Gems from February 2019

February 1

“Ye are the light of the world.

A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”

(Matthew 5:14)

“Let your lights so shine before men, that they may see your good works,

and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

(Matthew 5:16)

Moody once said, "Do you know what the moon did when the dog barked at it? It just kept on shining!” If the sons of darkness bark at us, just keep on shining, and someone who is stumbling in the darkness will be guided to Christ.

(E. MacLelland)

Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light,

Like a little candle burning in the night;

In this world of darkness we all must shine,

You in your small corner and I in mine.

(Susan Warner)

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February 2

This Is the Way

"This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand,

and when ye turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21)

We can walk together with God.  We can share life with Him.

We can be acutely aware of His presence on the path.  We can know His intimate friendship.

We can be guided by Him in every area we enter.  

We can sense His gracious Spirit by our side, speaking 

distinctly, emphatically saying to us, “This is the way; walk in it.” 

This is the life to which God calls human beings.  He longs for our companionship. Down through the long centuries of human history, He has come and come and come, calling men and women to walk with Him, just as today He calls us.

(Songs of My Soul - W. Phillip Keller)

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February 3

“Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

Are you passing through tribulation in some form or another?  It seems a rough pathway to it, perhaps, but it is that you may sing, that God may (to speak figuratively) add another string, and thus get music from you such as He has never had before.

Perhaps you say, “How can I glory in tribulations?  It seems so impossible.”  One way is by seeing that they can benefit you as nothing else can.  The apostle does not say, “We glory in tribulations also,“ without indicating the method by which it is reached. 

“Knowing,” he says, “That tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.” (Romans 5:3)

And another thing we notice is, these tribulations stand in direct relation with the love of God—the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost.

This is the climax of the passage.  He knew what tribulation could do for him, and so he gloried in it; and more than that, he knew that the One who sent the tribulation loved him perfectly.  These two things, the conviction that tribulations are are only a blessing in disguise, and that it must be so because the One who permits it all loves us, will enable the weakest saint to glory in them.

(Angels in White - Russell Elliott)

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February 4

OUR MOMENTS KEPT FOR JESUS

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." (Ephesians 5:16-17) 

Keep my moments and my days; 

Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

When we take a wide sweep, we are so apt to be vague.

When we are aiming at generalities we do not hit the practicalities.

We forget that faithfulness to principle is only proved by faithfulness in detail.

Has not this vagueness had something to do with the constant ineffectiveness of our feeble desire that our time should be devoted to God?

In things spiritual, the greater does not always include the less, but, paradoxically, the less more often includes the greater.  So in this case, time is intrusted to us to be traded with for our Lord. But we cannot grasp it as a whole.  We instinctively break it up ere we can deal with it for any purpose.

So when a New Year comes round, we commit it with special earnestness to the Lord.

(Kept for the Master's Use - Francis Ridley Havergal) 

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February 5

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” (Colossians 4:5)

Our times are in Thy hand, Father, we wish them there;

Our life, our soul, our all, we leave entirely to Thy care.

(W. F. Lloyd - 1835) 

So when a New Year comes round, we commit it with special earnestness to the Lord.

But as we do so, are we not conscious of a feeling that even a year is too much for us to deal with?  And does not this feeling, that we are dealing with a larger thing than we can grasp, take away from the sense of reality?

Thus we are brought to a more manageable measure; and as the Sunday mornings or the Monday mornings come round, we thankfully commit the opening week to him, and the sense of help and rest is renewed and strengthened. 

But not even the six or seven days are close enough to our hand; even tomorrow exceeds our tiny grasp, and even tomorrow's grace is therefore not given to us.  So we find the need of considering our lives as a matter of day by day, and that any more general committal and consecration of our time does not meet the case so truly.

Here we have found much comfort and help, and if results have not been entirely satisfactory, they have, at least, been more so than before we reached this point of subdivision.

(Kept for the Master’s Use - Francis Ridley Havergal) 

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February 6

“I will make all my mountains a way (road).”

(Isaiah 49:11)

Do not try to tunnel under them, nor to squeeze through them, nor to run away from them,  but to claim them. Tighten your loins with the promises of God!

These mountains of difficulty are His stepping stones; walk on them with holy joy. Keep the strong staff of faith well in hand, and trust God in the dark.

We are safer with Him in the dark than without Him in the sunshine.  

At the end of the gloomy passage beams the heavenly light!

When we reach heaven we may discover that the richest and most profitable experiences that we had in this world were those gained in the very roads from which we shrank back in dread.

It was because Job was on God’s main line
that he found so many tunnels.

The great thing to remember is that God’s darknesses are not His goals.

His tunnels must be traveled to get somewhere else. 

Therefore, be patient! The darkness is not thy (destination); the tunnel is not thy abiding home!

The traveler who would pass from the wintry slops of Switzerland into the summer beauty of the plains of Italy, must be prepared to tunnel the Alps.

The tunnel is never on a siding—it is planned to lead somewhere!

(Springs in the Valley)

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February 7

“Faith as a grain of mustard seed.” 

(Matthew 17:20)

Sand or Seed

If you would develop a living faith, not like a grain of sand but like a grain of seed, do not read too many books on faith.

One dear brother will tell you that you must agonize and strive to enter,

while another would have you “take it by faith.”

Both are right: you must mean business and be in dead earnest,

but beyond that you must, like Hudson Taylor, quit working at your faith and rest in the Faithful One.

Books on faith are coloured by the author’s temperament, theology, experience, style of expression. You can become more concerned about the quantity and quality of your faith than about its object.

You never will get your experience to suit you.  You will never pray just as you want to, or feel or preach or live just as you want to.  Perfection is found only in Him.   

Real faith stops studying itself and is occupied with Him.

Quit digging in the ashes of your poor heart for

satisfaction.  Consider Him—not your faith— 

“Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. ”(Hebrews 12:3)".

(Day by Day - Vance Havner)

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February 8

Creation and the Cross

“He humbled Himself,- and became obedient unto death,

even the death of the cross.”

(Philippians 2:8)

“The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

(Galatians 2:20)    

Rolling wave and dashing spray 

Cedar tall and daisy bright;

Every sunbeam of the day,

Every star that gems the night; 

All the life of dell and plain;

Every burst of woodland song;

All combine to swell the strain —

“God is wise, and God is strong.”

Every tear my Saviour shed;

Traitor’s kiss and smiting sore;

Every thorn that pierced His head;

Yon sad Cross He meekly bore;

Pain and thirst, and darkness drear;

Grief all other griefs above;

Drooping head and thrusting spear:

O they tell me, “God is love.”

Bowing low would I adore 

God, the Lord of earth and sea.

Lowlier still, my worship pour,

When I think of Calvary.

Not creation’s glories high,

So could move my soul within.

Power could spread the spangled sky,

Love alone my heart could win.

(Bells and Pomegranates - James M. S. Tait)

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February 9

“Up, make us gods, which shall go before us . . .”

(Exodus 32:1)

Whenever we turn away in heart from leaning exclusively upon God Himself, whether in the matter of salvation or the necessities of the path, we are, in principle, saying, “Up make us gods”. 

“But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

(Luke 12:7)

Jesus tells us the  hairs of our head are all numbered, and that

we shall never want any good thing; we through grace,

believe, and enjoy a sweetly tranquillized heart.

The most brilliant attractions and bewitching fascinations of the world are to the church of God what the serpents and scorpions, and the ten thousand other dangers of the wilderness were to Israel.

(Food for the Desert)

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February 10

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)

“As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.” 

(John 10:15)

“Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.  No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take take it again.  This commandment have I received of My Father.”

(John 10:17-18)

Other men die because they have to die.    Our Lord laid down His life of His own voluntary will.

The very first prophecy of Christ suggested His death.  God said to Satan in Eden when announcing the coming of the Conquering seed, “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” 
(Genesis 3:15). 

The words of this promise probably seemed obscure to Adam and to his wife; but the subsequent unfoldings of Scripture show plainly that this first prophecy of Christ foretold His death.

Our Lord also “accomplished" His death.  When Peter, James, and John were with the Lord in "the holy mount,” Luke records: “Behold there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias; who appeared in glory, and spoke of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:30-31).

Moses had a remarkable death; God was his undertaker.  Yet Moses did not “accomplish” his decease. The word “accomplish” does not fit any other death but the death of Christ. Death is the invasion of the territory of a man by an enemy.

The best of men, when they died, were said to give up the ghost, and to be gathered to their fathers; when they could live no longer, they succumbed to death.  The death of the Lord Jesus was altogether different; it was perhaps the greatest of all His works.  He Cried, “It is finished" when He bowed His head in death.  

His death made all His work replete.

(A Plant of Renown - Leonard Sheldrake)

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February 11

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and your spirit, which are God’s.”

(1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”

(Romans 14:8)

__________________________________________

YOU BELONG TO SOMEONE ELSE NOW 

Let us never forget this.  The purchase price has been paid, and the Holy Spirit has taken possession of those whom God has purchased, for “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you?”  Not our souls only, but body, soul, and spirit are His now and forever. 

If you  have purchased a house and agreed to take possession of it at a certain date, you would think it strange if the old owner still remained in it, and insisted upon occupying some of the rooms.  Would you not point out to him the unreasonableness and unrighteousness of such a course?

Yet how often we are found acting somewhat after that fashion.  We say, “Yes, Lord, we are Yours!” but we do not yield ourselves to Him, and we like to use our bodies for our own selfish ends.

Ponder well the unrighteousness of this, and let us hold it as our sacred privilege to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, that He may be glorified in our body.

(William S. Ibrahim)

Living for Christ, my members I yield,

Servants to God, for evermore sealed,

“Not under law,“ I’m now “under grace,”

Sin is dethroned, and Christ takes its place.

Glory be to God.

(T. Ryder)

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February 12

“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.” (Ephesians 3:12)

“My Faith looks up to Thee” was written in 1832 by Ray Palmer, a twenty-two-year-old  school teacher. Several months after his graduation from Yale University and while still living with the family of the lady who directed the girl’s school where he taught, Palmer wrote the text for this hymn.

He had experienced a very discouraging year in which he battled illness and loneliness.

"The Words for these stanzas were born out of my own soul with very little effort. I recall that I wrote the verses with tender emotion. 

There was not the slightest thought of writing for another eye, least of all writing a hymn for Christian worship. It is well-remembered that when writing the last line, “Oh, bear me safe above, a ransomed soul!” the thought of the whole work of redemption and salvation was involved in those words, and suggested the theme of eternal praises, and this brought me 

to a degree of emotion that brought abundant tears."

My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Saviour divine; now hear me when I pray, take all my sin away; O let me from this day be wholly thine! 

May Thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire; as Thou hast died for me, O may my love to Thee pure, warm, and changeless be—a living fire!

While life’s dark maze I tread and griefs around me spread, be Thou my guide; bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow’s tears away, nor let me ever stray from Thee aside.

When ends life’s transient dream, when death’s cold sullen stream shall o’er me roll, Blest Saviour, then, in love, fear and distrust remove—O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul. 

(Amazing Grace - Kenneth W. Osbeck)

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February 13

"I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

(Revelation 21:3)

We live in a neighbourhood with many people around us, but my wife 

and children dwell in our house.

It is one thing to be among people; it is quite another to dwell with them.

They say you don’t know someone until you live with them.

The God of heaven is not going to live around us—He is going to dwell with us. What intimacy!  We will be getting to know Him for all eternity.

(Paul Robertson)

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today,

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart,

You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart!

(A. H. Ackley)

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February 14

“Finally brethren . . . whatsoever things are pure . . . if there be any virtue, 

and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

(Philippians 4:8)

Let us never lower God’s standard to meet our weakness: but rather let us press on, with our eyes fixed on the Goal: on our Lord Himself.

Let us CONSIDER HIM (Hebrews 12:3).

Another has said, “the first look at Christ gives life,

and every after-look the power of living.”

“For every look at self take ten at Christ.”

(Sacrifices of Joy - G. Christopher Willis)

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February 15

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” [not self-willed]  
(James 3:17)

Self-will is deaf; and unbelief is blind.

Self-defence is self-serving.  It is a popular and futile ego-trip.

Faith will always appear proud to those who lack it, but it will

be proved in the day of the Lord to be the only humility,

and everything which is not faith is pride, or no better.  

(W. Kelly) 

Books may preach when the author can not, when the author may not,

when the author dares not, yea, and what is more,

when the author is not.  

(T. Brooks)

(Cudllets - John Kaiser)

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February 16

"And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” 
(Ephesians 3:19)

It must ever be remembered that guidance is a matter of faith, not sight.

The Christian ought to be the most dignified person in the world.

We do not think half enough of ourselves 

as we are before God.

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

(Galatians 6:14)

If the cross be applied to ourselves, and then to the world, you have two crucified things, and consequently there could not be the least attraction between the two.  That, therefore, is the true way of overcoming the attractions of the world. 

When the heart is at leisure from itself, through being satisfied with Christ, the Holy Ghost is free to lead it out into all the circle of God’s interests, whether as regards the church, His ancient people, or the world.

(Edward Dennett)

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February 17

“Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men . . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; . . .”

(2 Corinthians 3:2,3)

WHO IS READING YOU?

Dr. J. H. Franklin relates a striking experience of a missionary to the islands of the Inland Sea near Japan. One evening a sailor came to him and asked him to call upon a man on another island who was under a deep sense of spiritual need.

The missionary, tired out after a hard day’s work, turned to a recent convert and said, "I am dreadfully tired. Won’t you go and take him a Bible?”  The friend replied, “No, teacher.  It is not time to take that man a Bible. That book is yours, and now, thank God, it is mine also, but it is not time to take that man a Bible.  Teacher, that man is reading you yet awhile.” 

The missionary could not sleep that night.  He kept hearing those words over and over again: "That man is reading you. . . .”  Before daybreak he set out to see the man. 

The Christian is the only Bible the great majority ever look at. Ought we not then so to live as to require no commentary to explain us? It was said of a great missionary: “There is no difference between him and the Book.”

You are the Bible they will read the most,

They shall see Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 

Within its pages. Reading they shall claim

Their great possessions in the fragrant name.

(Fay Inchfawn)

One example is worth a thousand arguments.

Dear Master, show me more and more Thy beauty,

That, gazing on Thy brightness day by day,

I may reflect a little of Thy lustre;

And thus help others on their homeward way.

(Mountain Trailways for Youth)

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February 18

Words That Work

"And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.” 

(Acts 14:1)

The story is told of a poor, blind boy who spent most days of his young life, sitting on the steps of a large office building begging.  In this way he was able to get enough money to buy food and other necessities.  The little blind beggar placed his cap between his feet while holding a sign on which he had written; "I am blind, please help.”  Sadly, few people ever stopped to drop coins into his hat.

A man who worked in the building where the little fellow begged, always had a coin or two that he dropped in the hat.  One morning, as he stopped to say 'hello' and leave a few coins, the man carefully studied the boy’s sign. Then, taking the sign, he turned it around and wrote some words on its back.Giving the sign to his young friend he told him not to turn it around again because he wanted those who passed by to read the sign’s ‘new' words.

The man left for his work in the office building and soon the hat began to fill up. It seemed to the boy that many more people were dropping coins into his cap then they had ever done before.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign left his work and stopped to see how things were. The boy, immediately recognizing his voice and footsteps asked: "Weren’t you the one who changed my sign this morning? Please tell me what you wrote.  Since you changed my sign I have received many more coins today then ever before!”  

The smiling man replied; “Don’t worry son, I only wrote the truth.  I wrote the very same message as you had used but with different words.”  “Well, what did you write?” asked the curious boy. The man replied; "I wrote 'Today is a beautiful day but I can’t see it!’”  Note verse above, “. . . and so spake, that a great multitude . . . believed."    

True Christians, through faith in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, have an infinitely wonderful message to proclaim to this present evil world—the gospel of the grace of God.  May we so speak (and 'so act’) that precious souls are drawn to the Saviour.

(T.C.S - Doug Nicolet (September 2010)

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February 19

A ROYAL CONFESSION

“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” 
(Matthew 11:28).

In June, 1939, King George of England and his queen were visiting President Roosevelt in Washington. During that occasion Chief Whitefeather, an Indian “brave,” was called there by the head of the Bureau for Indian Affairs, and was presented to the royal couple.

Chief Whitefeather was asked to sing for the visitors and delighted them with a spirited rendition of “Rule, Britannia” and “God Save the King.”  As his encore to their kind applause, the Chief made his confession of faith in Christ by singing:  "I’d rather Have Jesus Than Silver and Gold.” 

Having heard that Queen Elizabeth was a believer, the singer enquired:  “Your Majesty, may I ask if you KNOW Jesus as your personal Saviour?”

Without hesitation the answer came: “Some people know ABOUT God, some know ABOUT Christ; but the Lord Jesus is the Possessor of my heart.  My husband also is a believer.”  Then smilingly, the King of England said: “I’d rather have Jesus, too.”

Friend, is Christ Jesus your Saviour?  Do you KNOW HIM?  He is still calling,  “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”  (Matthew 11:28).

This restless, wicked world holds out no such promise.  It can never give true peace nor rest; and the treasure it promises, its silver and gold, can give no satisfaction to the weary soul. Only Christ as Possessor of your heart can fill the void and satisfy the hunger.  

Will you let Him? 

(From the Archives of Tom Dear)

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or land. I’d rather be led by His nailed-pierced hand.

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause; I’d rather be faithful to to His dear cause; I’d rather have Jesus than world-wide fame; I’d rather be true to His holy name.

He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;  He’s sweeter than honey from out of the comb; He’s all that my hungering spirit needs, I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead.

Chorus: Than to be the king of a vast domain and be held in sin’s dread sway; I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. 

(Rhea F. Miller - Words) - (George Beverly Shea - Music) 

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February 20

The Unbought Good

“But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.  Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?”  (Job 12:7-9)

What would our land be worth to us, 

The land we sell and buy,

And fence about, and call our own, 

Without God’s open sky 

To hold the sunset's rose and gold, 

The white clouds floating high?

What would our fields bring forth for us 

Without the gifts He sends,

Without the sunshine and the rain 

On which our bread depends,

His little water-brooks to flow, 

His birds to be our friends?

Oh, as the land without the sky 

That ever bends above,

So barren and so desolate 

Our lives without His love;

The blessings that no gold can buy 

Our greatest riches prove.

(Flint’s Best Loved Poems)

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February 21

"I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound:

every where and in all things I am instructed both

to be full and to be hungry, both to

abound and to suffer need.”

(Philippians 4:12)

If you are content with any food, any

raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, 

any interruption by the will of God—that is victory.

(This Day is the Lord’s - Corrie Ten Boon)

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February 22

TREASURES ALREADY COINED

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.”

(2 Corinthians 8:9)

Yes, through His poverty the unsearchable riches of Christ are for you.

Sevenfold riches are mentioned, and these are no unminted 

treasure or sealed reserve, but already coined for our 

use, and stamped with His own image and 

superscription, and poured freely 

into the hand of faith.

The mere list is wonderful. 

"Riches of goodness,” “riches of forbearance and long-suffering,” 

“riches both of wisdom and knowledge,” “riches of mercy,”

“exceeding riches of grace,”and “riches of glory.”

And His own Word says, “All are yours.”  Glance on in faith, and think of eternity flowing on and on beyond the mightiest sweep of imagination, and realize that all His riches in glory and the riches of His glory are and shall be for you. 

In view of this, shall we care to reserve anything 

that rust doth corrupt for ourselves?

(Francis Ridley Havergal)

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February 23

"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

(Hebrews 4:13)

“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,

Jesus Christ the righteous.”

(1 John 2:1)

But Thy pure eyes do read me through;

My soul is naked unto Thee;

And yet—oh wonder ever new—

Thou, my Lord, lovest me.

And so, O Lord, I come to Thee,

Confess my faults—name them all,

Well knowing Thou shalt gracious be,

Thou lover of my soul.

(Christian Calendar)

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February 24

“Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,

let him come unto Me, and drink.”

(John 7:37)

Think of poor things like you and me sitting down before Christ as an open fountain, saying, “I am athirst;” and then your heart gets full of happy thoughts.

You see another coming in, a poor, weary old saint—well, he gets happy too, Christ letting happy thoughts into his mind, and he begins to talk of those thoughts to a neighbour coming in.

Such thoughts are a river of living water flowing out; and it is Christ in heaven who gives the water to thirsty souls.  Is it not enough to make the heart leap for joy to hear Christ saying , "Come to me and drink: I am come for thirsty people”?

Let your first thought be to drink in before giving out; not occupied with brethren, not about gifts, nor of having a place in the body, but of living waters flowing out.  

(Gleanings - G. V. Wigram)

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February 25

“The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.”

(Judges 7:2)

What an unusual complaint by God Himself—that there where too many 

to do the work.  There were reasons behind this.

First, if Israel won the battle with their great army, they would think 

that they could do without God.

Secondly, God wanted to show that He can do great things through the few that are dependant on Him.  Things haven’t changed.

God would have us rest on Him and not our own resources.

Also our weakness does not excuse inaction.  By the 

Spirit, He will do glorious things through us still.

(W. H. Burnett)

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art,

And Thy love, so pure, so changeless, satisfies my heart.

(J. Pigott)

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February 26

“When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes,

lacked ye anything?”

(Luke 22:35)

Remember the way the blessed Lord was with His disciples,— and said:

"Lacked ye anything?”—and is not the Spirit with us,

now in even a nearer way?

"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

(John 12:24)

“If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

Not the Church only, but the whole redeemed family,

springs from the “Corn of wheat.”

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” (Matthew 7:13)

The "way “ has now become a great broad road, instead of a path.

“He leadeth me the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.”

(Psalm 23:3)

(Hunt’s Sayings - K. M. Hammond)

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February 27

Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me,

and shall die in your sins: whither I go ye cannot come.”

(John 8:21)

                                                                                                

The question, “Is there a second chance for salvation after death?” is a very serious one. It is raised at times even by real Christians when some of their own loved ones close their eyes in death without giving any evidence of repentance or of personal saving faith in the Lord Jesus. 

No matter how orthodox one may be or how thoroughly one may be indoctrinated in respect to the hopelessness of the state of the unsaved dead, this question will come up to the surface. People who have never thought of it before, think seriously of it when one of their own has gone out into eternity in this hopeless condition.  

And their hearts cry out, “May it not be true that after all, when men live and die out of Christ, there may be some way by which God will save men on the other shore after He has failed to reach them on this side?”

The only way we can get a true answer to this question is by turning directly to the Word of God itself. And here we have the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is very solemn and serious.

“Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.”

(H. A. Ironside)  Part 1  

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February 28

“Then said the Jews, Will He kill Himself? because He saith, whither I go, ye cannot come. And He said unto them, ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of of this world.  I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.”

(John 8:22-24)

He was addressing men who had seen His works of power, who had heard His marvellous teaching, who had been urged to receive Him in faith, the Living Bread, that they might find life eternal.

And now He says to them, "I am not going to be here forever.   I have come for an appointed service. The hour of my crucifixion is just before Me.  I go My way back to the presence of the Father. I go My way through the gates of death into resurrection and up to the glory, and after I have left you, after I have gone, many of you will begin to be concerned.  You will seek Me, and want to listen to My message, but you will not be able to find Me.  You will not be able to hear Me.  Ye shall seek Me, but ye shall die in you sins.”

And He adds, “And whither I go, ye cannot come.”  There is something very, very tragic about that. I have often said that every time I am asked to speak at a funeral service where the deceased has given no evidence of knowing Christ, I would like to believe that there is something so purifying about death, so wonderful about dissolution, that when men pass from this life into the next they will immediately have their eyes opened and they will see how foolish they have been in rejecting Christ, and then they will gaze upon His face and will trust Him.

I would like to believe that.  I would like to believe that no one will be lost.  So would any compassionate person. . . . but when we turn to this blessed Book and are prepared to bring our thoughts to the test of “Thus saith the Lord,” we do not find that this Word diffuses any ray of hope for the one who dies unsaved.  Nothing could be clearer than our Lord’s Word here. He says, “Ye shall die in your sins.”

(H. A, Ironside)  

N.J. Hiebert - 7377  (PART 2)

March 1

“And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.”

(Matthew 11:6)

All of us are sometimes troubled by questions.

Why is the secret of healing not opened more fully?

Why is that key not put into wise and loving hands?

Why does He whose touch has not lost its ancient power not come immediately and touch and heal?

Why have the wicked such awful power?

Why are we ourselves sometimes like the little ship on the sea of Galilee beaten by the winds?

And even after we have heard our dear Lord’s Peace, be still, why is it 

that there is not always instantly a great calm, a lasting calm? 

Why do the winds return again?

We could go on forever, piling question on question.  Why? Why? Why?

But faith is not “trusting God when we understand His ways” — there is no need for faith then. Faith is trusting when nothing is explained.  

Faith rests under the Unexplained.

Faith enters into the deep places of our Lord’s words,

And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.  

Faith, having entered into those deep places, stays there in peace. 

(Whispers of His Power - Amy Carmichael)

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