Whose I am

I am Thine, O Lord

Jesus, Master, whose I am,

Purchased Thine alone to be,

By Thy blood, O spotless Lamb,

Shed so willingly for me;

Let my heart be all Thine own,

Let me live to Thee alone.

Other lords have long held sway;

Now, Thy name alone to bear,

Thy dear voice alone obey,

Is my daily, hourly prayer.

Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
Nothing else my joy can be.

Jesus Master! I am Thine;

Keep me faithful, keep me near;

Let Thy presence in my shine

All my homeward way to cheer.

Jesus! At Thy feet I fall,
Oh, be Thou my All-in-all.

Frances Ridley Havergal

taken from The ministry of song 1888

Filthy Rags

Isaiah 64:6

we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.

What are your trusting in? 

Philip reminded us this morning at our meeting of how the Pharisees trusted in their law keeping. They excelled in keeping up their appearance of righteousness, they were very religious and pious. The Lord Jesus told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector (who were considered the worst of the worst). And the story unfolds of this Pharisee telling God how good he is and how bad the other man is.

Luke 18 9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

He certainly thought highly of himself and also thought that God would too. But as far as God was concerned this man’s righteousness was like filthy rags before the Lord, why? Philip reminded us that we are not saved by our works, we cannot get to heaven just by being as good as we can. Every religion apart from Christianity is based on works, you have to do something to appease your god. But the one true God has been appeased, it was when His son was sacrificed on the cross for all who will repent and believe in Him. Those trusting in works will never succeed. 

Salvation does not come to you because you go to church each week, 
salvation does not come to you because you read your Bible daily, salvation does not come to you because you prayed a sinners prayer, 
salvation does not come to you because you do good things to people, 
salvation does not come to you because you say hail Mary, salvation does not come to you because your were christened as a child, 
salvation does not come to you because you do all these things.

The Pharisee could do most of these things and yet he did not have salvation, why? Because he trusted in himself and all the works he did and not on the salvation given freely by grace from God. The tax collector understood his state, he was a sinner and was in need of God’s mercy. Only when we recognise our sinful state and our need can we be saved.

Repent of your sin, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Saved from what? Saved from the bondage of sin, saved from guilt, saved from shame, saved from religious bondage, saved from God’s wrath, saved from God’s judgment. And saved too receive new life in Christ and after natural death eternal life. No other god can give you this, no government can promise you this, and no religious rule keeping that is in the guise of Christianity can give you this. The world isn't merciful, religion isn't merciful, man isn't merciful, God is, receive His mercy today. 

Romans 3:24

The Wise Man

A wise man learns by the experience of others, 

An ordinary man learns by his own experience,

A fool learns by nobody’s experience.

Proverbs 1:1-7

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

To know wisdom and instruction, 

To perceive the words of understanding,

To receive the instruction of wisdom, 

Justice, judgment, and equity;

To give prudence to the simple, 

To the young man knowledge and discretion—

A wise man will hear and increase learning, 

And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,

To understand a proverb and an enigma, 

The words of the wise and their riddles.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, 

But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

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True Love

1 Corinthians 13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 

Love suffers long and is kind; 

love does not envy; 

love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 

does not behave rudely, 

does not seek its own, is not provoked, 

thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, 

but rejoices in the truth; 

bears all things, 

believes all things,

 hopes all things, 

endures all things. 
Love never fails. 

But whether  there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; 
but the greatest of these is love.

Last week our pastor spoke on these verses and he asked us to replace the word love with the name of Jesus and then to replace the word love with our own name, what a contrast!

Can you say hand on heart that you never seek your own way, that you never allow yourself to be provoked? That you never envy someone, and that you never ever go around feeling proud of your achievements and that you never like to hear the praise of men? How would you feel if no one ever acknowledged what you had done? Would you be upset that no one noticed, would you be angry that no one seemed to care? If your motive is to seek the praise of men then that is all you are going to get, but if your motive is love, love for the Lord and love for your fellow man then it doesn't matter a jot who knows what you've said or done, what matters is that the Lord knows, and He knows the true motive of your heart. 

And that little bit of information about someone, it's not really hurting to pass it on surely? Think carefully before you speak if you were on the receiving end would you still be so eager? Love doesn't talk unkindly about people, love doesn't spread rumours and untruths, love encourages, builds up, and speaks the truth. Challenge yourself today and put your name in this chapter and then ask the Lord for His help, and the help of the Holy Spirit to walk in this sacrificial love, you will find that you will soon change and that others will notice the change. When they ask why tell them you have replaced the word me for love.

Who Can Separate us from the Love of God?

 A snippet from our pastor's message last Sunday, I trust you will find it encouraging.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

Who shall separate us from His Love? And a search is made to see what might be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The search is made there in all these areas that we are familiar with, tribulation, that means trouble, do you have some trouble? Distress, which also means anguish. Persecution, famine, nakedness, perils, the sword, all these things. If any of these things could have separated us from God it would have been done long ago but here we are still here, praise the Lord. 

36 As it is written: (this is a quote from Psalm 44)

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

That is the costliness of loyalty to God in a world that is at war against God. So many times there is a cost but instead of separating us from God these things draw us closer to Him, praise the Lord. 

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

In the here and now we are more than conquerors. This is more than a triumph because even in the most terrible times of such things as sickness and decease, when our bodies are racked with pain etc, and we seem to be at our lowest of the low but then we come out of that and our spirit is lifted, and not only is that a victory for us but it brings glory to God, and it builds up those who are with us and blesses them, and it is a witness to those who don’t believe, they wonder how this can be. And it seems that obstacles become stepping stones with the Lord, we are more than but it is not in our own strength, it is through Him who loved us, the power of Christ. 

The power of Christ that can change your bitterness into sweetness, 

your weakness into strength, 

a sickness into health, 

and a tragedy into a triumph, 

that can make a heartache a blessing. 

Is there anything that can separate us from God’s love? 

He lists the possibilities one by one and dismisses them all. 

Are you persuaded?  

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Think about these things, death, death seems so final doesn’t it in the world? Death with all its terrors, and then there is life with all its allurements. And what about these angels and principalities, supernatural powers, human powers, angelic powers, demonic powers. Things present crashing in sometimes, crowding in upon us like the waves crashing onto the beach, there’s another one crashing in and another one crashing in. Things to come, a foreboding about tomorrow, what might be tomorrow, thinking about that and worrying about those things. What about height and depth, what would that be? I think it must be space and all of its contents, including all occult forces. Anything and everything is anything left out? No, it says any other created thing, you couldn’t get more comprehensive than that.  If you belong to Jesus, and you belong to Him now then you belong to Him forever. Start your day with confidence in what he says there, resting in what he says, and patiently waiting for Him in your present circumstances with a heart full of praise and wonder for the greatness of God’s provision for us, amen.