spirit." They they had the conscious possession and enjoyment of the Spirit, but till that came they were incomplete. Paul was converted by the mighty power of Jesus who appeared to him on the way to Damascus; and yet he had to go to Ananias to receive the Holy Spirit.
Then again, we read that when Peter went to preach to Cornelius, as he preached Christ, "the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word," which Peter took as the sign that these Gentiles were one with the Jews in the favor of God, having the same baptism.
And so we might go through many of the Epistles, where we find the same truth taught. Look at that wonderful epistle to the Romans. The doctrine of justification by faith is established in the first five chapters. Then in the sixth and seventh, though the believer is represented as dead to sin and the law, and married to Christ, yet a dreadful struggle goes on in the heart of the regenerate man as long as he has not got the full power of the Holy Spirit. But in the eighth chapter, it is the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" that maketh us free from "the law of sin and death." Then we are "not in the flesh, but in the Spirit," with the Spirit of God dwelling in us. All the teaching leads us to the Holy Spirit.
~Andrew Murray~
(continued with # 19)
Some time ago I read this expression in an old author - "The first duty of a clergyman is humbly to ask of God that all that he wants done in his hearers should first be truly and fully done in himself." These words have stuck to me ever since. What a solemn application this is to the subject that occupied our attention in previous chapters - the living and working under the fullness of the Holy Spirit! And yet, if we understand our falling aright, every one of us will have to say, "That is the one thing on which everything depends. What profit is it to tell men that they may be filled with the Spirit of God, if, when they ask us, "Has God done it for you?" we have to answer, "No, He has not done it." What profit is it for me to tell men that Jesus Christ can dwell within us every moment, and keep us from sin and actual transgressions, and that the abiding presence of God can be our portion all the day, if I wait not upon God first to do it truly and fully day by day?
Look at the Lord Jesus Christ; it was of the Christ Himself, when He had received the Holy Spirit from heaven, that John the Baptist said that "He would baptize with the Holy Spirit." I can only communicate to others what God has imparted to me. If my life as a minister be a life in which the flesh still greatly prevails - if my life be a life in which I grieve the Spirit of God, I cannot expect but that my people will receive through me a very mingled kind of life. But if the life of God dwell in me, and I am filled with His power, then I can hope that the life that goes out from me may be infused into my hearers too.
We have referred to the need of every believer being filled with the Spirit; and what is there of deeper interest to us now, or that can better occupy our attention, than prayerfully to consider how we can being our congregations to believe that this is possible; and how we can lead on every believer to seek it for himself, to expect it, and to accept of it, so as to live it out? But, brethren, the message must come from us as a witness of our personal experience, by the grace of God. The same writer to whom I alluded, says elsewhere : "The first business of a clergyman, when he sees men awakened and brought to Christ, is to lead them on to know the Holy Spirit." How true!! Do not we find this throughout the word of God? John the Baptist preached Christ as the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," we read in Matthew that he also said that Christ would "baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire." In the gospel by John, we read that the Baptist was told that upon Whom he would see the Spirit descending and abiding, He it was who would baptize with the Spirit. Thus John the Baptist led the people on from Christ to the expectation of the Holy Spirit for themselves. And what did Jesus do? For three years, He was with His disciples, teaching and instructing them; but when He was about to go away, in His farewell discourse on the last night, what was His great promise to the disciples? "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth." He had previously promised to those who believed on Him, that "rivers of flowing water" should flow from them, which the evangelist explains as meaning the Holy Spirit. "Thus spake He of the Spirit." But this promise was only to be fulfilled after Christ "was glorified." Christ points to the Holy Spirit as the one fruit of being glorified. The glorified Christ leads to the Holy Spirit. So in the farewell discourse, Christ leads the disciples to expect the Spirit as the Father's great blessing. Then again, when Christ came and stood at the footstool of His heavenly throne, on the Mount of Olives, ready to ascend, what were His words? "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me." Christ's constant work was to teach His disciples to expect the Holy Spirit. Look through the Book of Acts, you see the same thing. Peter on the day of Pentecost preached that Christ was exalted, and had received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and so he told the people; "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." So, when I believe in Jesus risen, ascended, and glorified, I shall receive the Holy Spirit.
Look again, after Philip had preached the gospel in Samaria, men and women had been converted, and there was great joy in the city. The Holy Spirit had been working, but something was still wanting; Peter and John came down from Jerusalem, prayed for the converted ones, laid their hands upon them, "and they received the Holy Spirit." They they had the conscious possession and enjoyment of the Spirit, but till that came they were incomplete. Paul was converted by the mighty power of Jesus who appeared to him on the way to Damascus; and yet he had to go to Ananias to receive the Holy Spirit.
Then again, we read that when Peter went to preach to Cornelius, as he preached Christ, "the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word," which Peter took as the sign that these Gentiles were one with the Jews in the favor of God, having the same baptism.
And so we might go through many of the Epistles, where we find the same truth taught. Look at that wonderful epistle to the Romans. The doctrine of justification by faith is established in the first five chapters. Then in the sixth and seventh, though the believer is represented as dead to sin and the law, and married to Christ, yet a dreadful struggle goes on in the heart of the regenerate man as long as he has not got the full power of the Holy Spirit. But in the eighth chapter, it is the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" that maketh us free from "the law of sin and death." Then we are "not in the flesh, but in the Spirit," with the Spirit of God dwelling in us. All the teaching leads us to the Holy Spirit.
~Andrew Murray~
(continued with # 19)
Saturday, February 2, 2019
I Know There Is A Heaven # 3
I Know There Is A Heaven # 3
IV. I Beseech You to Have Your Passport
Permit me one last word. As God gave me utterance, I have told you why I know there is a heaven; what kind of place it is; why I know I am going there. May I passionately, earnestly, urgently, beseech you to get your passport. You may if you will. It is altogether dependent upon your willingness. There is but one thing in your way: not your sins; Christ can and will wash those away; not your weakness, the Holy Spirit can conquer those in you. There is nothing in your way but your own, "I will." This hour, if you are ready to say to God, "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner," God stands ready to enroll you in the citizenship of heaven. Make sure your name is written in His Book.
Today the gates of glory swing wide open for your entrance. God is bending down from the throne. Jesus is reaching out His pierced hands to you. The Holy Spirit is softly whispering the gentle welcome to the invitation. Will you accept it? Some years ago, one of the engineers of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, a superb Christian man, built his home by the side of the right of way. He had a six year old daughter. Every day the engineer, in passing his home, pulled the cord of the engine's whistle to greet his loved ones. The little daughter got into the habit of climbing on the fence to wave at her daddy as he passed. One day she overbalanced herself and tumbled into the ravine at the foot of the tracks. Her father came home that night to find her with a bruised scratched body. "Darling," he said to her, "you must not climb that fence anymore. The next time you might hurt yourself pretty badly."
"I'll tell you what I'll do," said the father; "tomorrow before I leave I'll take a board out of the fence. Tomorrow evening and every other evening when I go past, you can stick your head and shoulders through that hole and see me and wave at me."
The man did just as he said. From then on, daily, when the train sped past, the whistle blowing, the child pressed herself into the fence and waved hand and handkerchief to the much loved father. The days sped past. The winter came. The little girl contracted a severe cold that rapidly developed into double pneumonia. The man took time out of his job and sat night and day by the bed of his child. The doctors did the best they could, but God wanted that flower in His own garden. The girl grew steadily worse until one day the family physician came out to call the father into the sickroom with the dreadful news that the child was dying. The father and mother stood at the foot of the bed watching. Pale of face, eyes closed, she lay there on her back in her little bed. Minutes went past. After a time, she opened her eyes. Noticing the tears of her parents, she whispered in a faint little voice, "Daddy, Mamma, why are you crying?"
The father and mother choked with their emotions, were unable to answer. They looked at the good doctor. The doctor turned to the child and, taking her small hand in his, gently told her that her father and mother were weeping because she was leaving them to be with Jesus. Again the child looked up into the face of her father. "Daddy," she said, "you mean I am going to die?" "Yes, darling," he whispered. "you are leaving Daddy and Mamma to go to be with Jesus." The girl whimpered a little softly crying. Then she bethought herself of something and began to comfort the mourning ones. "Daddy," she said, "Mamma, don't cry. When I get to heaven, the first thing I am going to do is tell Jesus about you. I am going to tell Him what a good Daddy and Mamma you were and how you always talked to me about Him. Then I am going to ask Jesus to take a board out of the wall around heaven. Every day I shall go to that opening and watch for you. When I see you coming, I shall wave at you to show you where I am that you may come to me."
This is just what Jesus is doing for us and to us right now. Bending over the battlements of glory, His pierced Hand is Stretched Out Still to us (Isaiah 9:12, 17, 21). He is beckoning us to come to Him. He is longingly, yearningly, pleadingly, anxiously waiting for you. Will you this very moment accept His invitation? Will you, in humble, penitent, childlike, yet bold, trusting faith,come to the blessed Saviour right now, that you, together with the great multitude of us, may start on the journey to the Promised Land, never finish until you stand complete in the Lord Jesus Christ before the throne of God in the glorious heavens? God give you the grace to come, and meet this Jesus and celebrate the first birthday of your immortal soul, or to reaffirm your position with the Holy Spirit, as a child of God.
~Hyman Appleman~
(The End)
IV. I Beseech You to Have Your Passport
Permit me one last word. As God gave me utterance, I have told you why I know there is a heaven; what kind of place it is; why I know I am going there. May I passionately, earnestly, urgently, beseech you to get your passport. You may if you will. It is altogether dependent upon your willingness. There is but one thing in your way: not your sins; Christ can and will wash those away; not your weakness, the Holy Spirit can conquer those in you. There is nothing in your way but your own, "I will." This hour, if you are ready to say to God, "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner," God stands ready to enroll you in the citizenship of heaven. Make sure your name is written in His Book.
Today the gates of glory swing wide open for your entrance. God is bending down from the throne. Jesus is reaching out His pierced hands to you. The Holy Spirit is softly whispering the gentle welcome to the invitation. Will you accept it? Some years ago, one of the engineers of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, a superb Christian man, built his home by the side of the right of way. He had a six year old daughter. Every day the engineer, in passing his home, pulled the cord of the engine's whistle to greet his loved ones. The little daughter got into the habit of climbing on the fence to wave at her daddy as he passed. One day she overbalanced herself and tumbled into the ravine at the foot of the tracks. Her father came home that night to find her with a bruised scratched body. "Darling," he said to her, "you must not climb that fence anymore. The next time you might hurt yourself pretty badly."
"I'll tell you what I'll do," said the father; "tomorrow before I leave I'll take a board out of the fence. Tomorrow evening and every other evening when I go past, you can stick your head and shoulders through that hole and see me and wave at me."
The man did just as he said. From then on, daily, when the train sped past, the whistle blowing, the child pressed herself into the fence and waved hand and handkerchief to the much loved father. The days sped past. The winter came. The little girl contracted a severe cold that rapidly developed into double pneumonia. The man took time out of his job and sat night and day by the bed of his child. The doctors did the best they could, but God wanted that flower in His own garden. The girl grew steadily worse until one day the family physician came out to call the father into the sickroom with the dreadful news that the child was dying. The father and mother stood at the foot of the bed watching. Pale of face, eyes closed, she lay there on her back in her little bed. Minutes went past. After a time, she opened her eyes. Noticing the tears of her parents, she whispered in a faint little voice, "Daddy, Mamma, why are you crying?"
The father and mother choked with their emotions, were unable to answer. They looked at the good doctor. The doctor turned to the child and, taking her small hand in his, gently told her that her father and mother were weeping because she was leaving them to be with Jesus. Again the child looked up into the face of her father. "Daddy," she said, "you mean I am going to die?" "Yes, darling," he whispered. "you are leaving Daddy and Mamma to go to be with Jesus." The girl whimpered a little softly crying. Then she bethought herself of something and began to comfort the mourning ones. "Daddy," she said, "Mamma, don't cry. When I get to heaven, the first thing I am going to do is tell Jesus about you. I am going to tell Him what a good Daddy and Mamma you were and how you always talked to me about Him. Then I am going to ask Jesus to take a board out of the wall around heaven. Every day I shall go to that opening and watch for you. When I see you coming, I shall wave at you to show you where I am that you may come to me."
This is just what Jesus is doing for us and to us right now. Bending over the battlements of glory, His pierced Hand is Stretched Out Still to us (Isaiah 9:12, 17, 21). He is beckoning us to come to Him. He is longingly, yearningly, pleadingly, anxiously waiting for you. Will you this very moment accept His invitation? Will you, in humble, penitent, childlike, yet bold, trusting faith,come to the blessed Saviour right now, that you, together with the great multitude of us, may start on the journey to the Promised Land, never finish until you stand complete in the Lord Jesus Christ before the throne of God in the glorious heavens? God give you the grace to come, and meet this Jesus and celebrate the first birthday of your immortal soul, or to reaffirm your position with the Holy Spirit, as a child of God.
~Hyman Appleman~
(The End)
The Deeper Christian Life # 17
The Deeper Christian Life # 17
Someone may say, "I have been trying to say, 'Lord, I will live it,' but tell me, suppose failure comes? What then?" Learn from Peter what you ought to do. What did Peter do? The very opposite of what most do. What did he do when he began to sink? That very moment, without one word of self-reproach or self-condemnation, he cried, "Lord, help me!" I wish I could teach every Christian that. I remember the time in my spiritual life when that became clear to me; for up to that time, when I failed, my only thought was to reproach and condemn myself, and I thought that would do me good. I found it didn't ! And I learn from Peter that my work is, the very moment I fail, to say, "Jesus, Master, help me!" and the very moment I say that, Jesus does help me. Remember, failure is not an impossibility. I can conceive more than one Christian who said, "Lord, I claim the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I want to live every hour of every day filled with the Holy Spirit;" and I can conceive that an honest soul who said that with a trembling faith, yet may have fallen; I want to say to that soul, Don't be discouraged. If failure comes, at once, without any waiting, appeal to Jesus. He is always ready to hear, and the very moment you find there is the temper, the hasty word, or some other wrong, at once the living Jesus is near, so gracious, and so mighty. Appeal to Him and there will be help at once. If you will learn to do this, Jesus will lift you up and lead you on to a walk where His strength shall secure you from failure.
7. And then comes my last thought. The presence of Jesus was forgotten while Peter looked at the waves, but now, lastly, we have the presence of Jesus restored. Yes, Christ stretched out His hand to save him. Possibly - for Peter was a very proud, self-confident man - possibly he had to sink there to teach him that his faith could not save him, but it was the power of Christ. God wants us to learn the lesson that when we fall then we can cry to Jesus, and at once He reaches out His hand. Remember, Peter walked back to the boat without sinking again. Why? Because Christ was very near him. Remember it is quite possible, if you use your failure rightly, to be far nearer Christ after it than before. Use it rightly, I say. That is, come and acknowledge, "In me there is nothing, but I am going to trust my Lord unboundedly." Let every failure teach you to cling afresh to Christ, and He will prove Himself a mighty and a loving Helper. The presence of Jesus restored! Yes, Christ took him by the hand and helped him, and I don't know whether they walked hand in hand those forty or fifty yards back to the boat, or whether Christ allowed Peter to walk beside Him; but this I know, they were very near to each other, and it was the nearness to his Lord that strengthened him.
Remember what has taken place since that happened to Peter. The Cross has been erected, the blood has been shed, the grave has been opened, the resurrection has been accomplished, heaven has been opened, and the Spirit of the Exalted One has come down. Do believe that it is possible for the presence of Jesus to be with us every day and all the way. Your God has given you Christ, and He wants to give you Christ into your heart in such a way that His presence shall be with you every moment of your life.
Who is willing to lift up his eyes and his heart and to exclaim, "I want to live according to God's standard?" Who is willing? Who is willing to cast himself into the arms of Jesus and to live a life of faith victorious over the winds and the waves, over the circumstances and difficulties? Who is willing to say this, - "Lord, bid me come to Thee upon the water?" Are you willing? Listen! Jesus says, "Come." Will you step out at this moment? Yonder is the boat, the old life that Peter had been leading; he had been familiar with the sea from his boyhood, and that boat was a very sacred place; Christ had sat beside him there; Christ had preached from that boat, from that boat of Peter's, Christ had given the wonderful draught of fishes; it was a very sacred place; but Peter left it "to come to a place more sacred still, - walking with Jesus on the water, - a new and a Divine experience. Your Christian life may be a very sacred thing; you may say, "Christ saved me by His blood, He has given me many an experience of grace; God has proved His grace in my heart," but you confess, "I haven't got the real life of abiding fellowship; the winds and the waves often terrify me, and I sink." Oh, come out of the boat of past experiences at once; come out of the boat of external circumstances; come out of the boat, and step out on the word of Christ, and believe, "With Jesus I can walk upon the water." When Peter was in the boat, what had he between him and the bottom of the sea? A couple of planks; but when he stepped out upon the water what had he between him and the sea? Not a plank, but the word of the Almighty Jesus. Will you come, and without any experience, will you rest upon the word of Jesus, "Lo I am with you alway?" Will you rest upon His word, "Be of good cheer, fear not, it is I?" Every moment He lives to make it true. Accept it now, accept it now! My Lord Jesus is equal to every emergency. My Lord Jesus can meet the wants of every soul. My whole heart says, "He can, He can do it, He will, He will do it!" Oh come believers, and let us claim most deliberately, most quietly, most restfully, - let us claim, claim it, claim it. Claim it.
~Andrew Murray~
(continued with # 18)
Someone may say, "I have been trying to say, 'Lord, I will live it,' but tell me, suppose failure comes? What then?" Learn from Peter what you ought to do. What did Peter do? The very opposite of what most do. What did he do when he began to sink? That very moment, without one word of self-reproach or self-condemnation, he cried, "Lord, help me!" I wish I could teach every Christian that. I remember the time in my spiritual life when that became clear to me; for up to that time, when I failed, my only thought was to reproach and condemn myself, and I thought that would do me good. I found it didn't ! And I learn from Peter that my work is, the very moment I fail, to say, "Jesus, Master, help me!" and the very moment I say that, Jesus does help me. Remember, failure is not an impossibility. I can conceive more than one Christian who said, "Lord, I claim the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I want to live every hour of every day filled with the Holy Spirit;" and I can conceive that an honest soul who said that with a trembling faith, yet may have fallen; I want to say to that soul, Don't be discouraged. If failure comes, at once, without any waiting, appeal to Jesus. He is always ready to hear, and the very moment you find there is the temper, the hasty word, or some other wrong, at once the living Jesus is near, so gracious, and so mighty. Appeal to Him and there will be help at once. If you will learn to do this, Jesus will lift you up and lead you on to a walk where His strength shall secure you from failure.
7. And then comes my last thought. The presence of Jesus was forgotten while Peter looked at the waves, but now, lastly, we have the presence of Jesus restored. Yes, Christ stretched out His hand to save him. Possibly - for Peter was a very proud, self-confident man - possibly he had to sink there to teach him that his faith could not save him, but it was the power of Christ. God wants us to learn the lesson that when we fall then we can cry to Jesus, and at once He reaches out His hand. Remember, Peter walked back to the boat without sinking again. Why? Because Christ was very near him. Remember it is quite possible, if you use your failure rightly, to be far nearer Christ after it than before. Use it rightly, I say. That is, come and acknowledge, "In me there is nothing, but I am going to trust my Lord unboundedly." Let every failure teach you to cling afresh to Christ, and He will prove Himself a mighty and a loving Helper. The presence of Jesus restored! Yes, Christ took him by the hand and helped him, and I don't know whether they walked hand in hand those forty or fifty yards back to the boat, or whether Christ allowed Peter to walk beside Him; but this I know, they were very near to each other, and it was the nearness to his Lord that strengthened him.
Remember what has taken place since that happened to Peter. The Cross has been erected, the blood has been shed, the grave has been opened, the resurrection has been accomplished, heaven has been opened, and the Spirit of the Exalted One has come down. Do believe that it is possible for the presence of Jesus to be with us every day and all the way. Your God has given you Christ, and He wants to give you Christ into your heart in such a way that His presence shall be with you every moment of your life.
Who is willing to lift up his eyes and his heart and to exclaim, "I want to live according to God's standard?" Who is willing? Who is willing to cast himself into the arms of Jesus and to live a life of faith victorious over the winds and the waves, over the circumstances and difficulties? Who is willing to say this, - "Lord, bid me come to Thee upon the water?" Are you willing? Listen! Jesus says, "Come." Will you step out at this moment? Yonder is the boat, the old life that Peter had been leading; he had been familiar with the sea from his boyhood, and that boat was a very sacred place; Christ had sat beside him there; Christ had preached from that boat, from that boat of Peter's, Christ had given the wonderful draught of fishes; it was a very sacred place; but Peter left it "to come to a place more sacred still, - walking with Jesus on the water, - a new and a Divine experience. Your Christian life may be a very sacred thing; you may say, "Christ saved me by His blood, He has given me many an experience of grace; God has proved His grace in my heart," but you confess, "I haven't got the real life of abiding fellowship; the winds and the waves often terrify me, and I sink." Oh, come out of the boat of past experiences at once; come out of the boat of external circumstances; come out of the boat, and step out on the word of Christ, and believe, "With Jesus I can walk upon the water." When Peter was in the boat, what had he between him and the bottom of the sea? A couple of planks; but when he stepped out upon the water what had he between him and the sea? Not a plank, but the word of the Almighty Jesus. Will you come, and without any experience, will you rest upon the word of Jesus, "Lo I am with you alway?" Will you rest upon His word, "Be of good cheer, fear not, it is I?" Every moment He lives to make it true. Accept it now, accept it now! My Lord Jesus is equal to every emergency. My Lord Jesus can meet the wants of every soul. My whole heart says, "He can, He can do it, He will, He will do it!" Oh come believers, and let us claim most deliberately, most quietly, most restfully, - let us claim, claim it, claim it. Claim it.
~Andrew Murray~
(continued with # 18)
I Know There Is A Heaven! # 2
I Know There Is A Heaven! # 2
It is a prepared place. It is not an accidental, fortuitous conglomeration of something. It is a prepared place. God is its architect. Christ is its superintendent. The Holy Spirit is it's builder. It is a work of art, a labor of love. It is in every detail a thing of beauty, a joy forever. Its grasses, trees, flowers, are of breath-taking beauty. Its streets are paved with gold. Its buildings are of the costliest, everlasting marble. Its government is in the hands of the Prince of Peace. The Holy Spirit is its superintendent of education. The angels make up its teaching staffs. There are no jailhouses, no prisons, no reformatories, no hospitals, no orphanages, no old folks homes, no drugstores, no doctors, no dentists, no lawyers, no courts, no blind, no deaf, no dumb, no cripples, no weak, no aged, no feeble. Sin and satan are banished forever. Nothing that is unclean or defileth in any way will be permitted to enter through its wide gates. There is nothing on earth to which we can compare it. The human mind cannot comprehend nor can the human tongue describe the glories of that eternal, prepared place.
It is a populated place. John says he saw a great multitude which no man could number of every nation, kindred, and tribe, out of all the earth. Thank God for that. From every continent, clime, country, color, creed, over all the earth, Jew and Gentile, black and white, Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, young and old, rich and poor, strong, educated, ignorant, they have all been bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and myriads have accepted the invitation. What a crowd that will be! What a place of meeting, or greeting, of rejoicing that will be. Many of you have fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sons, daughters that have crossed Jordan waters before you. Thanks be unto God, you will all clasp hands and rejoice in the presence of God nevermore to endure the pangs of parting. All of us have friends that were as dear to us as our own flesh and blood whom God has called up higher. They, too, are waiting for us, waiting to welcome us into that fellowship of eternal bliss. Yes, heaven is a peopled place, filled with those who have washed their garments and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
It is a perfect place. The wisdom, the grace, the power of God assure and insure its perfections. There can be no flaws there, no mistakes, no something to have been left out or something to have been put in. There are no disappointments in heaven, no discouragements, no disheartenings. There is no sorrow, no suffering, no pain. There are no tears in the presence of God, and the angel of death walks not its golden streets. None of the toil, none of the trial, none of the tribulations of earth find a resting place there. The waters of the river flow abundantly to be freely quaffed by all unto the renewal of youth, vigor, vitality. We never grow old up there.
III. I Know I Am Going There
I have the assurance of that fact. It shouts in my heart, sings in my soul, sounds in my mind. I know beyond peradventure, beyond question, beyond doubt, beyond any sort of uncertainty that I am bound for the Promised Land, that one day I shall tread its golden streets, that one day I shall hear the angels sing, that one day I shall meet all of my precious friends who have gone on before me, that one day I shall see my blessed Saviour face to face.
I know I am going there because I am saved. My entrance into glory land is not postulated upon the facts that I am who I am, a regenerated Christian. I am going there because I am saved, because I have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, because I have confessed Him before men, because my sins are forgiven, because my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Paul said, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I have done all that. I have put my utter faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have believed on Him. I have confessed Him before men. By His own unalterable, Holy Word, I know I am saved. I am going to heaven, for I have received Jesus.
I know I am going there because I am sealed, sealed in the eternal purpose, in the eternal power, by the eternal Spirit of God.
I know I am going to heaven because I am sustained. All along the journey from earth to heaven, since the day I first accepted Christ as my Redeemer, God has made ample, abundant provision for my welfare. I have the gift of the Holy Spirit to encourage me and empower me. I have proved again and again that Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
~Hyman Appleman~
(continued with # 3)
It is a prepared place. It is not an accidental, fortuitous conglomeration of something. It is a prepared place. God is its architect. Christ is its superintendent. The Holy Spirit is it's builder. It is a work of art, a labor of love. It is in every detail a thing of beauty, a joy forever. Its grasses, trees, flowers, are of breath-taking beauty. Its streets are paved with gold. Its buildings are of the costliest, everlasting marble. Its government is in the hands of the Prince of Peace. The Holy Spirit is its superintendent of education. The angels make up its teaching staffs. There are no jailhouses, no prisons, no reformatories, no hospitals, no orphanages, no old folks homes, no drugstores, no doctors, no dentists, no lawyers, no courts, no blind, no deaf, no dumb, no cripples, no weak, no aged, no feeble. Sin and satan are banished forever. Nothing that is unclean or defileth in any way will be permitted to enter through its wide gates. There is nothing on earth to which we can compare it. The human mind cannot comprehend nor can the human tongue describe the glories of that eternal, prepared place.
It is a populated place. John says he saw a great multitude which no man could number of every nation, kindred, and tribe, out of all the earth. Thank God for that. From every continent, clime, country, color, creed, over all the earth, Jew and Gentile, black and white, Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, young and old, rich and poor, strong, educated, ignorant, they have all been bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and myriads have accepted the invitation. What a crowd that will be! What a place of meeting, or greeting, of rejoicing that will be. Many of you have fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sons, daughters that have crossed Jordan waters before you. Thanks be unto God, you will all clasp hands and rejoice in the presence of God nevermore to endure the pangs of parting. All of us have friends that were as dear to us as our own flesh and blood whom God has called up higher. They, too, are waiting for us, waiting to welcome us into that fellowship of eternal bliss. Yes, heaven is a peopled place, filled with those who have washed their garments and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
It is a perfect place. The wisdom, the grace, the power of God assure and insure its perfections. There can be no flaws there, no mistakes, no something to have been left out or something to have been put in. There are no disappointments in heaven, no discouragements, no disheartenings. There is no sorrow, no suffering, no pain. There are no tears in the presence of God, and the angel of death walks not its golden streets. None of the toil, none of the trial, none of the tribulations of earth find a resting place there. The waters of the river flow abundantly to be freely quaffed by all unto the renewal of youth, vigor, vitality. We never grow old up there.
III. I Know I Am Going There
I have the assurance of that fact. It shouts in my heart, sings in my soul, sounds in my mind. I know beyond peradventure, beyond question, beyond doubt, beyond any sort of uncertainty that I am bound for the Promised Land, that one day I shall tread its golden streets, that one day I shall hear the angels sing, that one day I shall meet all of my precious friends who have gone on before me, that one day I shall see my blessed Saviour face to face.
I know I am going there because I am saved. My entrance into glory land is not postulated upon the facts that I am who I am, a regenerated Christian. I am going there because I am saved, because I have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, because I have confessed Him before men, because my sins are forgiven, because my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Paul said, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I have done all that. I have put my utter faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have believed on Him. I have confessed Him before men. By His own unalterable, Holy Word, I know I am saved. I am going to heaven, for I have received Jesus.
I know I am going there because I am sealed, sealed in the eternal purpose, in the eternal power, by the eternal Spirit of God.
I know I am going to heaven because I am sustained. All along the journey from earth to heaven, since the day I first accepted Christ as my Redeemer, God has made ample, abundant provision for my welfare. I have the gift of the Holy Spirit to encourage me and empower me. I have proved again and again that Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
~Hyman Appleman~
(continued with # 3)
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