Holler it.

A pastor friend of mine once had the joy of leading one of the most wicked men in his entire community to the Lord. The former drunkard, thief and street fighter now glowed with the love of Christ. Shortly following his amazing conversion he asked the pastor if he could give his testimony, which request was quickly granted. Thus, this uneducated and crude convert stood before the congregation and, with many tears, related what Christ had done for him. He ended his testimony by quoting what had become his life’s verse, Matt. 6:9, Hallowed be thy name.”

“Folks,” he cried out, “this is what it’s all about! The name of the Lord should be ‘hollored.’ We ought to ‘holler’ it from the housetops!”

After he was finished the pastor observed to his smiling congregation that, if the truth were known, this new convert had captured the true spirit of Matt. 6:9, if not the letter.

Feeding the flock.

One of the biggest mathematical miracles in the world—Moses and the people of Israel were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them?! They had to be fed and feeding 3 or 3 ½ million people would require a lot of food.

According to the Quartermaster General of the army, it is reported that Moses would have to have 1,500 tons of food each day. Do you know that to bring that food each day, two freight trains each a mile long would be required! Also, they were out in the desert and they would have to have firewood to use in cooking and that would take 4,000 tons and a few more freight trains each a mile long just for one day! And reflect that they were in the desert for 40 years.

Regarding their water supply, if they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11 million gallons each day! This would take a freight train with tank cars 1,800 miles long just to bring the water!!

And don’t forget—they had to get across the Red Sea in one night. If they went on a narrow path, 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to cross the Red Sea. The space required to cross the Red Sea in one night was a width of 3 miles wide, which they would walk 5,000 abreast!

But then another problem—every time they camped at the end of day, they needed a campground the size of Rhode Island or a total of 750 miles long!

However, every problem was solved and every need was met. Joshua would later remind Israel of God’s amazing faithfulness.

“And, behold, this day I [am] going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, [and] not one thing hath failed thereof” (Joshua 23:14).

Yes, they learned back then what we must learn today, namely, where God leads, He feeds, and where He guides, He provides, and where He directs, He protects.

The greatest author.

Often God is thought of as a Creator, a Redeemer, a Shepherd, a Judge, etc. This is correct thinking, of course, for he does indeed function in all these roles. But there is one great accomplishment of God which is almost always left off the divine attribute lists compiled by men. This wonderful but forgotten role is that of Author! God has written a book, and that profound and priceless book is the Bible. As testified to by any human author, the nicest thing one can say to an author is, “Oh, yes, I’ve read your book.”

It is a tragic but true fact that many of the Christians who will someday (along with all believers) stand before the judgment seat of Christ will be sadly forced to admit that, while they were saved by heeding the salvation message in God’s Book, they nevertheless failed to take the time to read it. Thus, if for no other reason, the Bible should be carefully read to allow the believer to proclaim to Christ on that day: “Dear Jesus, there were many things I did not do on earth that I should have done, as well as other things I did do that I should not have, but one thing I did—I read your book!”

So, do it! It will make the author feel great. After all, He once said:

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

The court.

As the book of Romans opens, the trial of the ages is taking place. Here is the official court record:
• The charge— High treason against the King of the universe (Rom. 1:18-19).

• The defendants—
1. A heathen—the pagan (Rom. 1:18-32)
2. A hypocrite—the moral person (Rom. 2:1-16)
3. A Hebrew—the religious person (Rom. 2:17-3:8)

• The jury—consisting of four jurors
1. The conscience of a person
2. The deeds of a person
3. The works of God
4. The Law of God

• The defense—
1. The pagan’s defense
His plea: “I should be acquitted on the grounds of ignorance.”
2. The moral person’s defense
His plea: “I should be acquitted on the grounds of comparison—that is, I’m not as bad as the pagan.”
3. The religious person’s defense
His plea: “I should be acquitted on the grounds that I know the law of God and teach courses in religion.”

• The verdict—
“. . . . both Jews and Gentiles . . . are under sin . . . there is none righteous, no, not one . . . all the world [is] guilty before God” (Rom. 3:9-19).

• The sentence—
“For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23a).

• The miracle—
“But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23b).
Up to this point the case of God against the accused has pretty well followed the format of earthly jurisprudence. But suddenly something totally different and unexpected takes place that would surely cause every earthly court reporter to gasp in utter amazement. After the Judge has carefully heard all the evidence and patiently listened to all the pleas, he finds no other choice but to invoke the supreme penalty, lest true justice be denied. But before the terrible sentence can be carried out, this same Judge quietly closes the case book, lays down the heavenly gavel, rises to his feet, takes off his judicial robes, and goes out to die for these three convicted defendants. This and this alone is justification. The corrupt, doomed, and naked sinner may now be cleansed, delivered, and clothed in the very righteousness of Christ Himself.

Two bodies.

“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44).

Imagine a book with a loose sheet of paper placed inside. In this illustration the book will represent the body of the believer and the loose sheet of paper his spirit. In this earthly life, for the most part, it is the body that controls (or limits) the spirit as the book would enclose the sheet.

Jesus Himself once observed that when He spoke to three sleepy disciples in Gethsemane: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt. 26:41). This is simply to say that all too often the physical infirmities of our bodies limit or even prevent our desired service for Christ. Think of the missionaries forced to leave their field of service due to serious health problems. In other words, down here it is the body, master/spirit servant relationship.

However, remove the loose sheet and wrap it around the book. Now you have the same elements but a totally different arrangement, whereby the spirit is the master and the body its servant!

So…

The heavenly body, after being transformed into glorified flesh and bone at the Rapture will be in happy and everlasting subjection to the spirit, never again to be plagued by sickness, aging, etc., or limited by the laws of time and gravity! This then is the difference between the earthly, physical, and the heavenly, spiritual body.

Diamonds, Rolls Royce, Bethlehem.

What really happened during that night of all nights in the Judean hills some 2000 years ago?

Two illustrations may prove helpful:

• The diamond/clay vessel illustration:
A perfect, priceless, and incredibly beautiful diamond is placed within a plain and lowly clay vessel. One day, for a brief moment, a tiny hole appears in the container, resulting in the immediate outpouring of a dazzling beam of glory which temporarily blinds those who happen to see it. This is, of course, exactly what happened in Luke 2 (Christ’s birth) and Matthew 17 (His transfiguration).

Note:
1. The placing of the diamond:
“God was manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16)
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same (Heb. 2:14).

2. The appearing of the hole:
“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” (Mt. 17:1, 2).

A case could be made here that, in all the universe, the strongest object ever created by God was the earthly body of Jesus! Ponder this amazing thought: for 34 years this vessel of clay actually contained and confined the resplendent glory of Almighty God Himself, only allowing for one brief moment a tiny ray to escape, which temporarily blinded Peter, James, and John!

• The Rolls Royce/ox wagon illustration:
The owner of a $175,000 Rolls Royce ‘Gray Ghost’ automobile is suddenly and mysteriously transported in ‘twilight zone’ fashion to Earth’s most remote area where the residents are still in the stone age. After recovering from the initial shock, the man notices their only means of transportation involves the hitching of oxen to crude wooden carts or wagons. Sitting in his Rolls, surrounded by luxury, the owner soon realizes there are two courses of action open to him.

1. He can place the auto in gear and, using its awesome power, literally leave those simple natives in the dust.

2. He can keep the motor running, ease the auto in neutral, and allow his magnificent machine to be pulled by a lowly oxen.

After some thought, the second option is decided upon. But why? For some reason, he feels a strong desire to know these people. He wants to travel at their pace, learn their language, experience their pain, and to befriend as many as possible! This is exactly what Jesus did when He came to our God-rejecting planet, carrying with Him all the glorious attributes of His Divine nature. He then clothed Himself in human flesh, agreeing to eat our food, drink our water, speak our language, and die for our sins!

He never pulled rank.

“And Jesus took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man.” He thus agreed to join His heavenly, divine nature to that of an earthly, human nature, appearing at Bethlehem as a lowly servant!
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14).
“But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law (Gal. 4:4).

This simple but absolutely staggering fact cannot be even remotely grasped by human minds. The infinite, holy Creator suddenly becomes in the likeness of his finite and sinful creatures (yet without sin). Who can comprehend such un-believable condescension? It is as if a mighty and magnificent earthly king would determine to lay aside for a while his fantastic storehouse of wealth and, leaving behind an adoring and amazed court, take upon himself the body of a lowly ant. The ‘Son of Man’ was, by the way, our Lord’s favorite name for Himself while on earth. He took upon himself the form of a servant. He did not come as a mighty human Caesar or some world-renowned human philosopher. Even this would have been a condescension of colossal pro-portions. He came, rather, as a lowly servant.

A number of years ago, some evangelical Bible scholars were asked: “From a theological perspective, what Christian song in your opinion is the greatest ever written?” Heading up the poll was Isaac Watts’ glorious hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” Dear reader, ponder now (as I am doing) just how my pride and self-seeking stacks up as compared with the first two stanzas:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most
I sacrifice them to His blood.

God's job.

List everything that God has ever done in the past, plus everything He is now doing at the present, and, finally, all He will do in the future!

Give up? Impossible you say? Not really. In fact, not at all, for a well-informed Bible student could ace the test in about 30 seconds or less, depending on how fast he or she could write down two words:
C-R-E-A-T-I-O-N and R-E-D-E-M-P-T-I-O-N!

That’s right, this covers it all, past, present, and future. In fact, God Himself has provided several reminders for us regarding these two all important works. For example:

● There are nine sacred feasts in the book of Leviticus. Three of these celebrate creation and the remaining six speak of redemption.

● In the book of Revelation we hear two great hymns of praise coming from heaven. The first (Rev. 4) is the song thanking and praising God for His creative work, and the second (Rev. 5) for His redemptive work.

● Finally, consider the seven weekly days: Saturday is set aside commemorating His finished creation, and Sunday reminds us of His completed redemption!

And the bottom line? He wants you today to thank Him for creating you in His own image, and in the fullness of time redeeming you by the blood of His Son!

Why use a shoe?

A recent U. S. census revealed that a majority of Americans used a shoe to drive a nail into a wall. But why would they do that? Surely no shoe designer or manufacturer whoever lived had this usage in mind. Shoes are for walking, not pounding nails. Actually the mystery deepens, as the same census also discovered 95% of those households polled had at least one or two hammers. So why the first object and not the second?

The answer of course is simple indeed—a shoe was always available, the hammer was not! So it is with the divine “nail driver.” Who does God use? That one who is available. Thus, the two greatest abilities are availability and dependability.

Most Bible students would agree that the greatest Old Testament prophet was Isaiah and the secret of his success?

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me” (Isa. 6:8).

God grant us more “shoe saints” in these last days!

You can't have one without the other.

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1 Pet. 4:12, 13).

During my first semester at the Moody Bible Institute in 1952, I purchased a beautiful wall plaque which bore the imprint of Phil. 3:10:

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection.”

I was so proud of and inspired by the words on this sign. It became the first object I looked at upon rising, and the last sight before retiring. In fact, I had decided to make this passage my life’s verse. One day a friend came in my room, saw the plaque, admired it, but informed me that the entire verse was not printed upon it. Somewhat shocked, I hurriedly turned to look it up. Upon discovering the entire message, I suddenly became less sure I wanted this verse as my life’s verse. What I read was:

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

You see, I had been tremendously inspired by the first part of the verse, but was definitely less excited about the second section. I wanted the power of the resurrection without the fellowship of the sufferings, but this is impossible! One simply cannot have the first apart from the second!

Did Jesus really whip up on the devil?

“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (Rom. 16:20).

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).

As one considers the unspeakable cruelty that human beings have imposed upon other human beings throughout recorded history (such as the holocaust, etc.), it may well seem these verses ring hollow indeed. Did the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ really signify total victory over the devil? If so, why is he allowed to continue his malicious and murderous reign over this earth? Is Satan not aware that he is both a defeated and doomed foe? On the surface, hard questions indeed! However, an event at the end of World War II may help by way of illustration and application to answer these probing questions.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the first two atomic bombs were dropped upon the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In one blinding instant over 150,000 people perished. Some were blown apart, others burned alive, still others crushed by fallen objects, and many were actually vaporized by the terrible heat. However, a number of the survivors who may have escaped the initial blast perhaps without a single scratch or cut were, nevertheless doomed to die in the near future by a frightful and (up to that time) unknown terror called radiation poisoning. Stated another way, these poor people were, practically speaking, as dead as the original bomb victims.

What is being proposed here is that Satan was being subjected to a double and lethal dose of divinely induced spiritual radiation poisoning, with the first being administered on the cross and the second inside the tomb!

Thus, while the devil may at present appear and act as if he survived God’s wrath untroubled, he is, in reality, a doomed foe whose time is running out.

Martin Luther may well have had all this in mind when he wrote the third stanza of his great hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Note the stirring words:

And tho this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph thru us.
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him—His rage we
can endure, for lo, his doom is sure: One little word shall fell him.

How would an angel write your biography?

In essence it would be radically different from how someone would write regarding a physical biography. It would doubtless begin with your birth date and place, your parents, early life, education, marriage, vacation, family, etc. But an angel would go back much earlier, in fact, even before the creation of the world.

Here’s how it might read:

Title: The Full Spiritual Biography of John Smith
Author: Michael the Archangel
Story: John Smith was first in view when God chose him before the foundation of the world in regards to salvation. At the same time God assigned to him certain good works which would follow his conversion. (Eph. 1:4; 2:10)

Smith’s next appearance was a sad one, for he was seen in the Garden of Eden partaking of the forbidden fruit with Adam. (Rom. 5:12-14, 18)

Many centuries later he reappears for the third time, nailed to a cruel cross with Jesus just outside Jerusalem. (Rom. 6:3)

Finally, three days later we watch in amazement as he walks out of an empty tomb with his Savior! (Rom. 6:4, 5)

At present He is being prepared to rule and reign with Christ for one thousand years upon this earth! (Rev. 5:10; 20:6)

I was, I am, but not yet.

Dr. Harry Ironside, famed Bible teacher and pastor of Moody Memorial Church in former years was once handed a gospel tract by a Moody Bible Institute student as he was walking in the Loop. The following conversation is reported to have taken place:

Student: (not at first recognizing Dr. Ironside)—“Sir, here is a gospel tract. Are you saved?”

Pastor: (always the theologian)—“Am I saved? Well, son, let me answer by saying I have been, I am being, and I will be saved.”

Student: (who suddenly recognized the famed Bible teacher)—“Sir, please forgive me. I didn’t know it was you.”

Pastor (placing his arm around the embarrassed student)—“Son, never apologize for giving witness to Jesus! It is I perhaps who needs to apologize. However, I simply answered the question by the way it was asked. Yes, I’m saved! I have been (justification), I am being (sanctification), and some glorious day I will be (glorification).