There is joy, joy found nowhere else, when we look up into Christ's face when He says to us, "Am I not enough for thee, Mine own?" [and answer] with a true, "Yes, Lord, Thou art enough."Amy Carmichael, Candle In The Dark
So if faith in the ultimate goodness of God does not come from guessing what his good purposes may be, from where does it come? The answer from believers through the ages, and from the authors of the messages in this book, is the cross.The Hardest Sermons You'll Ever Have To Preach, Ed. Bryan Chapell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 14-15.
We trust our sovereign God because he has shown us his heart at the cross.
There, where any one of us would have stood and cried out, “This is wrong; God, you must stop this,” our Savior made heaven’s greatest good come out of earth’s worst tragedy. At the cross we learn that God is good and can be trusted, even when everything seems wrong to human sight.
As I was pastoring the rural church attended by farmers and coal miners - people accustomed to hard lives - I heard a story that taught me more about the nature and foundation of true faith than I had gained in much of my seminary education.
The story tells of a miner who, though a stalwart believer, was injured at a young age. He became an invalid. Over the years he watched through a window near his bed as life passed him by. He watched fellow workers marry, raise families, and have grandchildren. He watched the company he had served thrive without attempting to make adequate provision for his loss. He watched as his body withered, his house crumbled, and hope for better things in this life died.
Then, one day when the bedridden miner was quite old, a younger man came to visit him. "I hear that you believe in God and claim that he loves you," said the young man. "How can you believe such things after all that has happened to you?"
The old man hesitated and then smiled. He said, "Yes, there are days of doubt. Sometimes Satan comes calling on me in this fallen-down old house of mine. He sits right there by my bed, where you are sitting now. He points out my window to the men I once worked with whose bodies are still strong, and Satan asks, 'Does Jesus love you?'
Then, Satan makes me look at my tattered room as he points to the fine homes of my friends and asks again, 'Does Jesus love you?' Finally, Satan points to the grandchild of a friend of mine - a man who has everything I do not - and Satan waits for the tear in my eye before he whispers in my ear, 'Does Jesus really love you?'"
Startled by the candor of the old man's responses, the younger man asked, "And what do you say when Satan speaks to you that way?"
Said the old miner, "I take Satan by the hand, and I lead him to a hill far away called Calvary. There I point to the nail-pierced hands, the thorn-torn brow, and the spear-pierced side.
Then I say to Satan, 'Doesn't Jesus love me!'"
The cross of Christ is the warrant for confidence in God's promises of ultimate good, despite great heartache.
Jeremiah tells us what it means. He quotes God: "They shall be my people and I will be their God . . . I will not turn away from doing good to them . . . I will rejoice in doing good to them . . . with all my heart and with all my soul" (32:38–41). It boggles the mind to try to imagine what it must mean if the God who made the planets and stars and galaxies and molecules and protons and neutrons and electrons rejoices to do you good with all his heart and with all his soul. If God is God for you, then all his omnipotence and all his omniscience are engaged all the time to do good for you in all the circumstances of your life . . . When God is your God, you cannot die. "He is not the God of the dead but of the living." . . . The covenant promise that God will be your God is spectacular beyond imagination. It means that God engages all his omnipotence and all his omniscience all the time to do good to you in all the circumstances of your life with all his heart and with all his soul.John Piper, God's Covenant With Abraham, Genesis 17:1-8, December 4, 1983.
Without a moment passing for God, He enters into all our moments.From lecture notes of Doctrine of God class at Westminster Seminary in California
As Jesus was nursing from His mother's breast, she and all the world were dependent on Him!
Adam and Eve brought all manner of sin and evil into the world; Jacob was a lying, cheating, deceiver; Peter denied Jesus three times with swearing and cursing and failed to walk in line with the Gospel; David had an affair and then had his mistress's husband killed; Noah got drunk; Samson was a womanizer; Rahab was a prostitute; Judah was a whoremonger; Jonah ran from God and despised lost sinners; Paul breathed out threats and murder against Jesus' disciples; Gideon was insecure; Miriam was a gossip; Mary was anxious; Thomas was a doubter; Sarah was impatient; Elijah was moody; Moses stuttered; Zacchaeus was short; Abraham was old; and Lazarus was dead. Now, what's keeping you from serving God?
John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Colossians 1:19: For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell . . .
Revelation 5:9: Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation . . .
Matthew 5:21-22: You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment." But I say to you . . .
Hebrews 3:3: For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses - as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
Matthew 17:4-5, 8: And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." . . . And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
Matthew 5:17: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1:17-19
Dave Busby was a mystery! He managed to live a life completely given to God, pumping with energy and passion for young people. In the midst of daily, mammoth struggles with cystic fibrosis, polio, liver disease, heart disease, and diabetes, Dave went down deep in his life with God and he came up strong in order to bring others into the same deep and intimate relationship he had with Jesus.
Some years ago, I was deeply depressed. I knew whom I had believed, but I could not get comfort from the truth I preached. I even began to wonder if I was really saved.
While on vacation, I went to a Wesleyan chapel. The sermon was full of the gospel and tears flowed from my eyes. I was in a perfect delirium of joy. I said, "Oh yes, there is spiritual life within me; the gospel can still touch my heart and stir my soul."
When I thanked the good man for his sermon, he looked at me and could hardly believe his eyes. He said, "Are you not Mr. Spurgeon?"
I replied, "Yes."
"Dear, dear," said he, "that was your sermon I preached this morning."
I knew it was, and that was one reason why I was so comforted. I realized that I could take my own medicine. I asked the preacher to my inn for dinner. We rejoiced that he was led to give the people one of my sermons that day, that I could be fed from my own kitchen.
I do know this. Whatever I may be, there is nothing that moves me like the gospel of Christ.
"For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Tim. 1:12).
Do you feel this way?
By this virtue [humility], as by all the others, our Enemy [God] wants to turn the man's attention away from self to Him, and to the man's neighbors . . . The Enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the, fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another. The Enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favor that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbor's talents - or in a sunrise, an elephant, or a waterfall. He wants each man, in the long run, to be able to recognize all creatures (even himself) as glorious and excellent things. He wants to kill their animal self-love as soon as possible; but it is His longterm policy, I fear, to restore to them a new kind of self-love - a charity and gratitude for all selves, including their own; when they have really learned to love their neighbors as themselves, they will be allowed to love themselves as their neighbors.
Judges 16:28: Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes."
Hebrews 11:32-34: And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson . . . who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
1 Samuel 1:11, 19-20: And she vowed a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head" . . . and the LORD remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, "I have asked for him from the LORD."
Nehemiah 13:31: Remember me, O my God, for good.
Psalm 25:6-7: Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!
Psalm 74:2: Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
Jeremiah 15:15: O LORD, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.
Habakkuk 3:2: O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
Luke 23:42-43: And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Can you find a more excellent object for your love than Jesus? If you search through the whole creation, could you find any like him?
Are riches, honors, pleasures, or other relationships comparable to Jesus, whom you ought to love supremely? Should not the highest good be the best object of your love? Can you love lesser things, and not the greatest good? Is not all the goodness in the creature but as a drop to the sea, as a candle to the sun, as a speck of sand to a mountain - when compared to the goodness that is in Jesus? If David were worth ten thousand other men, is not Jesus, David's Lord, better than all the world . . .
What shall I say to advance Jesus in your esteem, that you might love him? Is he not a "comprehensive" good? Eminently all?
There is no goodness in the creature, but it is formally, or virtually, in Jesus.
Is there wisdom in the creature? There is more in Jesus.
Is there beauty or power in the creature? There is much more in Jesus. "For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell" (Col. 5:19).
Jesus is "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
This is the One whom I beg you to love. This is he who is altogether lovely and desirable.
Consider now, I plead with you - can you ever imagine a better offer than Jesus? Can you find a better match for your soul? Can you say all this, the one half of this, any one of all these things, concerning the objects you have loved previous to Jesus? Oh then say, "I never understood the loveliness of Christ before this!" How has sin fooled me! How has the world bewitched me! And how has my foolish wicked heart deceived me, that I have lavished my love upon the creature, and sin, when there was a Christ to love! Such a Christ to love!
Such a good as is not to be found in all the world! Now he alone shall have my love, my heart - my all!
Doug Nichols is presently the president of Action International Ministries, a mission that focuses especially on the millions of street children in the big cities of the world. He is the kind of man who calls our church staff on the phone during an international crisis and suggests that we rent a jumbo jet and take a couple hundred of our people to Rwanda to help bury the dead so that doctors and nurses can do what they were sent to do. He is relentlessly focussed on pouring out his life for the helpless who need Christ.
For example, he writes to me every now and then, and almost always includes some sword thrust like this in a P.S. at the bottom of his letter:"In the last 'one minute' that it possibly took you to read this letter, 28 children died of malnutrition and diseases that could have been easily prevented. 1,667 die every hour, 40,000 children die daily! Please pray with ACTION for more missionaries to take the gospel to these children."
Doug was found to have colon cancer in April of 1993. Doctors gave him a 30% chance of living after his surgery and colostomy and radiation treatments. During horrible civil war between the Hutus and the Tutsis, he got on a plane and went to Rwanda with a team of people, including some from our church.
His non-Christian oncologist said he would die in Rwanda. Doug said that would be OK because he is going to heaven. The oncologist was distressed and called Doug’s surgeon to solicit help in restraining Doug from going to Rwanda. The surgeon, who is a Christian, said that Doug was ready to die and go to heaven. When we got word here that Doug was going - with his cancer and his colostomy - to Rwanda, some of us on the staff gathered in the prayer room to pray for him.
I recall being led very specifically to Isaiah 58:7-8, which we prayed for Doug.[Is the fast I choose] not to divide your bread with the hungry, And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him;And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery [your healing!] will speedily spring forth;
We prayed very specifically that the feeding of the hungry and the housing of the homeless in Rwanda would not kill Doug Nichols, but would heal him.
From Rwanda, Doug called his oncologist and said he was not dead. And when he got back he had a battery of tests that resulted in the assessment NED: no evidence of disease. God alone holds the future for Doug Nichols and his remarkable faith and ministry, but for now Isaiah 58 lives bodily in Doug's life as he pours himself out for the children.
Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer's soul and they promote sanctification. We were not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration, and the Christian who goes for a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not, as he ought, from the Spirit of God. The soul is so constituted that it craves fulfillment from things outside itself and will embrace earthly joys for satisfaction when it cannot reach spiritual ones. The believer is in spiritual danger if he allows himself to go for any length of time without tasting the love of Christ and savoring the felt comforts of a Savior's presence. When Christ ceases to fill the heart with satisfaction, our souls will go in silent search of other lovers. By the enjoyment of the love of Christ in the heart of a believer, we mean an experience of the "love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us" (Rom. 5:5). Because the Lord has made himself accessible to us in the means of grace, it is our duty and privilege to seek this experience from Him in these means till we are made the joyful partakers of it.
In the life of Mr. Flavel, who was one of the most temperate of the Puritans, and one not at all given to anything like fanaticism, there is an event mentioned which once occurred to him. He said that being once on a journey alone on horseback, the thought of the love of Christ came upon him with great power, and as he rode gently along the road, the thought seemed to increase in force and strength, till at last he forgot all about earth and even where he was. Somehow or other his horse stood still, but he did not notice it; and when he came to himself, through some passer-by observing him, he found that he had bled very copiously during the time, and getting off his horse he washed his face at the brook, and he said, "I did verily think as I stood there, that if I was not in heaven I could hardly hope to be more blessed in heaven than I was then." He mounted his horse and rode on to a place of entertainment where he was to pass the night. Supper was brought in, but left untasted on the table. He sat all night long without sleep, enjoying the presence of Christ, and he says, "I was more rested that night than with any sleep I ever had, and I heard and saw in my soul, by faith, such things as I had never known before."
No man, no matter who he may be, can ponder the magnificence sufficiently or express it adequately in words. We poor mortals, who are condemned and miserable sinners through our first birth from Adam, are singled out for such great honor and nobility that the eternal and almighty God is our Father and we are His children. Christ is our Brother, and we are His fellow heirs (Rom 8:17). And the dear angels, such as Michael and Gabriel, are not to be our masters but our brothers and servants . . . .
This is a grand and overpowering thought! Whoever really reflects on it - the children of the world will not, but Christians will, although not all of them either – will be so startled and frightened by the thought that he will be prompted to ask: "My dear, can this really be possible and true?"
. . . [T]he world rates it a much higher honor and privilege to be the son and heir of a prince, a king, or a count than to be the possessor of God's spiritual goods, although by comparison all these are nothing but poor bags of worms and their glory sheer stench. Just compare all this with the ineffable dignity and nobility of which the evangelist speaks . . . . If we really believed with all our heart, firmly and unflinchingly, that the eternal God, Creator and Ruler of the world, is our Father, with whom we have an everlasting abode as children and heirs, not of this transitory wicked world but of all God's imperishable, heavenly, and inexpressible treasures, then we would, indeed, concern ourselves but little with all that the world prizes so highly; much less would we covet it and strive after it.
Indeed, we would regard the world's riches, treasures, glories, splendor, and might - compared with the dignity and honor due us as the children and heirs, not of a mortal emperor but of the eternal and almighty God - as trifling, paltry, vile, leprous, yes, as stinking filth and poison.
It was getting late, and the Soviet officer had beaten and tortured Paulus for many hours.
"We are not going to torture you anymore," he said, smiling brutally when the Christian looked up. "We will send you instead to Siberia, where the snow never melts. It is a place of great suffering. You and your family will fit in well."
Paulus, instead of being depressed, smiled. "The whole earth belongs to my Father, Captain. Wherever you send me I will be on my Father's earth."
The captain looked at him sharply. "We will take away all you own."
"You will need a high ladder, Captain, for my treasures are stored up in heaven."
Paulus still wore a beautiful smile.
"We will put a bullet between your eyes," shouted the captain, now angry.
"If you take away my life in this world, my real life of joy and beauty will begin," answered Paulus. "I am not afraid of being killed."
The captain grabbed Paulus by his tattered prison shirt and screamed into his face, "We will not kill you! We will keep you locked alone in a cell and allow no one to come see you!"
"You cannot do that, Captain," said Paulus, still smiling. "I have a Friend who can pass through locked doors and iron bars. No one can separate me from the love of Christ."
There is an incomparable and transcendent excellency in the person of Christ, in every respect. He is fairer than the children of men; he is altogether lovely. The excellencies which are found in any of his creatures are as nothing, when compared with his excellency.
Wisdom in them is but a beam; but he is the glorious Sun of Righteousness.
Goodness in them is but as the drop of a bucket; but he is the fountain, the ocean of goodness.
Holiness in them is but a glimmering spark — but he is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person.
He is equal in all glorious excellencies with the Father.
His divine nature puts infinite dignity on his amazing condescension, gives eternal efficacy to the sacrifice which he offered up to expiate our sins, and to the righteousness which he wrought out to justify our persons.
There is everything in Christ to encourage poor sinners to apply to him, to look for salvation in his name, and to inspire their hearts with love to his person.
There are motives and arguments of every kind to excite you to choose him for your Savior, your friend, and your portion.
You are guilty — his blood cleanses from all sin.
You are miserable — he is rich in mercy.
You are helpless — he is mighty to save.
You are impoverished — his riches are unsearchable. His treasures of grace are inexhaustible.
Approach unto him, be not afraid of a disappointment; he has assured you he will in no wise cast you out.
1. If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name or his appearance or his character or his opinions or his tastes or his position or his occupation... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
2. If we love a person, we like to hear about him. We find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest in any report which others make of him... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
3. If we love a person, we like to read about him. What intense pleasure a letter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a letter from an absent son to his mother... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
4. If we love a person, we like to please him. We are glad to consult his tastes and opinions, to act upon his advice and do the things which he approves... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
5. If we love a person, we like his friends. We are favorably inclined to them, even before we know them. We are drawn to them by the common tie of common love to one and the same person... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
6. If we love a person, we are jealous about his name and honor. We do not like to hear him spoken against, without speaking up for him and defending him... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
7. If we love a person, we like to talk to him. We tell him all our thoughts, and pour out all our heart to him. We find no difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
8. Finally, if we love a person, we like to be always with him. Thinking and hearing and reading and occasionally talking are all well in their way. But when we really love people we want something more... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
About Me |
