Gems from July 10- 20, 2018

July 10

THANKS FOR VICTORY

"Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory 

through our Lord Jesus Christ."

(1 Corinthians 15:57)

Observe the source of our victory— “Thanks be unto God.”

The Blesser is greater than the blessing.

Consider the nature of our victory—“which giveth us the victory.”  

It is the gift of God.  "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable

  gift.”  And behold the means of our victory—

"through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

It is total victory over sin, death, and the grave.  

It is daily victory.  Every heart ought to be a “victory garden.”  And it is final victory.

“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,”

It does not explain the world, nor endure it, nor enjoy it—it overcomes the world.

But not just any kind of faith.  It must be faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, for our victory is through Him. 

Every day is V-Day when our faith is in Him.

And every day is Thanksgiving Day for the victory through Him.

(Vance Havner)

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July 11

“That I may win Christ, and be found in Him.”

(Philippians 3:8,9)

“In Christ it is we stand.”  He is our righteousness.

He Himself, the crucified, risen, exalted, glorified Christ.

Yes; He is our righteousness.  To be found in Him is proper Christian standing.

It is not Judaism, Catholicism, nor any other ism.  

It is not being a member of this church,

 that church, or the other church.

It is to be in Christ.

This is the great foundation of true practical Christianity.

In a word, this is the standing of the Christian.

(C. H. Mackintosh)

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July 12

MY REDEEMER

My Redeemer  ”In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness 

of sins, according to the riches of His grace; wherein He hath abounded 

toward us in all wisdom and prudence." (Ephesians 1:7-8).

The text for “My Redeemer,” though a joyfulnote of praise, was found in the wreckage of 

a train accident which had just claimed the life of its author, Philip P. Bliss. 

George Stebbins, also a noted gospel songwriter of this time, once paid Bliss this tribute: “There has been no writer of verse since his time who has shown such a grasp of the fundamental truths of the gospel, or such a gift for putting them into poetic and singable form.”

Yet at the age of thirty-eight, at the very height of his fruitful music ministry, Bliss’s life was suddenly ended in a tragic train accident.  He had visited his mother at his childhood home in Rome, Pennsylvania, during the Christmas season of 1876 and was returning by train to Chicago on December 29 with his wife Lucy when a railroad bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio, collapsed.

Their train plunged into a ravine sixty feet below and caught fire.  One hundred passengers perished miserably. Bliss survived the fall and escaped through a window but frantically returned to the wreckage in an attempt to rescue his wife.  As a result, he perished with her in the fire. 

Neither body was ever recovered.

Quite miraculously, however, among Bliss’s belongings in the train wreckage was

found a manuscript on which Bliss had been working.  It contained these significant words.

I will sing of my Redeemer and His wondrous love to me;

on the cruel cross He suffered, from the curse to set me free.

I will tell the wondrous story, how my lost estate to save,

in His boundless love and mercy, He the ransom freely gave.

I will praise my dear Redeemer, His triumphant pow’r I’ll tell,

how the victory He giveth over sin and death and hell.

Chorus:  Sing, O sing of my Redeemer, with His blood He purchased me;

on the cross He sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made me free.

(Kenneth W. Osbeck)

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July 13

“And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die . . . and Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died  . . . and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.”

(Genesis 50:24-26)

Faith still looks beyond the valley of the shadow of death, to the home of God’s eternal purpose.

In the presence of death faith, as of old, still rests on the God of resurrection,

but with yet clearer vision, for we see Christ risen from among the dead 

seated at God’s right hand of power, holding in His hand 

the keys of death and the grave.

As our faith looks up to the risen Man in the glory, may the passing glories of this dying world become small in our esteem, so that, forgetting the things that are behind, we reach out to the things that are before, while waiting for the moment when the Lord will surely visit His people—when He—

“Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)        

Thus while to  sight all may seem to end in a coffin in Egypt, faith has in view that glorious moment when we shall be caught up together to be forever with the Lord.

“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

(1 Thessalonians 4:18) 

(Hamilton Smith)

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July 14

“And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This Man 

receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”

(Luke 15:2)

They did not know they were declaring a wonderful truth when they said that. 

Jesus does receive sinners, and takes them into fellowship and communion with Himself.

Thank God, this has been true all through the centuries since.

Is it not wonderful grace that He receives all who will come, and He delivers them from their sins?

Sing it o’er and o’er again; Christ receiveth sinful men.   

If these words come before any who have been in doubt as to whether or not the 

Lord Jesus Christ will accept you, oh, let me tell you, 

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 

came into the world to save sinners!”

(1 Timothy 1:15)

He is interested in you; He is interested in me.  I came as a sinner, 

and He did not turn me away.  He received me and saved me, 

and He will do the same for you if you will come to Him. 

(H. A. Ironside)

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July 15

OUR LOVE KEPT FOR JESUS

"Lovest thou me?”

(John 21:15)

Keep my love; my Lord, I pour

At Thy feet its treasure-store. 

Not as a mere echo from the morning-gilded shore of Tiberias but as an ever-new, ever sounding note of divinest power come the familiar words to each of us, “Lovest thou Me?” 

He says it who has loved us with an everlasting love.  He says it who has died for us.

He says it who has washed us from our sins in His own blood.

He says it who has waited for our love, waited 

patiently all though our coldness.

And if by His grace we have said, “Take my love,” which of us has not felt that part of 

His very answer has been to make us see how little there was to take 

and how little of that little has been kept for Him?

And yet we do love Him!  He knows that.

The very mourning and longing to love Him more

proves it.  But we want more than that and so does our Lord.

(Frances Ridley Havergal)

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July 16

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

(Isaiah 40:31)

We have here a threefold experience of the Christian life—mounting up, running, walking;

and the strength required for each is obtained by waiting upon the Lord.

How much seems implied in that word “wait.”  It means prayer, but it means more.

There seems the added thought of waiting in order to receive something.

Our Lord told His disciples to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were 

endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49).

Do we thus wait upon the Lord? tarrying in His presence—to learn His mind,

to hear His message, or to receive His strength?

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew (change) their strength.” 

(Angels in White - Russell Elliott)

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July 17

It is But a Little Sin

"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for 

we are not ignorant of his devices.”

(2 Corinthians 2:11)

"Ah!” says Satan, “it is but a little sin—a little pride, a little worldliness, a little lust, etc. 

You may commit it without any danger to you soul.

It is but a little one; you may commit it,

and yet your soul shall live.”

Consider, that there is a great danger, yes, many times most danger—in the smallest sins.

"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump!” 

(1 Corinthians 5:6)

If the serpent sneaks in his head—he will draw in his whole body after him.

Greater sins sooner startle the soul, and awaken and rouse up the soul to repentance, than lesser sins do.

Little sins often slide into the soul, and breed, and work secretly and indiscernibly in the soul, until

they come to be so strong, as to trample upon the soul, and to cut the throat of the soul!   

Many are undone by the "little sins", as they call them, that are nourished in their own bosoms. 

A little hole in the ship, sinks it.   A small breach in a dyke, caries away all before it.

A little stab at the heart, kills a man.   A little sin, without a great deal of mercy, will condemn a man. 

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 

from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:9)

(Thomas Brooks - Precious Remedies Agains Satan’s Devices)

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July 18

“I will be as the dew” (Hosea 14:5).

Hosea leads us to the source of the dew-drenched life.    It is from Him that this priceless gift comes. Those who spend much time with the Master come forth with the dew of blessing upon their lives.

The dew falls in the still night when all nature is hushed to rest. What is true in nature holds true in spiritual things; in this we have the key reason why so many of God’s people are living dew-less lives.  They are restless, anxious, impatient, fussy, busy, with not time at all to be still before the Lord.

The finer things are being sacrificed for the coarser; the things of value for the worthless.

In Job 38:28 the question is asked, “Who hath begotten the drops of dew?”  It is one of God’s 

secrets.  It comes quietly, and yet works so mightily.  We cannot produce it, but we may receive it and live, moment by moment, in that atmosphere where the Holy Spirit may continually drench us with His presence.

(W. Mallis)  

But the sensitive dew and the stillness are friends,

In the storm, it is true that it never descends.

Let me fuss not, nor pine, but on God cast my care,

And the dew shall be mine in the quiet of prayer.

Let Him hush the sad riot of temper and will,

Till rested and quiet the cleansed heart is still.

When the atmosphere’s so, ’tis attractive to dew,

And the first thing you know ’twill be falling on you.

(Mamie Payne Ferguson)

God feeds the wild flowers on the lonely mountain side without help of any man, and they are fresh and lovely as those that are daily watched over in our gardens.  So God can feed His own planted ones without the help of man, by the sweet falling dew on his spirit.

(McCheyne)

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July 19

BIBLICAL DIVISIONS OF TIME

INNOCENCE - "The Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).

   

CONSCIENCE - “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another” (Romans 2:14-15).   

LAW - “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came byJesus Christ” (John 1:17). “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). 

GRACE - The death of the Redeemer met the claims of the throne of God in righteousness, and the needs of the hearts of men in grace; and grace now reigns: “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:21).

This era was formally introduced by the ascent of Christ (Acts 1) and the descent of the Spirit (Acts 2).

The message now is to every creature which is under heaven.  God is today calling out from all kindreds and nations and races and tongues a people for His name (Acts 15:14-17); that company which, in the Epistles, is called “The Church”.  

At the second coming of our Lord, this innumerable company of redeemed ones will be translated to the heavenly land, as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15.  The difference between “law” and “grace” is well illustrated in John  Bunyan’s quaint words:

Run, John, run, the Law commands, but gives me neither legs nor hands;

Far grander news the Gospel brings, it bids me fly, and gives me wings.” 

(The Wonderful Word - George Henderson)

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July 20

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

(Psalm 46:10)

It is difficult to be still.  When we are under pressure, worried or irritated 

we want to be getting on with things. 

We may wonder why God does not move faster.

He often takes His time and in these circumstances we must learn to wait quietly and patiently.

His way is best, and His timing is best too.  

We must learn to trust in Him whose way is perfect and having 

committed the problem to Him, to be still and allow Him to move at the right time.

To do otherwise is perhaps to delay or jeopardize His plan.

He is on our side and He will  bring us through in His own good time.

(Roy Hill)

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side, bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide, in every change, He faithful will remain.

(Kathrina von Schlegal)

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July 21