Gems for the Week
November 2
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall beopened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matthew 7:7,8)
God has hidden every precious thing in such a way that:
- It is a reward to the diligent,
- A prize to the earnest,
- A disappointment to the slothful soul.
All nature is arrayed against the lounger and the idler.
- The nut is hidden in its thorny case;
- The pearl is buried beneath the ocean wave;
- The gold is imprisoned in the rocky bosom of the mountain;
- The gem is found only after you crush the rock that encloses it;
- The very soil gives its harvest as the reward of industry to the labouring husbandman.
So truth and God must be earnestly sought.
"To him that knocketh it shall be opened."
(Dr. A.B. Simpson)
N.J. Hiebert # 3511
November 3
"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:8)
'Tis the treasure I've found in His love
That has made me a pilgrim below;
And 'tis there, when I reach Him above
As I'm known, all His fulness I'll know.
Absolute consecration to Jesus is the strongest bond between human hearts. It strips them of self, and they have but one soul in thought, intent and settled purpose, because they have but one object.
Can we honestly say, with glory before us, with Christ before us: "This one thing I do"? Which way does your eye turn? Which way are you going? God has only one way - CHRIST.
Paul saw Christ on the way to Damascus, and he gives up his importance, his Pharisaism, his teaching, his everything else, and he counts all but loss that he may win Christ. . . . People talk of sacrifices; but there is no great sacrifice in giving up dung. (Philippians 3:8) If the eye were so fixed on Christ that these things got that character it would not be a trouble to give them up. The thing gets its character from what the heart is set on. (J.N. Darby)
N.J. Hiebert # 3512
November 4
". . . have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside ME. Look unto ME, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." (Isaiah 45:21,22)
Here is the One to whom we are told to "look". He is "a just God." But if this were all, a guilty sinner dare not look to Him for anything but judgment and eternal condemnation. The only possible issue of a meeting between a just God and a guilty man, is the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. A just God must punish sin. He cannot pass over a single speck or stain. It would involve the denial of His nature and the overthrow of His government were He to pass over the smallest atom of sin. It cannot possibly be. "He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." (Habakkuk 1:13) Sin, wherever it is found, can only be met by the just judgment of God.
But mark the beauteous and most marvelous combination! Blessed be His name, we are not called to "look" merely to "a just God." This would be terrible. Yes, it would be inevitable destruction. But when we listen to the other title which grace has linked on to "a just God," all is changed. He is not only "a just God," but "a Saviour." Precious fact for us poor sinners! (Christian Truth - Vol. 15 - December 1962)
N.J. Hiebert # 3513
