the unsearchable riches of Christ...

EPHESIANS 3:8




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Jun 19, 2016
Preacher: Adolph Saphir
Passage: Matthew 11:28-30

Believe and Live

The HOLY GHOST brings us to CHRIST, and enters our hearts to remain there always. Without the SPIRIT none can come to JESUS; but when we have come to JESUS, the HOLY GHOST is inside us, there to abide continually and dwell forever, for they who believe have the SPIRIT always, they are sanctified by the SPIRIT, and they are sealed by the SPIRIT. (JOHN 7:39; 14:17; GALATIANS 1:15-16, EPHESIANS 1:13).

We grieve the SPIRIT when we do not recognize, remember, and honor His presence; when we forget that we are actually and always the temple of the HOLY GHOST.

We grieve Him when we speak and act, when we pray and work, when we go about our daily duties in our own wisdom and strength. It grieves Him, whom the FATHER and SON have given us to be our wisdom and our power, that we go on in our own strength, and therefore feebly, haltingly, falling often, frequently exhausted; while the loving SPIRIT is willing to work in us mightily. We grieve Him when we do not rejoice in CHRIST, and in the hope set before us. We grieve Him when we do not set our affections on things above; when we are guilty of covetousness, which is idolatry; when we do not abhor that which is evil, and keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

Let us not grieve the HOLY GHOST, but, yielding to His influence, honoring His presence and rejoicing in His indwelling, let us pray, and live, and walk in the SPIRIT. This is the promise of the FATHER, the great blessing of the New Covenant, the HOLY GHOST is given unto us, that by Him we may rejoice in the love of the FATHER, and in the fullness of JESUS CHRIST.

Now, when GOD has so abundantly blessed us and so highly exalted us, as the Church, the Body of CHRIST; when He has given unto us His Word, and when He has, through JESUS, sent His SPIRIT into our hearts, will you not enter, with all earnestness and energy, into the plan and purpose of GOD, giving yourselves anew unto Him and then unto the Church, and the ministry and work of the gospel? Will you not realize your membership, and live in the atmosphere of brotherly love, and share in the prayers, the labors, the sorrows, and the joys of the congregation? Love, unity, fellowship—behold, this is the principle throughout all the dominions of GOD. From the glorious and eternal mystery of the Blessed Trinity, concord and co-operation go forth and the divine method in the whole realm of light and life.

Often I think, that we ought to be free and strong to do great things. For our past is forgiven; our future is secured. Sins of the past, though still remembered with shame and contrition, are no longer felt as a burden or a separation between GOD and us; errors and wanderings; though still remembered with humility, have been overruled by GOD’s merciful and omnipotent wisdom, and been made the occasion of good. The past therefore does not burden us. And the future is likewise without anxiety. For while we are here GOD’s counsel leads us, and even beyond death He guides us, and the end is glory everlasting. When the past is forgiven, and the future secured, with what energy and joyousness ought we to devote ourselves to the present? Free from anxiety and lighthearted as the birds of the air; strong, elastic, joyous; without a cloud to obscure, and a weight to impede, we ought to live and work in the present. “Today and Eternity!” is the motto of a Christian. Glorify GOD in your daily life. Work for Him, and as a congregation let us not postpone, loiter, linger; let us not compare ourselves either with the past or with others; let us forget all things, but the present Lord and the present work. Follow CHRIST, and in love and unity serve the ONE MASTER.

If my words are read by one who has not received the Savior in his heart, let me remind him, that in the Christians, whom he knows, in the saints, with whom he meets, in the minister, from whose lips he hears the word of truth; JESUS Himself is near him. JESUS Himself by us saith unto you: “Come and welcome, for in Me is pardon and renewal for the chief of sinners. Come and welcome, for in Me is rest and strength for the weary and heavy laden. Here is Immanuel, the Savior is with us and among us. Believe and live.” [MATTHEW 11:28-30]

Adolph Saphir (1831—1891), ‘missionary to the jews’



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