Jelly Beans and God

As the boy waited for his mother to complete her shopping, the old time store keeper smilingly held out a large jar of jelly beans to the little fella, inviting him to take a handful. The wise little urchin asked the kind man if he would mind doing it for him.

In the final analyses, it is best to always have God’s hand in all our choices. As the song says, “He holds the whole world in His Hands.” It’s because of this, He does, “…exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”

I always loved to give to my children. To this very day I still find great pleasure in it. No doubt our Lord was referring to this when He said, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

I don’t know about you, but I dearly love jelly beans. I think I’ll ask my Father if He would mind putting His Hand in the jar for me. How about you?

Leeches in Christian Costumes

In the world, these Christian leeches, dressed in religious garb, are known by different aliases: freeloaders; bloodsuckers; sponges; moochers; hanger-ons; scroungers; parasites; and last, but not least, extortioners. The world has always had their share of these low-downers, who fleeced the innocent and unsuspecting, but now the Church has a “mixed multitude” who has taken up residence among us.

They’re found not just in the pews, but worse, in the pulpits, and among many missionaries and Christian institutions. These “hard-Luckers” have done more harm to the legitimate ministers, enterprizes, and servants of God than the devil ever has. They take advantage of the gullibility of innocent saints who have never known the ways of the world. But, I’m sorry to say, “I have.” And I want to warn you who are being drained by these devils.

These charlatans are not just to be seen in the public media, but also in our assemblies and among our kin and friends. In this case they generally come under the guise of borrowers, but have no means or intention of ever paying their incurred debts. The Bible speaks of such, “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again.” God’s command is, “Pay...that thou owest.”

These characterless conmen and women need to have the “brook dried up” on them. Hanger-ons don’t hang-around long when this happens! You think I'm, tough? Paul said, “If a man didn’t work, neither should he eat,”

The Cause of Discontent

“I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Contentment is something we learn, and this subject cannot be learned until we have first learned that there can be no contentment without commitment. Once we commit ourselves daily to the will of God, we have learned the secret of contentment. It’s not that we do not know the will of God; it’s the fact that many of us do not like the will of God, and that brings on discontentment. We are not content with who we are, where we are, what we're doing, and even the way we're doing it. Because of the simply reason we have not committed these things to God.

We cannot enjoy the present for the imagery we create in our minds of some fanciful future. C.S. Lewis writes: “Of unattainable longings, sour is the fruit.” Sometimes it is alright to say to ourselves, “This is it, and there “ain’t no more; and that’s O.K.” Along with this, we need to change our philosophy from, “It could be better” to “It could be worse.” Again I quote Lewis: “Nobody who gets food and clothing in a world where most are hungry and cold, has any business to talk about misery.”

“Commitment” and “contentment” are spelled differently, but they go together.

Enjoying Our Bible

Someone has said, “The Bible is not read because it is not enjoyed; it is not enjoyed because it is not understood; and it is not understood because it is not rightly divided.” Rightly divided, as in giving to each their equal share. Like the Old Testament offering, a portion went to God, another to the priest, and a third to the one sacrificing. You don’t give to one what distinctly belongs to another. All the Bible is for us, but not all of it is to or about us.

Many, I find, are slaves in the reading of their Bibles. Sometimes Bible teachers lay down hard and fast rules for a person’s quiet time that in return become a law to the recipient.  I’ve heard such nonsensical statements as: “Every Christian needs to read their Bible through three times a year”; “You ought to mark your Bible from Genesis to Revelation”; The time to read the scriptures is very early in the morning.” The aforementioned is fine for some, but not all. One size doesn't fit all.

The man who works midnights is not in any shape to have early morning devotions. The young mother, with two or three to look after would have a tough time reading so many chapters a day. The visually impaired have difficult time enough reading, much less marking. And those with terminal maladies find it almost impossible to fit some ritualistic, man-made system into their suffering lives! The truth is, other than a daily meeting God in his Word, there is no cut and dried way to read your Bible.

A.W. Tozer stated that there were times he spent days, even weeks, on one scripture or portion before moving on in his Bible reading. Brainard said he read till his heart burned. And that late, great missionary statesman, Oswald J. Smith, made it a point to make sure he turned a page a day in his reading of the old Book. Most certainly, we all agree we should read the Bible, like any other book, from cover to cover. But we do not all agree as to the method. Therefore, let’s give each a little elbow room.

It’s not how many times you've been through the Bible, but how many times it’s gone through you. And the question for sure is not, “Do you mark your Bible?” but, “Are you marked by your Bible?” I close with two quotes from Andrew A. Bonar in reference to the Bible: “May we be able to spread our Bibles on the Mercy-Seat, and read them by the light of the cloud of Glory”; “Keep a grape of Eshcol beside you, and moisten your parched palate with it when you can.”  

*The Old Manna

“And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years...until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan...And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old... neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”

Manna, whatever else it may represent, is associated with wilderness saints: faithless, fruitless, and faltering, going in circles, never getting any place. We wonder sometimes why we have not advanced in our Christian life, why we have not grown more. To a great extent, it is because we live upon the “old manna.” We're too easily satisfied with the old manna, rather than the fresh grapes of Eshcol .       

The history of Israel was, each time the way got rough, “Let us return into Egypt.” They longed for the way it was, not the way it could be. The former takes faith! To experience the new, many times we must leave much of the old behind. This was the problem with the early Jewish Christians. They held to their religious past. The writer of Hebrews exhorts them,  “Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.”

The old in our lives has served its purpose, but to return to it is only to find it breeding worms. The rich, adult cuisine of Canaan cannot be compared to the infant pablum of the wilderness. We have a choice how we will live our lives. Either in poverty, wandering in the wilderness of this world, our fleshly appetites never satisfied, or feasting on the spiritual riches of Canaan.

I guarantee, no true Christian when entering the New Heaven, will desire the old earth!

When There's None To Encourage

David and his men have just returned to Ziklag, where both he and the families of his followers were housed. While absent, the Amalekites had invaded the city, burning it down, and taken all the women and children captive. David and his men wept till they could weep no more. Then, because of grief, his men spoke of stoning David, leaving him in great distress. It is at this point, we are told, “David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”

There will be times in all of our lives when each of us will find ourselves totally alone, with no one around to encourage us. It is then we must learn to follow darling David’s example in encouraging ourselves in the Lord. And just how is this done? I suggest we take the wise advice of Martyn LLoyd Jones, “We must learn to talk to ourselves instead of allowing ‘ourselves’ to talk to us.”

We’re not to listen to ourselves; we are to talk to ourselves. Whenever the former is the case, there will be discouragement. Listen to David when tempted to be downtrodden, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him.” Three times he tells us this. David knew how to handle himself. There are times we need to take ourselves in hand and give ourselves a good talking to. For some of us, maybe that time is now.

“Yesterday He helped me,

Today He did the same,

How long will this continue?

Forever, Praise His Name!”

Be Thankful/Things Could Be Worse

Years ago, an evangelist I knew went through a great trial. His wife left him, spreading lies everywhere, his children all turned on him, and every church he had booked, cancelled their meetings. He told me he thought at the time, it was bad as it could get. Then a card came in the mail from a preacher friend. On the front was a picture of a one-legged man with the caption, "I thought I was bad off." Then when you opened the card, it said, "Until I met a man with no legs."

I remember my blessed mother saying about herself or to others, when in difficult situations, "Well, it could be a lot worse." Those among us who are tempted to say, in trying times, "It is as bad as it can get," may find God will allow us to realize the hard way our statement to be untrue. We need to learn to be thankful our lot is not worse than it is. There are many suffering saints who would gladly change places with us. None of us has yet "sweat blood," in our agony!

David, no doubt, had the same trouble some of us have in our afflictions. He complained with his lot."I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed." Whenever we feel like grumbling we need to follow the advice an older preacher gave me when I was starting out in my ministry. I had asked the cure for those times I felt sorry for myself. The wise answer was, "Read a chapter out of Foxe's book of Martyrs, or go visit the cancer ward at a local hospital. Maybe some of us need to do some reading or visiting today. What do you think?

Virtue Trumps Vice

"Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all - And  now, my daughter...all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman - A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones - Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies - And Jesus said...I perceive that virtue is gone out of me - for there went virtue out of him [Jesus], and healed them all - Finally, brethren, ...whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things - add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge - him that hath called us to glory and virtue."

The word virtue, and its kin, is found eleven times in the 1611 KJV. In the Old Testament it always refers to a woman. In the New Testament the reference is to either gender. It has to do with who a person is, thus affecting what he or she does. Like many of our English words today, it has been gutted of its Bible meaning. The world desires to neutralize such words, thus taking away the convicting power of them. Therefore, they have now educated many that they are associated with only the self righteous and holier-than-thou crowd.

But notice in the texts we quoted, the Holy Spirit gives us a different interpretation than that of the worldling. Taking just the scriptures, observe: in God's eyes virtuous people excel all others; those around such, take note of them; also, they are like a crown to those close to them; and to not possess this godly trait is to be rotten to the bone; we're told these folk are hard to find, in any age; that their value is far above rubies; that their lives can be used to help the hurting; that virtue is sandwiched between a good report and praise, (yummy); that it is to be an additive to our faith: and last, but not least, God has called all of His children to be virtuous!

Marcus Porcius (234-149 bc), known as Cato the Elder, was a Roman statesman and writer. He said, "Those who have a great concern about the appearance of the body, have great carelessness about virtue!" Seems things haven't changed much.

rds

Christ is All

Someone has said, "If Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all." To Paul, to put it in his words, Christ was his "All in all." He knew that if his precious Lord was not the whole of his life, even the green pastures soon withered away. If Jesus was not the portion of his cup, it might as well be poison; death was preferable to living a life without Christ being the center.

Paul's eye was always fixed on Christ. He was on his mind night and day. So much so that people thought him, "beside himself" (crazy). The once blasphemer had been taken captive by His love. He knew he could take no other course but to love Him back, with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. There are degrees of love, little and much, but he knew his Master longed for the latter. He found the more you love Him, the more you want to love him!

Paul didn't spend his time at "broken cisterns, that cannot hold water," he went directly to the fountainhead. Only there and there alone could he find satisfaction. Peter, speaking of us coming to Christ, said, "To whom coming...[is] precious." The history of Paul's life, once he met Christ, was a constant coming to Him. He knew of no other place to go! And once more, he didn't desire to go anyplace else.

O, beloved, the greatest hinderance to fuller blessings in our lives is that thing, or things, we take into our hearts with Christ. He is a jealous lover, He does not want to share us! He wants to be our, "ALL AND IN ALL."

Retire/Refire

When that colorful old time Nazarene preacher, Uncle Buddy Robinson, was asked, when he entered his 80’s, if he would retire, with his familiar stuttering speech replied, “Shoot, no! I’m going to refire.” This is also how I generally answer the inquirer. That is, those who can get it.

“Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” God did not set a rocker before Joshua in his advanced years, but a challenge. “There is no discharge in that war.”

When the aged Apostle Paul was shut-up and chained to circumstances, he was still bringing forth fruit in his old age (Philemon). His writings, when a shut-in, excelled his public preaching. Elisha’s private ministry, behind closed doors, by far exceeded Elijah’s before the masses. The former performing twice the miracles.

The advantages of the aged is that they have both the learning experiences of the past, as well a vast collection of precious memories from those many years lived. And best of all, they can now see the lights of home and hear the joyful singing from their Father’s House!

“Since the Good Shepherd found me and laid me on His shoulders, rejoicing, we have never parted company.”

(Andrew A. Bonar)

Where to Meet God

“And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark...And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark ”

The main piece of furniture in the Tabernacle was the Ark of God. It was the center of focus, being the lone piece of furniture placed in the Holy of Holies. It was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. Within it were 1) the tables of stone with the Ten Commandments written upon them; 2) a jar of Manna; and 3) Aaron’s rod that budded. Above it was placed the Mercy Seat, made of one solid piece of gold. At each end were two Cherubs with outstretched wings facing each other. The Hgh Priest would sprinkle blood upon it once a year to atone for his and the people’s sins. It was symbolic of God’s Throne and presence.

It is good to remember when we come before God in prayer, it is not because of our merit, but His mercy which makes it possible. We can come before Him boldly, but only for the fact that Hebrews tells us, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” This is why God invites us to, “Come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” It is not the man or woman who prays, “ God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, ”but that humble soul who cries out, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

“Mercy there was great, and grace was free;

Pardon there was multiplied to me;

There my burdened soul found liberty,

   At Calvary.

A Change of Masters

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof...For sin shall not have dominion over you.”

Some years ago, I heard a nationally known evangelical radio teacher expounding our texts, found in Romans chapter six. To my shock and utter dismay, he said a Christian could live without sinning, that he had gone all the previous day without committing one sin. He attempted to use the above scriptures as proof-texts. But  a text taken out of context is a pretext!

No Believer can live without sin, although he or she may live above sin. As an assistant pastor said to me once, “We no longer have to live in the saloon, we can now live in an apartment above it.” The words “reign” and “dominion,” as found in Romans six, as well as in other places, have to do with power, not presence; authority, not absence.

When Joseph’s brethren said, “Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? they were speaking of him having control over their lives. Like a king having reign and dominion over his subjects. We are now free from sin's power over us, but not its presence in us. Both Joseph and his brethren remained, whoever had the control.

Sin’s presence is always with us (Rom.7), like Siamese twins, we are joined together, and only death does us part. God has left you and me with the means to feed the new nature. We also have the means at our disposal to feed the old. But once we give in to the “old man’s” deceitful pleadings and nourish him, he will always get the upper hand. 

Emancipated servants should follow the one who gave His life for their freedom, and not return to the tyrannical, slave driver they once served!  

Hannah's Prayer of Praise

“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD...He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory.”

Answered prayer is always cause to rejoice in the Lord. In chapter one of 1 Samuel we are told of Hannah, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.” But now, after the birth of Samuel, a prayer of praise.

But within this magnificent prayer there is a word of warning against spiritual pride and arrogancy, “Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth.” She reminds all of us, who are so prone to forget who we were and where God brought us from, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes.”

I agree with the old radio preacher, M.R. De Haan, when he said this is one of the great illustrations of grace found in scriptures. To take us from sitting on a dunghill to seat us far above in heavenly places with Christ, is nothing short of God’s marvelous grace. From the lowest to the highest, from rags to riches. He took away the filthy stench of the dunghill and replaced it with the sweet aroma of the Rose of Sharon.

Let us always be mindful, whether saved as a innocent child or a reprobate adult, we were all taken from the same dunghill. We were all barnyard creatures! And that “the best robe” our Father clothed us with, He provided.

It is so difficult to understand how we as God’s children, clothed in His righteousness, nurtured and brought up by Him, could ever go to the streets again, and to the dunghill we came from. “They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.”

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.”  

Making the Comforter Comfortable

In the Gospels, Jesus plainly reveals He considered His body the Temple of God. And in the Epistles, Paul unveils the fact that this truth applies to we Believers also. I know the blessed Comforter was comfortable in Jesus’ body; the question is, is He comfortable in ours? Do we make every effort to provide Him with nice living quarters?

I am not going to give a list of do’s and don’ts. For sure, I’d leave a hole for many to worm out of. I’ll let the Holy Spirit tell each what should be done in his or her individual life to make Him feel more at home. As the missionary C.T. Studd said, “Who buys a watchdog and does his barking for him?”

We read of one who, in the Old Testament, desecrated God’s Temple. God laid Belshazzar in His balances and found him wanting. That very night his life was taken. And of those believers at Corinth who defiled the Temple of the Holy Ghost, we are told, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”

The Temple of old was made by hands, ours, “without hands.”

Nevertheless, we are to keep up our physical temple as Israel was to repair and tend to their material Temple. There will be a dear and high cost to be paid by those of us who refuse and neglect to pay the price of the upkeep of their bodies.

When we are told in scripture, “bodily exercise profiteth little,” that is in contrast to “godliness,” not health! There is a great deal of profit in taking care of your temple. Even those who, in God’s will, “suffer infirmities,” function better for His service by repairing in their temple the things that can humanly be fixed!

The Old-Fashioned Home

Many a oldtime non-Christian home of my day excelled most that pass themselves off as a Christian home today. God established the home before the Church or Government. Therefore, as goes the home, so goes the Church and Government. A great number of homes of my childhood may not have been truly Christian, but they possessed Christian principles. And they passed these values and traditions to their next generation. No culture can long survive without these guidelines.  

Our society will soon wither and die without Judeo-Christian teaching. God will bless any and all who come under this scriptural umbrella (1Cor. 7:14). Judges tells of Israel’s decline as a nation, “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel...every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Our social and cultural problems stem from a decline in the home.

“HAVING A PLACE TO GO IS HOME

HAVING SOMEONE TO LOVE IS FAMILY

HAVING BOTH IS A BLESSING”

(anonymous)

God's Natural Laws

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

God’s natural laws pertain both to the Christian and non-Christian. For example, the law of gravity, whatever goes up, must come down. Likewise, the same truth holds with the law of the harvest. What we sow is what we reap. Right or wrong always produces, in the end, after its own kind. If you plant corn don’t expect a crop of tomatoes.

Wicked Adonibezek cut off seventy king’s thumbs and great toes; when captured by Israel they did likewise to him, his testimony being, “as I have done, so God hath requited me.” On the other hand, we are told of godly Isaac, “Then Isaac sowed…and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.”

Let me here give a word of enlightenment that is not generally covered when discussing this subject. It can be taken as a warning by some and an encouragement to others. It is of utmost importance to realize in the process of sowing and reaping, there is a time element involved. The interval may vary between the two, but there is always a period of waiting.

For example, many have become discouraged and quit after making things right with God, because they see no immediate good fruit, only what they previously had sown. That is to be expected. This is what the law of the harvest is all about. But the old will eventually give way to the new if one will cease to sow their wild oats and continue to plant the good seed. The reverse is true of those who have stopped sowing good in their lives and began seeding the bad.

And to you who are continually “going about doing good,” the harvest is only going to get bigger and better!

The Insecure Giant

“And when he [Saul] stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.”

Theories differ on the height of Saul. Some say he was seven feet tall, others, eight feet, still others believe him to have been closer to nine. One thing for sure, among the children of Israel, he was a giant of a male specimen . Certainly his stature qualified him to do battle with Goliath, had he the inward character and intestinal fortitude.

In reality, Saul was a small man in a giant’s body; David, a giant of a man in a lad’s body. Position and physique don’t make the man. In both the religious and political realm, down through history, many have chosen to blindly follow men who, from all outward appearances, seemed like giants. Yet, they woke up to the fact their leader was in fact a pigmy of a soul in a man’s body.

One of the main differences between Saul and David was that, the latter was comfortable in in own skin, while the former had no peace with who he was. The man or woman who is at home with themselves can take on any and all giants. But the insecure, he or she, like the ostrich, hide their head in the sand, thinking the giants of life will just naturally go away.

When you fight a giant, first make sure you know the person fighting him! (r.d.s.)    

Tooting Our Own Horn

Someone has said, in jest I’m sure, “He that tooteth not his own horn, it shall not be tooted.” We smile, but to hear many of us testify, preach, and pray, you’d think we believed this comedic statement to be gospel, in spite of the fact the Book of wisdom plainly tells us, “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.”

I used to have a sermon entitled, “The Big I.” In it, I showed how in Lucifer’s fall, he uses the personal pronoun “I” five times (Isa. 14:13-14). And the proud Pharisee in the Temple followed his father’s example, using it the same amount of times (Lk. 18:11-12). But when we come to a godly saint, Paul takes the same number of “I’s” and crucifies them (Gal. 2:20).

Bending your stubborn “I” into a submissive “C” will be more than worth the time, pain, and effort you put into it!

Depth of Soul

“Because they had no deepness of earth...because they had no root...yet hath he no root in himself...because it had no depth of earth...because it had no root…[they] have no root in themselves...because it lacked moisture.”

The above quotes are taken from three of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. They’re a part of our Lord’s teaching on the Seed and the Sower. He shows the great danger of being a “surface saint.” Superficial souls are the devil’s delight. Jesus tells us they are an easy prey for Satan.

When interpreting the parable, Jesus makes plain the fault is not with the seed (the Word), but rather with the soil (the heart). Like many today, they were more concerned with outward image than depth of soul. Show, to this type, is more important than substance.

The reason we do not see the “fruit of the Spirit” in more lives of Christians today is told us in the Old Testament, “Take root downward, and bear fruit upward.” We are to “dwell deep,” if we are to have any sinew of soul. We need to intellectually get out of the baby pool and get into intellectual “waters to swim in.”

Words are formed from thought, therefore, what we talk about is the measuring rod of our depth of soul!

R.D.S.

A Personal God

“Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” It couldn't be any plainer. Jesus says His Father and His God is also ours; and that we, like Him, can have a personal relationship with His Father and His God! This is not something new, found only in the New Testament. The Lord says of His darling David in the Old Testament, “He shall cry unto me, “Thou art my father, my God...”

Interestingly Jesus puts “Father,” first. I knew a saint who always addressed Him in prayer as, “Father God.” I thought then that he should have put God before Father. But it seems now he was more scriptural than I thought. When Christ was asked by His disciples to teach them to pray, He taught them, as A.W. Pink refers to it, “The Family Prayer.” He begins it with, “Our Father...”

And even to this present hour, Jesus Christ is still teaching His followers about this intimate relationship. Paul tells us, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba (Papa), Father.” You will remember, I’m sure, this is how our Lord referred to His God in the Garden, when praying in agony, “ And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” He believed, in the final analysis, His Father knew best!  

O, family of God, isn't it awesome? Our heavenly Father is none other than Almighty God Himself!