Witness And Testimony - Blog

Division Has Come

2/14/2019

Division has come, and it is unavoidable.

It is no use, dear friends, our trying to avoid this.

You see, here is a terrible statement. "I came not to send peace, but a sword" (Matt. 10:34), dividing even families and households.

You cannot avoid it; it is no use trying to.

If you are going on with the Lord, this sort of thing is going to happen...

And in the world it is going to become perfectly clear and pronounced where we are.

It is of no use just trying to keep and avoid...

You have got to yield to the work of the Spirit...

And it is costly in your own home with the clear division on the ground of whether the Lord is having His way or not...

Clear division in the family anywhere, everywhere...

You just cannot avoid it.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Return From Backsliding

2/8/2019

Job 22:23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

Eliphaz, in this utterance, spoke a great truth, which is the summary of many an inspired Scripture.

Reader, Has Sin Pulled You Down?

Have you become like a ruin?

Has the hand of the LORD gone out against you so that in estate you are impoverished and in spirit you are broken down?

Was it your own folly which brought upon you all this dilapidation?

Then the first thing to be done is to return to the LORD.

With deep repentance and sincere faith find your way back from your backsliding.

It is your duty, for you have turned away from Him whom you professed to serve.

It is your wisdom, for you cannot strive against Him and prosper.

It is your immediate necessity, for what He has done is nothing compared to what He may do in the way of chastisement, since He is Almighty to punish.

See what a promise invites you! You shall be "built up."

None but the Almighty can set up the fallen pillars and restore the tottering walls of your condition...

But He can and He will do it if you return to Him.

Do not delay.

Your crushed mind may quite fail you if you go on to rebel...

But hearty confession will ease you, and humble faith will console you.

Do this, and all will be well.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Tears Shall Cease

1/29/2019

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Yes, we shall come to this if we are believers.

Sorrow shalt cease, and tears shall be wiped away.

This is the world of weeping, but it passes away.

There shall be a new heaven and a new earth, so says the first verse of this chapter...

And therefore there will be nothing to weep over concerning the Fall and its consequent miseries.

Read the second verse and note how it speaks of the bride and her marriage.

The Lamb's wedding is a time for boundless pleasure, and tears would be out of place.

The third verse says that God Himself will dwell among men; and surely at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore, and tears can no longer flow.

What will our state be when there will be no more sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain?

This will be more glorious than we can as yet imagine.

O eyes that are red with weeping, cease your scalding flow...

For in a little while ye shall know no more tears!

None can wipe tears away like the God of love, but He is coming to do it.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Come, LORD, and tarry not; for now both men and women must weep!

~Charles Spurgeon~

God's Enemies Shall Bow

1/21/2019

Exo 7:5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

The ungodly world is hard to teach.

Egypt does not know Jehovah and therefore dares to set up its idols and even ventures to ask, "Who is the LORD?"

Yet the LORD means to break proud hearts, whether they will or not.

When His judgments thunder over their heads, darken their skies, destroy their harvests, and slay their sons, they begin to discern somewhat of Jehovah's power.

There will yet be such things done in the earth as shall bring skeptics to their knees.

Let us not be dismayed because of their blasphemies, for the LORD can take care of His own name, and He will do so in a very effectual manner.

The salvation of His own people was another potent means of making Egypt know that the God of Israel was Jehovah, the living and true God.

No Israelite died by any one of the ten plagues.

None of the chosen seed were drowned in the Red Sea.

Even so, the salvation of the elect and the sure glorification of all true believers will make the most obstinate of God's enemies acknowledge that Jehovah, He is the God.

Oh, that His convincing power would go forth by His Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel, till all nations shall bow at the name of Jesus and call Him LORD!

~Charles Spurgeon~

How Do I Mortify The Flesh?

1/9/2019

The flesh is a bosom traitor; it is like the Trojan horse within the walls, which does all the mischief.

The flesh is a sly enemy...it kills by embracing.

The embraces of flesh are like the ivy embracing the oak; which sucks out the strength of it for its own leaves and berries.

So the flesh by its soft embraces, sucks out of the heart all good.

The pampering of the flesh, is the quenching of God's Spirit.

The flesh chokes and stifles holy motions...

The flesh sides with Satan.

There is a party within us, which will not pray, which will not believe.

The flesh inclines us more to believe a temptation than a promise.

The flesh is so near to us, its counsels are more attractive.

There is no chain of adamant which binds so tightly as the chain of lust.

In the best of saints, do what they can, sin will fasten its roots in them, and spring out sometimes with inordinate
desires.

Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

How do I mortify the flesh?

1. Withdraw the fuel that may make lust burn.

Avoid all temptations.

Take heed of that which nourishes sin.

Those who pray that they may not be led into temptation must not lead themselves into temptation.

2. Fight against fleshly lusts with spiritual weapons...Faith and Prayer.

The best way to combat with sin is upon our knees.

Beg strength from Christ.

Samson's strength lay in his hair; our strength lies in our head...Christ.

This is a mystery to the major part of the world who gratify the flesh rather than mortify it.

~Thomas Watson~

GOD Hears And Sees All!

1/1/2019

Do nothing that you would not like God to see.

Say nothing you would not like God to hear.

Write nothing you would not like God to read.

Go no place where you would not like God to find you.

Read no book of which you would not like God to say, "Show it to Me."

Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like to have God say, "What are you doing?”

~J.C. Ryle~

An Angel Of Light - Satan

12/26/2018

Satan is never more a devil, than when he looks most like an angel.

But let him look and talk as he will...he is Satan still;

And those who are experienced and watchful may discern his cloven foot hanging below his fine garment of light.

Let us beware of him, for many wise have been deceived, and many strong have been cast down by him.

Let us continually apply to Him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us spotless in the end.

~John Newton~

GOD'S Sovereignty!

12/23/2018

A true recognition of God's sovereignty, will avow God's perfect right to do with us as He wills.

The one who bows to the good pleasure of the Almighty - will acknowledge His absolute right to do with us as seems Him good.

If He chooses to send poverty, sickness, domestic bereavements...

Then even while the heart is bleeding at every pore, it will say, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is right!"
The tempestuous flood within will be quieted...

And the subdued soul will lift a tearful but confident eye to Heaven and say, "Father, may Your will be done!"

~Arthur Pink~

Is Your Life A Dwelling Place for God?

12/16/2018

If we are really to be the dwelling place of God, then we are to be nothing in ourselves.

Do not look for reputation...

Do not try to make an impression...

Do not stand on your own dignity...

Do not do any of those things in any way whatever which will give you prominence with people and make them think something of you.

It will not pass with the Lord.

So let us get rid of it, every bit of it, and recognize what we are in God’s sight.

He is going to bring that about...

So if we try to make people think we are other than we are in order to get an advantage, we are contradicting the principle of the house of God.

All self-importance must go, and all desire for recognition.

All that sort of thing has to be wiped out.

The house of God is not founded on that.

God will not have it.

Man is abased, and all the other is the devil’s work.

It comes from him in whose heart pride was found.

When young men and women have given up all the prospects of this world and laid their treasures in the dust and gone forth at the command of the Lord

They have laid everything in ashes so far as this world’s hopes and prospects are concerned.

The Church has been built in that way.

Even when it is not like that in great acts of life’s vocation, it is a daily thing...

A letting go of our own interests in obedience to the Lord, in faith in the Lord.

It is thus the building goes on.

I could work that down to very fine points and show how often the house of God is delayed and arrested in its progress by the withholding of something on which the Lord has laid his finger and said ‘I want that’.

However there is the general principle, the triumph of faith through obedience when all is in the dust.

Abraham believed God, and that great triumph provided God with the site for His temple, the great example and type of that spiritual house which is central to the fulfillment of all His purposes.

God dwells in that sort of thing.

But that central thing has to go through the depths.

That which is the very heart of God’s presence to which He commits Himself, has to know stripping more than others.

This involves a deep work where faith is brought to perfection through very deep testing.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Peace Whatever Exposure

12/4/2018

Eze 34:25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

It is the height of grace that Jehovah should be in covenant with man, a feeble, sinful, and dying creature.

Yet the LORD has solemnly entered into a faithful compact with us, and from that covenant He will never turn aside.

In virtue of this covenant we are safe.

As lions and wolves are driven off by shepherds, so shall all noxious influences be chased away.

The LORD will give us rest from disturbers and destroyers; the evil beasts shall cease out of the land.

O LORD, make this Thy promise good even now!

The LORD's people are to enjoy security in places of the greatest exposure:

Wilderness and woods are to be as pastures and folds to the flock of Christ.

If the LORD does not change the place for the better, He will make us the better in the place.

The wilderness is not a place to dwell in, but the LORD can make it so;

In the woods one feels hound to watch rather than to sleep, and yet the LORD giveth His beloved sleep even there.

Nothing without or within should cause any fear to the child of God.

By faith the wilderness can become the suburbs of heaven and the woods the vestibule of glory.

~Charles Spurgeon~