Young People’s Blog

“Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2:4).

By the time the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, the assembly in Ephesus had probably existed for about 40 years, and there had been a lot of blessing there. This message was for the assembly in Ephesus. However, when John wrote Revelation, there was something wrong. They were doing everything right, but not for the right reason. They were doing it simply from a sense of duty, but not out of love for Christ.

We can all understand how important this is. Would you like it if your mother kept your house perfectly clean and orderly, and put good meals on the table, but didn’t show you any love? Or if your father provided money to give you nice clothes and other things, but never had time to show you any love? Nothing can make up for this loss, and I have known young people who never forgave their parents for not showing them love. One girl said to me, “My father was always working; he never had any time for me.”

The Lord wants us to do things right, according to His Word, but He also wants our hearts. If we realize how much He has done for us, our hearts will respond with love to Him. Then we will do what is right, and also for the right reason.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:1-2).

Yesterday we saw that we cannot produce fruit for God without a new life in Christ. In today’s verses we see two types of people—some who pretend to believe, and some who do believe, but need pruning to produce more fruit. The branch that does not produce fruit is taken away, for every true believer produces some fruit for God. The branch that is taken away is not a true branch; it is someone who pretends to be a Christian, but has no new life in Christ. Eventually they will come under judgment from God.

But some believers need pruning, for while they are already producing fruit, they could produce more fruit. We may not always like it when the Lord “prunes” us, for it means cutting off certain parts, like cutting branches off a tree or a grape vine. But sometimes there are things in our life that hinder us from producing as much fruit for the Lord as we should. When the Lord prunes those things off, we can produce more fruit for the Lord.

“When they were come from Bethany, He [the Lord Jesus] was hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply [perhaps] He might find any thing thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves” (Mark 11:12-13).

Have you ever seen a fruit tree in summer with nothing but leaves, and no fruit on it? As I may have told you before, I grew up on a fruit farm, and occasionally we would have a tree like this: it would have plenty of leaves, but no fruit. This was disappointing, for the fruit was what we could sell and earn our money. A tree with plenty of leaves was nice to look at, but not much practical use. Sometimes the tree had a problem that we could correct, but sometimes we had to remove the tree, and replace it with another one.

This fig tree is a picture of what we are before God, if we are not saved. We may do a lot of things that we think are good, such as keeping many of the ten commandments, doing our work well, helping our neighbors who may be in trouble, and as this world would say, “being a good person.” But before God these things are just leaves; they are not real fruit for God.

To produce fruit for God we must have a new life in Christ, for it is only our new life that can do something that God values. He cannot accept the good works of those who are not saved. First of all, we must come to the Lord Jesus, admit that we are sinners before God, and accept Him as our Savior. Only then can we produce real fruit for God.

“Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude v. 21).

At first glance, this might seem to be a rather strange verse. We know that God loves us, and sent His Son to die for us. Doesn’t He always love us? How do we keep ourselves in His love?

Yes, it is true that God always loves us, but the question is, Do we always enjoy that love? Sometimes we can get away from the Lord in our life, and perhaps the difficulties and problems of life fill our thoughts. Or perhaps the pleasures of this world fill our hearts, and we forget about the Lord. Then we do not enjoy His love. As the world gets more wicked, and moves more and more away from the principles of God’s Word, we need more and more to enjoy His love. It is like going out of the shade into the sun, and feeling its warmth. If we live every day with a sense of His love, it will warm our hearts, and keep us from dishonoring the Lord in our life.

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15).

A few days ago, we woke up in the morning to find that our house was very cold, and when we checked into it, we found that our propane tanks were empty. Since the propane company had billed us for filling them up only about two weeks before, we were very surprised. Later it turned out that the delivery two weeks before had mistakenly been sent to the wrong house.

When I telephoned the propane company and told them what had happened, they were very unhelpful, and the woman who answered the telephone said, “We can probably get our truck out to you within a day or two.” Since it is still winter where I live, and the outside temperatures are usually about minus 10-15 degrees C. (about 5-14 degrees F.), I was a little upset. After several more phone calls to various people in the company, we finally got our propane early in the afternoon.

But when we are in trouble, and call upon the Lord, He does not treat us like that. The Lord listens to our prayers at any time, day or night, and loves to answer us when we are in trouble. He never says, “I am too busy right now.” When we pray to the Lord, we never get a recording asking us to leave a message; He is always there for us.

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?…My God, I cry by day, and Thou answereth not; and by night, and there is no rest for Me: and Thou art holy, Thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:1-3 JND).

You are all familiar with the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, where the life of the Lord Jesus on earth, His rejection, and His crucifixion, are all recorded for us. In these books of the Bible we get the actual record of our Lord’s life, but in the Psalms we get more of His feelings and emotions during it all.

By inspiration, David was able to voice many of the feelings of our Lord Jesus while He was on earth, and in Psalm 22, we get His feelings on the cross during His sufferings at the hands of God. These were the sufferings for sin, when He bore all the judgment of a holy God.

The exact words of the Lord Jesus at the end of these sufferings are given to us here—“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” God could not answer Him, for as we read in verse three, “But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” During those hours of darkness, the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, and at that time God in His holiness could not look upon sin, or answer Him.

The Lord Jesus felt it very much that He was forsaken of God, and cried out at the end of His sufferings. How we should thank Him for all He suffered for us!

“I [the Apostle Paul] became minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given me towards you, to complete the word of God” (Colossians 1:25 JND).

This is an important verse, for it shows us that there was no new truth revealed after the revelations given to the Apostle Paul. Some New Testament writers, like John, wrote after Paul, but they only filled in some of the details as to prophecy, and gave a different look at what had already been revealed. They did not bring out any new truth, for the truth of the assembly was the last new truth God gave to man.

If anyone comes to you, and tries to tell you that God has revealed some new truth to them, it cannot be true. Many people have done this, such as Mohammed, who founded Islam, and later men like Joseph Smith, who founded Mormonism. There have been many others. All have claimed that they received some new truth from God. But God’s Word as we have it is complete, and God has given solemn warnings to those who try to add to it.

“The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:17).

Probably most of you have not heard of Sir Christopher Wren, for he lived back in the 17th century in England. But he became a very famous architect, and his ability was recognized when he was quite young. He was born in 1632, and after the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the city in 1666, he was commissioned to design and oversee much of the rebuilding of it. Quite a few of the buildings he designed are still in use, including St. Paul’s cathedral and Kensington Palace. He is buried in St. Paul’s cathedral, and on his tomb (in Latin) are the words, “If you wish to see his monument, look around you.”

However, all these buildings are going to be destroyed some day, for everything man has built in this world is temporary. Only what has been done for Christ, according to God’s Word, will last for eternity. Men have spent a great deal of time and money building things in this world, but to do the will of God here in this world is something that the Lord values, and He will give you a reward that will last.

Jim Elliot, a young missionary who was murdered by Huaorani Indians in Ecuador back in 1956, made a good remark. He said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” If we give up the things of this world to live for the Lord, we will never lose by it.

“Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

Most countries today have customs and immigration officials, who are there to regulate who and what comes into the country. We visited Australia recently, and it is a country that is very careful about what comes into the country, especially plants and food that might bring plant diseases into the country. They have dogs that sniff at people’s baggage, and sharp-eyed customs officers who are trained to spot people who might be carrying the wrong things in their luggage. People try many different tricks to bring the wrong things into the country, but many of them are caught.

However, some people manage to get past these officers, and bring plants, food, and also drugs into the country. However, according to our verse today, we cannot manage to outwit the Lord. Our sin will find us out, no matter how we may try to hide it. The Lord not only knows everything we have said and done, but He also knows our thoughts. This is serious, for even our thoughts can be sin.

How wonderful it is to know that God also loves us and He has provided a way for us to have all our sins forgiven through the precious blood of Christ. The light of God’s presence exposes our sin, but whatever the light exposes, the blood covers, if we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior.

“As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).

As I write this, I am in London, England for a few days. Today we had a few hours of free time, so we went to a museum which we had never visited before. One section of it was rather gruesome, for it showed how they used to execute criminals many years ago. In England, this was done by hanging most of the time, which was often carried out in public. (The last public hanging in England was in 1868.) Crowds of people used to come to watch someone being hanged, and it seems that most of the time the crowd applauded, for they felt that bad people should be properly punished for their crimes. People could be hanged for many different crimes, including murder, stealing, forgery, treason, poaching, and pickpocketing.

Our God is a God of judgment, and He cannot pass over sin, no matter how small. However, we see from our verse that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Rather the grace and love of God has provided a way for Him to forgive the sinner, if the sinner will accept Christ. And when God carries out judgment, He does not enjoy it, as did the crowds in years gone by. In another Scripture God calls it His strange work.

God is light, and we make Him a Judge by our sins, but He is also love, and no one has made Him like this.