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Last Updated on :
Saturday, November 22, 2014

 

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Contents

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Letters To The Elect Of God
In A Time of Trouble


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ENCOURAGEMENT IN  TROUBLE

 


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I write to remind you of the cause you also have for encouragement and joy.

You feel unworthy of the great salvation to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ: remember, that though those only whom the Lord esteems worthy will enter the kingdom, yet part of that worthiness consists in that very sense of unworthiness which oppresses you. God's favour is for those who rate themselves at God's standard; and by this standard we are, as Jacob confessed himself to be "unworthy of the least of all the mercy and the truth" that the Lord shows to His people. For what are we at best but worms of the earth, fashioned in God's image, made of His clay, and permitted to live for a few years on the face of this glorious earth? The most righteous man can say with Job, whom the Lord approved, "Behold I am vile . . . wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." If a righteous man could feel this abasement -- (most reasonable abasement in mortal flesh in the presence of the divine glory) -- is it a marvel that we who add error to weakness, and sin to corruptibility, should sometimes feel "broken in heart and contrite in spirit"? It is right: but be not destroyed by this abasement. It is pleasing to God. To such He has more than once plainly declared He looks with approval.

But your sins, they distress you: it is right they should: but look again and be comforted. There is a sin not unto death. You are not callous towards the Lord. You do not run in the ways He has forbidden. You do not love the present world and run with it in all its "ungodliness and worldly lusts -- the lust of the eye and the pride of life." You do not deny God and live in deliberate disobedience of His commandments. On the contrary, you love His name and His word; you believe His testimonies, and rejoice in His institutions; you love, and look, and long for the appearing of His, Son, whom He has promised to send, and you are striving in all the ways of life, so far as in you lies, to do His will as expressed in His commandments. But you fail often. You come short of what you would do. You frequently do the things you would not do: and you are distressed on this account. It is right to be so: but do not forget the provision that has been made: Christ has taken away your sins. We are washed in his blood. He stands in the Father's presence, not only as the accepted sacrifice, but as the appointed high priest for His house. He ever liveth to make intercession for us, according to the will of God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to forgive us all our iniquities. If we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sins. God forgives us for Christ's sake.

Perhaps you are oppressed with a sense of the unsuitability of such persons as you, being promoted to honour and power in the kingdom of God. Remember, it is God's deliberate plan to make choice of such. "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called . . . but God hath chosen the weak things of this world." Jesus spoke of this, and said: "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." He even gave thanks to the Father for proceeding on this plan. There is a reason in it all. The kingdom is to be established for God's honour, not man's: for the Spirit's objects and not those of the flesh. Hence, it is a necessity that men be provided for its administration who are not proud and lifted up in their own eyes, but who are lowly, and who know and reverence God so deeply as to find pleasure in His exaltation. The blessing of man will come out of it all, but glory to God first.

 

 

 

 


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