Dec 10
22
THE GRACIOUS INVITATION
“Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” —Matthew 11:28.
Gracious “word” of a gracious Savior, on which the soul may confidingly repose, and be at peace forever! It is a present rest—the rest of grace as well as the rest of glory. Not only are there signals of peace hung out from the walls of heaven—the lights of Home glimmering in the distance to cheer our footsteps; but we have the “shadow” of this “great Rock!” in a present “weary land.” Before the Throne alone is there “the sea of glass,” without one rippling wave; but there is a haven even on earth for the tempest-tossed—”We who have believed DO enter into rest.”
Reader, have you found this blessed repose in the blood and work of Immanuel? Long going about “seeking rest and finding none,” does this “word” sound like music in your ears—”Come unto Me”? All other peace is counterfeit, shadowy, unreal. The eagle spurns the gilded cage as a poor equivalent for his free-born soarings. The soul’s immortal aspirations can be satisfied with nothing short of the possession of God’s favor and love in Jesus.
How unqualified is the invitation! If there had been one condition in entering this covenant Ark, we must have been through eternity at the mercy of the storm. But all are alike warranted and welcome, and none more warranted than welcome. For the weak, the weary, the sin-burdened and sorrow-burdened, there is an open door of grace.
Return, then, unto your rest, O my soul! Let the sweet cadence of this “word of Jesus” steal on you amid the disquietudes of earth. Sheltered in Him, you are safe for time, safe for eternity! There may be, and will be, temporary tossings, fears, and misgivings—manifestations of inward corruption; but these will only be like the surface-heavings of the ocean, while underneath there is a deep, settled calm. “You will keep him in perfect peace” (lit. peace, peace) “whose mind is stayed on You.” In the world it is care on care, trouble on trouble, sin on sin, but every wave that breaks on the believer’s soul seems sweetly to murmur, “Peace, peace!”
And if the foretaste of this rest be precious, what must be the glorious consummation? Awaking in the morning of immortality, with the unquiet dream of earth over—faith lost in sight, and hope in fruition—no more any bias to sin—no more latent principles of evil—nothing to disturb the spirit’s deep, everlasting tranquility—the trembling magnet of the heart reposing, where alone it can confidingly and permanently rest, in the enjoyment of the Infinite God. “These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace.”
John MacDuff
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Who hath ears to hear
Matthew 13: 1-23
In this parable the Lord teaches his disciples the utmost importance of hearing his gospel preached (Luke 8: 11; 1 Peter 1: 23-25; 1 Corinthians 3: 6-7). Three out of the four hearers are not profited: the wayside hearer is not (Mt 13: 4, 19), the stoney ground hearer is not (Mt 13: 5-6, 20-21), the thorny ground hearer is not (Mt 13: 7, 22). But the good ground hearer hears, understands and bears fruit (Mt 13:23). Therefore, you who have been given ears to hear, take heed to give yourselves to the hearing of the gospel of Christ (Mt 13:9). The Lord gives three reasons why believers should never take for granted the hearing of the gospel preached.
1. God has graciously given to you to know his gospel, but not to others (Mt 13: 10).
2. The Lord says that those he has given spiritual ears and spiritual understanding, shall be given more in abundance as we attend to the hearing of his Gospel. Those who do not continue in his Light, prove they never truly had Light and the Lord promises to take away even the word of the gospel they had (Mt 13: 12). The multitude is the example. For years, God sent his prophets to these natural sons of Abraham but they deemed themselves too wise to need the means which it pleased God to provide. So now, here the Master himself stands sowing before them, but not to them; only to those he had blessed to truly see and hear (Mt 13: 13-16; Ro 10: 14-21). What a witness to his true disciples of the grace he has given (Ro 9: 22-24).
3. The Lord reminds us that we have been given a more full revelation of Christ than even his prophets and saints of old (Mt 13: 17).
So we see, brethren, this privilege is a rich blessing of grace we must never take for granted. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear! (Luke 8: 18).
Clay Curtis
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Chosen of God
Hebrews 5: 1-6
Christ Jesus receives the preeminent glory in the election of God (Isaiah 42:1-4; Col 1: 18, 19.) God’s first choosing was Christ Jesus to represent those God gave him from before the foundation of the world, just as Aaron was chosen of God to represent a particular people (John 6: 39; Eph 1: 3, 4.) And just as Aaron did not take this honor to himself, so also Christ Jesus glorified not himself to be made a priest, but was chosen of God (Hebrews 5: 1-5; John 8: 54.)
What does this have to do with us needy sinners? Every sinner whom God calls in sovereign grace is made a priest unto God through the finished work of Christ (Rev 1: 6; 1 Peter 2: 5) But if Christ Jesus glorified not himself to be made a High Priest then God forbid any sinner glory that by our will we took this honor to ourselves.
Since Adam’s one transgression, every man’s will is bound to choose that which glorifies man, not God (Rom 3: 10-18.) Still, our total inability in no way negates our responsibility to honor God. When the Spirit of God creates a sinner anew, making us to behold our responsibility in the face of our utter inability, the Lord creates peace in the heart, by teaching us, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you…” (John 15: 16.) Dear sinner, no peace compares to this peace! The willing heart which God gives through the power of his grace is the willingness to rejoice in this good news that it was not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son, the satisfaction for our sins (I Peter 2: 9.) By the one offering of our great High Priest He perfected forever them that are sanctified (Heb 10: 14.)
Oh, how we rejoice that our God receives all glory for choosing Christ and for choosing whom HE WILL in our Beloved! Those called of God want it no other way
Clay Curtis.
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Alone
Do you ever feel alone? Seemingly walking another direction from everyone else? Isolated? On your own?
This is not uncommon for the Lord’s people. Sooner or later they will know what it is to walk this path – to be alone. The One they follow, and the Message they bring, is not welcome here, nor is it wanted. As with their Master they will find that others treat them with reserve and distance themselves from them. The world, friends, and even family, misunderstand, misrepresent and misjudge. The gospel of God’s grace is no more welcome today than it was when Christ sent forth His twelve disciples to preach it in their day and generation. The natural man receives not the things of God – he opposes them, rejects them, despises them and closes his ears to them.
It is understandable then, that in the face of such natural opposition, from so many, that the child of God can feel isolated – alone. Like a faint, flickering candle in a very dark room. Yet, whatever the outward appearance, the reality is so different. For I tell you, that however he may feel, the child of God, in Christ, is never, never, alone! Whatever the opposition of men around him, whatever the disinterest, whatever the disdain, he walks with a Companion so close, so true, so faithful, so trustworthy, so near, and in such a union, that the world could never understand! Christ has said unto His own “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” – and He never does! Indeed, the very cause that sets the believer apart from others, that makes him feel alone, is the very same thing that ensures that the believer, unlike any other, is never, ever, truly alone! He has – unlike the wicked who perish – the “one thing needful”… Christ and Him alone. Ian Potts.
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….But whether we can clearly discern the difference between natural and spiritual light or not, or whether we can or cannot clearly describe it, the fact, the grand, the all-important fact still remains the same; that there is in the regenerated family of God a light, a life, a teaching, a power, an unction, a knowledge, a savor, a heavenly blessing, which may be imitated and counterfeited, but still remains unapproached and unapproachable by all but the elect of God. This is “the anointing which teaches of all things, and is truth and no lie,” that peculiar “unction” which is “from the Holy One,” and whereby the saint of God “knows all things.”
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THE LORD MY TEACHER “The Lord is my portion, says my soul.”
“You are a teacher come from God.”–John 3:2 We cannot dispense with any one mediatorial office of Christ, least of all with His office as a PROPHET, or, TEACHER. He came to make known Salvation. Before He could officiate at His altar as Priest, or sit upon His throne as King, He must reveal God’s plan of redemption as a Prophet.
Look, O my soul, at one or two of the qualifications of Jesus as your Teacher. He is a DIVINE Teacher, a “Teacher come from God,” to make Him known, to reveal the mind and to unveil the heart of the Father. His own words are, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knows the Son but the Father; neither knows any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will REVEAL Him.” Oh, what a blessed Revealer of God is Jesus! He lifts the veil and shows me the Father as no planet in its glory could, as no mountain in its magnitude could, as no flower in its beauty could–no, not the greatest, most sublime, and loveliest object in nature could. “He that has seen me, has seen the Father.”
He is also a HUMAN Teacher. We could not learn from angels. Our dulness would weary their patience, our waywardness would exhaust their love, our questions would baffle their knowledge. Our Teacher must be like ourselves, human. “And because he is human, he (the Old Testament high priest) is able to deal gently with the people, though they are ignorant and wayward. For he is subject to the same weaknesses they have.”
He must be gentle, long-suffering, and infinite in knowledge. Such is Jesus. Oh, with what unfaltering love and unwearied patience–bearing with our dullness, indifference, and ingratitude–does Jesus teach us the precious things of His Word, and the yet more glorious and precious things of Himself. “Lord, I would humbly learn from You, and of You, what You are, and what Your truth is–never, never leaving Your feet.”
And what does Jesus teach us? He teaches the plague of our own heart, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the hatefulness and nothingness of self, the emptiness of the creature, and the insufficiency of the world. He makes us acquainted with the heart and character of our Father–His thoughts of peace, His purposes of grace, and designs of mercy. He reveals to us His own glory and beauty, fullness and preciousness. In a word, He teaches every spiritual truth and holy lesson essential to the completeness of our education for a heaven of perfect knowledge, purity, and love.
And how does Jesus teach us? He teaches by the illumination of the Spirit, by the letter of the Word, by the dispensations of His providence, and by the communications of His grace–yes, by all the events and circumstances, joys and sorrows, lights and shadows of our solemn and chequered life. He is teaching you, O my soul, more of your own nothingness and of His all-sufficiency, by one hallowed sorrow, by one fiery temptation, than, perhaps, you have ever learned in all your previous history–for “who teaches like Him?” Oh, what a university in the believer’s training for heaven is Jesus’ school of affliction! The astronomer only efficiently and practically acquires a knowledge of his sublime science when the sun has set, and the sable robe of night drapes every object in ebony gloom. Thus we, the students of a diviner, sublimer, and holier science–“the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”–become the most spiritual and experimental in our attainments, when the sun of earthly good has set, and the starless night of weeping and of woe shuts every ‘creature object’ from our view. Blessed Teacher! You have often taught me in the deepest darkness of adversity, more than I ever learned in the brightest sunshine of prosperity!”O Lord! give Your servant a lowly, meek, and teachable spirit, willing to learn any lesson or truth in any school or way Your infinite wisdom and love may appoint.”
“Your way, not mine, O Lord,
However dark it be!
Lead me by Your own hand,
Choose out the path for me.” Octavius Winslow
Let us sing of electing love: “Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For, Lord, that could not be;This heart would still refuse Thee,
But Thou hast chosen me. My heart owns none before Thee;
For thy rich grace I thirst;This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first.” (Josiah Conder)
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SOVEREIGNTY “How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God!”
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Isaiah 45:7What a sad world this would be, were it governed by Fate. Were its blended lights and shadows, its joys and sorrows, the result of capricious accident—blind and wayward chance! How blessed to think that each separate occurrence that befalls me is “a thought of God”—the fulfillment of His own immutable purpose. Is it the outer material world? It is He who “forms the light and creates darkness”—who appoints the sun and moon for their seasons—who gives to the sea its decree—who watches the sparrow in its fall—who tends the lily in the field—and who paints the tiniest flower that blossoms in the meadow.
Is it the moral world? All events are predetermined and prearranged by Him. It is He who makes peace and creates evil. Prosperity and adversity are His appointment. The Lord who of old prepared Jonah’s shade-plant, prepared also the worm. He gives and He takes away. He molds every tear. He “puts them into His bottle.” He knows them all, counts them all, treasures them all. Not one of them falls unbidden—unnoted.
“The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” Over every occurrence in nature and in providence He writes, “I the Lord do all these things.”
True, His thoughts are often mysterious, His ways past finding out. We are led at times, amid the bewildering mazes of His providential dealings, to exclaim, “O Lord, how great are Your works, and Your thoughts are very deep!” Be it ours to defer our verdict until their full development. We cannot envision the thoughts and intents of the architect or engineer in the first clearing of the ground for the foundation of some gigantic structure. The uninitiated eye can discover nothing but deep unsightly scars, or piles of unshapely rubbish—a chaos of confusion. But gradually, as week by week passes, we see his thoughts molding themselves into visible and substantial shapes of order and beauty; and when the edifice at last stands before us complete, we discern that all which was mystery and confusion at first, was a necessary part and portion of the undertaking.
So is it, at present, regarding “the thoughts of God.” Often, in vain, do we try to comprehend the purposes of the Almighty Architect amid the dust and debris of the earthly foundations. Let us wait patiently until we gaze on the finished structure of eternity. Oh, blessed assurance—’precious thought’ of God—that the loom of life is in the hands of the Great Designer—that it is He who is interweaving the threads of existence, the light and the dark, the acknowledged good and the apparent evil. The chain of what is erroneously called “destiny,” is in His keeping. He knows its every connecting link—He has forged these on His own anvil. Man’s purposes have failed, and are ever liable to fail—his brightest anticipations may be thwarted; his best-laid schemes may be frustrated.
Life is often a retrospect of crushed hopes—the bright rainbow-hues of morning, passing in its afternoon into damp mist and drizzling rain. “Many are the thoughts in a man’s heart,” (which know no fulfillment nor fruition,) “but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.”“From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do. No one can reverse My actions.” Isaiah 43:13 John MacDuff.
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PEACE IN BELIEVING
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world gives.” —John 14:27
“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You.” “Perfect peace!”—what a blessed attainment! My soul! is it yours? I am sure it is not, if you are seeking it in a perishable world, or in the perishable creature, or in your perishable self. Although you have all that the world would call enviable and happy, unless you have peace in God, and with God, all else is unworthy of the name—a spurious thing, which the first breath of adversity will shatter, and the hour of death utterly annihilate! Perfect peace! What is it? It is the peace of forgiveness. It is the peace arising out of a sense of God reconciled through the blood of the everlasting covenant—resting sweetly on the bosom, and the work of Jesus—to Him committing your eternal all.
My soul! stay yourself on God, so that this blessed peace may be yours. You have tried the world. It has deceived you. Prop after prop of earthly scaffolding has yielded, and tottered, and fallen. Has your God ever done so? Ah! this false and counterfeit world-peace may do well for the world’s work, and the world’s day of prosperity. But test it in the hour of sorrow; and what can it do for you when it is most needed? On the other hand, what though you have no other blessing on earth to call your own? You are rich indeed, if you can look upwards to Heaven, and say with an unpresumptuous smile, “I am at peace with God.” John MacDuff
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(extract from) Jesus the Great Prophet to His people by J.C. Philpot
One of the four promises of the New Covenant is, “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts.” (Heb. 8:10.) This putting of his laws into their minds, and writing them in their hearts, is the fulfillment of the general promise to the Lord’s family as opened up by the Lord himself, “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.” (John 6:45.) To share, then, in divine teaching is to possess a sure and blessed evidence of being a child of God. But the question still arises–What are the marks and what the effects of this divine teaching? In a day like the present when “many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased,” it is easy to be deceived with the mere natural and notional knowledge of the letter of truth, and mistake light upon the word for the light of life in the soul. The distinction between them is better felt than described; for as you cannot explain light to a person born blind, or the sound of music to one that is deaf and dumb, so you cannot by mere words lay open the deep mystery of divine life in the heart; nor indeed do we claim to ourselves an unfailing discernment.”For neither man nor angel can discern
Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks
Invisible, except to God alone.”–Milton.