Freedom!

This video last for about six minutes - but be patient: it's worth the wait!

Okay - what did you just watch? Did you see nothing but a bird thinking about flying; eventually setting off; and then landing again? If that is the case, then you missed so much!

You see, the experience of that Great Condor is a picture of human beings. I believe that the bird was born in captivity; reached maturity in captivity; and was in bondage until someone set it free. However, it didn't immediately fully appreciate its freedom. It stepped around; it spread its wings; it seemed to think about launching forth - but then decided against it. However, it did, eventually, take off - and discovered that it was born to be free! It then soared up into the sky until it decided to land away from the humans who were capturing its every move on cameras.

You and I are born in the captivity of sin. The psalmist-king, David, may not have gained a medical degree from some prestigious university, but he knew that "... in sin did my mother conceive me." (Ps. 51:5). In other words, he knew that, from the moment of conception, every human being is a sinner. 

Worse than that - just like the bird, there is nothing that we, ourselves, can do about our sorry situation. My sin creates a great gulf between me and Father God - and I can never bridge that gap. Praise God, then, that He has already done for each one of us, what we could not do for ourselves - He has paid the penalty for your sin and mine when, in the Persona (not a typo - see the chapter on 'The Trinity' in my book Great Words of the Faith) of the Son, He hung on a cross and actually became sin (see II Cor.5:21) for us! Sin, in all of its blackness, and foulness, and vileness. 

When I accept that I am a sinner, and can do nothing in my own strength about my sin; and when I accept that Jesus has done all for me; then I may respond, through faith, to that truly amazing grace. I am released from the bondage of sin; I am no longer in captivity. However, it does take time for me to even begin to fully realise the freedom that is now mine. I step around; I tentatively spread my spiritual wings; and then - I experience the real joy of knowing that I am no longer under condemnation, because I am "in Christ" (Rom.8:1) and, even greater wonder, I have the Saviour in me (Col.1:27)!

This all means that my eternal destiny is secure. Oh, I will slip, and fall; I will make mistakes; I will even be rebellious at times. Being in this mortal body means that I shall never be sinless in this life - but, by His continuing grace, I may sin less! Then, the day will come when "... the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air ; and so we shall always be with the Lord." (I Thess 4:16-17).

In the 18th century, Augustus Montague Toplady wrote the well-know hymn "Rock of Ages". The last verse refers to that great event:

"While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyelids close in death,
When I soar through tracts unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee" (emphasis added)

The Gaither Vocal Band (the best-ever line-up!) also refer to that wonderful moment in the song below. May all who read this post be among to those who will, one day, "be learning to fly"!

The personal testimony of Charles Haddon Spurgeon

A couple of days ago, I came across the personal testimony of one of the greatest preachers of the Christian Gospel in the 19th century - Charles Haddon Spurgeon. As his situation may apply to others, I am going to share his testimony on this blog. May it be a blessing to someone. ("Editorial" inserts are in brackets, and in this Italic font).

"I thought the sun was blotted out of my sky - that I had so sinned against God that there was no hope for me. I prayed - the Lord knows how I prayed; but I never had a glimpse of an answer that I knew of. I searched the Word of God; the promises were more alarming than the threatenings. I read the privileges of the people of God, but with the fullest persuasion that they were not for me. The secret of my distress was this: I did not know the Gospel. I was in a Christian land; I had Christian parents; but I did not fully understand the freeness and simplicity of the Gospel."

(I wonder - is there someone reading this post who identifies with the young C.H.Spurgeon? Someone who is going through the same, or similar, thought processes? Do read on!)

"I attended all the places of worship in the town where I lived, but I honestly believe that I did not hear the Gospel fully preached. I do not blame the men, however. One man preached the divine sovereignty. I could hear him with pleasure; but what was that for a poor sinner who wished to know what he should do to be saved? There was another admirable man who always preached about the law; but what was the use of ploughing up the ground that wanted to be sown? Another was great practical teacher. I heard him - but it was very much like a commanding officer teaching the manoeuvres of war o a set of men without feet! What could I do? All his exhortations were lost to me. I knew that it was said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31), but I did not know what it was to believe in Christ.

I sometimes think that I might have been in darkness and despair now, had it not been for the goodness of god in sending a snow-storm one Sunday morning when I was going to a place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a court and came to a little hall. In the hall there were a dozen, or fifteen, people. The minister did not come that morning - snowed-up, I suppose. A poor man, a shoemaker, a tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach.

He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had nothing else to say. The text was: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." (Isaiah 45:22). He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter.

There was, I thought, a glimpse f hope for me in the text. He began thus: "My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, "Look". Now that does not take a great deal of effort. It isn't lifting your foot or your finger. It is just "Look". Well, a man need not go to a college to learn to look. A man need not be worth a thousand pounds a year (a very large sum in 1850!) to look. Anyone can look. A child can look. This is what the text says: "Look unto Me."

"Aye," he said, many of you are looking to yourselves. No use looking there. You'll never find comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No: look to Him by and by. Jesus Christ says "Look unto Me." Some of you say, "I must wait for the Spirit's working." You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. It runs, "Look unto Me."

Then he followed up his text in this way: "Look unto Me; I am sweating great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hanging on the cross. Look! I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend; I am sitting at the Father's right hand. Oh look unto Me! Look unto Me!"

When he had spoken about ten minutes, he looked at me under the gallery and, I dare say, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. He then said: "Young man, (he was fifteen years of age)  you look very miserable." Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made on my personal appearance, from the pulpit, before! However, it was a good blow struck. He continued: "And you will always be miserable - miserable in life, and miserable in death - if you do not obey my text. But if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved."

Then he shouted, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ!" I did 'look'.

There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun. I could have risen that moment and sung, with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks to alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me that before: "Trust Christ, and you shall be saved."

It was, no doubt, wisely ordered, and I must ever say:
"E'er since by faith I saw the stream

Thy wounds supplied for me;

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall, for ever, be." "

The immutability of God.

On Wednesday, temperatures of 50 C, and people in danger of death through dehydration. Today: thunder, lightning, torrential rain, and hailstones - and all of that in the space of less than fifteen minutes (the storm, itself, lasted for more than an hour!).

Regardless of climate change, global warming, or any other fad or buzz-word to which we are regularly exposed, there can be no doubt that the weather can be very changeable. One of the regular 'jokes' about Scotland (and other areas!) is that it has four seasons - every day!

Of course, life itself is filled with change. People grow - and the "I" in a photograph of me at about seven years of age, is very different, physically, from the "I" who is typing this post. I am also different in terms of the knowledge and understanding that I have gained during those intervening decades (both of them - if you are one of my former LHS pupils! But don't forget the "few months"!). I have changed my place of residence more often than I care to recall; I have changed from being a single young man to being a husband, a father, and now a grandfather. I have experienced change in terms of taste - in music; in food; in reading material; etc.

All of that, and more, was going through my head as my wife and I sat in the car, outside the shop we planned to enter, waiting for the rain to ease off sufficiently, and the hailstones to stop playing drum-rolls on the roof of the car! Then I thought of the unchanging One!

The fancy, theological word for the associated doctrine (teaching*) is "the immutability of God". What that means, simply, is that He is unchanging in His love; in His character; in His will; in His purposes. Louis Berkhof, in his classic volume of Systematic Theology, defines the immutability of God as "... that perfection of God be which He is devoid of all change, not only in His Being, but also in His perfections, and in His purposes and promises." (p.58). Q.4 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism ask "What is God?", and supplies the answer: "God is [a] Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His Being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."

These 'credal' statements are, of course, fully backed up by the written Word of God. To give just a few of the Scripture references, we read in the book of the prophet Malachi: "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." (Mal 3:6; emphasis added). James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, wrote: "Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:16-17; emphasis added). In perhaps the best-known reference to the unchangeability of God, in the Persona (not a typo - see the chapter on The Trinity, in "Great Words") of the Son, the writer of the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus states clearly that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever." (Heb 13:8; emphasis added).

So, is this doctrine nothing more than academic pretentiousness, or esoteric grandiloquence? (tongue in cheek, there!). Is there any comfort, or encouragement for the true child of God? There most certainly is! The concept is taught, not simply as belonging to the nature of God in Himself, but as being in the closest connection with His covenant relation to His people, so that the 'religious' value of God's unchangeableness is most clearly implied in this fundamental assertion of the attribute. He is YHWH - the "I AM THAT I AM" - and that very Name, the Covenant name, indicates His immutability. If He ever "was", then He might now be different to what He was before! If he was ever to be, then what confidence could we have that He is not yet all that He might be? However, He Is - eternally; and in that assurance we may take comfort.

As I finish typing this post, the sun is again breaking through the clouds. There, too, is a lesson. Sometimes we may feel so far away from Father God. The clouds of sin get in the way. But He is still there - just as the sun was still there even in the midst of the thunder-storm. And our God, Who created the sun, and all that exists, is far greater, and more dependable, than is it.

The immutability of God. A wondrous doctrine that may be an encouragement to all who call upon the Name of the Lord. May we do so - for our own good; for the blessing of others; and for His eternal glory.

*see my book "Defending the Faith". Details above. Remember, I receive no financial benefit from the sale of any of my books, paperback or e-book. ALL royalties are now paid directly into the bank account of Release International, in support of the persecuted church.

Slavery

In case there is anyone who has not noticed, most of western Europe is currently experiencing a severe heatwave. Yesterday, our outside thermometer - shaded by a large canopy - registered above its maximum mark of 50C! At 10.20 p.m., it was still registering 34C!

Regretfully, I had some essential work to do - outside. It was not a pleasant experience. I was working for 10-15 mins, and then taking a 15 minute break - and a pint of cold drink. However, as I did so, I found myself thinking of some who did not have the freedom to 'pace themselves' as I was doing. I thought of Hebrews in the land of Egypt, prior to the Exodus. Working from sunrise to sunset, in similar conditions, but with no humanitarian, or other, breaks. I thought of Negros in the southern states of the USA, picking cotton in such conditions and, again, with no breaks. We have a name to describe that kind of situation. We call it "slavery"!

Some people seem to think that such situations are no more than the stuff of history. However, slavery goes on even today - but we now refer to it as "people trafficking", as if that makes one iota of difference to its victims! Whatever we name it, slavery is, to most ordinary people, a vile and obnoxious practice.

Yet there is one form of slavery that is positive and beneficial! When I read the letters in the Second Testament, I find that Paul, and James, and Peter, and Jude, all refer to themselves as slaves! It is true that, in most English-language versions of the Scriptures, the word "servant" is used. But that word translates the Greek word "doulos" - and, make no mistake about it, the doulos was a slave!

These Biblical writers knew all about slavery. They knew what being a slave entailed. They knew that a slave had absolutely no rights of his/her own. They knew that the slave was the absolute property of his/her master/mistress. The owner had the very power of life and death over the slave. They were considered, by the vast majority, to be property - especially when the availability of new 'property' was so ready as Rome conquered, and enslaved its defeated enemies. They were described as 'vocal agricultural implements' and some would have preferred them without the vocal part!

When I was studying history at the University of Glasgow - so many years ago! - I had to produce an essay on one of the people referred to as "Beneficent despots". Those two words could have been seen as contradictory, as someone who was, and is, beneficent is kindly, and loving, and wise; while a despot is another way of describing an absolute dictator. However, to the disciple of Jesus, the Christ, He is the true "beneficent despot"!

By that, I mean that He demands total obedience from His people, but He treats them as His friends. Indeed, towards the end of His earthly life, He spoke to those who weer His closest followers: "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15).

So, being a slave of Jesus is not a hardship - although being in His service can bring many difficulties, as those in the persecuted church know only too well. However, as we willingly submit ourselves to Him; as we echo His own prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Not My will but Thine be done." (Luke 22;42); as we crown Him Lord of our lives; then we enter a slavery that is truly privileged. 

That is why the true disciple of Jesus is happy to be known as a slave - because we are the slaves of the King of kings, and Lord of lords, Who gave Himself, on the cross, for our redemption*. Who would not gladly serve One such as that?! Who would not wish to be under His control?!

Of course, not one of us is a perfect slave - but we serve a perfect Master Who may be trusted in every situation and circumstance. I commend Him to you.


* This is one of the Great Words looked at in my first book (details above). Available as both a paperback and a Kindle e-book, ALL royalties are paid directly to Release International in support of the persecuted church. Please consider purchasing this, and the other two books, and commending them to others.

Do you know God?!

While my wife and I were in Scotland, for our annual 'mid-year' visit, we had the opportunity to hear, meet, and speak with, Christian songwriter and worship leader, Paul Baloche. "Paul who?", some may be asking. However, many will be familiar with songs that he has been inspired to write. Songs such as "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord"; "Hosanna"; and "Above all". Within Christian music circles, he is a well-known figure - and I have met him!!!

Of course, over my lifetime, I have met a number of famous people and, indeed, spent some time with some of them. The first was Cliff Richard. I was not a particular fan at the time - but I spent about an hour in the vestry of the church building in which he was going to be singing, with only Cliff and his then manager, Bill Latham, for company. There were more than a thousand of his fans crowded into the main sanctuary who would have given a great deal to have had that opportunity!

Some years later, I had a similar time spent with Helen Shapiro. I have met Jack Hayford ("Majesty"); Graham Kendrick (you do know who he is!); Sir Peter Vardy (Car sales); and many others. Of course, although I have met many well-known people, I am unable to say that I 'know' any of them!

The American writer from a previous era, Mark Twain (1835-1910), travelled extensively, and often took his wife and children along with him. On a trip to Europe, he was invited to dinner with a particular head of state. When one of his daughters heard of the invitation, she reportedly said: "Daddy, you know every big person there is to know, except God!" Sadly, that young girl's observation was true, as Mark Twain (real name Samuel Clemens) was an unbelieving sceptic. Indeed, I have no evidence that he "knew" that particular head of state any better than I know any of the individuals named above!

However, the question that may be asked is: "Do I know Almighty God?"! Someone reading this post may enjoy real friendship with, and intimate knowledge of, some people whom the world acknowledges as being very important. But do you know God? And is you knowledge of Him, such as it is, any more than second-hand information, or speculation; the sort of things that we might read in a book. (Each of my own books - see the header - will certainly provide that level of knowledge; may even lead you into a genuine personal relationship with Him; and your purchase will help to support the persecuted church!).

The Lord Jesus, Who is God, wanted His disciples to have an intimate knowledge of the Father. On one occasion He prayed: "... this is the way to have eternal life - to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the One You sent to earth." (John 17:3; NLT.) This kind of knowledge is intensely personal, and is gained only through a deep, prolonged, friendship. Indeed, the knowledge referred to in those words of Jesus, and elsewhere in the Bible, is compared with the intimacy of husband and wife as they become "one flesh" (Gen.4:1 inter al).

You and I may have this knowledge as we come before Almighty God, confessing our sins, and sinfulness; accepting that we can do nothing about them; believing that, in the Persona of the Lord Jesus, Almighty God has done all that needed to be done; and receiving the new life that is offered to everyone through that same Jesus. We then get to know Him better by spending time (quality time!) in His presence; talking with Him (prayer); listening to Him (reading the Word); and sharing His love with others.

Do you know Him like that? Would you like to know Him like that? The offer of full salvation is for you! It's not enough to know about God. We need to know Him in our hearts, and walk with Him day by day.