It has been awhile since I last posted something. I didn’t realize it had been so long. So for now let me just post a thought from C. H. Spurgeon:

“Men are in a restless pursuit after satisfaction in earthly things. They will exhaust themselves in the deceitful delights of sin, and, finding them all to be vanity and emptiness, they will become very perplexed and disappointed. But they will continue their fruitless search. Though wearied, they still stagger forward under the influence of spiritual madness, and though there is no result to be reached except that of everlasting disappointment, yet they press forward. They have no forethought for their eternal state; the present hour absorbs them. They turn to another and another of earth’s broken cisterns, hoping to find water where not a drop was ever discovered yet.”

May we turn to Jesus Christ for our Satifiaction. For He is the living water that truly satisfies.

 Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two  sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.  What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy.  He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire.  The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning
home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians.  They were soft-spoken men of  means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of  this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine  providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn’t fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn’t. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they
paid.

– Author unkown

Many brave men and women have sacrificed their lives to give us Americans the liberty that we enjoyed. But only God’s son, Jesus, can give us true liberty.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation . . . . For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:8-11, 19). 

It is truly Christ that sets us free. He sets us free from the bondage of sin and  from the Law. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1)

Remember the liberty that Christ has given to us through His great sacrifice on the Cross.

‘Tis the season to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But what if the resurrection of Jesus Christ never took place? Paul answers that question in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a crucial element of the gospel, without it there would be serious consequences.

If there were no such thing as a physical resurrection then Christ would not be risen (v.13). And to get around such a claim, the disbelieving Corinthians probably claimed that Christ was not really a man, or was not fully a man. They would have assumed that he was divine but He could not possibly have been human, and therefore only appeared to be human. So therefore, he did not die, he only appeared to die. According to this view, His appearances between the crucifixion and the ascension were simply continuing manifestations that only seemed to be bodily.

But this does not square up with what the gospel writers, Jesus Himself, and the apostles taught. The gospel accounts of Jesus’ earthly live and ministry are of a person who was entirely human. He was born to a human mother, and He ate, drank, slept, became tired, was crucified, was stabbed, bled, and died. And at His first appearance to the Twelve after the resurrection He made the point of having them touch Him in order to prove that He was not simply a spirit.

Christ was fully human; He physically lived, died, and lived again. Therefore if there is no such thing as a physical resurrection, not even Christ has been raised.

If there be no resurrection then preaching the gospel would be vain – worthless (v.14). For the heart of the gospel is Christ’s death and resurrection “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

Apart from the resurrection, Jesus could not have conquered sin or death or hell, and those great evils would be forever man’s conquerors.

Without the resurrection the good news would be bad news, and there would be nothing worth preaching. Without the resurrection the gospel would be an empty hopeless message of meaningless nonsense. The gospel would be a sham. Unless our Lord conquered sin and death, making a way for men to follow in that victory, there is no gospel to proclaim.

Now if the gospel is a sham, so is the faith that it produced (v. 14) A dead savior could not give life. If the dead rise not, Christ did not rise, and we will not rise. If there is no resurrection than the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 would instead be the hall of the foolish. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, David, the prophets, and all the others would have been faithful for nothing. They would have been mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, afflicted, ill-treated, and put to death completely for naught. All believers of all ages would have believed for nothing, lived for nothing, and died for nothing.

If Christ be not raised, then all witnesses to the resurrection and all preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15). They would be pseudo-witnesses, claiming falsely to be from God and witnessing falsely against God that He raised Christ. To deny the resurrection is to call the apostles and every other leader of the New Testament church not simply mistaken but willfully mistaken, – liars. There is no possibility that such a mistake could have been innocent or naive.

If Christ was not raised from the dead, they not only were not sent by God with a message from Him, but were liars who would have had to conspire together in order for their lies to have been consistent and harmonized.

If the apostles, the prophets, and the New Testament writers lied about the heart of the gospel why should they be believed about anything else? Why should their moral teachings be considered inspired and lofty if they so blatantly falsified their teaching about Jesus’ resurrection? All New Testament truth stands or falls together based on the resurrection.

But also those witnesses would have testified, preached, and taught a lie for which they were maligned, beaten, imprisoned, and often martyred. Such self-sacrifice, however, is not the stuff of which charlatans are made. People do not die to preserve a lie.

And although Paul does not specifically say it, it clearly follows that if the resurrection were not true than Christ Himself lied, or at best was tragically mistaken. In either case, He hardly would have been qualified as the divine Son of God or the world’s Savior and Lord. Jesus would have not been Victor but victim. Or if the New Testament writers completely misrepresented what both Christ and the apostles taught, then the New Testament would be a worthless document that no reasonable person would trust.

If Christ be not raised, then all men would still be in their sins (v. 17).In verse 16 Paul restates his argument. A dead Christ would be the chief disastrous consequence from which all the other consequences would result. The next consequence is both personal and serious. After repeating the consequence that believers’ faith would be worthless, or vain, the apostle points to the obvious additional result that believes would be no better off spiritually than unbelievers. Christians would still be in their sins just as much as the most wicked and unbelieving pagan.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then sin won victory over Christ and therefore continues to be victorious over all men. If Jesus remained dead, then, when we die, we too will remain dead and damned.

And if we remain dead, then death and eternal punishment are the only prospects of believer and unbeliever alike.

The purpose of trusting in Christ is for forgiveness of sins, because it is from sin that we need to be saved.

If Christ was not raised, His death was in vain, our faith in Him is in vain, and our sins are still counted against us. We are still dead in trespasses and sins and will forever remain spiritually dead and sinful. If Christ was not raised, then He did not bring forgiveness of sins or salvation or reconciliation or spiritual life, either for now or for eternity.

But God did raise Jesus from the dead. “But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:24-25).

Because Jesus does live, we too shall live (John 14:19).

If Christ be not raised, then all former believers would have eternally perished (v. 18). All who fall sleep is a common euphemism for death. And if Christ is not risen then every saint, Old Testament and Christian, who had died would have forever perished. Obviously the same consequence would apply to every saint who has died since Paul wrote. That would include Paul himself, the apostles, Augstine, Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Moody, and every other believer of every other age would spend eternity in torment, without God and without hope. Their faith would be in vain, their sins soul have been unforgiven, and their destiny would be damnation.

If Christ be not raised, then Christians would be the most pitiable people on earth (v.19).In light of the other consequences, the last is obvious. Without the resurrection, and the salvation and blessings that it brings, Christianity would be pointless and pitiable. Without the resurrection we would have no Savior, no forgiveness, no gospel, no meaningful faith, no life, and no hope of any of those things.

To have hoped in Christ in this life only would be to teach, preach, suffer, sacrifice, and work entirely for nothing. If Christ is still dead, then He no only cannot help us in regard to the life to come but He cannot help us now. If He cannot grant us eternal life, he cannot improve our earthly life. If He is not alive, where would be our source of peace, joy, or satisfaction now. The Christian life would be a mockery, a charade, a tragic joke.

The Christian has no Savior but Christ, no redeemer but Christ, no Lord but Christ. Therefore, if Christ was not raised, He is not alive, and our Christian life is lifeless. We would have nothing to justify our faith, our Bible study, our preaching or witnessing, our service for Him or our worship of Him, and nothing to justify our hope either for this life or the next. We would deserve nothing but the compassion reserved for fools.

But we are not to be pitied You don’t need to worry, Christ did rise. He is risen. He is risen indeed. To God be the glory!

This month the world focuses on Love. But as Christians this focus on Love should be constant. First, “We love him, because he first loved us.” You never get over the love that God has for you. He wrote, “I love you” in the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. So, do you love Him? You love him first because He loves you, and second because He has commanded that you love Him – “ Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30). You are to love God by obeying Him – “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Therefore, you are to do all that you can to obey God, and thus show your love for Him. He showed His love for you by sending Jesus Christ to die for you on the cross (Romans 5:8). So when you think about Love this month, think about God’s love for you, and about your obedience to Him.

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”  — Eph. 6:18

In a recent Peanuts cartoon, Snoopy was pondering to himself, “I know I have a red food dish. . . . I know I have a yellow water bowl. . . . But what is a new year?”

That is a good question. What exactly is the big deal about a new year? I think the new year is like a reset button. An opportunity to forget what is past and press forward to what is ahead. Many take this opportunity to make resolutions, commitments, or goals for the new year. How about you? Have you made any goals? Have you made any spiritual goals?

One goal that I made was in the area of my prayer life. I never have met anyone who has said that they pray enough. Even those who have the most robust of prayer lives say they need to pray more. So this is probably an area of improvement that is needed for most of us.

After reading Ephesians 6:18, I came away with the thought that I must pray. I must pray at all times, with all prayer, in all perseverance, for all the saints. Another translation for “watching thereunto” could be “keep alert” or “in this be not lazy.” What a charge!

How often are we lazy about our prayer time? We allow things to crowd out prayer. We often times have a natural apathy and neglect about prayer. How seldom we pray things through.

Note only have individual Christians neglected prayer, but so have churches. What has happened to the prayer meeting? On one recent vacation, my wife and I attended a Wednesday evening church service. It happened to be no different than a Sunday service, except there was an added prayer time. After the song service, announcements, greeting and offering, the Pastor announced that we were to split up into twos and pray for ten minutes. After the ten minutes we regrouped and sang a hymn – “Sweet Hour of Prayer.” What irony?

How often have we missed the blessing of God because we do not pray. “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2)

So this year, I hope to improve my prayer life, and to have a concentrated effort of prayer in our church. Furthermore, prayer shouldn’t be important because of the answers to prayers that we may receive, but because we get to come into the presence of the King of kings and fellowship and commune with Him – our Lord and our Savior.

“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” 2 Corinthians 9:15

This verse is the perfect verse to bridge Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

Although the context of this verse is to appeal to the Corinthians to give a monetary offering; Paul is urging them to give and reminding them that they cannot out give God.

 

Do you often stop and ponder what God has given you? Paul says that it is a gift that is unspeakable or indescribable. In other words, there are no words to truly express the gratitude of the gift that God has given us.

 

Now just what is that gift that God has given us. It is His Son – Jesus Christ.

 

In one sense, God buried His son and reaped a vast harvest of those that put their faith in the resurrected Christ. Jesus is the divine gift that inspires all gifts — the gift of  God’s own Son.

 

It is indescribable that God would give his only begotten son. It is an indescribable love that drew salvation’s plan. That a holy God would humble himself to be a man and to die for sinful man’s sins.

 

It is indescribable grace. What grace that brought the plan of salvation to man. That by believing on the lord Jesus Christ, we can become the sons of God. We can have our sins forgiven; we can have eternal life; and we can have peace with God and be at peace.

 

It is indescribable the gulf that Jesus did span to reconcile God and man, and that gulf was bridged at Calvary.

 

We can never give like God gives. He has given an unspeakable gift. No man can approach the gift that God gave in giving his own son to die. Think of this for a moment. Though Christ was rich, he left heaven, left all the glory and came down as a missionary to this world. He came not only to live but to give his life to death. It was for you he came to die on the cross. He came to be brutally killed in order that you and I might have eternal life. He made his soul as a sacrifice for sin for you and for me.

 

We are told in Hebrews that he did this for the joy that was set before Him. Jesus is the wonderful glorious Savior. And we must not ever bring Him down to a lower level. He is the bright and morning star; He is the Son of God who has redeemed us; He is the unspeakable gift to you and me and that is the very apex of giving.

 

And at the very least we can give thanks.

Taste and see how good the Lord is; for taste Him we may, but we can
but taste Him while we live here. We shall not have a full
comprehension of Him till we come to see as we are seen. . . .

But how can we taste Him that is not bodily? How can we see Him that
is not visible? Not Him, indeed, but His goodness; and not His
goodness neither in itself, but in its effects; and not in its effects
neither, as they shall be, but as they are, which, God knows, is but a
small part of what they shall be.

O, then, taste and see how good the Lord is. If you would but taste
Him, you would never take pleasure in other things. If you would but
see Him, you would never delight in another object. O my soul, if you
could but taste the sweetness, if you could but see the goodness that
is in God, it would make you fall into a greater ecstasy than that of
Peter at the sight of Christ’s glory in the Mount.

(From Sir Richard Baker, MEDITATIONS AND DISQUISITIONS, cited in
PURITAN DAILY DEVOTIONAL CHRONICLES.)