Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

February 16, 2019

2/16/2019

  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 (John 3:16).

    Should we awake tomorrow morning and find all the Bibles in the world turned to blank pages except for this one text, there would still be salvation enough for the whole world.

    Of all the stars in the sky the North Star, or polar, is the most useful to mariners sailing north of the equator. This text is the polestar of the Scriptures, for no doubt it has guided more souls to salvation than any other. Like the Great Bear among the constellations of the sky, so is this promise among the promises of the Bible. It is the one great promise of promises that can be repeated by almost everyone who has read the Scriptures at all.

    Here we have God's love with a "so" in it, making it shine out with measureless light.

    Next we have God's gift, in which heaven's infinite treasure is offered for humanity's need. And this is God's Son, the gift of God's love, which could never be fully known until the heavenly Father's Only Begotten came to live and die for all.

    Then there is the clear requirement of believing, pointing to God's gracious way of salvation for all guilty sinners, rich and poor.

    Next we notice that widest of all words, "Whosoever," and know that there is room for us all.

    Last comes the great promise that believers in Jesus shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This is the gospel in essence, much in little, great salvation in few words. It is not an intricate theology or involved philosophy. It is easy to understand and easy to receive--if we will. It is wonderfully simple, and simply wonderful. If we believe, we have eternal life.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever" (Ps. 21:4).

February 15, 2019

2/15/2019

For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end (Heb. 3:14).

    This promise is found in the middle of a dissertation regarding the Israelites in their wilderness wandering. They had been blessed and led of God toward the Land of Promise, but many of them drew back in their hearts to the land of bondage. They provoked God by their unbelief and sins. For 40 years they had seen His mighty works, yet because of their attitude of rebellion the Lord said of them, "They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways" (Heb. 3:10). They departed from the living God; therefore He departed from them, and they died in the wilderness. But their children, who did not rebel against God, went into Canaan.

    Today God is leading His people to their heavenly rest, and they are to learn from the failure of the ancient wanderers. We are warned against "an evil heart of unbelief" (verse 12). We are urged to "exhort one another daily, while it is called Today," and are reminded of the "deceitfulness of sin" (verse 13).

    Our Christian experience is not like a coat to be put on today and taken off tomorrow. If our confidence, our faith, is genuine, it is a part of us. As the songwriter puts it: "It's in my heart." Confidence is trust. We are to trust in the Lord as long as we live. Then we shall be strong in Him to meet all life's trials. "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" (Isa. 30:15). To be partakers of Christ here and hereafter, we must have faith, which is "the substance ["confidence," margin] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1).

    "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise" (Heb. 10:35, 36).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them" (Ps. 22:4).

February 14, 2019

2/14/2019

  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever (Isa. 40:8).

    We see evidence every day of the mutability of earthly things. Whole generations pass off the stage in a few years. At the time of my writing this, only seven men are left of the great armies in blue and gray that fought in America from 1861 to 1865. Even in our day empires, kingdoms, and republics that seemed as solid as a rock have vanished. Systems of philosophy, ways of thinking and living, religious customs, fade into the forgotten past. Scientific theories and hypotheses that were announced as absolute truth have in the past few years been completely demolished. A book on physics 25 years old is now hopelessly out of date. Like the grass, like the flowers human ideas, human works, human beings themselves, fade away. There is nothing in human experience that is changeless except change.

                                Our little systems have their day;
                                        They have their day and cease to be;
                                They are but broken lights of Thee,
                                        And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.
                                                                        __Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    In a world of change and flux, where everything earthly bears the seed of decay, this promise comes to us: "The word of our God shall stand for ever." We may build our hope upon the impregnable rock of Holy Scripture. The Word of God is like Him, eternal. "I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. 3:6).

    And God's Word not only stands; it abides as His memorial and monument and reminder through all the years and months and days to come. "The word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1 Peter 1:25).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "I trust in thy word" (Ps. 119:42).

February 13, 2019

2/13/2019

  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse (Mal. 4:5, 6).

    Think of the great work of Elijah in a time of apostasy in Israel--his conflict with Ahab and Jezebel, his being fed by ravens at the brook Cherith, his victory over the priests of Baal at Mount Carmel, his flight to the mountain of God, his conviction that he alone was left of the worshipers of Jehovah, his surprise that there were 7,000 others who had not bowed the knee to Baal and were true to God!

    It was Elijah's work to turn Israel back to the commandments of God. He seems to be a type of the church in the wilderness (Rev. 12:6, 14). During three and a half years of terrible famine he kept the light of truth burning in desolate places while Jezebel, through her husband, Ahab, ruled the land and persecuted the prophets of God, just as the ecclesiastical power ruled in the Dark Ages and persecuted all dissenters.

    Elijah was a type of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the first advent of our Savior (Matt. 11:11, 14; 17:10-12). John the Baptist was not Elijah in person, reincarnated (John 1:21), but he came "in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17).

    Elijah is also a type of God's people and their work in the days of apostasy just before the second coming of our Lord. In such a time families should be drawn closer together. Let us seek the salvation of our loved ones in this time of the Elijah message.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" (Ps. 85:6).

February 12, 2019

2/12/2019

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness (Ps. 17:15).

    My maternal grandmother fell asleep in Christ at the age of 94, leaving a request that I preach her memorial sermon from this text. Since that day this promise has meant much to me. Those of this world have their interest in this world alone, but those of the world to come look for more.

    As Christians we have a treasure that is twofold: God's presence here and His likeness hereafter. By faith we behold His face in righteousness now, for we are justified in the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 6:11). It is the "glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6) that shines in our hearts now. This is our heaven below, and it will be our heaven above also.

    But seeing is not the end, only the beginning. Even here we are changed by looking. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). We may sleep awhile and then wake up, "changed, in a moment," to His likeness. "We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).

    There is much in the best life here on earth that is unsatisfying. The fullest life here is incomplete, but when we awake with His likeness, we shall be satisfied at last.

    A great Welsh preacher left carved on his tombstone his name, followed by these words: "who was satisfied in Jesus." That was his testimony in the Lord's service here. But what will it be there in the presence of the Lord!

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Ps. 16:10).

February 11, 2019

2/11/2019

  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him (James 1:5).

    If any of you lack wisdom..." There is no if about it, for we all lack wisdom. What do we really know, after all? Very little indeed. How can we direct our own way? "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23). How much less do we know about directing others. Each of us might truly say, "Lord, I excel in ignorance and folly, and wisdom I have none." How often the pompous pronouncements of past ages have become confessions of ignorance in later days!

    Even in scientific affairs the Word of God has antedated some fundamental discoveries. For centuries the thinkers proclaimed the earth flat, square, or oblong, while all the time the Bible said that it is a circle, or sphere (Isa. 40:22). For more than a thousand years the best scientific brains declared the earth to be the center of the visible universe, about which moved our sun, the planets, and the stars. The Bible declared that "it is turned as clay to the seal" (Job 38:14). In physical science, archaeology, astronomy, physiology, and other fields of knowledge the Word of God has proved itself ahead of the age in which it was written.

    Our text says, "Let him ask of God." That is the only requirement. If we request it, the needed wisdom is ours. Let us pray for it now--wisdom for today's need, for its seeming simplicities and complexities. Let us pray in faith for this liberal education, for the wisdom from above, the wisdom "which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:7, 8).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me" (Ps. 25:5).

February 10, 2019

2/10/2019

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Heb. 13:5).

    This promise is repeated again and again in the Bible. The Lord says this time after time so that we will be absolutely certain and never forget it. We are never to doubt God's care for us. In the Greek this promise, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," has an extra negative, shutting out any possibility of the Lord's ever leaving one of His children so that they can justly feel forsaken of God. He will not--no, no, never! This is a priceless promise, and the child of God may rest upon it.

    We may be called to travel over strange ways, but we shall always have good company, for "the Lord of hosts is with us" (Ps. 46:7). Today's text is no promise of exempting from trouble, but it secures us against desertion. We may walk through dark valleys, but "the darkness and the light are both alike" to the Lord (Ps. 139:12). We may be poor in this world's goods, but we shall always have our Lord's company, provision, and assistance. In the midst of our enemies He is our "shield, and...exceeding great reward" (Gen. 15:1). We may grow old and feeble, but God will not forsake us. "Even to your old age," He says, "and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you" (Isa. 46:4).

    We may travel far and fast in this age of speed, but God will not be left behind, for no human being can measure footsteps with the eternal God. In childhood, maturity, and old age His promise holds and grows richer every day: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." So let us go on without fear.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute" (Ps. 141:8).

February 9, 2019

2/9/2019

For he will not lay upon man more than right (Job 34:23).

    The book of Job records the sufferings of a good man who could not understand why these terrible losses and troubles should come to him. His three special friends came to comfort him, but only made matters worse. Their comfort consisted largely of accusing Job of sin and urging him to confess it. Their idea of justifying the ways of God to human beings was Do good, and you will be wealthy and healthy; do evil, and you will be poor and sick. These three men have many spiritual descendants today. Job said, "Miserable comforters are ye all" (Job 16:2), and so they were.

    It is true that evil tends to death, and good to life, even in this world; but that is not all the truth. Thousands of God's children are great sufferers, and trouble often develops superior character. "We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom. 5:3-5).

    After the three miserable men had finished making others miserable, young Elihu came as the Lord's spokesperson and assured the sufferer that God "will not lay upon man more than right." This is a truth hard--sometimes impossible--to understand when we are in trouble. But we can believe it, for the Lord "knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust" (Ps. 103:14).

    Job was the center of a conflict larger than his personal affairs. He did not know it, but he could say, "God is greater than man" (Job 33:12). Once we accept this fundamental fact, we can resign all trouble into His hands and say with the New Testament disciples, "The will of the Lord be done" (Acts 21:14), and with Abraham, the friend of God, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man" (Ps. 60:11).

February 8, 2019

2/8/2019

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage: be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest (Joshua 1:9).

    Joshua must have been a timid man by nature, but we picture him as a strong, brave general as we see him with his foot on the neck of heathen kings and leading the armies of Israel to victory over mighty multitudes of the enemy. These instructions from the Lord urged him again and again to be strong and of good courage--"be not afraid, be not discouraged!" Why was this? Joshua was timid, but God knew that he would be a great leader if only he had courage. Timid people make good leaders if their faith is strong. They know their own weakness and realize that all their strength and courage and fearlessness must come from God.

    So it was with Joshua. Had he shown fear and dismay before the mighty armies that outnumbered Israel, the whole army would have fallen into panic. Leaders must lead. So the Lord gave this great promise: "For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." This brought Joshua the courage he needed. The very next verses say: "Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it."

    The Lord's promise to be with Joshua filled him with fearless zeal to go forward, the spirit of advance and victory. Before the cities "walled up to heaven," before the great warriors, before vast hosts like the sand of the sea, he knew that the Lord his God was with him; and that was victory.

    When we go on God's orders, we have God's presence.

MEDITATION PRAYERS:  "Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me" (Ps. 18:39).

February 7, 2019

2/8/2019

  But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out (Num. 32:23).

    Moses was leading the 12 tribes of Israel to the Promises Land. Just before they crossed the Jordan, soon to take possession of Canaan and contend with its fierce inhabitants, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh decided to claim the land where Israel was then encamped. It looked like insurrection. Should they refuse to cross Jordan with the other tribes, the armies of Israel would be weakened just when every person was needed in the ranks. But they proposed to build houses for their families and shelters for their cattle in the land of Gilead and then go "ready armed before the children of Israel....We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance" (Num. 32:17, 18).

    Moses, as God's spokesperson, agreed to this plan and said, "If ye will do this thing,...then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the Lord, and before Israel....But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out" (verses 20-23). This is a warning of evil in case of disobedience. Should the contract be broken, then they would be declared sinners against God and God's people. And their sin would find them out, would follow them and be a cruse upon them.

    Is sin any less evil today? Can we break faith just because we do not like to carry out our promised agreements? Let us remember this: "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22), as the prophet said to King Saul. For the defiant, unrepentant, or unheeding soul there is no escape, no refuge--their own sin will find them out. But for the repentant one there is a certain hiding place. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me" (Ps. 19:13).