1) <DEVOTIONAL>
I TRUST IN
THY WORD - PS 119:42
George
Mueller
Just in proportion in which we believe that God will do just what
He has said, is our faith strong or weak. Faith has nothing to do with
feelings, or with impressions, with improbabilities, or with outward
appearances. If we desire to couple them with faith, then we are no longer
resting on the Word of God because faith needs nothing of the kind. Faith rests
on the naked Word of God. When we take Him at His Word, the heart is at peace.
God delights to exercise faith, first for blessing in our own
souls, then for blessing in the Church at large, and also for those without. But
this exercise we shrink from instead of welcoming. When trials come, we should
say: "My Heavenly Father puts this cup of trial into my hands, that I may have
something sweet afterwards."
Trials are the food of faith. Oh, let us leave ourselves in the
hands of our Heavenly Father! It is the joy of His heart to do good to all His
children.
But trials and difficulties are not the only means by which faith
is exercised and thereby increased. There is the reading of the Scriptures, that
we may by them acquaint ourselves with God as He has revealed Himself in His
Word.
Are you able to say, from the acquaintance you have made with God,
that He is a lovely Being? If not, let me affectionately entreat you to ask God
to bring you to this, that you may admire His gentleness and kindness, that you
may be able to say how good He is, and what a delight it is to the heart of God
to do good to His children.
Now the nearer we come to this in our inmost souls, the more ready
we are to leave ourselves in His hands, satisfied with all His dealings with us.
And when trial comes, we shall say:
"I will wait and see what good God will do to me by it, assured He
will do it." Thus we shall bear an honorable testimony before the world, and
thus we shall strengthen the hands of others.
2)
<BIBLE-STUDY>
CLEANSED BY BLOOD AND WASHED BY WATER
(PART-14)
Charles
Stanley*
The
security of the true Christian (contd): Will you now turn to
Hebrews 6:1-6? 'Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from
dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying
on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this
will we do, if God permit.
For it is
impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly
gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word
of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew
them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God
afresh, and put him to an open shame'.
Oh, the darkness,
and difficulty many have through misuse of these verses! Surely then they must
misunderstand them altogether. Now, clearly, if these verses mean that a
believer, who has eternal life, and is for ever perfected by the one offering of
Christ, may nevertheless fall away; then they also prove the impossibility of
such an one ever being restored to repentance.
Now this would
prove too much, both for the men of the unsteady plank, and the men of the
moving sand-bank; but what do they mean? If you look at the context you learn in
the end of chapter 5 that the believing Hebrews had not gone on to perfection,
or full mature Christian truth. They were still occupied with truths known by
them as Jews, such as repeatedly laying again the foundation of repentance, like
the yearly day of atonement; of the doctrine of baptisms or frequent washings of
water, as the priests, and believing priests, were still practising; the laying
on of hands on the heads of goats and bullocks, etc.
Remember, the
temple was still standing, and the multitude of them that believed more or less
were practising its rites and occupied with its doctrines. As for resurrection
of the dead and eternal judgment, all these had had their place; but now
believers were to go on to perfection, to the full developed Christian
truth.
And this the
apostle does in this Epistle, showing that Christian truth is in direct contrast
with the old shadows of the law. And in these very verses the contrast is sharp
and striking. The very plan of Judaism, or the law, was constant renewals. If a
man sinned, he must bring a fresh victim. His hand must be laid upon it; it must
be killed. There must be a fresh application of blood, and his relationship with
God (such as it was) is renewed or restored.
---
*[Edited by Hugo Bouter]
3) <BIBLE-STUDY>
THOUGHTS ABOUT ADAM, OUR FIRST
FATHER - (PART-7)
Charles E. Wigg
The
yearning of the heart of God: God
came down, just as if nothing had happened. Of course he knew what had taken
place, He knew that it would happen even before the creation of the world. But
such was God's fairness that he came down just as if nothing had happened. But
Adam and his wife were not there; they were hiding from the presence of Him who
was the source of all goodness.
When
God entered the garden He called out, "Where art thou?" and God in His grace has
been calling to lost men ever since. There seems to be a plaintive note in that
call. It reveals the grief of God's great heart that the man whose eternal
blessing He seeks should try to hide from Him. That man should hide in his heart
feelings of enmity, of distrust, that with many has turned to hatred, when He
only seeks their present and eternal happiness. How sad it is that even today,
lost and guilty men still prefer to believe Satan's lie, and to continue in his
slavery, and reject God's truth, and His salvation that He freely offers in
Christ.
God is not an accuser:
God knew what the man and the woman had done, but He never accused them
of breaking His one command. In stead He asked Adam the question, when he
admitted that he was naked, and that he knew it. "Who told thee that thou art
naked, hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest
not eat?" We may wonder, why did God ask such a question, when He knew full well
what Adam had done? The answer is that God gave man an opportunity to confess to
what he had done. But did hr confess? No, he blamed his wife, and in part blamed
God for his fall. Because God had given the woman to man, thus he inferred that
if God had not given her to him it never would have happened! Men have not
changed, have they? We still blame our wives for so much that we are guilty of
doing ourselves. Man refused to confess to his guilt and rebellion, and even
today men are loath to confess what they know to be true. But there can never be
any forgiveness without the free confession of our guilt. 1John,
1:9.
God
then gave the woman the opportunity to confess what she had done, but she did
not confess either. God asked her, "What is this that thou hast done?" But like
her husband she 'passed the buck', she avoided accepting responsibility, she
blamed the serpent. She also was not willing to own up, to confess what she had
done.
God
then turned to the serpent as it writhed on the ground. He did not ask the
serpent what it had done, we may wonder why. I believe that the answer lies in
the fact that there is no salvation for Satan. There is a lake that burns with
fire and brimstone that is prepared for him and his angels. Matt. 25:41. (It was
never prepared for men), but sad to say there are countless numbers of Adam's
descendants that will be cast in there with Satan, because they have chosen to
reject God's salvation.
God
then passed the sentence of judgement on Satan, telling that He would put enmity
between Satan and the woman, Satan's seed and the seed of the woman, that He
would crush the head of the Serpent, but in doing so, would Himself be bruised
and suffer greatly. Thus as God passed the sentence of Judgment, He also
promised a Redeemer and Saviour. This greatest human tragedy that was brought
about by Satan, would give God the opportunity to reveal His love, in a way that
men could never have understood otherwise. Oh the depth of the riches both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God! [To be concluded]
---
[Reproduced by
permission]
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