Memorable proverbs - part 2
51
Suffering seasons are generally sifting seasons.
The more we fear God the less we shall fear man.
There are Christians who know little but do much, and there are Christians who do little but know much.
There are two ways in which Christ shows His perfect love: first, by coming down to earth to bear my sins; second, by going up to heaven to give me His glory.
Many will admit that Scripture contains truth, but few will accept that all that it contains is truth.
There are many dead religions but only one living Christ.
Truth is truth whatever the vessel used to convey it.
52
The world cannot rise to the level of the Christian, but the Christian can sink to the level of the world.
Corruption within the camp is much more dangerous than opposition without (compare Josh. 6 and 7).
Christendom today is infatuated with power, and indifferent about piety.
God is “slow to anger”, “ready to forgive” and “mighty to save” (Neh. 9: 17; Ps. 86: 5; Is. 63: 1).
Christians ought to have only one ambition: to be like Christ.
A Christian is always in uniform, and always on duty––always representing Christ in a Christ–less world.
Our aim should always be to hold the truth in proportion, for truth out of proportion becomes error.
With Christ you cannot lose; with the Devil you cannot win.
Where we find power is on our knees before God.
53
To refrain from sin doesn’t make us holy, but holiness makes us refrain from sin.
We master the Scriptures only when the Scriptures master us.
Sincerity is no substitute for truth.
The godly life is a life that expresses God.
The best use of time is doing the will of God.
Sin will add to your trouble, subtract from your energy and multiply your difficulties.
Service must flow from occupation with the Master.
Conscience is a safe guide only when God’s Word is the guide of the conscience.
A Christian company can either evangelise or fossilise.
54
To know Christ the living Word, is to love the Bible, the written Word.
A care for the things of Christ is the very best evidence of a saved soul.
People who think much of their humility are often the proudest people of all.
Ministry without power is words without God.
To be loved by the Son of God! Can you conceive of anything more wonderful?
Popularity is not to be our aim, success is not to be our object, results are not to be our guide––we are called to be faithful in our testimony.
Only two things ever caused the Lord to marvel: the faith of a Gentile (Matt. 8: 10) and the unbelief of the Jews (Mark 6: 6).
There is a vast difference between going to Scripture to reinforce my opinions and going to Scripture prepared to be moulded by its teaching.
55
The bigot’s mind is like the pupil of the eye: the more light you pour in, the more it contracts.
The cross of Christ is the perfect expression of the love of God.
If you trust God you shouldn’t worry yourself.
Man has turned away from God. Solemn the hour that is coming when God will turn away from man.
If we say that we are going to heaven, then we must live as if leaving earth.
Some hymns are composed in the head, others flow from the heart.
Man’s answer to sin is to try and mend the first Adam. God’s answer is to bring forward the second Adam.
Science builds everything on the assumption that there is no God; Scripture builds everything on the assumption that there is.
56
Routine Christianity can be a short and dangerous road to ritualism.
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
Judaism only produced one man who became a missionary––Jonah. In Christianity, every man should be a missionary.
The man who is not prepared to stand alone is not prepared to stand.
The same One who began His ministry with blessed, blessed, blessed (Matt 5), ended it with woe, woe, woe (Matt 23).
On the day that the Law was given, about three thousand souls perished (Ex. 32: 28); on the first day that grace was preached, about three thousand souls were saved (Acts 2: 41).
When the brain runs ahead of the heart, there is a grave risk of derailment. The two must be coupled together.
Cold prayers always freeze before they reach heaven.
There are many forms of unbelief, but one faith––faith in the Son of God.
57
Some preachers are like bad photographs—underdeveloped and overexposed.
Eternity on its own is an horrific thought. Eternity with Christ is utter bliss.
Read your Bible and pray every day—there is no simpler or better advice.
If I am religious, I look to my merits; if I am converted, I look to His mercy.
God may allow our physical health to suffer in order for our spiritual health to prosper.
It is possible to hold the position, and let go the Person.
There was once a great spiritual movement filled with godly men and women grieved at the many divisions of Christendom. They spoke much of “the ruin of the Church”. Gradually the power of the movement ebbed away and it divided into many sections—its adherents thereby learning the truth of “the ruin” amongst themselves.
58
The trials of life should make us better Christians, not bitter Christians.
When fear knocks at your heart’s door, let faith open it.
Spiritual idleness is the nest in which spiritual mischief lays its eggs.
Love in deed is love indeed!
Riches have eternal value only when we use them to bless others.
The degree of a man’s devotion to Christ can be gauged by the degree of his rejection by the world.
We must either be strangers in this world, or strangers to the next.
As man’s world crumbles, we have a hope secure: salvation in an unchanging God.
Faithfulness is always in proportion to faith, and where faithfulness breaks down, it is because faith has been dim before that.
The person who asks for a command for everything is a person who does not really want a command, and because he does not think there is one, he asks “Where is it?” He who has a truly obedience heart does not ask for a command but finds it.
59
Lust sees the bait offered, but is often blind to the hook.
Once we are redeemed, God no longer looks on our sins, but on Him who put our sins away.
Christendom is marked by an abundance of controversial theology and a dearth of practical holiness.
Heaven shall not only be all that we hoped for, but infinitely better than all our hopes.
Those that are not born again, shall one day wish they had never been born.
The dead are not only found in churchyards, but in churches too.
Saul vanquished the Ammonites, but not the Philistines whom he was raised up to overcome (1 Sam 9: 16). If people do not discharge the duty given them by God, it matters little how much else they do.
We may belong to the best of churches, and never belong to Christ.
Any fool can break things up; it takes God–given skill to build things up.
60
When you feel you have no need to pray, then you have most need to pray.
The world is like an ocean and we are like boats on that ocean. Now if the boat is in the water all is well, but if the water is in the boat it will sink. Such is the Christian and the world.
The Lord Jesus commenced His public ministry with prayer (Luke 3: 21) and He ended it with prayer (Luke 23: 34).
Living to God inwardly is the only possible means of living to Him outwardly.
Christianity is occupation with Christ, not the mere avoidance of evil.
How many of my thoughts today have come from Christ and how many from elsewhere?
Outward worldliness is simply the end result of what has been long incubating in the heart.
The moment that you think your service has become indispensable is the moment God may dispense with your service.
Some people tone down the Gospel message in consideration of ‘people’s feelings’. Better hurt feelings now, than a future lost eternity!
61
In His presence I am nothing, and He is everything.
You can walk according to the Word, or you can walk according to the world.
Christ in the midst at Calvary. Two thieves––one brought nigh, and one, oh so very, very far away!
The word Lord necessarily implies its counterpart––slave. Yet though we call him Lord, can we honestly say we act as His slaves?
Enoch walked with God. What an epitaph!
Over 500 years ago in London, a number of poor men were praying for liberty to read God’s Word. On the very spot where that prayer meeting was held stand the buildings of a bible society today. God answers prayer.
Those who have little interest in Scripture, have little interest in Christ (Luke 24: 27).
It is one thing to preach that Christ is coming soon, quite another to live as if it were so.Lot lived as if he were part of this world but Abraham was only passing through. How about you?
62
We may divide people into two great classes with regard to their treatment of the Bible: those who put the Bible above everything, and those who put something above the Bible.
When God gave His Son, He gave everything––there was nothing more He could give.
Prayer should be our first response, not our last resort.
Two or three together in subjection to God’s Word is better than two or three thousand who are not.
If you sleep spiritually, the Devil will feel able to sleep too; if you become active, the Devil will have to be active too.
We can never find strength in looking at the condition of the Church–– we must look at Christ.
Take an interest in what goes on outside your immediate circle. It is of great interest to Christ, and if your heart is right, it will be of great interest to you.
Ignorance of the truth is one thing, indifference is another.
When you cannot give time to read the Bible, remember those who gave everything so that you might have a Bible to read.
63
Salvation is totally free (Is. 55: 1), but not without cost (Luke 14: 28).
A hypocrite has God on his lips, but the world in his heart.
You may speak of a Saviour, even the Saviour, but unless you can say my Saviour, all is worthless.
Men of the world can spend a lifetime making a name for themselves. Christians ought to spend their lifetimes glorifying the Name above every name.
People often speak of serving the Lord ‘full time’. Actually, God is never interested in part–time commitment.
The more we study the Word, the more we discover our ignorance of it, and the more humble we shall be.
Adversity should make us better, not bitter Christians.
In your walk, you can be either out of step with the world, or out of step with Him.
It is possible to be in a low state and still ‘hold the truth’. To be held by the truth is quite another thing altogether.
64
Nothing shows the things of this world in their proper value like a ray from the glory where Christ is.
An inconsistent Christian is an ineffective Christian.
What we need more than anything else is individual devotion to the Lord.
Some see a dead Jew at Calvary––the Christian sees the Saviour of the world.
God’s grace is like an exhaustless deposit placed at the bank, so that all who are poor and needy may obtain “the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1: 7).
The desires of the heart reveal the state of the heart.
Divine principles in the hands of unspiritual people are like swords in the hands of drunkards.
You are either cultivating likeness to Christ or likeness to the world.
We need to pray more, read more and sing more.
All human statements must be inferior to Scripture, even when drawn from it.
Whoever fathomed the full meaning of the words ‘My Father’ (see Luke 2: 49) but Christ? And who but He sounded the depths of “My God” (Matt. 27: 46)? Yet now in grace, we have been enabled to enjoy something of the same blessed relationships (John 20: 17).
65
You can either be a glory–bound saint, or a hell–bound sinner.
You will learn nothing of value in man’s college, that cannot be learned in God’s assembly.
One man’s faithfulness is another man’s extremism. God’s view is what matters.
We may cease to have dealings with Him, but He loves us too much to cease dealing with us (Heb. 12: 7, 8).
Grace must not be dispensed at the cost of truth. Truth must not be maintained at the expense of grace.
God knows my darkest secret, yet loves me with the deepest love.
Death may or may not come; the Lord will come.
An increasing likeness to Christ is the true measure of where we are in our Christian pathway.
The attachment of the name of the Lord to something said or done does not necessarily make it Christian!
66
The Bible is a best–seller that has never been popular.
Every great revival can be traced back to a kneeling figure.
God’s servant does God’s work in God’s way for God’s glory.
He that loves little, prays little; he that loves much, prays much.
Books and sermons may be resisted, tears and entreaties despised, but a Christ–like life is not easily disregarded.
People complain because their days are few then act as though there could be no end to them.
We are born again by a supernatural birth, kept by a supernatural power, sustained on supernatural food, and taught by a supernatural teacher from a supernatural book.
My time here is utterly wasted unless I spend it on something that will outlast it.
A true servant of the Master will never be able to complain of having time on his hands. There is always work to be done––the lack is not in the work, but in the time to do it.
67
There will be no world peace without the Prince of Peace.
Man credits God with nothing, but blames Him for everything.
Giving up requires no faith; going on demands absolute dependence.
The encouragement of the saints is a service open to all––irrespective of gift or growth.
Man’s pleasures come to an end, God’s last forever (see Ps. 16: 11).
The Bible either has absolute authority, or no authority at all.
God’s love is immeasurable, but it is not unknowable.
There is one thing worse than seeking a place in this world: seeking a place above your brethren.
A servant is not judged by how busy he is, but by his obedience to the Master.
68
Those who have studied a subject for years shouldn’t expect others to accept the fruit of their studies in seconds.
It is worth a world to have an intimate eternity with Christ.
The pathway of Christ can be compressed into three words: He Humbled himself (see Phil. 2: 8).
A real revival in our hearts is always the revival of the place of Christ in our hearts.
If you have opinions you may change them; if you have convictions they will hold you.
In proportion to how much the world creeps into our lives, so Christ is pushed out.
For everything that is of God, Satan has an imitation.
A man may be outwardly blameless but inwardly barren.
What God is determines what God does, and what God does proves what God is––love.
69
True repentance is never too late, but late repentance is seldom true.
If it is worthwhile to be a Christian, it is worthwhile to be in earnest about it.
The flesh can be cultivated and reformed, but it remains the flesh, and will never do for God.
The Christian has one ambition only––to be like Christ.
If in the civil sphere there is weakness where there should be strength, in the ecclesiastical sphere there is darkness where there should be light.
It is dangerous to acquire a corporate name: God will invariably test you by it. Boast in your unity, and you are but a step from breaking up. Take pride in your orthodoxy, and you are on the road to error.
“And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaph-nath-paaneah” (Gen. 41: 45)––‘Saviour of the World’. How early is the largeness of God’s heart revealed!
He came down that I might go up, was made poor so that I might be rich, became dead so that I might live.
70
If Christ died for me, then I must live for Christ.
Some like to repeat what others have mined from the Scriptures, but never do any digging themselves.
The Gospel is not entertainment. If you get the world laughing with you, it will not be long before they are laughing at you.
In true Christianity, faith works, hope purifies and love acts, (see James 2: 18; 1 John 3: 3,16, 17).
Real testimony is not so much what we say, but what we are.
In prayer, I speak to God; in Scripture, God speaks to me. The two must go together.
Christ: your greatest lack, or your greatest possession.
It is very well to be liberal with what is my own; but if it is God’s truth then it is very presumptuous of me to be liberal with it!
71
God loved us - he could not like us. Yet He makes us what he likes - like Christ.
You cannot exaggerate, and no one has exaggerated, the grace of God.
Men can train others in theology, but only God can give gift.
Much of Christendom worships an “unknown God” (Acts 17: 23), so little is God really known.
Our service is in this world, but to be effective it must be in view of another, better world.
Read the “word of truth” (James 1: 18) written by the “Spirit of truth” (John 16: 13) with a prayerful desire to know “the truth” (John 14: 6).
The more you study Scripture, the more you become aware of your ignorance.
The worldling trusts in the limited resources of this world. Faith trusts in the limitless resources of God.
72
The grand business of the evangelist is to bring the soul and Christ together. The business of the teacher and the pastor is to keep them together.
Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.
When led of the Spirit, the child of God must be as ready to wait as to go, and as prepared to be silent as to speak.
Let the fact of what our Lord suffered for you grip you, and you will never be the same again.
No one ever lost out by excessive devotion to Christ.
If lips and life do not agree, your testimony will not amount to much.
Church history: a record of man’s failure and God’s grace.
Christ can be your substitute––but you cannot substitute anything for Christ.
John was a "burning and shining lamp" (John 5: 35). A true servant, he burnt himself out for Christ.
Excommunicating the wicked man was a big test of the obedience of the Corinthian saints. Welcoming him back was an even greater test.
73
Man always underestimates God.
At Calvary everything is laid bare––what man is, what sin is, and, wonderful fact, what God is.
To believe that God is––that He exists––is not the same as believing God––what He has said.
We should mine the Scriptures––get beneath the surface. Superficial knowledge produces superficial Christians.
It is a greater sin to practically deny the Holy Spirit His place in the Assembly whilst accepting the doctrine, than to resist it doctrinally alone.
Grace teaches as well as saves (Titus 2: 11, 12), and if we are not coloured by its lessons, it is not likely we have experienced its salvation.
Indifference to the Gospel is just as much a rejection of it as outright hostility.
God is quick to bless, but slow to judge.
74
Christians are like coals of fire––together they glow, apart they grow cold.
Lot got a place in the world, but paid for it with his family.
Backsliding always begins with the heart.
That Christ died is just history; that he died for me is salvation.
From the sinner God demands repentance; from the saint He demands reality.
At conversion, I get a change of heart, a change of master and a change of home.
As we grow spiritually, sins seem darker and God’s salvation brighter.
The ecumenical movement is unity without the Spirit.
A man is not judged by the darkness he cannot help but by the light he refuses.
75
A broad path means a broad conscience not a broad heart.
The flesh in a believer is exactly the same as the flesh in an unbeliever.
Science tells us that in the beginning there was nothing out of which came everything. The Bible tells us that God was in the beginning and made everything.
Many Christians were persecuted in the past. Some are still being persecuted in the present. None of us knows what the future holds for us before the Lord comes.
God never records the past, nor reveals the future, without desiring to affect us in the present.
Think nothing of yourself––but never forget how much God thought of you.
Satan is never so dangerous as when he comes to us with a Bible in his hand.
The eye must be on Christ. Not on Christianity, but on Christ.
Nothing on earth can justify the neglect of communion with heaven.
76
In spiritual things it is not what we know but what we actually possess that enriches our souls.
History can relate what has been. Speculation can guess what may be. God alone can reveal what shall be.
In the Church we are either a help or a hindrance––we cannot be neither.
Live today in the light of standing before God tomorrow.
The Dead Sea receives but never gives––hence its deadness. May it not be a picture of you or me!
Man wants proof of the existence of God. Everything around us is proof––if we have eyes to see it.
We have more than enough to occupy us in revelation without indulging in speculation.
In the Church some do everything, some do anything and some do nothing. Our place should really be to do his bidding––nothing less and nothing more.
The measure in which we love the brethren is the measure in which we love the Lord. That there has been such a breakdown in brotherly relations tells its own story.
77
Untold millions are perishing––untold about salvation.
Complacency is the enemy of the Church and the friend of Satan.
The thing we need above all else is to be prayed for. It is the greatest thing we can do for one another.
God is for us (see Rom. 8: 31). Would that we believed it more.
The enemy does not care what you believe, so long as you do not believe God.
You can only measure the departure from the truth by being acquainted with what things were like at the beginning.
Some are occupied with past glories; our eyes are to be on future glories.
You cannot be occupied with Him without being occupied with the needs of others.
In Christ there was the perfect setting forth of God to man, and also the perfect setting forth of man to God.
The Bible is no ordinary book: to properly understand it, you must know its author.
Law compels, but Grace attracts.
78
This world is a small thing when compared to the vastness of the universe, but it is not a small thing that God has done upon it.
Christianity is not so much what I say or what I do, but what I am––am I like Him?
The best thing becomes the worst thing if it is corrupted.
Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you (see James 4: 8).
There is a world of difference between being zealous for the truth and hunting out error.
The more you give, the more you will receive.
I may not believe in God, but my unbelief does not alter His existence.
We hear a great deal about the power of the Spirit but see very little of the fruit of the Spirit.
79
My career, if I am true to my calling, is Christ, and everything else must be subjected to that.
Some people quote Scripture, others live it.
Friends, family and brethren fail us. God will never fail us.
Fellowship is most appreciated by those who have known what it is not to have it.
The Scriptures are an exhaustless mine of precious jewels.
When service becomes the be all and end all it ceases to be service in the true and worthwhile sense.
Gift in a meeting is no substitute for love.
What you display in your character is the greatest part of your testimony.
How much we fear God will be seen in how we handle the Scriptures.
Some conform themselves to the fashion of the world. others conform themselves to the traditions of the Church. You and I are to be conformed to Christ and His Word.
80
The Christian’s business in life is to magnify Christ––not his purse, or his tailor or himself.
There is a difference between speaking the truth from the head, and speaking it from the heart.
Some serve with a view to being recognised; others serve knowing they will be rejected.
When a man thinks he has become wise, he is, in reality, only ripening into a fool.
Dying people speak of being ‘ready to go’. As living people, we should be just as equally ‘ready to go’.
Some preach to entertain, others to educate, and many simply to moralize. A true Gospel preacher preaches to save.
What catches the eye in a magazine are the pictures not the words. Christianity is no different––people notice the ‘pictures’ of our lives far more than our words.
I may be a good actor or orator. I may be well-meaning, and I may know my stuff. the key question I must answer, however, before standing up to preach the Glad Tidings is 'Am I sent from God'?
Some people weep in the gospel just as readily as they do in the cinema.
81
A crooked generation needs a straight and narrow way.
God’s principles may first be relaxed, and then ignored, before finally being despised.
As a Christian I must think like Christ, talk like Christ, and act like Christ.
What Satan cannot destroy he will discredit.
The evidence may be undeniable, but science will still deny God.
Some read the Bible out of habit; better to read it on account of hunger.
What I am at home is a far better measure of my faith than what I am in ‘church’.
Love covers a multitude of sins; human nature delights in exposure.
In Christ there is no condemnation, under the law there was nothing but condemnation.
He who was the apostle of the enmity of man, became the apostle of the grace of God.
82
First pure, then peaceable is God’s order; first peaceable, then pure is Satan’s order.
To introduce musical instruments into the service of God because we cannot sing well is really only to make things more pleasant for ourselves, and not for the Lord who knows our hearts.
God saves us from Satan (Col. 1: 13) from the world (Gal. 1: 4) and from sin (Rom. 7: 24).
A true preacher speaks as of God, before God, and in Christ (see 2 Cor. 2: 17).
Truth without love is like sunshine without warmth: just as the one cannot melt snow, so the other cannot melt hearts.
If God says it, then that settles it, and I must believe it.
For the soul trusting in Christ for salvation, the chasm between himself and God has not been bridged––it has been removed.
True Christianity is a living relationship with Christ––it is not simply a pious manner of life, however close it might seem to the NT pattern.
83
God is far more ready to hear than we are to ask.
To see His face is the deepest longing of His people. To be hid from His face (see Rev. 6: 16) will be the one desire of those left behind for judgment.
Men can only see our public side; God sees our private side––what we are really like.
If we expect great things of the brethren, then we shall often be disappointed. If we expect great things of the Lord we shall never be disappointed.
There are three mighty kings in Daniel 6. But neither the King of Persia, nor the King of Beasts could touch Daniel while he was in the care of the King of Kings,
It is in times of pressure that we find out how much we really know God.
Travel on the broad, downward road is easy. Travel on an upward, narrow path is difficult.
The moment of triumph is the moment of greatest danger. Thus while division over fundamental doctrine was averted in the early part of Acts 15, Satan succeeded in dividing God’s servants from one another in the latter part of the chapter––and for much less serious reasons.
We are left here to represent Christ. Our lives will either glorify Him or bring Him into disrepute, shed light or cast shadow.
84
In 1 Cor. 15: 9, Paul describes himself as “the least of the apostles”, in Eph. 3: 8 he is “less than the least of all saints”, and finally, in 1 Tim. 1: 15 he is the chief of sinners.
In God’s race, you should arrive at the end fitter than when you began.
Familiarity can interfere with our sense of wonder at all that God has done. Take time to reflect on ‘Amazing grace’.
Anyone can act out passages of Scripture––but we are to act them out in the power of God.
When Athanasius wrote his faithful statement of truth, he was told ‘The whole world is against you’. He answered ‘Then I am against the world!’ Are we ready for that?
Abraham had a stand–alone faith. Lot’s faith was somewhat second–hand and he went wrong the moment he stood alone.
This world’s books are soon read. The Bible is the only book you can never finish.
As we get older, sin should appear more awful, grace should be more wonderful, and our thanks more wholehearted.
Some churches are obsessed with making rules, others believe in a kind of ‘pious’ anarchy. God’s Assembly has its own house–law (see 1 Tim. 3: 15). We are not to add or take away from it.
There is only one fellowship in Scripture––the fellowship of God’s Son (see 1 Cor. 1: 9). That being so, I cannot see we have any licence in the Word for speaking of any other fellowship. It is to His fellowship that we are called, and everything else is vain. Let us shrink from even giving the slightest impression of having in our minds anything less than the divine thought.
85
It is one thing to be a disciple of God’s greatest servant (see John 1: 35–37), quite another to be a disciple of Christ.
‘I haven’t got time’ is a feeble excuse with regards to the Lord’s things. We must make time.
I have never met a soul in the good of the things of Christ who did not enjoy singing.
We do not know “what a day may bring forth” (Prov. 27: 1), but we do “know that all things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8: 28).
In natural things, growth leads to independence. With the Christian, growth leads him to become ever more dependent on God.
Each individual ant is a tireless worker for the good of the whole colony. Similarly, self–interest ought to be foreign to a member of Christ’s body.
If the Bible has its true place in our lives, then so will Christ. If Christ has His true place in our lives, then so will the Bible.
The Lord must not only be important in our lives - He must be the centre-piece.
86
There is no reward from God to those who seek it from men.
Creation speaks of a designer, but Calvary speaks of a Saviour.
My ministry may be small, but in God’s eyes, never insignificant.
Our greatest lack is not enthusiasm for the Gospel, or understanding of the Scriptures, but personal acquaintance with Christ.
‘Is He coming?’ is a question followed by another: ‘Am I ready?’
Building up requires patience and skill. Breaking up requires neither.
Natural sunshine is invigorating. See if you can bring a little bit of spiritual sunshine into someone else’s life.
If God passes us through hardship, it is often because our hearts need softening.
With each passing year, the spiritual darkness around us only deepens. How cheering then to know that the day is at hand!
87
The Lord Jesus was born of a virgin––his mother had never known a man. He rode into Jerusalem on an ass upon which no man had ever sat before. Finally, He was laid to rest in a new tomb where no man had ever been laid (see Luke 1: 34; Mark 11: 2; Luke 23: 53)
Satan’s ministers of unrighteousness are often easily discerned but what about his ministers of righteousness? (see 2 Cor. 11: 15)
Man’s judgment of his ‘progress’ differs radically from God’s––civilisation is merely the refinement of sin.
If you neglect feeding upon the Bible––the Word of God––then you will inevitably lack spiritual power. Energy comes from food.
God never judges persons until their consciences have first judged them. The Lord did not drive the first man out of paradise until the man fled from His presence. Adam fled to hide himself from God, and God only sentenced him afterwards to what his own conscience had already sentenced him.
Christ should not be a small part of our lives, but nor a large part either. He is to be our life (see Phil. 1: 21).
This world is like a sandbank—shifting, unstable and dangerous. Put your trust in God’s rock—Christ.
88
There might be thousands of lambs but it was still the Passover. Similarly, there might be thousands of loaves, but it is still the Lord’s Supper.
The object of pressure is to bring me into company with the Lord.
We judge acts, God alone judges motives.
God can use my body but not my will.
If punishment of sin is not necessary and the benevolence of God alone could have met my case, then plainly Christ need not have died at all.
“God is love” (1 John 4: 16) does not mean ‘God is indifferent to evil’.
Unity is not so much on the basis of one body as of one head.
Holding fast requires spiritual energy, giving up requires no energy at all.
89
If you do not pray, then you are like a man who had a friend but never spoke to him. If you do not read your Bible, then you are like a man who wouldn’t let his friend speak to him.
Abiding in a company may come naturally; abiding in Christ does not.
We can fool ourselves that our home is in heaven, but if our lives speak otherwise, then the world is not fooled.
As men see things, the ministry of John the Baptist ended in abject failure. The all–important judgment of Christ, however, was that he bore “witness to the truth” (John 5: 33).
The Lord Jesus drank a cup of sorrow alone so that we might share a cup of joy with Him.
Both looking back and looking ahead can have an effect on our living now. Both, too, can affect us for good or bad.A personal relationship with the Saviour is a pressing need for the saint as well as the sinner.
As the day draws to its end, and the shadows of evil close around us, let us not forget that another, better day is coming.
In a desperate hour for his country, Winston Churchill offered nothing but blood, toil, tears and sweat. The language is also remarkably apt in describing the Christian’s passage through a dark and hostile world.
90
If we hold fast the head, we shall hold each other.
The Bible is a rock from which all the hammers of criticism have never chipped a single fragment.
If the Bible is trustworthy, then we must take seriously its claim to be more than trustworthy.
“It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in man” (Ps. 118: 8).
Getting a prediction right did not make a man a prophet in biblical terms. The test was far more stringent––he was never to get it wrong (see Deut. 18: 22).
If the earth got out of right relation with the Sun, disaster would be the inevitable result. So it is with Christ and the Assembly.Men have their heroes – Christians are to be “imitators of God” (Eph. 5: 1).
Every believer is a priest and has direct access by the Spirit to God in prayer and praise. Show me a religious system that is not designed to thwart that access.
When Abraham and Isaac went to worship (see Gen. 22: 5) what was their focus? Death - the death of one that was loved!
91
“This man receives sinners” (Luke 15: 2).You can sneer at it, laugh at it, or thank God for it.
You may depend upon it that Scripture puts things far better than we can. It is much better to accept things as Scripture puts them than as we think they should be.
A doctrine cannot be proved by the number of its adherents, or by the length of time during which it has been received.
Strange fire (see Lev. 10: 1), in the present day, is whatever is not of the Holy Spirit.
The Father: “No one can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him” (John 6: 44). The Son: “No one comes to the Father unless by me” (John 14: 6). The Holy Spirit: “no one can say, Lord Jesus, unless [in the power of the] Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12: 3).
Only those who worship within the veil, can live outside the camp.
If, like Lot, you have a tent without an altar, you will soon give up the tent.
There was no inventing in Eden for there was no need.
It takes a funeral to bring the Lord's people together these days - sadly, the showing forth of His death will not do it.
92
What God scatters, the devil unites; what God unites, the devil scatters.
We do not know what the future holds, but we know the One who holds the future.
Musical instruments, “lifeless things giving a sound” (1 Cor. 14: 7) originated with the line of Cain. Not until God’s people were redeemed (see Ex. 15) do we read of singing.
“A morning without clouds” (2 Sam. 23: 4)––when the glory of Christ can shine unhindered.
Attendance at the prayer meeting is a measure of our dependence.
Trials can bring the best out of us or the worst, what is of the Spirit, or what is of the flesh.
Critics come and go, but the Bible remains.
‘Just a forgiven sinner’ is man’s thought, not God’s. Man thinks only of mercy, God thinks also of grace (comp. Luke 15: 22–23).
The Bible presents Adam, the first man, as historic (see Gen. 5: 3; Luke 3: 38). Christians should not fall into the trap of using the expression "prehistoric man".
93
Worship is now entertainment, evangelism merely a branch of marketing, and conversion a question of meeting God on my own terms. What will be the end of these things?
“I will not leave thee”—wonderful promise—“I will not be afraid”—wonderful faith (Heb. 13: 5, 6).
Be wary of any Christian who reacts negatively to the Word of God—particularly those in positions of leadership.
God desires my blessing—that is a thought that bears much meditation.
If the Lord Himself ceases to be the object of ministry then some form of compromise will inevitably follow.
The understanding of Scripture depends as much on what is in the heart as on what is in the head, if not more so.
Some cause trouble and others avoid it. The way of faith is to face trouble and pursue peace.
The best ‘theological college’ is among the saints—reading the Bible together, praying together and worshipping together.
94
“For you”––there is His love; “in remembrance of me”––here is our response to it (1 Cor. 11: 24).
If you divorce the Gospel from the Church you will get evangelicalism rather than Scriptural Christianity.
One stone cannot make a building, nor do stones choose their own place in the building (see 1 Pet. 2: 5).
In Christianity there is a unity, not of a nation, and not only of family, but of the members of one body.
It is said that we are to accept lower standards today because circumstances are different to those our fathers experienced. Follow the logic through and we have a recipe for ever lower standards as each generation passes!
People speak about believing in God, but the Gospel really goes deeper than that. It is do you believe God ––believe what He has said?
God dwells not only in a “high and holy [place]” but also “with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (Is. 57: 15). We neglect this side of our Christian character to our loss.
95
What cannot be proved from Scripture cannot be necessary for our salvation.
The more we count our blessings, the more we realise that they are uncountable.
Sometimes we think that God isn't doing much in our day. We need to look behind the scenes.
Not only could we not pay the price of sin, we could not even measure the cost.
Increasingly, things are done, not because they are in the Bible, but because other Christians are doing them. The test is no longer ‘Is it Scriptural?’, but ‘Is it fashionable?’
Sight may have a reward but only in this world. Faith has a certain and glorious reward in the next.
‘What can I do?’ is not the same question as ‘What wilt thou have me to do?’
Relax and you will always give up. Holding fast requires constant, unremitting effort.
We live in strange times. To be in step with the Lord may involve being out of step with his people, being in step with His Word being out of step with their words.
96
Truth cannot live without warfare in a world away from God.
There is nothing more uplifting than to meet a soul who loves Christ.
Gift and spirituality are quite separate and distinct.
Not only could we not pay the price of sin, we could not even measure the cost.
That He offered Himself (see Heb. 9: 14) is wonderful beyond words. That such a One could do such a thing!
Following the herd is not the same as following the Shepherd.
The Word of God is like an arch of bricks. Knock out one brick and you never know which one will go next.
A house doesn’t fall apart overnight. It only does so because of years of neglect. So it is with things ecclesiastical.97
The world is ripe for judgment. Is the Church ripe for rapture?
If you believe the Gospel is good news, how can you keep it to yourself?
How much there is to give God thanks for: what He has done for us, what He has done in us and what He has promised to us.
Tell me what you know of Christ and I will tell you where you are as to your Christian experience.
The Lord’s day is the LORD’S day, whether you are on holiday or at home.
If churches cannot get people in, then “Go into all the world” (Mark 16: 15) might be the answer.
God loved the world (see John 3: 16), the Father loves the Son (see John 3: 35) and Christ loved the assembly (see Eph. 5: 25).
In the thirty years of His private life Christ set forth what a man was to God; in the three years of public ministry He set forth what God was to man.
We once heard a Christian remark of another, with gravity and a tinge of sadness, ‘Well, if we could buy that brother at the price we put upon him, and sell him again at the price he puts upon himself, we would make a huge profit!’
98
‘Someone advised me to’ will not sound good at the judgment seat of Christ! We need more personal communion with God.
It is one thing to be full of what you can do for Christ; it is better to be full of Christ.
Men preach tolerance until they are faced with biblical truth—at which point they become markedly intolerant.
We ought not to read Scripture as a formal task or duty but out of hunger.
A shared ecclesiastical history is an inadequate basis on which to form links of fellowship.
To be an ambassador for Christ you need to have been sent from the court of the King. Speaking for Christ is not the same as speaking on His behalf.
The same apostle who was used so that “all that inhabited Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 19: 10), lived to pen the sad lament that “all who [are] in Asia ... have turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1: 15).
The flesh may set up to be energetic in service, to be profound in humility, to be intelligent in the things of God or to be devoted to Christ, but it will always break down.
