More Desired Than Rubies

“O, my dear brethren in Christ Jesus, how stands it now between God and your souls? Is Jesus altogether lovely to your souls? Is he precious unto you? I am sure, if you have not gone back from Christ, he will not from you; he will root out the accursed things of this world, and dwell in your hearts. You are candidates for heaven; and will you mind earth ? What are all the pleasures of earth, without an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ? And one smile from him is more to be desired than rubies, yea more than the whole world.” 

                                                                                                               by George Whitefield

A Godly Woman - becoming like Esther

I have always been amazed at the kind of preparation that the future queen Esther had to go through before she was able to come before King Xerxes.  Would any of us want to go through twelve months of beauty treatments before meeting the man of our dreams? Probably not, but then again, imagine the possibilities.  One year set aside for one sole purpose - becoming all you can be for the one you love the most.  Precious time to cultivate beauty, to make an investment in education and etiquette, to strengthen virtue, and build character. 

The preparation of Esther reminds me of that precious time between the awakening of a desire in a young woman's heart to share her life with a mate and the moment she walks down the aisle.  For many, this time of preparation is seen as nothing more than a time of waiting.  Single women often see themselves as sitting on the shelf while life passes them by, or as sitting on the bench while others play the game.  They do not realize that they are wasting the most important time of their lives, they are robbing themselves of great joy and reward, they are robbing their future husbands of a more virtuous woman, and they are robbing God of a servant through whom He desires to do great things.

As Esther had prepared before she could be queen of an entire realm, so the woman must be prepared before she can embark on one of the most important and difficult callings in life - marriage and motherhood.  Esther had to learn the ways of the kindom to which she belonged, she had to learn the manners of court life, the intellectual, emotional and spiritual challenges of high position.  To put it simply, Esther had to be transformed from a young lady into a queen before she could wear the title and fulfill the role.  In the same way, the single Christian woman must learn the ways of the Kingdom of Heaven before she ever unites with the one that God is preparing for her.  She must be prepared intellectually, emotionally and spiritually, not by court attendants in some pagan temple, but by God Himself, His Word and by other godly women who have been prepared before her.  

Singleness is not a waste of time or a sitting on the sidelines, but a time that God has set aside especially for the woman, to make her into what He wants her to be, and to use her in ways that just might be impossible after marriage.  Singleness is a time in which a woman is to cultivate the virtues that pertain to being a woman of God, so that she can offer to her future husband and the world something more than just a pretty face. 

Remember in your singleness that you are not the only one single, but your future husband is passing through the same stage as you.  Would it not be a terrible thing to finally meet the man who is to become your husband only to find out that he has used his singleness to serve God and to prepare himself to be a better husband for you.  And yet you did not use the freedom of your singleness to serve the Lord, nor did you take advantage of the training that God offered you?  Would it not also be a terrible thing to realize that your husband spent his days as a single man praying daily for your needs and the work of God in your life, while you neither prayed for him, nor responded to the grace of God that was given you as a result of his prayers.

It is a wonderful thing when God blesses a woman with a husband.  That special someone who is "just perfect" for her in that he has been carefully and thoughtfully designed by God to be united as one with her.  It is such a joy for the woman to look back and remember how God enabled her to wait on Him and that He was faithful to bless.  It is still an even greater joy for her to know that her time as a single woman was also a time of seeking God and being faithful to Him and His purpose.  That she did not for one moment wish to flee that state, but desired only to trust in God and wait upon His gracious sovereignty. 

By no means is it a tragedy to be a single Christian woman, but the way of the world has once again infiltrated Christianity with the false idea that it is.  One of the greatest lies is that if you do not "have someone" or are not "actively looking", there is something wrong with you.  Another lie is that the single woman should be dating around as though looking for a husband were the same as shopping in a mall.  Still another even stronger lie is that the single woman should be giving her affections away indiscriminately so that she may be more "experienced" and know what to do when she finally finds the man of her choice.  My dear Christian, it is a lie and an affront to God to say that experience is the best teacher, when in fact it is God who is the best teacher, and though the world's motto is "live and learn," the Bible's advice is "learn and live."  You do not need to be experienced, you only need to be knowledgeable of what God has said and obedient to it.  You should not be looking for the man of your choice, but should be waiting on the man of God's choice.  And when he comes, it will not be past experiences that will make your marriage work, but past chastity, purity, and godliness.  We should hide our faces from the ways and experiences of this wicked world and look upon only those things that God has placed in the path He has prepared for us.  

God knows exactly what you  need and He even knows the desires of your heart better than you do.  God loves surprises.  He does not want you to be looking for your husband, He wants to bring him to you, and probably at a time you least expect it.  If you diobey this advice, as so many other women before you, and take it upon yourself to look for a mate, you may find someone, but chances are that someone you find will not be the right one.

As women, our nature desires the company and companionship of a man.  This is from God and therefore good. But at the same time, we are wrong to think that death will be the result if this need is not fulfilled.  Needing another as a companion is not like needing to take your next breath of air.  That is, you can survive without compainionship, at least until God has done His perfect work in you.  Remember the Scripture, "God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

I have found that there are two primary reasons why someone "desperately" needs someone else.  First of all, it is because they do not know God as they should.  Is God not the God of all comfort?  Is not Christ the exalted Lord who fills all things everywhere?  Then why do we complain about how empty and alone we feel?  Could it be that God extends our time of singleness so that we might find our life in Him and learn to be complete in Him?  If we seek to be married because we feel that a husband will fill our lives or will in some way make us complete, we will be sorely disappointed in our marriage.  No man, no matter how Christ-like could ever take the place of God in our lives, to think such a thing is pure idolatry.  If we are not filled by God now and complete in Christ in the present, then not even marriage made in heaven will be able to change our emptiness.

The second reason for desperately needing someone in our lives is plain selfishness. When we need someone in order to feel loved, or when we need someone so that our feelings of loneliness might dissipate, then we are wanting marriage for all the wrong reasons.  Marriage should not be looked upon as an opportunity to have our needs met, but as an opportunity to meet the needs of another.  If we have not learned to take our own needs to God, then we will probably overwhelm our husbands with our own needs and be unaware of his.  I have known Christian women who spent their days consumed with their own needs and constantly lamenting about why God had not brought someone into their life.  But why should God entrust a godly man to a woman that is absorbed in herself and her own needs, and does not use the freedom of her singleness to serve God and prepare herself for His purposes?  Such a woman would have little to offer a godly husband!

My dear friend, being single, like being married should be considered a very special and enjoyable time in the providence of God.  It should not be considered a mere circumstance or a curse from which one should try desperately to flee.  Being single is a time to learn of God and of ourselves, a time to discover who we are in Christ, and to grow in Christlikeness.  It is a time to be zealous for good works and involved in ministry to others.  Being single has a magic of its own that should be enjoyed in its time because one passed it may not return.  There is nothing quite so sad as a woman now married who regrets what she could have been and done with her life while single.  All was lost for the sake of hurrying to be married without consideration for the plan or work of God.  Every season in life has a beauty and wonder of its own.  My prayer for all single Christian women is that they might enjoy their time in spite of the lies of the world.  That they might be demanding and not settle for anything less than the perfect will of God.  That they might wait patiently on God who is the giver of every good and perfect gift.  That they might be like Esther, using whatever time God deems necessary to make them beautiful on the inside and out.


(c) Charo Washer

Slander

SLANDER 

BY HERSCHEL MARTINDALE

The Lord Jesus, in His final recorded prayer for the disciples, cried out to the Father: “…that they may be one as We are one: I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” How united does the Lord want us to be? — As united as the Father is with the Son. What will happen if we are united like this? — The world will know that the Father sent the Son. Jesus knew the power of unity and the difficulty of achieving it, so He made this request a major part of His last prayer for the disciples.

Earlier, the Lord has said, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is how people will know that God is alive — if we love one another.

Without love and unity it will be impossible to reach the world with the gospel. How can we ever influence others if we are contending and arguing amongst ourselves? Not only will the world see us as hypocrites, but we will be disorganized, discouraged, and defeated.

No army has ever won a war without being united. No football team that was filled with fighting, arguing, and controversy has ever won a championship. Jesus said: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand” (Matthew 12:25).

Is it any wonder that the devil’s number one attack-point against believers is to try to get them disunited, divided, and fighting against each other. And he has one major tool to do it — slander.

In II Corinthians 2:11 the apostle Paul says that we must not be unaware of Satan’s schemes. Yet surprisingly few Christians understand very much about his number one scheme: slander. The Bible has much to say about this area. If we are to escape from the devil’s snares, we must be experts in this area. We must understand what it is, how to detect it, and how to respond when we hear it.

Tool of the Devil? 
Our first shock in studying this truth comes when we look up the word “slanderer” in a lexicon and find the Greek word “diabolos,” or “devil.” The word “diaballo” (dia – through, ballo – throw or thrust) means to “throw or thrust through,” or “to defame.” Another lexicon says, “to bring charges with hostile intent, either falsely and slanderously, or justly.”

A slanderer, then, is one who “thrusts through” or destroys another by bringing charges to others so that they will think less of the person or withdraw from him. A definition I like is this:

Slanderer: “One who seeks to destroy another’s respect, credibility, or reputation by wrong communication of facts, or creating evil suspicions.”

The devil (“diabolos”) is a destroyer and an accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:9-10). Whenever we slander or co-operate with slander, WE BECOME A TOOL OF THE DEVIL to accomplish his work.

Five Portions on Slander. 

1. God laid down, in the law of Moses, the main issues concerning this subject.

Leviticus 19:16-18

16 — “You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor, I am the Lord.”
17 — “You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.”
18 — “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

From this portion of Scripture we can make several observations:

A. Slander must not be indulged.

B. Slander is a form of selfish hatred.

C. We must deal righteously with differences.

D. Slander involves a spirit of vengeance.

E. Slander involves a grudge against someone.

F. Slander is not from love, but from self, and is sin.

2. The Lord Jesus identified slander as coming from self and the flesh, and called it evil.

Mark 7:21-23; Matthew 15:18-20 — “All these things (slander) proceed from within and defile the man.”

3. The Apostle Paul challenged believers to “put away slander.”

Ephesians 4:31 — “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and SLANDER be put away from you, along with all malice.”

4. The spirit and attitude of David in the Old Testament is an example for us:

Psalm 101:4-5 — “A perverse heart shall depart from me, I will know no evil. Whoever secretly SLANDERS his neighbor, him I will destroy.”

5. The Proverbs abound with challenge and guidance on this subject.

— 10:18 “He who conceals hatred has lying lips, and he who spreads SLANDER is a fool.”

— 11:9 “With his mouth the GODLESS man destroys his neighbor.”

— 16:28 “A perverse man spreads strife, and a SLANDERER separates intimate friends.”

— 20:19 “He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets; therefore DO NOT ASSOCIATE with a gossip.”

— 17:15 “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous; both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.”

— 6:12-14 “A worthless person, a WICKED man, is the one … who spreads strife.”

— 6:16-19 “There are six things which the Lord HATES,… a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.”

— 26:21-25 “Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.”

“The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels and they go down into the innermost parts of the body.”

“He who hates disguises it with his lips, but he lays up deceit in his heart.”

“When he speaks graciously, do not believe him; for there are seven abominations in his heart.”

A prayerful examination of these verses should lead all of us to conclude that slander is wicked, it is sin, and it is an abomination to God. Whenever we LISTEN TO IT, IMAGINE IT, READ IT, OR PASS IT ON, we are always in sin. God calls that person WICKED, EVIL, WORTHLESS, PERVERSE, GODLESS, and AN ABOMINATION. He speaks so strongly because slander is always a cover for selfishness, pride, hatred, and a desire to hurt others. It divides believers, spreads strife, and destroys love and unity. “SLANDER SEPARATES INTIMATE FRIENDS.” 

(c)  HERSCHEL MARTINDALE

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

THE CHARACTER OF GOD

THE HOLINESS OF GOD

• Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor. Habakuk 1:13

• But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. Isaiah 59:2

THE JUSTICE OF GOD

• For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; the upright will behold His face. Psalm 11:7

• But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Isaiah 5:16

• God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. Psalm 7:11-12

THE DEPRAVITY & CONDEMNATION OF MAN

• For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

• For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment Isaiah 64:6

• For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ACCURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM. Galatians 3:10

THE GREAT DILEMMA

• He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. Proverbs 17:15

• Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly? Genesis 18:25

GOD’S ACTION

• While maintaining His holiness and justice, the Bible also affirms that God is love, and that in love He has responded to the plight of man.

MOTIVATED BY LOVE

• God is love. By this the love of God is manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:8-10

THE CROSS OF CHRIST

• For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:23-26

THE RESURRECTION

• He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. Romans 4:25

MAN’S RESPONSE

Repentance begins with a recognition and confession that what God says about us is true that we have sinned.

• For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge. Psalm 51:3-4

A genuine recognition of our sinfulness and guilt will also lead to genuine sorrow, shame and even hatred for what we have done.

• For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. Romans 7:15

• Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death? Romans 7:24

Apparent sincerity of confession alone is never definite evidence of genuine repentance. It must be accompanied by a turning away from sin.

• Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16

• therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 3:10

FAITH DEFINED

• Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

• and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Romans 4:21

FAITH BASED ON THE PROMISES OF GOD

• For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

• Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved Acts 16:31

EXAMPLE OF A BELIEVER

• worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh Philippians 3:3

THE BASIS OF GENUINE ASSURANCE

• True conversion: A true Christian is a new creation and will live a life that reflects God’s radical work of re-creation in his/her life. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

• You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? Matthew 7:16

• Assurance is based upon self-examination in the light of Scripture. Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5

• These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

TEST OF BIBLICAL ASSURANCE

1 John 1:5-7 (Walking in the Light),

1 John 1:8-10 (Confession of Sin),

1 John 2:3-4 (Obedience),

1 John 2:9-11 (Love for the Brethren), 

1 John 2:15-17 (Hatred for the World),

1 John 2:24-25 (Perseverance in Doctrine),

1 John 3:10 (Righteousness),

1 John 4:13 (Spirit’s Testimony),

Hebrews 12:5-8 (Discipline 0

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