Category: General

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Mat. 22:37-38)

Everyone seems to be quite familiar with the facts  that “God is love” (I John 4:8) and “God so loved the world” (John 3:16).  We enjoy pondering the thought that God loves us, but what about our love for him?  How can a love relationship be proper when only one party is expressing love?  Can a marriage be right when the wife doesn’t love the husband?  No it cannot, and our fellowship with God isn’t right when we only say that we love him, yet there is no evidence of it in our Christian walk. “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” (I John 3:18)

The sad fact is that most people, Christians included, do not really love God.  This can be easily proven by comparing our Christian testimony to a good healthy marriage.  If a married couple truly loves one another, then there will be clear evidence of it.  The same is true when a person loves God.  “But if any man love God, the same is known of him.” (I Cor. 8:3)

Do You Enjoy God’s Word?

If I really love my wife, I am going to have an open ear for her.  I am not going to come in from work and ignore her concerns while pursuing my own interests.  If I did so, she would quickly come to realize that I didn’t love her.

The same is true with God.  How can one say they love God when they seldom read his words?  Jesus said that if you love him you will keep his words (John 14:23).  How can you keep them if you don’t read them?  In John 8:47, Jesus said, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”  Friend, you spend hours each week absorbing the words of men, but how much time do you spend with the words of God?  If you really love someone, you really want to hear what they have to say.

Do You Enjoy God’s Fellowship?

Suppose you came to me and said, “Brother Melton, I think you’re the greatest!  Your publications have been such a blessing to me.  I love you so much in the Lord, but I hate your wife!”  Do you think I’m going to be close friends with you?  I think not.

Well, many people claim to love God, but they visit their dentist more often than they attend church services!  That’s not much love!  The church is the bride of Christ, yet  most professing Christians are more comfortable with worldly unsaved people than with God’s people.  The only things  they love are themselves and the world.  Such people can sit patiently through a television program, a ball game, or even a dirty joke, but they can’t bring themselves to sit through a preaching service with God’s people. 

The fact is that you fellowship with those whom you love, be it God or the devil.  Who receives your fellowship? “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” (I Cor. 1:9) “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” II Cor. 6:14)

Do You Enjoy Praising God?

If a woman really loves her husband, she will praise him and speak well of him.  The same is true when a man loves his wife.  Proverbs 31:28 says, “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”   He praises her because he loves her.  It is human nature to praise those whom you love.  Even God praises men on occasion because he has a special love for his special servants (Job 1:8; I Cor. 4:5).  If you love someone, you will praise them.

Friend, how often do you praise God?  How can you say you love God when you seldom praise his holy name?  The word “praise” is found 248 times in the Bible, but how many times have you praised God this week?  Hebrews 13:15 says, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Of all the words which have flowed from your lips this past week, how many of them were offered as a sacrifice of praise to God?

If you really love the Lord, you will praise him!  You will praise him in the church, in the home, in the work place, in the school, and in the general public.  God wants us to praise him “continually,” and if we love him we will.

Do You Enjoy Sacrificing for God?

I love my wife and children, so I do not mind sacrificing for them.  I often have to do without the things in life that I would like to have because my family has needs which are more important than my “wants.”  I love my family, so I sacrifice for them.

The Bible says that we are to offer up “spiritual sacrifices” to God (I Pet. 2:5).  The needs of the ministry are more important than our personal “wants.”  A Christian who really loves God will set aside his own will and seek God’s will.  Jesus said, “. . . not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42) Selfishness has no place in Christianity.  It is an enemy of the cross of Christ.  Paul said in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”  (Rom. 12:1)

So it is unreasonable for a Christian to not give himself to God for Christian service.  If you love God, you will sacrifice in order to serve him and please him.   You will gladly attend church services, and you will involve yourself in the various ministries of the church.  You will tithe and give to missions.  Rather than jump to negative conclusions, you will give your brethren in the Lord the benefit of a doubt.  You will forgive others who trespass against you, and you won’t hold grudges.  When others step forward in self exaltation, you will take the “lower seat” of humility and wait on the Lord.  Friend, if you love God, you will bear your cross and follow your Saviour.

Do You Enjoy Thinking of the Lord’s Return?

When you love someone you want to be with them.  I become homesick when I have to spend even one night away from my wife and children.  If I enjoyed being away from home more than being at home, I wouldn’t love my wife and children.  My love for them causes me to think of them when I’m away, and it causes me to look forward to being with them again.

My love for the Lord should be the same.  Every Christian should desire to be with the Lord.  Every Christian should be “homesick” for heaven and looking for Jesus to return.

Friend, do you know the last prayer of the Bible?  It isn’t a prayer for world peace, nor is it a prayer for anyone’s health, or even anyone’s salvation.  After being shown all of the breathtaking events of the book of Revelation, the apostle John sent up one final prayer to the Lord: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20)

Can you honestly pray like that?  Can you honestly say that you want Jesus Christ to return more than anything in this world?  If you could have any prayer answered in the next sixty seconds, what would be your petition?  Would you express your love for yourself by praying for something selfish, or would you express your love for God by asking Jesus to return?  If you love him, you should want to be with him.  “. . . Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?” (II Sam. 19:10)

Author: James L. Melton

I.          INTRODUCTION

            A.        WORD OF GOD

-Psalm 119:105

            B.        ACKNOWLEDMENT

                                    -Proverbs 3:5-6

            C.        JESUS’S PRAYER TO THE FATHER

                                    -John 17:15

II.         WAYS TO GET MONEY

            A.        WORK FOR IT

                        1.         Genesis 2:15

                        2.         Genesis 3:17-19

                        3.         Genesis 1:31-2:3/Exodus 20:9

                        4.         Matthew 20:1-9

                        5.         II Thessalonians 3:6-12

                        6.         Proverbs 18:16

                        7.         Proverbs 14:23

                        8.         Proverbs 31:10-31

            B.        PRAY FOR IT

                        1.         Matthew 6:31-33

                        2.         Matthew 7:7-11

                        3.         Philippians 4:16-19

            C.        INHERIT IT

                        1.         Proverbs 13:22

                        2.         Proverbs 19:14

III.        WHAT TO DO WITH MONEY

            A.        GIVE IT TO GOD

                        1.         Genesis 14:17-21

                        2.         I Corinthians 16:1-2

                        3.         Matthew 10:8

                        4.         Luke 6:38

                        5.         Ecclesiastes 11:1

                        6.         Galatians 6:7-8

                        7.         II Corinthians 9:6-7

                        8.         Psalm 37:25

                        9.         Haggai 1:3-11

            B.        PAY YOUR BILLS

                        1.         Luke 10:7

                        2.         Leviticus 19:13

                        3.         James 5:1-5

                        4.         Jeremiah 22:13-14

                        5.         Malachi 3:5

                        6.         Proverbs 11:1

                        7.         Matthew 22:17-21

            C.        SAVE FOR YOUR FAMILY

                        1.         Luke 19:20-23

                        2.         II Corinthians 12:14

                        3.         Proverbs 13:22

VI.       THREE RULES FOR FINANCIAL SOLVENCY

            A.        DISCIPLINE/TEMPERANCE (SELF CONTROL)

                                    -Galatians 5:22-24

            B.        BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

                        1.         Hebrews 13:5

                        2.         I Timothy 6:7-8

                        3.         Philippians 4:11-13

                        4.         Luke 3:14

                        5.         Colossians 3:5

            C.        DO NOT WASTE

                        1.         Isaiah 55:1-2

                        2.         Proverbs 18:9

V.         DANGER ZONES

            A.        BORROWING MONEY

                        1.         Proverbs 22:7

                        2.         Psalm 37:21

            B.        BUYING ON CREDIT

                        1.         Luke 14:25-30

                        2.         Matthew 5:23-26

            C.        CO-SIGNING

                        1.         Proverbs 6:1-5

                        2.         Proverbs 11:15

                        3.         Proverbs 17:18

            D.        JOINT VENTURES WITH NONBELIEVERS

                        1.         II Corinthians 6:14

                        2.         I Corinthians 5:9-11

                        3.         II Chronicles 19:1-2

IV.        SOME LAST THINGS

            A.        WILLS

            B.        BUDGETS

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:28)

            Can you afford the high price of not being saved? Many times when being saved is discussed, we often speak of what we must give up to be saved. Certainly, there must be repentance of sins, and a turning from the world, but look at the other side of the story. Just what are you losing by not being saved? If you choose to live your life without Jesus Christ, it will cost you:

1.  FORGIVING LOVE

            Our Heavenly Father sent His Son, Jesus, to die for the sins of the world. Dying in our stead on the cross, He has made forgiveness a reality for us. The invitation is for you and me to come by faith to Jesus, accept Him as our Savior, and know this forgiveness. This, alone, can make us acceptable with God. Can you afford to reject His offer of love and forgiveness and go your own way, only to meet Him in judgment and go to hell?

2.  FELLOWSHIP OF THE SAINTS

            In the world of the unsaved, no man cares for your soul. Everybody lives for themselves and what they can get out of life. In Jesus, however, there is abundant fellowship. Because we have been forgiven, we have fellowship with God and with all the saints. The people of God are real friends who care for you and love you. There is the plenty of the Father’s table that is always set full and free. Can you afford to miss this?

3.  ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD

            If you die without Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will surely be “turned into hell” (Psalm 9:17). It will cost you your soul to live in sin in this world and reject God’s Son as your Savior. Where will you be ten thousand years from now? Can you afford the cost of not being saved? No. None of us can, so “flee the wrath to come” (Luke 3:7) and run to Jesus now while you can. Thank God! He said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37)

“… be clothed with humility:… ” (1 Peter 5:5).

No garment is more becoming to the child of God than the gracious garment of humility, and none is better styled to please the lover of our sou ls.

Humility will save you from self-consciousness. It will take away from you the shadow of yourself and the constant sense of your own importance. It will save you from self-assertion and from thrusting your own personality upon the thoughts and the attention of others. It will save you from the desire of display, from being prominent, from occupying the center of the stage, from being the object of conversation and attention. It will save you from vanity about your personal appearance, your dress, your style of living, or your abilities, or your attractions.

Humility will save you from that which is deeper and more subtle- the pride which docs not care for vain display but which finds its secret satisfaction in one’s own superiority of talents, or birth, or spirituality, or wealth, or success. It will give you that modesty which ” … vaunteth not itself … ” (I Corinthians 13:4), and give you love which “Doth not behave itself unseemly … ” (I Corinthians 13:5); literally, which is not rude, which does not slight others or show its sense of irritation or superiority by rude manners.

Humility takes all that out of us, and makes us unassuming, natural, and simple. It will save you from reviewing your own work after it is done, and from feeling self-complacent because you have done it well; or what is equally vain, chagrin because you did it poorly. The very chagrin shows that you expected something from yourself and, in your vanity and pride, were disappointed. It will save you from looking for flattery and praise from others when your work is done. The humble Christian will simply do his best and leave it with the Lord, and not look for any reward in the plaudits of men; his supreme recompense, the Master praises; what are men? – A.B. Simpson

” … he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God … ” (Luke 8:1).

The Gospel is not bad news or sad news but glad news. The Gospel is good news and glad tidings. It is the joyful sound because of:

ITS PROCLAMATION

It has to be preached. Luke tells us in the book of Acts that this proclamation was first spoken by the Lord Himself. Grace is poured from the lips of our blessed Lord. It is glad tidings, for as Peter tells us, it was a message of ” … peace … “(Acts 10:36).

It is glad tidings, for its proclamation knows no limitation. The Lord Jesus proclaimed it as the text says, in ” … every city and village … “

ITS REVELATION

Christ not only preached the ” … glad tidings … “, but He shewed (revealed) them. The tidings in their shewing demonstrate their gladness. Light is always gladness, and the entrance of this word of the Gospel gives light, and in that light we see more light. This same message of ” .•. good tidings of great joy … ” (Luke 2:10) led the shepherds to Christ, the Light of the world; and they went and shewed to others what they had heard and seen (Luke 2:17).

This description ” … glad tidings … ” of the Gospel is peculiar to Luke. He could never forget the angelic revelation recorded in his Gospel alone.

ITS INAUGURATION

The Gospel is the inauguration of the kingdom of God. That is what it does in the heart of its recipients. It not only brings us near to the kingdom, but opens its door and brings the receptive hearer into the very kingdom of God itself. ” … Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)

Are you in? If not, enter in today. As the Israelitish worshipper rejoiced to hear the joyful sound- the bells on the high priest’s robes – demonstrating that the high priest lived because his work was acceptable by God on behalf of Israel – so you can have the same assurance that your great High Priest lives to make intercession for you.

“Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance” (Psalm 89:15).

-The Gospel Standard-

Life is a tragedy when one has plenty to live on, but nothing to live for. To dawdle through life with no great driving purpose is to miss the goal of all living.

The molding principle of life must be upward, not downward. He who lives solely to build his barns greater that they might hold his bumper crops is called a fool by Christ.

” … this one thing I do … ” is a good motto only so far as the thing proposed is good. The test of the ruling motto of a life is the person it forms. If the philosophy held does not make the person pure in heart, gracious and benevolent in manner, kind in word and deed, it should be looked upon as a curse and discarded as of satanic origin.

Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, is the author of those words, ” … this one thing I do … ” He also said, “For to me to live is Christ … ” (Philippians 1:21). Thus, his ” … one thing .. ” was bounded by the teachings of Christ. All things contrary to the revealed will of the Son of God had no place in Paul’s high resolve.

The man Paul became great because he was controlled by a great objective. He gave himself to it. He yielded the last ounce of strength, and he gave the last drop of blood in order that the cause of Christ would prosper.

If you would be great, identify yourself with the great cause of Christ.

The Gospel Standard

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” Romans 11:25-27

So much for “replacement theology” and God being all done with Israel. Israel’s best days are yet to come!

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1-2

A great memory passage on how this world is not our home. We should be transformed from it, not conformed to it.

“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;  Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;  Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12:6-8

Notice that the spiritual gifts in these verses do not include unknown tongues. Rather than being the “initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost,” tongues (unknown or not) didn’t even make the list.

^“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21

It’s not enough that we stop doing evil things. We must replace evil with good, lest we slip back into the old ways. It’s not enough to not take vengeance on an enemy. We must find ways to show kindness to them and bless them. Matthew 5:44 says “ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”

“But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:13-14

Jesus has a persistent way of showing again and again the great gulf that is fixed between the ways of earth and the ways of Heaven. We simply do not operate with the motives and compulsions by which God operates, but we ought to, and we can!

The Pharisee-host to whom our Lord was speaking probably profited little from this lesson on heavenly etiquette, but there is an eternally valuable truth to be gleaned here. Man’s natural motivation is to perform most of his so-called charities with an eye to a return in kind on his investment – and even the budgets of churches can show the same tendency, but God’s way is just the opposite.

We should not be surprised, therefore, when we encounter a natural reluctance among men to give sacrificially for the sole purpose of sending the Gospel message to the ” … the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:13), who in the darkness of some distant pagan land hunger for a life-giving taste of the Word of God. We should not be surprised; no, but we can heed the Word of God here and now, and take fresh stock of our own lives to make sure our investments are made with an eye to heavenly values.

Let it be a forever settled conclusion that for the individual Christian or for the church that truly enters by faith into the God-given task of sending forth the Gospel to the lost world, the investment is going to be of a nature that cannot in this life be recovered. Such giving therefore lacks the fleshly appeal that can be incorporated in a “drive” for funds for a new organ, added comforts in the pews, or for the building of yet another church, and the chalking up of another statistic for our denomination.

But wait- isn’t that precisely what Jesus warns against in the text? What He is saying is that the highest possible motivation in Christian giving is the fact that ” … they cannot recompense thee … ” The Son of God speaks words here that are utterly foreign to man’s natural thinking.
But note well the promise that He utters in the same breath, ” … thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). You will be repaid all right- and with currency of an eternal and unchanging value!

Here in a very real sense, then is an invitation – and an opportunity- to ” .. .lay up … treasures in heaven … ” (Matthew 6:20). But all too few, we fear, will display the joyous discernment voiced by the enlightened soul of Luke 14:15, who cries out, ” … Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.”

How true! But if we would partake of that bread there and then, we are going to have to learn to let go of it gladly here and now, and send it on ahead in faith – by giving it where there is absolutely nothing in it for us, to those who” … cannot recompense … “

“… as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious …” (Mark 14:3).

This woman could have gotten a vase that would not have cost so much as those made of alabaster. She might have brought perfume that would have cost only fifty pence; this cost three hundred. As far as I can understand, her whole fortune was in it. She might have been more economical; but no – she got the very best box, and put in it the very best perfume, and poured it all out on the head of her Redeemer.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, the trouble is that we bring to Jesus too cheap a box. If we have one of alabaster and one of earthenware, we keep the first for ourselves and give the latter to Christ.

We owe Jesus the best of our time, the best of our talents, the best of everything. Is there an hour in the day when we are wider awake than any other, more capable of thought and feeling? Let us bring that to Christ. We are apt to take a few moments in the morning when we are getting awake or a few moments at night when we are getting asleep for Jesus; but if there be an hour in the day when we are most appreciative of God’s goodness and Christ’s pardon and Heaven’s joy, oh, that is the alabaster box to bring to Jesus.

We owe Christ the very best years of our lives. When the sight is the clearest, the hearing the acutest, the arm the strongest, the nerves the steadiest, the imagination the brightest, let us come to Jesus. Let us not wait until our joints are stiffened and the glow is gone out of our temperament and we arise in the morning as weary as when we lay down at night.

The passage I am going to draw your attention to is without question one of the most terrible warnings in the Bible. I am convinced every time I dare face it in a serious way. It forces upon me a picture of myself standing before the judgment seat of Christ with the blood of multitudes dripping from my hands. It charges home upon me the awful sin of omission, and I cannot escape. Let us examine it now.

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul” (Ezekiel3: 17-21).

It is the fearful sin of omission, the sin of withholding the glad tidings. So important does God consider it that twice He gives the same warning, for it is found again in the thirty-third chapter of the same book. It lays upon me the obligation of telling others. And to fail in my duty is to put my own life in peril.

Naturally we think first of the heathen lands where darkness reigns, and where Christ has never been preached. And well we may. Has not God commanded us? Did He not bid us go and take the Gospel to all the world? And have we any excuse? And yet nineteen hundred years have passed and still the larger portion of the world has never yetheard the message.

There are the closed lands and the far away lands where no Christian has ever set foot. Such great cities as Mecca and Medina in Arabia; Herat, Cubul, and Khandahar in Afghanistan; Thassa in Tibet and Bokhara have never yet seen the face of a preacher of the Gospel, for these cities are officially closed. They still wait untouched, unreached.

But let us come closer home. What about the souls in our own land? How tragically many there are who, in spite of all our religious work, have never yet heard the Gospel!

But let us come still nearer home. There is the city, town, or village in which we live. Can we point to any tangible effort that we have put forth for its evangelization? Dare we stand before God and say we have done what we could to warn the people? For if not, mark you, their blood is upon us.

Oh, yes, you say, we have prayed, and wherever we have gone men and women have felt the influence of our silent Christian testimony. Very frequently we have spoken to them of Christ. Yes, and is that all?

No, we have built a great church, a large tabernacle, into which we have invited them to come and hear the Gospel. And many, very many, have accepted the invitation. Well, and is that all? Is that all? Why, what do you mean? What more do you expect?

My friend, what about the multitudes that have never come? And what about the foreigners, the Jews and Chinese, the Fin landers and Poles, the strangers within our gates? And what about the Roman Catholics and all those who believe in salvation by works? Yes, and what of the rich who would never deign to darken our door, and the poor who feel we do not want them? What of the prostitutes who walk our streets, and the frequenters of questionable houses? Yes, and the inmates of our jails and prisons, our reformatories and hospitals? In a word – what about the multitudes who will never come to us, whom we can never hope to meet, but who are perishing because they have never heard the warning?

Did God ever tell us to build churches and then expect sinners to come to them? Never! His Word is not “Come,” but “Go.” Again and again He emphasizes it. “Go out” is His order; “Go ye,” His command. And if we don’t, if we fail, if we disobey- ” … his blood will I require at thine hand” (Ezekiel 13:18).

Responsible we surely are.”… this day is a day of good tidings …”, cried the lepers of Samaria, “… and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell …” (2 Kings 7:9). Could they keep it to themselves? Of course not, and neither can we if we are to be clear of the blood of all men.

Think of such cities as Chicago and New York. How many, do you suppose, in spite of all the missions and churches, in spite of the thousands of Christian people, preachers, and evangelists, have ever heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ? ” .. Go ye … and preach the gospel…” (Mark 16:15).