Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

July 31, 2019

7/31/2019

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:15, 16).

    A divine commission this. And notice, it is given to all believers, though spoken to the eleven, apparently in the upper room. Verse 17 makes it clear that it applies to "them that believe." Do we believe? Then the commission is to us.

    The field is the world. The gospel has no barriers. It is to go to every creature--all races, all lands. The promise is to those who believe and are baptized. Salvation is assured to those who come by faith, and we are warned against the great sin of unbelief.

    A prominent Christian merchant once rose in a missionary convention and told this experience: "I stood on the edge of one of the great provinces of China and said to my guide, 'How many men are there beyond us who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ?'

    " 'Thirty million,' he said, 'but we must go back. We are already in dangerous territory. We must go back at once.'

    "As I stood there I heard the creaking of one of the primitive wagons of the region. The vehicle was drawn by a weather-beaten camel driven by a man in rags, and was loaded with cans of oil. There was also a crate of lamps marked "Made in the U.S.A.' You see, we could send them light for their homes, but not for their hearts."

    Millions of dollars are being spent every year by business concerns to further their interests. Their representatives are found in all parts of the world, often risking their lives. Should not the representatives of the cross do as much to carry the life-giving gospel of the grace of God in Christ to earth's remotest bounds?

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only" (Ps. 71:16).

July 30, 2019

7/30/2019

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isa. 12:3).

    It is this that made the future of Christianity," said Matthew Arnold: "its gladness, not its sorrow, its drawing from the spiritual world a source of joy so abundant that it ran over upon the material world and transfigured it."

    Some contemporary described the secret of Dwight L. Moody's ministry in these words: "Moody was simply bubbling over with the glory of his message. He reveled in it. His joy was contagious. Men leaped out of the darkness into light and lived a Christian life from that hour."

    The early believers received the word with joy (1 Thess. 1:16). It was for the joy set before Him that our Savior endured the cross (Heb. 13:17). And we are to serve God with joy and not with grief (Heb. 13:17). "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" (James 1:2). In spite of trials we look forward to the appearing of Jesus Christ "whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8).

    Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). We are to pray with joy (Phil. 1:4). In fact, the kingdom of God itself is joy (Rom. 14:17). There is an old song that says, "Joy, joy, joy, there'll be joy by and by," but God's children are to have joy here and now. Wherever we are and whatever comes to us, it is our privilege to be joyful in the Lord (Isa. 61:10). Water from the wells of salvation is a joyous drink. How could one find salvation and not be happy? Through faith Christ dwells in the heart. The burden of sin is gone, and the witness of the Spirit declares that we are the children of God, that heaven is our home.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Restore unto me the joy if thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit" (Ps. 51:12).

July 29, 2019

7/29/2019

  And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord (Isa. 66:23).

    In the nineteenth century a book appeared entitled Looking Backward: 2000-1887. It is an imaginary picture of the earth several centuries in the future, described by a man who lives still further in the future. Why not a good book called Looking Further Forward--way beyond the accomplishments of humanity, to the glorious future of God's promise? And what better text could there be for such a book than our promise text for today?

    Life on that renewed earth, which will be the home of the redeemed of all ages, will be a social life, a busy life, a life of worship and praise to God. "From one new moon to another," that is, from month to month, there will be great gatherings of God's people. "And from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before" God.

    This eternal and wonderful home is for those of faith. It is for those who by grace are saved from the condemnation, the power, and at last the presence, of sin. This is the victory of the cross. Jesus died to redeem not only humanity but "that which was lost" (Matt. 18:11), which includes the lost world and lost nature itself. Even today "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together. Even we ourselves groan...waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:22, 23).

    Let us be joyful in anticipation of it. "Look up, look up, and let your faith continually increase. Let this faith guide you along the narrow path that leads through the gates of the city into the great beyond, the wide, unbounded future of glory that is for the redeemed" (Prophets and Kings, p. 732).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles" (Ps. 43:3).

July 28, 2019

7/28/2019

Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak (Jer. 1:6, 7).

    All God's commandments are enablings. When Moses was called by God to lead His people out of Egypt, he protested that he was not a convincing speaker. The Lord answered, "Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" (Ex. 4:12). When we obey God, we shall have the strength to do what He bids us do.

    In this command promise for today we too may share the experience of the young prophet Jeremiah. The Lord said to him, "Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth" (Jer. 1:9). As God's messengers we are to speak to lost people God's words, not our own. We are to preach His gospel, not mere human philosophy. "He that hath my word, let him speak my word,...saith the Lord" (Jer. 23:28). That is what Jesus did. He spoke the words of His Father.

    A wayward young man ran away from home and was not heard from for years. Hearing of his father's death, he returned. The family assembled for the reading of the will, which, to the great surprise of all, told in detail of the waywardness of this son. In anger he arose, stamped out of the room, and was not heard of for three years. He was finally found, and informed that the will, after of his misdeeds, had bequeathed him $15,000. How much sorrow he would have been saved had he only listened to the entire will!

    So it is with God's messages. They should all be spoken, all received, both the condemnation and the promises. It is true that the old Book says, "The wages of sin is death," but it says more. It continues, "but the gift of God is eternal life" (Rom. 6:23).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise" (Ps. 51:15).

July 27, 2019

7/27/2019

And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it (Eze. 26:14).

    Tyre was probably the greatest maritime city of antiquity. Its inhabitants, the Phoenicians, traded in all the known world. The prophet speaks of all countries trading in its markets and contributing to its wealth. Then from God comes a message of rebuke and a warning of coming judgment: "Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee....And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord....And they shall lay stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water" (Eze. 26:3-12).

    This was all literally fulfilled. Alexander the Great besieged Tyre, built a great mole from the mainland out to its rocky fortress, scraped the very surface of the earth of the old city--rocks, timber, even dust--and cast it into the sea, thus enabling his army of assault to reach the supposedly impregnable city of the sea.

    Those who visit Tyre today may see with their own eyes the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy. It is but a small village, rooted upon the filled-in ground from Alexander's sea wall, and supported largely by fishing. The glory of Tyre has vanished like a troubled dream. It has sunk under the burden of prophecy. It is God's witness. Once a mighty maritime city, ancient Tyre is no longer influential, and its rocky location is used for the drying of fishing nets. To us it says, "When God speaks of nations or of individuals, He speaks the truth."

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever" (Ps. 93:5).

July 26, 2019

7/26/2019

  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:14).

    How well we know that all the waters of earth leave us thirsty in a short time. The water that Jesus gives quenches our soul thirst. Not only so, but it becomes in us a spring of life and blessing.

    When Isaac redug the wells of Abraham his father, which had been filled with earth and debris by the Philistines, he found springing water, artesian water (Gen. 26:18, 19). Every Christian is an artesian well. But how many wells have been stopped by pleasures, sin, cares of this world! They may be completely hidden, or they may be so impure, so muddy and distasteful, that others are not blessed by them.

    J. Frank Norris tells of an experience in his first pastorate. A deacon who had driven many a preacher out of the little church attempted the same thing on him. Norris went to visit the deacon. At first he was uncommunicative and gruff, but after a while, through kind attention, he became friendly. They went out to the deacon's peach orchard and came to an old well. As they drew up the crystal, cold water and drank it together, the deacon told the story of the well. It had been made by his grandfather many, many years before, but had been filled up with all sorts of debris and entirely forgotten. During a great drought it was found and cleaned out, and became an unfailing supply to the people of the neighborhood. Now they were determined to keep it that way.

    The young pastor put his arm around his friend and said, "Deacon, you're that well. Why don't you clean out the well?" There beside the well curb the two men prayed together, and the deacon did clean out the well and became a strong worker for Christ.

    Let us by God's grace clean out the wells. Then the living waters of His mercy will bless us, and through us, the world.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Give me this water, that I thirst not" (John 4:15).

July 25, 2019

7/25/2019

And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, withersoever the rivers shall come, shall live (Eze. 47:9).

    Whatever this may mean in the future world, it certainly is true of God's river of life now. Wherever it touches, there is life. Ezekiel lived near the great Euphrates River and could see its life-giving properties. Wherever its waters went, there was life.

    It is written, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). And Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst" (John 4:13, 14).

    Are you really thirsty for spiritual things, for the water of life? Then you are fortunate, for the promise is "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" (Rev. 21:6). This is a part of the joyful experience of salvation. "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid....Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isa. 12:2, 3).

    The Nile is one of the longest rivers of the world. For almost its entire length it cuts through the most barren desert, yet when it pours into the Mediterranean it is still a mighty stream. From the air one sees what appears to be an endless green ribbon stretching out below. It is the Nile valley watered by this life-giving, never-failing river.

    The great river of God's mercy, love, and truth is flowing through the desert of this world. Wherever it comes, there is life--life in it, life with it, and life by it. Let us dwell by the river.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land" (Ps. 143:6).

July 24, 2019

7/24/2019

  But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits (Dan. 11:32).

    Our strength comes from God. It is only when we know Him that we can be strong and in His strength do exploits. When the emperor of Germany dismissed his great counselor, Bismarck, the London publication Punch carried a cartoon by Tenniel. It represented Bismarck's leaving a great ocean liner while the emperor looked on, watching the departing guide with haughty self-satisfaction. The cartoon was entitled "Dropping the Pilot." J. H. Jollett, a well-known preacher of the 1800s, refers to this and says it portrays experiences in his own life. "But," he adds, "instead of a fallible statesman, I have dismissed the infallible God; I have dropped the Eternal Pilot. I have called it self-dependence, and with a great show of courtesy I have bowed the Lord out of the boat. Then I have taken the helm into my own hands, and steered by my own counsels, and the end has been sorrow and loss."

    Have we not all done this at times? We bow the Lord out of our life, and then make wreckage of it. Trying to do exploits in such days as these, we must know God. "Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength" (Isa. 26:4). We may be very weak. But we may "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" (Eph. 6:10). Let us every day seek for___

                                God's might to direct me,
                                God's power to protect me,
                                God's wisdom for learning,
                                God's eye for discerning,
                                God's ear for my hearing,
                                God's Word for my clearing.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "For thou art the God of my strength:...why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" (Ps. 43:2).

July 23, 2019

7/23/2019

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Matt. 7:7, 8).

    It is just as simple as that--ask, seek, knock; and everyone who does so will receive. Find and face an open door. Why do we not ask more, seek more, knock more? It is because of our lack of faith. We do not believe that the answer will come; therefore it does not come. Or it may be that we are self-satisfied. "What is the use of praying?" asked Andrew Carnegie. "I already have everything I want. What more could I ask for?"

    Our sins may inhibit the answer to our prayers. Or our prayers may not be answered because we pray a prayerless prayer. In a far--off land G. F. Pentecost met an educated man who was swinging a prayer wheel and repeating monotonous words. "What are you praying for?" he asked.

    "Oh, nothing" was the reply.

    "To whom are you praying?"

    "Oh, nobody."

    Let us remember the earnestness of the widow pleading before the judge for justice; of the housewife sweeping the house and seeking by candlelight for her lost coin; of the friend at midnight, pounding on the door, seeking bread for the late traveler.

    Before musicians begin to play, they tune up their instruments. You sometimes wish that the operation could be dispensed with, but it cannot. Until the instruments have been tuned, there can by no harmony. So too we must be in tune with the Infinite and in the spirit of prayer if we would pray aright. Read the text again. It is a mighty threefold promise.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified" (Ps. 70:4).

July 22, 2019

7/22/2019

He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy (Prov. 29:1).

    This might be called a negative promise, a warning, but it is one to which we all need to take heed. God sends His warning to us again and again and again, sometimes by the direct reproof of a passage of Scripture, and sometimes through an impression by His Spirit, or by the word of a friend, by an accident, by an illness.

    Those who reject or neglect all the divine reproofs so graciously sent in these various ways finally find themselves outside God's special protection; and sometimes even the strong words of God Himself are unavailing to win them back to righteousness. "I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth," we read in Hosea 6:5. Those referred to would not turn to God. They hardened their necks against Him. Therefore, we read in verse 11, "he hath set an harvest" for them. And what a terrible harvest it is, for "their own doings have beset them" (Hosea 7:2). The harvest is terrible because the unrepentant heart reaps its own harvest, its own destruction, its own remediless end. "And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off" (Ps. 94:23).

    "Hardening of the neck" or its equivalent is a phrase used several times in the Scripture to represent stubbornness, deliberate rebellion against the Word and work of God. But there is a remedy for all those who will turn, all those who will listen to the Word of God. "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye" (Eze. 18:32).

    Christ is the only remedy, Christ upon the cross, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved" (Ps. 80:3).