"The Lord is my portion, says my soul.""Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." 2 Cor. 1:10
It was a needful and precious petition the Lord Jesus taught His disciples--and which we require daily to offer--"DELIVER us from evil." We are in constant need of deliverance, exposed, as we are, to continued, varied, and potent evils, visible and invisible, temporal and spiritual, to evade and overcome which we have no native power, and can therefore hope for no self-deliverance.
But who is our true Deliverer? It is He who is our Portion, who taught us thus to pray, and who is Himself our Great Deliverer. Let us take the THREE TENSES employed by the apostle in the words at the head of this meditation, as illustrating the Lord's great deliverance of His people.
And first, there is the Lord's PAST deliverance. "Who deliverED us from so great a death." Jesus stooped from the throne of Deity to the cross of a condemned felon, to deliver us from 'so great a death,' and from the bitter pains and pangs of the 'second death,' the death that is eternal. A sin-offering for our sins, accursed with our curse, condemned by our condemnation, and dying our death, the precious blood streaming from His torn side and bursting heart made a full atonement for our vast and countless offences, effacing every syllable of the indictment that was against us, and blotting out every stain of sin that was upon us--thus having delivered us from so great a death. My soul! avail yourself of this wondrous deliverance, this perfect redemption, this free pardon; and by the application of the atoning blood to your conscience, walk in the happy enjoyment of all the blessings of a charter of salvation and celestial citizenship which Christ's deliverance makes yours.
Second, there is a PRESENT deliverance. "And He DOES deliver." In addition to the canceling of all past offences, Christ's deliverance involves our present emancipation from an unrenewed nature. To pardon our guilt and to leave us the servants of sin and the slaves of Satan would be a species of refined cruelty with which God could never be charged. Our present deliverance, then, is freedom from spiritual death, by which we become living souls, and thus we are now delivered from so great a death, and can join the apostle in "giving thanks unto the Father who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." Yes! Jesus delivers now.
Are you in any present difficulty or sorrow, need or temptation? Christ can deliver you, and deliver you now. Cry mightily to Him. He has power to deliver, fullness to supply, and a loving, sympathizing heart to comfort. Your perplexity cannot baffle His wisdom, your needs cannot exhaust His resources, your sorrow cannot distance His sympathy. He who has delivered you out of six troubles will not forsake you in the seventh. O my soul! live upon a present Savior, rejoice in a present salvation, and do not forget that God in Christ is a very present help in every time of need.
Third, He who has delivered, who does deliver, will yet deliver us in all the FUTURE of our history. Faith acquires strength for the present by a remembrance of the past deliverances of God; and from the experience of the present, it looks forward with confidence to the future--"In whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." Then, O my soul, be not over-anxious about your future. God is faithful, Jesus is unchangeable, and all that the Lord your Portion has been He is now, and He will be in all future trouble, sickness, and death--an all-sufficient, all-loving, all-faithful deliverer, never leaving nor forsaking you, until He has "delivered you out of the miseries of this sinful world, having your perfect consummation and bliss in body and soul in His eternal and everlasting kingdom." "Call upon Me in the day of trouble--I will DELIVER you, and you shall glorify Me."
By Octavius Winslow, 1870
Lee, i just loved this...what a wonderful encouraging word.
ReplyDeleteThe Lord is indeed our deliverer!
I linked to this over on Sola Dei Gloria after reading it...
In the days we live in, such a good word of encouragement is so much needed. God bless you for sharing it my friend.
ps- by the way...snagged that picture. lol!!! Don't know how i'll use it or when, but it was too beautiful to pass up. You know i get them where i can. ahaha!!
Blessed Assurance
ReplyDeleteToday there are many leaders in our Churches that have some knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, but do not have the blessed assurance of the living Christ living in their hearts. Through one way or another they have heard and accepted the knowledge of God, and their knowledge can be quite outstanding at times but they have not accepted Christ personally as their Lord and Saviour.
Jesus spoke about this type of people in St John 5:39-40. “Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.”
Many of these leaders who hold prominent positions in our churches will speak great words of vanity, telling us how to be rich, trying to make us dissatisfied with what we have, yes, teaching great error, they promise freedom but they themselves are servants of corruption. When they first heard the Word of God they embraced it, and it did clean up their lives, yet, they only embraced the knowledge of Christ, not Christ Himself, by repenting and making Jesus the Lord of their lives.
The scripture says that they will be entangled again and overcome by wickedness, and their end will be worse than their beginning. “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the Holy commandment delivered unto them.” 2 Peter 2:21.
We can tell the difference between those who have a religious spirit {some knowledge of Christ}, or those who have the Spirit of Christ {born again, Spirit filled, Bible believing Christians}. The easiest way to know the true Christians is in the way that they bare fruit in obeying Christ’s commandments, for the true meaning of the word Christian is a follower of Christ.
One of the biggest, deceiving lies that the devil has ever orchestrated in this world today is that many believe that the knowledge of the scriptures, is enough to save them, when in fact they are only saved by a personal experience of Jesus Christ Himself living, dwelling and reigning within them. For it is written, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10: 9& 10.
You can see from this scripture very plainly that we must not only confess with our mouth the knowledge of God, but we must also believe in our hearts, which makes us true followers of Christ. That is why even a young child who has learned very little Bible scriptures, but has received Jesus into their heart are saved so wonderfully when they received the truth of the gospel, Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
We must witness to those who have the knowledge to go all the way by receiving Jesus into their hearts fully, so that they will have the blessed assurance. We see many responding to alter calls, with no change in there lives. but this won’t save them.
We see many raising their hands in services and great meetings, also with no change, but this won’t save them. Yes, it may be a witness of receiving the knowledge, but, my friend only a truly repentant heart given to Jesus Christ can ever save you. Then you will receive from Him the blessed assurance that Jesus is yours, your Lord, your Saviour, your Redeemer, you’re everything.
what you said is very true Billy, and even christians need to examine our life, whether we are growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is great!, it is wonderful to know bible believing christians from different parts of the world.