True Power in the One Spirit

 By Alistair Begg

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

Zechariah 4:6

At one point or another, when we’re facing trouble in life, we’re all tempted to ask, What’s the point of all of this? Why make the effort to keep going? Why do I face all this difficulty or opposition? Sometimes it looks as if some 21st-century churches and Christians live and operate primarily out of discouragement rather than being glad and rejoicing in the day the Lord has made (Psalm 118:24). Some despondency is understandable. But we certainly don’t want to live there all the time—nor do we need to. Our discouragement should never lead us to disbelieve that God is still at work. The fact of the matter is that sometimes God’s work looks less impressive from a worldly viewpoint than we’d like. But while “some trust in chariots and some in horses,” we are to “trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7). In the heat of battle, combat equipment like chariots and horses sure was intimidating. Yet while it may seem that the side with the most firepower always wins, we must never forget that God is always at work among His people, and He will give victory—not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit. Nothing—no wealth, no influence, no strategy, no ability—can be a substitute for the work of the Spirit in our lives and in the church. Think back to the leadership of the New Testament church, for example. Its leaders were some bold, proactive men, if for no other reason than because they had had so much facetime with Jesus. And yet, when it came time for the gospel to spread, what did Jesus do? “He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4)—that promise, of course, being the Holy Spirit. Without the power of the Spirit, the apostles, however capable or determined they may have been, were going nowhere fast. With the Spirit, they began a movement that changed the world. In our day, we need to remember that true gains for the kingdom will never come merely from a higher position in society, larger bank accounts, or more power. Instead, we wait on God’s Spirit to move where He wills and to work however He chooses. After all, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways. His wisdom is as high above us as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). If deep down you are self-reliant, remember this: the kingdom will not advance, in your own life or through your witness and ministry, except by the work of the Spirit. If deep down you are discouraged, remember this: the kingdom will advance, even in your own life and through your witness and ministry, because the Spirit is at work. Do not trust in chariots or in horses, but in the Lord your God.

Longing for Christ

 By. Charles Spurgeon

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love. Song of Songs 5:8

Such is the language of the believer panting after present fellowship with Jesus—he is sick for his Lord. Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except when they are in close communion with Christ; for when they are away from Him, they lose their peace. The nearer to Him, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; the nearer to Him, the fuller the heart is, not only of peace, but of life and vigor and joy, for these all depend on constant fellowship with Jesus. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry, clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveler in a sun-scorched land, such is Jesus Christ to us. And therefore if we are not consciously one with Him, we should not be surprised if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.” This earnest longing after Jesus has a blessing attending it: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”;1and therefore, supremely blessed are those who thirst for the Righteous One. Blessed is that hunger, since it comes from God: If I do not experience the blessedness of being filled, I will come again in my emptiness and eagerness until I am filled with Christ. If I do not yet feed on Jesus, I will continue to hunger and thirst after Him. There is a hallowedness about that hunger, since it sparkles among the beatitudes of our Lord. But the blessing involves a promise. These hungry ones “shall be satisfied” with what they desire. If in this way Christ causes us to long after Him, He will certainly satisfy those longings; and when He does come to us, as come He will, how sweet it will be!

Matthew 5:6

Striving After the Wind

 By Alistair Begg

What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?

Ecclesiastes 2:22

Over the years, I’ve sat with many parents who were distraught over the potential consequences of their children’s wrongful pursuits. Each of these mothers and fathers have been disappointed in their son’s or daughter’s choices, and as we have talked it has become clear that their disappointment is grounded in their belief that everything would be much better if their child would just be like them. On further probing, it has turned out that by this they have meant that everything would be better if their child would simply give their lives completely to their work. Scripture’s conclusion about a life devoted to labor for its own sake is clear: it’s all meaningless and a striving after the wind. This is not to say that work is irrelevant or unhelpful. Work comes from God, so it must be good—but only when pursued rightly. But Solomon warns that when work is the totality of your life, all of your “days are full of sorrow,” and “even in the night” your “heart does not rest” (Ecclesiastes 2:23). Workaholics awaken in the night and turn over in their bed. They far too often need pills to get themselves to sleep, pills to wake themselves up, pills to get themselves through the day. And if “pills” is a far-off concept for you, simply replace it with whatever remedy you see people turn to—or find yourself turning to—to help you switch off and to help you switch on. When life is lived this way, eventually everything will collapse. As time goes on, those who give themselves to their possessions become more and more consumed by them. It’s not worth losing one’s soul for the sake of stuff. Yet as Jesus taught, there is a way to build your house upon the rock (Matthew 7:24-27). The only solid joys and lasting treasures that may be discovered in life’s journey—even in work—are those found in a personal, living faith in God. So, “choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15): the idols of wealth and vain ambition or the God of heaven. Be sure to prepare your heart and make your choice before you sit at your desk or stand in the factory, tempted to give yourself completely to your work. Pray in earnest, “Lord Jesus, I do not want to place my hope in career achievement or wealth accumulation. Lord Jesus, be my Savior and show me how to live today with You as my comfort and my source of contentment.” That is the way to work hard at your labors without worshiping them.

Friends in Christ

By Alistair Begg

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him … I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need.

Philippians 2:19-20, Philippians 2:25

Do you have someone you would call in a moment of crisis? What qualities make him or her suited for such a responsibility? More than likely, the person you’d decide to call is someone whom you trust, and someone who you know would drop whatever he or she was doing to come to your aid. Such men and women are true friends. When Paul found himself in need of help, stuck in a Roman jail cell, he knew what friends he could call: Timothy and Epaphroditus. He mentions them by name in Philippians 2 and describes them as beloved co-laborers in Christ. Yet what is most helpful for us to see is not merely that Paul had such trustworthy companions but why they were so. First, these were men of action. Paul had “no one like” Timothy and said that his “proven worth” was known to all because “he has served with me in the gospel” (Philippians 2:22). Likewise, Epaphroditus was a “fellow worker and fellow soldier,” a man who “nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life” in ministry (v 30). These men embodied Christian action. They weren’t merely names on a membership list or numbers on a chart. They were putting their faith to work and showing their worth to the faith. When Paul needed to send someone to Philippi, he knew they would act. They were also men of availability—not in the sense that they simply kept their calendars clear but in that they were ready to do what was needed, when it was needed. These were not small commitments that Paul asked them to make! But he knew that their dedication to Christ was such that when he called, they would be available. Could you be described in these ways? When there are ministry needs around you, are you known to be a man or woman of action and availability? It doesn’t necessarily, or often, look like signing up for something so dramatic as that which Paul sent his friends to do. The point isn’t to serve in grand ways. The Lord doesn’t need your labors. But when you commit to acting in His name and being available for His causes, He may be pleased to use you for the good of His people. Simple, small acts can be significant. What if you determined to pick up the phone twice a week to call a fellow church member and encourage them? What if you regularly visited someone to pray with them? There is no better friend than the one who points others to Jesus. Be sure to surround yourself with those kinds of friends, and work to be such a friend yourself.

 

God’s Comfort for Those Who Comfort Others

 By Charles Spurgeon

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11:25

We are taught here the great lesson that to get, we must give; to accumulate, we must scatter; to make ourselves happy, we must make others happy; and in order to become spiritually vigorous, we must seek the spiritual good of others. In watering others, we are ourselves watered. How? Our efforts to be usefulbring out our powers for usefulness. We have latent talents and unused gifts that become apparent by exercise. Our strength for work is even hidden from ourselves until we take our stand and fight the Lord’s battles or climb the mountains of difficulty. We do not know what tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow’s tears and soothe the orphan’s grief. We often find in attempting to teach others that we gain instruction for ourselves. What gracious lessons some of us have learned in visiting the sick! We went to teach the Scriptures, and we came away blushing that our knowledge of them was so poor. In our conversation with humble saints, we are taught the way of God more perfectly for ourselves and get a deeper insight into divine truth. So watering others makes us humble. We discover how much grace there is where we had not looked for it, and how much the humble saint may outstrip us in knowledge. Our own comfort is also increased by working for others. We endeavor to cheer them, and the consolation gladdens our own heart. Consider the two men in the snow—one massaged the other’s limbs to keep him from dying, and in doing so kept his own blood circulating and saved his own life. Remember the poor widow who supplied the prophet’s needs from her own meager resources, and from that day she never experienced need again. Give, and it will be given to you—good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

David, the Psalmist

 By Charles Spurgeon

The psalmist of Israel. 2 Samuel 23:1

Among all the saints whose lives are recorded in Holy Scripture, David possesses an experience of the most striking, varied, and instructive character. In his history we meet with trials and temptations that are not found, as a whole, in other saints of ancient times, and as a result he provides us with a shadowy picture of our Lord. David knew the trials of all ranks and conditions of men. Kings have their troubles, and David wore a crown. The peasant has his cares, and David handled a shepherd’s crook. The wanderer has many hardships, and David hid in the caves of Engedi. The captain has his difficulties, and David found the sons of Zeruiah too hard for him. The psalmist also faced trials from his friends; his counselor Ahithophel forsook him: “[He] who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”1 His worst foes came from his own household: His children were his greatest affliction. The temptations of poverty and wealth, of honor and reproach, of health and weakness all tried their power upon him. He had temptations from without to disturb his peace and from within to mar his joy. David no sooner escaped from one trial than he fell into another, no sooner emerged from one season of despondency and alarm than he was again brought into the lowest depths and all God’s waves and billows rolled over him. This is probably the reason that David’s psalms are so universally the delight of experienced Christians. Whatever our frame of mind, whether ecstasy or depression, David has exactly described our emotions. He was an able master of the human heart because he had been tutored in the best of all schools—the school of heartfelt, personal experience. As we are instructed in the same school, as we grow mature in grace and in years, we increasingly appreciate David’s psalms and find them to be “green pastures.”2 My soul, let David’s experience cheer and counsel you today.

Psalm 41:9  Psalm 23:2

What to Do With a Guilty Conscience

 By Alistair Begg

David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed” … As soon as David had finished speaking … to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.”

1 Samuel 24:4-6, 1 Samuel 24:16-17

There is a sense in which the story told in part in these verses can be viewed in terms of conscience—a sensitive conscience, as found in David, and a hardened, seared conscience, as found in Saul. David knew that although the Spirit of God had departed from Saul, Saul was still the Lord’s anointed king, and the anointed of the Lord should never be cursed or killed (Exodus 22:28). Because his conscience was sensitive to God and His law, he was immediately burdened by what he’d done in cutting Saul’s robe—even if he could have done much worse. So David repented of his sin before his men and prevented them from attacking Saul (1 Samuel 24:6-7). After David spoke to Saul openly about his withheld vengeance (1 Samuel 24:8-15), Saul was moved to tears by his kindness. But Saul did not seize this opportunity for reconciliation. As genuine as his tears may have been in the moment, his response was ultimately superficial and short-lived, the result of a hardened and blackened heart. We know this because he continued to hunt David. The Bible says the conscience is a basic building block of our humanity. The law of God is written into the human heart, whether we have heard His commandments or not (Romans 2:14-15). When we ignore God’s law to follow our own way, we experience guilt and shame. In that moment, we are faced with a choice: Will we seek forgiveness and reconciliation? Or will we allow our conscience to be further hardened by pursuing our selfish desires? A guilty conscience is a heavy burden, but it can also be a gift. Walter J. Chantry writes, “Conscience is a friend to hurry you into the arms of the only Saviour from the broken law and its curse.” If you are experiencing the burden of a guilty conscience, do not mistake momentary sorrow for real repentance. Turn to God in repentance, turning from your sin and in His strength resolving to change. That is the way to be forgiven. For if a guilty conscience is the gift that drives you to God, a cleansed conscience is the gift that you will receive from Him.