Text 1630, 232 rader
Skriven 2007-04-07 09:04:50 av Texas (8:8/2)
Ärende: Without Fear of Man
===========================
From: "Texas" <texas@familynet-international.org>

       Faith's Checkbook

      Without Fear of Man
      Charles H. Spurgeon
      Apr 6, 2007




April



04/07/AM




'O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?'-Psalm 4:2




An instructive writer has made a mournful list of the honours which the blinded
people of Israel awarded to their long-expected King. (1.) They gave Him a
procession of honour, in which Roman legionaries, Jewish priests, men and
women, took a part, He Himself bearing His cross. This is the triumph which the
world awards to Him who comes to overthrow man's direst foes. Derisive shouts
are His only acclamations, and cruel taunts His only paeans of praise. (2.)
They presented Him with the wine of honour. Instead of a golden cup of generous
wine they offered Him the criminal's stupefying death-draught, which He refused
because He would preserve an uninjured taste wherewith to taste of death; and
afterwards when He cried, 'I thirst,' they gave Him vinegar mixed with gall,
thrust to His mouth upon a sponge. Oh! wretched, detestable inhospitality to
the King's Son. (3.) He was provided with a guard of honour, who showed their
esteem of Him by gambling over His garments, which they had seized as their
booty. Such was the body-guard of the adored of heaven; a quaternion of brutal
gamblers. (4.) A throne of honour was found for Him upon the bloody tree; no
easier place of rest would rebel men yield to their liege Lord. The cross was,
in fact, the full expression of the world's feeling towards Him; 'There,' they
seemed to say,
'Thou Son of God, this is the manner in which God Himself should be treated,
could we reach Him.' (5.) The title of honour was nominally 'King of the Jews,'
but that the blinded nation distinctly repudiated, and really called Him 'King
of thieves,' by preferring Barabbas, and by placing Jesus in the place of
highest shame between two thieves. His glory was thus in all things turned into
shame by the sons of men, but it shall yet gladden the eyes of saints and
angels, world without end.



======================================================================




April



04/07/PM




'Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; and my
tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.'-Psalm 51:14





In this SOLEMN CONFESSION, it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names
his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by
which an unfortunate accident occurred to a worthy man, but he calls it by its
true name, bloodguiltiness. He did not actually kill the husband of Bathsheba;
but still it was planned in David's heart that Uriah should be slain, and he
was before the Lord his murderer. Learn in confession to be honest with God. Do
not give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no
sweeter. What God sees them to be, that do you labour to feel them to be; and
with all openness of heart acknowledge their real character. Observe, that
David was evidently oppressed with the heinousness of his sin. It is easy to
use words, but it is difficult to feel their meaning. The fifty-first Psalm is
the photograph of a contrite spirit. Let us seek after the like brokenness of
heart; for however excellent our words may be, if our heart is not conscious of
the hell-deservingness of sin, we cannot expect to find forgiveness.



Our text has in it AN EARNEST PRAYER-it is addressed to the God of salvation.
It is His prerogative to forgive; it is His very name and office to save those
who seek His face. Better still, the text calls Him the God of my salvation.
Yes, blessed be His name, while I am yet going to Him through Jesus' blood, I
can rejoice in the God of my salvation.



The psalmist ends with A COMMENDABLE VOW: if God will deliver him he will
sing-nay, more, he will 'sing aloud.' Who can



sing in any other style of such a mercy as this! But note the subject of the
song-'THY RIGHTEOUSNESS.' We must sing of the finished work of a precious
Saviour; and he who knows most of forgiving love will sing the loudest.



==================================================================





  "It is finished"



  Here we see the destruction of Satan’s power.




  See it by faith. The cross sounded the death-knell of the devil’s power.
To human appearances it looked like the moment of his greatest triumph, yet in
reality, it was the hour of his ultimate defeat. In view of the cross (see
context) the Saviour declared, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall
the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12:31). It is true that Satan has
not yet been chained and cast into the bottomless pit, nevertheless, sentence
has been passed (though not yet executed); his doom is certain; and his power
is already broken so far as believers are concerned.



  For the Christian the devil is a vanquished foe. He was defeated by Christ
at the cross - "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14). Believers have already been "delivered
from the power of darkness" and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son
(Col. 1:13). Satan, then, should be treated as a defeated enemy. No longer has
he any legitimate claim upon us. Once we were his lawful "captives" but Christ
has freed us. Once we walked "according to the Prince of the power of the air";
but now we are to follow the example which Christ has left us. Once Satan
"worked in us"; but now God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good
pleasure. All that we now have to do is to "Resist the devil", and the promise
is, "he will flee from you" (James 4:7).



  "It is finished." Here was the triumphant answer to the rage of man and
the enmity of Satan. It tells of the perfect work which meets sin in the place
of judgment. All was completed just as God would have it, just as the prophets
had foretold, just as the Old Testament ceremonial had foreshadowed, just as
divine holiness demanded, and just as sinners needed. How strikingly
appropriate it is that this sixth cross-utterance of the Saviour is found in
John’s gospel - the gospel which displays the glory of Christ’s deity! He does
not here commend his work to the approval of God, but seals it with his own
imprimatur, attesting it as complete, and giving it the all-sufficient sanction
of his own approval. None other than the Son of God says "IT IS finished" - who
then dare doubt or question it.



  "It is finished." Reader, do you believe it? or, are you trying to add
something of your own to the finished work of Christ to secure the favour of
God? All you have to do is to accept the pardon which he purchased. God is
satisfied with the work of Christ, why are not you? Sinner, the moment you
believe God’s testimony concerning his beloved Son, that moment every sin you
have committed is blotted out, and you stand accepted in Christ! O would you
not like to possess the assurance that there is nothing between your soul and
God? Would you not like to know that every sin had been atoned for and put
away? Then believe what God’s word says about Christ’s death. Rest not on your
feelings and experiences but on the written word. There is only one way of
finding peace, and that is through faith in the shed blood of God’s Lamb.



  "It is finished." Do you really believe it? Or, are you endeavouring to
add something of your own to it and thus merit the favour of God? Some years
ago a Christian farmer was deeply concerned over an unsaved carpenter. The
farmer sought to set before his neighbour the gospel of God’s grace, and to
explain how that the finished work of Christ was sufficient for his soul to
rest upon. But the carpenter persisted in the belief that he must do something
himself. One day the farmer asked the carpenter to make for him a gate, and
when the gate was ready he carried it away to his wagon. He arranged for the
carpenter to call on him the next morning and see the gate as it hung in the
field. At the appointed hour the carpenter arrived and was surprised to find
the farmer standing by with a sharp axe in his hand. "What are you going to
do?" he asked. "I am going to add a few cuts and strokes to your work," was the
response. "But there is no need for it," replied the carpenter, "the gate is
all right as it is. I did all that was necessary to it." The farmer took no
notice, but lifting his axe he slashed and hacked at the gate until it was
completely spoiled. "Look what you have done!" cried the carpenter. "You have
ruined my work!" "Yes," said the farmer, "and that is exactly what you are
trying to do. You are seeking to nullify the finished work of Christ by your
own miserable additions to it!" God used this forceful object lesson to show
the carpenter his mistake, and he was led to cast himself by faith upon what
Christ had done for sinners. Reader, will you do the same?



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