FEAR WHILE RESIDING HERE

Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. 1 Peter 1:17

Our life is but a vapor. We are but pilgrims and strangers on this earthly ball, mere sojourners, without fixed or settled habitation, and passing through this world as not our home or resting place. The Apostle, therefore, bids us pass this time, whether long or short, of our earthly sojourn, under the influence and in the exercise of godly fear. We are surrounded with enemies, all seeking, as it were, our life, and therefore we are called upon to move with great caution, knowing how soon we may slip and fall, and thus wound our own consciences. grieve our friends, gratify our enemies, and bring upon ourselves a cloud a darkness which may long hover over our souls. Our life here below is not one of ease and quiet, but a warfare, a conflict, a race, a wrestling not with flesh and blood alone, but with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. We have to dread ourselves more than anything or anybody else, and to view our flesh as our greatest enemy. This fear is not a slavish, legal fear, such as that which John speaks of, and of which he says that 'it hath torment,' but that holy, godly, and filial fear which is the first fruit and mark of covenant grace, and is a 'fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.' How needful, then, is it to pass the time of our sojourning here in the exercise of this godly, reverential fear! And let no one think that this filial fear is inconsistent with faith even in its highest risings, or with love in its sweetest enjoyments.

J.C. Philpot - 1802-1869 (Ears From Harvested Sheaves,
for April 23rd)

SCRIPTURE MEDITATIONS-W.F. BELL

Galatians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:20-21; James 1:26-27

PURE AND LIVING RELIGION
J. C. Philpot (1802-1869)

A religion that does nothing for a man's soul is practically worthless, and a religion that never manifests itself in a man's life is as worthless as a religion that does nothing for his soul. Death is stamped upon both. Religion to be worth anything must be a living religion, a religion that proceeds from a work of grace upon the heart, communicating life to the soul, and exercising an influence wheresoever it exists, and in whomsoever it resides.

We cannot love those whom we don't know. We cannot love God till we know Him, nor the Son of God till we know Him, nor the people of God till we know them, nor the truth of God till we know it; therefore there is a union between knowledge and love. It is not a letter knowledge, a speculative, dry, doctrinal knowledge; but a spiritual knowledge, a knowledge communicated by a divine revelation, let down into the soul by spiritual manifestations, and divine acquaintance with divine things by a divine power.

Now this is the only knowledge really worth possessing, to know God by His own manifestations and Jesus by His own revelations, sweet visits and affections, by tasting how sweet and precious they are. Head knowledge can never communicate spiritual love; it merely stands in the letter. A man may have his head full of the letter; he may hold the clearest creed, and possess the soundest theory, with a brain crammed with texts of Scripture, and all the while his heart may be hatred itself towards God, and towards the people of God. But spiritual knowledge, divine teaching, and heavenly acquaintance with "the truth in Jesus" (Ephesians 4:21), must be the parent of spiritual love; for to know God is to love Him. -- "The Fruits of a Living Religion"

J. C. Philpot contended for a pure and experimental religion (salvation from sin), as clearly seen in the above. This kind of preaching is sorely lacking in the modern church, and few have actually ever heard it. This is one reason Philpot is not popular. Judge for yourself, dear reader. We either have "the Jews' religion" (Galatians 1:13-14), which is carnal and vain, or we have been divinely taught to know Christ Himself as "the truth" (Ephesians 4:20-21), which is manifest in the "pure religion" of proper words and actions (James 1:26-27). May the Lord Jesus Christ truly become our All (Colossians 3:11). "Meditate on these things."

May we "know" experimentally the "power" of "pure" and "living" religion (salvation)!

WITHOUT FEAR OF MAN- C.H. SPURGEON

“And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee”(Deuteronomy 28:10).
Then we can have no reason to be afraid of them. This would show a mean spirit, and be a token of unbelief rather than of faith. God can make us so like Himself, that men shall be forced to see that we rightly bear His name, and truly belong to the Holy Jehovah. Oh, that we may obtain this grace, which the Lord waits to bestow!

Be assured that ungodly men have a fear of true saints. They hate them, but they also fear them. Haman trembled because of Mordecai, even when he sought the good man’s destruction. In fact, their hate often arises out of a dread which they are too proud to confess. Let us pursue the path of truth and uprightness without the slightest tremor. Fear is not for us, but for those who do ill and fight against the Lord of hosts. If indeed the name of the Eternal God is named upon us, we are secure; for, as of old, a Roman had but to say"Romanus sum" (I am a Roman), and he could claim the protection of all the legions of the vast empire; so every one who is a man
of God has omnipotence as his guardian, and God will sooner empty Heaven of angels than leave a saint without defense. Be braver than lions for the right, for God is with you. (From Faith's Checkbook for April 7th).