Tag: November 2018

(1) Royal Priesthood

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

As you pray for God’s mercies to be granted, take with you these thoughts:

The infinite willingness of God to bless. His very nature is a pledge of it. He delights in mercy. He wants to be gracious. His promises and the experience of His saints assures us of it.

O Jesus I Have Promised

O Jesus, I have promised

To serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me,

my Master and my Friend;

I shall not fear the battle

If Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway

If Thou wilt be my Guide.

O let me feel Thee near me

The world is ever near;

I see the sights that dazzle,

The tempting sounds I hear;

My foes are ever near me,

Around me and within;

But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer,

And shield my soul from sin.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised

To all who follow Thee,
That where Thou art in glory,

There shall Thy servant be;
And Jesus, I have promised

To serve Thee to the end;
Oh, give me grace to follow,

My Master and my Friend.

Enter and Find Pasture

John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (Jn. 10:9 KJV)

Jesus said, “I am the door”, by which a man, entering in, is saved. Not only will Jesus save his soul, but he finds pasture – nourishment for his soul. The Apostle Paul who was gloriously saved when He met Jesus by a bright light from heaven on the Damascus road testified that more than temporal physical blessings (Matt. 6:33), the man who is reconciled with God through Jesus Christ, experienced the desire to live a life that is right in the sight of God and finding peace and joy in the heart.

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

He testified how the repentant sinner can be saved in Romans 10:9-10.

9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

He Loved them Unto the End

John 13:1Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

It was a most trying time in our Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry where He would suffer shameful betrayal and desertion from His disciples. The suffering steps to the cross would soon begin. Yet, whether to His disciples or to the lost, He remained true to the mission that His Father had sent Him – He loved them unto the end.

JC Ryle said well, “Knowing perfectly well that they were about to forsake Him shamefully in a very few hours, in full view of their approaching display of weakness and infirmity, our blessed Master did not cease to have loving thoughts of His disciples. He was not weary of them: He loved them to the last.”

To think of such let-down would have driven a mortal man to great despair yet our Lord patiently and lovingly bore all. The Apostle Peter who, himself, deserted our Lord Jesus, having later repented, recounted the greatness of that love wrote:

20For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. (1 Pet. 2:20-25 KJV)