CHRIST MADE SIN FOR HIS PEOPLE

by J. J. WEST - On Tuesday evening, February 5th, 1861, in the Church of St. Barnabas, King Square, London

"For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

We have it recorded, beloved, in the life of this remarkable man, who wrote as the pen in the Lord's hand (if I may venture such a word) these words to the elect Church at Corinth that, after his conversion to God, "Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God." And I cannot imagine a more blessed topic for myself, as a minister of the Gospel, and other clergy, whom I see at my side, if our hearts are really engaged in the most blessed of all offices, than this one great and grand subject, "Jesus Christ and Him crucified." "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (1 Cor. 2:2)

Jesus Christ is to be set forth in our pulpits in His Person, in His offices, in His character, in His power, and I am quite satisfied that nothing will feed the Church of God that nothing will satisfy the hungry sheep of Christ's fold despite all the Arminianism and notionalism of the day, but a simple setting forth of Christ to a simple people nothing else will do for desperate sinners, but the desperate remedy of the blood and love of Christ of Him, of whom, it is written: "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, he that glorifieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Cor, 1:30,31)

Now in preaching on the words which we churchmen call a text, and having, as I trust there are here before me at these monthly services, many who are really in earnest about their souls (not that I would daub any with untempered mortar) I would at once preach Christ to you and proclaim the fact, "May Christ be first, and Christ be last, and Christ be all in all."

"Ye are complete in Him." (Col. 2:10) Now in our version, the words "to be," are added in, and are not in the Greek and so I read it thus, "For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." O! what a view is this of Christ, Christ, who was holy, Christ, who was harmless, Christ, who was "separate from sinners" (Heb. 7:26)Christ, who (as the text declares) "Knew no sin" Christ, of whom it was declared before His wonderful birth, "That Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

My hearers! mark these words and here standing, as I do, in a pulpit in England's Church, I would remind you of the important subject embodied and set forth in the first and second articles of the Church. And, in reference to the second Person in the eternal Trinity, I would quote that blessed passage in our own Te Deum, in which the Church ascribes this title to her Lord "Thou art the Everlasting Son of the Father!" And in the first chapter of John's Gospel, first and second verses: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." The fact which these words declare is insisted on in our article and this, my hearers, (in all brotherly love to others) I contend is a great and grand argument in favour of the Church of which I am a minister, that we have a standard of faith to which we can, and do, appeal!

And now I would preach Jesus Christ to you, this Great and Glorious Christ! "He hath made Him sin for us!" Christ, who was without sin Christ, the Head Elect, and Holy One! Christ, to quote Paul's words in Hebrews 7:26) "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." There was no sin in Him! and yet mark the monster fact! O! you men of London hear me! and may grace burn it into your inmost hearts I say mark this fact, that God, in love to guilty man that God in compassion to a hell-deserving Church gave His only Son as the text proclaims "made Him sin for us, who knew no sin," ordained that He should suffer, and bleed, and die and thus He finished the work, and made an end of sin, as His own last words upon the cross declare: "He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost." (John 19:30)

I feel powerless to preach such a fact. But believing and hoping in Him, with all my heart, I declare that this is the only way in which any sinner can enter into the presence of a holy God. He made Him sin for us: there is the only refuge of a sinner. Your works cannot save you. Let the popish priests preach works, it is their system; let them preach that system: we in a Protestant Church declare that salvation is by grace without any works. Do you doubt that? Let me read the words, Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." "He hath made Him sin for us." I wish you would bear that in your minds. "He hath made Him a sacrifice for sin!" The one only sacrifice, and that sacrifice has been accepted! Jehovah made Jesus Christ such. Now take this in its simple, plain meaning our preaching should be in plain English and so I would here preach to you the simple fact, in plain, but in telling words, that Jehovah "hath made Him sin for us;" that He was offered as the sacrifice for sin, that His blood has atoned for all sin, and that He who knew no sin has redeemed His people. Now I may have here before me, all sorts and conditions of men some who believe the truth some who may not believe it but if there be one here unsound on the great subject I am preaching, you surely must distinctly understand what I declare that Christ, the holy, sinless, Son of God, was made sin for the elect that He was sacrificed for sin! "Who knew no sin!" and hence, my hearers, how intense must have been the anguish of His holy soul. O, how bitterly must Christ the Christ of the Everlasting Covenant, have suffered when on Calvary's cross He undertook to bear the Church's guilt and to atone for all her sins. I think it is Toplady who says of Christ: "Bearer of our guilt and shame." Newton, another Vicar once in England's Church, has said,

"What boundless love, what mysteries
In this appointment shine;
My breaches of the law are His,
And His obedience mine."

"Now He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." And here we have the doctrine of a "double imputation!" and, as it has been said, if it were not a double imputation, it would be ineffectual for all Christ's righteousness must be imputed to me, and all my disobedience and sin must be imputed to Him! and then, "though a sinner, I am safe;" for, "by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:39) Now is there a poor sinner before me, guilty and self-condemned one who may have been betrayed overcome by temptation and by sin the Church is constantly the object of attack by the enemy: "Sly snares beset the traveller's feet, and make him often halt." Have you been overcome by sin as Peter was? O, hear my text! What a blessed word! "For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

Perhaps no man was more harassed in the experimental and narrow pathway than the poet Cowper; and he says in one of his hymns, and which we were singing at my own Church on Sunday at Winchelsea,

O! what we feel sin in the reality of it when guilt is made known in its dreadful development, when our state, as sinners, is made bare by the Holy Spirit's power and when the thunder of God's Holy law is heard then nothing can comfort nothing can relieve and soothe, but the fact which I am preaching before you, that "He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." That God in His mercy made His co-equal, co-eternal Son, the bearer of His people's sins. This, mark me! is the message from the Lord this is not my mere word. It is God's truth in the Bible! "To the Law and to the Testimony."

My hearers, we are living in a day, when we dare not compromise the truth. We must out with it in all its fullness. We must be like (to use a simile) the Duke of Wellington, who, on the plains of Waterloo, when victory was about to crown his sword gave the still well-remembered command to his faithful Guards against the enemy "Up, Guards, and at them;" and so here, in a spiritual sense, I, in the heat of another battle must "declare unto you all the Counsel of God." And that nothing can conquer sin and the enemy, but that which my glorious text proclaims: "For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

O! what a Saviour! O! what great salvation! God Himself has done it! "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage. For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham." (Heb. 2:14-16) Or, He taketh not hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold.

Salvation is all of grace! Why was Zaccheus called? See the reason in Luke 19:9. "And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham." Or in other words because he is one of His "own elect."

Salvation is in Christ alone it is in the Elder Son that the family estate is vested primogeniture is the system of our own England! and as concerns our aristocracy, the title and estate goes to the eldest son! so, in a higher, and a vaster, and a more amazing sense, Christ, as the Head Elect One, has all and everything of grace and glory treasured up in Himself for the members of that family which His blood redeemed from iniquity, and transgression and sin! "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." (Heb. 2:17,18)

Now here in the first branch of the text, is a message of no common order! "For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin" that Holy Redeemer, the Virgin's Child, the Carpenter's adopted Son He who was free from all sin who had not a stain, not a spot of it that He Himself should take the sinner's place and be made sin a sacrifice for sin! in order to redeem from the curse of sin and a broken Law the people of His choice and love! and thus in the beautiful language of Isaiah 26:1, "In the day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city: salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks."

My hearers, salvation is in and by Christ alone. Dependence must be nowhere else. It is wholly in Him it will not do to depend partly on Christ and partly on our own works! O! no. He is the one only, Saviour; and He is also our dependence see Zech. 2:5, "For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her" a wall of fire, and He will burn up our enemies on every side, and "Nothing shall by any means hurt" His Church! Now to understand this fully, you must be tried and tempted, you must be in tribulation. Trials bring out the reality of all this it is in the path of trial and of trouble that we learn these things; it is the skilful Artist that darkens and blackens the picture, in order, afterwards to bring out the bright and telling touches of a master hand! The non-artistic dauber cannot do that! and so it is with the Christian. It is in trouble of soul it is in the furnace, it is in the deep waters, that we are made to learn the need of a Saviour the value and efficacy of His precious blood and constant love and care like the old woman who said, when one visited her in her cottage, in affliction and trouble, and who tried to comfort her, and pity her; "O," she said, "if I had no trials I should feel my Lord had forgotten me," (or words to that effect.) "For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." (Mal. 3:6)

Now my hearers, is your faith on Christ, and Christ alone? Is it fixed on the Rock? If you ask me where my faith and hope is, I answer on Christ.

"On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand."

Nothing else will do! He has answered all demands of law He has satisfied the justice of God; "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Rom. 10:4) Let me remind you of those words in Rev. 22:14; "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Now these commandments are not the moral law, but they are, (as has been well remarked by another man,) those commandments which God from time to time sends forth into the hearts of His people, giving them at the same time power to obey; for instance, John 13:34, "A new Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Also "and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and Thou shalt glorify Me." (Ps. 50:15) And another, "And they said Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31) Now, "Blessed are they that do His commandments, "but these came not from Mount Sinai, but from Mount Zion. These are the commandments of Christ, to His people; and as Dr. Hawker used to say, God's commandings are enablings.

Take another "Be not faithless but believing." (John 20:27) My hearers you cannot believe of yourselves! You cannot Repent of sin by your own power neither can you sorrow for sin without all-enabling Grace, neither can you help your depravity by reason of your sin, and when sin lies heavily on our hearts, then we know something of Paul's words, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24) and "The Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe." (Prov. 18:10)

Now does this Gospel suit you men of London? It is the only Gospel to suit poor souls the only Gospel to comfort the broken in heart!

But I must pass on, the text states, secondly, "He knew no sin." O! how He loved His Church! He who was so Holy, Harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners! became bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh: and in Paul's words to another Church, the Church at Ephesus! "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5:25-27)Solomon says, "Thou art all fair my love! there is no spot in thee." (Songs 4:7) Now in common life the wife is not only dependent on her husband, but what he has she shares. So the Church; "Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee," and this is because of the imputed righteousness of Christ: the Church corrupt and depraved in herself, is holy as He is holy, in Him! is perfect as He is perfect, in Him! Perfect in another's righteousness! I was reading on Sunday that wonderful account in Genesis, when the guilty pair in Eden's garden, hearing the voice of Jesus, hid themselves from His presence! amongst the trees of the garden!

But O! listen to me, "Adam! where art thou?" said the great Jehovah! and they (Adam and Eve) hid themselves among the trees of the garden! Arminianism was there, "I hid myself," but O, it was a fig leaf covering only, it was a vain shelter among the trees. O, my hearers, where are we ourselves? Where do we stand? is it on Christ alone? O! the safety! O! the blessedness of being really in Him! "in Him is no sin," and in Him His Church is holy, safe, and saved!

I would proclaim the gospel then to every man in this Church! and if there is one before me, as bad as bad can be, any (to state the case fully,) just out from the walls of Newgate, and if you by grace are made to repent of, and to hate sin, if, like the prodigal, you begin to be in want, then in that case, I have a message of mercy, a proclamation of love to you, that "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) No profligate can be too bad! No sinner can be too monstrous, that precious blood is all-sufficient it cleanseth us from all sin.

O! to be brought down to true repentance! to be made really sorry for sin, not like the Pharisee" the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." (Luke 18:11,12) "In Christ is no sin," and in Him "His own elect" are sinless also. When Onesimus left his Master and after a work of grace had been accomplished in his soul, Paul entreated that he might be received back again, "not now as a servant, but as a brother beloved," and in these remarkable words "put that on mine account. "I am reminded of a far higher and more glorious subject for listen to my text, "For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21) The man involved in difficulties and in debt, reduced to a state of poverty and destitution, wants a Surety" There was a certain creditor which had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that, to whom he forgave the most. And He said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And He turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed My feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." (Luke 7:41-48)

Now there you have the fact! Christ applied His own word, and He only can do that.

"We have listened to the preacher,
Truth by him has now been shown,
But we want a greater teacher
From the everlasting throne,
Application
Is the work of God alone."

That work is the work of God alone and only. Ministers cannot apply the word, we can only declare it, the Holy Ghost applies the Word with power! O! what an office I am now filling amongst you. We have tonight, in the service of the Church, offered up our prayers for the High Court of Parliament, on its re-assembling together, that Parliament is now, at this time, assembled together in Council and Debate, but what are the affairs of Lords and Commons, what are the subjects under discussion there! when compared with the vast and wondrous realities which shall outlive the ravages of time, when earthly Parliaments shall have died away, when the King of Kings shall have gathered all "His own elect" around Him! O! my hearers, may this my feeble preaching be with power, may the text I have been speaking on "for He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" be a speech from The throne! May the King speak through His minister, the Master speak through "His servant, may the Word be with Power in your hearts! I thought today, as I saw the crowds looking at the Queen of England as she went to open her Parliament, I thought! what will it be "when the Son of Man shall come in His glory!" and here I would read you a scripture that comes with some power to me "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away; and there was found no place for them." "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. 22:11,15)

Now, do not dare to say that I am straining the Scripture; do not dare to say this is not the real interpretation of that text: and if there is a careless man or woman before me, may it be blessed to your soul. Mark me, if you die out of Christ, if you die unjustified by grace, if you die uncleansed by the blood of the Saviour, you will be judged out of the Books, and it is my belief, and therefore I preach it, that every action of your life from your nursery to your dying hour, will be exposed in full array before men and angels in the great day of judgment; every thought, every idle word, and all your secret sins; yes, sins that no human eye has ever seen; sins that you may think are buried and forgotten, if you die unjustified there they are in the books recorded against you, and if you die out of Christ you will be damned as sure as you are a man. But on the other hand, if you are in Christ, and your name is in the Book of Life, and your name is registered there no sin can condemn you. Peter's perjury, and Peter's oaths and curses Mary's prostitution, and Mary's sins; the adultery of the woman of Samaria; the sins of David, together with his cold-blooded murder; the rebellion of a Jonah, and all the sins of a Manasseh, are all hid from the eye of Him with whom we have to do. Now then, do I succeed as a pulpiter, do I succeed in stirring up a spirit of earnestness amongst you men of London? Do I succeed in the pulpit, in which I pray God to bless my labours that what I preach may get into your hearts? I desire to be like the prophet Jeremiah, I desire to be as the mouth of God, and "to take forth the precious from the vile." (Jer. 15:19) Now can you read your name in the Book of Life? Is it recorded there? Does not our Lord say in the gospel, "But rather, Rejoice because your names are written in heaven?" (Luke 10:20) I am at times applied to for the entry of a baptism, a marriage, or a death the search is made, and it cannot be found and we say it must be somewhere else. But how, my hearers, is it with us as to eternity? It is written, "The Books were opened" "and another Book was opened."

Let me read that passage again, Rev. 20:12, "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." The man of aristocratic birth will be there and the beggar will be there! and these of all ranks and all stations, no distinction; "No respect of persons." O! listen to the words of the Apostle James, and specially in anticipation of that great day" and "let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low; because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away." (James 1:9,10) O! how real is the fact when such a Scripture as that is known experimentally when (as we sometimes see the fact,) the obscure and unknown peasant is thus by grace "exalted" or on the other hand, when the rich is by the same grace "made low" when the cottager is thus exalted as a king and a priest unto God or when the rich, the well-bred Duke, the Marquis, the Earl, or the Baron is enabled to rejoice "in that he is made low." O! here is the true nobility! Here is the ancient pedigree of heaven, the trueborn heirs of God's everlasting kingdom! O! listen! 1st Samuel 2:8, "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them." And amongst all such, (the ones exalted and the ones made low,) an eternal brotherhood exists a tie that shall never cease, a bond of love which will outlive the vanities of time, and be realized and felt among the peers of Heaven through all eternity! but I must read this Scripture again: Rev. 20:11-15. "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face 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. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell 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." And now, hear this word, Rev. 21:27; "And there shall in nowise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."

Here is the ultimatum of all! and hence we preach Christ to you, "for He hath made Him sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." As Paul "preached Christ in the synagogues that He is the Son of God," so would I here proclaim Him to you, and declare that His finished work is the hope of all His poor ones; hence His people "are made the righteousness of God in Him." Jeremiah declares "in his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name, whereby he shall be called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Jeremiah 23:6) Paul says in Romans 10:4, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

Mark! "The end of the law" what do we mean by the end "of anything?" The end of this service will be when it is over and finished the end of a walk, or of a journey! so Christ is "the end of the law," He has finished, He has kept it for His Church, "for He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

But now comes the solemn, searching point. Are we personally interested in this? Was Christ made sin for us? For me? For you? Are we made to cleave by faith to Him: and is this the effect of His own grace in us? Do we see Christ as our own Redeemer? Do we follow Him as the Way? The right Way? The only Way? "This is the way, walk ye in it," What a blessed position to be made the righteousness of God in Him! I feel how impossible it is fully to preach out my subject! It is impossible to do so, and I feel like "a bottle that has no vent," when I think of myself, as a guilty, hell-deserving sinner, with a little hope in my soul that I am made the righteousness of God in Him! that I shall dwell with Him through a never-ending eternity! Is not this a glorious subject "For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." And yet when we look at the sinful depravity of our nature "for the good that I would, I do not!" (Rom. 7:19) When we consider our own sins, our daily temptations, our incessant depravity and vileness, but as Kent declares:

"What though he feels himself depraved,
Yet he's in Christ a sinner saved,
And 'tis a sign of life within,
To groan beneath the power of sin."

It is said of that good man, that when he was dying, he wanted the words to be on his heart: "God be merciful to me a sinner." "May we be moved by these great and glorious truths to deeper and deeper repentance, may it please Thee to give us true repentance, to forgive us all our sins, negligence's and ignorance's : and to endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, to amend our lives according to Thy Holy Word." We feel how short we daily fall of that standard and yet how safe we are in Christ. When Lot was in Sodom, God would do nothing in the way of vengeance on that city till Lot was safe in Zoar! then the fire and brimstone fell. And, my hearers, The Church is safe in Christ, from all storms and every danger. He is the one only Rock! In His righteousness only can we stand! May these things be blessed to us in our dying hour! May this be our experience! May the seed now sown not have been scattered in vain! May it drop here on "good ground!" May the Gospel which you have heard from my tongue be made useful and a blessing to you busy Londoners, and in the midst of all your business, in your Counting houses, or whether you may be, may the Gospel search your inmost souls.

Listen to me! Are you standing in and on the righteousness of another? Are you resting only on Christ? as your husband and as your Lord? View Him as the husband of the Church, and as every wife should obey her husband, are you yielding obedience to Christ? Not on the ground of fear, but on the principle of love? I repeat the words of Paul in Eph. 5:25,27: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it: that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish." And now listen to the text: "For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. May God command a special blessing on the Gospel for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

SINNERS SEEKING THE LORD AND HIS STRENGTH

by J. J. WEST - Preached on Lord's Day Morning, March 12th, 1865, at Winchelsea Church, Sussex

"Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and His strength; seek His face evermore." (Psalm 105:3,4)

NOW, I have often before insisted upon the great fact, that "God's commandings are enablings," and that we have no power to obey a single command but by the enabling power of the Holy Ghost; and hence that verse in Rev. 22:14, "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates of the city." I have no occasion to annotate that vast passage, because I have explained it again and again that it has reference to those various commandments in God's Book, which can only be done as HE HIMSELF gives the power! In this passage in the text, there are three of four such commands: 1. "Glory ye in HIS holy name." 2. The effect of it: "Let the heart of them rejoice" (or as it is in the Hebrew "The heart of them shall rejoice") "that seek the Lord" (there's an encouraging word for you seekers!") And then come two other commands: 3. "Seek the Lord and His strength!" 4. "Seek His face evermore!" It is upon these words that I am to preach the gospel to you. 1. "Glory ye in His holy name"... and here I must pause over those vast words, "HIS HOLY NAME!" "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21) JESUS means HEALER! And who is it that wants a physician? The sick man. "But when Jesus heard, He said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." (Matt. 9:12) In Isaiah 9:6, HIS name is again set forth "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." And in Acts 4:12, we have the same holy name declared: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." My text says, "HIS HOLY NAME!" and mark this, there is a great point in this "HIS HOLY NAME." Some persons are (if I may so speak) so familiar with God, destitute of that becoming reverence with which "HIS HOLY NAME" should be used. Bear in mind that our God is HOLY: HE is a HOLY GOD! "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." (Isa. 6:3-5) Now, upon this point the point of the HOLINESS of GOD! Where could we shelter ourselves from HIS infinite holiness, except in that mercy which is treasured up in CHRIST JESUS! "For He shall save His people from their sins." "A just God and a Saviour, none beside me." (Isa. 45:21) Whilst we view JEHOVAH'S holiness, and practically estimate our own exceeding and terrible sin, we sink into the very dust, and should sink also into utter despair, except as we are enabled to plead (and this is all the plea we have) the name of JESUS! the blood of Jesus! and the finished work of Jesus! O! that blessed, that holy, that one all-prevailing name! "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Gal. 6:14) Paul was brought to that: and is it so with each of you? Do you really "Glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?" Is the world crucified unto you, and are you crucified unto the world? I do not suppose that half of our are! Now mark these words in Jeremiah 9:23,24:"Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty glory in his might, let not the rich glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these I delight, saith the Lord." What a searching Word is that! how it cuts up root and branch, all creature-boasting, and all vain-glory. The wise of this world the scholar is not to boast of his wisdom or his scholarship; nor is the mighty to glory in his might, nor the rich man to be proud of his riches. But here is the secreta secret which I can never preach out fully, nor adequately proclaim: it is embodied in these vast words: "But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these I delight, saith the Lord." O! to be made to understand and to know the Lord! to grasp a something of HIS lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness! and mark: to know something of these vast attributes of God, as exercised by Himself towards ourselves! Is it so with us with you, and with me? What do we really know of God of a gracious God? You and I must die! and what do we know, for ourselves, of God, as a pardoning Jehovah in Christ Jesus? O! how He proved His love, His everlasting love, by the death of His Son! How Christ suffered! how shamefully He was treated! how He was buffeted and slain! That cruel and insulting taunt "He saved others: Himself He cannot save!" Such was the mocking cry of the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders. O! the bitterness of their enmity. And mark, also, the Arminian boast and free-will heresy of these men, in these words that they shouted out while standing round the cross of the then dying Saviour: "He saved others: Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, Let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." (Matt. 27:42) Specially see their delusion, as expressed in these words "and we will believe Him." O! how their eyes were blinded, and their hearts hardened! What Arminians they were in creed! how powerless to grasp the secrets of the Christian! But, my hearers, are you and I enabled to glory only in HIM in Jesus? in His holy name? This is the point. And do we simply and only glory in this, that we understand and know the Lord? "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." (Eph. 2:8) Are you and I brought to know that? and do we feel our sins, and feel that salvation is by blood and love alone? I am purposely pausing over this thought, that it may please God to put it into your hearts, and that He may use me as the pipe through which He may now speak to you. 2. I now come to these words, "Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord! (or, "Their heart shall rejoice that seek the Lord!") But there is such a thing as seeking and not finding. "Then said one unto Him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And He said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." (Luke 13:23,24) Now I feel that I am a seeker, but is it a right kind of seeking? that's the point! All would seek, all would hope to be saved: but there is a right way and a wrong way, both, of seeking and hoping. The most abandoned characters murderers and others would hope to be saved from what might be only, perhaps, a mere carnal, coward fear of hell; but if a sinner really and truly seeks the Lord, it is simply because the Lord has sought out that sinner. "I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name." (Isa. 65:1) Mark this! "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10) My hearers, if we are seeking the Lord, we must know something of following Him, and what self-denial is. "And when He had called the people unto Him, with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:34-36) Christ must be pre-eminent. "O! for a closer walk with God! A calm and heavenly frame: A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb!" Can you, and do you, say that? Are you seeking are you following the Lord? Paul instructs Timothy about this following. "But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." (1 Tim. 6:11,12) And mark the title "O man of God!" How many such are hearing me here? how many men and women of God are assembled here? If the Queen called a commoner to bestow on him a peerage, she confers on him a title, and he is registered in the peerage, and takes his seat amongst the peers in the House of Lords. But that title "O man of God!" is one that no earthly sovereign can bestow; it is in the gift of the King of kings: a title to be borne by all Jehovah's registered ones, and it ensures a place in God's everlasting kingdom. "In my Father's house are many mansions: if not, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2,3) But while the crown is sure to, and for, all God's poor ones, in heaven hereafter, they must, while in this pilgrimage state here, endure and bear the cross, and as in that passage in 1 Tim. 6:11,12: the saved sinner must "Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, "So he must also "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." The fight, the conflict, is often hard, but the victory is sure and certain. "My soul followeth hard after Thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me." (Ps. 63:8) Are you and I following after Jesus Christ? Our doing so is because of that right hand upholding: in that is our enabling. Do you know what temptation is? what fiery trials are? what the conflict and struggle between the flesh and spirit are? Do you know what the bitterness and hatred of the world is? Are you belied, and hated, and despised, by the professor, and scorned by old friends and acquaintance, and many of your own kindred? This is something of the "hard following!" but the prop, the stay, the support, is the right hand upholding. But the point is, that "The heart of them shall rejoice that seek the Lord." It is difficult to preach this point fully. The seekers and the followers of the Lord are mourners and sorrowing ones, and yet they know a secret joy, with which "a stranger cannot intermeddle." We must bear the cross here, but there is real joy and rejoicing in reserve for the Church of God! and we taste of this, every now and then, here, but the fullness of joy will be in God's everlasting kingdom. Those professors who are now always rejoicing, the so-called "always rejoicing party," know nothing of these things. "There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen." (Job 28:7) But when I see a poor broken-hearted sinner bemoaning himself because of his iniquity and sin, and yet struggling up and down the narrow pathway, and seeking for true and abiding joy in Christ Jesus, then I know that there is something real and genuine in that. Look at the case of the woman in the gospel (she affords a pattern to my female hearers): "And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away; for she cried after us. But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, Help me. But He answered and said, it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." (Matt. 15:22-28) What a picture Christ drew of that poor woman, in verse 24:"But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." She saw the reality, her own self therein described, and immediately as a poor lost one, dropped at the feet of Israel's Shepherd, and worshipped Him. "Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me." At first she received no answer to her cry for mercy: "But He answered her not a word." And so it is with all God's children: at times He does not answer, but, as it were, "shutteth out our prayer," but His answers come at the right and appointed time. And so in her case: "But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." 3. "Seek the Lord and His strength." What have you come to this House of God for? Are you here really seeking after Him, and longing to know your interest, personally and individually, in Him and His finished work? is this really so? "When I can read my title clear, To mansions in the skies," Are you interested in that? Suppose you had an estate left you, how anxious you would be to see and know that your title-deed was all right. Now apply this to the one thing needful. The Church is an entailed estate, and the point is, Am I one, and are you one! Look at the case of Esau and Jacob. The blessing was Jacob's and not Esau's, simply because God had so decreed it: decreed that "the elder shall serve the younger." And so the old man shall serve the new man! "For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary, one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." (Gal. 5:17) And thus, the new-born sinner is forced to shriek out as Rebecca did: "And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." (Gen. 25:22,23) And so it is with the strugglings within us, when new-born. "If it be so, why am I thus?" is the cry of our hearts. Why such inward warfare? Why such a mass of sin within me? Why such thoughts? Why such corruption? Why, if I am a child of God, born from above, am I such a sinner? You cannot help these indwelling corruptions, but can you say with Paul, "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." There is blessed reality in that: "It is no more I, but sin" indwelling sin. In Gen. 25 it is said, "And the boys grew." Esau grew, and Jacob grew; they both grew. So does the old man so does the new: hence the conflict! "Sin is resolv'd to hold me fast, But Grace shall conquer sin at last." Where are your progressive sanctificationists? That is an awful heresy, for the old man never improves, but GRACE reigns triumphant! But if you and I hate our sins, and mourn because of them, and if we cry for mercy and forgiveness, that is a test and a "token for good," in ourselves. I say, progressive sanctification is a heresy; but mark me, the more we grow in GRACE, and increase in the knowledge of God and of ourselves, the more we bewail and hate sin, and flee to Him to help and save, who only can deliver the poor sin-burdened soul! All this drives us to "Seek the Lord and His strength," when we practically feel that we have no strength of our own. Hence that cry, "Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies." (Ps. 27:11) And also those words that I took for a text last week, in London, "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto Thy statutes continually." (Ps. 119:117) We have no power you and I have no strength to seek God of ourselves; and if we seek Him, it is because He has sought us. O! those words in Ezekiel 16:5,6"None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out into the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee in thy blood, Live." And also Isaiah 65:1"I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name." Those words in Isaiah 65:1, were blessed to me years ago. I had been preaching error and heresy here, and also at Hastings; but the Truth, as embodied in those words, and applied with power, set me from Arminianism and free will, and shivered it to pieces. When the Shepherd seeks out His own sheep, then, and not till then, the sheep will seek the Shepherd. But what is the profession and the system generally of the day? Why it is this: they say, that "If you will only seek you will find." But this is not the gospel! this is not the truth! "No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent Me, draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44) No sinner can believe, no sinner can seek the Lord, till God Himself gives the will, and with that will, the power! Grace, freely given, works this in His people; and driving us away from every other shelter, forces us to seek and to flee to Him for strength, and peace, and all things. But if we are really seeking Him for His strength, we must renounce all other dependence, and be looking unto Him for all things: We must have the heart; and a sense of our own weakness and helplessness will force us, through Grace, to seek Him and His strength, and hence, we must renounce all our idols. "The dearest idol I have known, Whate'er that idol be, Help me to tear it from thy throne, And worship only THEE." The word of command by John is "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," (1 John 5:21) "Little children!" such is the title of the elect of the children of God; and whether it be a little child in the pulpit, or little children in the pews, the command to each of such is, that we keep ourselves from idols! but we can only do so as God, by His grace, keeps us from them. O! it is a hard and rugged way: but do we feel the right hand upholding us, and we seek the Lord and His strength as earnestly as we often seek after earthly things? If we are made to seek after the Lord, our name will be cast out as evil mind that! In that list of blessings in Matthew 5, this is one. "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." (ver. 11,12) And so it ever was: so it is now: and so it ever will be. It is the family mark! Prophets endured it: apostles suffered it: and God's children now are undergoing it. It is, in 1865, the same as in times of old! My hearers, are you really seeking the Lord? that is the point before us. But O! how cold our love is our love to God love to one another. "By this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35) But the salvation of the elect is ensured, because of God's everlasting, unchanging love to His people. "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." (Jer. 31:3) And how that love has saved some of the vilest and worst of men. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:9-11) The bolt and the bar (if I may so speak) are on heaven's door, against all the unrighteous: but O! see the mercy they that are righteous, not in themselves, but in Christ Jesus, these shall inherit the kingdom of God; and in all, such a change shall be effected by sovereign grace, and these shall be made to hate sin and seek the Lord. O! those searching words "and such were some of you!" O! how humbling. "Who maketh to differ." And mark the words and the ground of the safety of the saved ones "but ye are washed!" Mark the grammar, here, of the word, "ye are washed." The thing is done, and not to be done. "But ye are sanctified" "are sanctified;" "but ye are justified" "are justified." O! those three "buts!" "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." And all this, "in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." And in this consists the freeness and fullness of the gospel. Salvation by Grace, "without the deeds of the law." "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezek. 36:25-27) Death stares us all in the face, and O! what a thing to die, if not washed, if not sanctified, if not justified! Are we then "Seeking the Lord, and His strength?" We must be made to know and feel our own weakness. "And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Cor. 12:7-10) What a God, what a Father the Church has! He will not allow His children to be too happy here, and so He reproves, and chastens, and afflicts, and allows Satan to buffet them. The effect of Satan's buffeting Paul was, that it made him pray made him continue praying. "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." "Thrice" he besought the Lord! Do we know the mystic meaning of "the thorn in the flesh?" To illustrate this, have you ever had a thorn in the finger, festering there, and so paining you, fretting you? But when the thorn was out, the pain ceased. But Paul must bear this buffeting, this exercise, in order to realize the practical experience, spiritually. "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." (ver. 9,10) Nothing but experience can teach us this. Schools cannot teach it colleges cannot impart it: human learning and human power are helpless in this. We can only learn all this in the school of God. "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Heb. 12:11) 4. "Seek His face evermore." "When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." (Ps. 27:8) This is the secret. When God says to a sinner, "Seek ye My face," then the sinner so commanded obeys and says, "My heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." Are you each so seeking? Have you forgotten my text last Sunday afternoon? "My night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth: I sought Him, but I found Him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek Him whom my soul loveth: I sought Him, but I found Him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?" (Songs 3:1-3) What do mere professors know of this? According to them, they can always see, and always find and put the devil behind them, as they choose. I wish I could do so: but I am powerless to do so of myself, and this drives me to Him who only can do it for His poor ones. But see in that Scripture in Solomon's Song, which I referred to, see how intensely the Church seeks her Husband how her soul loves Him, how she seeks after Him, and would obey and do His word and will (a good example, this, to you females)! And oh, in this seeking Christ, what a reality it was, as set forth in these words: "It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found Him whom my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me." (ver. 4) "Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word." (Eph. 5:25,26) Christ is the alone Healer Christ is the one Redeemer of His Church. Seek none but Him. Are you brought to Jesus? "And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to Me." (Matt. 17:16,17) The disciples could not cure this poor afflicted one. But O! that word of command! "O Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?" "Bring him hither to Me." "Faithless and perverse," indeed: and just so, and just such, are you and I, in ourselves. "Lord, increase our faith." Well now, my hearers, I have finished at least, run through this text; and so, I have done my part, instrumentally: but see for yourselves whether God has engrafted the word in your hearts. Everything here is fading away, and though we often want to have things according to our way and our mind, yet remember the text: "Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength: seek His face evermore." I have not half preached out these words. It is a sense of guilt and sin that forces us out of self to seek Christ and our interest in Him, and so to see whether our sin is "covered." "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, sin covered. Blessed the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto Him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will instruct thee and teach thee with Mine eye." (Ps. 32:1-8) May you and I realize that for ourselves; and glorying in His name, and seeking Him in hope of eternal life and joy, may we "Seek the Lord and His strength" here, on earth, and so seeking, find Him and see His face, in eternity for evermore! "Glory ye in His holy name! let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore." (Ps. 105:3,4) May God bless His own word, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

ViaViente

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We're Moving to Alaska

We just got back from the greatest vacation ever, and our future home! I'm not sure how long it will take God to move us up there... 5 years or 5 months? With so many things to do to prepare, the first thing is to pray. God will take care of everything else!

Proverbs 31:12, 29

She does me good and not evil all the days of her life... Many daughters have done nobly, but she excels them all.

I have now been married to the most wonderful woman on the planet for 3 years! In celebration, we went to the restaurant of our wedding night (Nana Grill) located on the top floor of the Anatole Hotel.


I then surprised Sarrah by taking us to our room at the hotel!

The next day we got up and went to farmer's market!


What a special date! With God's grace, I'm looking forward to the next 50 years of my life with her!!!

Planning...

Its been almost 2 months... not that it matters, nobody reads this, but for my own history, this is quite a big gap. I ran 2-3 miles today for the first time in a long time. Need to get back with it if I'm going to run San Antonio on Nov. 16, 2008 with Christy and Rubs.

I decided on my run this morning, I would write down a list of things that I want to do (my bucket list, though we haven't seen the movie) These are in no special order--

Build a home in the mountains (CO or AK or ID)
Visit Israel
Write a letter to Israel
Own/run a sandwich shop/coffee shop/restaurant with Sarrah
Write my autobiography
Get 100% out of debt (including mortgage)
Go to Hawai'i again
Visit Virunga National Park

For now, I best start with reconciling our bank statement...

The Company I Work For

Austin Marathon

Here are the results from my run today... Not great, but I finished and its a start to my goal of a under-4 hour finish... Keep on keepin' on... Thank You God for carrying me across the finish line!!!

Anyone can now post...

I didn't realize there was a setting on this thing that allowed only google users to be able to comment. This has been changed and now anyone can post to this. Sorry about that people...

New Year Resolutions...

Jonathan Edwards has some great ones. I am stealing from him while adding a couple of my own... (placing them in an order that seems most beneficial to me.)

Resolved, To study scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive, myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

Resolved, That I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God' s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved, to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved, to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many soever, and how great soever.

Resolved, To, in accordance with Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (9:27), buffet my body, and make it my slave, through exercise and the denial of self, to prove to myself that I, through the power of the Holy Spirit, am able to overcome my flesh and persevere, striving for holiness, knowing I will never attain it completely in this world.

Resolved, When I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.

Resolved, To think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

Resolved, Never, henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but entirely and altogether God's.

Resolved, To be the best husband to Sarrah that I can be, in thought, action, and most importantly, prayer, to continually lift her up, that God may continue to use her as an instrument, not only in my own life, but in the lives of all whom she comes in contact with.

Resolved, Very much to exercise myself in this, all my life long, viz. with the greatest openness, of which I am capable of, to declare my ways to God, and lay open my soul to him: all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and every thing, and every circumstance.

Resolved, To inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent,- what sin I have committed,-and wherein I have denied myself;-also at the end of every week, month and year.

Resolved, If ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.