In God, Not Out Of Trouble

Jer 45:5  And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.  

A promise given for hard places, and a promise of safety and life in the midst of tremendous pressure, a life "for a prey."

It may well adjust itself to our own times, which are growing harder as we near the end of the age, and the Tribulation times.

What is the meaning of "a life for a prey"?

It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the lion.

It means not removal from the noise of the battle and the presence of our foes; but it means a table in the midst of our enemies...

A shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life preserved in the face of continual pressure:

Paul's healing when pressed out of measure so that he despaired of life; Paul's Divine help when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ rested upon him and the grace of Christ was sufficient.

Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in the hardest places help me today to be victorious.

~Days of Heaven upon Earth~

We often pray to be delivered from calamities; we even trust that we shall be;

But we do not pray to be made what we should be, in the very presence of the calamities;

To live amid them, as long as they last, in the consciousness that we are, held and sheltered by the Lord, and can therefore remain in the midst of them, so long as they continue, without any hurt.

For forty days and nights, the Saviour was kept in the presence of Satan in the wilderness, and that, under circumstances of special trial, His human nature being weakened by want of food and rest. 

The furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, but the three Hebrew children were kept a season amid its flames as calm and composed in the presence of the tyrant's last appliances of torture, as they were in the presence of himself before their time of deliverance came.

And the livelong night did Daniel sit among the lions, and when he was taken up out of the den, "no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God."

They dwelt in the presence of the enemy, because they dwelt in the presence of God.

Faithful and Useful

Psa 101:6  Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.   

If David spoke thus, we may be sure that the Son of David will be of the same mind.

Jesus looks out for faithful men, and He fixes His eyes upon them, to observe them, to bring them forward, to encourage them, and to reward them.

Let no true-hearted man think that he is overlooked; the King Himself has His eye upon him.

There are two results of this royal notice. First we read, "That they may dwell with me." 

Jesus brings the faithful into His house, He sets them in His palace, He makes them His companions, He delights in their society.

We must be true to our LORD, and He will then manifest Himself to us.

When our faithfulness costs us most, it will be best rewarded; the more furiously men reject, the more joyfully will our LORD receive us.

Next, he says of the sincere man, "He shall serve me." Jesus will use for His own glory those who scorn the tricks of policy and are faithful to Himself, His Word, and His cross.

These shall be in His royal retinue, the honored servants of His Majesty.

Communion and usefulness are the wages of faithfulness. 

LORD make me faithful that I may dwell with Thee and serve Thee. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Word, Necessary Food

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

If God so willed it we could live without bread, even as Jesus did for forty days; but we could not live without His Word.

By that Word we were created, and by it alone can we be kept in being, for he sustaineth all things by the Word of His power. 

Bread is a second cause; the LORD Himself is the first source of our sustenance.

He can work without the second cause as well as with it; and we must not tie Him down to one mode of operation.

Let us not be too eager after the visible, but let us look to the invisible God.

We have heard believers say that in deep poverty, when bread ran short, their appetites became short, too;

And to others, when common supplies failed, the LORD has sent in unexpected help.

But we must have the Word of the LORD. With this alone we can withstand the devil.

Take this from us, and our enemy will have us in his power, for we shall soon faint.

Our souls need food, and there is none for them outside of the Word of the LORD.

All the books and all the preachers in the world cannot furnish us a single meal:

It is only the Word from the mouth of God that can fill the mouth of a believer.

LORD, evermore give us this bread. We prize it above royal dainties. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Sin Of The Rich Man Was Selfishness

There was nothing sinful in his being rich--Abraham himself has been a wealthy man.

It is not hinted that the rich man of the story had made his money in unlawful ways.

He is not charged with oppression of the poor, nor with enriching himself by others' ruin.

Had you asked his boon-companions what they thought of him, they would have called him the finest fellow in town.

It was neglecting Lazarus that was his sin. His crime was the unrelieved beggar at his gate.

And he could not plead that he was ignorant of Lazarus, for he recognized him at once in Abraham's bosom.

It was not want of knowledge, then, but want of thought that was the innermost secret of his tragedy.

He was so engrossed in his own life of pleasure, that his heart was dulled to the suffering at his door;

And every day he lived he grew more selfish till at last he went to his own place.

Let the children learn how needful it is to begin doing kindly deeds when they are young.

We grow so accustomed to misery by and by, that our hearts turn callous before we are aware.

It is a priceless blessing when the sympathies of childhood are turned into the channel of activity.

Caught in their freshness, and expressed in deeds, they form those habits of help and brotherly kindness that were utterly wanting in this rich man's heart.

~George H. Morrison~

Dealing With The Past

Mat 9:28  And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

GOD deals with impossibilities. It is never too late for Him to do so, when the impossible is brought to Him, in full faith, by the one in whose life and circumstances the impossible must be accomplished if GOD is to be glorified.

If in our own life there have been rebellion, unbelief, sin, and disaster, it is never too late for GOD to deal triumphantly with these tragic facts if brought to Him in full surrender and trust.

It has often been said, and with truth, that Christianity is the only religion that can deal with man's past.

GOD can "restore the years that the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:25); and He will do this when we put the whole situation and ourselves unreservedly and believingly into His hands.

Not because of what we are but because of what He is.

GOD forgives and heals and restores. He is "the GOD of all grace." Let us praise Him and trust Him. 

~Sunday School Times~

Nothing is too hard for Jesus No man can work like Him. We have a GOD who delights in impossibilities. 

Nothing too hard for Him.

~Andrew Murray~

Their Sound Went Into All The Earth.

Now that's something for the whole world and that's something for you, there's a message for you.

Let us begin to face this fact and it is an exceedingly solemn fact... nothing profound about it, but it's an exceedingly solemn fact that the trumpet is sounding, that is, that GOD is speaking.

GOD is in the world making known His mind for you, for all men.

GOD is not silent. GOD has not stopped speaking. He is speaking very loudly today and very widely.

Some of us are wondering whether GOD is not speaking as He is today for the last time.

We believe that the LORD Jesus is coming back. We believe that His coming is drawing near.

We believe that the end of this dispensation can almost be seen.

We in this country are not so alive, sensitive to this as they are in some places.

I was saying (I think it was today, the days seem so long, I'm not sure if it was today or yesterday...) what I discovered on the other side of America only a week or two ago, is that there, right up and down that west side of the United States, a large number of houses on a day like this are up for sale and to let.

And living amongst many of them and seeing all these boards up, I asked my friend with whom I was staying, "Why? 

There is such shortage, why here in these salubrious parts are people wanting to leave their houses?"

Oh, he said, You know everybody over here are living as on the edge of a volcano.

They're scared for their lives of these atomic bombs that they believe are coming at any time and they want to get right away from populated areas, they think that they're safer out in the desert.

Anywhere, but here. And just living like that... and you feel the tension and you know that it is so and everybody speaks about it.

I don't know that it is not justified to some measure, at any rate they know over there all about it.

You see, I went out into the city of Los Angeles in a car one day and I found that my eyes were beginning to get so painful, I could hardly keep them open, and my throat becoming so dry that I couldn't understand it.

It created difficulty for speaking. And I explained this to my friend and he said, "Well, you know they exploded a bomb yesterday, it's blowing it up here."

Just a little taste, well I'm not a scaremonger, I'm not trying to scare you into anything.

But we think we see that the end is not far off and men's hearts are failing them for fear.

You find it out there, and Scripture says it, men's hearts failing them for fear of the things which are coming upon the earth.

That Scripture is verily being fulfilled and it is said to be a sign of the last times. Well, maybe. We leave it that it might be.

Supposing that time is getting short toward the end of this dispensation, people are getting nervy about it.

Supposing...May it not be that this great sovereign thing of GOD because it is sovereign, we can't see any other explanation of what is happening.

In this great campaign [?] for instance, and the main figure in this campaign there in Glasgow was here in London last year and himself said, There's nothing to account for it but GOD, and I'm no preacher.

And everybody who listens knows that.

If you're looking for a wonderful sermon well, you don't find it there, if you're looking for a great discourse on theology you don't find it there. 

It's from the very simplest. And you wonder, you wonder how that can have the effect that it has.

Certainly it's not beating the intellect, and really it's not beating the emotions for everybody says no, this is not a great emotional thing.

GOD is sovereignly doing something surely.

And how widely flung this is, we've only heard this evening of it being talked about there up in Nairobi, ungodly people talking about it, they've heard the reports of what's going on.

Is GOD sounding the trumpet for the last time? 

Is He sovereignly letting it be known that redemption is in Christ Jesus for all men?

I put it in the form of a question, but if the question is permissible, allowable, it's a very solemn thing isn't it?

You, dear friends, if you're not in Christ, are hearing the trumpet sound, are, yes verily tonight, hearing it announced that GOD has provided redemption for you in His Son Jesus Christ.

You can never before GOD in time or eternity say, "I never knew, I never heard, I never had a chance!"

Well, GOD has equally, sovereignly perhaps, brought you to hear as He has also sovereignly ordained that it is to be said. That's something to think about.

It's a very, very serious thing to have heard the Gospel of the grace of GOD, to have been told of this wonderful redemption.

We put our hearts into it this evening when we sound it. Believe it, oh sinner, believe it! 

Receive the glad message, it's true, it's true, it's true. GOD is calling you.

GOD is calling you to Himself just as those trumpets called the people to Moses, to gather together unto him.

And a greater than Moses is here, the LORD Jesus by this sounding forth of the message tonight is calling you to Himself.

Jesus is tenderly, but loudly and definitely, calling today, and the word is, "Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart...".

It is a call of love, a call of mercy, a call of entreaty, but it's a call of warning.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Of Beaten Work

Now you know what that means, simply the thing is hammered out; the thing is wrought into the very substance.

It means that there is a very real and deep and thorough-going experience in the matter with which we have to speak.

The LORD does not just commit to us something to say.

The LORD works the thing into us before He allows us to say it if we are really going to be His messengers.

He takes pains to see that the pattern of the thing is hammered into our very being.

We have got to know what redemption means in a deep way.

And that sometimes does mean that there's a good deal of cutting into us by the hammer and chisel; it's beaten work, it's wrought work, it's something that is very real.

Dear friends, these things, according to GOD'S mind, are to characterize every one who would be a messenger of GOD to others.

The thing has got to be wrought into you.

And may I say, that while it is not conveyed here, this matter is a continuous process.

We shall only really express GOD, convey GOD to others, be able to speak of GOD and for GOD, be able to give to others GOD'S thoughts and GOD'S mind insofar as the thing is wrought into us.

You've only got a little bit and you've only let the LORD take you so far; that is just the measure of your witness, of your testimony, of your real ability to convey what GOD wants conveyed.

We've got to let GOD do this thing in us very thoroughly. 

And I do feel that, simple as it is, elementary as it is, it's a very important thing to say.

There may be here tonight those who have really come to the LORD, who could say that they are saved, they've given their hearts to the LORD, they've let the LORD into their hearts... however you might put it, there is that initial transaction with the LORD by which you have come to be His. That has taken place...

But you've only gone just so far and there are still things which have not come into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

The redemption has only gone so far, it hasn't touched some things in your life, you still have some associations, you still have some pleasures, some interests, you still have some idols of some kind.

You're a Christian, yes, but you've only gone just so far and now you haven't gone any farther and you're not going any farther, you've just stopped.

You've stopped, and all that great fullness that GOD has for you is suspended because, well, you've gone so far...

You are the LORD'S, but you're not letting the LORD work the fullness of redemption into your life.

Because redemption is a very comprehensive thing.

Redemption does not begin and end with our just being saved from judgment and hell and being assured of heaven, forgiveness of our sin, and the coming of the LORD.

Oh, that is a mere fragment...a large fragment and an important and valuable fragment...but after all in the light of all the redemption that is in Christ Jesus it is only a very little thing.

So much more...and this redemption has got to apply to and touch everything until we are wholly on the ground of redemption and everything is on that ground.

Take an illustration from the life of Israel. You remember when they were redeemed by GOD from their bondage in Egypt, the LORD so worked, so thoroughly worked, so drastically worked, that He was not going to have, as it is put, "the hoof of one ox left in Egypt."

Yes, He applied this matter of redemption to the last hoof of the last animal to leave Egypt.

His idea is a very thorough-going redemption with nothing left outside, it's got to cover all that we are and all that we have.

And it was because that generation of Israelite's did not allow the principle to be wrought into them,

The principle which GOD had established in that objective way, they did not allow it to be wrought into them that they did not come into the full purpose of redemption and occupy the great land of promise.

Now, that's all illustration, it was true in history, but it is an illustration of the spiritual life that this thing has got to be wrought... 

Beaten work, wrought into us thoroughly and exhaustively if we are going to come into all the good of redemption.

So that while we can in a certain sense say, "I am redeemed", we have got to be able to say: I am continually being redeemed.

I'm going on in redemption, it is applying everywhere."

Now the point is this: that only in so far as the thing is wrought into us as the LORD'S people have we a testimony.

You can't go in testimony, speaking to others, beyond that which is true in our own being.

So it is a beaten work, it is inwrought.


~T. Austin Sparks~

It Will Not Be Long

James 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

The last word in the Canticle of love is, "Make haste, my beloved," and among the last words of the Apocalypse we read, The Spirit and the Bride say, Come; to which the heavenly Bridegroom answers, "Surely I come quickly."

Love longs for the glorious appearing of the LORD and enjoys this sweet promise - "The coming of the LORD draweth nigh." 

This stays our minds as to the future. We look out with hope through this window.

This sacred "window of agate" lets in a flood of light upon the present and puts us into fine condition for immediate work or suffering.

Are we tired? Then the nearness of our joy whispers patience. 

Are we growing weary because we do not see the harvest of our seed-sowing?

Again this glorious truth cries to us, "Be patient." 

Do our multiplied temptations cause us in the least to waver? 

Then the assurance that before long the LORD will be here preaches to us from this text, "Stablish your hearts."

Be firm, be stable, be constant, "stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD."

Soon will you hear the silver trumpet which announces the coming of your King.

Be not in the least afraid. Hold the fort, for He is coming; yea, He may appear this very day. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Keep Going On

One of the greatest safeguards for spiritual power is to keep going on.

One of the most disastrous things is to hesitate about something which has been made known by the Holy Spirit as the Will of GOD.

In just one matter, we may stop going on with the LORD.

We fail to obey Him; the enemy is watching...

And immediately in our walk with the LORD we come to something upon which the LORD'S Finger is placed, and we do not take that step... 

The enemy rushes in with something else as an alternative, or a preoccupation, or an insinuation of some deadly force which postpones that issue.

And later on it is ten times harder to take that step because something positive has come in. 

The enemy does not believe in gaps, and the LORD does not believe in gaps.

If Israel had gone on and not compromised with the Jebusites or any of the other "ites", the book of Judges would never have been written.

The book of Judges is the great declaration of the fact that the people of GOD did not go on into the fulness that was theirs in GOD.

That is a very solemn word for us.

It shows why there is such an insistence in the New Testament about going on into full growth, pressing on...

For if you do not go on, the danger is that you will be occupied with something that was Never in the Will of GOD...

Taken up with something religious and miss all that He intended, and the enemy will make havoc and entirely rob you of Spiritual Power.

Spiritual power is in going on, and keeping going on; compromising with nothing.

You notice the illustration here is the house of Joseph, and they went to take Bethel. They sent spies.

Why send spies when the Lord told them He had given it?

You need not send spies when the Lord tells you He has given it to you.

And they found a man of Bethel and said to him, "You show us the way into the city and we will deal kindly with you", and the man, to save his own skin, showed them the way in and they let him off, with the result that the man ran away and founded another city, and called it Bethel. 

The tribe of Joseph came down to the level of the flesh and then asked this poor ruffian to show them the way when he should have been killed on the spot.

Talking naturally, they spared him on the ground of compromise.

They said, "In fact, the Lord cannot do it, we must get our information from this fellow, a man which belonged to that thing which God said must be destroyed".

They dealt kindly with him, let him go, and he ran off and founded another city.
 
If you do not do the thing that God tells you, you liberate a force that sets up an imitation of the real.

You release something that sets up what is not true - a false thing - and the enemy all over the place is setting up these caricatures. 

You will get something false in your life immediately.

Have done with that compromise.

If you spare a little bit in order to get something more easy, you are going to set up something that is mere imitation.

It is not worthwhile.

I know it is costly, I know the conflict, but do you want the Lord's testimony to be really established?

Is it really not yourself, but for the Glory of GOD that you want Spiritual Power?

The Lord wants Spiritual Power recovered in His people for His own testimony's sake.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Nature Of The Testimony of Jesus

Now the testimony of Jesus is not just a declaration of the facts which are true in His case, but these lampstands on the earth, here and there and there, are the vessels, the very embodiment of that in a living way.

That is why the lamp was never to be allowed to go out in the sanctuary, but was to be trimmed night and morning that its flame might be kept clear and triumphant.

Therein is typified the embodiment of those facts which are facts in Him, and their being livingly, glowingly expressed here in the Church.

That is the testimony, and there is one word which embraces all that.

You want to know what the vanquishing of Satan is, the overcoming of the world, and the destroying of death?

There is one word which goes right to the heart of it, and it is this, life.

Life is the sum total of all Christ's being and of His work. He is the life.

He comes into the world as the life.

He is the offset in His very person to that condition which is universal, namely, death, spiritual death.

He is life. His presence is life. Everything about the Lord Jesus now is life; there is no death in Him.

In Him death is swallowed up in its entirety.

In His very person He is the fullness of that life of God which has nothing in it whatsoever that can be touched by death.

His work is that. All the work of the Lord Jesus is related to one thing, and one thing only, and that is life.

In Him life and incorruptibility have been brought to light - marvelous revelation of a thought of God!

Incorruptibility! What a world, what a universe it will be, when that is the reigning law in everything, everywhere!

Incorruptibility! Think of it!

Consider how easy it is to corrupt people nowadays, and to corrupt things, and to corrupt procedure. Consider too the result of it.

But there is coming a world, a creation, a new heaven and a new earth in which will dwell righteousness which is incorruptible. 

Incorruptible life will be the reigning law of God's new universe.

That is the effect of Christ's work. It is life; just as the sum of all Satan's being and work is death.

The presence of Satan is death. The very person of Satan is death. He is death.

I do not mean that he is an abstract thing, but he is the very embodiment and personification of death and the effect of all his work is death. 

He has brought in death. Everything that Satan touches dies. He carried with him the very breath of death.

~T. Austin Sparks~

A Sound Heart

Psa 119:80  Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

We may regard this inspired prayer as containing within itself the assurance that those who keep close to the Word of GOD shall never have cause to be ashamed of doing so.

See, the prayer is for soundness of heart. A sound creed is good, a sound judgment concerning it is better, but a sound heart toward the truth is best of all. 

We must love the truth, feel the truth, and obey the truth, otherwise we are not truly sound in God's statutes.

Are there many in these evil days who are sound? Oh, that the writer and the reader may be two of this sort!

Many will be ashamed in the last great day, when all disputes will be decided.

Then they will see the folly of their inventions and be filled with remorse because of their proud infidelity and willful defiance of the LORD;

But he who believed what the LORD taught and did what the LORD commanded will stand forth justified in what he did. 

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun. Men much slandered and abused shall find their shame turned into glory in that day.

Let us pray the prayer of our text, and we may be sure that its promise will be fulfilled to us. 

If the LORD makes us sound, He will keep us safe.

 

~C.H. Spurgeon~

Our Field of Battle

Deu 20:4  For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

We have no enemies but the enemies of GOD. Our fights are not against men but against spiritual wickednesses. 

We war with the devil and the blasphemy and error and despair which he brings into the field of battle.

We fight with all the armies of sin -- impurity, drunkenness, oppression, infidelity, and ungodliness. With these we contend earnestly, but not with sword or spear; the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

Jehovah, our GOD, abhors everything which is evil, and, therefore, He goeth with us to fight for us in this crusade.

He will save us, and He will give us grace to war a good warfare and win the victory. 

We may depend upon it that if we are on GOD'S side GOD is on our side.

With such an august ally the conflict is never in the least degree doubtful.

It is not that Truth is Mighty and must prevail but that Might lies with the Father who is Almighty, with Jesus who has All Power in heaven and in earth, and with the Holy Spirit who worketh His will among men.

Soldiers of Christ, gird on your armor. Strike home in the name of the GOD of holiness, and by faith grasp His salvation.  

Let not this day pass without striking a blow for Jesus and holiness.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Sit Still

Isa 52:12  For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.

I do not believe that we have begun to understand the marvelous power there is in stillness.

We are in such a hurry--we must be doing--so that we are in danger of not giving God a chance to work.

You may depend upon it, God never says to us, "Stand still," or "Sit still," or "Be still," unless He is going to do something.
     
This is our trouble in regard to our Christian life; we want to do something to be Christians when we need to let Him work in us.

Do you know how still you have to be when your likeness is being taken?
     
Now God has one eternal purpose concerning us, and that is that we should be like His Son; and in order that this may be so, we must be passive.

We hear so much about activity, may be we need to know what it is to be quiet.

~Crumbs~
     
Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
Nor deem these days--these waiting days--as ill!
     
The One who loves thee best, who plans thy way,
Hath not forgotten thy great need today!

And, if He waits, 'tis sure He waits to prove To thee, His tender child, His heart's deep love.
     
Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!

Thou longest much to know thy dear Lord's will!

While anxious thoughts would almost steal their way Corrodingly within, because of His delay
 
Persuade thyself in simple faith to rest That He, who knows and loves, will do the best.
     
Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!

Nor move one step, not even one, until His way hath opened.

Then, ah then, how sweet! How glad thy heart, and then how swift thy feet
     
Thy inner being then, ah then, how strong! And waiting days not counted then too long.

Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
 
What higher service could'st thou for Him fill?
     
Tis hard! ah yes! But choicest things must cost!

For lack of losing all how much is lost!

Tis hard, 'tis true! But then--He giveth grace
To count the hardest spot the sweetest place.

~J. D. Smith~

We Shall Not Be Ashamed!

We shall not be ashamed of our faith. Carping critics may assail the Scriptures upon which we ground our belief, but every year the LORD will make it more and more clear that in His Book there is no error, no excess, and no omission.

It is no discredit to be a simple believer; the faith which looks alone to Jesus is a crown of honor on any man's head and better than a star on his breast.
 
We shall not be ashamed of our hope. It shall be even as the LORD has said. We shall be fed, led, blest, and rested.

Our LORD will come, and then the days of our mourning shall be ended.

How we shall glory in the LORD who first gave us lively hope and then gave us that which we hoped for!

We shall not be ashamed of our love. Jesus is to us the altogether lovely, and never, never, shall we have to blush because we have yielded our hearts to Him.

The sight of our glorious Well-beloved will justify the most enthusiastic attachment to Him.

When the enemies of Christ are clothed with everlasting contempt, the lovers of Jesus shall find themselves honored by all holy beings, because they chose the reproach of Christ rather than the treasures of Egypt. 

~Charles Spurgeon~