1 Corinthians 8: 11

The Wanderers Restored

The Wanderers Restored (click here)

The Wanderers Restored

Selected Writings of Charles Stanley: Volume 1, p. 45.
 
There can be no doubt that the last days of difficulty and perplexity are present realities. You meet a friend, and almost the first word is, “What a state of confusion everything is in!” His face as well as words seem to say, Everything is gone. Some have been expecting the universal spread of Christianity, and the conversion of the world; others, who have long seen the unscripturalness of such a thought, have been expecting there may be some great display of the Church in its unity on earth. Instead, they find division and sorrow, through the perversity and obstinacy of men. Such become greatly discouraged, and have real sadness of heart.
Thus, if we turn to Luke 24, we shall find a picture of the things that are happening in our very days. We know the Church, or Assembly, was not yet formed, for the Holy Ghost had not yet come to form it. But the company then gathered at Jerusalem was the very company which was afterward baptized by the Holy Ghost when the Church began.
We find, then, two of them with their backs on Jerusalem — on the Assembly there, and their faces toward Emmaus. They were not going far away — about six miles. Now what was their condition, or state of mind? They were occupied with the things that had happened. Intellect was at work, and they reasoned. There does not appear to be any wilfulness or stubbornness in their conduct; but they were very sad of heart, and sorely perplexed.
Let us remember they were of the company at Jerusalem, but not in their place. They were walking away, as if all were over and lost. Things had turned out very different from what they had expected, and they were sadly disappointed. Is not this a picture of many in this day? They are of the Church of God, the Assembly; they are members of the body of Christ, but as to their position, they are so sad, by reasoning about the things that have happened, that, though of it, “two of them,” yet they are walking with their backs to the Assembly, and their faces toward Emmaus. Did the Lord forget these two wanderers, as they talked together of all these things which had happened? No; it was while they thus communed and reasoned Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. Now what is really the matter with souls in this state is just as it was with them — “Their eyes were holden that they should not know Him.”
How tenderly He inquires of their sadness! Does He not feel the same now? Is His love changed? May we not say, “O teach me more of Thy blest ways”? There was little intelligence in them, and their faith in His resurrection was very weak. How tenderly He listens to every word! One thing He did rebuke was their slowness of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken! “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” And may not the wandering, sad hearts be rebuked in this matter now? Oh, for the tender love of Christ to open up the Scriptures, and show that not a single thing is now happening that has not been foretold in Scripture. Yes, all our disappointment and sadness of heart arise from not knowing the Scriptures. They were ignorant of the Scriptures, and they knew not Him.
And now they want to turn in, and settle down for the night; a little independent company, or if you please, individuals away from the Assembly. Oh, the love that could not give them up! Though He showed His disapproval of their step, He opened to them the Scriptures, and their hearts did burn, though as yet their eyes were closed. But what a change when their eyes were opened, and they knew Him! “They rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them.” What a picture! While our souls are in that moral state not to know the Lord in the midst of the Assembly, our backs are sure to be turned to Jerusalem. And the moment we truly know Him, the face is immediately turned toward the Assembly. Wonderfully does this picture illustrate the condition of many of the children of God at this time. Doubtless many are sad of heart, and sorely perplexed with all the things that have happened, who never yet knew the sanctuary of deliverance revealed in this scripture. They reason in vain; their thoughts turn to convocations, alterations in ecclesiastical law, questions of so-called church and state. They are distracted with discord, jarrings, and divisions on every hand, but are as blind to the true deliverance from these tumults, as these two sad hearts were blind to the One who so gently opened unto them the Scriptures.
Others who have walked with Him have been turned aside; not only those who, in wilfulness, have sought to lead disciples after them (Acts 20: 30), but such as have, like these two sad hearts, been so occupied with men and things, that they have lost the power of discerning the Person and mind of the Lord. Oh, that such might dwell on the love of the Lord to these two wanderers! Would He not take you to the Scriptures, and show you that all that has happened was foretold? Ah, He would not merely make our hearts burn by His own precious ministry, but He would open our eyes to know Himself. And we cannot know Him without becoming attracted to the Assembly, His Body. Is there anything on this earth so dear to the heart of Christ as His Church? Does not the Spirit of God move the heart of the reader to arise, and go back to the Assembly?
O meditate on that infinite love to the Church, and you will soon find yourselves on the way back. We cannot know Him without loving that which He loves. There may be little intelligence, yet we shall soon find ourselves where He delights to reveal Himself.
And soon they arrive at Jerusalem; weariness, and sadness, and disappointment are all left at Emmaus — all uncertainty is now gone. The Lord is risen indeed, is the certainty they find in the company gathered together. And the two returned ones are ready to tell their story of deliverance from sadness and disappointment, “how He was known of them in breaking of bread.” Is it not sweet also in our day to have returning ones tell the story of restoring love? This touched the heart of Jesus; “And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” Surely this was as superior to the earthly sanctuary, the worldly temple, with its priesthood and ritual, as heaven is to earth.
Have we been gathered to Christ, the Holy and the True? And are those who had wandered in sadness, a little way from the assembly ground of the twos or threes gathered together unto His name, being now restored by Him? Is it still true that, apart from all worldly sanctuaries, human priesthoods, and carnal ordinances, set up of man, Jesus Himself is in the midst of those gathered to Him? And does He still speak those precious words to those so gathered, “Peace be unto you”? Can we not hear, above the roaring tempest of human discord, those tender words, the very voice we know — “It is I, be not afraid”? Mark 6: 50.
It is indeed very blessed when He first speaks peace to the conscience through His precious blood — “It is finished” — “Peace unto you.” Eternity will never unfold the infinite debt of love we owe to Him for this character of peace.
But let us see Him, and hear Him in the midst of the company gathered in the upper room. Ah, they were even afraid of the religious world outside, so the doors were shut. What a contrast with that religious world! It had antiquity, and everything to please the ear and the eye. Shall we say they, the little company, had nothing but Jesus? The fullness of the Godhead stood bodily in their midst risen from the dead — the Head, and the beginning of the new creation. Where are you, reader? with the religious world, or with Jesus Himself? He speaks in the midst of those gathered to Himself. Truly He is not now present in body. But is He not as really present in Spirit? They were afraid. Yes, though it is unspeakably blessed, yet it is an awful moment when the soul is first separated from earthly religion and brought into the very presence of the risen Lord. He says, “Peace unto you.” What pen, or tongue, can tell the wondrous peace His presence and His words give, in the midst of those truly gathered to Himself? Peace in every sense, both to conscience and heart.
Now since He is risen, since He is present, since He says, “Peace,” how searching the question He put to them, and to us! “Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” Troubled ones, what do you answer to the Lord? Why are ye troubled? Do you say, we are troubled about our sins? He has borne them on the cross; He shows you His hands and His side. Do you say, we are troubled about the confusions and divisions in the professing church? But, He says “peace” in the midst of those...

Genesis 4: 6

Should it be "sin" or "sin-offering" lieth at the door? I am disposed to think it a sin-offering: only that the sin-offering is never mentioned historically until we come to Leviticus under Moses. It is in this kind of way, " If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and unto thee shall the desire of thy younger brother be, and thou shalt rule over him; but if you fail to do well, there is a remedy, and therefore you ought not to be wroth." "Lieth at the door" means crouching. It is not the expression, "It is at your door," as we say; and therefore I was inclined to take it, " If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" ("and if thou doest not well," there is a remedy)-in parenthesis-" and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him." I have no quarrel with the other, because sin did lie at his door. "And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? and he said, I know not: am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done?" It is not only now the testimony of sin against us, to say what have we done as sinners. But we bear from God, " Where is Christ?" The Holy Ghost is come and convinces the world of sin, but more than this. He comes and says to the whole world, on God's part, " Where is my Son?" Then there is haughtiness too in Cain's reply, "Ami my brother's keeper?" as though why should God ask? Besides this and more, another important principle comes out-the practically self-righteous man rejecting Christ is then turned out; he leaves the presence of the Lord, and dwells in the land of Nod, that is, " vagabond," where his son is called Enoch, and he builds a city calling it Enoch, too, after his son. Thus he stretches himself in the world, and gives a family name to the town, and the history shows us artisans and arts, and sciences all in the train. He goes out from God and settles himself in the place of judgment, to do his best with it, in open defiance of God. God neglects nothing, and Cain cannot get out of the reach of His hand, of course; but in his own will he was entirely outside. Cain sets to work to make the earth as comfortable as he can without God; Adam did not want all that in paradise. As to lake dwellings, and caves with stones, hatchets, and many similar things, we have to remember that in New Guinea people are doing the same thing now: how would London like to do so? In Switzerland and Italy they have been finding, covered with bog, and in the lakes, a hundred villages and all kinds of remains-what the people were eating, and what clothes they wore, as round the Lake of Geneva and elsewhere. And they have learned the natural history of those times. There was a stone in a hole that they could not make out, and at last found it was what they wove with. Occasionally they have discovered a thing that came from Phenicia which was civilized at the very time these villages appear to have flourished. In North America, lying under some magnificent trees seven hundred years old, was a piece of native copper or a square cradle put ready to be carried away, with other distinct marks of an earlier civilization than the present. Civilization does die away in places; but I know of no case of light from God going away and bringing in barbarism. It was God's providential government when Satan made the Chaldeans go and take Job's goods. If we refer to the sentence on Cain, there was no direct government at all in that, it did not kill him. Man is now left to himself until we come to the second world. God protects him, putting a mark on him lest any finding him should kill him. This I believe to be a figure of the Jews unto this day. Cain is " I have gotten," Abel is " vanity," because he went to nothing. Eve fancied she had gotten this man from the Lord—that this was the promise, while it was only from nature, Cain means " gotten," Seth means "appointed," and Abel means "the dying man." Eve thinks she has the man that can inherit the blessing. It was not so, as we well know. If you take flesh, the Jews were the men from the Lord, and it only resulted in their killing the Lord; first that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. Chapter 4:23 may be taken historically and it is true; but typically it refers to the Jews at the end. There is self-will in it every way. Typically it is the remnant of Israel in the last day; but we must not dogmatize about that. Cain is a figure of Israel having killed Christ, and made a vagabond on the earth. At the end the remnant of Israel will own, like Lamech, they have killed this man to their wounding. In the historical sense he kills somebody and says, "I have been touched and I will be avenged." If one disputes, I do not. A man once took me to task about a parable and said, " What proof do you give me of its meaning so-and-so?" My answer was, It is like honey which is given you, and you ask me to prove that it is sweet! If you cannot taste, I cannot prove it. Seth is the man appointed instead of both Abel and Cain. God hath appointed, in contrast with J have gotten, as Eve said of Cain. So now, Seth from God. Calling "on the name of the Lord" (ver. 25) was dependence; but Cain's family would not own the Lord at all, the appointed man and his family would. In short it is the same dreadful truth as to Cain there as in 2 Thess. 2 Only it will be final by and by. And what is noticeable is that Cain was settling himself in that place without God; it was not so much resistance as independence. After Seth, the appointed man, comes in, they began to own Jehovah specifically. This is the meaning of "then began men to call on the name of Jehovah." As to the discrepancy between the Hebrew and the Septuagint as to the years in chapter 5 I say nothing, save that there is a curious fact in this, that in each of these lives the Septuagint adds a hundred years. Thus "Adam lived 230 years and begat," instead of 130. This so adds fourteen hundred years to the time of the world, the Samaritan Pentateuch more still. It is not a casual mistake, but done on purpose, for it is to each, and it is only carried down to the point where, if they had gone one more, they would have pushed it over the flood. But there it stops. In Matthew the genealogy is a copy of Jewish records. I do not doubt myself, though it has been disputed since the second century, that Luke is Mary's genealogy. Luke takes it back up to man, but Matthew from David and Abraham, because his reference is to promises. In the Talmud they have got Mary the daughter of Eli. Then we get afterward the length of years pretty much the same, except Enoch, where stands the important fact that heaven is brought in for anybody that has faith to look at it. God had men for heaven in the midst of all the confusion; as with Elijah, He had seven thousand left that had not bowed the knee to Baal. Enoch is figure of those caught up, Noah of the remnant of the Jews that go through the tribulation. In Noah the world is comforted, the figure of the millennium. "He careth for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Romans 5, Darby

198 Chapter 5: 15. We see that the grace must have an aspect as large as the sin. The presentation of grace is to the whole world, but its application is only to those who receive the gift. Verse 18: "As by one offence towards all unto condemnation, so by one righteousness towards all unto justification of life." The one righteousness, as God's gift, is unto all, but it is only upon all them that believe; chap. 3: 22. The contrast here (v. 18) is not between the persons, but the one offence and the one righteousness. The gift of righteousness is unto all: just as the sin of Adam addresses itself to the whole race, so does the one righteousness. "Justification of life?" Here I get justification connected with life (not only from my sins), but I have got life; v. 20. "The law" comes in by the bye. The law required man to make out a righteousness. "The law entered that the offence might abound." It is not that sin might abound, but "the offence." God never made sin abound. Sin abounded over the whole race, and there grace much more abounds. The law not only made sin more manifest, but also aggravated its character. The authority of God has been brought in, and despised. A child might do wrong without knowing it; but when the father gives him a command about it, it becomes disobedience. In chapter 2: 12, what is translated sinned "without law," is the same word as in 1 John 3: 4 (sin is the "transgression of the law"), which should be, "sin is lawlessness."
What is the meaning of Hebrews 9: 26, "Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of himself?" I believe it extends to the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. So also "the Lamb of God which beareth away the sin of the world." The work that accomplishes it is done, but the power is not yet put forth; 1 John 2: 2. "Propitiation for the whole world." That is, atonement has been made, and the blood is on the mercy-seat, so that all hindrance is removed. In Hebrews 9: 26, 28 we get the two things, to put away sin," and "sins borne"; just as we get the sin-offering and the scape-goat on the day of atonement. The blood of the sin-offering was first sprinkled on and before the mercy-seat, then the sins of Israel were confessed over the head of the scape-goat; Lev. 16. The blood on the mercy-seat now is the ground of invitation to the sinner. I say now to the sinner, Christ has died, and the blood is on the mercy-seat, and you will be received if you come. If he accepts the invitation, I can tell him more.

...sinner that repenteth..

The question, however, is often asked, whether repentance must always precede faith. The very form of the question, as a few words will show, is misleading. If the true nature of repentance has been apprehended, the reader will see that it cannot be dissociated from faith. For what produces repentance? It is God's testimony, received in power, concerning me as a sinner. Somehow or other light has entered into my soul, and convicted me before God; I bow to all He says of me, as a lost sinner, in His Word. This faith -faith in God's Word as to the truth of my condition—must always be connected with repentance. The two things are indissolubly united. But the soul may remain in a state of repentance, if it may be so described, a long time before accepting God's further testimony as to His beloved Son; and it need scarcely be said that, as long as it thus continues, there will be no peace or liberty. Hence repentance in such a case precedes faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is undoubtedly the general order of the soul's experience.

We say the general order, for it cannot be denied that there would seem to be many exceptions. Repentance is so little preached, and the forgiveness of sins, or, in other cases, eternal life, without even raising the question of sin, is so often pressed upon souls especially in so-called revival preaching—that many appear to be converted with scarcely any exercise as to the state of their souls before God, almost without ever having had the burden of sin upon their conscience. Fully granting that there are genuine cases of this kind, it yet must be said that all such will have conscience work as to sin sooner or later. With them, what answers to repentance will undoubtedly follow after their conversion. But the divine order is repentance toward God first, and then faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ; and wherever the truth of the gospel is proclaimed according to God, this order will be maintained in the experience of souls. Take, for example, the epistle to the Romans, which in an especial manner presents the gospel. In the first place, after unfolding his theme, the Apostle proves that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; then—but not till then—he expounds the provisions of God's grace for the sinner's guilt, and thereon he proceeds to explain how God has met also the sinner's state as well as the sinner's guilt. We do not here enter into this, beyond calling attention to the fact that the demonstration of our guilt precedes his description of how God has set forth Christ Jesus as a propitiation through faith in His blood.

Fwd: Gems From My Reading - 4986

-------- Original message --------
Subject: Fwd: Gems From My Reading - 4986
From: Norman Hiebert <njhiebert@sympatico.ca>
To:
CC:

"Be of good cheer."

"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, 

for the edifying of the body of Christ."

(Ephesians 4:12)

It is also the business of every believer to help other Christians to become better Christians.  If a brother be overtaken in a fault we are to pray for him, not persecute him.  Jesus was out to restore backsliding Peter, to fire him up - not fire him out. Peter was marked "Special"; "Go tell his disciples and Peter."

The New Testament abounds in instructions to love One another, exhort one another, comfort one another, forgive one another, prefer one another, provoke one another to love and good works.  We provoke one another, but not to love and good works! 

The gifts of our Lord to the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, are not for display but "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God."  To know Him ourselves and to help others to know Him better!

And as we help in the perfecting of others we are perfected ourselves.  Working on ourselves all the time produces a warped saint.  Our best improvement comes roundabout, indirectly, as we help one another along. (Day by Day with Vance Havner)

N.J. Hiebert - 4986

The Sower...

Charles Stanley

Election

Conversion, by Charles Stanley

Plain Words. - No. 3

And there came one that had escaped, and told...

King James Version Genesis 14:13 13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.

Genesis 1: 2

In the beginning God created everything-the heavens and the earth. Then the earth is described as void and waste, and (not as succeeding, but accompanying it) darkness upon the face of the deep, contemporaneously with which the Spirit of God broods upon the face of the waters. All this is an added account. The real and only force of the 1" and" is another fact; not at all as if it implied that the first and second verses spoke of the same time, any more than they decide the question of the length of the interval. The phraseology employed perfectly agrees with and confirms the analogy of revelation, that the first verse speaks of an original condition which God was pleased to bring into being; the second, of a desolation afterward brought in; but how long the first lasted, what changes may have intervened, when or by what means the ruin came to pass, is not the subject-matter of the inspired record, but open to the ways and means of human research, if indeed man has sufficient facts on which to ground a sure conclusion. It is false that scripture does not leave room for his investigation.

We saw at the close of verse 2 the introduction of the Spirit of God on the scene. " The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." He appears most consistently and in season, when man's earth is about to be brought before 'us. In the previous description, which had not to do with man, there was silence about the Spirit of God; but, as the divine wisdom is shown in Prov. 8 to rejoice in the habitable parts of the earth, so the Spirit of God is always brought before us as the immediate agent in the Deity whenever man is to be introduced. Hence, therefore, as closing all the previous state of things, where man was not spoken of, preparing the way for the Adamic earth, the Spirit of God is seen brooding upon the face of the waters.

................................................................

The record declares that God created not a " formless earth," but " the heavens " (where at no time do we hear of disorder) " and the earth." But even as to " the earth," which was to be a scene of change, we are expressly told by an authority no less inspired, and therefore of equal authority with Moses, that such disorder was not the original state. " For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; He is God; that formed the earth and made it; He established it, He created it not a waste, He formed it to be inhabited" (Isaiah 45:18
). The Revised V. is purposely cited, as confessedly the most correct reflection of the prophet. Here is therefore the surest warrant to separate verse 2 from verse 1 (save of course that it is a subsequent fact), severed, it may be, by a succession of geologic ages, and characterized by a catastrophe, at least as far as regards the earth. Indeed it would be strange to hear of an ordered heavens along with a "formless earth " as the first-fruits of God's creative activity. But we are not told of any such anomaly. The universe, fresh from God's will and power, consisted of " the heavens and the earth." Silence is kept as to its condition then and up to the cataclysm of verse 2; and most suitably, unless God's purpose in the Bible were altogether different from that moral end which pervades it from first to last. What had the history of those preliminary physical changes to do with His people and their relations to Himself? But it ought not to be doubted that each state which God made was a system per-. feet for its aim. Yet it was not materials only, but heaven and earth.

And the earth was [or became] waste* and empty, and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God [was] brooding upon the face of the waters " (ver. 2).

(* "Without form" is hardly exact, for all matter must have form, but desolate or disordered it may be made subsequently. "To become " (not " be") is the force of the verb in some twenty places in this chapter.)

The well-known and flexible particle of connection in the Hebrew text introduces the verse. Its meaning, usually and simply copulative, is often modified, as almost all words in every language must he, by contextual considerations. Hence the learned Dathe, in 1781, renders it here " posthaec vero," expressly to distinguish the state of thing in ver. 2 from that referred to in ver. 1, and sends us to such instances asNumbers 5:23
; Deuteronomy 1:19
. Now there is no doubt that the Hebrew conjunction admits of an interval as often as facts demand it; but there is no need of departing from its primary force, " clad " (though our conjunction is not so pliant); or it may readily have a somewhat adversative force as we see in the 70. The true determination lies in what follows. For the usage of the past verb when thus employed is to express a state subsequent to and not connected with what goes before, but previous to what follows. Hebrew idiom does not use that verb simply as a copula, as may be seen twice in this verse, and almost everywhere; or it puts the verb before the noun. The right conclusion therefore is that Moses was led to indicate the desolation into which the earth was thrown at some epoch not made known, after creation, but prior to the " days " in which it was made the habitation for Adam and the race.
Kelly
BTP

Earth void-judgment

Note on Earthquakes
In connection with the outpouring of the seventh vial upon the earth, Rev. 16: 18 speaks of a "great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great." May it be gathered from these words that before men were upon the earth, there had been such an earthquake? Can the "without form and void" condition of the earth in Genesis 1: 2 be explained by the previous occurrence of such a catastrophe? The words tohu and bohu used in the verse referred to are found also in Isaiah 45: 18, and show that such was not the original condition of creation; and in Isaiah 25: 11, as also in Jer. 4: 23, the same words are employed as descriptive of judgment executed. That earthquakes are significant of judgment in its last development, is seen by their being also the outcome of the opening of the sixth seal and the sounding of the sixth trumpet, when God ariseth to shake terribly the earth. (Rev. 6: 14; 11: 13. See also Matt. 24: 7.) In Zech. 13 there is an earthquake preceding the judgment consequent upon the return of the Lord Jesus to this earth, when His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. In this case He is, at the same time, manifesting Himself as the Saviour and Defender of those who in man's day of rebellion and apostasy have been true to His name. These two facts - the shaking of that which is of the earth, earthy, and the remaining of that which is heavenly, and which cannot be moved - appear to be always involved in the occurrence of earthquakes.

Creation, and the Fall of Man.

Ezekiel's Forty Days

Fwd: Gems From My Reading - 4953

-------- Original message --------
Subject: Fwd: Gems From My Reading - 4953
From: Norman Hiebert <njhiebert@sympatico.ca>
To:
CC:

Be of good cheer."

"In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

(Colossians 2:3)

Hidden things are not in plain sight.

We must search for them, - delve into secret recesses, and often dig deeply.

Thus let us search the Scriptures,

not satisfied with a mere surface reading, but seeking, with the Sprit's guidance, 

the rich and manifold treasures that are hidden in Christ and His precious Word.

(The Young Christian - Vol 17) 

N.J. Hiebert - 4953

Ephesians 4: 4-6

Emailing: 562003_226770994117144_1655690287_n

 

Comfort one another

With the Lord, O.W. Clark (1925-2012)

OSBORNE CLARK
Obituary
Osborne Walter Clark August 28, 1925 - August 27, 2012
Osborne was predeceased by his parents, Arthur and Myrtle in 1979 and his infant son, Mark Edward in 1969. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Margaret Ruth Davinia (Quine); daughter, Nancy (Bernie) Gandras; sons, Doug (Judy) and Ian (Debbie); 12 grandchildren, Kimberly (Tom) and Aaron (Veronica), Stephanie (Greg), Lisa (Ben), Erika and Dawson, Anna (Dave), Katie, Paul (Marita), Daniel, Philip and Emily; 12 great- grandchildren as well as sisters, Gladys and Eleanor. Osborne was born in Regina, farmed in Vanguard, SK from 1927 to 1947. Returning to farm briefly in the Tregarva area, worked for Continental Refrigeration, then, for 35 years, employed at Toledo Scale Company, retiring in 1990. Osborne was a faithful husband, supportive, insightful and wise father. Living as an example, humbly doing the things that made life better for those around him, never asking for anything in return. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour as a young man, and lived his life in faithful obedience to God. Now after 87 years, tired and with a weak heart, could no longer continue here but has entered in to his eternal rest, "with Christ; which is far better". A Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at Avonhurst Pentecostal Assembly, 3200 Avonhurst Dr., Regina, SK. In lieu of flowers, donations in Osborne's memory may be made to: Strasbourg Bible Camp, P.O. Box 308, Strasbourg, SK, S0G 4V0.
Bible Truth Publishers will also take donations. Thank you.
Published in The Regina Leader-Post from August 30 to August 31, 2012
Read Less

...No heart but of the Spirit taught...

O Lord, we know it matters not
How sweet the song may be;
No heart but of the Spirit taught
 Makes melody to Thee.

Then teach Thy gathered saints, O Lord,
To worship in Thy fear;
And let Thy grace mould every word
That meets Thy holy ear.

Thou hast by blood made sinners meet
As saints in light, to come
And worship at the mercy-seat,
 Before th’ eternal throne.

Thy precious name is all we show,
Our only passport, Lord;
And full assurance now we know,
Confiding in Thy word.

Grandpa's Sale

Grandpa’s Sale

                                                                                          From:Echoes of Grace – Under His Wings

It was a hot July afternoon and Grandpa Brown was sitting on the porch of the old farm home. His working days were over, but he loved to look out over the fields and watch the men working and the cattle grazing. Then he caught sight of a car coming down the lane in a cloud of dust and soon a young fellow stepped out and greeted him.
"Hi there," he called; "I'm Norman Grant." And sitting down on the top step of the porch, he took off his coat and began fanning himself. Then he remembered why he had come and, opening his briefcase, he began a well-memorized sales talk. The first few words startled Grandpa. "Mr. Brown, it is necessary for a man to look to the future and to face the inevitable. As hard as it may seem to us, life is but a flickering light that soon fades into eternity."
"Must be an insurance salesman," thought Grandpa, "or maybe he sells tombstones."
The sales talk went on: "It is well for all mankind to take steps of precaution against that day. The years creep up on us with incredible speed; as we move on toward that culmination of life's journey, we may gain a great deal of satisfaction from adequate preparation. My firm takes great pains to help mankind to attain to this end."
Grandpa thought, "Selling grave plots, that's what he's doing!"
The fluent talk went on: "In all the history of mankind there has been no greater source of security than the product I'm about to show you." Norman Grant reached into his briefcase and drew out a Bible!
"Note the binding," the young man went on. "Sewed with the finest linen thread... the leather cover imported... deep rich gold and red page edges... maps printed in nine different colors.... Mr. Brown, you might travel the world over and never find a Bible like this. What a splendid addition to your home! We have it in various covers to match any living room."
The sales talk was over. Grandpa Brown leaned over and took the Bible from the salesman's hands and looked at it long and silently.
Finally he spoke: "Mr. Grant," he said, "I know the Author of this Book."
"Oh no, sir, that can't be!" exclaimed the young man. "Those who wrote it have been dead many years. They all lived ages ago."
Grandpa Brown went on as if he hadn't heard. "I met the Author of this Book first when I was a child at my mother's knee. Since then He has spoken to me from these pages many, many times. When I was sixteen He said to me: ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’
"Mr. Grant, I heard His words and heeded them. Later, when as a young man I was beset by the usual temptations of young men, He said, 'Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely... think on these things.' Then when great sorrow came into our family He spoke, saying, 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.' I did, Mr. Grant, and He did.
"Again, when we had a crop failure for two years, He spoke: 'My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory.' In all our joys and sorrows He has had a special word of counsel or encouragement from the pages of this blessed Book."
There was quiet on the porch for a while. Then, holding the Bible lovingly in his hands, Grandpa Brown said to the younger man, "Wouldn't you like to know the Author of this Book?"
The answer was quick and firm: "Yes, I surely would!"
As the young man prepared to leave, he said to Mr. Brown: "I came to sell you a Bible, but you have sold the divine contents of it to me, and I shall be forever grateful."
"The entrance of Thy words giveth light." Psa. 119:130
.
"The holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 3:15
.

How Sweet and Aweful is the place...

How sweet and aweful is the place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores!

Here every bowel of our God
With soft compassion rolls;
Here peace and pardon bought with blood
Is food for dying souls.

[While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry with thankful tongues,
"Lord, why was I a guest?

"Why was I made to hear thy voice,
And enter while there's room;
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?"]

'Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly forced us in
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.

[Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send thy victorious word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.

We long to see thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart, and soul,
Sing thy redeeming grace.]

The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts, 1806

Propitiation, John 1:29

Did the Lord Jesus Christ in dying bear the sins of everybody? Would not that follow from the fact that He takes away the sin of the world, according to John 1: 29? 

Scripture puts things thus: 

"He died for all" (2 Cor. 5: 15). 

"Who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2: 6). 

"He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2: 2). 

These verses indicate what we may call the Godward aspect of His work. It includes ALL within the wide sweep of its benevolent intention; and propitiation has been made on behalf, not only of believers, but everybody; the whole world. 

When we come, not to the intention or bearing of His work, but its actual results, we find things put differently. When we view things on the largest possible scale, and "think imperially,'' in the best sense of the word, John 1: 29 does indeed apply, but that is quite in keeping with the fact that sin and all that are eternally identified with it find their part in the lake of fire. 

If we think of things in detail, we cannot say He bore the sins of everybody, for Scripture says: 

"Who His own self bare our [i.e., believers'] sins in His own body on the tree " (1 Peter 2: 27). 

Hence it is that again we read: 

"Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Heb. 9: 28). Thanks be to God that we find ourselves amongst them! 
H.B. Hole

He bore the sins of many...

Propitiation and Substitution
1 Timothy 2: 6.
J.N.Darby
My intercourse with saints, and especially with those who preach, has led me to discover that a good deal of obscurity in their manner of putting the gospel, and I may add a good deal of Arminian and Calvinistic controversy, arises from not distinguishing propitiation and substitution. I am not anxious about the words, but about the practical distinction, which is very simple and I think of moment. I say the words, because in propitiation, in a certain sense, Christ stood in our stead. Still there is a very real difference in Scripture.
This difference is clearly marked in the offerings of the great day of atonement. Aaron slew the bullock, and the goat which was called the Lord's lot, and sprinkled the blood on and before the mercy-seat and on the altar. The blood was presented to God, whose holy presence had been dishonoured and offended by sin. So Christ has perfectly glorified God in the place of sin, by His perfect obedience and love to His Father in His being made sin who knew no sin. God's majesty, righteousness, love, truth, all that He is, was glorified in the work wrought by Christ, and of this the blood was witness in the holy place itself. Our sins gave occasion to it, but God Himself was glorified in it. Hence the testimony can go out to all the world that God is more than satisfied, glorified, and whoever comes by that blood is freely, fully received of God and to God. But there was no confession of sins on the head of this goat; it was about sin by reason of Israel's sinfulness, but it was simply blood offered to God: sin had been dealt with in judgment according to God's glory, yea, to the full glorifying of God, for never was His majesty, love, and hatred of sin so seen. God could shine out in favour to the returning sinner according to what He was; yea, in the infiniteness of His love beseech men to return.
But besides this there was personal guilt, positive personal sins for which Israel was responsible, and men are responsible, according to what is righteously required from each. On the great day of atonement, the high priest confessed the people's sins on the scape-goat, laying both his hands on its head: the personal sins were transferred to the goat by one who represented all the people, and they were gone for ever, never found again.
Now this is another thing. Christ is both high priest and victim, and has confessed all the sins of His people as His own, borne our sins in His own body on the tree. The two goats are but one Christ, but there is the double aspect of His sacrifice, Godward, and bearing our sins. The blood is the witness of the accomplishment of all, and He is entered in not without blood. He is the propitiation for our sins. But in this aspect the world comes in too. He is a propitiation for the whole world. All has been done that is needed. His blood is available for the vilest whoever he may be. Hence the gospel to the world says, "Whosoever will, let him come." In this aspect we may say Christ died for all, gave Himself a ransom for all, an adequate and available sacrifice for sin, for whoever would come - tasted death for every man.
But when I come to bearing sins the language is uniformly different. He bore our sins, He bore the sins of many. "All" is carefully abstained from. I say carefully, because in Romans 5: 18, 19, the difference is carefully made. The first, our sins, is the language of faith, left open indeed to anyone who can use it, but used and to be used only by faith. The believing remnant of Israel may use it, including the blessing of the nations, for He died for that nation; Christians use it in faith, for all that have faith use it. The second "many" restricts it from all, but generally has the force of the many as contrasted with a head or leaders, the mass in connection with them. Adam's the many were in result all, but all is in connection with him. Christ's the many those connected with Him.
But it will never be found in Scripture that Christ bore the sins of all. Had He done so they never could be mentioned again, nor men judged according to their works That Christ died for all is, as we have seen, clearly said. Hence I go to the world with His death as their ground and only ground of approach, with the love shewn in it. When a man believes, I can say, Now I have more to tell you, Christ has borne every one of your sins, they never can be mentioned again. If we look at the difference of Arminian and Calvinistic preaching we shall see the bearing of this at once; the Arminians take up Christ's dying for all, and generally they connect the bearing of sins with it, and all is confusion as to the efficacy and effectualness of Christ's bearing our sins, and they deny any special work for His people. They say if God loved all He cannot love some particularly; and an uncertain salvation is the result, and man often exalted. Thus the scape-goat is practically set aside.
The Calvinist holds Christ's bearing the sins of His people so that they are effectually saved, but he sees nothing else. He will say, if Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, there can be no real love for anything else, and denies Christ's dying for all, and the distinctive character of propitiation, and the blood on the mercy-seat. He sees nothing but substitution.
The truth is, Christ is said to love the church, never the world, that is a love of special relationship. God is never said to love the church, but the world. That is divine goodness, what is in the nature of God (not His purpose), and His glory is the real end of all. But I do not dwell on this, I only point out the confusion of propitiation and substitution as necessarily making confusion in the gospel, enfeebling the address to the world or weakening the security of the believer, and in every respect giving uncertainty to the announcement of the truth. I believe earnestness after souls, and preaching Christ with love to Him will be blessed where there is little clearness, and is more important that great exactitude of statement. Still it is a comfort to the preacher to have it clear, even if not thinking about it at the moment; and when building up afterwards, the solidness of the foundation is of the greatest moment.

Jesus himself drew near...

No messenger is sent to recall to His presence these erring saints. When all goes well with His people, angels, apostles, prophets and others may carry out His behests, as well we know in many a fine scene recorded in the Word. But is there a wandering sheep — dejected and disappointed — behold, "JESUS HIMSELF" will draw near to restore. There is work to be done between a wandering saint and "Jesus Himself" with which no stranger can intermeddle. "The Lord hath risen indeed andhath appeared to Simon" tells the same blessed tale of a secret and personal interview between a broken-hearted backslider and "Jesus Himself". How different, alas, the way we often take with one another. Does a brother wander away from us, how apt we are to draw away from him. But in the day that the Emmaus saints drew away, Jesus Himself drew near. What a Saviour! when we were far away He came near, and when we draw away He draws near.
Having drawn near, how gracious the way He takes. He discovers to us all that is in our hearts. With divine wisdom and infinite tenderness He drew out all the difficulties of the two disciples, and disclosed the root of unbelief that was behind their disappointment. They were " slow to believe".
Nor does He stop there, for the discovery of what is in our hearts, however important in the work of restoration, is not sufficient to restore. We need indeed true thoughts of our hearts to learn how we wander into a wrong path; but we must have true thoughts of His heart that our feet may be restored to a right path. And this is the way the Lord takes with the two disciples. Having exposed all that was in their hearts, He reveals all that is in His heart. And revealing what is in His heart turns their "slow hearts" into "burning hearts" (25, 32). He sets their hearts ablaze with love to Himself by revealing the love that is in His heart.
To reveal the love of His heart He expounds "to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself". And as He expounds He passes before them the touching story of His sufferings and His glories (26). The disciples, with their poor human thoughts, would have spared Him the sufferings, and so withheld from Him His glories. We know He must needs suffer "to enter into His glory".
What in all the Scriptures concerning Himself so touches the heart as the sufferings and the glories of Christ. And when we find the sufferings, we are not far from the glories. Ps. 22 speaks of His sufferings, Ps. 24 of His glories. Again the story of the sufferings is taken up in Ps. 69, to be followed by the glories in Ps. 72. So in like manner the sufferings of Christ in Ps. 109 are followed by the glories of Christ in Ps. 110. As we look back to His sufferings and on to His glories, our hearts may well burn as we think of the love that led Him to the cross that He might lead us into the glory.
The two disciples had been thinking of the things concerning themselves, the Lord leads them to "the things concerning Himself". Their desire was to bring Christ into their circumstances. He would lead them into His, and to know Him as the Risen One outside this present evil world.
The Lord had exposed their hearts and revealed His heart, but to what end? Clearly to lead them to desire His company above all else. Now He will test them to see if the " end of the Lord" is reached. So it came to pass having arrived at the village, whither they went, "He made as though He would have gone further". He had drawn near to win their hearts, He will now draw away to lead out their hearts in longing desire after Him. And very blessedly they respond to the testing of the Lord. "They constrained Him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." He wants them — had endured the sufferings of the cross to possess them — but He has so dealt with them that at last they want Him.
Have we so learnt the evil of our hearts in the presence of the love of His heart that we can say we desire His company above all else? Search throughout the length and breadth of God's great universe and where shall I find another who knows me through and through, and yet loves me. This it is that makes us more at home in His presence than in the presence of the nearest and dearest on earth.
And such is His love that we can have as much of Christ and His company as we desire. Thus the disciples found when they "constrained Him" and the Lord loves to be constrained — for do we not read, "He went in to tarry with them"?
Thus at last the Lord does come for a brief moment into their circumstances, but only to lead them out of their circumstances into His. For having made Himself known He vanishes out of their sight. How touching also the way by which He makes Himself known. " He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. " Would it not at once recall that other scene, when in the upper room " He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it and gave unto them saying, This is My body which is given for you"? The whole act proclaimed who He was, and recalled His dying love. Little wonder that " their eyes were opened and they knew Him". Yes! but how did they know Him? Not as in the days before the cross, in their circumstances, but as the One who was dead but is alive for evermore. Immediately He vanishes out of their sight. For if we know Him as the Risen One, it can only be by faith while yet we are in this scene. The disappointment that had possessed the disciples when they lost Him on earth, was changed to delight when they found Him in resurrection.
The immediate result is, they are recalled from their wanderings. In spite of having walked eight or nine miles, and though the day was far spent, and the night fast drawing on, they at once retrace their steps in their earnest desire to join the little company of the Lord's people gathered together at Jerusalem. And having reached their own company they find, to their great delight, they are in the company of the Risen Lord, and in His company there is no room for dissatisfied or disappointed hearts. There all reasonings and all sadness give place to "wonder", "worship", and "great joy" (41, 52)
.
Hamilton Smith

The Lord can right the wrong

It is admitted that the assembly being a spiritual formation (for we have all been made to drink into one Spirit) it is incumbent that we be in a right spiritual state either to receive those who are scripturally commended, or to exclude those who should be scripturally excluded. Yet even where the principle is generally recognised, there will always be forthcoming instances of failure, where saints have allowed human influences to warp their judgment. The occurrence of rare cases where mistakes are made will remind us that no claim can be put in of infallibility in the church; and these instances require much patience, and the ministry of grace and truth from the Lord to put a wrong right. In all such matters He Himself is the one Resource to Whom we can turn. Where He has permitted a brother to be misjudged or misrepresented it is best for him to be submissive before the Lord, and to wait with a weaned and self-judging spirit for the Lord to clear him. To defy the decision and to escape the exercise by slipping into another company is to miss the blessing the Lord has for him behind the trouble." May we too be able to say with yet another, "We humbly submit to His word, confident that God will never abandon those who seek to obey Him; and that the word of God and the grace of the Church's Head, suffice, and ever will suffice, at all times, for those who are satisfied to walk in littleness and unappreciated by the world."
H.S.

C. Stanley. Peace...

The Wanderers Restored

His precious blood...

It was when the Lord Jesus was dead upon the cross that His precious blood flowed forth. It was the expression of sullen hate that led the Roman soldier to pierce His side; but the point of his spear brought out the precious blood of the blessed Son of God, which was the expression of His deep and wondrous love to us. That blood "speaketh better things than that of Abel" (Heb. 12: 24), and it made peace. "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have," expresses the risen condition of the Lord. His blood He has given for us. The reason that His Church can, by the Holy Ghost, be united to Him in glory is, that He has given His life's blood for it, He has purchased and redeemed it, and everything is based upon His blood. Testimony to the blood runs, like a scarlet line, right through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It begins with "the coats of skin" (Gen. 3: 2) and closes with "the blood of the Lamb." There will be a renewed company in the millennial day who will fill the earth with praise, for they "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7: 14), just as we can now sing, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1: 5).
W.T.P. Wolston

Whatsoever ye do...

"Be of good cheer." "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31
) Suppose your job was to be the personal assistant to the President of the United States or the King of some foreign land and your job was to be at his beck and call and to serve him in whatever way he desired.Would you not do all that he asked?

The truth is, as Christ Ones, we are at the beck and call of the King of Glory!“If we are really, and always, and equally ready to do whatsoever the King appoints, all the trials and vexations, arising from any change in His appointments, great or small, simply do not exist.  If He appoints me to work there, shall I lament that I am not to work here?  If He appoints me to wait indoors today, am I to be annoyed because I am not to work out of doors?  If I meant to write His messages this morning, shall I grumble because He sends interrupting visitors, rich or poor, to whom I am to speak, or "show kindness" for His sake, or at least obey His command, "Be Courteous"?(Selected) 
"If all my members are really at His disposal, why should I be put out if today's appointment is some simple work for my hands or errand for my feet, instead of some seemingly more important doing of head or tongue?”  (Francis Ridley Havergal - 1902) 

Communion with...

’MID scenes of confusion, and creature-complaints,
How sweet to the soul is communion with saints;
To find at the banquet of mercy there’s room,
To feel in communion a foretaste of home.

2 Sweet bonds that unite all the children of peace!
And thrice-blessed Saviour whose love cannot cease!
Though oft amid trials and dangers we roam,
With Thine we’re united, and hasting towards home.

3 While here, in the valley of conflict, we stay,
O give us submission and strength as the day:
Soon free from afflictions, to Thee we shall come,
And find with our Saviour a heavenly home.

4 Whate’er Thou deniest, O give us Thy grace,
Thy Spirit’s blest witness, the smiles of Thy face;
And grant us still patience to wait at Thy throne,
And find, never-ceasing, the foretaste of home.

5 We wait, blessed Lord in Thy beauties to shine,
To see Thee in glory—the glory divine;
With all Thy redeemed, from the earth, from the tomb,
To be to Thy praise, blessed Saviour at home.

..them that suffer...

Fragment By: C.J. Feaver
From: Christian Truth: Volume 24

"Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.". 1 Peter 4:19.
In Ethiopia there are very few bridges. Often it is necessary to wade through swollen streams to reach a destination. In this there is constant danger of being swept off one's feet into deeper water among treacherous rocks. As the weight of the human body is only slightly heavier than water, it is difficult to maintain a foothold. There is no problem, however, for the Ethiopian. He slings a sack of stones over his shoulder for ballast. On reaching safety he empties the sack. So sometimes in order to keep us from falling the Lord places burdens on us. No burden is heavier than we can bear, and He knows exactly what is necessary for our good. C. J. Feaver.

"The burden He gives may seem heavy,
But it ne'er outweighs His grace;
It may keep my feet from stumbling,
Until I see His face."

Romans 12:12

A special verse from a special chapter, of which I have been reminded by special people!

Painted by: Anna McLean (2012).

A gracious woman...

Fwd: Gems From My Reading - 4809

-------- Original message --------
Subject: Fwd: Gems From My Reading - 4809
From: Norman Hiebert <njhiebert@sympatico.ca>
To:
CC:

"Be of good cheer."

 "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against

the wiles of the devil."

(Ephesians 6:1"

 

The Cowbird

There are a goodly number of cowbirds that visit our bird feeder. 

They are basically black (the males, that is) with a bronze, rather iridescent head. 

They tend to be bullies with the other birds, but here is the most interesting fact about them:

The females don't build nests - they lay their eggs in other bird's nests. 

The other bird, then sits on her eggs - plus the impostor egg(s), and,

Eventually they hatch.

The young cowbird is usually larger that the others, 

which leads to the demise of some of the other birds.

There is more about that issue that we could add and discuss, 

but for our purposes today let's draw a parallel to our reality.

Our verse today mentions the schemes of the devil. 

Other ways of translating that would be, "deceit" or "trickery." 

We are not ignorant of the devil's trickery, yet, if we're not careful we can fall prey to it.

Like the cowbird egg, Satan will "lay" a thought in our minds, and if we "incubate" it, 

it will bring harm when it hatches into an action. 

When we recognize a thought that we know will lead us astray, 

here's what the Scriptures encourage us to do:

"Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Dear friend, (I speak first and foremost to myself), when those thoughts come, 

I must not "sit on them and warm them." 

They are enemy thoughts; they are harmful thoughts; they are not Godly thoughts; 

They will bring a destructive result to my soul and to my fellowship with my God.

When you or I recognize such thoughts, let's capture them, confess them to Christ as sinful, 

and then let Him focus our attention on wholesome, God-honoring things. 

We want that bad egg out of our nest!

(H.G - F.P.)

N.J. Hiebert - 4809 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Westcott: New Birth

But in the same Word of God we discover that the known possession of eternal life is the accompaniment of receiving testimony as to Christ. New birth is God's sovereign act, and nowhere does Scripture say, He that believeth shall be born again. To say this would be to take the new birth out of the place in which God has set it, and to make faith in the Gospel antecedent to the new birth. The new birth is an operation in which God is first; for no one can be a co-operator in his own birth. The old Adam does not produce faith, or else those that are in the flesh could please God. It is when sovereign power has broken into our dark night and implanted a new principle of being never there before, that our awakenings and longings, our grief over sin, our breathings after God, can be met, and met only, in Christ. Hence in John 3, where this subject is treated, the Lord Himself when speaking of new birth speaks not of faith. It is only when He presents Himself as lifted up, the Subject of testimony, that He speaks of faith in Himself and eternal life. Nothing of this was presented in the Old Testament as a present blessing. For the Old Testament saint, born again as he undoubtedly was, eternal life was only a promise, and a promise connected with blessing on earth. This blessing, and even the full forgiveness of sins, was to be connected with the fulfilment of the promise of the Messiah. The fear of death was still there, no one was in a position at that time to say that he had eternal life. It is the coming of Christ that has brought life and incorruptibility to light through the Gospel.
It is in the Gospel of John that the present possession of eternal life is so much referred to. And Christ's rejection on earth being anticipatively considered from the very first chapter, eternal life is presented as being secured for God and for the believer in the person of the Son. Hence the oft-repeated statement, "He that believeth . . . hath everlasting life;" and, "He that seeth the Son and believeth upon Him hath everlasting life." The Son was here as the gift of God's love, and in order that the purpose of God for man might be brought to pass. But in order that the love of God might be fully revealed and the whole sentence of death on the first and guilty order of man be carried out and thus annulled for men, He laid down His life as Man after the flesh; then rose again after a new order to which death can never attach, in which He can share with His brethren both His position as a Man before God, and as a Son with His Father (John 20). Let it be remembered that according to the Gospel itself, its own testimony, "these are written that ye may believe that JESUS is the Christ, the Son of God, and, that believing ye may have life in His name." The possession of life (and the known possession of it) flows from faith in testimony.

New Birth

A Letter on New Birth and Eternal Life.

Learn Well...

Wednesday, May 9



“Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience” (2 Tim. 3:10).



Notice that Paul mentions his “doctrine” before he speaks of his “manner of life.” In fact, his “manner of life” came as a result of his “doctrine,” that which he believed. Let none of us make the foolish and unscriptural statement, so often heard, that it matters not what we believe, as long as we live right. The fact is that we cannot live right unless we believe right, and we cannot believe right unless we indoctrinate ourselves with the Word of God. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Before the Word of God reproves, corrects and instructs us, we must know its doctrine—we must know what it teaches. “God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” So “give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine,” being “rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving,” and “hold fast the form of sound words.”



Taught from God’s Word by His Spirit,

The truth that has made me free,

From sin’s dominion and power,

That praise unto Him might be.



References: 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Rom. 6:17-18; 1 Tim. 4:13; Col. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:13.

May 9, 1970








May 9, 1970

 

Our Times are in Thy hand

Little Flock Hymn Book #209 by W.F. Lloyd

"Nay, but I yield, I yield,
I can hold out no more;
I sink, by dying love compell'd,
And own Thee conqueror."

No man becomes a child of God by an act of his own will!
Affectionately yours in Christ, W. T.

Faith cometh by hearing...

Man's will and God's Grace.

On my inlaws wall..

We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

The Will of God

The Will of God

The will of God has always been a thing that others seek,
While I go on complacently from week to peaceful week.

... I've seen how people hesitate, not knowing where to turn.
"How faithless they must be!" I say -- "When will they ever learn?"

I've even offered my advice -- JUST PRAY and you will know
The road to take, the path to choose, the way you ought to go.

In smug all - knowingness I raise my spiritual facade.
"All things together work for good to those who trust in God."

Then suddenly my bark is tossed, and threatens to capsize
The spray is salty and it stings -- I have to close my eyes.

My vision gone, and in its place a host of doubts and fears.
The salty mist that dims my sight is now a flood of tears.

I look to others for advice -- I pray that God will show
The road to take, the path to choose, the way that I should go.

Some people though they hesitate, are blessed at every turn.
"How faithful they must be!" I say-- "When will I ever learn?"

How long, Oh Lord, how long before, my sightless eyes may see?
How long before I understand, Thy purposes for me?

Must I be satisfied to wait for miracles and signs?
Is this the only way to know my Father's will divine?

Or should I take each step by faith when there's no light at all,
And trust that God in sovereignty will NEVER let me fall?

Dave Harman

Meal...death in the pot...

 

   

2 Kings 4: 40, 41 40. So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. 41. But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. The Deadly Pottage Healed. The incidents of our prophet's life are like so many emanations of glory through the cloud of his apparent poverty and nothingness in the world. And this was one character of the life of the Son of God on the earth. Here we have a very bright expression of his ways, and of the ways of Him whom he foreshadowed. There was "death in the pot;" death indeed where life should have been; death invading the place where life looked for its support and strengthening. But the prophet has the remedy for death here, as he had for the curse at Jericho. We know One of whom we sing, "Where He displays His healing power, Death and the curse are known no more." And here, our prophet, the shadow of Jesus, has meal to cast into the pot, as before he had salt to cast into the waters, and both are healed. Moses typified this also at Marah, where he had the wood for the bitter waters. For the Son of God has cast Himself into the scene of death and intercepted its course. He has come with His healing cross, and "destroyed him that had the power of death." "By His stripes we are healed." There is a cry at the discovery of the death that has entered, but the Son of God has answered it. We eat of what in our wilfulness we have gathered, but Jesus changes the feast, and gives us meat indeed and drink indeed, on which we live even in the time of dearth, or in the regions of death. Death and the curse are altogether at the disposal of Him who has cast Himself into the scene and action of this world on our side. "I have the keys of hell and of death," says He; and His strength shall rescue even creation from the curse, and cast death itself into the lake of fire (Rom. 8; Rev. 20). Why, we may ask with amazement of soul, did we ever gather our wild fruit and bring death in? Why did we not sit at the feast as it was first spread for us? For what a miniature picture of the whole great mystery does this little incident give us! What has Adam done? What has Christ done? Have we not the answer here? The prophet prepared a feast. Though it were a time of dearth, he had resources. He had pottage for his guests, and the pot was seething on the fire. But there was some one, it matters not who, save that it was neither the prophet nor his servant, who thought to improve the feast, and officiously and intrusively gathered some wild gourds. But his gourds brought death into the prophet's pot. And what did Adam but this? The Lord, the Creator, had spread a feast, rich and dainty, and abundant for him, in Eden, but Adam must needs improve it. He gathers wild fruit, something that the Lord had not ordained for the table, something in addition; but he spoils everything, and brings death into the pot; death upon that board which the Lord had loaded with the sweetest, richest, food of life! The prophet, however, had the remedy, and heals the pot, and then his guests retake their seats at the feast with only fresh appetite to still more savoury meat. It is now a healed table, and not a spread table merely. They may admire and love the man and his resources, who could then, in unupbraiding grace, restore their good things, the good things which in their wanton pride they had thought to improve, but had utterly ruined and defiled. Is not this Jesus and ourselves? I ask. Do we not sit at a healed table? "The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." We are at a happier table than the bowers of Eden would have ever shaded. We sit at the feast of the Redeemer with new affections. We admire the healing as well as the creating virtue of His power, and lose ourselves in love and praise at the thought of the unupbraiding grace that has thus repaired the mischief.   Bellett