The Cross

Without the cross, we could never have imagined the depth and seriousness of what it means to say that God is love. 'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us' (1 John 3:16). On the cross we see the great holiness of God's love, thta the light of his pure love will destroy the darkness of sin and evil. On the cross we see the intensity and strength of his love, that it is not an insipid thing at all, but majestically strong as it faces death, battles evil and gives life. For Christ was not bound against his will and dragged to a crucifixion he did not choose. Nobody could take his life from him, he said. 'I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority toi lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father' (John 10:18). Jesus' self-giving love is entirely inconstrained and free. It comes, not form any necessity, but entirely out of who he is, the glory of his Father. Through the cross we see a God who delights to give himself.

M Reeves
The Good God
Paternoster
p51

The sands of time

The sands of time are sinking
The dawn of heaven breaks,
The summer morn I've sighed for
The fair sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark has been the midnight,
But dayspring is at hand,
And glory-glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

Oh! Well it is for ever
Oh! Well for evermore -
My nest hung in no forest
Of all this death-doomed shore:
Yea, let the vain world vanish,
As from the ship the strand,
While glory-glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

There the Red Rose of Sharon
Unfolds its heartsome bloom
And fills the air of heaven
With ravishing perfume:
Oh! To behold its blossom,
While by its fragrance fann'd
Where glory-glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

The King there in His beauty,
Without a veil is seen:
It were a well spent journey,
Though seven deaths lay between:
The Lamb, with His fair army,
Doth on Mount Zion stand,
And glory-glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

Oh! Christ He is the fountain,
The deep sweet well of love!
The streams on earth I've tasted,
More deep I'll drink above:
There, to an ocean fulness,
His mercy doth expand,
And glory-glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

Oft in yon sea-beat prison
My Lord and I held tryst,
For Anwoth was not heaven,
And preaching was not Christ;
And aye, my murkiest storm-cloud
Was by a rainbow spann'd,
Caught from the glory dwelling
In Immanuel's land.

But that he built a Heaven
Of His surpassing love,
A little New Jerusalem,
Like to the one above,
"Lord take me o'er the water,"
Had been my loud demand,
Take me to love's own country,
Unto Immanuel's land.

But flow'rs need night's cool darkness,
The moonlight and the dew;
So Christ, from one who loved it,
His shining oft withdrew:-
And then, for cause of absence
My troubled soul I scann'd,
But glory shadeless, shineth
In Immanuel's land.

The little birds of Anwoth,
I used to count them blest, -
Now, beside happier altars
I go to build my nest:
O'er these there broods no silence,
No graves around them stand,
For glory, deathless, dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

Fair Anwoth, by the Solway,
To me thou still art dear,
E'en from the verge of heaven,
I drop for thee a tear.
Oh! If one from Anwoth
Meet me at God's right hand,
My Heaven will be two Heavens,
In Immanuel's land.

I've wrestled on towards heaven
'Gainst storm, and wind and tide'
Now like a weary traveller
That leaneth on his Guide,
Amid the shades of evening,
While sinks life's lingering sand,
I hail the glory dawning
From Immanuel's land.

Deep waters cross'd life's pathway,
The hedge of thorns was sharp;
Now, these lie all behind me -
Oh! For a well tuned harp!
Oh! to join Hallelujah
With yon triumphant band,
Who sing, where glory dwelleth,
In Immanuel's land.

With mercy and with judgment
My web of time He wove,
And aye, the dews of sorrow
Were lustred with His love:-
I'll bless the hand that guided,
I'll bless the hand that plann'd
When throned where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

Soon shall the cup of glory
Wash down earth's bitt'rest woes,
Soon shall the desert briar
Break into Eden's rose;
The curse shall change to blessing -
The Name on earth that's bann'd
Be graven on white stone
In Immanuel's land.

Oh! I am my Beloved's,
And my Beloved's mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner
Into His "house of wine":
I stand upon His merit,
I know no other stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

I shall sleep sound in Jesus,
Fill'd with His likeness rise,
To love and to adore Him,
To see Him with these eyes:-
'Tween me and resurrection
But Paradise doth stand;
Then-then for glory dwelling
In Immanuel's land.

The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear bridegroom's face,
I will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of Grace -
Not at the crown He giveth,
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Immanuel's land.

I have borne scorn and hatred,
I have borne wrong and shame,
Earth's proud ones have reproach'd me
For Christ's thrice-blessed name:-
Where God His seal set fairest
They've stampt their foulest brand,
But judgment shines like noonday
In Immanuel's land.

They've summoned me before them,
But there I may not come, -
My Lord says "Come up hither",
My Lord says "Welcome home!"
My kingly King, at His white throne,
My presence doth command,
Where glory-glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

AR Cousin 
From the web

Gospel partnership

That's what every church is to be - a society of people saved through the gospel, organized around the gospel, committed to spreading the gospel.

If this partnership were a living creature, the gospel would be the heart beating in its chest. If it were a high-rise building, the gospel would be the deep foundation embedded in the earth. If their partnership were a solar system, the gospel would be the blazing sun around which everything orbits. Through the gospel they have all been saved, and now they give themselves to partnering to spread the good news.

T Anyabwile
The Life of God in the Soul of the Church
CFP
 p96

The Carpenter

The bent nail stares at me accusingly,
Useless
The Carpenter says nothing as
I place another and drive it in
Hoping to miss the tendons this time
Some of His blood touches me
But I don't feel blessed

Stephen A. Roberts

Abortion

The foetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being, (homo,) and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a foetus in the womb before it has come to light.

J Calvin
Commentaries, Vol 3
Baker
p41f

Against the fear of death!

But monstrous it is that many who boast themselves Christians are gripped by such a great fear of death, rather than a desire for it, that they tremble at the least mention of it, as of something utterly desire and disastrous. Surely, it is no wonder if the natural awareness in us bristles with dread at the mention of our dissolution. But it is wholly unbearable that there is not in Christian hearts any light of piety to overcome and suppress that fear, whatever it is, by a greater consolation. For if we deem this unstable, defective, corruptible, fleeting, wasting, rotting tabernacle of our body to be so dissolved that it is soon renewed unto a firm, perfect, incorruptible, and finally, heavenly glory, will not faith compel us ardently to seek what nature dreads? If we should think that through death we are recalled from exile to dwell in the fatherland, in the heavenly fatherland, would we get no comfort from this fact?
...
Let us, then, take hold of a sounder view, and even though the blind and stupid desire of the flesh resists, let us not hesitate to await the Lord's coming, not only with longing, but also with groaning and sighs, as the happiest thing of all. He will come to us as Redeemer,and rescuing us from this boundless abyss of all evils and miseries, he will lead us into that blessed inheritance of his life and glory.

J Calvin
Institutes of the Christian Religion
The Westminster Press
p717f

Once upon a pew

Once upon a pew I sat and heard the preacher ask,
"We need someone to teach a class. Now, who will take this task?"
Then God sat down beside me there and said, "Son, that's for you."
"But, Lord, to stand before a class is one thing I can't do.
Now Bill would be the masn to call. There's nothing he won't do.
I'd rather hear the lesson taught from here upon my pew."

Once upon a pew I sat and heard the preacher ask,
"We need someone to lead the songs. Now, who will take this task?"
 Then God sat down beside me there and said, "Son, that's for you."
"But, Lord, to sing before a crowd is one thing I can't do.
Now brother King will do the job. There's nothing he won't do.
I'd rather hear the music played from here upon my pew."

Once upon a pew I sat and heard the preacher ask,
"I need someone to keep the door. Now who will take the task?"
 Then God sat down beside me there and said, "Son, that's for you."
 "But saying things to strangers is one thing I can't do.
Now Tom can talk to people, Lord. There's nothing he won't do.
I'd rather someone came to me and greet me on the pew."

As years just seemed to pass me by, I heard that voice no more.
Until one night I closed my eyes and wokje on heaven's shore.
'Twas four of us together there to face eternity.
God said, "I just need three of you to do a job for me."
"O Lord," I cried, "I'll do the job. There's nothing I won't do."
But Jesus said, "I'm sorry, friend, in heaven there's no pew."

Anon.

Jesus Christ

There is only one Physician -
Very flesh, yet Spirit too;
Uncreated, and yet born;
God-and-Man in One agreed,
Very-Life-in-Death indeed,
Fruit of God and Mary's seed;
At once impassible and torn
By pain and suffering here below:
Jesus Christ, whom as our Lord we know.

Ignatius of Antioch, in
M Haykin
Rediscovering the Church Fathers
Crossway
p43

The need for Church Leaders

There is an average of 178,000 people coming to Christ daily around the world. The latest statistics indicate there are 3.2 million pastors worldwide who are untrained or under trained. Many of these pastors have families, jobs and live on less than $40 dollars a month. It is estimated that 7,000 new church leaders are needed daily to care for the growing church and 85% of the churches of the world are led by people who have no formal training in theology or ministry. Leaders from every non-Western region say their number one need is leadership training.

 Equip Pastors

Is the Bible the Word of God?

Is the Bible the Word of God? Then mind that you do not neglect it. Read it! Begin to read it this very day. What greater insult to God can a man be guilty of than to refuse to read the letter God sends him from heaven? Oh, be sure, if you will not read your Bible, you are in fearful danger of losing your soul!

Is the Bible the Word of God? Then be sure you always read it with deep reverence. Say to your soul, whenever you open the Bible, “O my soul, you are going to read a message from God!”

Is the Bible the Word of God? Then be sure you never read it without fervent prayer for the help and teaching of the Holy Spirit. Humble prayer will throw more light on your Bible than any commentary that ever was written. You will not understand it unless your heart is right. You will find it a sealed book without the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Its contents are often hidden from the wise and learned, and revealed to babes.

Is the Bible the Word of God? Then let us all resolve from this day forward to prize the Bible more. God has given us the Bible to be a light to guide us to everlasting life. Let us not neglect this precious gift. Let us read it diligently, and walk in its light.

JC Ryle
Abridged from:
Old Paths
BoT
p31-35

Salvation in Christ alone

There is nowhere else we ought to look for our salvation than in Christ. You cannot trust Christ truly unless you trust Christ alone. No matter how much you boast of Christ or talk of your love for Christ or passion for Christ, if you add anything to Christ, your boasting and love and passion are all in vain. There is no "both-and" with Jesus, only "either-or." Either Jesus is the only Saviour, the perfect Saviour, and your only comfort in life and in death, or Jesus is for you no Saviour at all.

K DeYoung
The Good News we Almost Forgot
Moody
p65

Obedience - out of love

From slavery to sonship - this is the message of Paul's letter to the Galatians. It is also the transition the Tuyuca people made when they first encountered that message. The Tuyucas live in the eastern jungles of Colombia, along the border with Brazil. As they worked with the missionary Janet Barnes to translate Galatians, they had trouble understanding salvation by grace. "If all we have to do to be saved is to believe," one of them asked, "well, then what? How do we live after that?"

The answer, the Tuyucas learned, is that Christians live out their faith by obeying the will of God. They do this not because they are slaves who must satisfy their Master, but because they are children who want to please their Father. "I understand now," said one of the Tuyucas, finally grasping the gospel message of Galatians. "My grandfather said it is better for a son to obey his father out of love than out of fear of being punished. That is how God wants us to obey him - out of love."

P Ryken

Galatians

P&R

p168

A Faithful Minister

I see a man cannot be a faithful minister, until he preaches Christ for Christ's sake - until he gives up striving to attract people to himself, and seeks only to attract them to Christ. Lord, give me this!

R M'Cheyne, in

A Bonar

Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier

p54

Church

Do we go to God's house expecting something to happen? Or do we go just to listen to a sermon, and to sing our hymns, and to meet with one another? How often does this vital idea enter into our minds that we are in the presence of the living God, that the Holy Spirit is in the church, that we may feel the touch of his power? How much do we think in terms of coming together to meet with God, and to worship him, and to stand before him, and to listen to him? Is there not this appalling danger that we are just content because we have correct beliefs? And we have lost the life, the vital thing, the power, the thing that really makes worship worship, which is in Spirit and truth.

DM Lloyd-Jones
Revival
Marshall Pickering
p72

Pray, and do not lose heart!

I was recently giving a series of lectures and sermons at the church where one of my seminary's graduates had been made the senior pastor. At the first teaching session, I noticed the presence of someone who seemed vaguely familiar to me, though I could not remember ever having met her. After the discussion time following the lecture, this person came and introduced herself to me. It turned out that I had known her father for many years and also one of her brothers. The father was one of the most godly, faithful people I have ever met. The brother was a cherished fellow elder in the denomination in which I served for many years. I had seen the family resemblance. This woman (now in her early sixties) told me how she had come to faith while she and the family were singing hymns around her father's deathbed - after decades of unbelief and wandering since turning away from God as a teenager. I am sure that she was a person for whom many thousands of prayers had been offered. I am also sure that praying with confidence was at times very difficult for that family and for others who loved them. Yet it is in just such situations that Jesus encourages us that we "ought always to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).

J Barrs
The Heart of Prayer
P&R
p80