THE SECRET OF THE CROSS
by Andrew Murray
Murray-s The Secret of the Cross is a monthly devotional reading book on the Cross.
INTRODUCTION of The Secret of the Cross
The question often arises how it is, with so much church-going, Bible-reading, and prayer, that the Christian fails to live the life of complete victory over sin and lacks the love and joy of the Lord. One of the most important answers, undoubtedly, is that he does not know what it is to die to himself and to the world. Yet without this, God’s love and holiness cannot have their dwelling-place in his heart. He has repented of some sins, but knows not what it is to turn, not only from sin, but from his old nature and self-will.
Brown The Devil's Mission of Amusement 7 page article from 1889. Hollywood in the church and her ministries. Brown was a student of C.H Spurgeon.
Excerpts:
Different days demand their own special testimony. The watchman who would be faithful to his Lord and to the city of his God needs to carefully note the signs of the times and to emphasize his witness accordingly. Concerning the testimony needed now, there can be little if any doubt. An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, that is so gross, so brazen in its impudence, that the most shortsighted of spiritual men can hardly fail to notice it.... Amusement for the people is the leading article advertised by each... until the hideous fact has been proved up to the hilt, that "amusement" is ousting "the preaching of the Gospel" as the great attraction... The Concert is fast becoming as much a recognized part of church life as the Prayer Meeting; and it is already, in most places, far better attended.
"Providing recreation for the people" will soon be looked upon as a necessary part of Christian work, and as binding upon the Church of God, as though it were a Divine command, unless some strong voices are raised which will make themselves heard.
Read the 7-page article: Brown, The Devil's Mission of Amusement.
Yet this is what the Lord Jesus taught. He said to the disciples that if any man would come after Him, he must hate and lose his own life. He taught them to take up the cross. That meant they were to consider their life as sinful and under sentence of death. They must give up themselves, their own will and power, and any goodness of their own. When their Lord had died on the cross, they would learn what it was to die to themselves and the world, and to live their life in the fullness of God.
Our Lord used the Apostle Paul to put this still more clearly. Paul did not know Christ after the flesh, but through the Holy Spirit Christ was revealed in his heart, and he could testify: “I am crucified with Christ; I live no longer; Christ liveth in me.” In more than one of his Epistles the truth is made clear that we are dead to sin, with Christ, and receive and experience the power of the new life through the continual working of God’s Spirit in us each day.
As the season of Lent approaches each year, our thoughts will be occupied with the sufferings and death of our Lord. Emphasis will be laid, in the preaching, on Christ for us on the cross as the foundation of our salvation. Less is said about our death with Christ. The subject is a deep and difficult one, yet every Christian needs to consider it. It is my earnest desire to help those Christians who are considering this great truth, that death to self and to the world is necessary for a life in the love and joy of Christ.
I have sought to explain the chief words of our Lord and of His disciples on this subject. May I point out two things to my reader. First, take time to read over what you do not understand at once. Spiritual truth is not easy to grasp. But experience has taught me that God’s words taken into the heart and meditated on with prayer help the soul by degrees to understand the truth. And secondly, be assured that only through the continual teaching of the Holy Spirit in your heart will you be able to appropriate spiritual truths. The great work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Christ in our hearts and lives as the Crucified One who dwells within us. Let this be the chief aim of all your devotion: complete dependence on God, and an expectation of continually receiving all goodness and salvation from Him alone. Thus will you learn to die to yourself and to the world, and will receive Christ, the Crucified and Glorified One, into your heart, and be kept through the continual working of the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray fervently for each other that God may teach us what it is to die with Christ — a death to ourselves and to the world; a life in Christ Jesus.
Your Servant in the Lord, Andrew Murray
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, how shall I thank Thee for the unspeakable gift of Thy Son on the cross! How shall I thank Thee for our eternal salvation, wrought out by that death on the cross! He died for me that I might live eternally. Through His death on the cross I am dead to sin, and live in the power of His life.
Father in heaven, teach me, I humbly entreat Thee, what it means that I am dead with Christ and can live my life in Him. Teach me to realize that my sinful flesh is wholly corrupt and nailed to the cross to be destroyed, that the life of Christ may be manifest in me.
Teach me, above all, to believe that I cannot either understand or experience this except through the continual working of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me. Father, for Christ’s sake I ask it. Amen.
“Jesus hath now many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His cross. He hath many desirous of consolation, but few of tribulation. He findeth many companions of His table, but few of His abstinence. All desire to rejoice with Him, few are willing to endure anything for Him, or with Him. Many follow Jesus unto the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion. Many reverence His miracles, few follow the ignominy of His cross.” –Thomas A Kempis Murray-s The Secret of the Cross is a monthly devotional reading book on the Cross.
| Category: | Mysw-bok-m |
| Date: | February 5, 2015 |
fam62 How to be a Feminine Woman examines femininity from a Bible perspective. It compares homosexuals being feminine. Topics: God created us, man, and woman. | The Spiritual Fight is within us ourselves. | A Device of Satan A Device of Satan | The Homosexual and Trans Angle | Highlighting the Woman, How She Behaves | The Crux of the Matter | To Be a Feminine Woman, She must attend to her adorning. | The Description of a Woman.
Excerpt from the Tract: 1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither… nor adulterers, nor effeminate… In other words, these people were doing the opposite of what God commanded them to do. Being men and having the command to act manly (1 Corinthians 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong), they acted like women. For women, it is the command of God that they act feminine, to be womanly. To seem feminine, these perverts usually use a dress or skirt, and they never use pants, because they know that by using pants they identify themselves being masculine, and using skirts and dress with being feminine. But it seems like an impossible thing to fathom, but even homosexuals know exactly how to identify as a woman, men being feminine, in their rebellion, and Christian women can neither define what it is that God commands them to be, how to dress themselves as women, neither how to act feminine.
How do you distinguish between a man and a woman? Pants in a man, and dress or skirt in a woman. Even common bathroom signs show this obvious point. The question is not how a woman dress should, but why don’t women, especially Christian women, dress like a woman should. It is not a matter of clarity, but a matter of no desire on the part of certain women. Are you a feminine woman? If not, why not?
Read the Tract: fam62 How to be a Feminine Woman
