WE MUST SEE CHRIST

Scripture Meditations from W.F. Bell

How grateful to God I am that I was brought up in church (a fairly large town church), and through this church I first learned of my need of Christ. I was convicted greatly of my sins when just a young boy, which kept me from a lot of wild ways growing up. This is the great grace of God, bestowed upon me sovereignly, in plenteous, undeserved mercy. With David I can truly say, "I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise Him among the multitude" (Psalm 109:30). I could never be ashamed of my precious Savior, and what He has done for a poor sinner like me, and for all believers. I gladly sing, "I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all, but the Lord Jesus Christ is my All in All."

The question now is, Have you seen Christ by faith? All who "see" Christ "believe on Him," and these only have "everlasting life," with the promise of resurrection glory (John 6:40). It was Ferrell Griswold (1928-1982) who wrote the following, and I can do no better than quote him, which plainly clears up a lot of misunderstanding many people have about salvation:

Salvation is in a Person, and not in a doctrine, church, or the works and will of the flesh (John 1:12-13). Salvation is to know Christ, to be in union with Him, to have His righteousness upon your record, to be seen in Him as complete. "And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness" (Philippians 3:9). "And ye are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:10).

f you have Christ, you have life. "He who has the Son has life" (I John 5:12). If you have missed Christ, you are condemned, for "He that believeth not is condemned already" (John 3:18). To miss saving faith is to miss union with Christ, and to miss union with Christ is to miss spiritual life. Jesus said, "Ye in Me, and I in you" (John 14:20). And if we miss spiritual life we rest under the condemnation of the law of God. "For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Galatians 2:16).

So, you must see Christ! You must come to Him! You must lay hold upon Him! This you cannot do within yourself. This is His work within you. If you feel now your heart drawn toward Him, this is His work, and not the work of your hard heart. Throw yourself upon the mercy of Christ as a hell-deserving sinner, and if you perish, do so lying at the foot of the cross. Cry out, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13).

Come to Christ only! He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). And His promise is, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will by no means cast out" (John 6:37).

SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS

BY CHARLES WOODRUFF

(The following is an email which I sent to all my mailing list earlier today. it is so important that I want to share it with all who will read it here on Cybermeditations. Please think about it.)

Dear friends,

Yesterday was the anniversary of another "Day of Infamy" as was said about the Pearl Harbor bombing, and 9-11-2001 when our country was attacked. This day was the Supreme Court decision on Roe V.Wade which permitted abortion on demand in the USA. That was January 22,1973, and since that time it is estimated that over 70 million babies have been aborted in the United States. There have been millions more aborted around the world. The unborn cannot speak for themselves, we must speak for them.

God has already spoken in His word about the slaughter of the innocent. "Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen" (Deuteronomy 27:25).. There are other places where God says this as well. The unborn, who have never lived to sin, are in that sense innocent more than any other. Life begins in the womb. The Bible teaches that.

In 1981 conservative Lutheran barrister John Warwick Montgomery wrote a book titled Slaughter of the Innocents. There have been a number of other books by Christians on the subject, including one by R.C. Sproul that was published 20 years ago called Abortion: A Rational Lok At An Emotional Issue . It has been recently updated. In spite of battles over this for over 50 years, it is still going on, because so many are content with this deplorable situation. We believers in Jesus Christ need to pray, and oppose this slaughter as never before. Our nation faces much more judgment that we have seen if we continue to permit this awful carnage. What are you going to do about it?

When Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was involved in a dog fighting ring, and was convicted of abusing and killing animals, he was imprisoned for several years, as he should have been. But, under the cover of "The law of the land" abortionists go unpunished. A person who abuses animals should be punished, but then far more those who kill human beings, even little unborn human beings.

May God bless each of you and your families, which God gave you, and you have them now because they were not aborted by you!

Charles

A TIME TO SPEAK-PETER MARSHALL

"We know, our Father, that there is a time to speak and a time to keep silence. Help us to tell the one from the other. When we should speak, give us the courage of our convictions. When we should keep silence, restrain us from speaking, lest, in our desire to appear wise, we give ourselves away."

Peter Marshall was a Presbyterian minister from Scotland. He came to the United States and pastored churches in Covington, GA, Atlanta, GA, and Washington, DC. While in Washington, he became chaplain of the U.S. Senate. He became known for his sermons that lived, as if he was sharing what he saw with his own eyes. He also was known for his prayers, in churches and in the U.S. Senate. This is an excerpt from a prayer I found online, probably taken from The Prayers of Peter Marshall, edited by Catherine Marshall; McGraw Hill, 1949. Her famous book A Man Called Peter is his life story, and is a great read. He was taken away very young, but made a major impact on this nation during World War Two, and even after his death. Much that he said is very valuable, even today.

THE KIND OF MAN THE DEVIL HATES

BY W.F. BELL

(Some timely thoughts from my friend; a little morsel, but quite practical).

Be the kind of man that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says, "Oh no, he's up!" Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forgive the ones who don't.

Believe everything happens for a reason, according to God's purpose. When bad things happen to you, trust God to change you through them. Take a few minutes to think before you act when you're mad. Forgive quickly. The Lord never said life would be easy, but He has promised to be with us: "I will guide thee with mine eye" (Psalm 32:8).

The Lord Jesus Christ walks with His children day by day, in all situations: "For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). Know that you are loved by Christ, though hated by the devil. "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother" (I John 3:10). Brothers in Christ do love each other! A real brother walks with you when the rest of the world walks on you.

HEAVEN--MY SAVIOR IS THERE

In his book The Best is Yet to Be, Henry Durbanville told the story of a man who lay dying and was fearful, even though he was a born-again Christian. He expressed his feelings to his Christian doctor. The physician was silent, not knowing what to say. Just then a whining and scratching was heard at the door. When the doctor opened it, in bounded his big, beautiful dog, who often went with him as he made house calls. The dog was glad to see his master. Sensing an opportunity to comfort his troubled patient, the doctor said, "My dog has never been in your room before, and he didn't know what it was like in here. But he knew I was here, and that was enough. In the same way, I'm looking forward to heaven. I don't know much about it, but I know my Savior is there. And that's all I need to know!"

SOME WISDOM FROM WILL ROGERS

Will Rogers (1879-1935) was an American humorist, lecturer, and social critic. Let's hear now a little of his homespun wisdom:

LIBERTY
Liberty don't work as good in practice as it does in Speech.

SHUT UP
Never miss a good chance to shut up.

STOP DIGGING
If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

DOUBLE YOUR MONEY
The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back into your pocket.

THE CAT IN THE BAG
Lettin' the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back.

FULL OF BULL
After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

ABOUT GROWING OLDER
Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

Finally ~ If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you are old.

(A little humor is always good. So I thought I would share these little tidbits from Will Rogers compiled by my friend, W. F. Bell.)

ON THE TWO WAYS-THOMAS READE

“I find from the Word of God that two roads lie through the wilderness of this world. The one, at its beginning, is pleasant to carnal nature, being strewed with forbidden pleasures, sensual delights and materialistic gratifications, but growing darker and more crooked and thorny as it advances, it ends abruptly in eternal misery.

The other, difficult at the entrance, requires many sacrifices and much self-denial; but gradually increasing in light and beauty, it terminates in the blissful regions of immortal glory.

In which of these roads am I now walking?”

In SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF THE HEART or CHRISTIAN RETIREMENT by Thomas Reade, 1837