He that eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me,
and I in him.

Previous Notes

Master
Sermon List

Contact Us

Abide In Me

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."  John 15:4

Previous
Scripture Studies

"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."   John 15:8

Herein is my Father glorified,... This does not so much refer to what goes before, concerning the disciples abiding in Christ, and he and his words abiding in them, and doing for them whatever they ask, though by all this God is glorified; as to what follows, the fruitfulness of the disciples:

that ye bear much fruit; of doctrine, grace, and good works, which show them to be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and the work of his hands; wherein the glory of his power, grace, and mercy, is greatly displayed. All the fruits of righteousness, with which they were filled by Christ, were by him to the praise and glory of God; yea, by the fruitfulness of grace, and of life and conversation, by the lively exercise of grace, and conscientious discharge of duty, as well by light of doctrine, and usefulness in the ministration of the Gospel, the disciples and servants of Christ not only glorify God themselves, but are the means of others glorifying him. It follows,

so shall ye be my disciples; or "disciples to me"; to my honour and glory also, as well as to my Father's; not that their fruitfulness made them the disciples of Christ, but made them appear to be so, or made them honourable ones. Just as good fruit does not make the tree good; the tree is first good, and therefore it brings forth good fruit; but shows it to be good: as by continuing in his word, abiding by his Gospel they appeared to be "disciples indeed", John 8:31, really and truly such; and as by loving one another, so by other fruits of righteousness, other men, all men know that they are the disciples of Christ.

— John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Also by
E. M. Bounds

"Devotion – The Heart of Prayer"
by E. M. Bounds

Devotion is the particular frame of mind found in one entirely devoted to God. It is the spirit of reverence, of awe, of godly fear. It is a state of heart which appears before God in prayer and worship. It is foreign to everything like lightness of spirit, and is opposed to levity and noise and bluster. Devotion dwells in the realm of quietness and is still before God. It is serious, thoughtful, meditative. Devotion belongs to the inner life and lives in the closet, but also appears in the public services of the sanctuary. It is a part of the very spirit of true worship and is of the nature of the spirit of prayer.

Devotion belongs to the devout man, whose thoughts and feelings are devoted to God. Such a man has a mind given up wholly to the Christian life and possesses a strong affection for God and an ardent love for his house. Cornelius was "a devout man, one that feared God with all His house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed always." "Devout men carried Stephen to his burial." "One Ananias, a devout man, according to the law," was sent unto Saul when he was blind, to tell him what the Lord would have him do. God can wonderfully use such men, for devout men are His chosen agents in carrying forward His plans.

Prayer promotes the spirit of devotion, while devotion is favorable to the best praying. Devotion furthers prayer and helps to drive prayer home to the object which it seeks. Prayer thrives in the atmosphere of true devotion. It is easy to pray when in the spirit of devotion. The attitude of mind and the state of heart implied in devotion make prayer effectual in reaching the throne of grace. God dwells where the spirit of devotion resides. All the graces of the Spirit are nourished and grow well in the environment created by devotion.

Indeed, these graces grow nowhere else but here. The absence of a devotional spirit means death to the graces born in a renewed heart. True worship finds congeniality in the atmosphere made by a spirit of devotion. While prayer is helpful to devotion, at the same time devotion reacts on prayer, and helps us to pray. Devotion engages the heart in prayer. It is not an easy task for the lips to try to pray while the heart is absent from it. The charge which God at one time made against his ancient Israel was that they honored him with their lips, while their hearts were far from him.

Message Continued

Also by
J. C. Ryle

Previous Words

Is Thy Heart Right?
by J. C. Ryle

"Thy heart is not right in the sight of God." Acts 8:21

"A good heart at the bottom!" Such is the sadly common expression used about many persons in this strange world. The persons about whom it is said often give no sign of religion. They are utterly careless, or thoughtless about their souls, to all appearance. They neither read the Bible regularly, nor pray, nor keep the Sunday holy. They seem to think of nothing but amusement, self indulgence, and the world. Yet these are the persons whose friends are often saying, "Never mind! Do not be too hard on them! They have good hearts at the bottom!" And any one who is not satisfied with this excuse is thought narrow, uncharitable, sour, ill natured, or unkind.

"A good heart at the bottom!" Such is the whole Christianity of thousands in the present day. On the top of their character there is nothing to be seen but constant attention to the trifling things of time, and utter neglect of the things of eternity entire devotion to the life that now is, and a complete forgetfulness of the life to come. But you must not find fault! You must not mind what you see at the top! You must believe they are all right at the bottom!

Now, is this common talk about "Good hearts at the bottom" satisfactory? Will the idea bear examination by the light of the Bible? I answer that it will not! It is a great delusion, and a huge fraud, and is ruining many souls. No heart is really good at the bottom when its goodness cannot be seen at the top. No heart deserves to be called good which is not right in the sight of God!

Come now, and let us see what account the Bible gives of a really "good heart." Let us "search the Scriptures," and see if we can find the picture drawn by the unerring hand of the Holy Spirit. I invite every reader of this paper to sit down quietly with me for a few minutes, and hear what God says in "the Word" about the whole question of the heart.

Message Continued

Read previous
Messages

Read about the Puritan's

The Temptation of Believers
by John Owen

The Enticement of Indwelling Sin

Sin not only deceives, it also entices. People are drawn away "and enticed" (James 1:14). Sin draws the mind away from a duty, but it entices the emotions. We will consider three things: Sin's enticement of the emotions, how sin accomplishes this, and our need to guard our affections because of this danger.

The affections are snared when they are aroused by sin. For when sin prevails, it captures the affections completely within it. Sin continually obsesses the imaginations with possessive images. The wicked "devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds," which they also practice when they are given the chance (Micah 2:1). Peter says they have "eyes full of adultery, and they cannot cease from sin" (2 Peter 2:14). Their imagination continually fills their soul with the objects of their lusts.

The apostle describes the things in the world as "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16). The lust of the eyes enters the soul, forcing the imagination to portray its intentions. John speaks of this as the lust of the "eyes" because it constantly represents these images to the mind and to the soul, just as our natural eyes present images of outward objects to the brain.

Indeed, the actual sight of the eyes often occasions these imaginations. Achan declared how sin had prevailed over him in Joshua 7:21. First, he saw the gold and the Babylonian garments, then he coveted them. Seeing them, he imagined their value to him, and then he fixed them in his desiring heart.

The enticement of sin is heightened when the imagination dominates over the mind. It implants vain thoughts within the mind, and delights secretly in its complacency. When we indulge with delight in thoughts of forbidden things, we commit sin, even though our will has not yet consented to perform the deed. The prophet asks, "How long will your vain thoughts lodge within you?" (Jer 4:14). All these thoughts come and go as messengers, carrying sin with them. Such thoughts inflame the imagination and entangle the affections more and more.

Message Continued

Also by
C. H. Spurgeon

Power in Prayer
by Charles H. Spurgeon

No doubt by praying we learn to pray, and the more we pray the oftener we can pray, and the better we can pray. He who prays in fits and starts is never likely to attain to that effectual, fervent prayer which availeth much.

Great power in prayer is within our reach, but we must go to work to obtain it. Let us never imagine that Abraham could have interceded so successfully For Sodom if he had not been all his lifetime in the practice of communion with God.

Jacob's all-night at Peniel was not the first occasion upon which he had met his God. We may even look upon our Lord's most choice and Wonderful prayer with His disciples before His Passion as the flower and fruit of His many nights of devotion, and of His often rising up a great while before day to pray.

If a man dreams that he can become mighty in prayer just as he pleases, he labors under a great mistake. The prayer of Elias, which shut up heaven and afterwards opened its floodgates, was one of the long series of mighty prevailings with God.

Oh, that Christian men would remember this! Perseverance in prayer is necessary to prevalence in prayer.

Those great intercessors, who are not so often mentioned as they ought to be in connection with confessors and martyrs, were nevertheless the grandest benefactors of the church; but it was only by abiding at the mercy-seat that they attained to be such channels of mercy to men. We must pray to pray, and continue in prayer that our prayers may continue.

Previous Manna

Also by
Andrew Murray

Abide in Christ
by Andrew Murray

That You May Not Sin

"In him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not." I John 3:5,6

"Ye know," the apostle had said, "that He was manifested to take away our sin," and had thus indicated salvation from sin as the great object for which the Son was made man. The connection shows clearly that the taking away has reference not only to the atonement and freedom from guilt, but to deliverance from the power of sin, so that the believer no longer does it.

It is Christ's personal holiness that constitutes His power to effect this purpose. He admits sinners into life union with Himself; the result is, that their life becomes like His. "In Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not." As long as he abides, and as far as he abides, the believer does not sin. Our holiness of life has its roots in the personal holiness of Jesus. "If the root be holy, so also are the branches."

The question at once arises: How is this consistent with what the Bible teaches of the abiding corruption of our human nature, or with what John himself tells of the utter falsehood of our profession, if we say that we have no sin, that we have not sinned? (see I John 1:8,10). It is just this passage which, if we look carefully at it, will teach us to understand our text aright.

Note the difference in the two statements (ver. 8), "If we say that we have no sin," and (ver.10), "If we say that we have not sinned." The two expressions cannot be equivalent; the second would then be an unmeaning repetition of the first. Having sin in verse 8 is not the same as doing sin in verse 10. Having sin is having a sinful nature. The holiest believer must each moment confess that he has sin within him the flesh, namely, in which dwelleth no good thing.

Sinning or doing sin is something very different: it is yielding to indwelling sinful nature, and falling into actual transgression. And so we have two admissions that every true believer must make. The one is that he has still sin within him (ver. 8); the second, that that sin has in former times broken out into sinful actions (ver.10). No believer can say either, "I have no sin in me," or "I have in time past never sinned." If we say we have no sin at present, or that we have not sinned in the past, we deceive ourselves.

Continued

Also by
T. Austin Sparks

Read the whole Book

The School of Christ     by T. Austin Sparks
The Governing Law of Divine Love     Chapter VIII

A Zero Point

ALL these passages which we have read are really a sequence. They are the outflow of the first. "In him was life; and the life was the light of men." And you will notice that they all represent a zero point. The mother of Jesus said unto Him, They have no wine: there is nothing to draw upon! The next chapter is only another way of saying the same thing.

The Imitation of Christ
by Thomas À Kempis

The Imitation of Christ     by Thomas À Kempis
Internal Consolation     Book III

Remember the Innumerable Gifts of God
The Disciple
OPEN my heart, O Lord, to Your law and teach me to walk in the way of Your commandments. Let me understand Your will. Let me remember Your blessings, all of them and each single one of them, with great reverence and care so that henceforth I may return worthy thanks for them. I know that I am unable to give due thanks for even the least of Your gifts.

I am unworthy of the benefits You have given me, and when I consider Your generosity my spirit faints away before its greatness. All that we have of soul and body, whatever we possess interiorly or exteriorly, by nature or by grace, are Your gifts and they proclaim Your goodness and mercy from which we have received all good things.

If one receives more and another less, yet all are Yours and without You nothing can be received. He who receives greater things cannot glory in his own merit or consider himself above others or behave insolently toward those who receive less. He who attributes less to himself and is the more humble and devout in returning thanks is indeed the greater and the better, while he who considers himself lower than all men and judges himself to be the least worthy, is the more fit to receive the greater blessing.

He, on the other hand, who has received fewer gifts should not be sad or impatient or envious of the richer man. Instead he should turn his mind to You and offer You the greatest praise because You give so bountifully, so freely and willingly, without regard to persons. All things come from You; therefore, You are to be praised in all things. You know what is good for each of us; and why one should receive less and another more is not for us to judge, but for You Who have marked every man's merits.

Continued

Read more Biographies

William Tyndale   "Translated the Word of God into the English vernacular."
(1494-1536)

On the surface there would have been little reason to think that the birth of a child in Slimbridge, Gloustershire, England in 1494 would change English history. However, that child, William Tyndale, would later translate and print the Word of God in the English vernacular and the impact of that translation is still felt today.

A brief review of the religious situation at the close of the fifteenth century will enable us to place the birth of Tyndale in perspective. The followers of John Wyclif (1330 - 1384), known as the Lollards, continued his work through the distribution of the Scriptures. Although the Constitutions of Oxford, which banned vernacular copies of the Scriptures, had been passed in 1408, the intrepid Lollards were adamant in their determination to make the Word of God available to the English people. On the international horizon, the Papacy had sunk to its lowest level when Alexander VI ascended to the chair of Saint Peter. His conduct and morals, even by the abysmal standards of the MiddleAges, had brought great moral outrage and calls for reform.

Although few recognized it at the time, the dawning of a new day began with the recovery of the Greek language and its application to Biblical studies. In 1499 Erasmus of Rotterdam, the great humanist, arrived at Oxford University. Although Erasmus enjoyed an international reputation as a scholar, it appears that when he landed in England he was still ignorant of the Greek language. At Oxford were Thomas Linacre and John Colet who urged him to undertake its learning. Colet himself was lecturing on the Epistles of Paul and his studies brought a vibrancy to the text that contrasted sharply with the sterility associated with the Scholastic method of teaching.

After his time at Oxford, Erasmus departed for the European continent to pursue the study of Greek. That pursuit reached its climax in 1516 when the pages of the Novum Instrumentum, the first published Greek New Testament and edited by Erasmus, were issued from the press of Johannes Froben of Basle, Switzerland.

Read the entire Biography

Time to sharpen
your Sword!

The Word

Read previous Scripture Studies

Scripture Studies       Mark 4:24-29   MH Comm.
Click on the links for commentary study.

24.   And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. JG Expo.

25.   For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. JG Expo.

26.   And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; JG Expo.

27.   And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. JG Expo.

28.   For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. JG Expo.

29.   But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. JG Expo.

"The Godly and the Ungodly"
by Archibald Alexander

The godly man is one that, being formerly in a state of sin and misery, both strange and backward to God and heaven and a holy life, and prone to earthly, fleshly pleasures is now, by the powerful work of the word and Spirit of God, converted to sincere faith and repentance; broken-hearted for his former sin and misery, flying to Christ as the only hope and physician of his soul, and so is made a new creature, having his heart set upon God and everlasting life, and despising all the pleasures of the flesh and the things of this world, in comparison of his hopes of glory; hating all known sin, and not willfully living in any, and loving the highest degree of holiness, and willing to use the means that God has appointed to destroy the remnants of sin, and bring him nearer to perfection. This is a truly godly man.

And he who is not such is ungodly. He that yet remains in his natural, depraved state, and is unacquainted with this great and holy change; that has any sin that he had rather keep than leave, and any that he willfully lives in; and willfully neglects known duties, as one that had rather be free from them than perform them, and had rather live a fleshly than a spiritual and holy life, and is more in love with the creature than with God, with his life on earth in flesh and sin, than a life with God and his saints in perfect holiness, this man is undoubtedly a wicked and ungodly man, however civilly or religiously he seem to live in the world.

Pillars of Truth
that you can stand on.

Season Archives

Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
by Vance Havner

"And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee..." II Kings 2:1,2

"Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" We stand before Jordan today and wave our wands, but the waters do not divide. The reason is not hard to find. Few there be of Elisha's sort who will not be stopped at Gilgal or Jericho, but who press on for the double portion. The men whom God has blessed with His Spirit in unusual power through the ages have been men in such dead earnest that they would not let the good keep them from the best. They craved a deeper fellowship with God, and found it through prevailing prayer, while the rest, like the sons of the prophets at Bethel and Jericho, stood by the roadside and watched them go by.

Call it what you will, there is a waiting before God that we hurried, modern mortals do not know; that sends a man back to his task with the hand of God upon him in such a fashion that the waters of Jordan part before him. It is not that God puts a premium on fasting and night-long prayers and tears, and austerities of the flesh; but He does reward burning desire for His very best that leaves no stone unturned, and follows Elijah across Jordan while others merely watch him go by.

Our Lord himself lived perfectly in the will of God; yet He found it necessary to spend nights in prayer. Shall we poor failing mortals casually snatch from heaven the power that others gained only by fervent and importunate intercession? It is true that our Father in heaven giveth and upbraideth not; but He keeps His choicest blessings for those who really press through, and who will not stop at the Gilgal of a mild, average experience?

More
Great Hymns

More Quotes & Stories

Quotes from A. W. Tozer

"An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others."

"Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ."

"If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch?"

"In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth, God is pleased when we're pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our maker's praise without anxiety."

"One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always."

"Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will."

"Salvation is from our side a choice, from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our "accepting" and "willing" are reactions rather than actions. The right of determination must always remain with God."

"The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still."

"The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions."

"The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian. "

"The average Christian is so cold and contented with his wretched condition that there is no vacuum of desire into which the blessed Spirit can rush in satisfying fullness."

"Loneliness seems to be one price the saint must pay for his saintliness. Always remember this: you cannot carry a cross in company. Though a man were surrounded by a vast crowd, his cross is his alone and his carrying of it marks him as a man apart."

"The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him."

"Breezy, self-confident Christians tell us how wonderful it is to accept Christ and then have a good time all the rest of your life; the Lord won't demand anything of you. Yes, He will, my friend! The Lord will demand everything of you. And when you give it all up to Him, He may bless it and hand it back, but on the other hand He may not..."

Previous Stories
The Martyrs

Fox's Book of Martyrs

Willem De Kleermaecker

In the year 1560 a brother named Willem de Kleermaecker was apprehended for the truth, and sentenced to death, at Antwerp.

Having been brought into the court, he was asked by the bailiff, whether he was rebaptized. He replied, "Why do you ask concerning my baptism, and not regarding my life and faith; then you could pass a right judgment upon me, and this people could follow it?" The bailiff asked again whether he was not rebaptized. Willem said, "You want but one word, and I made a confession before this: judge rightly, and once more consider the matter well." The bailiff asked whether he was rebaptized. Willem said, "You alone have asked me until this; may I not now ask you?" The bailiff said, "Answer first; then I shall tell you." Willem said, "I wish you would once think of that day that shall burn as an oven, When the ungodly shall perish like stubble." Mal. 4:1. He further said (Mark 16:16) it is written, "He that believeth .and is baptized shall be saved." The bailiff said, "You are not asked concerning that." Willem said, "Infants cannot believe; therefore I had myself baptized upon my faith."

The lords. then went in, and Willem said to the people, "Repent and amend your ways." The bailiff forbade him to speak, but he said, "Do let me speak; for it cannot last long." Presently the lords returned, and Willem said, "My lords, judge not according to the king's decree, if you do not want to be lost; but think of that day which no one can escape, in which you will regret it, unless you become converted." He was then sentenced, and his sentence read to him; whereupon, though it was still early in the morning, he was taken to the marketplace, and there strangled and burnt at the stake. Thus he fought his way through as a valiant soldier of Christ.

Scripture Memory

The Word

Psalms 66:10-20   Authorized King James Version

10. "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
11. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.
12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
13. I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
14. Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
15. I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
16. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
17. I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
19. But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
20. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me."