Monday, November 30, 2009

Twilight is like Pornography


I really don't think people realize the lure of vampire stories. When i was away from Christ, i absoutly adored vampire stories. I wanted to be one. I acted like them. A vampire can do anything, have anyone, be always the coolest and most powerful. There is no way to devorce vampirism and sexuality. Everything about vampires is foused on sex. What these stories are is emotional pornography. You can sin in your heart sexually just as much as in your mind or with your body. Here is an interesting thought on a side of this that people don't talk about it...how women should be aware of this and aware of themselves likeing these stories from visionarydaughters.com

HERE IS THE ORIGINAL POST
November 24, 2009, by Elizabeth
A Horror Story About a Horror Story
Once upon a dark and stormy year, tens of millions of women and girls, of all ages, all nations, all religions, fell under the spell of one 17-year-old boy…
who was not even human…
and was not even real.
This imaginary man-god from the underworld became the new standard by which millions of real husbands, boyfriends and suitors were weighed in the balance and found wanting. To millions of women, reality began to pale in comparison to his dark and fantastical world – the only world where they could be with Their Edward.
“i dont really understand why but it makes me so sad when i think of edward, almost like i know he will never exsits expect in fictionly stories. i wish i would already find him and be eternaly happy just holding his hand :/”[1]
Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight may be fiction, but this story is real. Edward Cullen is no more than an idea, but ideas have consequences, and Edward-obsession is creeping into real history.
This week Twilight proved its mighty cultural force when the second film in the series, New Moon, broke all-time opening-day box office records, beating out Titanic and Dark Knight. [2] Since the release of the first Twilight book in 2005, 85 million subsequent books in the series have been sold. Twilight’s cultural conquest is phenomenal. But how did this averagely-written, clichéd storyline capture so many hearts, minds and imaginations (not to mention over one billion dollars in book, DVD and ticket sales)?
“I am obsessed, it seems to have taken over my life, everytime I think about putting the books up for good and reading something new, I nearly have an anxiety attack!”
We have a few theories. Though Stephanie Meyer is not a brilliant author, she knows how to make an illicit romance with a vampire look like a clean, pro-abstinence story of unconditional love and good vs. evil (and convince even Christians.) [3]
We believe her greatest genius, though, is her keen intuition into the sin nature and fleshly desires of women. Being, ourselves, young women in her target demographic, we know Twilight presents a very attractive alternate universe to tempt any girl’s flesh: a self-centered, autonomous life, a self-gratifying romance, and no real-world responsibilities or consequences. Best of all, the perfection of the hero has no human limitations. Move over, Mr. Darcy – with your every earthly quality, you’re still only human. Mr. Cullen is superhumanly handsome, brilliant, strong, rich, romantic, and most of all, superhumanly capable of unconditional love. He even has the “bad-boy” appeal of being a blood-lusting creature of the underworld, but with the impeccable Victorian manners and sensitive feminine feelings of the “good boy.” Half-demon, half-angel; there’s something for everyone in Edward Cullen.
Of course, intrinsic to Edward’s irresistible allure is the sheer, titillating “forbidden” factor. Twilight’s now-iconic cover art portrays the hands of a young girl holding an apple, an allusion to Eve’s contemplating the forbidden fruit – a metaphor for Bella’s temptation for an unthinkable relationship with a vampire. The message of the cover is perfectly apropos; the choice presented, however, is before more than just Bella, Twilight’s protagonist. Will we fall into our own love affair with Edward Cullen? Will we succumb to the charms of fantasy men in fantasy worlds?
Emotional Pornography
“He grinned his crooked smile at me, stopping my breath and my heart. I couldn’t imagine how an angel could be any more glorious. There was nothing about him that could be improved upon.” (Bella Swan, Twilight, Chapter 12, p.241)
For this discussion, we would like to set aside the dark paranormal element of Twilight, though that is a concern on its own. We believe what ultimately draws women into this series and other romance novels in millions-strong droves is the same thing that lures men into an estimated $3-4 billion-a-year pornography industry.
Journalist Alisa Harris explains: “It’s called emotional porn. When men glut their physical lust with pictures of airbrushed girls pumped full of silicone, they become dissatisfied with real women’s bodies. When women plug their emotional caverns with chick flicks and chick lit, they become dissatisfied with the real men they know because they can’t measure up to the guys from The Notebook or Pride and Prejudice or Walk to Remember.” (Alisa Harris, “Beating Darcy Down”, Kritik Magazine)
Pornography is not simply about pictures. At its core, pornography starts with:
1. A desire to use people as self-gratification machines2. A preference for man-made reality and man-made people over the real thing.
These hold as much temptation for women as for men, though romance novels often feed their fire better than pictures. (It has been found, however, that pictures of Robert Pattinson don’t put a damper on anything.) [4]
R.J. Rushdoony asks, “Why should an unreal female be exciting, and a far better and real woman not be so? The key is the essence of imagination: the fantasy woman is totally the creation and creature of man, whereas the real woman is God’s creation and creature. It is essential to imagination to create a man-made world and a man-ordained decree of predestination. It is the essence of sin to demand such a world.” [5]
Why should Edward, Mr. Darcy and other romantic heroes be more interesting than “far better and real” men? Because these men are the creations of women, tailor-made just the way we want them… rather than the way God made them.
Why Can’t a Man… Be More Like a Woman?
“A normal guy would wait for you to make him breakfast. Edward Cullen would make you breakfast everyday.” (Normal Guy Vs. Edward Cullen)
The problem with real guys, it often seems, is that they aren’t enough like, well… girls. The airbrushed, artificially enhanced heroes of romantic fiction have usually undergone some gender-blurring to make them more romantically satisfying: more beautiful, more delicately-featured, more sensitive, more domestic, better behaved, more in tune with our feelings. In short, more like us. Ultimately, they must also take on a different role, because real men are not all about what we wish they were all about (us).
In God’s world, the woman was created for the man; in the wonderful world of romance novels, the man is usually created as an accessory to the woman. God created men to have a dominion-focus, not a woman-focus, and the woman was to be his helper in his mission. [6] In romance-novel-land, however, the heroine is the center of the hero’s universe and his reason for living. As Edward tells Bella in Twilight, “You are my life now.” [7]
Better than Life
But there is something more that makes the real and living pine for the non-existent and undead.
“I am sad that [the books] are over. For me that means no more escape from real life. I need a good read to fill that void where reality meets fantasy.”
Though some may profess immunity to teen-vampire-horror-romance, everyone tainted by sin faces this temptation to escape to another world. A different “reality,” where what is impossible in real life is possible in our minds – where we can indulge in desires we would never fulfill in the real world. It’s about more than going batty for vampires. It’s about a chance to take a “time off” from law and consequences.
R.J. Rushdoony points out, “Because ours is an age with a will to fiction, the role of imagination is extremely important. Men who will not be governed by God’s word will not be governed by reality, because reality is not of their making. God having created all things, reality reflects the mind of God, not man. Hence, it is the essence of sin to resort to imagination to escape God’s law world.”[8]
We who feel “the urge to escape sometimes” should ask ourselves why a world apart from God’s character, God’s laws, and God’s created order would be a world a Christian would desire to live in? [9] What would make us want to run, like Jonah, from God and His presence? “Escapism is only medicine to one who views the reality of God and His creation as a disease.” [10] The answer for those in need of “escape” from life’s hardships is running to God – not away from Him.
Here is the ultimate question for those of us who delight in being titillated by unbiblical violence, unbiblical death, unbiblical spiritualism, and unbiblical romance – even when it’s “just pretend”: Are we are of the spirit, or still of the flesh?
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:5-9)
To Be As Goddesses
Stephanie Meyers certainly hit the jackpot, we believe, because she knows what it is that women really want in their fantasies: a god to worship them as a goddess.
And really, the desire to be “as gods” – the temptation Eve succumbed to – is the lure tempting every girl to create her own world and her own men, and define what is good and evil for herself. As we pointed out at the beginning, the choice before each of us is the choice Meyers wrote in for Bella: to eat of the forbidden fruit, or not? Our prayer is that the daughters of our generation will flee temptation, and make the better choice.
We realize this article has taken a hard line, and we certainly didn’t want to spoil anyone’s fun, but we don’t really have to: Twilight will spoil its own fun.
“When I finished [the last book in the series] I felt like my world would collapse. I had been living in Forks for so long that I didn’t want to go back to my boring not-at-all-interesting life! …Then reality hit me and I realized I’m not Bella and my husband is not Edward. That was hard for me to swallow.”
The reality that will eventually hit Twi-hards is that this infatuation is its own punishment. No amount of ticket sales, Twilight addiction “fixes,” and I-Want-to-Marry-Edward-Cullen fansites will change the fact that Edward Cullen is still not human, and still not real. Mercifully, we have a God Who is.
———Footnotes:
1. All fan quotes are from various online Twilight discussion groups
2. According to Deadline.com, “NEW MOON opened with a phenomenal performance of a gargantuan $140.7 million first weekend in North America and, $118.1M from 25 international markets from Wednesday through Sunday, and a worldwide 5-day total of $258.8M. …With the audience exactly split under and over age 21, exit polling showed that 80% were female.” Read the entire report here: http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/phenomenal-breaking-records-new-moon-doing-dark-knight-midnight-numbers/
3. Twilight does present some heavy themes like good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, heaven vs. hell, but without any moral clarity. What is good and what is evil, and by what standard? In Twilight’s ethical system, carrying on a secret relationship with a killer is good, while going against one’s heart is bad, etc.
4.Bella’s own “love” for Edward is hardly pure (or selfless, or rational); it seems based on the emotional and physical feelings she gets when she looks at him. Bella responds to Edward’s “pale, glorious face,” “voice…like melting honey,” “hypnotic eyes,” etc., like a stimulus-response mechanism, with estrogen for brains. Girls learn to salivate along with her, like Pavlovian dogs, at every mention of the world “gorgeous.”
5. R.J. Rushdoony, Systematic Theology Volume I, pp. 474, 475
6. Genesis 2:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:8-12
7. Twilight, Chapter 15, p.314
8. R.J. Rushdoony, Systematic Theology Volume I, Rushdoony, pp. 474,
9. Read Doug Phillips’s excellent article on this subject: “Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade: Is it Scripturally moral to present immoral behavior in fantasy stories?”
10. We borrowed this astute observation from our brother Benjamin. Keep an eye on his blog (www.BenBotkin.com) for his future writings on this subject.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Do You Pray?

Do you pray? Most of the time i think my prayer life is terrible. Many times I feel like i'm just talking to the roof. I am trying very hard to learn how to pray; to let the Holy Spirit teach me how to pray. I have so much pride, I worry that i don't know what to say, and i so hate it. I so badily want to pray with power and love. Not for my glory but for the Glory of my father and his Son. This article from the great man J.C. Ryle has really helped me. I am so greatful for God giving us men like him that were blessed with such gifts of teaching and writing. During this day of thanksgiving, I thank God that though i am nothing but a wretched sinner, and the least of his servants, that he allows through the blood of his own precious Son Slain, we may enter into the presence of the God of the universe and the king of creation. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Let us truly pray!

READER,
I OFFER you a question of the deepest importance. It heads the page before your eyes. It is contained in three little words,—Do you pray?
The question is one that none but you can answer. Whether you attend public worship or not, your minister knows. Whether you have family prayers in your house or not, your relatives know. But whether you pray in private or not, is a matter between yourself and God.
Reader, I beseech you in all affection to attend to the subject I bring before you. Do not say that my question is too close. If your heart is right in the sight of God, there is nothing in it to make you afraid. Do not turn off my question by replying that you say your prayers. It is one thing to say your prayers, and another to pray. Do not tell me that my question is unnecessary. Listen to me for a few minutes, and I will show you good reasons for asking it.

I. I ask whether you pray, because prayer is absolutely needful to a man's salvation.
I say absolutely needful, and I say so advisedly. I am not speaking now of infants and idiots. I am not settling the state of the heathen. I know that where little is given, there little will be required. I speak especially of those who call themselves Christians, in a land like our own. And of such I say no man or woman can expect to be saved who does not pray.
I hold salvation by grace as strongly as any one. I would gladly offer a free and full pardon to the greatest sinner that ever lived. I would not hesitate to stand by his dying bed, and say, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ even now, and you shall be saved." But that a man can have salvation without asking for it, I cannot see in the Bible. That a man will receive pardon of his sins, who will not so much as lift up his heart inwardly, and say, "Lord Jesus, give it to me," this I cannot find. I can find that nobody will be saved by his prayers, but I cannot find that without prayer anybody will be saved.
It is not absolutely needful to salvation that a man should read the Bible. A man may have no learning, or be blind, and yet have Christ in his heart. It is not absolutely needful that a man should hear the public preaching of the Gospel. He may live where the Gospel is not preached, or he may be bedridden, or deaf. But the same thing cannot be said about prayer. It is absolutely needful to salvation that a man should pray.
There is no royal road either to health or learning. Princes and kings, poor men and peasants, all alike must attend to the wants of their own bodies and their own minds. No man can eat, drink, or sleep by proxy. No man can get the alphabet learned for him by another. All these are things that everybody must do for himself, or they will not be done at all.
Just as it is with the mind and body, so it is with the soul. There are certain things absolutely needful to the soul's health and well-being. Each must attend to these things for himself. Each must repent for himself. Each must apply to Christ for himself. And for himself each must speak to God and pray. You must do it for your-self, for by nobody else can it be done.
How can you expect to be saved by an "unknown" God? And how can you know God without prayer? You know nothing of men and women in this world, unless you speak with them. You cannot know God in Christ, unless you speak to Him in prayer. If you wish to be with Him in heaven, you must be one of His friends on earth. If you wish to be one of His friends on earth, you must pray.
Reader, there will be many at Christ's right hand in the last day. The saints gathered from north and south, and east and west, will be a multitude that no man can number. The song of victory that will burst from their mouths, when their redemption is at length complete, will be a glorious song indeed. It will be far above the noise of many waters, and of mighty thunders. But there will be no discord in that song. They that sing will sing with one heart as well as one voice. Their experience will be one and the same. All will have believed. All will have been washed in the blood of Christ. All will have been born again. All will have prayed. Yes! we must pray on earth, or we shall never praise in heaven.
We must go through the school of prayer, or we shall never be fit for the holiday of praise.
Reader, to be prayerless is to be without God,—without Christ,—without grace,—without hope,—and without heaven. It is to be in the road to hell. Now can you wonder that I ask the question,—DO YOU PRAY?

II. I ask again whether you pray, because a habit of prayer is one of the surest marks of a true Christian.
All the children of God on earth are alike in this respect. From the moment there is any life and reality about their religion, they pray. Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world, is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again, is praying.
This is one of the common marks of all the elect of God, "They cry unto Him day and night" (Luke xviii. 7). The Holy Spirit, who makes them new creatures, works in them the feeling of adoption, and makes them cry, "Abba, Father" (Rom. viii. 15). The Lord Jesus, when He quickens them, gives them a voice and a tongue, and says to them, "Be dumb no more." God has no dumb children. It is as much a part of their new nature to pray, as it is of a child to cry. They see their need of mercy and grace. They feel their emptiness and weakness. They cannot do otherwise than they do. They must pray.
I have looked carefully over the lives of God's saints in the Bible. I cannot find one of whose history much is told us, from Genesis to Revelation, who was not a man of prayer. I find it mentioned as a characteristic of the godly, that "they call on the Father," that "they call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." I find it recorded as a characteristic of the wicked, that "they call not upon the Lord" (1 Peter i. 17; 1 Cor. i. 2; Psalm xiv. 4).
I have read the lives of many eminent Christians who have been on earth since the Bible days. Some of them, I see, were rich and some poor. Some were learned, and some unlearned. Some of them were Episcopalians, some Presbyterians, some Baptists, some Independents, some Wesleyans. Some were Calvinists, and some Arminians. Some have loved to use a liturgy, and some to use none. But one thing, I see, they all had in common. They have all been men of prayer.
I study the reports of missionary societies in our own times. I see with joy that heathen men and women are receiving the Gospel in various parts of the globe. There are conversions in Africa, in New Zealand, in Hindustan, in America. The people converted are naturally unlike one another in every respect. But one striking thing I observe at all the missionary stations. The converted people always pray.
Reader, I do not deny that a man may pray without heart, and without sincerity. I do not for a moment pretend to say, that the mere fact of a person praying proves everything about his soul. As in every other part of religion, so also in this, there is plenty of deception and hypocrisy.
But this I do say,—that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured it is all vain talk if he does not pray.
And I say furthermore, that of all the evidences of real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books, and make fine speeches, and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet, and pours out his soul before God in secret, unless he is in earnest. The Lord Himself has set His stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When He sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, He gave him no other evidence of his change of heart than this,— "Behold, he prayeth." (Acts ix. 11).
I know that much may go on in a man's mind before he is brought to pray. He may have many convictions, desires, wishes, feelings, intentions, resolutions, hopes, and fears. But all these things are very uncertain evidences. They are to be found in ungodly people, and often come to nothing. In many a case they are not more lasting than the morning cloud, and the dew that passes away. A real hearty prayer, flowing from a broken and contrite spirit, is worth all these things put together.
I know that the elect of God are chosen to salvation from all eternity. I know that the Holy Spirit, who calls them in due time, in many instances leads them by very slow degrees to acquaintance with Christ. But the eye of man can only judge by what it sees. I cannot call anyone justified until he believes. I dare not say that any one believes until he prays. I cannot understand a dumb faith. The first act of faith will be to speak to God. Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. How a man can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a man can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.
Reader, never be surprised if you hear ministers of the Gospel dwelling much on the importance of prayer. This is the point we want to bring you to,—we want to know that you pray. Your views of doctrine may be correct. Your love of Protestantism may be warm and unmistakable. But still this may be nothing more than head knowledge and party spirit. We want to know whether you are actually acquainted with the throne of grace, and whether you can speak to God as well as speak about God.
Reader, do you wish to find out whether you are a true Christian? Then rest assured that my question is one of the very first importance,—DO YOU PRAY?

III. I ask whether you pray, because there is no duty in religion so neglected as private prayer.
We live in days of abounding religious profession. There are more places of public worship now than there ever were before. There are more persons attending them than there ever have been since England was a nation. And yet, in spite of all this public religion, I believe there is a vast neglect of private prayer.
I should not have said so a few years ago. I once thought in my ignorance that most people said their prayers, and many people prayed. I have lived to think differently. I have come to the conclusion that the great majority of professing Christians do not pray at all.
I know this sounds very shocking, and will startle many. But I am satisfied that prayer is just one of those things which is thought a "matter of course," and like many matters of course is shamefully neglected. It is "everybody's business," and as it often happens in such cases, is a business carried on by very few. It is one of those private transactions between God and our souls which no eye sees, and therefore one which there is every temptation to pass over and leave undone.
I believe that thousands never say a word of prayer at all. They eat. They drink. They sleep. They rise. They go forth to their labour. They return to their homes. They breathe God's air. They see God's sun. They walk on God's earth. They enjoy God's mercies. They have dying bodies. They have judgment and eternity before them. But they never speak to God. They live like the beasts that perish. They behave like creatures without souls. They have not a word to say to Him in whose hand are their life, and breath, and all things, and from whose mouth they must one day receive their everlasting sentence. How dreadful this seems! But if the secrets of men were only known, how common!
I believe there are tens of thousands whose prayers are nothing but a mere form,—a set of words repeated by rote, without a thought about their meaning. Some say over a few hasty sentences picked up in the nursery when they were children. Some content themselves with repeating the belief, forgetting that there is not a request in it. Some add the Lord's Prayer, but without the slightest desire that its solemn petitions may be granted. Some among the poor even at this day repeat the old Popish lines:— "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Bless the bed that I lie on."
Many, even of those who use good forms, mutter their prayers over after they have got into bed, or scramble over them while they wash or dress in the morning. Men may think what they please, but they may depend that in the sight of God this is not praying. Words said without heart are as utterly useless to our souls as the drumbeating of the poor heathen before their idols. Where there is no heart, there may be lip-work and tongue-work, but there is nothing that God listens to,—there is no prayer. Saul, I have no doubt, said many a long prayer before the Lord met him on the way to Damascus. But it was not till his heart was broken that the Lord said, "he prayeth."
Reader, does this surprise you? Listen to me and I will show you that I am not speaking as I do without reason. Do you think that my assertions are extravagant and unwarrantable? Give me your attention, and I will soon show you that I am only telling you the truth.
Have you forgotten that it is not natural to anyone to pray? The carnal mind is enmity against God. The desire of man's heart is to get far away from God, and have nothing to do with Him. His feeling toward Him is not love but fear. Why then should a man pray when he has no real sense of sin, no real feeling of spiritual wants, no thorough belief in unseen things, no desire after holiness and heaven? Of all these things the vast majority of men know and feel nothing. The multitude walk in the broad way. I cannot forget this. Therefore I say boldly, I believe that few pray.
Have you forgotten that it is not fashionable to pray? It is just one of the things that many would be rather ashamed to own. There are hundreds who would sooner storm a breach, or lead a forlorn hope, than confess publicly that they make a habit of prayer. There are thousands who, if obliged by chance to sleep in the same room with a stranger, would lie down in bed without a prayer. To ride well, to shoot well, to dress well, to go to theatres, to be thought clever and agreeable,—all this is fashionable, but not to pray. I cannot forget this. I cannot think a habit is common which so many seem ashamed to own. I believe that few pray.
Have you forgotten the lives that many live? Can we really suppose that people are praying against sin night and day, when we see them plunging right into it? Can we suppose they pray against the world, when they are entirely absorbed and taken up with its pursuits? Can we think they really ask God for grace to serve Him, when they do not show the slightest desire to serve Him at all? Oh! no! it is plain as daylight that the great majority of men either ask nothing of God, or do not mean what they say when they do ask,—which is just the same thing. Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer. I cannot forget this. I look at men's lives. I believe that few pray.
Have you forgotten the deaths that many die? How many, when they draw near death, seem entirely strangers to God. Not only are they sadly ignorant of His Gospel, but sadly wanting in the power of speaking to Him. There is a terrible awkwardness, and shyness, and newness, and rawness, in their endeavours to approach Him. They seem to be taking up a fresh thing. They appear as if they wanted an introduction to God, and as if they had never talked with Him before. I remember having heard of a lady who was anxious to have a minister to visit her in her last illness. She desired that he would pray with her. He asked her what he should pray for. She did not know and could not tell. She was utterly unable to name any one thing which she wished him to ask God for her soul. All she seemed to want was the form of a minister's prayers. I can quite understand this. Death-beds are great revealers of secrets. I cannot forget what I have seen of sick and dying people. This also leads me to believe that few pray.
Reader, I cannot see your heart. I do not know your private history in spiritual things. But from what I see in the Bible and in the world, I am certain I cannot ask you a more necessary question than that before you,-DO YOU PRAY?

IV I ask whether you pray, because prayer is that act in religion to which there is the greatest encouragement.
There is everything on God's part to make prayer easy, if men will only attempt it. All things are ready on His side. Every objection is anticipated. Every difficulty is provided for. The crooked places are made straight, and the rough places are made smooth. There is no excuse left for the prayerless man.
There is a way by which any man, however sinful and unworthy, may draw near to God the Father. Jesus Christ has opened that way by the sacrifice He made for us upon the cross. The holiness and justice of God need not frighten sinners and keep them back. Only let them cry to God in the name of Jesus,—only let them plead the atoning blood of Jesus,—and they shall find God upon a throne of grace, willing and ready to hear. The name of Jesus is a never-failing passport to our prayers. In that name a man may draw near to God with boldness, and ask with confidence. God has engaged to hear him. Reader, think of this. Is not this encouragement?
There is an advocate and intercessor always waiting to present the prayers of those who will employ Him. That advocate is Jesus Christ. He mingles our prayers with the incense of His own almighty intercession. So mingled they go up as a sweet savour before the throne of God. Poor as they are in themselves, they are mighty and powerful in the hand of our High Priest and Elder Brother. The bank note without a signature at the bottom is nothing but a worthless piece of paper. The stroke of a pen confers on it all its value. The prayer of a poor child of Adam is a feeble thing in itself, but once endorsed by the hand of the Lord Jesus it availeth much. There was an officer in the city of Rome who was appointed to have his doors always open, in order to receive any Roman citizen who applied to him for help. Just so the ear of the Lord Jesus is ever open to the cry of all who want mercy and grace. It is His office to help them. Their prayer is His delight. Reader, think of this. Is not this encouragement?
There is the Holy Spirit ever ready to help our infirmities in prayer. It is one part of His special office to assist us in our endeavours to speak with God. We need not be cast down and distressed by the fear of not knowing what to say. The Spirit will give us words if we will only seek His aid. He will supply us with "thoughts that breathe and words that burn." The prayers of the Lord's people are the inspiration of the Lord's Spirit,—the work of the Holy Ghost who dwells within them as the Spirit of grace and supplications. Surely the Lord's people may well hope to be heard. It is not they merely who pray, but the Holy Ghost pleading in them. Reader, think of this. Is not this encouragement?
There are exceeding great and precious promises to those who pray. What did the Lord Jesus mean when He spoke such words as these, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" (Matt. vii. 7, 8). "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt xxi 22). "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it" (John xiv. 13, 14). What did the Lord mean when He spoke the parables of the friend at midnight and the importunate widow? (Luke xi. 5 and xviii. 1). Reader, think over these passages. If this is not encouragement to pray, words have no meaning at all.
There are wonderful examples in Scripture of the power of prayer. Nothing seems to be too great, too hard, or too difficult for prayer to do. It has obtained things that seemed impossible and out of reach. It has won victories over fire, air, earth, and water. Prayer opened the Red Sea. Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from heaven. Prayer made the sun stand still. Prayer brought fire from the sky on Elijah's sacrifice. Prayer turned the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Prayer overthrew the army of Sennacherib. Well might Mary, Queen of Scots, say, "I fear John Knox's prayers more than an army of ten thousand men." Prayer has healed the sick. Prayer has raised the dead. Prayer has procured the conversion of souls. "The child of many prayers," said an old Christian to Augustine's mother, "shall never perish." Prayer, pains, and faith can do anything. Nothing seems impossible when a man has the spirit of adoption. "Let Me alone," is the remarkable saying of God to Moses, when Moses was about to intercede for the children of Israel (Exod. xxxii. 10). The Chaldee version has it, "leave off praying." So long as Abraham asked mercy for Sodom, the Lord went on giving. He never ceased to give till Abraham ceased to pray. Reader, think of this. Is not this encouragement?
What more can a man want to lead him to take any step in religion, than the things I have just told him about prayer? What more could be done to make the path to the mercy-seat easy, and to remove all occasions of stumbling from the sinner's way? Surely if the devils in hell had such a door set open before them, they would leap for gladness, and make the very pit ring with joy.
But where will the man hide his head at last who neglects such glorious encouragements? What can possibly be said for the man who, after all, dies without prayer? Surely, reader, I may well feel anxious that you should not be that man. Surely I may well ask,—DO YOU PRAY?

V. I ask whether you pray, because diligence in prayer is the secret of eminent holiness.
Without controversy there is a vast difference among true Christians. There is an immense interval between the foremost and the hindermost in the army of God.
They are all fighting the same good fight,—but how much more valiantly some fight than others! They are all doing the Lord's work,—but how much more some do than others! They are all light in the Lord,—but how much more brightly some shine than others! They are all running the same race,—but how much faster some get on than others! They all love the same Lord and Saviour,—but how much more some love Him than others! I ask any true Christian whether this is not the case. Are not these things so?
There are some of the Lord's people who seem never able to get on from the time of their conversion. They are born again, but they remain babes all their lives. They are learners in Christ's school, but they never seem to get beyond A B C, and the lowest form. They have got inside the fold, but there they lie down and get no further. Year after year you see in them the same old besetting sins. You hear from them the same old experience. You remark in them the same want of spiritual appetite,—the same squeamishness about anything but the milk of the Word, and the same dislike to strong meat,—the same childishness,—the same feebleness, —the same littleness of mind, the same narrowness of heart,—the same want of interest in anything beyond their own little circle, which you remarked ten years ago. They are pilgrims indeed, but pilgrims like the Gideonites of old,—their bread is always dry and mouldy, their shoes always old and clouted, and their garments always rent and torn. I say this with sorrow and grief. But I ask any real Christian, Is it not true?
There are others of the Lord's people who seem to be always getting on. They grow like the grass after rain. They increase like Israel in Egypt. They press on like Gideon,—though sometimes "faint, yet always pursuing" (Judges viii. 4). They are ever adding grace to grace, and faith to faith, and strength to strength. Every time you meet them their hearts seem larger, and their spiritual stature bigger, taller, and stronger. Every year they appear to see more, and know more, and believe more, and feel more in their religion. They not only have good works to prove the reality of their faith, but they are zealous of them. They not only do well, but they are unwearied in well-doing. They attempt great things, and they do great things. When they fail they try again, and when they fall they are soon up again. And all this time they think themselves poor, unprofitable servants, and fancy they do nothing at all. These are they who make religion lovely and beautiful in the eyes of all. They wrest praise even from the unconverted, and win golden opinions even from the selfish men of the world. These are they whom it does one good to see, to be with, and to hear. When you meet them, you could believe that, like Moses, they had just come out from the presence of God. When you part with them you feel warmed by their company, as if your soul had been near a fire. I know such people are rare. I only ask, Is it not so? Now, how can we account for the difference which I have just described? What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference in nineteen cases out of twenty arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy pray much.
I dare say this opinion will startle some readers. I have little doubt that many look on eminent holiness as a kind of special gift, which none but a few must pretend to aim at. They admire it at a distance in books. They think it beautiful when they see an example near themselves. But as to its being a thing within the reach of any but a very few, such a notion never seems to enter their minds. In short, they consider it a kind of monopoly granted to a few favoured believers, but certainly not to all.
Now, I believe that this is a most dangerous mistake. I believe that spiritual, as well as natural, greatness depends far more on the use of means within everybody's reach than on anything else. Of course I do not say we have a right to expect a miraculous grant of intellectual gifts. But this I do say, that when a man is once converted to God, whether he shall be eminently holy or not, depends chiefly on his own diligence in the use of God's appointed means. And I assert confidently that the principal means by which most believers have become great in the Church of Christ, is the habit of diligent private prayer.
Look through the lives of the brightest and best of God's servants, whether in the Bible or not. See what is written of Moses, and David, and Daniel, and Paul. Mark what is recorded of Luther and Bradford, the Reformers. Observe what is related of the private devotions of Whitefield, and Cecil, and Venn, and Bickersteth, and M'Cheyne. Tell me of one of all the goodly fellowship of saints and martyrs, who has not had this mark most prominently,—he was a man of prayer. Oh, depend upon it, prayer is power!
Prayer obtains fresh and continued out-pouring of the Spirit. He alone begins the work of grace in a man's heart. He alone can carry it forward and make it prosper. But the good Spirit loves to be entreated. And those who ask most, will always have most of His influence.
Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil and besetting sins. That sin will never stand firm which is heartily prayed against. That devil will never long keep dominion over us which we beseech the Lord to cast forth. But, then, we must spread out all our case before our heavenly Physician, if He is to give us daily relief. We must drag our indwelling devils to the feet of Christ, and cry to Him to send them back to the pit.
Reader, do you wish to grow in grace and be a very holy Christian? Be very sure, if you wish it, you could not have a more important question than this,—DO YOU PRAY?

VI I ask whether you pray, because neglect of prayer is one great cause of backsliding.
There is such a thing as going back in religion after making a good profession. Men may run well for a season, like the Galatians, and then turn aside after false teachers. Men may profess loudly, while their feelings are warm, as Peter did; and then, in the hour of trial, deny their Lord. Men may lose their first love, as the Ephesians did. Men may cool down in their zeal to do good, like Mark, the companion of Paul. Men may follow an apostle for a season, and then, like Demas, go back to the world. All these things men may do. It is a miserable thing to be a backslider. Of all unhappy things that can befall a man, I suppose it is the worst. A stranded ship, a broken-winged eagle, a garden over-run with weeds, a harp without strings, a church in ruins,—all these are sad sights, but a backslider is a sadder sight still. That true grace shall never be extinguished, and true union with Christ never be broken off, I feel no doubt. But I do believe that a man may fall away so far that he shall lose sight of his own grace, and despair of his own salvation. And if this is not hell, it is certainly the next thing to it. A wounded conscience, a mind sick of itself, a memory full of self-reproach, a heart pierced through with the Lord's arrows, a spirit broken with a load of inward accusation,—all this is a taste of hell. It is a hell on earth. Truly that saying of the wise man is solemn and weighty, "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways" (Prov. xiv. 14).
Now what is the cause of most backsliding? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer. Of course the secret history of falls will not be known till the last day. I can only give my opinion as a minister of Christ, and a student of the heart. That opinion is, I repeat distinctly, that backsliding generally first begins with neglect of private prayer.
Bibles read without prayer, sermons heard without prayer, marriages contracted without prayer, residences chosen without prayer, friendships formed without prayer, the daily act of private prayer itself hurried over, or gone through without heart,—these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall.
This is the process which forms the lingering Lots, the unstable Samsons, the wife-idolising Solomons, the inconsistent Asas, the pliable Jehosaphats, the over-careful Martha's,—of whom so many are to be found in the Church of Christ. Often the simple history of such cases is this,—they became careless about private prayer.
Reader, you may be very sure men fall in private, long before they fall in public. They are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world. Like Peter, they first disregard the Lord's warning to watch and pray; and then, like Peter, their strength is gone, and in the hour of temptation they deny their Lord.
The world takes notice of their fall, and scoffs loudly. But the world knows nothing of the real reason. The heathen succeeded in making the old Christian Father, Origen, offer incense to an idol, by threatening him with a punishment worse than death. They then triumphed greatly at the sight of his cowardice and apostasy. But the heathen did not know the fact, which Origen himself tells us, that on that very morning he had left his bed-chamber hastily, and without finishing his usual prayers.
Reader, if you are a Christian indeed, I trust you will never be a backslider. But if you do not wish to he a backsliding Christian, remember the question I ask you, -DO YOU PRAY?

VII. I ask, lastly, whether you pray, because prayer is one of the best receipts for happiness and contentment.
We live in a world where sorrow abounds. This has always been its state since sin came in. There cannot be sin without sorrow. And till sin is driven out from the world, it is vain for any one to suppose he can escape sorrow.
Some without doubt have a larger cup of sorrow to drink than others. But few are to be found who live long without sorrows or care of some sort or another. Our bodies, our property, our families, our children, our relatives, our servants, our friends, our neighbours, our worldly callings,—each and all of these are fountains of care. Sicknesses, deaths, losses, disappointments, partings, separations, ingratitude, slander,—all these are common things. We cannot get through life without them. Some day or other they find us out. The greater are our affections, the deeper are our afflictions; and the more we love, the more we have to weep.
And what is the best receipt for cheerfulness in such a world as this? How shall we get through this valley of tears with least pain? I know no better receipt than the habit of taking everything to God in prayer.
This is the plain advice that the Bible gives, both in the Old Testament and in the New. What says the Psalmist? "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me" (Psalm l.15). "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved" (Psalm lv. 22). What says the apostle Paul? "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philip. iv. 6, 7). What says the apostle James? "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray" (James v.13).
This was the practice of all the saints whose history we have recorded in the Scriptures. This is what Jacob did when he feared his brother Esau. This is what Moses did when the people were ready to stone him in the wilderness. This is what Joshua did when Israel was defeated before Ai. This is what David did when he was in danger at Keilah.. This is what Hezekiah did when he received the letter from Sennacherib. This is what the Church did when Peter was put in prison. This is what Paul did when he was cast into the dungeon at Philippi.
The only way to be really happy in such a world as this, is to be ever casting all our cares on God. It is the trying to carry their own burdens which so often makes believers sad. If they will only tell their troubles to God, He will enable them to bear them as easily as Samson did the gates of Gaza. If they are resolved to keep them to themselves, they will find one day that the very grasshopper is a burden.
There is a friend ever waiting to help us if we will only unbosom to Him our sorrow,—a friend who pitied the poor, and sick, and sorrowful, when He was upon earth, —a friend who knows the heart of man, for He lived thirty-three years as a man amongst us,—a friend who can weep with the weepers, for He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,—a friend who is able to help us, for there never was earthly pain He could not cure. That friend is Jesus Christ. The way to be happy is to be always opening our hearts to Him. Oh, that we were all like that poor Christian Negro, who only answered, when threatened and punished, "I must tell the Lord."
Jesus can make those happy who trust Him and call on Him, whatever be their outward condition. He can give them peace of heart in a prison,—contentment in the midst of poverty,—comfort in the midst of bereavements,—joy on the brink of the grave. There is a mighty fulness in Him for all His believing members,—a fulness that is ready to be poured out on every one that will ask in prayer.. Oh, that men would understand that happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart..
Prayer can lighten crosses for us however heavy. It can bring down to our side One who will help us to bear them. Prayer can open a door for us when our way seems hedged up.. It can bring down One who will say, "This is the way, walk ye in it." Prayer can let in a ray of hope when all our earthly prospects seem darkened. It can bring down One who will say,— "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Prayer can obtain relief for us when those we love most are taken away, and the world feels empty. It can bring down One who can fill the gap in Our hearts with Himself, and say to the waves within, "Peace: be still!" Oh, that men were not so like Hagar in the wilderness, blind to the well of living waters close beside them! (Genesis xxi. 19).
Reader, I want you to be happy. I know I cannot ask you a more useful question than this,—DO YOU PRAY?
And now, reader, it is high time for me to bring this tract to an end. I trust I have brought before you things that will be seriously considered. I heartily pray God that this consideration may be blessed to your soul.
1. Let me speak a parting word to those who do not pray. I dare not suppose that all who read these pages will be praying people. If you are a prayerless person, suffer me to speak to you this day on God's behalf.
Prayerless reader, I can only warn you, but I do warn you most solemnly. I warn you that you are in a position of fearful danger! If you die in your present state you are a lost soul. You will only rise again to be eternally miserable. I warn you, that of all professing Christians, you are most utterly without excuse. There is not a single good reason that you can show for living without prayer.
It is useless to say you know not how to pray.. Prayer is the simplest act in all religion. It is simply speaking to God. It needs neither learning, nor wisdom, nor book-knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will. The weakest infant can cry when he is hungry. The poorest beggar can hold out his hand for an alms, and does not wait to find fine words. The most ignorant man will find something to say to God, if he has only a mind.
It is useless to say you have no convenient place to pray in. Any man can find a place private enough if he is disposed. Our Lord prayed on a mountain, Peter on the house-top, Isaac in the field, Nathanael under the fig tree, Jonah in the whale's belly. Any place may become a closet, an oratory, and a Bethel, and be to us the presence of God.
It is useless to say you have no time. There is plenty of time, if men will only employ it. Time may be short, but time is always long enough for prayer. Daniel had all the affairs of a kingdom on his hands, and yet he prayed three times a day. David was ruler over a mighty nation, and yet he says, "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray" (Psalm lv. 17). When time is really wanted, time can always be found.
It is useless to say you cannot pray till you have faith and a new heart, and that you must sit still and wait for them. This is to add sin to sin. It is bad enough to be unconverted and going to hell. It is even worse to say, "I know it, but I will not cry for mercy." This is a kind of argument for which there is no warrant in Scripture. "Call ye upon the Lord," saith Isaiah, "while He is near" (Isaiah lv. 6).. "Take with you words, and turn to the Lord," says Hosea (Hosea xiv.. 2). "Repent and pray," says Peter to Simon Magus (Acts. viii. 22). If you want faith and a new heart, go and cry to the Lord for them. The very attempt to pray has often been the quickening of a dead soul.. Alas! there is no devil so dangerous as a dumb devil.
Oh! prayerless reader, who and what are you that you will not ask anything of God? Have you made a covenant with death and hell? Are you at peace with the worm and the fire? Have you no sins to be pardoned? Have you no fear of eternal torment? Have you no desire after heaven? Oh! that you would awake from your present folly! Oh! that you would consider your latter end! Oh! that you would arise and call upon God! Alas! there is a day coming when many shall pray loudly, "Lord, Lord, open to us," but all too late;—when many shall cry to the rocks to fall on them, and the hills to cover them, who would never cry to God. Reader, in all affection I warn you. Beware lest this be the end of your soul. Salvation is very near you. Do not lose heaven for want of asking.
2. Let me speak in the next place to those who have real desires for salvation, but know not what steps to take or where to begin. I cannot but hope that some readers may be in this state of mind, and if there be but one such, I must offer him encouragement and advice.
In every journey there must be a first step.. There must be a change from sitting still to moving forward. The journeyings of Israel from Egypt to Canaan were long and wearisome. Forty years passed away before they crossed Jordan. Yet there was someone who moved first when they marched from Ramah to Succoth. When does a man really take his first step in coming out from sin and the world? He does it in the day when he first prays with his heart.
In every building the first stone must be laid, and the first blow must be struck. The ark was 120 years in building. Yet there was a day when Noah laid his axe to the first tree he cut down to form it.. The temple of Solomon was a glorious building. But there was a day when the first huge stone was laid at the foot of Mount Moriah. When does the building of the Spirit really begin to appear in a man's heart? It begins, so far as we can judge, when he first pours out his heart to God in prayer.
Reader, if you desire salvation, and want to know what to do, I advise you to go this very day to the Lord Jesus Christ, in the first private place you can find, and entreat Him in prayer to save your soul.
Tell Him that you have heard that He receives sinners, and has said, "Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out" (John vi. 37). Tell Him that you are a poor vile sinner, and that you come to Him on the faith of His own invitation. Tell Him you put yourself wholly and entirely in His hands,—that you feel vile and helpless, and hopeless in yourself,—and that except He saves you, you have no hope to be saved at all. Beseech Him to deliver you from the guilt, the power, and the consequences of sin. Beseech Him to pardon you and wash you in His own blood. Beseech Him to give you a new heart, and plant the Holy Spirit in your soul.. Beseech Him to give you grace, and faith, and will, and power to be His disciple and servant from this day for ever. Oh! reader, go this very day, and tell these things to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you really are in earnest about your soul.
Tell Him in your own way, and your own words. If a doctor came to see you when sick, you could tell him where you felt pain.. If your soul feels its disease indeed, you can surely find something to tell Christ.
Doubt not His willingness to save you, because you are a sinner.. It is Christ's office to save sinners.. He says Himself, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke v.32).
Wait not, because you feel unworthy. Wait for nothing. Wait for nobody. Waiting comes from the devil. Just as you are, go to Christ. The worse you are, the more need you have to apply to Him. You will never mend yourself by staying away.
Fear not, because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you. Just as a mother understands the first babblings of her infant, so does the blessed Saviour understand sinners. He can read a sigh, and see a meaning in a groan.
Despair not, because you do not get an answer immediately. While you are speaking, Jesus is listening. If He delays an answer, it is only for wise reasons, and to try if you are in earnest.. Pray on, and the answer will surely come. Though it tarry, wait for it. It will surely come at last.
Oh! reader, if you have any desire to be saved, remember the advice I have given you this day. Act upon it honestly and heartily, and you shall be saved..
3. Let me speak, lastly, to those who do pray. I trust that some who read this tract know well what prayer is, and have the Spirit of adoption.. To all such, I offer a few words of brotherly counsel and exhortation. The incense offered in the tabernacle was ordered to be made in a particular way. Not every kind of incense would do. Let us remember this, and be careful about the matter and manner of our prayers.
Brethren who pray, if I know anything of a Christian's heart, you are often sick of your own prayers. You never enter into the Apostle's words, "When I would do good, evil is present with me" (Rom. vii 21), so thoroughly as you sometimes do upon your knees. You can understand David's words, "I hate vain thoughts." You can sympathise with that poor converted Hottentot, who was overheard praying, "Lord, deliver me from all my enemies, and, above all, from that bad man myself!" There are few children of God, who do not often find the season of prayer a season of conflict. The devil has special wrath against us, when he sees us on our knees. Yet I believe that prayers which cost us no trouble, should be regarded with great suspicion. I believe we are very poor judges of the goodness of our prayers, and that the prayer which pleases us least, often pleases God most. Suffer me then, as a companion in the Christian warfare, to offer you a few words of exhortation. One thing, at least, we all feel, —we must pray. We cannot give it up. We must go on.
I commend, then, to your attention, the importance of reverence and humility in prayer.. Let us never forget what we are, and what a solemn thing it is to speak with God. Let us beware of rushing into His presence with carelessness and levity. Let us say to ourselves, "I am on holy ground.. This is no other than the gate of heaven. If I do not mean what I say, I am trifling with God. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Let us keep in mind the words of Solomon, " Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth" (Eccles. v. 2). When Abraham spoke to God, he said, "I am but dust and ashes." When Job spoke, he said, "I am vile" (Gen.. xviii. 7; Job xl. 4).. Let us do likewise.
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of praying spiritually. I mean by this, that we should labour always to have the direct help of the Spirit in our prayers, and beware above all things of formality. There is nothing so spiritual, but that it may become a form, and this is specially true of private prayer. We may insensibly get into the habit of using the fittest possible words, and offering the most in scriptural petitions, and yet do it all by rote without feeling it, and walk daily round an old beaten path, like a horse in a mill. I desire to touch this point with caution and delicacy. I know that there are certain great things we daily want, and that there is nothing necessarily formal in asking for these things in the same words. The world, the devil, and our hearts, are daily the same.. Of necessity we must daily go over old ground. But this I say, we must be very careful on this point. If the skeleton and outline of our prayers be by habit almost a form, let us strive that the clothing and filling up of our prayer be as far as possible of the Spirit. As to praying out of a book, it is a habit I cannot praise. If we can tell our doctors the state of our bodies without a book, we ought to be able to tell the state of our souls to God.. I have no objection to a man using crutches, when he is first recovering from a broken limb. It is better to use crutches than not to walk at all. But if I saw him all his life on crutches, I should not think it matter for congratulation. I should like to see him strong enough to throw his crutches away.
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of making prayer a regular business of life. I might say something of the value of regular times in the day for prayer.. God is a God of order.. The hours for morning and evening sacrifice in the Jewish temple were not fixed as they were without a meaning.. Disorder is eminently one of the fruits of sin. But I would not bring any under bondage. This only I say, that it is essential to your soul's health to make praying a part of the business of every 24 hours in your life. Just as you allot time to eating, sleeping, and business, so also allot time to prayer. Choose your own hours and seasons. At the very least, speak with God in the morning, before you speak with the world; and speak with God at night, after you have done with the world.. But settle it down in your minds, that prayer is one of the great things of every day. Do not drive it into a corner. Do not give it the scraps and leavings and parings of your day.. Whatever else you make a business of, make a business of prayer.
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of perseverance in prayer. Once having begun the habit, never give it up. Your heart will sometimes say, "You have had family prayers; what mighty harm if you leave private prayer undone?" Your body will sometimes say, "You are unwell, or sleepy, or weary; you need not pray." Your mind will sometimes say, "You have important business to attend to; cut short your prayers." Look on all such suggestions as coming direct from the devil. They are all as good as saying, "Neglect your soul." I do not maintain that prayers should always be of the same length;—but I do say, let no excuse make you give up prayer. It is not for nothing that Paul said "continue in prayer," and "pray without ceasing." He did not mean that men should be always on their knees, as an old sect, called the Euchitæ, supposed. But he did mean that our prayers should be like the continual burnt offering,—a thing steadily persevered in every day;—that it should be like seed-time and harvest, and summer and winter,—a thing that should unceasingly come round at regular seasons;—that it should be like the fire on the altar, not always consuming sacrifices, but never completely going out. Never forget that you may tie together morning and evening devotions, by an endless chain of short ejaculatory prayers throughout the day. Even in company, or business, or in the very streets, you may be silently sending up little winged messengers to God, as Nehemiah did in the very presence of Artaxerxes. (Neh. ii. 4). And never think that time is wasted which is given to God. A nation does not become poorer because it loses one year of working days in seven, by keeping the Sabbath.. A Christian never finds he is a loser in the long run, by persevering in prayer.
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of earnestness in prayer. It is not necessary that a man should shout, or scream, or be very loud, in order to prove that he is in earnest. But it is desirable that we should be hearty, and fervent, and warm, and ask as if we were really interested in what we were doing. It is the "effectual fervent" prayer that "availeth much," and not the cold, sleepy, lazy, listless one. This is the lesson that is taught us by the expressions used in Scripture about prayer. It is called "crying," "knocking," "wrestling," "labouring," "striving." This is the lesson taught us by Scripture examples. Jacob is one. He said to the angel at Penuel, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me" (Gen. xxxii. 26). Daniel is another. Hear how he pleaded with God: "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken, and do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God" (Daniel ix. 19). Our Lord Jesus Christ is another. It is written of Him, "In the days of His flesh . . . He ...offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears" (Heb. v. 7). Alas! how unlike is this to many of our supplications! How tame and lukewarm they seem by comparison! How truly might God say to many of us, "You do not really want what you pray for!" Let us try to amend this fault. Let us knock loudly at the door of grace, like Mercy in "Pilgrim's Progress," as if we must perish unless heard. Let us settle it down in our minds, that cold prayers are a sacrifice without fire. Let us remember the story of Demosthenes, the great orator, when one came to him, and wanted him to plead his cause. He heard him without attention, while he told his story without earnestness. The man saw this, and cried out with anxiety that it was all true. "Ah!" said Demosthenes, "I believe you now."
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of praying with faith. We should endeavour to believe that our prayers are always heard, and that if we ask things according to God's will, shall always be answered. This is the plain command of our Lord Jesus Christ: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24). Faith is to prayer what the feather is to the arrow: without it prayer will not hit the mark. We should cultivate the habit of pleading promises in our prayers. We should take with us some promise, and say, "Lord, here is Thine own word pledged. Do for us as Thou hast said." This was the habit of Jacob, and Moses, and David. The 119th Psalm is full of things asked, "according to Thy word." Above all, we should cultivate the habit of expecting answers to our prayers. We should do like the merchant, who sends his ships to sea. We should not be satisfied unless we see some return. Alas! there are few points on which Christians come short so much as this. The Church at Jerusalem made prayer without ceasing for Peter in prison; but when the prayer was answered, they would hardly believe it. (Acts xii. 15.) It is a solemn saying of old Traill's, "There is no surer mark of trifling in prayer, than when men are careless what they get by prayer."
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of boldness in prayer. There is an unseemly familiarity in some men's prayers, which I cannot praise.. But there is such a thing as a holy boldness, which is exceedingly to be desired. I mean such boldness as that of Moses, when he pleads with God not to destroy Israel; "Wherefore," says he, "should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains? . . Turn from Thy fierce wrath" (Exod. xxxii. 12). I mean such boldness as that of Joshua, when the children of Israel were defeated before Ai: "What," says he, "wilt thou do unto Thy great name?" (Josh. vii. 9). This is the boldness for which Luther was remarkable.. One who heard him praying said, "What a spirit,—what a confidence was in his very expressions! With such a reverence he sued, as one begging of God, and yet with such hope and assurance, as if he spake with a loving father or friend.." This is the boldness which distinguished
Bruce, a great Scotch divine of the 17th century. His prayers were said to be "like bolts shot up into heaven." Here also I fear we sadly come short. We do not sufficiently realize the believer's privileges. We do not plead as often as we might, "Lord, are we not Thine own people? Is it not for Thy glory that we should be sanctified? Is it not for Thine honour that the Gospel should increase?"
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of fulness in prayer. I do not forget that our Lord warns us against the example of the Pharisees, who for pretence made long prayers; and commands us when we pray not to use vain repetitions. But I cannot forget, on the other hand, that He has given His own sanction to large and long devotions, by continuing all night in prayer to God. At all events we are not likely in this day to err on the side of praying too much. Might it not rather be feared, that many believers in this generation pray too little? Is not the actual amount of time that many Christians give to prayer in the aggregate very small? I am afraid these questions cannot be answered satisfactorily. I am afraid the private devotions of many are most painfully scanty and limited—just enough to prove they are alive, and no more. They really seem to want little from God.. They seem to have little to confess, little to ask for, and little to thank Him for. Alas! this is altogether wrong. Nothing is more common than to hear believers complaining that they do not get on. They tell us that they do not grow in grace, as they could desire. Is it not rather to be suspected that many have quite as much grace as they ask for? Is it not the true account of many that they have little, because they ask little? The cause of their weakness is to be found in their own stunted, dwarfish, clipped, contracted, hurried, little, narrow, diminutive prayers. They have not, because they ask not. Oh! reader, we are not straitened in Christ, but in ourselves. The Lord says, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." But we are like the king of Israel, who smote on the ground thrice and stayed, when he ought to have smitten five or six times.
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of particularity in prayer. We ought not to be content with great general petitions. We ought to specify our wants before the throne of grace. It should not be enough to confess we are sinners. We should name the sins of which our conscience tells us we are most guilty. It should not be enough to ask for holiness. We should name the graces in which we feel most deficient. It should not be enough to tell the Lord we are in trouble.
We should describe our trouble and all its peculiarities. That is what Jacob did, when he feared his brother Esau. He tells God exactly what it is that he fears. (Gen. xxxii. 11.) That is what Eliezer did, when he sought a wife for his master's son. He spreads before God precisely what he wants (Gen.. xxiv. 12.) This is what Paul did when he had a thorn in the flesh. He besought the Lord. (2 Cor. xii. 8.) This is true faith and confidence. We should believe that nothing is too small to be named before God. What should we think of the patient who told his doctor he was ill, but never went into particulars? What should we think of the wife who told her husband she was unhappy, but did not specify the cause? What should we think of the child who told his father he was in trouble, but nothing more? Oh! reader, Christ is the true bridegroom of the soul,—the true physician of the heart,—the real father of all His people. Let us show that we feel this, by being unreserved in our communications with Him. Let us hide no secrets from Him. Let us tell Him all our hearts.
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of intercession in our prayers. We are all selfish by nature, and our selfishness is very apt to stick to us, even when we are converted. There is a tendency in us to think only of our own souls,—our own spiritual conflict,—our own progress in religion, and to forget others. Against this tendency we have all need to watch and strive, and not least in our prayers. We should study to be of a public spirit. We should stir ourselves up to name other names beside our own before the throne of grace. We should try to bear in our hearts the whole world,—the heathen, the Jews, the Roman Catholics, the body of true believers, the professing Protestant Churches, the country in which we live, the congregation to which we belong, the household in which we sojourn, the friends and relations we are connected with. For each and all of these, we should plead. This is the highest charity. He loves me best who loves me in his prayers. This is for our soul's health. It enlarges our sympathies and expands our hearts. This is for the benefit of the Church. The wheels of all machinery for extending the Gospel are oiled by prayer. They do as much for the Lord's cause who intercede like Moses on the mount, as they do who fight like Joshua in the thick of the battle. This is to be like Christ. He bears the names of His people on His breast and shoulders as their high priest before the Father. Oh! the privilege of being like Jesus! This is to be a true helper to ministers. If I must needs choose a congregation, give me a people that prays.
I commend to you, in the next place, the importance of thankfulness in prayer. I know well that asking God is one thing, and praising God is another. But I see so close a connection between prayer and praise in the Bible, that I dare not call that true prayer in which thankfulness has no part. It is not for nothing that Paul says, "By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Philip. iv. 6). "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Coloss. iv. 2). It is of mercy that we are not in hell. It is of mercy that we have hope of heaven. It is of mercy that we live in a land of spiritual light. It is of mercy that we have been called by the Spirit, and not left to reap the fruit of our own ways. It is of mercy that we still live and have opportunities of glorifying God actively or passively. Surely these thoughts should crowd on our minds, whenever we speak with God. Surely we should never open our lips in prayer without blessing God for that free grace by which we live, and for that loving-kindness which endureth for ever. Never was there an eminent saint who was not full of thankfulness. St. Paul hardly ever writes an Epistle without beginning with thankfulness. Men like Whitefield in the last century, and Bickersteth in our own time, were ever running over with thankfulness. Oh! reader, if we would be bright and shining lights in our day, we must cherish a spirit of praise. And above all, let our prayers be thankful prayers.
I commend to you, in the last place, the importance of wakefulness over your prayers. Prayer is that point of all others in religion, at which you must be on your guard. Here it is that true religion begins ;—here it flourishes, and here it decays. Tell me what a man's prayers are, and I will soon tell you the state of his soul. Prayer is the spiritual pulse. By this the spiritual health may always be tested. Prayer is the spiritual weather-glass. By this we may always know whether it is fair or foul with our hearts. Oh! let us keep an eye continually upon our private devotions. Here is the pith, and marrow, and backbone of our practical Christianity. Sermons, and books, and tracts, and committee meetings, and the company of good men, are all good in their way, but they will never make up for the neglect of private prayer. Mark well the places, and society, and companions that unhinge your hearts for communion with God, and make your prayers drive heavily. There be on your guard. Observe narrowly what friends, and what employments, leave your soul in the most spiritual frame, and most ready to speak with God. To these cleave and stick fast. Reader, if you will only take care of your prayers, I will engage that nothing shall go very wrong with your soul.
Reader, I offer these points for your private consideration. I do it in all humility. I know no one who needs to be reminded of them more than I do myself.. But I believe them to be God's own truth, and I would like myself and all I love to feel them more.
I want the times we live in to be praying times. I want the Christians of our day to be praying Christians. I want the Church of our age to be a praying Church. My heart's desire and prayer in sending forth this tract, is to promote a spirit of prayerfulness. I want those who never prayed yet, to arise and call upon God, and I want those who do pray, to see that they are not praying amiss.
And now if any one should begin to pray, or should pray more earnestly in consequence of reading this tract, I will ask him to do the writer of it one single favour, and that is, to remember him in his prayers.
I remain,Your affectionate Friend,J. C. RYLE.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Behold, Believe, and Be Raised!!!

I know there is a lot of Piper going up on here, but this is too good not to share. Let your heart come alive hearing this message!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Finally something on Twitter that is worth reading

I have always avoided Twitter, because i just don't care. I don't care that your sitting on the patio and enjoying the sunshine. I don't care that you are going to the bathroom, or eating a fine meal. I'm very happy for you. I finally found something worth reading on twitter. It can be found at WWW.Twitter/XIANITY here is a sample of what you will find. Please enjoy!


ESCHATOLOGY/DINING: Hungry and irritated, John Hagee eats Jack Van Impe during end-times debate.

HEALTH: Pastor Melissa Scott hospitalized with dry-erase marker poisoning.

THEOLOGY: Openness Theologians right all along; God spotted on bus wearing a "What Will People Do?" bracelet.

FASHION: Rick Warren’s Hawaiian-shirt wardrobe malfunction leaves congregants shaken.

CULTURE: Amish woman admits eying shiny buttons

MEDIA: Holy Spirit grieved by boring worship service slides.

WORLD: Lactose intolerant Israelis want out of Land of Milk and Honey.

SCIENCE: Researchers mystified by hole in ozone layer directly above Jan Crouch’s hair.

EDUCATION: God in favor of massive student loan debt, as long as it is incurred at a Christian Colleges and Seminaries.

PEOPLE: Joel Osteen actually living his best life now.

PUBLISHING: Papyrus voted ‘Font of the Century’ by the Church Newsletter Association

BOOKS: 4 out of 5 ‘People You Meet in Heaven’ surveyed recommend sugarless gum.

MEDIA: Abraham Piper starts new homeschooling blog called 22 Children. @abrahampiper

LOCAL: Hound of Heaven bites UPS driver.

COMMUNITY: Pastor locks himself out of Church of the Open Door.

DINING: Heaven on Earth? Old Country Buffet opens next to Christian Bookstore in area mall.

TELEVISION: Trinity Broadcasting Network set designer distraught after running short of gold leaf.

BREAKING NEWS: Clever church sign attracts curious visitor.

LAW: Judge throws out Saint Augustine’s “Confessions”, cites police failure to properly read him his rights.

FASHION: Benny Hinn admits healing power does not extend to his own troubling comb-over.

TRAVEL: Satan’s Fiery Darts confiscated by alert airport security worker.

HEALTH: Low-Carb Wafers Finally Available for Atkins Communicants.

MUSIC: Derek Webb releases new album in 1 second bytes that can only be assembled in proper sequence after lengthy internet scavenger hunt

HEADLINE: Missing Link discovered while excavating new wing for creation museum.

BOOKS: “23 Minutes in Hell” author admits it was more like 45 seconds, and "hell" might have been a rest stop men's room near Clevelend.

INTEREST: Woman finds image of potato chip in portrait of Jesus

TECHNOLOGY: IBM claims new super-computer nearly as smart as Al Mohler
BREAKING NEWS: Hymnal found in area church sanctuary.

HEADLINE: Emergent pastor caught secretly living a rational life.

SPORTS: Salvation Army upsets Salvation Navy 21-17

HEADLINE: Precocious homeschooler successfully clones Charles Spurgeon for 9th grade science project.
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Jesus is our sustanance! he is our bread! he is our sustainer! He is our treasure! He is our everything! You cannot study yourself to see him as tresure, YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!!!! Oh God, please breathe new life into the lost, especially the lost in the church, and let them see you as bread and as treasure!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Piper discussing C.S. Lewis error on the doctrine of Hell

I love C.S. Lewis. I really do. He has been a teacher to me on so many occasions. I do not know of any man who loves reformed doctrine who has not benifeted mightly from his insites. However, you realize that he is not completely orthadox on several things, one of them being the doctrine of Hell. The doctrine of Hell is under fierce attack in the world today. I can't witness to someone with out them bringing out a false and usually extremely watered down version of Hell. Here is what Piper, who himself loves and quotes C.S. Lewis probably more than any one i've ever heard has to say about what C.S. Lewis has said about Hell. I yield to Piper, he can say it much better than I can.

How Willingly Do People Go to Hell?Does Anyone Standing by the Lake of Fire Jump In?
By John Piper October 28, 2009

C.S. Lewis is one of the top 5 dead people who have shaped the way I see and respond to the world. But he is not a reliable guide on a number of important theological matters. Hell is one of them. His stress is relentlessly that people are not “sent” to hell but become their own hell. His emphasis is that we should think of “a bad man’s perdition not as a sentence imposed on him but as the mere fact of being what he is.” (For all the relevant quotes, see Martindale and Root, The Quotable Lewis, 288-295.)
This inclines him to say, “All that are in hell choose it.” And this leads some who follow Lewis in this emphasis to say things like, “All God does in the end with people is give them what they most want.”
I come from the words of Jesus to this way of talking and find myself in a different world of discourse and sentiment. I think it is misleading to say that hell is giving people what they most want. I’m not saying you can’t find a meaning for that statement that’s true, perhaps in Romans 1:24-28. I’m saying that it’s not a meaning that most people would give to it in light of what hell really is. I’m saying that the way Lewis deals with hell and the way Jesus deals with it are very different. And we would do well to follow Jesus.
The misery of hell will be so great that no one will want to be there. They will be weeping and gnashing their teeth (Matthew 8:12). Between their sobs, they will not speak the words, “I want this.” They will not be able to say amid the flames of the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14), “I want this.” “The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:11). No one wants this.
When there are only two choices, and you choose against one, it does not mean that you want the other, if you are ignorant of the outcome of both. Unbelieving people know neither God nor hell. This ignorance is not innocent. Apart from regenerating grace, all people “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18).
The person who rejects God does not know the real horrors of hell. This may be because he does not believe hell exists, or it may be because he convinces himself that it would be tolerably preferable to heaven.
But whatever he believes or does not believe, when he chooses against God, he is wrong about God and about hell. He is not, at that point, preferring the real hell over the real God. He is blind to both. He does not perceive the true glories of God, and he does not perceive the true horrors of hell.
So when a person chooses against God and, therefore, de facto chooses hell—or when he jokes about preferring hell with his friends over heaven with boring religious people—he does not know what he is doing. What he rejects is not the real heaven (nobody will be boring in heaven), and what he “wants” is not the real hell, but the tolerable hell of his imagination.
When he dies, he will be shocked beyond words. The miseries are so great he would do anything in his power to escape. That it is not in his power to repent does not mean he wants to be there. Esau wept bitterly that he could not repent (Hebrew 12:17). The hell he was entering into he found to be totally miserable, and he wanted out. The meaning of hell is the scream: “I hate this, and I want out.”
What sinners want is not hell but sin. That hell is the inevitable consequence of unforgiven sin does not make the consequence desirable. It is not what people want—certainly not what they “most want.” Wanting sin is no more equal to wanting hell than wanting chocolate is equal to wanting obesity. Or wanting cigarettes is equal to wanting cancer.
Beneath this misleading emphasis on hell being what people “most want” is the notion that God does not “send” people to hell. But this is simply unbiblical. God certainly does send people to hell. He does pass sentence, and he executes it. Indeed, worse than that. God does not just “send,” he “throws.” “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown (Greek eblethe) into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15; cf. Mark 9:47; Matthew 13:42; 25:30).
The reason the Bible speaks of people being “thrown” into hell is that no one will willingly go there, once they see what it really is. No one standing on the shore of the lake of fire jumps in. They do not choose it, and they will not want it. They have chosen sin. They have wanted sin. They do not want the punishment. When they come to the shore of this fiery lake, they must be thrown in.
When someone says that no one is in hell who doesn’t want to be there, they give the false impression that hell is within the limits of what humans can tolerate. It inevitably gives the impression that hell is less horrible than Jesus says it is.
We should ask: How did Jesus expect his audience to think and feel about the way he spoke of hell? The words he chose were not chosen to soften the horror by being accommodating to cultural sensibilities. He spoke of a “fiery furnace” (Matthew 13:42), and “weeping and gnashing teeth” (Luke 13:28), and “outer darkness” (Matthew 25:30), and “their worm [that] does not die” (Mark 9:48), and “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46), and “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43), and being “cut in pieces” (Matthew 24:51).
These words are chosen to portray hell as an eternal, conscious experience that no one would or could ever “want” if they knew what they were choosing. Therefore, if someone is going to emphasize that people freely “choose” hell, or that no one is there who doesn’t “want” to be there, surely he should make every effort to clarify that, when they get there, they will not want this.
Surely the pattern of Jesus—who used blazing words to blast the hell-bent blindness out of everyone— should be followed. Surely, we will grope for words that show no one, no one, no one will want to be in hell when they experience what it really is. Surely everyone who desires to save people from hell will not mainly stress that it is “wantable” or “chooseable,” but that it is horrible beyond description—weeping, gnashing teeth, darkness, worm-eaten, fiery, furnace-like, dismembering, eternal, punishment, “an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24).
I thank God, as a hell-deserving sinner, for Jesus Christ my Savior, who became a curse for me and suffered hellish pain that he might deliver me from the wrath to come. While there is time, he will do that for anyone who turns from sin and treasures him and his work above all.
Trembling before such realities, and trusting Jesus,
Pastor John

Monday, November 2, 2009

Its Such a Blessing That We Still Have Preachers Who Preach It

I was horrified when i think or read statements by men of the faith that get older. Many of them (J.I. Packer, John Stott, F.F. Bruce and others) as they age, they get soft in their theology and their Gospel proclamation. I am so refreshed when i heard the first sermon of John MacArthur at his church 40 years ago. After 40 years he is still preaching the same strong and true Gospel. That is so refreshing. He gave this message, and half of the church left. One sermon, the first sermon...and half the church quits. That is what we need. Men that will preach the Gospel so strongly that the unsaved and false converts leave. I hope that i will be blessed on day with that. Adrian Rodgers said "the problem with preachers today is no one wants to kill them anymore." Men and Women of God PREACH THE GOSPEL PREACH IT LOUD AND HARD IT IS THE MOST LOVING THING YOU CAN DO IS WARN THEM TO FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME. ESPECIALLY AT CHURCH!!!!! Please don't be so naive to think that everyone in your church is saved. Preach as a dying man to dying men. Here is an excerpt of his first sermon. You can read or hear the whole thing at: http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/1316A

And then we read about the fact that there are various dimensions of the
church. The mustard seed illustration gives the idea that the church is
going to explode and it's going to be a great big thing including real and
unreal, true and false. And so the Church Age is going to be a very
strange era and truly it is. For under the name church, quote/unquote, we
have all kinds of things going on today. Christ commanded John in Revelation to
write to the Sardis
church, "I know thy works that thou hast the name that thou art alive and art
dead." What a commentary on most churches today. They have a title,
they have a name, but they're dead. And why are they dead? Well they're
dead initially because the people within them are dead. I would say that
the great majority of church members in America today probably...probably and
according to Billy Graham statistics this is pretty accurate, probably the
majority of them don't even know what it is to be a Christian and they're dead
spiritually. Paul says in Ephesians 2, "They're dead in sin."
Consequently dead people are going to constitute a dead church and the church is
not suffering today or dying today because of a tax from the outside, most
churches Satan wouldn't even waste powder and shot on them, they're dead from
the inside.
But on the other hand, a vital church, a
living church, a church that in reality knows Jesus Christ and proclaims His
gospel, that kind of church is always going to be under attack because that kind
of a church must be the conscience of the community. A church that is
alive, a church that is one proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ is going to
become an issue in the community. Jesus said, "Woe unto you when all men
speak well of you." The church in the world must always be at opposite
poles because light and darkness have no fellowship. What concord hath
Christ with Belial,
there's no relationship.
Very important to
understand this and Paul elucidates it in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 beginning in
verse 14 where he brings up the fact that the love of Christ is a very basic
issue and that what is really important is that the church is involved in making
new creations out of these dead people. A church that is a real living
vital church is a church that is in the business of taking dead people and
communicating to them the gospel that alone can make them alive. That's the
mission of the church. There is no way biblically under the sun that the church can ever
court the world. The church must be the conscience of the world. The
church must be so well defined that it becomes the antagonist of the
world. For those outside of Jesus Christ, this church I trust, I pray,
this church will be the most uncomfortable seat in the world because we present
a gospel that divides.
It's so true that when the
church courts the world it dies, as I read to you from Revelation 3:1, the Sardis church thought it
was live but it was courting the world and so it wasn't alive, it was
dead. The duty of the church is not only to teach saints but the duty of
the church is to warn men of God's standards. And we're not fair and we're
not faithful to the call of God if all we do is advertise the abundant
life. Now that's a great dimension of salvation, but somewhere along the
line we've got to proclaim that man is a sinner, that he's separated from a holy
God and that in the eyes of God he's an object of God's judgment, he's a child
of wrath, as Paul says in Ephesians. To boldly proclaim Jesus Christ, to
boldly proclaim the truth about Jesus Christ, to boldly proclaim the truth about
man in his sin is to divide. If you'll remember correctly the words of
Jesus Christ in Matthew 10:34 you will remember that He
said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I came not to send peace
but...what?...a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his
father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter‑in‑law against her
mother‑in‑law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household." So
says Christ.
The true church of Jesus Christ is not
a religious institution which welcomes everybody, it is the body of Jesus Christ
set apart unto God, uniquely married and wedded to the self same Christ,
redeemed by faith. And no one outside of that faith redemption can be a
part of it for that is the requirement for the church and it is our task as a
people and a preacher to warn those who have not received Christ, to warn them
in love but to warn them nonetheless how they are in danger of the terror of the
Lord. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 11, "Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men." He says when I stop to think about the
coming of the judgment of God, I get busy sharing the gospel. This is our
task.
And our text is such a warning this
morning. Our text is a warning to those who are comfortably entrenched in
the church are who think they're comfortably entrenched in the church but who in
reality are not. This is not a warning to outside people. This is a
warning to us who are involved in the church to be sure that it's real.
And I think it only fair to begin our ministry here that we stop and really
approach this with a sense of sobriety and earnestness, to understand how we
stand in view of God right now as individuals.
I'm sure that in this church right here there are
people who come who do not know Jesus Christ in a personal vital way. I am
convinced that because of the size of the congregation this morning there are
some sitting right here in this audience who have come to church many times but
who do not know Jesus Christ. And perhaps they even have religious
sensations and perhaps they even have sanctimonious emotions but they do not
know Jesus Christ. And it is my conviction that before we as a church can
move together as a body, as a unit, we must become a unit and the only way we
can ever be united and become one as Christ prayed that we might be is that when
we are all are real in Christ. And so I want us to carefully examine our
lives this morning.
Notice the scene in verse
21. There is a phrase "in that day." It's a very important phrase
because it says that there is coming a particular day when Christ is going to
judge. The idea of "in that day" in the Bible is connected with
judgment. This picture is a picture of that day. "In that day"
appears in 1 Corinthians 3 in connection with the time of the judgment of
believers. It appears in various places in the Bible in connection with
the judgment of unbelievers. But it is always a phrase tied in with
judgment, the finality of judgment.
There is coming
a day when God is going to judge. There is coming a day when the Great
White Throne is going to be a reality. In Revelation chapter 20 and I
think it bears our careful reading, in Revelation chapter 20 in verse 11 the
Bible paints this great picture of final judgment. "And I saw a Great
White Throne and Him that sat on it from whose faith the earth and the heaven
fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead
small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was
opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books according to their works." In other words,
they had no faith to commend them, all they could go on was their works.
And if you know anything about that you know that the Bible says, "By the deeds
of the law shall...what?...no flesh be justified." "And the sea gave up
the dead that were in it and the death and Hades delivered up the dead that were
in them and they were judged every man according to his works." Again no
faith, it had to be works. "And the result of works and death and hell, or
Hades, were cast into the Lake of Fire, this is the second death. And whosoever
was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of
Fire."
Now in Matthew 7:21 to 23 we are taken to the final
judgment. We are at the Great White Throne. And we are seeing some
of the people who are confronting Christ at that time. And they are saying
unto Him, "Lord, Lord, here we are, we are the ones who were religious
people." Peter calls this day the day of the judgment and predition of ungodly
men. And the phrase that he uses, "ungodly men," may seem like a very
difficult phrase in view of the fact that these are religious people.
There is an awesome silence at this judgment. And then the silence is
pierced by the words of Jesus Christ as He says in verse 21, "Not everyone that
saith unto Me Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My
Father who is in heaven." Here we have, first of all, the condition for
entrance to the Kingdom, the condition for entrance to the
Kingdom.
What is that condition? How is it
that a man enters the Kingdom of God? How is it that a man becomes a part
of the Kingdom of God? How is it that a man can be in, as it were, with
God in a real vital relationship? How is it? Well, first of all,
it's not the ones who say, "Lord, Lord." But it's those who do the will of
God. In Matthew 25:1 to 13 you have a very
interesting story. You have a story of ten virgins. And they were
invited to the feast. And five of them came and they had prepared by
bringing oils and putting...bringing oil and having it in their lamps. The
other five were foolish and they did not prepare. And in verse 11 of
Matthew 25 the door is shut and the five are on the outside and you remember
what they say, they say, "Lord, Lord, open to us." And the Lord of the
feast says, "Verily I say unto you, I know you not."

Interesting, isn't it, that they were invited to the feast. They had heard
the gospel, in a sense, symbolically. They had heard the proclamation,
"Come to the feast." This is an illustration of God's call to the
world. They even prepared to the extent that they had their lamps.
They even had the right clothes on. They even arrived at the meeting
house. But they didn't get in and their cry was the same as it is in
Matthew chapter 7, "Lord, Lord, open to us." But He says it is not those
that say, "Lord, Lord," but those that do My will.

What a solemn warning. At the end of that parable Christ says, "Watch
therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man
comes."