A Goodly Heritage

God is to render to every one according to his works , and as there are various degrees of labour and suffering , so also shall there be of rewards . Nor let it be objected , that reference is made solely to works as distinguished between good and evil, and to the happiness of the good and the misery of the wicked , for this is not exclusively the sense of the words . The Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 3:8. says , "every man shall receive his own reward , according to his ownlabour ." If therefore the labours of different men are different , so must be the rewards . Prophets , apostles , martyrs , confessors and others of like heroic spirit in the church , have laboured and suffered more than others ; who does not perceive that inequity the reward of grace should be greater , as conferred on them ?

for Christs sake . There are inward things of which we must suffer loss . The loss of all our fancied holiness , of all our vaunted strength , of all our natural or acquired wisdom , of all our boasted knowledge ; in a word , of everything in creature religion , of which the heart is proud , and in which it takes delight . All , all must be counted loss for Christs sake ; all, all must be sacrificed to his bleeding ,dying love ; our dearest joys , our fondest hopes , our most cherished idols , must all sink , and give way to the grace , blood , and love of an incarnate God . And not only must they be counted as "loss" but lower still must they sink , worse still must they become ; they must be counted as dung , as street offals , or according to the literal meaning of the word , as garbage of the slaughter house cast to the dogs . What a strong expression of the Apostle ! How great the grace , how ardent the affection , that made him so abhor himself and love Jesus .

There is no moment of the spiritual life so painful and so dangerous as the weaning ; The hardest time to bear is neither Egypt or the Promised Land , but the desert that lies between . Egypt has the pleasures of sin , the Promised Land  has the pleasures of holiness, but the desert has no pleasures . It has given up the joys of Pharaohh , and it has not yet reached the delights of Canaan . It is only a stage of prohibitions ; it forbids the pleasures of the past , and it has as yet not even the grapes of Eschol to offer in their room.My soul , you cannot rest in the desert , you cannot be satisfied with a law which only says "Thou shalt not ."It is a hard thing to have the old cup snatched from your lips before any new cup is presented to you . It is a hard thing to have the old tenants expelled from your dwelling before any new guests are admitted there . It is a hard thing to have the house empty , swept , and garnished ere you have learned that it is empty for the recepti

"He walked with me in peace and uprightness , and did turn many away from iniquity ."Malachi 2:6. These inspiring words , especially the last clause might well hang in the secret chamber of every servant of God . They were specially prizes by R M McCheyne , whose life was a beautiful exemplar of their meaning .You will notice that the covenant dates back to the righteous zeal of Phinehas for the honour of God (Numbers 25) . How well God remembers these things , and writes them in ineffaceable characters on the tablets of his memory ! But what a contrast between that noble ancestry and the degenerate successors of Malachi's days . Do you want to turn away from iniquity? You must walk with God , hourly , constantly , in blessed and intimate fellowship , learning from Him who you are to approach , what line you are to follow in dealing with them , and the message you are to deliver .You must expect to come into collision with them ; they are coming in one direction , while

O earth ,earth , earth , hear the word of the Lord while he holds open the gate of life and calls on the perishing to come in . Beware lest the sound that first awakens you be the crash of the gate when it shuts . Earth - the dust of the dead in Christ - shall hear the word of the Lord and come forth . At the mouth of the grave where a dead brother lay , Jesus said to the sorrowing survivors , "I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth on me , though he were dead , yet shall he live ." O for the blessed hope of immortality , burning bright within a disciples heart , and shining through his countenance , The resurrection of the dead is a precious , present truth . "Lord I believe , help thou my unbelief ," This body for which Christ died , and for which he now lives and reigns , this body when it is dust , shall hear his voice , and come forth glorious like his own .   Not hewn stone , and carved cedar , and beaten gold, but earth is the temple in which

It is evident that Satan's temptations can prove effectual only by means of the wickedness that resides and is fixed in our own souls .It is not therefore necessary that we should be able to distinguish those evil suggestions in which he has a hand , from those that arise from our own hearts . It is not necessary for watchfulness , for if we keep our hearts , he has no power over us ; as he can only work by what is there , and going on there . It is not necessary for estimating our amount of guilt ; for if Satan leads us into sin , he leads us as those who voluntarily follow him ; and the guilt is all ours , whether he be guiltless or not .  

Our life is valueless , our future dark , so long as it cannot be said of us , as it was said of Moses ,  the Lord is become our God !  And how does he , the Holy One , become God of such unworthy sinners as ourselves ? Here my eye rests upon a scene , in view of which all of Sinai's glory pales , and the angels that gave out the law but veil their faces in deep reverence .Fifteen long centuries have passed since Moses bowed in prayer , and now the mountains of the Promised Land beholds another One who prays during the quiet hours of the night ; the solitudes hear the Man speak with God , as if a child addressed the father whom he loved . Moses has been our theme until now , but how could we here end with him , when we know one who is mediator of another and far better covenant ? On Sinai , Moses prays for a rebellious nation ; on Golgotha , you hear Jesus pleading for His executioners when He was being crucified . Moses invokes God for His grace toward Israel only ; Jesus for the

As it is altogether a gratuitous gift of God , we must not presume to bring a price in our hands , or to offer anything of our own as an equivalent . We must humbly apply for and thankfully accept it . The terms we must leave to the Donor ; he alone has a right to appoint them ; and he has done in the clearest and most satisfactory manner . He has declared , that as he is "well pleased "with the righteousness of Jesus Christ , he requires in every applicant an entire submission to it , or an unreserved dependence upon it . No other trust can be allowed to intrude , no other plea to be offered , but to such a reliance on the Saviour , where all personal merit is renounced , the blessing is promised and infallibly secured ; that is ,"Justified by faith without the deeds of the law ." Romans 3:28    Robinson's Christian System

By the period of Noah's birth , the necessity of a divine interposition had become much greater , and it appeared manifest to a small remnant of believers that the era of retribution , which they now identified with the era of deliverance must be at hand . Indication was then given of this state of feeling by the name itself of Noah , with the reason assigned for its adoption , " This name shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands , because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed ."The feeling is too generally expressed , to enable us to determine the accuracy how the parents of the child might their troubles to be relieved through his instrumentality . . But in their words we hear , at least , the groaning of the oppressed - the sighing of righteous souls , vexed on account of the evils that were thickening around them , for the unrestrained wickedness of those who had corrupted the earth ; and, at the same time , not despairing but looking up in faith

All true Christians are priests to God (Rev i :5,6)all having an equal title to draw near . The Jewish priest and the Christian priest have each their sacrifice , sanctuary , and guide book as to worship . Leviticus was the guide book of the Jewish worshipper ; while 1 Cor 11 to 14 and Hebrews form the guide and directory to the Christian worshipper .Our sacrifices as priests , are praise to God - the fruit of our lips touched by the live coal of judgement - and practical benevolence to man . The former is referred to by Peter when he styles us a" holy priesthood "and the latter when he regards us as a" royal priesthood "It is interesting to observe , that when the priesthood of all believers is directly referred to , the high priesthood of our Lord is not mentioned at all , as in 1 Peter and the Revelation . Judaism sent the worshipper of old to the priest ; Christianity reveals direct approach to God by Him i.e. the ever living priest . The priests of old stood ou

Psalm 83 :-"Keep not thou silence ,O God ; hold not thy peace , and be not still , O God ." "He that cometh to God , must believe that he is ." and that he is Love ; really present ; both seeing and hearing ; the rewarder of all who diligently seek him ; many worship they know not what ; "a god of their own imagining , to whom they say prayers ; but neither look for ,nor expect any answer ; satisfied with unmeaning petitions . This is not to worship the true God , the fountain of all intelligence , who is the heared and answerer of all prayer , and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth . He who uttered the words ,"Keep not thou silence O God ," addressed himself to the living and true God ; to a God whose ear he knew was open to his prayers , whose almighty aid he besought and entreated ; a God that would help him ,and deliver him from his oppressors

It is the Spirit that enables and persuades the soul to come to Christ ; and He that sends the Spirit on this work is Christ himself . Can he commission his Spirit to bring a soul to him to be rejected ? Can he , if I may use such language , send the Holy Ghost on an idle errand ? It is impossible . Can the persons of the one Godhead so counteract each others portion of the work of grace , as that the Spirit shall begin the work , by bringing a soul to Christ , and then the Son make all of no avail , by refusing to receive it . ? Perish forever the thought ! for "whom he called them he also justified ; and whom he justified , them he also glorified ." Yes , the Spirit sets his mark on every soul he brings to Jesus , and sprinkles it with the Saviour's blood ; and no destroying angel can ever make that soul a prey .

Perhaps your soul may at times , be cast down and distressed; but remember , when friends are absent , the Lord Jesus is present . The chief Shepherd is for ever near you ; and He who laid down His life for you , will doubtless make your comfort and welfare His care . Let your faith but repose aright upon the Saviour's love , and nothing will seem dark on this side of the grave , and all appear light beyond it . If at times you sow in sorrow , you will doubtless reap in joy . . Hear your Lord saying ,"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ." Above all hear Him saying ,"My grace is sufficient for thee , Lo , I am with you always , even to the end of the world ." What more can you desire ? Jesus always with you -  can you then ever indulge distress? Jesus always with you - can you ever want a counsellor ? Jesus always with you -can you ever despair of final conquest ? He who laid down His life for you , ever attentive to your welfare - no moment passing in whic

"To reveal His Son in me ." Galatians 1 : 16.    Paul is here describing the process of his own conversion, the light which he saw from heaven .He says that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him . Why in him?  Why does he not say , "it pleased God to reveal His Son to me "? Did it not arrest him at midday with a glory above the brightness of the sun ? Did it not bar the way to his old nature , and bid his life to pause in the midst of his journey ? Surely that picture of his Lord was a vision to his eye , Nay , but can any picture be a vision to the eye ?Can a thing be revealed to me that has not been revealed in me ?Is the landscape on which I gaze revealed only to my outward vision ? Nay , or it would not be revealed at all  ; there could be no beauty without , if there were not a sense of beauty within . Is the music to which I listen revealed only to my outward ear ? Nay, or I would be deaf to it forever more ; there could be no harmony without if there were n