"IS THERE NO END?"

For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

(Prov. 23:18)

Our title is a well-worn term used freely during the worst of times, is it not? Along with its kin that falls into the same category, “Will this never end?” At such times we join the suffering stripe who declare , “In the morning thou shalt say, ‘Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning!’”  Around the clock carefulness.

But there is good news: the long night of darkness will ultimately come to an end and unexpected joy will follow in the morning. Then we’ll AMEN! the wise man’s saying, “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning,” Ecc. 7:8. Peter, who knew a little of dark days, tells us, “Hope to the end,” 1 Pet. 1:13. Remember, at the end is the start of a new beginning!

The writer of Hebrews admonishes us to “hold... our confidence steadfast unto the end,” Heb. 3:14. If so, you’ll find yourself a happy camper at the end. Job did. “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy, Jam. 5:11. 

Habakkuk speaking of a particular promise says, “[It is] for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak...though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry,” Hab. 2:3. I have come to love the scripture, “Then cometh the end, 1 Cor. 15:24. Until “the end of all things is at hand...watch unto prayer,” 1 Pet. 4:7. 

“We should joyfully anticipate the end; for when it arrives we shall find ‘HIM’ awaiting us. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” 

Rev. 22:13

(rds)

COURAGE THAT COUNTS

“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

(Ja. 4:17)

There are many acts of courage but, I believe, none so courageous as a man or woman following through on what God shows them. True, some things are to be kept quiet till God’s bidding; but once bidden we’re to “shout” it from the rooftops. It can be a serious thing not to complete what you know to be from God! Light rejected brings greater darkness. Let us be true to what’s shown us.

I have often said when instructing others, “When you know what God wants you to do, do it! If you don’t, the devil will talk you out of it.” Truly, some of us need the courage of our convictions. For many years now I have prayed for my older preacher/writer son Andrew , that the Lord would show him him what He wants of him; and then he’d have the courage to see it all the way through.

Many, when seeing a small light from underneath the door wait for more light, but none will come. The Bible principle is: if you’re not faithful with a little light, you won’t be with any more, if not true to the limited light you have. If you follow the light you have, you’ll find on the other side of that door there is light that will blind the sun! Follow your light, “In thy light shall we see light,” Psa. 36:9.

“But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

(Prov. 4:18)

WHAT IMPRESSES JESUS?

“And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, He said,  As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

(Lk. 21:5-6)

The disciples like many of us were easily impressed, at times with the wrong things. Jesus was not impressed with inanimate things (lifeless), like great buildings. The things that captured His attention were  animate things (lively), not so much people in general, but godly people. In our context He had just called attention to the poor widow who had given her all, but was unmoved by the building itself. We need to rethink our priorities: is it the perishable or non-perishable that impresses us?

There is no question our Lord was taken by the great faith of the centurion in Lk. 7:6-9. So much so we are told, “Jesus...marvelled at him.” And what of the Syrophenician woman in Matt.15:21-28? What said He of her? “O woman, great is thy faith.” Can any deny the fact the sweet aroma of Mary’s alabaster box impressed Jesus to no end? So much so that He made sure its fragrance would be passed from generation to generation; it’s now been over two thousand years. It’s as potent now as it was then!

"You can tell a lot about a person by what impresses him. Jesus leaves one with a lasting impression!"

(rds)

ANTINOMIANISM

“...(as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just….What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound…God forbid...shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”

(Rom. 3:8;6:1,2,15)

The simplest definition of antinomianism is: the view that Christians are released by grace from their obligation of observing the moral law (Ten Commandments). There's a popular teaching today (especially among the younger generation), that a saint can live as he or she pleases, no moral constraint. 

This teaching is completely foreign to the doctrine of the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul. A study of his writings show he mentions all the Commandments, with the exception of the keeping of the Sabbath. And that they are characteristic in the life of all professing believers! Grace doesn’t have a lesser standard than the Law. 

When grace smiles upon sin, it becomes a disgrace! There is most definitely grace for sin, but not grace to sin. To sin wilfully one need not expect grace, but consequences. There was no sacrifice in the Old Testament for presumptuous sins. Grace didn’t throw a stone but did say, “Sin no more.”That is, stop your sinning!

“Sin crucified grace; don’t expect compatibility!”

(rds)

SUPERSTITIOUS SAINTS

"I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious."

(Acts 17:22)

I believe there are basically three steps in making a religious mold. First, you create a habit, which in time becomes a tradition, generally ending in superstition. Granted, the former two are accepted and even useful, in a scriptural context; the third one, never. The two goods can add up to bad if the third is added to the equation.   

Forming a good and godly habit that becomes more or less traditional can be an excellent thing. But when, for example, your posture, as well as your petitions, in prayer end in superstition, that mold needs to be broken. The same can be true of our Bible reading,  as well as scores of other spiritual rituals we adhere to.

Whenever a child of God is held to some type of a formal, ritualistic pattern, no matter how acceptable, that leaves them feeling a kind of pagan taboo is upon them, they have become a superstitious saint.

If this be true of any of us, I think it time we break the mold. Don't you agree?

A Snapshot From Scripture

UNCERTAINTY

"Neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee...
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see...
the LORD...will shew...you."

(2Chr. 20:12;Ex. 14:13)

THOUGHT

When you’re sure of nothing else you can be sure of God.

A WORLD OF WICKEDNESS

“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”

(1 Jn. 5:19)

When the Bible uses the word “world” its definition is not all-inclusive, but has various meanings. The word can mean: earth, 2 Pet. 2:5; sin, 2 Pet. 2:20; people, Jn. 3:16; unbelievers, 1 Jn.3:1,13; possessions, 1 Jn. 3:17; the after-life, Lk. 18:30; and its system, Col. 2:8,20. It is important that saints be clear on its state and condition. The main goal of the present world is to make us dissatisfied with the Spiritual, and to find all our pleasure in the things of this world. Thus, “Love not the world.” That is, do not set your affections on it. ( 1 Jn. 2:15 cp. Col. 3:2)

Someone has said, “The world is an insane asylum run by the inmates.” This present world is not one of righteousness but wickedness, and it's worldwide in its scope. Its god is Satan and its philosophy anti-Christ. As the pre-Adamic world was corrupt before God and full of evil and violence before He destroyed it, so it was with the one that followed. Mankind carried its sinful infection over onto the one in which we now dwell. The first perished in water; the latter will be with fire. Complete renovation awaits the earth we inhabit now.

Neither Jesus nor the writers of the New Testament had anything good to say of the present world’s system. Its rudimental teachings on God and life is rotten to the core! Once you’re contaminated with its virus, it spreads rapidly and is very contagious to those close by. I read once that if a seagull has just a spot of oil on its wing, it can no longer fly into the heavens. James tells us, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this...to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Ja. 1:27. We're like ice that has been loosened in a tray, it's in the tray but no longer of the tray.

BARGAIN BASEMENT BELIEVERS

“And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will... I will...”

(Gen. 28:20,22)

As admirable as it may seem at a random first glance, we need  to take a second  look at our text, with some thought. There’s no question it is most commendable to hold up one's end of the bargain in doing right after God honors our promise. But what if He doesn’t come through, so to speak, on our terms? Are we then justified in not doing right? Is it not always right to do right? In all our requests, we should say, “If thou won’t, I will”; that is, if you don’t grant it, I’ll still do right! You can have confidence in knowing that He will always do right toward you, no matter the case.

Know of a certainty we carry within our bosoms the Jacob syndrome when we get into the “Wheel and Deal” business with God. When I was a boy the stores advertised “Bargain Basement Sales.” These special cheap deals were held in the lower level of the store. Whenever a saint tries to bargain with God, he or she is in the basement part of Christianity—the lower level. God is preeminently the deal maker, “If thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight…I will be with thee.” His best deals are on the top floor!

GOD’S SOVEREIGN RIGHTS

“Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?”

(Matt. 20:15)

In Jesus’ Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16) one of the many truths taught is His absolute sovereign right to do with His own as He pleases. Those who murmer, complain, and kick at this fact show that they are void of any understanding of what true Lordship involves.

It’s the potter who has all the rights, not the clay! Therefore, He can do with His own as He pleases; but His own cannot do as they please, only what pleases Him. “The man Christ Jesus,” when walking this earth, left us an example in this respect, “I do always those things that please Him.”

Our Creator is a royal, supreme, omnipotent, sovereign God; and He is to be trusted unreservedly as a good God in all His acts in our lives!  We must believe that there are times when He must hurt us to help us. Setting a broken leg can be very painful, but in time you’ll be able to walk straight again.

THE CURE FOR COLDNESS

“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter...And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.”

( Jn.10:22;18:18)

My mentor, Evangelist Dr. Joe Henry Hankins, used to say, “Peter was at the fire but not on fire.” This was not true of my teacher’s life. The old Methodist preacher, Fighting Bob Shuler, wrote in an introduction of one of Dr. Hankins’ books that he was “a steam engine in britches.” That old man’s wick burned all the way down to the end! Just before his death, while in a meeting, I asked him to preach a message just for me, a young evangelist. His answer, “I’ll do it, sonny boy.” That Sunday evening he preached on Caleb, “The man who served God eighty-five years and never failed Him once.”

The secret to long service is fervency; it will take care of any cold around you. When Jesus prayed, we are told that He sweat. Interestingly, it was in the cold of winter. As the Puritan said, “He was clothed in fervency.” It was the fervent prayer of a righteous man that James speaks of. Jesus’ service to His God was as a white-hot poker, if you please. It is said of David Brainard, missionary to the American Indian, that in winter he would wrap himself in a blanket to pray and that the snow around him would melt. Is this not what Paul teaches us when he admonishes us to be “fervent in spirit”?

We are told of the Old Testament sacrifice upon the altar, “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out,” Lv. 13:6. We need once again, as Isaiah of old, to have the Lord touch us with live coals from off the altar. Jeremiah had a holy fire raging within him for his God. As one old saint said, “The fire that is within me does not desire any water.” The early saints new nothing of artificial fireplaces; you weren’t left cold when sitting around theirs, you felt warm all over! Some of us need to, as my dad would do when I was a boy, stoke the coals in our old potbelly stove.

“The fire that was within the Martyrs was greater than that which burned without, at their feet.”

(rds)

THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST’S COMING

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”

(1 Peter  3:18)

The purpose of “The Man Christ Jesus” coming to earth was first, foremost, and forever, to bring us to God; all else must fall under this category. He is the rent veil that allows us to enter into the very presence of God. He told the people of His day that no man can come to the Father but by Him. And that no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him.

There is a great danger today in stopping short of Jesus’ main mission: that being to make known to us the Father. The Lord Jesus is the mediator, not the end! Normally prayers are to the Father in Jesus’ name, not directly to Christ Himself. He is our great High Priest, He is our representative. Paul offers his prayers to God the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ never meant for us to emphasize Him and forget the Father.

The carnal Corinthian church had four man-made sects within it: the one saying, “I am of Paul”; another “I am of Apollos”; and a third boasting, “I am of Cephas”; and the most dangerous of the four, says one old devine, “I am of Christ.” The last group’s thinking was that the hallmark of spirituality was making much of Christ at the expense of the Father. If, as the camp meeting preacher said, “To glorify God is to make Him look good,” then Jesus did an excellent job.” He spent His life on earth telling people of His glorious Father. If you’ll pardon the expression, He bragged on Him constantly.

Anyone who might have a problem with this truth, the Father-Son relationship, can find the cause in their human nature. You see, there is no jealousy in the Godhead! Just in our head.

A VERY DIFFICULT THING TO DO

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

(Pro. 3:5)

One of the most difficult things in the Christian life, I find, is in learning to cease attempting to lean on my natural understanding in spiritual matters and to trust the Lord. Notice in our text you need not go to the Hebrew to find the meaning of the word trust. The English interprets it for you, to trust in, is to lean on, 2 Kgs. 18:21. To trust in your own understanding is to lean on something weak and unreliable for aid, like going to a shallow river or swamp and taking a straight hollow stalk from the tall grasses to lean on as support.

Understanding comes with time, hindsight, if you please. Jesus told Peter, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” When our Lord spoke to His disciples concerning His upcoming sufferings, death, and resurrection, we’re told they understood not the meaning. But afterward we find they did. The book of Hebrews teaches us, “By faith we understand…” When things happen in our lives hard to be understood that is when we need to trust God. “Then opened He their understanding.” If we patiently wait, our “then” time will come!

Tempted and tried we're oft made to wonder

Why it should be thus all the day long

While there are others living about us

Never molested though in the wrong

Farther along we'll know all about it

Farther along we'll understand why

Cheer up my brother live in the sunshine

We'll understand it all by and by.

THE WRONG RING

“Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.”

(Jud. 12:6)

Here we have a people tested who said they were, but were not, Rev.2:2. These pseudo same-alikes had trouble with saying just one word. As a result of not being able to pronounce it right, they were found wanting.

And so it is among a great host of professing Christians today. When they pronounce the word, “LORD,” it just doesn’t come out right. But those who know Him as such can spot them. Like real crystal when tapped with a fork, it has a certain pleasant ring to it; whereas a fake crystal brings forth only a dull sound.

Paul tells us no man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, 1Cor. 12:3 cp. Mk. 12:36. That is in truth, not actuality. Jesus says in the day of judgement many will say to Him, “Lord, Lord”; but his answer, says He, will be, “I never knew you.”

The question Jesus puts to all imitation saints is a very searching one, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” When acknowledging Christ’s Lordship in his life, Paul added, “What wilt thou have me to do,” Acts 9:6. True Lordship always carries with it apprenticeship!

THE CHANGES TIME BRINGS

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old...another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”

(John 21:18)

Time brings changes and those changes are not always what we planned or prefer. In our youth most of us, if not all, had a fanciful ideal of what life held for us; but as many of us grew older we found the road we traveled could take a detour, with a drastically sharp turn. In early life we do pretty much what we want, but later on find there are things we’re compelled to do, things out of our control,  things we’d not chose to do. Like Samson of old found, we cannot do things the way we formerly did.

When change for the, seemingly, worst comes we are apt to be aggravated by the bitterness of the circumstances, for remembering the sweeter times of health, prosperity, and happiness. But at such times we need to be reminded of Job’s words to his wife, “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”  Life is made up of the bitter and the sweet. He mingles them together; it's called, “Bittersweet!” This is the teaching of Romans eight-twenty eight.

Each of us needs to accept the fact, as the life of darling David teaches, the time will come when we can no longer go out, as at other times, to fight the giants of life, as we would like; others will be called in to do for us what we can no longer do, 2 Sam. 21:16-17. There is no shame in submitting to and admitting to our frailties. As Matthew Henry writes, “When one becomes a Christian he does not put off the man.” Don’t spend your time thinking about what you can’t do now, but what you did do then!  

FORGET-ME-NOT

“And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.”

(Acts 22:20)

My title is not in reference to a plant but rather a person. I was once confronted by a pseudo macho male who liked to flex his spiritual muscles, who said to me, “You’ll not soon forget me.” To which I replied, “O yes I will, your kind is easy to forget.” (I remember the incident, not the person). Some depart this life without ever being desired. (2 Chron. 21:20)

Stephen was one of those people who found a permanent lodging in the mind and heart of those who came in contact with him. Paul carried the memory of this godly man to the end of his life. This saintly man, we are told, was honest; full of the Holy Ghost, wisdom, faith and power; who performed great wonders and miracles among the people; who possessed an irresistible spirit; whose countenance was like that of an angel;  who had a forgiving spirit surpassed by none but his Lord. (Acts 6)

Such a man is unforgettable!  “The memory of the just is blessed.” (Prov. 10:7).

“The saints who are remembered are those who forgot themselves!”

(rds)

IT'S YOUR CROSS YOU’RE TO BEAR

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

(Lk. 9:23)

Contrary to the accepted belief (that believers are to bear Christ’s cross), I lean rather toward the belief that each of us has his or her own personal cross to bear. We’re to daily take up our cross, not His. None of us could handle His! They placed on Simon, a Cyrenian, Christ’s Cross to carry (Mk. 15:21); but when you read Jn. 19:17, you find it was Jesus who ended up carrying it to Golgotha. There is a cross that has our name on it.  It is this designated cross we’re to bear, not another's.

In Jesus’ day when a person was seen carrying a cross, you knew they were not headed for a picnic! It spoke of suffering, shame, and certainly no far-reaching plans, but only that which was before them. To take up your cross is one of those “hard sayings” in the Bible. As one old devine said, “Christ hath many lovers of His Kingdom, but few lovers of the cross; many who follow Him to the breaking of the bread, few to the drinking of the cup. ”  Must Jesus bear the Cross alone?

“The Cross of Christ was not a disaster; it was a design...The perfection of Jesus was the fruit of the Cross.”

(Puritan-Thomas Watson)

HIS FAITH IS MY FAITH

“...the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.”

(Gal. 2:20)

The story is told of a correspondence between the great Evangelist D.L. Moody and his brother-in-law. It seems the latter felt he was called to be an evangelist but wrote in his letter that he didn’t have the faith to step out. To which Moody replied, “That’s alright, just step out on my faith.”

Paul tell us he not only lived his life by faith “in” Christ, but also by the faith “of” Jesus— the second being just as true as the first. This is not a play on words; it is a great truth once grasped. Those times you can’t believe, can you believe what He believes? Then step out on that!

He believed God created the earth, Adam and Eve; that God heard and answered prayer; He believed in Heaven and that the elect went there upon death; all of these along with a host of other seemingly impossible things that stagger the mind and human reasoning. I believe these because He did!

My original pastor and his wife were born-and-bred Kentuckians, a godly and humble couple. After one evening service we three were going out to eat. While waiting for him, I asked her what she believed about a particular doctrine. She sweetly replied, “Why, I believe what he (her husband) does.”

If you ask me what I believe, my answer is, “I believe what ‘HE’ does!”

SEALED WITH THE SPIRIT

SEALED WITH THE SPIRIT

“Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts...In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory...And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

(2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30)

Although they’re not referred to that often, the above scriptures are some of the best you’ll find in all the Bible on a Christian’s assurance of salvation. Paul tells us that after we trusted Christ, God sealed us with the Holy Spirit and that this sealing is our earnest (downpayment) until the day our redemption is complete. That is, when He redeems body, soul, and spirit. He died for the whole man, not a portion. This sealing is our guarantee until the second coming, when He returns to pick up what He purchased over 2,000 years ago! He carries in His body proof of purchase!

The sealing of the Holy Spirit is Heaven’s pledge to each of God’s redeemed that we can be sure we’ll make it to our heavenly, eternal abode; or as the Irish say, “Safe Home!” The king’s seal is unchangeable, Dan. 6:17; the king’s seal cannot be reversed, Esth. 8:8; a seal is evidence of a purchase, Jer. 32:10; and it cannot be broken or opened without the proper authority approving it, Matt. 27:66. When one beheld a seal in Bible times they were reminded of the facts of authorship, ownership, authenticity and protection. Fear not, saint— once sealed, always safe!

An Old Disciple