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Before Christ gave His disciples their Great Commission to begin that great world conquest which should aim at bringing His Gospel to every creature. He first revealed Himself in His divine power as a partner with God Himself, the Almighty One. It was the faith of this that enabled the disciples to undertake the work in all simplicity and boldness. They had begun to know Him in that mighty resurrection power, which had conquered sin and death; there was nothing too great for Him to command or for them to undertake.Every disciple of Jesus Christ who desires to take part in the victory that overcometh the world needs time, and faith, and the Holy Spirit, to come under the full conviction that it is as the servant of the omnipotent Lord Jesus that he is to take his part in the work. He is to count literally upon the daily experience of being "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." The word of promise gives the courage to obey implicitly the word of command.
Just think of what the disciples had learned to know of the power of Christ Jesus here on earth. And yet that was but a little thing as compared with the greater works that He was now to do in and through them. He has the power to work even in the feeblest of His servants with the strength of the Almighty God. He has power even to use their apparent impotence to carry out His purposes. He has the power over every enemy and every human heart, over every difficulty and danger.
But let us remember that this power is never meant to be experienced as if it were our own. It is only as Jesus Christ as a living Person dwells and works with His divine energy in our own heart and life that there can be power in our preaching as a personal testimony. It was when Christ had said to Paul, "My strength is made perfect in weakness," that he could say, what he never learned to say before, "When I am weak, then am I strong." It is the disciple of Christ who understands aright that all the power has been entrusted to Him, to be received from Him hour by hour, who will feel the need and experience the power of that precious word: "Lo, I am with you alway." the Almighty One.
So sweet are the comforts of the LORD, that not only the saints themselves may sing of them, but even the heavens and the earth may take up the song. It takes something to make a mountain sing; and yet the prophet summons quite a choir of them. Lebanon, and Sirion, and the high hills of Bashan and Moab, He would set them all singing because of Jehovahs grace to His own Zion. May we not also make mountains of difficulty, and trial, and mystery, and labor become occasions for praise unto our God? "Break forth into singing, O mountains!"
This one morning in the year we reserved to refresh the readers memory upon the subject of prayer for ministers, and we do most earnestly implore every Christian household to grant the fervent request of the text first uttered by an apostle and now repeated by us. Brethren, our work is solemnly momentous, involving weal or woe to thousands; we treat with souls for God on eternal business, and our word is either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility rests upon us, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we be found clear of the blood of all men. As officers in Christs army, we are the especial mark of the enmity of men and devils; they watch for our halting, and labour to take us by the heels. Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are exempt, above all it too often draws us away from our personal enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration of it. We meet with many knotty cases, and our wits are at a non plus; we observe very sad backslidings, and our hearts are wounded; we see millions perishing, and our spirits sink. We wish to profit you by our preaching; we desire to be blest to your children; we long to be useful both to saints and sinners; therefore, dear friends, intercede for us with our God. Miserable men are we if we miss the aid of your prayers, but happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings, and yet how many times has He given those blessings through His ministers; ask then, again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels into which the Lord may put the treasure of the gospel. We, the whole company of missionaries, ministers, city missionaries, and students, do in the name of Jesus beseech you
Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate of mercy. Note that this fiat of God is majestic. In our text, we perceive a sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but wrath; but the eternal Lord passes by in his glory; he looks, he pauses, and he pronounces the solitary but royal word, “Live.” There speaks a God. Who but he could venture thus to deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again, this fiat is manifold. When he saith “Live,” it includes many things. Here is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be condemned, but the mighty One saith, “Live,” and he rises pardoned and absolved. It is spiritual life. We knew not Jesus—our eyes could not see Christ, our ears could not hear his voice—Jehovah said “Live,” and we were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Moreover, it includes glory-life, which is the perfection of spiritual life. “I said unto thee, Live:” and that word rolls on through all the years of time till death comes, and in the midst of the shadows of death, the Lords voice is still heard, “Live!” In the morning of the resurrection it is that self-same voice which is echoed by the arch-angel, “Live,” and as holy spirits rise to heaven to be blest for ever in the glory of their God, it is in the power of this same word, “Live.” Note again, that it is an irresistible mandate. Saul of Tarsus is on the road to Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God. A voice is heard from heaven and a light is seen above the brightness of the sun, and Saul is crying out, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” This mandate is a mandate of free grace. When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will do it to magnify his free, unpurchased, unsought grace. Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden you live, see to it that you live in earnest.
There is a very famous "Pebble Beach" at Pescadero, on the California coast. The long line of white surf comes up with its everlasting roar, and rattles and thunders among the stones on the shore. They are caught in the arms of the pitiless waves, and tossed and rolled, and rubbed together, and ground against the sharp-grained cliffs. Day and night forever the ceaseless attrition goes on--never any rest. And the result?
We’ll be familiar with the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, ‘You must be born again’. The need to be born again is clear, but what does it mean for us? Let’s look a little more closely at what we’ll call the ‘transaction’ of new birth. What happened when we were born from above? What took place, and what are the implications? Jesus clearly taught that the evidence of new birth is illumination and enlightenment. The word comes to us bringing this enlightenment. It births within us a deep love of Christ and a desire to keep His commands. Again, Jesus said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again [lit. ‘from above’] he cannot see the kingdom of God’.
According to Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, new birth precedes illumination. However, when we look at the parable of the sower, the wayside person receives the word but nothing is born because they did not ‘understand it’. In this instance, it seems that illumination precedes new birth. So we could ask the question: which comes first? Is it illumination or new birth? We’ll conclude that the point of illumination is the transaction of new birth. Simply, there cannot be one without the other.
For this reason, Paul spoke of being ‘enlightened’. He encouraged the Hebrews to remember the former days, ‘after being enlightened’, and also referred to ‘those who have once been enlightened’. When the Father sends forth the Spirit of the Son into our hearts it brings illumination. We are enlightened to the glorious hope of our eternal sonship.
If we are His bondslaves, the Lord is not ashamed to call us His brethren. And more than this, He sings in the midst of His brethren. Did you know that the song of the Lord belongs to the bondslaves of God? Bondslaves sing the song of the Lamb, ‘Great and marvellous are Your works’. Throughout the Scriptures we read about the new song, the song of the Lord. The historians refer to them as ‘the songs of Hallel’, meaning songs of praise. Those who follow the Lamb are His bondslaves and they sing His song. He sings in the midst of the congregation. We are His brethren. He is not ashamed of us. And more than this, nothing can touch or harm us if we have been sealed as bondslaves of God in our foreheads. This is our precious possession, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Therefore, there is no need to fear what man can do to us. Nor should we be afraid or ashamed of the sufferings of Christ. They are the portion and possession of His bondslaves.
Let us consider the glory of the song of the Lamb and the song of Moses, the bondslave of God. What wonderful deliverance the Lord worked for Israel at the hand of Moses. By the precious blood of the Lamb, the Lord wrought a marvellous redemption, making them the church in the wilderness. Even to this day, the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb proclaimed our great redemption. He has made us to be king-priests to His God and Father. Let us rejoice in the new song together. We have been redeemed by the precious blood ‘as of a Lamb’. Great and marvellous are Your works, O Lord!
When the word is received in much affliction and tribulation it brings forth gold in all of those who endure the heat of the day. This refining process is from the Lord, the Spirit. Concerning this, the apostle Peter said to not think it strange concerning ‘this fire’ that is among you. Most of our English translations of the Bible insert the word ‘trial’ to describe the effect of the fire. However, ‘trial’ or ‘ordeal’ is not in the original text. Peter was describing the person and work of the Holy Spirit upon us so that a lampstand church might be brought forth. We know the lesson of the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit appeared upon the heads of the disciples as tongues of fire. John the Baptist had spoken of this day when he said that Christ would baptise us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Immediately, our difficulties and troubling in life find significance because of the Holy Spirit. The fiery trial of faith does not necessarily come upon us because of sin or failure. The Holy Spirit is refining the things that should remain. And He is burning up the things which should perish. In this way, the Scripture tells us to strengthen the things that remain. It is not as though the Holy Spirit has come to us in mercy or judgement. He comes to purify the sons of Levi so that they may present offerings in righteousness. Accordingly, He is coming to refine us so that we might priest to God an acceptable priesthood with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. It is by this means that we are receiving an unshakeable kingdom. The consuming fire describes the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
If we don’t look upon the multitude with compassion, then we need to consider the question, ‘What hinders us?’ This was Paul’s question to the Galatians. Let us consider three things. We may be low in confidence, cynical, or prone to strike out in self-protection. If any of those things are true, we will be ineffective toward the multitude. If we are afraid of being hurt, then we will probably strike first to keep people away. That is a peculiar human characteristic. It is a self-preserving mechanism. If we are cynical, it may be that we have been hurt in the past or we are lacking confidence in ourselves. If we have been hurt, we need to understand why and what effect it has had upon us so we can deal with it. A cynical person will be suspicious of others. They will assume people have an ulterior motive behind what they are doing. They are invariably low in confidence and insecure. Even if they are successful, the fact that they are cynical shows that they fundamentally don’t believe in themselves. And accordingly, they can’t believe in others. Paul said that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. We will never be effective in shepherding people if we are cynical. Finally, to the degree that we are low in confidence, we will not be objective toward the multitude. We will assume that people will respond negatively, or we will read everything against ourselves. When we are feeling insecure, we sometimes assume that everybody around us is fully confident and secure. That is never true. Regardless of a person’s veneer, everyone experiences the same uncertainty in life. We can be confident that everybody needs the gospel.
