Cross Bearing # 2
I want to call your attention to the context. Turn with me for a moment to Matthew 16, verse 21: "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him." He was staggered and said, "Pity Yourself, Lord!" That expressed the policy of the world. That is the sum of the world's philosophy - self-shielding and self-seeking; but that which Christ preached was not spare yourself - but sacrifice yourself. The Lord Jesus saw in Peter's suggestion a temptation from satan - and He flung it away from Him. Then He turned to His disciples and said, "if any man will come after Me - let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." In other words, what Christ said was this: I am going up to Jerusalem to the Cross - if anyone would be My follower - there is a cross for him. And, as Luke 14 says, "Whoever does not bear his cross - cannot be My disciple." Not only must Jesus go to Jerusalem and be killed - but everyone who comes after Him must take up his cross. The "must" is as imperative in the one care as in the other. Mediatorially, the Cross of Christ stands alone - but experimentally it is shared by all who enter into eternal life.
Now then, what does "the cross" stand for? What did Christ mean when He said that "unless a man takes up his cross?" My friends, it is deplorable that at this late date, such a question needs to be asked; and it is more deplorable still, that the vast majority of God's own people have such unscriptural conceptions of what the "cross" stands for. The average Christian seems to regard the cross in this text, as any trial or trouble that may be laid upon him. Whatever comes up that disturbs our peace, that is unpleasing to the flesh, or that irritates our temper - is looked upon as a cross. One says, "Well, that is my cross," and another says, "Well, this is my cross," and someone else says something else is their cross. My friends, the word is never so used in the New Testament!
The word "cross" is never found in the plural number, nor is it ever found with the indefinite article before it, "a cross." Note also that in our text the cross is linked to a verb in the active voice and not the passive. It is not a cross that is laid upon us - but a cross which must be "taken up!" The cross stands for definite realities which embody and express the leading characteristics of Christ's agony.
Others understand the "cross" to refer to disagreeable duties which they reluctantly discharge - or to fleshly habits which they grudgingly deny. They imaging that they are cross-bearing when, prodded at the point of conscience, they abstain from things earnestly desired. Such people invariable turn their cross into a weapon with which to assail other people. They parade their self-denial and go around insisting that others should follow them. Such conceptions of the cross areas Pharisaical as false, and as mischievous as they are erroneous!
Now, as the Lord enables me, let me point out three things that the cross stands for:
First, the cross is the expression of the world's hatred. The world hated Christ, and its hatred was ultimately manifested by crucifying Him. In the 15th chapter of John, seven times over, Christ refers there to the hatred of the world against Himself and against His people. And just in proportion as you and I are following Christ, just in proportion as our lives are being lived as His life was lived, just in proportion as we have come out from the world and are in fellowship with Him - so will the world hate us!
We read in the Gospels that one man came and presented himself to Christ for discipleship, and he requested that he might first go to bury his father - a very natural request, and perhaps a very praiseworthy one. But the Lord's reply is almost staggering. He said to that man, "Follow Me - and let the dead bury their dead." What would have happened to that young man if he had obeyed Christ? I do not know whether he did or not - but if he did, what would happen? What would his kinsfolk and his neighbors think of him? Would they be able to appreciate the motive, the devotion which caused him to follow Christ and neglect what the world would call a filial duty? Ah, my friends, if you are following Christ - the world will thin you are mad - and some of you will find it very hard to bear aspersions on your sanity. Yes, there are some who find the reproaches of the living a harder trial than the loss of the dead.
Another young man presented himself to Christ for discipleship and he requested the Lord that he might first be allowed to go home and say farewell to his friends - a very natural request, surely - and the Lord presented to him the cross: "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God!" Affectionate natures find the wrench of home ties, very hard to bear; harder still are the suspicions of loved ones and friends for having been slighted!
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 3)
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Submission To God # 2
Submission To God # 2
The first aspect of submission is to receive as from God's hand, whatever comes to me in a providential way, with recognition of His absolute right to take the same way - when He deems that will be most for His glory and my good.
When we pray, as we are bidden to do, "May Your will be done in earth - as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10), the emphasis is to be placed on the word "done".
It is first, a request that the Divine will may be wrought in us, for we can only work out our "own salvation with fear and trembling," as God is pleased to work in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13); for it is thus that God writes His law on our hearts. Only as His will is wrought in us - are our wayward wills brought into accord with God's.
Second, it is a request that the Divine will may be performed by us. The first is in order to the second. God's will is done by us - when we consciously and voluntarily abstain from and avoid those things He has prohibited, and when we practice those things which He has enjoined upon us.
Third, it is a request that the Divine will may be acceptable unto us, that we may be pleased with whatever pleases Him: That so far from repining, we may thankfully receive whatever God is pleased to send or give us - His chastisements not excepted.
The perfect exemplification of what we have sought to bring out above, is found in our blessed Redeemer.
First, there was nothing whatever within Him which was contrary to God, which was capable of resisting His will. He was essentially holy - both in His divine Person and in His human nature; and as the God-man, He declared, "Your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8).
Second, when He entered this world, it was with the assertion, "Lo, I come to do Your will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7); and so completely did He make that good, He could say, "I always do those things that please Him" (John 8:29).
Third, He never uttered the slightest murmur against the Divine providence; but instead, declared, "You have assigned Me My portion and My cup; you have made My lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for Me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance" (Psalm 16:5-6). And when the supreme test came, He meekly bowed,saying, "The cup which My Father has given Me - shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11). When in Gethsemane, He prayed, "May Your will be done" (Matt. 26:42), He included all three things:
May Your will be wrought in Me.
May Your will be performed in Me.
May Your will be well-pleasing unto Me.
If, then, we are to be able to say as Job did when so severely tested, we must emulate his previous conduct and regularly tread the path of obedience. Furthermore, we must learn to sit loose to all worldly comforts and stand ready prepared to part with everything when God shall require it at our hands. Some of you may perhaps have friends who are as dear to you as your own souls; and others may have children in whose lives your own lives are bound up: All have their Isaacs, their particular delights. Labor for Christ's sake, labor you sons and daughters of Abraham to resign them hourly in affection to God, that when He shall require you really to sacrifice them - you may not confer with flesh and blood any more than the blessed patriarch did." (George Whitefield).
~A. W. Pink~
(The End)
The first aspect of submission is to receive as from God's hand, whatever comes to me in a providential way, with recognition of His absolute right to take the same way - when He deems that will be most for His glory and my good.
When we pray, as we are bidden to do, "May Your will be done in earth - as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10), the emphasis is to be placed on the word "done".
It is first, a request that the Divine will may be wrought in us, for we can only work out our "own salvation with fear and trembling," as God is pleased to work in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13); for it is thus that God writes His law on our hearts. Only as His will is wrought in us - are our wayward wills brought into accord with God's.
Second, it is a request that the Divine will may be performed by us. The first is in order to the second. God's will is done by us - when we consciously and voluntarily abstain from and avoid those things He has prohibited, and when we practice those things which He has enjoined upon us.
Third, it is a request that the Divine will may be acceptable unto us, that we may be pleased with whatever pleases Him: That so far from repining, we may thankfully receive whatever God is pleased to send or give us - His chastisements not excepted.
The perfect exemplification of what we have sought to bring out above, is found in our blessed Redeemer.
First, there was nothing whatever within Him which was contrary to God, which was capable of resisting His will. He was essentially holy - both in His divine Person and in His human nature; and as the God-man, He declared, "Your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8).
Second, when He entered this world, it was with the assertion, "Lo, I come to do Your will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7); and so completely did He make that good, He could say, "I always do those things that please Him" (John 8:29).
Third, He never uttered the slightest murmur against the Divine providence; but instead, declared, "You have assigned Me My portion and My cup; you have made My lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for Me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance" (Psalm 16:5-6). And when the supreme test came, He meekly bowed,saying, "The cup which My Father has given Me - shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11). When in Gethsemane, He prayed, "May Your will be done" (Matt. 26:42), He included all three things:
May Your will be wrought in Me.
May Your will be performed in Me.
May Your will be well-pleasing unto Me.
If, then, we are to be able to say as Job did when so severely tested, we must emulate his previous conduct and regularly tread the path of obedience. Furthermore, we must learn to sit loose to all worldly comforts and stand ready prepared to part with everything when God shall require it at our hands. Some of you may perhaps have friends who are as dear to you as your own souls; and others may have children in whose lives your own lives are bound up: All have their Isaacs, their particular delights. Labor for Christ's sake, labor you sons and daughters of Abraham to resign them hourly in affection to God, that when He shall require you really to sacrifice them - you may not confer with flesh and blood any more than the blessed patriarch did." (George Whitefield).
~A. W. Pink~
(The End)
Saturday, June 22, 2019
Cross Bearing # 1
Cross Bearing # 1
"Jesus said unto His disciples - if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24).
"Then said Jesus unto His disciples, if any man will"; the word "will" here means "desire to" just as in that verse, "If any will live godly." It signifies "determine to." If any man will or desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross (not a cross - but "his" cross) and follow me." Then in Luke 14:27 Christ declared, "And whoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple." So cross bearing is NOT optional. The Christian life is far more than subscribing to a system of truths, or adopting a code of conduct - or of submitting to religious ordinances. The Christ life is primarily a person; experience of fellowship with the Lord Jesus, and just in proportion as your life is lived in communion with Christ, to that extent are you living the Christian life, and to that extent only.
The Christian life is a life that consists of following Jesus. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." O that you and I may gain distinction for the closeness of our walk with Christ! There is a class described in Scripture of whom it is said, "these are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." But sad to say, there is another class, and a large class, who seem to follow the Lord fitfully, spasmodically, half-heartedly, occasionally, distantly. There is much of the world and must of self in their lives - and so little of Christ. Thrice happy shall he be, who like Caleb - follows the Lord fully.
Now, beloved, our chief business and desire is to follow Christ - but there are difficulties in the way. There are obstacles in the path, and it is to them, that the first part of our text refers. You notice that the words "follow Me" come at the end. SELF, self stands in the way, and the world with its ten thousand attractions and distractions is an obstacle; and therefore Christ says, "If any man will come after Me - (first) let him deny himself, (second) take up his cross, (third) and follow Me." And there we learn the reason why so few professing Christians are following Him closely, manifestly, consistently.
The first step toward a daily following of Christ, is the denying of SELF. There is a vast difference, brethren and sisters, between denying self and so-called self-denial. The popular idea which prevails both in the world and among Christians, is that of giving up things which we like. There is a great diversity of opinion as to what should be given up. There are some who would restrict it to that which is characteristically worldly - such as theater-going, dancing, or other certain kinds of amusements. But such methods as those only foster spiritual pride, for surely I deserve some credit - if I give up more than my friends.
What Christ speaks of in our text (and O may the Spirit of God apply it to our souls this morning) as the first step toward following Him, is - the denial of SELF itself - not simply some of the things that are pleasing to self. Not some of the things after which self hankers - but the denying of SELF itself - but the denying of SELF itself. What does that mean, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself?"
It means in the first place, abandoning his own righteousness; but it means far more than that. That is only its first meaning. It means refusing to rest upon my own wisdom. It means far more than that. It means ceasing to insist upon my own rights. It means repudiating SELF itself. It means ceasing to consider our own comforts, our own ease, our own pleasure, our own aggrandizement, our own benefits. It means being done with SELF. It means, beloved, saying with the apostle, "For me to live is, not self - but Christ. For me to live is to obey Christ, to serve Christ, to honor Christ, to spend myself for Him. That is what it means. And "if any man will come after Me," says our Master, "let him deny himself," - let self be repudiated, be done with. In other words it is what you have in Romans 12:1, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God."
The second step toward following Christ, is the taking up of the CROSS. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross." Ah, my friends, to live out the Christian life is something more than a passive luxury; it is a serious undertaking. It is a life that has to be disciplined in sacrifice. The life of discipleship begins with self-renunciation and it continues by self-mortification. In other words, our text refers to the CROSS not simply as an object of faith - but as a principle of life, as the badge of discipleship, as an experience in the soul. And, listen! Just as it was true that the only way to the Father's throne for Jesus of Nazareth was by the Cross - so the only way for a life of communion with God and the crown at the end for the Christian, is via the Cross. The legal benefits of Christ's sacrifice are secured by faith, when the guilt of sin is cancelled; but the cross only becomes efficacious over the power of indwelling sin, as it is realized in our daily lives.
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 2)
"Jesus said unto His disciples - if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24).
"Then said Jesus unto His disciples, if any man will"; the word "will" here means "desire to" just as in that verse, "If any will live godly." It signifies "determine to." If any man will or desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross (not a cross - but "his" cross) and follow me." Then in Luke 14:27 Christ declared, "And whoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple." So cross bearing is NOT optional. The Christian life is far more than subscribing to a system of truths, or adopting a code of conduct - or of submitting to religious ordinances. The Christ life is primarily a person; experience of fellowship with the Lord Jesus, and just in proportion as your life is lived in communion with Christ, to that extent are you living the Christian life, and to that extent only.
The Christian life is a life that consists of following Jesus. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." O that you and I may gain distinction for the closeness of our walk with Christ! There is a class described in Scripture of whom it is said, "these are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." But sad to say, there is another class, and a large class, who seem to follow the Lord fitfully, spasmodically, half-heartedly, occasionally, distantly. There is much of the world and must of self in their lives - and so little of Christ. Thrice happy shall he be, who like Caleb - follows the Lord fully.
Now, beloved, our chief business and desire is to follow Christ - but there are difficulties in the way. There are obstacles in the path, and it is to them, that the first part of our text refers. You notice that the words "follow Me" come at the end. SELF, self stands in the way, and the world with its ten thousand attractions and distractions is an obstacle; and therefore Christ says, "If any man will come after Me - (first) let him deny himself, (second) take up his cross, (third) and follow Me." And there we learn the reason why so few professing Christians are following Him closely, manifestly, consistently.
The first step toward a daily following of Christ, is the denying of SELF. There is a vast difference, brethren and sisters, between denying self and so-called self-denial. The popular idea which prevails both in the world and among Christians, is that of giving up things which we like. There is a great diversity of opinion as to what should be given up. There are some who would restrict it to that which is characteristically worldly - such as theater-going, dancing, or other certain kinds of amusements. But such methods as those only foster spiritual pride, for surely I deserve some credit - if I give up more than my friends.
What Christ speaks of in our text (and O may the Spirit of God apply it to our souls this morning) as the first step toward following Him, is - the denial of SELF itself - not simply some of the things that are pleasing to self. Not some of the things after which self hankers - but the denying of SELF itself - but the denying of SELF itself. What does that mean, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself?"
It means in the first place, abandoning his own righteousness; but it means far more than that. That is only its first meaning. It means refusing to rest upon my own wisdom. It means far more than that. It means ceasing to insist upon my own rights. It means repudiating SELF itself. It means ceasing to consider our own comforts, our own ease, our own pleasure, our own aggrandizement, our own benefits. It means being done with SELF. It means, beloved, saying with the apostle, "For me to live is, not self - but Christ. For me to live is to obey Christ, to serve Christ, to honor Christ, to spend myself for Him. That is what it means. And "if any man will come after Me," says our Master, "let him deny himself," - let self be repudiated, be done with. In other words it is what you have in Romans 12:1, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God."
The second step toward following Christ, is the taking up of the CROSS. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross." Ah, my friends, to live out the Christian life is something more than a passive luxury; it is a serious undertaking. It is a life that has to be disciplined in sacrifice. The life of discipleship begins with self-renunciation and it continues by self-mortification. In other words, our text refers to the CROSS not simply as an object of faith - but as a principle of life, as the badge of discipleship, as an experience in the soul. And, listen! Just as it was true that the only way to the Father's throne for Jesus of Nazareth was by the Cross - so the only way for a life of communion with God and the crown at the end for the Christian, is via the Cross. The legal benefits of Christ's sacrifice are secured by faith, when the guilt of sin is cancelled; but the cross only becomes efficacious over the power of indwelling sin, as it is realized in our daily lives.
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 2)
Submission To God # 1
Submission To God # 1
"The Lord gave - and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).
When some painful loss or severe calamity befalls them, there are many who bemoan the fact that they do not have the resignation which was the patriarch's - even under more extreme circumstances - but it is to be feared that few make any serious attempt to ascertain why they are so lacking, or that the right explanation would be arrived at if they did. Probably the majority of the professing Christians would say: "it is because the Lord has not been pleased to give me the necessary grace." Pious as that may sound, in many cases, it would be the language of insincerity - if not of something worse. If that were said by way of excuse or self-extenuation for a spirit of murmuring, it is a wicked slander upon the Divine character! Let it be clearly recognized that the real reason - and the only reason, so far as we are concerned - why God not grant us more grace, is because we have failed to use that which He has already bestowed upon us! (Luke 8:18).
Acquiescence in the Divine providence, when God takes from us that which is near and dear, is not some high spiritual attainment which is reached on special occasions. Just as one who is not accustomed to the regular use of certain muscles is incapable of any strenuous exercise of them when put to a real test, so it is with employment of our graces. The average man who constantly drives around in his car, or the one who sits most for the day in his office and rides on the bus or train to and from his work - would be weary if he walked five miles on a stretch, quite exhausted if it were ten, and utterly unable to hold out for twenty.
But a shepherd or farmer who spent most of his life on his feet crossing the moors or walking in his fields, would find it no undue strain to cover a single journey of twenty miles. One who has allowed his mind to wander here and there while engaged in ordinary reading, cannot suddenly concentrate on a good book when he wishes to do so. The same principle obtains in the spiritual realm: There is no such thing as putting forth an extraordinary effort of any grace - if it is not in regular exercise.
Returning to our next text: What was the character of the man who gave expression to those God-honoring words? It is very important to weigh carefully the question, for character and conduct are as inseparably connected, as are cause and effect. The answer is supplied in the context. These words issued from the heart of one who was "perfect (sincere) and upright, and one who feared God, and shunned evil" (Job 1:1), which is but an amplified way of saying that he was a pious man.
Now, the first characteristic and evidence of genuine piety is an obedient walk; and obedience is doing the will of God from the heart. Or in other words, obedience is a submission to His authority, a conducting of myself according to the rules He has prescribed for me. If - then, I have formed the habit of conforming to God's perceptive will (which necessarily presupposes denying the lusts of the flesh), there will be little difficulty in submitting myself to His providential will. If I am faithful in doing the former, I shall be unmurmuring in acquiescing with the latter. But if I flout the one, I shall rebel against the other.
"The Lord gave - and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." That was language of one who was accustomed to own the authority of God, as his threefold "the Lord" intimates.
It was the language of one who had surrendered to His righteous claims, and the throne of whose heart was really occupied by Him. It was not the sudden outburst of one who had hitherto followed his own desires and devices - but rather of a genuine saint who had truly been subject to the Divine will. It was the language of one who recognized and owned that God had a perfect right to order his lot and life - just as it seemed good in His sight. It was the language of one who held everything in subjection to the will of Him with whom he had to do. It was not an exceptional spasm of piety - but rather that which made manifest the general tenor of his spirituality. The trials of life neither make, nor mar us, my reader; but instead, they demonstrate what is in us, what we really are: They make manifest the hidden things of our heart.
There is a will of God which we are required to perform - and there is also a will of God in which we should thankfully acquiesce. The former is His perceptive will, which is made known in His commandments; the latter in His providential will, which regulates all our affairs. And the more we perform the former - the easier shall we find it to accept and conform our hearts unto the latter.
Christian submission is, therefore, a twofold thing; or rather, it has respect to two aspects of our duty and has to do with two different relationships which God sustains to us - as our King and our Provider.
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 2)
"The Lord gave - and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).
When some painful loss or severe calamity befalls them, there are many who bemoan the fact that they do not have the resignation which was the patriarch's - even under more extreme circumstances - but it is to be feared that few make any serious attempt to ascertain why they are so lacking, or that the right explanation would be arrived at if they did. Probably the majority of the professing Christians would say: "it is because the Lord has not been pleased to give me the necessary grace." Pious as that may sound, in many cases, it would be the language of insincerity - if not of something worse. If that were said by way of excuse or self-extenuation for a spirit of murmuring, it is a wicked slander upon the Divine character! Let it be clearly recognized that the real reason - and the only reason, so far as we are concerned - why God not grant us more grace, is because we have failed to use that which He has already bestowed upon us! (Luke 8:18).
Acquiescence in the Divine providence, when God takes from us that which is near and dear, is not some high spiritual attainment which is reached on special occasions. Just as one who is not accustomed to the regular use of certain muscles is incapable of any strenuous exercise of them when put to a real test, so it is with employment of our graces. The average man who constantly drives around in his car, or the one who sits most for the day in his office and rides on the bus or train to and from his work - would be weary if he walked five miles on a stretch, quite exhausted if it were ten, and utterly unable to hold out for twenty.
But a shepherd or farmer who spent most of his life on his feet crossing the moors or walking in his fields, would find it no undue strain to cover a single journey of twenty miles. One who has allowed his mind to wander here and there while engaged in ordinary reading, cannot suddenly concentrate on a good book when he wishes to do so. The same principle obtains in the spiritual realm: There is no such thing as putting forth an extraordinary effort of any grace - if it is not in regular exercise.
Returning to our next text: What was the character of the man who gave expression to those God-honoring words? It is very important to weigh carefully the question, for character and conduct are as inseparably connected, as are cause and effect. The answer is supplied in the context. These words issued from the heart of one who was "perfect (sincere) and upright, and one who feared God, and shunned evil" (Job 1:1), which is but an amplified way of saying that he was a pious man.
Now, the first characteristic and evidence of genuine piety is an obedient walk; and obedience is doing the will of God from the heart. Or in other words, obedience is a submission to His authority, a conducting of myself according to the rules He has prescribed for me. If - then, I have formed the habit of conforming to God's perceptive will (which necessarily presupposes denying the lusts of the flesh), there will be little difficulty in submitting myself to His providential will. If I am faithful in doing the former, I shall be unmurmuring in acquiescing with the latter. But if I flout the one, I shall rebel against the other.
"The Lord gave - and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." That was language of one who was accustomed to own the authority of God, as his threefold "the Lord" intimates.
It was the language of one who had surrendered to His righteous claims, and the throne of whose heart was really occupied by Him. It was not the sudden outburst of one who had hitherto followed his own desires and devices - but rather of a genuine saint who had truly been subject to the Divine will. It was the language of one who recognized and owned that God had a perfect right to order his lot and life - just as it seemed good in His sight. It was the language of one who held everything in subjection to the will of Him with whom he had to do. It was not an exceptional spasm of piety - but rather that which made manifest the general tenor of his spirituality. The trials of life neither make, nor mar us, my reader; but instead, they demonstrate what is in us, what we really are: They make manifest the hidden things of our heart.
There is a will of God which we are required to perform - and there is also a will of God in which we should thankfully acquiesce. The former is His perceptive will, which is made known in His commandments; the latter in His providential will, which regulates all our affairs. And the more we perform the former - the easier shall we find it to accept and conform our hearts unto the latter.
Christian submission is, therefore, a twofold thing; or rather, it has respect to two aspects of our duty and has to do with two different relationships which God sustains to us - as our King and our Provider.
~A. W. Pink~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, June 15, 2019
A Prospect of Heaven # 2
A Prospect of Heaven # 2
Let this teach us to moderate our sorrow over departed Christian friends. Do we sigh and lament when any of the family are gone to bed before us, in the evening? Do we cry out, "Woe and alas! My father is fallen asleep, my mother is gone to rest, my sweet child, the delight of my eyes, has closed his eyes, the curtains are drawn about him?" Do we, I say, afflict ourselves in this case? No, surely not. Why, then, do we so here? The case is the same, only if the night is a little longer, the morning will be infinitely more joyous, making us more abundant compensation for our patience and expectation.
We call also the absence of our friends by a wrong name. We say, "My father is dead, my mother is dead, my Isaac is dead." Dead! The letter kills. Death is the most terrible of all things - the very name of it strikes a chilliness and coldness into our hearts. Let us, then, call things as God calls them, and use the notions God has suggested to us. Let us say, "My gracious parent is at rest," and behold, the terror of death will cease.
If God has clothed this horrid thing, death, with softer notions for our comfort - then let not the consolations of the Almighty be a small thing with us. O, what comfortable lives might we live, had we but the right apprehension of things, and faith to realize them! Our friends are not dead, but asleep. "Comfort one another with these words."
2nd. The next consolatory argument is, the hopeful condition of our sleeping gracious relations. Blessed be God, we are not without hope of their happiness, even while they thus sleep.
There are, indeed, those who die, and neither carry away any hope with them, nor leave any hope behind them, to their surviving relations - but "the righteous has hope in his death."
When our gracious relations die there is hope; they are infinite gainers by their death. Sometimes they die full of hope (Job 19:25-27).
Thus, holy Paul: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life" (2 Cor. 5:1-4).
Glorious triumph! Again we find him in his own name, and in the name of other his brethren and companions in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, marching out of the field of this world in a victorious manner, with colors flying and drums beating; and thus exulting over death as a conqueror: "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
O, the superabundant consolation of the heirs of promise! And if the departure of any of the saints of God is under a cloud, so that they are not able to express their own hopes - yet they leave behind them solid scripture evidences of their interest in God's everlasting electing love, and of their effectual calling out of the world into the kingdom and fellowship of His dear Son Jesus Christ, our Lord (Galatians 5:22, 23). Such evidences as:
their poverty of spirit;
their holy mourning for their sins;
their hungering and thirsting after righteousness;
their purity of heart, visible in the holiness of their lives;
their peaceable and peace-making dispositions;
their patience bearing of the cross;
their keeping the precepts of the word of God;
their superlative love to Christ;
their cordial love to the saints;
their contempt of the world;
their desire for Christ's appearance;
in a word, their conformity to Christ, their head.
The remembrance of these graces of the Spirit may well administer abundant matter of hope and rejoicing to surviving friends - that those relations who are fallen asleep were a people whom God has set apart for Himself, precious in His sight, honorable, and beloved by Him; a people formed for Himself, to show forth His praise, and made fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
They who bury their relations and their hopes together in one grave, have just cause for mourning. But with you who, upon these Scripture evidences, have good hope concerning your deceased friends, it is otherwise. You know that while you are mourning on earth - they are rejoicing in Heaven. Do not then, I beseech you, profane your scriptural hope with an unscriptural mourning; give not the world occasion to judge either yourselves to be living without faith, or your relations to have died without hope. Let your Christian moderation be known to all men, that it may be a visible testimony to all the world of God's grace in them, and of your hopes of their glory with God. Therefore comfort one another with this word also.
~Thomas Case~
(The End)
Let this teach us to moderate our sorrow over departed Christian friends. Do we sigh and lament when any of the family are gone to bed before us, in the evening? Do we cry out, "Woe and alas! My father is fallen asleep, my mother is gone to rest, my sweet child, the delight of my eyes, has closed his eyes, the curtains are drawn about him?" Do we, I say, afflict ourselves in this case? No, surely not. Why, then, do we so here? The case is the same, only if the night is a little longer, the morning will be infinitely more joyous, making us more abundant compensation for our patience and expectation.
We call also the absence of our friends by a wrong name. We say, "My father is dead, my mother is dead, my Isaac is dead." Dead! The letter kills. Death is the most terrible of all things - the very name of it strikes a chilliness and coldness into our hearts. Let us, then, call things as God calls them, and use the notions God has suggested to us. Let us say, "My gracious parent is at rest," and behold, the terror of death will cease.
If God has clothed this horrid thing, death, with softer notions for our comfort - then let not the consolations of the Almighty be a small thing with us. O, what comfortable lives might we live, had we but the right apprehension of things, and faith to realize them! Our friends are not dead, but asleep. "Comfort one another with these words."
2nd. The next consolatory argument is, the hopeful condition of our sleeping gracious relations. Blessed be God, we are not without hope of their happiness, even while they thus sleep.
There are, indeed, those who die, and neither carry away any hope with them, nor leave any hope behind them, to their surviving relations - but "the righteous has hope in his death."
When our gracious relations die there is hope; they are infinite gainers by their death. Sometimes they die full of hope (Job 19:25-27).
Thus, holy Paul: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life" (2 Cor. 5:1-4).
Glorious triumph! Again we find him in his own name, and in the name of other his brethren and companions in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, marching out of the field of this world in a victorious manner, with colors flying and drums beating; and thus exulting over death as a conqueror: "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
O, the superabundant consolation of the heirs of promise! And if the departure of any of the saints of God is under a cloud, so that they are not able to express their own hopes - yet they leave behind them solid scripture evidences of their interest in God's everlasting electing love, and of their effectual calling out of the world into the kingdom and fellowship of His dear Son Jesus Christ, our Lord (Galatians 5:22, 23). Such evidences as:
their poverty of spirit;
their holy mourning for their sins;
their hungering and thirsting after righteousness;
their purity of heart, visible in the holiness of their lives;
their peaceable and peace-making dispositions;
their patience bearing of the cross;
their keeping the precepts of the word of God;
their superlative love to Christ;
their cordial love to the saints;
their contempt of the world;
their desire for Christ's appearance;
in a word, their conformity to Christ, their head.
The remembrance of these graces of the Spirit may well administer abundant matter of hope and rejoicing to surviving friends - that those relations who are fallen asleep were a people whom God has set apart for Himself, precious in His sight, honorable, and beloved by Him; a people formed for Himself, to show forth His praise, and made fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
They who bury their relations and their hopes together in one grave, have just cause for mourning. But with you who, upon these Scripture evidences, have good hope concerning your deceased friends, it is otherwise. You know that while you are mourning on earth - they are rejoicing in Heaven. Do not then, I beseech you, profane your scriptural hope with an unscriptural mourning; give not the world occasion to judge either yourselves to be living without faith, or your relations to have died without hope. Let your Christian moderation be known to all men, that it may be a visible testimony to all the world of God's grace in them, and of your hopes of their glory with God. Therefore comfort one another with this word also.
~Thomas Case~
(The End)
Life In The Spirit # 2
Life In The Spirit # 2
A Principle of Spiritual Guidance
There are a great many questions which arise, and which are often asked. They sometimes seem to be theoretical questions, technical questions about the Christian life. Now, we may seek to help one another by giving what we might call a technical answer, an answer, for example, from the Scriptures on some passage or some interpretation. But I am always doubtful as to the real helpfulness of that kind of answer. I think, beloved, there is an answer which goes deeper and which is much more satisfactory.
I have recently been asked a question, and I will answer it publicly so that what help there may be in the answer will be afforded to others. The question turned upon the difficulty over the difference between soul and spirit, and the place which the soul is going to have in the future life. Is it going to have any place at all or is it going to cease? Now you know I might answer a question like that with passages of Scripture, but I do not think that would be the most helpful way, because it would probably raise more questions. But I am going to answer it in this way, because, although we are not dealing now with the matter of soul and spirit, I am seeking to get at a principle of guidance, a principle of spiritual guidance, the law of sonship.
I would ask you, What is your experience as a child of God in the matter of soul and spirit? Perhaps those words are too technical. Let me put it more simply. What is your experience with regard to that side of your life which is directly in touch with the Lord (in the measure in which you have a conscious life in the Lord. I think every child of God ought to have some little measure of a conscious life with the Lord), and that other side of your life which you know to be yourself - not the Lord, but yourself, your natural life; your spiritual life on the one side, and your natural life on the other. Now when, as a child of God, you take just a little excursion into that region which is your natural life, what is the result? It may happen through a slip, a momentary breakdown, an indulgence - "overtaken in a fault" is how the Apostle expresses it - anything which means that, just at that moment, you drop down into the natural life, or the natural life rises up and gets the advantage for the moment, asserts itself and becomes the dominating thing. What is the effect of that upon you? If you are a true child of God are really seeking to live with the Lord, you have a terribly bad time, and it is not just a matter of your conscience in the same way as any man might have a twinge of conscience. You know that there are other factors in this, that of the Lord being grieved, of something between yourself and the Lord having been damaged. It is something much more than just conscience. You have a hard time and you react, you rebound, you are stung by that, and you make haste to get back on the other side. You seek to recover your spiritual ground as soon as you can, with considerable regret and remorse and repentance. What has happened? Well, you have come out of your spirit in its union with God into your soul. You have learned a lesson. You take account of this thing and you say, "How was it that I slipped up there? Why was it, what accounts for that? I will prayerfully watch that in the future. I know now what that means."
Now, it does not follow that you never do slip in the same way again, but as you go on you do spiritually grow out of that particular thing, and what is happening is that in spirit you are taking the mastery of your soul. You are not annihilating your soul, but you are bringing it under government and making it your servant; for mark, that frequently the occasion of stumbling in only the evil form of an expression which in itself may be necessary. Take anger, for example. You You became angry, but you became angry in your nature, your natural life, and it was because there was a self-interest or some self-element in your anger that you had such a bad time. Anger is not evil. "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 711). "Be ye angry, and sin not" (Eph. 4:26). You are therefore not going to annihilate your soul and make anger non-existent. The evil lies in the evil principle that has got hold of it.
What are you going to do then? In spirit you are going to destroy the evil principle and get the mastery of your soul, so that anger is going to serve you. Love may have personal elements in it; but you are not going to annihilate love because you find love trips you up sometimes on a personal line and leads you astray. You are going to destroy the evil principle by the power of the death of Christ and master your soul and bring it under, so that by your spirit you use love, you govern the matter of love. Now then, the point that I am after is not so much the difference between the soul and spirit, but rather something related to the Holy Spirit Himself.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3)
A Principle of Spiritual Guidance
There are a great many questions which arise, and which are often asked. They sometimes seem to be theoretical questions, technical questions about the Christian life. Now, we may seek to help one another by giving what we might call a technical answer, an answer, for example, from the Scriptures on some passage or some interpretation. But I am always doubtful as to the real helpfulness of that kind of answer. I think, beloved, there is an answer which goes deeper and which is much more satisfactory.
I have recently been asked a question, and I will answer it publicly so that what help there may be in the answer will be afforded to others. The question turned upon the difficulty over the difference between soul and spirit, and the place which the soul is going to have in the future life. Is it going to have any place at all or is it going to cease? Now you know I might answer a question like that with passages of Scripture, but I do not think that would be the most helpful way, because it would probably raise more questions. But I am going to answer it in this way, because, although we are not dealing now with the matter of soul and spirit, I am seeking to get at a principle of guidance, a principle of spiritual guidance, the law of sonship.
I would ask you, What is your experience as a child of God in the matter of soul and spirit? Perhaps those words are too technical. Let me put it more simply. What is your experience with regard to that side of your life which is directly in touch with the Lord (in the measure in which you have a conscious life in the Lord. I think every child of God ought to have some little measure of a conscious life with the Lord), and that other side of your life which you know to be yourself - not the Lord, but yourself, your natural life; your spiritual life on the one side, and your natural life on the other. Now when, as a child of God, you take just a little excursion into that region which is your natural life, what is the result? It may happen through a slip, a momentary breakdown, an indulgence - "overtaken in a fault" is how the Apostle expresses it - anything which means that, just at that moment, you drop down into the natural life, or the natural life rises up and gets the advantage for the moment, asserts itself and becomes the dominating thing. What is the effect of that upon you? If you are a true child of God are really seeking to live with the Lord, you have a terribly bad time, and it is not just a matter of your conscience in the same way as any man might have a twinge of conscience. You know that there are other factors in this, that of the Lord being grieved, of something between yourself and the Lord having been damaged. It is something much more than just conscience. You have a hard time and you react, you rebound, you are stung by that, and you make haste to get back on the other side. You seek to recover your spiritual ground as soon as you can, with considerable regret and remorse and repentance. What has happened? Well, you have come out of your spirit in its union with God into your soul. You have learned a lesson. You take account of this thing and you say, "How was it that I slipped up there? Why was it, what accounts for that? I will prayerfully watch that in the future. I know now what that means."
Now, it does not follow that you never do slip in the same way again, but as you go on you do spiritually grow out of that particular thing, and what is happening is that in spirit you are taking the mastery of your soul. You are not annihilating your soul, but you are bringing it under government and making it your servant; for mark, that frequently the occasion of stumbling in only the evil form of an expression which in itself may be necessary. Take anger, for example. You You became angry, but you became angry in your nature, your natural life, and it was because there was a self-interest or some self-element in your anger that you had such a bad time. Anger is not evil. "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 711). "Be ye angry, and sin not" (Eph. 4:26). You are therefore not going to annihilate your soul and make anger non-existent. The evil lies in the evil principle that has got hold of it.
What are you going to do then? In spirit you are going to destroy the evil principle and get the mastery of your soul, so that anger is going to serve you. Love may have personal elements in it; but you are not going to annihilate love because you find love trips you up sometimes on a personal line and leads you astray. You are going to destroy the evil principle by the power of the death of Christ and master your soul and bring it under, so that by your spirit you use love, you govern the matter of love. Now then, the point that I am after is not so much the difference between the soul and spirit, but rather something related to the Holy Spirit Himself.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3)
Saturday, June 8, 2019
A Prospect of Heaven! # 1
A Prospect of Heaven # 1
"I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." (Thessalonians 4:13-18).
What words are these!
Herein does the apostle, by the dictate of the Holy Spirit, lay down a model or platform of consolatory arguments - as so many sovereign antidotes against immoderate sorrow for our godly relations which are departed; and with these words the apostle would have Christians to comfort themselves and one another: "Therefore comfort one another with these words!"
I will improve these:
1st, for Comfort;
2nd, for Counsel.
The words of comfort laid down by the apostle in this model may be reduced to ten heads, some of them very comprehensive, and all of them exceedingly cordial and consoling.
1st. The first word of comfort is this, namely, that our gracious relations, over whose departure we stand mourning and weeping, are but fallen asleep: "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep." We may say of departed saints, as our Saviour said concerning the damsel (Matt. 9:24), they are not dead, but sleep; and as he spoke of Lazarus, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps." (John 11:11).
That which we call death - is not death, indeed, to the saints of God; it is but the image of death, its shadow and metaphor, death's younger brother, a mere sleep, and no more. There are two main properties of death which carry in them a lively resemblance of sleep:
1st. That sleep is nothing else but the binding up of the senses for a little time - a locking up of the doors and shutting the windows of the body for a season, so that nature may take the sweeter rest, being forced from all disturbance and distractions; sleep is but a mere parenthesis to the labors and travails of this present life.
2nd. Sleep is but a partial privation of the act of reason - not of the habit of reason. Those who sleep in the night do awake again in the morning; then the soul returns to the discharge of all her offices again, in the internal faculties to the act of judging, and discourse in the intellect; to recall things for the present and record things for future use in the memory; to its empire and command in the will; to its judicature in the conscience; so also the soul returns to the execution of her functions in the external senses - to seeing, hearing, tasting; to working with the hands, walking, and the rest. In a word, the whole man is restored again to itself, as it were, by a new creation. That which lay as senseless and useless all the night, is raised again more fresh and active in the morning!
Such as this is what we commonly call death, but with this considerable advantage - that in the interim of death the soul acts more vigorously than before, as being released from the weights and entanglements of the body.
First, it is but a longer and closer binding up of the senses, nature's long vacation. The grave is a bed wherein the body is laid to rest, with its curtains drawn close about it, that it may not be disturbed in its repose - so the Holy Spirit pleases to phrase it: "He shall enter into peace, they shall rest on their beds, each one walking in his uprightness" (Isaiah 57:2).
Death is nothing else but a writ of ease to the poor weary servants of Christ - a total cessation from all their labor of nature, sin, and affliction: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labors," etc. (Rev. 14:13). While the souls of the saints rest in Abraham's bosom, their bodies sweetly rest in their beds of dust, as in a safe and consecrated dormitory. Their death is but a sleep.
Secondly. Then again, as they who sleep in the night awake in the morning, so shall the saints of God do! This heaviness may endure for a night (this night of mortality), but joy comes in the morning; in the morning of the resurrection they shall awake again. (Psalm 17:15). It will not be an everlasting night, an endless sleep; but as surely as we awake in the morning, when we have slept comfortably all night - so surely shall the saints then awake, and shall stand upon their feet, and we shall behold them again with exceeding joy.
Oh, blessed morning! How should we long and wait for that morning, more than those who watch for the dawning of the day!
~Thomas Case~
(continued with # 2)
"I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." (Thessalonians 4:13-18).
What words are these!
Herein does the apostle, by the dictate of the Holy Spirit, lay down a model or platform of consolatory arguments - as so many sovereign antidotes against immoderate sorrow for our godly relations which are departed; and with these words the apostle would have Christians to comfort themselves and one another: "Therefore comfort one another with these words!"
I will improve these:
1st, for Comfort;
2nd, for Counsel.
The words of comfort laid down by the apostle in this model may be reduced to ten heads, some of them very comprehensive, and all of them exceedingly cordial and consoling.
1st. The first word of comfort is this, namely, that our gracious relations, over whose departure we stand mourning and weeping, are but fallen asleep: "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep." We may say of departed saints, as our Saviour said concerning the damsel (Matt. 9:24), they are not dead, but sleep; and as he spoke of Lazarus, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps." (John 11:11).
That which we call death - is not death, indeed, to the saints of God; it is but the image of death, its shadow and metaphor, death's younger brother, a mere sleep, and no more. There are two main properties of death which carry in them a lively resemblance of sleep:
1st. That sleep is nothing else but the binding up of the senses for a little time - a locking up of the doors and shutting the windows of the body for a season, so that nature may take the sweeter rest, being forced from all disturbance and distractions; sleep is but a mere parenthesis to the labors and travails of this present life.
2nd. Sleep is but a partial privation of the act of reason - not of the habit of reason. Those who sleep in the night do awake again in the morning; then the soul returns to the discharge of all her offices again, in the internal faculties to the act of judging, and discourse in the intellect; to recall things for the present and record things for future use in the memory; to its empire and command in the will; to its judicature in the conscience; so also the soul returns to the execution of her functions in the external senses - to seeing, hearing, tasting; to working with the hands, walking, and the rest. In a word, the whole man is restored again to itself, as it were, by a new creation. That which lay as senseless and useless all the night, is raised again more fresh and active in the morning!
Such as this is what we commonly call death, but with this considerable advantage - that in the interim of death the soul acts more vigorously than before, as being released from the weights and entanglements of the body.
First, it is but a longer and closer binding up of the senses, nature's long vacation. The grave is a bed wherein the body is laid to rest, with its curtains drawn close about it, that it may not be disturbed in its repose - so the Holy Spirit pleases to phrase it: "He shall enter into peace, they shall rest on their beds, each one walking in his uprightness" (Isaiah 57:2).
Death is nothing else but a writ of ease to the poor weary servants of Christ - a total cessation from all their labor of nature, sin, and affliction: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labors," etc. (Rev. 14:13). While the souls of the saints rest in Abraham's bosom, their bodies sweetly rest in their beds of dust, as in a safe and consecrated dormitory. Their death is but a sleep.
Secondly. Then again, as they who sleep in the night awake in the morning, so shall the saints of God do! This heaviness may endure for a night (this night of mortality), but joy comes in the morning; in the morning of the resurrection they shall awake again. (Psalm 17:15). It will not be an everlasting night, an endless sleep; but as surely as we awake in the morning, when we have slept comfortably all night - so surely shall the saints then awake, and shall stand upon their feet, and we shall behold them again with exceeding joy.
Oh, blessed morning! How should we long and wait for that morning, more than those who watch for the dawning of the day!
~Thomas Case~
(continued with # 2)
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