My Needs - His Fullness!

 My Needs - His Fullness!

All plenitude is in Christ, to answer all the needs of His people. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, that out of His fullness, I may receive all spiritual blessings!

Have I destroyed myself by sin? I have deliverance from Him who is mighty to save from sin and wrath!

Is my life fleeting - and passing away like a shadow? Jesus is the Ancient of days, and endures forevermore!

Are my days short-lived and full of trouble? Jesus is my life, and the joy of my heart!

Am I exposed to contempt? Jesus shall be my crown of glory, and diadem of beauty!

Am I traveling through the wilderness? Jesus is my staff, and on Him I lean all the way!

Am I on my last journey to my long home? Jesus is my leader, and my rewarder!

Am I a sheep? Jesus is my pasture, and my green pasture too!

Am I hungry and thirsty? Jesus is my heavenly manna, and gives me to drink of the water of life!

Am I weary? Jesus is my rest and refreshing! Am I reproached? Jesus will wipe away the reproach of His people! Do I sit in darkness? Jesus is my light! Do I have doubts? Jesus is my counselor! Am I filthy? Jesus is my sanctification! Am I blind? Jesus, and none but He can open the eyes of one born blind! Am I naked? Jesus has white clothing to cover the shame of my nakedness!

Am I exposed to the hurricane of adversity? Jesus is a refuge from the storm, a shelter from the blast, rivers of water in a desert, the shadow of a great rock in a weary land!

Am I in danger from disease and death - or from sin and satan? My life is hidden with Chist in God! When He shall appear, I shall appear with Him - immortal in my body, and glorious in my soul!

Do I suffer in my character? Jesus was numbered with transgressors, called a glutton, a drunkard, and a devil!

Must I undergo death and be laid in the grave? Jesus has taken away the sting of death, and robbed the grave of its victory!

Would I go to God and to glory? Jesus is my way, and must admit me into the palace of the great King, where I shall abide forever!

My needs are many - but His fullness is infinitely more!

The morning dews and fructifying showers water the fields, and refresh the parched furrows. But what are they, compared to the exhaustless ocean of Jesus?

What is all that I enjoy here below, compared to the exuberant fullness of Heavenly bliss? O! then, how shall my soul be replenished - when possessed of this infinite All, through eternity itself!

~James Meikle~

(The End)

The Bitterness Of Sin!

The Bitterness Of Sin!

"Your ways and your deeds have procured these things unto you! This is your wickedness - it is bitter, because it reaches your heart!" (Jeremiah 4:18).

 
Sin is the most dark subject that can engage our attention - but we have become so familiar with it, that it scarcely affects us at all. Not so the Lord - He calls it "that abominable thing which He hates." Yes, God hates nothing but sin - and no one, but for sin. God never hated a sinless being - and He never can. If we could get rid of sin, we would have nothing to fear; therefore we bless God that deliverance from sin is promised.

But sin is not only dangerous - it is bitter, and is the prodigious source of all bitterness! Hence the language of the prophet, "It is bitter, because it reaches unto your heart!" (Jeremiah 4:18). It is called the root of bitterness. It may appear pleasant at present, and may taste sweet to the depraved palate of the sinner; but as Joab said of war, "It will be bitterness in the end!" Let us therefore think of:

The bitterness of Sin: Sin is bitter in its NATURE, as it is a departure from God, the giver of all true pleasure; rebellion against God, the righteous ruler, who is pledged to punish it; the degradation of man, who was made in the image of the holy and happy God.

Sin is bitter in its EFFECTS:

Look over the world - all its divisions, confusions, wars, diseases, bloodshed, and cruelties - are but the effects of sin. Look into families - all the anger, envy, jealousy, enmity, and lack of love - are but the effects of sin. Look at individuals - all the sufferings of the body, and all the tortures of the soul; all the sorrows of time, and all the agonies of eternity - are but the fruits of sin. Look at the seeking soul - all his cutting convictions, bitter reflections, stinging remorse, gloomy despondency, and slavish fears - are but the effects of sin. Look at the believer - all his terrible conflicts, deep depression, gloomy foreboding, and soul-distressing fears - are all the effects of sin.

A Reason Assigned: "It reaches unto the heart!" Sin is not a wound in the flesh - but a disease in the heart! There it was conceived, there it is nourished, and from thence it flows.

Sin reaches to the heart - and defies and pollutes it. Sin reaches to the heart - and alienates it from God. Sin reaches to the heart - and distracts it. 

The passions are turbulent. The conscience is defiled. The will is depraved. The understanding is darkened. The memory isa store-house of evil!

Indeed every power and faculty of the soul is injured, perverted, and wrongly influenced - by sin! Sin reaches to the heart - and damns it! 

Reader, see how God speaks of sin, your darling sin, that sin which you now value so highly, and enjoy so much. "It is bitter and reaches to the heart," the seat of life, the source of action.

Our one great business therefore, should be to get rid of sin, and by faith in the Lord Jesus, which purifies the heart; and by the work of the Holy Spirit, which cleanses and sanctifies the nature - we may get rid of it. Holy Spirit, convince us of the bitterness of sin! May it be bitter to our taste, lead us to forsake it in practice, and  seek to be delivered from its love and power in our experience!

~James Smith~

(The End)

The Loving-kindness Of God # 2

 The Loving-Kindness Of God # 2

This loving-kindness of the Lord is never removed from His children. To our reason it may appear to be so, yet it never is. Since the believer is in Christ, nothing can separate him from from the love of God (Romans 8:39). God has solemnly engaged Himself by covenant, and our sins cannot make it void. God has sworn that if His children keep not His commandments He will "visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes." Yet He adds, "Nevertheless My loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break." (Psalm 89:31-34). Observe the change of number from "their" and "them" to "him." The loving-kindness of God toward His people is centered in Christ. Because His exercise of loving-kindness is a covenant engagement it is repeatedly linked to His "truth" (Psalm 40:11; 138:2), showing tht it proceeds to us by promise. Therefore we should never despair.

"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you." (Isaiah 54:10). No, that covenant has been ratified by the blood of its Mediator, by which blood the enmity (occasioned by sin) has been removed, and perfect reconciliation effected. God knows the thoughts which He entertains for those embraced in His covenant and who have been reconciled to Him; namely, "thoughts of peace and not of evil? (Jeremiah 29:11). Therefore we are assured, "The Lord will command His loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me." (Psalm 42:8). What a word that is! Not merely that the Lord will give or bestow, but command His loving-kindness. It is given by decree, bestowed by royal engagement, as He also commands "deliverances...the blessing, even life for evermore." (Psalm 44:4; 133:3), which announces that nothing can possibly hinder these bestowments. What ought OUR RESPONSE to be?

First, "Be therefore imitators of God as dear children; and walk in love" (Eph. 5:1-2). "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Col. 3:12). Thus it was with David: "Your loving-kindness is before my eyes; and I have walked in Your truth." (Psalm 26:3). He delighted to ponder it. It refreshed his soul to do so, and it molded his conduct. The more are occupied with God's goodness, the more careful we will be about our obedience. The constraints of God's love and grace are more powerful to the regenerate, than the terrors of His Law. "How precious is Your unfailing love, O God!" (Psalm 36:7).

Second, a sense of this divine perfection strengthens our faith, and promotes confidence in God.

Third, it should stimulate the spirit of worship. "Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You (Psalm 63:3).

Fourth, it should be our cordial when downcast. "Let Your merciful kindness be for my comfort." (Psalm 119:76). It was so with Christ in His anguish (Psalm 69:17).

Fifth, it should be our plea in prayer, "Quicken me, O Lord, according to Your loving-kindness." (Psalm 119:159). David applied to that divine attribute for new strength and increased vigor.

Sixth, we should appeal to it when we have fallen by the wayside. "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness." (Psalm 51:1). Deal with him according to the gentlest of Your attributes, make my case an exemplification of Your tenderness.

Seventh, it should be a petition in our evening devotions. "Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning." (Psalm 143:8). Arouse me with my soul in tune therewith, let my waking thoughts be of Your goodness.

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)

Losing Our Religion

 Losing Our Religion

Faith is on the decline nowadays, and it is no wonder. Most people in these postmodern times are convinced that it's impossible to know anything with settled certainty - so they can't really believe anything, either. When you aren't even sure whether objective truth exists, the suggestion that there is something to believe in simply doesn't make any sense. Begin with the assumption that nothing can be known for sure, and religious convictions are automatically out of the question.

In case you hadn't realized it, that kind of thinking now dominates our society. The concept of settled, knowable truth is widely considered intellectually inept and politically incorrect. There's my truth and your truth, meaning everything is ultimately just a matter of perspective. In other words, truth claims are really nothing more than just personal opinions, and they deserve to be treated that way. Every point of view, no matter how bizarre, demands equal respect. Because, after all, no one can say for sure what is ultimately true.

How did we get here? This is the wreckage of a post-structuralist epistemology, where all texts must be deconstructed; any spirital precept or article of faith must be met with unyielding skepticism; certainly is deemed the very height of arrogance; feelings count more than facts; and common sense, moral values - even knowledge itself - are scorned as relics of a more naive epoch of human society.

There is zero tolerance for religious faith in a climate like that.

Western society was built on beliefs that are rooted in Scripture, starting with the truth that God exists and has made Himself known. The whole weight of the United States' Declaration of Independence hangs on truths about God and His creation that our nation's founding fathers regarded as 'self-evident."

They were right about that. All creation is filled with important realities that are self-evident - axiomatic - beginning with the very foundation of all truth. The Bible says some basic knowledge of God is innate in every human heart: "That which is known about God is evident within them." (Romans 1:19).

Furthermore, God constantly displays His glory through creation in a way that is hard to miss. Whether you study the vastness of the universe or examine a single drop of pond water through a microscope, you will see ample evidence of God's infinite power, wisdom, creativity - and a host of other attributes. These truths (precisely the kind of ultimate, objective realities the postmodern mind rejects) are purposefully built into all of creation at every conceivable level.

Scripture goes on to say, "God mae it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power an divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." (Romans 1:19=20).

Humanity's problem is that because of our sin, we resist accountability to God, so we suppress that innate knowledge and ignore or try to explain away what is literally spread across the universe in all its resplendence before our eyes. Because fallen minds refuse to see what is obvious, they lose the ability to make sense of anything. "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." (vv. 21-22).

I've been quoting, of course, from the opening chapter of the apostle Paul's epistle to the Romans. He goes on to chronicle a pattern of decline that has been repeated in cycles throughout human history. It is a descent into sin and depravity that has brought down every one of history's most powerful empires and currently threatens our civilization. It is a path that goes from unbelief to complete intellectual futility, and it drags whole societies through idolatry, uncontrolled lusts, degrading passions, and every conceivable expression of unrighteousness.

The end result is "a depraved mind" (v. 28) - a soul utterly given over to wickedness, irrationality, and contempt for everything that is truly righteous. In an act of divine judgment, God withdraws His grace and allows an individual (or an entire culture) to reach that point or moral and spiritual insanity. Here's how the apostle says it:

Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, hates of God, insolent, arrogance, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. (vv. 28:32).

Nothing is more politically incorrect than religious belief. Genuine faith in God is commonly represented as a dangerous, disqualifying disorder. 

Although public discourse today is full of cries for justice and structural change, there is simply no way to  affirm any coherent standard of justice - much less is there any hope of change for the better - apart from a sweeping return to the God of Scripture, who is the source of all truth. We desperately need a generation of men and women who will open their eyes to that reality, turn from the unbelief and cold skepticism that define our culture, and flee for mercy to the God they have spurned. The good news is that God does offer full and free forgiveness and abundant blessing for those who will heed the call of Jesus Christ and come to Him in repentant faith.

~John MacArthur~

(The End)

Jesus' Teaching And Our Culture

 Jesus' Teaching And Our Culture

Most of Jesus' teaching is completely out of sync with the mores that dominate our culture.

I'm talking, of course, about the Jesus we encounter in Scripture, not the always-gentle, never-stern, over-lenient coloring-book character who exists only in the popular popular imagination. The real Jesus was no domesticated clergyman with a starched collar and genteel manners; He was a bold, uncompromising Prophet who regularly challenged the canons of political correctness.

Consider the account of Jesus' public ministry given in the New Testament. The first word of His sermon was "Repent!" - a theme that was no more welcome and no less strident-sounding than it is today. The first act of His public ministry touched off a small riot. He made a whip of cords and chased money-changers and animal merchants off the Temple grounds. That initiated a three-year long conflict with society's most distinguished religious leaders. They ultimately handed Him over to Roman authorities for crufixion while crowds of lay people cheered them on.

Jesus was pointedly, deliberately, and dogmatically counter-cultural in almost every way. No wonder the religious and academic aristocracy of His generation were so hostile to Him.

Would Jesus receive a warmer welcome from world religious leaders, the media elite, or the political gentry today? Anyone who has seriously considered the New Testament knows very well that He would not. Our culture is devoted to pluralism and tolerance; contemptuous of all absolute or exclusive truth-claims; convinced that self-love is the greatest love of all; satisfied that most people are fundamentally good; and desperately wanting to believe that each of us is endowed with a spark of divinity.

Against such a culture Jesus' message strikes every discordant note.

Check the biblical record. Jesus' words were full of hard demands and stern warnings. He said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? (Luke 9:23-25). "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26).

At one point those back-to-back tragedies, Jesus said, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:2-5).

Ignoring the normal rules of taste, tact, and diplomacy, Jesus in effect declared that all His listeners were sinners in need of redemption. He pointed out sin and condemned it. "The world...hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil." (John 7:7). Then, as now, that message was virtually guaranteed to offend many - perhaps most - of Jesus' audience, starting with the most pious religious folk.

Elsewhere Jesus made the promise of life and forgiveness explicit: "He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." (John 5:24). "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:27-28).

That, of course, is the glorious message of the gospel - just as potent and relevant today as it was then. But the promise is for those who are weary of sin; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5:6); those who come to Christ with repentant hearts - not those who are convinced they are fundamentally good. Proud people - including lots of religious people, don't really believe Christ's message at all.

So what would Jesus say to a pluralistic, tolerant, self-indulgent society like ours? I'm convinced His approach today would be the very same strategy we see in the New Testament. To smug, self-satisfied, arrogant sinners (including multitudes on church rolls) His words would sound harsh, shocking, provocative. But to "the poor in spirit" - those who are exhausted and spent by the ravages of sin; desperate for forgiveness and without any hope of atoning for their own sin - Jesus' call to repentant faith remains the very gateway to eternal life.

This is a particularly hard message in cultures like ours that elevate self-love, self-esteem, or self-righteousness, but Jesus was absolutely clear, and these words do still speak to us: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:14).

~John MacArthur~

(The End))

The Patience Of God # 2

 The Patience Of God # 2

Thirdly, as a pattern for us: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Colossians 3:12). Ang again, "Be therefore followers (emulators) of God, as dear children" (Eph. 5:1). When tempted to be disgusted at the dullness of another, or to be revenged on one who has wronged you, call to remembrance God's infinite patience and longsuffering with yourself.

The patience of God is manifested in His dealings with sinners.

How strinkingly was it displayed toward the antediluvians. When mankind was universally degenerate, and all flesh had corrupted its way, God did not destroy them until He had forewarned them. He "waited", during which time Noah was a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5).

In the same way, later, when the Gentiles not only worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, but also committed the vilest abominations contrary even to the dictates of nature (Romans 1:19-26) and thereby filled up the measure of their iniquity, yet, instead of drawing His sword for the extermination of such rebels, God "allowed all nations to walk in their own ways," and gave them "rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons" (Acts 14:16-17).

Marvelously was God's patience exercised and manifested toward Israel. First, He endured their conduct for forty years in the wilderness. Later, when they had entered Canaan, but followed evil customs of the nations around them, and turned to idolatry, though God chastened them sorely, He did not utterly destroy them, but in their distress, raised up deliverers for them. When their iniquity was raised to such a height that none but a God of infinite patience could have borne with them, He spared them many years before He allowed them to be carried down into Babylon.

Finally, when their rebellion against Him reached its climax by crucifying His Son, He waited forty years before He sent the Romans against them, and that, only after they had judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life" (Acts 13:46).

How wondrous is God's patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The divine law is trampled under foot, and God Himself is openly despised. It is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead those who brazenly defy Him. Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias and Sapphira?

And what of apostate Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ?

And what of the writer and the reader? Let us review our own lives. It is not long since we followed a multitude to do evil, had no concern for God's glory, and lived only to gratify self. How patiently He bore with our vile conduct! And now that grace has snatched us as brands from the burning, giving us a place in God's family, and has begotten us unto an eternal inheritance in glory - how miserable we requite Him. How shallow our gratitude, how tardy our obedience, how frequent our backslidings!

One reason why God allows the flesh to remain in the believer is that He may exhibit His "patience to us." (2 Peter 3:9). Since this divine attribute is manifested only in this world, God takes advantage to display it toward "His own."

May our meditation upon this divine excellency soften our hearts, make our consciences tender, and may we learn in the school of holy experience the "patience of saints," namely, submission to the divine will and continuance in well-doing. Let us earnestly seek grace to emulate this divine excellency. "Be therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in Heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). In the immediate context of this verse Christ exhorts us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us. God bears long with the wicked notwithstanding the multitude of their sins - and shall we desire to be revenged because of a single offense?

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)

The Patience Of God # 1

 The Patience Of God # 1

Far less has been written upon this attribute, than the other excellencies of the divine character. Not a few of those who have expatiated at length upon the divine attributes have passed over the patience of God without any comment. It is not easy to suggest a reason for this, for surely the patience of God is as much one of the divine perfections as is His wisdom, power, or holiness, and as much to be admired and revered by us.

True, the actual term will not be found in a concordance as frequently as the others, but the glory of this grace itself shine forth on almost every page of Scripture. Certain it is that we lose much if we do not frequently meditate upon the patience of God and earnestly pray that our hearts and ways may be more completely conformed thereto.

Most probably the principal reason why so many writers have failed to give us anything, separately, upon the patience of God was because of the difficulty of distinguishing this attribute from the divine goodness and mercy, particularly the latter. God's patience is mentioned in conjunction with His grace and mercy again and again, as may be seen by consulting Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, etc. That the patience of God is really a display of His mercy, that it is indeed one way in which it is frequently manifested, cannot be denied. But that patience and mercy are one and the same excellency, and are not to be separated, we cannot concede. It may not be easy to discriminate between them, nevertheless, Scripture fully warrants us in affirming some things about the one which we cannot about the other.

Stephen Charnock, the Puritan, defines God's patience, in part, thus: "It is part of the divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from both. God being the greatest goodness, has the greatest mildness; mildness is always the companion of true goodness, and the greater the goodness, the greater the mildness. Who so holy as Christ, and who so meek? God's slowness to anger is a branch... from His mercy: "The Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger" (Psalm 145:8). It differs from mercy in the formal consideration of the object - mercy respects the creature as miserable, patience respects the creature as criminal; mercy pities him in his misery, and patience bears with the sin which engendered the misery, and is giving birth to more."

Personally, we would define the divine patience as that power of control which God exercises over Himself, causing Him to bear with the wicked and forbear so long in punishing them. In Nahum 1:3 we read, "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power," upon which Mr Charnock said: "Men that are great in the world are quick to anger, and are not so ready to forgive an injury, or bear with an offender, as one of a lower rank. It is a lack of powr over that man's self that makes him do unfitting things upon a provocation. A prince that can bridle his passions, is a king over himself as well as over his subjects. God is slow to anger because He is great in power. He has no less power over Himself, than over His creatures."

It is at the above point, we think, that God's patience is most clearly distinguished from His mercy. Though the creature is benefitted thereby, the patience of God chiefly respects Himself, a restraint placed upon His acts by His will; whereas His mercy terminates wholly upon the creature. The patience of God is that excellency which causes Him to sustain great injuries without immediately avenging Himself. He has a power of patience as well as a power of justice. Thus the Hebrew word for the divine patience or longsuffering is rendered "slow to anger" in Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 103:8, etc. Not that there are any passions in the divine nature, but that God's wisdom and will is pleased to act with that stateliness and sobriety which is befitting His exalted majesty.

In support of our definition above let us point out that it was to this excellency in the divine character that Moses appealed, when Israel sinned so grievously at Kadesh-Barnea, and there provoked Jehovah so sorely. Unto His servant the Lord said, "I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them." Then it was that the mediator Moses, as a type of the Christ to come, pleaded, "I beseech You, let the power of my Lord be great, according as You have spoken saying the Lord is patient" (Numbers 14:17). Thus, His patience is His power of self-restraint.

Again, in Romans 9:22 we read, "What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Were God to immediately break these reprobate vessels into pieces, His power of self-control would not so eminently appear, by bearing with their wickedness and forbearing punishment so long, the power of His patience is gloriously demonstrated. True, the wicked interpret His patience quite differently. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Ecclesiastes 8:11) - but the anointed eye adores what they abuse.

"The God of patience" is one of the divine titles. Deity is thus denominated, first, because God is both the Author and Object of the grace of patience in the saint.

Secondly, because this is what He is in Himself: patience is one of His perfections.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 2)

The Sovereignty Of God # 3

 The Sovereignty Of God # 3

Certain conditions were set before the Mediator. He was to be made in the likeness of sin's flesh; He was to magnify the law and make it honorable; He was to bear all the sins of all God's people in His own body on the tree; He was to make full atonement for them; He was to endure the outpoured wrath of God; He was to die and be buried. On the fulfillment of those conditions, He was promised to reward: (Isaiah 53:10-12.) He was to be the Firstborn among many brethren; He was to have a people who would share His glory. Blessed be His name forever, He fulfilled those conditions, and because He did so, the Father stands pledged, on solemn oath, to preserve through time and bless throughout eternity, everyone of those for whom His incarnate Son mediated.

Because He took their place, they now share His. His righteousness is theirs, His standing before God is theirs, His life is theirs. There is not a single condition for them to meet, not a single responsibility for them to discharge in order to attain their eternal bliss. "By one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified (or set apart)" (Hebrews 10:14). Here then is the sovereignty of God openly displayed before all, displayed in the different ways in which He has dealt with His creatures. Part of the angels, Adam and Israel, were placed upon a conditional footing, continuance in blessing being made dependent upon their obedience and fidelity to God. But in sharp contrast from them, the "little flock" (Luke 12:32), have been given an unconditional, an immutable standing in God's covenant, God's counsels, God's Son; their blessing being made dependent upon what Christ did for them. The foundation of God stands sure, having this seal. The Lord knows those who are His" (2 Timothy 2:19). The foundation on which God's elect stand is a perfect one; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

Here, then, is the highest and grandest display of the absolute sovereignty of God;. Truly, He has "mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens" (Romans 9:18).

~A. W. Pink~

(The End) 

The Sovereignty Of God # 2

 The Sovereignty Of God # 2

So too, God sovereignly placed Adam in the garden of Eden upon a conditional footing. Had He so pleased, He could have placed him upon an unconditional footing. He could have placed him on a footing as firm as that occupied by the unfallen angels. He could have placed him upon a footing as sure and as immutable as that which His saints have in Christ. But, instead, He chose to set him in Eden on the basis of creature responsibility, so that he stood or fell according as he measured up or failed to measure up to his responsibility - obedience to His Maker. Adam stood accountable to God by the law which his Creator had given him. Here was responsibility, unimpaired responsibility, tested out under the most favorable conditions.

Now God did not place Adam upon a footing of conditional, creature responsibility, because it was right He should so place him? No, it was right because God did it. God did not even give creatures being because it was right for Him to do so, that is, because He was under any obligations to create; but it was right because He did so. God is sovereign, His will is supreme. So far from God being under any law of "right," He is a law unto Himself, so that whatever He does is right. And woe be to the rebel that calls His sovereignty into question: "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, "What are you making?" Does your work say, "He has no hands?" (Isaiah 45:().

Again, the Lord God sovereignly placed Israel upon a conditional footing. The 19th and 24th chapters of Exodus afford a clear and full proof of this. They were placed under a covenant of works. God gave to them certain laws, and made national blessing for them depend upon their observance of His statutes. But Israel was stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart. They rebelled against Jehovah, forsook His law, turned unto false gods, and apostatized. In consequence, divine judgment fell upon them, they were delivered into the hands of their enemies, dispersed abroad throughout the earth, and remain under the heavy frown of God's displeasure to this day.

It was God in the exercise of His high sovereignty which placed satan and his angels, Adam and Israel in their respective responsible positions. But so far from His sovereignty taking away responsibility from the creature, it was by this exercise thereof that He placed them on this conditional footing, under such responsibilities as He thought proper; by virtue of which sovereignty, He is seen to br God over all.

Thus, there is perfect harmony between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of the creature. Many have most foolishly said that it is quite impossible to show where divine sovereignty ends and creature accountability begins. Here is where creature responsibility begins - in the sovereign ordination of the Creator. As to His sovereignty; there is not and never will be any "end" to it! 

Let us give further proofs that the responsibility of the creature is based upon God's sovereignty. How many things are recorded in Scripture which were right simply because God commanded them, and which would not have been right had He not so commanded! What right had Adam to eat of the trees of the Garden? The permission of his Maker, without which he would have been a thief! What right had Israel to borrow of the Egyptians' jewels and clothing? None, unless Jehovah had authorized it. What right had Israel to slay so many lambs for sacrifice? None, except the God commanded it. What right had Israel to kill off all the Canaanites? None, but as Jehovah had bidden them. What right has the husband to require submission from his wife? None, unless God had appointed it. And so we might go on. Human responsibility is based upon divine sovereignty.

God placed His elect upon a different footing from Adam or Israel. He placed His elect upon an unconditional footing. In the Everlasting Covenant Jesus Christ was appointed their Head, took their responsibilities upon Himself, and wrought out a righteousness for them which is perfect, indefeasible, and eternal.

Christ was placed upon a conditional footing, for He was "made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law," only with this infinite difference; the others failed; He did not and could not. And who placed Christ upon that conditional footing? The Triune God.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 3)

The Sovrereignty Of God # 1

 The Sovereignty Of God # 1

The sovereignty of God may be defined as the exercise of His supremacy. Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High God, Lord of Heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him.

So His own Word expressly declares: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." (Isaiah 46:10); "All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of Heaven and the people of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, "What have you done?" (Daniel 4:35).

Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things "after the counsel of His own will." (Eph. 1:11).

Rightly did the late Charles Spurgeon say in his sermons on Matthew 20:15, "There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty had ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend then the doctrine of their Master over all creatures, the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands, the throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne.

"On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of Heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth!

"And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter. Then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust." (Spurgeon).

"Our God is in Heaven; He does whatever He pleases." (Psalm 115:3). "I know that You can do anything, and no plan of Yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2). "The Lord does whatever He pleases in Heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths."

Yes, dear reader, such is the imperial Potentate revealed in Holy Writ. Unrivaled in majesty, unlimited in power, unaffected by anything outside Himself. But we are living in a day when even the most "orthodox" seem afraid to admit the proper Godhood of God. They say that to press the sovereignty of God excludes human responsibility; whereas human responsibility is based upon divine sovereignty, and is the product of it.

God sovereignly chose to place each of His creatures on that particular footing which seemed good in His sight. He created angels - some He placed on conditional footing; others He gave an immutable standing before Him (1 Timothy 5:21), making Christ their head. Let it not be overlooked that the angels whicxh sinned, were as much His creatures as the angels that sinned not. Yet God foresaw they would fall, nevertheless He placed them on a mutable, creature, conditional footing, and allowed them to fall, though He was not the Author of their sin.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 2)

The Solitariness Of God

 The Solitariness Of God

The title of this article is perhaps not sufficiently explieit to indicate its theme. This is purily due to the fact that so few today are accustomed to meditqte upon the personal perfections of God. Comparatively few of those who occasionally read the Bible are aware of the awe-inspiring and worship-provoking grandeur of the divine character. That God is great in wisdom, wondrous in power, yet full of mercy, is assumed by many to be almost common knowledge; but, to entertain anything approaching an adequate conception of His being, His nature, and His attributes, as these are revealed in Holy Scripture, is something which very, very few people in these degenerate times have attained unto. God is solitary in His excellency. "Who is like unto You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders"" (Exodus 15:11).

"In the beginning God" (Genesis 1:1). There was a time, if "time" it could be called, when God, in the unity of His nature (though subsisting equally in three divine persons), dwelt all alone. "In the beginning God." There was no Heaven, where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angles to hymn His praises, no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a year, or an age, but "from everlasting."

During eternity past, God was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied, in need of nothing. Had a universe, had angels, had human beings been necessary to Him in any way, they also would have been called into existence from all eternity. The creating of them when He did, added nothing to God essentially. He changes not (Malachi 3:6), therefore His essential glory can be neither augmented nor diminished.

God was under no constraint, no obligation, no necessity to create. That He chose to doso was purely a sovereign act on His part, caused by nothing outside Himself, determined by nothing but His own mere good pleasure; for He "works all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11). That He did create was simply for His manifestative glory.

Do some of our readers imagine that we have gone beyond what Scripture warrants? Then our appeal shall be to the Law and the Testimony. "Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever; and blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise" (Nechemiah 9:5). God is no gainer even from our worship. He was in no need of that external glory of His grace which arises from His redeemed, for He is glorious enough in Himself without that. What was in that moved Him to predestine His elect to the glory of His grace? It was, as Ephesians 1:5 tells us, "according to the good pleasure of His will."

We are well aware thqat the high ground we are here treading is new and strange to almost all of our readers, for that reason it is well to move slowly. Let our appeal again be to the Scriptures. At the end of Romans 11, where the apostle brings to a close his argument on salvation by pure and sovereign grace, he asks, "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, that God should repay him?" The force of this is, it is impossible to bring the Almighty under obligations to the creature; God gains nothing from us!  "If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, or what does He receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only the sons of men" (Job 35:7-8), but it certainly cannot affect God, who is all-blessed in Himself. "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty." (Luke 17:10). Our obedience has profited God nothing!

Nay, we go further; our Lord Jesus Christ added nothing to God in His essential being and glory, either by what he did or suffered. True, blessedly and gloriously true, He manifested the glory of God to us, but He added nothing to God. He Himself expressly declares so, and there is no appeal from His words: "My goodness extends not to You" (Psalm 16:2). The whole of that Psalm is a Psalm of Christ. Christ's goodness or righteousness reached unto His saints in the earth, but God was high above and beyond it all. God alone is "the Blessed One" (Mark 14:61).

It is perfectly true that God is both honored and dishonored by men; not in His essential being, but in His official character. It is equally true that God has been glorified by creation, by providence, and by redemption. This we we dot and dare not dispute for a moment. But all of this has to do with His manifest glory and the recognition of it by us. Yet had God so pleased He might have continued alone for all eternity, without making known His glory unto creatures. Whether He should do so or not was determined solely by His own will. He was perfectly blessed in Himself before the first creature was called into being.

That is the God of Scripture; alas, He is still the unknown God to the heedless multitudes.

How vastly different is the God of Scripture from the "god" of the average pulpit!

Such a God cannot be found out by searching. He can be known only as He is revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit through the Word. It seems trifling to ask such a question, but is the eternal and infinite God so much more within the grasp of human reason? No, indeed The God of Scripture can only be known by those to whom He makes Himself known. God is "spirit" and can only be known spiritually, and unless a person is born again, he is dead to the spiritual.

The principle prayer and aim of Christians should be that we "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10).

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)

Foundation Truths # 5

 Foundation Truths # 5

And thanks be to God, this blessed victory over death and the grave has not been won by Christ for Himself alone. For eighteen centuries He has enabled thousands of Christian men and women, believing and trusting themselves to Him, to face the king of terrors without fear, and to go down the valley of the shadow of death in the sure and certain hope that they will yet come forth victorious, and in the flesh see God.

Read the story of the deaths of the early Christians under heathen persecutions. Mark the dying experience of those who suffered at Oxford and Smithfield, under bloody Queen Mary, for the gospel. Find, if you can, in the whole range of biography any death beds of non-Christians which will bear comparison with the death beds of Christians in the matter of peace, and hope, and strong consolation. You may search forever and not find them. You will find yourself shut up to the conclusion that the old Scriptural truth of Christ dying and rising again, is exactly the truth that fits human nature, and must have come down from God. This, and this only, will enable natural man to meet the last enemy without fear, and to say, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).

What shall we say to these things? I know well that the human heart and its necessities are a deep and intricate subject. But, after studying men's hearts attentively for many years, I have come to one decided conviction. That conviction is, that the true reason why Paul preached first and foremost what he preached at Corinth, is to be found in his right knowledge of the nature, moral conditions, and position of man. He was taught by the Holy Spirit, that it was the only medicine that was suited to the disease. What human nature requires, is a religion for dying sinners - a mighty remedial system and a personal Redeemer; and the work of Christ is marvelously fitted to meet its requirements. We are sick of a deadly sickness, and our first need is a living physician.

It would have been worse than useless if Paul had begun his work at Corinth by telling men to be virtuous and moral, while he kept back Christ. It is just as useless now. It even does positive harm. To awaken human nature, and then not show it God's only remedy, may lead to more mischievous consequences. I know no case so pitiable as that of the man who sees clearly sin, sorrow, and death on one side - and does not see clearly Christ dying for sins, and rising again for sinners, on the other. Such a man is just the person to sink into flat despair, or to take refuge in the delusive theology of the Church of Rome.

III. And now let me wind up this paper with some words of ADVICE to all who read it.

Let me, then, advise you most strongly not to be ashamed of holding decided views about the first things, the foundation truths of religion. There is widespread dislike to doctrinal decision and what is called dogmation, and none perhaps are so exposed to its influence as the young. The natural generosity, unsuspiciousness, and love of fair play, of a young man's heart, make him shrink from taking up very positive theological views, and holding opinions which may even seem to be narrow, party-spirited, or illiberal. The temptation of the present day is to be content with a vague earnestness; to abstain from all sharply cut and distinct views; to be an honorary member of all schools of thought, and to maintain that no man can be unsound in the faith - if he exhibits zeal and works hard.

But, after all, your religion must have roots, if it is to live and bear fruit in this cold world. Earnestness, and zeal, and work, are brave words; but, like cut flowers stuck in a garden, they have no power of continuance, if they have no hidden roots below. Admitting to the full that there are secondary things in religion, about which those who are young may fairly suspend their judgment and wait for light - I charge you to remember that there are primary things about which you must be decided and make up your minds. You must, I say - if you want peace within, and desire to be useful. And among these first things stand forth like mountains in a plain, the two great truths which are laid down in the text which heads this paper - Christ's death for our sins, and Christ's miraculous resurrection. Grasp tightly these two great truths. Live on them. Die on them. Never let them go. Strive to be able to say, "I know whom I believe," - not what, but whom I live by faith in One who died for me, and rose again. Be decided about this at any cost, and in due time all other truths shall be added to you.

Remember one chief problem you will have to be continually solving is how to help souls who are laboring under the burden of sin, crushed down with sorrow, or oppressed with the fear of death. The only way to do good is to walk in Paul's steps, and to tell men first, foremost, continually, repeatedly, publicly, and from house to house - that Jesus Christ died for their sins, rose again for their justification, lives at the right hand of God to receive, to pardon, and to preserve, and will soon come again to give them a glorious resurrection.

These are the truths which the Holy Spirit has always blessed, is blessing, and will bless until the Lord comes. These were Paul's first things." Resolve and determine that by God's grace, that they shall be yours in this generation.

~J. C. Ryle~

(The End)

Foundation Truths # 4

 Foundation Truths # 4

A believing view of Christ dying for our sins is God's appointed remedy for man's spiritual need. It is the Divine remedy for that deadly plague which infects the whole family of Adam, and once seen and felt makes men and women miserable. If Paul had not proclaimed this grand remedy at Corinth, he would have shown great ignorance of human nature, and been a physician of no value. And if we ministers do not proclaim it, it is because our eyes are dim, and there is little light in us.

(b) Let us consider, in the next place, the universal Hability of man to SORROW. The testimony of Scripture, "that man is born to trouble," is continually echoed by thousands who know nothing of the Scriptures, but simply speak the language of their own experience. The world, nearly all men agree, is full of trouble. It is a true saying, that we come into life crying, pass through it  complaining, and leave it disappointed.

For what shall best help man to meet and bear sorrow? That is the question! If our condition is such, since the Fall, that we cannot escape sorrow - than what is the surest remedy for making it tolerable? The cold lessons of Stoicism have no power in them. Resignation and submission to the will of God are excellent things to talk about in fine weather. But when the storm strikes us, and hearts ache, and tears flow, and gaps are made in our family circle, and friends fail us, and money makes itself wings, and sickness lays us low - then we need something more than abstract principles and general lessons. We need a living, personal Friend - a Friend to whom we can turn with firm confidence that He can help and sympathize with us.

Now it is just here, I maintain, that Paul's doctrine of a risen Christ comes in with a marvelous power, and exactly meets our necessities. We have One sitting at the right hand of God, as our sympathizing Friend, who has all power to help us, and can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, even Jesus the Son of God. He knows the heart of a man and all his condition, for He Himself was born of a woman, and took part of flesh and blood. He knows what sorrow is, for He Himself in the days of His flesh wept, and groaned, and grieved. He has proved His love towards us for thirty-three years in this world, by a thousand acts of kindness, and ten thousand words of consolation, and by finally dying for us on the Cross.

I can imagine no truth more suited to man's needs than this. Rules, and principles, and prescriptions, and instructions in times of sorrow are all very well in their way - but what the human heart craves is a personal friend to go to, to talk to, to lean upon, and commune with. the risen Christ, living and interceding for us at God's right hand, is precisely the Person that we need.

No religion will ever satisfy man which does not meet the legitimate needs of his nature.

(c) Let us consider, lastly, the certainty of DEATH and it's consequence, which every child of Adam must make up his mind to face one day. The end of each individual is still a very momentous circumstance in his history, and most men honestly confess it. To leave the world and shut our eyes on all among whom we have played our part - to surrender our bodies, whether we like it or not, to the humiliation of disease, decay, and the grave into be obliged to drop all our schemes and plans and intentions - all this is serious enough. But when to this you add the overwhelming thought that there is something beyond the grave, an undiscovered and unknown world, and an account of some sort to to rendered of our life on earth - the death of any man or woman becomes a tremendously serious event.

The dread of something after death, is a dread which many feel far more than they would like to confess. Few are ever satisfied with Mohammedan fatalism. Not one in a thousand will ever be found to believe the doctrine of annihilation.

But just at the point where all man-made systems are weakest, and fail to satisfy the needs of human nature - there the gospel which Paul proclaimed at Corinth is strongest. For it shows us an Almighty Saviour who not only died for our sins, and went down to the grave - but also rose again from the grave with His body, and proved that He had gained a victory over death. Christ has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light.

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 5)

Foundation Truths # 3

 Foundation Truths # 3

II. Let us now try to grasp and examine the REASONS why he was led to assign them such a promised position.

The inquiry is a very interesting one. I cannot hold, with some, that Paul adopted this course only because he was commissioned and commanded to do so. I think the reasons lie far deeper than this. The reasons are to be sought in the necessities and condition of fallen human nature. I believe that man's needs could never have been met and satisfied by any other message than that which Paul brought to Corinth; and if he had not brought it, he would have come there in vain.

For there are three things about man in every part of the world which force themselves on our notice, whenever we sit down to examine his nature, position, and constitution. He is a creature with a sense of sin and accountableness at the bottom of his heart, continually liable to sorrow and trouble from his cradle to his grave, who has before him the certainty of death, and a future state at last.

These are three great facts which stare us in the face everywhere, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Travel all over the world, and they meet you, both among the most highly educated Christians and the most untutored savages. God about our own country, and study the family life of the most learned philosophers and the most ignorant peasants. Everywhere, in in every rank and class, you will have to make the same report. Everywhere you will find these three things, sorrow, death, and the sense of sin. And the position I boldly take up is this, that nothing can be imagined or conceived mere admirably suited to meet the needs of human nature than the very doctrine which Paul begins with at Corinth - the doctrine of Christ dying for our sins and rising again for us from the grave.

It fits the needs of man - just as the right key fits the lock.

Let me glace for a few minutes at the three things which I have just named, and try to show the strong light which they throw on Paul's choice of subjects when he began his ministry at Corinth.

(a) Consider first and foremost, the inward sense of SIN and imperfection which exists in every member of the human family. I grant freely that it differs widely in different persons. In thousands of people it seems completely gone, effaced, and dead. Early lack of education, habitual sin, constant neglect of all religion, inveterate indulgence in fleshly lusts - all these things have an astonishing power to blind the eye and sear the conscience. But where will you ever find a man, except among high-caste Brahmins, or half-crazy Christian fanatics, who will boldly tell you that he is perfect and faultless, and who will not confess, if you drive him into a corner, he is not exactly what he ought to be, and that he knows better than he does? Oh, no! The vast majority of mankind have a conscience of sin, which every now and then makes them miserable. The self-imposed austerities of Hindus, the trembling of rulers like Herod and Felix, are proofs of what I mean. Wherever there is a child of Adam - there is a creature that has in his heart of hearts a conscienceness of sin, guilt, defectiveness, and need.

And when this sense of sin is really awakened and stirs within us, what can cure it? That is the grand question. Some talk vaguely of God's mercy, and to show what title man has to them. Others flatter themselves that their own repentance, and tears, and prayers, and active and diligent use of the ceremonials of religion, will bring them peace with God. But what child of Adam ever found relief in this way? What more certain than the recorded experience of thousands, that medicines like these never healed inward misgivings and mental fears? Nothing has ever been found to do good to a sin-stricken soul, but the sight of a Divine Mediator between God and man, a real living Person of almighty power and almighty mercy, bearing our sins, suffering in our stead, and taking on Himself the whole burden of our redemption.

~J. C. Ryle~

Foundation Truths # 2

 Foundation Truths # 2

In short, the Apostle taught that the greatest miracles had been wrought, and that with such a Founder of the new faith which he came to proclaim, first dying for our sins, and then rising again for our justification, nothing was impossible and nothing lacking for the salvation of man's soul.

Such were the two great truths to which Paul assigned the first place, when he began his campaign as a Christian teacher at Corinth - Christ's victorious death for our sins - Christ's rising again from the grave. Nothing seems to have preceded them - nothing to have been placed on a level with them.

No doubt it was a sore trial of faith and courage to a learned and highly-educated man like Paul to take up such a line. Flesh and blood might well shrink from it. He says himself, "I was with you in weakness and fear, and in much trembling" (1 Cor. 2:2-3). But by the grace of God, he did not flinch. He says, "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

Nor did the case of Corinth stand alone. Wherever the great Apostle of the Gentiles went, he preached the same doctrine, and put it in the forefront of very different minds. But he always used the same spiritual medicine, whether at Jerusalem, or Antioch in Pisidia, or Iconium, or Lystra, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, or Berca, or Athens, or Ephesus, or Rome. That medicine was the story of the Cross and the resurrection. They crop up on all his sermons and Epistles. You never go far without coming across them. Even Festus, the Roman governor, when he tells Agrippa of Paul's case, describes it as hinging on "One Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive (Acts 25_19).

(a) Now let us learn for one thing what were the leading principles of that religion, which eighteen centuries ago came forth from Palestine, and turned the world upside down. The truest infidel cannot deny the effect that it produced on mankind. The world before and the world after the introduction of Christianity, were as different worlds as light and darkness, night and day. It was Christianity that starved idolatry, and emptied the heathen temples. It was Christianity that stopped gladiatorial combats, elevated the position of women, raised the whole tone of morality, and improved the condition of children and the poor. These are facts which we may safely challenge all the enemies of revealed religion to gainsay. They are facts which form one of the gravest difficulties of infidelity.

And what did it all? Not, as some dare to say, the mere publication of a higher code of duty, a sort of improved Platonic philosophy, without root or motive. No! it was the simple story of the Cross of Calvary, and the empty sepulcher in the garden. It was the marvelous death of One "numbered with transgressors," and the astounding miracle of His resurrection (Isaiah 53:12). It was by telling how the Son of God died for our sins, and rose again for our justification, that Apostles and apostolic men changed the face of the world, gathered mighty churches, and turned countless sinners into saints.

(b) Let us learn, for another thing, what the foundation of our own personal religion must be, if we really want inward, spiritual comfort. That the early Christians possessed such comfort is as plain as the sun at noonday. We read repeatedly in the New Testament of their joy, and peace, and hope, and patience, and cheerfulness, and contentment. We read in ecclesiastical history of their courage and firmness under the fiercest persecution, of their uncomplaining endurance of sufferings, and their triumphant deaths. And what was the mainspring of their peculiar characters - characters which excited the admiration even of their bitterest enemies, and puzzled philosophers like Pliny? There can be only one reply. These men had a firm grasp of the two great facts which Paul proclaimed "first" and foremost to the Corinthians, the death and resurrection of their great Head, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Let us never be ashamed of walking in their steps. It is cheap and easy work to sneer at "dogmatic theology" and old-fashioned creeds and modes of faith, as if they were effete and worn-out things, unfit for this enlightened nineteenth century. But after all, what are the fruits of modern philosophy, and the teaching of cold abstractions - compared to the fruits of the despised dogmas of distinctive Christianity? If you want to see peace in life, and hope in death, and consolation felt in sorrow - you will never find such things except among those who rest on the two great facts of our text, and can say, "I live by faith in the Son of God," who died for my sins, and was raised agains for my justification" (Galatians 2:20).

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 3)

Foundation Truths # 1

Foundation Truths # 1

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

The text which heads this paper is taken from a passage of Scripture with which most are only too well acquainted. The starting-point of the whole argument of this chapter will be found in the two verses which form the text. The Apostle opens by reminding the Corinthians that "among the first things" which he delivered to the Corinthians when he commenced his teaching, were two great facts about Christ; one was His death, the other was His resurrection. The passage seems to me to open up two subjects of deep interest, and to them I invite the attention of all into whose hands this paper may fall.

1. For one thing, let us mark well the primary truths which Paul delivered to the Corinthians.

2. For another thing, let us try to grasp the reasons why Paul assigns to these truths such a singularly prominent position.

1. What, then, were the TRUTHS which the Apostle preached "of first importance"?

Before I answer that question, I ask my readers to pause a moment and realize the whole position which Paul occupied when he left Athens and entered Corinth.

Here is a solitary Jew visiting a great heathen city for the first time, to preach an entirely new religion, to begin an aggressive Evangelistic mission. he is a member of a despised people, sneered at alike by Greeks and Romans, isolated and cut off from other nations, in their own little corner of the earth, by their peculiar laws and habits, and unknown to Gentiles either for literature, arms, arts, or science. The "bodily presence" of this bold Jew is "weak," and his "speech," compared to that of Greek rhetoricians, is"contemptible" (2 Corinthians 10:10). He stands almost alone in a city, famous all over the world even in the estimate of the heathen, for luxury, immorality, and idolatry. Such was the place, and such was the man! A more remarkable position it is hard to conceive.

And what did this solitary Jew tell the Corinthians?

What did he say about the great Head and Founder of the new faith which he wanted them to receive in place of their ancient religion? Did he begin by cautiously telling them how Christ lived, adn taught, and worked miracles and spoke "as no man ever spoke"? Did he tell them that He had been as rich as Solomon, as victorious as Joshua, or as learned as Moses? Nothing of the kind! The very first fact he proclaimed about Christ was that He died, and died the most ignominious death - the death of a malefactor the death of the Cross!

And why did Paul lay so much stress upon Christ's death rather than His life? Because, he tells the Corinthians, "He died for our sins." A deep and wonderful truth - a truth which lay at the very foundation of the whole religion which the Apostle came to preach! For that death of Christ was not the involuntary death of a martyr, or a mere example of self-sacrifice. It was the voluntary death of a Divine Substitute for the guilty sinners! It was a death of such mighty influence on the position of sinful man before God, that it provided complete redemption from the consequences of the fall. In a word, Paul told the Corinthians that when Christ died, He died as the Representative of guilty man, to make expiation for us by the sacrifice of Himself, and to endure the penalty which we deserved. "He bore our sins in His own body on the tree." "He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (1 Peter 2:24, 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21). A great and stupendous mystery, no doubt! But it was a mystery to which every sacrifice from the time of Abel had breren continually pointing for 4000 years. Christ "died according to the Scriptures."

The other great fact about which Paul placed in the front part of his teaching was His resurrection from the dead. He boldly told the Corinthians that the same Jesus who died, and was buried - came forth alive from the grave on the third day after His death, and was seen, touched, handled, and talked to, in the body, by many competent witnesses. By this amazing miracle He proved, as He had frequently said He would, that He was the promised and long-expected Saviour foretold in prophecy, that the satisfaction for sin He had made by His death was accepted by God the Father, that the work of our redemption was completed, and that death, as well as sin - was a conquered enemy.

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 2)

Hungering

Hungering

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6).

In the first three Beatitudes we are called upon to witness the heart exercises of one who has been awakened by the Spirit of God. First, there is a sense of need, a realization of my nothingness and emptiness. Second, there is a judging of self, a consciousness of my guilt and sorrowing over my lost condition. Third, there ia an end of seeking to justify myself before God, an abandonment of all pretenses to personal merit, a taking of my place in the dust before God. Here, in the fourth, the eye of the soul is turned away from self to Another; there is a longing after that which I know I have not got, and which I am conscious I urgently need.

There has been much needlessquibbling as to the precise import of the word "righteousness" in our present text. The best way to ascertain its significance is to go back to the Old Testament scriptures where this term is used, and then turn on these the fuller light furnished by the New Testament Epistles.

"You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the Lord, have created it" (Isaiah 45:8). The first half of this verse refers, in figurative language, to the advent of Christ to this earth, the second half to His resurrection, when He was "raised again for our justification." "Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are are from righteousness. I am bringing My righteousness near, itis not far away; and My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel" (Isaiah 46:12-14). "My righteousness draws near speedily, My salvation is on the way, and My arm will bring justice to the nations." (Isaiah 51:5). "My salvation is close at hand and My righteousness will soon be revealed" (Isaiah 56:1). "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10). These passages make it clear that God's righteousness is synonymous with God's salvation.

The above Scriptures are unfolded in the Epistle to the Romans where the Gospel receives its fullest exposition. In 1:16, 17, we are told "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last." In 3:22, 24 we read, "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all those who believe, for there is no difference; For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." In 5:19 the blessed declaration is made, "for as by one man's disobedience many wre made (legally constituted) sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made (legally constituted) righteous." While in 10:4, we learn, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes."

The sinner is destitute of righteousness, for "there is none righteous, no not one." God has therefore provided in Christ a perfect righteousness for each and all of His people. This righteousness, this satisfying of all the demands of God's holy law against us, was wrought out by our Substitute and Surety. This righteousness is now imputed - legally placed to the account of the believing sinner. Just as the sins of God's people were all transferred to Christ - so His righteousness is placed upon them (2 Corinthians 5:21). Such is a brief summary of the teaching of Scripture on this vital and blessed subject of "Righteousness."

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.A" Hungering and thirsting express vehement desire, of which the soul is acutely conscious. First, the Holy Spirit brings before the heart the holy requirements of God. He reveals to us His perfect standard, which He can never lower. He reminds us that "unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Second, the trembling soul, conscious of its own abject poverty, realizing his utter inability to measure up to God's requirements, sees no help in SELF. This is a painful discovery, which causes him to mourn and groan. Have you done so?

Third, the Holy Spirit now creates in the heart a deep "hungering and thirst," which causes the convicted sinner to look for relief and seek a supply outside of himself. The eye is now directed to Christ, "The Lord our Righteousness." (Jeremiah 23:6).

Like the previous ones, this attitude begins before conversion, but is perpetuated in the saved sinner. There is a repeated exercise of this grace, felt at varying intervals. The one who longed to be saved by Christ, now yearns to be made like Him. Looked at in its widest aspect, this hungering and thirsting refers to that panting of the renewed heart after God (Psalm 42:1), that yearning for a closer walk with Him, that longing for more perfect conformity to the image of His Son. It tells of those aspirations of the new nature for Divine blessing which alone can strengthen, sustain and satisfy.

"Blessed are those who DO hunger and thirst." Do you, dear reader? Or are you content with your attainments, and satisfied with your condition? Hungering and thirsting
 after righteousness has ever been the experience of God's saints. "They shall be filled." Like the first part of our text, this also has a double fulfillment - an initial and a continuous. When God creates a hunger and thirst in a soul it is that He may satisfy them. When the poor sinner is made to feel his need of Christ, it is that he may be drawn to and led to embrace Him. 

"They shall be filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with Divine blessing to which no sorrow is added. Filled with praise and thanksgiving. Filled with that which this poor world can neither give nor take away. Filled by the goodness and mercy of God, until their cup runs over. And yet, all that is enjoyed now is but a little foretaste of what God has prepared for those who love Him. In the Day to come we shall be "filled with Divine holiness, for we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). Then shall we be done with sin forever; then shall we hunger no more, neither thirst anymore" (Revelation 7:16).

~A. W. Pink~

Heaven # 4

Heaven # 4

The contemplation of the Divine glory will be associated with a beautiful feeling of dependence on the Divine character. Heaven will be a dependent state as well as earth. And the saints exalted there will cherish no proud and haughty feelings, but, as they stand around the throne, and contemplate the blessedness of God, will be sensible that their existence and their happiness depend on the power and love of their gracious Lord. Everything they posses will be recognized as proceeding from Him. Their only safety even there, will be felt to consist in the immutability of His character, and the truth of His promises.

Faith, in its sublimest exercise, as a spirit of trust and confidence in the Divine Being - will be no stranger to the mind of glorified spirits, whether men or angels. Springing out of the contemplation of Divine power, and purity, and love, and from a sense of dependence, will be the warmth of grateful affection.

God will be loved, supremely loved. The obligations to reverence, and adore, and praise Him, will be felt in their infinite extent and force. The stream of affection that flows from the Divine mind to theirs, will be returned, though comparatively but in a faint current, still will be returned as the grateful son renders the tribute of love to the father, whose heart gushes forth in streams of unutterable tenderness.

Love is the spring of active service. It does not slumber as a dormant principle in the Heaven, any more than on earth.Love ever prompts to exertion. Palpable proofs of love's sincerity will forever be manifested.

We can form no conception of Heaven more unworthy, the subject, than to suppose all this will end, and Heaven be a world of inaction. Heaven is a state of repose - yet a state of activity. The saints rest from the toils and labors of earth, they escape the storms that trouble this lower atmosphere, and disturb the ocean of human life; but they are to occupy spheres of nobler usefulness, and discharge with zeal acts of more dignified service!

What can be so delightful as to have an intimate acquaintance with the Deity, to know all that created minds can know of His nature and attributes, to bask in the sunshine of His favor, to see His uncreated glory shining forth in the mild luster of parental love, and embodying all the wonders of redemption. To see Jesus, not as the man of sorrows, but as the Son of God, combining a nature that is divine with that which is human, and thus bringing man into near relationship to the Deity; and raising him even above angels, whose nature the Eternal would never condescend to assume.

To cherish a sense of dependence upon God, allied with a feeling of perfect satisfaction, leaving no desires unfulfilled, no needs unsupplied. To have a principle of holy love burning on the altar of the heart, whose fire will be fed by perpetual communications, and fanned by the breath of the Holy Spirit - never declining, never growing dim, but always shining with luster, and glowing with warmth, never diverted from its object by conflicting affections, but always ascending upwards to God as supreme.

To be continually engaged in the service of our Heavenly Father, to join with angels in meditating on His glory, singing His praise and discharging His commands, to serve Him day and night in His temple, without weariness and without end!

Thus to behold Him, thus to rely on Him, thus to love Him, thus to serve Him - this is the summit of bliss, and the crown of glory; and this is the hope laid up for us in Heaven!

~John Stroughton~

Heaven! # 3

Heaven! # 3

We are taught in revelation to believe there is a threefold distinction in the Godhead, which, under the economy of redemption, is denominated the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We learn from Scripture to contemplate Jehovah in a threefold relationship to man: as the Father sending His only begotten Son, as the Son acting the part of the mediator between us and our offended Maker, as the Spirit sanctifying the hearts of His people. Though these special offices have an especial bearing on the present state of things, the personal distinction in the Deity must be considered as essential and eternal.

We therefore conclude that in the manifestation of the Divine glory hereafter, this mysterious distinction will be maintained. That the mediatorial office of Jesus Christ as now exercised, will not continue after the resurrection - that His peculiar government as now carried on will expire, we are taught by the apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Corinthians: "Then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father."

The Saviour now, as the High Priest, within the veil, making intercession for His people, is the object of contemplation to the saints in a separate state. In the actual description of such an office, we are led to believe He will not appear to the view of the redeemed after the resurrection. His work will be complete. No mediator between sinners and an offended Maker will be any longer necessary; the glories of Jehovah will shine with a fatherly luster on the hearts of the redeemed and "God shall be all in all."

But still we are warranted to expect that, in the display of the Divine glory, Immanuel, as the great agent of redemption, as the Saviour of His people, will be distinctly presented to their view. They will "see Jesus." For this He prayed in the days of the flesh: "Father, I will that those who You have given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which You have given Me: for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."

The chief vision of Deity, perhaps, will ever be the vision of the glory of Christ; upon Him, as the Redeemer of the lost, the saints will love to meditate. All their happiness, they will ascribe to Him. As they gaze on the glories of their eternal habitation, and eat of the fruit of life, and drink of the streams which make glad the city of God, as they enjoy converse with angels, and each other, as they advance in knowledge, and purity, and joy, and become more and more assimilated to the Divine image - they will attribute all to the blood of the Lamb.

The greatness of the work of redemption, its suitableness to display the Divine character and glory, its bearings on other ranks of beings beside men, its consequences flowing through the ages of eternity - will, no doubt, be unfolded to the minds of the redeemed. Fresh accessions of knowledge on this vast and interesting subject will perpetually be gained.

As an object of contemplation it will never tire, but shine fresh and ever-varying aspects of beauty. As a theme of praise, it will never lose its interest, but call forth forever the energy of perfect intellect, and the admiration of perfect love. But in thinking of Christ, let us never forget that, amidst all His Diving glory, He will ever be regarded, admired, and loved as our Divine Friend. Our Friend here - our Friend in Heaven - our Friend forevermore.

It is said of the intermediate life, "present with the Lord;" of the resurrection, "so shall we be ever with the Lord." Nothing helps us to think of Heaven, as does this revelation of the person, society, and friendship of Jesus there. We have many friends on earth - but none like Jesus. We will have many friends in Heaven - but none like Jesus. And we should say that there will be no other there, who will attract such reverent curiosity; to whom we shall be so irresistibly drawn, around whom we shall so eagerly gather, from whom we shall derive such knowledge, whose smile will give such joy.

~John Stoughton~

(continued with # 4)