First Baptist Church of South Euclid

December 24, 2017

              Sweet as it is to linger in Hebron beside Mary and Elisabeth, our hearts are always back to Joseph in his   unspeakable agony. The absent are dear, just as the dead are perfect. And Mary’s dear image became to Joseph dearer still when he could no longer see her face or hear her voice. Nazareth was empty to Joseph; it was worse than empty, it was a city of sepulchers, in which he sought for death and could not find it. Day after day, week after week, Joseph’s misery increased, and when he went up to the synagogue on the Sabbath day that only made him feel his loneliness and misery all the more. Mary’s sweet presence had often made the holy place more holy to him, and her voice in the Psalms had been to him as when an angel sings. 

     On one of those Sabbaths which the exiled Virgin was spending at Hebron Joseph went up again to the sanctuary of Nazareth seeking to hide his grief with God. And this, I feel sure, was the Scripture appointed to be read in the synagogue that day: “Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.  Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” 

     Joseph’s heart was absolutely overwhelmed within him as he listened to that astounding Scripture. Never had ear or heart of man heard these amazing words as Joseph heard them that day. And then, when he laid himself down to sleep that night, his pillow became like a stone under his head. Not that he was cast out; but he had cast out another, and she the best of God’s creatures. Ay, and she perhaps – how shall he whisper it even to himself at midnight – the virgin-mother of Immanuel! A better mother he could not have. So speaking to himself til he was terrified at his own thoughts, weary with another week’s lonely labor, and aged with many weeks of agony and despair, Joseph fell asleep. Then a thing was secretly brought to him, and his ear received a little thereof. There was silence, and he heard a voice saying to him, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” Gabriel was sent to reassure Joseph’s despairing heart, to demand the consummation of the broken-off marriage, and to announce the Incarnation of the Son of God. 

excerpt from “Joseph and Mary” by Alexander Whyte taken from “Classic Sermons Of The Birth Of Christ” by Warren Wiersbe

December 15, 2016

            It takes no Bible, or standard or morals, to make a    man realize that when he would do good, evil is present with him. And we all recognize that there is a conflict between our conscience and our conduct, between or better judgment and our carnal appetites. Men may call this “Moral Inharmony” or what they will, the Bible calls it SIN. And the sins we commit only reveal the “PRINCIPLE OF SIN” that is within us. This “Principle of Sin” we inherit. King David said – “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Ps. 51:5. He did not mean by that, that he was born out of wedlock, or was the son of an adulteress, he meant that he was born with a sinful nature. By “Original Sin” or ”Natural Depravity” is not meant that there is nothing good in man, but that the natural tendency of the human heart is toward evil. Sin is not the result of environment or temptation, but is the outcome of a SINFUL INCLINATION  Ja. 1:13-14. Christ pictures the human heart as the source of all kinds of specific sins  Ma. 7:20-23. We must distinguish between “SIN” and “SINS.” “SIN” is the disposition that we inherit from Adam, “SINS” are the specific acts of sin we commit because of the disposition to sin in us. Sin is to the natural man what the tendency to rot is to the apple. Adam was born innocent, there was but a step between his innocence and righteousness, and but a step between his innocence and sin. He chose to take the latter step and become a sinner. If he had taken the former step he would have become righteous and would have been permitted to eat of the “Tree of Life” and life forever in a state of holiness. Adam and Eve had no children before the Fall. If they had had they would have been innocent. The children Adam begat after the Fall were born sinners, so the human race became sinners by inheritance. “Wherefore, as by one man (ADAM) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. The fact that all men die is therefore proof that all men are sinners. Now the penalty of Adam’s sin was both spiritual and physical death, and the only way the human race can be saved from spiritual and physical death is by someone paying the penalty for them. This Christ came into the world to do. To this end it was necessary the He should become a MAN. This required that He should be born of a woman. But He must be a SINLESS MAN, that is He must have no inherited taint of SIN in His nature, therefore He could not have a human father. 

excerpt from “Dispensational Truth” by Clarence Larkin

December 06, 2016

Sweet as it is to linger in Hebron beside Mary and Elisabeth, our hearts are always back to Joseph in his  unspeakable agony. The absent are dear, just as the dead are perfect. And Mary’s dear image became to Joseph dearer still when he could no longer see her face or hear her voice. Nazareth was empty to Joseph; it was worst than empty, it was a city of epulchers, in which he sought for death and could not find it.  Day after day, week after week, Joseph’s misery increased, and when he went up to the synagogue on the Sabbath day that only made him feel his loneliness and misery all the more. Mary’s sweet presence had often made the holy place more holy to him, and her voice in the Psalms had been to him as when an angel sings.

On one of those Sabbaths which the exiled Virgin was spending at Hebron Joseph went up again to the sanctuary of Nazareth seeking to hide his grief with God. And this, I feel sure, as the Scripture appointed to be read in the synagogue that day: “Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Joseph’s heart was absolutely overwhelmed within him as he listened to that astounding Scripture. Never had ear or heart of man heard these amazing words as Joseph heard them that day. And then, when he laid himself down to sleep that night, his pillow became like a stone under his head. Not that he was cast out; but he had cast out another, and she the best of God’s creatures. Ay, and she perhaps –how shall he whisper it even to himself at midnight

– the virgin-mother of Immanuel! A better mother he could not have. So speaking to himself til he was terrified at his own thoughts, weary with another week’s lonely labor, and aged with many weeks of agony and despair, Joseph fell asleep. Then a thing was secretly brought to him, and his ear received a little thereof. There was silence, and he heard a voice saying to him, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”  Gabriel was sent to reassure Joseph’s despairing heart, to demand the consummation of the broken-off marriage, and to announce the Incarnation of the Son of God.

excerpt from “Joseph and Mary” by Alexander Whyte taken from “Classic Sermons Of The Birth Of Christ”by Warren Wiersbe

July 10, 2016

Self is the great curse, whether in its relation to God, or to our fellow-men in general, or to fellow-Christians, thinking of ourselves and seeking our own. Self is our greatest curse. But, praise God, Christ came to redeem us from self. We sometimes talk about deliverance from the self-life - and thank God for every word that can be said about it to help us - but I am afraid some people think deliverance from the self-life means that now they are going to have no longer any trouble in serving God; and they forget that deliverance from self-life means to be a vessel overflowing with love to everybody all the day.

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A great many of us try hard at times to love. We try to force ourselves to love, and I do not say that is wrong; it is better than nothing. But the end of it is always very sad. “I fail continually,” such as one must confess. And what is the reason? The reason is simply this: Because they have never learned to believe and accept the truth that the Holy Spirit can pour God’s love into their heart. That blessed text; often it has been limited! - “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.” It has often been understood in this sense: It means the love of God to me. Oh, what a limitation! That is only the beginning. The love of God is always the love of God in its entirety, in its fullness as an indwelling power, a love of God to me that leaps back to Him in love, and overflows to my fellow-men in love-God’s love to me, and my love to God, and my love to my fellow-men. The three are one; you cannot separate them.

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Why is a lamb always gentle? Because that is its nature. Does it cost the lamb any trouble to be gentle? No. Why not? It is so beautiful and gentle. Has a lamb to study to be gentle? No. Why does that come so easy? It is its nature. And a wolf - why does it cost a wolf no trouble to be cruel, and to put its fangs into the poor lamb or sheep? Because that is its nature. It has not to summon up its courage; the wolf-nature is there.

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And how can I learn to love? Never until the Spirit of God fills my heart with God’s love, and I begin to long for God’s love in a very different sense from which I have sought it so selfishly, as a comfort and a joy and a happiness and a pleasure to myself; never until I begin to learn that “God is love,” and to claim it, and receive it as an indwelling power for self-sacrifice; never until I begin to see that my glory, my blessedness, is to be like God and like Christ, in giving up everything in myself for my fellow-men. May God teach us that!

Excerpt from "Absolute Surrender" by Andrew Murray

June 05, 2016

Abraham had many promises from God regarding his descendants. God told Abraham that his seed would be as the sands of the sea and the stars of heaven (Gen.22:17). There were two promises of seed given to Abraham. God said his seed would be as the sands of the earth. That promise represents the natural, physical nation of Israel. These were the people of the Old Covenant. However, God didn’t stop there. He also promised that Abraham’s seed would be as the stars of heaven. These are the people of the New Covenant, the exalted people. That’s the Church. We are exalted in Christ Jesus. We too are seed of Abraham. We are the stars of heaven.

God had more plans for Abraham’s descendants, than to simply start a new nation on earth. He planned a new spiritual Kingdom that will last forever. The plan started as a seed, but it ended up as stars.

The only thing between the seed and the stars was a woman. Can you see why Sarah herself had to receive strength to conceive a seed when she was past childbearing age? Because the man (Abraham) gave her a seed, she gave him the stars of heaven. Whatever God gives you, He wants it to be multiplied in the womb of your spirit. When you bring it forth, it shall be greater than the former.

The enemy wants to multiply your fear in life. He wants you to become so afraid that you won’t be able to figure out what you fear. You may be frightened to live in your own house. Some are afraid to correct their children. Some people fear standing up in front of others. Intimidated and afraid, many do not deliver a prophecy. God wants to set you free from fear as you are filled with faith.

excerpt from “Woman Thou Art Loosed” by Bishop T.D. Jakes

January 01, 2020

An old mother with a halo of silvered hair – the hot tears flowing down her furrowed cheeks – her worn hands busy over a washboard in a room of poverty – praying – for her son John – John who ran away from home in his teens to become a sailor – John of whom it was now reported that he had become a very wicked man – praying, praying always, that her son might be of service to God. The mother believed in two things, the power of prayer and the reformation of her son. God answered the prayer by working a miracle in the heart of John Newton. John Newton, the drunken sailor became John Newton, the sailor-preacher. Among the thousands of men and women he brought to Christ was Thomas Scott, cultured, selfish, and self-satisfied. Because of the washtub another miracle was worked, and Thomas Scott used both his pen and voice to lead thousands of unbelieving hearts to Christ, among them a dyspeptic, melancholic young man, William Cowper by name. He, too, was washed in the cleansing blood and in a moment of inspiration wrote “There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood.” And this song has brought countless thousands to the Man who died on Calvary. All this resulted because a woman took God at His Word and prayed that her son’s heart might become as white as the soapsuds in the washtub.

excerpt from Springs in the Valley by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

April 24, 2016

Let's think about your heart, and we'll do it by imagining a scenario. You're out for a hike on a beautiful spring day. You're delighted to hear running water, and sure enough you come to a creek. But there's something wrong with this picture. You notice that someone has dumped trash into the stream—an ugly sight. There is refuse floating on the water.  Judging by some of the empty soda cans, the trash has been there awhile. And there is an ugly film on top of the water. 

You can't just leave the scene as you found it, because it would bother your conscience. So you stoop down and begin gathering the trash.

It actually takes several hours before you can begin to see a difference; it's amazing how much junk is there. You sit back, rest for a moment, and realize you'll have to keep returning each day until the site is truly clean. Well, that's okay; it's a project you'll be proud of.  

Except that when you come back the next day, it's as if your work has been undone.  

In fact there's more trash than before. Somehow the garbage bred overnight. You think about the unlikelihood of someone coming to this very spot to dump their garbage in the few hours while you were away, and you realize that something smells fishy—so to speak. So you begin to follow the creek upstream.

Sure enough, you come to a garbage dump that has been there for years. It's emptying into the passing creek. Your cleaning job only opened up a gap for more stuff to settle. You could go and clean every day, but it would just be like pushing a boulder up the hill and watching it roll back down again…

If you want your creek to be clean, that means going directly to the source and dealing with

what's there. 

Think of your heart, as the Hebrews did, as the source from which your life flows—thoughts, emotions, actions. 

How much of your life do you spend dealing with the visible garbage rather than what produces it? We all spend great amounts of time, money, energy, and frustration doing trash removal when something upstream is still dumping into the flow. Even the church focuses downstream too much. It's so much easier to pick up a little bit of trash. Dealing with what's upstream is a staggering commitment. But the idols that vie for our affection know the heart is the battlefield. It's where the war is won.

excerpt from Gods at War by Kyle Idleman

March 13, 2016

Then the Interpreter began, and said, The fatter the sow is, the more she desires the mire; the fatter the ox is, the more gamesomely he goes to the slaughter; and the more healthy the lustful man is, the more prone he is unto evil. There is a desire in women to go neat and find; and it is a comely thing to be adorned with that which in God's sight is of great price. 'T is easier watching a night or two, than to sit up a whole year together: so 't is easier for one to begin to profess well, than to hold out as he should to the end. Every shipmaster, when in a storm, will willingly cast that overboard which is of the smallest value in the vessel; but who will throw the best out first? None but he that feareth not God. One leak will sink a ship, and one sin will destroy a sinner. He that forgets his friend is ungrateful unto him; but he that forgets his Saviour is unmerciful to himself. He that lives in sin, and looks for happiness hereafter, is like him that soweth cockle, and thinks to fill his barn with wheat or barley. If a man would live well, let him fetch his last day to him, and make it always his company- keeper. Whispering, and change of thoughts, prove that sin is in the WORLD. If the world, which God sets light by, is counted a thing of that worth with men, what is heaven, that God commendeth? If the life that is attended with so many troubles, is so loth to be let go by us, what is the life above? Every body will cry up the goodness of men; but who is there that is, as he should be, affected with the goodness of God? We seldom sit down to meat, but we eat, and leave. So there is in Jesus Christ more merit and righteousness than the whole world has need of.

When the Interpreter had done, he takes them out into his garden again, and had them to a tree whose inside was all rotten and gone, and yet it grew and had leaves. Then said Mercy, What means this? This tree, said he, whose outside is fair, and whose inside is rotten, is that to which many may be compared that are in the garden of God; who with their mouths speak high in behalf of God, but indeed will do nothing for him; whose leaves are fair, but their heart good for nothing but to be tinder for the devil's tinder-box.

Excerpt from Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

February 28, 2016

“The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister” Matthew 20:28

Paul’s idea of service is the same as our Lord’s: “I am among you as He that serveth”; “ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” We have the idea that a man called to the ministry is called to be different kind of being from other men. According to Jesus Christ, he is called to be the “doormat” of other men; their spiritual, but never their superior. “I know how to be abased,” says Paul. This is Paul’s idea of service – “I will spend myself to the last ebb for you; you may give me praise or give me blame, it will make no difference.” So long as there is a human being who does not know Jesus Christ, I am his debtor to serve him until he does. The mainspring of Paul’s service is not love for men, but love for Jesus Christ. If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love for God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men.

     Paul’s realization of how Jesus Christ had dealt with him is the secret of his determination to serve others. “I was before a perjurer, a blasphemer, an injurious person” – no matter how men may treat me, they will never treat me with the spite and hatred with which I treated Jesus Christ. When we realize that Jesus Christ had served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness, and sin, nothing that we meet with from others can exhaust our determination to serve men for his sake.

excerpt from “My Utmost For His Highest” (February 23rd)    

by Oswald Chambers

February 07, 2016

Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest. That the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless, should have to be supplicated time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes, we cannot easily understand. It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. When, after persevering supplication, our prayer remains unanswered, it is often easiest for our slothful flesh, and it has all the appearance of pious submission, to think that we must now cease praying, because God may have His secret reason for withholding His answer to our request.

     It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome. When once faith has taken its stand upon God's word, and the Name of Jesus, and has yielded itself to the leading of the Spirit to seek God's will and honor alone in its prayer, it need not be discouraged by delay. It knows from Scripture that the power of believing prayer is simply irresistible; real faith can never be disappointed. It knows how, just as water, to exercise the irresistible power it can have, must be gathered up and accumulated, until the stream can come down in full force, there must often be a heaping up of prayer, until God sees that the measure is full, and the answer comes. It knows how, just as the ploughman has to take his ten thousand steps, and sow his ten thousand seeds, each one a part of the preparation for the final harvest, so there is a need-be for oft-repeated persevering prayer, all working out some desired blessing. It knows for certain that not a single believing prayer can fail of its effect in heaven, but has its influence, and is treasured up to work out an answer in due time to him who perseveres to the end. It knows that it has to do not with human thoughts or possibilities, but with the word of the living God. And so even as Abraham through so many years 'in hope believed against hope,' and then 'through faith and patience inherited the promise,' it counts that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation, waiting and hasting unto the coming of its Lord to fulfil His promise.

“In the School of Prayer” from Andrew Murray

January 31, 2016

Before preaching and writing on this subject I read hundreds of stories describing angel sightings and encounters. Many are far-fetched and go beyond the bounds of what Scripture allows as being reliable. For example, the Bible gives no indication angels will respond if we pray directly to them for help. In fact in Scripture we don’t find any instances of people even asking God to send them an angel’s protection. And the only person in Scripture who tried persuading someone else to seek help from an angel was Satan, who

quoted an Old Testament verse about angelic protection while tempting Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:6).

Billy Graham said he believed in angels not only because of the Bible’s testimony about them, but also “because I have sensed their presence in my life on special occasions.” He wrote: “As an evangelist, I have often felt too far spent to minister from the pulpit to men and women who have filled stadiums to hear a message from the Lord. Yet again and again my weakness has vanished, and my strength has been renewed. I have been filled with God’s power not only in my soul but physically. On many occasions, God has become especially real, and has sent his unseen angelic visitors to touch my body and let me be his messenger for heaven, speaking as a dying man to dying men.”

He also recounted this story from pioneer missionary John G. Paton in the New Hebrides Islands, in the South Pacific: Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning the Paton’s out and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see that, unaccountably, the attackers had left. They thanked God for delivering them.

A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Jesus Christ, and Mr. Paton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men you had with you there?” The missionary answered, “There were no men there; just my wife and I.” The chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard—hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Mr. Paton realize

that God had sent his angels to protect them. The chief agreed that there was no other explanation.

excerpt from “Angels” by Dr. David Jeremiah

January 17, 2016

   Now. while they were thus drawing towards the gate, behold a company of the heavenly hosts came out ot meet them: To whom it was said by the other two shining ones, "theses are the men that have loved our Lord when they were in the world, and that have left all for his holy name; and he hath sent us to fetch them, and we have brought them thus far on their desired journey, that they may go in and look their Redeemer in the face with joy".  Then the heavenly host gave a great shout, saying, "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb."  REV 19:9.  There came out also at this time to meet them several of the King's trumpeters, clothed in white and shining raiment, who, with melodious noises and loud, made even the heavens to echo with their sound.  These trumpeters saluted Christian and his fellow with ten thousand welcomes from the world; and this they did with shouting and sound of trumpet.

   This done, they compassed them round on every side; some went before, some behind, and some on the right hand, and some on the left, (as it were to guard them through the upper regions) continually sounding as they went, with melodious noise, in notes on high; so that the very sight was to them that could behold it as if heaven itself was some down to meet them.  Thus, therefore, they walked on together, and as they walked, ever and anon these trumpeters, even with youthful sound, would, by mixing their music with looks and gestures, still signify to Christian and his brother how welcome they were into their company, and with what gladness they came to meet them. And now were these two men, as it were, in heaven, before they came to it, being swallowed up with the sight of angels, and with hearing of their melodious notes.  Here also they had the city itself in view; and they thought they heard all the bells therein to ring, to welcome them thereto.  But, above all, the warm and joyful thoughts that they had about their own dwelling there with such company and that forever and ever; oh, by what tongue or pen can their glorious joy be expressed!  Thus they came up to the gate.

  Now when they were come up to the gate, there was written over it in letters of gold:

"Blessed are they that do His commandment, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city"

excerpt from "Pilgrims Progress" by John Bunyan

January 10, 2016

And behold, I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. Isa 64:6; Luke 14:33 ; Ps 38:4. I looked and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being able longer to contain, he broke out with a lamentable cry, saying, "What shall I do?" Acts 2:37; 16:30; Hab. 1:2-3.

In this plight, therefore, he went home, and restrained himself as long as he could, that his wife and children should not perceive his distress; but he could not be silent long, because his trouble increased. Wherefore at length he brake his mind to his wife and children; and thus he began to talk to them: "O, my dear wife," said he, "and you the children of my bowels, I, your dear friend, am in myself undone by reason of a burden that lieth hard upon me; moreover, I am certainly informed that this our city will be burnt with fire from heaven; in which fearful overthrow, both myself, with thee my wife, and you my sweet babes, shall miserably come to ruin, except (the which yet I see not) some way of escape can be found whereby we may be delivered."

At this his relations were sore amazed; not for that they believed that what he had said to them was true, but because they thought that some frenzy distemper had got into his head; therefore, it drawing towards night, and they hoping that sleep might settle his brains, with  all haste they got him to bed. But the night was as troublesome to him as the day; wherefore, instead of sleeping, he spent it in sighs and tears. So when the morning was come, they would know how he did. He told them, "Worse and worse:" he also set to talking to them again; but they began to be hardened. They also thought to drive away his distemper by harsh and surly carriage to him; sometimes they would deride, sometimes they  would chide, and sometimes they would quite neglect him. Wherefore he began to retire himself to his chamber to pray for and pity them, and also to condole his own misery; he would also walk solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading, and sometimes praying: and thus for some days he spent his time. 

Now I saw, upon a time, when he was walking in the fields, that he was (as he was wont)

reading in his book, and greatly distressed in his mind; and as he read, he burst out, as he

had done before, crying, "What shall I do to be saved?" Acts 16:30-31.

excerpt from “Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan

December 27, 2015

The Bible tells us to “consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession” (Hebrews 3:1). It is not enough to know what the Bible says about purity; we also must also know how Jesus lived out the virtue. He came to show us what the Creator really had in mind when he made us. He became like us (Hebrews 2:14, 17) so that we could become like Him (Romans 8:29). The Bible tells us to “fix our eyes” on Him (Hebrews 12:2). On the basis of what the Bible records, we must discern how He expresses His righteousness. Jesus was pure but never talked about it. No man ever lived who had more adoring women around him than Jesus. They supported Him with their means (Luke 8:3), remained at the cross  longer than others, and were first at the tomb. If he had been lustful,  He could have taken advantage of this adoration. 

Yet Peter, who was in Jesus’ innermost circle and watched Him closely for three and a half years, described Him as a “lamb unblemished and spotless” (1 Peter 1:19). John, another of the inner circle, said, “In Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). Matthew, one of the intimate twelve, was the one who recorded His words of purity of heart (Matthew 5:8). Those who knew Him best recorded a mental self-command unique among humans.

He was not lustful, but neither was He puritanical. Puritanical people are narrow in their selection of friends. Jesus befriended so many tax collectors, prostitutes, and down-and-outs that they called Him a “friend of sinners.” His broadness was inclusive; He readily accepted invitations to eat with the self-righteous Pharisees and with the “sinful” tax collectors. The witness of His friends was that He never yielded to lust or to any impurity, yet He also never perverted purity. He was simply and completely pure.

Excerpt from “The Mind of Christ” by T.W. Hunt

December 27, 2015

The Bible tells us to “consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession” (Hebrews 3:1). It is not enough to know what the Bible says about purity; we also must also know how Jesus lived out the virtue. He came to show us what the Creator really had in mind when he made us. He became like us (Hebrews 2:14, 17) so that we could become like Him (Romans 8:29). The Bible tells us to “fix our eyes” on Him (Hebrews 12:2). On the basis of what the Bible records, we must discern how He expresses His righteousness. Jesus was pure but never talked about it. No man ever lived who had more adoring women around him than Jesus. They supported Him with their means (Luke 8:3), remained at the cross  longer than others, and were first at the tomb. If he had been lustful,  He could have taken advantage of this adoration. 

Yet Peter, who was in Jesus’ innermost circle and watched Him closely for three and a half years, described Him as a “lamb unblemished and spotless” (1 Peter 1:19). John, another of the inner circle, said, “In Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). Matthew, one of the intimate twelve, was the one who recorded His words of purity of heart (Matthew 5:8). Those who knew Him best recorded a mental self-command unique among humans.

He was not lustful, but neither was He puritanical. Puritanical people are narrow in their selection of friends. Jesus befriended so many tax collectors, prostitutes, and down-and-outs that they called Him a “friend of sinners.” His broadness was inclusive; He readily accepted invitations to eat with the self-righteous Pharisees and with the “sinful” tax collectors. The witness of His friends was that He never yielded to lust or to any impurity, yet He also never perverted purity. He was simply and completely pure.

Excerpt from “The Mind of Christ” by T.W. Hunt

December 27, 2015

The Bible tells us to “consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession” (Hebrews 3:1). It is not enough to know what the Bible says about purity; we also must also know how Jesus lived out the virtue. He came to show us what the Creator really had in mind when he made us. He became like us (Hebrews 2:14, 17) so that we could become like Him (Romans 8:29). The Bible tells us to “fix our eyes” on Him (Hebrews 12:2). On the basis of what the Bible records, we must discern how He expresses His righteousness. Jesus was pure but never talked about it. No man ever lived who had more adoring women around him than Jesus. They supported Him with their means (Luke 8:3), remained at the cross  longer than others, and were first at the tomb. If he had been lustful,  He could have taken advantage of this adoration. 

Yet Peter, who was in Jesus’ innermost circle and watched Him closely for three and a half years, described Him as a “lamb unblemished and spotless” (1 Peter 1:19). John, another of the inner circle, said, “In Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). Matthew, one of the intimate twelve, was the one who recorded His words of purity of heart (Matthew 5:8). Those who knew Him best recorded a mental self-command unique among humans.

He was not lustful, but neither was He puritanical. Puritanical people are narrow in their selection of friends. Jesus befriended so many tax collectors, prostitutes, and down-and-outs that they called Him a “friend of sinners.” His broadness was inclusive; He readily accepted invitations to eat with the self-righteous Pharisees and with the “sinful” tax collectors. The witness of His friends was that He never yielded to lust or to any impurity, yet He also never perverted purity. He was simply and completely pure.

Excerpt from “The Mind of Christ” by T.W. Hunt

December 20, 2015

What have you heard and seen this Christmas? Oh, you say, had I been there at Bethlehem that night I would have seen.  I would have understood. I would have known it was the Christ child. Would you? There is one way of knowing:

     Ask yourself what you have seen and heard this Christmas Season. When you watched the 6:00 news did you see chaos and strife, or did you see sheep without a shepherd. When you went out to do your shopping did you see only hordes of people in the stores, or did you notice the worried expressions on some of their faces – worried because they are facing this Christmas without employment or enough money and they don't know how they are going to make ends meet.

     What did you hear this Christmas? Did you hear only the blast of music and carols, or did you hear the silent sighs of the lonely and the bereaved who may be dreading Christmas because it accentuates their loneliness. And in the midst of the sounds of honking horns and people arguing over parking places, did you hear faint sounds of laughter coming from Asbury Church missions projects because you furnished food and toys for families and children.

     You see, so often what you see and what you hear is not dependent upon the event but upon you. If you did in fact hear the cry from the lonely, the laughter of poor children, if you saw the sheep without a shepherd, then, and only then, might you have noticed the events that took place in Bethlehem that night. If you lacked that spiritual seeing and hearing then you probably would have been with the 99% who were present but who saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary.

excerpt from Brett Blair in Sermon Illustrations 1999

     In his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner applies the modern science of probability to just 8 prophecies regarding Christ. He says, "The chance that any man might have fulfilled all 8 prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000." Stoner suggests that "we take 10 to the 17th silver dollars (one hundred quadrillion) and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state 2 feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly. Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up that one marked silver dollar. What chance would he have of getting the right one?" Stoner concludes, "Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing those 8 prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom."

December 13, 2015

It takes no Bible, or standard or morals, to make a man realize that when he would do good, evil is present with him. And we all recognize that there is a conflict between our conscience and our conduct, between or better judgment and our carnal appetites. Men may call this “Moral Inharmony” or what they will, the Bible calls it SIN. And the sins we commit only reveal the “PRINCIPLE OF SIN” that is within us. This “Principle of Sin” we inherit. King David said – “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Ps. 51:5. He did not mean by that, that he was born out of wedlock, or was the son of an adulteress, he meant that he was born with a sinful nature. By “Original Sin” or ”Natural Depravity” is not meant that there is nothing good in man, but that the natural tendency of the human heart is toward evil. Sin is not the result of environment or temptation, but is the outcome of a SINFUL INCLINATION  Ja. 1:13-14. Christ pictures the human heart as the source of all kinds of specific sins  Ma. 7:20-23. We must distinguish between “SIN” and “SINS.” “SIN” is the disposition that we inherit from Adam, “SINS” are the specific acts of sin we commit because of the disposition to sin in us. Sin is to the natural man what the tendency to rot is to the apple. Adam was born innocent, there was but a step between his innocence and righteousness, and but a step between his innocence and sin. He chose to take the latter step and become a sinner. If he had taken the former step he would have become righteous and would have been permitted to eat of the “Tree of Life” and life forever in a state of holiness. Adam and Eve had no children before the Fall. If they had had they would have been innocent. The children Adam begat after the Fall were born sinners, so the human race became sinners by inheritance. “Wherefore, as by one man (ADAM) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. The fact that all men die is therefore proof that all men are sinners. Now the penalty of Adam’s sin was both spiritual and physical death, and the only way the human race can be saved from spiritual and physical death is by some one paying the penalty for them. This Christ came into the world to do. To this end it was necessary the He should become a MAN. This required that He should be born of a woman. But He must be a SINLESS MAN, that is He must have no inherited taint of SIN in His nature, therefore He could not have a human father.

excerpt from “Dispensational Truth” by Clarence Larkin

January 01, 2020

Sweet as it is to linger in Hebron beside Mary and Elisabeth, our hearts are always back to Joseph in his unspeakable agony.  The absent are dear, just as the dead are perfect.  And Mary's dear image became to Joseph dearer still when he could no longer see her face or hear her voice.  Nazareth was empty to Joseph; it was worse than empty, it was a city of sepulchers, in which he sought for death and could not find it.  Day after day, week after week, Joseph's misery increased, and when he went up to the synagogue on the Sabbath day that only made him feel his loneliness and misery all the more.  Mary's sweet presence had often made the holy place more holy to him, and her voice in the Psalms had been to him as when an angel sings.

On one of those Sabbaths which the exiled Virgin was spending at Hebron, Joseph went up again to the sanctuary of Nazareth seeking to hide his grief with God.  And this, I feel sure, was the Scriptue appointed to be read in the synagogue that day:" Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.  Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

Joseph's heart was absolutely overshelmed within him as he listened to that astonding Scripture.  Never had ear or heart of man heard these amazing words as Joseph heard them that day.  And then, when he laid himself down to sleep that night, his pillow became like a stone under his head.  Not that he was cast out; but he had cast out another, and she the best of God's creatures.  Ay, and she perhaps-how shall he whisper it even to himself at midnight-the virgin-mother of Immanuel!  A better mother he could not have.  So speaking to himself til he was terrifiend at his own thoughts, weary with another week's lonely labor, and aged with many weeks of agony and despair, Joseph fell asleep.  Then a thing was secretly brought to him, and his ear received a little thereof.  There was silence, and he heard a voice saying to him, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."  Gabriel was sent to reassure Joseph's despairing heart, to demand the consummation of the broken-off marriage, and to announce the Incarnation fo the Son of God.

Excerpt from "Joseph and Mary" by Alexander Whyte

taken from "Classic Sermons Of the birth of Christ" by Warren Wiersbe.

December 04, 2015

The Bible tells us to "condsider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession" (Hebrews 3:1).  It is not enought to know what the Bible says about purity; we also must also know how Jesus lived out the virtue.  He came to show us what the Creator really had in mind when he made us.  He became like us (hebrews 2:14, 17) so that we could become like Him (Romans 8:29).  The Bible tells us to "fix our eyes" of Him (Hebrews 12:2).  On the basis of what the Bible records, we must discern how He expresses His righteousness.

Jesus was pure but never talked about it.  No man ever lived who had more adoring women around him than Jesus.  They supported Him with their means (Luke 8:3), remained at the cross longer than others, and were first at the tomb.  If he had been lustful, he could have taken advantage of this adoration.

Yet, Peter, who was in Jesus' innermost circle and watched Him closely for three and a half years, descibed Him as a "lamb unblemished and sporless" (1 Peter 1:19).  John, another of the inner circle, said, "In Him there is no sin" (1John 3:5).  Matthew, one of the intimate twelve, was the one who recorded His words of purity of heart (Matthew 5:8).  Those who know Him best recorded a mental self-command unique among humans.

He was not lustful, but neither was He puritanical.  Puritanical people are narrow in their selection of friends.  Jesus befriended so many tax collectors, prostitutes, and down-and-outs that they called Him a "friend of sinners".  His broadness was inclusive; He readily accepted invitations to eat with the self-righteous Phaarisees and with the "sinful" tax collectors.  The witness of His friends was thata He never yielded to lust or to any impurity, yet He also never perverted purity.  He was simply and completely pure.

excerpt from "The Mind of Christ" by T.W. Hunt