November 25, 2012

Remember to pray those who are sick and weak in body. There is no greater act we can do than take our brethren to the throne of Grace.

WHAT IS YOUR COMFORT?

Are you happy? Yes! But I am not without times of sorrow. Like any human, I weep over loved ones, friends, sickness, death, and disappointment. But I sorrow not as those who have no hope. CHRIST IS MY HOPE! He loved me, gave Himself for me, and will make ALL THESE THINGS work together for my eternal good.

Are you at rest in your soul? Yes! But I am not free from concern and conviction over my sins and my infirmities. I love Christ but not as I should or as I desire. I am satisfied with Him, His mercy, His grace, and His love; but I will never be totally satisfied until I wake with His likeness.

Do you have peace? Yes! But that peace with God, peace of conscience, and peace in any situation or condition is not based on my merit, feelings, nor religious duties. CHRIST IS MY PEACE! He said, "In ME ye have peace. In the world ye shall have trouble."

Any man or woman who claims continual, uninterrupted joy, rest, and peace in this world is either not telling the truth or has no connection with reality! True joy, rest, and peace are things we enjoy in Christ IN THE MIDST of troubles, afflictions, and infirmities.

Paul's exhortation was "rejoice in the Lord." When I am conscious of my weakness, failures, and sins, I rejoice in Christ, my righteousness. When I am concerned about food, clothing, and shelter, I rejoice in Christ, my provider. When I am sick, Christ is my healer. When I am grieved, Christ is my comfort. When I am faced with. Christ is my life! So it is not necessary to put on a false face and deceive others. We are still human; but our peace, rest, and joy is Christ."Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on Thee.

There can be no hope of salvation apart from the Lord Jesus Christ bearing the sins of His people in His body on the tree of Calvary. There was no other way to put away sin. The son of man MUST be lifted up. He bore all the sins of all God's elect of all ages, fully satisfying Divine justice once for all.

The serpent is obviously a picture of God making Him sin for us who knew no sin.... Those stung by the fiery serpents of sin MUST look to the serpent on the pole to live. Num. 21:8-9. Yet, in spite of God's promise many Israelites died from the serpents. I can only think of one reason why anyone in the camp of Israel would not look to the serpent on the pole. They were too busy looking at the serpents on the ground and the wounds they had caused in their flesh. Grant it, poisonous snakes around your feet would be an alarming sight. But, God did not say; 'try to avoid the snakes', or 'tend to your wounds'. No, He said look to the One on the pole and you shall live.

Do we not do the same thing today? We wallow in the guilt and shame of our sin, rather than looking to Christ. We try to mend the wounds of our sin, rather than looking to Christ. We set but rules and regulations to avoid the serpents on the ground, instead of looking to Christ.

So how do we view our sin? All we need to know about the evil of our sin is seen in what it took God to redeem us from it. There is no greater evidence of how God sees our sin than when He sheathed the sword of His Divine justice into the heart of His beloved Son. Herein is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. Oh, that we could simply look to Christ and believe that in Him we are, 'INDEED dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord'.