REFLECTIONS

  "THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT" Part 2

“Men ought always to pray.”-Luke 18:1

“I have carefully looked over the lives of God’s saints in the Bible. I cannot find one of whose history is much told us, from Genesis to Revelation, who was not a man of prayer. I find it mentioned as a characteristic of the godly that they “call on the Father,” that they “call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.” I find it recorded as a characteristic of the wicked that they “call not upon the LORD” (1 Pe 1:17, 1 Co 1:2; Psa 14:4).

I have read the lives of many eminent Christians who have been on earth since the Bible days. Some of them, I see, were rich, and some poor. Some were learned and some unlearned. Some of them were Episcopalians, some Presbyterians, some Baptists, some Independents. Some were Calvinists and some Arminians. Some have loved to use a liturgy, and some to use none. But one thing, I see, they all had in common. They have all been men of prayer…

I do not deny that a man can pray without heart and without sincerity. I do not pretend for a moment to say that the mere fact of a person praying proves everything about his soul. As in every other part of religion, so also in this: there is plenty of deception and hypocrisy.

But this I do say-that not praying is clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured, it is all vain talk if he does not pray.

I say furthermore that of all the evidences of real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books, make fine speeches, seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet and pours out his soul before God in secret unless he is in earnest. The Lord Himself has set His stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When he sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, He gave him no other evidence of [Saul’s] change of heart than this: “Behold, he prayeth” (Acts 9:11).

I know that the elect of God are chosen to salvation from all eternity. I do not forget that the Holy Spirit, Who calls them in due time, in many instances leads them by very slow degrees to acquaintance with Christ…I cannot call any one justified until he believes. I dare not say that any one believes until he prays…The first act of faith will be to speak to God. Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. How a man can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a man can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.”

-J.C. Ryle  (1816-1900) from Practical Religion  Banner of Truth Trust  www.banneroftruth.org

REFLECTIONS

“THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT

“Men ought always to pray.”-Luke 18:1

Prayer is the most important subject in practical religion. All other subjects are second to it. Reading the Bible, keeping the Sabbath, hearing sermons, attending public worship, going to the Lord’s Table-all these are very weighty matters. But none of them is as important as private prayer…

1. Prayer is absolutely needful to a man’s salvation. I say absolutely needful and I say so advisedly. I am not speaking now of infants and idiots. I am not settling the state of the heathen. I remember that where little is given, there little will be required. I speak especially of those who call themselves Christians in a land like our own. Of such I say no man or woman can expect to be saved who does not pray.

I hold salvation by grace as strongly as any one. I would gladly offer a free and full pardon to the greatest sinner that ever lived. I would not hesitate to stand by his dying bed and say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:31). But that a man can have salvation without asking for it, I cannot see in the Bible. That a man will receive pardon of his sins, who will not so much as lift up his heart inwardly and say, “Lord Jesus, give it to me,” this I cannot find. I can find that nobody will be saved by his prayers, but I cannot find that without prayer anybody will be saved.

There will be many at Christ’s right hand in the last day. The saints gathered from North and South, East and West, will be a “great multitude, which no man can number” (Rev. 7:9). The song of victory that will burst forth from their mouths, when their redemption is at length complete, will be a glorious song indeed. It will be far above the noise of many waters and mighty thunders. But there will be no discord in that song. They that sing will sing with one heart as well as one voice. Their experience will be one and the same. All will have believed. All will have been washed in the blood of Christ. All will have been born again. All will have prayed. Yes, we must pray on earth or we shall never praise in heaven. We must go through the school of prayer, or we shall never be fit for the holiday of praise. In short, to be prayerless is to be without God-without Christ-without grace-without hope-and without heaven. It is to be in the road to hell.

2. A habit of prayer is one of the surest marks of a true Christian. All of the children of God one earth are alike in this respect. From the moment there is any life and reality about their religion, they pray. Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again is praying.

This is one of the common marks of all the elect of God: “[They] cry day and night unto Him” (Luke 18:7). The Holy Spirit, Who makes them new creatures, works in them the feeling of adoption and makes them cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15). The Lord Jesus, when He quickens them, gives them a voice and a tongue and says to them, “Be dumb no more.” God has no dumb children. It is as much a part of their new nature to pray, as it is of a child to cry. They see their need of mercy and grace. They feel their emptiness and weakness. They cannot do otherwise than they do. They must pray.”

-J.C. Ryle  (1816-1900) from Practical Religion  Banner of Truth Trust  www.banneroftruth.org

REFLECTIONS

Killing Sin So Sin Doesn't Kill 

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:13 NKJV.

“The Promise: You Shall Live

The promise unto this duty is life: “you shall live.” The life promised is opposed to the death threatened in the clause foregoing, “If you live after the flesh, you shall die”; which the same apostle expresses, “You shall of the flesh reap corruption” (Gal. 6:8), or destruction from God. Now, perhaps the word may not only intend eternal life, but also the spiritual life in Christ, which here we have; not as to the essence and being of it, which is already enjoyed by believers, but as to the joy, comfort, and vigor of it: as the apostle says in another case, “now we live, if you stand fast” (1 Thess. 3:8)-“Now my life will do me good; I shall have joy and comfort with my life”-“You shall live, lead a good life, vigorous, comfortable, spiritual life while you are here, and obtain eternal life hereafter.”

Supposing what was said before of the connection between mortification and eternal life, as of means and end, I shall add only, as a second motive to the duty prescribed, that:

The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on 

the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.

Believers Ought To Make The Mortification Of Indwelling Sin Their Daily Work

Having laid this foundation, a brief confirmation of the aforementioned principal deductions will lead me to what I chiefly intend, that: The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.  So the apostle, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth” (Col. 3:5). To whom does he speak? Such as were “risen with Christ” (v.1); such as were “dead” with him (v.3); such as whose life Christ was and who should “appear with Him in glory” (v.4).

Do you mortify;

Do you make it your daily work;

be always at it while you live;

cease not a day from this work;

be killing sin or it will be killing you.

Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with Him, will not excuse you from this work. And our Savior tells us how His Father deals with every branch in Him that bears fruit, every true and living branch. “He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2). He prunes it, and that not for a day or two, but while it is a branch in the world. And the apostle tells you what was his practice: “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection” (1 Cor. 9:27). “I do it,” says he, “daily; it is the work of my life: I omit it not; this is my business.” And if this were the work and business of Paul, who was so incomparably exalted in grace, revelations, enjoyments, privileges, consolations, above the ordinary measure of believers, where may we possibly bottom an exemption from this work and duty while we are in this world?”

-John Owen (1616-1683)  From  Overcoming Sin and Temptation  by  Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor  Published by Crossway Books  Wheaton, IL  2006  Pages 49-50.

REFLECTIONS

Elijah's Preparation For Prayer And Prayer

“IX-THE PRAYER ON MOUNT CARMEL

We have already had three remarkable instances, in Elijah’s history, of the efficacy of the fervent prayer of the righteous man. First, “He prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” Secondly, he prayed for the restoration of the widow’s son, and the child was restored to life. Thirdly, he prayed for the answer by fire to consume the sacrifice, and to decide the controversy with Baal and his priests. And now we have him praying again, and the heaven gives rain, and the land once more brings forth her fruit. Let us here learn the blessing of walking with God, and conversing with the Keeper of Israel by continual prayer.

1 Kings, 18:41-46.

The fire has borne its testimony; the waters now speak. In how many and various ways does our gracious God testify of Himself, that He is the living God of providence. This also, is done in answer to the prayer of Elijah.

Here is, I. The preparation for prayer;  II. The prayer itself;  

I. We are to imagine ourselves at the foot of Mount Carmel, in the plain below, where the prophets of Baal were slain. Those idolatrous priests have fallen by the hand of Elijah and his new followers, and their blood is mingled with the brook Kishon; and praise redounds to God, who is holy in all His ways, and who is glorified by the overthrow of His enemies, as well as by the hallelujahs of His friends.

Three and a half years had the heavens been shut up from yielding a drop of water to the thirsty land of Israel. What an appearance must the face of the country now have presented! All vegetation parched and burnt up; man and beast reduced to skeletons, and all flesh faded like the grass. They who had now become believers in God must have been filled with unusual terror. They had attained to the knowledge of Him amidst the thunders of His judgments; He had appeared as in flames of fire.

Even for the sake of these poor trembling sheep, our prophet was heartily desirous that his Lord and God should again show His goodness and loving-kindness. He longed earnestly, that for the glory of God and the people’s good the brazen skies should now dissolve in abundance of rain, and the season of famine and distress terminate. For this purpose it was necessary that Elijah should speak to God. The prayer of faith was to him what the staff was to Moses, with which he divided the Red Sea, and struck the water from the flinty rock.

II. When Elijah had wrestled awhile with God in the depth of self-abasement and poverty of spirit, in a manner which perhaps few of us know from experience-for all believers do not tread in a path of such a deep and thorough humiliation-he said unto his servant,, “Go up now,” that is, to the declivity of the mountain, “and look towards the sea!” He placed him, as it were, on the watch-tower, to look out and inform him when his prayer was beginning to be answered by a sign of rain becoming visible in the distant horizon. He came back, and said, “I see nothing.” But it is a matter of daily experience, that help does not appear at the first cry, nor is the harvest reaped the moment after the sowing time of prayer. This is certainly not agreeable to flesh and blood; but spiritually considered, it is very salutary. What would be the consequences, if God’s treasures were always open to us at our first knocking? Should we not then seem to be rulers and commanders in the city of God and forget our dependent condition? Should we not be in danger of making an idol out of our prayer, as the Israelites made of the brazen serpent, and think it is our prayer that effects all: that in it we possess a secret charm, a divine rod, or a legal claim upon the bounty of God? We should soon become self-sufficient. Therefore our gracious God does not always appear to hearken to the first cry, but lets us generally stand awhile at the door, so that once and again we are obliged to say, “I see nothing.” We ought to reflect a little, and become deeply conscious that we have , in reality, nothing to claim, but that all is unmerited favor. If we make our first approach to His footstool in the character of just persons, He keeps us back until we feel that we are poor sinners, unworthy petitioners; and are ready to say, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their Master’s table.” Such is His method.

O, it stimulated the prophet’s ardor-it animated him to wrestle the more earnestly with God-it made him still, less and less in his own eyes, and drew forth deeper and deeper sighs from his contrite soul. How would his fervor in prayer thus augment from one minute to another! To obtain a speedy hearing is much more agreeable to our natural feelings, but waiting long is far more beneficial for us. Those are the most blessed spots on the face of the earth where prayer is wont to be made with the greatest fervency and perseverance. During this process of persevering prayer our corrupt nature receives the most painful and deadly blows; the heart is then most thoroughly broken up, and prepared for the good seed of the word; the remains of self-love are then demolished the most effectually; the chambers of imagery are then most properly cleansed; the foundation of truth in the soul is laid deep, and when the answer comes at length, how great is the joy!”

-From Elijah by F. W. Krummacher  (1796-1868)  Published by Summit Books  MI, USA  Reprinted  1977  Pages 138-148

REFLECTIONS

Brotherly Love

“How rare and uncommon is true brotherly love! This is a lesson which stands out prominently on the face of the narrative before our eyes. Our Lord tells us of a traveler who fell among thieves and was left naked, wounded and half dead on the road. He then tells us of a priest and a Levite who, one after the other, came travelling that way, saw the poor wounded man, but gave him no help. Both were men who from their office and profession ought to have been ready and willing to do good to one in distress. But both in succession were too unselfish or unfeeling to offer the slightest assistance. They doubtless reasoned with themselves that they knew nothing of the wounded traveler, that he had perhaps got into trouble by his own misconduct, that they had not  time to stop to help him and that they had enough to do to mind their own business without troubling themselves with strangers. And the result was that, one after another, they both passed by the other side.

We have in this striking description an exact picture of what is continually happening in the world. Selfishness is the leading characteristic of the great majority of mankind. That cheap charity that costs no more than a trifling subscription or contribution is common enough. But that self-sacrificing kindness of heart which cares not what trouble is entailed, so long a s good can be done, is a grace which is rarely met with. There are still thousands in trouble who find no friend or helper. And there are still hundreds of ‘priests and Levites’ who see them, but pass by on the other side.

Let us beware of expecting too much from the kindness of man. If we do, we shall certainly be disappointed. The longer we live, the more clearly we see that few people care for others except from interested motives, and that unselfish, disinterested, pure brotherly love is as scarce as diamonds and rubies. How thankful we ought to be that the Lord Jesus Christ is not like man! His kindness and love are unfailing. He never disappoints any of His friends.”

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“The only person who helped the wounded traveler of whom we are reading was a certain Samaritan. This man was one of a nation who had ‘no dealings’ with the Jews  (John 4:9). He might gave excused himself by saying that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was through Jewish territory and that cases of distress ought to be dealt with by the Jews. But he does nothing of the sort. He sees a man stripped of his clothes and lying half dead. He asks no questions but at once gives aid. Our Lord requires his example to be followed (v. 37).

Now if these words mean anything, a Christian ought to be ready to show kindness and brotherly love to everyone that is in need. Our kindness must not merely extend to our families, friends, and relations. We must love all men and be kind to all, whenever occasion requires. We must beware of excessive strictness in scrutinizing the past lives of those who need our aid. Are they in real trouble? Are they in real distress? Do they really want help? Then according to the teaching of this parable we ought to be ready to assist them. We should regard the whole world as our parish and then the whole race of mankind as our neighbors. We should seek to be the friend of everyone who is oppressed, or neglected, or afflicted, or sick, or in prison, or poor, or an orphan, or a heathen, or starving, or dying. We should exhibit such worldwide friendship, no doubt, wisely, discreetly and with good sense, but of such friendship we need never be ashamed. The ungodly may sneer at it as extravagance and fanaticism. But we need not mind that. To be friendly to all men in this way is to show something of the mind that was in Christ.

How few Christians seem to remember that such a parable was ever written! What an enormous amount of stinginess, meanness, ill-nature and suspicion there is to be seen in the church! How seldom we see a man who is really kind, feeling, generous, liberal and good-natured except to himself and his children!”

-From J.C. Ryle’s (1816-1900) Expository Thoughts; Found in Daily Readings From All Four Gospels  Published by Evangelical Press  Auburn, MA  2001  August 2 and 3 Devotions