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He Lived and Died Well! – Michael Clarke’s Testmiony

Forgiven — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:33:04 +0000

The Real Christmas Story

Forgiven — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:54:26 +0000

Sapphire paved courts for stable floor!

Forgiven — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:43:33 +0000

Have you ever thought about what it meant for God to leave heaven and come to be born as a poor baby? Life for poor people in Jesus’ day was not exactly easy! Poor people didn’t earn much anyway, and then they had to pay the taxes. Taxes were high! I mean reallyhigh! Farming was pretty much the only way most people earned money, and just to begin with, people had to pay about 50% of what they earned in taxes to the government. On top of that there was the “poll” tax, where every second year they had to pay 1/4 of what they had made to the Romans! If that wasn’t enough, King Herod (the “Great”) – you know – the mad one who liked to build a lot, had to pay for his building projects somehow! He had a ruthlessly efficient system for collecting taxes from the poor people, that made life unimaginably intolerable! For some reason the rich didn’t seem to pay taxes very much!!! Meanwhile poor people died of malnutrition during famine times… even in Jerusalem!

When Herod finally died in 4 BC, the people started a revolution, and – you guessed it – that brought the cruel might of the Roman army down on them… with full force! People all around Nazareth, where Jesus was to grow up, had been caught up in a bloody war! Brothers and fathers had been butchered. Homes burned. Crops spoiled. Poor villages pillaged.
Whenever I think of a typical crib scene, you know the ones, with three wise men bowing, Mary and Joseph standing around, a donkey… then baby Jesus lying on a bed of straw, it all looks so cosy! Of course, nobody really knows what it was like, but I think you can guess, not many people were feeling sentimental!
The great question is… why did he do it ?!

Why should Jesus come to live among the poor? We know Mary and Joseph continued to live as poor people, since when they presented the sacrifices for Jesus at the Temple, they had to bring a couple of birds… and couldn’t even afford a lamb! Without a doubt, they lived a hard, hard life… that’s very hard for us to imagine! Daily life for them would have meant suffering!
So why did he do it? Why should he suffer? Think about it! Would you choose to go and live somewhere where every day means hard hard work, just to scrape together enough to survive? Where there is no real chance of ever improving things for yourself? Would you do that, if you had the chance to live in comfort forever instead?

This is the Christmas story… that “He came down to earth from heaven, who is Lord and God of all!” Jesus became poor for us! Of course the end of the story is that he did a lot more than become poor! In fact, he even gave up his life – dying on a cross – so that we could have eternal life! Even so, his suffering did not begin on the cross… but from the first day of his life, he knew exactly what it is like to live in a rotten-old-world! He did that, so that people like us… ordinary people… could be saved from our sins! What a joy, to know that when this world is over… it will be heaven to come for everyone who repents of sin and trusts in Him!

Two thousand years ago… the angels were singing at the sight of the really Great King, lying in a manger… the Great Creator… come down to be the Saviour! Now my heart is singing with them at the thought! How would you feel if someone had given up everything to buy you the most amazing Christmas present? Yet that thought doesn’t even come close to what Jesus has done… since Jesus didn’t only give everything up… but he took my place and took the blow from all of God’s anger with my sin!
May this Christmas be a time of singing in your heart as you see your sins taken away by the one who, as the Bible says, “became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

By Tom Drion – Pastor at Grace Life London, in London, England.

Look to Jesus! – Robert M McCheyne!

Forgiven — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:48:50 +0000

A letter of Robert McCheyne to a person who he never met, but whose case was brought before him.
MY DEAR FRIEND, — I do not even know your name, but I think I know something of the state of your soul. Your friend has been with me, and told me a little of your mind; and I write a few lines just to bid you look to Jesus and live. Look at Num. 21:9, and you will see your disease and your remedy. You have been bitten by the great serpent. The poison of sin is through and through your whole heart, but Christ has been lifted up on the cross that you may look and live. Now, do not look so long and so harassingly at your own heart and feelings. What will you find there but the bite of the serpent? You were shapen in iniquity, and the whole of your natural life has been spent in sin. The more God opens your eyes, the more you will feel that you are lost in yourself. This is your disease. Now for the remedy. Look to Christ; for the glorious Son of God so loved lost souls, that He took on Him a body and died for us—bore our curse, and obeyed the law in our place. Look to Him and live. You need no preparation, you need no endeavours, you need no duties, you need no strivings, you only need to look and live. Look at John 17:3. The way to be saved is to know God’s heart and the heart of Jesus. To be awakened, you need to know your own heart. Look in at your own heart, if you wish to know your lost condition. See the pollution that is there—forgetfulness of God, deadness, insensibility to his love. If you are judged as you are in yourself, you will be lost. To be saved, you need to know the heart of God and of Christ. The four Gospels are a narrative of the heart of Christ. They show his compassion to sinners, and his glorious work in their stead. If you only knew that heart as it is, you would lay your weary head with John on his bosom. Do not take up your time so much with studying your own heart as with studying Christ’s heart. “For one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ!”
Look at Rom. 15:13. That is my prayer for you. You are looking for peace in striving, or peace in duties, or peace in reforming your mind; but ah! look at his word. “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” All your peace is to be found in believing God’s word about his Son. If for a moment you forget your own case altogether, and meditate on the glorious way of salvation by Christ for us, does your bosom never glow with a ray of peace? Keep that peace; it is joy in believing. Look as straight to Christ as you sometimes do at the rising or setting sun. Look direct to Christ.
You fear that your convictions of sin have not been deep enough. This is no reason for keeping away from Christ. You will never get a truly broken heart till you are really in Christ.—See Ezek. 36:25–31. Observe the order: First, God sprinkles clean water on the soul. This represents our being washed in the blood of Christ. Then He gives “a new heart also.” Thirdly, He gives a piercing remembrance of past sins. Now, may the Lord give you all these! May you be brought as you are to the blood of the Lamb! Washed and justified, may He change your heart—give you a tender heart, and his Holy Spirit within your heart; and thus may He give you a broken heart for your past sins.
Look at Rom. 5:19. By the sin of Adam, many were made sinners. We had no hand in Adam’s sin, and yet the guilt of it comes upon us. We did not put out our hand to the apple, and yet the sin and misery have been laid at our door. In the same way, “by the obedience of Christ, many are made righteous.” Christ is the glorious One who stood for many. His perfect garment is sufficient to cover you. You had no hand in his obedience. You were not alive when He came into the world and lived and died; and yet, in the perfect obedience, you may stand before God righteous. This is all my covering in the sight of a holy God. I feel infinitely ungodly in myself: in God’s eye, like a serpent or a toad; and yet, when I stand in Christ alone, I feel that God sees no sin in me, and loves me freely. The same righteousness is free to you. It will be as white and clean on your soul as on mine. Oh, do not sleep another night without it! Only consent to stand in Christ, not in your poor self.
I must not weary you. One word more. Look at Rev. 22:17. Sweet, sweet words! “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” The last invitation in the Bible, and the freest,—Christ’s parting word to a world of sinners! Any one that pleases may take this glorious way of salvation. Can you refuse it? I am sure you cannot. Dear friend, be persuaded by a fellow-worm not to put off another moment. Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.
You are sitting, like Hagar, within reach of the well. May the Lord open your eyes, and show you all that is in Christ! I pray for you, that you may spiritually see Jesus and be glad—that you may go to Him and find rest. Farewell.—Yours in the Lord, etc.

McCheyne, R. M., & Bonar, A. A. (1894). Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne (238–240). Edinburgh; London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier.

Vain Pursuits and Solomon’s Mistake

Forgiven — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:26:49 +0000

Here are two quotes from Nathan Busenitz Book – Men of The Word.

This is from the section on the life of Solomon, and it would do us good to take heed and learn from his life.

What a reminder for those of us today who life in a world consumed by the American sewam. We are told that we can accomplish anything we want if we just work hard enough, and then we will be happy and fulfilled. But does satisfaction await us at the top of the corporate ladder or in the achievement of our goals and ambitions? Solomon’s answer to that question was an unmistakable NO! After a lifetime of amazing accomplishments, he came to the end of the rainbow expecting to find a treasure chest of happiness. But, as he himself testified, it was just a mirage.

Solomon’s testimony serves as a somber warning and a timely reminder for us today. As he learned the hard way, the more we search for life outside of God, the more we will experience disappointment and emptiness within our hearts. Life lived apart from God is the height of vanity. But life lived in fellowship with him is the sweetest and most fulfilling experience possible. Ironically, the wisest man who ever lived ended his search at the very place where we should begin ours: with the recognition that the pursuit of true happiness is the pursuit of God Himself!

Quotes on Sin, Life, Death and Love!

Forgiven — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 01:13:39 +0000

Sin is the dare of God’s Justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, and the contempt of his love. John Bunyan …

Sin hath the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages. – Thomas Watson

A holy man knows that all sin strikes at the holiness of God, the glory of God, the nature of God, the being of God, and the Law of God; and therefore his heart rises against all; he looks upon every sin as the scribe and Pharisees that accused Christ; and as that Judas that betrayed Christ, and as those soldiers that scourged Christ; and as those spears that pierced Christ! – Thomas Brooks

Take heed of secret sins. They will undo thee if loved and maintained: one month may spoil the garment; one leak drown the ship; a penknife stab and kill a man as well as a sword; so one sin may damn the soul; nay there is more danger of a secret sin causing the miscarrying of the soul than open profaneness because not so obvious to the reproofs of the world; therefore take heed that secret signings eat not out of good beginnings – Jerimiah Burroughs

He hideth our unrighteousness with his righteousness, he covereth our disobedience with his obedience, he shadoweth our death with his death, that the wrath of God can not find us. – Henry Smith

Mans life is so short, that Austin doubteth weather to call it a dying life or a living death. Man’s life is but the shadow of smoke, the dream of a shadow – Thomas Brooks

Let us keep our eyes steadily upon the goal…For when we hear the shout from the skies, all else will fade into utter nothingness. For the Lord shall descend – from heaven with a shout. Even so, come, Lord Jesus – Dr Jaffray

Francia Gamba, the martyr burned at the stake in 1554, was presented with a wooden cross by a monk but rejected it saying: “My mind is so full of the real merits of Christ as I die that I want not a piece of senseless stick to put me in mind of him.”

Calconis, who died about 108 a.d, had been a pagan but witnessing the martyrdom of two Christians, was so impressed by their wonderful patience under terrible sufferings, that he shouted with admiration “Great is the God of the Christians”

Immediately he, too, was struck down and died.

It is the manner of God, throughout the scriptures, to defer Judgments a long while before they come, and when they come he sends them by degrees. – Walter Cradock

Life is an excellency added to being – Thomas Goodwin

Christ has not come to possess our brains with some cold opinions that send down a freezing and benumbing influence into our hearts. Christ was a master of the life, not of the school; and he is the best Christian whose heart beats with the purest pulse towards heaven, not he whose head spins the finest cobweb. Ralph Cudworth

We are never nearer Christ than when we find ourselves lost in a holy amazement at his unspeakable Love!- John Owen

Love is the only thing in which we can retaliate with God. If God be angry with us, we must not be angry again; if He Chide us, we must not chide Him again; but if God Loves us, we must Love Him again. There is nothing in which we can answer God again, but love. We must not give him word for word, but we must give him love for love. – Thomas Watson

A greater hell I would not wish any man, than to Live and not love the beloved of God – Thomas brooks

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. – Jesus Christ!!

Sir…May I go within the veil ?

Forgiven — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:47:13 +0000

I really enjoyed this so much that I had to borrow it from Jared’s Blog…Read on and you’ll see why.

This is taken from an illustration in John Phillips’ Exploring Hebrewscommentary that has always moved me.

Imagine with me a Moabite of old gazing down upon the Tabernacle of Israel from some lofty hillside. This Moabite is attracted to what he sees so he descends the hill and makes his way toward the Tabernacle.

He walks around this high wall of dazzling linen until he comes to a gate and at the gate, he sees a man. “May I go in there?” he asks, pointing to the gate where all the bustle of activity in the Tabernacle’s outer court can be seen.

“Who are You?” demands the man suspiciously.

“I’m from Moab,” the stranger replies.

“Well, I’m very sorry, but you can’t go in there. You see, it’s not for you. The Law of Moses has barred the Moabite from any part in the worship of Israel until his tenth generation.”

The Moabite looks so sad and said, “Well, what would I have to do to go in there?”

“You would have to be born again,” the gatekeeper replies. “You would have to be born an Israelite, of the tribe of Judah, or of the tribe of Benjamin or Dan.”

“Oh, I wish I had been born an Israelite,” the Moabite says and as he looks again, he sees one of the priests, having offered a sacrifice at the brazen altar and the priest cleansed himself at the brazen laver and then the Moabite sees the priest enter the Tabernacle’s interior. “What’s in there?” asks the Moabite. “Inside the main building, I mean.”

“Oh,” the gatekeeper says, “That’s the Tabernacle itself. Inside it contains a lampstand, a table, and an altar of gold. The man you saw was a priest. He will trim the lamp, eat of the bread upon the table and burn incense to the living god upon the golden altar.”

“Ah,” sighs the Moabite, “I wish I were an Israelite so that I could do that. I would so love to worship God in there and help to trim the lamp and offer Him incense and eat bread at that table.”

“Oh, no, the gatekeeper hastens to say, “even I could not do that. To worship in the holy place one must not only be born an Israelite, one must be born of the tribe of Levi and of the family of Aaron.”

The man from Moab sighs again, “I wish that I had been born of Israel of the tribe of Levi of the family of Aaron,” and then, as he gazes wistfully at the closed Tabernacle door, he says, “What else is in there?”

“Oh, there’s a veil. It’s a beautiful veil I’m told and it divides the Tabernacle in two. Beyond the veil is what we call ‘the Most Holy Place’… ‘the Holy of Holies.’”

“What’s in the Holy of Holies?” the Moabite asks.

“Well, there’s the sacred chest in there and it’s called the Ark of the Covenant. It contains holy memorials of our past. Its top is gold and we call that the mercy seat because God sits there between the golden cherubim. Do you see that pillar of cloud hovering over the Tabernacle? That’s the Shekinah glory cloud. It rests on the mercy,” said the gatekeeper.

Again, a look of longing comes over the face of the Moabite man. “Oh,” he said, “if only I were a priest! How I would love to go into the Holy of Holies and gaze upon the glory of God and worship Him there in the beauty of His holiness!’

“Oh no!” said the man at the gate. “You couldn’t do that even if you were a priest! Only the high priest can enter the Most Holy Place. Only he can go in there. Nobody else!”

The heart of the man from Moab yearns once more. “Oh,” he cried, “If only I had been born an Israelite, of the tribe of Levi, of the family of Aaron. If only I had been born a high priest! I would go in there every day! I would go in there three times a day! I would worship continually in the Holy of Holies!”

The gatekeeper looked at the man from Moab again and once more shook his head. “Oh now,” he said, “you couldn’t do that! Even the high priest of Israel can go in there only once a year, and then only after the most elaborate preparations and even then only for a little while.”

Sadly, the Moabite turned away. He had no hope in all the world of ever entering there!

. . . Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:19-22).

Here it is, a tremendous word of welcome, extended to Jew and Gentile alike, to come on in and worship, not in the holiest place of the human tabernacle, but into the Holy of Holies in heaven itself “by the blood of Jesus.”

The Sufferings of Jesus (Poem)

Forgiven — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:45:14 +0000

John 11:35 – Jesus Wept

Tears of love! behold them flowing From the Elder Brother’s eye!
See Him as a mourner going
To the grave at Bethany!
He, who through its shadowy portal
Summoned back the freed immortal, He, whose all-commanding word Sheathed the gloomy victor’s sword- There, where buried friendship sleeps, He, our own Emmanuel, weeps.

Tears of pity! see them gushing From their pure and sacred fount! Angels! your hosannas hushing, Bend you from the holy mount. Stoop to read the wondrous story, How the “Father’s brightest glory” At a sinner’s grave can stand, Mourner ‘mid a mourning band, With the heart, the voice, the eye Of a perfect sympathy!
Tears of Jesus! while I ponder, Blessed comfort let me reap;

“That same Jesus” lives up yonder Who on earth was wont to weep. Though His brow the rainbow wears Yet my thorny crown He shares; Yet that loving heart Divine
Throbs responsively to mine Not a struggling sigh can rise, But it is echoed in the skies.
Blessed Jesus! in Your sorrow,
Friends and kindred passed You by; You alone could never borrow
The support of sympathy.

When Your human heart was bursting, When your parched lips were thirsting, When encompassed with the foe, Mocking at Your bitter woe,
You, who had a heart for all,
Drank alone Your cup of gall.

Now in glory, where You dwell,
All unknown is sorrow’s look,
Yet Your people’s tears You tell, “Are they not within Your book?” While my “night of weeping” lasts,
Before the morn its brightness casts, My blest portion may it be,
That You weepest, Lord, with me!
And one day, with heart and voice
In Your joy may I rejoice! by Ellen Willis.

16 False Religious Hopes that Will Send Many to Hell

Forgiven — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:11:43 +0000

The Bible warns that there are many false converts who are holding onto a false hope (Matt 7. 13-15) and so here is a list of false religious hopes that can send people to Hell. As you read them “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” (2 Cor. 13:5) and make sure you are not trusting in a false hope. Your eternity is at stake.

Select a Question Below
1. Being Born into a Christian Family.
2. Being Baptized and Joining the Church.
3. Having an Intellectual Understanding of the Gospel / Believing Biblical Doctrine
4. Being a Pastor, or Serving in a Church or Doing Evangelism
5. Moral Reformation
6. Having an Emotional Experience, Whether Joy or Conviction
7. Being Healed
8. Seeing a Supernatural Vision/or Having an Angelic Encounter
9. Being Blessed with Material Things/Riches/Money
10. Keeping the Law / Legalism (Trusting in Works)
11. Listening To Hard Radical Preaching
12. Having Answers to Your Prayers
13. Having “Religious Views: Christian” on your Facebook, or Similar
14. Praying a ‘sinners prayer’ or Similar, ‘accepting Jesus’, ‘made a decision for Jesus’ or walking an aisle
15. A Pastor told me I am saved or ‘welcome to the family of God’
16. Having a ‘Spiritual Gift’ like Tongues or Prophecy

1. Being Born into a Christian Family.

Being brought up in a Christian home does not make someone a child of God. Jesus said: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13)

The Pharisees were trusting in their physical descent, that they had Abraham ‘as their father’ (John 8:33) however John the Baptist warned them: “do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father” (Matt 3:9) and Jesus warned them “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires” (John 8:44)

When someone gives a testimony of: “I’ve always been a Christian” this should start alarm bells ringing as Jesus warned “unless you are converted…, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” NASB (Matt 18:3).

Now it may be that someone who has grown up in the Christian faith, has the evidence of true conversion but is not exactly sure when they were converted, because they can look back on more than one point in time in which they may have been converted. But whilst there may be more than one possible crisis/turning points in which they were converted, there is never none. Salvation is coming “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). So they should be able to look to possible times that this happened.

Note: 2 Tim. 3:15 is often cited to claim Timothy did not know a point of conversion or was somehow converted gradually, but that is reading something into that text that simply is not there.