Only the Bible~

The God of Science

Science is a systematic knowledge of the physical or material universe gained by observable facts. The sacred writings of all world religions basically contain a system of faith. Yet each do make statements within the province of science that provides a uniquely valid test to prove their authenticity. If their scientific observations are in reality superstitions reflective of the culture in which they were written, these so called sacred books are disqualified as the inspired Scripture of God. If, indeed, the scientific observations of any of these purported Holy Scripture agree with the facts of science today, then that Bible is the inspired Word of a true and living God. Why? The Creator and God of the universe is the God of science — the author of the scientific laws that govern His universe. Only the God of science could cause scientific facts to be recorded in a book —the Bible — hundreds or thousands of years before scientists discover them.

Only the Bible contains scientific facts that anticipated scientific discovery by hundreds and in some cases several thousand years. The following are examples of remarkable scientific observations found in the Judeo-Christian Bible.

What Holds the Earth Up?

Three thousand years ago the Hindu scriptures recorded the earth was resting on the backs of several huge elephants. The elephants were resting on the back of a very large turtle that was swimming in a sea. Greek mythology claims that the god Atlas was holding the earth on his shoulders. But our Bible says in Job 26:7 — "[God] hangeth the earth on nothing." What a remarkable statement of fact. The earth is suspended in space. Nothing is holding it up. Job wrote about the same time the Hindu Scripture was written. How did Job know this scientific fact? Only God could have revealed this to Job. The Old Testament prophets wrote as they were moved by the holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible is the inspired Word of God.

Flat Versus Round Earth

For thousands of years people believed the earth was flat. If one went too far, he would fall over the edge. This was taught in both Hindu and Buddhist scripture. In the 1500s, the first ship sailed around the world. This proved the earth was round. But the round earth was recorded in the Judeo-Christian Bible long before man discovered it in the 1500s.

The prophet Isaiah (40:22) spoke of the "circle of the earth." Solomon wrote, "He [God] set a compass [circle] upon the face of the deep." Proverbs 8:27. In our century, Arabs spoke of infidels being pushed over the edge into space. About 3,000 years ago, our Bible said the earth was round. This was not discovered until 500 years ago. Indeed, the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

Sun, Moon and Stars — Who? What?

Ancient people were afraid of the sun, moon and stars. They thought they were alive — that they were gods. But over 5,000 years ago, the Bible in the first chapter of Genesis pointed out that the sun, moon and stars were created by God. Remember, our God states that He is the one and only God. This proves the sun, moon and stars that He created are not gods.

Eclipses are an example of what people feared. An eclipse happens when the sun’s light is blocked by the earth or moon. The moon is bright because it reflects the sun’s light. But when the earth blocks that light, the moon looks like it is disappearing. Also, when the moon comes between the earth and the sun, it looks like the sun is disappearing.

This was frightening to people long ago. Some thought eclipses happened when the moon was mad at the earth and turned its face away. The Chinese believed that an eclipse was caused by a demon or some huge animal that ate the sun and then would give them up again. God told Jeremiah (10:2 KJ): "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them." God went on to reassure Jeremiah that the universe is under God’s control.

Later scientists learned that heavenly bodies were not alive and that man need not fear them. Thousands of years before scientists discovered that the planetary bodies were inanimate, the Bible contained this scientific fact.

The Bottom of the Ocean

Until modern times people thought the ocean floor was sandy like the desert and saucer shaped—deepest in the middle. This was even true of the pre-1900 geologists. But in the 1900s oceanographers found the sea had many deep valleys or canyons. The deepest canyons were called trenches. The Marianas Trench in the Pacific is so deep that if Mt. Everest (29,000 feet high) was dropped into it, the peak would still be a mile below the water’s surface. There are also underwater mountains. The Atlantic Ocean contains an undersea range of mountains 10,000 miles long.

In addition, 3,000 years ago the Bible spoke of the valleys and mountains of the sea. In Psalm 18:15 (NIV) David wrote of God being the creator of "the valleys of the sea." God asked Job (38:16 NIV): "Have you walked in the recesses [valleys] of the sea?" The prophet Jonah was thrown off a ship and spoke of falling to the bottom of the mountains in the sea (Jonah 2:6).

The Bible spoke of the valleys and mountains of the sea thousands of years before scientists discovered them. Indeed our Bible is the inspired Word of God.

The Paths of the Sea

In the 1800s, Matthew Maury, an officer in the United States Navy believed his Bible. As a Christian he loved to read the Bible. One day Maury was reading about the dominion man was given over the animals in Psalm 8. He was amazed that verse 8 spoke of the fish and all creatures that swim in the "paths of the sea." "Paths of the sea"— how could this be? He never knew there was such a thing. He was determined to find them. Maury discovered that the oceans have many paths or currents, which were like rivers flowing through the sea. Maury wrote the first book on oceanography and became known as "the pathfinder of the seas"— "The father of modern navigation."

Maury received his idea about ocean currents from reading Psalm 8:8 which was written about 3,000 years ago by King David. David wrote as he was moved by the Spirit of God and probably never actually saw an ocean.

Incidentally, Psalm 8:8 also spoke of fish in the "paths of the seas." All fishing boats make a good catch in the currents or paths of the sea. They have learned this is where the fish swim.

Lightning, Thunder and Rain

In ancient times, most religious scripture taught that lightning bolts were missiles thrown in anger by their gods.9 In China, Taoist scripture regarded the rainbow as a deadly rain dragon.10 In Confucius scripture, the goddess of lightning, Tien Mu, flashed light on intended victims to enable Lei Kung, the god of thunder to launch his deadly bolts accurately.11

Since rain is so necessary to life, ancient people pondered what caused it. Some tried to stab holes in the clouds with spears. The Vedas (Hindu scripture) advised to tie a frog with its mouth open to the right tree and say the right words and rain would fall.

Our Bible also talks about rain, lightning and storms. But it contains none of these superstitious ideas found in the other so- called scriptures. The Bible taught that earth’s weather followed rules and cycles. Genesis 8:22. "While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

Job stated (28:26): "God made decrees [rules] for the rain. And He set a way for the lightning of the thunder:" Centuries later, scientists began to discern the "rules for the rain" that Job talked about. Rainfall is part of a process called the water cycle. Here’s how the cycle works. The sun evaporates water from the ocean. That water vapor rises and becomes clouds. This water in the clouds falls back to earth as rain, collects in streams and rivers and makes its way back to the ocean. That process repeats itself again and again.

About 300 years ago, Galileo discovered this cycle. But amazingly the Scriptures described this cycle centuries before. The prophet Amos (9:6) wrote that God "calls for the water of the sea. He pours them out on the land." How did Amos know this? He wrote as he was moved by the Spirit of God.

Actually, scientists are just beginning to fully understand God’s "decrees or rules for the rain." Since 68 BC it was thought that somehow thunder triggered the rainfall. Now scientists are beginning to realize that as stated in Job 28:26, it is lightning that triggers the rain to fall. Job knew this 3,000 years ago. Certainly his writings were inspired of God (2 Peter 1:21).

Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus


Remember the story of Job? Job was extremely wealthy — enjoying a wonderful family. Then tragedy struck. He lost his wealth. His children were killed and his wife deserted him. Then Job lay in excruciating pain, covered with sores from head to toe. All this was too much for Job. He accused the Lord of being unjust. God didn’t answer Job’s accusation directly. He merely raised questions concerning the wonders of His creation. Three of these questions found in Job 38:31, 32, illustrate the dynamic logic conveyed in God’s questions.

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

"Canst thou . . . loose the bands of Orion?" Garrett P. Serviss, the noted astronomer, wrote about the bands of Orion12 in his book CURIOSITIES OF THE SKY.


At the present time this band consists of an almost perfect straight line, a row of second-magnitude stars about equally spaced and of the most striking beauty. In the course of time, however, the two right-hand stars, Mintaka and Alnilam, will approach each other and form a naked-eye double; but the third, Alnitak, will drift away eastward so that the band will no longer exist.

In other words, one star is traveling in a certain direction at a certain speed, a second one is traveling in a different direction at a second speed, and the third one is going in a third direction and at a still different speed. Actually every star in Orion is traveling its own course, independent of all the others. Thus, these stars that we see forming one of the bands of Orion are like three ships out on the high seas that happen to be in line at the present moment, but in the future will be separated by thousands of miles of ocean. In fact, all these stars that at the present time constitute the constellation of Orion are bound for different ports, and all are journeying to different corners of the universe, so that the bands are being dissolved.

THE PLEIADES



"Canst thou bind the sweet influence of the Pleiades . . . ?" Notice the amazing astronomical contrast with the Pleiades. The seven stars of the Pleiades are in reality a grouping of 250 suns. Photographs now reveal that 250 blazing suns in this group are all traveling together in one common direction. Concerning this cluster, Isabel Lewis of the United States Naval Observatory tells us: 13

Astronomers have identified 250 stars as actual members of this group, all sharing in a common motion and drifting through space in the same direction.

Elsewhere Lewis speaks of them as "journeying onward together through the immensity of space."

From Lick Observatory came this statement of Dr. Robert J. Trumpler:14

Over 25,000 individual measures of the Pleiades stars are now available, and their study led to the important discovery that the whole cluster is moving in a southeasterly direction. The Pleiades stars may thus be compared to a swarm of birds, flying together to a distant goal. This leaves no doubt that the Pleiades are not a temporary or accidental agglomeration of stars, but a system in which the stars are bound together by a close kinship.

Dr. Trumpler said that all this led to an important discovery. Without any reference whatsoever to the Book of Job, he announced to the world that these discoveries prove that the stars in the Pleiades are all bound together and are flying together like a flock of birds as they journey to their distant goal. That is exactly what God said. "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?" In other words, Canst thou keep them bound together so that they remain as a family of suns?

INCREDIBLE! God's laws of cosmology are loosing or dissolving the constellation Orion. Sometime in the far distant future, Orion will be no more. Conversely, wonder of wonders — every last one of the 250 blazing suns in the Pleiades are ordained of God to orbit together in their symmetrical beauty throughout eternity.

ARCTURUS

"Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?"Garrett P. Serviss wrote:15


Arcturus, one of the greatest suns in the universe, is a runaway whose speed of flight is 257 miles per second. Arcturus, we have every reason to believe, possesses thousands of times the mass of our sun. Think of it! Our sun is traveling only 12 ½ miles a second, but Arcturus is traveling 257 miles a second. Think then of the prodigious momentum this motion implies.

A further observation of Arcturus by Serviss reveals: 16

It could be turned into a new course by a close approach to a great sun, but it could only be stopped by collision head on with a body of enormous mass. Barring such accidents, it must, as far as we can see, keep on until it has traversed our stellar system, whence it may escape and pass out into space beyond to join perhaps one of those other island universes of which we have spoken.

Charles Burckhalter, of the Chabot Observatory, added an interesting note regarding this great sun: 17

This high velocity places Arcturus in that very small class of stars that apparently are a law unto themselves. He is an outsider, a visitor, a stranger within the gates; to speak plainly, Arcturus is a runaway. Newton gives the velocity of a star under control as not more than 25 miles a second, and Arcturus is going 257 miles a second. Therefore, combined attraction of all the stars we know cannot stop him or even turn him in his path.

When Mr. Burckhalter had his attention called to this text in the book of Job, he studied it in the light of modern discovery and made a statement that has attracted worldwide attention:18

The study of the Book of Job and its comparison with the latest scientific discoveries has brought me to the matured conviction that the Bible is an inspired book and was written by the One who made the stars.

The wonders of God’s universe never cease to amaze us. Arcturus and his sons are individual runaway suns that seem to be out of orbit in our galaxy. Traveling at such incredible speeds, why don’t they crash with other suns or planets? Where are they headed? Only God knows. Indeed they are not runaways. They will not crash. Why? God is guiding them.

The Lesson of The Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus

Few have suffered the multiple tragedies of Job. How could God reach through the enormity of Job’s self-pity? (Job thought God just didn’t care.) In these three questions (Job 38:31, 32) God is in reality saying:

Job, you think I am not concerned about your suffering. Well, let Me ask you these questions. Can you loose the bands of Orion? No, you cannot. But My Divine power will. Some day Orion will no longer exist. Job, can you bind the 250 stars of the Pleiades together in their symmetry of beauty and not have a single one drift off? Only I have this power and wisdom. Can you prevent the runaways — Arcturus and his sons — from colliding as they go dashing out of the Milky Way? No, only My Divine power and wisdom can.

Job, if I am caring for the details of the universe, do you doubt that I not only care for the details of your life, but I have the ability to solve your problems? Trust that there is a good reason I am permitting these tragedies. Remember, Job, I work from the perspective of your eternal welfare.

What an awesome way God chose to tell Job that He was in full control of human affairs, including Job's life!

The Lesson of Job for Us

Some write off the history of Job as Old Testament folklore. Whoever heard of God talking to a man! These are hand-me-down tales! However, the account of Job cannot be gainsaid. Whatever the method of communication used by God, the astonishing facts cannot be refuted. These scientific facts recorded in the book of Job concerning the Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus anticipated scientific discovery by nearly 3,000 years. Scientists only discovered these startling facts in the Twentieth Century, yet they were recorded in the book of Job nearly 3000 years ago. What an awesome confirmation of the Bible! Who can doubt the Bible is the inspired word of God? Yes, the book of Job has a powerful, exclusive lesson for modern man. Twentieth Century science has proven God’s Word, the Bible, is true.

Other Sacred Books and the Physical Sciences

The Hindu scriptures, the Vedas and Upanishads, consider that "all the objects and phenomena of nature which man is surrounded, are animate and divine."19 This includes the sun, moon, earth, clouds, rain, rivers, seas and rocks as being alive. Writers of the Buddhist canon also ascribe life to numerous non-living objects— sun, moon, lightning, rainbows, mountains, etc. The Taoist and Confucian writings of China contain similar errors.

The Koran, the scripture of Islam, written 1,500 years after the Hindu scripture, does not contain many of the ancient superstitions. Yet its observations of the universe are seriously flawed. The Koran speaks of seven literal heavens which are solid.20 These heavens contain lamps or stars whose main purpose is to be "darted at the devils."21 Mohammed wrote that "the sun sets in a sea of black mud."22

Which Bible is Inspired by a Living God?

The Judeo-Christian Scriptures made scientific observations that were confirmed centuries later by modern science, while the sacred scripture of other world religions merely reflected the scientific superstitions of their culture. How could the Judeo-Christian Scripture anticipate scientific discovery by 3,000 years? The Bible was written by men who were inspired by the Creator and God of the Universe — the God of science. Only the Bible is the Divine Revelation provided by our infinite Creator to direct us in the path to eternity.

10 Douglas, CONFUCIANISM AND TAOISM, pp. 260-271.
11 Williams C.A.S., OUTLINES OF CHINESE SYMBOLISM AND ART MOTIVES, (Dover Publications Inc.).
12 Garrett P. Serviss, CURIOSITIES OF THE SKY.
13 Phillip L. Knox, WONDER WORLDS (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Assoc., 1964) p.61
14 Ibid.
15 Serviss.
16 Ibid.
17 Knox, p. 60.
18 Ibid.
19 MacDonell, A. A., VEDIC MYTHOLOGY, (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1974) p. 2.
20 THE KORAN, Trans. George Sale (London: Frederick Warne, 1909) pp. 5, 541.
21 Ibid., p. 567.
22 Ibid., p. 294.

anonymous

God is seeking true worshippers

The Lord said to Abraham, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land that I will show you…”
We read after a couple of verses that Abraham left, as the Lord had told him.
In Luke 14: 26, we read the words of the Lord Jesus “ If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes, even his own life – he cannot be a Christian and anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me daily, cannot be a Christian” (paraphrase). Have you obeyed God’s command? Most preachers nowadays on Christian television, and elsewhere, do not teach these commandments. They like to preach a watered-down gospel in an effort to be popular. The bible calls them little antichrists 1 John 4: 2, 3

The bible says that obedience is better than sacrifice, (1 Samuel 15:22) and that there is a blessing when we obey God (Gen. 12:2, 3). Satan and our flesh lie to us, lies like “you can sin as long as you don’t get caught”; “you have to lie, now and then, on this earth”; “you can always confess your sins to God”, “there are no consequences to sin” etc. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, Rom. 6:23. The Lord Jesus said “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying, Rev. 22:14. The bible says in Hebrews 6:4, that it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

The whole bible can be summed up in two commandments, Love God and love your neighbor,
Mathew 22: 37-40. Do you Love God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind? Do you love your neighbor (all human beings in your little world) as yourself?
If you have failed to do so, today can be a NEW beginning. Turn from your sins, and turn to God
(Mark 1: 15). He longs to bless you.

A true worshiper is one who loves God one hundred percent all his life. Most professing Christians never come to this life. One reason for this is that they have never read the bible sitting at the Lord’s feet. Instead, they totally depend on the pastors to teach them.

God will test us many times in our earthly life. He tested Abraham to see if he loved Isaac more than Him. Abraham passed the test. God may not ask us to kill anyone physically, but he wants us to love him more than we love our parents, our brothers and sisters, or anything else in this world, even our own life.
True worship is a willingness to give up our precious possessions to the Lord. It is when we can say with all our heart, “Lord, you are more important to me than anyone, or anything, in Heaven and on earth”. The father is seeking worshippers like these who will worship him in spirit and truth. John 4:24

God blessed Abraham greatly because of his obedience. The Blessing of God is not primarily material prosperity. If it were, then Bill Gates or some sheikh in Dubai should be the most spiritual person on earth. The blessings of God are primarily spiritual, a greater likeness to the life of Jesus. May the Lord help us to fulfill his plans for our life.

The reward

the reward of
humility
and the fear of the LORD
Are riches
honor and life.

Prov. 22:4

True Religion IS Not Feeling but Willing

ONE OF THE PUZZLING QUESTIONS likely to turn up sooner or later to vex the seeking Christian is how he can fulfill the scriptural command to love God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself.

The earnest Christian, as he meditates on his sacred obligation to love God and mankind, may experience a sense of frustration gendered by the knowledge that he just cannot seem to work up any emotional thrill over his Lord or his brothers. He wants to, but he cannot. The delightful wells of feeling simply will not flow.

Many honest persons have become discouraged by the absence of religious emotion and concluded that they are not really Christian after all. They conclude that they must have missed the way somewhere back there and their religion is little more than an empty profession. So for a while they belabor themselves for their coldness and finally settle into a state of dull discouragement, hardly knowing what to think. They do believe in God; they do indeed trust Christ as their Saviour, but the love they hoped to feel consistently eludes them. What is the trouble?

The problem is not a light one. A real difficulty is involved, one which may be stated in the form of a question: How can I love by commandment? Of all the emotions of which the soul is capable, love is by far the freest, the most unreasoning, the one least likely to spring up at the call of duty or obligation, and surely the one that will not come at the command of another. No law has ever been passed that can compel one moral being to love another, for by the very nature of it love must be voluntary. No one can be coerced or frightened into loving anyone. Love just does not come that way. So what are we to do with our Lord's command to love God and our neighbor?

To find our way out of the shadows and into the cheerful sunlight we need only to know that there are two kinds of love: the love of feeling and the love of willing. The one lies in the emotions, the other in the will. Over the one we may have little control. It comes and goes, rises and falls, flares up and disappears as it chooses, and changes from hot to warm to cool and back to warm again very much as does the weather. Such love was not in the mind of Christ when He told His people to love God and each other. As well command a butterfly to light on our shoulder as to attempt to command this whimsical kind of affection to visit our hearts.

The love the Bible enjoins is not the love of feeling; it is the love of willing, the willed tendency of the heart. (For these two happy phrases I am indebted to another, a master of the inner life whose pen was only a short time ago stilled by death.)

God never intended that such a being as man should be the plaything of his feelings. The emotional life is a proper and noble part of the total personality, but it is, by its very nature, of secondary importance. Religion lies in the will, and so does righteousness. The only good that God recognizes is a willed good; the only valid holiness is a willed holiness.

It should be a cheering thought that before God every man is what he wills to be. The first requirement in conversion is a rectified will. "If any man will," says our Lord, and leaves it there. To meet the requirements of love toward God the soul need but will to love and the miracle begins to blossom like the budding of Aaron's rod.

The will is the automatic pilot that keeps the soul on course. "Flying is easy," said a friend who flies his own plane. "Just take her up, point her in the direction you want her to go and set the pilot. After that she'll fly herself." While we must not press the figure too far, it is yet blessedly true that the will, not the feelings, determines moral direction.

The root of all evil in human nature is the corruption of the will. The thoughts and intents of the heart are wrong and as a consequence the whole life is wrong. Repentance is primarily a change of moral purpose, a sudden and often violent reversal of the soul's direction. The prodigal son took his first step upward from the pigsty when he said, "I will arise and go to my father." As he had once willed to leave his father's house, now he willed to return. His subsequent action proved his expressed purpose to be sincere. He did return.

Someone may infer from the above that we are ruling out the joy of the Lord as a valid part of the Christian life. While no one who reads these columns regularly would be likely to draw such an erroneous conclusion, a chance reader might be led astray; a further word of explanation is therefore indicated:

To love God with all our heart we must first of all will to do so. We should repent our lack of love and determine from this moment on to make God the object of our devotion. We should set our affections on things above and aim our hearts toward Christ and heavenly things. We should read the Scriptures devotionally every day and prayerfully obey them, always firmly willing to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself.

If we do these things we may be sure that we shall experience a wonderful change in our whole inward life. We shall soon find to our great delight that our feelings are becoming less erratic and are beginning to move in the direction of the "willed tendency of the heart." Our emotions will become disciplined and directed. We shall begin to taste the "piercing sweetness" of the love of Christ. Our religious affection will begin to mount evenly on steady wings instead of flitting about idly without purpose or intelligent direction. The whole life, like a delicate instrument, will be tuned to sing the praises of Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.

But first of all we must will, for the will is master of the heart.

A.W. Tozer

All things

All things
have been
created by Him
and
For Him.

In view
of that
we are
obligated to
honor every
creation.

Col. 1:16

Is God your Lawyer?

Saul was trying to kill David and David's response to him was "God is my Lawyer and defender, and he will rescue me from your power!"

1 Samuel 24: 15

God is our refuge~

1 GOD IS our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas,

3Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling and tumult. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

4There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

5God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her right early [at the dawn of the morning].

6The nations raged, the kingdoms tottered and were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

7The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge (our Fortress and High Tower). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

8Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has wrought desolations and wonders in the earth.

9He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow into pieces and snaps the spear in two; He burns the chariots in the fire.

10Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!

11The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge (our High Tower and Stronghold). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! Psalm 46

let there be light

In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
And the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface
of the deep..
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. Genesis 1

Is your life full of darkness and a mess?
Come to Jesus. Be willing to turn away from your sin, ask him to help you.
He will bring light into your life.

Jesus will save you from your sins

In the Beginning was the word and the word was God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1
Jesus Christ came into this world to save you and me. The first Promise in the New testament is like this. " His name is Jesus, he will save his people from their sins" Matthew 1: 21

Ask Jesus to save you from your sins.

Nothing can separate us from God's love

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.

Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 31-39

God's Billboard

I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness. Jeremiah 31:3

(Double click on the Billboard pic. there are other messages as well)

God loves you!

Dear friend,

Did you know that God loves you so very much that he gave his Only son that if you turn from your sin, believe in Jesus who died for your sins, trusting in him as Lord & Savior, you will be saved.

God loves you with an infinite love. He is waiting to bless you.
Give your life to Jesus, He is waiting to give his best to you.

the deception of Satan

In Genesis 3:1, we can see how Satan attacks. It says
there that the serpent was the craftiest of all the animals.
Satan entered that serpent (just like the demons entered
the pigs when Jesus cast them out of the man of Gadara).
And Satan spoke to Eve through the serpent and asked
her "Has God indeed said - You shall not eat of every tree
of the garden?" When Eve said that this was indeed what
God had said, Satan countered God's Word and said,
"You shall not die". Notice how Satan comes. First of all,
he questions God's Word. That is how he comes to us
too. "Has God really said that we are not to do that?", he
asks, "What's wrong in doing this? These Biblical
commands are old-fashioned. They were written for that
time and that culture in which Paul lived. They are not
meant to be literally obeyed by us in the 20th century",
etc., etc.,

We find young and old people asking such questions
constantly, little realizing that they are becoming
mouthpieces of Satan. Even when their conscience tells
them that something is wrong, they still use their reason
and question what God has forbidden. When something is
commanded or forbidden by God in His Word, we can be
sure that God has a very good reason for doing so. But
Satan always makes us question whether God really
meant it like that etc., And what is Satan's ultimate aim in
making us question God's Word? Exactly the same as
was his aim in Eve's case - to take us away from the
Lord, and to compel God to reject us and cast us out,
even as He cast Adam and Eve out of His presence.

Jesus once said that Satan was a thief. Satan does not
steal money, for he knows that money has no eternal
value. He steals only what has eternal value - primarily the
souls of men. Jesus said further that after Satan steals,
he kills and destroys what he has stolen (John 10:10). In
contrast, Jesus went on to say, that He Himself had come
to give us abundant life. Isn't it amazing that in a world of
5,500 million people, more than 99% of the people prefer
to believe Satan's lies and to obey him rather than believe
in Jesus Christ and obey the Word of God. There we can
see what a tremendous work Satan has done in
convincing people that it is not a serious matter to
disobey God's Word.

When people take their first drink of alcohol, or smoke
their first cigarette, or begin to take drugs like heroin and
cocaine, do you think Satan warns them that these will
destroy their bodies and minds on earth and finally send
their souls to Hell for eternity? No. He doesn't tell them
the truth - for that would be unpleasant to hear. He tells
them that they will get a kick out of trying it, and that they
can have some enjoyment out of it. That is what Satan
told Eve too. And that is how he is deceiving millions of
young people around the world today. Even if it is a matter
of immorality or stealing other people's things, Satan
says, "What's wrong with that? Don't be guided by
outmoded 19th-century ideas" etc., Be careful of these
thoughts that Satan puts into your mind. His ultimate
purpose is to destroy you. We see in verse 6 that as soon
as Eve saw that the tree was good for food, her body was
drawn to it. That forbidden fruit has many 20th century
counterparts. Many things that God has forbidden, we will
find our bodies being drawn to. The Word of God goes on
to say that Eve found the tree to be a delight to her eyes
too. Our eyes will find many things very pleasing that God
has forbidden us to even look at.

It says further that Eve found the fruit appealing to her
mind as well. She saw the fruit as something that could
make her wise. Our minds too are attracted to many
things that God has forbidden. Be careful when your body
and mind are drawn to something that your conscience
tells you is wrong. I am sure that at that moment Eve's
conscience told her clearly that what she was going to do
was wrong. She knew very well that God had told her not
to eat that fruit. But what did she do? Because her body
and her mind both wanted the fruit, she convinced herself
that there was nothing wrong in eating it. So she killed her
conscience and took the fruit and ate it. What did Satan
accomplish by making Eve sin? Many years earlier, he
himself had fallen from God's presence. Once he had
become evil, he was determined to make others evil too. It
is the same with the human race now. When a person
does something evil, he is not happy in being alone in the
evil he has done. He wants to get others to do the same
evil too.

In Proverbs 1:10, it says: "Don't go along with someone
who leads you to do evil". Satan became evil and he
wanted to drag Eve down with him too. And when Eve had
partaken of that poisonous spirit, she wanted to drag her
husband down. So she took another fruit and gave it to her
husband. That is how evil has multiplied in the world
through all the centuries. One man becomes evil and he
drags others down with him. That is why we need to be
alert always. Satan comes to us at times like a roaring
lion. If he always came as a roaring lion, we would
recognise him easily. But he doesn't always come like
that. He sometimes comes as a sweet "angel of light" (2
Cor.11:14). It is then that we have to be really careful.
Consider the time when Jesus told his disciples that He
was going to suffer and die on the cross, Peter said "No ,
Lord, don't let that happen to You". But Jesus
immediately turned around and told Peter "Get behind me
Satan". He recognized that the suggestion to avoid the
way of suffering was the voice of Satan, even though it
came through Peter. Jesus knew that He had to go to the
cross, because that was the only way man's sins could
be forgiven. Peter did not know that. Peter was well-
meaning, but he didn't realize at that moment that Satan
was speaking through him to try and stop Jesus from
going to the cross. Yes, Satan can come to us even
through a close friend and suggest something that sounds
compassionate and good humanly speaking. So we must
be alert at all times. The one thing we must all covet is a
sensitive conscience - something that speaks to us loudly
even when we do a small wrong.

ZP

Jesus loves you

Jesus loves you so very much.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

If God is for us, who can be against us.
We do not have a hight priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.
So let's go to the throne of grace and receive grace and mercy in our time of need. Amen!

scriptures: JOhn 3: 16, Romans 5:8; 8:31,32; Hebrews 4: 15

Have faith in God

Your faith has saved you. Luke 7:50

What does it mean to have faith.
Faith is the absolute confidence in God's perfect love for you,
absolute confidence in his infallible wisdom and absolute confidence in his almighty power.

God demonstrated his great love toward us, that he gave us his only begotten son. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Is it difficult to have faith in such a wonderful God who loves us so perfectly.

True faith always leads us to obedience. Let's then obey the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ found in the pages of the New & Old testaments.

Repent & believe

Jesus said in Mark 1: 15 "Repent and believe in the gospel"

What does it mean to Repent?
True repentance involves a change of mind about sin and a willingness to turn away from it.
Sin is worse than any sickness, it has eternal consequences.
Cancer may kill the physical body but sin has the potential to cause destruction of the soul forever. That's why it is so important to turn away from sin. If sin & its consequences were to be a simple matter, God wouldn't have sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

The gospel is the good news about Jesus.
Jesus came to save us from our sins. He came to pay the penalty for our past sins, to save us from our present temptations and to save us from the presence of sin in the future.

So let's rejoice in the fact that Jesus has come, let's surrender our entire life to him trusting in his love for us. Amen!

Three Certainties

They will fight against you. They will not overcome you I
am with you to deliver you (Jer 1:19). There are three things
that are absolutely certain for the disciples of the Lord, as we
see in the above verse. (1) Satan and his agents will fight
against us. (2) They will not overcome us. (3) The Lord will
always be with us to deliver us.

The certainty of Opposition

As long as we are in the world, we will have to face tribulation,
persecution and trials. It will never be otherwise. So we need
not expect an easy time either in our work-place or in our
personal life in the coming days. Days of financial
difficulties will come. So even now, we must learn to live
simply. Those who live in luxury will find things difficult in the
future. We must be wise in saving some money for the future
so that we don’t have to depend on others. But we must never
depend on our savings. Our trust must be in the Lord alone.
God is a jealous God and He will never allow us to trust in
created things. God is going to shake the world’s financial
systems very soon, so that all those who trust in created
things will be thoroughly shaken. In the coming days, we will
also see brothers betraying their brothers, because all will
seek their own safety. We have already seen something of
that. But we will see more of it in the future. Our own family
members will become our enemies and hate us. Some of us
have already seen a little of that. We will see more of it in the
future. There will also be active persecution of believers in
offices and elsewhere. This will purify us and make us better
Christians. Many believers are hoping that one of these days
all their trails will all be over. But that day will come only when
Jesus returns, not before.

The certainty of Satan’s defeat

It is impossible for Satan or any of his demons or human
agents to defeat us spiritually. 1 Peter 3:13 says that no-one
can harm us if we always seek to do good. So let us
determine, by God’s grace, to do good to one and all. Let us
love those who hate us, bless those who curse us and pray for
the forgiveness of those who persecute us. Then no-one will
be able to harm us. Satan and his agents may cheat us.,
trouble us, harass us, rob us, injure us, imprison us and even
kill our bodies. But they will not be able to harm us spiritually.
God is , and always will be on the throne. Jesus has all
authority in heaven and on earth. And Satan has been
defeated once-for-all on Calvary’s cross. Satan does not have
to be defeated once again by us. We only have to believe in
our hearts and confess with our mouths that Satan has been
defeated on the cross and that he has no power over us any
more. Satan cannot discourage us or depress us or frighten
us with anything, as long as we hold fast to this confession.
We can overcome Satan by the word of our testimony against
him (Rev 12:11)

The certainty of the Lord being with us.

The Lord will never leave us nor forsake us. He won’t leave us
even when we slip up and fall. He only wants us to be honest
with Him about our failures. The Lord is near to the broken-
hearted. The promise in Psalm 37:23(LB) is that even when
we fall, our fall won’t be fatal, because the Lord will hold us
with His Hand. He will not only make the evil that others do
to us to work for our good., He will also make our own failures
to work together for our good. He will make all things work
together for our very best. The Lord will deliver us from every
evil and bring us through triumphantly. He will keep us from
falling and present us perfect to the Father one day. Our
confidence is in His ability to keep us until the end and not in
our own ability to endure until the end. So we look to the
future with great boldness and confidence. Let us run the race
looking away from everything else, unto Jesus(Heb 12:2). May
we never keep looking at either our present weaknesses or
our past failures. True humility is to acknowledge that nothing
good dwells in us (Romans 7:18). If nothing good dwells
inside us, then why do we look inside ourselves at all? Let us
also stop looking at our past failures. That will only
discourage us. We must make a firm decision now, to forget
the past and press on to the future. Let us look at Jesus
alone. He will make us an overcomer, no matter how weak we
are today and no matter how much we have failed in the past.
Hallelujah!. Amen

ZP

Carnal Christians

1 Corinthians 3: 1.—And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal.

The apostle here speaks of two stages of the Christian life, two types of Christians: "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." They were Christians, in Christ, but instead of being spiritual Christians, they were carnal. "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet are ye able, for ye are yet carnal." Here is that word a second time. "For whereas"—this is the proof—"there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal?" Four times the apostle uses that word carnal. In the wisdom which the Holy Ghost gives him, Paul feels:—I can not write to these Corinthian Christians unless I know their state, and unless I tell them of it. If I give spiritual food to men who are carnal Christians, I am doing them more harm than good, for they are not fit to take it. I cannot feed them with meat, I must feed them with milk. And so he tells them at the very outset of the epistle what he sees to be their state. In the two previous chapters he had spoken about his ministry being by the Holy Spirit; now he begins to tell them what must be the state of a people in order to accept spiritual truth, and he says: "I have not liberty to speak to you as I would, for you are carnal, and you cannot receive Spiritual truth." That suggests to us the solemn thought, that in the Church of Christ there are two classes of Christians. Some have lived many years as believers, and yet always remain babes; others are spiritual men, because they have given themselves up to the power, the leading and to the entire rule of the Holy Ghost. If we are to obtain a blessing, we must first decide to which of these classes we belong. Are we, by the grace of God, in deep humility living a spiritual life, or are we living a carnal life? Then, let us first try to understand what is meant by the carnal state in which believers may be living.

We notice from what we find in Corinthians, four marks of the carnal state. First: It is simply a condition of protracted infancy. You know what that means. Suppose a beautiful babe, six months old. It cannot speak, it cannot walk, but we do not trouble ourselves about that; it is natural, and ought to be so. But suppose a year later we find the child not grown at all, and three years later still no growth; we would at once say: "There must be some terrible disease;" and the baby that at six months old was the cause of joy to every one who saw him, has become to the mother and to all a source of anxiety and sorrow. There is something wrong; the child can not grow. It was quite right at six months old that it should eat nothing but milk; but years have passed by, and it remains in the same weakly state. Now this is just the condition of many believers. They are converted; they know what it is to have assurance and faith; they believe in pardon for sin; they begin to work for God; and yet, somehow, there is very little growth in spirituality, in the real heavenly life. We come into contact with them, and we feel at once there is something wanting; there is none of the beauty of holiness or of the power of God's Spirit in them. This is the condition of the carnal Corinthians, expressed in what was said to the Hebrews: "You have had the Gospel so long that by this time you ought to be teachers, and yet you need that men should teach you the very rudiments of the oracles of God." Is it not a sad thing to see a believer who has been converted five, ten, twenty years, and yet no growth, and no strength, and no joy of holiness?

What are the marks of a little child? One is, a little child cannot help himself, but is always keeping others occupied to serve him. What a tyrant a baby in a house often is! The mother cannot go out, there must be a servant to nurse it; it needs to be cared for constantly. God made a man to care for others, but the baby was made to be cared for and to be helped. So there are Christians who always want help. Their pastor and their Christian friends must always be teaching and comforting them. They go to church, and to prayer-meetings, and to conventions, always wanting to be helped,—a sign of spiritual infancy.

The other sign of an infant is this: he can do nothing to help his fellow-man. Every man is expected to contribute something to the welfare of society; every one has a place to fill and a work to do, but the babe can do nothing for the common weal. It is just so with Christians. How little some can do! They take a part in work, as it is called, but there is little of exercising spiritual power and carrying real blessing. Should we not each ask, "Have I outgrown my spiritual infancy?" Some must reply, "No, instead of having gone forward, I have gone backward, and the joy of conversion and the first love is gone." Alas! They are babes in Christ; they are yet carnal.

The second mark of the carnal state is this: that there is sin and failure continually. Paul says: "Whereas there is strife and division among you, and envying, are ye not carnal?" A man gives way to temper. He may be a minister, or a preacher of the Gospel, or a Sunday-school teacher, most earnest at the prayer-meeting, but yet strife or bitterness or envying is often shown by him. Alas! Alas! In Gal. 3:5 we are told that the works of the flesh are specially hatred and envy. How often among Christians, who have to work together, do we see divisions and bitterness! God have mercy upon them, that the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, is so frequently absent from His own people. You ask, "Why is it, that for twenty years I have been fighting with my temper, and can not conquer it?" It is because you have been fighting with the temper, and you have not been fighting with the root of the temper. You have not seen that it is all because you are in the carnal state, and not properly given up to the Spirit of God. It may be that you never were taught it; that you never saw it in God's Word; that you never believed it. But there it is; the truth of God remains unchangeable. Jesus Christ can give us the victory over sin, and can keep us from actual transgression. I am not telling you that the root of sin will be eradicated, and that you will have no longer any natural tendency to sin; but when the Holy Spirit comes not only with His power for service as a gift, but when He comes in Divine grace to fill the heart, there is victory over sin; power not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And you see a mark of the carnal state not only in unlovingness, self-consciousness and bitterness, but in so many other sins. How much worldliness, how much ambition among men, how much seeking for the honor that comes from man—all the fruit of the carnal life—to be found in the midst of Christian activity! Let us remember that the carnal state is a state of continual sinning and failure, and God wants us not only to make confession of individual sins, but to come to the acknowledgment that they are the sign that we are not living a healthy life,—we are yet carnal.

A third mark which will explain further what I have been saying, is that this carnal state may be found in existence in connection with great spiritual gifts. There is a difference between gifts and graces. The graces of the Spirit are humility and love, like the humility and love of Christ. The graces of the Spirit are to make a man free from self; the gifts of the Spirit are to fit a man for work. We see this illustrated among the Corinthians. In the first chapter Paul says, "I thank God that you are enriched unto all utterance, and all knowledge, and all wisdom." In the 12th and 14th chapters we see that the gifts of prophecy and of working miracles were in great power among them; but the graces of the Spirit were noticeably absent.

And this may be in our days as well as in the time of the Corinthians. I may be a minister of the Gospel; I may teach God's Word beautifully; I may have influence, and gather a large congregation, and yet, alas! I may be a carnal man; a man who may be used by God, and may be a blessing to others, and yet the carnal life may still mark me. You all know the law that a thing is named according to what is its most prominent characteristic. Now, in these carnal Corinthians there was a little of God's Spirit, but the flesh predominated; the Spirit had not the rule of their whole life. And the spiritual men are not called so because there is no flesh in them, but because the Spirit in them has obtained dominance, and when you meet them and have intercourse with them, you feel that the Spirit of God has sanctified them. Ah, let us beware lest the blessing God gives us in our work deceive us and lead us to think that because he has blessed us, we must be spiritual men. God may give us gifts that we use, and yet our lives may not be wholly in the power of the Holy Ghost.

My last mark of the carnal state is that it makes a man unfit for receiving spiritual truths. That is what the apostle writes to the Corinthians: "I could not preach to you as unto spiritual; you are not fit for spiritual truth after being Christians so long; you can not yet bear it; I have to feed you with milk." I am afraid that in the church of the nineteenth century we often make a terrible mistake. We have a congregation in which the majority are carnal men. We give these men spiritual teaching, and they admire it, understand it, and rejoice in such ministry; yet their lives are not practically affected. They work for Christ in a certain way, but we can scarce recognize the true sanctification of the Spirit; we dare not say they are spiritual men, full of the Holy Spirit.

Now, let us recognize this with regard to ourselves. A man may become very earnest, may take in all the teaching he hears; he may be able to discern, for discernment is a gift; he may say, "That man helps me in this line, and that man in another direction, and a third man is remarkable for another gift;" yet, all the time, the carnal life may be living strongly in him, and when he gets into trouble with some friend, or Christian worker, or worldly man, the carnal root is bearing its terrible fruit, and the spiritual food has failed to enter his heart. Beware of that. Mark the Corinthians and learn of them. Paul did not say to them, "You can not bear the truth as I would speak it to you," because they were ignorant or a stupid people. The Corinthians prided themselves on their wisdom, and sought it above everything, and Paul said: "I thank God that you are enriched in utterance, in knowledge, and in wisdom; nevertheless, you are yet carnal, your life is not holy; your life is not sanctified unto the humility of the life of the Lamb of God, you can not yet take in real spiritual truth."

We find the carnal state not only at Corinth, but throughout the Christian world to-day. Many Christians are asking, "What is the reason there is so much feebleness in the Church?" We can not ask this question too earnestly, and I trust that God Himself will so impress it upon our hearts that we shall say to Him, "It must be changed. Have mercy upon us." But, ah! that prayer and that change can not come until we have begun to see that there is a carnal root ruling in believers; they are living more after the flesh than the Spirit; they are yet carnal Christians.

There is a passage "from carnal to spiritual." Did Paul find any spiritual believers? Undoubtedly he did. Just read the 6th chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians! That was a church where strife, and bitterness, and envy were terrible. But the apostle says in the first verse: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness." There we see that the marks of the spiritual man are that he will be a meek man; and that he will have power, and love to help and restore those that are fallen. The carnal man can not do that. If there is a true spiritual life that can be lived, the great question is: Is the way open, and how can I enter into the spiritual state? Here, again, I have four short answers.

First, we must know that there is such a spiritual life to be lived by men on earth. Nothing cuts the roots of the Christian life so much as unbelief. People do not believe what God has said about what He is willing to do for His children. Men do not believe that when God says, "Be filled with the Spirit," He means it for every Christian. And yet Paul wrote to the Ephesians each one: "Be filled with the Spirit, and do not be drunk with wine." Just as little as you may be drunk with wine, so little may you live without being filled with the Spirit. Now, if God means that for believers, the first thing that we need is to study, and to take home God's Word, to our belief until our hearts are filled with the assurance that there is such a life possible which it is our duty to live; that we can be spiritual men. God's Word teaches us that God does not expect a man to live as he ought for one minute unless the Holy Spirit is in him to enable him to do it.

We do not want the Holy Spirit only when we go to preach, or when we have some special temptation of the devil to meet, or some great burden to bear; God says: "My child can not live a right life unless he is guided by my Spirit every minute." That is the mark of the child of God: "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." In Romans V. we read: "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us." That is to be the common, every-day experience of the believer, not his life at set times only. Did ever a father or mother think, "For to-day I want my child to love me?" No, they expect the love every day. And so God wants His child every moment to have a heart filled with love of the Spirit. In the eyes of God, it is most unnatural to expect a man to love as he should if he is not filled with the Spirit. Oh, let us believe a man can be a spiritual man. Thank God, there is now the blessing waiting us. "Be filled with the Spirit." "Be led by the Spirit." There is the blessing. If you have to say, "Oh, God, I have not this blessing," say it; but say also, "Lord, I know it is my duty, my solemn obligation to have it, for without it I can not live in perfect peace with Thee all the day; without it I can not glorify Thee, and do the work Thou wouldst have me do." This is our first step from carnal to spiritual,—to recognize a spiritual life, a walk in the Spirit, is within our reach. How can we ask God to guide us into spiritual life, if we have not a clear, confident conviction that there is such a life to be had?

Then comes the second step; a man must see the shame and guilt of his having lived such a life. Some people admit there is a spiritual life to live, and that they have not lived it, and they are sorry for themselves, and pity themselves, and think, "How sad that I am too feeble for it! How sad that God gives it to others, but has not given it to me!" They have great compassion upon themselves, instead of saying, "Alas! it has been our unfaithfulness, our unbelief, our disobedience, that has kept us from giving ourselves utterly to God. We have to blush and to be ashamed before God that we do not live as spiritual men."

A man does not get converted without having conviction of sin. When that conviction of sin comes, and his eyes are opened, he learns to be afraid of his sin, and to flee from it to Christ, and to accept Christ as a mighty deliverer. But a man needs a second conviction of sin; a believer must be convicted of his peculiar sin. The sins of an unconverted man are different from the sins of a believer. An unconverted man, for instance, is not ordinarily convicted of the corruption of his nature; he thinks principally about external sins,—"I have sworn, been a liar, and I am on the way to hell." He is then convicted for conversion. But the believer is in quite a different condition. His sins are far more blamable, for he has had the light and the love and the Spirit of God given to him. His sins are far deeper. He has striven to conquer them and he has grown to see that his nature is utterly corrupt, that the carnal mind, the flesh, within him, is making his whole state utterly wretched. When a believer is thus convicted by the Holy Spirit, it is specially his life of unbelief that condemns him, because he sees that the great guilt connected with this has kept him from receiving the full gift of God's Holy Spirit. He is brought down in shame and confusion of face, and he begins to cry: "Woe is me, for I am undone. I have heard of God by the hearing of the ear; I have known a great deal of Him and preached about Him, but now mine eye seeth Him." God comes near him. Job, the righteous man, whom God trusted, saw in himself the deep sin of self and its righteousness that he had never seen before. Until this conviction of the wrongness of our carnal state as believers comes to each one of us; until we are willing to get this conviction from God, to take time before God to be humbled and convicted, we never can become spiritual men.

Then comes the third mark, which is that out of the carnal state into the spiritual is only one step. One step; oh, that is a blessed message I bring to you—it is only one step. I know many people will refuse to admit that it is only one step; they think it too little for such a mighty change. But was not conversion only one step?

So it is when a man passes from carnal to spiritual. You ask if when I talk of a spiritual man I am not thinking of a man of spiritual maturity, a real saint, and you say: "Does that come in one day? Is there no growth in holiness?" I reply that spiritual maturity cannot come in a day. We can not expect it. It takes growth, until the whole beauty of the image of Christ is formed in a man. But still I say that it needs but one step for a man to get out of the carnal life into the spiritual life. It is when a man utterly breaks with the flesh; when he gives up the flesh into the crucifixion death of Christ; when he sees that everything about it is accursed and that he can not deliver himself from it; and then claims the slaying power of Christ's cross within him,—it is when a man does this and says: "This spiritual life prepared for me is the free gift of my God in Christ Jesus," that he understands how one step can bring him out of the carnal into the spiritual state.

In that spiritual life there will be much still to be learned. There will still be imperfections. Spiritual life is not perfect; but the predominant characteristic will be spiritual. When a man has given himself up to the real, living, acting, ruling power of God's Spirit, he has got into the right position in which he can grow. You never think of growing out of sickness into health; you may grow out of feebleness into strength, as the little babe can grow to be a strong man; but where there is disease, there must healing come if there is to be a cure effected. There are Christians who think that they must grow out of the carnal state into the spiritual state. You never can. What could help those carnal Corinthians? To give them milk could not help them, for milk was a proof they were in the wrong state. To give them meat would not help them, for they were unfit to eat it. What they needed was the knife of the surgeon. Paul says that the carnal life must be cut out. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh." When a man understands what that means, and accepts it in the faith of what Christ can do, then one step can bring him from carnal to spiritual. One simple act of faith in the power of Christ's death, one act of surrender to the fellowship of Christ's death as the Holy Spirit can make it ours, will make it ours, will bring deliverance from the power of your efforts.

What brought deliverance to that poor condemned sinner who was most dark and wretched in his unconverted state? He felt he could do nothing good of himself. What did he do? He saw set before him the almighty Saviour and he cast himself into His arms; he trusted himself to that omnipotent love and cried, "Lord, have mercy upon me." That was salvation. It was not for what he did that Christ accepted him. Oh, believers, if any of us who are conscious that the carnal state predominates have to say: "It marks me; I am a religious man, an earnest man, a friend of missions; I work for Christ in my church, but, alas! temper and sin and worldliness have still the mastery over my soul," hear the word of God. If any will come and say: "I have struggled, I have prayed, I have wept, and it has not helped me," then you must do one other thing. You must see that the living Christ is God's provision for your holy, spiritual life. You must believe that that Christ who accepted you once, at conversion, in His wonderful love is now waiting to say to you that you may become a spiritual man, entirely given up to God. If you will believe that, your fear will vanish and you will say: "It can be done; if Christ will accept and take charge, it shall be done."

Then, my last mark. A man must take that step, a solemn but blessed step. It cost some of you five or ten years before you took the step of conversion. You wept and prayed for years, and could not find peace until you took that step. So, in the spiritual life, you may go to teacher after teacher, and say, "Tell me about the spiritual life, the baptism of the Spirit, and holiness," and yet you may remain just where you were. Many of us would love to have sin taken away. Who loves to have a hasty temper? Who loves to have a proud disposition? Who loves to have a worldly heart? No one. We go to Christ to take it away, and he does not do it; and we ask, "Why will he not do it? I have prayed very earnestly." It is because you wanted Him to take away the ugly fruits while the poisonous root was to stay in you. You did not ask Him that the flesh should be nailed to His cross, and that you should henceforth give up self entirely to the power of His Spirit.

There is deliverance, but not in the way we seek it. Suppose a painter had a piece of canvas, on which he desired to work out some beautiful picture. Suppose that piece of canvas does not belong to him, and any one has a right to take it and to use it for any other purpose; do you think the painter would bestow much work on that? No. Yet people want Jesus Christ to bestow His trouble upon them in taking away this temper, or that other sin, though in their hearts they have not yielded themselves utterly to His command and His keeping. It can not be. But if you will come and give your whole life into His charge, Christ Jesus is mighty to save; Christ Jesus waits to be gracious; Christ Jesus waits to fill you with His Spirit.

Will you not take the step? God grant that we may be led by His Spirit to a yielding up of ourselves to Him as never before. Will you not come in humble confession that, alas! the carnal life has predominated too much, has altogether marked you, and that you have a bitter consciousness that with all the blessing God has bestowed, He has not made you what you want to be—a spiritual man? It is the Holy Spirit alone who by His indwelling can make a spiritual man. Come then and cast yourself at God's feet, with this one thought, "Lord, I give myself an empty vessel to be filled with Thy Spirit." Each one of you sees every day at the tea table an empty cup set there, waiting to be filled with tea when the proper time comes. So with every dish, every plate. They are cleansed and empty, ready to be filled. Emptied and cleansed. Oh, come! and just as a vessel is set apart to receive what it is to contain, say to Christ that you desire from this hour to be a vessel set apart to be filled with His Spirit, given up to be a spiritual man. Bow down in the deepest emptiness of soul, and say, "Oh, God, I have nothing!" and then surely as you place yourself before Him you have a right to say, "My God will fulfill His promise! I claim from Him the filling of the Holy Spirit to make me, instead of a carnal, a spiritual Christian." If you place yourself at His feet, and tarry there; if you abide in that humble surrender and that childlike trust, as sure as God lives the blessing will come.

Oh, have we not to bow in shame before God, as we think of His whole Church and see so much of the carnal prevailing? Have we not to bow in shame before God, as we think of so much of the carnal in our hearts and lives? Then let us bow in great faith in God's mercy. Deliverance is nigh, deliverance is coming, deliverance is waiting, deliverance is sure. Let us trust; God will give it.

AM

Are you discouraged?

Satan is the author of all discouragement.

If we have turned from our sins to God, believed in the finished work
of the Lord Jesus and have called on him as Lord & savior, then God is our heavenly father. He is always on our side against sin and the devil.

Let's cast our burdens at his feet and trust him to take care of us. Phil. 4:6

There is a wonderful hymn that comes to mind.

Who can cheer the heart like Jesus, here it is.


Who can cheer the heart like Je-sus,


By His pres-ence all di-vine?


True and ten-der, pure and pre-cious,


O how blest to call Him mine!

chorus


All that thrills my soul is Je-sus;


He is more than life to me;


And the fair-est of ten thou-sand,


In my bless-ed Lord I see.

verse 2

Love of Christ so freely given,
Grace of God beyond degree,
Mercy higher than the heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea.

verse 3

What a wonderful redemption!
Never can a mortal know
How my sin, tho' red like crimson,
Can be whiter than the snow.

verse 4

Ev'ry need His hand supplying,
Ev'ry good in Him I see;
On His strength divine relying,
He is all in all to me.

verse 5

By the crystal flowing river
With the ransomed I will sing,
And forever and forever
Praise and glorify the King.


Here are some verses, that have encouraged me.

God is telling you "I've never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again, Jer. 31:3 (free paraphrase of message)

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jer. 29:11

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10

May God bless you!

The new wine

At the marriage in Cana, where Jesus was present, the
old wine ran out. The old wine was made with human
effort, over a period of many years - but it could not meet
the need. This is a parable of life under the law - the old
covenant. The old wine runs out; and the Lord has to wait
until it runs out before He can give us the new wine. "For
the Lord God says: Only in waiting for Me will you be
saved. ... but you say, We will get our help from Egypt
(human strength)! So you will be chased by your enemies.
.. And the Lord is waiting for you (to come to an end of
yourself) and to come to Him, so that He can show you
His love; He will conquer you to bless you. ... Blessed are
all those who wait for Him to help them'' (Isa. 30:15-18
Living Bible). When we have tried and tried and tried to live
in victory and failed repeatedly, this is the lesson that God
is trying to teach us: "You cannot have victory in your own
strength." As long as you are under the law, you will be
ruled by sin. The chief work that God seeks to do in each
of His children is to break down the strength of self totally.
Jesus waited for the old wine to run out, at Cana, before
He did His miracle. He is waiting now for our strength to
come to an end. All our failures and defeats are meant by
God to bring us to the end, for He can manifest His power
perfectly only in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). We can see
the strength of self in the moments of temptation and
provocation, when we react with bitter words, angry
expressions, self-justification, criticism and judgment of
others, unforgiving attitudes, a grabbing-love for material
things, fighting for our rights and our reputation, seeking
vengeance etc. These and other similar attitudes show
how strong self still is in us - the old wine has not yet run
out; and Jesus waits on the sidelines doing nothing for us.

If only we allow God to break us, if only we would humble
ourselves and gladly accept death to our rights and
reputation, how quickly He could lead us into life under
the new covenant! All the trying circumstances,
frustrations and disappointments, heartaches etc, that we
go through are meant by God to bring the strength of our
self down to zero. This was how God dealt with Job.
Finally Job reached that zero-point where lying on his face
in the dust, he said, "Lord, I am nothing. (I am zero.) ... I
lay my hand upon my mouth in silence. ... I had only
heard about you (second-hand) before, but now I have
seen you and I loathe myself and repent in dust and
ashes'' (Job 40:4;42:5,6). This is what happens when God
has finally broken us and given us a revelation of Himself.
The same Moses, who once thought himself to be so
capable (at the age of 40), when broken by the vision of
God (40 years later) says, "Lord, I can't speak. Send
someone else" (Ex. 4:10,13). The same thing happened
to the great prophet Isaiah when he saw God's glory. He
said, "My doom is sealed, for I am a foul-mouthed sinner"
(Isa. 6:5). Daniel says that when he saw the vision the
Lord gave Him, that his strength left him. He came to a
zero-point (Dan. 10:8). When the Spirit-filled apostle John,
after having walked with God for 65 years, saw Jesus on
the isle of Patmos, he fell at His feet as a dead man (Rev.
1:17). Such has always been the experience of all who
have seen the glory of the Lord! Their face is in the dust
and their mouth is shut. When God can bring us to that
place, it is but a quick task for Him to give us the new
wine, the life of Jesus, the divine nature, the pre-eminent
blessing of the new covenant sealed through the blood of
Jesus. Oh that we might all come there quickly and live in
that place - with our face in the dust before God - all our
days! For there is a development in this life from light to
light (Prov. 4:18), from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). John
speaks of "Walking in the light" (1 Jn. 1:7). There is no
standing in the light, but rather a walking - a progression
closer and closer to Him in whom there is no darkness at
all. Thus the light shines brighter and brighter upon us and
we become more and more conscious of the hidden sins
that lurk in our flesh, which we were not aware of in earlier
days; and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all those
sins.

Thus it is, that the closer we come to the Lord, the more
aware we become of sin in our own flesh, and less and
less of the sin in others around us. We no longer desire to
throw stones at the woman caught in adultery, for we are
aware in Jesus' presence, of the sin in our own flesh, and
we cry out, "O wretched man that I am", rather than "O
wretched woman that she is" (Rom. 7:24). Adam pointed
a finger at his wife, even while standing before God (Gen.
3:12). But the Lord made him aware of his own sin (3:17).
This is what the Lord will do for us too. And this is really
the test of whether we have just a religion and some
doctrines or whether we are living before the face of God
Himself. Has the wine run out in our personal life, our
married life or our assembly life? Then it is about time that
we sought the Lord's face and acknowledged our need
honestly. He alone can give us the new wine! The new
wine in Cana was not produced by human effort. It was
the supernatural work of God. So too can it be in our life.
He will write His laws in our heart and mind, making us to
will and to do His perfect will (Heb. 8:10; Phil. 2:13). He
will circumcise our hearts to love Him and cause us to
walk in His commandments (Deut. 30:6; Ezek. 36:27).
This will be as much His work as the new wine produced
in Cana was His work. This is the meaning of grace. We
cannot produce the life of Jesus - even if we try for a
lifetime. But if we bear in our body "the dying of Jesus"
(the taking up of the cross each day, the dying to our ego,
our self-will and our rights and reputation), God promises
to produce the new wine of the life of Jesus in us (2 Cor.
4:10). We are to run this race looking unto Jesus,
comparing ourselves with Him alone, all the time. Thus
alone will there be a constant cry from our hearts, "O
wretched man that I am" - for we shall be constantly
aware of how unlike Jesus we are, even when we have
come to a life of victory over conscious sin. "Those who
compare themselves with other believers are spiritual
idiots" (2 Cor. 10:12) for that is the surest way to spiritual
pride and a hundred-and-one other evils. We can never be
in danger of spiritual pride as long as our eyes are fixed
on Jesus and we compare ourselves with Him constantly.
The Holy Spirit shows us the glory of Jesus in the mirror
of God's word and then only can He conform us to that
likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). Paul said that he had only one goal
that he pressed on towards - not the conversion of the
lost, but "the upward call of God (to become like) Christ
Jesus" (Phil. 3:13,14). And then he said, "Let us who are
perfect (in our conscience, living in victory over conscious
sin) have this same attitude (of pressing on towards total
perfection, total likeness to Jesus)" (Phil. 3:15). This is
the mark of the spiritually mature Christian. Service for
God, evangelism etc, - all take a secondary place to this
goal, in the life of the mature man of God.

John also tells us that it is through such a walking in the
light of God that we can have fellowship with one another
(1 Jn. 1:7) - not only fellowship with God, but also
fellowship with other believers in perfect unity. The reason
for this is very simple. The one who is walking in the light
of God, living before God's face, will always be aware of
his own shortcomings and will be living in a constant self-
judgment, and will not have anything to accuse other
brothers of. Thus there can never be any strife between
any two brothers who are walking in this pathway. This is
the narrow way to life that, Jesus said, few find (Matt.
7:14). Judgment begins at the house of God even for the
righteous, because in God's house, God dwells in
unapproachable light (1 Pet. 4:17,18; 1 Tim. 6:6). "Who
can live with the consuming fire? ... He who walks
righteously (facing up to the truth concerning himself)"
(Isa. 33:14,15). This was the sin of the leader in the
church at Laodicea that he did not live in this constant
self- judgment (and it is easy to slip into that error when
you become a leader) and thus did not know that he was
'wretched' (Rev. 3:17). May we so live before God's face all
our days, so that we live in constant brokenness and
constant self-judgment crying out "O wretched man that I
am". Thus even when we reach the heights of holiness
that a saved sinner can reach on earth, we shall still say
(sincerely and honestly, without any false humility) "I am
the very least of all the believers. ... I am the chief of
sinners" (Eph. 3:8; 1Tim. 1:15). Thus we shall have a
fellowship with other believers who walk the same way
and gradually our mutual fellowship will become more and
more like the fellowship that the Father and the Son have
with each other (Jn. 17:21). This is the new wine Jesus
desires to give us.

ZP