SPY
Magazine
Hello
everyone!
from the Editor
In many ways people have never
changed. The Lord Jesus said that people
will be just the same when He returns as they were in the days of Noah and
Now, in many, many ways people have
changed. If someone who was alive in
Noah’s time, was able to visit us today, they would be
completely astounded and confused.
The Lord was speaking about those things
that they were chiefly interested in. The Lord says in Luke 17: 26-28, “And as
it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man. They did eat and drank, they bought, they
sold, they planted, they builded. They married and were given in marriage.”
These people were very busy and occupied.
In many ways there was nothing wrong with what they were doing. These were the natural and ordinary things of
life.
But this was not all that they were
doing; If we turn to the book of Genesis we read,
“That the imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil
continually.” Chapter 5:5. And in verse 11 “the earth was corrupt before God
and the earth was filled with violence.”
But in their ordinary lives they were
full of thoughts about buying, selling, building, planting, eating, drinking,
getting married - but they had no interest at all in God or His ways.
Now isn’t this a picture of people today?
Their concern is all about material things as though this life was all that
there is. As if there was no eternity, no heaven or
hell, no God or the devil, no soul to save.
Now we must remember that God requires us
to be diligent and faithful in the ordinary things of our lives. God’s word
condemns laziness and carelessness.
However, our greatest concerns should be about spiritual things. Do we know and love the Lord? Are our sins
repented of and are forgiven? Do we walk in His ways? Do we worship and serve
Him. These are our chief priorities and
not natural things.
Breaking God’s commandments
"
ten people before breakfast!"
A missionary, Rev. Johnson, in
"Yesterday morning, when you preached, you showed me that the law
is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. You talked about the Ten
Commandments. You began at the first commandment, I say to myself, “Me guilty!”
the second, “Me guilty!” the third, “Me guilty!” the fourth, “Me guilty!” the
fifth, “Me guilty!” Then you read
the sixth, “Thou shalt not kill”; me say, “Ah! me not guilty. I never killed anyone.” You said, “I suppose
many people here say, I am not guilty of that.” Then
you said, “Did you ever hate any person?
Did you ever wish that such a person was dead?” “
This poor negro was deeply convicted by God’s
law, but was also pointed to the only sin bearer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
soon found forgiveness and salvation.
Debts
cancelled
There was an ancient custom in some Eastern countries which helps to
illustrate the work of Christ on the cross very well.
When a debt was
fully paid, the man to whom the money was owed, would
nail the notice of the payment over the door of the man who had paid the debt.
In this way everyone who passed by could read that the debt had been settled -
being fully paid, once for all.
Colossians 2:14 tells us that the Lord Jesus, “Blotted out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, (the curse of God’s written law)
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
cross.” This means that the Lord took
the great list of all our sins and failures and completely paid for them, and
nailed them to His cross as a proof to all, that those sins were paid for as
God demands.
Some people believe that the practice of writing an X over a debt that
is paid arose from the fact that Jesus fully paid the debt of our sins on the
cross.
When we trust in the Lord Jesus, then we have that assurance that it was
our sins that were nailed to His cross and fully and finally paid for.
Beautiful Girl rescued!
Before President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), made his proclamation in
1863 that slaves were to be set free in
At one slave auction held at
The first offer was $500, and the bids quickly rose to $700. Then a
voice called from the back of the crowd. "750
dollars." The slave buyers then increased their bids, $800, $850,
$900. The bids continued to rise, but each time there
was a pause, the unknown bidder offered $50 more. At last the girl was sold for
$1450.
Then the buyer came forward and paid the money and arranged to collect
the girl the next morning. When the girl knew that the man was from one of the
North American States, she was terribly upset and hated the thought of becoming
his slave; living far from her home and friends. The next morning, her new
owner came to the house where she was held, she said
weeping, "Sir, 1 am ready to go with you." He replied gently,
"But 1 don't want you to go with me; please look
at this paper." She opened the paper and found that it was a certificate
of her freedom.
The man said, “I bought you that you might be free!’" The girl was
overwhelmed and gasped, “You bought me that 1 might be free! Am I free? Free!! Can I do as I like with myself.” “Yes,” he replied, “you are free!” The girl fell down at his feet, weeping
tears of joy and cried, “Oh, sir, 1 will go with you and be your servant for
evermore!”
This reminds us of what Christ has done. We read in 1 Corinthians
6:19-20, “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
The Lord has bought us by His death on the cross and set us free from
sin and Satan; but we are not set free to live for ourselves, but to love and
serve the Lord.
Bible or the brandy bottle?
A man who had been a drunkard for many years happened to attend a
meeting of a Bible Society in
The Director of the Society saw the man and presented him with a Bible.
The man thanked him for the Bible. He acknowledged that they did not have a
Bible at home and promised to keep it for himself and his family to read.
He was unable to reach home that night and slept by the roadside. When
he awoke he found that he had a brandy bottle in one pocket and a Bible in the
other. He said to himself, "It would not be right
to take both of these home; but which one will 1 throw away? If 1 throw away
the Bible and die a drunkard, then the devil will have me. If 1 throw away the bottle, then 1 might find God and be a good man."
Then followed a great struggle in the man's mind. A
number of times he lifted the Bible to throw it away - then he would attempt to
throw the bottle away. At last his conscience won the battle; he had a last sip
of brandy and broke the bottle against a tree.
He arrived home
early in the morning and told his family that he was determined to forsake his
evil ways and turn to God. The family was amazed to hear his words. That
morning they gathered around and read portions of the word of God, and after a
time, they all knelt in prayer to ask God to be merciful to them. The father
tried to pray; his voice trembled and his words were unclear. The children were
overcome with this change, while his wife wept freely. The Lord graciously
heard these feeble cries and the whole family were blessed.
This man's life was now changed, he became a
humble and active Christian. He soon prospered in his work, and the family that
was being destroyed by his drunkenness, now was happy and peaceful.
Relics of dogs and cats
When the doctrines of the Reformation spread to
When the Prince returned, the news of this supposed valuable possession
spread far and wide. Soon some monks requested permission to try the effects on
a person whom they claimed to have been possessed by a demon. The relics were
brought to the church in great pomp and ceremony; a great number of people
attended. After an elaborate ceremony and application of the relics to a man,
they claimed he was cured.
The people called out, “This is a miracle”. The Prince lifted up his
hands to heaven, feeling that his faith was confirmed.
But he noticed a young man smiling; this man was a keeper of the sacred
relics. He appeared to be mocking the supposed miracle. The Prince was
exceedingly angry and took the young man aside, and demanded why he was
mocking.
The young man agreed to tell him the truth, if he was promised a pardon.
The Prince agreed. He told the Prince that in returning from
This event caused the Prince to discover the
deceptions of the monks and their pretended cures of demon possession. He later left the Catholic Church and became
a zealous follower of Martin Luther’s teachings of Scripture, that salvation is
by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
“There is one God, and one Mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5
~Shorter Catechism~
Questions
21 & 22. “Who
is the Redeemer of God’s elect”? “How did
Christ, being God become man?”
Every day we make choices of
various kinds. On each occasion our choice is influenced by a number of things
like size, colour, shape, personality, 1ocation etc. But when God chose us (His elect) to he
His children nothing at all influenced Him.
He chose each one for His own good pleasure. (Romans 9:11)
One very important choice God made was regarding who our Redeemer or
Saviour would be (see Isaiah 42:1). That choice meant God’s Son (Jesus) doing
something that was never done before or since. He became a Man without ceasing
to be God. Little wonder the angels sang
on the occasion of His birth, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace
and good will toward men.” Luke 2:14.
Many marvellous things have taken place in the history of the world. Men
have achieved the most astonishing things from building the ancient Egyptian
pyramids to flying to the moon. Yet there is nothing that can compare with the
miracle that is Jesus Christ! In the womb of the virgin, dying on the cross,
lying in the grave, now enthroned in heaven, Jesus was and is God and Man in
one Person - a Spirit yet with a true body and a reasonable soul. Equally miraculous, was that despite being
born of a sinful woman yet He remained sinless and pure.
If we can imagine Him as a child in the home; as a young boy playing
with friends; as an adult learning to be a carpenter - surely His family and friends must have noticed something unusual
about Him! If sin is the cause of our every defect and fault, our every bad
thought and angry word, our every disappointment and imperfection, then the
absence of sin in Jesus must have meant that He was something special.
In His conversation, attitude, practices, and desires there was a purity
and innocence that was certain to be seen by others. He was never unjustly critical; never
sarcastic; never mean; never disobedient never wrong. He was always loving,
kind, generous, patient and right. Can you imagine what it must have been like
to play with Him and talk with him and to grow up with him?
But here's the thing - whatever impression it left on His friends and family it still took faith to
believe in Him as the Redeemer of
God’s elect (see John7:5)! Some of them
did later come to believe on Him.
Today we can still admire Him for His unique character that He has, but
we still need faith as a gift from God to have Him as our Saviour.
Trying to prove the Bible false
In 1747, Lord George Lyttleton, a member of the British Parliament,
contacted his long-time friend, Gilbert West. Both men believed that the Bible
and Christianity were not true. After a discussion, they decided to each write
a book to prove that the Bible was false.
Lyttleton chose to write on “the resurrection of Christ” and West. “the conversion of Paul”. They were both very learned men,
but fully convinced that the Bible was false.
These
men spent most of the year 1747 examining the Bible record, However,
as they separately examined the Bible, they both became convinced that it was
true, and were converted to Christ. At last they came together to discuss their
findings. But it was not as they had imagined; to disprove
the Bible. They both felt convicted for their past ignorance; they had both
rejected the Bible without having examined it carefully, but now rejoiced that
they knew that the Bible was the word of God.
Each man printed their book; “The conversion of Paul” and “The
resurrection of Christ.” These books were used by the Lord to defend His word,
and proved to be a blessing to Christians.
Some people, like these two men, read the Bible in order to disprove it,
but they have become aware of how little they knew, and how wonderful God's
word is. The Holy Spirit graciously opened
their eyes to see that the Bible is truly the word of God.
Preaching to the King
The
French preacher,
He preached so powerfully and clearly, that one day King Louis said to
him, “When 1 hear others preach, I am very pleased with them; when I hear you,
I am very dissatisfied with myself.”
God’s word is not designed to make us feel good about ourselves, but to
show us our need of Christ, and to realise how good He is, and that we are made
righteous in God’s sight by faith in Christ.
Often people become offended when they hear a sermon that searches and
examines their heart, but unless we know our sins and are convicted over them,
we shall never really trust in Christ alone as our Saviour. In Psalm 139:23. David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my
heart.”
At another time,
Indians by the Fire
One evening two American Indians were sitting by a fire chatting. One
was the chief of the
“Don't tell me how good it is.” replied Teedyuscung, “but rather tell me
what it is, and let me think for myself.
I do not want you to tell me of its excellence; just tell me what it
is.” His friend replied, “It is for one man to do to another as he would have
the other to do to him.”
“That’s impossible! It can't be done.” responded the chief. The chief
walked around in deep thought for about a quarter of an hour. Then he
continued, “Brother, I have been thinking about what you told me. If the Great
Spirit that made man would give him a new heart, he could do as you say, but not
without it.” The Indian chief had
realised the need of a new heart to obey God’s laws and to walk in His ways.
In Ezekiel 36:26-27 God says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a
new spirit will I put within you....…and cause you to walk in My statutes and
to keep My judgments and to do them.” No
one can rightly obey God's word without the Lord giving them a new heart that
loves and desires to live to please Him.
Let us all pray to the Lord for a new heart.
The ringing Sermon
One Sunday evening a young man was strolling through the streets of a
certain town, when he noticed the doors of a church open, so he decided to go
in.
He quietly entered and took a seat at the rear of the church. The
service had almost finished and the preacher was near the end of his sermon.
The text of the preacher was, “The way of transgressors is hard.”
Proverbs 13:15. He quoted these words several times. To conclude his sermon,
the preacher said with great earnestness, “Yes, the way of transgressors is
hard, but the end of that way is harder still.”
These words were like an arrow from heaven to the heart of this young
man. It made him think of where his
sinful life would lead to.
The young man left the church, but the last words of the sermon kept
ringing in his cars, “the end of that way is harder still.” He
went home deep in thought about what he had heard. That night he lay awake
thinking about them. He was deeply troubled for several days, and at last he
repented of his sins and turned to Christ the only Saviour.
He was now a saved man; he openly confessed Christ and joined the
church. Soon he felt an inward call to serve the Lord. He studied for the
ministry and became a preacher of the gospel. His ministry continued for many
years and was blessed by the Lord.
God blessed a short, direct word to his heart and turned him from a
sinful life into one of service for Christ.
Winners
versus Losers
The Winner is always part of the
answer
The Loser is always part of the
problem
The Winner always has a programme
The Loser always has an excuse
The Winner says, “Let me do it for
you.”
The Loser says, “That’s not my
job.”
The Winner sees an answer for
every problem
The Loser sees a problem in every
answer
The Winner sees a putting green
near every sand trap
The Loser sees a number of sand
traps near every green
The Winner says, “It may be
difficult but it is possible.”
The Loser says, “It may be
possible but it’s too difficult.”
“With God all
things are possible.” Matthew
19:26.
Paper editions of Spy Magazine are published by the
Southern Presbyterian Church.
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