From reading some old books I’ve discovered a missing spiritual dimension. The Lord is inviting us to reclaim it.
A few months ago I went on a special diet. I put aside all newly published books and limited my reading to a small collection of Christian classics, mostly devotional works by Andrew Murray, Watchman Nee, E.M. Bounds, Charles Spurgeon, A.B. Simpson and Corrie Ten Boom. I knew God had a message for me in those musty pages.
I had noticed a similar theme in all these books, but it took me a while to crack the code. These writers from the 19th and 20th centuries wrote from a spiritual depth that I rarely see in the church today, and I wanted to know their secret. I slowly began to figure things out while reading A.B. Simpson’s book, A Larger Christian Life, which he wrote in 1890 when the Holiness Movement was at its zenith in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »
“Awake thou that sleepest.” (Eph. 5:14)
I put before you now a simple question. Look through the pages of this paper and you will soon see why I ask it. “Are you asleep about your soul?”
There are many who have the name of Christians, but not the character, which should go with the name. God is not King of their hearts. They mind earthly things.
Such persons are often quick and clever about the affairs of this life. They are, many of them, good men of business, good at their daily work, good masters, good servants, good neighbors, good subjects of the Queen: all this I fully allow. But it is the eternal part of them that I speak of; it is their never dying souls. And about that, if a man may judge by the little they do for it, they are careless, thoughtless, reckless, and unconcerned. They are asleep.
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One of my joys as a pastor is to guide people through God’s Word and explain its implications on their lives. It thrills me to help others by clarifying a point of doctrine, interpreting a difficult verse, or answering any number of other questions. Among the concerns people raise, I can’t remember the last time someone asked me if it was wrong to lie, to cheat, to steal, to commit murder, to commit adultery, or to covet. It’s also been a long time since anyone wanted to know whether a Christian should read the Bible, pray, or tell others about salvation in Jesus Christ. The Bible is pretty clear about those things.
There is, however, one class of question that falls somewhere in the middle. These are the issues dealing with Christian freedom–things that fall in the “gray” area. What entertainment is acceptable? What kind of music is okay? What can a Christian do or not do on Sunday? What about what you wear, what you eat and drink, or how you spend your free time–does the Bible address those things? Read the rest of this entry »
“There are plenty to follow our Lord half-way but not the other half. They will give up possessions, friends and honors but it touches them too closely to disown themselves.”-Meister Eckhart
Are you following God’s faintest whisper? Can He trust you to obey no matter how much He asks of you? Does He know that here is one, who, though others may falter and fall, will stand secure?
A person like that only comes along once in a while. Having looked at the world and all it has to offer, they turn away, not in resignation but in disgust. They don’t want it–not any of it. Their lot has been completely cast in with God.
They walk, stumbling and falling sometimes as we all do but, instead of staying fallen, they get back up and seeking the Lord’s help, they continue on their journey towards holiness and Home. Read the rest of this entry »
It is interesting to note that some of the saints are beginning to awaken to the meaning of world events shaping up so perfectly according to Bible pattern. One of the leading papers of my own denomination has lately carded a full page article on the German-Russian confederacy in the light of the Word. In November there is to be held in New York City a great Prophetic conference with over a score of speakers from many different bodies of believers.
It would be unbelievable that so many Christians should be so indifferent to the signs of the times did we not know that such a fact itself is a sign of the times for in the last clays scoffers shall arise. There are thousands of Christians in all our denominations to whom the great prophetic portions of the Scriptures are abandoned areas left to students of apocalyptic. It is amazing that Christians who claim to believe the Bible take almost a sneering attitude toward a subject that covers a tremendous part of the Bible. Take out of the Bible all that deals with prophesy and it would look like a Polish town after bombardment. Yet prophecy is dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders as though it were the crossword puzzle section of the Bible, provided for those who seek that sort of entertainment.
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For the past several months, I have been reading the Old Testament slowly and systematically, and it has done my soul good. I have always majored on the New Testament, and I’m sure that this will always be the case; after all, that is OUR Covenant. But there has been something very rich and meaningful that I’ve been enjoying in mulling over God’s dealings with humanity prior to the coming of Jesus.
Paul was referring to the Old Testament writings when he said, “Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action).[i] Paul further validated the value of the Old Testament in Romans 15:14 and 1 Corinthians 10:11.
- “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” (NKJV)
- “All these events happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us, who live at the time when this age is drawing to a close.” (NLT)
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Let the Christian rest content with his worldliness and with this renunciation of any higher standard than the world. He is living for the sake of the world rather than for the sake of grace. Let him be comforted and rest assured in his possession of this grace – for grace alone does everything. Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of his grace!
That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sins departs.
Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.
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