Isa 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Shaking The Nest

When God permits any immortal being to nestle down in worldly possessions or sinful pleasures, undisturbed, unaroused, and unawakened, is it not a terrible calamity? 

Could a greater curse come upon such a person than to be let alone by the Holy Spirit?

I Would not that "nest " of selfishness and hardened  indifference to God become the prelude to righteous divine wrath and red burnings?

If the young eaglet would become a sorry weakling in its nest, and finally be left to starve if it were never trained to fly, how true it is, also, that any soul that is left alone in guilty indifference and unbelief will come to eternal ruin.  

It is divine love that awakens the sinner to his guilt and danger.

Love sends the arrow of conviction into the soul. Love drives that arrow in deeper and deeper.

God so loves the self-condemned sinner that He not only has sent His only-begotten Son to die for him, but sends His awakening Spirit with the thrilling appeal, "Awake thou that sleepest! turn ye; turn ye; for why will ye die?" God stirs him up. 

The living gospel comes with strong, fearless hand, and overturns his refuges of lies--rips to pieces his self-righteousness--reveals to him his guilt and the divine displeasure with his sins--and bids him repent and prepare to meet his offended God.

As the hooked talon of the parent eagle shakes the nest and stirs out the younglings, so God's Spirit with the arm of Truth shakes the sinner from his false security.

As with an Ithuriel spear--keen and sharp as the lightning--the Holy Spirit arouses the guilty soul to the enormous sinfulness of sin, and points him to the cross before him, the heaven above him, and the hell beneath him! 

Into his ears the trumpet voice proclaims the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ!

And so the fire that is kindled in his conscience drives the convicted transgressor to the cross of Calvary.

This has been, in innumerable cases, the process of our Heavenly Father in bringing myriads of His children to the new life here, and the endless life hereafter. 

~Theodore Cuyler~

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Five Marks of Repentance

Repentance is a thorough change of a person’s natural heart, upon the subject of sin. 

We are all born in sin. We naturally love sin. We take to sin, as soon as we can act and think—just as the bird takes to flying, and the fish takes to swimming.

There never was a child that required schooling or education in order to learn deceitfulness, selfishness, passion, self-will, gluttony, pride and foolishness. 

These things are not picked up from bad companions, or gradually learned by a long course of tedious instruction. They spring up of themselves, even when boys and girls are brought up alone. The seeds of them are evidently the natural product of the heart. The aptitude of all children to these evil things is an unanswerable proof of the corruption and fall of man.

Now when this heart of ours is changed by the Holy Spirit, when this natural love of sin is cast out, then takes place that change which the Word of God calls “repentance.” The person in whom the change is created is said to “repent.” They may be called, in one word, a repentant person.
But I dare not leave the subject here. It deserves a closer and more searching investigation. It is not safe to deal in general statements, when doctrines of this kind are handled. 

I will try to take repentance to pieces, and dissect and analyze it before your eyes. I will show you the parts and portions of which repentance is made up.

I will endeavor to set before you something of the experience of every truly repentant person.

#1 True Repentance Begins With A Knowledge Of Sin 
True repentance begins with a knowledge of sin. The eyes of the repentant person are opened. They see with dismay and confusion the length and breadth of God’s holy law, and the extent, the enormous extent, of their own transgressions.

They discover, to their surprise, that in thinking themselves a “good sort of person,” and a person with a “good heart,” they have been under a huge delusion.

They find out that, in reality, they are wicked, and guilty, and corrupt, and evil in God’s sight. Their pride breaks down. Their high thoughts melt away.

They see that they are a great sinner. This is the first step in true repentance.

#2 True Repentance Produces Sorrow For Sin
True repentance goes on to work sorrow for sin. The heart of a repentant person is touched with deep remorse because of their past transgressions.

They are cut to the heart to think that they have lived so madly and so wickedly. They mourn over time wasted, over talents misspent, over God dishonored, over their own soul being injured.

The remembrance of these things is grievous to them. The burden of these things is sometimes almost intolerable.

When a person sorrows like this, you have the second step in true repentance. 

#3 True Repentance Produces Confession Of Sin
True repentance proceeds to produce confession of sin. The tongue of a repentant person is loosed. They feel they must speak to that God against whom they have sinned.

Something within them tells them they must cry to God, and pray to God, and talk with God, about the state of their own soul.

They must pour out their heart, and acknowledge their iniquities, at the throne of grace. They are a heavy burden within them, and they can no longer keep silent. They can keep nothing back. They will not hide anything.

They go before God, pleading nothing for themselves, and are willing to say, “I have sinned against heaven and before You. My iniquity is great. God be merciful to me, a sinner!” 

When a person goes thus to God in confession, you have the third step in true repentance.

#4 True Repentance Produces A Breaking Off From Sin
True repentance shows itself in a thorough breaking off from sin. The life of a repentant person is altered. The course of their daily conduct is entirely changed.

A New King reigns within their heart. They put off the old man. 

What God commands they now desire to practice; and what God forbids they now desire to avoid.

They strive in all ways to keep clear of sin, to fight with sin, to war with sin, to get the victory over sin. They cease to do evil. They learn to do well.

They break off sharply from bad ways and bad companions. They labor, however feebly, to live a new life. 

When a person does this, you have the fourth step in true repentance. 

#5 True Repentance Produces A Deep Hatred Of Sin
True repentance shows itself by producing in the heart a settled habit of deep hatred of all sin.

The mind of a repentant person becomes a mind habitually holy. They abhor that which is evil, and cleaves to that which is good. They delight in the law of God. 

They come short of their own desires not unfrequently. They find in themselves an evil principle warring against the spirit of God. 

They find themselves cold when they would be hot; backward when they would be forward; heavy when they would be lively in God’s service. They are deeply conscious of their own infirmities. 

But still, for all that, the general bias of their heart is towards God, and away from evil. They can say with David, “I count all Your precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way” (Psalm. 119:128).

When a person can say this, you have the fifth, or crowning step, of true repentance.

~J. C. Ryle~

Friday, January 24, 2014

What Are You Abiding In?

                                                                               

When Jesus was crucified all His disciples were scattered abroad everywhere. You might have had great difficulty in finding them if you had tried to.

Two of them went down to Emmaus. Where poor Thomas was hiding himself we do not know, nor where Peter had gone to after denying His Lord. 

They were all broken and scattered.


Do you notice what happened after the Cross, when Jesus was raised from the dead?


He knew where every one of them was and He brought them all back together.

He reunited them in Himself and the last picture we have of them is that they are all together in Christ. 

They would agree that it is nothing but desolation to go out from God. It is not a garden, but a wilderness. Peter would agree with that, and so would Thomas.

When the Prodigal Son went out from his father's house, he went out to bankruptcy, from a garden to a wilderness.

When he came home he came to a life of fruitfulness and of rest.

Do you see something of what the Lord Jesus meant when He said "Abide in me"?

Outside of Me it is just a wilderness. There is no fruit there.

If you abide in Me you bring forth much fruit

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit (John 15:8). 

God's satisfaction is the one great thing through all the Bible. His satisfaction is now in His Son, and if we abide in Christ we abide in God's good pleasure and shall bring forth much fruit.

If we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us as we are supposed to have we shall know in our hearts whether we are out of fellowship with the Lord or whether we are abiding in the Lord.

And we shall know because we shall feel that we are in the wilderness when we are out, and that we are in the garden when we are in.

Jesus was very emphatic about this. He knew what a tremendous thing it was and so, eleven times in a short chapter, He said "Abide... abide abide in Me."

May the Lord keep us abiding in Christ!

All other things will prove to be false and only what is true will stand us in good stead to the end.

I am the true vine... Abide in Me. That is only one way of saying: 'We must know the Lord and our place in the Lord'.

What are you abiding in? Are you abiding in people? Are you abiding in conferences? Are you abiding in a religious system?

Well, all these things will pass, and the time will be when there will not be any more conferences and when you will not be able to depend upon any people.

The whole religious system will disappoint you.

But if you know and  abide in Jesus Christ it will be all right to the end.

~T. Austin Sparks~
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Wednesday, January 22, 2014

GOD Raised Up A MAN

                                                                            
In Nehemiah´s day, the walls of Jerusalem were in ruins, the city a literal pile of stones. And the church was totally backslidden, with no witness left. The wicked powers surrounding Israel persecuted them severely, mocking every work they tried to undertake.

How did God respond in such a time of ruin? Did He send a well-trained army to help them? Did He send a palace guard to smite their prominent enemies? No, God raised up a
man Nehemiah.

Nehemiah was a man with God´s burden on his heart. He spent his time praying, fasting and mourning, because he was broken over Israel´s condition. He also continually dug into God´s Word, grasping prophecy and moving in the Spirit.

Although Nehemiah served as cupbearer to the king of Persia, he remained separate from the wickedness surrounding him. In the midst of all the sensuality, immorality and godlessness taking place in Israel, he maintained a holy walk with the Lord. And, in turn, everyone who heard him preach was purified in soul.

Soon a revival of holiness swept the land. "The priests and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, and the gates, and the wall" (Nehemiah 12:30). 



The house of God also was purged, with everything of flesh cast out.

Nehemiah sent workers into the temple, telling them, "I want every piece of filth out of here. Don't leave anything that has to do with idolatry or sensuality" (see Nehemiah 13:8-9).

Beloved, this is God´s concept of revival! It is all about sweeping out every chamber in your heart that´s unclean and unsanctified. He wants no dark places left.

Where did Nehemiah get such spiritual authority, to cause
compromisers to tremble, and to bring back godly fear to the
temple?


The king did not give it to him. No church bishop gave it to him. He didn´t learn it from a Bible school.

No, Nehemiah got his authority on his knees-weeping, broken,
wanting to know God´s heart.


And because he was a man of prayer, he was able to confess the sins of a whole nation: "That thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night and confess the sins of the children of Israel both I and my father´s house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments" (Nehemiah 1:6-7).

~David Wilkerson~

Friday, January 17, 2014

The LORD Had A Man

                                                                                
It was a difficult time in Israel as depravity, apostasy and backsliding were rampant in the land.


At this time, the ark was gone from Israel. Eli, the nation’s high priest, was lazy and complacent, allowing his sons to debauch
the priesthood. 


Under their leadership, adultery and fornication were rampant
in the temple. But Eli had become so used to his life of ease that he would not do anything to stop them.

At one point the Lord wrote the word “Ichabod” (meaning “the Spirit of the Lord has departed”) over the whole religious system.


Once again, satanic forces had risen to great power and to the natural eye, God’s work had lost so much ground, the odds of recovery seemed improbable.

But the Lord had a man in place all along—a little child named Samuel. While all the ministers around him were indulging in fornication and gluttony, Samuel was learning to hear God's voice. As he became more and more intimate with the Lord, the Holy Spirit filled him with a prophetic word. He became a testimony—living proof of the power of God!

Scripture says that as Samuel grew, none of his words fell to the ground, meaning that he consistently spoke with power and authority. Because of his godly authority, no nation was able to lift a hand against Israel for over forty years.

And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established (found to be trustworthy) to be a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord
appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:19-21).

Once again, the Lord raised up a single man as a testimony to a whole nation. God needed no army, no human organization, no “new thing.” All he needed was one righteous man someone whose ministry was committed totally to His holy ways!


~David Wilkerson~





Monday, January 13, 2014

The REALITY Of HELL

There is such a place as hell. Let no one deceive you with vain words.

What people do not like, they try hard not to believe. 

When the Lord Jesus Christ comes to judge the world, He will punish all who are not His disciples with a fearful punishment: all who are found unrepentant and unbelieving, all who have clung to sin, all who are stuck to the world, and all who have set their affections on things below.

All who are without Christ shall come to an awful end.

Whosoever is not written in the book of life shall be “cast into the lake of fire.” [Rev 20:15]

I call on all who profess to believe the Bible, to be on their guard.

1) Some do not believe there is any hell at all.

They think it impossible there can be such a place. They call it inconsistent with the mercy of God.


They say it is too awful an idea to be really true. 

The devil of course, rejoices in the views of such people. They help his kingdom mightily.

They are preaching up his old favorite doctrine, “You shall not surely die.”

2) Some do not believe that hell is eternal. 

They tell us it is incredible that a compassionate God will punish people forever. He will surely open the prison doors at last.

This also is a mighty help to the devil’s cause.

3) Some believe there is a hell, but never allow that anybody is going there.

All people with them are good. As soon as they die, all were sincere, all meant well, and all, they hope, got to heaven.

Alas! what a common delusion this is!

Summary: If I never spoke of hell, I should think I had kept back something that was profitable, and should look on myself as an accomplice of the devil.

Beware of new and strange doctrines about hell and the eternity of punishment.

Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who has a heaven for everybody, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and bad in eternity.

Such a God is an idol of your own.

~J. C. Ryle~