Aug 20
11
… and were by nature children of wrath, even as others. Eph.2:3
Are you a believer? Are you what is called a saved person, a child of
God? If so, how did that come about? Why did God save you? If your
answer is, “because I believed in Jesus,” then you are over-qualified to
be a candidate for the mercy of God and are therefore deceived and lost.
God saves sinners who are “even as others” and if you have distinguished
yourself from “others” by some kind of faith that you produced, you have
disqualified yourself from receiving the unmerited, free, sovereign,
distinguishing grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our text and its context clearly show that when God, Who is rich in
mercy, displayed and dispensed that mercy upon men, that He did so when
they were just like everybody else. If God saved me because I believed
in Jesus and did not save “others” because they did not believe in
Jesus, then the scriptures are meaningless and there is no such thing as
pure grace.
What does it mean to be “even as other?” Read Ephesians 2. It means to
be “dead in trespasses and sins,” in the “lusts of our flesh,” and to be
“by nature the children of wrath.” You may say, “Well I was a sinner and
God saved me by grace, but I ‘improved’ upon that grace, whereas others
did not.” Then you are not “even as others”; God has surely passed you
by and shall until you become so.
This was the Pharisee’s problem. Luke 18:11. The Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men
are, extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” Real
sinners, such as the publican referred to here, make no such claim, but
only cry out for mercy! If we have any objection to the title “even as
others,” it is only that surely there is no one quite as wretched as
ourselves.
What is your definition of grace? God saved me out of a world full of
drowning worms just like me. If that’s not grace, then I don’t know what
grace is. — Chris Cunningham
All the devil’s tricks!
J.C.Philpot
2Cor. 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Satan is so wily—his agents so surround us—their designs are so masked—their language so plausible—their manners so insinuating—their appearance often so imposing—their arguments so subtle—their activity so unwearied—their insight into our weaknesses so keen—their enmity against Christ and His gospel so implacable—their lack of all principle and all honesty so thorough—that the net may be drawing around us, before we have the slightest suspicion of these infernal plots being directed against us! Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against all the devil’s tricks!
Hitherto!
(Charles Spurgeon)
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying: “Hitherto has the Lord helped us.” 1 Samuel 7:12
The word “hitherto” seems like a hand pointing in the direction of the past.
Twenty years or seventy, and yet, “hitherto the Lord has helped us!”
Through poverty and through wealth,
through sickness and through health,
at home and abroad,
on the land and on the sea,
in honor and in dishonor,
in perplexity and in joy,
in trial and in triumph,
in prayer and in temptation,
“Hitherto has the Lord helped us!”
We delight to look down a long avenue of trees. It is delightful to gaze from end to end of the long vista, a sort of verdant temple, with its branching pillars and its arches of leaves.
In the same way, look down the long aisles of your years, at the green boughs of mercy overhead, and the strong pillars of loving-kindness and faithfulness which bear up your joys. Are there no birds in yonder branches singing? Surely there must be many, and they all sing of mercy received “hitherto.”
But the word hitherto also points forward. For when a man gets up to a certain mark and writes “hitherto,” he is not yet at the end, there is still a distance to be traversed.
More trials and more joys;
more temptations and more triumphs;
more prayers and more answers;
more toils and more strength;
more fights and more victories;
and then come sickness, old age, disease and death!
Is it over now?
No! there is more yet:
awakening in Jesus’ likeness,
glorious thrones,
heavenly harps and songs,
white clothing,
the face of Jesus,
the society of saints,
the glory of God,
the fullness of eternity,
the infinity of bliss!
O be of good courage, believer, and with grateful confidence raise your “Ebenezer,” for He who has helped you hitherto—will help you all your journey through! When read in Heaven’s light, how glorious and marvelous a prospect will your “hitherto” unfold to your grateful eye!
Your burden is on his shoulder!
(adapted from Octavius Winslow’s, “The Believers Triumph”)
Rom. 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us.
Jesus, amid the honours and splendours to which God
has highly exalted him, still remembers his brethren
in bonds, and makes intercession for them.
It is an individual, an anticipative, and a present intercession.
It embraces all the personal needs of each believer,
it precedes each temptation and each trial, and at
the moment that the sympathy and the prayers of
the Saviour are the most called for, and are felt to be
the most soothing, it bears the saint and his sorrow
on its bosom before the throne!
Just at a crisis of his history, at a juncture, perhaps,
the most critical in his life; and when the heart,
oppressed with its emotions, cannot breathe a prayer,
Jesus is remembering him, sympathising with him,
and interceding for him!
Oh, who can fully describe the blessings that flow
through the intercession of the Son of God?
The love,
the sympathy,
the forethought,
the concern,
the minute interest in all our concerns,
are blessings beyond description!
Tried, tempted believer! Jesus makes intercession for you!
Your case is not unknown to him!
Your sorrow is not hidden from him!
Your name is on his heart!
Your burden is on his shoulder!
“Therefore He is able to save completely those
who come to God through Him, because He
always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25
We must be taught of God
J.C.Philpot
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
and I will raise him up at the last day.
Four things are absolutely necessary to be experimentally known and felt before we can arrive at any saving or sanctifying knowledge of the truth—
1. Divine light in the understanding.
2. Spiritual faith in the heart.
3. Godly fear in the conscience.
4. Heavenly love in the affections.
Without light we cannot see. Without faith we cannot believe. Without godly fear we cannot reverentially adore. Without love we cannot embrace Him who is the way, the truth, and the life. We must be taught of God and receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child—or we shall never enter therein.
The Keys of Hell and Death!
Spurgeon, “Christ With the Keys of Death and Hell”
Rev. 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Hell and death, terrible powers as they are, are
not left to riot without government. Jesus holds
the keys of these dreadful regions!
Death is a land of darkness, yet a sovereign eye
surveys it, and a master hand holds its key.
Hell also is a horrible region, where powers of evil
and of terror hold their high court and dread assembly;
but hell trembles at the presence of the Lord, and
there is a throne higher than the throne of evil.
Let us rejoice that nothing in heaven, or earth,
or in places under the earth, is left to itself to
engender anarchy. Everywhere, serene above
the floods, the Lord sits as King forever and ever!
No province of the universe
is free from the divine rule!
Things do not come by chance. Nowhere do chance
and chaos reign, nowhere is evil really and permanently
enthroned. Rest assured that the Lord has prepared his
throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
Christ has the keys of hell and death!
He is the Lord over those dark regions, and rules them
by his sovereignty. Christ is Lord over hell and death.
He actually rules and manages in all the issues of the
grave, and overrules all the councils of hell, restraining
the mischievous devices of Satan, or turning them to
subserve his own designs of good.
Our Lord Jesus Christ still is supreme! His
kingdom, willingly or unwillingly, extends over
all existences in whatever regions they may be!
Jesus rules over the damned spirits!
In this life they would not have him to rule over
them, but in the life to come they must submit
whether they will or not. In that seething caldron
of hell, every wave of fire is guided by the will
of Christ, and the mark of his sovereignty is on
every iron chain.
Thus the ungodly will be compelled to feel his rule with
terror, for although the ferocity of their natures will
remain, yet the boastfulness of their pride shall be
taken from them. Though they would still revolt,
they shall find themselves hopelessly fettered, and
powerless to accomplish their designs.
Though they would sincerely continue stouthearted
as Pharaoh, and cry, “Who is the Lord, that we should
obey his voice?” They shall wring their hands in anguish
and bite their tongues in despair.
One of the great terrors of the lost in hell will be this,
that he who came to save was rejected by them,
and now only reveals himself to them as mighty to
destroy. He who held out the silver scepter when they
would not touch it, shall forever break them with a
rod of iron for their willful impenitence.
“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you be destroyed
in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.”
“Beware you that forget him, lest he tear
you in pieces and there be none to deliver.”
THE LORD FAITHFUL, AND HIS WORD TRUE TO THE LAST
Octavius Winslow
“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” Joshua 23:14
There is no testimony to the faithfulness of God in His Word so convincing and touching as that of the dying believer. If ever a man is sincere, it is then. If ever the veil is laid aside and the soul appears real and undisguised, be it a saint or a sinner, it is at that solemn moment. No motive now exists for the false, and no cloud can conceal the true; the coin that has passed current with many for genuine is now found to be counterfeit, and that which many regarded as counterfeit–even the possessor himself–proves to be genuine! Nature now appears to be but nature; and grace, vindicating its true character, proves itself grace. The specious hope dies, and the true hope gathers life; the false faith sinks, and the real rises; and the timid believer, who went doubting and trembling all the way to Jordan’s brink, plunges boldly into the river, and passes over to the other side, with the paean of triumph breathing sweetly from his lips, “O Death, where is your sting? O Grave, where is your victory?”
Such is the picture which the position of Joshua now presents to our view. He is standing upon the sunny slope, and before the soles of his feet smite the cold waters, he casts a back glance upon all the way the Lord his God had brought him; and in words the most emphatic and impressive, testifies to the divine faithfulness and unchanging love of his covenant God in making good all His great and precious promises He had so graciously given, “Not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord, your God, spoke unto you; all are come to pass.”
Such is the divine assurance with which we conclude our daily thoughts. What more precious truth, blended with sweeter melody, could linger upon the ear as we close the volume than this–God’s faithfulness in the fulfillment of His Word? Let us look at this truth as confirmed by the experience, first, of the living, and then of the dying believer, for both are God’s witnesses.
What is the life of the child of God but a continuous experience of the truth of His Word, and the veracity of His promises? You have, perhaps, been placed in trying circumstances; resources have lessened and demands have increased; your faith has been sharply tried; your spirits depressed; the sky has lowered and the waters have risen; but lo! the Spirit, the Comforter, has guided you to some precious promise which has just met your case. It has touched your heart, moistened your eye, uplifted the pressure, and your whole soul has been, as it were, absorbed in God. And now the harp that hung sad and mute upon the willow is taken down, and thrills with a new song of praise and thanksgiving to the faithfulness of God in the fulfillment of His Word.
Yes, my soul, you can testify to the truth that every sweet invitation and precious promise and loving word of Jesus, upon which He causes your soul to rest in its grief and desolation, has come to pass–not one word has failed. This is a clear proof of God’s veracity in the making good His every word of promise. Has He not promised to provide for you? then trust Him. Has He not pledged Himself to guide you? then commit your way to Him. Has He not undertaken to save you? then believe His Word and pray–“Say unto my soul, I am your salvation.”
Soon the living witness to the faithfulness of the Lord in His Word will become the dying one. When heart and flesh are failing–when the solemn curtain of eternity is rising–when the eye is darkening, and the pulse is sinking, and earth is receding, and eternity is nearing, and, heaven is opening, oh, then, like Joshua, you shall testify to the unchanging love and faithful word and precious comforts and secure supports of your covenant God and redeeming Savior, as He gently leads you down the valley, radiant with His presence, resounding with your song–up the delectable mountains, home to your Father’s House–“Forever with the Lord!”