Take up the cross, and follow me!!

“Take up the cross, and follow me.”
Mar_10:21

You have not the making of your own cross, although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted to choose your own cross, although self-will would fain be lord and master; but your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you are cheerfully to accept it; you are to take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to stand cavilling at it. 
This night Jesus bids you submit your shoulder to His easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or trample on it in vain-glory, or fall under it in despair, or run away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of Jesus. Jesus was a cross-bearer; he leads the way in the path of sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if he carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire? The Via Crucis is the way of safety; fear not to tread its thorny paths.
Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers, or lined with velvet, it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with iron colours, it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for the Man of sorrows tried the load. 

Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with it, that like Moses, you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasures of Egypt. Remember that Jesus carried it, and it will smell sweetly; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble. The Lord help you to bow your spirit in submission to the divine will ere you fall asleep this night, that waking with to-morrow’s sun, you may go forth to the day’s cross with the holy and submissive spirit which becomes a follower of the Crucified.

WE ARE ALL AS AN UNCLEAN THING!

“We are all as an unclean thing.”
Lev_13:12-17; Lev_13:45-46

The fearful disease of leprosy was so common among the Israelites that laws were made for its regulation, and ordinances by which cleansed persons were restored to the society of Israel, from which their leprosy had excluded them. Among the laws was one singular one which we will read because it is full of teaching.
Lev_13:12-13
This seems very strange, and we cannot stay to account for it; but assuredly when a soul appears to itself to be nothing else but sin it is very near to salvation. Corruption hidden within is far more dangerous than that which the eye sees and laments. When the sinner’s iniquity comes out to view, he will fly for cleansing to the Lord Jesus. As long as we think there is some soundness in us, we boast ourselves proudly and are in a sorry case; but when we see that, from the sole of the foot even to the head, we are only wounds and bruises and putrifying sores, then are we humbled and our cure begins.
Lev_13:14-15
Just what our ignorance values most in our nature the Lord considers to be our deadliest mark.
Lev_13:16-17
When to the eye he seemed worst he was really better. The Lord sees not as man sees. When the disease is all upon the surface, all beneath the man’s own view, he is clean. When self-righteousness is gone, when we have no soundness in us, then is the hour of grace. If the priest found the man to be unclean, the law shut him out from the camp.
Lev_13:45
He was made to wear the rent garments of woe, his head was laid bare as though he mourned for himself as dead, and his lip was covered as though for ever closed from all intercourse with men. To prevent others from coming near him, and catching the dreadful infection, he had to utter the warning cry, “Unclean, unclean.”
Lev_13:46
He sat without, and none dare approach him, neither was he permitted to come near to any man. His disease was foul, painful, wasting, and deadly. Such too is sin, and such is the sinner’s condition before the Lord. He is excluded from the divine presence, and dead in trespasses and sins. The principle of health or holiness is gone from him; his spiritual powers are withered, and every smew shrunk. Streams of impurity burst forth in his soul, and render him utterly loathsome to God. Upon him has fallen the shadow of death. No human hand can heal him, there is no balm in Gilead, there is no physician there. The sinner is sick unto death, and is far past all earthly help. Yet one there is who can heal with a word, and he is present here, saying to each one of us, “Look unto me and be saved, for I am God, and beside me there is none else.” He who refuses this Physician deserves to die; and die he must. Will it be so with any one of us? Rather let each one of us put our trust in Jesus from this hour.

Physician of my sin-sick soul,
To thee I bring my case;
My raging malady control,
And heal me by thy grace.

It lies not in a single part,
But through my frame is spread;
A burning fever in my heart,
A palsy in my head.

Lord, I am sick, regard my cry,
And set my spirit free:
Say, canst thou let a sinner die,
Who longs to live to thee?

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean!

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.”
Lev_14:1-7
Lev_14:3
perhaps the priest was otherwise occupied, and then the leper must wait until he could leave the camp and come to him, but Jesus is always ready to hear the sinner’s cry. Moreover all that the priest could do was to pronounce a man ceremonially clean who was already healed, but Jesus actually heals the sin-sick soul
Lev_14:7
See how the two streams of blood and water meet in the type as they do yet more fully in Jesus. He, as slain for us, purges away our guilt; and, as living for us, he is our righteousness. “He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” He came not by water only, but by water and blood, and we also are now born of water and of the Spirit. Now also we fly in the open field, and a new song is in our mouth, even praise unto our God.
Mar_1:40-45
In the Evangelists we meet with the cure of a leper by our Lord, in which the Jewish rites and ceremonies are alluded to.
Mar_1:40
Here was faith enough to believe that Jesus could remove an incurable disease, but there lingered a sad “if” in his faith, like a dead fly in the pot of ointment. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus accepted the imperfect faith, and gave in return a perfect cure.
Mar_1:41
What a blessed “I will.” Christ’s will is omnipotent. He can save us even with his wish. He can save us at this present moment.
Mar_1:42
Salvation is instantaneous. The moment we believe in Jesus we have eternal life.
Mar_1:44
While the law stood our Lord observed it; how much more should we obey the gospel in every point of precept and ordinance.
Mar_1:45
Jesus was modest and retiring, and sought not honour of men. But the man’s gratitude would not let him be silent. He told his story, and the news ran along like fire over a prairie—it blazed abroad, to the praise of the Good Physician.

Lord, I am vile, conceived in sin,
And born unholy and unclean;
Sprung from the man whose guilty fall
Corrupts the race, and taints us all.

Behold I fall before Thy face,
My only refuge is Thy grace;
No outward forms can make me clean;
The leprosy lies deep within.

No bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast,
Nor hyssop branch, nor sprinkling priest,
Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea,
Can wash the dismal stain away.

Jesus, my God! Thy blood alone
Hath power sufficient to atone;
Thy blood can make me white as snow;
No Jewish types could cleanse me so.

He is altogether lovely!

“He is altogether lovely.”

2Cor_3:7-18
The apostle Paul gathers instruction from the veiled face of Moses, and presents it to us in 2 Cor_3:7-8.

1Cor_3:8
Moses taught the letter—the outward signs and details of rule and order—but the gospel reveals the inner secret, the essence, the spirit of truth; surely this is more glorious than forms. Babes in knowledge may be most impressed with the glory which blazes before the eye, but men esteem most that inner light of spiritual beauty which irradiates the soul.
1Cor_3:9
The law only reveals condemnation and death, how much more glorious is the gospel, which reveals righteousness and life! If the halberts and trumpets of a judge, when he opens an assize, are held in esteem, how much more the chariots of love and the banners of grace which adorn the procession of a beloved Prince!
1Cor_3:10
As the moon’s light is no more bright when the sun appears, so is Moses eclipsed by our Lord.
1Cor_3:11
Transient things can never, to the eyes of wisdom, shine with the same lustre as eternal realities. Sparks can never rival stars. It is the crowning excellence of the gospel that it shall never pass away. It is “the everlasting gospel”. Blessed be God for this.
Our Lord’s transfiguration was a visible token of the superior glory of the gospel, for not His face alone but His whole body glowed with a light excessive, which quite overpowered the three disciples. The glory of the gospel of grace astounds the angels, delights the perfect spirits, and deserves to be the constant theme of our reverent wonder. God in the gospel has laid open more of the glory of His nature and character than in all the world besides.
1Cor_3:12-14
The glory of the gospel, in the types, was too great for the Jews, and a veil was needed; and now, alas, the glory of the unveiled truth has quite confounded them; but it is not so with us, we delight in a plain, unveiled gospel.
1Cor_3:15
Or else they would clearly see Jesus revealed in their law, and would at once accept Him as Messiah. A veil over the intellect is bad, but a veil upon the heart is worst of all.
1Cor_3:16
Poor Israel shall yet see her Messiah. The heart-veil shall be removed by His Spirit.
1Cor_3:17
The Spirit of God forbids our standing afar off because of the terrible presence of the Lord, and gives us in lieu thereof liberty to draw near to our heavenly Father in the sweet familiarity of reverent love.
1Cor_3:18
Ours it is to possess a spiritual faith which looks into the inner truth, whose brightness is too great for unregenerate eyes. The Spirit of the Lord has brought us near to God, opened our purblind eyes, and given us to see the character of the Invisible God, and to become partakers of it.

Thou glorious Bridegroom of our hearts,
Thy radiant smile a heaven imparts;
Oh lift the veil, if veil there be.
Let thy redeem’d thy beauties see.

Then on our faces shall the sight
Kindle a blaze of holy light,
And men with awe-struck wonder see
The glory we derive from thee.

You are Christ’s!

“You are Christ’s.”
Exo_35:4-5; Exo_35:20-29
Exo_35:4-5
The Lord loves a cheerful giver. His revenues are His due, yet they are not levied as a tax, but given spontaneously by willing minds. Every Israelite should be a giver, for he is a receiver.
Exo_35:20
They went off at once to fetch their offering; promptness is a sign of willingness.
Exo_35:21
Some there were who loved their gold better than their God, but the majority were free hearted, and gave not of constraint but joyfully.
Exo_35:22
This is a good example. If Christian women would cast their ornaments into God’s treasury, and if godly men would present their superfluity of gold, there would be enough and to spare.
Exo_35:23
The gifts varied in value but not in acceptance; where they were willingly given they were graciously accepted.
Exo_35:25-26
Work is as good as material. The women worked with their best skill. When the needle is used for the Lord it ought to be the best needlework in the world.
Exo_35:29
Shall we allow those who were under the law to outstrip us who are under the gospel? Nay, rather let us far exceed them in gifts unto the Lord our God.
Paul gives admirable directions for contributing to the cause of God in
2Co_9:6-8
2Co_9:6
Both in temporals and spirituals men will find that this rule holds good. Those who stint the Lord stint themselves. Little give, little have.
2Co_9:8
Notice the many “alls” here, may we have them all, and then abound in giving.
1Co_16:2
1Co_16:2
This is the true Christian custom to lay by the Lord’s portion weekly and then give from the Lord’s purse to the various works which need our help. From the oldest to the youngest let us all be cheerful givers.

The mite my willing hands can give,
At Jesus’ feet I lay;
Grace shall the humble gift receive,
And heaven at last repay.

Ne’er shall thy service stand in need
While substance, Lord, is mine;
To give to thee is bliss indeed,
For all I have is thine.

THE REFINER'S FIRE

THE REFINER'S FIRE

"He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver" Mal_3:3.
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."1Pe_1:7.

NOTHING IS harder to bear than the apparent aimlessness of suffering.
They say that what breaks a convict's heart in jail is to set him to say carry stones from one side of the prison to the other, and then back again! But we must never look upon the trials of life as punishments, because all penalty was borne by our Lord Himself. They are intended to destroy the weeds and rubbish of our natures, as the bonfires do in the gardens. Christ regards us in the light of our eternal interests, of which He alone can judge. If you and I knew what sphere we were to fullfil in the other world, we should understand the significance of His dealings with us, as now we cannot do. The Refiner has a purpose in view, of which those who stand beside Him are ignorant, and, therefore, they are unable to judge the process which He is employing.

Dare to believe that Christ is working to a plan in your life. He loves you, so be patient! He would not take so much trouble unless He knew that it was worth while. "We do not prune brambles, or cast common stones into the crucible or plough sea-sands!" You must be capable of some special service, which can only be done by a carefully-prepared instrument, and so Christ sits beside you as the 
Refiner, year after year, that you may miss nothing.
Whilst the Fire is hot keep conversing with the Refiner. Ponder these words: "He shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of silver." The thought is specially suitable for those who cannot make long prayers, but they can talk to Christ as He sits beside them. Nicholas Hermann tells us that, as he could not concentrate his mind on prolonged prayer, he gave up set times of prayer and sought constant conversations with Christ. Speak to Him, then, in the midst of your daily toil. He hears the unspoken prayer, and catches your whispers. Talk to Christ about your trials, sorrows, and anxieties! Make Him your Confidant in your joy and happiness! Nothing makes Him so real as to talk to Him aloud about everything!

PRAYER
Let the Fire of Thy Love consume in me all sinful desires of the flesh and of the mind, that I may henceforth continually abide in Jesus Christ my Lord, and seek the things where He sits at Thy right hand. AMEN.

The New Covenant of Grace: A Holy Spirit Covenant

The New Covenant of Grace: A Holy Spirit Covenant

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgement's and do them.  (Eze_36:26-27)
As noted earlier, the new covenant is about grace, as contrasted with the old covenant, which is about law. "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John_1:17). The connection between grace and the Holy Spirit can be seen in various scripture passages on the new covenant, including this glorious prophecy. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." 

The first verse in this prophetic promise concerns regeneration, spiritual new birth. Through faith in the Lord, our original, hard, lifeless heart is removed, and a new, pliable, living spirit is given to us. 
The second verse pertains to transformation, the ongoing development of this new life. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes." The developing of a life that increasingly complies with the will of God depends upon the work of the Holy Spirit within us. We know that un-redeemed humanity has no hope of living a life that is pleasing to God. Yet, many Christians could be unaware that even the new creature in Christ cannot please God on his own resources. The Spirit of God must be the heavenly cause that produces a heavenly lifestyle in believers. 
What is promised here is not an automatic experience. The life of many Christians does not consistently match what is described here in Eze_36:27. The reason is that they are not relating properly to the Lord in humble dependence. Yes, these two relational realities (humility and faith) also determine whether or not the Spirit of God is our resource, just as they were determinative concerning grace. 
Two statements by Jesus expound upon this fact. "You have no life in you . . . It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing". We do not innately possess life as God intends it to be lived. Natural human resources are of no benefit in developing a godly life. Such revelation is very humbling. If we embrace Jesus' evaluation of our personal inadequacy, then we are willing to relate to God in humility. Further, there is truth in which we are to place our trust. "It is the Spirit who gives life."  As we count on this truth, we are relating to the Lord in faith. The result of such humble reliance is God's Spirit becomes our vitality for living godly.

O Lord, the source of true life, thank You for establishing such a gracious arrangement as the new covenant. I praise You that Your Holy Spirit is my heavenly dynamic for godliness. I confess that my fleshly attempts to please You are so inadequate. I humbly ask You to cause me to walk in Your good will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.