Christ And Sinners

"This man receiveth sinners."
(Luke 15:2)

Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners---this Man receiveth sinners. This Man, who is none other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces---this Man receiveth sinners. It needs an angel's tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of love. That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful---they're of our own race; but that He, the offended God, against whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon Himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and should then be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this is marvellous.

"This Man receiveth sinners"; not, however, that they may remain sinners, but He receives them that He may pardon their sins, justify their persons, cleanse their hearts by His purifying word, preserve their souls by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and enable them to serve Him, to show forth His praise, and to have communion with Him. Into His heart's love He receives sinners, takes them from the dunghill, and wears them as jewels in His crown; plucks them as brands from the burning, and preserves them as costly monuments of His mercy. None are so precious in Jesus' sight as the sinners for whom He died. When Jesus receives sinners, He has not some out-of-doors reception place, no casual ward where He charitably entertains them as men do passing beggars, but He opens the golden gates of His royal heart, and receives the sinner right into Himself---yea, He admits the humble penitent into personal union and makes Him a member of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. There was never such a reception as this! This fact is still most sure this day, He's still receiving sinners: would to God sinners would receive Him.

The Christian Walk---Still Walking

"That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory"
(1 Thes. 2:12)

So many times the ministry of today...preaches only on avoiding the big S word : Sin. It is as though sin is an amorphous something floating in the air and we must be careful to duck if it floats by us. There is very little instruction in righteousness going on. There are very few specifics addressed. Oh, of course, Murder, Robbery, Lying (the big 'black ones,' not the little "white ones") blatant Adultery, The biggies. But the Word of God is much more specific than that. Paul and others of the apostles weren't so mealy mouthed about the topic.

James really got down to the nitty-gritty when he said "...to him who knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin." James 4:17 Often today we say of things the Lord has led us to do, "yes I know I ought to.... but I just can't" or "I just don't have time" or "it's too much trouble" or even "I really don't think it is so wrong". Those things then become sin to us. And sin is what The Lord tells us is unacceptable if we are to enter heaven.

I talked a while ago with a young man who was truly shocked to find out that "fornication" was a sin! He thought that as long as one wasn't married, sex was perfectly acceptable. It was as though Ephesians 5:3 did not exist. "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;" No pastor, no evangelist, had ever brought the subject to the attention of his congregation.

The ministry is failing to point out exactly what sin is. Why is that? Perhaps it is due to the fact that so many members of the congregations they preside over are committing those very sins. If the subjects were addressed as Sin, they would possibly be offended and leave so the minister just uses the word "sin" and avoids the reality of calling sex out side of marriage a sin. That way, no one gets disturbed over pet sins.

We must not only be born again, but we must also be very much aware of what God considers sin. Not some in amorphous evil that pervades the universe. But in the everyday conduct of our lives. It is with the body we now serve God. Paul said: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, . . . Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey." (Romans 6:12, 13, 18) But in order to do this, we must discover what it is that God looks on as sin. Yes, God will be faithful to the honest hearts and show us the things that are sin in our lives if we don't know. However in this day and age, Satan is pacing constantly seeking to destroy Gods saints, he is constantly working to deceive us There will always be those friends even Christian mentors, who will tell us, "That's okay." "God didn't mean that." "It isn't sin." "You have misunderstood what that verse says." And pretty soon Satan has talked us out of obeying that soft quiet voice of the Spirit that is leading us.

Happily, this is not something that is hidden and only understandable by a wise clergyman, but it is available to us personally. We can study and find it out.

Let us bury our faces in the Word of God and seek out the things we can do that will bring our walk into one worthy of His Kingdom and Glory.

Just Use Me!

"And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a while, that I may show thee the word of God."
(1Samuel 9:27)

Most of us resent being "used," but here is something which could change the world, and it is crying out to be used:

Just use me ~ I am the Bible. I am God's wonderful library. I am always ~ and above all ~ the Truth.

To the weary pilgrim, I am a good strong staff. To the one who sits in gloom, I am a glorious light. To those who stoop beneath heavy burden, I am sweet rest. To him who has lost his way, I am a safe guide. To those who have been hurt by sin, I am healing balm. To the discouraged, I whisper glad messages of hope. To those who are distressed by the storms of life, I am an anchor. To those who suffer in lonely solitude, I am a cool, soft hand resting on a fevered brow.

O, child of man, to best defend me, just use me! (Author Known to God)

The Bible must always be at the heart of our preaching, teaching, and way of living. If the Scriptures do not guide our lives, we have no guide better than ourselves. No human document can compare in the least with the Word of God.

There is no comparison: The Bible is the best guide, and the believer's life is the best guided through its use. Don't be deprived of the Bible's rich blessings. Read it daily. Study it often.

And if you have not yet discovered that wonderful Book we call the Bible, it's time you did. In the words of Samuel to Saul, "Stand thou still a while, that I may show thee the word of God."

Time Management

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
(Eph. 5:15-17)

Years ago, when I served on staff at a large church, one of my duties was to oversee the ministry of small groups. In addition to training the leaders of those groups, I often had to step in to lead a group when the leader was unable to attend a meeting. One evening, as I filled in for a group leader who was ill, I asked for prayer requests from those in attendance. One woman, who was notorious for showing up late and offering excuses of being “too busy” to complete the week’s assigned reading, asked for prayer for a notorious celebrity who was on trial for a serious offense. The trial was being carried daily on TV, and this lady never missed a minute of it. Though she had to work during the day, she taped the proceedings so she could watch them as soon as she got home.

Bingo! As I listened to her, I realized why she was always late to the group and never seemed to find the time to prepare by reading or memorizing the assigned scripture verses. It also helped to explain why she seemed to have so many problems in other areas of her life.

Sadly, though this woman’s case may be extreme, I don’t believe she is without company in her poor choice of prioritizing. We all have the same amount of days in a week and hours in a day, and we all have to choose what to do with the time allotted to us. Yes, we have jobs and other responsibilities that, for the most part, aren’t always negotiable or even flexible. But we also have at least a few hours every week that are. So what do we do with them? Do we wisely redeem the time, or do we waste it on personal pursuits and activities that have no eternal value?

As one who spends much of my time at my computer, writing and editing and preparing to speak and teach at various functions, it would be easy to justify using what little spare time I have to indulge my personal whims (none of which, by the way, would be consider “bad” or “sinful”). And yet, because I am known as one who writes, speaks, and serves that Name above all names, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—the very Son of the living God—it is even more incumbent on me that I wisely redeem that time by daily conversing with the One I claim to serve. How can I purport to express the words of the Most High God to others if I am not in communion with Him? If I don’t have time to pray and to read and study and meditate on His Word, and yet I pass myself off as a communicator of that Word and a representative of Christ, I am the worst kind of hypocrite.

Ephesians 5:15-17 tells us that to redeem the time God has given us we must not be unwise, like the fool who says in his heart that there is no God. We must instead walk “circumspectly,” in a manner befitting one who has been purchased by the blood of Jesus, and spend time in serious study of His Word so that we may understand the Lord’s will and purpose for us—and then do it.

Still Walking Worthy

That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory"
(1 Thes. 2:12)

I used to know an old time Pastor who preached against sin---not the big S kind of sin, but the real nitty gritty kind. Sometimes in his message he would stop and joke and say, "Ahhh, yes, I know, now I'm meddling. But God sent me to do that". He was talking about the attitude of some congregation members toward sermons addressing "sin" and just what exactly it is. They didn't want to hear about gossipping, drinking, running around and 'loose living'. When he mentioned those things in a sermon they considered it meddling in their private lives. Some things, they thought, were nobody's business but theirs. And especially not the pastor's! But keep in mind that Paul called the Corinthians epistles, "known and read of all men" I Corinthians 3:2. As Children of God our lives are to be open books, witness to what God can do for men and women today. If we are a child of God, how we conduct our life is everybody's business.

So many 'Christians' today want to get involved in Witnessing. They go out of their way to find foolish, awkward, little hooks to get in two words about 'accepting Christ' or 'being born again'. They become irritating to sinners and other Christians alike. Why? Because they aren't "walking worthy". Their lifestyle is not bearing out the witness that their words are trying to portray. I have been irritated by individuals who used a lame excuse to bring up the subject of religion. I say 'religion' because their witness was only about 'religion'--- not about true salvation.

First Peter (3:15) tells us "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: " If you notice here, the person being witnessed to has already asked for the reason of the saint's hope. If you read the two or three verses before, we can see that the "asking" on the part of the unbeliever followed some action on the part of the believer. The believer was "walking worthy" and that worthy walk prompted some curiousity on the part of the unbeliever. When the questions come because of our righteous walk, then the doors are open wide for an effective witness. Otherwise we are as one "who beateth the air". (I Cor. 9:26) Our witnessing is ineffectual without the worthy walk accompanying it.

In I Timothy 2, the young worker is being admonished to "walk worthy" Look at the things Paul is encouraging him to do in his life "Study to shew thyself approved, shun profane and vain babblings, depart from iniquity, flee also youthful lusts, purge himself from these," That creates "a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."

Let us "study to shew [ourselves] approved " (II Timothy 2 :15). Because in the scripures we find all that is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". Not that we apply these things to others, but that we apply them to ourselves. Righteousness, like sin, is not something that floats through the air and settles over us like a blanket. It comes from within in us. We demonstrate it daily in our lives as we walk worthy of His Kingdom and Glory!

God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah: "Be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to delver thee". The true man of God will not avoid the concept of sin but will speak boldly on the things God calls sin. 12, For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

13, Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Heb. 4:12-13

Titus 2:9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 (King James Version) 14, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15, But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16, For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

. . . . .Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Romans 12:17

Jeremiah 1:8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

Romans 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14, But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20, These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

II Corinthains 12:20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

21, And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

The Divine Rule Of Life

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."
(Matthew 5:48)

Our Lord's exhortation in these verses is...for us to be generous in our behaviour to all men. In our spiritual life, we must beware of walking according to natural likings. Everyone has natural likings; some people we like, and others we don't like. We must never let those likes and dislikes rule in our Christian life. "If we walk in the light as God is in the light," God will give us communion with people for whom we have no natural liking.

The Example Our Lord gives us, is not that of a good man, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect," show to the other man what God has shown to us; and God will give us ample opportunities in actual life to prove whether we're perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. To be a disciple means that we deliberately identify ourselves with God's interests in other people. "That ye love one another; as I have loved you . . ."

The expression of Christian character isn't "good doing", but God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed us within, we'll exhibit Divine characteristics in our life, not good human characteristics. God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian is, that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this, works out in the practical details of life, not in times of communion with God. When we come in contact with things that create a buzz, we find to our amazement that we have power to keep wonderfully poised in the center of it all.

Mount Zion

It shouldn't surprise us that Hebrews 12:22-24, written to believing Jews, says, "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."

If these Jews to whom this was written were "come" to mount Sion (from the Greek spelling of "Zion"), then they weren't there to begin with! Prophetically, "Zion" has nothing to do with natural Jews, but rather refers to what Christ has established (typified by David's fortress), a spiritual stronghold, a refuge for sinners, a kingdom that will never pass away. He captured it once and for all at the cross. It's a fortress that Satan will never conquer!

Its citizens are the "firstborn" ones, "which are written in heaven." Even as a firstborn in biblical times was his father's heir, so are God's firstborn ones His heirs, "joint-heirs with Christ"! Rom. 8:17.

Although "the daughter of Zion" was once "as a besieged city" (Isaiah 1:8), the Redeemer has come to Zion (Isaiah 59:20). He reigns there today, finishing the work his Father has given him to do.

Jesus Is Calling His People
(by D.O. Teasley)

Jesus is calling his people again
Back to the glorified heavenly plain,
Home to the city of purity bright,
Out from sin Babel's confusion and night.

Jesus is calling the holy to war,
See them now coming from near and from far;
Hear on the mountain their song of delight,
See their white raiment and armor of light.

Jesus is calling the chosen and few,
Now in Mount Zion they're building anew,
Building the walls of the city of God,
While his high praises they're sounding aloud.

Jesus is calling the faithful and true,
Calling, my brother and sister, for you;
For in Jerusalem city today
Thousands are gathering, do not delay.

Glory to God! We'll sing it again!
Glory to God! We'll shout the refrain!
Praise to Jehovah our tongues shall employ,
Home to Mount Zion we're coming with joy.

Food For Lambs

Needless to say, it's very important to know what foods are most conducive to the growth of lambs. The apostle to whom Jesus gave the command "Feed my lambs" has said to those lambs, "As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" 1 Pet. 2:2. Milk is the aliment which the nature of the newly born infant demands. The infant instinctively receives it with a readiness. It's the natural and most proper food. It is the food above all others for the sustaining of life and the promotion of growth. So the glorious doctrines of the gospel are the natural and most proper food for the Christian. The newly created life in the refenerated soul instinctively turns to the Word of God for nourishment. It's the natural food for the new life. Nothing else can be substituted for it and growth go on unhindered. One balmy afternoon while walking over the pleasant fields of a large farm with my heart in sweet communion with God, I came upon the most beautiful flock of sheep it had ever been my privilege to behold. They were quietly grazing in a rich green pasture, nreaby to which silently flowed a deep, broad river. To me it was a fair reminder of the "still waters" the Good Shepherd gave promise to lead His sheep beside, and the "green pastures" He promised to make them to "lie down in." From beholding this beautiful fleecy flock I learned a lesson which I hope never to forget. The principal cause of their well-delveloped frame and handsome appearance was, they were well cared for when they were lambs. Since then I've often remembered, and felt the import of the command the Savior so tenderly gave His shepherds, "Feed my lambs." Over and over has it, in all its strength and beauty, been breathed anew by the Spirit in my soul, animating me to greater assiduity in caring for the precious lambs of His fold. And, thus, I shall prove my love to Him by doing all I can in caring for His lambs. Lambs need something more than feed; they must be sheltered from the cold wind and cruel storm. Feed them ever so well, but if you expose them to the wintry storm, they will die. In John 21:15 the word feed is translated from the same Greek term as is the word feed in the 17th verse: but in the 16th verse the word feed is translated from an entirely different Greek term. In this verse the Greek doesn't mean simply to feed, but to protect, to shelter, to tend. The shepherd's duty isn't only to feed the lambs, but also to guard them from the wolves that are seeking to devour them.

Who Are Christ's Lambs?

They are those who are young in Christian experience whom the Saviour calls lambs. The shephers that are to feed them are His ministers. A lamb is one of the most meek, tender, and tractable of all the young animals, and very fittingly represents one who have received the meek and tender spirit of Christ. Christianity in its nature is meek and miled. It converts the wold into a lamb and the leopard into a kid. Young Christians are, therefore, beautifully spoken of as lambs, whose nature is mild and gentle. Christ's lambs are those who have receive into their hearts His lamb-like spirit. They are those whose hearts and souls have been touched and thrilled with the mildness and tenderness of divine life; this in whom the "hidden amn of the heart" is robed in rightwousness and adorned with " a meek and quiet spirit" which is precious before God.

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