The Puritan Vision of God # 3
God speaks, He speaks to you, He speaks to everyone. You must therefore prepare yourself to listen. You must train your mind that you may interpret His message. His message is recorded in the Scriptures, and that message you must read and understand and profit by. No priest or king shall read it for you. You must read it for yourself. Therefore you must be educated. It was the conception of the speaking God that built Harvard College and Yale College and all the other Puritan colleges of the world. Every one of our Puritan schools is built on the Puritan vision of the Eternal.
The God Who sits upon the throne is the sovereign of the world. His sway is absolute, His dominion has no end. He is the sovereign Judge. He holds man accountable for his deeds. To Him every soul must give account. "He will judge every one of you after His ways." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and render an account of the deeds done in the body." "And I saw the dead, great and small, stand before God." That was the vision by which Hebrew thought was always haunted. And that was the vision which haunted the Puritan through all his days. "Draw the curtains and leave me alone," said old John Cotton on his death-bed, on the last day of his earthly life. "Draw the curtains and leave me alone. I would speak for a while to the King!"
The outcome of this vision, it is not necessary for us tonight to consider. You know what it was in apostolic history, and you know what it has been in the history of the Puritan world. From this vision there came a courage which has never been surpassed. The Puritans had in them the intrepid temper of Drake and Frobisher and the other sea kings of the sixteenth century, and did not hesitate to cut the cables and push their ships out upon seas whose bounds had not yet been determined. They were not afraid to trample down precedents when precedents were wrong, and burn up customs however ancient if those customs had proved destructive to the soul. There was no enemy however terrible whom they hesitated to fight, there was no suffering however fearful from which they shrank. As the historian Froude says in one of his essays, "They were the only men who in that great age stood up and fought," the only men who dared to strike at the Duke of Alva and resist the tyranny of Philip. When men told William the Silent that his cause was hopeless and tried to induce him to give up, his reply was, "When I took in hand to defend these oppressed Christians I made an alliance with the mightiest of all potentates, the God of Hosts, who is able to save us if He choose." "It is not with us," said one of the founders of New England, "as it is with those whom small things can discourage." The Puritan was heroism incarnate. And along with this splendid courage there was a magnificent hatred of shams and lies.
The Puritans hated mendacity, despised contradictions to duty and to truth. They saw that the throne was white. Because the throne of the Pope was black they hurled their thunderbolts against it. Religion in their day had become an elaborate and embroidered lie, and so they trampled it beneath their indignant feet. They took off the head of a king because he was a liar. And along with this hatred of hypocrisy and falsehood there was a fidelity to duty which never wavered and never failed. The Puritan conscience became a new factor in the progress of the world. The initial note of the new age was struck in Martin Luther's answer to the officials of the Roman church who demanded that he recant. "I can do naught else. Here stand I, God help me. Amen." A new age dawned when those words were spoken. That was the temper of the Puritan everywhere.
Listen to John Knox on his trial for treason saying, "I am demanded of conscience to speak the truth; and therefore the truth I speak, impugn it who so list." They have inscribed those words around the frieze of one of the rooms in the old house in Edinburgh in which the Scotch reformer lived. And along with this fidelity to duty there came a steadfast and unquenchable hope. Like the old Hebrew prophets the Puritans could never be beaten down. In the darkest night, amid the wildest discords, when the storm was at its highest they still kept saying to themselves, "Sometime, somewhere, somehow, His kingdom shall come, and His Name shall be glorious throughout the world."
Is this not the vision we need? We are living in confused and troubled times, when the winds are blowing a hurricane across the lands and the currents are sweeping us onward toward what we do not know. Sin still wears her scarlet and lifts her scepter, and evil in a thousand forms devastates the peoples of the earth. Many a fixed star has been dissipated to mist, and many a hope in these recent days has gone out. In current literature and in the conversation of the aged I detect now and then a tone of weariness and despondency,sometimes sinking into a sigh of hopelessness and despair. Many men have lost hope in their city and in our republic and in the world. Would that we might have a fresh vision of the throne! And if the prisoner on Patmos could speak to us tonight, he would say, "Look up! Look up!" But how difficult it is to look up. You remember John Bunyan's man with the rake. His eyes are fixed upon the ground, for he is raking up sticks and straws, while overhead hangs a golden crown which he never sees. It was hard for men in the sixteenth century to look up when they were raking sticks and straws; immeasurably more difficult is it now when men are raking together diamond dust and bars of gold.
~Charles E. Jefferson~
(continued with # 4)
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Saved When The Lord Appears # 3
Saved When The Lord Appears # 3
d. In the Scriptures we read that we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, that is, with our beloved who have gone on before. No more separation, no more fear of funerals, no more visits to the cemetery, no more going back to the home that has been made empty because the loved one has departed.
"We shall not all sleep, what ineffable bliss,
Some living at present may taste even of this,
His coming, the rapture, the joyful surprise,
One moment a mortal, the next in the skies.
Our Saviour will come in the air, He'll descend,
The living, the sleeping, to His shall ascend,
Some wait there in heaven, some wait here below,
Then raptured in triumph to Him we all go.
We shall not all sleep, but changed we shall be,
Yes, changed in a moment when Jesus we see,
In the blaze of His glory, the flash of an eye.
e. When Paul was nearing the end of his remarkable career, he writes, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
The expression "if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead" is literally "the out- resurrection from among the dead!" that is, Paul knew that the Lord was coming back, that the Christian dead would rise to greet Him, and he wanted to be of the company, and thus expresses his hope and desire.
2. What will it mean to the unsaved for Christ to appear?
a. If they are dead then it will mean that at His appearing their tombs will not be unsealed, they shall wait longer for another great event which is so startling that one shudders even as he reads of it, that is Judgment.
b. If they are living they will be left behind when others ascend to greet Him with their loved ones in the skies.
c. And when the time comes those who have rejected Jesus Christ will face the Judgment. In Revelation 20:11-13, I read, "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." It is a white throne, to me, at least, it is significant that when the saved greet Him there will be "a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." The emerald is green and green rests the eye. In contrast the full blaze of the white of the throne of God's judgment will be torture indeed.
He will be upon the throne; the One whom men have rejected and despised in spite of His mercy, and love. "The dead, small and great, shall stand before God." There can be no favoritism there. The books shall be opened and on the basis of one's record, men will be judged. Those who have accepted Christ need have no fear of the judgment of the Great White Throne. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," but if he has been rejected, and finally rejected, we know what the end must be, for the word of the Lord hath spoken it.
Recently the Honorable Elihu Root, in one of his addresses used this expression: The timetable of the Almighty.
What a striking sentence, how suggestive, how true it is to these days, how it fits in to my subject.
The hour has come. Jesus said that as He was nearing the end of His earthly ministry, and when the price of our redemption was to be paid in full.
"Behold, now is the time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
The door of mercy is open; it may close at any moment. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near."
~J. Wilbur Chapman~
(The End)
d. In the Scriptures we read that we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, that is, with our beloved who have gone on before. No more separation, no more fear of funerals, no more visits to the cemetery, no more going back to the home that has been made empty because the loved one has departed.
"We shall not all sleep, what ineffable bliss,
Some living at present may taste even of this,
His coming, the rapture, the joyful surprise,
One moment a mortal, the next in the skies.
Our Saviour will come in the air, He'll descend,
The living, the sleeping, to His shall ascend,
Some wait there in heaven, some wait here below,
Then raptured in triumph to Him we all go.
We shall not all sleep, but changed we shall be,
Yes, changed in a moment when Jesus we see,
In the blaze of His glory, the flash of an eye.
e. When Paul was nearing the end of his remarkable career, he writes, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
The expression "if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead" is literally "the out- resurrection from among the dead!" that is, Paul knew that the Lord was coming back, that the Christian dead would rise to greet Him, and he wanted to be of the company, and thus expresses his hope and desire.
2. What will it mean to the unsaved for Christ to appear?
a. If they are dead then it will mean that at His appearing their tombs will not be unsealed, they shall wait longer for another great event which is so startling that one shudders even as he reads of it, that is Judgment.
b. If they are living they will be left behind when others ascend to greet Him with their loved ones in the skies.
c. And when the time comes those who have rejected Jesus Christ will face the Judgment. In Revelation 20:11-13, I read, "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." It is a white throne, to me, at least, it is significant that when the saved greet Him there will be "a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." The emerald is green and green rests the eye. In contrast the full blaze of the white of the throne of God's judgment will be torture indeed.
He will be upon the throne; the One whom men have rejected and despised in spite of His mercy, and love. "The dead, small and great, shall stand before God." There can be no favoritism there. The books shall be opened and on the basis of one's record, men will be judged. Those who have accepted Christ need have no fear of the judgment of the Great White Throne. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," but if he has been rejected, and finally rejected, we know what the end must be, for the word of the Lord hath spoken it.
Recently the Honorable Elihu Root, in one of his addresses used this expression: The timetable of the Almighty.
What a striking sentence, how suggestive, how true it is to these days, how it fits in to my subject.
The hour has come. Jesus said that as He was nearing the end of His earthly ministry, and when the price of our redemption was to be paid in full.
"Behold, now is the time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
The door of mercy is open; it may close at any moment. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near."
~J. Wilbur Chapman~
(The End)
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Classic Quotes From Classic Ministers
Classic Quotes From Classic Ministers
Surveying the Crisis of Worship
There is a crisis of worship in our land. People are staying away from church in droves. One survey indicated that the two chief reasons people drop out of church are that it is boring and irrelevant.
If people find worship boring and irrelevant, it can only mean they have no sense of the presence of God in it. When we study the act of worship in Scripture and church history, we discover a variety of human responses to the sense of the presence of God. Some people tremble in terror, falling with their faces to the ground; others weep in mourning; some are exuberant in joy; still others are reduced to a pensive silence. Though the responses differ, one reaction we never find is boredom. It is impossible to be bored in the presence of God (if you know that He is there).
Neither is it possible for a sentient creature to find his or her encounter with God a matter of irrelevance. Nothing--and no one--is more relevant to human existence than the living God.
Coram Deo: Living in the Presence of God
Do you find worship boring and irrelevant? If so, pray for a renewed sense of God's presence.
~R. C. Sproul~
______________________
Before the Lord continually. - Leviticus 24:4-8
The light of the candlestick and the twelve cakes of fine flour were to be before the Lord continually, as symbols of the twofold office His people were to sustain, on the one hand to the world's darkness, on the other to God Himself.
We must shine as lights in the world. - As a candle in the hand of the housewife, who sweeps her house diligently; as a lamp in the hand of the virgin expecting the bridegroom; or as the lighthouse on a rocky coast. We must dispel the darkness, and guide wanderers through the murky night. Light is soft and still, and is thus a fitting emblem of the influence of a holy life, which burns steadily on before the Lord continually, and is unaffected by the heed or comment of man. If no one seems the better for our consistent testimony, aim to satisfy the Lord. The lamps of the pure candlestick of a holy life are not for man only, but for Him. But they can only be maintained through the constant supply of the pure oil of the Holy Ghost, ministered by Him who walks amid the seven golden candlesticks. "Ye are the light of the world."
We must be as bread to God. - In a blessed sense we feed on God, but God also feeds on us. He finds satisfaction in beholding His people's unity and love, in receiving their sacrifices of praise, and in watching their growing conformity to His will. The two rows of six cakes foreshadow the unity and order of the Church; the fine flour, its holy, equable character; the pure frankincense, the fragrance of Christian love. There is a testimony in all these to the world; but we do not always realize the satisfaction afforded to the great God, who has made such costly sacrifices on behalf of His Church.
We must shine as lights in the world. - As a candle in the hand of the housewife, who sweeps her house diligently; as a lamp in the hand of the virgin expecting the bridegroom; or as the lighthouse on a rocky coast. We must dispel the darkness, and guide wanderers through the murky night. Light is soft and still, and is thus a fitting emblem of the influence of a holy life, which burns steadily on before the Lord continually, and is unaffected by the heed or comment of man. If no one seems the better for our consistent testimony, aim to satisfy the Lord. The lamps of the pure candlestick of a holy life are not for man only, but for Him. But they can only be maintained through the constant supply of the pure oil of the Holy Ghost, ministered by Him who walks amid the seven golden candlesticks. "Ye are the light of the world."
We must be as bread to God. - In a blessed sense we feed on God, but God also feeds on us. He finds satisfaction in beholding His people's unity and love, in receiving their sacrifices of praise, and in watching their growing conformity to His will. The two rows of six cakes foreshadow the unity and order of the Church; the fine flour, its holy, equable character; the pure frankincense, the fragrance of Christian love. There is a testimony in all these to the world; but we do not always realize the satisfaction afforded to the great God, who has made such costly sacrifices on behalf of His Church.
~F. B. Meyer~
_________________________________
Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, “unless you bless me.” Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” “Why do you ask my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. (Gen 32:26,29)
Jacob got the victory and the blessing not by wrestling, but by clinging. His limb was out of joint and he could struggle no longer, but he would not let go. Unable to wrestle, he wound his arms around the neck of his mysterious antagonist and hung all his helpless weight upon him, until at last he conquered.
We will not get victory in prayer until we too cease our struggling, giving up our own will and throw our arms about our Father’s neck in clinging faith.
What can puny human strength take by force out of the hand of Omnipotence? Can we wrest blessing by force from God? It is never the violence of wilfulness that prevails with God. It is the might of clinging faith, that gets the blessing and the victories. It is not when we press and urge our own will, but when humility and trust unite in saying, “Not my will, but Thine.” We are strong with God only in the degree that self is conquered and is dead. Not by wrestling, but by clinging can we get the blessing.
--J. R. Miller
--J. R. Miller
An incident from the prayer life of Charles H. Usher (illustrating “soul-cling” as a hindrance to prevailing prayer): "My little boy was very ill. The doctors held out little hope of his recovery. I had used all the knowledge of prayer which I possessed on his behalf, but he got worse and worse. This went on for several weeks.
“One day I stood watching him as he lay in his cot, and I saw that he could not live long unless he had a turn for the better. I said to God, ’O God, I have given much time in prayer for my boy and he gets no better; I must now leave him to Thee, and I will give myself to prayer for others. If it is Thy will to take him, I choose Thy will--I surrender him entirely to Thee.’
“I called in my dear wife, and told her what I had done. She shed some tears, but handed him over to God. Two days afterwards a man of God came to see us. He had been very interested in our boy Frank, and had been much in prayer for him.
“He said, ’God has given me faith to believe that he will recover--have you faith?’
“I said, ’I have surrendered him to God, but I will go again to God regarding him.’ I did; and in prayer I discovered that I had faith for his recovery. From that time he began to get better. It was the ’soul-cling’ in my prayers which had hindered God answering; and if I had continued to cling and had been unwilling to surrender him, I doubt if my boy would be with me today.
“Child of God! If you want God to answer your prayers, you must be prepared to follow the footsteps of ’our father Abraham,’ even to the Mount of Sacrifice.” (See Rom. 4:12.)
~L. B. Cowman~
Saved When The Lord Appears # 2
Saved When The Lord Appears # 2
He is coming back again and we shall see Him.
"Just to see Jesus once scarred as Redeemer,
Jesus, my Lord, from all suffering free,
Just to see Jesus transfigured forever,
That will be glory, be glory, for me.
Just to see Jesus, when saved ones are gathering,
Jesus who died upon Calvary's tree,
Just to see Jesus with all heaven ringing,
That will be glory, be glory, for me."
He is surely coming back again and it is well worth while to ask the question as to what this coming will mean to certain classes of people.
1. What will it mean to the saved?
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
So many times we hear people use the expression, speaking of certain events, "This is as certain as death," but death is by no means certain, it is not at all sure that we shall all die. Paul himself tells us we shall not all sleep, and he is speaking of death; some will be alive when the Lord comes back, and perhaps we who are today in health and strength shall be the company.
a. Some day the skies will brighten and He will appear, and just as Saul of Tarsus saw what others did not see, so some eyes will be opened to behold Him, while others will be blinded to His coming, and when those who have their trust in Him are taken away, others will remain behind in wonder and in amazement.
b. Families will be separated. In this household a mother was a humble follower of Jesus Christ and all the others were indifferent to Him. She will be taken, the others left.
In another household the father was a saint of God. The Bible and Jesus were his constant delight, but he was unable to lead his children to Christ, and with the godly mother he will be taken and the others left.
A Christian business man who has been careful in all his business dealings, and consistent in his following of Jesus Christ, taken, and those with whom he is associated, left behind; perhaps the saved children of a household whose parents were worldly and cared not for Christ and His Church are taken.
c. It should be remembered, however, that before these are taken, the dead in Christ shall rise first; their spirits safe with Him from the moment of their death, their bodies have been resting in the tomb, and when He appears, the tombs of the Christian dead shall be opened, and spirit and body united. They shall go up to be with Him.
There are some places I should like to be at that wonderful time, I think I should like to be standing here speaking of Him, or I should like to be pleading with an audience to turn to Him, or I should like to be sitting beside some one who is helpless and hopeless and urging them to accept Him, or I should like to be at the grave of D. L. Moody, and behold his tomb open and see him ascend to meet the Lord whom he so faithfully preached, or I should like to be at my mother's tomb where years ago we placed her and said "goodbye" to her with tears blinding our eyes. To sum it all up, however, I think I should like to be just anywhere, seeking to please Him and trying to find out concerning His will, that I might do it.
I stood one day in Wales before the grave of the famous preacher, Christmas Evans, and was told that he was buried in the same grave with a friend, a brother minister, whom he loved dearly, and this was all because they wanted to be together when the Lord came and they be caught up. They had agreed that hand in hand they would ascend to greet Him.
~John Wilbur Chapman~
(continued with # 3)
He is coming back again and we shall see Him.
"Just to see Jesus once scarred as Redeemer,
Jesus, my Lord, from all suffering free,
Just to see Jesus transfigured forever,
That will be glory, be glory, for me.
Just to see Jesus, when saved ones are gathering,
Jesus who died upon Calvary's tree,
Just to see Jesus with all heaven ringing,
That will be glory, be glory, for me."
He is surely coming back again and it is well worth while to ask the question as to what this coming will mean to certain classes of people.
1. What will it mean to the saved?
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
So many times we hear people use the expression, speaking of certain events, "This is as certain as death," but death is by no means certain, it is not at all sure that we shall all die. Paul himself tells us we shall not all sleep, and he is speaking of death; some will be alive when the Lord comes back, and perhaps we who are today in health and strength shall be the company.
a. Some day the skies will brighten and He will appear, and just as Saul of Tarsus saw what others did not see, so some eyes will be opened to behold Him, while others will be blinded to His coming, and when those who have their trust in Him are taken away, others will remain behind in wonder and in amazement.
b. Families will be separated. In this household a mother was a humble follower of Jesus Christ and all the others were indifferent to Him. She will be taken, the others left.
In another household the father was a saint of God. The Bible and Jesus were his constant delight, but he was unable to lead his children to Christ, and with the godly mother he will be taken and the others left.
A Christian business man who has been careful in all his business dealings, and consistent in his following of Jesus Christ, taken, and those with whom he is associated, left behind; perhaps the saved children of a household whose parents were worldly and cared not for Christ and His Church are taken.
c. It should be remembered, however, that before these are taken, the dead in Christ shall rise first; their spirits safe with Him from the moment of their death, their bodies have been resting in the tomb, and when He appears, the tombs of the Christian dead shall be opened, and spirit and body united. They shall go up to be with Him.
There are some places I should like to be at that wonderful time, I think I should like to be standing here speaking of Him, or I should like to be pleading with an audience to turn to Him, or I should like to be sitting beside some one who is helpless and hopeless and urging them to accept Him, or I should like to be at the grave of D. L. Moody, and behold his tomb open and see him ascend to meet the Lord whom he so faithfully preached, or I should like to be at my mother's tomb where years ago we placed her and said "goodbye" to her with tears blinding our eyes. To sum it all up, however, I think I should like to be just anywhere, seeking to please Him and trying to find out concerning His will, that I might do it.
I stood one day in Wales before the grave of the famous preacher, Christmas Evans, and was told that he was buried in the same grave with a friend, a brother minister, whom he loved dearly, and this was all because they wanted to be together when the Lord came and they be caught up. They had agreed that hand in hand they would ascend to greet Him.
~John Wilbur Chapman~
(continued with # 3)
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Saved When The Lord Appears # 1
Saved When The Lord Appears # 1
Texts: Acts 1:11 - "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 - "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
These two texts of Scripture are plainly presented and there can be no question as to their interpretation; they mean just what they say, namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back again to this earth, and just as He ascended from the midst of His disciples, clothed with His physical body, and a cloud received Him out of their sight, so He will come again.
He left a wondering company of disciples when He was on the slopes of Olivet, and from their midst began to ascend up towards heaven, and strange to say He will come back again to a company of disciples, for notwithstanding the plain statements of Scripture with reference to His coming, many in the Church are apparently unaquainted with the fact of His glorious appearing or else are indifferent to it. This may be because those of us who are in the pulpit have not been faithful in teaching the Word of God, or it may be that the rank and file of Christians have studied the Scriptures indifferently, if indeed they have studied them at all.
All evangelical Christians believe that Jesus Christ is coming again sometime. We have said it over and over in our repetition of the Apostles Creed, and there can be no question about the fact at all. The only question is as to when He is coming; some say before the millennium, and they are called pre-millenerians, others expect Him after the millennium, and they are spoken of as post-millenarians. But if He comes after the millennium He will come to a world made ready for His appearing by human effort, righteousness will be asserting its power, and have in its control all things. If this position is accepted, then His coming is far removed from the present time, for just when men thought the world was rapidly growing better, the world war was upon us and today the world is scarred and marred by its effects. If He comes before the millennium, then He will come to set the world right; He will set up His Throne and establish His Kingdom. He Himself will work mightily in all ways and it will be a world worth while living in when it is all under the sway of His Almighty Power. As for myself, I prefer the millennium which He makes ready rather than the one which might be set up or prepared by man himself, therefore I am a pre-millenarian.
Just what will it mean to the saved when the Lord appears? To be saved at all is the wonder of heaven and earth. We are saved from sin's penalty by His death on the Cross and our personal acceptance of Jesus. We are saved from sin's practice by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit strengthening our wills. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." We are saved from sin's presence by His coming again, for when He comes the last enemy shall be overthrown, temptation will be a thing of the past, and our deliverance shall last forever.
Let us put it this way:
We have been saved by His death on the Cross and our identification with Him; this has to do with the past. We are being saved by His Spirit who makes Christ real to us and makes the Word of God powerful in the changing of our lives; this has to do with the present. We shall be saved when He appears and the body of this humiliation is made like unto His own glorious body; this has to do with the future. In order to prevent confusion, we must keep in mind the fact that there are to be two appearings of our Lord.
First - He comes for His saints. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, he said, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Second - He comes with His saints. When the time is up and Scripture has had its fulfillment, He will set up His Kingdom on the earth; His sway will be almighty and His power irresistible.
This truth has always been of the greatest possible inspiration to me. I learned it when I was a young minister, and it changed my whole concept of Christ and my interpretation of the Scripture, and filled me with zeal to attempt at least to do His will. It has never made me fanatical, and I am sure that it has not made me listless, and from the first day I received the truth until this present time, it has been to me "the blessed hope." In common with other Christians, I believe the Church to be the body of Christ and that as individuals we go to make up that body and as men are won to Christ and they surrender to Him, they are parts of that body. So of necessity, one day the body will be completed - the last member will be added to it - and I have always thought that perhaps the one who comes under the influence of my preaching, might be the last, and the skies would brighten and the Lord return, and I have hardly preached all evangelistic sermon for years without this in mind. It is to be a glorious hope. I have frequently been asked "Would you not be startled, indeed, would you not be afraid, if suddenly the skies should brighten and the Lord appear?" And my answer is "I might be, except for the statement made in my first text of Scripture, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." it is this same Jesus" who is coming back again. How could I be startled when He appears?
~J. Wilbur Chapman~
(continued with # 2)
Texts: Acts 1:11 - "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 - "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
These two texts of Scripture are plainly presented and there can be no question as to their interpretation; they mean just what they say, namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back again to this earth, and just as He ascended from the midst of His disciples, clothed with His physical body, and a cloud received Him out of their sight, so He will come again.
He left a wondering company of disciples when He was on the slopes of Olivet, and from their midst began to ascend up towards heaven, and strange to say He will come back again to a company of disciples, for notwithstanding the plain statements of Scripture with reference to His coming, many in the Church are apparently unaquainted with the fact of His glorious appearing or else are indifferent to it. This may be because those of us who are in the pulpit have not been faithful in teaching the Word of God, or it may be that the rank and file of Christians have studied the Scriptures indifferently, if indeed they have studied them at all.
All evangelical Christians believe that Jesus Christ is coming again sometime. We have said it over and over in our repetition of the Apostles Creed, and there can be no question about the fact at all. The only question is as to when He is coming; some say before the millennium, and they are called pre-millenerians, others expect Him after the millennium, and they are spoken of as post-millenarians. But if He comes after the millennium He will come to a world made ready for His appearing by human effort, righteousness will be asserting its power, and have in its control all things. If this position is accepted, then His coming is far removed from the present time, for just when men thought the world was rapidly growing better, the world war was upon us and today the world is scarred and marred by its effects. If He comes before the millennium, then He will come to set the world right; He will set up His Throne and establish His Kingdom. He Himself will work mightily in all ways and it will be a world worth while living in when it is all under the sway of His Almighty Power. As for myself, I prefer the millennium which He makes ready rather than the one which might be set up or prepared by man himself, therefore I am a pre-millenarian.
Just what will it mean to the saved when the Lord appears? To be saved at all is the wonder of heaven and earth. We are saved from sin's penalty by His death on the Cross and our personal acceptance of Jesus. We are saved from sin's practice by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit strengthening our wills. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." We are saved from sin's presence by His coming again, for when He comes the last enemy shall be overthrown, temptation will be a thing of the past, and our deliverance shall last forever.
Let us put it this way:
We have been saved by His death on the Cross and our identification with Him; this has to do with the past. We are being saved by His Spirit who makes Christ real to us and makes the Word of God powerful in the changing of our lives; this has to do with the present. We shall be saved when He appears and the body of this humiliation is made like unto His own glorious body; this has to do with the future. In order to prevent confusion, we must keep in mind the fact that there are to be two appearings of our Lord.
First - He comes for His saints. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, he said, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Second - He comes with His saints. When the time is up and Scripture has had its fulfillment, He will set up His Kingdom on the earth; His sway will be almighty and His power irresistible.
This truth has always been of the greatest possible inspiration to me. I learned it when I was a young minister, and it changed my whole concept of Christ and my interpretation of the Scripture, and filled me with zeal to attempt at least to do His will. It has never made me fanatical, and I am sure that it has not made me listless, and from the first day I received the truth until this present time, it has been to me "the blessed hope." In common with other Christians, I believe the Church to be the body of Christ and that as individuals we go to make up that body and as men are won to Christ and they surrender to Him, they are parts of that body. So of necessity, one day the body will be completed - the last member will be added to it - and I have always thought that perhaps the one who comes under the influence of my preaching, might be the last, and the skies would brighten and the Lord return, and I have hardly preached all evangelistic sermon for years without this in mind. It is to be a glorious hope. I have frequently been asked "Would you not be startled, indeed, would you not be afraid, if suddenly the skies should brighten and the Lord appear?" And my answer is "I might be, except for the statement made in my first text of Scripture, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." it is this same Jesus" who is coming back again. How could I be startled when He appears?
~J. Wilbur Chapman~
(continued with # 2)
The Puritan Vision of God # 2
The Puritan Vision of God # 2
This vision has been given to isolated individuals in every land and time, and wherever the vision has been granted there has been one more name added to the roll of the heroes and the saints. Never has the vision come but that it has been lighter in the world. It came to the whole group of men in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who, next to the apostles, are the mightiest men who have ever lived. They were the Burghers of the Netherlands, the Huguenots of France, the Puritans of England, the Covenanters of Scotland, and the founders of New England. These are the five tribes of the Israel of God who have molded the temper of modern civilization and changed the structure of the world. Men may say what they will about these men, dwelling on their peculiarities and scoffing at their limitations; men may caricature them, dislike them, denounce them, despise them, but this one thing must in all fairness be admitted, that no mightier men have ever lived. They were mighty in the realm of thought, thinking out ideas which burn like fixed stars in the firmament of the mental world, by which stars men still direct their courses and nations build their institutions. Their words were mighty, having hands and feet, as as they have traveled down the highways of the centuries, they have taken hold of everything they have met, subduing them to their own lofty temper. They were mighty in deed. They laid their hands upon the Church, society and the State, and the prints of their fingers are on them all.
We cannot understand the times in which we live, interpret the movements and problems of modern Christendom, nor appreciate the meaning of our flag until we make the acquaintance of this immortal company of intrepid souls by whose genius the world have been recreated. These were different from the apostles in many points in language and in customs, in race and national temperament and disposition; they differed from them in many an opinion and conviction, but the Puritans and the apostles were alike in this, they saw in heaven that a throne was set and that one sat upon the throne who was the sovereign of this world.
What kind of God was it that the Puritans and the apostles saw? It is sometimes intimated that the God revealed in Scriptures is a rather barbaric and degraded being, with savage propensities and limitations which make it impossible that he should be reverenced or loved by thinking men. I do not so read the Scriptures. To the men who wrote the Bible God was so glorious in His attributes and so exalted in His character that it was impossible for human pen to describe Him. Moses tried to do it, and his language quivered, gasped, and then broke down completely. Isaiah tried to do it, but his pen refused to write. He noticed that even the seraphim were hiding their faces, not daring to look upon the eternal glory, and the prophet falling on his face cried in distress, "Woe is me! I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the King." Job tried to do it, but he also failed. He attempts to enumerate God's works, but scarcely has he begun when he ceases, saying, "These are but a part of His ways." We leave Job where we left Isaiah, prostrate on his face saying, "I abhor myself!"
The only man in the Scriptures who makes a sustained effort at describing the Eternal is the prisoner on Patmos. And he also fails. He begins by comparing the King to the most precious stones that the earth affords, but feeling how inadequate this is, he says, I will not attempt to tell you what He looks like; let me describe to you the surroundings in the midst of which He lives. The four and twenty elders, representatives of redeemed humanity, take their crowns of gold and cast them at His feet; and the four great beasts, representatives of the animal creation, they also fall down before Him, rendering to Him their homage and their praise; and outside the beasts there rise rank above the angels, and all these, ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands break out in praiseful song; and out of the great heart of the universe there comes up a voice saying, "Blessing and honor and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.
The God of the Scriptures is so infinitely glorious that He cannot be described. John's effort to describe him is laudable and earnest, but his language is very difficult to read. We are perplexed and baffled by it, not knowing exactly what he is trying to do. The genius of human speech in the Book of the Revelation simply falls down in a swoon completely exhausted by its effort to hint at the indescribable glory of Him who sits on the throne.
And that was the God whom the Puritans also saw. It is interesting to see how the great Puritan writers pile up their words in their efforts to picture their idea of the Eternal. "What is God?" they used to say, and their answer was, "God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." The Puritan, like Job, threw himself on the ground saying, "I abhor myself. I have seen Him, therefore I abhor myself." Like Isaiah he cried, "Woe is me! I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the King." Like John he fell at Christ's feet as one dead.
But the King, although infinitely glorious, was a God who spoke to men. "Out of the throne there came a voice." God is a revealing God. He cares enough for man to speak to him. He speaks to him in a voice that is intelligible. Man can understand Him if he will. This conception of the Eternal is never departed from from the first chapter of Scriptures to the last. God is everywhere a speaking God. In the Garden of Eden He spoke to man. He spoke to Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David Elijah, Jeremiah, and all the prophets. Jesus Christ is the complete Word that comes out of the infinite heart. It was this speaking God whom the Puritans also saw. "Thus saith the Lord," they cried as they went out to subdue the world.
~Charles E. Jefferson~
(continued with # 3)
This vision has been given to isolated individuals in every land and time, and wherever the vision has been granted there has been one more name added to the roll of the heroes and the saints. Never has the vision come but that it has been lighter in the world. It came to the whole group of men in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who, next to the apostles, are the mightiest men who have ever lived. They were the Burghers of the Netherlands, the Huguenots of France, the Puritans of England, the Covenanters of Scotland, and the founders of New England. These are the five tribes of the Israel of God who have molded the temper of modern civilization and changed the structure of the world. Men may say what they will about these men, dwelling on their peculiarities and scoffing at their limitations; men may caricature them, dislike them, denounce them, despise them, but this one thing must in all fairness be admitted, that no mightier men have ever lived. They were mighty in the realm of thought, thinking out ideas which burn like fixed stars in the firmament of the mental world, by which stars men still direct their courses and nations build their institutions. Their words were mighty, having hands and feet, as as they have traveled down the highways of the centuries, they have taken hold of everything they have met, subduing them to their own lofty temper. They were mighty in deed. They laid their hands upon the Church, society and the State, and the prints of their fingers are on them all.
We cannot understand the times in which we live, interpret the movements and problems of modern Christendom, nor appreciate the meaning of our flag until we make the acquaintance of this immortal company of intrepid souls by whose genius the world have been recreated. These were different from the apostles in many points in language and in customs, in race and national temperament and disposition; they differed from them in many an opinion and conviction, but the Puritans and the apostles were alike in this, they saw in heaven that a throne was set and that one sat upon the throne who was the sovereign of this world.
What kind of God was it that the Puritans and the apostles saw? It is sometimes intimated that the God revealed in Scriptures is a rather barbaric and degraded being, with savage propensities and limitations which make it impossible that he should be reverenced or loved by thinking men. I do not so read the Scriptures. To the men who wrote the Bible God was so glorious in His attributes and so exalted in His character that it was impossible for human pen to describe Him. Moses tried to do it, and his language quivered, gasped, and then broke down completely. Isaiah tried to do it, but his pen refused to write. He noticed that even the seraphim were hiding their faces, not daring to look upon the eternal glory, and the prophet falling on his face cried in distress, "Woe is me! I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the King." Job tried to do it, but he also failed. He attempts to enumerate God's works, but scarcely has he begun when he ceases, saying, "These are but a part of His ways." We leave Job where we left Isaiah, prostrate on his face saying, "I abhor myself!"
The only man in the Scriptures who makes a sustained effort at describing the Eternal is the prisoner on Patmos. And he also fails. He begins by comparing the King to the most precious stones that the earth affords, but feeling how inadequate this is, he says, I will not attempt to tell you what He looks like; let me describe to you the surroundings in the midst of which He lives. The four and twenty elders, representatives of redeemed humanity, take their crowns of gold and cast them at His feet; and the four great beasts, representatives of the animal creation, they also fall down before Him, rendering to Him their homage and their praise; and outside the beasts there rise rank above the angels, and all these, ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands break out in praiseful song; and out of the great heart of the universe there comes up a voice saying, "Blessing and honor and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.
The God of the Scriptures is so infinitely glorious that He cannot be described. John's effort to describe him is laudable and earnest, but his language is very difficult to read. We are perplexed and baffled by it, not knowing exactly what he is trying to do. The genius of human speech in the Book of the Revelation simply falls down in a swoon completely exhausted by its effort to hint at the indescribable glory of Him who sits on the throne.
And that was the God whom the Puritans also saw. It is interesting to see how the great Puritan writers pile up their words in their efforts to picture their idea of the Eternal. "What is God?" they used to say, and their answer was, "God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." The Puritan, like Job, threw himself on the ground saying, "I abhor myself. I have seen Him, therefore I abhor myself." Like Isaiah he cried, "Woe is me! I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the King." Like John he fell at Christ's feet as one dead.
But the King, although infinitely glorious, was a God who spoke to men. "Out of the throne there came a voice." God is a revealing God. He cares enough for man to speak to him. He speaks to him in a voice that is intelligible. Man can understand Him if he will. This conception of the Eternal is never departed from from the first chapter of Scriptures to the last. God is everywhere a speaking God. In the Garden of Eden He spoke to man. He spoke to Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David Elijah, Jeremiah, and all the prophets. Jesus Christ is the complete Word that comes out of the infinite heart. It was this speaking God whom the Puritans also saw. "Thus saith the Lord," they cried as they went out to subdue the world.
~Charles E. Jefferson~
(continued with # 3)
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Classic Christian Quotes From Classic Ministers
Classic Christian Quotes From Classic Ministers
The masses demand that which will soothe them in their sins and amuse them while they journey down the Broad Road!
(Arthur Pink)
"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths!" 2 Timothy 4:1-4
That time has arrived! Church-goers today will not endure sound doctrine. Those who . . .
preach the total depravity of man,
insist upon the imperative necessity of the new birth,
set forth the inflexible righteousness and holiness of God, and
warn against the eternal and conscious torment awaiting every rejecter of Christ,
find it almost impossible to obtain a hearing. Such preachers are regarded as puritanic pessimists, and are not wanted.
In these degenerate times, the masses demand that which will soothe them in their sins and amuse them while they journey down the Broad Road! The multitude is affected with itching ears which cravenovelty and that which is sensational. They have ears which wish to be tickled, ears which eagerly drink in the songs of professional and unsaved soloists and choristers, ears which are well pleased with the vulgar slang of our modern evangelists!
The things which are now done in so many churches--the socials, the fund-raisers, the bazaars, the concerts, the moving picture shows and other forms of entertainment--what are these but idolatrous commercialization of these houses of prayer! No wonder that such places are devoid of spirituality and strangers to the power of God. The Lord will not tolerate an unholy mixture of worldly things with spiritual.
"Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father's house into a marketplace!" John 2:16
__________________________
A clean path to Hell!
(Charles Spurgeon)
Unbelief will destroy the best of us!
Faith will save the worst of us!
There is a clean path to Hell--as well as a dirty one.
You will be lost if you trust to your good works--as surely as if you trusted in your sins.
There is a road to perdition along the 'highway of morality'--as surely as down the 'slough of vice'!
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us!" Titus 3:5
____________________________
The masses demand that which will soothe them in their sins and amuse them while they journey down the Broad Road!
(Arthur Pink)
"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths!" 2 Timothy 4:1-4
That time has arrived! Church-goers today will not endure sound doctrine. Those who . . .
preach the total depravity of man,
insist upon the imperative necessity of the new birth,
set forth the inflexible righteousness and holiness of God, and
warn against the eternal and conscious torment awaiting every rejecter of Christ,
find it almost impossible to obtain a hearing. Such preachers are regarded as puritanic pessimists, and are not wanted.
In these degenerate times, the masses demand that which will soothe them in their sins and amuse them while they journey down the Broad Road! The multitude is affected with itching ears which cravenovelty and that which is sensational. They have ears which wish to be tickled, ears which eagerly drink in the songs of professional and unsaved soloists and choristers, ears which are well pleased with the vulgar slang of our modern evangelists!
The things which are now done in so many churches--the socials, the fund-raisers, the bazaars, the concerts, the moving picture shows and other forms of entertainment--what are these but idolatrous commercialization of these houses of prayer! No wonder that such places are devoid of spirituality and strangers to the power of God. The Lord will not tolerate an unholy mixture of worldly things with spiritual.
"Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father's house into a marketplace!" John 2:16
__________________________
A clean path to Hell!
(Charles Spurgeon)
Unbelief will destroy the best of us!
Faith will save the worst of us!
There is a clean path to Hell--as well as a dirty one.
You will be lost if you trust to your good works--as surely as if you trusted in your sins.
There is a road to perdition along the 'highway of morality'--as surely as down the 'slough of vice'!
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us!" Titus 3:5
____________________________
Robbing the Body of Christ
Every day, you get out of bed, put on clothes, and walk to the kitchen to eat breakfast. You maybe watch the news or check your email, and a few minutes later, you drive to work at 60 miles per hour on a road where other vehicles can pass by within feet. In the first hour or so that you’re awake, your body completes thousands of complex tasks that are so routine they go unnoticed. We hardly even think about them.
Our physical frame is a creation of remarkable beauty and intricacy. And while certain parts seem more attractive than others, all are useful. The body’s interdependent nature—that is, the way the different parts rely on one another to perform properly—is an apt metaphor for a Christ-centered church. When believers use their gifts and talents to operate and depend on each other, the whole body functions properly to the glory of God.
However, many people in church today feel insignificant. Upon seeing the successful work of others, they decide they’re not really needed or assume they haven’t got the “right” talents to make a worthwhile contribution. Those are lies from the devil. When his misguidance succeeds—which is all too often—one more Christian backs away in hopes that someone else will do the Lord’s work.
Hanging back instead of seeking a place to serve is unfair to the congregation, because your unique contribution is integral to the unity of God’s church. Your role might not be center stage, but it is vital to Jesus Christ and to His body on earth.
~Charles F. Stanley~
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