THE GOSPEL STANDARD JANUARY 2020 =========================================================== MATT . 5. 6; 2 TIM . 1. 9; ROM . 11. 7; ACTS 8. 37; MATT . 28. 19 =========================================================== NEW YEAR ADDRESS ———— To the readers of the Gospel Standard “Time! what an empty vapour ’tis! And days how swift they are! Swift as an Indian arrow flies, Or like a shooting star. “The present moments just appear, Then slide away in haste, That we can never say, ‘They’re here,’ But only say, ‘They’re past.’ “Yet, mighty God! our fleeting days Thy lasting favours share; Yet with the bounties of Thy grace, Thou load’st the rolling year.” It will be wonderful indeed if we enter in at last with the experience of this last verse: “Thus we begin the lasting song, And, when we close our eyes, Let the next age Thy praise prolong Till time and nature dies.” (H. 498) As preserved by Almighty God we have been favoured and spared to pass over the threshold of yet another year. Another year of our short lives has passed away, never to return. Great have been the many, many mercies of our longsuffering and gracious Friend of sinners in heaven. How great also have been our shameful sins. How good if we can trace out over the passing years, the blessing of rich grace interwoven with divine providence. Many prayers have been answered in rich grace as we look back, and yet we still have so many prayers that we need to be answered, according to the Lord’s good will. So many healings, so many restorations of soul from backslidings; so many deliverances granted, so many favours bestowed. We do need “this same Jesus” (Acts 1. 11), now in heaven, still to be our great Saviour and Deliverer as we continue through this dangerous world of sin, woe, disappointment and death. What a glorious truth it is, that the Lord is unchangeable in all His covenant love and grace to His 2 GOSPEL STANDARD: JANUARY 2020 dear people, in spite of all that they are by nature: “For I am the L ORD , I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Mal. 3. 6). The Apostle Paul reminds us of the conversation of the pilgrims of old, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb. 13. 8). By the Holy Ghost’s teaching, Jesus means the same to His people today as He meant to the ancients who have passed before us, and will mean the same to the generation to come. Jesus is always the same in His great love to His people in all generations, and will be to the end of time, for He loves each of them “with an everlasting love.” What confusion has taken place in our parliament during the last year. The now retired speaker of the House of Commons has demeaned his office by political motivation, and therefore became partial in judgment. We remember some excellent speakers, such as Dr. Horace King and George Thomas whom we have witnessed operating below us from the Strangers’ Gallery. Also, later, Betty Boothroyd was another good speaker. These speakers commanded much respect and admiration from the members of the House. We do hope that the new speaker will bring back respect and dignity to the Chair of the House of Commons. We do not know the outcome of the General Election at the time of writing, but may the Lord be pleased to favour us with a stable and good government. The real and primary reason for the political crisis and confusion in our land, is because we have turned our back upon God, we have forsaken the scriptural way of life. What a good and great influence the Word of God has had in our land. In recent years we have overthrown God’s law to keep the Sabbath day, and to lay aside all unnecessary labour and to worship the Lord. We have also overthrown the creation law of marriage, between one man and one woman. We also have to face a society where the gender of male and female is being exchanged. This is frightening confusion. What will our dear young folks have to live with in the future years? May we pray earnestly for them, that they may be “partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3. 1). The Lord be very merciful to them and save them “from this untoward [perverse] generation” (Acts 2. 40). When those who fear God live in a day like this, and are so often “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (2 Pet. 2. 7), it is good and salutary to remember that “The L ORD reigneth” to unfold His purposes of grace and love to His church, while they live in this dying and sin-cursed world. His wondrous work of salvation still goes on in sinners’ hearts and lives. God is still gathering in His elect from “the four corners of the earth” (Rev. 7. 1), as the prophet declared, “I will work, and who shall let it?” [turn it back] (Isa. 43. 13). The great God of heaven is building Himself a church which is termed “the household of faith” (Gal. 6. 10). This “household of faith” is built upon the sure NEW YEAR ADDRESS 3 foundation of Jesus, as we read, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3. 11). The “household of faith” consists of those people that walk after the pattern of the faith of Abraham, who “believed in the L ORD ” (Gen. 15. 6). To this spiritual household of faith, both Jews and Gentiles, are given numerous and exceeding precious promises, sealed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, “the Lamb of God” (John 1. 29). There are two glorious truths with precious promise upon my mind setting forth God’s love and relationship to His church here below. 1. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine” (Exod. 19. 4, 5). This sacred word was spoken to Israel in the wilderness of Sinai as they journeyed. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians.” Ye see how I delivered you from your enemy, and broke the yoke of his dominion. It was completely miraculous; it was God’s work alone. They were God’s wonders in Egypt. Apart from divine intervention, they could not have escaped. So it is with believers today. The call by grace, the awakening and quickening into eternal life, is nothing short of a miracle. It is God’s work alone to bless His people with eternal life. “The appointed time rolls on apace, Not to propose but call by grace; To change the heart, renew the will, And turn the feet to Zion’s hill.” (H. 76) Of those that receive Him, the Holy Ghost says, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1. 13). Again we read of God’s work, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the L ORD of hosts” (Zech. 4. 6). “How I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself.” Bearing them on eagles’ wings shows how the Lord made them to endure safely through all their grievous afflictions in Egypt, and carried them out in an amazing way. As an eagle soars, so they flew away safely from the Egyptians. It speaks of God’s power and might, a wonderful and complete deliverance. They saw Pharaoh and his army no more, after they perished in the Red Sea. By God’s gracious power, the Lord’s people forsake all, take up their cross, denying themselves, to follow Christ (see Matt. 16. 24). The Lord brings all His pilgrims to Himself, first, to know and to experience something of the riches of His great grace, His great love, and His great help. They are brought in this lower world to “worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4. 24). Each believer is brought to serve Him in their day and generation. They are brought to begin to love and serve and value Him. 4 GOSPEL STANDARD: JANUARY 2020 “Sinners are high in His esteem, And sinners highly value Him.” (H. 89) They are then brought finally to go in to see the Lord Jesus face to face, to “see the King in His beauty” (Isa. 33. 17), into the “holiest of all” (Heb. 9. 8), which is the presence of God. This is the full fruition of the blessing that Jesus spoke of to Philip: “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14. 9). As the church triumphant gazes upon Jesus in His excellent eternal glory, they gaze upon God. As Jesus taught, “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14. 10). May the Lord in His rich grace bear us each on eagles’ wings and bring us into the house above, “eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5. 1). “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant.” Israel’s record was a record of obedience and disobedience! They could not keep His covenant as God required. We have to come to the blessed Lamb of God to see how the voice of God and covenant command of God are fully and justly kept and obeyed, as God requires.