Gems for the Week
August 3
"Believe ye that I am able to do this?" (Matthew 9:28)
God deals with impossibilities. It is never too late for Him to do so, when the impossible is brought to Him, in full faith, by the one in whose life and circumstances the impossible must be accomplished if God is to be glorified. If in our own life there have been rebellion, unbelief, sin, and disaster, it is never too late for God to deal triumphantly with these tragic facts if brought to Him in full surrender and trust. It has often been said, and with truth, that Christianity is the only religion that can deal with man's past. God can "restore . . . the years that the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:25); and He will do this when we put the whole situation and ourselves unreservedly and believingly into His hands. Not because of what we are but because of what He is. God forgives and heals and restores. He is "the God of all grace." Let us praise Him and trust Him. (Sunday School Times)
N.J. Hiebert # 3420
August 4
"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being
abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."
(Titus 1:16)
Christianity in the practical sense works outwardly from within: unless the soul be purified in obeying the truth, as with all that believe, there is neither the Father's name hallowed, nor sin truly judged, nor unfeigned love of the brethren. Neither can there be the worship of God in spirit and truth, any more than drawing near to the Father. All must be superficial and of the natural man. There can be nothing divine till one is born of the Spirit; whereas the gospel carries the soul, in the sense of God's favour in Christ, far beyond into peace, liberty, and power. For Christ is not only life but the deliverer in the fullest sense, as He is the revealed object before the soul from first to last. (William Kelly - The Epistle of Paul to Titus)
N.J. Hiebert # 3421
August 5
"In the beginning God." (Genesis 1:1)
1. The Bible begins with God: "In the beginning God." Indeed, these few words constitute the key, not only to the Bible, but to all created things.
2. The Bible ends with man - the last of all God's creations: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." (Revelation 22:21)
3. But the Bible is a message from God to man, and its object is to bring man to God. Hence, although the division into verses was not of Divine origin, it is, nevertheless, interesting to note that the verse which stands exactly in the middle of our Bible - Psalm 118:8, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man" contains the essence of all Bible teaching, as it brings man to God, by calling him to renounce all earthly confidence and "to trust in the Lord."
Again, at the beginning of the Bible, we have man's first recorded words addressed to his Maker - "I was afraid . . . and I hid myself" (Genesis 3:10). Here is man's attitude, as the result of sin.
At the end of the Bible, we have man's last recorded words addressed to the same Lord: - "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:20) Here is man, restored by grace, longing for the presence of Him, from whom he once fled and hid! (Sidney Collett - All About the Bible)
N.J. Hiebert # 3422
