Trials # 5
But if we try to get out of the trial without passing through it - then we are sure to miss the blessing in the end. It is the blessing that God wants us to have, and that is what we need. If you struggle out of the trial without getting the lesson and the blessing- then God may bring it again. He may let it be repeated again and again - until you submit to His will and have wrought in you the thing that is needful.
Do not meet your trials with fear. Meet them courageously. Do not dread them. Keep confident in God. Do not rebel against them. Submit yourself to the Lord. He will make all things work together for good to you.
How Faith Sustains in Trial
We are told that we stand by faith. Faith is the one thing that can sustain us through every peril and through every difficulty.
I once stood upon the shore when the waves were dashing wildly against the rocks. A considerable distance from the shore I saw two objects rising and falling upon the waves, but as I kept gazing at them, I observed a difference in their behavior. I soon saw that, while both were being tossed by the waves, one was coming nearer to me. It was being driven in toward land, while the other remained in its position. One was a floating log; the other was a buoy. Every wave drove the log nearer the shore, and I watched it until it was dashed against the rocks. The buoy still held its position.
What was the difference between the two? The buoy was anchored; the log was not. The iron cable of the buoy took fast hold upon the bottom and held, no matter how the storm raged; but the unanchored log was at the mercy of every wind and every wave.
Which object represents us depends upon our faith. If our faith is anchored in God, we are like the buoy which, though tossed by the waves, though beaten by the storms, yet holds its position and cannot be moved away. If we are not anchored by faith in God - then we are like the log, and it will be no wonder if we are dashed upon the rocks.
The seaweed floats up on the surface of the water. It too is beaten by the storm and tossed by the waves, but it keeps its place; for down beneath the waves it has a sure grounding - by strong roots anchored to a rock. The storms may beat, the winds may blow, the waves may roll - but it holds fast, because it is fastened upon the rock.
In the same way, God would have us rooted in Him through faith. This faith will sustain us and hold us in our place in the wildest storms or the bitterest trial.
Balance the trial by trust. As the trial increases - increase trust. The harder the trial comes upon us - the harder we should lean upon the Lord. He will sustain you, if you trust and lean on Him.
We are not likely to be tried as hard as Job was. In fact, if we will compare our trials with his - we shall often feel ashamed to call them trials! Though Job was tempted to the limit and tried to the utmost - he was fully determined that his conduct should be righteous, and that not simply for a little while. Through all his trials and afflictions - he stood steadfast and unmovable, glorifying God even when he could not pierce the darkness ahead of him. Even when he could not understand the present, and when the past was unexplained and unexplainable; even when his wife despaired, and his friends united to condemning him - still he held fast his integrity. His decision was not simply to hold on a little while and see if things would change. No, he intended to go through to the end, no matter what came. His decision was to be steadfast as long as he lived. He might suffer, but he would not rebel. If he could not understand God's ways, he could understand his duty; and he would do his duty; regardless of what happened.
What a lesson of faithfulness and steadfastness! We ought to be ashamed to let the few little trials that we have, weaken our decision to serve the Lord and be true at any cost. What have we to endure compared with what he had? Let us be steadfast, therefore, and keep right on, knowing that our God is our helper and that He will never fail us.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 6)
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Trials # 4
Trials # 4
"We count them happy who endure" (James 5:11). But the class of people I am describing, cannot look upon endurance in this light. There is no happiness in it to them. There is no pleasantness to them. No matter what good comes to them through trials - they want it some other way. But trials will come anyway. They cannot escape them. The only thing by rebelling, will be to increase their suffering in the trials and prevent themselves from getting the blessedness out of them. We ought to be willing to suffer when it is God's will for us to suffer, or when He sees it is necessary for us to suffer. Our Master drank the cup of suffering even though it was bitter. Are we better than He? Shall we refuse to go by the path that led Him to glory?
Another thing that makes trials hard to bear, is fear of being overcome by them. When trials come to some, the first thing they think of is, "Shall I be able to endure them? Shall I overcome in it? They are all the time fearing and worrying, lest they should not be able to go through it. This fear itself is a source of weakness. It also increases the suffering that results from trials. When you add fear to your trials - then you double their size and weight. Why should you fear? Is not God upon His throne? Is He not watching over your life? Does He not know just how much you can endure? Will He let the fire be too hot? Will He let distress be too great? Will He fail you in anything? He says, "Fear not, for I am with you."
If you are disposed to fear your trials, a good thing to do is to collect a large number of the promises of God's help from the Bible. Write them down on a piece of paper, and keep them handy, and when you see a trial coming or realize that it is already upon you, and your fears begin to arise - then get your list of promises and begin reading them over. Read them carefully and thoughtfully. Read them as being true. Remember that God stands in back of each of them, and stands in back of it to make it true for you.
The trouble is that when people get to viewing their trials - they keep looking at their trials and not looking to God. They do not look at the promises. They forget all about them. And so the more they fear - the more troubled they become. There are a thousand promises that apply to your case. There are a thousand promises that meet your daily need - and not one of all those promises will fail.
Another thing that makes trials hard to bear, is unbelief. God's promises will amount to nothing for us, unless we believe them and appropriate them unto ourselves. They are true for us whether we believe them or not - but they do not become effective for us, until we believe them. If you do not believe that God will help bear your trials - then you must take the whole weight of them upon yourself. If you do not believe that He will give you victory in them, then you must fight through to victory in your own strength. If you do not believe that victory is to be the outcome for you - then your belief will be a source of weakness to you, so that you will not have the confidence that you need to carry you through.
Unbelief is your greatest enemy. Unbelief will cloud your whole sky, and shut out the sunlight, and will close the channel of God's grace - so that it cannot be supplied to meet your needs. Unbelief will darken your mind and your heart. It will whisper in your ears that the situation is hopeless, that it is of no use to try.
Unbelief is satan's strongest ally. Shut your heart to it, and believe with all your strength that God is true and that God is true to you. This is only asserting the truth; there is no make-believe about it. His trueness is just as real as your existence. You may have His help if you will believe, but if you will still abide in unbelief - then you must fight your battles and get out the best way you can. And that best way will often be a hard one. How much better to believe God, and take His way and His help!
Another thing that makes our trials hard to bear is struggling to escape from them. The question with so many when they are in trial is: "How can I get out of this? How can I get to the end of it?" They will take almost any way out of it, just so that they get out quick. The easiest way out, is not always the best way out. Trying to get out in what seems to be the easiest way - often gets us in the deeper, and makes the trial the more bitter.
The only safe way is to submit to God and let Him bring us through in the way that He sees fit. He knows the best way. He knows just what we can endure. He knows just what is needed. He sees the end from the beginning. He knows how we are going to get through it. He knows what the outcome will be and what a blessing He has in store for us at the end of the trial.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 5)
"We count them happy who endure" (James 5:11). But the class of people I am describing, cannot look upon endurance in this light. There is no happiness in it to them. There is no pleasantness to them. No matter what good comes to them through trials - they want it some other way. But trials will come anyway. They cannot escape them. The only thing by rebelling, will be to increase their suffering in the trials and prevent themselves from getting the blessedness out of them. We ought to be willing to suffer when it is God's will for us to suffer, or when He sees it is necessary for us to suffer. Our Master drank the cup of suffering even though it was bitter. Are we better than He? Shall we refuse to go by the path that led Him to glory?
Another thing that makes trials hard to bear, is fear of being overcome by them. When trials come to some, the first thing they think of is, "Shall I be able to endure them? Shall I overcome in it? They are all the time fearing and worrying, lest they should not be able to go through it. This fear itself is a source of weakness. It also increases the suffering that results from trials. When you add fear to your trials - then you double their size and weight. Why should you fear? Is not God upon His throne? Is He not watching over your life? Does He not know just how much you can endure? Will He let the fire be too hot? Will He let distress be too great? Will He fail you in anything? He says, "Fear not, for I am with you."
If you are disposed to fear your trials, a good thing to do is to collect a large number of the promises of God's help from the Bible. Write them down on a piece of paper, and keep them handy, and when you see a trial coming or realize that it is already upon you, and your fears begin to arise - then get your list of promises and begin reading them over. Read them carefully and thoughtfully. Read them as being true. Remember that God stands in back of each of them, and stands in back of it to make it true for you.
The trouble is that when people get to viewing their trials - they keep looking at their trials and not looking to God. They do not look at the promises. They forget all about them. And so the more they fear - the more troubled they become. There are a thousand promises that apply to your case. There are a thousand promises that meet your daily need - and not one of all those promises will fail.
Another thing that makes trials hard to bear, is unbelief. God's promises will amount to nothing for us, unless we believe them and appropriate them unto ourselves. They are true for us whether we believe them or not - but they do not become effective for us, until we believe them. If you do not believe that God will help bear your trials - then you must take the whole weight of them upon yourself. If you do not believe that He will give you victory in them, then you must fight through to victory in your own strength. If you do not believe that victory is to be the outcome for you - then your belief will be a source of weakness to you, so that you will not have the confidence that you need to carry you through.
Unbelief is your greatest enemy. Unbelief will cloud your whole sky, and shut out the sunlight, and will close the channel of God's grace - so that it cannot be supplied to meet your needs. Unbelief will darken your mind and your heart. It will whisper in your ears that the situation is hopeless, that it is of no use to try.
Unbelief is satan's strongest ally. Shut your heart to it, and believe with all your strength that God is true and that God is true to you. This is only asserting the truth; there is no make-believe about it. His trueness is just as real as your existence. You may have His help if you will believe, but if you will still abide in unbelief - then you must fight your battles and get out the best way you can. And that best way will often be a hard one. How much better to believe God, and take His way and His help!
Another thing that makes our trials hard to bear is struggling to escape from them. The question with so many when they are in trial is: "How can I get out of this? How can I get to the end of it?" They will take almost any way out of it, just so that they get out quick. The easiest way out, is not always the best way out. Trying to get out in what seems to be the easiest way - often gets us in the deeper, and makes the trial the more bitter.
The only safe way is to submit to God and let Him bring us through in the way that He sees fit. He knows the best way. He knows just what we can endure. He knows just what is needed. He sees the end from the beginning. He knows how we are going to get through it. He knows what the outcome will be and what a blessing He has in store for us at the end of the trial.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 5)
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Trials # 3
Trials # 3
But the trials that are hardest to bear, are the ones we bring upon ourselves. Many people suffer as a result of their own indiscretion. They act unwisely or unfittingly, and are buffeted for their faults. They are ridiculed or condemned; their names are on the tongue of the gossip, and they have no one to blame but themselves. If we do not act wisely or worthily - then we need not expect to have the confidence and esteem of others. If we are buffeted for our faults, the only Christian thing to do is to endure with meekness and patience, and try to do better next time. This is one kind of trial that is always bitter medicine. It brings no joy. The best thing we can do is to take our bitter medicine and make no wry faces about it.
We sometimes do things or say things that bring heaviness upon us. We heap blame and condemnation upon ourselves. We feel regret and sorrow, and are continually chiding ourselves. How many of these self-made trials could be avoided, if we would be careful to think of the outcome before we speak. We not let yourself brood over it. Resolve to do better next time, and ask God to help you.
Effects on the Sensibilities
The effect of trials on our sensibilities is often very great. Our feelings become deeply involved, and this is what makes trials hard to bear. Some let their feelings have full freedom of action at such a time, and therefore the trial affects them powerfully.
No matter how beautiful may be the scenery around you - you can hold a small, ugly object before your eyes and hide all the beauty, and see nothing but the object at which you gaze. So it is with our trials. If we let them hold our attention, if we look at them all the time - then they will shut out all the beauties of life about us, and will come to be the greatest things in our lives, even though in reality they may be very small and insignificant things.
There are people who allow their minds to be taken up largely by their trials. They are continually thinking over them and worrying over them. In such cases, the person is making his own hard paths.
Trials need not be allowed to take the sweetness out of life; they need not be allowed to shut out all the light and beauty of life. God does not intend that they shall.
Paul speaks of being "exceedingly joyful" in all his tribulations. He had plenty of tribulations, but he met them like a man, and instead of letting them get him down, he put his feet upon them and mastered them.
The first step in mastering a trial - is to master yourself. Gain control of your feelings. Do not waste time pitying yourself. Act as if you had some courage and fortitude. Face the situation manfully. You can do it if you will. Stand your ground against these things. Look to God and expect His help.
What Makes Trials Hard to Bear
Giving way to our feelings and letting them have their way, is not the only thing that makes trials hard to bear. It is one of the chief things, but there are other things that add to the hardness of bearing trials.
First, there is love of ease, and unwillingness to suffer. The flesh naturally loves an easy time. It seeks pleasure and self-gratification. Anything that goes contrary to such, is unpleasant to it - and it is likely to rebel against it. If we give the flesh its way - then trials will be very hard for us. No matter what trials may come, it will make us shrink from them and rebel against them.
Life has both its bitter and its sweet. We should not always expect to have the sweet alone. We cannot have the capacity to enjoy, without also having the capacity to suffer. Suffering is just as needful in our lives as enjoyment, and sometimes serves an even better purpose. If we are unwilling to suffer and in consequence begin to kick against the goads - then we shall soon find ourselves wounded, and our sufferings increased. This unwillingness to suffer, keeps many people out of the pleasure which God would give them. But they draw back. They are not willing to suffer, When trials come, they rebel against them.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 4)
But the trials that are hardest to bear, are the ones we bring upon ourselves. Many people suffer as a result of their own indiscretion. They act unwisely or unfittingly, and are buffeted for their faults. They are ridiculed or condemned; their names are on the tongue of the gossip, and they have no one to blame but themselves. If we do not act wisely or worthily - then we need not expect to have the confidence and esteem of others. If we are buffeted for our faults, the only Christian thing to do is to endure with meekness and patience, and try to do better next time. This is one kind of trial that is always bitter medicine. It brings no joy. The best thing we can do is to take our bitter medicine and make no wry faces about it.
We sometimes do things or say things that bring heaviness upon us. We heap blame and condemnation upon ourselves. We feel regret and sorrow, and are continually chiding ourselves. How many of these self-made trials could be avoided, if we would be careful to think of the outcome before we speak. We not let yourself brood over it. Resolve to do better next time, and ask God to help you.
Effects on the Sensibilities
The effect of trials on our sensibilities is often very great. Our feelings become deeply involved, and this is what makes trials hard to bear. Some let their feelings have full freedom of action at such a time, and therefore the trial affects them powerfully.
No matter how beautiful may be the scenery around you - you can hold a small, ugly object before your eyes and hide all the beauty, and see nothing but the object at which you gaze. So it is with our trials. If we let them hold our attention, if we look at them all the time - then they will shut out all the beauties of life about us, and will come to be the greatest things in our lives, even though in reality they may be very small and insignificant things.
There are people who allow their minds to be taken up largely by their trials. They are continually thinking over them and worrying over them. In such cases, the person is making his own hard paths.
Trials need not be allowed to take the sweetness out of life; they need not be allowed to shut out all the light and beauty of life. God does not intend that they shall.
Paul speaks of being "exceedingly joyful" in all his tribulations. He had plenty of tribulations, but he met them like a man, and instead of letting them get him down, he put his feet upon them and mastered them.
The first step in mastering a trial - is to master yourself. Gain control of your feelings. Do not waste time pitying yourself. Act as if you had some courage and fortitude. Face the situation manfully. You can do it if you will. Stand your ground against these things. Look to God and expect His help.
What Makes Trials Hard to Bear
Giving way to our feelings and letting them have their way, is not the only thing that makes trials hard to bear. It is one of the chief things, but there are other things that add to the hardness of bearing trials.
First, there is love of ease, and unwillingness to suffer. The flesh naturally loves an easy time. It seeks pleasure and self-gratification. Anything that goes contrary to such, is unpleasant to it - and it is likely to rebel against it. If we give the flesh its way - then trials will be very hard for us. No matter what trials may come, it will make us shrink from them and rebel against them.
Life has both its bitter and its sweet. We should not always expect to have the sweet alone. We cannot have the capacity to enjoy, without also having the capacity to suffer. Suffering is just as needful in our lives as enjoyment, and sometimes serves an even better purpose. If we are unwilling to suffer and in consequence begin to kick against the goads - then we shall soon find ourselves wounded, and our sufferings increased. This unwillingness to suffer, keeps many people out of the pleasure which God would give them. But they draw back. They are not willing to suffer, When trials come, they rebel against them.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 4)
Vile! # 3 (and others)
Vile! # 3 (and others)
Ah, my stricken brother, if you are groaning over the ocean of corruption within, and feel utterly unworthy to take the sacred name of Christ upon your polluted lips, then you should be unfeignedly thankful that you belong not to that great multitude of self-complacent and self-righteous religionists of whom it is written, "They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down" (Jere. 9:12). Much cause have you to praise the God of all grace that He anointed your sin-blinded eyes, and that now, in His sight, you are able to see a little of your hideous deformities, and cry "I am black!" (Song 1:5).
2. You have abundant cause to walk before God. Must not the realization of our vileness truly humble us before Him, make us smite upon our bosom, and cry "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" Yes, such a prayer is as suited to the maturest saint as it was when first convicted of his lost estate, for he is to continue as he began: Colossians 2:6, Revelation 2:5. But alas, how quickly does the apprehension of our vileness leave us! How frequently does pride again dominate us. For this reason we are bidden to "Look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you are dug" (Isaiah 51:1). Beg God to daily show you your vileness that you may walk humbly before Him.
3. You have abundant cause to marvel at the surpassing love of the Triune God toward you. That the Eternal Three should have set their heart upon such a wretch is indeed the wonder of all wonders. That God the Father should foreknow and foresee every sin of which you would be guilty in thought and word and deed, and yet have loved you "with an everlasting love" must indeed fill you with astonishment. That God the Son should have laid aside the robes of His glory and be made in the likeness of sin's flesh, in order to redeem one so foul and filthy as I, was truly a love "that passes knowledge!" That God the Holy Spirit should take up His resistence and dwell in the heart of one so vile, only proves that where sin abounded grace did much more abound. "Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen!" (Revelation 1:5, 6).
~A. W. Pink~
(The End)
_______________________
The Judgment
And is it certain that I must appear at the judgment? Yes! "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." And must I there give an account of my actions? Undoubtedly! Everyone will be judged "according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad." And will my most secret iniquities be revealed in the light of that day? They will! "For God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
Must I render an account of my words as well as my actions? Assuredly! "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof, in the day of judgment." Will any account be taken of our thoughts and of the desires and imaginations of the heart, on that day. Most certainly! For the heart is the source of all wickedness, and God knows and remembers every evil thought which ever passed through the minds of men: these come under the class of "secret things;" and it is written, "God will judge the secrets of men," in that day, "by Jesus Christ." Perhaps this relates to secret actions. Not alone; for it is written, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts."
Will all sinners fare alike on that day? All impenitent sinners will be condemned to everlasting misery; but there will be a wide difference between the punishment of those who sinned in ignorance, and those who sinned in the midst of light and against light. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Bethesda and Capernuaum. "That servant that knew his Master's will, and committed things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with many stripes; while he that knew not his Master's will, and committed things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." Every man shall receive according to his work. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men chose darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
Is the judgment day determined? Yes. "For He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has ordained." Is there reason to think that that day is near at hand? It is nearer now than ever before. It comes on apace; but of that day and that hour knows no man, nor the angels in heaven.
Will any man be able to stand in the judgment? None but such as are clothed in the righteousness of Christ: these shall not only be acquitted, but their imperfect works of faith and labors of love shall be richly rewarded. All others shall be condemned. No man's morality or good works can stand the scrutiny of that day. All without saving faith in Christ will be cast into outer darkness; they will hear the Judge's sentence, "Depart, accursed, into everlasting fire!"
~Archibald Alexander~
(The End)
Ah, my stricken brother, if you are groaning over the ocean of corruption within, and feel utterly unworthy to take the sacred name of Christ upon your polluted lips, then you should be unfeignedly thankful that you belong not to that great multitude of self-complacent and self-righteous religionists of whom it is written, "They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down" (Jere. 9:12). Much cause have you to praise the God of all grace that He anointed your sin-blinded eyes, and that now, in His sight, you are able to see a little of your hideous deformities, and cry "I am black!" (Song 1:5).
2. You have abundant cause to walk before God. Must not the realization of our vileness truly humble us before Him, make us smite upon our bosom, and cry "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" Yes, such a prayer is as suited to the maturest saint as it was when first convicted of his lost estate, for he is to continue as he began: Colossians 2:6, Revelation 2:5. But alas, how quickly does the apprehension of our vileness leave us! How frequently does pride again dominate us. For this reason we are bidden to "Look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you are dug" (Isaiah 51:1). Beg God to daily show you your vileness that you may walk humbly before Him.
3. You have abundant cause to marvel at the surpassing love of the Triune God toward you. That the Eternal Three should have set their heart upon such a wretch is indeed the wonder of all wonders. That God the Father should foreknow and foresee every sin of which you would be guilty in thought and word and deed, and yet have loved you "with an everlasting love" must indeed fill you with astonishment. That God the Son should have laid aside the robes of His glory and be made in the likeness of sin's flesh, in order to redeem one so foul and filthy as I, was truly a love "that passes knowledge!" That God the Holy Spirit should take up His resistence and dwell in the heart of one so vile, only proves that where sin abounded grace did much more abound. "Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen!" (Revelation 1:5, 6).
~A. W. Pink~
(The End)
_______________________
The Judgment
And is it certain that I must appear at the judgment? Yes! "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." And must I there give an account of my actions? Undoubtedly! Everyone will be judged "according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad." And will my most secret iniquities be revealed in the light of that day? They will! "For God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
Must I render an account of my words as well as my actions? Assuredly! "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof, in the day of judgment." Will any account be taken of our thoughts and of the desires and imaginations of the heart, on that day. Most certainly! For the heart is the source of all wickedness, and God knows and remembers every evil thought which ever passed through the minds of men: these come under the class of "secret things;" and it is written, "God will judge the secrets of men," in that day, "by Jesus Christ." Perhaps this relates to secret actions. Not alone; for it is written, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts."
Will all sinners fare alike on that day? All impenitent sinners will be condemned to everlasting misery; but there will be a wide difference between the punishment of those who sinned in ignorance, and those who sinned in the midst of light and against light. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Bethesda and Capernuaum. "That servant that knew his Master's will, and committed things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with many stripes; while he that knew not his Master's will, and committed things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." Every man shall receive according to his work. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men chose darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
Is the judgment day determined? Yes. "For He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has ordained." Is there reason to think that that day is near at hand? It is nearer now than ever before. It comes on apace; but of that day and that hour knows no man, nor the angels in heaven.
Will any man be able to stand in the judgment? None but such as are clothed in the righteousness of Christ: these shall not only be acquitted, but their imperfect works of faith and labors of love shall be richly rewarded. All others shall be condemned. No man's morality or good works can stand the scrutiny of that day. All without saving faith in Christ will be cast into outer darkness; they will hear the Judge's sentence, "Depart, accursed, into everlasting fire!"
~Archibald Alexander~
(The End)
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Trials # 2
Trials # 2
There are trials that come to us as the result of the acts or attitudes of others. How few are man's kindnesses to his fellow man! How great his inhumanity! How much of the human distress is needless and comes only by the selfish or evil acts of others!
Christ said that we should not marvel if the world hates us. Neither should we marvel if it should act out its hatred in malicious persecution. Our Lord has told us that offenses must come. To be a Christian, means to be a target for the world's hatred. We can count persecution as a part of our Christian heritage. Sometimes we shall have cruel mockings and have our names cast out as evil. We cannot endure these things without some sense of pain. How much we suffer under them, will depend on how we meet them. If we praise God and go resolutely on our way - then strength will be given us, and we shall overcome, and instead of hindering us, persecution will bring us rich treasures of grace and blessing.
Sometimes we may be tried over what others do when they have no thought or intention of causing us a trial, and perhaps are wholly ignorant that they are causing us to be tried. Very often people allow themselves to be tried when things need not be a trial - if they will hold the right attitude toward the supposed offender. We can let ourselves be tried over trifles if we will; when if we would act as a real man or woman, we could pass over them quite easily and do it joyously and not allow them to amount to anything.
The problem with so many, is that they are like petulant children, who are hurt or displeased at almost anything. If someone has really done something on purpose to hurt you - you should not give him the satisfaction of knowing that it hurt. Keep the hurt out of sight. Hide it away and over come it, and, if possible, let it be known to none but God. Bear with meekness, whatever trial happens to you. Pray for your persecutors. That is the surest way to keep God in your own heart. "Father, forgive them," is the plea that takes the sting out of persecution.
Some trials come directly from satan. For some reason we are left liable to his attacks. He attacked Job, destroyed his children, his possessions, and his health. God could shut him clear away from the world just as He has shut him away from Heaven, if He choose. But for some purpose He sees fit to let us be exposed to his attacks here. Many people feel like a little boy who once said: "Mother, I wish God would kill the devil. Why doesn't He do it? I would, if I were big enough."
satan is limited in his work against us, so that he can never go beyond God's will for us, so long as we leave ourselves in God's hands and rely upon Him for the needed help. God does see fit sometimes to let him try us severely - but there never be any cause for despair. God will not allow us to be tempted more than we are able to bear. If satan makes the temptation - God makes the way out. Sometimes He does not let us see the way out, even when He has prepared it, and we have to resist and endure the temptation until He sees that it has gone far enough. Then He shows us the way out. Sometimes He will take us and lift us clear out of it by His own hand. At other times He will put our adversary to flight. Our part is to endure and trust - God's part is to make the way of escape. We must endure patiently until our deliverance comes.
Sometimes God Himself tries or proves us. "I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried" (Zech. 13:9). The purpose of God's trying us, is often that we may know ourselves. If we become self-sufficient, or go to rejoicing in our own works - then He will likely send upon us or permit to come upon us, something that will bring us to know our insufficiency and need of help from Him. Danger is often the only thing that can help us to know our own weakness; so God often lets a danger come in order to bring us to our senses. We should not let such a thing discourage us, but get the lesson that our strength is from Him, and that our best efforts, if merely of ourselves, can avail little. He who trusts in God, has strength for his needs.
God sometimes tries us that we may know Him better. He wants us to know just how dearly He loves us, and how earnest is His care for us, and how faithful He is to us; and so He lets every hope and resource fail us, and distress fall upon us. When everything fails, and w turn to Him - how real is His help! How sweet is His comfort! If, however, when we find ourselves in such a situation, we despair and give up - then we lose the blessedness that He was preparing us for. We grieve His loving heart, and cheat ourselves.
Hold fast and wait for Him to work out His purpose. He afflicts, only to heal. He grieves, only to turn the grief to rejoicing, and to give greater rejoicing than could come through any other means.
Our trials are the root which our blessings grow. These roots may be bitter - but the fruit is sure to be sweet, if we patiently wait for its maturing. Too many want the fruits of blessings - bur are not willing to have the trial. Many choice fruits grow on thorny trees, and he who will gather the fruit may expect to be pricked now and then by the thorns.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 3)
There are trials that come to us as the result of the acts or attitudes of others. How few are man's kindnesses to his fellow man! How great his inhumanity! How much of the human distress is needless and comes only by the selfish or evil acts of others!
Christ said that we should not marvel if the world hates us. Neither should we marvel if it should act out its hatred in malicious persecution. Our Lord has told us that offenses must come. To be a Christian, means to be a target for the world's hatred. We can count persecution as a part of our Christian heritage. Sometimes we shall have cruel mockings and have our names cast out as evil. We cannot endure these things without some sense of pain. How much we suffer under them, will depend on how we meet them. If we praise God and go resolutely on our way - then strength will be given us, and we shall overcome, and instead of hindering us, persecution will bring us rich treasures of grace and blessing.
Sometimes we may be tried over what others do when they have no thought or intention of causing us a trial, and perhaps are wholly ignorant that they are causing us to be tried. Very often people allow themselves to be tried when things need not be a trial - if they will hold the right attitude toward the supposed offender. We can let ourselves be tried over trifles if we will; when if we would act as a real man or woman, we could pass over them quite easily and do it joyously and not allow them to amount to anything.
The problem with so many, is that they are like petulant children, who are hurt or displeased at almost anything. If someone has really done something on purpose to hurt you - you should not give him the satisfaction of knowing that it hurt. Keep the hurt out of sight. Hide it away and over come it, and, if possible, let it be known to none but God. Bear with meekness, whatever trial happens to you. Pray for your persecutors. That is the surest way to keep God in your own heart. "Father, forgive them," is the plea that takes the sting out of persecution.
Some trials come directly from satan. For some reason we are left liable to his attacks. He attacked Job, destroyed his children, his possessions, and his health. God could shut him clear away from the world just as He has shut him away from Heaven, if He choose. But for some purpose He sees fit to let us be exposed to his attacks here. Many people feel like a little boy who once said: "Mother, I wish God would kill the devil. Why doesn't He do it? I would, if I were big enough."
satan is limited in his work against us, so that he can never go beyond God's will for us, so long as we leave ourselves in God's hands and rely upon Him for the needed help. God does see fit sometimes to let him try us severely - but there never be any cause for despair. God will not allow us to be tempted more than we are able to bear. If satan makes the temptation - God makes the way out. Sometimes He does not let us see the way out, even when He has prepared it, and we have to resist and endure the temptation until He sees that it has gone far enough. Then He shows us the way out. Sometimes He will take us and lift us clear out of it by His own hand. At other times He will put our adversary to flight. Our part is to endure and trust - God's part is to make the way of escape. We must endure patiently until our deliverance comes.
Sometimes God Himself tries or proves us. "I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried" (Zech. 13:9). The purpose of God's trying us, is often that we may know ourselves. If we become self-sufficient, or go to rejoicing in our own works - then He will likely send upon us or permit to come upon us, something that will bring us to know our insufficiency and need of help from Him. Danger is often the only thing that can help us to know our own weakness; so God often lets a danger come in order to bring us to our senses. We should not let such a thing discourage us, but get the lesson that our strength is from Him, and that our best efforts, if merely of ourselves, can avail little. He who trusts in God, has strength for his needs.
God sometimes tries us that we may know Him better. He wants us to know just how dearly He loves us, and how earnest is His care for us, and how faithful He is to us; and so He lets every hope and resource fail us, and distress fall upon us. When everything fails, and w turn to Him - how real is His help! How sweet is His comfort! If, however, when we find ourselves in such a situation, we despair and give up - then we lose the blessedness that He was preparing us for. We grieve His loving heart, and cheat ourselves.
Hold fast and wait for Him to work out His purpose. He afflicts, only to heal. He grieves, only to turn the grief to rejoicing, and to give greater rejoicing than could come through any other means.
Our trials are the root which our blessings grow. These roots may be bitter - but the fruit is sure to be sweet, if we patiently wait for its maturing. Too many want the fruits of blessings - bur are not willing to have the trial. Many choice fruits grow on thorny trees, and he who will gather the fruit may expect to be pricked now and then by the thorns.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 3)
Vile! # 2
Vile! # 2
True repentance changes a man's opinion of himself. Is, then, a Christian today warranted in saying "Behold, I am vile"? Not as faith views himself united to the One who is "altogether lovely"; but as faith discerns, in the light of the Word, what he is by nature, what he is in and of himself, he may. Not that he is to hypocritically adopt such language in order to gain the reputation of great humility; nay, such an utterance is only to be found upon our lips as it is the feeling expression of our hearts: particularly is it to be owned before God, when we come to Him in contrition and in confession. Yet is it also to be acknowledged before the saints, even as the Apostle Paul cried publicly, "O wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:24).
It is part of our testimony to own (before those who fear the Lord) what God has revealed to us. "Behold I am vile!" Such is the candid and sorrowful confession of the writer.
1. I am vile in my imaginations. O what scum rises to the surface when lusts boil within me. What filthy pictures are visioned in "the chambers of my imagery" (Ezek. 8:12). What unlawful desires run riot within. Yes, even when engaged in meditating upon the holy things of God, the mind wanders and the fancy becomes engaged with what is foul and vile. How often does the writer have to acknowledge before God that "from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness" in him, but "wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores" (Isaiah 1:6). Nightly does he avail himself of that Fountain which has opened "for sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. 13:1).
2. I am vile in my self-will. How fretful am I when God blows upon my plans and thwarts my desires. What surgings of rebellion within my wicked bosom, when God's providences displease. Instead of lying placidly as clay in the Potter's hand, how often do I act like the unruly colt, which rears and kicks, refusing to be held in with bit and bridle, determined to have my own way. Alas, alas, how very little have I learned of Him who was "meek and lowly in heart." Instead of "the flesh" in me being purified, it has putrefied; instead of its resistance to the spirit weakening, it appears to be stronger each year. O that I had the wings of a dove, that I could fly away from myself!
3. I am vile in my religious pretenses. How often I am anxious to make "a fair show in the flesh" and be thought highly of by others. What hypocrisies have I been guilty of in seeking to gain a reputation for spirituality. How frequently have I conveyed false impressions to others, making them suppose it was far otherwise within me, than was actually the case. What pride and self-righteousness have swayed me. And of what insincerity have I, at times, been guilty of in the pulpit: praying to the ears of the congregation instead of to God, pretending to have liberty when my own spirit was bound, speaking of those things which I had not felt and handled for myself. Much, very much cause has the writer to take the leper's place, cover his lips, and cry "Unclean, unclean!"
4. I am vile in my unbelief. How often am I still filled with doubts and misgivings. How often do I lean unto my own understanding instead of upon the Lord. How often do I fail to expect from God (Mark 11:24) the things for which I ask Him. When the hour of testing comes, only too frequently are past deliverances forgotten. When troubles assail, instead of looking off unto the things unseen, I am occupied with the difficulties before me. Instead of remembering that with God all things are possible, I am ready to say, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" (Psalm 78:19). True it is not always thus, for the Holy Spirit graciously keeps alive the faith which He has placed within; but when He ceases to work, and a trial is faced, how often did I give my Master occasion to say, "How is it that you have no faith?" (Mark 4:40).
Reader, how closely does your experience correspond with the above? Is it true that, "As in water face answer to face, so the heart of man to man" (Proverbs 27:19)? Have we been describing some of the symptoms of your diseased heart? Have you ever owned before God, "Behold I am vile"? Do you bear witness to the humbling fact before your brethren and sisters in Christ? It is comparatively easy to utter such words, but do you feel them? Does the realization of this truth make you "blush" (Ezra 9:6) and groan in secret? Have you such a personal and painful sense of your vileness that, often, you feel thoroughly unfit to draw unto a holy God?
If so:
1. You have abundant cause to be thankful to God, that His Holy Spirit has shown you something of your wretched self, that He has not kept you in ignorance of your woeful state, that He has not left you in that gross spiritual darkness that enshrouds millions of professing Christians.
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 3)
True repentance changes a man's opinion of himself. Is, then, a Christian today warranted in saying "Behold, I am vile"? Not as faith views himself united to the One who is "altogether lovely"; but as faith discerns, in the light of the Word, what he is by nature, what he is in and of himself, he may. Not that he is to hypocritically adopt such language in order to gain the reputation of great humility; nay, such an utterance is only to be found upon our lips as it is the feeling expression of our hearts: particularly is it to be owned before God, when we come to Him in contrition and in confession. Yet is it also to be acknowledged before the saints, even as the Apostle Paul cried publicly, "O wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:24).
It is part of our testimony to own (before those who fear the Lord) what God has revealed to us. "Behold I am vile!" Such is the candid and sorrowful confession of the writer.
1. I am vile in my imaginations. O what scum rises to the surface when lusts boil within me. What filthy pictures are visioned in "the chambers of my imagery" (Ezek. 8:12). What unlawful desires run riot within. Yes, even when engaged in meditating upon the holy things of God, the mind wanders and the fancy becomes engaged with what is foul and vile. How often does the writer have to acknowledge before God that "from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness" in him, but "wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores" (Isaiah 1:6). Nightly does he avail himself of that Fountain which has opened "for sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. 13:1).
2. I am vile in my self-will. How fretful am I when God blows upon my plans and thwarts my desires. What surgings of rebellion within my wicked bosom, when God's providences displease. Instead of lying placidly as clay in the Potter's hand, how often do I act like the unruly colt, which rears and kicks, refusing to be held in with bit and bridle, determined to have my own way. Alas, alas, how very little have I learned of Him who was "meek and lowly in heart." Instead of "the flesh" in me being purified, it has putrefied; instead of its resistance to the spirit weakening, it appears to be stronger each year. O that I had the wings of a dove, that I could fly away from myself!
3. I am vile in my religious pretenses. How often I am anxious to make "a fair show in the flesh" and be thought highly of by others. What hypocrisies have I been guilty of in seeking to gain a reputation for spirituality. How frequently have I conveyed false impressions to others, making them suppose it was far otherwise within me, than was actually the case. What pride and self-righteousness have swayed me. And of what insincerity have I, at times, been guilty of in the pulpit: praying to the ears of the congregation instead of to God, pretending to have liberty when my own spirit was bound, speaking of those things which I had not felt and handled for myself. Much, very much cause has the writer to take the leper's place, cover his lips, and cry "Unclean, unclean!"
4. I am vile in my unbelief. How often am I still filled with doubts and misgivings. How often do I lean unto my own understanding instead of upon the Lord. How often do I fail to expect from God (Mark 11:24) the things for which I ask Him. When the hour of testing comes, only too frequently are past deliverances forgotten. When troubles assail, instead of looking off unto the things unseen, I am occupied with the difficulties before me. Instead of remembering that with God all things are possible, I am ready to say, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" (Psalm 78:19). True it is not always thus, for the Holy Spirit graciously keeps alive the faith which He has placed within; but when He ceases to work, and a trial is faced, how often did I give my Master occasion to say, "How is it that you have no faith?" (Mark 4:40).
Reader, how closely does your experience correspond with the above? Is it true that, "As in water face answer to face, so the heart of man to man" (Proverbs 27:19)? Have we been describing some of the symptoms of your diseased heart? Have you ever owned before God, "Behold I am vile"? Do you bear witness to the humbling fact before your brethren and sisters in Christ? It is comparatively easy to utter such words, but do you feel them? Does the realization of this truth make you "blush" (Ezra 9:6) and groan in secret? Have you such a personal and painful sense of your vileness that, often, you feel thoroughly unfit to draw unto a holy God?
If so:
1. You have abundant cause to be thankful to God, that His Holy Spirit has shown you something of your wretched self, that He has not kept you in ignorance of your woeful state, that He has not left you in that gross spiritual darkness that enshrouds millions of professing Christians.
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 3)
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Trials # 1
Trials # 1
Daniel said, "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried" (Daniel 12:10). All Christians are glad that they are purified and made white - but when it comes to being tried, that is a very different thing. They shrink from the very word. Their trials are to them as a nightmare from which they would gladly escape. But trials are a part of God's process of preparing us for Heaven, and they are as needful to us as is the blessing, in order that we may be prepared for our glorious eternal habitation.
The peaceful quiet waters soon lose their freshness and become stagnant; the clearness is soon gone, and they are filled with germs. Soon a green scum covers the top, and they become foul and odorous.
Quiet air becomes stagnant. The smoke, the dust, the odors, and the miasma rising from swamps and bogs would soon render quiet air unfit for breathing, and instead of being a life-giving tonic, it would become a life-destroying poison.
God has arranged the operation of natural forces so that there is unceasing motion.
The warm air rises - and the cold air falls. The gentle breezes blow, and swell into great gales and terrible hurricanes. These latter may be very destructive in their actions, but they work out a good by purifying the air. They scatter the noxious poisons far and wide, and carry in pure air to take the place of these.
The waters of the sea are driven and tossed and dashed against the rocks. The sea is ever restless. Its waves are never still. No matter how calm the day, the ripples are ever breaking upon the shore. Were it not for motion, for the storms and currents - the whole ocean would become as stagnant as a pond.
The same thing is true in a large measure in our lives. The storms and obstacles all work out for our good if we meet them as we should. Through them our lives are enriched and ennobled and developed. They are blessings to us, though they may seem to be blessings very much disguised.
Sources of Trials
Many trials are only the natural result of circumstances. Sometimes circumstances are in our favor, and work for our happiness, peace, and contentment. Sometimes we have smooth sailing, and everything goes pleasantly. We are courageous and confident and rejoicing. The sun shines brightly out of a cloudless sky, and every prospect seems fair.
But this smooth sailing does not last forever. Sooner or later, the clouds must come and the storm winds beat upon us. We must have the rough weather - as well as the pleasant weather; the storm - as well as the calm.
The sunshine and the calm are very needful in life, and they work out a definite purpose.
But the storms and the rain and the wind are likewise needed - and they also fulfill their purpose.
Trials will come - we cannot evade them. We may plan and build up hopes - only to have our air-castles come crashing down around our heads! If we have set our hearts upon these things, we are likely to be very disappointed upon their wreck, and to feel very gloomy over the result.
If we permit ourselves to give way and grieve over the failure of our plans and hopes, we will make ourselves and those around us miserable. Sometimes people let go their hold on God, just because they do not get their way in things. They let disappointment so discourage them, that they just give up trying to do right. That is acting like a spoiled child.
If our plans and hopes fail, God will not fail. Sometimes it is a real blessing to us that our plans do fail, for God can plan far wiser for us than we can for ourselves, and we ourselves can act more wisely after we have failed than we did before. We should never fret on account of disappointment. If we do, they will only grow more rapidly, both in size and intensity.
Losses may come to us - our property may be swept away or burned up. If we have our hearts set upon our possessions, this may touch a tender spot, and we may let it darken our lives and make us morose and dissatisfied.
Poverty may come and the many difficulties incident thereto. How greatly such things may try us will depend upon how much we rebel against the circumstances - or how easily we submit to and adapt ourselves to God's will. How greatly we are affected by our trials, depends on whether or not we sweetly submit to them.
Sickness may lay its heavy hand upon us or our loved ones, and try every fiber of our being. Sickness may play upon the chords of pain - a lamentation that incites with exquisite torture! Or it may fire our blood with fever until the sparkle has gone from the eye and the glow of health from the cheek. Or it may bind us in chains helplessly captive.
Death may come and take those dear by the ties of nature or friendship - and leave sorrow and grief to be our companions.
These things try the soul, but they must be borne. We cannot escape such things, for they are the common heritage of those who dwell in the tabernacles of clay. They belong to mortality and to the mutable things of time.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 2)
Daniel said, "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried" (Daniel 12:10). All Christians are glad that they are purified and made white - but when it comes to being tried, that is a very different thing. They shrink from the very word. Their trials are to them as a nightmare from which they would gladly escape. But trials are a part of God's process of preparing us for Heaven, and they are as needful to us as is the blessing, in order that we may be prepared for our glorious eternal habitation.
The peaceful quiet waters soon lose their freshness and become stagnant; the clearness is soon gone, and they are filled with germs. Soon a green scum covers the top, and they become foul and odorous.
Quiet air becomes stagnant. The smoke, the dust, the odors, and the miasma rising from swamps and bogs would soon render quiet air unfit for breathing, and instead of being a life-giving tonic, it would become a life-destroying poison.
God has arranged the operation of natural forces so that there is unceasing motion.
The warm air rises - and the cold air falls. The gentle breezes blow, and swell into great gales and terrible hurricanes. These latter may be very destructive in their actions, but they work out a good by purifying the air. They scatter the noxious poisons far and wide, and carry in pure air to take the place of these.
The waters of the sea are driven and tossed and dashed against the rocks. The sea is ever restless. Its waves are never still. No matter how calm the day, the ripples are ever breaking upon the shore. Were it not for motion, for the storms and currents - the whole ocean would become as stagnant as a pond.
The same thing is true in a large measure in our lives. The storms and obstacles all work out for our good if we meet them as we should. Through them our lives are enriched and ennobled and developed. They are blessings to us, though they may seem to be blessings very much disguised.
Sources of Trials
Many trials are only the natural result of circumstances. Sometimes circumstances are in our favor, and work for our happiness, peace, and contentment. Sometimes we have smooth sailing, and everything goes pleasantly. We are courageous and confident and rejoicing. The sun shines brightly out of a cloudless sky, and every prospect seems fair.
But this smooth sailing does not last forever. Sooner or later, the clouds must come and the storm winds beat upon us. We must have the rough weather - as well as the pleasant weather; the storm - as well as the calm.
The sunshine and the calm are very needful in life, and they work out a definite purpose.
But the storms and the rain and the wind are likewise needed - and they also fulfill their purpose.
Trials will come - we cannot evade them. We may plan and build up hopes - only to have our air-castles come crashing down around our heads! If we have set our hearts upon these things, we are likely to be very disappointed upon their wreck, and to feel very gloomy over the result.
If we permit ourselves to give way and grieve over the failure of our plans and hopes, we will make ourselves and those around us miserable. Sometimes people let go their hold on God, just because they do not get their way in things. They let disappointment so discourage them, that they just give up trying to do right. That is acting like a spoiled child.
If our plans and hopes fail, God will not fail. Sometimes it is a real blessing to us that our plans do fail, for God can plan far wiser for us than we can for ourselves, and we ourselves can act more wisely after we have failed than we did before. We should never fret on account of disappointment. If we do, they will only grow more rapidly, both in size and intensity.
Losses may come to us - our property may be swept away or burned up. If we have our hearts set upon our possessions, this may touch a tender spot, and we may let it darken our lives and make us morose and dissatisfied.
Poverty may come and the many difficulties incident thereto. How greatly such things may try us will depend upon how much we rebel against the circumstances - or how easily we submit to and adapt ourselves to God's will. How greatly we are affected by our trials, depends on whether or not we sweetly submit to them.
Sickness may lay its heavy hand upon us or our loved ones, and try every fiber of our being. Sickness may play upon the chords of pain - a lamentation that incites with exquisite torture! Or it may fire our blood with fever until the sparkle has gone from the eye and the glow of health from the cheek. Or it may bind us in chains helplessly captive.
Death may come and take those dear by the ties of nature or friendship - and leave sorrow and grief to be our companions.
These things try the soul, but they must be borne. We cannot escape such things, for they are the common heritage of those who dwell in the tabernacles of clay. They belong to mortality and to the mutable things of time.
~Charles Naylor~
(continued with # 2)
Vile! # 1
Vile! # 1
We are rather afraid that its title will deter some from reading this article: we hope it will not be so. True, it does not treat of a popular theme, nay, one which is now very rarely heard in the pulpit; nevertheless, it is a scriptural one.
Fallen man is "vile," so vile that it has been rightly said "he is half brute, half devil." Nor does such a description exceed the truth. Man is "born like a wild donkey's colt" (Job 11:12), and he is "taken captive by the devil at his will" (2 Tim. 2:26). Perhaps the reader is ready to reply, "Ah, that is man in his unregenerate state, but it is far otherwise with the regenerate. From one viewpoint that is true; from another, it is not so. Did not the Psalmist acknowledge, "So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before You!" (73:22) unteachable, intractable, kicking against God's providential dealings; not behaving like a man, much less like a saint! Again, did not Agur confess, "Surely I am more brutish than any man!" (Proverbs 30:2). True, we never hear such lamentations as these from those who claim to have received their "Pentecost" or "second blessing," nor from those who boast they are living "the victorious life". But to those who are painfully conscious of the "plague" of their own heart, such words may often describe their case.
Only recently we received a letter from a dear brother in Christ, saying, "the vanity and corruption that I find within, which refuses to be kept in subjection, is so strong at times that it makes me cry out - My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly." Does the reader object against our appropriation of the Psalms and Proverbs, and say, "We in this New Testament dispensation occupy much high ground than those did." Probably you have often been told so by men, but are you sure of it from the Word of God? Listen, then, to the groan of an eminent Christian: "I am carnal, sold under sin!" (Romans 7:14). Do you never feel thus, my reader? Then we are sincerely sorry for you!
As to the other part of the description of fallen man, "half devil": did not Christ say to the regenerate Peter, "Get behind Me, satan: you are an offence unto Me" (Matt. 16:23)? And are there not times when writer and reader fully merit the same reproof? Speaking for myself, I bow my head with shame, and say, "Alas there is." "Behold, I am vile" (Job 40:4). This was not said by Cain in a remorseful moment after his murder of Abel, nor by Judas after he had betrayed the Saviour into the hands of His enemies; instead, it was the utterance of one of whom God said, "There is none like him in the earth, a perfect (sincere) and an upright man, one who fears God, and eschews evil" (Job 1:8). Was Job's language of self-depreciation? If he was, are Christians today warranted in echoing the same?
In order to arrive at the correct answer to the above questions, let us ask another: when was it that Job said, "Behold, I am vile"? Was it when he first received tidings of his heavy losses? No, for then he exclaimed, "the Lord gave, and the Lord taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (1:21). Was it when his friends reasoned with and reproved him? No, for then he vindicated himself and boasted of his goodness. Then when was it that Job declared "Behold, I am vile"? It was when the Lord appeared to him and gave him a startling revelation of His own wondrous perfections! It was when he stood in the all-penetrating light of God's immaculate holiness and was made to realize something of His mighty power. Ah, when a soul is truly brought into the presence of the living God, boasting ceases, our loveliness is turned into corruption (Dan. 10:8), and we cry, "Woe is me! for I am undone!" (Isaiah 6:5).
When God makes to the soul a personal revelation of His wondrous perfections, that individual is effectually convinced of his own wretchedness. The more we are given to discern the ineffable glory of the Lord, the more will our self-complacency wither. It is in God's light, and in that only "we see light". When he shines into our understanding and hearts, and brings to light 'the hidden things of darkness" (1 Cor. 4:5), we perceive the utter corruption of our nature, and are abominable in our own eyes. While we measure ourselves by our fellows, we shall, most likely, think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (Romans 12:3); but when we measure ourselves by the holy requirements of God's nature, we cry "I am dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27).
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 2)
We are rather afraid that its title will deter some from reading this article: we hope it will not be so. True, it does not treat of a popular theme, nay, one which is now very rarely heard in the pulpit; nevertheless, it is a scriptural one.
Fallen man is "vile," so vile that it has been rightly said "he is half brute, half devil." Nor does such a description exceed the truth. Man is "born like a wild donkey's colt" (Job 11:12), and he is "taken captive by the devil at his will" (2 Tim. 2:26). Perhaps the reader is ready to reply, "Ah, that is man in his unregenerate state, but it is far otherwise with the regenerate. From one viewpoint that is true; from another, it is not so. Did not the Psalmist acknowledge, "So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before You!" (73:22) unteachable, intractable, kicking against God's providential dealings; not behaving like a man, much less like a saint! Again, did not Agur confess, "Surely I am more brutish than any man!" (Proverbs 30:2). True, we never hear such lamentations as these from those who claim to have received their "Pentecost" or "second blessing," nor from those who boast they are living "the victorious life". But to those who are painfully conscious of the "plague" of their own heart, such words may often describe their case.
Only recently we received a letter from a dear brother in Christ, saying, "the vanity and corruption that I find within, which refuses to be kept in subjection, is so strong at times that it makes me cry out - My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly." Does the reader object against our appropriation of the Psalms and Proverbs, and say, "We in this New Testament dispensation occupy much high ground than those did." Probably you have often been told so by men, but are you sure of it from the Word of God? Listen, then, to the groan of an eminent Christian: "I am carnal, sold under sin!" (Romans 7:14). Do you never feel thus, my reader? Then we are sincerely sorry for you!
As to the other part of the description of fallen man, "half devil": did not Christ say to the regenerate Peter, "Get behind Me, satan: you are an offence unto Me" (Matt. 16:23)? And are there not times when writer and reader fully merit the same reproof? Speaking for myself, I bow my head with shame, and say, "Alas there is." "Behold, I am vile" (Job 40:4). This was not said by Cain in a remorseful moment after his murder of Abel, nor by Judas after he had betrayed the Saviour into the hands of His enemies; instead, it was the utterance of one of whom God said, "There is none like him in the earth, a perfect (sincere) and an upright man, one who fears God, and eschews evil" (Job 1:8). Was Job's language of self-depreciation? If he was, are Christians today warranted in echoing the same?
In order to arrive at the correct answer to the above questions, let us ask another: when was it that Job said, "Behold, I am vile"? Was it when he first received tidings of his heavy losses? No, for then he exclaimed, "the Lord gave, and the Lord taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (1:21). Was it when his friends reasoned with and reproved him? No, for then he vindicated himself and boasted of his goodness. Then when was it that Job declared "Behold, I am vile"? It was when the Lord appeared to him and gave him a startling revelation of His own wondrous perfections! It was when he stood in the all-penetrating light of God's immaculate holiness and was made to realize something of His mighty power. Ah, when a soul is truly brought into the presence of the living God, boasting ceases, our loveliness is turned into corruption (Dan. 10:8), and we cry, "Woe is me! for I am undone!" (Isaiah 6:5).
When God makes to the soul a personal revelation of His wondrous perfections, that individual is effectually convinced of his own wretchedness. The more we are given to discern the ineffable glory of the Lord, the more will our self-complacency wither. It is in God's light, and in that only "we see light". When he shines into our understanding and hearts, and brings to light 'the hidden things of darkness" (1 Cor. 4:5), we perceive the utter corruption of our nature, and are abominable in our own eyes. While we measure ourselves by our fellows, we shall, most likely, think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (Romans 12:3); but when we measure ourselves by the holy requirements of God's nature, we cry "I am dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27).
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 2)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)