If you want to preach accurately, read your
Bible. If you want to preach powerfully, pray.
The infidel’s idea of God’s love is amiability
about sin.
They put a reed in the Lord’s right hand, and He
held it (see Matt. 27: 29). He, in grace, allowed their mockery of
Him, the Creator of the universe.
Talking
of faith is all very well; living by faith is what counts.
How quickly we slip into thinking of the rapture
as merely a doctrine to be believed. It is a hope that ought to
thrill the soul and govern the life.
You can only be disappointed with yourself if you
have believed in yourself.
Conviction about what we believe, leads to
courage in telling others what we believe.
It is mercy we seek but it is grace we receive.
If I realise that I am neither Jew nor Gentile in
the eye of God, I shall not claim to be Jew or Gentile on earth.
We are not looking for something to
happen but for Someone to come. Christ, not signs, is
our hope.
Adam’s Sin
Adam was never placed in a position where he was
at liberty to disobey God. Genesis tells us that “Jehovah Elohim
commanded Man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
shalt freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest of it thou
shalt certainly die” (Gen. 2: 16-17, my emphasis). This word
commanded is not about choice, but direction. It is an order or
a charge from a superior. Adam was not presented with options, but
one path only—the path of obedience to
God. The same language is used in Gen. 3: 17, where the true
assessment of Adam’s sin is presented (in contrast to the defective
version in v12): “Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy
wife, and eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, Thou
shalt not eat of it”. God gets to the nub of the problem: Adam
hearkened to another voice other than God’s. God never presented
Adam with options; it was Satan (through the woman) who did that.
The Breaking of the Bread
Scripture attaches no importance to the person
giving thanks and administering the bread and wine at the Lord’s
supper, and therefore neither should we. Those who insist it ought
to be done any sort of ‘official’ person are adding to the Word of
God. There is not a shred of evidence that in apostolic times the
apostles or elders officiated. Nor is it the leading of the Holy
Spirit for the assembled company to wait for an important visitor to
carry out the act, or for such a visitor to feel obligated to do so.
This is making a focus of the servant at the supper of the Lord.
There is one person only who should have the sole stand-out place at
the Lord’s supper and that is the Lord. It is His
supper.
The Servant's Burial
At the funeral of a well-known servant of the
Lord, a brother in Christ read from Matt. 27: 57-60 and in a few
words pointed out the contrast between the burial of the Master and
the burial of a servant. To the few around the Master’s grave it
must have seemed that all their hopes had been cut off (compare Luke
24: 21). How different it is today for Christians in committing the
body of one of the Master’s servants to the grave! On account of the
death and resurrection of the Master (see 1 Cor. 15: 20), such a
servant can be buried in hope. Therefore, a Christian
funeral congregation is not assembled for the purpose of eulogising
the departed servant, but to hear about the Master and to make much
of Him and His work. Would that more funerals were like this!
