The rich man and Lazarus

   ~ ~ ~ ~

(Thomas Sherman, "Divine Breathings!")

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire!'
But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here--and you are in agony!'" Luke 16:19-25

The wicked have their Heaven here--and their Hell hereafter.
But the righteous have their Hell here--and their Heaven hereafter.

Dives had his good things in this life--and Lazarus his evil things.
Now Lazarus is comforted--and Dives is tormented!

I will not, therefore, envy the prosperity of the wicked,
nor be cast down at the afflictions of the righteous;
seeing the one is drawn in pomp to Hell--
while the other swims in tears to Heaven!

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Exceedingly Abundant Grace for Transformation

Bob Hoekstra

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry . . . And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant.  (1Ti_1:12, 1Ti_1:14)
The grace of God is "much more" than our sin and our failure. It is "much more" than our personal inadequacy. It is "much more" than our comprehension of it. God's grace is "much more" than necessary to radically change our lives. In the limitless resources of God, there is exceedingly abundant grace for transformation. The Apostle Paul is a distinctive example of this transforming grace of God. The Lord took him from religious vanity into spiritual service.  
Paul was grateful for this work of grace. "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." God is the one who puts us into ministry. Consequently, for every arena of service we are given, it is appropriate to express thanksgiving to God. Paul knew his ministry was anchored in God's will, not man's. "Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father" (Gal_1:1). Certainly, man can recognize and confirm our callings from God. "When James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles" (Gal_2:9). Still, our appointment is from the Lord: "to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles" (2Ti_1:11). Unlike many of us, Paul was told of his calling at the very beginning of his walk with the Lord. "Rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you" (Act_26:16). Such calling to service becomes a stewardship from, and unto, the Lord: "of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God . . . if indeed you have heard of the dispensation [same term, stewardship] of the grace of God which was given to me for you" (Col_1:25 and Eph_3:2).
To put Paul into effective ministry, God Himself had to do the necessary strengthening work, as well as making him a man of faith. "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful." God's grace is the bountiful resource that brings about such transformation for ministry. "And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant."
Lord, I know Your word teaches that all of Your children are called to serve You. Work by Your grace in my heart, enabling me, building my faith, and confirming my calling. I want to be a faithful steward of Your exceedingly abundant grace, Amen.

O what a Hell will it be!

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(John Flavel, "The Method of Grace")

"For what is the hope of the hypocrite--when God takes away his soul?" Job 27:8

Nothing more aggravates a man's damnation, than to sink suddenly into it from amid so many hopes and such high confidence of eternal bliss. For a man to find himself in Hell, when he thought himself within a step of Heaven--O what a Hell will it be! The higher vain hopes lift men up--the more dreadful must their fall be.

"The hypocrite's hope shall perish!" Job 8:13

"The expectation of the wicked shall perish!" Proverbs 10:28

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Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions November 21st

Morning, November 21

“Grieve not the Holy Spirit.”

Ephesians 4:30

Charles Spurgeon

All that the believer has must come from Christ, but it comes solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace. Moreover, as all blessings thus flow to you through the Holy Spirit, so also no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious act, apart from the sanctifying operation of the same Spirit. Even if the good seed be sown in you, yet it lies dormant except he worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Do you desire to speak for Jesus—how can you unless the Holy Ghost touch your tongue? Do you desire to pray? Alas! what dull work it is unless the Spirit maketh intercession for you! Do you desire to subdue sin? Would you be holy? Would you imitate your Master? Do you desire to rise to superlative heights of spirituality? Are you wanting to be made like the angels of God, full of zeal and ardour for the Master’s cause? You cannot without the Spirit—“Without me ye can do nothing.” O branch of the vine, thou canst have no fruit without the sap! O child of God, thou hast no life within thee apart from the life which God gives thee through his Spirit! Then let us not grieve him or provoke him to anger by our sin. Let us not quench him in one of his faintest motions in our soul; let us foster every suggestion, and be ready to obey every prompting. If the Holy Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without him; let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and conclude no transaction, without imploring his blessing. Let us do him the due homage of feeling our entire weakness apart from him, and then depending alone upon him, having this for our prayer, “Open thou my heart and my whole being to thine incoming, and uphold me with thy free Spirit when I shall have received that Spirit in my inward parts.”

My Utmost for His Highest

November 21st

It is finished

I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. John 17:4

Oswald Chambers

The death of Jesus Christ is the performance in history of the very mind of God. There is no room for looking on Jesus Christ as a martyr; His death was not something that happened to Him which might have been prevented. His death was the very reason why He came.

Never build your preaching of forgiveness on the fact that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. It is untrue to Jesus Christ’s revelation of God; it makes the Cross unnecessary, and the Redemption “much ado about nothing.” If God does forgive sin, it is because of the death of Christ. God could forgive men in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted to be Saviour because of His death. “We see Jesus … because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.” The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ—“It is finished.” That is the last word in the Redemption of man.

Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ. Never allow the thought that Jesus Christ stands with us against God out of pity and compassion; that He became a curse for us out of sympathy with us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by the Divine decree. Our portion of realizing the terrific meaning of the curse is conviction of sin, the gift of shame and penitence is given us; this is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the wrong in man, and Calvary is the estimate of His hatred.

Evening, November 21

“Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.”

John 12:2

Charles Spurgeon

He is to be envied. It was well to be Martha and serve, but better to be Lazarus and commune. There are times for each purpose, and each is comely in its season, but none of the trees of the garden yield such clusters as the vine of fellowship. To sit with Jesus, to hear his words, to mark his acts, and receive his smiles, was such a favour as must have made Lazarus as happy as the angels. When it has been our happy lot to feast with our Beloved in his banqueting-hall, we would not have given half a sigh for all the kingdoms of the world, if so much breath could have bought them.

He is to be imitated. It would have been a strange thing if Lazarus had not been at the table where Jesus was, for he had been dead, and Jesus had raised him. For the risen one to be absent when the Lord who gave him life was at his house, would have been ungrateful indeed. We too were once dead, yea, and like Lazarus stinking in the grave of sin; Jesus raised us, and by his life we live—can we be content to live at a distance from him? Do we omit to remember him at his table, where he deigns to feast with his brethren? Oh, this is cruel! It behoves us to repent, and do as he has bidden us, for his least wish should be law to us. To have lived without constant intercourse with one of whom the Jews said, “Behold how he loved him,” would have been disgraceful to Lazarus, is it excusable in us whom Jesus has loved with an everlasting love? To have been cold to him who wept over his lifeless corpse, would have argued great brutishness in Lazarus. What does it argue in us over whom the Saviour has not only wept, but bled? Come, brethren, who read this portion, let us return unto our heavenly Bridegroom, and ask for his Spirit that we may be on terms of closer intimacy with him, and henceforth sit at the table with him. 

Sin Abounding, Grace Abounding "Much More"

Bob Hoekstra

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (Rom_5:20-21)
Sin can overflow lives until there seems to be no hope. Yet, the scriptures boldly declare that the grace of God is greater than the most terrible, aggravated sin of man. Yes, even when sin is abounding, grace can eventually abound "much more."  
The Lord uses His law to teach us of sin and of our need for His grace. "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound." The law provokes the rebellious hearts of man, revealing the desires of sin within them. "For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death . . . I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet' " (Rom_7:5, Rom_7:7). Also, the law of God convinces us of the awful nature of sin: "that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful" (Rom_7:13). Part of the awful impact of sin is the death it produces in lives: "sin reigned in death." Sin brings spiritual death. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom_6:23). Where sin is left unattended it rules lives by bringing more and more evidences of this spiritual deadness: such as; hatred, selfishness, cruelty, emptiness, despair, and the like. It is as though great waves of sin roll over lives, inundating them in bondage and hopelessness. Nevertheless, there is always hope in the grace of God. "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." No matter how high the waves of sin have flooded in, the waves of God's grace can roll in higher, if we humbly seek after Him.
The grace of God is not only able to forgive sin and cleanse it away, it can also set up a new rule of godliness in forgiven lives. "As sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness." Sin once ruled our lives, bringing spiritual deadness, which increased with each day. Now, if grace is allowed to work in our lives, practical righteousness grows day by day: such as; love, selflessness, kindness, fullness, hope, and the like. All of this is the qualitative aspect of the everlasting life that comes by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: "even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Dear Lord, what a great encouragement these words bring to my heart. The waves of past sin in my life, and the lives of others I minister to, can be dealt with by greater waves of Your life-giving grace. Lord, please flood my life with tidal waves of grace, producing righteousness in my life. Also, help me to point others in this direction of abundant hope, through Jesus Christ, Amen.