As we look at this slain Lamb!

(William Bacon Stevens, "The Lamb Slain!")

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne!" Revelation 5:6

As we look at this slain Lamb — let us mark the direful malignity of sin! It was sin which . . .
drew Christ from His throne in glory;
humbled Him to the condition of humanity;
made Him "a man of sorrows" all His days;
hunted His life from infancy, and
finally nailed Him to "the accursed tree!"

Had not man sinned — Jesus would never have become incarnate! Hence, every pang and woe which He endured in body and soul, from His miraculous birth to His ignominious death — were inflicted by sin!

Christians! wearers of Christ's name! professors of Christ's religion! Will you love sin? Will you be in league with and cherish that in your heart — which slew the Lamb of God? O, if you love sin; if you are resolved not to forsake it; if you do not hate it as the enemy of Christ, and your own soul — you are hugging that to your heart, which drove the nails into the hands, and thrust the spear into the side, of the Lamb of God!

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Revelation 5:12

The great and universal crime of our race!

(Octavius Winslow, "The Weaned Child")

"But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me." Psalm 131:2

The first object from which our heavenly Father weans his child, is the idol SELF! Of all idols, this he finds the hardest to abandon! When man in paradise aspired to be as God — God was dethroned from his soul, and the creature became as a deity to itself! From that moment, the idolatry of self has been the great and universal crime of our race!

In the soul of the regenerate, divine grace has done much to dethrone this idol — and to reinstate God. The work, however, is but partially accomplished. The dishonored and rejected rival is reluctant to relinquish his throne, and yield to the supreme control and sway of another. Thus, much still lingers in the heart which the Spirit has renewed and inhabits, of . . .
self-esteem,
self-confidence,
self-seeking,
and self-love.
From all this, our Father seeks to wean us!

From our own wisdom, which is but folly;
from our own strength, which is but weakness;
from our own wills, which are often as an uncurbed steed;
from our own ways, which are crooked;
from our own hearts, which are deceitful;
from our own judgments, which are dark;
from our own ends, which are narrow and selfish
— He would wean and detach us, that our souls may get more and more back to their original center of repose — God Himself!

From SELF, God would gently and tenderly, but effectually, wean us — that we may learn . . .
to rely upon His wisdom,
to repose in His strength,
to consult His honor, and
to seek His glory and smile, supremely and alone.

~ ~ ~ ~

Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed

Let us live as if every allowed sin, was . . .
one more thorn in Christ's head,
one more nail in His feet,
one more spear in His side!

(J.C. Ryle, "Holiness, Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots")

A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. He will not only live the life of faith in Him, and draw from Him all his daily peace and strength — but he will also labor to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). It will be his aim . . .
to bear with and forgive others — even as Christ forgave us;
to be unselfish — even as Christ pleased not Himself;
to walk in love — even as Christ loved us;
to be lowly-minded and humble — even as Christ humbled Himself.

A holy man will remember . . .
that Christ would continually deny Himself in order to minister to others;
that He was meek and patient under undeserved insults;
that He thought more of godly poor men, than of kings;
that He was full of love and compassion to sinners;
that He was bold and uncompromising in denouncing sin;
that He sought not the praise of men, when He might have had it;
that He went about doing good;
that He was separate from worldly people;
that He continued instant in prayer;
that He would not let even His nearest relations stand in His way, when God's work was to be done.

All these things, a holy man will try to remember. By them, he will endeavor to shape his course in life.

He will lay to heart the saying of John: "He who says he abides in Christ, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2:6); and the saying of Peter, that "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21).

Happy is he who has learned to make Christ his "all," both for salvation and example! Much time would be saved, and much sin prevented — if men would oftener ask themselves the question: "What would Jesus have said and done — if He were in my place?"

What is man — that You are mindful of him?(Hugh Brown, "Altogether Lovely!" 1897)

"What is man — that You are mindful of him?" Psalm 8:4

What is man?

Where did he come from?

Where does his pathway lead?

Man was once the crowning piece of God's workmanship, made in His own image, and given dominion over the works of His hands!

Alas! We now only know man . . .
in his fallen state — not as God created him,
with the crown fallen from his head,
as a rebel against his Maker,
as the slave of sin,
as a willing subject of Satan,
in his weakness,
compassed with infirmity,
the prey of many diseases,
as "of few days, and full of trouble,"
as a bearer of burdens,
with a heritage of sorrow!

So fearfully and wonderfully is man made —
so great — and yet so little;
so noble — yet so base;
a feeble spark of life — yet having an eternal destiny!

We now only know man . . .
in his sinfulness,
with a "heart deceitful above all things — and desperately wicked,"
torn by conflicting passions,
in the vile bondage of iniquity,
sin reigning within and without,
proud,
arrogant,
self-seeking,
vain,
making the earth a habitation of cruelty!

For though sometimes in his youth, life may seem bright while he eagerly hunts after pleasure — how soon the flowers fade, the bubble bursts — and he is left with emptiness in his heart and learns by sad experience the truth of God’s Word: "Truly, every man at his best estate is altogether vanity!"

Turn away from the lovely enchantress!

"Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for
when you love the world, you show that you do not have
the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only
the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we
see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from
the Father. They are from this evil world." 1 John 2:15-16

Such is the world that assails the Christian, and which
he must overcome—or perish eternally! He is aware of
his danger from the strength, subtlety, and ever-present
activity of this enemy of his soul.

The whole current of Scripture commands runs against the
love of the world. In every possible form, it is forbidden.

Worldliness is the most thronged road to everlasting ruin!

Worldliness does not merely consist in an intense love
of money, and an excessive eagerness to be rich—but in
a supreme regard to that which is visible and temporal,
whether these relate to the quiet scenes of domestic
comfort, or to those elegancies, splendors, and accumulations
of wealth, which lead a man to seek his highest bliss in these!

The world is a foe which attacks us in various places! In the
shop—by all the temptations incident to trade and wealth. In
the halls of politics and public business—by all the enticements
to pride and ambition. In the places of amusement—by all the
soft blandishments of pleasure. In the haunts of vice—by all the
gratifications of appetite. In the scenes of nature—by all the
delights of taste and imagination. In the walks of science and
literature—by all the delights of intellectual gratification. In the
social circle—by all the enjoyments of friendship. In the domestic
retreat—by all the sweets of marital bliss. Oh, how many are
the scenes where the world meets man and subdues him!

Sometimes the world approaches the believer with a smiling
face, making promises and offering caresses, like the serpent
to our first mother in the garden; or like Satan to our Lord
when he said, "All these things will I give you—if you will fall
down and worship me!" How difficult is it on such occasions
to turn away from the lovely enchantress, to keep the eye
steadily fixed on heavenly glories—and instead of greedily
quaffing the cup of poisoned sweets, to dash it on the ground!

If immorality slays its thousands—the world slays its ten
thousands! 'Supreme love of the world' will as certainly lead
its possessor to the bottomless pit, as the love of open vice!

Worldliness, I repeat, and repeat with emphasis, is . . .
the smoothest,
the most polished,
the most fashionable,
the most respectable
path to the bottomless pit!

Victory over the world is subordination . . .
of the creature to the Creator;
of earth to heaven;
of temporal blessings to spiritual ones;
of time to eternity.

Victory over the world is the formation of an unearthly,
spiritual, divine, and heavenly mind-set and character!

"It was the sight of Your dear cross,
First weaned my soul from earthly things;
And taught me to esteem as dross,
The mirth of fools and pomp of kings!"

How all the splendor of earthly things pales before
that infinitely more resplendent object—Jesus!

Traveling to glory, honor, immortality and eternal life!

Earth is to its inhabitants, neither a paradise nor
a desert. If it has not all the beautiful scenes and
productions of a paradise—so neither has it all the
dreariness and desolation of a desert. This world is
called "a valley of tears," but it is not less true that
it is sometimes a valley without the tears. It often
wears a smiling aspect, and reflects the light of
God's graciousness and bounty.

We know very well that man's chief portion lies in
the blessings of salvation, and the hope of eternal
glory. These are so vast as almost to reduce all else
to nothing. Full pardon of sin, and the hope of an
eternity of pure and perfect felicity, are such
amazing expectations, as might seem to render
us absolutely indifferent alike to . . .
poverty and riches;
pain and ease;
obscurity and renown.

How little would it signify to him who was going to take
possession of a kingdom and a throne, whether he traveled
through a desert or a garden; or whether he dined meagerly
or sumptuously; or whether he had all best accommodations
and conveniences along the way. His thoughts would be so
engrossed with the permanent scenes of greatness, grandeur,
power, and wealth before him—as to be almost insensible to
the privations or comforts along the way. So it is, with a
Christian traveling to glory, honor, immortality and
eternal life!

It is incumbent upon Christians to let their spirit and
conduct be consistent with the hope of eternal glory,
in that eminent spirituality and heavenliness of mind,
which are manifested in a supreme, constant, and
practical regard to divine and eternal things.

THE LORD MY EXAMPLE

"The Lord is my portion, says my soul."

"I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you."

--John 13:15

In contending earnestly for the doctrine of the sacrificial nature of our Lord's atoning death, we may be in great danger of overlooking the fact that the whole life of Christ is constantly presented to us in the Scriptures as the model by which our own is to be molded. We needed a personal embodiment of the religion of the gospel--a perfect, peerless Example. In One only could we find it, even in Him whose gospel it was, and whose life was a pure and living reflection of the doctrines it taught, the precepts it inculcated, and the spirit it breathed. Let us, then, inquire briefly what are the arts of His holy life in which we may regard Him as imitable, and what the features of His character we may presume to transfer with humility and gratitude to ourselves.

We are to follow the example of Christ in His OBEDIENCE. "If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love." Behold the example! As He obeyed His Father with a loving and unreserved obedience, so must His disciples walk in obedience to all His commands, ordinances, and precepts, taking up His cross daily and so following Him.

Lord, let there be no reserves in my obedience to You, as there were none in Your obedience to Your Father; but like Your servant Caleb may I follow You fully, doing the will of God from the heart.

We must be conformed to the HOLINESS and PURITY of Christ. "As He which has called you is holy, so you be holy in all manner of life." "Every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He (Christ) is pure." O Lord, I can only be truly happy as I am truly holy; and I can only be truly holy as I am walking even as You walked.

We must be conformed to the HUMILITY and MEEKNESS of Christ. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me--for I am meek and lowly in heart." O Lord, never was there such a model of humility as Yours. Gladly would I transfer this lovely lineament of Your character and spirit to myself, and in heart and conduct walk humbly with God, and in lowliness and self-abnegation with my fellows.

We are to be conformed to the LOVE of Christ. "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you." Oh, how loving was Jesus! He was all love--nothing but love. He loved God supremely; He loved man self-sacrificingly. Love led Him to obey God, love constrained Him to die for us. Lord, mold me to this lovely example of love--that love to You, and love to the saints, and love to sinners may be the all-commanding, all-constraining principle of my life.

We are to follow the example of Christ's FORGIVENESS of injuries. "Forgiving one another, if any man has a quarrel against any--even as Christ forgave you, so also do you." How few there are, even among the followers of Jesus, who present a fair and full reflection of this trait of His character, this prominent fact of His life.

"Lord, let me be found among the few! Give me grace meekly to overlook an injury, silently to suffer a wrong, generously to forgive and forget the unkindness done, the sorrow inflicted, the debt incurred by my fellow-servant, even as You have forgiven and forgotten my transgressions, canceling all my sins and remitting all my debts against You."

Would you resemble Jesus? Then study Him closely, study Him constantly. Study not faint, imperfect copies, but study the Divine-human Original--study Jesus only. The most perfect copy may mislead you, Jesus cannot. Aim to be, not saint-like, but Christ-like; not man-like, but God-like. Less like yourself, more like Jesus. Sir Peter Lely, the great artist, made it a rule never to look at a bad picture, having found by experience that, when ever he did so, his pencil took a hint from it. Lord! prune, chisel, pencil my soul as You will; only make me a perfect copy of YOURSELF!

THE LORD MY HEALER

"The Lord is my portion, says my soul"

"And He healed those who had need of healing."

--Luke 9:11

How mercifully and marvelously is the Lord Jesus suited to the every condition of our sinful, fallen humanity. Take the present illustration. Sin is a deadly wound, a raging malady of the soul. Jesus is revealed as the Great Healer, His blood the sovereign remedy. His own gracious words teach this. "The whole need not a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." What joyful news is here! It is as though a royal proclamation had gone forth throughout a plague-smitten city that a sovereign remedy had been discovered and an infallible physician provided, and that whoever were willing to avail themselves of the provision, would be freely and effectually healed.

Such is the royal announcement of the gospel to this sin-stricken world. What joyful tidings, O my soul, are here! Spiritually convinced of the fatal sting of the old serpent the devil; mournfully conscious of the deadly virus coursing its way through your whole being, paralyzing every faculty, and tainting every thought, feeling, and action; how welcome the gospel message that there is balm in Gilead and a Physician there, and that Jesus heals all those who have need of healing! All this is the provision of the Father's love. One in nature, the Father and the Son are one in the grand remedy provided for the healing of the soul, so that in bringing my case, desperate though it may be, to Christ, I have the divine warrant for believing that I shall be healed. "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world that we might LIVE through Him."

And what does the Lord heal? The Word of God shall answer. "He heals ALL our diseases." Can He heal bodily disease? Infallibly, effectually, instantly. When He was here on earth, evil spirits that none could cast out, fled at His word; diseases that none could cure, vanished at His touch. He does so now. His compassion, power, and willingness are the same. Sick and suffering saint! if it is for the glory of God and for your best good, Jesus can rebuke your disease and restore you to health again. But, if it pleases Him to continue your sickness, suffering, and languor, it is because in His higher prerogative of your spiritual Physician, He would promote thereby the health of your soul. Then, Lord, if this sickness, pain, and weakness are Your means to promote my sanctification and fitness for heaven, my will shall be lost in Your will, and Your will and my will shall be one.

Jesus is the Great Healer of all our spiritual diseases. He loves to undertake the care of the sin-sick soul, and never lost one who betook itself to His cross. Come with your spiritual disease, O my soul; it may have baffled every physician and distanced every remedy--Jesus and His Atonement can cure it. "He heals all your diseases." He binds up the broken heart, heals our backslidings, restores our wanderings, revives our declensions; and when faith droops through trial, and the spirit faints in adversity, and love chills through temptation, Jesus the Healer comes, and by the fresh application of His blood, and by the renewed communication of His grace, and by the quickening energy of His word, He heals us.

Beware, O my soul, of any healing but Christ's, and of any remedy but His blood. Watch against a false healing of your wound. None but Christ, and nothing short of the blood of Christ. Take your case, as it is, to Him. Go to no minister, to no church, to no rite, to no duty, but go at once to Jesus and His blood, and cry--believingly, importunately cry--"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed." Oh, what a loving, gentle, skillful healer is Jesus! With not a frown of displeasure, with not a look of coldness, with not a word of upbraiding, will He cure you. He heals sin's worst malady, cures man's incurables, and never loses a patient who seeks His saving touch. "Lord, be merciful unto me--heal my soul, for I have sinned against You."

THE LORD MY REFINER

"The Lord is my portion, says my soul"

"He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."--Mal. 3:3

This is one of the essential appointments of our Lord in His mediatorial mission--the office and work of a Refiner and Purifier of His Church. Redemption involved more than deliverance from the guilt and condemnation of sin; it equally secured our emancipation from sin's tyranny and power--our sanctification as well as our salvation, a fitness for, equally as a title to, glory. It was not enough that Christ should purchase the "Field"--the world--for the sake of the "Pearl"--the Church; but having found the precious jewel, it is His purpose to mold it into a coronet of beauty, wearing it Himself until 'the end comes' when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to His Father, and then shall His redeemed Church be a "crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of our God."

It is a consolatory thought that our refining is in the hands of Jesus--the hands that were pierced for us on the cross. Lord, let me ever fall in Your hands, whether You correct, or rebuke, or slay, and not in the hands of man, for very many and very tender are Your mercies. My soul! your Refiner and Purifier is Jesus. Jesus shapes all your trials; Jesus sends all your afflictions; Jesus mingles all your sorrows; Jesus shapes and balances all the clouds of your pilgrimage; Jesus prepares and heats the furnace that refines you as silver and purifies you as gold. Then, O my soul, tremble not at the knife that wounds you, at the flame that scorches you, at the cloud that shades you, at the billows that surge above you--Jesus is in it all, and you are as safe as though you had reached the blissful climate where the vine needs no pruning, and the ore no purifying, where the sky is never darkened, and upon whose golden sands no storms of adversity ever blow or waves of sorrow ever break.

And, O my soul, what deep need is there for this refining and purifying of your Lord. What inward corruption, what carnality, what worldliness, what self-seeking, what creature idolatry, what God-dishonoring unbelief, imperatively demand the searching, burning, purifying fires of Christ's furnace! And this is the end of all--to take away your sin, and to make you a partaker of the Divine holiness.

And mark the Refiner's position. "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." It would be fatal to his purpose did the smelter and refiner leave his post while the liquid mass was fusing and seething in the furnace. But there he patiently sits, watching and tempering the flame, and removing the refuse and the dross as it floats upon the surface of the molten ore. So Christ sits as a Refiner; and with an eye that never slumbers, and with a patience that never wearies, and with a love that never chills, and with a faithfulness that never falters, watches and controls the process that purifies our hearts, burnishes our graces, sanctifies our nature, and impresses more vividly His own image of loveliness upon our soul. If He places you in the fire, He will bring you through the fire, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." But sweet and soothing is the truth that the believer is not alone in the fire. The Refiner is with us as with the three children passing through the burning furnace kindled by the king. The Lord will have us polished stones; and as some believers are more rusty and some more alloyed than others, they need a rougher file and a hotter furnace. This may account for the great severity of trial through which some of the Lord's precious jewels are called to pass. Not less dear to His heart are they for this; it is said God had one Son without corruption, but no son without correction; for "though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." Look up, my soul, your Portion is your Refiner. Be still, humble, submissive. The knife is in a Father's hand, the flame is under a Savior's control

 

 

THE LORD MY PORTION

"The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him."

Lam. 3:24

It is our great privilege, beloved, that we live in a portionless world. This is both our distinctive badge and our Christian charter. When God parceled out the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel, He made an exception in the tribe of Levi, to whom He said, "You shall have no inheritance in the land, neither shall you have any part among them;" assigning as His reason, "I am your share and your inheritance." The gospel teaching of this is obvious and significant. As the Lord's true priesthood, this world is not our portion, nor earth our rest. It may have required some painful discipline, and no small measure of faith, on the part of the devout Levite, as he gazed upon the fertile meadows, the watered plains, and the vine-clad hills of the Promised Land, before he was made willing to relinquish it all for Him who is invisible--and it needs no little teaching and discipline of our God, and no little faith on our part, before we are led to give up the world, the creature, self, and all, for Christ

--satisfied to have the Lord alone as our Portion, and heaven only as our inheritance.

But the Lord will not put His people off with anything unworthy of Him to give, or them to accept. He has set them apart for Himself, and Himself apart for them. "All believers are the Lord's CLERGY; and as they are His portion, so He is theirs." (Leighton.) "The Lord's portion is His people, Israel is the lot of His inheritance." "The Lord is my portion, says my soul." His love to us was so great, that when He could give no greater proof of that love, He gave HIMSELF. Nothing more could have expressed the yearnings of His heart, nothing less could have satisfied the desires of ours.

And oh, what a Portion is God! All that He is and all that He has is ours! Every attribute of His being is over us, every perfection of His nature encircles us, every pulse of His heart beats for us, every glance of His eye smiles upon us. We dwell in God, and God dwells in us. It is not the world which is our portion, but HE who made, upholds and governs the world. It is not the creature who is our portion, but the Lord of angels and the Creator of men. Infinite portion! illimitable power! immeasurable grace! boundless love! all-satisfying good! all, all is ours!

And what a Portion, O my soul, is Christ! A divine Christ, a redeeming Christ, a full Christ, a sympathizing, ever-present, ever-precious, ever-loving Christ.

'Lord, I bless You for the discipline that brought me to realize what a divine, all-satisfying Portion I have in Yourself. You took from me an earthly portion, only to enrich me with a Heavenly one. You removed from me the human prop upon which I too fondly and idolatrously leaned, that I might learn what Christ was, as my soul's all-sufficient, all-satisfying, and everlasting Portion. I can now admire the wisdom and adore the love that blasted my gourds and emptied me from vessel to vessel, that, rising superior to the broken staff, the drooping flower, and the failing spring of creature good, I might claim my portion as a true spiritual Levite in Yourself alone.'

Believer in Jesus! make the most of your portion. It is all-sufficient for all your need. God has, perhaps, made you poor in this world, that you might be rich in faith and an heir of that kingdom of glory, the New Jerusalem, He has prepared for you--whose foundations are precious stones, whose walls are jasper, whose gates are pearls, whose streets are pure gold, and through which softly flows the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb, in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river is the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruit, and yielding her fruit every month. All this awaits you! Hope in the Lord, hope in adversity, hope in trial, hope against hope, for God in Christ is your present and eternal Portion. "The Lord is my Portion, says my soul; therefore I will HOPE in Him."