"We Shall Be Like HIM"

This is one of the more encouraging articles that I've read in a long time. Excellent, Excellent, Excellent!! Don't hurry through it.

"WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM"

1st John 3:2

It is well to be unsatisfied with anything less than the presence of our God, and that eternal perfection in His sight. How shall we, such sinful, frail mortals, attain to such happiness? There are moments, even while now on the earth, when the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, divinely discovers to us our perfection in Christ Jesus, the Head of the church, when in His blood and righteousness, by that inwrought faith, (which is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen), we see we are "complete in Him," made "acceptable in the Beloved." In Him we shine forth in perfection of beauty, perfect through His comeliness in His Robe of Righteousness which He putteth upon us. (Ezek. 16:14; Isaiah 61:10; Rom. 3:22.) And what is this? It is the earnest of our inheritance, the spirit of adoption, which in faith and hope is ours in Christ Jesus. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know, when He shall appear, we shall be like, for we shall see Him as he is." Jehovah hath predestinated us at last to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29.) Have we "this hope" in us? To this we have not already attained. (Phil. 3:10-14.) Ah, we do not yet bear the image of the Heavenly One, our risen, ascended and glorified Jesus in Heaven. How very manifest this is to us as we groan, being burdened with the bondage of corruption, so sinful, tempted and afflicted we are now, with pain, and sickness, and mortality wearying us. But we are the Lord's body; our bodies are the members of Christ. (1 Cor. 6:15.) We are not yet glorified, for it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But, O! blessed anticipation, we shall at last be glorified together with Christ. We shall be all glorious as His Father glorified Jesus here, and as He is now all glorious with His Father in Heaven. (Rom. 8:17.) We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; we shall awake with His likeness. We shall be raised in glory. (1 Cor. 15:43.) He shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned and glorified like unto His own glorious body. God hath called us, His chosen, ransomed ones, unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, and Christ is in us the hope of glory. (Col. 1:17.) O, in this blessed hope we have precious foretastes of the glory that shall be revealed. (1 Peter 5:1.)

Yes, in the dissolution of our mortal bodies back to dust, while the soul does not return to dust with the body, it shall make its exodus from the vile corruptible body, and shall be translated to the realms of glory, to be with Christ in paradise. (Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:23; Acts 7:59.) And when in "that day" (2 Tim. 1:12-18) our Lord Jesus Christ shall descend from Heaven (with the New Jerusalem, See Rev. 21:2) to raise the ransomed bodies of His saints by His Spirit, He shall quicken our mortal bodies, (Rom. 8:11), and they shall be raised spiritual bodies, in power and glory, immortal and incorruptible like unto Christ's glorious body. Then with both soul and body reunited again, we shall be like Him. Then in actual reality (not in faith and hope in Christ Jesus, which at present is our earnest and foretaste of our inheritance), then actually and forever and ever we shall bear the image of the Heavenly; to this we hope to come. (Acts 26:7.) This is the one, final crowning attainment of believers in the Son of God, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass, the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Having such a hope, by the Holy Ghost we can say, "As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness." (Psalm 17:15.) Then shall be consummated our adoption, which will be that all glorious liberty, and eternal manifestation of the children of God. (Rom. 8:17-25.) The bondage of corruption shall no more hold us; death shall no longer celebrate its power over our bodies in the grave. "The last enemy that is to be destroyed is death." Christ Jesus, our risen, and ascended Head, reigns in Heaven today triumphant over death, hell and the grave; and all His ransomed people, His body the church, shall be at last triumphant too. (Hosea 13:14.)

"Triumphantly glorious, our Head has ascended
O'er death and the grave, all their power laying low;
This gains us a rising when time shall be ended,
Death no more shall hold us; Ah never, Oh no!"

Our precious Christ is the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. O, then, (and not till then) shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory."

This is the gospel which we have received, and wherein we stand, and by which we are saved. (1 Cor. 15:1, 2.)

"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." (1 John 3:1-3.)

Now only in part we know; then, when we are gather home to glory in that glorified body and soul, we shall know then even as we are known.

"Then shall I see, and hear, and know
All I desired and wished below;
And every power find sweet employ
In that eternal world of joy."

Frederick W. Keene, North Berwick, Maine, August, 1908

the preacher's prayer

Before Sermon
from Gadsby's Hymns #508


Lord, fill thy servant's soul to-day
With pure seraphic fire
And set his tongue at liberty,
And grant his soul's desire.

O may he preach the word of God
With energy and power;
May gospel-blessings spread around,
Like a refreshing shower.

May God's eternal love and grace
Be sweetly felt within;
While he is preaching Christ the Lord,
Who bore our curse and sin.

May burdened sinners lose their load,
And downcast souls rejoice;
May doubting souls believe to-day
They are Jehovah's choice.

May Christ be first, and Christ be last,
And Christ be all in all,
Who died to make salvation sure,
And raise us from the fall.

O may thy servant now to-day
Proclaim salvation free,
As finished by the Son of God,
For such poor souls as we.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isa 55:11


My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. Deut 32:2-3


This hymn may be sung to the tune of Amazing Grace.

from Gadsby's Hymns, 173

Christ a Sanctuary

To see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary. Ps. 63:2

Honour and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Ps. 96:6

Sanctify the LORD of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary. Isa. 8:13-14a

Jesus before Thy face I fall,
My Lord, my Life, my Hope, my All;
For I have nowhere else to flee,
No sanctuary, Lord, but Thee.

In Thee I every glory view,
Of safety, strength, and beauty too;
Beloved Savior, ever be
A Sanctuary unto me.

Whatever woes and fears betide,
In Thy dear bosom let me hide;
And, while I pour my soul to Thee,
Do Thou my Sanctuary be.

Through life and all its changing scenes,
And all the grief that intervenes,
Tis this supports my fainting heart ,
That Thou my Sanctuary art.

Apace the solemn hour draws nigh,
When I must bow my head and die;
But O what joy this witness gives,
Jesus, my Sanctuary lives!

He from the grave my dust will raise;
I in the heavens will sing His praise;
And when in glory I appear,
He'll be my Sanctuary there.

As I read this hymn I thought of those verses in John 6; "Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

This hymn may be sung to the tune of Blessed Assurance or When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.

faith

And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. Luke 17:5


Lord, increase my faith.

Relief

"Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." PSA. 57:1

It is believed that David wrote this psalm while hiding in a cave from King Saul of Israel. You, perhaps remember the story of Saul and David. For many years, Saul, for no good reason, sought to kill David. Stop and think on that for a moment, to literally live from day to day with the threat of physical death lingering over your head.

These were the "calamities" that David sought relief from. The word translated 'calamities' carries the meaning of ruin, iniquity, evil, and wickedness. For me it is hard to compare my life's troubles with David's life's calamities. Nevertheless, I am reminded by him that true refuge and therefore true relief is found only in Almighty God.

To seek refuge in something or someone else is worthless. Jonah called these false refuges "lying vanities", Jeremiah referred to them as "broken cisterns". We might, perhaps, find temporary relief in these other refuges but in the scope of eternity they will eventually give way like the house built on sand.

Believers have a different hope and a different refuge. Jesus said; "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me." Our refuge is Christ; He, alone, is appointed by God as the way, the truth and the life. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

May we say with the psalmist; "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

a brief thought from Psalm 43

O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

Such a simple prayer and yet such a necessary prayer for the soul.

If God does not send we are left in darkness. If God does not send understanding (light) we will only know the truth in a cold, dead way. If He does not send truth then we will continue to live in our own ideas, our own opinions of 'truth' which only lead to death. Unless light and truth lead us and bring us then we have not been brought and we are still in darkness.

Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."

"Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith."

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Cor 6:19-20

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Rom. 12:1

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Rom. 6:13

By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Heb. 13:15

A Spurgeon "Blog"

"The Lord shut him in." --Genesis 7:16

Noah was shut in away from all the world by the hand of divine love. The door of electing purpose interposes between us and the world which lieth in the wicked one. We are not of the world even as our Lord Jesus was not of the world. Into the sin, the gaiety, the pursuits of the multitude we cannot enter; we cannot play in the streets of Vanity Fair with the children of darkness, for our heavenly Father has shut us in.

Noah was shut in with his God. "Come thou into the ark," was the Lord's invitation, by which He clearly showed that He Himself intended to dwell in the ark with His servant and his family. Thus all the chosen dwell in God and God in them. Happy people to be enclosed in the same circle which contains God in the Trinity of His persons, Father, Son, and Spirit.

Let us never be inattentive to that gracious call, "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, and hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast." Noah was so shut in that no evil could reach him. Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was rest and peace. Without Christ we perish, but in Christ Jesus there is perfect safety. Noah was so shut in that he could not even desire to come out, and those who are in Christ Jesus are in Him for ever.

They shall go no more out for ever, for eternal faithfulness has shut them in, and infernal malice cannot drag them out. The Prince of the house of David shutteth and no man openeth; and when once in the last days as Master of the house He shall rise up and shut the door, it will be in vain for mere professors to knock, and cry Lord, Lord open unto us, for that same door which shuts in the wise virgins will shut out the foolish for ever. Lord, shut me in by Thy grace.

---from Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Day 151 of 2009

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly(wicked), nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither(fade); and whatsoever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

question

Psalm 137:1-4

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?

Acts 16:22-25

And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

Question

Why did Israel, captive in Babylon, say "How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?" and Paul and Silas, captive in prison, "prayed and sang praises"? What's the difference?

It seems to me that Israel was laid low because of their sin. It was their sin that led to their captivity. Their sin had separated them from God, their sin had broken their fellowship with Him.

Paul and Silas were in prison because they were persecuted for proclaiming God and His gospel. Perhaps they remembered the Lord's words that said "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "

We believers are sometimes laid low, like Israel. We are captives, we are captive to our sin. We lose our joy, we lose our fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Perhaps, we should, at those times, remember the words of the apostle John "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

It is this same John who said; "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not." He then goes on to tell us; "And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous".