Author: gospelriver

83. Crucified with Christ

gospelriver Practical 1 Comment

Why does the cross of Christ mean death to my old self-life and my own sinful will? I would like to suggest a number of things (but feel free to share your thoughts as well):

  • Christ was dying at Calvary because of sin. Sin put Him there, and sinners nailed Him to that tree. To demand my own sinful way, void of God, is to sin against God, mirroring the hearts of those who crucified Him. They would have their sinful way, not His, and to gain their way, they had to crucify the Lord of glory. Shall I sin, that grace may abound? May it not be so! That sin nailed Him to the tree, and how can I delight in that which made Him suffer? (Rom. 6:1-2; Gal. 6:14)
  • Christ was the perfect man dying a perfect death. He lived as every person ought to live. He is our perfect example, and we should desire to follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21 NASB). He said, “not My will, but Thine be done” and submitted Himself to the Father (Luke 22:42).
  • When Christ died, He was dying as my substitute, in my place. I should have died there. In dying, He took my sins away. Thus, my old life is buried in the sea of Calvary and gone forever. If He died in my place because of my old life of sin, then my old self and way of life is crucified with Him (Rom. 6:1-11).
  • Through His going away, the Comforter came. With the Holy Spirit, we have new desires, new aspirations. To desire the old life is to go against He who lives inside me and to do what is not natural for a child of God (John 16:7; Rom. 8:1-14; Gal. 5:22-24).
  • When Christ died, He was completing the greatest, most costly purchase that has ever been made. He was purchasing you. It is a wonderful thing to be able to say “I am His, and He is mine!” (Song 2:16, 6:3) That fact binds me to Him, and His purchase of love should cause me to understand that I am not my own: I have been bought with a great price (1Cor. 6:19-20).
  • Submitting to the Christ of Calvary as “my Lord and my God,” obeying the gospel by faith and trusting in the Savior, means that I now have a new Master. Christ has conquered death, and I am no longer a slave to death and sin, but a servant of righteousness (Rom. 6:20-23).
  • The cross is the greatest manifestation of love the world has ever (and will ever) know. How can I live for myself, when Christ has endured infinite suffering with infinite, eternal love, and has given Himself for me? How could I continue to live only for myself, when He has given all for me? “For the love of Christ controls us” (2 Cor. 5:14-17 NASB). “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me ” (Gal. 2:20 NASB).

Oh for the grace to stand with Christ on resurrection ground! Oh for the heart to love as He loved!

Father, fill me with Christ! Let me fix my gaze on the man in the glory with wounded hands and feet, and let me be filled with His glory, grace and love until He comes to take me home.

 

82. What if we quit?

gospelriver Song/Poem 4 Comments

What if we quit? Who will bear the Good News,
Spread the glad message if we should refuse?
We must go forth: there is no other way:
Let us press on without further delay.

What if we quit when the way becomes hard?
Rugged and rough was the path of our Lord.
Bitter the cup which He drank for our sake:
He did not quit, nor His mission forsake.

What if we quit? Have we counted the cost?
Men in their sins are eternally lost.
Jesus has died their salvation to win:
Still they will perish and die in their sin.

What if we quit? Can we not hear the cry
Rising from souls who are fearful to die?
How can we carelessly heed not their plea?
Voices are calling to you and to me.

Lord of the Harvest, we go at Thy Word,
Spreading the gospel ’til all men have heard;
Promised Thy power to defeat every foe,
Promised Thy presence as onward we go.

by Ross Vanstone

The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.  Luke 10:2

81. Before us stands the shrouded way

gospelriver Song/Poem 0 Comment

Before us stands the shrouded way,
The threshold dim, the path untrod.
For wisdom, courage, faith we pray
To tread it in the fear of God.

Thus far His love has brought us through;
And, come what may, one thing we know –
The hand that helped us hitherto
Will never, never let us go.

Beyond the partings and the pain,
Beyond the mists, in light divine,
We’ll catch the broken threads again,
All woven into one design.

I. Y. Ewan (verses 4-6)

80. Creator, Redeemer

gospelriver Devotional 0 Comment

When we consider the heavens, we are confounded by the greatness and glory of God.  What power!

When we consider the cross, we are confounded by the grace and goodness of God. What love!

When the heavens and earth were finished, God declared, “very good.” God rested.

When the cross work was finished, the earth quaked, the rocks rent, and God declared “satisfied.” Christ rose and sat down on the right hand of God (Acts 2:34).

The following is from Present Truth, March/April 2012 by Jeff Brown (apart from a few references):

We now propose to examine the physical and (more importantly) the spiritual significance of the days of creation. The physical days of creation all show progression and purpose. Each day’s work underpinned the next. We can also see progression and purpose as we mirror each of the days of creation in the life of a believer (a new creation in Christ). We may summarize as follows:

Day 1 (Gen. 1:3-5)

physical – initial darkness, activity of Spirit of God, creation of light
spiritual – initial conversion / illumination (John 16:8; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 5:8)

Day 2 (Gen. 1:6-8)

physical – division
spiritual –  separation (2 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 5:11)

Day 3 (Gen. 1:9-13)

physical – fruit (especially vv. 11-13)
spiritual –  fruitfulness to God (Eph. 2:10; Rom. 6:22; Gal. 5:22)

Day 4 (Gen. 1:14-19)

physical – creation of sun, moon, stars
spiritual –  witness (Philippians 2:15)

Day 5 (Gen. 1:20-23)

physical – movement, variety of growth
spiritual –  growth / development (2 Pet. 3:18; Eph. 4:15; Mark 16:15)

Day 6 (Gen. 1:24-31)

physical – image, likeness and replenishment
spiritual –  likeness (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 John 3:2)

Day 7 (Gen. 2:1-3)

physical – completion, rest, blessing and sanctification
spiritual –  rest; past, present and future (Matt. 11:28; Heb. 4:9)

79. Weight of glory

gospelriver Devotional 0 Comment

Just a quick thought for meditation that came to me this morning in prayer.

If what God has done (and does) for us means nothing to Him, the glory He receives and the worship we could give would be of little value to Him.

But if the sacrifice God made in giving His beloved Son to die on Calvary’s cross was infinitely great, then the glory and worship He receives is His due, and is precious to His heart.

 

78. Giving

gospelriver Exhortation 1 Comment

I have appreciated and been challenged by a few thoughts about giving recently from 2 Corinthians.

  1. God desires for giving to begin in the heart before it is seed in the hand. It is first God-ward: we give to God and then give to others.
    • “that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.” 2 Cor. 8:2-5 NASB
    • “God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Cor. 9:7 NASB
  2. God intends that those who have more than they need help to supply those who have need. It may well be that, down the road, the very ones you gave to will be God’s means of bringing blessing into your own life.
    • “At this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality;” 2 Cor. 8:14 NASB
  3. The benefits and results of our giving are in proportion to how much we give.
    • “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” 2 Cor. 9:6 NASB
    • Note: this is not to say that a little seed dropped along the wayside cannot be used of God to bring about great blessing.
  4. God abundantly supplies seed to those who wish to sow for His glory and the blessing of others.
    • “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.” 2 Cor. 9:10-11 NASB
  5. God is the first and greatest Giver.
    • “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9 NASB
    • “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Cor. 9:15 NASB

 

77. The heart of a true minister

gospelriver Practical 2 Comments

I have been challenged lately by the life and heart of the apostle Paul, and specifically in 2 Corinthians. What a minister (servant) He was!

In 2 Cor. 5, we read that he was a minister of the New Covenant, and an ambassador for Christ.

Note 2Cor. 6:3-11 NASB

giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death,
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.
Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide.

What an example Paul was for us. He relates even more hardships that he endured as Christ’s servant in 2Cor. 11:23-30.

Surely he imitated the greatest Servant of Jehovah, our Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah 42:1). Christ, the Man of Sorrows, was the one who said “that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13). None other went from such riches to such deep poverty, selling all that He had to purchase our redemption (2 Cor 8:9, Matt 13:46). Dying upon that tree, He owned nothing in this world naturally, but was the possessor of heaven and earth.

He told the Corinthians,  “you are in our hearts to die together and to live together” (2Cor 7:3 NASB).

Paul was willing to go through so much for the Corinthians, “though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Cor 12:15).

His aim was the Lord’s glory, and his goal, the Lord’s commendation (2 Cor. 10:17-18).

After all, why glory in men, and why strive for the menial things of this life? For all things are yours (1 Cor 3:21-23). What a hope we have to look forward to as heirs with Christ! (Rom 8:17)

Paul gives us a high standard when he writes in Colossians 3:17, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus…”  Albert Barnes sums this up by saying,

His authority should be the warrant; His glory the aim of all our actions and words.

May each of us strive to be “a good minister of Jesus Christ” (2Tim. 4:6).