"Yet Another" Quote for Thought

     On my internet homepage, I have a box that has random quotes that people have made. A little while ago I had posted one such quote, and now I have "yet another."
     This quote is one, that upon face value is rather comical: but when you get deeper, it loses it's lite aura, and it ought to raise some alarm with people, because of the truth (or fact,) which it so wittingly presents.
     And so, without further ado; I give you, The Quote:

"Another possible source of guidance for teenagers is television, but television's message has always been that the need for truth, wisdom and world peace pales by comparison with the need for a toothpaste that offers whiter teeth *and* fresher breath."

  - Dave Barry

     This truth (or fact,) is not that the TV ought to be a source of guidance, but that it too often IS their source of guidance. And the danger comes from the constant bombardment of it's hellish programming, which does little more than molest the minds of the young and old alike: Ah-hem, I said, "young and old alike". What with the in-your-face attitude of this rebellious and vanity stricken world, constantly proclaiming your "need" for this new thing, or that new look, or "their" acceptance, or a slimmer waist, or a boyfriend or girlfriend, to truly enjoy this life; and that, without "it," well... then you'll never really reach what they insist your dreams should be.
     And all of these absolutely worthless wares are being purposely and perpetually thrust before the eyes, thus into the mind, thus securing it a place in the consciousness and sub-consciousness of their audience. And get this, it's all "For your viewing pleasure!"
     Well now, isn't that just so sweet of them? they're thinking of (you)??

     I am reminded of what David wrote:

"I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me."  - Psalm 101:2b-3

     As Christians, this world is not our home, nor are we to have any place for it in our hearts. What was it that John wrote?

"Love not the world, neither the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."   - I John 2:15-17

     The will of God cannot found on TV; nor is to be found in the news; nor in social circles: the will of God is to be found in His Word with much prayer and searching.
     The fact is, that the will of God and the will of the world are at war with each other. The world is following after Satan's agenda. And sadly, many professing Christians are too.

The God of the Aged - Peculiar Blessedness

I want to share a portion of a sermon I read just the other night entitled,
                                        The God of the Aged
                                          by C.H. Spurgeon

      The text of the sermon is,

"And even to  your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."   -- Isaiah 46:4 

     The topic of this portion is on the Peculiar Blessedness of the aged saint. In the portions just prior to this, Mr. Spurgeon brought attention to the differences in some of the goals, hopes, and planning that there is between the young, the middle-aged, and the aged. To the aged, their goal is not to rear up a family, nor is it to embark in some business or profession: they have lived, and shall soon be where their hope truly rests, with Christ.
     The sweet fellowship that an aged saint has experienced with their Master is something that has only sweetened with the passing of time; and something that can only be attained with the passing of time. The only thing that they would have any regrets over, would be sin. They are not so apt to fear or doubt His promises; because they're tried promises, and He that promised has proved Himself faithful.
     These are things that I, as a young man, can only anticipate: to grow closer and more dependent upon the Lord; to trust His leading and His promises; to go first, foremost, and only unto His counsel. It is a journey that many have made, that many are currently making, and that many shall soon be ending, thus arriving at that desired country, where it is promised, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

May God bless you, wherever you are in life.

"" And now, once more, old age hath its peculiar blessedness. Some time ago, I stepped up to an old man whom I saw when preaching at an anniversary, and I said to him, "Brother, do you know there is no man in the whole chapel I envy so much as you!" "Envy me," he said, "why, I am eighty-seven." I said, "I do, indeed; because you are so near your home, and because I believe that in old age there is a peculiar joy, which we young people do not taste at present. You have got to the bottom of the cup, and it is not with God's wine as it is with man's. Man's wine becomes dregs at the last, but God's wine is sweeter the deeper you drink of it." He said, "That's very true, young man," and shook me by the hand. I believe there is a blessedness of old age that we young people know nothing of. I will tell you how that is. In the first place, the old man has a good experience to talk about. The young men are only just trying some of the promises; but the old man can turn them over one by one, and say, "There, I have tried that, and that, and that." We read them over and say, "I hope they are true," but the old man says, "I know they are true." And then he begins to tell you why. He has got a history for every one, like a soldier for his medals; and he takes them out and says, "I will tell you when the Lord revealed that to me: just when I lost my wife; just when I buried my son; just when I was turned out of my cottage, and did not get work for six weeks; or, at another time, when I broke my leg." He begins telling you the history of the promises, and says, "There, now, I know they are all true." What a blessed thing, to look upon them as paid notes; to bring out the old checks that have been cashed, and say, "I know they are genuine, or else they would not have been paid." Old people have not the doubts young people have about the doctrines. Young people are apt to doubt; but when they get old, they begin to get solid and firm in the faith. I love to get some of my old brethren to talk with me concerning the good things of the kingdom. They do not hold the truth with their two fingers, as some young men do; but they get right hold of it, and nobody can take it from their grasp. Rowland Hill once somewhat lost his way in a sermon, and he turned to this text--"O Lord, my heart is fixed." "Young men," he said, "there is nothing like having your heart fixed. I never have any doubts now about election, or any other doctrine. If man brings me a new theory, I say, 'Away with it!' I stand hard and fast by the truth alone." ""

An Awful Premonition

     A few days ago I was reading a book titled "When Christ Returns" by Charles Spurgeon, and the very first portion which I read dealt on a verse that I have never really understood before -

     "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." - Matthew 16:28


     May God give us understanding to the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ.

                                     An Awful Premonition
     "I confess that I have frequently read this verse with only a vague sense of its poignancy and have passed over it rapidly because I have not understood it clearly. Although I am well acquainted with the usual interpretations, none of them has ever really satisfied me. This text seems to arouse the reader's surprise without suggesting a simple, obvious meaning. Bible commentators have thus invented explanations and offered suggestions that are widely divergent, but all are equally obscure and improbable.
     Lately, however, in reading a volume of sermons by Bishop Horsley, I have met with an altogether new view of the passage, which I firmly believe to be the correct one. Though I do not suppose I will be able to convince all of you of this interpretation, yet I will do my best to elicit from our text the terrible charge that I believe the Saviour has left here on record.
     With His own cross in mind, Jesus had just admonished His disciples to steadfastness and appealed to them to take up their crosses and follow Him at any sacrifice, which He followed with a portrayal of the inestimable value of the soul and the horror of a soul being lost. (See Matthew 16:24-26.) The full force of that doom was (and is) impossible to comprehend until He 'shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels' (Matthew 16:27). Then He stopped, looked on some off the company, and said something like this: 'Certain people are standing here who will never taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.'
     Now, what did He mean by this? Obviously, it is either a marvelous promise to some who were His disciples indeed, or else it is a portent of woe to others who would die in their sins. How do the popular interpretations of our learned commentators view this statement of our Lord?
     Some say it refers to the Transfiguration. It certainly is remarkable that the account of the Transfiguration immediately follows this verse both in Mark and in Luke, as well as in this record of Matthew. However, can you for a moment convince yourself to believe that Christ was describing His Transfiguration when He spoke of 'the Son of man coming in his kingdom'?  Can you see any connection between the Transfiguration and the preceding verse that says,

                 'For the Son of man shall come in the
                 glory of his Father with his angels; and 
                 then shall he reward every man according
                 to his works.'                     (Matthew 16:27)

     I grant you that Christ was in His glory on Mount Tabor, but He did not 'reward everyman according to his works' there. Neither is it at all fair to call that a 'coming of the Son of man.' He did not 'come' on Mount Tabor because He was already on earth. It is a misuse of language to construe that into an advent.
     Besides, what would be the reason for such a solemn introduction 'Verily I say unto you'? Does it not raise expectations merely to cause disappointment, if He intended to say no more than this: " 'There will be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see' Me transfigured"? That scene took place only six days later. The next verse tell you so.

                 'And after six days Jesus taketh Peter,
                 James, and John his brother, and bringeth
                 them up unto an high mountain apart.'
                                                                (Matthew 17:1)

     You see, the majesty of the prediction, which carry our thoughts forward to the last days of the world's history, makes us shrink from accepting an immediate fulfillment of it. Thus, I cannot imagine that the Transfiguration is in the slightest degree referred to here. Further, I do not think that anyone would have thought such a thing unless he had been confused and utterly perplexed in searching for an explanation.
     Although it seems almost incredible, some learned scholars endorse this view. Moreover, they say that it also refers to the descent of the Holy Spirit. I am staggered at this thought. I cannot think how any man could find an analogy with Pentecost in the context here. Pentecost took place six months after this event. I really cannot comprehend why Jesus Christ would say, 'Truly I say unto you, there are some standing here who will live six months.' It seems to me that my Master did not waste people's time speaking such inanities.
     Who, reading this passage, can think it has any reference to the descent of the Holy Spirit?

                 'For the Son of man shall return in the
                 glory of his Father with his angels; and 
                 then shall he reward every man according
                 to his works.'                      (Matthew 16:27)

Did Christ come at Pentecost in the glory of His Father? Were there any angels accompanying Him at that time? Did He 'reward every man according to his own works' then? Scarcely can the descent of the Holy Spirit or the appearance of 'cloven tongues like as fire' (Acts 2:3) be called 'the Son of man [coming] in the glory of his Father with his angels [to] reward every man according to his works' without a gross misuse of our language or a strange violation of symbolic imagery.
     Both of these theories that I have mentioned are now rejected as unsatisfactory by those modern students who have most carefully studied the subject. However, a third explanation still holds its ground and is currently received, though I believe it to be quite as far from the truth as the others.
     Carefully read through the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, and you will find nothing about the siege of Jerusalem there. Yet, this is the interpretation that finds favor at the present. According to those who hold this view, Christ was referring to the time when Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Romans. But, why would Jesus have said that some who were standing there would be alive then? Nothing could be more foreign to the entire scope of Christ's narrative or the gospel accounts. There is not the slightest shadow of reference to the siege of Jerusalem. The coming of the Son of Man is spoken of here: 'in the glory of his Father with his angels; [when] he shall reward every man according to his works.'
     Whenever Jesus spoke of the coming siege of Jerusalem, He was accustomed to saying, 'Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled ' (Matthew 24:34). Never, however, did He single out a select few and say to them, " 'Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death,' until the city of Jerusalem is besieged and destroyed."
     If a child were to read this passage, I know what he would think it meant: He would suppose Jesus Christ is to come again to the earth, and there would be some standing there who would not taste of death until really and literally He did so. This, I believe, is the plain meaning.
     'Well,' I hear someone saying, 'I am surprised. Do you think, then, that this refers to the apostle John?' No, by no means. The fable that John was to live until Christ came again was current in early New Testament times, you know. However, John himself repudiated it, for at the end of his gospel, he said,

                 'Then went this saying abroad among the
                 brethren, that that disciple should not die:
                 yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not 
                 die; but, if I will that he tarry till I come,
                 what is that to thee?'
                                          (John 21:23, Emphasis added)

This, you see, was setting forth a hypothetical case, and in no sense was it the language of prediction.
     Now, beloved, if you are so far convinced of the unreasonableness of each of these theories to resolve the difficulty of interpretation, I I hope that you are in readiness for the explanation that appears to me to harmonize with every aspect of the text. I believe the 'coming' referred to in our text is the coming of the Sin of God to judge at the last great and terrible Day, when He will judge all and separate the wicked from among the righteous.
     The next question is, Of whom were the words spoken? Are we warranted in supposing that our Lord intended this sentence as a gracious promise or a kindly expectation that He wanted to kindle in the hearts of His disciples? I trust not. To me it appears to have absolutely no reference to any man who ever had any grace in his soul. Such language is far more applicable to the ungodly than to the wicked. The sentence may well have been aimed at those followers who would defect from the faith, grasp at the world, endeavor to save their lives but really lose them, and barter their souls.

                                      A True Taste of Death


     At the glorious appearing of Christ, there will be some who will taste death, but will they be the righteous? Surely, my dear friends, when Christ comes, the righteous will not die. They will be caught up with the Lord in the air. His coming will be the signal for the resurrection of all His saints.
     But, at the time of His return, the men who have been without God, without Christ, will begin for the first time to 'taste of death.' They will have passed the first stage of dissolution when their souls abandon their bodies, but they will have never known the 'taste of death.' Until Christ's return, they will not have truly known its tremendous bitterness and its awful horror. They will never drink the wormwood and the gall, to really 'taste of death,' until that time. This tasting if death may be explained, and I believe it is to be explained, as a reference to the second death of which men will not taste until the Lord comes again.
     What a dreadful sentence that was when He said (perhaps singling out Judas as He spoke), 'Truly I say unto you, there are some who are standing here who will never know what that dreadful word death really means until the Lord comes again. You think that if you save your lives, you escape from death. Alas, you do not know what death means! The demise of the body is but a mere prelude to the perdition of the soul. The grave is but the porch of death. You will never understand the full meaning of that terrible word until the Lord comes.'
     This can have no reference to the saints, because in the gospel of John, you find this passage:

                     'Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man
                  keep my saying, he shall never see death.
                     Then said the Jews unto him, Now we
                  know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is 
                  dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If 
                  a man keep my saying, he shall never taste
                  of death.'                              (John 8:51-52)

     No righteous man, therefore, can ever 'taste of death.' Yes, he will fall into that deep, oblivious sleep during which the body sees corruption, but that is another experience, very different from the bitter cup referred to as a 'taste of death.' When the Holy Spirit wanted to use an expression to set forth the equivalent for divine wrath, what wording was used? 'Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for suffering death...by the grace of God should taste death for every man' (Hebrews 2:9).
     The expression 'to taste of death' means the reception of the true, essential death that kills the body and the soul in hell forever. The Saviour said, 'Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.'If this is the meaning (and I hold that it is in keeping with the context), it explains the verse, sets forth the reason why Christ invoked breathless attention with the word verily, answers grammar and the rhetoric, and will not be moved by any argument that I have ever heard. And if so, what amazing indictments are contained in this text! May the Holy Spirit deeply affect our heats and cause our souls to thrill with its solemnity.
     What thoughts this idea stirs up! Compared with the doom that will be inflicted upon the ungodly at Christ's return, the death of the physical body is nothing. Further, compared with the doom of the wicked at His return, even the torment of souls in a separate state is scarcely anything. The startling question then arises: Are there any reading this who will have to taste of death when the Lord comes?

                 Comparing Physical Death and Final Doom
     The sinner's death is only a faint foreshadowing of the sinner's doom at the coming of the Son of Man in His glory. Let me endeavor to show the contrast."

Check back periodically for more.

A Quote for Thought

I don't know a whole lot about the man who made this quote, actually I don't know anything about him, but I thought it was pretty good.

"Most people would like to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch."
  - Robert Orben

"..There shall be a resurrection..."

"...there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts xxiv. 15b

    "Reflecting the other day upon the sad state of the churches at the present moment, I was led to look back to apostolic times, and to consider wherein the preaching of the present day differed from the preaching of the apostles. I remarked the vast difference in their style from the set and formal oratory from the present age. I remarked that the apostles did not take a text when they preached, nor did they confine themselves to one subject, much less to any place of worship; but I find that they stood up in any place and declared from the fullness of their heart what they knew of Jesus Christ. But the main difference I observed was in the subjects of their preaching. Surprised I was when I discovered that the very staple of the preaching of the apostles was the resurrection of the dead. I found myself to have been preaching the doctrine of the grace of God; to have been upholding free election; to have been leading the people of God, as well as I was enabled, into the deep things of his word; but I was surprised to find that I had not been following the apostolic fashion half as nearly as I might have done. The apostles, when they preached, always testified concerning the resurrection of Jesus, and the consequent resurrection of the dead. It appears that the alpha and omega of their gospel was  the testimony that Jesus Christ died and rose again from the dead according to the scriptures. When they chose another apostle in the room of Judas, who had become apostate (Acts, i. 22), they said, "One must be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection;" so that the very office of an apostle was to be a witness of the resurrection. And well did they fulfill their office. When Peter stood up before the multitude, he declared unto them that "David spoke of the resurrection of Christ." When Peter and John were taken before the council, the great cause of their arrest was that the rulers were grieved "because they taught the people, and preached through Jesus Christ the resurrection from the dead." (Acts, iv. 2) When they were set free, after having been examined, it is said, "With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all." (Acts, iv. 33) It was this that stirred the curiosity of the Athenians when Paul preached among them. They said, "He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection of the dead." (Acts xvii. 18) And this moved the laughter of the Areopagites, For when he spoke of the resurrection of the dead, "some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter." Truly did Paul say, when he stood before the council of the Pharisees and Sadducees, "Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am called in question." And equally truly did he constantly assert, "If Christ be not risen from the dead, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins." The resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of the righteous is a doctrine which we believe, but which we too seldom preach or care to read about. Though I have inquired of several booksellers for a book specially upon the subject of the resurrection, I have not been able to purchase one of any sort whatsoever; and when I turned to Dr. Owen's works, which are a most invaluable storehouse of divine knowledge, containing much that is valuable on almost every subject, I could find, even there, scarcely more than the slightest mention of the resurrection. It has been set down as a well-known truth, and therefore has never been discussed. Heresies have not risen up respecting it; it would have almost been a mercy if there had been, for whenever a truth is contested by heretics, the orthodox fight strongly for it, and the pulpit resounds with it every day. I am persuaded however, that there is much power in this doctrine; and if I preach it this morning you will see that God will own the apostolic preaching, and there will be conversions. I intend putting it to the test now to see whether there be not something which we can not conceive at present in the resurrection of the dead, which is capable of moving the hearts of men and bringing them into subjection to the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

C.H. Spurgeon
                   Introduction to the sermon, "The Resurrection of the Dead"