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Disciple Magazine, Vol. 7, #6, 6/22/2015—Printer-Friendly Version
Table of Contents:
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Disciple Magazine, Vol. 7, #6, 6/22/2015—Printer-Friendly Version
Delighting to Live in God’s Holiness - - - - - - 1
Why Heaven Requires New Songs - - - - - - - 2
Three Foundational Disciplines - - - - - - - - 3
Exegetically Speaking - - - - - - - - - - - -4
Words to Stand You on Your Feet - - - - - - - 6
Living out the Living Word - - - - - - - - - -7
Following God - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8
Points to Ponder- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9
Jewels from Past Giants - - - - - - - - - - -10
Counselor’s Corner - - - - - - - - - - - - 13
The Story behind the Song - - - - - - - - - 14
Church Builders - - - - - - - - - - - - - 15
Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel - - - - - 16
Marks of the Master - - - - - - - - - - - - 17
Book Reviews - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 18
News Update - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 20
Sermon Helps - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 21
Puzzles and ‘Toons - - - - - - - - - - - - 23
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Delighting to Live in God’s Holiness
Joy as the Opposite of Sin
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
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Disciple Magazine, Vol. 7, #6, 6/22/2015—Printer-Friendly Version
Three selections from Morning and Evening. Edited slightly for modern spellings.
Christian, as you grow in following after Christ, the path you tread leads from bondage in sin to joyfully serving God in holiness. The victory is won, so put aside sin and guilt and pursue Christ with a heart filled with His pleasures.
I. The Battle within Each Heart
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. 5:17).
In every believer’s heart there is a constant struggle between the old nature and the new. The old nature is very active, and loses no opportunity of plying all the weapons of its deadly armory against newborn grace; while on the other hand, the new nature is ever on the watch to resist and destroy its enemy. Grace within us will employ prayer, and faith, and hope, and love, to cast out the evil; it takes unto it the “whole armor of God,” and wrestles earnestly. These two opposing natures will never cease to struggle so long as we are in this world.
The battle of “Christian” with “Apollyon” (of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress) lasted three hours, but the battle of Christian with himself lasted all the way from the Wicket Gate to the river Jordan. The enemy is so securely entrenched within us that he can never be driven out while we are in this body. Although we are closely beset, and often in sore conflict, we have an Almighty helper, even Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, who is ever with us, and who assures us that we shall eventually come off more than conquerors through Him. With such assistance the new-born nature is more than a match for its foes.
Are you fighting with the adversary today? Are Satan, the world, and the flesh, all against you? Be not discouraged nor dismayed. Fight on! For God Himself is with you; Jehovah Nissi is your banner, and Jehovah Rophi is the healer of your wounds. Fear not, you shall overcome, for who can defeat Omnipotence? Fight on, “looking unto Jesus”; and though long and stern be the conflict, sweet will be the victory, and glorious the promised reward.
“From strength to strength go on;
Wrestle, and fight, and pray,
Tread all the powers of darkness down,
And win the well-fought day.”
II. Serve Sin No Longer
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6:6).
Christian, what have you to do with sin? Has it not cost you enough already? Burnt child, will you play with the fire? What! When you have already been between the jaws of the lion, will you step a second time into his den? Have you not had enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all your veins once, and will you play upon the hole of the asp, and put your hand upon the cockatrice’s [a mythical being having the head of a rooster and body of a dragon] den a second time?
Oh, be not so mad, so foolish! Did sin ever yield you real pleasure? Did you find solid satisfaction in it? If so, go back to your old drudgery, and wear the chain again, if it delights you. But inasmuch as sin never gave you what it promised to bestow, but deluded you with lies, be not a second time snared by the old fowler—be free, and let the remembrance of your ancient bondage forbid you to enter the net again! It is contrary to the designs of eternal love, which all have an eye to your purity and holiness; therefore run not counter to the purposes of your Lord.
Another thought should restrain thee from sin. Christians can never sin cheaply; they pay a heavy price for iniquity. Transgression destroys peace of mind, obscures fellowship with Jesus, hinders prayer, brings darkness over the soul; therefore be not the serf and bondman of sin.
There is yet a higher argument: each time you “serve sin” you have “Crucified the Lord afresh, and put Him to an open shame” (cf. Heb. 6:6). Can you bear that thought? Oh! If you have fallen into any special sin during this day, it may be my Master has sent this admonition to bring you back before you have backslidden very far. Turn to Jesus anew; He has not forgotten His love to you; His grace is still the same. With weeping and repentance, come to His footstool, and you shall be once more received into His heart; you shall be set upon a rock again, and your goings shall be established.
III. Delight in the Lord
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4).
The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is here described as a delight in God, and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion overflows with happiness and joy.
Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to most men, that no two words in their language stand further apart than “holiness” and “delight.”
But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. They who love God with all their hearts, find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. Such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving Him from custom, they would follow Him though all the world cast out His name as evil.
We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight. Delight and true religion are as allied as root and flower; as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious jewels glittering side by side in a setting of gold.
“‘Tis when we taste Thy love,
Our joys divinely grow,
Unspeakable like those above,
And heaven begins below.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), “the Prince of Preachers,” was a renowned pastor and author who served as pastor of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle for 38 years. His works are still widely read today.
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Why Heaven Requires New Songs
By Joe McKeever
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“And they sang a new song, saying, ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood…’” (Rev. 5:9).
John must have been fascinated by the sights and the sounds of that heavenly vision. At first, he was treated to a heavenly quartet. The four angelic beings—seraphim? —of Revelation 4:7-8 burst into song, calling out, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come!”
This was no little chorus they dropped into the Lord’s throne room. We read, “They do not rest day or night, saying [this]” (verse 8). Imagine that: an endless song. Either seraphim are amazing singers, or the Lord’s patience with the same song over and over knows no limits.
These long-winded, six-winged angels take us back to Isaiah 6 where similar creatures are calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is filled with His glory.” I heard a preacher say that two huge lessons are given here: One, the holiness of the Lord (His “otherness”) is a big-time truth, and two, the Lord has no trouble hearing the same words of praise coming at Him continuously.
We should always bear the first in mind as we serve Him, that “He is holy and so should we be” (1 Pet. 1:15), and the second we should interpret as encouragement to keep on praising Him, even if it is a fact that our words sound much like they did yesterday and the day before. My words of love to a treasured grandchild sound suspiciously like the words I voiced last time, but no one is complaining.
That’s not all, though: the musical group gets larger and larger and larger again. A few minutes later, the angels were joined by more singers. “When [the Lamb] had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song…” (5:8-9). Now, we have a small choir or a large ensemble. Twenty-four male singers blend with the four angels. They sing of redemption and salvation. “You have redeemed us to God by your blood…and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.”
But wait. More singers are arriving. It’s beginning to get good. “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousands, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice….” The choir has just blown out all the standards, exceeded all the numbers, overwhelmed the everything. Nothing like this has ever been done. Ever. They’re singing “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing” and about every other thing they could think of, I’m betting (5:12).
What must that have sounded like? Who has ever heard such a choir? And, if you can believe this, it’s not over yet. Now, the choir of zillions begins to get really huge: “And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying.” One gets the impression no one able to breathe has not joined in this song of the ages, this song of all songs. No one stands back saying “I can’t sing,” or “I don’t have a good voice.” Everyone is singing. Everything is singing. They are singing out, “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
As the music dies out—this one does not go on endlessly—the four seraphim pronounce “Amen!” and the 24 elders drop to their faces before the One who lives forever and ever. And you thought your church’s Easter program was something! “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9, quoted from Isa. 64:4). That fairly well sums up our impression: We can only imagine. But Isaiah and Paul protest, “No, you cannot. You cannot begin to imagine.” Think of the best choir you’ve ever heard. Now, combine them with the greatest orchestra you’ve ever heard. And then, multiply that times ten thousand, and add in the voices of angels of all types—the human-looking angels, the cherubim, the seraphim—these heavenly creatures who have been serenading Heaven’s courts for eons.
What must that sound like? I have no idea, and my imagination cut out along about the hundred-thousandth choir member. That’s why only a new song will do. Neither Watts nor Wesley nor Gaither nor Peterson nor Sibelius nor Bach nor Handel has anything for this occasion. Throughout their wonderfully productive lifetimes, they have all “composed through a glass darkly,” if you will. Now, finally, in the Heavenly realms, they (and we) hear music the way it was meant to be played, choirs as they were meant to be heard. At last, we are able to praise the way God intended. Now, we worship as we have always longed to.
We must have a new song, because: 1) There has never been a moment like this in history. 2) There has never been a meeting like this ever. 3) There has never been a vision like the one unfolding before us. 4) There has never been a choir like this before. 5) There has never been a celebration like this. 6) There has never been a reason to sing like the one we have now. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17). 7) We have never wanted to sing so badly nor been able to sing so well.