DAILY*
A WORD TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS
By
C. A.
COATES.
[*
Additional notes are added where they are deemed necessary.
Ed.]
I speak
with an earnest desire to help and encourage those who are young in the faith, who have not long taken upon their lips the
confession of the Lord Jesus, and I would like to bring before you six things
that will have a place in your everyday life if you go on with God. The first of them is brought before us in Acts 17: 10-12 And the brethren immediately sent
away Paul and Silas by night unto
1. DAILY SEARCHING OF THE SCRIPTURES
It is of great importance to the
welfare of your soul that you should have, and cultivate, an appetite for the
word of God. But everything depends upon
the spirit and attitude in which we approach the scriptures. It is possible to study the Bible in
school-boy fashion, and to learn divinity just as people learn geology or
botany. I do not want to encourage you
to do that; there is already too much of it.
We are told not only that the Bereans searched the scriptures, but why
they searched. They heard the preaching
of Paul and Silas, and received the word
with all readiness of mind, and searched the
scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Wonderful things were
brought to their ears, and they were not sceptical or indifferent, they received the word with all readiness of mind, and they searched the scriptures
because they had received the word of the apostles. They searched, not like the antiquary who
pores over an old will with curiosity or scientific interest, but like the
person who has been told that a great legacy is bequeathed to him in it. I thank God if you have received the report
of the marvellous blessings of His grace, but I fear lest you may have not been
sufficiently interested to search the scriptures daily whether these things are
so. The result is that you lack
stability; and if you were challenged as to some of the blessings which you
think you have received, you might not be able to give a very good reason of the hope* that is in you.
[* NOTE. Regenerate believers do not hope for what they have received as the gift of God - that is, eternal life,
(Rom. 6: 22, 23): they hope, after having been justified by his grace, that they might become
heirs having the hope of eternal (Gk.aionios- should, in this context, be translated age-lasting) life. See Titus 3: 7. cf.
Christians
have been begotten from above unto a living
hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Christ lives, and Christians will live with
Him. But this fact is not the object
of ones hope. Hope is described as living because of Christs
resurrection, but a Christians hope lies in things beyond His resurrection. ...
Hope, inheritance, and salvation are inseparably linked in Scripture. It is only because we are saved (past
salvation [by grace
through faith in Christ]) that we can possess a
hope. And this hope looks ahead to the reception of
an
inheritance within a salvation (future, salvation of the soul) to be revealed.
Christians
are commanded, But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you
a
reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (1 Pet. 3: 15b).
The
epistle of Titus centers around the Christians
relationship to both hope and the coming age, for it is in the coming age that the hope of our calling
will be realized. Hope in Titus 2: 14 is called that blessed hope and is
associated with the appearing of the glory of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ
(ASV). The structure of the Greek text
shows the appearing of the glory as the object of ones hope (through
placing both blessed hope and appearing under one article).
Christians are the ones who possess this hope, as they are the ones who
are to be partakers of Christs glory when it is revealed.
That being justified by his grace, might
become heirs having the hope of eternal life: (Tit. 3: 7.N.I.V.)
The
Greek word aionios appearing in Titus 1: 2; 3: 7,
translated eternal in most English versions, does not itself mean eternal. The Greek language actually contains no word
for eternal. Aionios can be, and many times is, used in the sense of eternal; but this meaning is derived from its
textual usage, not from the word itself.
Aionios refers to a period of time, usually thought of as an age.
Aionios life in Titus 1: 2; 3: 7 a hope associated with an
inheritance set before the [regenerate] believer must be
understood contextually to mean age-lasting, referring to the coming age, the Messianic Era. Eternal life cannot be in view at all.
Neither hope nor inheritance is used pertaining to eternal life which Christians presently possess; but both words are used
numerous times concerning Christians and their relationship to the coming [millennial] kingdom (with its glory), which is what is in view in the
Book of Titus. The hope (the
blessed hope) set before every Christian is simply that he/she may, at the judgment seat of Christ, be found
qualified to occupy one of the numerous, proffered positions with Christ in His
[millennial] kingdom. A Christian already in possession of eternal life may or may not realize this hope, for such
depends entirely upon ones faithfulness during the present pilgrim walk. (Dr. A. L. Chitwood - Salvation of the Soul, pp. 83, 84.)]
There is often a carelessness
with the children of God as to divine things which has no parallel in the ordinary
affairs of life. If a man buys an
estate, or has property left him, he does not content himself with the bare
word of the vendor or executor; he will have the deeds searched with the utmost
care to be quite sure the title is good.
If I were to go to some merchant and tell him that the King had
conferred upon him the honour of knighthood, he would insist on seeing the
official document which would verify the statement. The more important a thing is, the more
anxious people are to be sure about it, and I think if we got a right sense of
the immensity of the very smallest bit of christian blessing, we should go to
the word of God as the Bereans did to make quite sure
that those things were so. Where there
is carelessness as to the word of God it indicates that we have not a right
sense in our hearts of the greatness of christian
blessings, or they would become matters of more earnest and anxious inquiry; these things are so important - the issues
at stake are so vital.
[* NOTE. The adoption of Christians
can occur only following events surrounding the judgment seat
of Christ, for the adoption has to do with the placement of sons in a
firstborn status something which cannot be done preceding a
separation of Christians (the overcomers from the non-overcomers) based on
decisions and determinations rendered at the judgment seat. Christians having been shown faithful at the
judgment seat, realizing the salvation of their souls, will be adopted as
firstborn sons. But such will not be,
for it cannot be, the case for unfaithful Christians. (A. L. CHITWOOD Salvation of the Soul, pp. 65.)]
Christians who have listened for years - apparently with
interest and attention - to the ministry of the word often know little of
divine things. They seem to enjoy the
ministry, their faces are bright in the meetings, and yet when you come to talk
to them you find that very little of it has got into their souls. I believe the secret is that they listen to
what is said, but value it so little that they do not go to the scriptures to
verify things for themselves. Ministry
has its own blessed and important place, but I do not believe that any ministry
will be of permanent profit to our souls if it is not followed by searching of
the scriptures.
The young Christian, Timothy, was exhorted by the apostle Paul
to give attendance to reading and to meditate upon
these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all,
1 Tim. 4: 11 15. Further, as a servant he was to be a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth; and as
a man
of God he was to know that all
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God
may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good
works, 2 Tim. 2: 15; 3 :
16, 17. In
connection with this there is an exhortation in 2 Timothy
1: 13 to which we might do well to take heed Hold fast the form of sound words, or as a
new translation gives it Have an outline of
sound words. Timothy was to have in
his mind an outline of the truth so that it was clear before him. When I was at school we had sometimes to draw
outline maps from memory, and very strange outlines used to be presented that
would have puzzled anyone to tell what country they were intended to be
like. Now suppose someone asked you to
give an outline of the truth of Christianity, could you do it? It is the will of God that we should have a
clear outline of the truth before our minds, and we cannot have this without
searching the scriptures. Otherwise our
thoughts on divine things will be vague and indefinite, and we may become the
prey of some plausible system of error, of which there are such endless varieties
at the present day. If we desire to be
tenacious of the truth, it is more than ever necessary that we should search
the scriptures daily.
Searching gives
the idea of a definite object being in view.
A great deal of Bible reading is to little
profit because aimless. I believe that
we profit most when our souls are interested in certain subjects, and exercised
before the Lord about them, and we turn to the scriptures to search whether
these things are so. There are surely
many things with each one of us that we are more or less anxious to have divine
light upon. Many of us do not know the doctrines of scripture very clearly; questions
arise as to practical details in
our walk: surely each one of us has exercise as to his soul-experiences; and all these things should constrain us to
search the scriptures. And remember it must be DAILY! I press upon every young Christian here the
necessity for the daily study of the
word of God. You cannot maintain a
vacuum in your mind; if it is not occupied with divine things it will be with
human or earthly things. The habit of
searching the scriptures grows upon you as you go on with it, but if you
neglect the word you soon lose a relish for it.
I have heard Christians say something like this I wish I could enjoy the word of God more. When I read my Bible I dont get the blessing
that some people do. I hear So‑and‑so
say how his soul is refreshed by the word, but I do not get it. I like to ask such persons, How often do you read the word? Once a
week? Or once a month? The one who reads his Bible most is the one
who enjoys it most, and who turns to it with the greatest delight. On the other hand, if you neglect the word
to-day you will have less taste for it to-morrow, still less the day after, and
so on until it becomes a dry book to you.
You must make a point of it that you are in company with the word of God
every day.
It is not a question of a great deal - you perhaps
have not time for that - but you must have it DAILY.
2. Blessed
is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of
my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth
life and shall obtain favour of the Lord,
Prov. 8 :34, 35.
You will get very little blessing
for your soul, and you will make no spiritual progress even by daily searching
of the scriptures, unless you are also
DAILY WATCHING.
The
great central figure of scripture must be the object of your affections or you
will read to little profit. In short, CHRIST must be before your heart, or
you will miss the kernel of every truth in scripture. The allusion in these verses is to an Eastern
court, where certain favoured ones are admitted to the privilege of being near
the monarch. In the first of Esther we
read of seven princes who saw the kings face. Others may read his commands and hear about
him at a distance, but these stand in his presence and hear his voice. Are you going in for this, beloved young
Christians? The glorious PERSON who has been from eternity the
delight of the Father has set His love upon us: He has revealed Himself to us
as the One who has found His delight in us.
Is that Person so holding your heart - are you so delighting in Him -
that your whole inner life consists in hearing Him, in watching daily
at His gates, and waiting at the posts of His doors? The grand secret of spiritual freshness and
soul prosperity is to have the Person of Christ so before the heart that we are
attracted to Himself with intense longing to
know Him better. Now, let us challenge
our hearts as to this! Are we on the
alert to increase our acquaintance with Christ?
The great defect of modem Christianity is that there is so little
affection for Christ. Many hear what is
called a clear gospel, and trusting the blood
and work of Christ they get the assurance of the word of God that they will
never perish, and this seems to satisfy them and they settle down upon it and
go to sleep. There is not the earnest
longing after Himself - the watching daily at His gates. Did it ever
occur to you that Christ values your affections? You belong to Him; you are the object of His
love; you are His own. Your heart is Christs property: is it His
dwelling-place? His love counts on your giving Him a place in your affections, so that He may
dwell in your heart by faith. If He does
dwell there, you may depend upon it that you will be watching daily at His
gates - not only seeking His benefits, but longing after Himself, and finding it the deepest joy of your
heart that you are admitted to personal acquaintance with Him.
Look at
Mary of Magdala - in her day a lovely example of this
precious affection for Christ! Apostles
did not attract her heart; she let them go to their homes without her. Angels - the highest order in creation -
speak to her, but leave her unsatisfied.
She does not even turn to look properly at the supposed gardener. She has forgotten herself a weak and
defenceless woman - as she says, Sir, if
thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. It was Himself that her devoted heart longed after
with all the intensity of its affection.
She watched at His gates and waited at the posts of His doors; and did
she not obtain favour of the Lord? No such message of divine love as that which
she carried was ever entrusted to human lips before.
Andrew
and John knew something of what I am speaking of when the longing of their
hearts was expressed in the question: Rabbi,
where dwellest thou? John 1: 38, 39. They wanted to be in His company; they were
in their day found watching at His gates and waiting at the posts of His
doors. And what favour they obtained! He
saith unto them, come and see. They came
and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day. Was it not a royal day for them? Do you think they will ever forget it? Oh! beloved, it is a
glorious day for the heart when it makes personal acquaintance with CHRIST. There are those who
could tell you that the deep joy of that hour was infinitely greater than the
joy of the hour when they learnt the perfect efficacy of His work. Nor would the Lord have this to be a
transient experience. They abode with him that day - a day
typical of the whole present period - and though He is no longer in the world
He would have us abiding with
Him. His love could think of no sweeter
portion for us than to have a part with Him and no service of His love is more
precious to a devoted heart than that washing by which He removes the
defilement of the world from our feet that we may have a part with Himself, John 13. Does not your heart
long to taste more deeply the blessedness of the one who watches DAILY at His gates and waits at the
posts of His doors?
Paul is another example of this
when he tells us that he counted all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, and
that he counted all things but dung that he might win Christ, and know
Him. To attain this he was pressing on
as a man wholly absorbed by one object.
To use once more the words before us, he was watching daily at His
gates, and waiting at the posts of His doors.
And did he not obtain favour of the Lord? Was it a small thing to be able to say as an
experimental reality, Our citizenship is in heaven?
or to say, I have learned, in
whatsoever state I am, to be satisfied in myself? or
to say, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me?
May our hearts be very much drawn
after that blessed Person in glory!
3. I cry unto thee daily, Psa. 86: 3. I wish to remind you of the great importance
of
DAILY
PRAYER,
and I have purposely left the subject of prayer
until I had said a little about the affections of the heart being after Christ,
because nothing will be more changed than your prayers if you are really after
Christ. If Christ is before our hearts
we feel the hindrances and the difficulties, and we understand the need for
prayer in a very different way from one who has not Christ as his object. There never was upon the earth a man who was
so continually in the spirit of prayer as the blessed Lord, for there never was
one whose heart was so devoted to God.
It was the very excellence of His devotedness to God that made Him so
entirely dependent - so pre-eminently the MAN
of prayer. The more our hearts are set
upon Christ in glory, and the more we are devoted to His interests here, the
more do we feel our weakness and dependence.
We feel that everything here is against us; we are conscious of the
opposition around and within, and we become more and more men of prayer. I
think you will allow that the apostle Paul excelled all other saints in
devotedness to Christ, and there never was one so saturated with the spirit of
prayer. I am sure of this, that if our
hearts are set upon Christ in glory the effect will be that we shall be much on
our knees.
Allow me to give you a few
practical words as to your prayers. Keep
clear of the unprofitable habit of saying your
prayers. Christendom is full of
solemn warnings as to the tendency of our hearts to drop into a routine of
religious forms. It is a very great loss to the soul to get into the habit of repeating
substantially the same words in prayer every day. It is not real prayer at all. We read, In everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God, Phil. 4: 6.
How can you do that if you are using the same form of words
day after day and week after week?
To-day is not like yesterday, and to-morrow will not be like
to-day. If you are really with God you
will be sensitive to the fresh needs of every day. God delights to have our confidence as to
every need and care. Then let us
cultivate a childs confidence and a childs simplicity as we come to Him in
prayer. Bring the trying circumstances
of to-day and the expected difficulties and perplexities of to-morrow to the
blessed God who tells you to cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for
you. Be simple; give up the long preface: do not feel it necessary to quote
a dozen scriptures: ask as a needy and confiding child would ask its parent. If I might venture to say one word about the prayer-meeting it would be this: I do not believe one
should take part unless he has some definite petition to present. There are those who begin without knowing
what they are going to ask for, and they discourse about every subject that
happens to come unto their minds. This
may be a profitable religious exercise, but it is certainly not prayer.
Then if we are really set for Christ, as I said before, we
realise our dependence in a deeper way, because our faith connects the glory of
His
name with everything in our
daily life, and we become sensible that it
is only as we are maintained by divine power that we can be for Him here. Such a one has many an exercise that others
miss who are less devoted, but he enjoys oftentimes the deep blessedness of
communion with God while they are living and walking as men.
The more your heart is set for Christ, the more you will be
characterised by humility and dependence, which will find their expression in daily
prayer.
4. Give us
this day our daily bread, Matt. 6: 11. I suppose we all believe that the
DAILY BREAD
here referred to is that which meets the need of
the body. Those who know not God seek
after what they may eat and drink, and what they may put on. Their concern is all about the body; we can rejoice that our Father knows we have need
of these things, and He cares for us in every detail of that need. But I wish to use these words now to impress
upon you the importance of having your soul nourished every day. We need food
convenient for our bodies every day, and it is not less needful to have
something fresh from the Lord for our souls.
Now, come, what have you had from the Lord to-day? I have been reading
a very good book, and part of one of the periodicals. I am glad to hear it, but did you get
anything from the Lord? I have read one or two chapters in the Bible. I am very thankful for that, but still you
might read many chapters without getting anything from the Lord to meet the
present need of your soul. Reading and
hearing are like looking at the food, but it is another thing to get the good
of it. Food is that which satisfies a
craving - a felt need - and unless we have an appetite there is not even the
desire for it. It is one of the great
principles of Gods ways that He satisfieth the longing soul, and fills the hungry with good things. Hence
the subject of the souls daily bread is a deeply experimental one.
The food of which I speak is the gracious supply to our souls of that
which answers the exercises, and meets the need of which we become conscious in
our experience day by day. I do not mean
your external
need, but the need of your heart and spirit in the various experiences
of your soul.
One or two scripture
illustrations may perhaps serve to make my meaning clear. On the night of the Passover in
At
another stage of their experience the children of
But the manna fell every
day. If they had fresh hunger every day, they had also fresh food every day. And we, too, for the renewed needs and
exercises of every day may have renewed supplies of heavenly grace to sustain
us in the path of faith. There is One in glory who knows every bit of the wilderness, for He
has been through it. He is out of it
now, but from where He is in glory we may have the daily supply of grace suited
to our wilderness experiences from One who knows well
what wilderness circumstances are. Paul
would have liked to escape from the exercise caused by the thorn in the flesh, 2 Cor. 12, but he was
better off with it than without it, for along with it he got what I think
answers to the manna My grace is sufficient for thee. I am sure if you have known anything at all
of this you will say that it is infinitely better to have the exercise and the grace than to be without them. As I said, this is very experimental, and
when we come to experimental things we find out where we are. Doctrines will not help you in
your everyday needs and exercises; you must have the supply that is suited to
them fresh from heaven. You must have daily bread. The manna that sustained you
through yesterdays experience will not do for to-day. You must have fresh grace from the Lord in
glory for every hour of need. Thus the
hearts intercourse with heaven is kept up from day to day, and our affections
become more and more attracted to the Person and the place from whence our
supplies come.
We have all, I trust, passed
through some stages of divine experience.
We have been - through grace - awakened, converted, led to trust in
Jesus, and brought into peace with God on the ground of Christs death and
resurrection, but at this point many seem to stop. They have got all they want, and they settle
down and go to sleep - that is, they live more or less on the same principles
as unconverted men. I ask you, young
believer, whether it would not make a great difference in your life, if you
were to accept a path where human resources cannot sustain you, and where you
have to look continually to the Lord in glory for the supply of daily
grace to carry you on. You cannot get on, as a Christian, on your
own resources. Your only strength lies
in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, and you
may have it fresh as the food of your soul every day and hour. This would keep us out of all ruts and
formalities - there would be nothing humdrum or mechanical about our lives -
because every day would bring fresh experiences of the grace of Christ, and the
sense of His interest in us would knit our hearts more and more to Himself. May the Lord preserve us from becoming
insensible to our daily need, or indifferent to the present grace that His love delights to supply as our
daily
bread!
5. If any
man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow me, Luke 9: 23.
I am quite sure that you would
shrink from the
DAILY
CROSS
if you did not know something of the grace of
which I have been speaking. It is
feeding on the daily bread that
enables us to sustain the daily cross, just as in Luke 14 you get the supper first and
then the building and the fighting. How
could you build or fight unless you were first fed? In a similar way in Hebrews 13 you are first fed from the altar, verse 10, and then you are called to make a journey, verse 13. Some have tried to
take the journey without feeding, but that is not Gods way. When He was going to send Elijah a long
journey He fed him first, 1 Kings 19. You must feed upon the heavenly grace that
comes from Christ, or you will never have the heart to go forth unto him. It is when you have learnt that all your
supplies come from Him, that you
are willing to go forth to Him in the place of shame and reproach, which
answers to the DAILY CROSS of Luke 9. You take up a path
that exposes you to shame and contempt every day. If a man was seen bearing his cross everybody
would know that he had done with the world, and as long as he remained in it he
was an object of reproach. To bear the
cross is to accept the reproach of being connected with that which is mean and
despicable in the eyes of men. A
crucified man was inconceivably despicable to both the Jew and the Greek, and
we must not forget that though the cross is so highly honoured now in name, it
is not really one whit more acceptable to men; and if we are true to the MAN who died on the cross we shall be
targets for the taunts and the scorn of the world. The daily cross is not bodily affliction
or the ordinary trials of life, as so many suppose, for these things are not
peculiar to Christians, they are the common lot of mankind. The daily cross is the acceptance day by day
of a path which so far as this world goes is one of dishonour and reproach.
You may depend upon it that it will
never be easy to the flesh to follow Christ and to bear His reproach. How much we need to remember those words of
the Holy Spirit: Forasmuch then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind:
for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin, 1 Peter 4: 1.
If we are true to Christ it will involve the surrender of much that we
naturally esteem - the praise of men, and the honours of life in this world. When our eye gets off Christ we shirk the
cross and try to smooth its corners to avoid the scorn and the sneers of the
world. It is a long time since I read Pilgrims Progress, but I have not
forgotten that Shame was one of the
worst enemies he met with. A great
soul-winner said that it cost him a struggle to give away a tract; and you may be sure that every bit of real
testimony for Christ will cost you something. If you are acting in the flesh, of course you
will escape this, for the flesh is not ashamed of its doings, and you may be
very well pleased with yourself and your service. But true testimony involves the denial of
self, and bearing the daily cross, for discipleship will never be a path of
liberty to the flesh. As you keep your
eyes upon Christ you do not seek to gratify the flesh, but to walk in the
Spirit, and you are able to sing from your heart -
Saviour, I long to follow Thee,
Daily Thy cross to bear.
The child of God walking in the
Spirit does not dread the cross, he longs for it. Like Moses, he esteems the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in
[* NOTE.
For too long multitudes of Christians have been misled into
believing that every regenerate believer will stand as a victor before
Christs judgment seat, to be praised, and then receive his/her reward in the age to come.
That is not the picture at all.
There is a just recompense of reward: and the issues of this judgment will
determine every Christians entrance and position in the coming millennial
Failure to understand and distinguish between the [eternal] salvation which we presently possess and the salvation to be
revealed when our Lord returns, has wrought untold confusion in Christian
circles.
Many Christians take Scriptures dealing with the salvation to be revealed and
seek to apply them to the salvation which we presently possess. And misapplying Scripture in this manner,
these individuals arrive at the erroneous conclusion that it is possible for a
saved [regenerate] person to be lost, which not only casts reproach upon the
sufficiency of the finished work of Christ at
Then, on the other hand, there are those Christians [regenerate
believers] who recognize that the loss of ones eternal salvation is
not possible, but still fail to understand distinctions between the salvation
of the spirit - [i.e.,
the salvation we presently possess] - and the [future] salvation of the soul. Most from this group take many of these same
verses and seek to either apply them to the nation of
6. Exhort
[encourage] one another daily, Heb. 3: 13.
There is immense need for such
an exhortation as this, for there is a constant tendency in our hearts to be discouraged because of the way. The young especially need
DAILY
ENCOURAGEMENT,
and it is a great privilege from the Lord to be able to encourage one another. I am afraid that many souls backslide and
drift away simply because we are not near enough to the Lord, and have not
sufficient affection to give them a word of encouragement. It is no use trying to set the old man down;
you may lecture and hammer at him with all your might, but he can stand all the
blows that you give him. You must keep
your eye on that which is of God in His own and lay
yourself out to encourage that. There is
no other way to help one another. There
is something which is of God in every believer; it may be very weak and small,
but we must build on that - we must encourage that. You will see what I mean in the
epistles. Take the Galatians; they were
in an awful state, in danger of leaving the very foundations of Christianity,
and yet Paul says, I have confidence in you through the
Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded, Gal.
5: 10. We have to look at
believers from a divine standpoint, and we shall then recognise, as Balaam did,
what they are in Gods thoughts and purposes, and we shall count upon His Spirits work in them, in spite of much
that would turn our hearts from them if we judges after the sight of our eyes
and the hearing of our ears. We must count
on the work of God in souls, and seek to help and encourage that which is of Himself in every way.
As the Spirits work in the soul prospers, CHRIST supersedes and displaces the flesh and the world, and this
is the way of true sanctification.
Let none
of us think this is only for teachers and ministers of the word; we are to encourage one another.* This applies
to every one of us in our individual contact with each other. I have often been encouraged by simply
meeting a brother in the street. A
kindly word of interest and of cheer often goes a long way. A hearty grip of the hand is in itself an
encouragement; when the Holy Spirit says, Salute
one another with a holy kiss, He refers to the common
salutation of the country which answers to our shake of hand.
[* Christians who suffer for Christ take courage; His millennial
kingdom is still before us as the reward and prize of our calling, Phil. 3. Those who worked for Christ and were
persecuted because of righteousness
will then
be exalted to reign a thousand years: Matt. 5: 10; Rev. 20:
4-6. cf.
[Mans rule over the earth must await
the time when Rev. 2: 7
will be brought to pass. He that overcometh will realize the
salvation of his soul, realize that blessed hope, come into possession of the required wisdom and knowledge to
rule as a co-regent with Christ in the kingdom.
God created man in the beginning to rule the [this] earth. And following mans creation, with a view to
this rule, God put the man to sleep, opened his side, and took a rib from his
side; and from this rib God made an helpmeet for the man, whom He called Woman, because she was taken out of
Man.
The woman was bone of mans bones, and flesh of mans
flesh; and when she was presented back to the man, he was then complete (Gen. 1: 26-28; 2: 21-24).
The man and the woman were to rule together (Gen. 1: 26) the man as king,
and the woman as consort queen. This
forms an unchangeable principle which God established at that
time. The man could not rule alone. Rather, he must rule as a complete being.
Christ, the Second Man, the Last Adam, will one day take the
sceptre and rule the [this] earth. And Gods established principle concerning mans
rule cannot be violated. Christ,
at the time He rules the [this] earth, must
have a wife to rule with Him.
The Son though does not presently possess a wife. But that is about to change.
God has
sent the Holy Spirit into the world to acquire a bride for His Son (seen
typically in Gen. 24) - (A. L. CHITWOOD - The Bride in
Genesis, pp. 97 and back cover.)]
We might
have thought the reference to such a thing beneath the dignity of Christianity,
but not so the Holy Spirit. There are a
thousand ways in which we can encourage one
another if we are near the Lord ourselves.
And,
remember, this is to go on DAILY.
We are not to be spasmodic. It is
an easy thing to make a flash like a meteor, but if we are to be fixed stars
shining with a steady light from day to day for the encouragement of others we
must ourselves DAILY abide in
Christ, and walk in the Spirit. Then,
instead of there being a falling off as to this, we should be encouraging one another, and so much the more as ye see the DAY approaching, Heb. 10: 25.
May God write these things on
our hearts, that we may be more distinctly FOR
CHRIST as we wait for His coming!
Amen.
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