Gems for the Week
October 26 - 29
"Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4)
One of the most alarming symptoms in the religious world at the present day is the idea that there is power in the truth to preserve. There is no power in the truth to preserve; but the question is, whether the soul holds fast the truth. Unless my thoughts, my heart, are in the truth, there will be no power in the truth to me. It is very certain that God will keep His truth; but is my heart kept? If not, it is the mere confidence of man's mind; for ". . . greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." (J.N. Darby)
N.J. Hiebert # 3138
"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14)
Divine institutions are speedily marred in the hands of men: but, oh! how deeply blessed to know that the thirsty soul that feels the barrenness and drought connected with a scene of empty religious formality, has only to flee to Jesus, and drink freely of His exhaustless springs, and so become a channel of blessing to others. (Food for the Desert)
N.J. Hiebert # 3139
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe
on the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:13)
An old gentleman who was leaving for the Continent called upon his lawyer to have his will attested. Everything in the will was clearly stated; and he concluded it with these words: "I wish to testify that I die trusting the merits of my Saviour, Jesus Christ, and hope that I am accepted by God for His sake." The lawyer was a Christian man and said to him: "Mr.---, why do you only hope that you are accepted when God says that "He hath made us accepted in the beloved?" - Ephesians 1:6. He answered: "Because it would be presumption." "Well," said the solicitor, "if it be presumption, God has endorsed it." There is the word: "He hath made us accepted in the beloved." Without another word, the aged man drew his pen through the word "hope" and wrote the word "KNOW." "I die trusting in the merits of my Saviour, Jesus Christ, and KNOW that I am accepted by God for His sake." (George Henderson - In Pastures Green)
N.J. Hiebert # 3140
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."
(Isaiah 43:2)
"Precious thought, my Father knoweth, in His love I rest,
For whate'er my Father doeth, must be always best;
Well I know the heart that planneth naught but good for me,
Joy and sorrow interwoven - love in all I see."
We should remember, that the husbandman is never so near the vine as when He is pruning it. It is the experience of all deeply-taught Christians that God is never so real, or so consciously near, as He is in times of trial.
"When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow,
For I will be with thee thy trials to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress."
(His Last Word - Henry Durbanville)
N.J. Hiebert # 3141
