Sapphire paved courts for stable floor!

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.

24 Dec, 2011  Posted by Forgiven   No Comments »
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Look to Jesus! – Robert M McCheyne!

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.

23 Dec, 2011  Posted by Forgiven   No Comments »
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Vain Pursuits and Solomon’s Mistake

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!

18 Nov, 2011  Posted by Forgiven   No Comments »
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