REFLECTIONS

CHRIST’S LOVE TO US

“Even as the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you: abide ye in My love.-John xv. 9 R.V.

“In intercourse between friends and relations everything depends on their love to each other. Of what value is abundance of riches, if love is lacking between husband and wife, or parents and children? And in our religion, of what value is all knowledge and zeal in God’s work, without the knowledge and experience of Christ’s love? (See 1 Cor. Xiii. 1-3.) O Christians, the one thing needful in the inner chamber is to know by experience how much Christ loves you, and to learn how you may abide and continue in that love.

Think of what Christ says: “As the Father hath loved Me,”-what a Divine, everlasting, wonderful love! “Even so have I loved you.” It was the same love with which He had loved the Father and that He always bore in His heart, which He now gave into the hearts of His disciples. He yearns that this everlasting love should rest upon us, and work within us, that we may abide in it every day. What a blessed life! Christ desires every disciple to live in the power of the self-same love of God that He Himself experienced. My brother, do you realize that in your fellowship with Christ in secret or in public, you are surrounded by and kept in this heavenly love. The Christ with whom you desire fellowship longs unspeakably to fill you with His love.

Read from time to time what God’s Word says about the love of Christ. Meditate on the words, and let them sink into your heart. Sooner or later you will begin to realize: The greatest happiness of my life is that I am beloved of the Lord Jesus. I may live in fellowship with Him all the day long.

Let your heart continually say: His love to me is unspeakable, He will keep me abiding in His love.”

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OUR LOVE TO CHRIST

“Jesus Christ, Whom having not seen, ye love: in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”-1 Pet. i.8. R.V.

“What a wonderful description of the Christian life! People who had never see Christ, and yet truly loved Him and believed on Him, so that their hearts were filled with unspeakable joy. Such is the life of a Christian who really loves the Lord.

We have seen that the chief attribute of the Father and of the Son, is love to each other and love to man. This should be the chief characteristics of the true Christian. The love of God and the love of Christ is shed abroad in his heart, and becomes a well of living water, flowing forth as love to the Lord Jesus.

This love is not merely a blessed feeling. It is an active principle. It takes pleasure in doing the will of the beloved Lord. It is joy to keep His commandments. The love of Christ to us was shown by His death on the cross, our love must be exhibited in in unselfish, self-sacrificing lives. Oh that we understood this: In the Christian life love to Christ is everything!

Great love will beget great faith. Faith in His love to us, faith in the powerful revelations of His love in our hearts, faith that He through His love will work all His good pleasure in us.

The wings of faith and love will lift us up to heaven, and we shall be filled with joy unspeakable. The joy of the Christian is an indispensable witness to the world of the power of Christ to change hearts, and fill them with heavenly love and gladness.”

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LOVE TO THE BRETHREN

“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”-John xiii. 34; xv. 12.

“The Lord Jesus told His disciples that as the Father had loved Him, even so He loved them. And now, following His example, we must love one another, with the same love. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love to one another” (John xiii. 35). He had prayed: “That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me” (John xvii. 21). If we exhibit the love that was in God towards Christ, and Christ to us, the world will be obliged to confess that our Christianity is genuine and from above.

This is what actually happened. The Greeks and Romans, Jews and heathen, hated each other. Among all the nations of the world there was hardly a thought of love to each other. The very idea of self-sacrificing was a strange one. When the heathen saw that Christians from different nations, under the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, became one, and loved one another, even to the point of self-sacrifice in time of plague or illness-they were amazed and said: “Behold how these people love one another!”

Amongst professing Christians there is a certain oneness of belief and feeling of brotherhood, but Christ’s heavenly love is often lacking, and we do not bear one another’s burdens, or love others heartily.

Pray that you may love your fellow-believers with the same love with which Christ loved you. If we abide in Christ’s love, and let that love fill our hearts, supernatural power will be given us to take all God’s children unto our hearts in love. As close as is the bond of love between the Father and the Son, between Christ and His followers, so close must the bond of love be between all God’s children.”

-Andrew Murray (1828-1917) Found in God’s Best Secrets  Daily Devotional Meditations  Printed by Zondervan Publishing House   Grand Rapids, MI  1979  January 13, 14, 15 Devotions.

REFLECTIONS

Christ's Love And Blessing

Matthew 28:16-20

“Three times we find the apostle saying, ‘Thou knowest that I love thee.’ Once we are told that he said, ‘Thou knowest all things.’ Once we have the touching remark made that he was ‘grieved to be asked the third time’. We need not doubt that our Lord, like a skillful physician, stirred up this grief intentionally. He intended to prick the apostle’s conscience and to teach him a solemn lesson. If it was grievous to the disciple to be questioned, how much more grievous must it have been to the Master to be denied! 

The answer that the humbled apostle gave is the one account that the true servant of Christ in every age can give of his religion. Such a one may be weak and fearful and ignorant and unstable and failing in many things, but at any rate he is real and sincere. Ask him whether he is converted, whether he is a believer, whether he has grace, whether he is justified, whether he is sanctified, whether he is elect, whether he is a child of God-ask him any of these questions and he may perhaps reply that he really does not know! But ask him whether he loves Christ and he will reply, ‘I do.’ He may add that he does not love him as much as he ought to do, but he will not say that he does not love him at all. The rule will be found true with very few exceptions. Wherever there is true grace, there will be a consciousness of love towards Christ.

What, after all, is the great secret of loving Christ? It is an inward sense of having received from Him pardon and forgiveness of sins. Those love much who feel much forgiven. He that has come to Christ with his sins and tasted the blessedness of free and full absolution, he is the man whose heart will be full of love towards his Saviour. The more we realize that Christ has suffered for us and paid our debt to God and that we are washed and justified through His blood, the more we shall love Him for having loved us and given Himself for us.”

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Luke 24:50-53

“Our Lord left the disciples in a remarkable manner (vv. 50-51). He left them in the very act of blessing. We cannot doubt for a moment that there was a meaning in the circumstance. It was intended to remind the disciples of all that Jesus had brought with Him when He came into the world. It was intended to assure them of what He would do after He left the world. He had come on earth to bless and not to curse, and blessing He departed. He came in love and not in anger, and in love He went away. He came not as a condemning Judge but as a compassionate Friend, and as a Friend He returned to His Father. He had been a Saviour full of blessings to His little flock while He had been with them. He would have them know this even after He was taken away.

Forever let souls lean on the gracious heart of Jesus, if we know anything of true religion. We shall never find a heart more tender, more loving, more patient, more compassionate and more kind. To talk of the Virgin Mary as being more compassionate than Christ is a proof of miserable ignorance. To flee to the saints for comfort when we may flee to Christ is an act of mingled stupidity and blasphemy and a robbery of Christ’s crown. Gracious was our Lord Jesus when He lived among His weak disciples, gracious in the very season of His agony on the cross, gracious when He rose again and gathered His sheep around Him, gracious in the manner of His departure from this world. It was a departure in the very act of blessing! Gracious we may be assured He is at the right hand of God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8), a Saviour ever ready to bless, abounding in blessings.

There is something very touching in the fact that our Lord’s ascension took place close to Bethany. It was a small village bordering on the Mount of Olives. But it was the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.”

-From J.C. Ryle’s (1816-1900) Expository Thoughts; Found in Daily Readings From All Four Gospels  Published by Evangelical Press  Auburn, MA  2001  December 25 and 27 Devotions.

REFLECTIONS

“IMMANUEL.

When once I mourned a load of sin;

When conscience felt a wound within;

When all my works were thrown away;

When on my knees I knelt to pray,

   The blissful hour, remembered well-

    I learned Thy love, Immanuel.

When storms of sorrow toss my soul;

When waves of care around me roll;

When comforts sink, when joys shall flee;

When hopeless griefs shall gape for me,

   One word the tempest’s rage shall swell-

   That word Thy name, Immanuel.

When for the truth I suffer shame;

When foes pour scandal on my name;

When cruel taunts and jeers abound;

When ‘Bulls of Bashan’ gird me round,

   Secure within the tower I’ll dwell-

   That tower Thy grace, Immanuel.

When hell enraged lifts up her roar;

When Satan stops my path before;

When fiends rejoice and wait my end;

When legion’d hosts their arrows send,

   Fear not, my soul, but hurl at hell

   Thy battle-cry, Immanuel.

When down the hill of life I go;

When o’er my feet death’s waters flow;

When in the deep’ning flood I sink;

When friends stand weeping on the brink,

   I’ll mingle with my last farewell

  Thy lovely name, Immanuel.

When tears are banished from mine eye;

When fairer worlds than these are nigh;

When heaven shall fill my ravished sight;

When I shall bathe in sweet delight,

   One joy all joys shall far excel-

   To see Thy face, Immanuel.”

-C.H. Spurgeon

REFLECTIONS

Love To God First And Only

“Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:3

“Notice that, in all of his epistles, Paul constantly reminds of the grace of God and the love He bears to all believers. He says, Grace be to you and peace. This word peace includes all worldly prosperity. By it Paul is asking God to provide those things which He considers for our good. He will shower His riches upon us and reveal His bounty so that we might praise Him for His goodness.

However, the wealth of this world will be harmful for us unless we have found favor with the Lord. Hence, Paul speaks here in an orderly way, always placing God’s grace and free pardon before an increase in worldly prosperity. Though we may ask God to bless us with those things we need, we must not forget the most important blessing is to be members of His church and assured of God’s love in our hearts.

The light of God’s countenance should suffice us. Although God permits us to ask for good things from His hand, we must keep a tight rein on our desires. God may afflict us with many sorrows, and at such times we need to value His grace above everything else. If we live in comfort, surrounded by all kinds of pleasures and delights, we will still be miserable if we do not have the peace of conscience that comes from knowing that God loves and accepts us.

We should not desire earthly goods more than the love of God. For what if God, who loves us, wishes to test our patience by making us suffer in this world and subjects us to many trials? Even then, we must prize His love above all else and patiently bear all trials, though it seems as if everything is against us.”

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“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 2:16

“Since God has loved us and has showered His grace upon us, we are obliged to do our part by forgetting about self and devoting ourselves completely to Him. In other words, the two main factors in our religion are, first, to recognize that God is to be served and glorified; and second, to understand how we can present ourselves to Him and be accepted and acknowledged as His children, owning Him as our Father. Then we can have full assurance of the salvation of our souls.  

These words of humble confession define the sacrifice that God requires of us. I speak of humility, not simply the right facial expression but rather being affected in such a way that we willingly accept God’s condemnation and cast away all trust in our works.

In addition, we learn from this text that when God commanded the ceremonial law, He did not intend for us to cling to such external things. He wanted the children of Israel to exercise patience, acknowledging poverty and misery, and rid themselves of all corruptions of the flesh. Indeed, His purpose was to lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ so they would put their trust in Him and lean on Him completely for salvation. Those who sought to keep the ceremonial law as if it were absolutely vital and a sin not to do so were establishing a pattern of worship that was against God’s will and contrary to His intention. Those who did so were therefore false teachers, distorting the real significance of the law. In addition, they were instructing people to exalt themselves and to boast of their own works. That does not bring glory to God, for if we attribute to ourselves even a little merit, we are robbing and spoiling God of what rightfully belongs to Him.”

-From John Calvin 1509-1564

REFLECTIONS

The REALITY and IMPORTANCE of REVIVALS of RELIGION.

“6. The occurrences of that day exhibit the REALITY and IMPORTANCE of REVIVALS of RELIGION.

By a revival of religion we understand, an uncommon and general interest in the subject of salvation, produced by the Holy Spirit, through the instrumentality of Divine truth. The work is very commonly preceded by a prevailing and affecting coldness on the subject of personal religion: such as leads Christians to feel the necessity of extraordinary prayer for themselves as well as others. In its progress, the thoughtless are alarmed; convinced by their guilt; inquire what they shall do; receive Jesus as their Savior; rejoice in hope of future glory; join themselves to the people of God; and, in important repects, pursue a new course of life.

Such, substantially, was the Revival on the day of Pentecost.

But, not only does the day of Pentecost evince the reality of Revivals of religion; it furnishes reason to calculate on their existence, in all ages. Commencing as they did with the very commencement of Christianity, there was reason to believe they would accompany her in her march over the world. On such displays of Divine grace were fixed the hopes of the apostles. Nor in their expectations were they disappointed. The very first sermon preached by Peter in a Gentile province, was attended by similar effects. The Holy Ghost came on all them that heard the word. In proclaiming the gospel, the apostles urged, as a motive to repentance, the animating fact, that the times of refreshing had come from the presence of the Lord. And by such repeated displays of Divine grace they were sustained, and peculiarly encouraged in their holy enterprise.

The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit likewise the importance of Revivals of religion. If they are actually of God, we know that their influence must be only salutary. Look back then to that memorable Revival, which ushered in the Christian ministry; and tell us if its influence was at all otherwise than salutary. On the very day of its commencement, about three thousand souls were turned from darkness to light: and, during its continuance, the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. Were they less honest, sober, benevolent, than before their conversion? Or were they less qualified for the dread trial of the Last Day? In a single day, it gave to the Christian Church a weight of influence, more than a hundred fold greater than it had previously possessed. And whilst it gave new impulses to her efforts, it was the occasion of dismay to her opposers. The testimony it bore to the dignity of Jesus, and the truth of Christianity, will exert a blessed influence forever.

The happy influence of a Revival may be viewed, distinctly, in its effects, on individual happiness; on the interests of the community; and on the general cause of religion.

It is important to individual happiness. Such religious character as it creates is the only safe pledge of a peaceful life. You can spare the aggrandizements of wealth, and the parade of earthly distinction. But in this world of disease, disappointment, and death, you cannot spare the consolations of a Christian hope. But a single glance into eternity stamps immeasurable value on the religious character which is originated in a season of Revival. Oh, beware of risking the trial of the Great Day, in any other character, than that which is produced by the transforming Spirit. You may have passed through a season of religious attention, and in it became a happy subject of God’s grace. Others may attach to it a trivial importance; but by yourself it shall be recurred to with ecstasy, and with thanksgiving to God, when the heavens shall be no more.

A religious Revival exerts a happy influence on the community at large. The Gospel and the sanctifying Spirit, wherever they enter, enlighten, elevate, and purify. Their dominion over the heart secures a regularity of deportment, an industrious improvement of time, a scrupulous discharge of the varied duties of life. Often has a short period of the Spirit’s gracious operation allayed the asperity of contention; calmed the tumult of  a noisy rabble; put an end to scenes of midnight wickedness; brought relief to dwellings of domestic want and wo; and greatly elevated the intellectual, as well as moral character of society.

On the general cause of religion the influence of a Revival is immense, as well as salutary. The happy influence is not circumscribed by the limits of the Spirit’s immediate operation. It may reach to the ends of the earth-and onward through time. It may be the commencing link in a chain of operations, which shall issue in the rescue of millions from the agonies of the second death.

Revivals hasten the universal triumph of the Gospel. Let the churches of Christendom be found, this year, with one accord, pleading the Redeemer’s great promise-Let every city and village be a theatre of Revivals, like that in which Peter and his associates were the visible agents-and it would be the ushering in of millennial glory.

If then the work we are contemplating be indeed a work of God; and if such be its influence on individual happiness-on the interests of society-and on the general cause of religion,-O give to it, Christian brethren, the full ardor of your affections and prayers.”

-From a Sermon by Baxter Dickinson on Acts 2:1 from 1827  Taken from The National Preacher  Revival Sermons from the Second Great Awakening  Edited by Austin Dickinson  Printed by Solid Ground Christian Books  Alabama  2004 Pages 122-126