Drawing Near To GOD

James 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

The nearer we come to God, the more graciously will He reveal Himself to us. 

When the prodigal comes to his father, his father runs to meet him. When the wandering dove returns to the ark, Noah puts out his hand to pull her in unto him, When the tender wife seeks her husband's society, he comes to her on wings of love.

Come then, dear friend, let us draw nigh to God who so graciously awaits us, yea, comes to meet us.

Did you ever notice that passage in Isaiah 58:9? There the LORD seems to put Himself at the disposal of His people, saying to them, "Here I am."

As much as to say "What have you to say to me? What can I do for you? I am waiting to bless you." 

How can we hesitate to draw near? God is nigh to forgive, to bless, to comfort, to help, to quicken, to deliver.

Let it be the main point with us to get near to God. This done, all is done. If we draw near to others, they may before long grow weary of us and leave us; but if we seek the LORD alone, no change will come over His mind, but He will continue to come nearer and yet nearer to us by fuller and more joyful fellowship.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Kisses Of An Enemy Are Deceitful

Luk 22:48  But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?  

The kisses of an enemy are deceitful.  

Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss. 

Whenever a man is about to stab religion, he usually professes very great reverence for it.

Let me beware of the sleek-faced hypocrisy which is armour-bearer to heresy and infidelity. 

Knowing the deceivableness of unrighteousness, let me be wise as a serpent to detect and avoid the designs
of the enemy. 

The young man, void of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of the strange woman: may my soul be so graciously instructed all this day, that “the much fair speech” of the world may have no effect upon me.

Holy Spirit, let me not, a poor frail son of man, be betrayed with a kiss!
 
But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as Judas, that son of perdition?
 
I have been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; I am a member of his visible Church; I sit at the communion table: all these are so many kisses of my lips.

Am I sincere in them? If not, I am a base traitor. 

Do I live in the world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a profession of being a follower of Jesus? Then I must expose religion to ridicule, and lead men to speak evil of the holy name by which I am called. Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and it were better for me that I had never been born.

Dare I hope that I am clear in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me so. O Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false way.

Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love thee, Jesus, and though I often grieve thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful even unto death.

O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because I betrayed my Master with a kiss.
 
~Charles Spurgeon~

The Conditions Of Serenity

If  I would be like the Psalmist, I must clearly recognize my perils. He sees the “waters,” the “proud waters.” He beholds the “enemy,” and his “wrath,” and his “teeth.” He sees “the fowler” with his snare! 

I must not shut my eyes, and “make my judgment blind.” 

One of the gifts of grace is the spirit of discernment, the eyes which not only detect hidden treasure, but hidden foes. 

The devil is an expert in mimicry; he can make himself look like an angel of light.

And so must I be able to discover his snares, even when they appear as the most seductive food.

And if I would be like the Psalmist, I must clearly recognize my great Ally. 

If it has not been the Lord, who was on our side! To see the Ally on the perilous field, and to see Him on my side, gives birth to holy confidence and song. 

The Lord is on my side, whom shall I fear?” I must make sure of the Ally, and “victory is secure.”

And if I would be like the Psalmist, I must not omit the doxology of praise.  

When the prayer is answered, I am apt to forget the praise. My thanksgivings are not so ready as my requests.

And so the apparently conquered enemy steals in again at the door of an ungrateful heart.

~John Henry Jowett~

He Stood In The POWER Of STILLNESS

Mar 15:3  And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.  

There is no scene in all the Bible more majestic than our Savior remaining silent before the men who were reviling Him.
 
With one quick burst of divine power, or one fiery word of rebuke, He could have caused His accusers to be laid prostrate at His feet.

Yet He answered not one word, allowing them to say and do their very worst. 

He stood in THE POWER OF STILLNESS***God’s holy silent Lamb. 

There is a place of stillness that allows God the opportunity
to work for us and gives us peace.

It is a stillness that ceases our scheming, self-vindication, and the search for a temporary means to an end through our own wisdom and judgment. 

Instead, it lets God provide an answer, through His unfailing and faithful love, to the cruel blow we have suffered.
 
Oh, how often we thwart God’s intervention on our behalf by taking up our own cause or by striking a blow in our own defense!

May God grant each of us this silent power and submissive
spirit. 

Then once our earthly battles and strife are over, others will remember us as we now remember the morning dew, the soft light of sunrise, a peaceful evening breeze, the Lamb of Calvary, and the gentle and holy heavenly Dove.
 
~A. B. Simpson~
 
The day when Jesus stood alone And felt the hearts of men like stone, And knew He came but to atone***That day “He held His peace.”
 
They witnessed falsely to His word, They bound Him with a cruel cord, And mockingly proclaimed Him Lord; “But Jesus held His peace.”
 
They spat upon Him in the face, They dragged Him on from place to place, They heaped upon Him all disgrace; “But Jesus held His peace.”
 
My friend, have you for far much less, With rage, which you called righteousness, Resented slights with great distress? Your Savior “held His peace.” 

~L. S. P.~
 

True Self Denial

                                                  
True self-denial is the renouncing of SELF and the yielding of the whole life to the will of Christ. 

It is SELF coming down from the heart's throne, laying crown and scepter at the Master's feet and thenceforth submitting the whole life to His sway.

True self-denial is living not to please ourselves, not to advance our own personal interests but to please our LORD and do His work. 

It is denying ourselves anything which is sinful in His sight. It is the glad making of any sacrifice which loyalty to Him requires.

It is the giving up of any pleasure or comfort for the good of others which the living out of His gospel may demand. 

The essential thing is that SELF gives way altogether to CHRIST as the purpose and end of life.

True self-denial, like all other traits of Christlikeness, is unconscious of itself. 

We deny ourselves when we follow Christ with joy and gladness, through cost and danger and suffering wherever He leads!

~John Henry Jowett~

The DARK Betrayal

Our Master was betrayed by a disciple, “one of the twelve.” The blow came from one of “His own household.” 

The world employed a “friend” to execute its dark design. And so our intimacy with Christ may be our peril; our very association may be made our temptation. 

The devil would rather gain one belonging to the inner circle than a thousand who stand confessed as the friends of the world. 

What am I doing in the kingdom? Can I be trusted? Or am I in the pay of the evil one?

And our Master was betrayed in the garden of prayer. In the most hallowed place the betrayer gave the most unholy kiss.

He brought his defilement into the most awe-inspiring sanctuary the world has ever known. And so may it be with me. I can kindle the unclean fire in the church. I can stab my LORD when I am on my knees. While I am in apparent devotion I can be in league with the powers of darkness.

And this “dark betrayal” was for money!

The LORD of Glory was bartered for thirty pieces of silver!

And the difference between Judas and many men is that they often sell their LORD for less! 

From the power of Mammon, and from the Blindness which falls upon his victims, good LORD, deliver me!

~John Henry Jowett~

The Danger Of An Assumed Relationship To GOD

The LORD also tests most definitely, every kind of profession, every kind of response, every kind of attitude or relationship, to discover whether that is a thing which is on the surface, on the face, superficial; or whether it is a thing which has gone right down deeply into the life, burying its roots in the very sub-soil of experience.

Here, again, a simple word, but it may be that there is someone here who is attaching themselves to something, attaching themselves to a place, to a company of people; attaching themselves in an outward way to that which represents the Lord, in hymns and addresses and prayers and services and such like; associating themselves, and, in a way, making some kind of answer or response to the things of the LORD.

Have you seen a self-grown forest in a mountain district after a gale?

We have a good deal of that sort of thing in Scotland where the seeds have been carried by the wind and have sown themselves in the very thin soil of a mountain slope, a rocky district. 

They have grown very tall, lanky thin trees, firs or pines; their roots have spread out and covered a great area, and then – a gale – and as you go along after a gale there are those lanky, thin, gaunt trees lying with their roots right up in the air.

You wonder how in all the earth they have managed to cling to the shallow soil. 

There they are everywhere, rooted up because self-grown, and that is Matthew 13.

Something which has made its own kind of response, given its own response, answer, with reservations perhaps, not going too far, not going to be “extreme,” not going to be “singular,” not going to be “fanatical,” just going to be “perfectly balanced” and “sane” and make their own response to the Lord.

All right, God has appointed the hour for a gale. 

Yes, there will be a blazing sun, it will be discovered whether God did that planting, whether that was a work of God in the heart or whether it was just something of human attachment or association.

It may just be that here there may be one or more attaching themselves from the outside to that which is of the Lord, but they are not right in, buried, rooted, grounded, not in the thing in the Lord.

Are you attaching yourself to something religious, or are your buried with your roots in Christ? Rooted in Him?

~T. Austin Sparks~

Take Heed To Your Ways

Fellow-pilgrim, say not in your heart, “I will go hither and thither, and I shall not sin;” for you are never so out of danger of sinning as to boast of security.

The road is very miry, it will be hard to pick your path so as not to soil your garments. This is a world of pitch; you will need to watch often, if in handling it you are to keep your hands clean. 

There is a robber at every turn of the road to rob you of your jewels; there is a temptation in every mercy; there is a snare in every joy; and if you ever reach heaven, it will be a miracle of divine grace to be ascribed entirely to your Father’s power. 

Be on your guard. When a man carries a bomb-shell in his hand, he should mind that he does not go near a candle; and you too must take care that you enter not into temptation. 

Even your common actions are edged tools; you must mind how you handle them.

There is nothing in this world to foster a Christian’s piety, but everything to destroy it.

How anxious should you be to look up to God, that he may keep you! Your prayer should be, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” Having prayed, you must also watch; guarding every thought, word, and action, with holy jealousy.

Do not expose yourselves unnecessarily; but if called to exposure, if you are bidden to go where the darts are flying, never venture forth without your shield; for if once the devil finds you without your buckler, he will rejoice that his hour of triumph is come, and will soon make you fall down wounded by his arrows. 

Though slain you cannot be; wounded you may be. 

Be sober; be vigilant, danger may be in an hour when all seemeth securest to thee.” Therefore, take heed to thy ways, and watch unto prayer.

No man ever fell into error through being too watchful. May the Holy Spirit guide us in all our ways; so shall they always please the Lord.


~Charles Spurgeon~

Take Heed Lest Ye Fall!

It is a curious fact, that there is such a thing as being proud of grace. 

A man says, “I have great faith, I shall not fall; poor little faith may, but I never shall.” “I have fervent love,” says another, “I can stand, there is no danger of my going astray.” 

He who boasts of grace has little grace to boast of. 

Some who do this imagine that their graces can keep them, knowing not that the stream must flow constantly from the fountain head, or else the brook will soon be dry.

If a continuous stream of oil comes not to the lamp, though it burn brightly today, it will smoke to-morrow, and noxious will be its scent. 

Take heed that thou gloriest not in thy graces, but let all thy glorying and confidence be in Christ and his strength, for only so canst thou be kept from falling. 

Be much more in prayer. Spend longer time in holy adoration.
Read the Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more carefully. Live nearer to God. 

Take the best examples for your pattern. Let your conversation be redolent of heaven. Let your hearts be perfumed with affection for men’s souls. 

So live that men may take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus, and have learned of him; and when that happy day shall come, when he whom you love shall say, “Come up higher,” may it be your happiness to hear him say, “Thou hast fought a good fight, thou hast finished thy course, and henceforth there is laid up for thee a crown of righteousness which fadeth not away.” 

On, Christian, with care and caution! On, with holy fear and trembling! On, with faith and confidence in Jesus alone, and let your constant petition be, “Uphold me according to thy word.” 

He is able, and he alone, “To keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Ephesian Church

You may remember the seven churches that John mentions in Revelation 2. Among them is the church of Ephesus, a congregation Jesus commends very highly.

I like to think of our church in Times Square as being like the Ephesian church. That body of believers labored in one of the world's most populous cities, never fainting in the midst of vile wickedness. 

The people lived sacrificially, hated sin and refused to accept false doctrines. They stood strong in faith, loving God with all their heart no matter what temptations Satan threw at them.
 
Yet Christ knew something was amiss among these people. 

He so loved this church—it was such a bright lamp to the nations—that He wasn’t about to sit idly by and let it die. So He told the Ephesians, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2:4).

Jesus was saying, “Your fire is going out! The love for Me that once motivated your faithfulness is waning. 

You once bore My burden for the lost but now you are satisfied merely to sit and listen to sermons. 

You have become totally engrossed in your own personal concerns while ignoring Mine.

You have fallen far from where you once stood!

Jesus then tells them, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen” (verse 5). He is saying, “Think back! You used to yearn to come to My house, to be with My saints, to bear My burden. But now an hour on Sunday morning is plenty for you!”

So, dear Christian, are you still on fire for Jesus? Are you in love with Him as passionately as when you first got saved?

Or have you lost interest in His concerns, forsaking all ministry? Do you have too much else going on in your life? If so, the Lord says to you, “I have something against you—you have left your first love!”

Listen to what Jesus says to us at this point: “Repent, and do the first works” (verse 5). He is saying, “Mourn over your growing apathy. Be contrite and take it seriously. Then let your grief lead you back to where you were when you first loved Me!”


~David Wilkerson~

A True Christian A Rebuke To The Sinner

IT IS NOT a comfortable state to be at enmity with God, and the sinner knows this.

Although he perseveres in his rebellion against the Most High, and turns not at the rebuke of the Almighty, but still goeth on in his iniquity, desperately seeking his own destruction, yet is he aware in his own conscience that he is not in a secure position. 

Hence it is that all wicked men are constantly on the look out for excuses. 

They find these either in pretended resolutions to reform at some future period, or else in the declaration that reformation is out of their power, and that, acting according to their own nature, they must continue to go on in their iniquities.

When a man is willing to find an excuse for being God's enemy he need never be at a loss. 

He who hath to find a fact may find some difficulty; but he who would forge a lie may sit at his own fireside and do it. 

Now, the excuses of sinners are all of them false; they are refuges of lies; and therefore we need not wonder that they are exceedingly numerous, and very easy to come at.  

One way in which sinners frequently excuse themselves is by endeavoring to get some apology for their own iniquities from the inconsistencies of God's people. 

This is the reason why there is much slander in the world. 

A true Christian is a rebuke to the sinner, wherever he goes he is a living protest against the evil of sin.

Hence it is that the worldling makes a dead set upon a pious man. 

His language in his heart is, "He accuses me to my face; I cannot bear the sight of his holy character; it makes the blackness of my own life appear the more terrible, when I see the whiteness of his innocence contrasting with it."

And then the worldling opens all his eyes, and labors to find a fault with the virtuous. 

If, however, he fails to do so, he will next try to invent a fault; he will slander the man.

And if even there he fails, and the man is like Job, "perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil;" then the sinner will, like the devil of old, begin to impute some wrong motive to the Christian's innocency. "Doth Job serve God for nought?" said the devil. 

He could find no fault with Job whatever, his character was untainted and unblemished; but, says he, "he keeps to his religion for what he gets by it."

I reckon it to be a glorious accusation when we are falsely charged with being religious for the sake of gain. 

It shows that our enemies have no other charge that they can bring against us. They have ransacked all the flies of their calumny, and they can find nothing tangible, and this is the last they can bring—an imputation upon the motive of the man who has no other motive in all the world than to glorify his God and win sinners from destruction.

In this, then, let us glory. If sinners slander us, it is because we make them uneasy.

They see that our lives are a protest against them: and what can they do?

~Charles Spurgeon~

Blood Of The Lamb The Conquering Weapon

                                                                          

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
  

WHEREVER evil appears it is to be fought with by the children of God in the name of Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.

When evil appeared in an angel, straightway there was war in heaven.

Evil in mortal men is to be striven against by all regenerate men. If sin comes to us in the form of an angel of light we must still war with it. If it comes with all manner of deceivableness of unrighteousness, we must not parley for a single moment, but begin the battle forthwith, if indeed we belong to the armies of the Lord.

Evil is at its very worst in Satan himself: with him we fight. He is no mean adversary. The evil spirits which are under his control are, any one of them, terrible foes; but when Satan himself personally attacks a Christian, any one of us will be hard put to it.

When this dragon blocks our road, we shall need heavenly aid to force our passage.

A pitched battle with Apollyon may not often occur, but when it does, you will know it painfully: you will record it in your diary as one of the darkest days you have ever lived; and you eternally praise your God, when you overcome him.

But even if Satan were ten times stronger and more crafty than he is, we are bound to wrestle with him: we cannot for a moment hesitate, or offer him terms.

Evil in its highest, strongest, and proudest form is to be assailed by the soldier of the cross, and nothing must end the war but complete victory.  

Satan is the enemy, the enemy of enemies.  

      

That prayer of our Lord's, which we usually render,   "Deliver us from evil," has the special significance of "Deliver us from the evil one"; because he is the chief embodiment of evil, and in him evil is intensified, and has come to its highest strength.

That man had need have Omnipotence with him who hopes to overcome the enemy of God and man.

He would destroy all godly ones if he could; and though he cannot, such is his inveterate hate, that he worries those whom he cannot devour with a malicious eagerness.

In this chapter the devil is called the "great red dragon." He is great in capacity, intelligence, energy, and experience.

Whether or not he was the chief of all angels before he fell I do not know. Some have thought that he was such, and that when he heard that a man was to sit upon the throne of God, out of very jealousy he rebelled against the Most High.

This is also conjecture. But we do know that he was and is an exceedingly great spirit as compared with us. He is a being great in evil: the prince of darkness, having the power of death.

He shows his malice against the saints by accusing the brethren day and night before God.

In the prophets we have the record of Satan standing to accuse Joshua the servant of God. Satan also accused Job of serving God from mercenary motives: "Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and all that he hath?"

This ever active enemy desires to tempt as well as accuse: he would have us, and sift us as wheat.

In calling him the dragon, the Holy Spirit seems to hint at his mysterious power and character.

To us a spirit such as he is, must ever be a mystery in his being and working. Satan is a mysterious personage though he is not a mythical one.

We can never doubt his existence if we have once come into conflict with him; yet he is to us all the more real because so mysterious.

If he were flesh and blood it would be far easier to contend with him; but to fight with this spiritual wickedness in high places is a terrible task.

As a dragon he is full of cunning and ferocity.

In him force is allied with craft; and if he cannot achieve his purpose at once by power, he waits his time. He deludes, he deceives; in fact, he is said to deceive the whole world.

What a power of deception must reside in him, when under his influence the third part of the stars of heaven are made to fall, and myriads of men in all ages have worshipped demons and idols!

He has steeped the minds of men in delusion, so that they cannot see that they should worship none but God, their Maker.

He is styled "the old serpent"; and this reminds us how practiced he is in every evil art. He was a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies.

After thousands of years of constant practice in deception he is much too cunning for us. If we think that we can match him by craft we are grievous fools, for he knows vastly more than the wisest of mortals; and if it once comes to a game of policies, he will certainly clear the board, and sweep our tricks into the bag.

To this cunning he adds great speed, so that he is quick to assail at any moment, darting down upon us like a hawk upon a poor chick.

He is not everywhere present; but it is hard to say where he is not. He cannot be omnipresent; but yet, by that majestic craft of his, he so manages his army of fallen ones that, like a great general, he superintends the whole field of battle, and seems present at every point.

No door can shut him out, no height of piety can rise beyond his reach. He meets us in all our weaknesses, and assails us from every point of the compass. He comes upon us unaware, and gives us wounds which are not easily healed.

But yet, dear friends, powerful as this infernal spirit certainly must be, his power is defeated when we are resolved never to be at peace with him.

We must never dream of terms or truce with evil.

To suppose that we can let him alone, and all will be well, is a deadly error. We must fight or perish: evil will slay us if we do not slay it.

Our only safety will lie in a determined, vigorous opposition to sin, whatever shape it assumes, whatever it may threaten, whatever it may promise.

The Holy Ghost alone can maintain in us this enmity to sin.

According to the text it is said of the saints, "They overcame him." We are never to rest until it is said of us also, "They overcame him." He is a foeman worthy of your steel.

Do you refuse the conflict? Do you think of turning back?

You have no armour for your back. To cease to fight is to be overcome.

You have your choice between the two, either to gird up the loins of your minds for a life-long resistance, or else to be Satan's slaves for ever.

I pray God that you may awake, arise, and give battle to the foe.

Resolve once for all that by the grace of God you will be numbered with those who overcome the arch-enemy.

Our text brings before us a very important subject for consideration***What is the conquering weapon? With what sword did they fight who have overcome the great red dragon?

Listen! "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb."

Secondly, How do we use that weapon? We do as they did who overcame "by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

~Charles Spurgeon~

 

The Unknown Journey

                                                 

                                                
Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.


ABRAM began his journey without any knowledge of his ultimate destination. He obeyed a noble impulse without any discernment of its consequences.

He took “one step,” and he did not “ask to see the distant scene.” And that is faith, to do God’s will here and now, quietly leaving the results to Him.

Faith is not concerned with the entire chain; its devoted attention is fixed upon the immediate link. Faith is not knowledge of a moral process; it is fidelity in a moral act.

Faith leaves something to the Lord; it obeys His immediate commandment and leaves to Him direction and destiny.

And so faith is accompanied by serenity. “He that believeth shall not make haste”—or, more literally, “shall not get into a fuss.”  

He shall not get into a panic, neither fetching fears from his yesterdays nor from his to-morrows.

Concerning his yesterdays faith says, “Thou hast beset me behind.” Concerning his to-morrows faith says, “Thou hast beset me before.” Concerning his to-day faith says, “Thou hast laid Thine hand upon me.” That is enough, just to feel the pressure of the guiding hand.

~John Henry Jowett~