Gems from February 10- 20, 2017

February 10

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.”

(Lamentations 3:22-23)

Past failure does not excuse present disobedience.

Past failure—no matter by whom—is not an excuse for present disobedience—no matter what.

Past failure never justifies present disobedience.

We tend to excuse our past or present failure because of 

other past or present failure—on our part or on the part of others.

But God does not, will not and can not lower His standards to 

accommodate our whims, reasonings or failures.  

All human action is accompanied by failure.

That is why principles, not precedents, must direct all present action.

And that is also why even principles themselves will not be rightly 

applied if we are not walking in communion with God.

(Nuggets of Truth - J. Kaiser)

N.J. Hiebert - 6526

February 11

“Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

(Matthew 28:20)

“The Lord is my Shepherd.”

(Psalm 23:1)

Not was, not may be, nor will be.

“The Lord is my shepherd,” is on Sunday, is on Monday, 

and is through every day of the week;  is in January,  is in December,

and every month of the year; is at home, and is in China;

is in peace, and, is in war; in abundance, and in penury.

(J. Hudson Taylor)

HE will silently plan for thee, object thou of omniscient care;

God Himself undertakes to be thy Pilot through each subtle snare.

He WILL silently plan for thee, so certainly, He cannot fail!

Rest on the faithfulness of God, in Him thou surely shalt prevail.

He will SILENTLY plan for thee, some wonderful surprise of love.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard, but it is kept for thee above.

He will silently PLAN for thee, His purposes shall all unfold;

The tangled skein shall shine at last, a masterpiece of skill untold.

He will silently plan FOR THEE, happy child of a Father’s care,

As though no other claimed His love, but thou alone to Him wert dear.

(E. Mary Grimes)

Whatever our faith says God is, He will be.

N.J. Hiebert - 6527

February 12

THE CREAM PITCHER

“Ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within. . . . “

(Matthew 23:25)

Restaurants sometimes serve ordinary milk in a cream pitcher, 

but a cream pitcher does not change milk into cream.

“It takes more than than a better grade of china to heighten the

 flavour of indifferent tea.”

From pulpits today, a lot of skim milk is served in cream pitchers!

The wrapper does not match the contents.

The Bible abounds in figures of external appearance that belies what is within.

“. . . Whited sepulchres” (Matthew 23:27), 

“. . . in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15).

“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him . . .” (Titus 1:16).

“. . . for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). 

We need to produce better contents instead of majoring on better cups!

(Vance Havner)

N.J. Hiebert - 6528  

February 13

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.”

(Romans 8:8-9)

In the history of God’s people, whether we look at them as a whole, or as individuals, 

we are often struck with the amazing difference between what they are in 

God’s view, and what they are in the view of the world.

God sees His people in Christ.

He looks at them through Christ; and hence 

He sees them “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.”

They are as Christ is before God.

They are perfected forever, as to their standing 

in Christ. “They are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” 

But in themselves, they are poor, feeble, imperfect, stumbling, inconsistent creatures;

and, inasmuch as it is what they are in themselves, and that alone, that the 

world takes knowledge of, therefore it is that the difference seems 

so great between the divine and the human estimate. 

He ever puts Himself between His people and every tongue that would accuse them.

He does not not answer the accusation by a reference to what 

His people are in themselves, or to what they are in the 

view of the men of this world, but to what  

He Himself has made them, and 

where He set them.

(C.H. Mackintosh)

N.J. Hiebert - 6529

February 14

"Pilate said unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? 

They all say unto him, Let Him be crucified." 

(Matthew 27:22)

“A missionary may go forth with compassion for the poor, tenderness for the sick, and

pity for the enslaved; but he will never relieve poverty of spirit, sickness of soul, 

nor bondage of will --unless he takes them the gospel of Christ crucified.”  

(J.C. Ryle  1816-1900 - with thanks to Tim Roach)

"For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." (1Corinthians 2:2)

N.J. Hiebert - 6530

February 15

“Let love be without dissimulation.  Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”

(Romans 12:9 

Love Must Be Sincere

I was working on my sprinkler system, which had an ineffective sprinkler. 

The grass was brown from lack of water. 

I removed the sprinkler head and found a very small pebble lodged in 

the groove where the water sprays out. 

It was an impediment, ever so small, but it stopped the free flow of water. 

I thought, how true it is in my spiritual life when sin, ever so small, 

comes between my heart and the Holy Spirit. 

The flow of God's love through me ceases, 

and my spiritual life becomes ineffective and lifeless. 

Love must flow within our hearts unhindered, free from 

every impediment, with our lives made bare before 

God, overflowing with His life from within.

(Adapted from Daily Devotions)

N.J. Hiebert - 6531

February 16

"Teach me Thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path." 

(Psalm 27:11)

How is it that some Christians break down? 

How is it their needs are not met? How is it some get into confusion and perplexity?

The answers to these questions are in many cases because 

they have gotten out of the path of God's will.

 In that path, we get full supplies, provided we are in constant dependence on Him. 

We must always be receiving from Him.

It is like a water wheel going round. What makes it go round? 

The water that went over it yesterday? No! 

The stream that may flow tomorrow? No! 

What then? The water passing over it just now. If that stops, the wheel stops.

  

So we are dependent moment by moment.

(Christian Truth Vol. 23 - with thanks D. Hopkins)

N.J. Hiebert - 6532

February 17

"Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” 
(Gen. 18:25)

When there are mysteries in life too deep for us to fathom, we can relax in the confidence that the Judge of all the earth is the God of absolute and infinite righteousness.  Men puzzle over why God ever allowed sin to enter. 

We often stand dumb in the face of tragedies, of poverty and hunger, of horrible physical and mental impairments. Doubt continually murmurs, “If God is in control, why does He permit it all?” Faith replies, “Wait till the last chapter is written.  God makes no  mistake.

When we are able to see things from a clearer perspective,
we will realize that the Judge of all the earth has done right.”

God writes in characters too grand
For our short sight to understand;
We catch but broken strokes, and try
To fathom all the mystery
Of withered hopes, of death, of life,
The endless war, the useless strife,—
But there, with larger, clearer sight,
We shall see this—His way was right.

(John Oxenham )

N.J. Hiebert - 6533

February 18

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance  . . .” Hebrews 6:1

Some of us stay at the cross, some of us wait at the tomb,

Quickened and raised together with Christ, yet lingering still in its gloom;

Some of us bide at the passover feast with Pentecost all unknown—

The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place that our Lord has made our own.

If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross His work had been incomplete,

If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb He had only known defeat;

But the Way of the Cross never stops at the Cross, and the way of the Tomb leads on

To victorious grace in the heavenly place where the risen Lord has gone.

So, let us go on with our Lord to the fulness of God He has brought,

Unsearchable riches of glory and good exceeding our uttermost thought;

Let us grow up into Christ, claiming His life and its powers,

The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place that our conquering Lord has made ours.

(Annie Johnson Flint’s Best-Loved Poems)

N.J. Hiebert - 6534

February 19

“Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach!

Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in 

the midst of it. But the LORD is in His holy temple:  

let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

(Habakuk 2:19-20)

What a contrast between God and idols.

People speak to their idols and get only silence.

When God speaks, all are to be silent. Yet even when He is silent, God speaks. 

As a sheep, silent before its shearers (Isaiah 53:7), the Lord Jesus spoke

volumes about His hatred of sin and love for sinners.

“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not 

His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, 

so He openeth not His mouth.”

As the Just suffered for the unjust, He taught us about God’s 

justice and grace, His mercy and wrath.

Friend, listen to God’s message and trust Christ today.

(George Ferrier)

“Jesus bruised and put to shame, tells the glories of God’s name;

Holy judgment there I found, grace did there o’er sin abound."

(R.C. Chapman)

N.J. Hiebert - 6535

February 20

"I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which

is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.”

(Philippians 1:23-24)

How often we are apt to think, to depart and be with Christ will be to escape the 

trials and anxieties and perplexities and reproach of this wilderness path:

and so we think it is better to depart: but such a thought never 

crossed the mind of the Apostle: the attraction, on the

one hand, was CHRIST: and nothing else.

On the other hand, there was the need of the saints.

Nor was it in any way that he put the saints 

before Christ: but it was for Christ’s sake 

he would care for Christ’s flock.

You will notice the Apostle does not say he had a desire 

“to die,” but to depart and be with Christ.

(G. Christopher Willis)

N.J. Hiebert - 6536

February 21

February 22