December 30, 2011   BACK TO  ARCHIVES

We Shall Give An Account

"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"   I Peter 4:17

Since God now dwells in the hearts of men and not temples, His judgment will begin where He dwells. However, a frightening delusion overshadows a vast majority of the Church who believe thay are of the House of God, yet obey not the Gospel.

A false premise taught in many churches today says that the worst thing that can happen to a professing christian at the Judgment bar of God is simply the loss of rewards. This teaching is perpetrated upon the church because of the misunderstanding of God's word; the following passage is one such scripture.

"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."   I Corinthians 3:10-15

The Christian will either receive a reward or suffer loss, however you must note that this scripture is based upon the assumption that the builder has built upon the correct foundation. (if any man build upon this foundation, Christ!) But to say that this is the only outcome would contradict the doctrine of Sowing and Reaping and an understanding of the scripture as a whole.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."   Galatians 6:7-8

God says emphatically, Be not deceived! You will not disregard my commandments and not pay the price. (We're not talking about sin repented of.) Sowing speaks of a continued lifestyle that brings forth the fruit thereof. Either to corrution or life everlasting.

Continued

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Scripture Studies

"But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."   Hebrews 5:14

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,... Or perfect; This does not intend a perfection of justification; for though some have a greater degree of faith than others, and a clearer discovery of their justification, yet babes in Christ are as perfectly justified as more grown and experienced believers; nor a perfection of sanctification, for there is no perfection of holiness but in Christ; and though the work of sanctification may be in greater perfection in one saint than in another, yet all are imperfect in this life; and as to a perfection of parts, babes have this as well as adult persons: but it designs a perfection of knowledge; for though none are entirely perfect, yet some have arrived to a greater degree of the knowledge of Gospel mysteries than others, and to these the strong meat of the Gospel belongs; they are capable of understanding the more mysterious parts of the Gospel; of searching into the deep things of God; and of receiving and digesting the more sublime truths of the Christian religion:

Even those who by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil; that is, their spiritual senses, the internal senses of the understanding and judgment, signified by external ones; as by seeing the Son; hearing the voice of Christ; savouring or smelling a sweet odour in the things of God, and Christ; tasting that the Lord is gracious; feeling and handling the word of life, as these are held forth in the everlasting Gospel: and these being exercised on their proper object, by use, an habit is contracted; and such are qualified for discerning, as between moral good and evil, and the worse and better state of the church, and between law and Gospel, so between the doctrines of Christ, and the doctrines of men; who find they differ: the doctrines of Christ such experienced persons find to be good, wholesome, nourishing, and salutary; and the doctrines of men to be evil, to eat, as does a canker, and to be pernicious, poisonous, and damnable; and the discernment they make, and the judgment they form, are not according to the dictates of carnal reason, but according to the Scriptures of truth, and their own experience.

— John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Also by
C. H. Spurgeon

"A Divided Heart"
by Charles H. Spurgeon

"Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty." Hosea 10:2

This passage may be taken as referring to the people of Israel as a nation, and it is not less applicable to the Church of God. It is one grand and grievous fault with the church of Christ at the present day, that it is not merely divided somewhat in its creed, and somewhat also in its practice of the ordinances, but alas, it is also somewhat divided in heart. When the differences are of such a character, that as people of God we can still love each other, and still unite in the common battle against the cause of evil and in the common end of building up the church, then there is but little that is faulty. But when our doctrinal divisions grow to so great a head that we cease to co-operate; when our opinions upon mere ordinances become so acid towards each other, that we can no longer extend the right hand of fellowship to those who differ from us, then indeed is the church of God found faulty. "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Even Beelzebub with all his craft cannot stand when once his hosts are divided. If Beelzebub be divided against himself, even he must fall, and assuredly this must be the case with those who lack that craft which might tend to overcome disunion. Oh, my brethren, nothing can so soon cast down the church from its high place, mar its glories, and diminish its opportunities of success, as divisions among the hearts of God's people. If we would grieve the Holy Spirit and cause him to begone; if we would provoke the anger of the Most High and bring down trying providences on the churches, we have nothing to do but to be divided in our hearts and all will be accomplished. If we wish that every vial may empty out its ill, and that every vessel may withhold its oil, we have but to cherish our bickerings till they become animosities; we have but to nurse our animosities till they become hatreds, and all the work will be fully completed. And if this be the case in the church at large, it is peculiarly true in those various sections of it which we now call Apostolic Churches.

Oh, my brethren, the smallest church in the world is potent for good when it hath but one heart and one soul; when pastor, elders, deacons, and members, are bound together by a threefold cord that cannot be broken. Then are they mighty against every attack. But however great their numbers, however enormous their wealth, however splendid may be the talents with which they are gifted, they are powerless for good the moment that they become divided amongst themselves. Union is strength. Blessed is the army of the living God, in that day when it goeth forth to battle with one mind, and its soldiers as with the tramp of one man, in undivided march, go onwards towards the attack. But a curse awaiteth that church which runneth hither and thither and which, divided in itself, hath lost the main stay of its strength with which it should batter against the enemy. Division cuts our bowstrings, snaps our spears, hoofs our horses, and burns our chariots in the fire. We are undone the moment the link of love is snapped. Let this perfect bond be once cut in twain and we fall down, and our strength is departed. By union we live, and by disunion we expire.

Message Continued

Also by
J. C. Ryle

Previous Words

Are You Born Again?
by J. C. Ryle

Are you born again? This is one of life's most important questions. Jesus Christ said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

It is not enough to reply, "I belong to the church; I suppose I'm a Christian." Thousands of nominal Christians show none of the signs of being born again which the Scriptures have given us many listed in the First Epistle of John.

No Habitual Sinning   First of all, John wrote: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin" (3:9). "Whosoever is born of God sinneth not" (5:18).

Believing in Christ   Second, John wrote: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (5:1).

Practicing Righteousness   Third, John wrote: "Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him" (2:29).

Loving Other Christians   Fourth, John wrote: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (3:14).

Overcoming the World   Fifth, John wrote: "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world" (5:4).

Keeping Oneself Pure   Sixth, John wrote: "He that is begotten of God keepeth himself" (5:18).

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Messages

Read about the Puritan's

The Greatness of God's Love to His Elect
by Thomas Goodwin

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-6.

The Apostle in the former verses having given a full and exact description of man's misery by nature and in the state of nature, both by reason of sin and the wrath of God that is due thereunto, begins here to set out the greatness of that love and that mercy in God which is the cause and the fountain of our salvation. And he sets it out, as I shewed you the last discourse, when I ran over the series of all these three verses, in the most taking and most advantageous way, and in the greatest truth. I shall not repeat what I then delivered.

I came to the exposition of the words, and what I shall now say will be some little addition, as I go along, to what then was said.

But God, Besides what I said of this particle but in the last discourse, I only add this, indeed as the main thing, that it serveth to usher in, not only a great turn, the greatest turn that ever was,, it doth not only usher in the notice of a remedy to misery, that there is balm in Gilead that may be had, because that God is merciful, and that is his nature, and that therefore he may be merciful to us, and so that there is hope concerning this thing,, but it ushers in and gives the intimation of a forelaid intention in God, of a contrivement and design beforehand taken up and set upon, whereby God had beforehand preceded all the mischief and all the danger that was like to arise from the misery and sin which the elect were fallen into. He had laid such a design as all this misery and sinfulness that the elect ones had fallen into should be so far from undoing them, that it shall but serve to set out that love the more; and so the words that follow do evidently shew. 'But God, for the love wherewith he loved us;' he hath loved us and chosen us out of love from everlasting, and hath shewed it in this, by triumphing over all that misery, that even 'while we were dead in sins and trespasses, he hath quickened us,'

Message Continued

Also by
Robert McCheyne

The Mind of Christ
by Robert Murray McCheyne

"But we have the mind of Christ" I Corinthians 2:16

Now, every believer has the mind of Christ formed in him. He thinks as Christ does: "This is the spirit of a sound mind" (II Tim. 1:7). This is being of the same mind in the Lord. I do not mean that a believer has the same all-seeing mind, the same infallible judgment concerning everything, as Christ has; but up to his fight he sees things as Christ does.

He sees sin as Christ does. Christ sees sin to be evil and bitter. He sees it to be filthy and abominable, its pleasures all a delusion. He sees it to be awfully dangerous. He sees the inseparable connection between sin and suffering. So does a believer.

He sees the gospel as Christ does. Christ sees amazing glory in the gospel, the way of salvation which He Himself has wrought out. It appears a most complete salvation to Him, most free, most glorifying to God and happy for man. So does the believer.

He sees the world as Christ does. Christ knows what is in man. He looked on this world as vanity compared with the smile of His Father. Its riches, its honours, its pleasures, appeared not worth a sigh. He saw it passing away. So does the believer.

He sees time as Christ did. I must work the work of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh", "I come quickly." So does a believer look at time.

He sees eternity as Christ does. Christ looked at everything in the light of eternity "In my Father's house are many mansions." Everything is valuable in Christ's eyes, only as it bears on eternity. So with believers.

Previous Manna

Also by
Andrew Murray

Abide in Christ
by Andrew Murray

As You Came to Him, by Faith

"As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, abounding therein." Colossians 2:6-7

In these words the apostle teaches us the weighty lesson, that it is not only by faith that we first come to Christ and are united to Him, but that it is by faith that we are to be rooted and established in our union with Christ. Not less essential than for the commencement, is faith for the progress of the spiritual life. Abiding in Jesus can only be by faith.

There are earnest Christians who do not understand this; or, if they admit it in theory, they fail to realize its application in practice. They are very zealous for a free gospel, with our first acceptance of Christ, and justification by faith alone. But after this they think everything depends on our diligence and faithfulness. While they firmly grasp the truth, "The sinner shall be justified by faith," they have hardly found a place in their scheme for the larger truth, "The just shall live by faith."

They have never understood what a perfect Saviour Jesus is, and how He will each day do for the sinner just as much as He did the first day when he came to Him. They know not that the life of grace is always and only a life of faith, and that in the relationship to Jesus the one daily and unceasing duty of the disciple is to believe, because believing is the one channel through which divine grace and strength flow out into the heart of man.

The old nature of the believer remains evil and sinful to the last; it is only as he daily comes, all empty and helpless, to his Saviour to receive of His life and strength, that he can bring forth the fruits of righteousness to the glory of God. Therefore it is: "As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted in Him, and stablished in the faith, abounding therein." As you came to Jesus, so abide in Him, by faith.

Continued

Also by
T. Austin Sparks

The School of Christ     by T. Austin Sparks
The House of God     Chapter IV

The Corporate House of God

Now, what is the House of God in its fullest sense, in its corporate or collective sense? It is, to take up that wonderful phrase with its almost two hundred occurrences in the New Testament, all that is meant by "in Christ". If we are in the House of God, we are only in the House of God because we are in Christ. To be in Christ is to be in the House of God, and not to be in Christ Jesus is to be outside of the House of God. He is the House of God. We are brought into Him.

The Imitation of Christ
by Thomas À Kempis

The Imitation of Christ     by Thomas À Kempis
Internal Consolation     Book III

Pure and Entire Resignation of Self to Obtain Freedom of Heart
The Voice of Christ
MY CHILD, renounce self and you shall find Me. Give up your own self-will, your possessions, and you shall always gain. For once you resign yourself irrevocably, greater grace will be given you.

The Disciple
How often, Lord, shall I resign myself? And in what shall I forsake myself?

The Voice of Christ
Always, at every hour, in small matters as well as great, I except nothing. In all things I wish you to be stripped of self. How otherwise can you be mine or I yours unless you be despoiled of your own will both inwardly and outwardly? The sooner you do this the better it will be for you, and the more fully and sincerely you do it the more you will please Me and the greater gain you will merit.

Some there are who resign themselves, but with certain reservation; they do not trust fully in God and therefore they try to provide for themselves. Others, again, at first offer all, but afterward are assailed by temptation and return to what they have renounced, thereby making no progress in virtue. These will not reach the true liberty of a pure heart nor the grace of happy friendship with Me unless they first make a full resignation and a daily sacrifice of themselves. Without this no fruitful union lasts nor will last.

I have said to you very often, and now I say again: forsake yourself, renounce yourself and you shall enjoy great inward peace. Give all for all. Ask nothing, demand nothing in return. Trust purely and without hesitation in Me, and you shall possess Me. You will be free of heart and darkness will not overwhelm you.

Strive for this, pray for this, desire this, to be stripped of all selfishness and naked to follow the naked Jesus, to die to self and live forever for Me. Then all vain imaginations, all wicked disturbances and superfluous cares will vanish. Then also immoderate fear will leave you and inordinate love will die.

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Reuben Archer Torrey   "Personal Soul Winner"
(1856-1928)

"If you are this moment troubled about any sin that you have ever committed, either in the past or in the present, just look at Jesus on the cross. It is an act of base ingratitude to God to brood over sins that He in His infinite love has canceled."

Torrey grew up in a wealthy home, attended Yale University and Divinity School, and studied abroad. During his early student days at Yale, young Torrey became an agnostic and a heavy drinker. But even during the days of his "wildlife," he was strangely aware of a conviction that someday he was to preach the Gospel. At the end of his senior year in college, he was saved.

While at Yale Divinity School, he came under the influence of D. L. Moody. Little did Moody know the mighty forces he was setting in motion in stirring young R. A. Torrey to service! After Moody died, Torrey took on the world-girdling revival campaigns in Australia, New Zealand, England and America.

Like many other giants for God, Torrey shone best, furthest and brightest as a personal soul winner. This one man led 100,000 to Christ in a revival that circled the globe!

Dr. Torrey's education was obtained in the best schools and universities of higher learning. Fearless, quick, imaginative and scholarly, he was a tough opponent to meet in debate. He was recognized as a great scholar, yet his ministry was marked by simplicity.

It was because of his outstanding scholastic ability and evangelistic fervor that Moody handpicked Torrey to become superintendent of his infant Moody Bible Institute. In 1912, Torrey became dean of BIOLA, where he served until 1924, pastoring the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles from 1915 to 1924.

Torrey's books have probably reached more people indirectly and helped more people to understand the Bible and to have power to win souls, than the writings of any other man since the Apostle Paul, with the possible exceptions of Spurgeon and Rice, Torrey was a great Bible teacher, but most of all he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Time to sharpen
your Sword!

The Word

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Scripture Studies       Revelation 20:11-15   MH Comm.
Click on the links for commentary study.

11.   And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.   JG Expo.

12.   And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.   JG Expo.

13.   And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.   JG Expo.

14.   And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.   JG Expo.

15.   And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.   JG Expo.

Nor... the Smell of Fire

To come out of the fiery trial of our faith without the smell of burning means, I think, the fulfilling of that word in Peter, "Whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (I Peter 1:8). That follows this word concerning the fiery trial of our faith, "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Here is the crown of a desperately dark time, of maybe years of suffering, of the testing of our faith, joy beyond speech, full of glory. The enemy ever seeks to rob us of our joy and frustrate the desire of the Lord that we should be radiators of His glory; and by the fiery trial all too often he succeeds.

From "Nor... the Smell of Fire..." by T. Austin-Sparks

"In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth ... And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
— Genesis 1:1,3   (written 3,450 years ago)

Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power and motion. "In the beginning (time) God created (power) the Heaven (space) and the earth (matter) ... And the Spirit of God moved (motion) upon the face of the waters."

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Season Archives

The Filth of the World

"...know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." James 4:4

We are made as the filth of the world. (I Cor. 4:13) To add insult to injury, to heighten the infamy, and to deepen the humiliation, Paul adds: "and... the offscouring of all things." The man who so assesses himself has no ambitions, and so has nothing to be jealous about. He has no reputation, and so has nothing to fight about. He has no possessions, and therefore, nothing to worry about. He has no "rights"; therefore, he cannot suffer any wrong. He is already dead, so no one can kill him.

Being materially and socially bankrupt got the apostle bracketed with the choice few, listed as the filth of the world. This helped him understand that, as filth, he would be trodden under foot by men. Though he could answer the philosophers, Stoics, and Epicureans on Mars Hill, yet he was rated a "fool" for Christ's sake.

The antagonism of the world was fundamental to apostolic Christianity... Bunyan's pilgrims, passing through Vanity Fair, were a spectacle. In dress, speech, interest, and sense of values, they differed from the worldlings. The line of demarcation was distinct, deliberate, and discredited... Paul declares in good, round English: "The world is crucified unto me."

Is this beyond us? Well might we quake within and tremble at the lip to repeat his phrase. Only when we are thus dead to the world and all its toys, its idle pomp and fading joys, can we enter into the spiritual triumphs of our Risen and Reigning Lord.

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Quotes by Thomas Brooks   "One of the most quoted Puritans"

"You had better be a poor man and a rich Christian, than a rich man and a poor Christian. You had better do anything, bear anything, and be anything rather than be a dwarf in grace."

"Much faith will yield unto us here our heaven, but any faith, if true, will yield us heaven hereafter."

"The two poles could sooner meet, than the love of Christ and the love of the world."

"'My sin is ever before me' [Psalm 51.3]. A humble soul sees that he can stay no more from sin, than the heart can from panting, and the pulse from beating. He sees his heart and life to be fuller of sin, than the firmament is of stars; and this keeps him low. He sees that sin is so bred in the bone, that till his bones, as Joseph's, be carried out of the Egypt of this world, it will not out. Though sin and grace were never born together, and though they shall not die together, yet while the believer lives, these two must live together; and this keeps him humble."

"The best and sweetest flowers of Paradise God gives to his people when they are upon their knees. Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us in to Paradise."

"Let those be thy choicest companions who have made Christ their chief companion."

"The lives of ministers oftentimes convince more strongly than their words; their tongues may persuade, but their lives command."

"Christ choosing solitude for private prayer, doth not only hint to us the danger of distraction and deviation of thoughts in prayer, but how necessary it is for us to choose the most convenient places we can for private prayer. Our own fickleness and Satan's restlessness call upon us to get into such places where we may freely pour out our soul into the bosom of God [Mark 1.35]."

"God's hearing of our prayers doth not depend upon sanctification, but upon Christ's intercession; not upon what we are in ourselves, but what' we are in the Lord Jesus; both our persons and our prayers are acceptable in the beloved [Eph 1.6]."

"An idle life and a holy heart is a contradiction."

"Repentance is a grace, and must have its daily operation, as well as other graces. A true penitent must go on from faith to faith, from strength to strength; he must never stand still or turn back. True repentance is a continued spring, where the waters of godly sorrow are always flowing. 'My sin is ever before me'."

"It was a choice saying of Augustine, 'Every saint is God's temple, and he who carries his temple about him, may go to prayer when he pleaseth'."

"Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord, that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the Lord."

"Those years, months, weeks, days, and hours, that are not filled up with God, with Christ, with grace, and with duty, will certainly be filled up with vanity and folly. The neglect of one day, of one duty, of one hour, would undo us, if we had not an Advocate with the Father."

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The Martyrs

Fox's Book of Martyrs

The Christian martyrs at Rome
Nero's Persecution of 64-67 A.D.

Nero's persecution began by an early morning fire on July 19, 64. It broke out in a small shop by the Circus Maximus and spread rapidly to other regions of Rome, and raged for nine days, destroying much of the city. This was the worst in a series of fires that beset the crowded city of more than a million people, packed tightly into apartment blocks of wooden construction, among narrow streets and alleyways. Only two areas escaped the fire; one of them, the Transtiberum region, Trastevere, across the Tiber River, had a large Jewish population.

Nero was at his seaside villa in Anzio when the blaze began, but he delayed returning to the city. They say that when he heard the news, he began composing an ode comparing Rome to the burning city of Troy. His indifference to the suffering caused by the tragedy stirred resentment among the people. Rumors began that he himself set the fire in order to rebuild the city with his own plans.

To stop the rumors, Nero decided to blame someone else, and he chose a group of renegade Jews called Christians, who had caused trouble before, and already had a bad reputation in the city. Earlier, about the year 49, the Emperor Claudius had banished some of them from Rome for starting upheavals in the Jewish synagogues of the city with their disputes about Christ.

"Nero was the first to rage with Caesar's sword against this sect," wrote the early-Christian writer, Tertullian. "To suppress the rumor," the Roman historian Tacitus says, "Nero created scapegoats. He punished with every kind of cruelty the notoriously depraved group known as Christians." Just how long the process went on and how many were killed, the Roman historian does not say.

Scripture Memory

The Word

Hebrews 10:19-27   Authorized King James Version

19. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20. By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21. And having an high priest over the house of God;
22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
26. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."