…a word in due season, how good it is! (Prov. 15:23 KJV)
“Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God’s judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word”
– J.C. Ryle
“Humility and love are precisely the graces which the men of the world can understand, if they do not comprehend doctrines. They are the graces about which there is no mystery, and they are within reach of all classes. The poorest Christian can every day find occasion for practicing love and humility”
– J.C. Ryle
Love is God’s
Signature in a life
BT
Photo by M. Nohassi
“Let your Christianity be so unmistakable, your eye so single, your heart so whole, your walk so straightforward, that all who see you may have no doubt whose you are, and whom you serve.”
– J.C. Ryle
“Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who as a heaven for every body, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and broad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as truly an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and beside the God of the Bible there is no God at all.”
– J.C. Ryle
“Tomorrow is the devil’s day, but today is God’s. Satan does not care how spiritual your intentions are, or how holy your resolutions, if only they are determined to be done tomorrow.”
– J.C. Ryle
“It costs something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a person in an arm-chair and taking them easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory.”
– J.C. Ryle
“Do nothing that you would not like God to see. Say nothing you would not like God to hear. Write nothing you would not like God to read. Go no place where you would not like God to find you. Read no book of which you would not like God to say, “Show it to Me.” Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like to have God say, “What are you doing?”
― J.C. Ryle
“Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers;
but as the servants of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart”
Ephesians 6:6
“A zealous man in religion is per-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed-up in one thing — and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives — or whether he dies; whether he has health — or whether he has sickness; whether he is rich — or whether he is poor; whether he pleases man — or whether he gives offense; whether he is thought wise — or whether he is thought foolish; whether he gets blame — or whether he gets praise; whether he gets honor, or whether he gets shame — for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing — and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory. If he is consumed in the very burning — he is content. He feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn, and if consumed in burning — he has but done the work for which God appointed him”
J.C. Ryle
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment”
Mark 12:30
See The Wick
Brian Troxel
“…be established in the present truth”
2 Peter 1:12
What was the “present truth” of which Peter speaks? The “present truth” is revealed in the context of the above scripture. Being established in the “present truth” is not a teaching or an acknowledgment of the scriptures; it is a life of interaction with Him who is the truth. It can only be known by the wonder of our participation in its work of bringing us to a life of authenticity. “Present truth” requires diligence and effort. It requires communion, prayer and discipline to discover the mystery of drawing from Him (the vine) the divine enablement to grow by the miracle of His Life in us. The context of the “Present Truth” scripture being the following exhortation…
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
2 Peter 1:5-8
Read this chapter in its context to grasp the significance of what the present truth is.
It is as we add to our faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance…patience… godliness… brotherly kindness… God’s love that we “make our calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). These graces are the evidence of the I AM becoming our I AM experience. The adding of these things to our faith is simply the expression of living and growing in Christ daily; the “now” life being lived through the “faith OF Christ” (Gal. 2:20).
Doing of truth in our daily lives is the only way to come to the greater light of His Life within us.
“But he that doeth truth cometh to the light”
John 3:21
We are exhorted in the scriptures concerning “Today” in our relationship with Him.
“And Joshua said unto the people,
Sanctify yourselves (today):
for tomorrow
the Lord will do wonders among you”
Joshua 3:5
The sanctifying of the people today was the present truth which would result in the tomorrow of God’s wonders. The religious of today wants God’s movings while ignoring the sanctifying truth of today!
“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand”
Ephesians 6:13
It is in our “having done all” today whereby we will be able to stand in the evil day of tomorrow. The careless and unenlightened ones forfeit the opportunities of obedience today which is the requirement to be clothed in Him tomorrow. The lamps of the foolish virgins went out because of their casual indifference to the truth and importance of TODAY.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day”
2 Timothy 4:7-8
The confident “henceforth” declaration of Paul was because he had (past tense) “fought the good fight” and had “finished his course” in God. He had been faithful to keep his faith active and alive in his daily life. His confidence was born of obedience to the I AM.
They who have the true understanding of the time in which we live know the significance of walking in the “Present Truth”.
“Men that had understanding of the times.”
1 Chr. 12:32
“I cannot doubt that this sentence, like every sentence in Scripture was written for our learning. These men of Issachar are set before us as a pattern to be imitated, and an example to be followed, for it is a most important thing to understand the times in which we live, and to understand what those times require”
― J.C. Ryle
– Continued in Part Five –
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part five
Brian Troxel