SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, MATT 6.33

T AUSTIN SPARKS

“Be not anxious… which of you by being anxious… why are ye anxious? …Be not therefore anxious… But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:25,27,28,31,33).

Let us remind ourselves once again, and keep it clearly before us, that the fundamental meaning of the word which has been translated into our English word ‘kingdom’ is sovereign rule.It will then immediately be apparent that this verse 33 that we have read takes on new meaning and value: ‘Seek ye first the sovereign rule of God, and then it follows that all these things will be added.’

You note the context. This verse is found right in the heart of what has come to be called ‘the sermon on the mount’, which covers three whole chapters, 5, 6 and 7 – one hundred and eleven verses. This is the first of five discourses by the Lord recorded by Matthew. You will notice, further, that what is here was given primarily to His disciples, who were the nucleus of this sovereignty, this rule, this Kingdom. “Seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain: and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth and taught them” (Matt. 5:1,2): so that it is evident that this has to do with those who are immediately and essentially within the compass and meaning of this sovereign rule. Dr. Campbell Morgan calls this section: ‘Jesus the King, His Enunciating of Laws’. It is the enunciation of the laws of the King and His Kingdom, of the Ruler and His rule.

The Law of Heart Rest Under the Sovereign Rule of God

Here, then, is a law of God’s sovereign rule: “Seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” We see, from the context, that it has to do with fretful preoccupation over ways and means in this life, especially the cares of tomorrow – incidentally getting right to the root of many a nervous breakdown, of a good deal of neurosis. But we shall not attempt to deal with that. We are enunciating a law, a law of the sovereign rule, which stands over against this constantly reiterated word – anxious, anxious, anxious. It is therefore the law of heart rest under the sovereign rule of God – heart rest because you are in the Kingdom. Our mentality at once visualises a sphere, a realm; but that comes second. Because you are within the sovereign government of God, “all these things” are there.

A Positive Law

But note – it is not a passive law. The Lord Jesus does not say, here or anywhere else, what kindly people often say – ‘Oh, don’t worry, the Lord will take care of you, and will look after that. It will all come out all right.’ He no more says that than He would say, on the other hand: ‘Substitute an insurance society for God and all is taken care of.’ Nor, to bring it into the realm of religion, does He say: ‘Hand it over to the priest, and he will take care of that’; or: ‘Hand it over to the church, and rid yourself of all responsibility.’ I put it in that way, in order that we may get right at what He does say. Somehow or other, we must get to the real heart of this thing, the meaning of this, and so we strip off any mistaken or false ideas, and any wrong courses. There are many people who think that, if only they could adopt some policy (insurance or otherwise!), or some expedient, by which responsibility and liability could be taken off their own shoulders and placed for them somewhere else, they would come to rest – and it does not work that way. You may be the most heavily insured person in creation, and still be the most anxious person, the most worried, the most fretful. There is no guarantee of heart rest along the lines of shelving of responsibility, nor along the line of a false passivity which says, ‘Don’t worry, it will all come out all right.’ The law is not passive.

But notice – it is positive. The Lord does not say, ‘Oh, don’t worry.’ He says, ‘Seek first…’ The law is a very positive one, you see. ‘Seek first…’ and then responsibility will be taken, then the other will be looked after. ‘Seek ye first the sovereign rule, the government, of God, and His righteousness.’ It is the positive principle of viewing everything in the light of how it serves God’s rule. If you will only do that, you come into the good that is here. Our own interests come second or last. His interests come first, and when life is arranged on that basis – arranged on that basis – and kept on that basis, then the other follows; God looks after the other things.

Deliberate Arrangement of Life

I said, when life is arranged on that basis. The fact is that it takes some of us a long time to get life on to that basis. It is only after having lived a long time that we begin to re-arrange life in this way. Well, better late than never! But here is a word for young people and for young Christians – especially to young people who are in a position to arrange their lives in any way. Perhaps you have just started married life together, or are contemplating doing so. Now is the time to arrange it on this principle of the sovereign rule. Now is your opportunity to make it quite unnecessary in after years either to undo much or to regret much. All these laws of the sovereign rule are very practical, as you see, and this is a very practical one. Where shall we live? What kind of a home shall we have? These are practical questions. You must arrange everything on this principle. The thing that matters and governs, and in relation to which everything now has to be arranged, is: How does this serve the interests of the sovereign rule of God?

Put that first, and you will escape many a tragedy, such as we see in many places. Oh, a nice house and a nice home, maybe, but altogether out of relation to the interests of the Lord, both in distance and in other ways. It is going to be an incubus, a hindrance and a limitation; the things of the Lord are going to be made to suffer. And there are many, many spiritual tragedies – lives that have lost out with the Lord, both in spiritual measure and in usefulness to Him, both in service and in a related way in His Church; and so we could spread it out. The whole matter of getting on in the world, of success or ambition – what a range this covers! Now the law and principle of this rule of Heaven is that life must be arranged in the first place in relation to God’s interests and God’s rule. This must come first, and if it is, you may rest assured that God will look after your interests. You will certainly not suffer in the long run. God will be true to His side of the undertaking.

And then there is the maintaining of the arrangement, the remaining on that basis. It is so easy to be drawn out by a thousand and one things. In fine points, all the way along, the enemy is trying somehow or other to divert, to draw away, to put something in that takes the place of the interests of the Lord. This is a serious and earnest business, calling for all diligence and watchfulness and stedfastness. It is, as I have said, not passive by any means. It will not just happen willy-nilly. “Seek ye first…”

Seek First the Kingdom

Now that word ‘seek’ is emphatic. “Seek, and ye shall find”, said the Lord elsewhere, “for… he that seeketh findeth” (Matt. 7:7,8). Here is the picture of someone applying themselves with diligence. Seek: set yourself upon this thing, make it your business and keep at it. Seek first – and keep on seeking first – the sovereign rule of God. Take the alternative course – put your own affairs and interests first – and the inference is perfectly clear though the Lord does not say so explicitly. For He is saying: ‘You are anxious. Why are you anxious?’ He is dealing with people who are ‘up against things’, and the inference is that, if you adopt the alternative of putting your own interests first, then you must take responsibility for the consequences. You have to reckon with life without the sovereign rule of God. It is a terrible thing never to be able to appeal in the court of God, never to find that the Lord is really working everything for good, never to know that there is no need at all to be anxious. Take the burden, carry the weight yourself, work life out yourself, and sooner or later you will come up against some tremendous situation with which you cannot cope, and that is the alternative which many have so grievously found.

“But” – on that word there is a turnover, a turn round, a change of position – “BUT seek ye first…” It is just the question of God’s sovereign rule in our affairs, in our life, which we may know and enjoy and prove and find to be real. It is a wonderful thing at long last to find that it has been real, even when we thought that it was not working that way, and that God was not at work in things in our interest, to find at long last that where He seemed to be least active He still had the situation in hand. Yes – to live long enough with God to be able to look back upon situations which at the time seemed to deny that the Lord was governing, was ruling, and to be able to see that those were the very things which worked out to good. It is true. Perhaps you who read these words find yourself today in a situation where it is difficult to trace the sovereign hand of God; but God’s word stands and God’s undertaking is sure. He says: ‘You put first My interests, My rule, and I will look after the rest – all these things shall be added’.

Let us make sure that this has got home. We have to make this a personal matter – for anxiety, is a personal matter, is it not? It is our anxiety, it is our troubles and bothers, it is our complications and difficulties. It is all just ours. May it not be that a lot of it is unnecessary? – unnecessary because, as we go here or there, proceed on some errand, some purpose, to transact something, or carry out some project we do not stop to ask: ‘Now, what interest of the Lord can be served in this?’ Impulse, whim, fleshly desire – what we would like – all these things arise and govern the course of our lives, and the Lord says, ‘Stop! The first thing is: Where do I come in? How are My interests going to be served?’ Perhaps that might seem very exacting, even legal; but it is not so – it is the way into this beneficent rule of God.

‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.’ Here are two things. First the kingdom – the sovereign rule of God. Seek ye first, in other words, that which relates to God’s place in life: that is, His sovereign rule. He is Lord, He is Sovereign: then seek first that which relates to His place. It sounds very simple and elementary, but God’s place is a most important thing. What place has God in this? Where does He come in? His place is as Sovereign. His sovereign rule is His right.

Seek First His Righteousness

And then His righteousness – that which relates to God’s character. Seek ye first that which is like God – God-like. The whole Bible is taken up with this matter of righteousness and unrighteousness, and righteousness is what God is like, what belongs to God. “Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of his throne” (Ps. 97:2). Unrighteousness is that which is against God, against which prophet and seer pronounce God’s displeasure and God’s wrath. So when we are told that what we are to seek, as a first priority, is (1) His rightful place in our lives, and (2) that which is God-like, we are getting to the very heart of this law. It means that you and I are to seek in the first place and at all times to be Christ-like, God-like – which is only an extension of ‘godly’; to bring the likeness, the nature and character of God into the situation; to seek that there shall be found here some expression of what God is like as He has been revealed in Jesus Christ. It means that it is our first and primary business to see to it that our home shall be a place where God is known in truth, a place characterized by what God is like; and it means that all our interests are to bring Him, as to what He truly is, into every situation in life.

That is not exaggerating this word. His righteousness, His character, His likeness, what He is in Himself: make it your business to bring THAT in first, and then you find the Lord right there in all His sovereign rule on your behalf. Forgive the simplicity of this, but we are accustomed to quoting this passage so glibly – ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.’ Yes, but what does it mean? It is applied teaching, and that is one reason why the Lord Jesus kept it for the disciples. It is sheer nonsense to call upon unsaved men to live up to the Sermon on the Mount. This is not a rule of life for the unconverted. It is an impossible thing to present to them. This is a practical basis of everyday life for the children of the Kingdom.

God’s Kingdom Against the Enemy’s Kingdom

But there is always lurking in the near vicinity another kingdom, another government, another rule, another god, and the object of that other kingdom is to bring the people of God into servitude, into bondage, to hold them in toilsome labour. Your mind will have immediately darted back to Egypt. You remember that it says that Israel was in Egypt. Think for a moment. Isra-el – a prince with God. The nation were the sons of Israel, and they were in bondage, in servitude, in toilsome, wearisome labour in Egypt. It is a picture. The laws of the rule of God are intended for our emancipation, our deliverance, our freedom, our rest, our prosperity, and there is the shadow of this other rule always near. Not satisfied with bringing the poor world under its abominable rule, it seeks above all things to impinge upon the sons of God and to bring them into toilsome bondage.

Many, many a child of God is there, in the toils of anxiety, in the awful grip of this other kingdom that would rob God of His glory in His people, that would malign God in the very looks of His children – anxious, burdened, worried, fretful – sons of God! What a contradiction! It seems that some children of God have entered into a terrible conspiracy with themselves never to smile, afraid that they would be giving away some spirituality. It is a very grievous matter. God’s thought for His people is that they shall be an emancipated and free people, and that does not only mean freedom from judgment and condemnation and the penalty of sin, but freedom from this tyranny of the anxious heart and melancholy face.

You see what the Devil is after. This law of the sovereignty is of deep, deep meaning and far-reaching effect. This other is another kingdom, another rule, so different. One of the chief objects of that other kingdom and rule is to bring God’s own blood-bought children into anxious care, to deny the very redemption which God has wrought for them in Christ. And so, in order to defeat the Devil himself, to destroy the power of his rule – ‘Seek ye first the sovereign rule of God, and His righteousness’, and He will take responsibility and relieve you of your unnecessary care. Is that practical? Is that important? Well, Jesus came to bring in this Kingdom – this rule and this regime – and to undo the other kingdom.

So it comes surely with the backing of tremendous meaning: ‘Seek ye first – give priority to – the sovereign rule of God, and His righteousness – His character, nature – and all these things shall be added unto you.’

EXCELLENT 28.3.24

Sir Christopher Wren and the Workers

In 1666, the Great Fire of London devastated St. Paul’s Cathedral. Christopher Wren, the highly acclaimed architect, oversaw the rebuilding of the famous structure.

The story goes that one morning, during the reconstruction, Wren was passing among the workers on the site, most of whom didn’t recognize who he was. He came across three different men doing the same kind of work and asked them individually, “What are you doing?” To this question, he received three different responses. One said, “I’m cutting a stone.” Another said, “I’m earning three shillings and sixpence a day.” The final one said, “I’m building a great cathedral.”¹

Although engaged in the same activity, each one saw his actions differently. The first was simply doing a task. The second was earning a paycheck. The final one was contributing to a grand work. The first two weren’t wrong. They were indeed cutting stones and earning a living. The third just saw his actions in a much broader light.

---

Regardless of what you’re doing at any given moment, you can view it at different levels. A seemingly trivial task may also be seen as part of something much bigger, much more significant, depending on how you look at it. You may consider something like changing a diaper as just changing a diaper. You could also see it in light of keeping the child clean and your residence smelling nice. But you could also view it within the broader context of raising a family and investing in future generations.

Even the trivial and mundane tasks done in total obscurity can have significance. Maybe they don’t appear to affect anyone else, but even then, they will still have an impact on you. Every day provides an opportunity to practice living and working as the kind of person you would like to be. Will you be diligent or lazy, selfless of selfish, considerate or apathetic? It doesn’t matter if the work is visible or obscure, the way you do it still matters. And though you may not be physically working on a cathedral like St. Paul’s, every day you’re still involved in a massive construction project–the building of your life.

CHRISTIAN ETHICS

I
Onky Bonk the Blessed Frog
Preaches Sunday morning at six
To his co-brothers in the bog
On Christian Ethics.

II
Faith and hope and charity
Are the essence of the Christian creed;
But what is faith? We all agree
It’s belief in a single God.
Therefore, brothers, let none of you
Look down upon Muslim or Jew;
Political power, wealth and brains
Are found among the heathens.

And what is hope? Do not despair
In times of famine, sickness or war;
Modern technological methods
Have proved a hundred per cent better
Than old-fashioned prayer.
Religion must keep up with the times.
Therefore, brothers, Socialism
Is the way to Seventh Heaven.

Coming down to charity,
It’s a method in Banking Theory;
At the Biblical rate of hundred-fold
A dollar a day for fifty years, 
With interest weekly compounded,
Makes investments in gold
Unsound and quite unfounded. 
Besides you earn a seat in heaven
For anything Freely Given.

III

The sermon over at half past six
Hymns are sung by the Tadpole Choir
In praise of Christian Ethics
In the Woggie Mire.

IV
Reverend Bonk drives home in a car
And all the poor Froggies cheer.

TAN PRATONIX

THE NEW TESTAMENT SAINT

The New Covenant: Heb 8.8-12. ‘I will’, ‘I will’, ‘I will’, ‘I will’, ‘I will’.

Lord, let Your ‘I WILL‘
Reign over my will,
This defiant will of mine
Which seeks its own way
And never deigns to say,
‘Your will be done! ‘

Plant Your law in my mind,
Inscribe it in my heart,
That I may never turn
From You, never depart.
Saviour, merciful and true,
Bountiful and kind,
Vast as the heavens above,
How deep is your love!
(Oh, if only men knew You!)

Let the scalpel of the Cross,
Through anguish, wrath and pain,
Excise the cancerous dross
Of lust and greed and sloth
(Those bleak years of living in vain!)
And bring fruitfulness and gain.
O Righteous Sun,
Rise on me
With wings of healing,
Set me free.

Corrupt with power,
Popularity and pelf,
Stubborn and dour,
My rebellious Self
Will not bow its knee
To Your sovereignty;
Would rather stay outside
In the thick gloom of pride,
Not enter the light,
And, meekly, set things right.

I confess my sin,
The depravity within.
By Your blood of the cross
Purge the filth and the dross,
Keep me saved and secure,
Righteous and pure,
That I may stand before You,
Faithful and true,
Without blemish and taint
A New Covenant saint.

May the Spirit, the Lord,
O Almighty God,
Bend this stiff-necked will,
Break it!
Besiege the strong citadel,
Take it!

Then with fragrant incense
Let the new life commence.
May this great salvation start
With the banner of celestial love
Waving joyously above
The radiant ramparts of my heart.

TAN PRATONIX

Note: The poem is based on Heb 8:10-12, the New Covenant, where God says, ‘I will’, ‘I will’…at least five times. Do we really believe that He will? It takes faith to wholly trust in the Lord. But the point here is that our defiant will must submit in all things to God’s WILL, and that takes a lifetime of the work of the Cross and the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life. ~Ed.

Note: I will put my laws in their minds
    and will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
¹¹ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹² For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

BETWEEN YOU AND ME

Between You and Me.

Between you and me
Is a long stretch of sea
Preventing us
From communicating with each other
Properly.

My words fly through the air
And settle here and there,
Scattered like pigeons on the sand;
And boats which swiftly sail
With messages, in hail
And storm are wrecked before they land.

Bridges were built
But over seas of guilt
They do not stand.
What was the blood we spilt,
The hidden guilt,
Now red upon our hands?

Truly, my dear,
In the span of a year,
Love…
and death….
and a vale of tears.

Tan Pratonix (This is the original poem!)

Our Testimony At The Lord’s Table

Monday, December 12, 2022

Our Testimony At The Lord’s Table

OUR TESTIMONY WHILE TAKING PART IN THE LORD’S TABLE

Final Message given at Berachah Church, Neredmet, Hyderabad on Sunday, 11^th Dec 22.   

Transcribed on 12.12.22 (since the YouTube recording of this message failed completely. )

Notes: (*LT=Lord’s Table. What is called Holy Communion in other churches.), *Worship= Individual worship by each believer in the church. 

TRANSCRIPT 

Opening words: We are now going to take part in the Lord’s Table. We are all familiar with the portion from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 which we read often before taking part in the LT. To save time we are not going to read that portion. But we are going to read Psalm 24:3-4 altogether. Let us read. “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”  May these words which we have read come with great force & conviction into our hearts. It is talking about the person who can come into the presence of the Lord. God’s presence is in our midst right now as we gather to worship Him. The Table is telling us that God is present in our midst.   When we take part in the bread and in the cup, it is a very solemn act, a solemn testimony that is coming from us. In taking part in the LT, you must have clean hands & a pure heart. No pride, not lifting up yr soul unto vanity , but being humble in God’s presence. And not behaving deceitfully. God is a God of grace; but He is also a God of judgment. Shall we pray?

Prayer: We thank you, Lord, for the blessed time of worship that you have given to us. We pray Lord that all the instructions regarding worship may be observed meticulously by all the believers gathered in this church. Save us Lord from routine & mechanical worship. We have become too much habituated to it. Lord, it is our life, our surrender, our love for Thee, that is true worship. Lord, when we come into Your presence, may we come with fear & trembling, with deep reverence for You. Lord, we know that the Table speaks of Your presence in our midst; and we are told from Psalm 24:3-4 that we should have clean hands and a pure heart. Our conscience must be very clear. No deceitfulness, no hypocrisy, which is too much now in our church. Lord, I pray that Thou, O Lord, will speak very clearly to all of us in this exhortation for the Table. Hide us both behind the Cross. Grant us both Your divine anointing to give and translate the word. And also put Your words in our mouth. We claim Exod 4.12, Jer 1.9 and Lk 12.12 in this regard. I confess, Lord, that without You, I can do nothing. Lord, we give You all the glory and pray with thanksgiving in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

The Message: I was listening to a message by  Bro Bakht Singh, where he talks about worship. Again and again (in his messages on Worship he says, and) in his messages on the Lord’s Table, he says, “It is not a ritual, it is a testimony”. It is not some act or practice that you do by tradition, but it is the testimony of your life that you live. That applies not only to the LT, but also to our (individual) worship that comes from our lips Sunday by Sunday.

 Regarding the Corinthian believers, they took part in the Lord’s Table during or after their Love Feast. But they were very careless in their approach to the LT. And Paul is warning them that if you take part in the LT unworthily, you are bringing condemnation to yourself. And that’s the reason why many are weak, many are sick, and many have been taken away by the Lord. So taking part in the LT, you have to be very very careful.

With what attitude should we come to the LT? That is what we are going to talk about in this exhortation for the Table. First, I come as a Sinner saved by Grace. My Lord loved me and gave Himself for me. That’s why He says, ‘Take eat, when you take this bread, this is My body broken for you’. And then when we take the cup, ‘This is My Blood shed for the remission of your sins.’ And we have come into an everlasting covenant with Him through the shed Blood.

And so, when we take part in the LT, we are showing forth the Lord’s death till He comes. So the first attitude is that I come as a Sinner saved by Grace. A sinner redeemed by the Blood of Jesus. It reminds us of that great Atonement accomplished on Calvary. There was no hope for me; I was without hope, without God, in this perishing world. I was born in sin, being filled with & growing in sin, thinking sin, speaking sin and doing sin. There is nothing in me to boast  of (wretched sinner that I am). The problem today is that we don’t have the conviction of sin. The Spirit of God must cut into our hearts according to Acts 2.37. Only then will we say, “Woe is me, I’m a sinner; Lord, save me”. It is my sins that led You, Lord, to make that terrible sacrifice for my redemption on the Cross of Calvary. Remember, to create the world our Lord had only to speak a word (Genesis 1), but to deliver us from sin and Satan and death and hell, our Lord had to die on the Cross. My Lord gave His life for me. We are saved purely by His mercy and grace. I am no better than anybody else in this room, no better than any believer seated in this hall. Like Paul, I must say, ‘I am the chief of sinners’. [Audio Disturbance].

We have no conviction whatever of sin, but on the other hand some of us will  point our  finger at our elders and say, ‘They have sinned; they’ve sinned here, they’ve sinned there’. (i.e. In this matter, and that matter.) When you point your finger at anyone, remember there are three fingers pointing back at you. Sin is the depravity of the human heart. Please read Jer 17.9. Let us read it  all together. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can know it? It is a fool that trusts in his own heart; that is what the Book of Proverbs says. We have to go by the Word of God, not by our feelings or what our eyes see. We have to submit to one another in the fear of God. But if I live for myself, if I am self-centred, if I am selfish, (which we all are)– that is the root of sin, and God is dealing with that root of sin, that self, in our Christian life. He has redeemed me thru His blood – from sin and Satan and  death and destruction. That is the Atonement on the Cross. But now He is redeeming me from the world, from the flesh, and from my Self. We have to come to that stage where we say, like Paul, ‘Not I, but Christ!’

The past work of salvation is called justification. It is a finished thing; it is done. All those saved from sin and the penalty of sin are justified by God, by the power of the Blood shed on Calvary. But salvation continues; the present work in us is Sanctification. How difficult it is to be pulled out of this world, to be crucified to this world! How difficult it is to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires! How difficult it is to keep theself, the ego, the I, under control! How we love to display ourselves, walking around (while the meeting is going on), as if we are doing everything! God says, Hide yrself in My presence! Otherwise, My terrible wrath will fall on you. I am saved by the Cross, and I am being saved by the cross working in me. The Lord says, Deny yourself, carry your cross and follow Me!

Gilgal leads to Bethel. 2 Kings 2, Elijah and Elisha were walking together, till Elijah was taken up into heaven. They started from Gilgal, where Joshua circumcised the flesh of the Israelites. Until and unless you are crucified, only then will you understand the meaning of and contribute to the building of God’s church, Bethel. So the two prophets journey from Gilgal to Bethel. Bethel is the house of God. We worship at the altar, and the Table speaks of that altar, the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. 1 John 4.10 tells us how God’s love is seen in the Cross of Calvary. (“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”.) The Cross is the fountain of love. It is the source of all other loves (human affections on various fronts: family, friends, husband-wife, etc). Paul says, I was the worst persecutor of the Church; but my Lord chose me, called me, loved me and gave Himself for me. What amazing love shown by God in saving Saul of Tarsus! Paul never forgot it, all thru his life.

In the church/assembly, there are true believers, weak believers, and there are false believers. There are those who say they are saved, but there is no evidence of salvation in them. The church is being attacked from within, by these elements, not by external forces of the religious right-wing (RSS/Hindutva). If you have ‘bandu preethi’ that is the root of sin in the church. (‘Bandu preethi’ is love for one’s flesh and blood, rather than exhibiting spiritual love towards all the brethren.) God is watching everything; He has eyes like flames of fire. If we really understood His grace, His sacrifice, His body broken and His shed blood, we won’t behave proudly and foolishly.

The second thing is this, when I take part in the LT. Remember what Brother Bakht Singh said: ‘The LT is not a ceremony, it is a testimony.’ I take part as a Saint Separated from the World. Therefore I show forth the testimony that I am sanctified and separated from the world. Am I crucified to the world? When I was very young in the Lord, I went to the neighbouring assembly; and I was surprised that the father and his son were not present in church throughout the worship service, but were watching cricket on TV in their house. (where I had gone to have lunch. They were supposed to set an example to the rest of the church, being a family in a high position.) You say you are devoted to the church, but what sort of Christian are you? (watching TV at home, while your wife and daughter are attending church with me; and people think you are all saved and are important members of that assembly.)

Let us examine ourselves as to what sort of Christians we are, and whether we are hypocrites or not! Brother Bakht Singh had very strong words for those seeking worldly entertainment, worldly fashions, worldly clothes, worldly sports, worldly riches, worldly customs, etc. I was shocked listening to his message on Worship at the Lord’s Table. He says, in Indian weddings, they throw out food left over in banana leaves into  rubbish bins, and there are some beggars, who out of hunger come and eat that food. And that  is the picture he gives of those who are fond of worldly entertainment, sports, fashions, customs & traditions. I was terribly shocked with this illustration that Brother Bakht Singh gave. Are we truly sanctified and separated from the world and its frivolous, foolish and filthy attractions? When I look at the Lord Jesus hanging on the Cross, I say: “The world crucified You. The Romans crucified You, the Jews crucified You. Both the political and the religious world crucified You. The world hated You.” How then can I have anything to do with the world? When I take part in the LT, can I say I’m a saint who is separated (sanctified) from the world? Can I say that I have nothing to do with this hateful filthy perishing world?

The book of Galatians begins by saying that the LJC gave himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world. Let’s read Gal 1.4. There is no hope for this wicked world. God has already judged this world. From 2019 onwards we see this world under God’s judgment. Covid is a plague that has come from God. We are in the last days; the Lord is coming anytime soon. We must be able to say, as John says in 1 John 2.15. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Read v 16 also. “For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father, but of the world.” So this ‘jeevapu dumbum’ (pride of life) should not come into the church. (Arrogantly strutting around.) And the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, should not come into a believer’s life.

I am out of this world; the Lord has taken me out of this world. Heb 13.13. Let us read it all together. “Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” There is a beautiful song composed on this verse; we sang it here in this church some months ago.(Yesuni nindanu bharinchi). The world is very powerful in attracting us (with a strong magnetic attraction). But Heb 13.13 is telling us: not only out of this world, but out of the camp. That means the religious world of Christianity is not for us. Oh, (we say) that is my mother church; I have a natal attachment there. And what Bro Bakht Singh has taught, I will hold to that also. We cannot hold on to both. We have to go out of the religious camp (of Christianity), bearing His reproach, the reproach of the cross. I am now a saint; not just a sinner saved by grace, but a sinner separated unto the Lord.

Yes, I have been clothed with His righteousness. But God is not satisfied with imputed righteousness only. Unless we are practically righteous, and people are able to say, ‘He’s a righteous man’, you don’t qualify to come into God’s presence. (Psalm 24:3-4). He who has clean hands and a pure heart and a clear conscience, and does not work deceitfully, nor lifts up his heart to vanity, that is the person who can take part in the LT. That means it is obligatory that everyone of us should live a holy life, not at all involved in this wicked world. Nothing to do with politicians or courts, running to courts for putting cases (against the elders); this is nothing but wickedness! If  God wants to use you, you must be a clean vessel, a pure vessel, a holy vessel,  sanctified  for the Master’s use. If you think “I have wisdom and intelligence, I’m a very clever, crafty person, I can manage things” – God is going to strike you down! The failure of this assembly is that there are too many weak believers. They do not know the divine principles of the Church or the Cross. Gilgal must take you to Bethel; Gilgal is the Cross, Bethel is the Church. (2 Kings 2)

What should be, thirdly, our attitude when we take part in the LT? I come as a Servant of the Lord. Too many people are passengers; they just want to come and sit here in the church and go away. And many are just religious paralytics; they will not move a hand for God and for the church. God has saved us in order that we might serve Him. Turn to John 12.26. Let’s read it loudly. “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.If anyone serves me, him My Father will honour.” If you serve Me, then My Father will honor you. It is not doing my own will or going my own way, but doing the will of God. The LJC in Heb 10.9 said, “Lo, behold, I have come to do Your will, O My God!” Psalm 40.8 says,”I delight to do Your will O my God; Your law is written in my heart.” We do God’s will out of fear or out of duty, but not out of delight in the Lord. We fear that if we do not obey God something unpleasant will happen to us. Or we do God’s will out of duty, unwillingly, coming late to the house of God, thinking ‘I am safe and secure as a believer’. Oh, don’t test God! His judgment will strike you down. If you are truly under the New Covenant, you will delight in doing the will of God. And so, as a servant of the Lord – meaning, it is not just full-time servant, but – everyone must serve the Lord. Everyone! If you are having a secular job, your first priority is ‘I am doing God’s work; I am a witness for the Lord in this office’. I am not going to carry a Hindu name to obtain job-reservation benefits (as a Dalit). What hypocrisy and shamefulness! You carry the name of Hindu gods, and you don’t want to show that you are a Christian! Such shameful things are happening in our assemblies today, which is why Satan has risen up against us.

God has given us each a spiritual gift at baptism, and we have to use our gift for the building up of God’s house. You must take a share in the work of the service of the house of God. And for those who are having responsibility in God’s house as stewards, we have to take care that everything is done according to divine order. If they (stewards) start compromising out of fear of man, then the assembly will collapse. And everyone of us is given a talent which we have to multiply, like those three servants in Matt 25, in that parable. What am I doing for the Lord? How am I serving the Lord? Am I multiplying what He has given me? Do you know that you are a servant of the Lord, and as such you must submit to the will of God? But if you are just a passenger or a paralytic, one day, like that wicked servant, that lazy servant, you will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth by so-called believers. Why do they weep and gnash their teeth? Because they lost the glorious opportunity to serve the Lord. They were living for themselves; they were sleeping and watching television, instead of coming to the house of God.

Fourthly…Bec time is short, I will stop only at four attitudes. There are several more attitudes we should have in taking part in the LT. When I take part in the LT, I am saying I find my Satisfaction in the Lord Alone. You remember in Samaria in John chapter 4, the disciples went to get some food, because the Lord was hungry. Meanwhile the Lord was ministering the precious truths of God’s grace to that Samaritan woman. The grace of God, offering the living water to her. And so He saved a soul. And she threw away her waterpot. Oh, that barren life, that lonely life, that sinful life, was behind her.  She must have avoided society because of her sins, but now she goes forth boldly  to witness for the LJ in the city, saying, “The Messiah has come to our city! (Come, meet Him!) If we taste the living water, how sweet it is! Have we really found  the Lord sweet and satisfying as living water to our heart? The disciples came back with food. But the Lord’s hunger was not there! John 4.34. Let’s read it. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” Are we really involved in working for and walking with the Lord, spending time with the Lord, finding satisfaction in the Lord, or are we finding satisfaction in earthly things?

David’s great desire was to be in the presence of the Lord. Psalm 27.4. Let’s read it. “One thing I have desired of the Lord; that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His  temple.” When you come to God’s house and are listening to the word of God, do you feel the presence of God? Or is your mind on the World Cup that is going on in Qatar? When we are fully involved in God’s work, we will find our hunger vanishes. Satan is always trying to take our eyes away from the Lord and make us look at other things. He always puts some diversions, some attractions, some temptations, to make us go off-track. But if you are determined to stay with the Lord, and want His presence continually, you will come to Jericho. Satan will put up the walls of Jericho before you; you will come face to face with the strongholds of the enemy. Very few have come to that stage: from Bethel to Jericho  (2 Kings 2). To fight the battle of the Lord, to stand with the Lord — against these carnal elements that have infiltrated the church.

And then, further, I get my delight, not in getting things from the Lord, but giving to those who are poor and needy. You know David, he fought many battles, and all the treasure that he obtained, that he got as spoil from the battles, do you think he used it for himself and his family? Read 1 Chron 29 – we don’t have time to read it – he says, “All that I have gained,  I am using that treasure for building the house of God, the Temple.” (Which was later built by Solomon). We are finding satisfaction in looking after our children and seeing that they grow up, study and get good jobs in the world, but we have no thought or concern about the house of God. We are living stones built up into a spiritual temple. It is not a material building. God is building us, and we must have concern that we are built up into a spiritual temple (as a habitation for God).Let us pray for Berachah; it is under the attack of the enemy, and you must pray! Only prayer is the great weapon you have. David gave so much for building God’s house, and then he says, “Over and above that, I am giving my special treasure, something that I love very much – even that I am giving for building the temple of God”. Read Song of Solomon, that is satisfaction. ‘I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine’. I am belong to my Beloved, and my Beloved belongs to me. There are three references on that. Let’s read Song of Solomon  2:16. We don’t have that love, that passion for the Lord. We are not able to say, “He is the joy and delight of my heart.” When we leave the meeting, do we talk about spiritual things? The moment we leave the gates of Berachah, we begin talking about worldly things. We listen superficially to the message, and leave it behind us, when we leave the premises of the church. The joy of the Lord is better than any earthly pleasure. Let us remember that.

 Paul was in prison when he wrote some of his important letters. He writes in his Philippian letter, “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say, rejoice!” How is he rejoicing in the Lord, when he is shut up in prison and is not able to go on missionary journeys, and further the churches he established have turned away from him? He is not able to do gospel work, or anything actively for the Lord; yet he says, ‘Rejoice in the Lord’.

Four attitudes. First, I’m a sinner by grace. I am a saint, having nothing to do with the world. And I am one who is serving the Lord, not this world or my self-interest. I delight to do His will; I am a bond-servant of the Lord. And He is my satisfaction; there is nobody who is sweeter than the Lord.

And you know how this happens? The Lord’s Table is telling us, ‘Remember the Lord’s death till He comes’. But His death must work in me. When I die to myself, die to the world, die to the flesh with all its passions and desires, die to that ‘I’ that always to raise its ugly head; when I willingly accept crucifixion, allowing  the cross to do its work in me – only then will I experience the full joy and satisfaction of the Lord. So it’s not a ritual, coming on Sunday to take part routinely in the LT.  If we do not have the experience of being a sinner saved by grace, a saint separated from the world, submitting willingly to the service of the Lord, and having a heart of love for the Lord, delighting in Him, then we are fooling ourselves; we are blind and deceived. It is because they ignore and reject these truths of God’s word (these ‘four attitudes’) that many hearts are hardened, and they become instruments of the devil. Let’s read  1 Pet 4.17. “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

May the Lord search our hearts thru this word of exhortation, and let us take part worthily in the LT. Amen.

THE MESSENGER

prolix at 6:36 PM

Share

No comments:

Post a Comment

›

Home

View web version

About Me

prolix

View my complete profile

Powered by Blogger.

THE RIGHTS OF GOD

God’s Rights in His House

God’s rights concerning His house have always been challenged. God had created this earth as a place where His rights would be recognized. That is why He gave man certain commandments. He gave them to man to bring him to the place where he would respect God’s rights. Through the recognition of God’s rights, obedience to God, man was to grow into all that which had been ordained for him from God.

However, it happened differently. The adversary appeared and the battle for God’s rights started. This happened in the form of a simple question: “Hath God said?”

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” And the woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’”  And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil’”  (Gen. 3:1-5).

There we have the questioning of God’s rights. The will of man is to stand in the place of the will of God. What is religious modernism other than that? The authority of the Word of God is opposed. Human thoughts judge that which is of God.

One king of Israel dared to say: “Who is the Lord?” This is what things are like for God after the fall. This is what He has to take into account, but that which He is also strong enough to overcome.

In the New Testament we see the same fight over the rights of God in His house. The Lord says: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer: but you have made it a den of robbers” (Matt. 21:13). And in saying this, He explains the parable of the vineyard owner.

“Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, “They will reverence my son.” But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.” And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him” (Matt. 21:33-39).

God has planted a vineyard and has put a fence around it. This vineyard is His property. Nobody therefore has any rights in this vineyard except Him. Then He hired it out to husbandmen and sent His servants after a while, to fetch the fruit, His ‘rights’. The husbandmen, however, beat them and killed them and murdered His Son in the end. This is robbing God. This is misuse of His rights to the extreme. The Pharisees recognized that this parable was meant for them. They gnashed their teeth. They did not consider repenting. Only a short while later, and the Lord has to say about Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”  (Matt. 23:37,38). What was once God’s house, is His house no longer.  God has left it. His house is somewhere else.  It is in the hearts of those that have opened themselves to Him. “WE are His house.”  And Christ is the Son over God’s house (Heb. 3:6).

The connection, which the Lord Jesus Christ makes between Himself and the ministry of the prophets, shows us:

Firstly, that the prophets and the Son of God stand in a very specific relationship to each other as far as the will of God is concerned. They were sent in view of the rights of God; they were killed because of the rights of God.

Secondly: The church as the house of God is there where the rights of God are recognized and given to Him.

But is there something more disputed than His church? Where is she? Is she there, where people that call themselves Christians come together? Yes and no. Fellowship is one of the characteristics of His church. But not fellowship outwardly, but oneness in spirit. Spiritual fellowship cannot be made.  It is foolish to think that one could join the church, because one agrees with the message or structure of an assembly. The church is more than the union of religious people. The church consists of those to whom the Lord has brought new life, in whose hearts He has become Lord, of those who have learned to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. The church is not our house. It is His house. He, however, is the Lord of heaven, Who has judged this world and has done away with it for ever. How could we serve Him with that which He has rejected? How could we dare to bring Him that which has been judged through the Cross? How long will it take until the eyes of the children of God are opened to the fact that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ must be heavenly through and through, that the church has nothing at all in common with this world?

If we did not take into account the power of the Holy Spirit, we would despair. The natural man cannot understand that his role is finished, that the new birth is an absolutely new life, in which all our natural opinions will have ceased. The soulish and the spiritual are so mixed up even in advanced believers, that only the Holy Spirit is able to divide them. But a division must come. In God’s house there is no room for anything of man. Any so-called goodness of man, his religious disposition and his seemingly unselfish efforts are all a big deception. If God’s rights are to be of account, then all our rights, however skillfully covered, have to come to an end.

This takes us to Moses. He stands before us as a prophet. How zealous he was for the rights of God! God showed him His house on the mountain. But at the foot of the mountain he erected an altar and sacrificed. By doing so he respected the rights of God. His altar is nothing else but the explanation that the way to God’s mountain (and therefore to God’s house) is via the Cross of Calvary. Lightning and thunder surrounded the mountain. It was so terrible, that even Moses trembled. Why? Because no one can come close to God and serve Him except he whom God has called. God takes care that the mountain is fenced off, that nothing may come close to Him, that access to Him is only through the power of the Blood.

We say all of this in view of the rights of God. There is a burden on our hearts to make clear that God’s house is only really God’s house if it is filled by Him alone. We see this in the tabernacle. Because of the veil it is separated from everything outside. Inside, however, everything speaks through the large altar of the rights of God, the right God has over all life, of His sole and exclusive right.

When, after Solomon, the worship of God began to waiver, when other gods were worshipped, prophetic service amongst the people increased. Why? We have said before that the prophets stood for God’s rights in a special way. When therefore a prophet raised his voice in the old covenant, we know that something was not in order, that God was working to win back that which was lost, to save the spiritual from being covered up by formalism and tradition. This stepping in for God marks Elijah in a special way. When he says: “As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand,” it means: The Lord and I are one; the Lord stands on my side because I stand on His side; your attitude towards me reflects your attitude towards the Lord. And all this happens in view of winning back the rights of God. Now Elijah was not an important personality. We judge him wrongly if we ascribe him a personality which he did not have. The Lord shows him to us when he was discouraged, sitting under the juniper tree:
“But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers’”  (1 Kings 19:4).

And James confirms this, by saying: “Elijah was a man of like nature with us” (James 5:17). But the Lord has chosen him. His calling has to do with the rights of God. Because he stood on God’s side, God stands with him. The Lord defends His honor in His prophet. He seeks to safeguard His rights in those that are His messengers. For example, consider Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.

“And the word of the Lord came unto him (Elijah), saying, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, “Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, “Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.” And she said, “As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” And Elijah said unto her, “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, “The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the Word of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:8-16).

Now when Elijah comes to the widow, she has just enough flour and oil for one cake, but Elijah tells her: “First make me something to eat.”  This looks like selfishness. But the Lord and he are one. Is the widow ready to recognize this? Is she willing to honour the Lord in His prophet? Should God have His right at the peril of herself possessing nothing any more? The woman obeys. What a victory! It is the recognition of the rights of God that leads to the jar of flour not becoming empty and the cruse of oil not drying up. The recognition of the rights of God has opened the door to wonderful experiences. Not that her faith did not have to go through depths. That happened when her son died. Then she could see life out of death, the power of resurrection, something which not everyone has the privilege to see. She had recognized God’s rights and had given Him the first place. Then the Lord manifests the power of resurrection.

“And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, “What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” And he said unto her, “Give me thy son.” And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, “O Lord my God, hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?” And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, “O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.” And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, ‘See, thy son liveth’” (1 Kings 17:17-23).

Let us see this in the light of the house of God. The house of God is the place where He is everything, where the Lord has been recognized in the power of His resurrection, where we come together as living stones, in whom heavenly life has become a reality.

Let us not think that we will be spared difficulties. How Moses suffered! How Elijah was persecuted! The presence of the Lord does not mean that we will be spared suffering. On the contrary. We will be slandered, denied and persecuted. We will be abandoned and hated. We will not be spared this. This does not mean that the presence of God is not with us. We find it in the life of the Lord in us. We find it in the ability to be calm. We find it in the peace and joy in the midst of all storms and tribulations. That is enough. That is worth more than all recognition and outward confirmation. But when the Lord comes, we will appear with Him, and because we have sought His rights and have given Him His rights, we will exult and rejoice in the universal reign of our Lord, Who will be “The Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14).

T.A.S.

THE SCARRED MOTHER

The offense of the cross means to come to God just as you are, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.” Since the cross takes away all the glory from man and places it all on God, it becomes an offense to some folk.

Many years ago, a mother brought her little baby girl to an orphans’ home in the state of Texas and asked them to take care of the child. The mother’s face and hands bore horrible scars from a burn, and she urged the officials of the home not to tell the baby about her when she grew up. The mother assured them that she would not come to see the child. Then she told them the story of how she was burned.

Time elapsed and the mother-heart of this woman yearned to see the baby who was now a little girl of five or six. One day she could restrain herself no longer, and she applied at the orphans’ home for permission to see her little daughter. This was readily granted and an interview was arranged. The mother was seated in the living room, and the little girl was sent in to her. The little girl entered with fear and trembling, and the mother held out her hands to her — hands that were horribly scarred. The mother’s face, which was misshapen, was filled with longing to see her child. When the little girl got a glimpse of her mother, she screamed, turned, and ran out of the room. The mother broke down and sobbed.

Then the matron took the little girl into her room and told her the story — how that when she was a baby asleep in her crib, the house had caught on fire, and how her mother had rushed into her room that was in flames, wrapped her in a blanket so that she would not be burned, and in so doing had been horribly burned and had to spend long weeks and months in the hospital. When the little girl heard that her mother had been so terribly scarred for her sake, she went back into the living room where her mother was sobbing, pulled the misshapen hands down from her mother’s face, and covered them with kisses. She did the same with her mother’s face and thanked her from her little childish heart for what she had done for her.

My friend, the cross may be offensive to you, but He bore all of the offense for you and for me that we might stand before God blameless and without spot or blemish. Surely, we ought to be able to sing with thanksgiving:

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers ‘round its head sublime.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee

EVENING PRAYER

Lord Jesus, I come to you tonight.
I know that You will hold me tight.

I know that You will carry me
Through blinding storm and raging sea;

And I will reach the other shore,
Sealed by Your Spirit and secure.

None can snatch me from Your arms,
I’m free from peril, risk and harm.

Surrounded by a shield of grace
I’m protected ever from disgrace.

And though sometimes downcast and blue,
I know that I can trust in You.

FLEE FORNICATION

CHS in his Morning & Evening Devotional, July 25

“He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”
Genesis 39:12

In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper’s prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.

This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent’s wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me today than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions.

May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!

CHS