Pure Faith

An excerpt from Moody's writings

But we have been deceived by our own heart most of all. Who has not proved the truth of the Scripture “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” “How many times we have said that we never would do a certain thing again, and then have done it within twenty-four hours!
A man may think he has fathomed its depths, but he finds there are further depths he has not reached. What gross self-deception is due to it! “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool,” said Solomon. Luther once said he feared his own heart more than the Pope and all the cardinals.

Many a weeping wife has come to me about her husband, saying: “He is good at heart.” The truth is that is the worst spot in him. If the heart was good, all else would be right. Out of the heart are the issues of life.
Christ said: “From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” That is Christ’s own statement regarding the unregenerate heart.
Some years ago a remarkable picture was exhibited in London. As you looked at it from a distance, you seemed to see a monk engaged in prayer, his hands clasped, his head bowed. As you came nearer, however, and examined the painting more closely, you saw that in reality he was squeezing a lemon into a punchbowl!
What a picture that is of the human heart! Superficially examined, it is thought to be the seat of all that is good and noble and pleasing in a man; whereas in reality, until regenerated by the Holy Ghost, it is the seat of all corruption. “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.”

A Jewish rabbi once asked his scholars what was the best thing a man could have in order to keep him in the straight path. One said a good disposition; another, a good companion; another said wisdom was the best thing he could desire. At last a scholar replied that he thought a good heart was best of all.
“True,” said the rabbi, “you have comprehended all that the others have said. For he that hath a good heart will be of a good disposition, and a good companion, and a wise man. Let every one, therefore, cultivate a sincerity and uprightness of heart at all times, and it will save him an abundance of sorrow.” We need to make the prayer of David Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me!”

Just from my day to day experience, talking to people from all walks of life and from observing modern culture, it really isn't difficult to get a sort of consensus on how we respond to spiritual things or to Christ for that matter. Isn't it strange how people just shy away or feel embarassed or akward whenever a topic about God is discussed? if for example, we chat about animal rights, politics or any other topic really we are just all ears and easily whip up a conversation even with complete strangers but drop in a line or two about salvation, about the cross and Jesus Christ- they will either be polite and let you carry on for awhile then excuse themselves, outrightly inform you that they aren't into any of that or open their heart and listen. No surprises that only a handful will be genuinely interested. So why is that? I wondered.

It is the devil's agenda of course to erase and destroy God and anything remotely 'Godly' from our existence, from our memories and from life. He wants to keep us from knowing our Creator, from knowing the purpose of our existence, from who we are.
And that has never been so pronounced in any other generation than today...For it is subtler in this day, the strategy is most refined that it is hidden under the anointing of the white horse rider and only those with the Holy Ghost could see. If we look closely and examine current events there is a blatant attempt today to completely water down christianity and classify Jesus Christ as just one of the many gods or spiritual leaders of the world, to destroy the testimony of the risen Christ. They have expanded the definition of 'spirituality' to accomodate paganism and witchcraft.

Discussions about God and Christian practices has become a social taboo...Praying has been banned in schools all over the world even in christian nations, hospitals no longer keep the Bible by the bedside, when you bow your head in prayer before a meal people think it's strange or ridiculous, when you talk about God in workplaces it is viewed by many as inappropriate but isn't it funny how jokes with sexual undertones are well tolerated? Christianity today has become so watered down but let me tell you that despite make believers and personal opinions- there is true Christianity. There is a genuine Bride of Christ, a genuine church with Holy Ghost filled believers who manifests God in their lives.
There seems to be a hush-hush attitude in the world towards anything Godly and it is a very sad thing, people do not realize the value of Christ. Very much like when He was here on earth years ago, the Life Giver was in their midst and nobody recognized Him. I really can see what Bro. Branham was talking about when he said that Christ is crucified the second time in our age because it is true and we do this by rejecting Him, by barely acknowledging His existence. Jesus Christ indeed in this Laodicean Age- is being kept out of men's hearts by the devices of the enemy and He is knocking to get in (read Rev.3:20).
In the days of Noah, the Ark was the way of escape, it was supposed to be their salvation from death and judgement- and faithful Noah preached every single day that he can before the flood came but we all know the story. Nobody listened to him, nobody went in the ark except for his family and they all died, they realized too late, they did not heed the warning. And as the scripture says


That is the prophecy for this age- evil imaginings, sexual perversion and immorality is rampant, hearts have waxed cold, itching ears that cannot stand rebuke and chastisement, rebellious and proud spirits and a lot more...but to you who loves the Lord and those who desire to fellowship with Christ- do not get disheartened, God will protect His seed. He is greater than all the evil multiplied together. He will never forsake His own, for we are His. We are the feminine spirit taken from His side exactly as Eve was to Adam, amen, those who have an ear let Him hear. So, there is no possible way for the Bride to get deceived at all. What an assurance! we really have to rejoice as our lives are hidden in Him and the blood shed at Calvary has fully cleansed us.
The battle is raging- the enemy will try their hardest to lull us into a spiritual sleep but deception and death is NOT our inheritance. The overcoming power IS our inheritance, to resist the evil in this age IS our inheritance and it's not just positive talk, it's not psycho babble it is truth.

Now if a person really hears the word of Jesus and believes with the heart on God who sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, and lays hold of and appropriates this great salvation, there is no fear of judgment. He will not be looking forward with dread to the Great White Throne; for we read in 1 John iv. 17: “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.”
If we believe, there is for us no condemnation, no judgment. That is behind us, and passed; and we shall have boldness in the day of judgment.
I remember reading of a man who was on trial for his life. He had friends with influence; and they procured a pardon for him from the king on condition that he was to go through the trial, and be condemned. He went into court with the pardon in his pocket. The feeling ran very high against him, and the judge said that the court was shocked that he was so much unconcerned.
But, when the sentence was pronounced, he pulled out the pardon, presented it, and walked out a free man. He has been pardoned; and so have we. Then let death come, we have nought to fear. All the grave-diggers in the world cannot dig a grave large enough and deep enough to hold eternal life; all the coffin makers in the world cannot make a coffin large enough and tight enough to hold eternal life. Death has had his hand on Christ once, but never again.
Jesus said: “I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die” (John xi. 25, 26). And in the Apocalypse we read that the risen Saviour said to John, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore” (Rev i. 18). Death cannot touch Him again.
We get life by believing. In fact we get more than Adam lost; for the redeemed child of God is heir to a richer and more glorious inheritance than Adam in Paradise could ever have conceived; yea, and that inheritance endures forever—it is inalienable.
I would much rather have my life hid with Christ in God than have lived in Paradise; for Adam might have sinned and fallen after being there ten thousand years. But the believer is safer, if these things become real to him. Let us make them a fact, and not a fiction. God has said it; and that is enough. Let us trust Him even where we cannot trace Him.
~ The Way To God and How To Find It



COME TO THE MARRIAGE!

“Behold, I have prepared my dinner: . . . all things are ready; come unto the marriage.” Who would not feel highly honored if they were invited to some fine residence, to the wedding of one of the members of the President’s family? I can imagine you would feel rather proud of having received such an invitation. You would want all your friends to know it.
Probably you may never get such an invitation. But I have a far grander invitation for you here than that. I cannot speak for others; but if I know my own heart, I would rather be torn to pieces to-night, limb from limb, and die in the glorious hope of being at the marriage-supper of the Lamb, than live in this world a thousand years and miss that appointment at the last. “Blessed is he that is called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb.” It will be a fearful thing for any of us to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob taking their place in the kingdom of God, and be ourselves thrust out.
This is no myth, my friends; it is a real invitation. Every man and woman is invited. All things are now ready. The feast has been prepared at great expense.
You may spurn the grace, and the gift of God; but you must bear in mind that it cost God a good deal before He could provide this feast. When He gave Christ He gave the richest jewel that heaven had. And now He sends out the invitation.
He commands His servants to go into the highways, and hedges, and lanes and compel them to come in, that His house may be full. Who will come? You say you are not fit to come? If the President invited you to the White House, and the invitation said you were to come just as you were; and if the sentinel at the gate stopped you because you did not wear a dress suit, what would you do? Would you not show him the document signed in the name of the President? Then he would stand aside and let you pass.
So, my friend, if you can prove to me that you are a sinner, I can prove to you that you are invited to this Gospel feast—to this marriage supper of the Lamb.
~ Sovereign Grace


Life a Seed-Time.

The analogy contains some solemn lessons. Life is to be regarded as a seed-time. Every one has his field to sow, to cultivate, and finally, to reap. By our habits, by our interintercourse with friends and companions, by exposing ourselves to good or bad influences, we are cultivating the seed for the coming harvest. We cannot see the seed as it grows and develops, but time will reveal it.
Just as the full-grown harvest is potentially contained in the seed, so the full results of sin or holiness are potentially contained in the sinful or holy deed. “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
Just as we cannot reap a good harvest unless we have sown good seed, so we cannot reap eternal life unless we have sown to the Spirit. Weeds are easy to grow. They grow without the planting. And sin springs up naturally in the human heart. Ever since our first parents broke away from God, the human heart has of itself been thoroughly vile, and all its fruits have been evil. “The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Do you doubt it? If you do, ask yourself what would become of a child if it was left to itself—no training, no guidance, no education. In spite of all that is done for children, the evil too often gets the upper hand.
The good seed must be planted and cared for, often with toil and trouble: but the harvest will be sure.
Do we desire the love of our fellows in our seasons of trial? Then we must love them when they need its cheering influence most. Do we long for sympathy in our sorrow and pain? Then we shall have it if we have also wept with those who weep. Are we hoping to reap eternal life? Then we must not sow to the flesh, or we shall reap corruption, but to the Spirit, then the promise is that we shall reap its immortal fruits.
Dr. Chalmers has drawn attention the difference between the act of sowing and the act of reaping. “Let it be observed,” he says, “that the act of indulging in the desires of the flesh is one thing and the act of providing for the indulgence of them is another. When a man, on the impulse of sudden provocation, wreaks his resentful feelings upon the neighbor who has offended him, he is not at that time preparing for the indulgence of a carnal feeling, but actually indulging it. He is not at that time sowing, but reaping (such as it is) a harvest of gratification. This distinction may serve to assist our judgment in estimating the ungodliness of certain characters. The rambling voluptuary who is carried along by every impulse, and all whose powers of mental discipline are so enfeebled that he has become the slave of every propensity, lives in the perpetual harvest of criminal gratification. A daughter whose sole delight is in her rapid transitions from one scene of expensive brilliancy to another, who dissipates every care and fills every hour among the frivolities and fascinations of her volatile society,—she leads a life than which nothing can be imagined more opposite to a life of preparation for the coming judgment or the coming eternity. Yet she reaps rather than sows. It lies with another to gather the money which purchaseth all things, and with her to taste the fruits of the purchase. It is the father who sows. It is he who sits in busy and brooding anxiety over his speculations, wrinkled, perhaps, by care, and sobered by years into an utter distaste for the splendors and insignificancies of fashionable life.” The father sows, and he reaps in his daughter’s life.
It is a solemn thing to think that the future will be the harvest of the present—that my condition in my dying hour may depend upon my actions to-day! Belief in a future life and in a coming judgment magnifies the importance of the present. Eternal issues depend upon it. The opportunity for sowing will not last forever; it is slipping through our fingers moment by moment; and the future can only reveal the harvest of the seed.
~ Sowing and Reaping