Hearers Only

Saints,

It saddens me to say that so often I feel like just a hearer only when it comes to God's word. I am so sick of my failures. I want to get beyond this. Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Murray

All I can say is we are all sad with you.

But God is faithful, and no doubt someone will offer the advice you are looking for.

God bless.

Enid,

That is just it. I long to be truly saddened over my sin. Before the judgment day comes. I am not nearly grieved enough over sin.

Do you recall that scripture from Ezekiel I posted the other day? The one about the 'carefree multitude'?

That speaks to me. About me. One foot in the world. One foot in the church. It simply does not work.

Murray

Fact is, hell is not real to us. Not to the sinner and not to the saint.

Does it look like it?

2 Cor 13v5, 'Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified.

One, it says to examine ourselves.

Two, it says Jesus Christ is in you, or is He?

Also, the fear of God has left us, as has a desire for His glory.

Maybe a genuine love for God has left us too.

We in the west live a far too materialistic life.

There is no, or little, sacrifice. What we want we get, even if it costs our relationship with God.

Think I'm kidding?

Example, spending more time in front of the television on any given day than we do in prayer and the word of God.

That is just one example, there are others I could cite, but I won't.

When we feed both the flesh and the Spirit, we will be miserable. And we are. Hence the spiritual schiophrenia (can't spell the word), that we endure day after day.

The flesh and Spirit war against each other, Gal 5, and we know this, so is it that we want both?

That can never be.

When we stop eating, we get weak. We need to stop feeding the flesh.

Feed the Spirit on prayer and the word of God, as did the apostles in Acts 6.

That's it for now.

God bless.

With you all on this one. I can relate fully.

Oh to be fully consecrated and HATE sin.

This is the battle before us, Saints. Being daily transformed into the image of Christ. And, we transform by the renewing of our minds and that comes from the Word.

The question placed before us is, "How badly do we want to overcome?" The extent of time we spend in prayer and the Word tells us how important this is to us.

It's a hard word, I know. (Blame it on brothers Leonard Ravenhill and Keith Daniel! They're the people the Holy Spirit has used to write this message on my heart.)

There are two sermons I can't recommend highly enough, and I recommend them most solemnly, almost with a caution to the listener. These sermons will cause you to tremble and you will then be responsible for the truths in them.

They are by brother Keith Daniel:

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=7271&commentView=itemComments]Quiet Time[/url] and [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=9364&commentView=itemComments]Have You Had a Personal Calvary?[/url]

Have you asked the Lord that you might grow in His school? Have you been praying recently for grace and a greater understanding of His ways and knowledge of His will? Usually when we do this, God sends a greater sense of self-abhorence our way. The mirror of His Word becomes all the more clear, and thus, our ugly reflections stare back at us all the more grotesquely. The little things we could get away with before are suddenly no longer permissible. The brighter the light of God's Word begins to shine in us, the more we begin to see acne and blemishes where once we thought was a flawless surface. The deeper we go with God the more we'll despise ourselves, and this is a great truth to learn. Here's a powerful hymn by John Newton that addresses this very issue. I know it will bless you:

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.

It was He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered my prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
That His love’s constraining pow’r
Would subdue my sins, and give me rest.

But instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

"Lord, why is this!" I trembling cried,
"Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?"
“It's in this way," the Lord replied,
"I answer prayer for grace and faith.

"These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/a/iaskedtl.htm

Saints,

I prayed last night to God to guide me in the scriptures. Where he led me I did not like.

"An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
For in his own eyes he flatter himself too much to detect or hate his sin.
The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong."
Psalm 36:1-4

I wanted those words to be describing someone else. But I could hear God saying, "No, that is you."

Especially troubling were the words 'in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.'

Paul, thank you for that song that you posted. And you are right about the self abhorrence. God is laying me very low.

Humbled and afraid,

Murray

Lets spend today and the next few days going against the flow of the flesh, world and devil.

When I read this I immediately thought of J.C. Ryle's "True Christianity is a Fight." If you haven't read it, there is an audio recording of it [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=3661]here[/url] on SermonIndex. I burned it to CD last year and would listen to it in my car on the way to work in the mornings. It's chock-full of scripture and I believe it demonstrates without any shadow of doubt the vital reality and necessity of spiritual warfare in the realm of [i]true[/i] Christianity:

"True Christianity! Let us mind that word "true." There is a vast quantity of religion current in the world which is not true, genuine Christianity. It passes muster, it satisfies sleepy consciences; but it is not good money. It is not the authentic reality that called itself Christianity in the beginning. There are thousands of men and women who go to churches and chapels every Sunday and call themselves Christians. They make a "profession" of faith in Christ. Their names are in the baptismal register. They are reckoned Christians while they live. They are married with a Christian marriage service. They mean to be buried as Christians when they die. But you never see any "fight" about their religion! Of spiritual strife and exertion and conflict and self–denial and watching and warring they know literally nothing at all. Such Christianity may satisfy man, and those who say anything against it may be thought very hard and uncharitable; but it certainly is not the Christianity of the Bible. It is not the religion which the Lord Jesus founded and His apostles preached. It is not the religion which produces real holiness. True Christianity is "a fight."

The true Christian is called to be a soldier and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, indolence and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven, like one traveling in an easy carriage. If he takes his standard of Christianity from the children of this world, he may be content with such notions, but he will find no countenance for them in the Word of God. If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must "fight."

With whom is the Christian soldier meant to fight? Not with other Christians. Wretched indeed is that man’s idea of religion who fancies that it consists in perpetual controversy! He who is never satisfied unless he is engaged in some strife between church and church, chapel and chapel, sect and sect, faction and faction, party and party, knows nothing yet as he ought to know. No doubt it may be absolutely needful sometimes to appeal to law courts in order to ascertain the right interpretation of a church’s articles and rubrics and formularies. But, as a general rule, the cause of sin is never so much helped as when Christians waste their strength in quarreling with one another and spend their time in petty squabbles.

No, indeed! The principal fight of the Christian is with the world, the flesh and the devil. These are his never– dying foes. These are the three chief enemies against whom he must wage war. Unless he gets the victory over these three, all other victories are useless and vain. If he had a nature like an angel, and were not a fallen creature, the warfare would not be so essential. But with a corrupt heart, a busy devil and an ensnaring world, he must either "fight" or be lost.

He must fight the flesh. Even after conversion he carries within him a nature prone to evil and a heart weak and unstable as water. That heart will never be free from imperfection in this world, and it is a miserable delusion to expect it. To keep that heart from going astray, the Lord Jesus bids us, "Watch and pray." The spirit may be ready, but the flesh is weak. There is need of a daily struggle and a daily wrestling in prayer. "I keep under my body," cries St. Paul, "and bring it into subjection." "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity." "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" "Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." "Mortify . . . your members which are upon the earth" (Mark 14:38; 1 Cor. 9:27; Rom. 7:23, 24; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:5).

He must fight the world. The subtle influence of that mighty enemy must be daily resisted, and without a daily battle can never be overcome. The love of the world’s good things, the fear of the world’s laughter or blame, the secret desire to keep in with the world, the secret wish to do as others in the world do, and not to run into extremes—all these are spiritual foes which beset the Christian continually on his way to heaven and must be conquered. "The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." "The world is crucified to me, and I unto the world." "Whatever is born of God overcomes the world." "Be not conformed to this world" (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15; Gal. 6:14; 1 John 5:4; Rom. 12:2).

He must fight the devil. That old enemy of mankind is not dead. Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve he has been "going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it," and striving to compass one great end—the ruin of man’s soul. Never slumbering and never sleeping, he is always going about as a lion seeking whom he may devour. An unseen enemy, he is always near us, about our path and about our bed, and spying out all our ways. A murderer and a liar from the beginning, he labors night and day to cast us down to hell. Sometimes by leading into superstition, sometimes by suggesting infidelity, sometimes by one kind of tactics and sometimes by another, he is always carrying on a campaign against our souls. "Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." This mighty adversary must be daily resisted if we wish to be saved. But "this kind goes not out" but by watching and praying and fighting and putting on the whole armor of God. The strong man armed will never be kept out of our hearts without a daily battle (Job 1:7; 1 Pet. 5:8; John 8:44; Luke 22:31; Eph. 6:11).

Some men may think these statements too strong. You fancy that I am going too far and laying on the colors too thickly. You are secretly saying to yourself that men and women may surely get to heaven without all this trouble and warfare and fighting. Listen to me for a few minutes, and I will show you that I have something to say on God’s behalf. Remember the maxim of the wisest general that ever lived in England: "In time of war it is the worst mistake to underrate your enemy, and try to make a little war." This Christian warfare is no light matter. What says the Scripture? "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." "Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand." "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." "Labor . . . for [the] meat that endures unto everlasting life." "Do not think that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace but a sword." "He who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." "Watch you, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." "War a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience" (1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 2:3; Eph. 6:11–13; Luke 13:24; John 6:27; Matt. 10:34; Luke 22:36; 1 Cor. 16:13; 1 Tim. 1:18, 19). Words such as these appear to me clear, plain and unmistakable. They all teach one and the same great lesson, if we are willing to receive it. That lesson is, that true Christianity is a struggle, a fight and a warfare. He who pretends to condemn "fighting" and teaches that we ought to sit still and "yield ourselves to God," appears to me to misunderstand his Bible, and to make a great mistake.

What says the baptismal service of the Church of England? No doubt that service is uninspired and, like every uninspired composition, it has its defects; but to the millions of people all over the globe who profess and call themselves English churchmen, its voice ought to speak with some weight. And what does it say? It tells us that over every new member who is admitted into the Church of England the following words are used: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." "I sign this child with the sign of the cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under His banner against sin, the world and the devil, and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end." Of course we all know that in myriads of cases baptism is a mere form and that parents bring their children to the font without faith or prayer or thought and consequently receive no blessing. The man who supposes that baptism in such cases acts mechanically, like a medicine, and that godly and ungodly, praying and prayerless parents, all alike get the same benefit for their children must be in a strange state of mind. But one thing, at any rate, is very certain. Every baptized churchman is by his profession a "soldier of Jesus Christ," and is pledged "to fight under His banner against sin, the world and the devil." He that doubts it had better take up his Prayer Book and read, mark and learn its contents. The worst thing about many very zealous churchmen is their total ignorance of what their own Prayer Book contains.

Whether we are churchmen or not, one thing is certain—this Christian warfare is a great reality and a subject of vast importance. It is not a matter like church government and ceremonial, about which men may differ, and yet reach heaven at last. Necessity is laid upon us. We must fight. There are no promises in the Lord Jesus Christ’s epistles to the seven churches, except to those who "overcome." Where there is grace there will be conflict. The believer is a soldier. There is no holiness without a warfare. Saved souls will always be found to have fought a fight.

It is a fight of absolute necessity. Let us not think that in this war we can remain neutral and sit still. Such a line of action may be possible in the strife of nations, but it is utterly impossible in that conflict which concerns the soul. The boasted policy of non–interference, the "masterly inactivity" which pleases so many statesmen, the plan of keeping quiet and letting things alone—all this will never do in the Christian warfare. Here at any rate no one can escape serving under the plea that he is "a man of peace." To be at peace with the world, the flesh and the devil, is to be at enmity with God and in the broad way that leads to destruction. We have no choice or option. We must either fight or be lost.

It is a fight of universal necessity. No rank or class or age can plead exemption, or escape the battle. Ministers and people, preachers and hearers, old and young, high and low, rich and poor, gentle and simple, kings and subjects, landlords and tenants, learned and unlearned—all alike must carry arms and go to war. All have by nature a heart full of pride, unbelief, sloth, worldliness and sin. All are living in a world beset with snares, traps and pitfalls for the soul. All have near them a busy, restless, malicious devil. All, from the queen in her palace down to the pauper in the workhouse, all must fight, if they would be saved.

It is a fight of perpetual necessity. It admits of no breathing time, no armistice, no truce. On weekdays as well as on Sundays, in private as well as in public, at home by the family fireside as well as abroad, in little things, like management of tongue and temper, as well as in great ones, like the government of kingdoms, the Christian’s warfare must unceasingly go on. The foe we have to do with keeps no holidays, never slumbers and never sleeps. So long as we have breath in our bodies, we must keep on our armor and remember we are on an enemy’s ground. "Even on the brink of Jordan," said a dying saint, "I find Satan nibbling at my heels." We must fight until we die.

Let us consider well these propositions. Let us take care that our own personal religion is real, genuine and true. The saddest symptom about many so–called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a scanty round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare—its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests— of all this they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not our own. The worst state of soul is when the strong man armed keeps the house, and his goods are at peace, when he leads men and women captive at his will, and they make no resistance. The worst chains are those which are neither felt nor seen by the prisoner (Luke 11:21; 2 Tim. 2:26).

We may take comfort about our souls if we know anything of an inward fight and conflict. It is the invariable companion of genuine Christian holiness. It is not everything, I am well aware, but it is something. Do we find in our heart of hearts a spiritual struggle? Do we feel anything of the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so that we cannot do the things we would? (Gal. 5:17.) Are we conscious of two principles within us, contending for the mastery? Do we feel anything of war in our inward man? Well, let us thank God for it! It is a good sign. It is strongly probable evidence of the great work of sanctification. All true saints are soldiers. Anything is better than apathy, stagnation, deadness and indifference. We are in a better state than many. The most part of so–called Christians have no feeling at all. We are evidently no friends of Satan. Like the kings of this world, he wars not against his own subjects. The very fact that he assaults us should fill our minds with hope. I say again, let us take comfort. The child of God has two great marks about him, and of these two we have one. He may be known by his inward warfare, as well as by his inward peace."

- J.C. Ryle

sermonindex wrote:

ENTER INTO WARFARE BELOVED...

Lets spend today and the next few days going against the flow of the flesh, world and devil. There is a spiritual victory waiting.

And the next day, and the next, and...

Brother Colin, I'm right there with you. I am beginning to understand why Paul said in the last days it would be difficult to be a Christian. In America, and the UK, we don't really know the fear the of the Lord. Not like we ought to. Life is too pampered to "have to." We don't know suffering and repentence like we ought to because we're surrounded by so many comforts and luxuries. We don't know His Word like we ought to because our eyes and minds are filled with entertainment, self and instant gratification.

Instant gratification is evil, I'm convinced of it. The devil has used it to make us become complacent. God can move any way He pleases, but "instant anything" is usually not in our best interests. God is never in a hurry.

Brother, I'm also grieving over my lack of enough hatred for my sin. The truth is, we didn't get into this condition overnight and, very likely, we won't get out of it overnight either. This is why I'm laying aside all other books, and as much else as I can, to just soak in the Word. It is the only way to renew our minds and become more like Jesus. I want to come to love the scriptures deeply and Jesus deeper still.