Distant God

Millions of people attend church, week after week, month after month, year after year.  For decades we think to ourselves, “this is what Christians do.”  For millions, the empty, faithless (weekly) pattern becomes their only form of Christian expression.  A place where the pastor is the only minister the only storyteller and the only teacher perpetually, while the rest are conditioned to be stagnant spectators {only.}  

The dangers of this are very real because it is NOT real Christianity.  It does NOT transform.  It does NOT engage and activate. It does NOT produce real disciples.  It does NOT equip for ministry.  It does NOT teach how to hear God.  It multiplies hearers rather than doers. It multiplies [pastor dependence] rather than [Holy Spirit dependence]. This was me for twenty years. I thought I was in real Christianity.  But God seemed so distant to me. This in turn caused a stagnant carnal Christianity to develop that became the breeding ground for hidden addiction, earthly mindedness, and selfish ambition. Which eventually came crashing down all around me 20 years later. 

There is a famous saying that says, “Catch me a fish, I eat for a day. Teach me to fish, I eat for a lifetime.”  I often see most churches like a Costco, where a pastor cuts up a Bible fish that he spent all week catching.  People show up week after week to get a sample of the fish.  Who doesn’t like free samples?  But is that the gospel? 

The Holy Spirit showed me something closer to the heart of God and His will for each one of us.  Jesus tore the veil to make access into the Holy of Holies.  What does that really mean?  Jesus Himself is sitting in the middle of a river full of living words where He Himself wants to sit with you and talk with you and teach you (Himself) how to hear Him daily.   The journal has revolutionized my engagement with God times 1000.  

He has told me great and mighty things that I did not know. He Himself has led me to see a multitude of miracles. He Himself has led me to my perfect spouse.  He Himself has led me by green pastures, and beside still waters.  And has restored my soul countless times. Even as I write this, our house overlooks sheep. He fills me with Joy and my cup overflows.  This is why for the past few months I am working on a variety of things that will help anyone learn the most important lesson on earth, how to hear God.  

Anyone that gets Him, gets everything of lasting value. To miss Him is to lose everything. My job is to introduce people to the living experience and let the Holy Spirit take it from there. God is NOT distant. He is Emanuel, God ‘with us.’

Learning how to hear God is the foundation to truly knowing God, and the most important lesson on earth. 

[Troi Nelson Cockayne]  

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Jeremiah 33:3 ... Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Matthew 1:23 ... Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Psalm 23 ... The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ❤

Listen to Christ!!

Let us see in these words a striking lesson to the whole Church of Christ. There is a constant tendency in human nature to "hear man."  Bishops, priests, popes, cardinals, councils, preachers, and ministers, are continually exalted to a place which God never intended them to fill and made practically to usurp the honor of Jesus. Against this tendency let us all watch and be on our guard.  Let these solemn words of the vision ever ring in our ears, "Listen to Jesus!"  

The best of men are only men at their very best! Patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, church fathers, reformers, puritans all, all are sinners, who need a Savior. They may be holy, useful, honorable in their place; but they are sinners after all.  They must never be allowed to stand between us and Jesus.  He alone is the Son, in whom the Father is well pleased.  He alone is sealed and appointed to give the bread of life. He alone "hold the keys of death and the grave" in His hands. Let us take heed that we hear His voice and follow Him.

Let us value all religious teaching just in proportion as it leads us to Jesus. The sum and substance of saving religion is to "listen to Christ!" 

[J. C. Ryle] 

Matthew 17:5 ...  While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

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The Christian Race

The Christian race is difficult. It is a race from earth to heaven! Is it easy for a man to deny himself, to crucify the flesh, to behead his beloved sin? If we would have a sight of God in glory, we must run this race. We cannot have the world without labor, and would we have heaven without labor? In the heavenly race, ALL must run. Those who are unfit to run in other races, like the lame and blind must run this race. None are excused from this race. All have run from God by sin, and all must run to Him by repentance!  Either run or be damned! Either flee to heaven or fall to hell! 

If we do not throw off this weight of sin by sincere repentance it will sink us into hell. A man cannot run a race with a heavy burden upon his back. An immoral person cannot run the race of holiness; a proud man cannot run the race of humility; a self-willed man cannot run the race of obedience. The world is a golden weight which has hindered many and made them lose their race. "Demas has deserted me because he loved this present world!" (2 Timothy 4:10) 

So far as the world is a weight throw it off! I do not say lay aside the use of the world but the love of the world.  (1 John 2:15) When the golden dust of the world is blown in men's eyes it so blinds them, that they cannot see their race! 

Oh, Christian, unburden your soul of sin!  Throw off this weight if you intend to lay hold on the crown! 

[Thomas Watson]

1 Corinthians 9:24 ... Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Hebrews 12:1 ... Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ❤

Valuable Bread

We ask the reader: ought not the doctrine of election to be plainly and freely proclaimed? 

If God's Word is full of this precious doctrine, if the gospel cannot be Scripturally preached without it, if the grace of God cannot be maintained when it is suppressed, if the proclamation of it abases man into the dust, if it is a divinely appointed means of faith, if it is a powerful incentive unto the promotion of holiness, if it stirs up the spirit of praise in the soul, if it establishes the Christian in his eternal security, if it is such a source of stability to the child of God, if it supplies encouragement to praying souls, if it works in us a sweet submission to the divine will then shall we refuse to give God's children this valuable bread, merely because dogs snap at it! 

Shall we withhold from the sheep this vital ingredient of their food, simply because the goats cannot digest it! 

[A. W. Pink]

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Romans 9:10-13 ...  And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Ephesians 1:4-6 ... According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. ❤

Letter 3. 1768

Dear friend, 

I have been hoping for some time to hear from you, but an acquaintance informed me that you were ill.  This news prompted me to write as soon as I could find leisure. The Lord has seen fit to visit you with much sickness of late; I say He has seen fit, for all our trials are under his immediate direction, and we are never in heaviness without a need-be. I trust he does and will give you strength equal to your day and sweeten what would be otherwise bitter with the essence of his precious love. I hope soon to hear that you are restored to health, and that you have found cause to praise him for his loving rod. 

How happy is the state of a believer, to have a sure promise that all shall work together for good in the end; and in the meantime, he has a sure refuge where to find present relief, support, and protection! How comfortable is it, when trouble is near, to know that the Lord is near likewise, and to commit ourselves and all our cares simply to him, believing that his eye is upon us, and his ear is open to our prayers. Under the conduct of such a Shepherd, we need not fear. Though we are called to pass through fire and water, through the valley of the shadow of death he will be with us and will show himself mighty on our behalf. 

It seems almost needless to say, that we were very happy in the company of ****. The only inconvenience was, that it renewed the pain it always gives me to part with them. Though the visit was as long as I could possibly expect, it seemed very short. This must be the case while we are here our earthly pleasures are short, interrupted, and mixed with troubles. This world is not and cannot be our rest. But it will not be always the case. We are traveling to a better world, where every evil and imperfection shall cease; then we shall be forever with the Lord, and with each other. May the prospect of this blessed hope revive our fainting spirits and make us willing to endure hardships as good soldiers of Jesus Christ! Here we must often sow in tears but there we shall reap in joy, and all tears shall be wiped from our eyes forever. 

I hope the conversation of friends whom I so greatly love and honor, afforded me not only pleasure but profit. It left a savor upon my mind and stirred up my languid desires after the Lord. I wish I could say the good effect has remained with me to this hour but, alas! I am a poor creature and have had many causes of humiliation since. But, blessed be God! amidst all my changes I find the foundation stands sure; and I am seldom or never left to doubt either of the Lord's love to me or the reality of the desires he has given me towards himself. Though when I measure my love by the degree of its exercise, or the fruits it produces, I have reason to sit down ashamed as the chief of sinners and the least of all saints. But in Him I have righteousness and peace, and in Him I must and will rejoice! 

I would willingly fill up my sheet but feel a straightness in my spirit and know not what further to say. O for a ray of Divine light to set me at liberty, that I might write a few lines worth reading, something that might warm my heart, and comfort yours! Then the subject must be Jesus but of him what can I say that you do not know? Well, though you know him, you are glad to hear of him again and again. Come then, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Let us adore him for his love, that love which has a height, and depth, and length, and breadth, beyond the grasp of our poor conceptions; a love that moved him to empty himself, to take on him the form of a servant, and to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; a love that pitied us in our lost estate, that found us when we sought him not; a love that spoke peace to our souls in the day of our distress; a love that bears with all our present weakness, mistakes, backslidings, and shortcomings; a love that is always watchful, always ready to guide, to comfort, and to heal; a love that will not be wearied, cannot be conquered, and is incapable of changes; a love that will in the end prevail over all opposition, will perfect that which concerns us, and will not leave us until it has brought us perfect in holiness and happiness, to rejoice in his presence in glory. 

The love of Christ! it is the wonder, the joy, the song of angels; and the sense of it shed abroad in our hearts makes life pleasant and death welcome. Alas! what a heart have I that I love him no better! But I hope he has given me a desire to make him my all in all, and to account everything loss and dross, which dares to stand in competition with him.

John Newton

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Judas The Preacher

To obey the truth, and not to know it is impossible. To know the truth and not obey it is unprofitable. Saving knowledge is not as the light of the moon to sleep by; but as the light of the sun to work by. It is not a loiterer in the marketplace but a laborer in the vineyard.  A man may be a great scholar and yet be a great sinner. Judas the traitor was Judas the preacher! 

The snake which has a pearl in its head has poison in its body! The tree of knowledge has often been planted and flourished where the tree of life never grew! All abilities and gifts without grace and holiness are but like Uriah's letters, which were the death warrants of those who carried them! 

Mere head knowledge will be as unhelpful to the soul, in the judgment day as a painted fire is unhelpful to the frozen body, in a cold day. Theoretical knowledge may make the head giddy, but it will never make the heart holy. How many professors are there, who have light enough to know what should be done but have not love enough to do what they know! 

Give me the Christian who perfectly sees the way he should go and readily goes the way he sees! That is barren ground which brings forth no fruit. "To him who knows to do good and does it not to him it is sin." (James 4:17) The sins of ignorance are most numerous, but the sins of knowledge are most dangerous! That sinner's darkness will be the greatest in hell whose light was the clearest on earth! 

There are many who set a crown of glory upon the head of Christ by a good profession and yet put a crown of thorns upon his head by an evil conversation. By the words of our mouth, we may affect to adore religion; but it is by the works of our lives that we adorn religion. As trees without fruits are unprofitable so knowledge without good works is abominable! Leah and Rachel are fit emblems of knowledge and obedience. Knowledge, like Rachel is beautiful. But obedience, like Leah is fruitful. 

[William Secker]

John 13:17 ... If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

James 1:22 ... But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Matthew 7:21 ... Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ❤

Even Your Own Relatives ...

The world that is, the world dead in sin, and the world dead in profession, men destitute of the life and power of God must have something that it can see. And, as heavenly things can only be seen by heavenly eyes, they cannot receive the things which are invisible. Now this explains why a religion that presents itself with a degree of beauty and grandeur to the natural eye, will always be received by the world; while a spiritual, internal, heartfelt and experimental religion will always be rejected. 

The world can receive a religion that consists of forms, rites, and ceremonies. These are things seen. Beautiful buildings, painted windows, pealing organs, melodious choirs, the pomp and parade of an earthly priesthood, and a whole apparatus of 'religious ceremony', carry with them something that the natural eye can see and admire. The world receives all this 'external religion' because it is suitable to the natural mind and intelligible to their reasoning faculties. But the quiet, inward, experimental, divine religion, which presents no attractions to the outward eye, but is wrought in the heart by a divine operation the world cannot receive this, because it presents nothing that the natural eye can rest upon with pleasure, or is adapted to gratify their general idea of what religion is or should be. 

Do not marvel then, that worldly professors despise a religion wrought in the soul by the power of God. Do not be surprised if even your own relatives think you are almost insane, when you speak of the consolations of the Spirit, or of the teachings of God in your soul. They cannot receive these things, for they have no experience of them; and being such as are altogether opposed to the carnal mind, they reject them with enmity and scorn. 

[J. C. Philpot]

John 14:17 ... Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

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John 8:3-11

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The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So, what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:3-11)

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Eat The Garbage!!

I believe that one reason why the church at this present moment has so little influence over the world, is because the world has so much influence over the church! Nowadays, we hear mere professors pleading that they may do this and do that, that they may live like worldlings. My sad answer to them, when they crave this liberty is, "Do it if you dare. It may not cost you much hurt, for you are so bad already. Your worldly cravings show how rotten your hearts are!  If you are hungering after such dogs' food, then go dogs and eat the garbage!" 

Worldly amusements are fit food for pretenders and hypocrites. If you were God's children, then you would loathe the thought of the world's evil joys. Your question would not be, "How far may we be like the world?" But your cry would be, "How can we get away from the world? How can we come out of it?" 

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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2 Corinthians 6:14-17 ... Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

1 John 2:15-16 ...  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. ❤

Unbelief of Zacharias

Zacharias was so much astonished at the message of the angel, that he wanted to see some sign or miracle to prove that the angel came from God. Why was it wrong in Zacharias to desire a sign? Because he had already had one. The glorious appearance of the angel, which had filled him with fear, was a sufficient sign. God does not wish us to believe things without any proof. If he were to send a prophet to speak to us, he would give us some sign to show us that the prophet really came from him. When Moses spoke to the Israelites in Egypt, he gave them two signs; his rod was turned into a serpent, and his hand was made white with the leprosy. (Exodus 4) 

God is angry when men will not believe, after he has given them a sign. It was sinful in Zacharias not to believe after he had seen the glorious angel.  Thus, we find that though he was righteous before God, he was still subject to sin. Unbelief is a great sin; for it is an insult to the truth of God.  The angel rebuked the unbelieving priest, saying, "You shall be speechless." This gentle chastisement would at once remove the doubts of Zacharias and remind him of his sin. In this way, God deals with his own people, when they forget what a great God He is.  Zacharias at length came out of the temple. It was now expected that he should bless the people in those beautiful words recorded in Numbers 6:24-27, beginning, "May the Lord bless you and keep you;" but he could not speak, and he made signs to show the people what he had seen in the temple. 

Each division of priests remained to serve in the temple from one Sabbath to the next; in a few days, therefore, Zacharias returned to his own house among the hills. What a history he had to unfold to Elizabeth! For he was able to inform her in writing. What a proof she beheld of the power of God in the silence of her husband! We should take notice of God's dealings with others. "Whoever is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord." (Psalm 107:43) How humbly and gratefully Elizabeth behaved on this occasion! She acknowledged the goodness of the Lord in having condescended to look upon her affliction; for she had been exposed to much reproach on account of having no child. 

When troubles are removed, we are apt to overlook the Lord's merciful hand! Perhaps we have been suffering under some trial; the unkindness of a relative, the dread of sickness, or the pressure of poverty God removes the trial, and we forget how much it weighed us down before, and so we omit to thank the Lord heartily. A holy minister named Rutherford, in one of his letters, written two hundred years ago, says, that one of the things which most showed him his own wickedness by nature, was his feeling more disposed to call upon the Lord in trouble, than to thank him when delivered. Let us think over the things that troubled us a few years ago and bless the hand which has lightened our load. 

[F. L. Mortimer]

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Love is Best Understood Through the Cross

The cross was certainly the most visible act of God’s love towards us. It was also planned. It wasn’t an accident. I think sometimes people think that Jesus was this man on earth and he was kind of like a leaf on a river and got carried to and from and somehow ended up on the cross, got lucky and paid for everyone’s sin, or maybe unlucky, depending on how you look at that. That’s not actually what it was. Yes, people made choices and decisions that resulted in Christ going to the cross, but the decision made before the world was created was that Christ would go to the cross to pay for sin, so what we see is this act of love on the cross was intentional. It was planned. 

Also though, the cross was about God, primarily. We often think of the cross as being about us. Now, we are beneficiaries of the work that was done there, but the cross, first and foremost, was God glorifying himself in the creation of a people for himself, doing something only he could do. So, when we want to understand love let’s understand that its planned, it’s about God, but it’s also about people. It’s about us. The cross is the way in which God shows his love for us, so love has a God-facing component, it often has a man- or woman-facing component, but the cross was also sacrificial. It was undeserved and costly. 

The last point is that it was an objective good. God said the cross was good. God said the cross accomplished his plan, so love is something that has a right answer. It has a God-grounded right answer, so the things we can learn just briefly by looking at the cross: Love is planned, love is about God, love is about man, love is sacrificial, and there is a right answer to this question, but love is best understood through the cross.

[Excerpt from First Baptist Church New Smyrna Beach Fl.)

John 3:16 ... For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Ephesians 5:2 ... And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Romans 5:8 ... But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.❤