Issue No. 19

3 Items

Standing

by

I just had in my heart this matter of the day that we are in, and the need of standing.

The picture in Romans is that without Christ, outside of Christ, we are in the mud, we are in the mire, there is no standing, we cannot stand, we collapse, we fail, we fall back into sin, all the resolutions in the world do not work, all the willpower does not work, and we cannot stand. Mephibosheth could not stand – he was lame in both feet (2 Sam 9:13). And that is our position – we are unable to stand.

Now, that was not God’s purpose. And man is unique in that he stands! From all the animals, it is a distinguishing creatorial feature – standing. Why did God do that? Man is upright – man is standing. There is a glory connected with it. God is working to imprint His image and His likeness on man. We deal with a holy and upright God. And a God whose word stands whatever falls; His counsels stand, there is what is firm there – every blessing. And He would imbue that on the creature.

The coming of the Holy Spirit

by

I was just impressed with the awesome wonder of the coming of the Holy Spirit. My father came from a sect of Russian pacifists, the Doukhobors, and as one of their practices they would bow to one another in recognition of the Holy Spirit in one another. That may be a bit over the top, but I like the idea. It is amazing to think that the Holy Spirit has come and is dwelling in the saints. Maybe we could just look at John 14 in this connection.

Then, thinking of the many effects of the Holy Spirit, here are two: sin is reproved, and Christ is exalted. And we get that in Acts 2.

The Incarnation of Christ is an awesome and wondrous fact, and a reality that we can never get enough of. But the coming of the Spirit is so wonderful, powerful, and has such implications, that I just felt, myself, the need to be expanded in the awesome wonder of His coming. So we have Christ here physically – and you can see Him, but only those who have faith really discern Who He is. Then we have the Spirit, and He is not seen – as it comes out in this section in John 14, we cannot see Him.

Contrasts

by

I have read of two men because we learn a lot of things by contrast. Both had the same opportunity, but one went away sad, and the other went away glad! Our desire is that everyone may go away glad from this meeting tonight.

The Lord Jesus told us about two men who went up to the temple to pray (Luke 18:9‑14). One was a Pharisee – a very self-righteous, religious person. His prayer was full of himself, and how good he was compared to the other man – a tax-gatherer – who smote upon his breast and prayed saying, “O God, have compassion on me, the sinner.” Jesus said that the tax-gatherer “went down to his house justified.”