The LORD is my Shepherd

The great Baptist preacher of nineteenth century London, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, wrote the following words on Ps.23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd.” “What condescension is this, that the infinite Lord assumes towards his people the office and character of a Shepherd! It should be the subject of grateful admiration that the great God allows himself to be compared to anything which will set forth his great love and care for his own people.”

Isn’t that lovely? Does that not thrill your very soul? The Lord’s deep humility is seen in His becoming the One Who shepherds us, pastors us, and Who is “our Shield and Defender.” He places Himself between us and danger, and fends off the enemy. He leads us to where our souls are fed and nourished and restored. This is the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for us (1 Jn.3:16). We sing with Philip P. Bliss, “Hallelujah! What a Saviour!”

Our hearts ought to know no reserve when we praise and worship such a Redeemer. And His Father, and ours, allows Himself to be compared to a lowly shepherd, one Who loves and cares for the sheep. He understands our needs, you know. The care He has for His own children, for you and for me, should be the subject of our never-dying praise and gratitude. Our hearts should be enlarged with the holiest worship of such a great Shepherd. As His sheep, we are owned by Him; if we were wolves or goats or wild animals, then we would have an altogether different owner, one not nearly so loving and kind. He owns us; we are not our own; we were bought with a price – the precious blood of Christ (1 Cor.6:20). Our Owner sets great store on us, views us as precious in His sight, and takes great delight in us.

Brothers and sisters, we belong to Christ. And the One Who is our shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us cultivate this sense of total dependence on Him for everything, yea, for life itself. Spurgeon remarks that the sweetest monosyllable in this verse is the word My. “The LORD is my shepherd.”

Can you say that? Do you know Him as your shepherd? Has He become your shepherd? Have you trusted Him personally? Are you living for Him? Is He your everything, and is He your all? Have you come to Him and asked Him to make you one of His sheep?

If you have, then you will know that He loves you, cares for you, watches over you, leads and guides you, and has your best and eternal interest at heart. Whatever your present circumstances might be, the LORD is with you and by His Spirit lives in you. The words are in the present tense, which means that these things are true for you at every moment and in every circumstance. Did you realise that? At this very moment in your life’s experience, the LORD is with you. You are under His loving and constant care.

When living with cancer or any other kind of trauma, there are few truths that are more precious to the Christian believer. When everything seems to be blackness and gloom, to look up to this wonderful Shepherd is the greatest privilege of all. When you wonder what is going to happen to you, and whether or not you will live or die, this Psalm is the God-provided antidote. When you question what will become of your family and loved-ones, you turn your eyes to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and cast yourself on Him. Why? Because He cares for you (1 Pet.5:7). Jesus Christ cares for you! He is more than able to supply all your needs both now and forever. He deals with our circumstances with great ease. There is nothing in life that you and I have met that He hasn’t met and dealt with triumphantly numerous times. That’s our hope and stay amidst life’s troubles.

Where the Battle Rages...

The great reformer, Dr Martin Luther, said, “Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.” How often this is observed in the breach rather than in the observance. How often Christ’s cause goes by default because ministers are afraid of annoying the church authorities. And as Christians who are already carrying heavy burdens of responsibility, it is painful to witness the churches’ attempts at destruction of Christ’s faithful servants. It is here for many that the spiritual battle rages; and it is here that Christ’s men prove their worth by staying with God’s persecuted servants. True shepherds stay with Christ’s true sheep; hirelings go with wolves dressed up to look like sheep (Jn.10:12, 13).

We must never forget that there is much more going on in our lives, more pressures to contend with, in addition to the actual presenting problem.  There are underlying issues and there are current issues that impinge on us in such a way that we have those matters to process in our minds and hearts as well as our personal challenges. There are Christ’s servants who are being hounded to death by ecclesiastical powers, men who need support; and there are Christians who have been disenfranchised from the church who need succour and direction. These are Christian responsibilities that the Lord has laid on us, because the church has failed lamentably to support its ministers who are being opposed and persecuted from within. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen.4:9). Yes, I am, and what an inestimable privilege it is to be so. This is a responsibility that we’d prefer not to have to carry at this time, but it is a Christian responsibility nonetheless which we are honoured to carry. When we needed support, none was at hand; we promised that we would not allow this to happen to other servants of Christ.

Set Up a New Reformed Evangelical Church

In an earlier post, I suggested that those evangelicals who are more loyal to the church than they are to the Gospel are prepared to stand idly by and watch fellow-evangelicals being slaughtered by the church and not lift a hand to help them.  Shame on them all!

I read recently of how this exact thing goes on within the Scottish Presbyterian churches. The writer echoed my viewpoint when he said that he watched in horror as evangelicals were being hung out to dry by their evangelical colleagues. At times they were instrumental in betraying evangelicals, and stood there watching what was happening but doing nothing about it.

He referred to a divinity student in the Presbytery of Glasgow whose views on women's ordination were reported to Presbytery. Not one evangelical supported him and he was forced to leave. Another evangelical in another Presbytery was accused of being a 'troublemaker' in relation to the same issue, and rather than being given the support of his fellow evangelicals, found himself ostracised and he too had to leave. A third situation involved a young minister who confronted a ruling elder about an inappropriate (sinful and unbiblical) relationship he was having. This came to Presbytery and neither the Presbytery nor the evangelical ministers in it supported him, and he too was told to keep quiet about this, or to leave the ministry. He left.

It seems that evangelicals in today's churches are rather more like evan-jelly-cals than Bible believing Christians; the emphasis here is on the jelly. Ministers within the established denominations have no reason to believe that when hardy comes to hardy, they can be sure of the support of fellow-evangelicals at Presbytery or Assembly levels. These evangelicals are first and foremost churchmen rather than Gospel-men; that means that you just cannot trust them to support biblical standards either in morals or in doctrine.

Where are soundly evangelical ministers to go to who want to minister the Word of God and preach the everlasting Gospel of redeeming grace? Answer? It is impossible to say. Presbyterianism, in all its shades and varieties, is painted in the same colours. Every minister's pre-occupation is to protect himself and secure his job. Ministers within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, some of them, live in fear of getting on the wrong side of church authorities. This was the response I got when I asked why ministers will not support their brother evangelicals. They are living in fear of the church hierarchy, and they know that they have the power of life and death over their ministries. These men have taken real power into their own hands, and, my, they are prepared to use it - but only against evangelicals whose congregations do not want their preaching. They will not lift a hand to discipline or remove liberals and ecumenicals, and other time-servers, those who keep in with the authorities. 

Surely the time has now come for reformed evangelicals to come together and set up a new Christian church. The unfaithfulness of the current churches is depressing. When evangelical ministers are being abused by and within their congregations and then dismissed by their Presbyteries working in conjunction with the powerful Judicial Commission. This cannot go on indefinitely. "The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. (Dan.11:32). Now is the time for action. Think of Luther and Calvin, Cranmer and Latimer, men who knew their God and who did great things for Him. 

Discerning Churches - But Not In The Right Way!

What do you think of this? A religious denomination is very happy to allow rank liberals who are accredited by them and within their ranks to take churches, but they will not allow a Gospel minister to be called to its congregations. If these ministers are "one of us," then what they believe and preach is of no account whatever. So long as they can pass their theological exams, they're in!

I understand that churches must guard their official teaching role, but when it reaches the point where churches that call themselves 'evangelical' and 'reformed' simply do not want Gospel preachers - and actually remove such men from their ministry - preferring instead those who could not preach their way out of a wet paper bag and who have no clear Gospel message, things have reached an awful pitch.

The church today is in reality a 'power club,' and loves to be able to control its ministers and what and how they preach.

Gospel ministers coming into a dead denomination are guaranteed a rough time. The denomination might be orthodox and even admit theological liberals to its ranks, but evangelicals are a different matter altogether. Church authorities do not seem to care about the eternal destinies of its members so long as they keep on paying into church funds, and they enjoy being members of the 'club.'

Church members do not all like to hear a straight Gospel sermon, and these members also know that the church leaders will support them against a Gospel minister, so they can gradually remove the Gospel from their denomination. The Gospel really is Christian Counter Culture, hence the opposition from those churches that will protect their religious culture against all comers.  To them, their culture and its maintenance is much more important than a Gospel that challenges that culture. 'Keep the culture, but get rid of Jesus,' the culture seems to be.

This is happening in Northern Ireland, a land once known for its evangelical fervour. The church here still has a name to live, but that life is difficult to find in many instances. "Essay readers" occupy many of her pulpits, but few preachers as such. These theological essay's are read with studied detachment, and with the occasional quote from classical authors to prove the preacher's cleverness, but it's no more than a name. And church leaders imagine they are serving the Lord by persecuting those ministers who are fearless Gospel preachers and working towards securing their removal permanently from their church.

And here's the rub: they see the church as "their" church primarily, and only secondarily, and at best, the church of God. We have our traditions to maintain. Our traditions are precious to us, whether they have any biblical validity is of no account. If any minister lays a hand on that "sacred cow," they are to be removed immediately if not sooner.

The ruthlessness of churches that regard themselves as authentically reformed gives the lie to their claim to preach "the doctrines of grace." In today's confused ecclesiastical world, Christian church members have to re-consider their continued membership of and financial support to such churches. How can they continue to support a church that takes legal action against its ministers for preaching the Gospel! And how can they provide financial support to any church that treats Gospel ministers and members so despicably.

The time is fast approaching when a new church body must be set up to safeguard the Gospel for the generations to come. One thing Christians cannot do id this: they cannot expect apostate churches to preach a biblical Gospel with fire sent down from heaven. And if they cannot expect that, then they are not to be expected to remain in such denominations. Reform of the church according to the Scriptures is urgently needed, and God will guide His redeemed people in the right way and at the right time to bring this to pass.

Repenting Too Late!

Repentance is a Gospel demand for all who will enter into a right relationship with God through Christ. It is one of Christ’s Gospel commandments. If this Gospel commandment is not obeyed, then serious eternal consequences lie ahead. For without repentance, there is no life; repentance leads to life.

When John the Baptist began his preaching ministry, the first message he preached was repentance.  When Jesus started His public ministry, He preached the same message - repent.

Why did these two preachers emphasise the need for repentance? Well, what is repentance? In the Bible, it means to ‘turn’ and change direction. This implies that a mistake has been made which must be remedied, and can only be remedied by a right about turn and going in the opposite direction. You have been living your life in the wrong way. Instead of living for Christ, you have lived for Satan. Instead of loving God with your whole heart, you have refused to love Him at all.

Repentance also means to ‘think again.’ We all have plenty to ‘think again’ about - those things we regret and wish we hadn’t done. Think of your sins against God for a moment. You haven’t loved Him with your whole heart, have you? You had no time for Him or for His death on the Cross for you? You did not even recognise that you are a condemned sinner before a holy and just God.

You need to ‘think again’ and then ‘turn’ right around and come to Christ.  You’ll never come to Christ with your back to Him; you must turn around, and face Him, and then put your trust in Him.

Is repentance an urgent thing? Very much so. Do you know you can repent too late? Are you aware that there is a right time for repentance? What do you mean? Well, let me tell you of three men in the Bible who repented alright, but it was too late. Now that’s very scary. That frightens me. Do you mean to tell me that I cannot just repent when I choose? Exactly. The right time to repent is when God is speaking to your soul, when you feel convicted of your sin, when you realise you must come to Christ alone for salvation.

Remember Cain, Abel’s brother? He murdered Abel, and then regretted getting caught, Gen.4:13. He knew he would be punished for his sin, but that’s not repentance. He missed his opportunity. For him, the day of grace had passed.

Then you have Esau, Jacob’s brother. He deceived his father Isaac and his brother, lost the blessing, and was rejected. Did he repent? Yes, but it was too late. Was he in earnest? Yes, because “he sought it diligently with tears,” (Heb.12:17). This wretched man refused to truly repent because he sold his blessing for a mere meal, and all the tears in the world could not save him. He missed his opportunity to get right with God; he missed the day of grace, and was lost eternally.

Think of Judas who betrayed Christ. He sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, betraying innocent blood. Did he repent? Yes, he did; but he was too late. He had some feelings of guilt for what he had done, so he took the money and threw it back to the Priests. He realised he had sinned, but it was too late.

My friend, there could come a day in this life when you realise you are a lost sinner, but you will not be able to repent. When you stand before God in judgement, you’ll know for sure you are a terrible sinner, but you will not be able to repent. It will be forever too late to reverse your decision. You will be tortured by regrets and recriminations. If only... If only...  If only... You can repent too late.

But today, and while it is still today, you can hear God speaking to you, speaking in your conscience, urging you to trust Christ alone for salvation. To trust in any other apart from, or in addition to, Christ, is not to trust Him at all.

Don’t risk it. Repent NOW. Turn to Christ in faith NOW and get right with God. God requires the past, your past. An account will have to be made to God. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is ready to receive you the moment you trust in His Son, the Saviour of the world.

Don’t throw away your opportunity to be saved. You can repent too late. ‘Too late, too late, will be the cry.’ Don’t risk your eternal soul; come to Christ NOW. ADMIT you are a sinner in God’s sight; CONFESS honestly to God your sin; CRY OUT to God for mercy and forgiveness; ENTRUST yourself to Christ, the only Saviour of mankind. He died to take away your sins. Ask Him to do just that. He died for sinners therefore for you. His love bore your sins away. So come to Him now. No time to lose.

Remember, you can leave it too late.

Good News At A Time Of Bad News

If you get word that you have a bad disease like cancer, ought you to be worried? Many get this ‘bad news’ on a daily basis. Just sit in a cancer clinic for a while and you’ll see patients going and coming constantly, young and old and middle-aged. They are anxious, fearful, worried. What the consultant will tell them will change their lives. 

We sat and waited in such a clinic, and saw two ladies as they were coming out from the consultant; one whispered to us, “Bad news,” and the other left in tears. They were clearly shaken. Our hearts went out to them.  Should they be worried?

Well it all depends upon their relationship with Christ. Nothing else matters. Does someone getting such unwelcome news know Christ personally as Saviour and Lord? If they do, then ultimately there is nothing to worry about. All must die, but we do not know when or how we will leave this world; but die we will. Therefore, the urgent need is to be right with God. 

What is death? Some think it’s the end. Well, it’s not the end, for one thing. It is the end of life in this world, but it is not the end. It is the end of suffering in this world, but it is not the end. People foolishly say, “It’s good for them; their suffering is over at last.” But people who talk like this do not believe that ‘this world is not our home, we’re just a-passing through.’ We are going somewhere because the soul is eternal, it lives forever, and it does not die. So the real ‘you’ does not cease to exist when you leave this world of time. You are going somewhere after death.

Some think (wrongly) that all go to heaven when they die. All Christians go to heaven when they die, but only Christians. What is a Christian, then? A Christian is someone, a sinner, who has realised his lostness, guilt, godlessness, rebellion against God, opposition to Christ and the Gospel, his lovelessness towards Christ, and repents of his sins. He sees sin, maybe for the first time, as the ugly thing it is, and flees from it to Christ the Saviour of the world. And this God-provided Saviour receives all who come to Him in faith (Jn.6:37).

Death is not ‘termination’; death is ‘separation.’ It is what separates us from this world and all that is in it. For those who are not Christians, death separates them from God in His redeeming, sin-bearing love, and separates them unto the judgement of hell forever. When we die we do not cease to exist. We ‘pass on’ to another existence.

Now the good news in this situation is that we can know before we die where it is we are going to. The Gospel of Christ tells us that we can be sure of our destiny after death. That we are going to die is a fact; it’s God’s appointment (Heb.9:27). The big thing is where we are going to when we die. It is the Gospel alone that gives us this knowledge.

The Gospel tells us some astounding things. It tells us God has provided a way for hell-deserving sinners (for that is what we truly are) to be with Christ forever. It tells us that the big thing that will keep us out of heaven is our sins, and that God has found a way whereby our sins can be removed. We can leave this life with all its pain and suffering and uncertainties and go to be with Him forever. The apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” (1 John.1:9).

When Christ died on Calvary, God “laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” (Isa.53:6). That means that your sins were carried away by Christ in His death. The price of your forgiveness has been paid in full and God’s holiness has been fully satisfied. He can now look on the sin-bearing Christ and pardon you.

How is this pardon received? By putting your trust in Christ alone. Turn from your sins, and trust Christ to save you. Receive the mercy He freely offers in the Gospel, and rest upon Him alone for salvation.

He has promised “never to leave you nor forsake you.”  He will be your help in time of trouble. You have Someone on Whom you can cast all your burdens, and He will bear you up. And He’s waiting to be merciful to you when you call out to Him.

‘Bad news’ reminds us that we are going to die. It also paves the way for the ‘Good News’ to bring us light and hope and new life. It is there for the asking. Seek it now and go on seeking until you get it.

The LORD Is My Shepherd

The great Baptist preacher of nineteenth century London, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, wrote the following words on Ps.23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd." “What condescension is this, that the infinite Lord assumes towards his people the office and character of a Shepherd! It should be the subject of grateful admiration that the great God allows himself to be compared to anything which will set forth his great love and care for his own people.”

Isn’t that lovely? The Lord’s deep humility is seen in His becoming the One Who shepherds us, pastors us, Whom is “our Shield and Defender.” He places Himself between us and danger, and fends off the enemy. He leads us to where our souls are fed and nourished and restored. This is the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for us (1 Jn.3:16). We sing with Philip P. Bliss, “Hallelujah! What a Saviour!”

Our hearts ought to know no reserve when we praise and worship such a Redeemer. And His Father, and ours, allows Himself to be compared to a lowly shepherd, one who loves and cares for the sheep. He understands our needs, you know. The care He has for His own children, for you and for me, should be the subject of our never-dying praise and gratitude. Our hearts should be enlarged with the holiest worship of such a great Shepherd. As His sheep, we are owned by Him; if we were wolves or goats or wild animals, then we would have an altogether different owner, one not nearly so loving and kind. He owns us; we are not our own; we were bought with a price – the precious blood of Christ (1 Cor.6:20). Our Owner sets great store on us, views us a precious in His sight, and takes great delight in us.

Brothers and sisters, we belong to Christ. And the One Who is our shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us cultivate this sense of total dependence on Him for everything, yea, for life itself. Spurgeon remarks that the sweetest monosyllable in this verse is the word My. The LORD is my shepherd.

Can you say that? Do you know Him as your shepherd? Has He become your shepherd? Have you trusted Him personally? Are you living for Him? Is He your everything, and is He your all? Have you come to Him and asked Him to make you one of His sheep?

If you have, then you will know that He loves you, cares for you, watches over you, leads and guide you, and has your best and eternal interest at heart. Whatever your present circumstances might be, the LORD is with you and by His Spirit lives in you. The words are in the present tense, which means that these things are true for you at every moment and in every circumstance. Did you realise that? At this very moment in your life’s experience, the LORD is with you. You are under His loving and constant care.

When living with cancer, there are few truths that are more precious to the Christian believer. When everything seems to be blackness and gloom, to look up to this wonderful Shepherd is the greatest privilege of all. When you wonder what is going to happen to you, and whether or not you will live or die, this Psalm is the God-provided antidote. When you question what will become of your family and loved-ones, you turn your eyes to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and cast yourself on Him. Why? Because He cares for you (1 Pet.5:7). Jesus Christ cares for you! He is more than able to supply all your needs both now and forever. That’s our hope and stay amidst life’s troubles.