A Different Garden

 

OCTOBER 30 A Different Garden

O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it. Song of Songs 8:13

My sweet Lord Jesus remembers well the garden of Gethsemane, and although He has left that garden, He now dwells in the garden of His church: There He discloses Himself to those who keep His blessed company. The voice of love with which He speaks to His beloved is more musical than the harps of heaven. There is a depth of melodious love within it that leaves all human music far behind. Tens of thousands on earth, and millions above, are consumed with its harmonious accents. Some whom I know well, and whom I greatly envy, are at this moment hearkening to the beloved voice. O that I were a partaker of their joys! It is true some of these are poor, others bedridden, and some near the gates of death; but, my Lord, I would cheerfully starve with them, pine with them, or die with them if I might simply hear Your voice. Once I heard it often, but I have grieved Your Spirit. Return to me in compassion and once again say to me, “I am your salvation.” No other voice can content me. I know Your voice and cannot be deceived by another; let me hear it, I pray You. I do not know what You will say, nor do I make any condition, my Beloved; simply let me hear You speak, and if it be a rebuke I will bless You for it. Perhaps the cleansing of my dull ear will require a painful surgery, but let it cost me what it will, I have only one consuming desire—to hear Your voice. Pierce my ear with Your harshest notes, but do not allow me to remain deaf to Your calls. Tonight, Lord, grant Your unworthy servant his desire, for I am Yours, and You have bought me with Your blood. You have opened my eyes to see You, and the sight has saved me. Lord, open my ear. I have read Your heart; now let me hear from Your lips. Because of Jesus, Ted

 

What Does Obedience Have to Do with Following Jesus?

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October 27, 2022

 

When Jesus called the first disciples, He called them to leave everything and follow Him. In other words, He asked them to put their faith in Him. But they didn’t simply say they believed. They didn’t pull one bumper sticker off their boat and replace it with another. They left the boat behind. On the foundation of their faith, they stepped forward in obedience. What does it mean to follow Jesus? It means not only to call Him “Lord” but also to honor Him as Lord by obeying His commands.

If you talk to people about spiritual things and the truths of the Gospel, many conversations will end like this: “So long as you have faith, that’s all that matters,” or “So long as you’re sincere, that’s what really counts.” That certainly sounds good, and on the surface it may seem biblical—but it isn’t true. There is a further question that needs to be asked: “Faith in what? Sincerely regarding what?” Some people have faith in having faith. Some people sincerely believe lies. Faith and sincerity on their own count for nothing. It is God in Jesus Christ who saves, by grace, through faith in Him (Eph. 2:8). There is no internal disposition that secures salvation for us, no set of words that God treats as a ticket to heaven. Christ saves those who trust Him—and those who trust Him follow Him.

In Luke 6:43–49, at the conclusion of His Sermon on the Plain, the Lord Jesus speaks with great clarity to the kind of people who have adopted a false optimism, and He speaks with the authority which is only His as Lord. With a convicting question and a revealing illustration, Jesus teaches us that to follow Him in faith means to obey His commands. It is one thing to call Him Lord; it is another to submit to His lordship. To be a Christian is to do both.

But before we turn to Jesus’ question and illustration, we must clear up a misconception about the faith that Jesus seeks.

The Faith That Jesus Seeks

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:43–45)

Many Christians know that it is faith alone that saves. This is a wonderful truth to grasp, but it will do a person no good if they misunderstand what faith actually is.

Faith is not the intellectual acceptance of certain propositions about Jesus. It includes the acceptance of propositions, to be sure—but that in and of itself is not saving faith. James 2:19 tells us that “even the demons believe” that there is one God. The devil is orthodox in what he knows to be true about God, but he has not entrusted himself to God. What we need is not simply to assent to the truth about Jesus; we need also to consent to take Christ.

To follow Jesus in faith means to obey His commands. It is one thing to call Him Lord; it is another to submit to His lordship. To be a Christian is to do both.

Saving faith is the entrustment of our lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is not simply the belief that we have been saved, nor is it merely the belief that Christ died for us, but it is the commitment of ourselves as unsaved, lost, helpless, and undone people unto Christ. It is trusting that Jesus Himself redeems and, by His Holy Spirit, brings the dead to life, seals us, and sanctifies us. It is the realization that the power to save belongs to God, and it is the humble seeking of that transforming power in our lives. And it involves the expectation of a radically different life, not simply in an abstract, legal, promissory sense but also in the immediacy of a restored relationship with God.

John Calvin, who helped the church to recover the doctrine of salvation by faith alone during the Reformation, put it like this: it is faith alone that saves, but the faith that saves is not alone.1 True faith always overflows in obedience. As noted above, this is what Jesus Himself said: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil” (Luke 6:45). In other words, the content of the heart overflows with action, and that action reveals the content of the heart. God’s people are those who have thrown themselves onto Christ through faith and have been transformed by God’s Holy Spirit. Such people are, in their hearts, rooted in Christ through faith and will therefore overflow in obedience to Him—not perfect obedience but the kind of striving that marks repentant sinners-made-saints.

Obedience thus springs from faith, not the other way around. Yet true faith is always followed by obedience.

The Question Jesus Asks

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46)

Jesus’ question in Luke 6:46 is rhetorical. When He asked it, He wasn’t looking for an explanation; He was demanding repentance. He was essentially saying, You think you understand what it means to follow Me, but your life says you don’t. If you were really following Me, you would do what I command. (See John 14:15; 15:14; 1 John 2:3; 5:3.) Words are no substitute for obedience. Both then and today, the people who have truly made Christ their Lord obey His commands.

Paul tells us in Romans 10:9 that people are saved who confess that “Jesus is Lord.” In our culture of equity, we are in danger of losing our concept of that word “Lord.” The Greek word it translates, kyrios, was what slaves used to address their masters, and it’s what all Roman citizens called the emperor. The relationship between the master and the slave was not casual. The relationship of the emperor to his people was not casual. These were relations of complete authority and sovereign rule. When someone said, “This is my lord,” they were saying, “This is the one I will obey.”

“Jesus is Lord” is a pledge of obedience. So Jesus asks, Why do you pledge to obey and then refuse to obey? Why don’t your actions live up to your words? He is directing this question to those who have made their declaration of faith, but there’s no change in their life, inside or out. The implicit answer is that such a person has not really made Jesus their Lord. When the pledge of obedience that “Jesus is Lord” is not followed by actual obedience to His commands, it reveals a heart that is not resting on Him, despite the declarations of the lips—because faith that is rooted in and founded upon Jesus Christ ought to overflow in obedience.

The Illustration Jesus Uses

“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:47–49)

In this short parable, Jesus tells us about two builders. Both represent those who hear Jesus’ words. Both are building houses. Both are in danger of a torrent that is about to strike the houses. But only one of the two men is prepared for the torrent to come—the one who built his house upon a solid foundation.

The first builder represents those who not only hear Jesus’ words but also do them. He is everyone who comes to Christ, receives His Word, and lives their life on the strength of it—those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. They have understood that they need to go down to solid rock, and that rock is Jesus. And when the days of testing come, as they surely will, the lives of those who have set their faith on the rock of Jesus Christ will stand in the midst of the torrent.

Obedience springs from faith, not the other way around. Yet true faith is always followed by obedience.

Yet among those who hear the Word of God, there will always be some like the second builder as well. This man represents those who say, “Lord, Lord,” but in their heart of hearts, it is not Christ that they trust. Their hearts do not yet overflow in obedience to the Lord they confess, because their faith is not truly resting on Him. And when the flood comes, they are guaranteed to be swept away.

The good news is that for people like the second builder, it is not yet too late. There is still time to say, “Lord, I am helpless and needy, and I cannot save myself. I set myself upon You in trust that You will save me. And because I have put my trust in You, I will obey.” Apart from trust in the solid rock of Jesus Christ and the obedience that springs from it, the temptations and hardships of life sooner or later will prove too much to bear, and all facades of false “faith” will collapse. If we would confess Jesus Christ, then we must be prepared to ask ourselves: “Am I ready to follow Christ in true faith, so as to obey Him?”

What Will We Do in Heaven?

 Keep Believing Ministries

P. O. Box 257
Elmhurst, IL 60126

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Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay in touch. We love hearing from you.

Ray Pritchard
Keep Believing Ministries
Shawnee, Kansas
 

Inside the Pearly Gates:
What Will We Do in Heaven?
Revelation 7:9-17

Some years ago, when Billy Graham was preaching on heaven, he said these words:

“Some day you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God."

Those words came true on February 21, 2018, when Billy Graham died at the age of 99. After decades of non-stop preaching, writing, speaking and traveling, his heart finally began to fail. He died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina.

 
Here’s something else Billy Graham said:
 

"When we all reach the end of our earthly journey, we will have just begun."

 
That’s a sobering and thrilling thought. Death for all of us is just the end of our earthly life. It’s not the end of us.
 
What does death mean for the Christian? Ponder these words of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 11:25-26:
 

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

 
If these words of Jesus mean anything, they tell us that death as we know it is not the end.

If we know Jesus, death is the beginning of life with God in heaven.
 

Heaven is a Real Place

 

Children have no trouble believing in heaven even though their ideas are sometimes a bit mixed up.
 
Eight-year-old Eric described heaven this way: “It is a place where there is a lot of money lying around. You could just pick it up, play with it, and buy things. I think I am going to buy a basketball and I am going to play basketball with my great-great grandmother.”
 
 Scott said, “Heaven is up in the sky, and you could look down at circuses for free if you want to, except you have to ask God for permission first.”
 
Seven-year-old David declared that heaven is “kind of big and they sit around playing harps. I don’t know how to play a harp, but I suppose I should learn how to play that dumb thing pretty soon.”
 
Tommy, age seven, spoke for many adults when he said, “I know what heaven is, but I don’t want to go there. I want to go to North Carolina instead.”
 
Many of us would say the same thing. We know heaven is real, but we’d rather go to North Carolina first. Heaven can wait as far as we’re concerned.
 
But that attitude, common though it may be, reflects a complete reversal of the biblical picture.
 
This earth is passing away. It is here today and gone tomorrow. Heaven (which seems almost like a fairy tale to us) is the true reality, and it is “the heart’s true home.”
 
The book of Revelation tells us more about heaven than any other book in the Bible.
 
Most of us probably know about the lovely picture of heaven in Revelation 21-22, but there is another, much briefer picture of heaven found in Revelation 7:9-17.
 
In only eight verses the Apostle John pulls back the curtain and gives us a tantalizing glimpse of our eternal home.
 
What will heaven be like? What will we do there? What will we experience? When we look at this passage, we discover three truths that help us answer those questions.
 

#1: We will be part of a vast community of multicultural praise (vv.  9-12).

 
“After this I looked
     and there before me was a great multitude
     that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people and language,
     standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.
 
They were wearing white robes and were holding
     palm branches in their hands.
And they cried out in a loud voice:
‘Salvation belongs to our God,
     who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’

All the angels were standing around the throne
     and around the elders and the four living creatures.
They fell down on their faces before the throne
     and worshiped God, saying:
‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks
     and honor and power and strength be to our God
     for ever and ever. Amen!’”
 
This passage gives us a great deal of helpful information about heaven.
First, note their number. There is a vast crowd before the throne, so huge that it is beyond human calculation.
 
Second, note their variety. There are saints from every nation, tribe, people and language group.
 
Third, note their posture. They are before the throne of God, standing like an army before its Commander in Chief.
 
Fourth, note their appearance. They wear white robes, a symbol of purity, and they hold palm branches, a sign of victory.
 
Fifth, note their song. They sing about salvation that comes from God and from the Lamb. What a picture this is. The saints are redeemed and rejoicing. As Tony Campolo says, if you want to get ready for heaven, go to choir practice!
 
What do we learn by pondering this unnumbered multitude? Certainly it teaches us God will not be defeated. There will be no empty thrones in heaven. God will not be satisfied with a handful in heaven while the devil gets the majority. What kind of salvation would that be? Many will be saved. Many from every nation! God has a quota, and the quota will be met.
 
According to the Joshua Project, there are 17,400 “people groups” in the world. Those groups make up a world population of 8 billion people. Right now, approximately 42% of the world is still “unreached” with the gospel. That equals 3.4 billion people who have no access to the Good News of Jesus.
 
But in heaven, the redeemed will come from every people group on earth, including those not yet reached. We know that because John saw people from “every” tongue and tribe and nation standing before the throne.
 
This ought to teach us something about the power of the gospel, about the greatness of God’s heart, and the universality of the church. In this scene we have the end to all sectarianism, the end to all pessimism, and the end to evangelistic discouragement.
 
God’s heart is big!
 
There is no room for bigotry, prejudice, or ethnic hatred.
It won’t happen in heaven.
It shouldn’t happen on earth.
 
It’s easy for us to say “Us four and no more” as if somehow sinners are so evil they can’t be saved nowadays.
 
Away with all such poor-meism and unbelief!
 
As we look around at the cultural decline, it’s tempting to conclude the bad guys are winning. They aren’t.
 
God keeps score in his own way. And even when it looks like he’s losing, he’s not. He only appears to be trailing. But in the end, God wins. And he wins big.
 
There will be more people in heaven than we have dreamed possible because our God is greater than our limited imagination.
 
In the end every geographic barrier will be swept away. Every prejudice will be gone. Every bit of human strife will be left behind, and partisan bickering will simply be forgotten.
 
But note that we keep our individuality in heaven. John saw the redeemed gathered into nations, tribes, language groups, and clans.
 
Just as Jesus retained the marks of his earthly suffering after his resurrection, even so we will retain our personal and group identities.
 
The saints are all redeemed but they are not homogenized.
 
What language will we speak in heaven? Answer: All of them. In heaven we will hear English, Spanish, Urdu, Portuguese, French, Italian, Russian, Swahili, Hausa, Finnish, Yiddish, Hindi, Guarani, Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, to name just a few.
 
Although I can’t prove this, I believe each person will speak whatever language(s) they knew on earth and the rest of us will understand everything that is said.
 
That is, I may hear someone speaking Arabic and I will know it is Arabic and I will understand it even though right now I can’t speak Arabic at all.
 
In heaven I believe we will understand all the languages we hear, just as the early believers did on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-13.
 
If you think about it, this scene answers the oft-repeated question: Will we know our loved ones in heaven? The answer is yes.
 
If in heaven I am still joined to my nation, my tribe, my own people, and if I still speak my own language, how could be a stranger to my own loved ones? Such a thought is impossible
 
Those relationships on earth that were sanctified by saving grace will continue for all eternity, becoming deeper and more precious as the ages roll on.
 
Consider an aged couple that has walked together for 55 years, facing all the joys and trials of life hand in hand. Will they say a fond farewell to this life, only to become strangers in the next?
 
It is inconceivable, impossible, and against the words of our text.
It cannot be true.
 
Those I love in this life I will love more deeply in the next. And that love will be returned in a purer form in heaven because it is not mixed with base desires and earthly weakness.
 
What a glorious picture of heaven this is. There is heavenly harmony, a symphony of praise. Every day is a holiday (literally a “holy day”) in heaven.
 

II.  We will be on the other side of suffering forever (vv. 13- 14).

 
“Then one of the elders asked me,
 
 ‘These in white robes—who are they,
     and where did they come from?’

 I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’
 
 And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of
     the great tribulation;
they have washed their robes and made them white
      in the blood of the Lamb.’”
 
Pause for a moment over that phrase: “the great tribulation.” I am aware that its most immediate application lies in those terrible end time events just preceding the coming of Christ to the earth when the seals are opened, the trumpets blown, and the bowls of judgment poured out on the earth.
 
But in a larger sense those words apply to all believers. This world is sometimes called a “vale of tears,” and so it is.
 
Every person in heaven will have a story.
 
One was persecuted, one was sick, one was forgotten, one was abandoned, one was mistreated, one was bereaved of lost children, one lived through a divorce, and another suffered physically for many years.
 
Every saint comes out of a different kind of “great tribulation”, but all come to heaven by way of the cross.
 
Where once on earth there was a dark cloud of suffering, it is now replaced by the bright light of heaven.
 
The road was steep, the journey hard, and the waters of death cold and deep, but all God’s sheep made it safely to the other side.
 
Not one of them blames God—Salvation is their only cry!
 
Who are these who populate heaven? Who comprises such a vast multitude? Not the rich, not the poor, not the black or the white or the Asian or the Hispanic. Not the men or the women, not the old or the young.
 
There are distinctions in heaven but only one group: those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is the only entrance qualification for the City of God.
 
Think about that picture for a moment.
 
You begin with the soiled garments stained and ruined by sin. Plunge them into the blood of Christ. When they come out, they are not crimson but are instead as white as snow.
 
From this we learn a great Bible truth.
 
The road to heaven is paved with the blood of Christ. Only those who walk that road by faith in the crucified Lamb will ever enter the celestial city.
 

III. We will experience the life we could never find on the earth (vv. 15-17).

 
“Therefore, ‘they are before the throne of God
     and serve him day and night in his temple.
He who sits on the throne
     will spread his tent over them.

Never again will they hunger.
Never again will they thirst.
 
The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.
 
For the Lamb at the center of the throne
     will be their shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of living water.
 
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
 
Here is the final picture of heaven.
 
The believers are seen gathered in the place of honor before the throne of God. There they serve him day and night.
 
In heaven we never grow weary.
The longer we serve him, the stronger we become.
 
We mount up with wings as eagles, we run and are not weary, and we walk and do not faint.
 
In this life we must rest sooner or later. Age and sickness come to us eventually, and we cannot do what we would like. Even the strongest gives way eventually.
 
But in heaven we will go from strength to strength and from joy to joy. We will serve him in his temple, which means we will be in his immediate presence.
 
There will be no “second-class” saints in that day. And over us he will spread the tent of his protection. Thus we will not hunger, will not thirst, and will never be sunburned again.
 
Why are the saints so happy in heaven? Think of their position. They stand before the throne, they serve God day and night, and they follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
 
In this life we follow Jesus by faith, but then we will follow him by sight.
 
Whatever we need, he will supply. In heaven Psalm 23:1 will come true in a new and deeper way: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
 
The final word is this: No tears in heaven! We simply cannot imagine a world without tears. Today we live with heartbreak and sadness on every side. But soon all suffering will be gone forever.
 
 Someone asked if God will personally wipe our tears away. Yes, the God who loves us will himself wipe away our tears.
 
One translation offers a wonderful twist on this image: “And God will make glad their eyes forever” (The Bible in Basic English).
 
Many things about heaven are a mystery but some things are clearly revealed. Here are three things that won’t happen in heaven:
 
We will not grow weary,
We will not suffer want, and
We will not weep.
 
In reading Revelation, I am struck by how many of the truths about heaven are stated in the negative. Heaven will be the absence of so many things that trouble us on the earth.
 
There will be no tears, no death, no sorrow, no pain, no night, no defilement, and no curse.
 
 Best of all, there will be no more goodbyes. This says it all for me.
 
No more saying goodbye to a loved one as their body is lowered into the grave. No more seeing our children grow up and leave us for some distant place. No more saying farewell to dear friends. No more broken friendships and broken marriages. No more misunderstandings that grow into bitter disputes. All of that will be left far behind.
 
C. S. Lewis liked to say that Christians never say goodbye. We simply say, See you later. And we will.
 

Bored in Heaven?!?!?!

 
As I was preparing this sermon, a friend with two young daughters reminded me of a question children often ask.
 
Won’t heaven be boring?
 
all, it sounds like one really long church service. Who wants to go to church forever? Many adults have secretly wondered the same thing.
 
Here is my answer. What do the saints do in heaven?
They stand, they sing, and they serve.
 
They celebrate a great victory, they serve in God’s temple, they see God on his throne, and they follow the Lamb everywhere.
 
We will never grow bored doing that. After all, we will never come to the end of God. And we’ll never come to the end of the universe. And we will never run out of things to learn.
 
I find it helpful to think of it this way: In heaven all our gifts and talents will finally be used. Here on earth so many things hold us back. Sometimes circumstances keep us from doing what we know deep inside we could do if only someone would give us the chance.
 
The expectations of others keep us hemmed in.
The demands of daily life keep us from being all we could be.
Physical limitations hamper us.
 
Some people want to sing, but there is no one to listen. Others want to paint, to cook, to write, to design, or to lead. Think of your dreams and hopes and aspirations and ponder how few have been fully realized. In heaven you will have ample time to develop them all—and in ways that would startle you if you knew about it now.
 
We will take all our gifts and talents and put them at the disposal of the Lord. For all eternity we will find ourselves growing and learning and all the while celebrating the amazing grace of our Sovereign God.
 
That’s why death for the believer becomes the Great Adventure, the doorway to glory, the entrance to an unending journey beyond our wildest imagination.
 
Traveling to the stars pales by comparison.
 

Will you be there?

 
One question about heaven remains. Will you be there?

Following a campaign speech, a young man rushed up to Senator Everett Dirksen and said, “Senator, I wouldn’t vote for you if you were St. Peter!” Dirksen eyed the young man for a moment, then said: “Son, if I were St. Peter, you couldn’t vote for me, because you wouldn’t be in my district.”
 
 When you die, make sure you are in heaven’s district, or else you will be left out for all eternity.

 

Billy Graham was right. Death is not the end for the believer. It’s the beginning of a new life with Jesus in heaven. When we move to a new home on earth, we file a change of address with the post office. When we die, we change our address from earth to heaven.
 
You don’t have to live in fear or doubt about your eternal destination. There’s an old gospel song called “Since Jesus Came Into My Heart.” One of the verses contains this phrase, “There’s a light in the valley of death now for me, since Jesus came into my heart.” That light is the light of Jesus who stands knocking at the door of your heart right now.
 
Do you know him? I pray you will open the door and let him in. You will never regret that decision. When death finally comes, it won’t be death at all, but an entrance into life everlasting. May God grant you grace to believe in Jesus and make you restless until you find your rest in him.
 
Lord Jesus, what would we do without you?
Where could we go but to the Lord?
 
You alone have the words of eternal life.
 
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
 
Thank you for hope that death cannot destroy.
Amen.

Eternally Crowned With Majesty

 

OCTOBER 28 Eternally Crowned With Majesty

His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven. Song of Songs 5:11

Comparisons all fail to set forth the Lord Jesus, but the spouse uses the best she can find. By the head of Jesus we may understand His deity, “for the head of Christ is God”;1 and then the mold of purest gold is the best conceivable metaphor, but all too poor to describe one so precious, so pure, so dear, so glorious. Jesus is not a grain of gold, but a vast globe of it, a priceless mass of treasure such as earth and heaven cannot excel. The creatures are mere iron and clay—they will all perish like wood, hay, and stubble; but the ever-living Head of the creation of God will shine on forever and ever. In Him is no mixture, nor smallest taint of alloy. He is forever infinitely holy and altogether divine. The wavy locks depict His manly vigor. There is nothing effeminate in our Lord. He is the manliest of men—bold as a lion, strong as an ox, swift as an eagle. Every conceivable and inconceivable beauty is to be found in Him, though He once was despised and rejected of men. His head the finest gold; With secret sweet perfume, His curled locks hang all as black As any raven's plume. The glory of His head is not shorn away. He is eternally crowned with peerless majesty. The black hair indicates youthful freshness, for Jesus has the dew of His youth upon Him. Others grow weak with age, but He is forever a Priest like Melchizedek; others come and go, but He remains as God upon His throne, world without end. We will behold Him tonight and adore Him. Angels are gazing on Him—His redeemed must not turn their eyes away from Him. Where else is there such a Beloved? Oh, for an hour's fellowship with Him! Be gone, you intruding anxieties! Jesus draws me, and I run after Him.

1 Corinthians 11:3

Changeless in a Changing World

 

OCTOBER 27 Changeless in a Changing World

We have all become like one who is unclean. Isaiah 64:6

The believer is a new creature; he belongs to a holy generation and a peculiar people. The Spirit of God is in him, and in every respect he is far removed from the natural man. But for all that the Christian is still a sinner. He is so because of the imperfection of his nature, and he will continue as such to the end of his earthly life. The dirty fingers of sin leave marks on our cleanest clothes. Sin spoils our repentance, before the great Potter has finished it upon the wheel. Selfishness defiles our tears, and unbelief tampers with our faith. The best thing we ever did apart from the merit of Jesus only added to the number of our sins; for when we have been most pure in our own sight, still, like the heavens, we were not pure in God's sight; and as He charged His angels with folly, so He must charge us with it, even in our most angelic frames of mind. The song that seeks to emulate the angels' melodies has human discords in it. The prayer that moves the arm of God is still a bruised and battered prayer, and only moves that arm because the sinless One, the great Mediator, Jesus, has stepped in to take away the sin of our supplication. The most golden faith or the purest degree of sanctification to which a Christian ever attained on earth has still so much dross in it as to be only worthy of the flames. Every night we look in the mirror we see a sinner and need to confess, "We have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." How precious then is the blood of Christ to hearts like ours! How priceless a gift is His perfect righteousness! And how bright is the hope of perfect holiness in heaven! Even now, though sin dwells in us, its power is broken. It remains, but it no longer reigns; we are in bitter conflict with it, but we are dealing with a vanquished foe. In a little while we will enter victoriously into the city where nothing defiles. Because of Jesus, Ted

The Purpose of Living

 

OCTOBER 26 The Purpose of Living

All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. Ecclesiastes 1:7

Everything on earth is on the move; time knows nothing of rest. The solid earth is a rolling ball, and the great sun itself is a star obediently fulfilling its course around some greater luminary. Tides move the sea; winds stir the breezy ocean; friction wears the rock: Change and death rule everywhere. The sea is not a miser's storehouse for a wealth of waters, for as by one force the waters flow into it, by another they are lifted from it. Men are born to die: Everything is hurry, worry, and vexation of spirit. Friend of the unchanging Jesus, what a joy it is to reflect upon your changeless heritage, your sea of bliss that will be forever full since God Himself shall pour eternal rivers of pleasure into it. We seek an abiding city beyond the skies, and we shall not be disappointed. The passage before us should teach us to be grateful. The ocean is a great receiver, but it is also a generous distributor. What the rivers bring, it returns to the earth in the form of clouds and rain. The man who takes everything but makes no return is out of joint with the universe. To give to others is still sowing seed for ourselves. He who is so good a steward as to be willing to use his substance for his Lord shall be entrusted with more. Friend of Jesus, are you rendering to Him in proportion to the benefit you receive? Have you been given a great deal? Where is your fruit? Have you done all you might? Can you not do more? To be selfish is to be wicked. Suppose the ocean gave up none of its watery treasure; it would bring ruin upon our race. God forbid that any of us should follow the ungenerous and destructive policy of living for ourselves. Jesus did not please Himself. All fullness dwells in Him, but from His fullness we have all received. Oh, to be like Jesus and no longer live for ourselves! Because of Jesus, Ted

We Will Wait in Prayer Tonight

 

OCTOBER 25 We Will Wait in Prayer Tonight

So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. Ruth 2:3

She happened to come. Yes, it seemed nothing but an accident, but it was divinely ruled over! Ruth had gone out with her mother-in-law's blessing, under the care of her mother-in-law's God, to humble but honorable work, and the providence of God was guiding her every step. Little did she know that among the sheaves she would find a husband, that he would make her the joint owner of all those broad acres, and that she, a poor foreigner, would become one of the ancestors of the great Messiah. God is very good to those who trust in Him and often surprises them with unexpected blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us tomorrow, but this sweet fact may cheer us—that no good thing will be withheld. Chance is banished from the faith of Christians, for they see the hand of God in everything. The trivial events of today or tomorrow may involve consequences of the highest importance. O Lord, deal as graciously with Your servants now as You did with Ruth. How blessed would it be if, in wandering in the field of meditation tonight, we should happen to find ourselves in the place where the Lord Jesus will reveal Himself to us! O Spirit of God, guide us to Him. We would rather glean in His field than carry home the whole harvest from any other place. We would follow the footsteps of His flock, which would guide us to the green pastures where He dwells! This is a weary world when Jesus is away—we would survive easier without sun and moon than without Him—but how divinely fair all things become in the glory of His presence! Our souls know the virtue that lives in Jesus and can never be content without Him. We will wait in prayer tonight until we "happen" to come to a part of the field belonging to Jesus in which He will reveal Himself to us. Because of Jesus, Ted

Christ's Ongoing Service

 

OCTOBER 24 Christ's Ongoing Service

He … began to wash the disciples' feet. John 13:5

The Lord Jesus loves His people so much that every day He is still doing for them much that is analogous to washing their soiled feet. Their poorest actions He accepts; their deepest sorrow He feels; their slenderest wish He hears; and their every transgression He forgives. He is still their servant as well as their Friend and Master. He not only performs majestic deeds for them, when in all His priestly garb and function He stands up to plead for them, but He also humbly, patiently goes among His people with the basin and the towel. He does this when He puts away from us day by day our constant infirmities and sins. Last night when you bowed the knee, you mournfully confessed that much of your conduct was not worthy of your profession; and even tonight you must grieve again that you have fallen into the selfsame folly and sin from which special grace delivered you long ago. And yet Jesus displays great patience with you. He will hear your confession of sin; He will say, “I will—be clean!” He will again apply the blood of sprinkling and speak peace to your conscience and remove every spot. It is a great act of eternal love when Christ once for all absolves the sinner and places him in the family of God; but what condescending patience it is when the Savior with much long-suffering bears the repetitive follies of His wayward disciple, day by day and hour by hour washing away the multiplied transgressions of His erring but still much-loved child! To dry up a flood of rebellion is something marvelous, but to endure the constant dripping of repeated offenses, to bear with a perpetual trying of patience, this is truly divine! While we find comfort and peace in our Lord's daily cleansing, its legitimate influence upon us will be to increase our watchfulness and quicken our desire for holiness. Is that your experience? Because of Jesus, Ted

Times Of Temptation

 

OCTOBER 23 Times of Temptation

Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Luke 22:46

When is the Christian most liable to sleep? Is it not when his temporal circumstances are prosperous? Have you not found it so? When you had daily troubles to take to the throne of grace, were you not more awake than you are now? Easy roads make sleepy travelers. Another dangerous time is when all goes pleasantly in spiritual matters. A Christian did not fall asleep when lions were in the way or when he was wading through the river or when fighting with Apollyon. But when he had climbed halfway up the Hill Difficulty and came to a delightful spot, he sat down and promptly fell asleep, to his great sorrow and loss. The enchanted ground is a place of balmy breezes, filled with fragrant odors and soft influences, all of which tend to lull pilgrims to sleep. Remember Bunyan's description: “Then they came to an arbor, warm, and promising much refreshing to the weary pilgrims; for it was finely wrought above head, beautified with greens, and furnished with benches and settees. It also had in it a soft couch, where the weary might lean.” “The arbor was called the Slothful's Friend, and was made on purpose to attract, if it might, some of the pilgrims to take their rest there when weary.” Depend upon it—it is in easy places that men shut their eyes and wander into the dreamy land of forgetfulness. Old Erskine wisely remarked, “I like a roaring devil better than a sleeping devil.” There is no temptation half so dangerous as not being tempted. The distressed soul does not sleep; it is after we enter into peaceful confidence and full assurance that we are in danger of slumbering. The disciples fell asleep after they had seen Jesus transfigured on the mountaintop. Take heed, joyful Christian, easy days are close neighbors to temptations: Be as happy as you will—only be watchful! Because of Jesus, Ted

The Spirit's Applying Wor

 

OCTOBER 22 The Spirit's Applying Work

He will take what is mine and declare it to you. John 16:15

There are times when all the promises and doctrines of the Bible are of no help unless a gracious hand applies them to us. We are thirsty but too faint to crawl to the water-brook. When a soldier is wounded in battle, it is of little use for him to know that there are those at the hospital who can bind up his wounds and medicines to ease all the pains that he now suffers: What he needs is to be carried there and to have the remedies applied. It is the same with our souls, and to meet this need there is one, even the Spirit of truth, who takes the things of Jesus and applies them to us. Do not think that Christ has placed His joys on heavenly shelves so we may climb up and retrieve them for ourselves; rather He draws near and sheds His peace abroad in our hearts. Christian, if you are tonight struggling under deep distress, your Father does not give you promises and then leave you to draw them up from the Word like buckets from a well. The promises He has written in the Word He will write afresh on your heart. He will display His love to you and by His blessed Spirit dispel your cares and troubles. Let it be known to you, if you mourn, that it is God's prerogative to wipe every tear from the eyes of His people. The good Samaritan did not say, "Here is the wine, and here is the oil for you"; he actually poured in the oil and the wine. So Jesus not only gives you the sweet wine of His promise, but He holds the golden cup to your lips and pours the lifeblood into your mouth. The poor, sick, worn-out pilgrim is not merely strengthened to walk, but he is lifted up on eagles' wings. Glorious Gospel that provides everything for the helpless, that draws near to us when we cannot reach it ourselves—it brings us grace before we seek grace! There is as much glory in the giving as in the gift. Happy people who have the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus to them! Because of Jesus, Ted