The Blood Is A Weapon To Be Wielded

The Dragon is the adversary. We are up against the Devourer.

All truly spiritual people know that today; some more than others, perhaps.

If he can swallow us up, he will.

I believe he is out to strike us with death if he can, to strike our bodies with death, to strike our souls with death.

Let me say this word to those who are more intimately associated with things...

That the more we come to stand in relation to the Lord concerning the heavenly kingdom and that priestly ministry in the heavenly kingdom in relation to the throne, the more shall we be aware of the immediate proximity of the Dragon, of him who would strike with death, strike our minds with death, strike these bodies with death. 

That will explain a good deal for some.

The nearer we get to the vocation of the man-child the closer we come to the Dragon... 

The more shall we be conscious of the encompassing and encircling of death, and shall cry to get out of it, and say, This is not life, it is death!

Are we going to accept it?

It is death; but where is the virtue of the Blood? 

Do we refuse it on the ground of that mighty shed Blood? 

They overcame him because of the blood... and we are not going to accept death, because of that Blood.

Perhaps some might misunderstand that.

We are not saying that we are not going to the grave if the Lord tarries long; but that is not accepting death.

We can die, and go to the grave in the physical sense, but that can be victory; not defeat, but triumph!

We do not accept death.

You may know it spiritually, you know it mentally, you know it round you and playing upon you when you come into close touch with that ultimate end of God in the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

Look after that explanation; hold on to it.

It calls, beloved, for standing up against the adversary, the engulfer, the swallower-up. 

Blessed be God, there is going to be a greater swallower-up than he.

Death is going to be swallowed up.

There is one who will swallow up if he can. 

Against the Dragon, against the Adversary, against the Accuser, against the Deceiver, the Blood is adequate, sufficient;

But there must be a positive, active appropriation of the full power and meaning of that Blood and a standing upon it;

A taking of it up as an active instrument.

Oh! to get a company like that here and now who know and appropriate the power of the Blood;

Not in the strength of the flesh, but emptied of self, and in all humility, nothingness, weakness, standing in HIS virtue, the power of His Blood...

And standing up and using that mighty weapon against the operation of death now, all round, to get through to that end which God has in view.

That is what is needed now, a people like that.

May the Lord bring this home to our heart, that this may not be an address but an appeal, an urge of the Spirit of Christ - bringing us into that thing actively by prayer.

Remember your ground, remember your weapon, remember that all the emptying of self, the weakening, the bringing down, the chastening, the discipline, is to bring you to an effective place.

Pride has no standing here; self-sufficiency has no standing here; self-strength comes not into this; naught but the precious Blood.

Weakness is not helplessness.

Helplessness on our part is not despair.

No, it is the open way for the mighty efficacy of the Blood to come into operation.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Song Of Confidence

Psa 138:7  Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

Wretched walking in the midst of trouble. 

Nay, blessed walking, since there is a special promise for it. 

Give me a promise, and what is the trouble?

What doth my LORD teach me here to say? 

Why this..."Thou wilt receive me." 

I shall have more life, more energy, more faith. 

Is it not often so, that trouble revives us, like a breath of cold air when one is ready to faint?

How angry are my enemies and especially the archenemy!

Shall I stretch forth my hand and fight my foes! 

No, my hand is better employed in doing service for my LORD.

Besides, there is no need, for my God will use His far-reaching arm, and He will deal with them far better than I could if I were to try. 

Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the LORD.

He will with His own right hand of power and wisdom save me, and what more can I desire?

Come, my heart, talk this promise over to thyself till thou canst use it as the song of thy confidence, the solace of thy holiness.

Pray to be revived thyself and leave the rest with the LORD, who performeth all things for thee.

~Charles Spurgeon~

We Receive As We Give

It is not meet that the man who will not forgive should be forgiven, nor shall he who will not give to the poor have his own wants relieved.

God will measure to us with our own bushels...

And those who have been hard masters and hard creditors will find that the LORD will deal hardly with them.

He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy.

This day let us try to give and to forgive.

Let us mind the two bears - bear and forbear.

Let us be kind, gentle, and tender.

Let us not put harsh constructions upon men's conduct, nor drive hard bargains, nor pick foolish quarrels, nor be difficult to please.

Surely we wish to be blessed, and we also want to obtain mercy: let us be merciful, that we may have mercy.

Let us fulfill the condition, that we may earn the beatitude.

Is it not a pleasant duty to be kind?

Is there not much more sweetness in it than in being angry and ungenerous?

Why, there is a blessedness in the thing itself! 

Moreover, the obtaining of mercy is a rich reward.

What but sovereign grace could suggest such a promise as this'.

We are merciful to our fellow mortal in pence, and the LORD forgives us "all the debt."

~Charles Spurgeon~

Utterly In Or Partly In?

Now, beloved, the trouble with a good many of us has been this divided heart.

We are not sure, not absolutely sure about the Lord, about our own position, about the testimony that we are perhaps standing for and talking about;

We are not sure about it, we have secret questionings.

It does not matter what we say in public and to others about it.

God knows the secret of our hearts, whether we are absolutely true in secret with Him over this matter;

And there is no way of victory, no way to ascendancy, no way through to the realization of the Divine end - a people to fulfil a priestly ministry in the universal sovereignty and kingdom of our God and His Christ – until we are on the ground of an absolute undividedness of heart for God in the matter of His testimony.

The challenge to our hearts is, Are we utterly in or are we only partly in; half in; three-quarters in?

Is there some lurking fascination of Egypt?

How Egypt had fascinated and held part of their hearts when they were in the wilderness!

Out here everything is uncertain; we never know from one day to another whether we are going to have our food!

In Egypt there was at least certainty;

We did know what our program was;

We were sure that things would be pretty substantial, that while we had our work we got our food!

Out here you are forced to depend upon God, and that is a precarious business.

Is it?

God is more certain than Egypt.

There are Christians who feel that this walk of faith is such an uncertain thing.

You do not know what the Lord is going to bring you into next, what is going to happen to you.

In the world you at least have solid ground under your feet.

This flesh wants a basis of evidence for itself; solid earth.

This heavenly life you never know – ah!

But do you know the Heavenly ONE?

Let me ask you – Do you believe, beloved, that when, having committed yourself to God, having been consecrated to the Lord, having had an understanding with the Lord, and having been obedient to Him up to all the light He has given you...

Do you believe that when you get to the glory you will be able to say to the Lord: You let me be deceived, my life has been ruined, I have gone wrong!

Is that possible?

I do not believe it!

The Lord will accept a charge on His honor when we are cut off from ourselves and from all personal and worldly interests, and are wholly for Him.

~T. Austin Sparks~ 

Seek Communion

Hos 14:7  They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
 
The day closed with heavy showers.

The plants in my garden were beaten down before the pelting storm, and I saw one flower that I had admired for its beauty and loved for its fragrance exposed to the pitiless storm. 

The flower fell, shut up its petals, dropped its head; and I saw that all its glory was gone.

 I must wait till next year, I said, "before I see that beautiful thing again.
 
That night passed, and morning came; the sun shone again, and the morning brought strength to the flower. 

The light looked at it, and the flower looked at the light.

There was contact and communion, and power passed into the flower.

It held up its head, opened its petals, regained its glory, and seemed fairer than before.

I wonder how it took place-this feeble thing coming into contact with the strong thing, and gaining strength!

I cannot tell how it is that I should be able to receive into my being a power to do and to bear...by communion with God...but I know It is a fact.

Are you in peril through some crushing, heavy trial?

Seek this communion with Christ, and you will receive strength and be able to conquer. 

I will strengthen thee.
     
  

As The Tree Falls So Must It Lie!

                                                                               

Rev 22:11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

The character with which men reach the final judgment will be their permanent character forever. 

The man who lives in sin unto the end is making his own destiny.

Habits of sin make the whole life sinful.

It is this that gives such solemnity to life. 

The seeds of our future eternity lie in our present.

Sow a thought and you will reap an act; sow an act and you will reap a habit;  sow a habit and you will reap a character; sow character and you will reap a destiny!

Everyone goes to his own place...that is, the place for which he is fitted by his life on the earth. 

He who has always sinned here on earth will continue to sin forever.

Eternal death is simply eternal sin, along with the punishments and consequences thereof. 

The punishment of the wicked will not be an arbitrary punishment...but the natural result of their own choices and acts in this life.

As the tree falls - so must it lie;  As the man lives - so must he die!  As a man dies - such must he be; All through the ages of eternity!

It makes a great difference, therefore, how we live in this world. 

There is an false impression in some people's minds, that they can live in sin all their days, and then by a few tears of penitence and a cry for mercy in a dying hour - can change all the course of their life and spend eternity in Heaven. 

This verse does not favor such a view. 

The future life is but the harvest of this present life.

Men will be judged by their deeds.

The New Testament everywhere teaches the same solemn truth.

This does not mean that salvation is by works.

We are saved by grace - but grace changes the life and makes us holy.
 

To die is gain...only to those who can sincerely say, "To me, to live is Christ!"

~J. R. Miller~

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Almighty Guidance

How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God! 

Psa 32:8  I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

No more precious assurance can I have, than this - that I am under the constant, loving guidance of my heavenly Father...

That He appoints the bounds of my habitation, and overrules all events for my good - that my whole life is a plan arranged by Him.

Every little apparent contingency, as well as every momentous turn and crisis-hour, forms part of that plan - a 'thought of God.' 

God examines every path a man takes.

A man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

I will instruct you and teach you.

How patiently does this almighty Preceptor train, and with what infinite wisdom and tenderness does He adapt His varied teachings to the needs and requirements of His people!

It is "line upon line;" or if need be, cross upon cross - trial upon trial.

Or it may be that startling providences are no longer required - the gentle indications of His will are enough - "I will guide you with My eye."

The earthquake - the hurricane - the wind—the fire, may now have fulfilled their mission.

The still, small voice is now sufficient.

And how does He promise to teach and to guide?

Not in the way that we would like to go - the way of our own choosing, but "the way which you shall go."

Often we would decide on pursuing the sunny highway. 

But God says, 'the rough mountain-track is best for you.' 

Often we would, like Israel, take the near and smooth road to Canaan by the land of the Philistines. 

But God's pillar-cloud decides otherwise, and takes us by a circuitous route "by the way of the wilderness." 

Often we would prefer, like the disciples at Tiberias, the safe path by the seashore, so as to avoid the gathering storm, "for the wind is contrary."

But God says, "No." He constrains us to get into the ship.

It is not for us to question His plans.

He led His people of old - He leads them still - by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

There is a day coming when, in the words of Augustine, "both vessel and cargo safe, and not a hair of our heads hurt, we reach the haven of our desire," we shall own the wisdom of every earthly lesson, the "needs-be" of every wave in the troubled sea.

The gardener has occasionally to subject his plants to apparently rough usage - cutting, lopping, mutilating; reducing them to unsightly shapes before they burst into flower. 

Summer, however, before long, vindicates the wisdom of his treatment, in its clusters of varied fragrance and beauty. 

So also, at times, does our heavenly Husbandman see fit to use His pruning-knife. 

But be assured there is not one superfluous or redundant lopping. 

We shall understand and acknowledge an infinitely wise necessity for all, when the plant has unfolded itself into the full flower, bathed in the tints and diffusing the fragrance of heaven.

Believer, go up and on your way, rejoicing in the teaching and guidance of unerring Wisdom - "I will guide you with My eye."

The sleepless eye of Israel's unslumbering Shepherd is upon you by day and by night - in sickness and in health - in joy and in sorrow - in life and in death.

Does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not He who guards your life know it?

Psa 33:18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

~John Macduff~

The Imperishable And The Perishable.

The permanent and the transient; that which will abide forever and that which will come to an end, cease to be, and he says quite clearly that the imperishable is Christ and what is of Christ.

Then as coming out of that, he discriminates between the Divine and the human, the gold, silver, precious stones. These are Divine things. 

The wood, hay, stubble, these are the things of man, merely human things.

Are we building by Divine resources, by Divine energies, by Divine realities, or are we building by our own effort, our own resources, our own thoughts and judgments?

You see this discrimination is traced deeply and thoroughly by the apostle with these Corinthians.

He speaks so much about the wisdom of this world, and he warns them of the emptiness, nay the folly, of the wisdom of this world.

He says that is not building material for eternity, it is building with your own natural wisdom, trying to live a Christian life according to your own natural thought, judgment, idea.

Let us dismiss this thing by the grace of God.
 
We have heard of many who have taken this attitude: "Well yes, now I am saved, I believe in the Lord Jesus, but I am not going to do what a lot of Christian people do, I am going to be very balanced, I am going to use my own judgment, I shall go so far but no further."

It is imposing their own thought upon the foundation, and they are going to build up a Christian life which is the expression of their own natural ideas as to what a Christian should be.

In the end that will go up in smoke.

We have got to live by the Holy Spirit's teaching and let our own natural thoughts, judgments and ideas go altogether.

The Holy Spirit is to dictate the kind of life we are to live, and we are to have no pride or prejudice that will block the course of the Holy Spirit and shut the door to Him.

If we are afraid of being extra fanatical our fear will block the door to the Holy Spirit.

We must be with the apostle at least on this: We are fools for Christ's sake..., beside ourselves for the Lord Jesus.

Are you willing to be a fool for Christ's sake?

What is true in the realm of reason must be true in the realm of heart; natural desires, likes, preferences of ours tying the hands of the Holy Spirit, but preparedness to accept what we do not like.

The Lord wants us to have that, to do the distasteful thing if the Lord wants us to do it.

Our hearts must be open to the Lord that He can cause us to love what He loves, desire what He desires, and set aside all those natural likes and dislikes of our own.

The Divine and the human is here divided.

~T. Austin Sparks~