The Believer is a man who is living proof that the Son of God succeeded in His purpose of coming into this world.
- Martin Lloyd Jones
They Have Kept Thy Word Jn.17: 6
Our Lord Jesus, in describing the people he prays for, says, “They have kept thy word”. This is a statement of fact, it is not something they intend to do and not something they try to do, it is something that they do.
The word Kept means “an intent watching-an observing the whole revelation-to stand guard over it”. This is what Christ is saying about His elect people. They “stand guard over the word, intently watch the word”. You cannot keep a thing unless you keep your eye on it. The child of God is one who keeps his eye on the truth. Why do they esteem the Word of God so highly? Because the Lord Jesus revealed God the Father to them. “I have manifested thy NAME unto the men which thou gavest me.”
It was by the Truth of who God is that Christ revealed the Father to us. The character of God, the attributes of God, the saving purpose of God, was revealed to our hearts by Christ, and we love God the Father as He is, Sovereign, eternal, immutable, holy, exalted above all, the God of eternal election. The God of free and sovereign grace. This is the WORD we keep our eye on; this is the WORD we guard.
Secondly we keep the word of God because of our election. “The men which thou hast given me...thine they were, thou gavest them me”. We were begotten by the word: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth”. James 1:18 God sovereignly chose his elect, they were his eternally, but the means of manifesting their election is through the “hearing of the gospel”, the hearing of the WORD. It is because of this the child of God “keeps thy word”. He keeps his eye on the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Not only does he keep the truth, the truth keeps him. It is the Word of God that keeps him from error, heresy, and sin, it also corrects and reproves him, instructs him in righteousness. Yes, they have “kept thy word”. Amen!
- Pastor
THE WORD OF GOD
"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee...then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord AND FIND THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD" (Prov. 2:1, 5). Search the word; study the word; weigh the words of all preachers BY THE WORD OF GOD. We must make a difference between God's word and the words of men. "Man's words are a sound which flies into the air and soon vanishes." But the word of God is eternal; it is greater than heaven and earth; it is greater than life or death; for it is the power and wisdom of God! It is "with the word of truth" that He BEGETS us. It is "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth that God has CHOSEN us to salvation" (II Thess. 2:13). It is "by hearing the word" that FAITH comes. "COMFORT one another with these words," saith the Lord. If there is any one thing that would please God's true preachers, it is that our hearers would "receive the word of God with all readiness of mind and SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). Honor the words of God and honor the Lord's Spirit, who gave them, by trusting Him to give you light and understanding. We preach and teach, but only our Lord can enlighten the hearts of men.
- Henry Mahan
~~~ O ~~~
"YE OFFER POLLUTED BREAD UPON MY ALTAR" Malachi 1:7-14
Have all these verses no voice to us? Is there not in our private and public worship a lack of heart, of real energy? Is there not much that answers to the offering of the lame and sick, the blemished and the ill favored? Is there not a deplorable amount of cold formality and dead routine in our times of worship both in the closet and in the assembly? Have we not to judge ourselves for barrenness, distraction and wandering, even at the very table of our Lord? How often are our bodies at the table while our poor hearts and changeable minds are somewhere else? How often do our lips utter words which are not the true expression of our whole moral being? We express far more than we feel. We sing beyond our experience.
We are not our own, we are bought with a price. It is not our best, but our all we owe to that Blessed One who gave Himself for us. Do our hearts own it? Then may our lives express it. May the heart, the head, the hands, the feet, the whole man be dedicated in unreserved devotion to Him.
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