Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen Yet Believe

John 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. 

How important it is for God to keep us focused on things that
are unseen...

For we are so easily snared by the things we can see!

If Peter was ever going to walk on the water, he had to walk...

But if he was going to swim to Jesus, he had to swim. 

He could not do both. 

If a bird is going to fly, it must stay away from fences and trees, trusting the buoyancy of its wings.

And if it tries to stay within easy reach of the ground, it will never fly very well.

God had to bring Abraham to the end of his own strength and
let him see that with his own body he could do nothing.

He had to consider his own body “as good as dead” (Heb.11:12) and then trust God to do all the work.

When he looked away from himself and trusted only God, he became “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Rom. 4:21).

This is what God is teaching us, and He has to keep results that are encouraging away from us until we learn to trust Him without them.

Then He loves to make His Word as real to us in actuality as it is in our faith. 

~A. B. Simpson~

I do not ask that He must prove His Word is true to me

And that before I can believe He first must let me see.

It is enough for me to know

It’s true because He says it’s so;

On His unchanging Word I’ll stand

And trust till I can understand.

E. M.Winter

What Are These Christians Doing On Satan's Ground?

1Sa 29:3  Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?

David's men Wanted To Mingle with the Philistine army...

This was Decidedly Wrong.

It is Always Wrong when God's people Unite with the world, Contrary to His Holy Word.

We may ask, "What are these Christians doing here?" 

What are they doing joining with the world?

Their Master has told them to "Come out from among them and be separate! Touch no unclean thing!"

He has said, "Arise and depart, for this is not your rest...because it is Defiled, it is Ruined, Beyond All Remedy!"

What are these Christians doing Out Of The Path Of Duty...or By Their Presence, Sanctioning Sin?

God Has Said, "Be holy for I am holy." 

What are these Christians doing on Satan's ground? 

They Are In the Enemy's Ranks?

Do they Intend to Leave Jesus and Go Back to the world?

Are they Tired of His Company...Set Against His Word, and Determined to throw off His yoke?

Do they Intend to Share in the Slavery of Satan,  the Sinner's Doom, the Wrath of God?

What are these Christians doing here?

Their conduct is Unnatural, Degrading, Traitorous!
Christian! you should Keep the Company of Jesus...
 

Walk with Holy people...

And Keep yourselves Unspotted from the world!

Gal 1:3  Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
 

Gal 1:4  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

~James Smith~

BE THOROUGH

The bravest man of his time in Jerusalem stood up in the temple gateway, on a public occasion, and delivered a very short but a very searching sermon.

It was a model of plain, pungent preaching. 

He did not utter any message evolved from his own brain; he gave them God's message.

It ran in this way: "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place!" 

The moral condition of the people had become deplorable. 

The command to them is, thorough reform of character and conduct. 

A rich promise is made to them...if they obey;

If they remain wedded to their sins, their temple and their homes would be left to them desolate. 

Jeremiah's pithy address to his countrymen is a capital text for our times. 

Finney, in the days of his greatest power, used to take such passages as this to drive them like a plough...deep through the consciences of his auditors. 

So he broke up the fallow ground and got it ready for the seed of the gospel.

He believed in thorough work, in a thorough exposure of the wickedness of human hearts, in a thorough conviction of sin, in a thorough reformation of character under the mighty workings of the renewing Holy Spirit.

The fatal mistake of many people, is that they seek for a cheap religion.

Some preachers and teachers, in their desire to recommend the glorious freeness of the gospel and the simplicity of faith, hold out the idea that it is the "easiest thing in the world to become a Christian."

They hold up very attractively summer-religion, which is all clear weather and sunshine, and Christianity as a sort of close-covered carriage, in which one can ride for nothing and be safely landed, without too many jolts, at the gateway of heaven. 

Very little allowance is made by these rosewater teachers for the stubborn depravity of the human heart, for the tremendous power of the adversary, and for the poisonous atmosphere through which one must fight his way to the "prize of the high calling."

Grand old Samuel Rutherford, in his incisive way, says, "Many people only play with Christianity, and take Christ for almost nothing.

I pray you to make your soul sure of salvation, and make the seeking of heaven your daily work.

If you never had a pained soul for sin...you have not yet lighted upon Christ. 

Look to the right marks; if you love him better than the world, and would leave all the world for him, then that proves that the work is sound."

Probably no writer has ever combined the richest, sweetest ecstasies of devotion - with a more pungent exhibition of the plainest rules of everyday morality.

The first step towards a genuine, abiding Christian character is true repentance of sin.

John the Baptist made this the keynote of his ministry, which was a preparatory work for the Messiah, just at the door. 

Jesus himself struck the same note. 

Matthew tells us that "from that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent!"

When the apostle Peter delivered that Pentecostal discourse which pricked into three thousand hearts, and they cried out, "What shall we do?" his prompt answer was, "Repent!"

There is a logical necessity in this; for no man can cleave to his sins and lay hold of Christ with the same hand. 

No man can turn to the Lord until he has turned his back upon his evil practices and is willing to thoroughly amend his ways and his doings.

Our beloved brother Moody, indeed, once declared that he had had far more success when he has preached Christ's goodness than when he has preached upon repentance; 

And this reveals the only weak point we have ever discovered in the methods of this most popular and powerful preacher of the Word.

An immediate and temporary "success" may be gained by inducing a person to rise up and declare that he believes in so lovable a being as Christ Jesus...

And yet that same person may soon drift back under the dominion of the sins which he had never sincerely abandoned. 

We doubt whether any person ever lays thorough hold on the Savior until he feels the need of one who can save him from his sins. 

Certainly no one in that death-trap of a hotel in Milwaukee even dreamed of flying to the fire-escapes until he was aroused to the dangers from the crackling flames. 

Why should any man betake himself to a Savior, if he does not realize that he needs one, and that there is an abominable and deadly evil in his own heart and life that he must be saved from?

When David's eyes had been opened to behold the loathsome depravity of his own conduct, he asks for no compromise but cries out, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity!"

So abhorrent was his sin that like a filthy garment, he was ready to be rubbed and mauled and beaten until the black spots were cleansed away from the fabric!

Such an abhorrence of sin...it is the office of the Holy Spirit to produce; therefore should we pray for the Spirit. 

Such a view of his guilt...it is the office of the minister to bring before every unconverted man; therefore should the minister hold up the exceeding sinfulness of sin. 

The clearer the view of sin...the more thorough is likely to be the repentance.

You must be born again, said the Master to his anxious inquirer, Nicodemus. 

But the new birth, or regeneration, is the production of a new principle in us, which is antagonistic to sin...as well as obedient to God.

The only evidence of true repentance is thorough reformation. 

This takes hold both upon character and conduct; character as what we are and conduct as what we do. 

This amendment must be thorough and go to the roots or it will be as evanescent as the morning dew.

The shallow "conversions" that are so often trumpeted as the result of shallow, sensational preaching end in very shallow and short-lived religion. 

That dark and dismal fountain-head of the heart, is not purified by the Spirit, and pretty soon the foul streams begin to trickle out again into the daily conduct!

Bad habits are not pulled up. 

The deceitful practices are soon resumed in business transactions, or the young man soon drifts back into his sinful haunts; 

The unconquered bad temper begins to take fire and explode again; 

The covetous spirit gets hold again with a fresh grip. 

In short, the new emotion passes away but it does not leave a new man. 

Christ has no hand in such conversions. 

They are a delusion and often an unmeasured curse.

When Jesus is presented and pressed upon a sinner's acceptance, he must be presented as not only infinitely beautiful, tender, compassionate, and lovable...but as so infinitely holy, that his eyes flash flame through everything wrong. 

The very bitterness of his sacrificial sufferings for us on the cross, arose from the bitterness of the sin he died to atone.

One thought more. Genuine conversion demands thorough amendment of conduct, and no exception must be made for what we call little sins.

Small leaks, left unstopped, are equally fatal.

Maclaren well says that "the worst and most fatal sins are often those small continuous vices which root underneath and honeycomb the soul. 

Many a man who thinks himself a Christian, is in more danger from the daily commission, for example, of small pieces of deceitful practice in his business, than ever King David was at his worst. 

White ants pick a carcass clean sooner than a lion will.

There is a transcendent promise that accompanies such thorough amendment of character and life. "I will let you dwell in this place."

This bespeaks peace and permanence under the benignant smile of God. 

This means room to root and to grow. 

A soul that is rooted into Christ will thrive like a tree planted by the rivers of water; 

The leaves shall never wither, and death will be only a transplanting into glory!

~Theodore Cuyler~

Uncover And Confess Sin

Here is the way of mercy for a guilty and repenting sinner. 

He must cease from the habit of covering sin. 

This is attempted by falsehood, which denies sin; by hypocrisy, which conceals it; by boasting, which justifies it; and by loud profession, which tries to make amends for it.

The sinner's business is to confess and forsake. 

The two must go together. 

Confession must be honestly made to the LORD Himself, and it must include within itself acknowledgment of the wrong, sense of its evil, and abhorrence of it.

We must not throw the fault upon others, nor blame circumstances, nor plead natural weakness. 

We must make a clean breast of it and plead guilty to the indictment. 

There can be no mercy till this is done. 

Furthermore, we must forsake the evil; having owned our fault, we must disown all present and future intent to abide in it. 

We cannot remain in rebellion and yet dwell with the King's majesty. 

The habit of evil must be quitted, together with all places, companions, pursuits, and books which might lead us astray. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

We Need More Sermons In Shoes!

1Pe 2:12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.  

1Jn 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.                                                                            
 
We need more sermons in shoes...men and women going up and down the roads of life preaching Christianity by their imitation of Christ!

The demand of the day is for a higher standard and style of Christian life.

Every follower of Christ must represent His religion purely, loftily, impressively-before that multitude of Bible-readers whose only Bible is the Christian!

The true test of religion, is in the street.

It lies in the common walks of life-even more than in the worship of the sanctuary.

The test of our religion is not the regular manner in which we go to church, or the way in which we read our Bibles, or any elaborate religious ritual we perform.

Its test is the kind of people it makes us-the kind of life it produces in us.

A fine illustration of the worth of Christian character was seen in a teacher of one of the government schools of Japan.

His contract was that he was not to teach Christianity and, so far as words were concerned, he kept it faithfully.

But all the while his life was so blameless and beautiful-that it did the work without words.

As evidence of this, forty of the students, without his knowledge, met in a grove secretly, and signed a covenant to forsake idolatry...for the religion of their teacher.

Some of them are now preaching the gospel in their native land.

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

Php 2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Tit 2:10  Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

Eph 5:1  Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Eph 5:2  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

~Theodore Cuyler~

So Claim Victory

Psa 44:4  Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

There are no enemies to your growth in grace, or to your Christian work, that were not included in your Savior’s victory.

Remember, “The Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them, because...I will hand all of them over to [you].

Jos 11:6  And the LORD said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.

Also recall the fact that when you resist your enemies, they “will flee from you”.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

And remember what Joshua said to the people: “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Be strong and courageous.

Jos 10:25  And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.

The Lord is with you,“Mighty men of Valour”.

Jos 1:14  Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them; and you are Mighty because you are one with the Mightiest.

So claim Victory!

Whenever your enemies are closing in on you, claim victory!

Whenever your heart and your flesh fail you, look up and claim VICTORY!

Be sure you claim your share in the triumph that Jesus won, for He won it not for Himself alone but for us all.

Remember that you were in Him when He won it...so claim victory!

Count Christ’s victory as yours and gather the spoils of the war.

Neither the giant “descendants of Anak”nor fortified cities need intimidate or defeat you.

You are a part of the conquering army.
 
Claim your share in the Saviors victory.

~F. B. Meyer~

We are children of the King.Therefore which of these most honors our divine Sovereign:

Failing to claim our rights and even doubting they belong to us...

Or asserting our privilege as children of the Royal Family and demanding the rights that accompany our inheritance?

Implicit Obedience Sometimes Brings Us Into A SMELTING-FURNACE.

"Zarephath" means a smelting-furnace. It lay outside the Land of Canaan, occupying the site of the modern Surafend, which stands on a long ridge, backed by the snow-clad steeps of Hermon, and overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean.
 
Many things might have made it distasteful to the prophet. 

It belonged to the land from which Jezebel had brought her impious tribe. 

It was as much cursed by the terrible drought as Canaan.
 
It was impossible to reach it save by a weary journey of one hundred miles through the heart of the land, where his name was execrated, and his person proscribed. 

And then to be sustained by a widow woman belonging to a heathen people! 

He would not have so much minded to have sustained her; but it was not pleasant to feel that he must be dependent on her slender earnings or meager store. 

Surely it was a smelting-furnace for cleansing out any alloy
of pride, or self-reliance, or independence which might be lurking in the recesses of his heart.
 
And there was much of the refining fire in the character of his reception. 

When he reached the straggling town it was probably toward nightfall;
 
And at the city gate a widow woman was gathering a few sticks to prepare the evening meal. 

To some it might have seemed a coincidence; but there is
no such word in faith's vocabulary...that which to human judgment is a coincidence, to faith is a Providence.
 
This was evidently the widow of whom God had spoken. 

Faint with thirst, and weary with long travel, but never doubting that his needs would be amply met, he asked her to fetch a little water in a vessel, that he might drink. 

The widow may have had some premonition of his coming.
 
There would seem to be some suggestion of this having been so, in the words, "I have commanded a widow woman to sustain thee."

Her character will come out in due course; but there must have
been something in her which could not be found in the many widows of the land of Israel (Luke 4: 25, 26). 

It was for no arbitrary reason that God passed them over, and went so far afield. 

She must have possessed qualities of character, gems of better
things, sparks of heroism and of faith, which distinguished
her from all her sorrowing sisterhood, and made her the befitting hostess of the prophet, and the glad sharer with him in his Father's bounty.
 
To her the impression was probably given of the coming of the prophet...just as the visions to Saul and to Ananias, to Cornelius and to Peter, flashed upon them in duplicates.
 
She was not, therefore, surprised at the prophet's request, and silently went to fetch a cup of cold water (Matt. 10:42). 

Encouraged by her willingness, Elijah asked her to bring with her a morsel of bread. 

It was a modest request; but it unlocked the silent agony of her soul. 

She had not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse and she was about to make one last repast for herself and her son, who was probably too weak through long privation to be with her; 

And, having eaten it, they had no alternative but to lie down together and die. 

It was very depressing for the man of God, after his long and weary march.
 
It is thus that God leads His people still. "All that abideth not the fire, ye shall make go through the water; " 

He will not suffer us to be tempted beyond that which we are able to bear; 

He will not thresh vetches with a sharp threshing instrument,
nor turn a cart-wheel about on cummin. 

But it is written, "Everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean" 
(Num. 31:23). 

If, then, there is aught in you that can bear the ordeal, be sure you will be put into the furnace. 

But the fire shall not destroy; it shall only cleanse you. 

You will be put into it by the hand of Love; and kept in it only
till patience has done her perfect work. 

The flames shall only consume the bonds that bind you; and, as you walk loose in the fire, bystanders shall see at your side the form of one like unto the Son of God.

~F. B. Meyer~

The Need For Brokenness

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

All God’s purpose, all that God means for us on that other side of the Cross in union with Christ risen and exalted absolutely demands brokenness, complete brokenness, in all those concerned.

Not just the brokenness of their pictures and outward hopes, but an inward brokenness.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
(2 Cor. 4:7).

The self-hood broken, broken vessels for heavenly eternal fullness.

The Cross is necessary for our breaking.

It is not a pleasant note, I know, but in all faithfulness it must be said.

This is the Lord’s word to you: that if you are not broken by the Cross, if you have not gone through an experience of real brokenness under the hand of God, all that the Lord means in you and through you will still be suspended, it will be impossible.

If the Cross means one thing, it does mean that the Cross is the way to the glory and to heavenly fullness.

It is the way of an inward breaking.

Let me be very precise, because I know of different kinds of brokenness.

I know the brokenness of disappointments, of disappointed hopes and expectations...

But the kind of brokenness I am talking about is the brokenness of the self-hood, the strength of Self that holds its position and holds its ground and that will not let go.

That is the kind of brokenness.

This self-strength, whether it be intellectual and mental or whether it be emotional or whether it be in the will, that strength of the natural life has got to be broken as truly as the sinew of Jacob’s thigh had to be touched and withered.

Something like that has to happen in us that we carry through the rest of our days...

God has done something in the realm of our self-hood and we are broken men and women so far as self-sufficiency, self-assertiveness, self-confidence and every other form of Self is concerned.

It must be.

~T. Austin Sparks~