Illustrations, humor, poetry and quotations vol 8

ILLUSTRATIO S, HUMOR, POETRY A D
QUOTATIO S VOL 8
COMPILED A D EDITED BY GLE PEASE
A
ASSURA CE OF SALVATIO
After John Wesley had been preaching for some time, some one said to him, "Are
you sure, Mr. Wesley, of your salvation?" "Well," he answered, "Jesus Christ
died for the whole world." "Yes, we all believe that; but are you sure that you are
saved?" Wesley replied that he was sure that provision had been made for his
salvation.
"But are you sure, Wesley, that you are saved?" It went like an arrow to his
heart, and he had no rest or power until that questions was settled. Many men
and many women go on month after month, and year after year, without power,
because they do not know their standing in Christ; they are not sure of their own
footing for eternity. Latimer wrote Ridley once that when he was settled and
steadfast about his own salvation he was as bold as a lion, but if that hope became
eclipsed he was fearful and afraid and was disqualified for service. Many are
disqualified for service because they are continually doubting their own salvation.
Moody's Anecdotes, Page 101-102
There are four basic categories:
1) Those who think they are saved, but aren't. Matthew 7:21-3
2) Those we think are saved, but aren't. 1 John 2:18-19
3) Those who are saved, but don't act like it: Corinthians.
4) Those who are saved, and they act like it.
Sometime when you're in an airport, observe the difference between passengers
who hold confirmed tickets and those who are on standby. The ones with
confirmed tickets read newspapers, chat with their friends or sleep. The ones on
standby hang around the ticket counter, pace and smoke, smoke and pace. The
difference is caused by the confidence factor. If you knew that in fifteen minutes
you would have to stand in judgment before the Holy God and learn your eternal
destiny, what would your reaction be? Would you smoke and pace? Would you
say to yourself, "I don't know what God's going to say--will it be 'Welcome home,
child,' or will it be 'Depart from me; I never knew you'? Too Busy ot To Pray,
Bill Hybels, IVP, p. 113
Regarding salvation and assurance, there are three groups of people: (1) those

who are secure but not sure; (2) those who are "sure" but not secure; and (3)
those who are secure and sure. Category one are conscientious believers in Christ
who are saved but lack assurance. In category two are professing Christians who
say, "Even though I'm living in sin, I'll make it. After all,'once saved, always
saved!'" The third group are born-again believers who enjoy a warm, secure
relationship with Christ each day. The objective basis of our salvation is the
finished work of God's Son on the cross. The subjective basis for our assurance is
our believing the truth about Christ (I John 2:2,4; 2:15; 5:1), loving the brethren
(I John 3:14, 18, 19, 4:7-8), and obeying Christ's commandments (I John 2:3-5).
ASSURA CE
- - Give diligence to attain to: ... 2Pe 1:10,11
- - Strive to maintain: ... Heb 3:14,18
- - Confident hope in God restores: ... Ps 42:11
- - Produced by faith: ... Eph 3:12; 2Ti 1:12; Heb 10:22
- - Made full by hope: ... Heb 6:11,19
- - Confirmed by love: ... 1Jo 3:14,19; 4:18
- - Is the effect of righteousness: ... Isa 32:17
- - Is abundant in the understanding of the gospel: ... Col 2:2; 1Th 1:5
- - Produced by faith: ... Eph 3:12; 2Ti 1:12; Heb 10:22
- - Made full by hope: ... Heb 6:11,19
- - Confirmed by love: ... 1Jo 3:14,19; 4:18
- - Is the effect of righteousness: ... Isa 32:17
- - Is abundant in the understanding of the gospel: ... Col 2:2; 1Th 1:5
- - Exemplified
...... David: .... Ps 23:4; 73:24-26
...... Paul: .... 2Ti 1:12; 4:18
- - SAI TS PRIVILEGED TO HAVE
...... Their election: .... Ps 4:3; 1Th 1:4
...... Their adoption: .... Ro 8:16; 1Jo 3:2
...... Their salvation: .... Isa 12:2
...... Their redemption: ... Job 19:25
...... Eternal life: .... 1Jo 5:13
...... The unalienable love of God: .... Ro 8:38,39
...... Peace with God by Christ: .... Ro 5:1
...... Preservation: .... Ps 3:6,8; 27:3-5; 46:1-3
...... Answers to prayer: .... 1Jo 3:22; 5:14,15
...... Continuance in grace: .... Phil 1:6
...... Comfort in affliction: .... Ps 73:26; Lu 4:18,19; 2Co 4:8-10,16-18
...... Support in death: .... Ps 23:4
...... A glorious resurrection: .... Job 19:26; Ps 17:15; Phil 3:21; 1Jo 3:2
...... A kingdom: .... Heb 12:28; Re 5:10
...... A crown: .... 2Ti 4:7,8; James 1:12
...... Union with God and Christ: ... 1Co 6:15; 2Co 13:5; Eph 5:30; 1Jo 2:5; 4:13
...... Peace with God by Christ: ... Ro 5:1
...... Preservation: ... Ps 3:6; 8; 27:3-5; 46:1-3

...... Comfort in affliction: ... Ps 73:26; Lu 4:18; 2Co 4:8-10,16-18
...... A support in death: ... Ps 23:4
...... A glorious resurrection: ... Job 19:26; Ps 17:15; Phil 3:21; 1Jo 3:2
...... Saints give diligence to attain: ... 2Pe 1:10,11
...... Strive to maintain: ... Heb 3:14,18
...... Confident hope in God restores: ... Ps 42:11
......
2. An elderly man said to H.A. Ironside, "I will not go on unless I
know I'm saved, or else know it's hopeless to seek to be sure of
it. I want a definite witness, something I can't be mistaken
about!" Ironside replied, "Suppose you had a vision of an angel
who told you your sins were forgiven. Would that be enough to
rest on?" "Yes, I think it would. An angel should be right."
Ironside continued, "But suppose on your deathbed Satan came and
said, 'I was that angel, transformed to deceive you.' What would
you say?" The man was speechless. Ironside then told him that
God has given us something more dependable than the voice of an
angel. He has given His Son, who died for our sins, and He has
testified in His own Word that if we trust Him all our sins are
gone. Ironside read I John 5:13, "You may know that you have
eternal life." Then he said, "Is that not enough to rest on? It
is a letter from heaven expressly to you." God's Spirit used
that to bring assurance to the man's heart.
ASTROLOGY
About half of the Americans who are familiar with the ew
Age movement don't take its teachings seriously, and a third of
them say ew Age thought runs counter to Judeo-Christian
teaching, says a new poll by the Princeton Religious Research
Center.
The poll also shows that the general population's
awareness of the ew Age is low, but the number of Americans who
adhere to ew Age practices is alarmingly high, even among
professing Christians. "Many who consider themselves good
Christians nonetheless have engaged in practices that seemingly
are counter to the teaching of their church," the pollsters said.
Roughly half of all Americans say they believe in
extrasensory perception. Thirty percent of Roman Catholics and
22 percent of Protestants say they believe in clairvoyance, while
48 percent of Roman Catholics and 44 percent of Protestants say
they believe in psychic healing, the poll shows. The poll
indicates that 25 percent of both groups believe the movement of
the stars may help govern the affairs of men and women.
Christianity Today, February 10, 1992

ATHEIST
1."Atheists are really often put on the spot; they have to sing,
"Hummmmmm bless America."
Atheism is rationally ridiculous. The most anyone can claim about
the non-existence of God is agnosticism - to say you don't know. But
as soon as one takes the atheist's viewpoint, he/she opens him/herself
and his/her philosophical system to a dilemma. No finite being can say
there is no God, for outside the limits of his knowledge God may
exist. To be an atheist one must claim to know everything. Of course
this is one of the attributes that only God processes. Therefore, the
only way one can prove God doesn't exist is to be God which is
rationally ridiculous.
- Bill Gordon
2. Paul E. Billeimer wrote, "This philosphy of ignorance conerning the
past and hopelessness concerning the furture is echoed and emphasized in
the view of some modern biloogists and psychologists. In his book
Chance and Necessity Jacques Monod, the French molecular biologist,
argues that man's existence is due to the chance collision between
miniscue particles of nucleic acid and proteins in the vast
"pre-biotic soup." According to Dr. Fransic Schaeffer's quotation from
Newsweek magazine in Back to Freedom and Dignity. Monod holds that "all
life results from interactin of pure chance--and necessity." Monod
conclueds that man is alone (as far as a Superior Being is concerned) in
theuniver's unfeeling immensity, out of which he emerged only by chance.
His destiny is nowhere spelled out, nor is his duty. As expressed in Dr.
Schaeffer's book, Monod is convinced that "man is theproduct of the
impersonal,plus time, plus change."
If this is true, then man is as impersonal as and has no more value
than any other part of the universe. There is, therefore, no moral
distinction between cutting down a tree an ddestroying a human being.
If a human being is essentially no different from a tree, then his
future is no different. Existence, for a man, is as meaningless as
existence for a tree; theu man's value is reduced to zero. The end
result is meaninglessness and despair. According to Dr. Schaeffer, this
is what triggered the student rebellion at Berkeley, and one might
conclude, on many other campuses throughout our nation and the world.
When man destroys God, he destroys himself. Atheism is suicidal.
3. A young preacher once called upon an only infidel who was constantly
arguing against the exzistence of God. He found him sitting in his saw
mill just over the lever that lifts as the saw leaves the log. As the
old man began to denounce the Deity, that lever sprang, catching him
under the heels and flinging him backward and downward into the stream.
As he plunged, however, he shrieked as loudly as he could, "God have
mercy!" The preacher ran around, waded into the water, and drew the
struggling man ashore. Said the pastor, "I thought that you did not
believe in God." As soon as the infidel stopped strangling, he said in a
subdued voice, "Well, if there is no God, there ought to be, to help a
man when he can't help himself!"
3. Some years ago, when the news broke out that Joseph Stalin's daughter had
defected from Communism and Russia, many people were startled. Her statement
given to reporters who met her plane in ew york, told why she defected:
"I found it impossible to exist without God in one's heart. I came to that conclution
myself, without anybody's help or preaching. That was a great change because since
that moment the main dogmas of Communism lost their significance for me. I have
come here to seek the self-expression that has been denied me for so long in

Russia."
That woman's struggle was a terrible one. To leave Russia, she had to leave two
children in Moscow and realize that it would be, as she said, "Impossible to go
back."
Pascal said there is within every person a "God-shaped vacume." He's right.
Historians Will and Ariel Durant observed in thier summery volume, The Lessons
of History, that There never has been a signifigant example of morality apart from
belief in God." Morning Glory, 2-5-94
4. ietzsche's point was not that God does not exist, but that
God has become irrelevant. Men and women may assert that God
exists or that He does not, but it makes little difference either
way. God is dead not because He doesn't exist, but because we
live, play, procreate, govern, and die as though He doesn't. C.
Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, p. 181
5. In the book GAILY THE TROUBADOUR, published in 1936, Arthur
Guiterman wrote the following poem. Reading his observations, you
wouldn't guess it was written nearly fifty years ago.
First dentistry was painless;
Then bicycles were chainless
And carriages were horseless
And many laws, enforceless.
ext, cookery was fireless,
Telegraphy was wireless,
Cigars were nicotineless
And coffee, caffeinless.
Soon oranges were seedless,
The putting green was weedless,
The college boy hatless,
The proper diet, fatless,
ow motor roads are dustless,
The latest steel is rustless,
Our tennis courts are sodless,
Our new religions, godless.
ATO EME T
I read about a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His
parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but
nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said
nothing. At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of
bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father's full plate and then at his
father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed.
The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy's plate
and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put
it in front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he
said, "All my life I've known what God is like by what my father did that
night." -J. Allan Peterson

The government of Polish Prime Minister Jaruzelski had ordered crucifixes
removed from classroom walls, just as they had been banned in factories,
hospitals, and other public institutions. Catholic bishops attacked the ban that
had stirred waves of anger and resentment all across Poland. Ultimately the
government relented, insisting that the law remain on the books, but agreeing not
to press for removal of the crucifixes, particularly in the schoolrooms.
But one zealous Communist school administrator in Garwolin decided that the
law was the law. So one evening he had seven large crucifixes removed from
lecture halls where they had hung since the school's founding in the twenties.
Days later, a group of parents entered the school and hung more crosses. The
administrator promptly had these taken down as well.
The next day two-thirds of the school's six hundred students staged a sit-in.
When heavily armed riot police arrived, the students were forced into the streets.
Then they marched, crucifixes held high, to a nearby church where they were
joined by twenty-five hundred other students from nearby schools for a morning
of prayer in support of the protest. Soldiers surrounded the church. But the
pictures from inside of students holding crosses high above their heads flashed
around the world. So did the words of the priest who delivered the message to the
weeping congregation that morning. "There is no Poland without a cross."
Chuck Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, pp. 202-3
Alila stood on the beach holding her tiny infant son close to her heart. Tears
welled in her eyes as she began slowly walking toward the river's edge. She
stepped into the water, silently making her way out until she was waist deep, the
water gently lapping at the sleeping baby's feet. She stood there for a long time
holding the child tightly as she stared out across the river. Then all of a sudden in
one quick movement she threw the six month old baby to his watery death.
ative missionary M.V. Varghese often witnesses among the crowds who gather
at the Ganges. It was he who came upon Alila that day kneeling in the sand
crying uncontrollably and beating her breast. With compassion he knelt down
next to her and asked her what was wrong.
Through her sobs she told him, "The problems in my home are too many and my
sins are heavy on my heart, so I offered the best I have to the goddess Ganges, my
first born son." Brother Varghese's heart ached for the desperate woman. As she
wept he gently began to tell her about the love of Jesus and that through Him her
sins could be forgiven. She looked at him strangely. "I have never heard that
before," she replied through her tears. "Why couldn't you have come thirty
minutes earlier? If you did, my child would not have had to die."
Each year millions of people come to the holy Indian city of Hardwar to bathe in
the River Ganges. These multitudes come believing this Hindu ritual will wash
their sins away. For many people like Alila, missionaries are arriving too late,
simply because there aren't enough of these faithful brothers and sisters on the
mission field. Christianity Today, 1993
During the Middle Ages there was a popular story which circulated about Martin
of Tours, the saint for whom Martin Luther was named. It was said that Satan
once appeared to St Martin in the guise of the Savior himself. St. Martin was

ready to fall to his feet and worship this resplendent being of glory and light.
Then, suddenly, he looked up into the palms of his hands and asked, "Where are
the nail prints?" Whereupon the apparition vanished.
Theologians tell a story to illustrate how Christ's triumph presently benefits our
lives: Imagine a city under siege. The enemy that surrounds they city will not let
anyone or anything leave. Supplies are running low, and the citizens are fearful.
But in the dark of the night, a spy sneaks through the enemy lines. He has rushed
to the city to tell the people that in another place the main enemy force has been
defeated; the leaders have already surrendered. The people do not need to be
afraid. It is only a matter of time until the besieging troops receive the news and
lay down their weapons. Similarly, we may seem now to be surrounded by the
forces of evil -- disease, injustice, oppression, death. But the enemy has actually
been defeated at Calvary. Things are not the way they seem to be. It is only a
matter of time until it becomes clear to all that the battle is really over.
Uncommon Decency, Richard J. Mouw, Page 149-150
For family devotions, Martin Luther once read the account of Abraham offering
Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22. His wife, Katie, said, "I do not believe it. God
would not have treated his son like that!" "But, Katie," Luther replied, "He
did." The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 191
Mahatma Gandhi is fasting to protest the riot killings that followed the partition
that created Hindu India and Moslem Pakistan in 1947. A fellow Hindu
approaches to confess a great wrong. "I killed a child," says the distraught man.
"I smashed his head against a wall." "Why?" asks the Mahatma (Hindu for
"Great Soul"). "They killed my boy. The Moslems killed my son." "I know a way
out of hell," says Gandhi. "Find a child, a little boy whose mother and father
have been killed, and raise him as your own. Only be sure he is a Moslem--and
that you raise him as one." Feb 1992, R.D., p. 106
In his book Written In Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose
sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same
disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for
recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the
disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the
ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked. Johnny hesitated. His
lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister." Soon
the two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin;
Johnny, robust and healthy. either spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny
grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He
watched the blood flow through the tube. With the ordeal almost over, his voice,
slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I die?'
Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had
trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He's thought giving his blood to
his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great

dicision. Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Each of us,
however, has a condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give
not just His blood but His life. -Thomas Lindberg
God requires satisfaction because He is holiness, but He makes satisfaction
because He is love. A.H. Strong
Em Griffin writes, in Making Friends, about three kinds of London maps: The
street map, the map depicting throughways, and the underground map of the
subway. "Each map is accurate and correct," he writes, "but each map does not
give the complete picture. To see the whole, the three maps must be printed one
on top of each other. However, that is often confusing, so I use only one 'layer' at
a time.
"It is the same with the words used to describe the death of Jesus Christ. Each
word, like redemption, reconciliation, or justification, is accurate and correct, but
each word does not give the complete picture. To see the whole we need to place
one 'layer' one top of the other, but that is sometimes confusing--we cannot see
the trees for the whole! So we separate out each splendid concept and discover
that the whole is more than the sum of its parts." -John Ross
STATISTICS A D STUFF
Who can estimate the value of God's gift, when He gave to the world His only
begotten Son! It is something unspeakable and incomprehensible. It passes man's
understanding. Two things there are which man has no arithmetic to reckon, and
no line to measure. One of these things is the extent of that man's loss who loses
his own soul. The other is the extent of God's gift when he gave Christ to
sinners...Sin must indeed be exceeding sinful, when the Father must needs give
His only Son to be the sinner's Friend! J.C. Ryle in Foundations of Faith
"laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). Commenting on this verse Martin
Luther wrote: "All the prophets did foresee in Spirit that Christ should become
the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc., that
ever was or could be in all the world. For he, being made a sacrifice for the sins of
the whole world is not now an innocent person and without sins...but a sinner."
He was, of course, talking about the imputing of our wrongdoing to Christ as our
substitute.
Luther continues: "Our most merciful Father...sent his only Son into the world
and laid upon him...the sins of all men saying: Be thou Peter that denier; Paul
that persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer; that
sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the
cross; and briefly be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men;
see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now comes the law and
saith: I find him a sinner...therefore let him die upon the cross. And so he setteth
upon him and killeth him. By this means the whole world is purged and cleansed
from all sins."
The presentation of the death of Christ as the substitute exhibits the love of the

cross more richly, fully, gloriously, and glowingly than any other account of it.
Luther saw this and gloried in it. He once wrote to a friend: "Learn to know
Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, 'Lord Jesus, you are my
righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and
given me what is yours. You became what you were not, so that I might become
what I was not.'" What a great and wonderful exchange! Was there ever such
love? Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986,
Page October 20
We trample the blood of the Son of God if we think we are forgiven because we
are sorry for our sins. The only explanation for the forgiveness of God and for the
unfathomable depth of His forgetting is the death of Jesus Christ. Our
repentance is merely the outcome of our personal realization of the atonement
which He has worked out for us. It does not matter who or what we are; there is
absolute reinstatement into God by the death of Jesus Christ and by no other
way, not because Jesus Christ pleads, but because He died. It is not earned, but
accepted. All the pleading which deliberately refuses to recognize the Cross is of
no avail; it is battering at a door other than the one that Jesus has opened. Our
Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement is a
propitiation whereby God, through the death of Jesus, makes an unholy man
holy. -Oswald Chambers
POEMS
In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopp'd my wild career:
I saw One hanging on a Tree
In agonies and blood,
Who fix'd His languid eyes on me.
As near His Cross I stood.
Sure never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look:
It seem'd to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke:
My conscience felt and own'd the guilt,
And plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,
And help'd to nail Him there.
Alas! I knew not what I did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain!
A second look He gave, which said,
"I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;

I die that thou may'st live."
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now if fill'd,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I kill'd!
-John ewton, 1725-1807
Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior,
Turned away God's wrath forever;
By His better grief and woe
He saved us from the evil foe.
Christ says: 'Come, all ye that labor,
And receive My grace and favor';
They who feel no want nor ill
eed no physician's help nor skill.
As His pledge of love undying,
He this precious food supplying,
Gives His body with the bread
And with the wine the blood He shed.
Praise the Father, who from heaven
Unto us such food hath given
And, to mend what we have done,
Gave unto death His only Son.
If thy heart this truth professes
And thy mouth thy sin confesses,
His dear guest thou here shalt be,
And Christ Himself shall banquet thee.
-John Huss
ATO EME T
Who can estimate the value of God's gift, when He gave to the world His only
begotten Son! It is something unspeakable and incomprehensible. It passes man's
understanding. Two things there are which man has no arithmetic to reckon, and no
line to measure. One of these things is the extent of that man's loss who loses his own
soul. The other is the extent of God's gift when he gave Christ to sinners...Sin must
indeed be exceeding sinful, when the Father must needs give His only Son to be the
sinner's Friend! J.C. Ryle in Foundations of Faith
Why did the Father will the death of his only beloved Son, and in so painful and
shameful a form? Because the Father had "laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa.
53:6). Jesus' death was vicarious (undergone in our place) and atoning (securing
remission of sins for us and reconciliation to God). It was a sacrificial death,

fulfilling the principle of atonement taught in connection with the Old Testament
sacrifices: "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Heb.
9:22; Lev. 17:11).
As the "last Adam," the second man in history to act on mankind's behalf, Jesus
died a representative death. As a sacrificial victim who put away our sins by
undergoing the death penalty that was our due, Jesus died as our substitute. By
removing God's wrath against us for sin, his death was an act of propitiation (Rom.
3:25; 1 John 2:2,; 4:10 --"expiation," signifying that which puts away sin, is only
half the meaning). By saving us from slavery to ungodliness and divine retribution
for sin, Jesus' death was an act of redemption (Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
By mediating and making peace between us and God, it was an act of reconciliation
(Rom. 5:10-11). It opened the door to our justification (pardon and acceptance) and
our adoption (becoming God's sons and heirs -- Rom. 5:1,9; Gal. 4:4-5).
This happy relationship with our Maker, based on and sealed by blood atonement,
is the " ew Covenant" of which Jesus spoke in the Upper Room (1 Cor. 11:25;
Matt. 26:28).
Your Father Loves You by James Packer
Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986
Page December 27
Commenting on this verse Martin Luther wrote: "All the prophets did foresee in
Spirit that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer,
thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc., that ever was or could be in all the world. For he,
being made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world is not now an innocent person
and without sins...but a sinner." He was, of course, talking about the imputing of
our wrongdoing to Christ as our substitute.
Luther continues: "Our most merciful Father...sent his only Son into the world and
laid upon him...the sins of all men saying: Be thou Peter that denier; Paul that
persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer; that sinner
which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the cross; and
briefly be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore
that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now comes the law and saith: I find him a
sinner...therefore let him die upon the cross. And so he setteth upon him and killeth
him. By this means the whole world is purged and cleansed from all sins."
The presentation of the death of Christ as the substitute exhibits the love of the cross
more richly, fully, gloriously, and glowingly than any other account of it. Luther
saw this and gloried in it. He once wrote to a friend: "Learn to know Christ and him
crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, 'Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am
your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours.
You became what you were not, so that I might become what I was not.'"
What a great and wonderful exchange! Was there ever such love? Your Father
Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, Page October 20
As we look at the cross and interpret it, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and in the
light of what the Bible says about it, we see many truths that are basic to personal
religion:
God condones nothing but judges all sin as it deserves, which Scripture affirms and
my conscience confirms to be right.
My sins merit ultimate penal suffering and rejection from God's presence

(conscience also confirms this), and nothing I do can blot them out.
The penalty due me for my sins was paid for me by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in
his death on the cross.
Because this is so, through faith in him I am made the righteousness of God (2 Cor.
5:21): i.e., I am justified. Pardon, acceptance, and sonship become mine.
Christ's death for me is my sole ground of hope before God.
My faith in Christ is God's own gift to me, given in virtue of Christ's own death for
me: i.e., the cross procured it.
Christ's death for me guarantees my preservation to glory.
Christ's death for me is the measure and pledge of the Father and Son's love for me.
Christ's death for me calls and constrains me to trust, worship, love and serve. Your
Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, Page April 5
The government of Polish Prime Minister Jaruzelski had ordered
crucifixes removed from classroom walls, just as they had been
banned in factories, hospitals, and other public institutions.
Catholic bishops attacked the ban that had stirred waves of anger
and resentment all across Poland. Ultimately the government
relented, insisting that the law remain on the books, but
agreeing not to press for removal of the crucifixes, particularly
in the schoolrooms.
But one zealous Communist school administrator in Garwolin
decided that the law was the law. So one evening he had seven
large crucifixes removed from lecture halls where they had hung
since the school's founding in the twenties.
Days later, a group of parents entered the school and hung
more crosses. The administrator promptly had these taken down
as well.
The next day two-thirds of the school's six hundred students
staged a sit-in. When heavily armed riot police arrived, the
students were forced into the streets. Then they marched,
crucifixes held high, to a nearby church where they were joined
by twenty-five hundred other students from nearby schools for a
morning of prayer in support of the protest. Soldiers surrounded
the church. But the pictures from inside of students holding
crosses high above their heads flashed around the world. So did
the words of the priest who delivered the message to the weeping
congregation that morning.
"There is no Poland without a cross."
Chuck Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, pp. 202-3
Alila stood on the beach holding her tiny infant son
close to her heart. Tears welled in her eyes as she began slowly
walking toward the river's edge. She stepped into the water,
silently making her way out until she was waist deep, the water
gently lapping at the sleeping baby's feet. She stood there for
a long time holding the child tightly as she stared out across
the river. Then all of a sudden in one quick movement she threw
the six month old baby to his watery death.

ative missionary M.V. Varghese often witnesses among the
crowds who gather at the Ganges. It was he who came upon Alila
that day kneeling in the sand crying uncontrollably and beating
her breast. With compassion he knelt down next to her and asked
her what was wrong.
Through he sobs she told him, "The problems in my home
are too many and my sins are heavy on my heart, so I offered the
best I have to the goddess Ganges, my first born son."
Brother Varghese's heart ached for the desperate woman.
As she wept he gently began to tell her about the love of Jesus
and that through Him her sins could be forgiven.
She looked at him strangely. "I have never heard that
before," she replied through her tears. "Why couldn't you have
come thirty minutes earlier? If you did, my child would not have
had to die."
Each year millions of people come to the holy Indian city
of Hardwar to bathe in the River Ganges. These multitudes come
believing this Hindu ritual will wash their sins away. For many
people like Alila, missionaries are arriving too late, simply
because there aren't enough of these faithful brothers and
sisters on the mission field. Christianity Today, 1993
During the Middle Ages there was a popular story which circulated
about Martin of Tours, the saint for whom Martin Luther was
named. It was said that Satan once appeared to St Martin in the
guise of the Savior himself. St. Martin was ready to fall to his
feet and worship this resplendent being of glory and light. Then,
suddenly, he looked up into the palms of his hands and asked,
"Where are the nail prints?" Whereupon the apparition vanished.
Theologians tell a story to illustrate how Christ's
triumph presently benefits our lives: Imagine a city under
siege. The enemy that surrounds they city will not let anyone or
anything leave. Supplies are running low, and the citizens are
fearful.
But in the dark of the night, a spy sneaks through the
enemy lines. He has rushed to the city to tell the people that
in another place the main enemy force has been defeated; the
leaders have already surrendered. The people do not need to be
afraid. It is only a matter of time until the besieging troops
receive the news and lay down their weapons.
Similarly, we may seem now to be surrounded by the forces
of evil -- disease, injustice, oppression, death. But the enemy
has actually been defeated at Calvary. Things are not the way
they seem to be. It is only a matter of time until it becomes
clear to all that the battle is really over. Uncommon Decency,
Richard J. Mouw, Page 149-150
For family devotions, Martin Luther once read the account of
Abraham offering Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22. His wife,

Katie, said, "I do not believe it. God would not have treated
his son like that!" "But, Katie," Luther replied, "He did." The
Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 191
At the cross, Jesus drove out Satan, "the prince of this world"
(John 12:31-33. Today Satan is a usurper. The cross passed
initial judgment on him. His claims were destroyed; his claimed O%3
authority was invalidated. His defeat was so complete that he
has lost his place and authority. The Greek word ekballo means
"to drive out, expel." The cross doomed Satan to ultimate
expulsion from our world, though he is still active and desperate
in his anger and futility. He is the archon, the ruler of this
age only until God enforces the judgment of the cross after
Christ's return.
At the cross, Jesus "disarmed the powers and authorities"
(Col. 2:15)> The word disarmed is from the Greek apekoyo, a
double compound meaning "to put off completely, to undress
completely and thus render powerless." At the cross, Christ
undressed all demon authorities. It is a picture from the
ancient oriental custom of stripping the robes of office from a
deposed official. At the cross, the leaders and authorities of
Satan's forces and kingdom were stripped of their authority and
honor. They now have no authority to oppose, intimidate, or
harass you.
But that is not all; there is even more in this picture.
Paul says Christ "made a public spectacle of them, triumphing
over them by the cross" (v.15). This again is an illustration
taken from ancient history. When a comquering emperor returned
from a great victory, he was often given a triumphal procession.
The victor and his army marched through streets lined by cheering
thousands. While the musicians played, chariots and soldiers
carried the looted treasures of the defeated king, and he and his
general or other selected prisoners were led in chains, their
shame openly displayed.
The Greek word edeigmatisen means "to make a public
exhibition." During the interval between Christ's death and
resurrection, when He announced (ekarussen) Satan's defeat at the
cross to the evil spirits in prison (I Peter 3:19), in symbolism
Christ marched triumphantly through the spirit prison, with Satan
and his demonic rulers chained in inglorious defeat behind Him.
He made a public spectacle of their defeat, says Paul, and now
every demonic being knows his cause is defeated forever, his
satanic lord's authority stripped from him, and his own doom
waiting for the appointed time (Matt. 8:29).
At the cross, Satan and his unclean spirits were destroyed
(Heb. 2:14). The word destroy is from the Greek Katargeo, which
means "to put out of action, to make useless." It is used
repeatedly to show how through the death and the return of Christ

(parousia), the powers of destruction that threaten man
spiritually are put out of action. In I Corinthians 15:24, this
includes all dominion of demonic authority and power. In verse
26, death itself will be the last enemy to be rendered useless.
All these are "coming to nothing," including Satan himself (Heb.
2:14) and his demonic leaders (I Cor. 2:6).
Mahatma Gandhi is fasting to protest the riot killings that
followed the partition that created Hindu India and Moslem
Pakistan in 1947. A fellow Hindu approaches to confess a great
wrong. "I killed a child," says the distraught man. "I smashed
his head against a wall." "Why?" asks the Mahatma (Hindu for
"Great Soul"). "They killed my boy. The Moslems killed my son."
"I know a way out of hell," says Gandhi. "Find a child, a little
boy whose mother and father have been killed, and raise him as
your own. Only be sure he is a Moslem--and that you raise him as
one." Feb 1992, R.D., p. 106
In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopp'd my wild career:
I saw One hanging on a Tree
In agonies and blood,
Who fix'd His languid eyes on me.
As near His Cross I stood.
Sure never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look:
It seem'd to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke:
My conscience felt and own'd the guilt,
And plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,
And help'd to nail Him there.
Alas! I knew not what I did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain!
--A second look He gave, which said,
"I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou may'st live."
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now if fill'd,
That I should such a life destroy,

Yet live by Him I kill'd!
--John ewton, 1725-1807
Christian Personal Ethics, C.F.H. Henry, Eerdmans, 1957, p. 363ff
I read about a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His
parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but
nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said
nothing.
At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a
glass of water. He looked at his father's full plate and then at his father, but his
father remained silent. The boy was crushed.
The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy's plate and
placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in
front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said,
"All my life I've known what God is like bywhat my father did that night."
J. Allan Peterson
In his book WRITTE I BLOOD, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy
whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same
disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery
was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since
the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked.
Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure,
for my sister."
Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin;
Johnny, robust and healthy. either spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny
grinned.
As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched the
blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor,
when do I die?'
Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had
trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He's thought giving his blood to his
sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great dicision.
Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Each of us, however, has a
condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give not just His blood
but His life.
Thomas Lindberg
We were in hopeless debt and Jesus paid the debt for us (Luke
7:41-50) (Bank)
We were slaves and Jesus came to the marketplace to redeem us
from bondage (Eph. 1:7) (Slave market)
We were condemned criminals before the judgment seat of God and
Jesus bore our penalty in order to set us free (Rom. 5:16) (Law
court)
We were unclean Gentiles, excluded by our defilement of sin from
the presence of God in the temple, and Jesus gave himself as a
sacrifice to consecrate for us a way to the throne of mercy (Eph.

2:13-14) (Temple)
We were children in disgrace far from home and Jesus brought us
back to the family circle (Eph. 2:18-19) (Home)
We were captives confined to the fortress of Satan and Jesus
broke in to deliver us (Col. 2:15) (Battlefield)
Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 114
We trample the blood of the Son of God if we think we are
forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only explanation
for the forgiveness of God and for the unfathomable depth of His
forgetting is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is
merely the outcome of our personal realization of the atonement
which He has worked out for us. It does not matter who or what
we are; there is absolute reinstatement into God by the death of
Jesus Christ and by no other way, not because Jesus Christ
pleads, but because He died. It is not earned, but accepted.
All the pleading which deliberately refuses to recognize the Cross
is of no avail; it is battering at a door other than the one that
Jesus has opened. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right
when we are all wrong. The atonement is a propitiation whereby
God, through the death of Jesus, makes an unholy man holy.
Oswald Chambers
God requires satisfaction because He is holiness, but He makes
satisfaction because He is love. A.H. Strong
Studies in Theology, L. Boettner, Eerdmans, 1947, pp. 270-339
The atonement, The significance of Christ's death, The
satisfaction view of the atonement, The active and passive
obedience of Christ, Christ as our ransomer, The
representative principle, The extent of the atonement, O.T.
rutual and symbolism, Erroneous theories of the atonement
Studies in Theology, James Denney, Hodder & Stoughton, 1895, p.
100-151
Em Griffin writes, in MAKI G FRIE DS, about three kinds of
London maps: the street map, the map depicting throughways, and
the underground map of the subway. "Each map is accurate and
correct," he writes, "but each map does not give the complete
picture. To see the whole, the three maps must be printed one on
top of each other. However, that is often confusing, so I use
only one 'layer' at a time.
"It is the same with the words used to describe the death of
Jesus Christ. Each word, like redemption, reconciliation, or
justification, is accurate and correct, but each word does not give
the complete picture. To see the whole we need to place one
'layer' one top of the other, but that is sometimes confusing--we
cannot see the trees for the whole! So we separate out each
splendid concept and discover that the whole is more than the sum
of its parts." John Ross
In his little book On Christian Truth, Harry Blamires suggests

that we think of the human race aboard a hijacked jet-liner
flying through time. "God himself directed its takeoff from the
divine control-tower. The initiator of all evil, whom we call
the Devil, managed to get a boarding pass." When the plane
reached its cruising altitude, the Devil produced his weapons,
threatened the pilot, and took control of the aircraft and all
its passengers. Thus the plane hopped on fearfully through
history from airport to airport till "it was caught on the tarmac
at Jerusalem, an outpost of the Roman empire, in the reign of
Tiberius Caesar, where the Son of God offered himself as sole
hostage in exchange for the passengers and crew." Christian
Theology in Plain Language, p. 115
c.f. Hebrews 10:5-7 in file, J.M. Boice. Story of Czar icholas
I of Russia and man deserving punishment.
Extent of: Bib Sac, 137:548:310, L.S. Chafer
Anselm's view of: Bib Sac, 135:540:333, J. Hanna
For Whom Did Christ Die?, R. Lightner, Walvoord: A Tribute,
Donald Campbell, ed., Moody, 1982, p. 157.
Did Christ finish His work? How dangerous it is to join anything
of our own to the righteousness of Christ, in pursuit of
justification before God! Jesus Christ will never endure this;
it reflects upon His work dishonorably. He will be all, or none,
in our justification. If He has finished the work, what need is
there of our additions? And if not, to what purpose are they?
Can we finish that which Christ Himself could not complete? Did
He finish the work, and will He ever divide the glory and praise
of it with us? o, no; Christ is no half-Savior. It is a hard
thing to bring proud hearts to rest upon Christ for
righteousness. God humbles the proud by calling sinners wholly
from their own righteousness to Christ for their justification.
John Flavel
Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior,
Turned away God's wrath forever;
By His better grief and woe
He saved us from the evil foe.
Christ says: 'Come, all ye that labor,
And receive My grace and favor';
They who feel no want nor ill
eed no physician's help nor skill.
As His pledge of love undying,
He this precious food supplying,
Gives His body with the bread
And with the wine the blood He shed.
Praise the Father, who from heaven
Unto us such food hath given
And, to mend what we have done,
Gave unto death His only Son.

If thy heart this truth professes
And thy mouth thy sin confesses,
His dear guest thou here shalt be,
And Christ Himself shall banquet thee.
--John Huss
ATO EME T, THOUGH JESUS
...... Divinely ordained: ... Lu 2:30,31; Ga 4:4,5; Eph 1:3-12,17-22; 2:4-10; Col
1:19,20; 1Pe 1:20; Re 13:8
...... A mystery: ... 1Co 2:7
...... With context: ... 1Pe 1:8-12
...... Made but once: ... Heb 7:27; 9:24-28; 10:10,12,14; 1Pe 3:18
...... Redemption by: ... Mt 20:28; Ac 20:28; Ga 3:13; 1Ti 2:6; Heb 9:12; Re 5:9
...... Typified: ... Ge 4:4; with Heb 11:4; Ge 22:2; with Heb 11:17,19; Ex 12:5,11,14;
with 1Co 5:7; Ex 24:8; with Heb 9:20; Le 16:30,34; with Heb 9:7,12,28; Le 17:11;
with Heb 9:22
- - Explained: ... Ro 5:8-11; 2Co 5:18,19; Ga 1:4; 1Jo 2:2; 4:10
- - Foreordained: ... Ro 3:25; 1Pe 1:11,20; Re 13:8
- - Foretold: ... Isa 53:4-6,8-12; Da 9:24-27; Zech. 13:1,7; John 11:50,51
- - Effected by Christ alone: ... John 1:29,36; Ac 4:10,12; 1Th 1:10; 1Ti 2:5,6; Heb
2:9; 1Pe: ... 2:24
- - Was voluntary: ... Ps 40:6-8; Heb 10:5-9; John 10:11,15,17,18
- - EXHIBITS THE
...... Grace and mercy of God: .... Ro 8:32; Eph 2:4,5,7; 1Ti 2:4; Heb 2:9
...... Love of God: .... Ro 5:8; 1Jo 4:9,10
...... Love of Christ: .... John 15:13; Ga 2:20; Eph 5:2,25; Re 1:5
- - Reconciles the justice and mercy of God: ... Isa 45:21; Ro 3:25,26
- - ecessity for: ... Isa 59:16; Lu 19:10; Heb 9:22
- - Made but once: ... Heb 7:27; 9:24-28; 10:10,12,14; 1Pe 3:18
- - Acceptable to God: ... Eph 5:2
- - Reconciliation to God effected by: ... Ro 5:10; 2Co 5:18-20; Eph 2:13-16; Col
1:20-22; Heb 2:17;: ... 1Pe 3:18
- - Access to God by: ... Heb 10:19,20
- - Remission of sins by: ... John 1:29; Ro 3:25; Eph 1:7; 1Jo 1:7; Re 1:5
- - Justification by: ... Ro 5:9; 2Co 5:21
- - Sanctification by: ... 2Co 5:15; Eph 5:26,27; Tit 2:14; Heb 10:10; 13:12
- - Redemption by: ... Mt 20:28; Ac 20:28; 1Ti 2:6; Heb 9:12; Re 5:9
- - HAS DELIVERED SAI TS FROM THE
...... Power of sin: .... Ro 8:3; 1Pe 1:18,19
...... Power of the World: .... Ga 1:4; 6:14
...... Power of the devil: .... Col 2:15; Heb 2:14,15
- - Saints glorify God for: ... 1Co 6:20; Ga 2:20; Phil 1:20,21
- - Saints rejoice in God for: ... Ro 5:11
- - Saints praise God for: ... Re 5:9-13
- - Faith in, indispensable: ... Ro 3:25; Ga 3:13,14
- - Commemorated in the Lord's supper: ... Mt 26:26-28; 1Co 11:23-26
- - Ministers should fully set forth: ... Ac 5:29-31,42; 1Co 15:3; 2Co 5:18-21

- - Typified: ... Ge 4:4; Heb 11:4; Ge 22:2; Heb 11:17,19; Ex 12:5,11,14;: ... 1Co 5:7;
Ex 24:8; Heb 9:20; Le 16:30,34; Heb 9:7,12,28; Le: ... 17:11; Heb 9:22
ATO EME T, U DER THE LAW
- - Made by sacrifice: ... Le 1:4,5
- - By priests alone: ... 1Ch 6:49; 2Ch 29:24
- - ECESSARY FOR
...... Propitiating God: .... Ex 32:30; Le 23:27,28; 2Sa 21:3
...... Ransoming: .... Ex 30:15,16; Job 33:24
...... Purifying: .... Ex 29:36
- - OFFERED FOR
...... The congregation: .... u 15:25; 2Ch 29:24
...... The priests: .... Ex 29:31-33; Le 8:34
...... Persons sinning ignorantly: .... Le 4:20-35
...... Persons sinning wilfully: .... Le 6:7
...... Persons swearing rashly: .... Le 5:4,6
...... Persons withholding evidence: .... Le 5:1,6
...... Persons unclean: .... Le 5:2,3,6
...... Women after childbirth: .... Le 12:8
...... The altar: .... Ex 29:36,37; Le 16:18,19
...... The holy place: .... Le 16:16,17
...... The healed leper: .... Le 14:18
...... The leprous house healed: .... Le 14:53
- - Extraordinary cases of: ... Ex 32:30-34; u 16:47; 25:10-13
- - Typical of Christ's atonement: ... Ro 5:6-11
- - For tabernacle and furniture: ... Le 16:15-20,33
- - In consummation of the Levites: ... u 8:21
- - For those defiled by the dead: ... u 6:11
- - Made for houses: ... Le 14:53
- - By meat offerings: ... Le 5:11-13
- - By jewels: ... u 31:50
- - By money: ... Ex 30:12-16; Le 5:15,16; 2Ki 12:16
- - By incense: ... u 16:46-50
- - BY A IMAL SACRIFICES: ... Ex 29:36; 30:12-16; Le 1:4; 4:20,22-35; 5:6-10;
6:7; 9:7; 10:17; 12:6-8; 14:12-32; 16:6,10,11,15-19,24-34; 17:11; 19:22; u 15:22-28;
28:22,30; 29:5,10,11; Heb 9:22
ATTACHME T
Dr. George Sweeting wrote in Special Sermons for Special Days: "Several years
ago our family visited iagara Falls. It was spring, and ice was rushing down
the river. As I viewed the large blocks of ice flowing toward the falls, I could see
that there were carcasses of dead fish embedded in the ice. Gulls by the score
were riding down the river feeding on the fish. As they came to the brink of the
falls, their wings would go out, and they would escape from the falls.
"I watched one gull which seemed to delay and wondered when it would leave.
It was engrossed in the carcass of a fish, and when it finally came to the brink of
the falls, out went its powerful wings. The bird flapped and flapped and even

lifed the ice out of the water, and I thought it would escape. But it had delayed
too long so that its claws had frozen into the ice. The weight of the ice was too
great, and the gull plunged into the abyss."
The finest attractions of this world become deadly when we become overly
attached to them. They may take us to our destruction if we cannot give them
up. And as Sweeting observed, "Oh, the danger of delay!"
ATTEMPT
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out
how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually
in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who
does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm,
the great devotion and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at
the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious
triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with
those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they
live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt, speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago
(April 10, 1899), in Swindoll, Hand Me Another Brick, p. 79.
ATTE TIO
Writer Charles Swindoll once found himself with too many commitments in too few
days. He got nervous and tense about it.
"I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes,
and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day," he recalled
in his book Stress Fractures. "Before long, things around our home started
reflecting the patter of my hurry-up style. It was become unbearable.
"I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger
daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to
her at school that day. She began hurriedly, 'Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin' and
I'll tell you really fast.'
"Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered,'Honey, you can tell me -- and you
don't have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly."
"I'll never forget her answer: 'Then listen slowly.'"
2. Nancy Simmons wrote, "My father, annoyed by the lack of attention he
recieved after returning to his hosptial room from the intensive-care
unit exclaimed, "I've gone from ICU to no see you."

B
BODY
1. 1 Corinthians9:19-27
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.1
Corinthians 6:19 Last Monday night I played basketball for a coupleof
hours. This morning I did 50 pushups before coming to work. OnSaturday
I'll run up and down the court coaching my son's third- andfourth-grade
basketball team.It may seem to be a little thing--this exercise I do--
and Scriptureseems to say that it's not the most earth-shaking issue on
the planet(see 1 Timothy 4:8). But I think we can make a strong case for
keepingour bodies in shape.
Now, I realize that for a guy who's old enough to be your father
(myoldest daughter is a college junior) to be out exercising seems a
bithumorous to some. I know we ought to be veggin' on the couch,
runningour fingers up and down the remote control for exercise. Yet I
thinkit's vital to be a good steward of everything God has givenme--
including the ol' bod.
1 Corinthians 6:193Last year my wife and I (to the horror of our kids)
decided thatanother way to take care of our bodies was to reduce our
cholesteroland fat intake. Out went the Oreos (now, that hurt!). Out
went the icecream. Out went most red meat (I'm not giving up
spaghetti!). And incame stir-fry, meatless pizza, skim milk, and lots of
Snackwells.
Does the Bible say anything about taking care of our bodies? In
1Thessalonians 4:4 we are told: "Each of you should learn to controlhis
own body in a way that is holy and honorable." The primaryapplication
here is to avoid sexual sin, but we can conclude thatdoing other things
that harm the body would also work against theirhonor.
Remember, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. If we are
able,and if we aren't hindered by unavoidable restrictions, shouldn't we
dowhat we can to keep His house in good order?
Stay in shape and eat right. It's the least you can do for
thedwelling place of the Holy Spirit. --DBREFLECTION * The last time I
exercised, ___I hated it. ___I endured it. ___I
1Thessalonians 4:44loved it. * How does this relate to someone who, in
God's sovereignty, has a body that is disabled or otherwise
restricted? * Here's what I'm going to do to improve my physical
condition
2. The Gnostics said the body is evil, and this has an impact on
Christians. Barclay writes, "If the body is evil, then all its wishes
and desires must be denied, all its appetites must be refused their
satisfaction, its needs must be cut down to the irreducible minimum, it
must be punished and buffeted, as you would scorge and buffet an
enemy." This led Christians in the third and fourth century to starve
themselves and be lean and gaunt and emaciated. It was sinful to take a
bath, and to be filthy and full of lice was a sign of holiness. Jerome
said, "Why should Paula ad fuel to the fire by taking a bath?" The more
beautiful the body the more dangerous.
3. Billy Graham said, "We take excellent care of our bodies, which we

have for only a lifetime; yet we let shrivel our souls, which we will
have for eternity."
4. Where could a man buy a cap for his knee...or a key to lock of his hair?
Could your eyes be called an academy because there are pupils there?
In the crown of your head, what jewels are found? And who travels the
bridge of your nose?
Could you use the nails on the end of your toes to shingle the roof of
your mouth?If the crook of your elbow be sent to jail, just what did he do?
How can you sharpen your shoulder blades? I sure don't know, do you?
Could you sit in the shade of the palm of your hand...or beat on the drum
of your ear?
Can the calves on your legs eat the corn on your toes? If so, why grow
corn on the ear?
BODY
1. A soul confined with bars and bands
Cries, help! O, help! And wrings her hands...
It was not I that sinned the sin,
The ruthless body dragged me in;
Thou I long I strove courageously,
The body was to much for me.
2. Earl D. Radmacher wrote, "Arthur Jr. Snider, science editor of the
Chicago Daily News, reports that biochemist Harold J. Morowitz of Yale
University has computed the value of elements in thehuman body to be
$6,000,015.44. He arrived at this astounding figure after examinining
prices in a supply company's catalog. So it appears we are all six-
million-dollar men and women, even without bionic parts.
3. Where could a man buy a cap for his knee...or a key to lock of his hair?
Could your eyes be called an academy because there are pupils there?
In the crown of your head, what jewels are found? And who travels the
bridge of your nose?
Could you use the nails on the end of your toes to shingle the roof of
your mouth?If the crook of your elbow be sent to jail, just what did he do?
How can you sharpen your shoulder blades? I sure don't know, do you?
Could you sit in the shade of the palm of your hand...or beat on the drum
of your ear?
Can the calves on your legs eat the corn on your toes? If so, why grow
corn on the ear?
BODY OF CHRIST, corporate nature of
At a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Jack
Lipton, a psychologist at Union College, and R. Scott Builione, a
graduate student at Columbia University, presented their findings
on how members of the various sections of 11 major symphony
orchestra perceived each other. The percussionists were viewed
as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-
loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and

unathletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose "loud" as
the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind
players seemed to be held in the highest esteem, described as
quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical.
Interesting findings, to say the least! With such widely
divergent personalities and perceptions, how could an orchestra
ever come together to make such wonderful music? The answer is
simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they
subordinate their feelings and biases to the leadership of the
conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music. Today
in the Word, June 22, 1992
"The society into which the Christian is called is not a
collective but a Body. It is in fact that Body of which the
family unit is an image on the natural level.
"If anyone came to it with the misconception that the Church
was a massing together of persons as if they were pennies or
chips, he would be corrected at the threshold by the discovery
that the Head of this Body is utterly unlike its inferior members
-- they share no divinity with Him except by analogy.
"We are summoned at the outset to combine as creatures with
our Creator, as mortals with immortal, as redeemed sinners with
sinless Redeemer.
"His presence, the interaction between Him and us, must
always be the overwhelmingly dominant factor in the life we are
to lead within the body; and any conception of Christian
fellowship which does not mean primarily fellowship with Him is
out of order." From Transposition and Other Addresses; used by
permission of William Collins Sons and Co., Ltd., in Daily Walk,
May 18, 1992
Only kings, editors, and people with tapeworm have the right to
use the editorial "we." Mark Twain
In March of 1981, President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley,
Jr., and was hospitalized for several weeks. Although Reagan was
the nation's chief executive, his hospitalization had little
impact on the nation's activity. Government continued on. On the
other hand, suppose the garbage collectors in this country went
on strike, as they did not long ago in Philadelphia. That city
was not only in a literal mess, the pile of decaying trash
quickly became a health hazard. A three-week nationwide strike
would paralyze the country. Who is more important--the President
or a garbage collector? In the body of Christ, seemingly
insignificant ones are urgently needed. As Paul reminds us, "The
head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!' On the
contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are
indispensable" (I Cor. 12:21-22). David Parsons
Remember putting your face aboved a headless frame painted to represent a
muscle man, a clown, or even a bathing beauty? Many of us have had our

pictures taken this way, and the photos are humorous because the head doesn't
fit the body.
If we could picture Christ as the head of our local body of believers,
would the world laugh at the misfit? Or would they stand in awe of a human
body so closely related to a divine head?
Dan Bernard
BODY, human
If you are an adult of average weight, here is what you
accomplish in 24 yours:
your heart beats 103689 times
your blood travels 168,000,000 miles
you breathe 23040 times
you inhale 438 cubic feet of air
you eat 3.25 pounds of food
you drink 2.9 quarts of liquids
you lose 7/8 pounds of waste
you speak 4800 works, including some unnecessary ones
you move 750 muscles
your nails grow .000046 inch
your hair grows .01714 inch
you exercize 7,000,000 brain cells
The average human body is about 65% water. 20 percent the weight
of the average adult make is from his bones.
The extent of redemption reaches to my body. The result of
redemption: my body should be a temple, not a garage. The
purpose of redemption: glorify God in my body.
BOLD ESS
Hugh Lattimer once preached before King Henry VIII. Henry was
greatly displeased by the boldness in the sermon and ordered
Lattimer to preach again on the following Sunday and apologize
for the offence he had given. The next Sunday, after reading his
text, he thus began his sermon: "Hugh Lattimer, dost thou know
before whom thou are this day to speak? To the high and mighty
monarch, the king's most excellent majesty, who can take away thy
life, if thou offendest. Therefore, take heed that thou speakest
not a word that may displease. But then consider well, Hugh,
dost thou not know from whence thou comest--upon Whose message
thou are sent? Even by the great and mighty God, Who is all-
present and Who beholdeth all thy ways and Who is able to cast
thy soul into hell! Therefore, take care that thou deliverest
thy message faithfully." He then preached the same sermon he had
preached the preceeding Sunday--and with considerably more
energy. Evangelism, A Biblical Approach, M. Cocoris, Moody,
1984, p. 126
BOOKS-- EED FOR STUDY

It seems odd that certain who talk so much of what the Holy
Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he
has revealed to others. --C.H. Spurgeon
"I am no stranger to books, but I have no acquaintance with men."
William Godwin, in Bib. Sac., v. 119, p. 205.
BOREDOM
1. A bore is one who, when you ask him how are you? tells you.
2. He says a thousand pleasant things, but never says adieu.
3. Christopher Morley wrote:
Even in the church, where boredom is prolific
I hail the first, Episcopalian bore:
Who else could serve as a social soporific,
And without snoring, teach the rest to snore.
4. Lord Bryon wrote, "Society is now one polished horde,
Formed of two mighty tribes, the
Bores and bored.
BORI G
British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham wasn't a great admirer of the music of his
fellow Briton, composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. During the rehearsal of a
Williams symphony, Beecham seemed to be doing little more than listlessly beating
time. In fact, he was still beating time after the orchestra had stopped. "Why aren't
you playing?" Beecham mildly asked the first violinist.
"It's finished, Sir Thomas," came the reply.
Beecham looked down at his score. "So it is!"
Today in the Word
September 16, 1993
The Rev. Dr. Robert South, while preaching one day in 1689,
looked up from his notes to observe that his entire congregation
was fast asleep--including the King! Appropriately mortified by
this discovery, he interrupted his sermon to call out, "Lord
Lauderdale, rouse yourself. You snore so loudly that you will
wake the King."
Percentage in a 1985 survey who said that, aside from earning a
living, the reason they work is to keep from getting bored: 54.
Percentage in a 1989 survey who said they are sometimes or often
bored at work: 41. Percentage in a 1990 survey who said they are
generally bored by what goes on in Washington: 48. Percentage in
a 1991 survey of 7th through 12th graders who said they are tired
or bored at school: 70. Percentage in a 1991 survey of teenagers o-3
who said they drink alcohol because they are bored: 25. U.S.
ews and World Report, June 24, 1991, p. 14
To make a long story short, yawn.
Director Billy Wilder was asked how he liked a new film. "To
give you an idea," he said, "the film started at eight o'clock.
I looked at my watch at midnight--and it was only 8:15."
Drama critic Clive Barnes's one-word review of a play in London
called "the Cupboard: "Bare."

BOY
1. A pair of very chubby legs
Encased in scarlet hose;
A pair of little stubby boots,
With rather doubtful toes;
A little kilt, a little coat,
Cut as a mother can---
And lo! before us stand in state
The future's "coming man."
His eyes, perchance, will read the stars,
And search their unknown ways;
Perchance the human heart and soul
Will open to their gaze;
Perchance their keen and flashing glance
Will be a nation's light--
Those eyes that now are wistful bent
On some "big fellow's kite."
Those hands--those little hands--
So sticky, small and brown;
Those hands whose only mission seems
To pull all order down--
Who knows what hidden strength may be
Hidden in their clasp,
Tough now 'tis but a taffy stick
In sturdy hole they grasp.
Ah, blessings on those little hands,
Whose work is yet undone!
And blessings on those little feet.
Whose race is yet unrun!
And blessings on the little brain
That has not learned to plan!
Whate'er the future holds in store,
God bless the "coming man!" Philadelphia Press
BRAI
1. Corinthians 12:10 Researchers now say that young men have
biggerbrains than young women. Sounds like an advantage, doesn't it?
Butguys, before you get a big head (which you already have), listen
tothe whole story.Although young men have more gray matter, and a
correspondingadvantage in math and hand-eye coordination, it's sad but
true thatmen also burn out their brains sooner.
According to Ruben Gur, researcher at the University of
Pennsylvania,men's brain tissue burns out three times faster
thanwomen's--especially the front area of the brain responsible
forplanning and inhibition. Gur states, "Women have a mechanism
wherebythey are able to reduce the rate of neuronal activity in
proportion to the tissue that they lose, whereas men continue to
overdrive theirneurons at the same rate as when they had all their
marbles."All this contributes, say some, to why men die an average of 10
yearsearlier than women. The advantage of a larger brain turns out to be
aliability as well.In many areas of life, a "plus" has its corresponding
"minus." It canbe true in our spiritual life as well.
Before the apostle Paul put his faith in Christ, his education and

hisability to "look good" in front of his religious associates were
alsohis weaknesses (Philippians 3:4-7). He was proud and self-
righteous,blind to his true spiritual bankruptcy.
On the other hand, Paul had a weakness that actually was a strength
(2Corinthians 12:7-10). An annoying physical problem compelled him
todepend on Christ's power to live and serve. But Paul could say, "WhenI
am weak, then I am strong" (v.10).
Lord, help me to see the foolishness of being proud of what I can
do,and instead see the wisdom of relying on what You can do through me.
Philippians 3:4-74--KDREFLECTION* What types of advantages do I have?
What are my liabilities? * Am I relying on what Christ did on the cross
for me or on my own efforts to earn my salvation? * How have I
learned to become less self-sufficient and more relianton Christ's
strength to work in and through me?
BREVITY
Usually, by the time a person says, "Well, to make a long story
short," it's too late.
If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with
sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. -
-Robert Southey
Former president Calvin Coolidge was known as a man of few words.
Once, at a White House dinner, a woman approached Coolidge and
said, "Mr. President, I have a bet with a friend that I can get
you to say at least three words." Coolidge looked at her and
said, "You lose." quoted in MBI's Today In The Word, ovember,
1989, p.39
BRIDE, THE LAMB'S WIFE
1. Paul E. Billheimer wrote, "The following chapters present what some
consider a totally new and unique cosmology. The author's primarythesis
is that the one purpose of the universe from all eternity is the
production and preparation of an Eternal Companion for the Son, called
the Bride, the Lamb's Wife. Since she is to share the throne of the
universe with her Divine Lover and Lord as a judicial equal, she must be
trained, educated, and prepared for her queenly role.
2. In the Orient the father usually selects the bride for the son, and
so God chose the church to be the bride of Christ. The church is the
love-gift of God to His Son-John 6:37.
BRIDGE
1. The Bridge Builder
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you a bridge at the eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."
-Will Allen Dromgoole
C
CO DUCT
When Queen Victoria was a child, she didn't know she was in line
for the throne of England. Her instructors, trying to prepare
her for the future, were frustrated because they couldn't
motivate her. She just didn't take her studies seriously.
Finally, her teachers decided to tell her that one day she would
become the queen of England. Upon hearing this, Victoria quietly
said, "Then I will be good." The realization that she had
inherited this high calling gave her a sense of responsibility
that profoundly affected her conduct from then on.
A man in the Army of Alexander the Great who was also named
Alexander, was accused of cowardly actions. He was brought
before Alexander, who asked what his name was. He replied
softly, "Alexander." "I can't hear you," the ruler stated. The
man again said, a little louder, "Alexander." The process was
repeated one more time, after which Alexander the Great
commented, "Either change your name or change your conduct."

CO FESSIO
1. G. Campbell Morgan, "There can be no pardon save as we confess, and
that in the eternal necessity of the case, for sin unconfessed is sin
retained, sin unacknowledged is sin condoned, sin veiled is sin loved.
There can be freeing from sins and no cleasning of the conscious and the
character while man retains his sin under any guise. But on the other
hand, if there be such confession, then the divine promise is fulfilled
more swiftly than the lightening flases.
1. Harold Kushner wrote, " There are two reasons why we find it hard to
shed the burden of gult when we have done something wrong. The first is
that we make ourselves feel so ulnerable when we admit our
imperfections. Somewhere along the way, we have picked up the idea that
in order to be deserving of love and admiration, we have to be perfect.
If we can only manage to be perfect, everyone even God, will have to
love us. Admitting any weakiness, any mistake, we think, will give
people reason to reject us. As a result of this outlook, we have truble
admitting that we are ever wrong. Ever alleged mistake on our part has
to be explained as someone else's fault. (It reminds me of a bumper
sticker I saw: "The man who can smile when things are going badly has
just thought of someone to blame it on.")
The sad part is, we never even notice how unpleasant and unearable
we become when we insist we are always right. And the equally sad
corollary is that the more we suspect we may in fact have been wrong the
more stubbornly we fight to justify ourslevs. So the doctor who feels
he shoul dhave handled a case differently can't admit it to this patient
or to his supervisor. The husband wh did something he is embarrassed
about can't admit it to his wife. The worker who has made a mistakeis
afraid to admit it to the boss. They are all fariad that, if they take
off their protective armor and admit they were wrong, if they make
themselves vulnerable in the name of honest self-disclosure, the other
person will take advantage of them and hurt them. We are all afraid to
admit our weaknesses, for fear that other people will use them against
us. Husbands and wives have hurt each other so often (because they are
so bulnerable to each other), employers have fired or punished workers,
patients have sued doctors, for honestly admitting a mistake, to the
point where we have learned to be afraid of admitting our faults.
In his book Great Themes of the Bible, Louis Albert Banks told of the time D.L.
Moody visited a prison called "The Tombs" to preach to the inmates. After he had
finished speaking, Moody talked with a number of men in their cells. He asked each
prisoner this question, "What brought you here?" Again and again he received
replies like this: "I don't deserve to be here." "I was framed." "I was falsely
accused." "I was given an unfair trial." ot one inmate would admit he was guilty.
Finally, Moody found a man with his face buried in his hands, weeping. "And
what's wrong, my friend?" he inquired. The prisoner responded, "My sins are more
than I can bear." Relieved to find at least one man who would recognize his guilt
and his need of forgiveness, the evangelist exclaimed, "Thank God for that!" Moody
then had the joy of pointing him to a saving knowledge of Christ -- a knowledge that
released him from his shackles of sin.
What an accurate picture of the two contrasting attitudes spoken of in Jesus'
parable of the Pharisee and the publican! As long as the sinner claims innocence
and refuses to acknowledge his transgressions before the Lord, he does not receive

the blessings of redemption. But when he pleads guilty and cries out, "Lord, be
merciful to me a sinner," he is forgiven. God's pardon is available to everyone, but it
is experienced only by those who admit guilt and trust Christ. To be "found," a
person must first recognize that he is "lost."
Our Daily Bread
J.O. Sanders, Enjoying Intimacy with God, Moody, p. 41-48
In the washroom of his London club, British newspaper publisher and politician
William Beverbrook happened to meet Edward Heath, then a young member of
Parliament, about whom Beverbrook had printed an insulting editorial a few days
earlier. "My dear chap," said the publisher, embarrassed by the encounter. "I've
been thinking it over, and I was wrong. Here and now, I wish to apologize."
"Very well," grunted Heath. "But the next time, I wish you'd insult me in the
washroom and apologize in your newspaper."
Today in the Word
October 1, 1993
"When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long"
(Psa. 32:3).
There is nothing that so takes the joy out of life like unconfessed sin on the
conscience.
I once heard the late Dr. F.E. Marsh tell that on one occasion he was preaching on
this question and urging upon his hearers the importance of confession of sin and
wherever possible of restitution for wrong done to others.
At the close a young man, a member of the church, came up to him with a troubled
countenance. "Pastor," he explained, "you have put me in a sad fix. I have wronged
another and I am ashamed to confess it or to try to put it right. You see, I am a boat
builder and the man I work for is an infidel. I have talked to him often about his
need of Christ and urged him to come and hear you preach, but he scoffs and
ridicules it all. ow, I have been guilty of something that, if I should acknowledge it
to him, will ruin my testimony forever."
He then went on to say that sometime ago he started to build a boat for himself in
his own yard. In this work copper nails are used because they do not rust in the
water. These nails are quite expensive and the young man had been carrying home
quantities of them to use on the job. He knew it was stealing, but he tried to salve his
conscience be telling himself that the master had so many he would never miss them
and besides he was not being paid all that he thought he deserved. But this sermon
had brought him to face the fact that he was just a common thief, for whose
dishonest actions there was no excuse.
"But," said he, "I cannot go to my boss and tell him what I have done or offer to
pay for those I have used and return the rest. If I do he will think I am just a
hypocrite. And yet those copper mails are digging into my conscience and I know I
shall never have peace until I put this matter right."
For weeks the struggle went on. Then one night he came to Dr. marsh and
exclaimed, "Pastor, I've settled for the copper nails and my conscience is relieved at
last."
"What happened when you confessed to your employer what you had done?" asked
the pastor.
"Oh," he answered, "he looked queerly at me, then exclaimed, 'George, I always did

think you were just a hypocrite, but now I begin to feel there's something in this
Christianity after all. Any religion that would make a dishonest workman come
back and confess that he had been stealing copper nails and offer to settle for them,
must be worth having.'"
Dr. Marsh asked if he might use the story, and was granted permission.
Sometime afterwards, he told it in another city. The next day a lady came up and
said, "Doctor, I have had 'copper nails' on my conscience too." "Why, surely, you
are not a boat builder!" " o, but I am a book-lover and I have stolen a number of
books from a friend of mine who gets far more that I could ever afford. I decided
last night I must get rid of the 'copper nails,' so I took them all back to her today
and confessed my sin. I can't tell you how relieved I am. She forgave me, and God
has forgiven me. I am so thankful the 'copper mails' are not digging into my
conscience any more."
I have told this story many times and almost invariably people have come to me
afterwards telling of "copper nails" in one form or another that they had to get rid
of. On one occasion, I told it at a High School chapel service. The next day the
principal saw me and said, "As a result of that 'copper nails' story, ever so many
stolen fountain pens and other things have been returned to their rightful owners."
Reformation and restitution do not save. But where one is truly repentant and has
come to God in sincere confession, he will want to the best of his ability to put things
right with others.
Illustrations of Bible Truth by H.A. Ironside, 1945, Moody Press
Page 104-106
After F.E. Marsh preached on this subject, a young man
came to him and said, "Pastor, you have put me in a bad fix.
I've stolen from my employer, and I'm ashamed to tell him about
it. You see, I'm a boat builder, and the man I work for is an
unbeliever. I have often talked to him about Christ, but he only
laughs at me. In my work, expensive copper nails are used
because they won't rust in water. I've been taking some of them
home for a boat I am building in my backyard. I'm afraid if I
tell my boss what I've done and offer to pay for them, he'll
think I'm a hypocrite, and I'll never be able to reach him for
Christ. Yet, my conscience is bothered."
Later when the man saw the preacher again, he exclaimed,
"Pastor, I've settled that matter and I'm so relieved." "What
happened when you told your boss?" asked the minister. "Oh, he
looked at me intently and said,'George, I've always thought you
were a hypocrite, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe there's
something to your Christianity after all. Any religion that
makes a man admit he's been stealing a few copper nails and offer
to settle for them must be worth having.'" Our Daily Bread
Prussian king Frederick the Great was once touring a
Berlin prison. The prisoners fell on their knees before him to
proclaim their innocence -- except for one man, who remained
silent. Frederick called to him, "Why are you here?"
"Armed robbery, Your Majesty," was the reply.

"And are you guilty?"
"Yes indeed, Your Majesty, I deserve my punishment."
Frederick then summoned the jailer and ordered him,
"Release this guilty wretch at once. I will not have him kept in
this prison where he will corrupt all the fine innocent people
who occupy it." Today in the Word, December 4, 1992
Four preachers met for a friendly gathering. During the
conversation one preacher said, "Our people come to us and pour
out their hears, confess certain sins and needs. Let's do the
same. Confession is good for the soul." In due time all agreed.
One confessed he liked to go to movies and would sneak off when
away from his church. The second confessed to liking to smoke
cigars and the third one confessed to liking to play cards. When
it came to the fourth one, he wouldn't confess. The others
pressed him saying, "Come now, we confessed ours. What is your
secret or vice?"
Finally he answered, "It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to
get out of here."
A lady in the north of England said that every time she got down
before God to pray, five bottles of wine came up before her mind.
She had taken them wrongfully one time when she was a
housekeeper, and had not been able to pray since. She was
advised to make restitution.
"But the person is dead," she said.
"Are not some of the heirs living?"
"Yes, a son."
"Then go to that son and pay him back."
"Well," she said, "I want to see the face of God, but I could not
think of doing a thing like that. My reputation is at stake."
She went away, and came back the next day to ask if it would not
do just as well to put that money in the treasury of the Lord.
" o," she was told, "God doesn't want any stolen money. The only
thing is to make restitution."
She carried that burden for several days, but finally went into
the country, saw that son, made a full confession and offered him
a five-pound note. He said he didn't want the money, but she
finally persuaded him to take it, and came back with a joy and
peace that made her face radiant. She became a magnificent
worker for souls, and led many into the light.
My dear friends, get these stumbling stones out of the way. God
does not want a man to shout "Hallelujah" who doesn't pay his
debts. Many of our prayer meetings are killed by men trying to
pray who cannot pray because their lives are not right. Sin
builds up a great wall between us and God. A man may stand high
in the community and may be a member of some church "in good
standing," but the question is, how does he stand in the sight of
God? If there is anything wrong in you life, make it right.

Moody's Anecdotes, Page 49-50
In 1884 Grover Cleveland was running against James G. Blaine for
the presidency of the U.S. Blaine supporters discovered that
Cleveland, who was a bachelor at the time, had fathered a son by
Mrs. Maria Crofts Halpin, an attractive widow who had been on
friendly terms with several politicians. Subsequently,
Republicans tried to pin an immorality tag on Democrat Cleveland
by distributing handbills showing an infant labeled "One more
vote for Cleveland" and by having paraders chant, "Ma, Ma,
where's my pa? Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha!" The move,
however, backfired badly. Rather than deny the story, Cleveland
decided to tell the truth and admit the intimacy. This candor
helped defuse the issue, and Cleveland was elected president.
From the Book of Lists, #2, p. 35
Because the younger children at our parochial school often forgot
their sins when they entered my confessional, I suggested that
teachers have the students make lists. The next week when one
child came to confession, I could hear him unfolding paper. The
youngster began, "I lied to my parents. I disobeyed my mom. I
fought with my brothers and..." There was a long pause. Then a
small angry voice said, "Hey, this isn't my list!" Rev Douglas
F. Fortner in Reader's Digest
Being general director of the ew York opera took a toll on
Beverly Sills; she ballooned into obesity. "It made me sick to
look at myself. I'd reached the point where I didn't want to
have my clothes made anymore. It was too embarrassing. So I
ordered everything from catalogues." Eventually Sills was forced
to face the problem. "I woke up one day and realized I was
really ill." She went to see a specialist. "He put me on the
scales. They read 215 pounds. 'I cannot possibly weigh that
much!' I gasped. And the doctor said, 'Please look down. Are
those two fat feet on the scale yours or mine?'" Beverly smiles.
"Once I accepted the problem, I was on my way." Phyllis Battelle
in Ladies Home Journal, quoted in 6-86 R.D.
CO FIDE CE
Confidence
They are able because they think they are able. Virgil
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that
we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that
most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of
God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing
enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel unsure

around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is
within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. As we let
our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do
the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others. Marianne Williamson (often attributed
to Nelson Mandela, who used it in his 1994 inaugural address)
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This
rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the
whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder,
because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty
better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the
world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the
great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect
sweetness the independence of solitude. Ralph Waldo
Emerson
It is only a man's own fundamental thoughts that have truth and life in
them. For it is these that he really and completely understands. To
read the thoughts of others is like taking the remains of someone
else's meal, like putting on the discarded clothes of a stranger.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Confidence . . . thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of
obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance.
Without them it cannot live. Franklin D. Roosevelt
If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can't accomplish it.
You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to
follow through. Rosalynn Carter
Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain
that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times. This confidence
in God's grace and knowledge of it makes men glad and bold and happy in
dealing with God and with all his creatures; and this is the work of the
Holy Ghost in faith. Hence a man is ready and glad, without compulsion,
to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, in love
and praise of God, who has shown him this grace. Martin
Luther
Kill the snake of doubt in your soul, crush the worms of fear in your
heart and mountains will move out of your way. Kate Seredy
Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing
that insures the successful outcome of our venture. William James

Underlying the whole scheme of civilization is the confidence men have
in each other, confidence in their integrity, confidence in their
honesty, confidence in their future. W. Bourke Cockran
La Rochefoucauld The confidence which we have in ourselves gives birth
to much of that which we have in others.
I believe that in our constant search for security we can never gain any
peace of mind until we secure our own soul. And this I do believe above
all, especially in my times of greatest discouragement, that I must
believe--that I must believe in my fellow man--that I must believe in
myself--that I must believe in God--if life is to have any meaning.
Margaret Chase Smith
Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your own line of
talent. Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be
anything else and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing.
Sydney Smith
Be like the bird That, pausing in her flight Awhile on boughs too
slight, Feels them give way Beneath her and yet sings, Knowing that she
hath wings.
Victor Hugo
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have
perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that
we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must
be attained. Madame Curie
If one burdens the future with one's worries, it cannot grow
organically. I am filled with confidence, not that I shall succeed in
worldly things, but that even when things go badly for me I shall still
find life good and worth living. Etty Hillesum
Self-distrust is the cause of most of our failures. . . they are the
weakest, however strong, who have no faith in themselves or their own
powers. Christian Bovee
Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared
believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances. Bruce
Barton
Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky.

Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-
discipline and self-knowledge. It's the sure-footedness that comes with
having proved you can meet life. Ann Landers
Believe that with your feelings and your work you are taking part in the
greatest; the more strongly you cultivate this belief, the more will
reality and the world go forth from it. Rainer Maria Rilke
obody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion of himself. Anthony Trollope
Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. o one can tell the difference.
(Anonymous)
For they conquer who believe they can. (John Dryden)
Have confidence that if you have done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing
well too. (Storey)
He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted. (Auerbach)
I have great faith in fools--self-confidence my friends call it. (Edgar Allan Poe)
I never make mistakes. I thought I did once, but I was wrong. (Anonymous)
If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their
respect and esteem. (Abraham Lincoln)
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want
to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. (Dale
Carnegie)
My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right. (Ashleigh Brilliant)
Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee. (William Penn)
The human heart, at whatever age, opens only to the heart that opens in return.
(Marie Edgeworth)
They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to
a lack of inspiration or ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient
application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties
inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience
something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor. (Eric Hoffer)
True prosperity is the result of well-placed confidence in ourselves and our fellow
man. (Burt)
We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with
fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and
the courage which flow from conviction. (Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fourth Inaugural
Address, Jan. 20, 1945)
With confidence, you can reach truly amazing heights; without confidence, even the
simplest accomplishments are beyond your grasp. (Jim Loehr)
You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow
through. (Rosalynn Carter)
Frank Lloyd Wright is among the most innovative
architects this county ever produced. But his fame wasn't
limited to the United States. About 70 years ago, Japan asked
Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be capable of

surviving an earthquake.
When the architect visited Japan to see where the
Imperial Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find only
about eight feet of earth on the site. Beneath that was 60 feet
of soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole
he dug filled up immediately with water. A lesser man probably
would have given up right there. But not Frank Lloyd Wright.
Since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright
decided to build it like a ship. Instead of trying to keep the
structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated features
that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock without damage.
Supports were sunk into the soft mud, and sections of the
foundation were cantilevered from the supports. The rooms were
built in sections like a train and hinged together. Water pipes
and electric lines, usually the first to shear off in an
earthquake, were hung in vertical shafts where they could sway
freely if necessary.
Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an
earthquake was fire, because water lines are apt to be broken in
the ground and there is no way to put the fire out. So he
insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard of his hotel,
"just in case."
On September 1, 1923, Tokyo had the greatest earthquake
in its history. There were fires all over the city, and 140,000
people died. Back in the U.S., news reports were slow coming in.
One newspaper wanted to print the story that the Imperial Hotel
had been destroyed, as rumor had it. But when a reporter called
Frank Lloyd Wright, he said that they could print the story if
they wished, but they would only have to retract it later. He
knew the hotel would not collapse.
Shortly afterward, Wright got a telegram from Japan. The
Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged. ot only that -- it had
provided a home for hundreds of people. And when fires that
raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket brigades
kept the structure wetted down with water from the hotel's pool.
The Imperial Hotel isn't there anymore. It was finally
torn down in the 1960s to be replaced by a more modern structure.
Bits & Pieces, January 7, 1993, Page 11-14
Over confidence, coupled with negligence, can lead to sad
consequences. This is the case when a person is so sure of
himself that he becomes careless about little things that may
pose a threat. I'm thinking, for example, of a stuntman named
Bobby Leach. In July, 1911, he went over iagara Falls in a
specially designed steel drum and lived to tell about it.
Although he suffered minor injuries, he survived because he
recognized the tremendous dangers involved in the feat, and
because he had done everything he could to protect himself from

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