Heaven

“Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old” (11Sam.19:31-39). It is hard for me to believe that in just a little over four short years, I too will enter the ranks of the octogenarians. Because of this fact, I, like Barzillai, am very aware of my home going. My next big and final stop is Heaven. I find nearing Heaven’s gate, the entrance to that celestial eternal city, to be very exciting! And I believe any true saint who is a robust thinker will find it so! But just what can a Christian expect upon his or her departure from this world?

Well the first thing we will experience after our soul leaves the body (Gen.35:18a) is angelic beings transporting us to Paradise (Lk.16:2): when we arrive, we’ll be given some kind of temporary housing for the soul until we get our new resurrected bodies (11Cor.5:1-4). Remember Moses’ body was buried (Deut.34:5-6), but on the mountain, when speaking to Jesus, he had some kind of body that was recognizable (Matt.17:1-8). Then this transitory body, with our soul within, will be clothed with a white robe (Rev.6:9-11).

Best of all, we will immediately be in the Lord’s presence (11Cor.5:6,8). Ah, yes, our last breath here will be our first breath there. The intermediate state is a conscious one, else how would the thief on the cross know he was with the Lord that very day (Lk.23:42-44). And we can be assured we’ll never be bored; for what two lovers were ever bored with each others presence?

Dear Blood-washed saint of God, you need never dread death. On the Cross, our Lord defeated it. He took away its fear (Heb.2:14-15), taste (2:9), and the sting (1Cor.15:55). As someone has said, “The grave is only an underground pathway to heaven.”

AT MY BIRTH, THE WORLD REJOICED AND I CRIED; AT MY DEATH, THE WORLD WILL CRY AND I WILL REJOICE!

The Deeper life

I am sometimes asked, “Do you believe in the deeper life?” I generally answer with a smile, “I certainly don’t believe in a shallow one!” But like many things in Christianity today, you have to qualify what you mean by “Deeper Life.” Like Baptists (which I am), there are many variations.

Let me first state the kind of “Deeper Life” I am not. I do not belong to a small elite group that has found a truth that God hasn’t let the rest of the Body of Christ in on. Nor do believe I become someone else other than myself. And most certainly, I do not accept I am to remain passive, putting all the responsibility on God.

What I do adhere to is cooperation in the Victorious Christian Life. Paul states it clearly: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” It is not Christ without “I”—it is not I without “Christ”—it is “I” with “Christ.” It is, “The Sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.”

A young preacher asked missionary George Muller to pray God would get him up each morning at 5 a.m. for devotions; to which the old man replied, “No, I’ll not pray that, but if you promise to put one foot to the floor, I will pray He’ll help you put out the other.”

The Secret

A great preacher of the past tells an interesting story. He had struggled for years to find fulfillment in his Christian life, but to no avail. He had tried all the formulas and steps that he had been taught or had read about. But none of these worked for him.

While at a conference on the “deeper life,” he heard an old English Bible teacher announce that the next morning he was going to preach on the subject, “The Secret of Living the Christian Life.” The preacher could hardly sleep that night for the excitement. The next morning he was the first in the outdoor tabernacle. He had pen and paper ready in order to take down every point. When the old man stepped to the podium, he looked over his glasses perched on the end of his nose and surveyed his audience. The thirsty soul waited, with great anticipation. Finally the elder said, “You have come this morning to hear the secret of how you can live an overcoming and abundant Christian life.” Then, with a quaint smile, he said, “The secret is Jesus.”

Simple? Yes—yet profound. This simple secret many of God’s people have not yet gotten hold of. It is Jesus—Jesus—Jesus. Christianity is Christ. He’s the first and the last and all in between. He is all in all. “And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only” (Matt.17:8).

It is a destructive addition to add anything to Christ. (Richard Sibbes, Puritan)

A Special 'INSIDE ISSUE' Report

When I was a young “preacher boy,” just starting out, a dear pastor friend who’s now with the Lord gave me the following advice: “You’ll always be servant to whomever or whatever dominates your thoughts, talk, or time.”

I’ve observed, much to my chagrin, many well intentioned saints allowing a common man in the White House to fill their daily lives, rather than the Precious One who came from His Father’s House.

In this country, elected officials are supposed to be servants to the people. But you’ll be hard pressed to find such a creature today. Interestingly, our King, Jesus Christ, made Himself a servant to servants (Jn.13:4-5).

You will not find Caesar or Nero dominating Jesus, His Disciples, or Paul’s daily lives. The politics of that day played a small part in the life of Jesus’ followers, compared to their consuming passion for their lovely Lord.

He is to be the center of our attention and conversation; if He is, then we will truly become one of Christ’s cherished jewels (Mal.3:16-17). I don’t know about anyone else, but I want to be one of His rare jewels, not a cheap marble.

Let each of us ask ourselves the question, “Around whom does my life center?”

The Greatest Hindrance to Prayer

Most any serious book on prayer will contain at least one chapter on “Hindrances to Prayer.” I myself, in years past, have preached on the subject more than a few times. But I have come to see that with many of us, the one main hindrance in our prayer life is majoring on what is hindering us. The best place to find out what is hampering us, is in prayer itself; Jesus said, it’s at the altar of prayer that we remember our wrongs (Matt.5:23).

I find the two central elements that encourage me to pray are expressed by David in Psalms; “O thou that hearest prayer…”; and, “Moses and Aaron…and Samuel…they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.” David believed in a prayer hearing and prayer answering God. It is important to note that the three men he mentions, along with himself, had much to be desired in qualifying them as worthy recipients of answered prayer.

I had an old evangelist friend, now with the Lord, who used to say, “Just pray!” Stop worrying about crossing your t’s and dotting the I’s. God knows where you’re at in your Spiritual life; no one else does. A sincere humility and well meaning intentions in the heart go long way with God (1Kgs.8:18). I believe there is something going on between each genuine child of God and their Heavenly Father, which the other kids know nothing about! Like, “Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs.” There’s no understanding or explaining it, there are times when the biggest “messes” get the biggest “mess.” I think it’s called GRACE!

We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us. — C.S. Lewis

Leaning on Broken Reeds

Anyone who is at all familiar with my writings knows of my strong belief in the use of means; whether it is physical, psychological or Spiritual. I adhere to whatever method necessary to get the job done. My issue is with those who have been made to walk on their own, but who continually go back to their dependence of the crutches they used before getting on their feet again. You know, a return to weak and beggarly elements (Gal.4:9); a return that puts them in bondage again (addicted to the means, if you please).

David didn’t have a sex-therapist to consult: James and John couldn’t attend any anger-management classes: and the drunken Corinthians lacked a local AA meeting to attend. What did these poor, helpless souls do without a re-hab to run to? First, they called their problem by the right name, sin; second, they admitted no one else was to blame for the mess they made; third, they repented, the kind of repentance that brought a real, lasting change; fourth, they got back around Spiritual people in a local church; and last, but not least, they ministered to others, their lives no longer habitually centered on themselves and their problems.

If we were as dependent on God’s ordained means (Bible-prayer-local church), we would not be so addicted to the worlds for help!

Principles Are the Principal Thing

Our title is not just a play upon words. Principles are fundamental truths one lives by; whereas principal means chief or first in rank. Therefore, having a set of beliefs that govern your life is of the highest priority. For a Christian, these principles are to be gleaned from the Bible. The old Methodist evangelist, Bob Jones, Sr., used to refer to them as “Eternal Principles.”

If one’s principles are not based upon the unchanging Word of God, they will be like a weathervane spinning this way and that; whatever way the winds of convenience blow will be the direction in which they face. Times, like the weather change; but Godly principles do not adjust to the times in which one resides. In the game of life, at the end of the day, only Bible principles win out.

It is not difficult to spot an unprincipled man or woman. Invariably, you will find they have no core beliefs or moral values. You might say they are empty vessels. But just as evident will be the man or woman who holds to Scriptural principles. You will find them to be rock solid in their code; you cannot intimidate, scare, threaten, or buy them off! They will give on non-essentials, but never on their principles. As Thomas Jefferson said, “In matters of principle, stand like a rock, in matters of taste, swim with the current.”

Misunderstood Maturity

Contrary to the belief of many, age and growth do not automatically carry with them maturity; and may I add, neither does change. The former is illustrated in a child’s body that grows and ages into that of an adult, while the brain remains adolescent. Admittedly, there’s growing and aging, but certainly no maturing! As to change, well, I may change something greater for that which is lesser, such as a diamond for a marble. In most, if not in all such cases, we would classify this change as a result of immaturity.

We have a generation of professing Christians who believe white-washing, sugar-coating, and accepting fornication, drunkenness, drug taking, and cultic life-styles as the norm, are growth; but this is a twisted and deformed type of growth, without mature thought. Going backward only advances one to the Stone Age. True Spiritual maturity discerns between good and evil. And the authority in distinguishing the two is the Word of God (Heb.5:13-14). To condone wrong is to categorize you with the immature.

The late great English preacher, C.H. Spurgeon, told a story of an Irishman who, when asked how he got on at the meeting of a small separatist church said, “Oh, it was lovely; none of us knew anything, and we all taught each other.” Enough said! `

It's God's Moral Compass or Collapse

“…every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” When you have no moral authority, this is always the result. Man becomes a god unto himself, making the rules for his conduct anyway his depraved mind deems best for his satisfying the flesh. Man’s moral code invariably ends in justifying lying, fornication, hatred, envy, drunkenness, and all uncleanness. It’s referred to as “The New Morality,” and its chief promoter is “The New Age” movement. Actually, it’s as old as the devil. He makes this morality acceptable by tagging new names to old sins. When men go by their own moral compass, they end up going in different directions, none of which lead to God.

C.S. Lewis writes, “The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as a thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide.” He goes on to remind us that “moral collapse follows upon spiritual collapse.”

God’s Commandments are concrete. Grace doesn’t obliterate the Law; it’s the icing on the cake. The great Grace preacher, Paul, mentions believers adhering to every one of the Ten Commandments, with the exception of observing the Sabbath. When man leaves God’s moral code, he sets up his own civilized morality, which ultimately turns into savage morality. Today’s Christianity has an anything goes philosophy. Animals have no moral code of conduct either.

Therefore, let us endeavor to keep His Commandments, for as John tells us, they are not grievous. Again, sighting the insightful Lewis, “One of the worst things about a moral relapse—to me—is that it throws such a shadow back on the time before during which you thought you were getting on quite well. Having found oneself—for the hundredth time—back where one started, it seems obvious that one has never really moved at all: and what seemed progress was only a dream, or even the irrelevant result of circumstances or physical condition.”

“The road to the promised land runs past Sinai.” C.S. Lewis

Lame Excuses

I once heard an old evangelist preach a message from Luke chapter fourteen on, “Two morons and a henpecked husband.” He said anyone who would buy a piece of land without seeing it, or a person who bought five yoke of oxen before proving them, would have to be moron. And to refuse eating with a king because of your wife…well, the only word to describe him is henpecked.

Many today are like these three men who, “…all with one consent began to make excuse.” Are not our reasons for not dining with Deity just as flimsy? Be careful, lame excuses will leave you without a leg to stand on. We need to face ourselves. It is not, “I cannot,” but rather, “I will not.” Billy Sunday said, “An excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.” You’ll find people who good at excuses are usually not good for anything else.

Let’s face it, like the men in our story, those who make excuses to God have self-interests at heart. But God does not excuse our excuses! And by the way, their empty seats were filled by others. God always has someone in the wings waiting.

*Needless Worry

The area in which we live here in Northern California was one of Mark Twain’s favorite stomping grounds. There is a cabin near by in which he spent a winter. His short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, was written about a town ten minutes from us. One of my favorite axioms of the old winsome wit is, “I have been through some terrible things in life, some of which actually happened.”

Following the crucifixion of our Lord, some ladies prepared spices and ointments for His body. They had rested on the Sabbath, but very early in the morning on the first day of the week they made their way toward the tomb. One of their concerns was who would roll away the great stone from the door of the sepulcher. But their worry was all in vain; the Lord had already taken care of it. When they arrived “They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.”
The spices and ointment they so lovingly prepared were as useless as their anxiety about the removal of the stone. How human they were, how like us! How we too worry about things the Lord has already taken care of. The angel gently reproves them for their short memories: “He is not here; for he is risen, even as he said.” Whenever we worry, we can be sure we have forgotten His Word with the promises within. In the face of insurmountable odds, they were expected to believe His Word; and so are we!

My grandson, Joseph, is lead singer for the Southern Gospel group, The Perrys. He wrote a song entitled, “He’s Already There.” The women at the tomb would say, “Amen!” to that.

How Do You See Yourself?

God took us from the hole of the pit and set us in heavenly places. Every saint has one of two choices in envisioning themselves; they can look at the very worse part of their life, or the very best.

Some prefer to dwell among earthly tombs, while others choose to hang out around the Heavenly Throne. Old Bob Jones Sr. said, “The Christian who builds his or her life on their past is doomed to fall.”

It’s not what you were; it’s what you are that counts. The important thing is not how others see you, but how God sees you “In Christ.” And that is “…holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”

The prodigal’s filthy rags were hid beneath the father’s best robe.

A Devine Peek Behind Closed Doors

“[A]nd thy Father, which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” This phrase, I believe, is found three times in Matthew chapter six. And, if it teaches anything, it certainly tells us that what we do behind closed doors, where only God can see us, is of vital importance to our public lives. For it is in the secret place that we determine what the reward will be in public. It seems today there is a great desire to put oneself on public display. And the result is a tragic amount of casualties.

I am sure most of us are familiar with the story when young David was brought before King Saul, who questioned whether such a youth was qualified to face the giant, Goliath. When being challenged by Saul for his lack of military experience, as well as his youth, out of necessity, David told of an experience he’d had in secret. This young man had fearlessly killed a lion and a bear, single-handedly, while shepherding his flock. We can now understand God rewarding him openly by helping him slay his giant.

Each of us, no matter what our age or maturity as Christians, will have “giants” that we will be confronted with in the public arena of life. Our victories over these will be determined by our personal victories in secret, behind closed doors. Never underestimate the importance of that part of your life that is unseen to everyone but God!

Remember, the most important part of your life is the part that only God sees.

A Sea of Faces

“…a great multitude, which no man could number…stood before the throne, and before the Lamb.” There is only a singe Face that stands out in Heaven. All the rest are a sea of faces. He is one above many, not one among many. There are no solos in Heaven, just a great choir. We will be, as the saying goes, “a little fish in a big pond,” or, like a small pebble in a big ocean. In Glory, all will be “just one of the guys.” So we might as well get used to it now.

The most important part of maturing is growth from self-centeredness. One is not mature until he or she has both the ability and willingness to see themselves as one among many. We are each special to Him, but no more so than the most insignificant saint. C.S. Lewis writes, “I would prefer to combat the ‘I’m special’ feeling, not by the thought I’m no more special than anyone else, but by the feeling, ‘Everyone is as special as me.’”

A person wrapped up in his or her self makes a small package.

The Question of Tribulation

No matter what one’s prophetic position, I find most, if not all, hold to the belief that toward the end time, there will be unprecedented dark days, many believe the duration of which will be seven years. I personally have some reservations on this teaching (Matt.24:21-22).

There are basically three popular positions concerning this seven (?) year tribulation period. The first is known as pre-tribulationist; the second group holds to a mid-tribulation; and the last are post-tribulationist.). The pre-trib. teaches all the elect will be taken out of this world just prior to this time of trouble; a secret rapture, if you please. The mid-trib. group say Christians will go through the first half of the trib. and then be caught up. The post-trib. holds that the Church will go through all the Tribulation Period. (We will not discuss the partial-rapture crowd).

The most important question is not which of these three or any other is the right position; the crucial question is: are you and I ready for either? No matter which teaching proves to be the right one? There are people in each of these camps fighting for their particular pet doctrine who are not prepared, even if their position is the valid one. Holding the right position does not guarantee the person holding it is right.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed!

*Weighing the Options

One of my two favorite Puritan writers, Richard Sibbes (the other being Thomas Watson) writes, “Satan gives Adam a piece of fruit, and takes away Paradise. Therefore in all temptations let us consider not what he offers, but what we shall lose.” It’s possible to get what we want, but lose what we have.

Esau got his bowl of soup, but he lost God’s blessing. Samson got his desire, but he lost the power of God. And Israel got the meat they longed for, but it soon became loathsome to them. In each of these cases, “[God] gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.”

As the great old preacher said, “Never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate.” All good things come in time. We need to learn to patiently wait for them. For some of us, it is closer than we think. The mailman is next door, heading our way, with a bundle of “goodies from God.”

A Revolutionized Life

Years ago while serving the Lord in Ireland; I came across a truth from God’s Word that literally revolutionized my Spiritual life. As I was making a study of past Christian and Catholic mystics, I soon became aware how much of their teachings flavored modern Fundamental and Evangelical devotional books. I am speaking of the fact that most, if not all, teach that God works through the believer. Of course, like many others, I parroted this doctrine, never bothering to “…Search the scriptures [to see] whether those things were so.”

The word “through” occurs 463 times in your King James Bible. After a search of these, I discovered there was no place that I could find where God ever did anything “through” one of His children. On the contrary, I learned it is the Christian doing things “through” God. Please stop and read: Psl.44:5; 60:12; Ro.8:13, 37; lCor.15:57; Eph.2:18. Can you see now that God doesn’t come by way of us; we’re to go by way of God. This makes us personally responsible so that we can never accuse Him for things not being accomplished in our lives.

A bank doesn’t go through us to give a loan, we go through the bank. Passivity is a curse that rests upon many a Christian’s life today. We’re much too “spiritual” (syrupy); more than most would like to admit. You’d be surprised what can get done if only we would stop waiting for God to do something through us, and do what we see needs to be done through Him. David didn’t wait around for God to take on the giant is his life; it was something that needed to be taken care right then, and he did it. He did it in the name of the Lord. That is, he looked to God to enable him; he did it through God, if you please.

Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” I remember old Dr. Bob Jones Sr. paraphrasing the Apostle’s statement. He would cup his hand around his mouth, and thundering out from the pulpit would cry, “You can do what you ought to do!” And so can we, my friend!

He Won't Go Away

There is a little saying among the Deeper Life crowd that goes something like this: “You need to get out of Romans seven and into Romans eight.” This sounds spiritual, but it’s not scriptural. The truth is the man groaning in chapter seven is still at it in the next chapter. Inward civil war is the Christian’s lot, and it’s life-long. After all, how could we ever claim victories without battles? From the Believer’s viewpoint, the Christian life is one of progressive sanctification.

The way to deal with our dark side, that is, the side that’s continually in opposition to God and all that’s good, is by denial. Not denying its existence, but in recognition. When Peter denied knowing Christ, it was the latter not the former of these he denied. When the corrupt “old man” attempts to usurp authority in our lives, we are to deny him any and all rights; we are not to recognize his demands.

In the movie, A Beautiful Mind, actor Russell Crowe plays a true life character who’s a schizophrenic. Toward the end, when the character he portrays is asked if he still had difficulties, he replied, “I still see things, I just don’t acknowledge them.”

Beyond the Bible

The evangelist D.L. Moody said, “One of three persons wrote the Bible: Good men, but they couldn’t have penned it, for they would have lied when they recorded it was God’s Word. Bad men would not have written it, not with all the condemnation that is in it concerning their life-styles. Therefore, the only one who could have written it is God.” The words, “The Lord said”; “The Lord spake’”; The word of the Lord came”; and other such expressions are used 3,808 times in the Old Testament alone.

The Bible is God’s final Word to mankind; there ain’t no more! Eastern oriental religion, which governs many of today’s cults, is now creeping into Christianity. More and more, you hear the expressions among professing Christians, “I feel,” “I think,” etc. No longer is it, as the beloved old evangelist used to say, “The Bible says.” These religious pagans believe that salvation, purity, and communion with God can be achieved apart from the scriptures. They make feeling the source of knowing God. But, when one has gone beyond the Bible, they have gone beyond the truth. (John 17:17,b)

Their primary belief is that God is known through the senses, not the scriptures. A good illustration of this was when Jacob went by feeling, rather than the word, thereby being deceived. They attempt to by-pass the Bible for great experiences. It’s a short-cut, but one that always leaves them coming up short. You can always spot them; they have a tendency to rarely talk of the Bible.

How you ‘feel’ does not validate the religion to which you happen to belong.

Those Dark Times

“And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and…all hope…was then taken away. Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said…I believe God…” While visiting an adult Sunday School class, I was asked during the participation time my definition for faith; my reply was simply, “Trusting God in the dark.” It seems God chose to teach the apostle this from his conversion. For we are told, “…he was three days without sight.”

All men and women of faith experience what St. John of the Cross termed, “The Dark Night of the Soul.” When God made promise to Abraham that He would perform the impossible in his life, we are told, “…and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.”

Oh, beloved saint, you can trust God in the dark! It is said, after Jesus experienced the darkest time in the history of mankind that “…very early in the morning…at the rising of the sun,” He rose again. And I guarantee you dear child of God, after the darkness is past, you to will rise to a “…morning without clouds.”

You who are sitting in darkness will soon hear the words, "Let there be light." And there will be light!

What's New?

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Most people do not take the time to analyze this gem of a text. They major on a new present and future for the one who is in Christ. But as blessed as these truths are, there is a third truth just as precious. And that is this: He says we also have a new past, one that is blameless and spotless. God doesn’t patch up the old life; He gives a completely new one. It’s as new as the present and future one; how about that!

Recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are taught to testify, “I am an addict, but have been clean for x amount of years.” I’ve noticed many of these keep falling out of bed. Why? Simply because they sleep too close to where they got in. I think it much more beneficial for one who desires to live a victorious life to say, “I am in Christ, and now I have nothing in my past to shame me.” A Christian’s past has been wiped clean (Heb.8:12). As the gospel song says, “What sins are you talking about?”

No child of God need be hindered by their past; they now have a new identity in Christ, a “new man,” if you please. When a harlot on the street shouted out to the newly converted Augustine, “Augustine, it is I,” his reply was, “I know, but it is not I.” Again, as another song puts it, “I am not the man I used to be.”

If God buried your sin in the depth of the sea, don’t go looking for deep-sea diving equipment.

The Other God

The scriptures speak of “another Jesus,” “another spirit,” and “another gospel.” These are all associated with the other god; the one who fell from his lofty position because he wanted to be like “…the most high.” He is now referred to as “…the god of this world.”

This miniature god, from his fall, has attempted to emulate the one and only “True God.” Therefore, he also has son, a spirit, and a pseudo-gospel he passes off as legitimate. “The mystery of godliness: [is] God was manifest in the flesh.” “The mystery of iniquity,” is that Satan will be manifest in the flesh.

It’s argued that since John wrote there would come many anti-christs (plural), and that even in his day there were many, this proves there will not be a personification of one person indwelt by Satan himself. But they make two mistakes: First, John himself says in the context, “…anti-christ (singular) shall come.” (Jn.2:18). And secondly, Jesus said that there would come “many” Christs’. But this does not rule out he was the personification of the one true Christ.

When the devil tempted our first parents, he promised them that if they lived their lives according to his rules, that they would be “…as gods.” That is, each would have a spark of deity in them; but contrary to this lying promise, they became totally depraved.

And so we see the first false religion instituted, from henceforth it would no longer be, God plus man; but man plus God. In the Garden, man became his own god. You might say, “A new age started in the Old Testament.” Or as the wise man said, “…there is no new thing under the sun.”

The only spark in fallen man is the spark of Hell.

Handing it Over

In Psl. 31 David says, “Into thine hand I commit…” He believed that any and all things placed into God’s hands were eternally secure. That one could be assured whatever or whoever was placed in those nailed-scarred Omnipotent hands, was safe! He knew no man was able to pluck out what he had placed in them!

We see that not only did David practice this truth, but also taught it. In Psl. 37 he encourages God’s people to, “Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.”

Here we have a Divine trilogy: a one time committal, past; a daily trust, present; and he will bring it to pass; future. We see this illustrated in the latter part of John 4. The father had committed his son to Jesus (past). He went his way trusting Him (present); and the next day he found his son had been restored. At the very hour he had committed him to Christ, God had brought it to pass (future).

It is not saying, “I trusted” that wins the day; but, “I am trusting.”

Wolf, Wolf

Over fifty years ago when I began preaching, there was a series of books entitled Simple Sermons. Most of us novice preacher boys preached everything contained in them. One message I remember was named, “If I Were the Devil.” I’m sure after I preached it some who heard it went away saying, “What did he mean, if?”

Seriously, what would be some of your tactical deceptions if you were out to discredit and destroy certain doctrines of the Bible? Well, I believe one effective tool Satan uses in diluting a truth until it loses its potency, is by constantly setting off the alarm bell. You know the old story of the shepherd boy crying “Wolf, Wolf,” when there was no wolf. Then crying “Wolf” when there was one; but no one took him seriously when it was factual, because of his false warnings.

I personally believe this to be true concerning prophetic truth. Many prophetic Bible teachers in past years have so gone to seed on this precious doctrine that there are few any longer who will listen or heed the fact of Christ’s coming again. It has become no more than a novelty teaching, or a passing fictional interest to them. We need to get away from all the speculation preacher’s are peddling about His coming. We need rather to get back to sound, solid, Bible teaching on the fact of His return. Christ is coming again, signs or no signs!

His coming may not be Immediate, but I guarantee it’s imminent!

Woe or Whoa?

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil..." In this fifth chapter of Isaiah there are six “Woes.” The old Nazarene preacher, Uncle Buddy Robinson, used to say, “When God says Woe, you’d better stop. I thoroughly agree, whether it be Woe or whoa, it will be to anyone's advantage to come to a complete halt!

Our text was written some seven hundred and fifty years before Christ; yet you’d think it was penned yesterday. Here we find that reversal of morality in a nation is no new thing. God’s people of old had destroyed all decent distinctions. They gave new definitions to sins. They used God’s vocabulary, but not His dictionary. They did not follow Isaac’s example, “he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.”

Whenever you find one perverting the scriptures, you will discover one who has no problem accepting and promoting any and all types of perversion.

"...that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” Before you can get a kindergarten child to say that a white piece of paper and a black one is the same; and before you can get them to admit a dill pickle and a chocolate bar taste alike, you must first educate them to say and believe such lies.

And so it is with our beloved nation. This tripe must first be channeled through our institutions of learning, the news media, and pulpits of our country, before it is ingrained in our character. So watch what you're being fed!

Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the Lord God of judgment? (Mal.2:17)

Meeting in the Middle

I have lived long enough to observe, and read enough to learn, that present generations and previous ones, have always had their difficulties accepting the other. The older generation invariable believes the younger group arriving on the scene comes far short of its own. That wisdom, no doubt, will die with them; and therefore youth is wasted on the young. While on the other hand, the young contemporaries feel new is always better, and that anything from the past is outdated, archaic, and obsolete. Therefore, there will always remain this great chasm between the two. That is, until a bridge-builder shows up.

Let’s not allow youthful pride, or senior stubbornness keep us from picking up hammer and nails. We both have a lot to contribute to one another, if we are willing to build from each side and meet in the middle!

A Life Worth Living

Many Christians follow the Epicurean philosophy: “Let us eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die.” They indulge, but they don’t enjoy, in spite of the fact we are told God gave us all things richly to enjoy. Why, then, the emptiness when they are full? the hunger pains after eating? and the sorrow after elation? It is because they have left God out of their lives. Like the man in Ecclesiastes who had it all but found life was not worth living without God.

To de-thrown Christ is to lose the key of life. All knowledge, mirth, and wealth leave a restless soul, apart from Him. Life is valueless without Jesus Christ; for we are told He is our life. Every blessing becomes boresome, if He is absent. We become cynical, pessimistic, and even fatalistic. Jesus is the Spice of Life, and without this Divine Ingredient, life is bland.

The wise man put God out of his life and lived only for the things “under the sun,” leaving him severely depressed. It’s beholding the One over the sun that makes life, and all that’s in it, an enjoyment. When we look into the mirror, we need to see the Christ’s image. If not, you’ll experience the vanity of an unyielded life.

They lose nothing who gain Christ. (Samuel Rutherford)

Patience and the Eternal

“God waited...” Isaiah tells us what to do at a time like this: “And therefore will the Lord wait...blessed are all they that wait for him.” Waiting on a waiting God. This is not an easy thing for we who are eternally impatient time-checkers to wait on an eternal, timeless God. One of whom it is said, a day in His sight is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. God is never in a hurry—we are. It is well to remember, if we have eternity on our side, we can afford to wait.

There is no Big Ben in Heaven, everything is measured by eternity. God’s clock has no hands and His calendar has no days. Therefore, settle it; our eternal God is going to take His good old time, and nothing or no one is going to hurry Him up. If we will but patiently wait for Him to accomplish our deepest desires, we will find, “He [makes] everything beautiful in his time.”

To lengthen my patience is the best way to shorten my trouble. (Puritan saying)

What Wheel Chair?

He was wounded in Vietnam, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Upon discharge, he entered college, where he met his wife to be. They were both gloriously saved, while still attending school. His wife told me the first time that they talked was in the campus cafeteria. She said they had chatted for more than an hour before she realized he was in a wheel chair! Would to God we could be oblivious to the wheel chair each of our brethren occupies. We all are cripples in some area of our lives; salvation doesn’t change every deficiency. Mephibosheth sat at the King’s table, but he was still lame.

Some of us need to leave the lab and get a real life. If we continue dissecting our family and friends, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out there will soon be nothing left. And you know where that leaves the technician. In all intimate relationships, only God can handle an up close and personal one. We are not good at handling defects; that is, unless it is found in us. In this case we become amateur cosmetologists.

And so my friends let us back off, so to speak, and appreciate the whole picture, leaving the details to God. It is good to allow Him to decide where the touch ups are needed in another’s life. If we do it, I guarantee you; we’ll make a mess of the entire picture.

Remember, if we are to enjoy the forest, we can’t afford to get too close to the trees.

False Fear

“They feared the Lord, and served their own gods.” This record is as old as the Bible, but it is as new as today. These ancient people have kin among us in our age. There is at this present time, a generation of professing Christians who say they fear the one true God, but serve another.

Something is tragically wrong when a person can divorce their fear of God from their obedience to God. We are told in the Scriptures to “...fear the Lord...and obey his voice...” It is plain to see, these ancients, along with their modern day contemporaries, have a counterfeit fear. Notice that all the wrong lies in the fear itself. If you’re wrong on the fear, then you’re wrong on everything else.

You can always spot a person with a false fear of God. Yes, they pay Him outward respect, and give Him formal recognition, but that is as far as it goes. This kind of fear is skin courtesy. There is no beating heart behind it. It’s hollow—not holy. These kinds of people give God a passing nod on their way to do something they feel is better.

The Irish have a good saying for a person when they speak without their heart being in it, “He speaks from the teeth out.”

Do Christian's Sin?

“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

I need not go to a Greek scholar to find the meaning of this text, as I have repeatedly told you, and will continue to do so; the Bible interprets itself (A.V. 1611). The word “cannot” in scriptures does not mean the thing does not or might not occur; but that its occurrence is wholly against the nature of things. For example, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.” But it can, and often does. And what about, “As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.” Well, they could if they wanted to. Compare other passages such as: Lk.11:17; 14:20; John 7:7; Acts 4:16, 20; 1Cor. 10:21.

Any enlightened Believer, even if he or she has only one Spiritual eye, knows the Bible does not contradict itself. In the very book that tells us we cannot sin, it says in chapter one that if we say we haven’t sinned we make God a liar, and show the truth is not in us. Most certainly, we can sin, but it is not our nature to do so. Paul tells us, if and when we sin, we will not continue in it.

A hog wallows in the filthy mire because it is his nature: but a sheep that falls into that sludge will make every attempt to get out. Wash, perfume, and dress a pig in the best clothes. Sit him in the parlor among all the finery. But know this; the first opportunity he has he will head back for the pig-pen (11Peter 2:22b). Why? That’s his deposition!

There is a vast difference between professing to possess something; and possessing what you profess.

Irreconcilable

“The flesh…against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other.” When will we learn these two can never be joined in harmony? What God hath put asunder, let no man join together.

The flesh will never want to go to heaven, live godly, glorify God, read the Bible, pray, and think on good things. Why then do we try incessantly to get our flesh to agree with, and to desire, what the Spirit does? We spend a lifetime thinking something is wrong with us, because in our natural state we do not feel the same way about things as the Spirit.

When we deny the flesh any say-so in spiritual matters, denying it recognition, then the guilt of it not desiring the spiritual will subside.

Horses and Things

I do not believe in shooting dead horses. The thing to do is bury it and walk away. I know people who are still taking pot shots at issues that gave up the ghost long ago. We put bulls-eyes on corpses, set up a rifle range in a grave yard, and spend our days shooting holes through something that no longer has legs to stand on.

I met a widow once who had been bitter because of her husband’s treatment of her for thirteen years. The ironic thing was that he had been dead that amount of time. Instead of moving on, there are those who prefer to spend their lives digging up corpses and dealing with the dead. You don’t have to be around them long to know who they are; they carry the stench of a mortuary. Plus, they always have in their pocket or purse, a bottle of embalming fluid.

May God help those who are living among the tombs to bury once and for all those dead issues in their lives. And when you do, don’t forget to throw away the shovel. Once you get back among the living, you will be glad you did, for you will be a new person. Or as Peter puts it, “…a lively stone.”

The Universal Gospel and Universalism

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature…for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that that believeth…Repent and believe the gospel…[God] commandeth all men everywhere to repent…except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Christ’ s death was sufficient to save all men, but only efficient to save those who believe. The Universalists attempt to make what is true only of all repentant believers to be factual for all mankind. Rather than the Biblical teaching of conditional salvation, they make it unconditional.

They will not accept the scriptural truth of eternal punishment for those who reject Christ as God’s only way for man’s salvation. Yet it is through Jesus Christ himself that we learn most clearly the doctrine of eternal retribution. Jesus told the people of His day, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” It is impossible for anyone to misinterpret this text, unless he or she is as crooked as a cork-screw.

John 3:16 is the one proof text that causes Universalism’s house to crumble. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." By the two texts just quoted we find that as long as there is an eternal Heaven for Christ’s own, there will be an everlasting Hell for those who reject Him. And both will be consciously aware, whether it be bliss or suffering.

God’s love for mankind ends at the grave; after that, the judgment!

Perplexity or Simplicity

One characteristic of most of us is that we are experts at complicating the simple. Perplexity is most certainly a part of life, but by no means is it the whole. The rule should be simplicity, with perplexity being the exception. I’m afraid the devil has won in many of our lives by getting us to be removed from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Our Lord dealt with some of life’s most difficult problems, but you will not find Him making them complex to the point of driving Him, or those around Him, to frustration. He always used sanctified reasoning; He started with the basic fundamental premise, and then worked toward the more problematic. In other words, He never used algebra for the answer to a problem, when simple math would do.

The old-time evangelist, Vance Havner, along with his wife, was traveling by bus to a revival meeting in the hills of Tennessee. While at a rest-stop at a little country store, his wife noticed from her window an old scrub-woman hanging up her wash at the house next to the store. She commented to her husband, “Vance, look at that dear old soul; she doesn’t know the rest of the world exists.” To which he replied, “Well for goodness sakes, don’t tell her!”

Profundity can fall under the category of simplicity; it need not be perplexing.

What Do You Say?

“But whom say ye that I am?” Jesus had just asked His disciples who men thought Him to be. Then He gets personal; He wants to know who they believe Him to be. After which Peter gives that great and famous confession, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.” But the world had equated Him with their past and present religious leaders, just as cults, New Agers, and the false religions of our day do.

Jesus told Peter that flesh and blood had not revealed this truth unto him. But, did not his brother Andrew first tell him of the Christ immediately after he himself had met him? Yes, he had related Christ to him, but only God can reveal Christ to us. It is Christianity that receives revelation; all other religions reject Divine revelation. They attempt to deny and distort who Christ really is. They turn light to darkness, and become slaves to deities of their own making.

Christianity is first and foremost relational. It is not knowledge by description, but knowledge by relationship. As J.I. Packer puts it, “A Christian is someone who is constantly reaching out by faith to an invisible Christ.” He is the only one who can really help when those devastating earthquakes hit in our lives.

The Father must reveal the Son to us; and only the Son can reveal the Father!

A Greater Love

There is much misunderstanding over Jesus’ telling His followers that except they hated their loved ones they could not be His disciples (Lk.14:26). This comes from not allowing the Word of God (A.V.1611) to be its own interpreter. In the O.T. we are told that Leah believed she was hated by her husband Jacob, but it was not in the way she imagined. We are told Jacob “…loved Rachel also ‘more’ than Leah.” That is, his love for Rachel so far exceeded his love for Leah that it seemed as though he hated her in comparison.

If you’re going to love God with all your being, then as Abraham of old, you are going to have to visit Mt. Moriah with that loved one who holds a place in your heart equal to God. With God, those two loves cannot co-exist. One must be sacrificed. If you do not, the much loved one you spare will keep you from doing God’s Will in your life. Apparently, Adam had this problem.

God sacrificed His Beloved for you; will you do the same for Him?

*Jesus Slept

Our Lord was not only all God, He was all Man. Because of this latter truth, He was made like us in every point (sin excluded). And one of our physical necessities in this life is sleep. And so we are told Jesus got wearied in body and had to rest. He was also tired at the end of the day and needed to sleep. I was meditating recently on what He awoke to. What kind of days did He have to face? What were the conditions around Him in which He awoke each morning?

First of all, politically Rome was in power and was a government corrupt to the core; socially, class warfare was one of the top evils of His day; morally, permissiveness prevailed; there were no “Thou shalt nots”; spiritually, among the professing religious elite, it was all externals; and personally He awoke to long days, a hurting world, very little time to Himself, and the shadow of the Cross constantly falling upon His path.

Yet He could say, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” How could any Godly person find delight in such depressing surroundings? The secret is found in the words “…within my heart.” Paul experienced similar circumstances as his Master, and he had also learned from Him, no doubt, how to face these insurmountable odds. Form a prison in Rome he wrote the Philippian Church, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” It was not something going on around Paul that caused him to rejoice, but something on the inside that brought about this exceeding joy.

Remember, “Jesus rejoiced in Spirit.”

The Body

“Now the body is... for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.” As I have often said, “We were made for each other.” It seems our bodies are the last thing we give to God, but it’s the first thing He wants.

We are like God’s people in Joseph’s day. We’ll give our money and material things before we relinquish to our heavenly Joseph our bodies. It takes a famine in our lives sometimes before we are willing to say, “…there is not aught left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies…”

Many Christians treat God as a tenant in His own house, instead of recognizing Him as the owner (1Cor. 6:19-20). Paul literally begged believers of his day to give their bodies to God. You would think this unnecessary considering what it cost Him to redeem them; but still the begging goes on.

Nowhere is depravity better seen, than when a little muddy man refuses to yield to his Maker and Master.

*The Heart of the Matter

“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” Western Christianity has come to major on petty, outward things, while ignoring and considering to be minor, weightier internal matters. We give all our attention to scraped knees and neglect the cancer within. We are more concerned with temporary relief than permanent ruin.

The people addressed in our text lived good outward lives, and were active for God. They, like many today, believed that it mattered little whether one had faith or not, just as long as their conduct was right. “An evil heart of unbelief” was accepted among them if the outside of their cup was clean. They had departed from the living God, but continued going through the motions of living for Him.

The one sin that damns the lost, and destroys a believer’s life, was not an issue with them. And so it is with many professing Christians today. They hide “an evil heart of unbelief” behind a white vest of religion. They live their daily lives with no thought or need of Christ whatsoever. They are the masters of their own ships.

The Hebrews’ “evil hearts of unbelief” soon became “hard hearts.”

*Its a Passing Thing

“And the world passeth away...” Like all the things in it, the world itself is going to wax old and pass away. God is going to baptize this present world with fire, burning off the dross and thus making all things new. It is because of this we should not get attached to our toys, for they are headed for the furnace. But, thank God, there is another world that shall never pass away. It is upon this world we are to set our affections, for the things in it abide forever.

C.S. Lewis says, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Many, like Lot, are living only for the things of this world. But, like him, they will see all go up in smoke. When we truly seek the lasting things of the next world, it is then we can enjoy the temporal things of this present one. To this type of person, God is going to give “beauty for ashes.”

Never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate. (Dr. Bob Jones Sr.)

*Just Pray

Watch out for the How To books, especially when it comes to the subject of prayer. Any manual designed to show you how to pray has the wrong designer for its author. A book or sermon’s objective should not be to show you how to pray, but rather to get you to pray. The real problem has always been to get God’s people to just pray. Whenever this happens, the rest will take care of itself. It then simply becomes a trial and error thing. We learn to pray by praying!

Following some book about how to pray with a slavish superstition will cause you to lose your spiritual sanity. Like children in an earthly family, God’s children are all different and talk to their Heavenly Father in various ways. There is something between each of the children and their Father that is not understood by the others. The best advice on prayer that I’ve heard thus far is, “Pray as you can and don’t pray as you can’t.” The only requirement is staying within Biblical guidelines.

A Scottish Pastor out for a stroll one morning heard the voice of a young boy behind a hedgerow reciting the alphabet. When he asked the lad, who was on his knees at the time, what he was doing, he replied, “Well sir, I just became a Christian and am trying to pray. But I don’t know the right words to say, so I thought by quoting the alphabet the Dear Lord would put together the words and know what I’m trying to say to Him.”

Getting God's Ear

“And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord…save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only…Thus saith the LORD God…That which thou hast prayed…I have heard.” John tells us in his first Epistle that the secret of getting your prayers answered is to first get God’s ear. He goes on to say, to do this, you must pray with God’s interests in mind.

Hezekiah was concerned with God’s concerns. As a result, God heard and answered his prayer. If you’ll check, this was also true in the lives of men such as Abraham, Moses, David, etc. All were occupied, first and foremost, with God’s interests. It seems when we look out for God and His concerns, then He looks out for us and ours. Solomon found this to be true, and so will you and I.

By putting God first, you end up at the head of the line.

Vile Virtues

Daniel was one of the Bible’s saintliest men. He holds a place in the front ranks of the godly. His enemies could find no fault in him other than he prayed too much. He had religion with windows in it. The angel Gabriel told him he was greatly beloved of God.

You would have a difficult time trying to find a hole in his spiritual armor. His life was beyond reproach. Yet, in his prayer of confession in chapter nine, he includes himself, along with the Lord’s people, when saying they had sinned against God. But he ends the prayer by personalizing it. He refers to it, by saying “my sin.”

What sin was it that he was confessing? Certainly not his vices; there are none recorded. Was he, then, confessing his virtues? In the presence of God, our virtues can become vile. Self-revelation is a devastating thing. Usually connected with our virtues is a vicious pride. The lesson is plain; I can’t trust myself an inch.

The word that makes virtue vile is pride. Remember the Pharisee in the temple?

Watch For the Misses

As you read the Gospels, one of the things that stands out is how Jesus’ words were misunderstood. Over and over again, we see the arrogance of the religious crowd, presupposing what He meant. When we misunderstand, we misconstrue; when we misconstrue, we misrepresent. And the latter borders on slander.

Make up your mind, then, if you’re going to be a person with spiritual depth and maturity, you also will fall into the category of the misunderstood. The superficial, legalistic, traditionalists have only a one-track mind. That’s why their mental train is always derailing. They can’t stay on track; therefore, don’t look for them to ever arrive.

As soon as this type of person sees, hears, or reads something not fashioned upon their own anvil, they begin throwing out words such as heretic, apostate, and false doctrine. The pathetic thing about this is that they don’t even know the Biblical definition of the words they use.

When we misunderstand something (or someone), we invariably do one of two things: run from it, or try to destroy it. This is seen in the life of our Lord. And I guarantee, those who choose to follow Him in an intimate relationship will experience the same.

Watch the prefix “miss” in your vocabulary; you may miss the point.

Gushy or Gutsy

An evangelist friend of mine, now with the Lord, used to describe the Christians of our day, as those who live by their warm, fuzzy feelings. I attribute much of the “falling away” today to this very fact. These people need to trade-in their gushiness for some old time gutsiness.

It seems, at the least little inconvenience these thin-skinned saints are ready to sell their birthright for any “sloppy-joe” that the world serves up. Real intestinal fortitude sticks under trials and temptation.

But I hear someone say, “You don’t understand, I’m a mess.” Well welcome to the junkyard! You’re only experiencing what many of us older saints have. With the exception of the first few months of our new found faith, when we thought ourselves archangels, we also now see all the hideousness of our lives. We are presently in the salvage yard trying, the best we can, to wait patiently for our new model to replace this wrecked one.

I love the way C.S. Lewis puts it: “You can be assured that God is well aware of what a wretched machine you are trying to drive, and asks only that you keep on, [doing] the best you can.”

The Supernatural

“[T]he water was made wine...this beginning of miracles did Jesus...” There is a term used among Bible students known as “the law of first mention.” That is, the way anything is used originally, it will remain that way thereafter. We find this truth in Jesus’ first miracle.

In our Lord’s “beginning of miracles,” He uses all natural means to perform the supernatural. I have not looked up the dictionary meaning of the word “supernatural,” but it seems to me that the Bible’s definition would be, “The supernatural is the natural with God in it.”

Possibly, the greatest supernatural act God ever performed was entering a virgin’s womb and coming into the world in the likeness of a natural man who bore the name Jesus. “God was in Christ…” The second amazing act was when He entered my body and changed my life supernaturally. Paul referred to it as a mystery. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The world today is seeking the supernatural when, all the time, they are surrounded by it...their called Christians.

The Invisible Man

“Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.” So says David in the 139th Psalm. I have a note in the heading of this book that reads “There’s a Balm in Psalms.” Certainly this text has healing in its wings.

As to yesterday’s failure and the guilt which is its companion, my lovely Lord comes between me and my pursuers. “Thou hast beset me behind.” But I have natural fears of tomorrow and the unknown. What about the enemies that would hinder my advance on the Heavenly road homeward. “Thou hast beset me...before.” All the fiery darts shall be quenched before they reach me. My unseen Shield is ever before me.

He has graciously taken care of my past and my future. But what of the present? “[A]nd laid thine hand upon me.” No immediate circumstance can overtake or overwhelm me. There can be no unexpected ambush by my adversary, which my Protector has not seen and planned for.

The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. (Psl. 34:7)

Is He or Isn't He?

“…if the LORD be God, follow him.” Elijah called for a one-time decision, but it was not to end there. They were to follow through on it. This initial experience needed to become a process. Long term commitments are best achieved by daily renewals. God knew His people, then and now, have short memories. “They soon forgat…” is God’s testimony of us.

It is wise for us to apply Joshua’s words, “…choose you this day…” to our daily lives. Each day, we must decide “…if the LORD be God…” And the decision we make will determine our success or failure, our victory or defeat, our overcoming or being overcome.

God is a present “I AM,” not a past “I WAS.”

Grace Costs

Joseph’s coat of many colors was a free, unmerited gift from his smiling father. It cost him nothing to receive it from his hands, but it cost him the rejection and hatred of his brethren to wear it daily. It may sound like a misnomer, but grace does cost. A father may give his son a new car, without conditions, but there is a price to pay in receiving it. One is the jealousy of many of his friends. Also there is the personal responsibility placed upon him in owning it.

And so it is with the grace of God. Once this supernatural, free gift is received, there are natural costs that follow. The first is a scrutiny on the part of the believer himself. He must be careful he does not abuse or misuse this new-found liberty. He must be always conscious that this grace he has received does not become a disgrace. On the other hand, there will be the slanderous reports of the brethren who say you teach “Let us sin that grace may abound,” and accuse you of antinomianism. It would seem that, if we are following Paul’s example, a believer is not really living under grace until he also is accused of this.

Thank God for delivering some of us from the legalistic slavery of a list of man-made rules and regulations, to the ranks of the “freedom movement” that is governed only by His Spirit and His Word.