Gospel News · May - August 2018

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“After the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all
things which are written in the law and in the prophets; and have hope towards God, that
there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both just and unjust.” Paul
day. In correction, Jesus uttered some of the
most thrilling words on record, “I am the res-
urrection and the life, he that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
Something caused Jesus to weep when he saw
the dejected mourners, and Mary with them;
he was deeply moving, groaning within him-
self. At the cave, Martha raised an objection
at the apparently futile opening of a tomb,
four days after death had taken place. Jesus
reminded her of his earlier words, that the
sickness of Lazarus was not unto death, but
would be a means of glorifying God. When
Lazarus was led forth, alive from the dead,
many believed. It was indeed a proof of the
power of God manifested in Jesus; it shows,
also, how difficult it was for believers, such as
Martha and Mary, to exhibit a lively faith.
Martha was capable of believing in a resurrec-
tion in the vague future, but it was too much
for her to believe, that beside her, stood one
who was the resurrection and the life. It would
have given great satisfaction to Jesus to have
seen a ready faith on the part of his friends;
its absence was the cause of his grief. The test
of faith was not the correctness of a belief
in future resurrection, but the capacity for a
present and living conviction, which unhappily,
was not in evidence in the behaviour of those
in the presence of Jesus.
The present-day friends of Jesus have a domi-
nant belief in his literal return. Is this belief a
mental acceptance of a future event only, or is
it the truth perceived therein, translated into
present behaviour? “Even so faith, if it hath
not works is dead, being alone.” (James ii.17)
“F
or since I spake, I cried out, I cried vio-
lence and spoil; because the Word of
the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a
derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make
mention of Him nor speak any
more in His Name. But His
Word was in mine heart as a
burning fire shut up in my
bones, and I was weary with
forbearing, and I could not
stay” (Jer. 20:8-9).
To all who sought to preach
and teach the Word of God,
there came times when the
words of Jeremiah came home
with telling force.We too, feel
like quitting; feel that our
labours are in vain, when the world turns away
from hearing the Word of God, often with de-
rision and contempt.Sometimes even the
brethren do not seem to give heed to what we
have to say to the extent we feel our efforts
deserve.
Even the apostle Paul had moments of weak-
ness when he felt that much of his labour was
in vain, but he could not hesitate or slacken
his efforts, as he said; “For though I preach
the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for
necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel”
(1 Cor. 9:16).
The test of a faithful preacher
of the Gospel comes not when
success appears to crown his
every effort, but the test of a
true soldier of Christ is when
apparent failure marks all his
efforts. It is then that it be-
comes clear whether the Truth
is “like a burning fire in his
bones,” or whether it is half-
hearted interest which can
only be kept alive under considerable encour-
agement; whether he feels that it is a choice
to work or desist, or whether he feels the
“necessity” of working all the harder.
A valiant soldier of Christ will, as any other
good soldier, fight all the harder in defeat, and
seek to train himself so that he can perform
his work better and with more success. O.B.
A Fire in My Bones