The Carpenter's Chapel (7)

Whose Son is He? (cont)

Deity of Jesus Christ by Reuben A. Torrey - Bible Doctrine - Wholesome WordsThe
Deity of Jesus Christby R. A. Torrey
"While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?..."
Matthew 22:41,42

Incidental Proofs of the Deity of Jesus Christ
The six lines of proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ which I have given you leave no possibility of doubting that Jesus Christ is God, that Jesus of Nazareth is God manifest in a human person, that He is a being to be worshipped, even as God the Father is worshipped. But there are also incidental proofs of His absolute Deity which, if possible, are in some ways even more convincing than the direct assertions of His Deity.
1. Our Lord Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now any one that makes a promise like that must either be God, or a lunatic, or an impostor. No one can give rest to all who labor and are heavy laden who come to him unless he is God, and yet Jesus Christ offers to do it. If He offers to do it and fails to do it when men come to Him, then He is either a lunatic or an impostor. If He actually does it, then beyond a question, He is God. And thousands can testify that He really does it. Thousands and tens of thousands who have labored and were heavy laden and crushed, and for whom there was no help in man, have come to Jesus Christ and He
actually has given them rest. Surely then He is not merely a great man, but He is in fact God.
2. Again in John 14:1 Jesus Christ demands that we put the same faith in Him that we put in God the Father and promises that in such faith we will find a cure for all trouble and anxiety of heart. His words are, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." It is clear that He demands the same absolute faith to be put in Himself that is to be put in God Almighty.
Now in Jeremiah 17:5, Scripture with which our Lord Jesus was perfectly
familiar, we read "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man," and yet with this clear curse pronounced upon all who trust in man, Jesus Christ demands that we put trust in Him just as we put trust in God. It is the strongest possible assertion of Deity on His part. No one but God has a right to make such a demand, and Jesus Christ, when He makes this demand, must either be God or an impostor; but thousands and tens of thousands have found that when they did believe in Him just as they believe in God, their hearts were delivered from trouble no matter what their bereavement or circumstances might be.
3. Again, the Lord Jesus demanded supreme and absolute love for Himself. It is clear as day that no one but God has a right to demand such a love, but there can be no question that Jesus did demand it. In Matthew 10:37 He said to His disciples, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me," and in Luke 14:26,33, he says. "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." There can be no question that this is a demand on Jesus' part of supreme and absolute love to Himself, a love that puts even the dearest relations of life in an entirely secondary place. No one but God has a right to make any such demand, but our Lord Jesus made it, and therefore, He must be God.
4. In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus claimed absolute equality with the Father. He said, "I and my Father are one."
5. In John 14:9 our Lord Jesus went so far as to say, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." He claims here to be so absolutely God that to see Him is to see the Father Who dwelleth in Him.
6. In John 17:3 He says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." In other words, He claims that the knowledge of Himself is as essential a part of eternal life as knowledge of God the Father.

 

Thank you Charles.

It is so good to see you posting again.

Blessings

following-Him

 

Whose Son is He (conclusion)

Deity of Jesus Christ by Reuben A. Torrey - Bible Doctrine - Wholesome WordsThe Deity of Jesus Christ
by R. A. Torrey
"While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying,
What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?..." Matthew 22:41,42
Conclusion
There is no room left to doubt the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ. It is a
glorious truth. The Saviour in Whom we believe is God, a Saviour for Whom
nothing is too hard, a Saviour Who can save from the uttermost and save to the uttermost. Oh, how we should rejoice that we have no merely human Saviour, but a Saviour Who is absolutely God in all of His fulness and perfection.
On the other hand, how black is the guilt of rejecting such a Saviour as this! Whoever refuses to accept Jesus as his Divine Saviour and Lord is guilty of the enormous sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God. Many a man thinks he is good because he never stole, or committed murder, or cheated. "Of what great sin am I guilty?" he complacently asks. Have you ever accepted Jesus Christ? "No." Well, then, you are guilty of the awful and damning sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God.
"But," you answer, "'I do not believe that He is God." That does not change the fact nor lessen your guilt before God. Questioning a fact or denying a fact never changes it, regardless of what Mary Baker Eddy may say to the contrary.
Suppose a man had a wife who was one of the noblest, purest, truest women that ever lived, would her husband's questioning her purity and nobility change the fact? It would not. It would simply make that husband guilty of awful slander; it would simply prove that man to be an outrageous scoundrel.
So, denying the Deity of Jesus Christ does not make His Deity any less a fact, but it does make the denier of His Deity guilty of awful, incredible blasphemous slander against the Lord God of Heaven. It also proves that you who deny His Deity to be ________________. I leave your own conscience to finish the sentence thus begun.
R.A. Torrey Archive

My Note: I will answer that, considering all the evidence presented to us, as well as internal evidence (As the song says, "You ask me how I know He lives, He Lives within my heart")
It also proves that those who deny His Deity to be willfully ignorant-"I’ll believe what I am going to believe, and don’t bother me with the facts." Those with such a mind-set seal their own fate.
Considering what He said of Himself, one can only conclude that He was:
A liar: What He said was not true, and He knew it.
A Lunatic: What He Said was not true, but He believed that it was.
LORD: As Thomas put it: "My Lord and my God."
Thomas got it right folks, Thomas got it right.

 

Amen. Thank you Charles.

Blessings

following-Him

 

Him that cometh to Me...

Here R.A. Torrrey recounts his dealings with a certain young man who felt that he was beyond reach, that he could never be a Christian due to his past. It is a lesson for all of us to never give up on a person, the blood of Christ is sufficient for all, no matter what their stae may be.

Holding Him to the Scriptures
By R. A. Torrey
(as told by Faris Daniel Whitesell)
One time I received a letter, a very heartbroken letter, from a father
who was a Presbyterian minister. He wrote that he had a son who was in awful spiritual darkness. The son thought that he had committed the unpardonable sin, and he was plunged into absolute despair. Would I take him in at the Bible Institute? I replied that though I had every sympathy with him in his sorrow, the Bible Institute was not for the purpose of helping cases like these, but to train men and women for Christian service. The father continued to write, beseeching me to take his son, and got other friends to plead for him. Finally, I consented to take the young man. He was sent to me under guard, lest he might do some rash thing by the way.
When he was brought to my office, I showed him a seat. As soon as the
others had left the room, he began the conversation by saying, "I am possessedof the devil."
"I think quite likely you are," I replied, "but Christ is able to cast
out devils."
"You do not understand me," he said, "I mean that the devil has entered
into me as he did into Judas Iscariot."
"That may be," I answered, "but Christ came to destroy the works of the
devil. Now He says in John 6:37. ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ If you will come to Him, He will receive you and set you free from Satan’s power."
The conversation went on in this way for some time: he constantly
asserting the absolute hopelessness of his case, and I on my part constantly asserting the power of Jesus Christ and His promise, "‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’" After a while I sent the young man to his room. Days and weeks passed, and we had many conversations, always on the same line, and I always holding him to John 6:37.

 

I will in no wise cast out.

Holding Him to the Scriptures
By R. A. Torrey
(as told by Faris Daniel Whitesell)
One day I met him in the hall of the Institute, and made up my mind that
the time had come to have the battle out. I told him to sit down, and I sat down beside him.
"Do you believe the Bible?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied, "I believe everything in it."
"Do you believe John 6:37?" I asked.
"Yes, I believe everything in the Bible."
"Do you believe that Jesus Christ told the truth when He said, ‘Him that
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out’?"
"Yes, I do; I believe everything in the Bible."
"Well, then, will you come?"
"I have committed the unpardonable sin."
"I replied, "Jesus does not say, ‘Him that hath not committed the
unpardonable sin that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ He says, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in on wise cast out.’"
"But I have sinned willfully after I have received the knowledge of the
truth." "Jesus does not say, ‘Him that has not sinned willfully after he received the knowledge of the truth that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast our.’ He says, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"But I have been once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, andhave fallen away, and it is impossible to renew me again unto repentance."
"Jesus does not say, ‘Him that has not tasted of the heavenly gift, and
has not fallen away, if he cometh to me I will in no wise cast him out.’ He
says, ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"But I am possessed of the devil," he answered.
"Jesus does not say, ‘Him that is not possessed of the devil that cometh
to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ He says, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"I mean that the devil is entered into me as he did into Judas Iscariot."
"Jesus does not say, ‘Him that the devil has not entered into, as he did
into Judas Iscariot, that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ He says,
‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"But my heart is hard as a millstone."
"Jesus does not say, ‘If a man’s heart is soft and tender, and he come to
Me, I will in no wise cast him out.’ He says, ‘Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.’"
"But I do not know that I have any desire to come."
"Jesus does not say, ‘Him that hath a desire to come, and comes unto Me,
I will in no wise cast out. He says, `Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"But I do not know that I can come in the right way."
"Jesus does not say, ‘Him that cometh to Me in the right way, I will in
no wise cast him out.’ He says, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"Well, I don’t know that I care to come."
"Jesus does not say, ‘Him that careth to come to Me, and comes to Me, I
will in no wise cast out.’ He says, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise
cast out.’"
The man’s excuses and subterfuges were exhausted. I looked him square in the face and said, "Now, will you come? Get down on your knees, and quit your nonsense."
He knelt and I knelt by his side.
"Now," I said, "Follow me in prayer."
"Lord Jesus," I said, and he repeated, "Lord Jesus."
"My heart is as hard as a millstone."
"My heart is as hard as a millstone," he repeated.
"I have no desire to come unto thee."
"I have no desire to come unto thee."
"But thou hast said in thy Word."
"But thou hast said in thy Word."
"‘Him that cometh to Me I will no wise cast out.’"
"‘Him that cometh to Me I will no wise cast out.’"
"Now the best I know how I come."
"Now the best I know how I come."
"Thou hast said, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"Thou hast said, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"I believe this statement of Thine."
"I believe this statement of Thine."
"Therefore, though I don’t feel it, I believe thou hast received me."
"Therefore, though I don’t feel it, I believe thou hast received me."
When he had finished, I said, "Did you really come?"
He replied, "I did."
"Has He received you?"
"I do not feel it," he replied.
"But what does He say?"
"‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’"
"Is this true? Does Jesus tell the truth, or does He lie?"
"He tells the truth."
"What then must He have done?"
"He must have received me."
"Now," I said, "go to your room: stand firmly upon this promise of Jesus
Christ. The devil will give you an awful conflict, but just answer him every
time with John 6:37, and stand right there, believing what Jesus says in spite of your feelings, in spite of what the devil may say, in spite of everything."
He went to his room. The devil did give him an awful conflict, but he
stood firmly on John 6:37, and came out of his room triumphant and radiant. Years have passed since then. Though the devil has tried again and again to plunge him into despair, he has stood firmly on John 6:37, and he is today being used of God to do larger work for Christ than almost any man I know.
R. A. Torrey Archive

 

Criticizing God?

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
THESE WORDS ought to awaken anyone who is not utterly beyond hope. Notice the first two words and the last word. "0 man" and "God." "0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?" Here God and man are put in sharpest contrast, God in His infinite greatness and wisdom and man in his infinitesimal smallness and ignorance. And in the Greek there is also a strong emphasis on the "thou." "0 MAN, who art thou that repliest against GOD?" It will be a happy day for some of us if God will brand that text upon our memories so that we shall never be able to forget it nor get away from it. "0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?"
The most insanely daring thing that any man can do, the most exceedingly foolish thing any man can do, the most desperately wicked thing that any man can do, is to reply against God, to enter into controversy with God, to criticize God, to condemn God. Yet that is what many people are doing
When you hear a little child replying against his father or mother, getting into controversy, criticizing, condemning, you are filled with disgust and
indignation. It is something not to be tolerated for one moment. But what is it for any mere human being, any mere creature of the dust such as all of us are, to reply against, to criticize, to enter into controversy with, to try to prove wrong the Infinite and Eternal God? It is the most exceedingly foolish and desperately wicked thing a human being can do.

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
The Folly and Wickedness of Entering into Controversy with God
There are four facts which show the exceeding folly and desperate wickedness of replying against God, of entering into controversy with God, of criticizing or condemning God.
The first is the fact of the infinite majesty of God. Our text itself
contrasts the infinite majesty of God with the infinitesimal smallness of man.
It reads, "0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?" Yes, who art thou, anyway? And who is God?
You are one out of 2,000,000,000 [4.25 billion more today] like yourself now inhabiting this globe. And what is this globe on which you and I live? The earth is so small a part of the already known universe that if the sun were hollow, you could pour into it 1,200,000 earths like ours and still there would be room enough left for them to rattle around in it. Yes, the sun itself is very, very small in comparison with Arcturus and some of the other stars whose diameters have been recently measured, and there are now known to be more than 225,000,000 of these great worlds we call stars in this universe of ours. God, with whom you are seeking to enter into controversy, seeking to criticize and condemn, made them all.
"He made the stars also" (Gen. 1:16). "0 man, who art thou that repliest
against God?"
We men in this day of increasingly successful investigation of the incredible, and, as it seems to us, practically infinite, magnitude of the stellar heavens are sometimes tempted to be puffed up because a few great leaders and investigators among us are beginning to know a little about these vast stellar worlds and interstellar spaces. But what about the God who planned them all and made them all? Our increasing discoveries of the vastness of the physical universe ought to fill us with an increasing sense of our own nothingness in comparison with the infinite greatness and majesty of Him who planned and made them all. But, alas, oftentimes it seems only to puff us up with pride that we are so wise as to understand a small part of the ways and power of yon
infinite God.

 

Amen. Thank you Charles.

Blessings

following-Him

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
The second fact that shows us the exceeding folly and desperate wickedness of replying against God, of entering into controversy with God, of criticizing God, of condemning God, is the fact of the infinite and absolute holiness of God. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). God is the One, as I read in the Scripture lesson tonight, in whose presence the seraphim themselves, the "burning ones" (for that is what the Hebrew word "seraphim" means), burning in their own intense holiness, must veil their faces and feet in that infinitely holy Presence and keep continually crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty" (Isaiah 6:3). God is the One in whose presence Isaiah, that holy man of old, covered his face and cried, 'Woe is me! for I am
undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, . . . for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts."
God is the One in whose presence Job, the "perfect man," Job, who had stoutly maintained his integrity before all the persistent and united accusations of his friends, when he got one glimpse of God face to face, overwhelmed with the sense of his own nothingness and vileness in comparison with the infinitely holy One, cried, "I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes"(Job 42:5-6).
Such is God. And "who art thou that repliest against God?" And
what art thou?

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
What are we all, the very best of us? Vile-the best of us is but a loathsome sinner. We may not yet realize the fact, but it is true. Our lives have been shot through and through by sin. Yet you undertake to stand in the presence of this Holy God, in whose presence the seraphim veil their faces and their feet, and reply against Him, to suggest what God ought to do, to enter into controversy with God, to criticize God for things which He has seen fit to do, to murmur against God.
There is a third fact that shows us the exceeding folly and desperate
wickedness of replying against God, of entering into controversy with God, of criticizing God, of condemning God, and that is the fact of God's infinite
wisdom. God is not only a Being of infinite majesty and holiness. He is also a Being of infinite wisdom. We look up at the starry heavens above our heads, we look at these wonderful worlds of light that stud the heavens by night. We think of the overwhelming things about their immensity and the incredible speed and momentum of their movements as they rush through space, and as we look up at them, if we are wise, we say, "Oh, God, what a Being of infinite wisdom as well as majesty Thou art that Thou canst guide these inconceivably enormous worlds as they go whirling through space with such incredible velocity and momentum."
And yet many of you here tonight do not hesitate to look up at that Infinitely wise God who made these wonderful spheres of light, who guides the whole universe in its wonderful, stupendous and bewildering course, and attempt to tell Him what you think He ought to do! Thou fool, art thou mad? No inmate of Patten ever did an insaner thing. "Who art thou?" The wisest man on earth is but a child; the wisest philosopher does not know much; the greatest man of science knows but very little. What he knows is almost nothing in comparison with what he does not know. What he does know, even about the material universe, is as nothing compared with what he does not know.

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
How much does the wisest scientist know even about this small planet? What does he really know, for example, about earthquakes? Have you ever stopped to think of the fact that the most confidently believed science of one hundred years ago is regarded by all modern scientists as foolishness? If we are to judge the future by the past, the most confidently believed science of today will be regarded as foolishness by the scientists of one hundred years hence.
When I was giving special attention to scientific study not so very many years ago, the nebular hypothesis was almost universally accepted. But some of the most advanced and reliable scientists of today are not only questioning it, but declare, at least in private, that it is exploded. What the scientists of a hundred years ago taught as being settled forever is known by our little children in the primary schools today as completely disproven. What the best scientist of today thinks he knows to be true a little child in primary school one hundred years hence will know to be false. The best scientific knowledge of today will be regarded as foolishness a hundred years from now, and the best scientific knowledge of one hundred years from now will be foolishness to the Infinitely wise God. [Mr. Torrey was quite prophetic!]
Suppose some child of thirteen or fourteen should take a book on philosophy setting forth the ripest product of the best philosophic thought of today and begin to criticize it, page by page. What would you think? Would you stand and look at the boy and say with unbounded admiration, "What a bright lad he is?" No, you would say, "What a conceited idiot he is to undertake, at his age and with his limited knowledge, to criticize the best philosophic thought of the day!" But he would not be so conceited an idiot as you or I would be were we to attempt to criticize an infinitely wise God for we are far less than children compared with the infinite God.

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
The most profound philosopher of today is but a little child compared with the Infinite God. And yet you, who do not make any pretensions of being a philosopher at all, take God's Book, you a little child, an infant, take this
Book which represents the best wisdom of God, and you sit down and turn it, page by page, and try to criticize it, and people stand and look at you and admire and say, "What a scholar!" But the angels look down and say, "What a fool!" And what does God say? "0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?" "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord [the Almighty and the Eternal] shall have [you] in derision" (Ps. 2:4).
There is a fourth fact that emphasizes the extreme folly and desperate
wickedness of replying against God, of entering into controversy with God, of criticizing God, or condemning God, and that fact is that He is not only a Being of Infinite majesty, holiness, and wisdom, but also a Being of infinite goodness and love. Why, man, you owe everything you have in the world to God. You owe your very existence to Him. You owe to Him your power to see, your power to hear, your power to taste. You owe to Him your power to breathe, to live, to walk, to work, your power to enjoy this wonderful world which He has made, in which He permits and enables us to live. 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). The poorest of us, the most unfortunate of us, has an immense deal for which to be thankful. You who seem to have very little have exceedingly much in comparison with nothing. Are you blind? Well, you can hear and taste, can you not? Are you deaf, dumb, and blind? Well, you can eat and enjoy your food, can you not?
The man who has all five senses would be just as reasonable if he were to
complain because he has not six as the man who has four senses would be to complain because he has not five. Thank God for what you have, rather than complain against God for what you have not.

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
Suppose I should have found on Thanksgiving Day a poor, half-starved tramp and had taken him to my home, given him a good, well-cooked dinner of roast lamb, white potatoes, other vegetables, and pumpkin pie, and then he had gone and complained against me to some other tramp because I did not give him turkey and sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, mince pie, and plum pudding. Would he not have been an ungrateful cur? Yet not so, ungrateful as you are when you complain at the God who has given you taste, hearing, touch, feeling, and many other blessings, because He has not given you sight also. The poorest of us, the most suffering of us, have an enormous deal for which to be thankful and
all of it came from God. Not only that, but you and I not only have these
things that we possess to be thankful for but, furthermore, every man of us has trampled God's law under foot; every one of us has been a sinner justly condemned before God. But God, instead of dealing with us in stem wrath and judgment, as we all deserve, has not only given us all these blessings, but, in addition, has given His own Son to die on the Cross of Calvary in our place. He has given His best beloved, His dearest, His only begotten Son. But in spite of all that wondrous love that did not stop even at the sacrifice of His own Son, some of you presume to criticize God, who gave His Son to die for you. "0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?" One of the greatest Italian statesmen of the last century, the greatest of his day but one, was devoutly loved in his youth by a young woman. When he entered the army of Garibaldi, this woman who loved him enlisted too, and fought in the war by the side of her lover, just to be near him. And one day he was shot and fell on the field of battle, and that woman who loved him rushed out beneath a rain of bullets, lifted her fallen lover from the ground; and, amidst a terrific storm of bullets, carried her lover to safety. Then she watched over him for days and weeks until she had nursed him back to health.
Suppose he had deserted her then, what would the whole world have called him? In point of fact he married her, but afterward he divorced her; though he was one of the ablest statesmen of the century, Italy and all Europe, for all his brilliant gifts, never forgave him his treatment of the devoted woman who had risked her life to save his.

 

Amen. Thank you Charles. Our blessings from the Lord are new every day. We need to remember that.

Blessings

following-Him

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
But what has God done for you? The eternal God has consented that His heart should be torn and crushed to save you and me. Yet some of us dare to enter into controversy with this God of infinite love, to criticize that eternal God who consented that His heart be torn and bruised and crushed to save us. Oh, the desperate wickedness, the amazing folly of replying against a God of infinite majesty, infinite holiness, infinite wisdom, and, above all, of infinite love. "0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?"
Who Repliest Against God?
But who is replying against God? Who is entering into controversy with God? Who is criticizing or condemning God? Five classes are replying against God. First of all, the men and women who complain of God's providential dealings with them are replying against God, are entering into controversy with God, are criticizing God and condemning God. Many a man or woman has said to me, "I think God is cruel." "Why do you think He is cruel?" One replies, "He has taken away my husband." Another, "He has taken away my wife." Another, "He has taken away my child. He has taken away the light of our home." Another, "He has brought me down from financial prosperity to financial failure. I once stood high in the business world. I now have to almost beg my bread, and I say God is cruel." Another says, "If God is good, why did He permit this awful disaster or that which laid waste a beautiful city or nation? I think God is cruel."
You do? You do? You think God is cruel! Who is God? A Being of infinite
majesty, a Being of infinite holiness, a Being of infinite wisdom, a Being of
infinite love, a Being who gave His own Son to die that you might be saved! "0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?"
But you say, "I do not understand it." Why should you understand it? Who are you? If you were really wise, you would not ask to understand it. If you had really good sense, you would not feel any need of having it explained. You would say, "I know God is infinitely good and infinitely wise. I know He is infinitely loving, too. I know He gave His Son to die for me, and though I cannot understand it, nevertheless it comes from God's hand and I know it is all right. "Naked came I [into this world]: ... the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). 1 do not ask to understand; I am perfbctly content to trust in the dark that God who is so infinitely worthy of my trust.

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
I had two friends in England, very dear friends, who were beautiful
Christians. They had a lovely daughter. She grew to maidenhood and was said to have been an unusually beautiful girl in both face and character. Some said she was the most beautiful character they had ever met. When this lovely daughter was seventeen or eighteen, she was taken with rheumatic fever, and, after awful suffering, died. The father and mother never complained. They kissed the hand that smote.
Some time after this sorrow had befallen them, I was talking with them about it. They told me how God had sustained them in that trying hour. Only a little while after this conversation, their second daughter, now grown to womanhood, was also taken down with precisely the same malady, rheumatic fever. Her fever ran up to 107 and stayed there day after day, and she seemed beyond all hope. Then the mother's faith gave way, and she said, "God is cruel to take my second daughter when I never complained about the first, and not only to take my second daughter, but to take her in just the same way He took the first."
But God spared the child. She is well now, a devoted Christian woman in very active Christian work. And that mother has repented of her wickedness.
Oh, friends, it was wicked, very wicked. Our hearts were almost broken in
sympathy during the days that child hung between life and death. Telegrams kept coming to me telling of her condition, and my heart bled for my friends.
But, nonetheless, I say that was wicked on the mother's part to say "God is cruel." That was exceedingly wicked, that was desperately wicked, to call God cruel. That same mother lost all three of her sons and her husband in the late war, but she has never again whispered that God is cruel. I had a letter from her only the other day that was full of trust and hope.

 

Thank you Charles.

Sometimes it is hard to realise just how faithful God really is and that we never really walk alone. It takes times of suffering, such as this mothers' to learn how closely the Lord walks with us in our trials.

Blessings

following-Him

 

Criticizing God

Are You Criticizing God?, by R.A. Torrey
Are You Criticizing God?
by R.A. Torrey
Some of you are passing through trials which, if the rest of us knew, would fill our hearts with sympathy and pain. But you are murmuring against God, and that is wicked, that is exceedingly foolish, that is desperately wicked; for
"0 man, who art thou that repliest against God," against a God of infinite
majesty, against a God of infinite wisdom, against a God of infinite holiness, against a God of infinite love, against a God who gave His only begotten Son to die for you? But you say, "I do not understand it." Why should you understand it? Why should you ask to understand it? Who are you that God should explain it to you? Oh, that we might always bear in mind who God is, and who we are; what God is, and what we are.
Then there is a second class who are replying against God, who are entering into controversy with God, who are criticizing and condemning God, namely, those who are criticizing this Book and trying to pull this Book to pieces.
This Book is God's Word. That is thoroughly established. When you criticize this Book, you criticize its Author, who is God. When you criticize this Book, you criticize God. But you say, "I do not believe it is God's Word." That does not alter the fact, not in the least. It is His Word-there is abundant proof that it is His Word. I have proved over and over again in this place that this Book is the Word of God. This Book is God's Word, and whoever ventures to criticize it ventures to criticize God. Never forget that. I repeat it, whoever ventures to criticize this Book ventures to criticize God, and the one who criticizes God is guilty of exceeding folly and desperate wickedness. You say, "I do not like that." I am sorry that you do not, for it is true, and I always feel profoundly sorry for the man or woman who does not like the truth. They are in a bad way.