Gems for the Week
November 16 - 26
"[Christ] became the author of eternal salvation unto all them
that obey Him." (Hebrews 5:9)
Are you a Christian? Oh you say, that is a very plain question. Then let it have an honest answer now. But what do you mean by a Christian? you ask. I mean by a Christian a person that really knows Christ - not a person that knows something about Him but a person that really knows Christ as his own Saviour. A Christian is one who knows the rejected and once slain, but now raised and glorified, Saviour at God's right hand, and is connected with and united to that risen Saviour, where He now is. A Christian is one who is born again of God, whose sins are all forgiven - all blotted out - and who has received the Holy Spirit, and knows it. If you can only say, "I hope this is all mine," you are not a true Christian in the proper sense of the word; and, frankly you have not got hold of the real essence of Christianity yet.
A Christian is one that is indissolubly connected with the victorious risen Saviour. He is linked to the One who went down first of all into death for him, bore his sins, blotted them all out, and met all the claims of God in righteousness in respect of those sins. That Saviour is risen without a single sin, and has gone into God's presence to prepare a place and take him to it.
The blessing of the believer is this - he knows his sins are forgiven, he knows he is saved, and he knows God is his Father; he has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, and he is a person standing on the other side of death and judgment, waiting, at the return of the Bridegroom, for glory.
Are you a Christian? Have you that title to glory without a flaw? What is that title? The precious blood of Christ - nothing more, and nothing less. (W.T.P. Wolston)
N.J. Hiebert # 2433
"This is the day that the Lord hath made,
we will rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)
Sigh of the breezes or sob of the tempest,
Skies of pure azure or clouds hanging low,
Sunshine or frost or the last of the storm wind,
Veiling of mist or the white whirl of snow;
Welcome the day! for the Lord, He hath made it,
Cometh it golden or cometh it gray.
Bringeth it burden or giveth it guerdon,
Let us rejoice and be glad in His day.
(Annie Johnson Flint - Flint's Best Loved Poems)
N.J. Hiebert # 2434
"Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves . . . and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee." (Luke 11:5-7)
Christ speaks of a man going to a friend at midnight, and asking for three loaves, "And he from within shall answer," etc.; these are pregnant words, are you within? It is a dangerous condition in this world. What I mean by that is, losing your sympathies with the joy and sorrows around you. (J.G. Bellett)
N.J. Hiebert # 2435
"And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came BETWEEN the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud of darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that one came not near the other all the night. (Exodus 14:19,20)
Between the circumstance and me A Father's loving hand,
Is working all things for my good - All moves at His command.
Between the circumstance and me A father's loving heart,
Knows all the problems of the path, And bears a Father's part.
Between the circumstance and me, A Father's holy will,
Is over-ruling everything With wisdom and with skill.
Behold the Saviour on the cross, In deepest agony,
Who suffered to atone for sin, In love for you and me.
The Love that held Him to that cross To suffer and to die,
That love remains the same today, And hears His people's cry.
The power that raised Him from the dead, That resurrection power,
Is working for His people's good, Each moment and each hour.
O why be burdened then with care? The love that set thee free,
Such love is evermore between The circumstance and thee.
And when above the circumstance, We see God's hand and ways,
In comfort, peace and blessing gives, And cause for endless praise.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."
(Romans 8:28)
N.J. Hiebert # 2436
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
and He shall lift you up." (James 4:10)
The Christian is humble . . . because he has given up seeking good in himself, to adore the One in whom there is nothing else. (J.N. Darby)
N.J. Hiebert # 2437
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
True, death came from the entrance of sin, but, if it should overtake me, I shall be borne upon the crest of the wave right into the presence of the Lord, one leap into the bosom of Christ." (G. V. Wigram)
N.J. Hiebert # 2438
"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not His sisters here
with us? And they were offended at Him." (Mark 6:3)
How true were the words of Isaiah when he wrote "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isaiah 53:2). To men He was only the son of the carpenter. How refreshing to hear heaven's assessment of Christ, "And lo a voice from heaven saying, this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). Little wonder that the Bride could say concerning her beloved, "Yea, He is altogether lovely." (Song of Solomon 5:16) (W.H. Burnett)
N.J. Hiebert # 2439
"Then saith He to the man, Stretch forth thine (shriveled) hand. And he stretched it forth: and it was restored whole,
like as the other." (Matthew 12:13)
The Scripture is plain that obedience is the way of blessing; and that we are not to wait for power to obey a command, but to obey it that we may find power. The Lord did not restore the hand that he might stretch it out and show it, but ordered the man to stretch it out, that it might be restored. (Christian Truth - Vol. 19)
N.J. Hiebert # 2440
"And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." (Acts 20:25-27)
Now, If you are going to be in the good of Paul's ministry, you will desire the whole counsel of God; and if you deliberately refuse it, you are cutting yourself off from what God has for you. And if you refuse it to others, you are like a man who wraps a cord around the arm of another and stops the circulation. If you rob the saints of some of the truth of the counsels of God for them, you are you are doing damage to them. Paul said that if he had done it that way he would be guilty of the blood of those people. He means to say that he would be responsible spiritually for their being left lame, sickly, and puny, and lacking in normal growth; but he says, "I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsels of God." Should we seek less? Should we be satisfied with less than the whole counsel of God? (C.H. Brown)
N.J. Hiebert # 2441
"What concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel. . . .wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord." (Corinthians 6:15)
Plausible reasons are easily found for indulging in a carnal "liberty," which leads into taking part in the works planned for the betterment of a world already condemned and soon to be destroyed, and into companionship with those who shun the offense of the cross, and who "mind earthly things." (Anon)
N.J. Hiebert # 2442
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)
"To me to live is Christ." He thought of nothing but Christ; if it was a question of himself, to him to die was "gain." But he did not think of himself at all; he left everything to the Lord. If we think of ourselves, and take ourselves in hand, we take upon ourselves the responsibility which God keeps Himself if we leave all to him. The vantage ground of the Christian is, that he has not to think of himself. The Apostle could say, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Some have tried to say that on a deathbed, but they left out the first part altogether. He was "in a straight"; he was sorry he had to stay, though he was willing to stop a little longer for their sakes; to die was positive gain to him. Nor did he speak of going to a place; it was a Person he was gong to. Nor was it a relief, as some say, when the body is racked with pain (even a worldly man can say that); it was no relief to him, but positive gain, to be with that Person, though, even then, not yet in the state of perfection, for that would not be till he had his glorified body. (The Remembrancer - October 1902)
N.J. Hiebert # 2443
