​Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. James 2:19
​
What Atheism Produces

For the vast majority of mankind, two phenomena have been in all ages, and I believe will be to the end of time, the all-sufficient proof that there is one God. One is the universe; the other is the conscience: one is the starry heaven above; the other is the moral law within. To every good man a true conscience not only tells of a God above us, but is a god within us. It is the categoric imperative which says to a man direct from heaven, "ought" and "must."
​
For nations there can be no morality if they know not God. In a brief tormented existence, ungoverned by any laws save their own appetites, the character of a world deprived of a holy ideal may be summed up in two words: heartless cruelty; unfathomable corruption. I say that any nation which denies God becomes by an invariable law a degraded nation at last, and any age which denies God sinks in great measure into an abominable age. If atheism continues for a time to kindle its dim torches at the fount of life, those torches soon die out in smoldering flames. A nation may walk for a short time in the dubious twilight left on the western hill-tops when the sun is set; but the twilight soon rushes down into the deep, dark night when God is denied, when faith is quenched, when prayer has ceased. It is never long in a nation before the holy warfare of ideas is abandoned for the base conflict of interest, never long before hatred and envy usurp the place of charity, and lust takes the place of honorable love. When once Christianity is dead, the world will be twice dead, a wandering star for which is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.  [F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 177]

The verse tells us the devils believe in God-so far good. But unless thy faith goes farther than an assent to this truth, “the evil spirits (literally, ‘demons’: ‘devil’ is the term restricted to Satan, their head) believe” so far in common with thee, “and (so far from being saved by such a faith) shudder:
​Mat 8:29  And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 
​Luk 4:33  And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 
Luk 4:34  Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 
2Pe 2:4  For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 
​Jud 1:6  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 
​Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 
​
Their faith only adds to their torment at the thought of having to meet Him who is to consign them to their just doom:
​Heb 10:26  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 
Heb 10:27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
The faith of the devils is not born of faith of love and devotion, but of fear, that has torment.

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

"Thou believest there is one God - I allow this: but this proves only that thou hast the same faith with the devils. Nay, they not only believe, but tremble - At the dreadful expectation of eternal torments. So far is that faith from either justifying or saving them that have it." [John Wesley]

​​​"The devils also believe, and tremble - It is well to believe there is one only true God; this truth universal nature proclaims. Even the devils believe it; but far from justifying or saving them, it leaves them in their damned state, and every act of it only increases their torment; they shudder with horror, they believe and tremble, are increasingly tormented; but they can neither love nor obey."
​[Adam Clarke]

​"Though “demons” are frequently spoken of in the plural number. They are represented as evil spirits, subject to Satan, or under his control, and engaged with him in carrying out his plans of wickedness. These spirits or demons were supposed to wander in desert and desolate places, Mat_12:43, or to dwell in the atmosphere, (Notes, Eph_2:2); they were thought to have the power of working miracles, but not for good, (Rev_16:14; compare Joh_10:21); to be hostile to mankind, Joh_8:44; to utter the pagan oracles, Act_16:17; to lurk in the idols of the heathen, 1Co_10:20; and to take up their abodes in the bodies of men, afflicting them with various kinds of diseases, Mat_7:22; Mat_9:34; Mat_10:8; Mat_17:18; Mar_7:29-30; Luk_4:33; Luk_8:27, Luk_8:30, et soepe. It is of these evil spirits that the apostle speaks when he says that they believe.

Also believe - That is, particularly, they believe in the existence of the one God. How far their knowledge may extend respecting God, we cannot know; but they are never represented in the Scriptures as denying his existence, or as doubting the great truths of religion. They are never described as atheists. That is a sin of this world only. They are not represented as sceptics. That, too, is a peculiar sin of the earth; and probably, in all the universe besides, there are no beings but those who dwell on this globe, who doubt or deny the existence of God, or the other great truths of religion.

And tremble - The word here used (φρίσσουσιν phrissousin) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means, properly, to be rough, uneven, jaggy, sc., with bristling hair; to bristle, to stand on end, as the hair does in a fright; and then to shudder or quake with fear, etc. Here the meaning is, that there was much more in the case referred to than mere speculative faith. There was a faith that produced some effect, and an effect of a very decided character. It did not, indeed, produce good works, or a holy life, but it made it manifest that there was faith; and, consequently, it followed that the existence of mere faith was not all that was necessary to save men, or to make it certain that they would be secure, unless it were held that the devils would be justified and saved by it. If they might hold such faith, and still remain in perdition, men might hold it, and go to perdition. A man should not infer, therefore, because he has faith, even that faith in God which will fill him with alarm, that therefore he is safe. He must have a faith which will produce another effect altogether - that which will lead to a holy life." [Albert Barnes]

You may have read this devotion, and admit to yourself "I'm not saved, I know I've sinned, and am not ready to meet God". You can change that in a moment, by turning to Jesus, repenting of your sins, and asking Him to come into your heart, and help you to live for Him today. This is what you need to do, to be ready to live for Him, and die for Him. Whatever may come, you will be ready to meet Him. Today is the day of salvation, we are not promised tomorrow. I hope, and pray you do this today.

But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? Luk 23: 28-31

For several days, I've been seeking the Lord's mind on what He would say about the condition of this country, and what His mind was concerning it's future; His answer has weighed heavy on my soul, and grieved me day and night. This was what the Holy Spirit gave me:
"As I bore my cross through the streets and the women of Jerusalem wept for me and cried, I spoke to them and said "do not weep for me, weep for yourselves", and I described their coming destruction, and what they would soon be facing. I am watching and say the same to this nation. But, their ears are deaf, their minds are numb-intoxicated with many mixtures, to keep them from even knowing the perilous condition they are in, and the doom looming over them. There are a remnant that I'm covering with My hand of protection, but the majority continue to mock, and party on-in unbelief. Do not weep for them, neither spend energy in remorse or further prayer-they have no excuse. What is coming, will be a total surprise to many, but they will remember the warnings that's been given by many, for years. Do not weep for them, do not look back. Look up, your redemption draws nigh."

This is put in the devotion page, with some commentaries from bible scholars, that give further insight into these verses, to add for context. I've posted this in obedience to the Lord's direction; I hope all who read this, will take it, and pray about it themselves. I do not pressure anyone to believe what I'm giving-I leave it to the Lord Jesus, to speak to anyone who will read it, and sense the truth of it in their souls. For those who do not believe-I leave that with God, also.

​We have in this passage two lessons before us.
I. The first is the right and wrong view of Christ’s Passion: "Weep not over Me, weep for yourselves." These women were indulging the emotion, the sentiment, the luxury of weeping. They wept as all that is human in us does weep at the sight of pain, at the spectacle of sorrow, at the march of death. But their weeping was misapplied. As a merely natural expression of sorrow it was out of place. There was something in that spectacle above, beyond, and beside the mark of pity; there was something in that death which was in danger of being obscured and being lost sight of if it was wept over. If they could not see that death in a higher light than pity, they had better turn their weeping another way; they had better anticipate a terrific future which would claim a monopoly of tears for themselves and for their children. Now these things are our ensamples, they were written for our admonition. The Passion of our Lord is not in itself a thing for tears. He Himself, long centuries ago, went back into the heaven of His holiness and of His glory. To weep over Him, year after year, as these daughters of Jerusalem wept is too much or too little. He needs not, asks not, accepts not our compassion.
II. If these things are done in the green tree, what must happen to the dry? If He who knew no sin thus suffers, how much more the wicked and the sinner? The sufferings of Jesus Christ say to us, See what sin is, by seeing the Sinless suffer for it. If the green tree burned as it burned on Calvary, in misery, in anguish, in a hiding of God’s countenance, and a very dying under that cloud—if these things were done in the green tree—how must it be in the dry? How shall he escape the conflagration who is as fuel ripe for it? How shall he escape the everlasting burnings who has here despised the riches of God’s goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, and treasured up for himself wrath in a day of wrath?
[C. J. Vaughan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 225.]

​I suppose He meant, “If I, who am no rebel against Caesar, suffer so, how will those suffer whom the Romans take in actual rebellion at the siege of Jerusalem?” And He meant next to say, “If I who am perfectly innocent, must nevertheless be put to such a death as this, what will become of the guilty?” If when fires are raging in the forest, the green trees full of sap and moisture crackle like stubble in the flame, how will the old dry trees burn, which are already rotten to the core and turned to touch-wood, and so prepared as fuel for the furnace. If Jesus suffers who hath no sin, but is full of the life of innocence, and the sap of holiness, how will they suffer who have long been dead in sin, and are rotten with iniquity? As Peter puts it in another place, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be sayed, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Note well that the sufferings of our Lord, though in some respects far beyond all conceivable woes, have yet some points about them in which they differ with advantage from the miseries of lost souls. For, first, our Lord knew that He was innocent, and therefore His righteousness upheld Him. Whatever He suffered He knew that He deserved none of it: He had no stings of conscience, nor agonies of remorse. Now, the sting of future punishment will lie in the indisputable conviction that it is well deserved. The finally impenitent will be tormented by their own passions, which will rage within them like an inward hell; but our Lord had none of this. There was no evil in Him, no lusting after evil, no self-seeking, no rebellion of heart, no anger, or discontent. Pride, ambition, greed, malice, revenge, these are the fuel of hell’s fire. Men’s selves, not devils, are their tormentors; their inward lusts are worms that never die, and fires that never can be quenched: there could be none of this in our Divine Lord. Again, lost souls hate God and love sin, but Christ ever loved God and hated sin. Now, to love evil is misery; when undisguised and rightly understood sin is hell. Our Lord Jesus knew that every pang He suffered was for the good of others: He endured cheerfully, because He saw that He was redeeming a multitude that no man can number from going down to the pit: but there is no redeeming power about the sufferings of the lost, they are not helping any one, nor achieving a benevolent design. The great God has good designs in their punishment, but they are strangers to any such a purpose. Our Lord had a reward before Him, because of which He endured the cross, despising the shame; but the finally condemned have no prospect of reward nor hope of rising from their doom. How can they expect either? He was full of hope, they are full of despair. “It is finished” was for Him, but there is no “It is finished” for them. Their sufferings, moreover, are self-caused, their sin was their own tie endured agonies because others had transgressed, and He willed to save them. They torment themselves with sin, to which they cleave, but it pleased the Father to bruise the Son, and the necessity for His bruising lay not in Himself, but in others. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

"If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? - Our Lord makes use of a proverbial expression, frequent among the Jews, who compare a good man to a green tree, and a bad man to a dead one: as if he had said, If an innocent person suffer thus, what will become of the wicked? Of those who are as ready for destruction as dry wood for the fire?" [John Wesley]
An appropriate song-by Johnny Cash:
Belshazzar (2017 Remaster)
https://youtu.be/F9KnHdr0xvk?si=yMrw0WjkRdVgpuiO

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Php 1:28-29

"Adversaries, or opponents, they had, like most of the other early Christians. There were Jews there who would be likely to oppose them (compare Act_17:5), and they were exposed to persecution by the pagan. In that city, Paul had himself suffered much Acts 16; and it would not be strange if the same scenes should be repeated. It is evident from this passage, as well as from some other parts of the Epistle, that the Philippians were at this time experiencing some form of severe suffering. But in what way, or why, the opposition to them was excited, is nowhere stated. The meaning here is, “do not be alarmed at anything which they can do. Maintain your Christian integrity, notwithstanding all the opposition which they can make. They will, in the end, certainly be destroyed, and you will be saved.”
Which is to them an evident token of perdition - What, it may be asked, would be the token of their perdition? What is the evidence to which Paul refers that they will be destroyed? The relative “which” - ἥτις hētis; - is probably used as referring to the persecution which had been commenced, and to the constancy which the apostle supposed the Philippians would evince. The sentence is elliptical; but it is manifest that the apostle refers either to the circumstance then occurring, that they were persecuted, and that they evinced constancy; or to the constancy which he wished them to evince in their persecutions. He says that this circumstance of persecution, if they evinced such a spirit as he wished, would be to them an evidence of two things:
(1) Of the destruction of those who were engaged in the persecution. This would be, because they knew that such persecutors could not ultimately prevail. Persecution of the church would be a certain indication that they who did it would be finally destroyed.
(2) It would be a proof of their own salvation, because it would show that they were the friends of the Redeemer; and they had the assurance that all those who were persecuted for his sake would be saved. The gender of the Greek relative here is determined by the following noun (ἔνδειξις endeixis), in a manner that is not uncommon in Greek; see Wetstein, in loc., and Koppe.

And that of God - That is, their persecution is a proof that God will interpose in due time and save you. The hostility of the wicked to us is one evidence that we are the friends of God, and shall be saved.

​For unto you - Unto you as Christians. This favor is granted unto you in your present circumstances.
It is given - God concedes to you this privilege or advantage.

In the behalf of Christ - In the cause of Christ, or with a view to honor Christ. Or, these things are brought on you in consequence of your being Christians.

Not only to believe on him - It is represented here as a privilege to be permitted to believe on Christ. It is so:
(1) It is an honor to a man to believe one who ought to be believed, to trust one who ought to be trusted, to love one who ought to be loved.
(2) It is a privilege to believe on Christ, because it is by such faith that our sins are forgiven; that we become reconciled to God, and have the hope of heaven.
(3) It is a privilege, because it saves the mind from the tortures and the deadly influence of unbelief - the agitation, and restlessness, and darkness, and gloom of a skeptic.
(4) It is a privilege, because we have then a friend to whom we may go in trial, and on whom we may roll all our burdens. If there is anything for which a Christian ought to give unfeigned thanks, it is that he has been permitted to believe on the Redeemer. Let a sincere Christian compare his peace, and joy, and hope of heaven, and support in trials, with the restlessness, uneasiness, and dread of death, in the mind of an unbeliever; and he will see abundant occasion for gratitude.
​
But also to suffer for his sake - Here it is represented as a privilege to suffer in the cause of the Redeemer - a declaration which may sound strange to the world. Yet this sentiment frequently occurs in the New Testament. Thus, it is said of the apostles Act_5:41, that “they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name;” Col_1:24. “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you;” 1Pe_4:13. “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings;” compare Jas_1:2; Mar_10:30; see the notes at Act_5:41. It is a privilege thus to suffer in the cause of Christ:
(1) Because we then resemble the Lord Jesus, and are united with him in trials;
(2) Because we have evidence that we are his, if trials come upon us in his cause;
(3) Because we are engaged in a good cause, and the privilege of maintaining such a cause is worth much of suffering; and,
(4) Because it will be connected with a brighter crown and more exalted honor in heaven.
[Albert Barnes]

God keeps a costly school. Many of its lessons are spelled out through tears. Richard Baxter said, "O God, I thank Thee for a bodily discipline of eight and fifty years"; and he is not the only man who has turned a trouble into triumph.
This school of our Heavenly Father will soon close for us; the term time is shortening every day. Let us not shrink from a hard lesson or wince under any rod of chastisement. The richer will be the crown, and the sweeter will be Heaven, if we endure cheerfully to the end and graduate in glory.--
[Theodore L. Cuyler]
​
The finest china in the world is burned at least three times, some of it more than three times. Dresden china is always burned three times. Why does it go through that intense fire? Once ought to be enough; twice ought to be enough. No, three times are necessary to burn that china so that the gold and the crimson are brought out more beautiful and then fastened there to stay.
We are fashioned after the same principle in human life. Our trials are burned into us once, twice, thrice; and by God’s grace these beautiful colors are there and they are there to stay forever.--
[Cortland Myers]  (Streams in the Desert)

​​Act 5:41  And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. 

​Earth’s fairest flowers grow not on sunny plain,
But where some vast upheaval rent in twain The smiling land . . . .
After the whirlwinds devastating blast,
After the molten fire and ashen pall,
God’s still small voice breathes healing over all.
From riven rocks and fern-clad chasms deep,
Flow living waters as from hearts that weep,
There in the afterglow soft dews distill
And angels tend God’s plants when night falls still,
And the Beloved passing by that way
Will gather lilies at the break of day.
J.H.D.

I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me,
because my word hath no place in you. John 8:37
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
​for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:43-44
THE TEST OF SONSHIP

Very few will like this devotion, almost no bible teachers today will touch it. The reasons are obvious, it goes right to the heart of what lies in the vast majority of people, and Jesus exposes it with clear cut language. In Jesus' day, he had people who targeted and followed him every day. Their purpose wasn't to learn from him, to understand him, or receive his teachings. It was to find fault and twist everything he did, and to destroy him. The world is full of people who fit this description today. He knew their hearts, and their motives. Chapter 8 is an entire discourse between him and the leaders who dogged him to catch him in his words and deeds. Jesus didn't play games with them, he cut right to the point, and exposed what they were doing. 

Jesus admitted they were Abraham's descendants but was not spiritually their father. They could find no sin in Jesus, or find fault in his teachings, but his word had no place in them. They were descendants of Abraham, but not his children. They didn't do the works of Abraham, through faith. Their deeds revealed their father was the devil. Their actions revealed and exposed who their father was.
Jesus described the works of Satan: 
Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

This short devotional commentary by F.B. Meyer gives some good insights:
"Godly ancestors and parents will avail nothing, unless we are animated by their spirit and do their works. There were in the old world two families that ran in parallel lines-that of Cain and that of Seth. See Gen_4:1-26; Gen_5:1-32.

The Cainites were citizens of this world; the Sethites were pilgrims of the eternal. The one family finally reached such a pitch of wickedness that they were swept away by the flood, while the other furnished the world with an Enoch that walked with God and a Noah who was perfect in his generation.

This distinction has continued down the ages, and is not only accentuated by these words of our Lord but by 1Jn_3:12; 1Jn_3:15.
1Jn 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 
1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 

In Eph_2:2, those who walk according to the course of this world are practically walking according to the spirit that works disobedience in men’s lives. It becomes us, then, to see to it that we are not deceived. We may never have plunged into such depth of sin as overwhelmed the men of that generation; and yet if our hearts are steeped in the love of this world, which is passing away, we betray our affinity to evil and not to good, to the devil and not to God."
​Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Those who do not hear God’s word are not of God, but of the devil.--
1. One who lies and deceives had a good tongue given him from God, but his use of it is from the devil; he abuses his tongue by using it in the devil’s service against God. God may also give men sound eyesight; but he who uses his eyes unchastely does so of the devil. Thus, too, when the heart desires what is unchaste, deceitful, lying, and the like, then, although by nature it is from God, the use of it is evil and of the devil. On the other hand, to be of God is when a man uses his ears to hear the word, and permits himself to be corrected when he is in the wrong. So when one prays, preaches, instructs, and comforts with the tongue, such ears and tongues are of God and are good, for they are put to a godly use. Thus, too, when the heart strives after modesty, to be of use to our neighbor, and is not filled with wrath, such a heart is a creature of God, like the ear and the tongue. The meaning of being “of God” is that we conform to God’s word, and do not willingly think of, read, listen to, what is against God. If it should sometimes happen that we neglect this and stumble, are angry when we should be gentle, this is certainly wrong. But if men repent and confess that they have done wrong, and pray for grace, then this error may be called stumbling or even falling, but it is not being of the devil, because the men turn again to God through repentance. There are, however, children of the devil who are stubborn, and who, when they are corrected for their good and exhorted, speak like ill-mannered children. Such people are of the devil, and will become more evil—“the longer the worse,” for the devil will not let them rest. They first despise the word, then blaspheme it, then rage and curse against it. In the end they will do as the Jews did here—take up stones and become murderers at heart. These are the devil’s true colors—inattention to God’s word, abusing it, doing evil to one’s neighbors, wishing the preacher were dead. By such colors men may learn to know the devil and his children, for “he is a murderer from the beginning,” etc. (Joh_8:44). Therefore learn to guard yourself against such sins.

Lessons.—Therefore think, dear children, how profitable it is for you to hearken willingly and diligently to the word of God. This is the chief thing—that you know that you are of God and have overcome the devil, and that neither sin nor judgment can harm you. Whatever dross you meet side by side with this you will turn away from. On the other hand, the world is impatient and discouraged even in the most trivial concerns. Christians truly must endure much, as the devil and the world are their bitter foes—must often be in danger of life and limb, etc. How can they endure all this and remain patient? Through nothing else than by continuing in the word, and saying: Let things go how they will, I am not of the world, but of God, otherwise the world would act differently toward me. I had rather that it hated me than that it loved me, and I were not of God. Where the heart is thus fixed, then all temptations, trials, adversities, pass away, as clouds in the heaven pass over us, or as the birds in the air who soil us for a moment, but fly off and leave us untroubled."—[Translated from Luther’s “Hauspostille.]

Hatred of the truth (Joh 8:40; Joh 8:44-47). This was the real ground of their unbelief. They disliked Christ’s doctrines. Had He spoken so as to gratify their pride, they might have been disposed to accept Him. The same principle operates in all opponents of the gospel. The tendency of Christ’s truth is still to humble, and so it is still hated. The Jews said, “We are Abraham’s seed; we are no idolaters.” And so many think it sufficient to belong to a pure Church, to be outwardly moral; hence where the necessity of Christ and His salvation?

Enmity against God and His people. The Jews were not content with rejecting Christ; they went about to kill Him. In every age he who is born after the flesh persecutes him who is born after the Spirit. Stephen asked the Jews which of the prophets their fathers had not persecuted. They themselves murdered the Just One; and as they treated the Master so they treated His servants. The heathen followed their example, and these, again, were succeeded by the persecutors of Popery. And in spite of the Reformation, the offence of the Cross has not ceased. Godly persons in the nineteenth century find foes in their own households, and that their religion stands in the way of worldly advancement.

LOVE TO CHRIST IS THE TEST OF SONSHIP. Our Lord plainly declares that God is not the Father of those who do not love Him. The Jews were by nature and descent, if any were, the children of God. They were the seed of Abraham, God’s chosen, had observed God’s ceremonies, bore the mark of His covenant, were the only people who worshipped one God, and incurred the greatest abusive language  in consequence—yet as they did not love Christ they were no sons of God.
1. The child of God loves Christ because he loves what his Father loves: his nature, descended from God, runs in the same channel, and since God loves Christ supremely so does he.
2. He sees God in Jesus—the express image of His Person.
3. He is like Christ. Every man loves what is like himself. If you are born of God you are holy and true and loving, and as He is all that you must love Him.
4. He is essentially divine. “I proceeded and came forth,” etc.
5. Of His mission

(1) We must love that which comes from God if we love God. It matters not how small the trifle, you prize it if it comes from someone you revere. How much more should we love Him who came from God; and came not as a relic or memorial, but as His living, loving voice.
(2) Remember the message Christ brought—a message of pardon, restoration, acceptance, eternal life and glory.
6. He came not of Himself. When a man lives only to serve himself our love dries up. But Jesus’ aims were entirely for the Father and for us—so our heart must go out towards Him.

III. THIS TEST IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TO APPLY NOW. Do you love Him or no? If you do then, you will
1. Trust Him and lean on Him with all your weight. Have you any other hope besides that which springs from His Cross?
2. Keep His Word. How about your neglected Bible? How about those parts of Scripture you have never understood, because afraid they were different from the creed of your church and family?
3. Keep His commandments. Do you obey Christ? If His commands are of little importance, then your heart is not with Him.
4. Imitate Him. It is the nature of love to be imitative. Are you trying to be Christ-like?
5. Love His people—not because they are sweet in their tempers or belong to your denomination, but because they are His.
6. Sympathize with His objects. Whenever we love another we begin to love the things which he loves. He delights to save men, do you?
7. Serve His cause. Love that never leads to action is no love at all. Are you speaking for Him, giving to Him?
8. Desire to be with Him.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Conclusion:
Lately I've seen signs in some peoples front lawns at times, when traveling here in my area that says "Everyone Belongs", really, to what?
I'll ask another question-do you belong the Christ? Have you opened your heart, repented of your sins, and received Him as your Lord and Savior? Do you believe He is God in the flesh, and risen from the grave? If not, your still outside the door. You don't belong to Christ, unless you believe He is who He says He is, and you allow Him to come in, and cleanse your soul from sin, and take up your cross and follow Him. That's when you belong to Him. The bible says we are all born in sin, if you've told one lie-you are a sinner, in need of forgiveness, that only Jesus can give. 
I pray you will do that, before your time on earth is done.
Lorna Couillard

​Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 
Joh 10:8  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 
Joh 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 
Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon
​a rock, and established my goings. Psa 40:1-2

Waiting is much more difficult than walking. Waiting requires patience, and patience is a rare virtue. It is fine to know that God builds hedges around His people-- when the hedge is looked at from the viewpoint of protection. But when the hedge is kept around one until it grows so high that he cannot see over the top, and wonders whether he is ever to get out of the little sphere of influence and service in which he is pent up, it is hard for him sometimes to understand why he may not have a larger environment-- hard for him to "brighten the corner" where he is. But God has a purpose in all HIS holdups. "The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord," reads Psa_37:23.
Psa 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. 
​
On the margin of his Bible at this verse George Mueller had a notation, "And the stops also." It is a sad mistake for men to break through God’s hedges. It is a vital principle of guidance for a Christian never to move out of the place in which he is sure God has placed him, until the Pillar of Cloud moves.-- Sunday School Times

When we learn to wait for our Lord’s lead in everything, we shall know the strength that finds its climax in an even, steady walk. Many of us are lacking in the strength we so covet. But God gives full power for every task He appoints. Waiting, holding oneself true to His lead-- this is the secret of strength. And anything that falls out of the line of obedience is a waste of time and strength. Watch for His leading.-- S. D. Gordon

Must life be a failure for one compelled to stand still in enforced inaction and see the great throbbing tides of life go by? No; victory is then to be gotten by standing still, by quiet waiting. It is a thousand times harder to do this than it was in the active days to rush on in the columns of stirring life. It requires a grander heroism to stand and wait and not lose heart and not lose hope, to submit to the will of God, to give up work and honors to others, to be quiet, confident and rejoicing, while the happy, busy multitude go on and away. It is the grandest life "having done all, to stand."-- J. R. Miller
[Streams in the Desert]

“I waited patiently for the Lord.” Patient waiting upon God was a special characteristic of our Lord Jesus. Impatience never lingered in his heart, much less escaped his lips. All through his agony in the garden, his trial of cruel mocking's before Herod and Pilate, and his passion on the tree, he waited in omnipotence of patience. No glance of wrath, no word of murmuring, no deed of vengeance came from God's patient Lamb; he waited and waited on; was patient, and patient to perfection, far excelling all others who have according to their measure glorified God in the fires. Job on the dunghill does not equal Jesus on the cross. The Christ of God wears the imperial crown among the patient. Did the Only Begotten wait, and shall we be petulant and rebellious? “And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” Neither Jesus the head, nor any one of the members of his body, shall ever wait upon the Lord in vain. Mark the figure of inclining, as though the suppliant cried out of the lowest depression, and condescending love stooped to hear his feeble moans. What a marvel is it that our Lord should have to cry as we do, and wait as we do, and should receive the Father's help after the same process of faith and pleading as must be gone through by ourselves! The Savior's prayers among the midnight mountains and in Gethsemane expound this verse. The Son of David was brought very low, but he rose to victory; and here he teaches us how to conduct our conflicts so as to succeed after the same glorious pattern of triumph. Let us arm ourselves with the same mind; and panoplied in patience, armed with prayer, and girt with faith, let us maintain the Holy War.

Psa_ 40:2
“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit.” When our Lord bore in his own person the terrible curse which was due to sin, he was so cast down as to be like a prisoner in a deep, dark, tearful dungeon, amid whose horrible glooms the captive heard a noise as of rushing torrents, while overhead resounded the tramp of furious foes. Our Lord in his anguish was like a captive in the oubliettes, forgotten of all mankind, immured amid horror, darkness, and desolation. Yet the Lord Jehovah made him to ascend from all his abasement; he retraced his steps from that deep hell of anguish into which he had been cast as our substitute. He who thus delivered our surety in extremis, will not fail to liberate us form our far lighter griefs. “Out of the miry clay.” The sufferer was as one who cannot find a foothold, but slips and sinks. The figure indicates not only positive misery as in the former figure, but the absence of solid comfort by which sorrow might have been rendered supportable. Once give a man good foothold, and a burden is greatly lightened, but to be loaded and to be placed on slimy, slippery clay, is to be tried doubly. Reader, with humble gratitude, adore the dear Redeemer who, for thy sake, was deprived of all consolation while surrounded with every form of misery; remark his gratitude at being upborn amid his arduous labors and sufferings, and if thou too hast experienced the divine help, be sure to join thy Lord in this song. “And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” The Redeemer's work is done. He reposes on the firm ground of his accomplished engagements; he can never suffer again; for ever does he reign in glory. What a comfort to know that Jesus our Lord and Savior stands on a sure foundation in all that he is and does for us, and his goings forth in love are not liable to be cut short by failure in years to come, for God has fixed him firmly. He is for ever and eternally able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing that in the highest heavens he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Jesus is the true Joseph taken from the pit to be Lord of all. It is something more than a “sip of sweetness” to remember that if we are cast like our Lord into the lowest pit of shame and sorrow, we shall by faith rise to stand on the same elevated, sure, and everlasting rock of divine favor and faithfulness."

I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. Psa 119:19
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. 1Co 29:15​

The verses above speak of realities and truths that many will go to great lengths to avoid, and will quickly change the subject. For some people however, they have the ring of truth, that they relate to, because they've felt this sense of being here in the world, but never fitting in with it. Some find them confirming, and make a great deal of sense. I'm among them. I dig deeper, and search into what God wants me to learn from them, as they speak affirmation to my soul. The experiences in my life has proven the truth of these verses to me. The two homes my husband and I built and lived in, are now owned by other's. The work, enjoyment, trials, and conflicts are now memories, and all that's left of the years we put into them.

Nothing is permanent here, and no matter how much gold and riches you may acquire, one day it will be left to somebody else. What is really important, has nothing to do with this worlds goods. Nothing can replace sincere love-without hypocrisy, speaking the truth, and treating people the way you want to be treated, and putting the Lord first and seeking His will in every aspect of life. This is what matters in eternity. The contents below, touch on this.

You may benefit the same, as you read on. A quote from John Wesley begins:
"Strangers - For the land which we possess is thine, not ours; we are not the proprietors but only thy tenants: and as our fathers once were mere strangers in it, even before men, so we at this day are no better before thee, having no absolute right in it, but only to travel through it, and sojourn in it for the short time that we live in the world. None abiding - We only give thee what we must shortly leave, and what we cannot keep to ourselves: and therefore it is a great favor that thou wilt accept such offerings. David's days had as much of substance in them as most men: for he was upon the whole a good man, an useful man, and now an old man. And yet he puts himself in the front of those who must acknowledge, that their days on the earth are as a shadow: which speaks of our life as a vain life, a dark life, a transient life, and a life that will have its period, either in perfect light or perfect darkness."
"​I am not here as in my home, but as a pilgrim travelling homeward in a strange land. God's Commandments - Which are my chief support and guide in my pilgrimage."

​“I am a stranger in the earth.” This is meant for a plea. By divine command men are bound to be kind to strangers, and what God commands in others he will exemplify in himself. The Psalmist was a stranger for God's sake, else had he been as much at home as worldlings are; he was not a stranger to God, but a stranger to the world, a banished man so long as he was out of heaven. Therefore he pleads, “Hide not thy commandments from me.” If these are gone, what have I else? Since nothing around me is mine, what can I do if I lose thy word? Since none around me know or care to know the way to thyself, what shall I do if I fail to see thy commands, by which alone I can guide my steps to the land where thou dwellest? David implies that God's commands were his solace in his exile' they reminded him of home, and they showed him the way thither, and therefore he begged that they might never be hidden from him, by his being unable either to understand them or to obey them. If spiritual light be withdrawn the command is hidden, and this a gracious heart greatly deprecates. What would be the use of opened eyes if the best object of sight were hidden from their view? While we wander here we can endure all the ills of this foreign land with patience if the word of God is applied to our hearts by the Spirit of God; but if the heavenly things which make for our peace were hid from our eyes we should be in an evil case, - in fact, we should be at sea without a compass, in a desert without a guide, in an enemy's country without a friend.
This prayer is a supplement to “open thou mine eyes,” and, as the one prays to see, the other deprecates the negative of seeing, namely, the command being hidden, and so out of sight. We do well to look at both sides of the blessing we are seeking, and plead for it from every point of view. The prayers are appropriate to the characters mentioned' as he is a servant he asks for opened eves that his eyes may ever be towards his Lord, as the eyes of a servant should be; as a stranger he begs that he may not be strange to the way in which he is to walk towards his home. In each case his entire dependence is upon God alone."

The shadow is a fit emblem of human life. From the hour it falls on the dial it moves round the little circle until the sun sinks, when in a moment it is gone. A few hours past, and its work is done. The shadow thrown by the brightest sunshine must vanish when the night comes. Thus it is with life.
I. God does not speak to us through nature without a purpose. We are not to ponder in our hearts on the analogy between human life and nature in its various phases for the pleasure of indulging in sentimental feelings. When Moses mused on the shortness of life, his prayer was, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Life is short, so we must seek for wisdom to make the most of it. No more is required than that every man should do his best with the hours entrusted to his care.
II. The thought of life’s shortness should lead us to value time more highly. Our short life on earth should be a life of work, for we shall have all eternity to rest in. Learn to value time, first, because you have the work your "hand finds" to accomplish, and, secondly, because you have to "work out your own salvation." The great lesson which the frailty and shortness of life should teach us is the importance of preparing for the eternity beyond.  [W. S. Randall, "Literary Churchman" Sermons, 1883, p. 174]

All men are sojourners on earth. David uses language of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who lived as men without permanent home. All sojourners or pilgrims on earth, because all passing through it to a future beyond it. Stern law compels advance. We live and we must die. Not naturalized, no rights of inheritance, foreigners here; we should seek home, rest, and bliss in heaven.

All men sojourn in shadows on earth. “Our days on earth are as a shadow.”
1. Life itself is a shadow. In swiftness and uncertainty; darkness and perplexing changes. “Shadows in career,” says Geo. Herbert. We flee as a shadow and continue not (Job_14:2).
​2. Men walk in shadows. “Every man walks in a vain show (an image)” (Psa_39:6). “All shadows and pursuing shadows,” says Burke. Deluded by sense, refusing to see the only lasting substance; men live in lies, dream of false pleasure, and find everything fleeting and unsubstantial. After all discussions concerning the supreme good, some pointing to pleasure, some to virtue, and others to apathy, who can give a definite and decisive answer? Life without God is vain, and not worth living. “Who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow” (Heb. “the number of the days of the life of his vanity”) (Ecc_6:12).

Only some men are strangers on earth. Christians are strangers. They feel, dress, and act as such. “Confess that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” But a large class of men to whom the world is perfectly congenial; who feel nothing strange, nothing unnatural. They are in their element; find their place and satisfaction in its pursuits and enjoyments. They desire no better country, but seem to fix their hearts and homes in this, through which they rapidly pass. What a foolish exchange; shadows for substance; trifles or eternity!
“All on earth is shadow,
All beyond is substance. How solid all
Where change is known no more!” [Young].

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
​on the earth. Heb 11:13
The Christian Pilgrim

The apostle is here setting forth the excellencies of the grace of faith, by the glorious effects and happy issue of it in the saints of the Old Testament.
1. What these saints confessed of themselves—that they were strangers and pilgrims.
2. The inference drawn by the apostle—they sought another country as their home.
​
I. This life ought to be so spent by us as to be only a journey or pilgrimage towards heaven.--
1. We ought not to rest in the world or in its enjoyments, but should desire heaven.—A traveler passing through pleasant places, flowery meadows, shady groves, only takes a transient view of them as he goes along. His journey’s end is in his mind.
2. We ought to seek heaven by travelling in the way that leads thither. This is a way of holiness, the way of obedience to God’s commands, an ascending way, a Christ-like way.
3. We should travel on in this way in a laborious manner. Many mountains, rocks, and rough plains demand our strength.
4. Our whole lives ought to be spent in travelling this road. We ought to begin early; we ought to travel with assiduity; we ought to persevere.
5. We ought to be continually growing in holiness. Thus we come nearer and nearer to heaven. “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,”. “This one thing I do,”.
​6. All other concerns of life ought to be subordinate to this. Business, money, temporal enjoyments, quit if they prove a hindrance.

II. Why the Christian’s life is a journey or pilgrimage.—1. This world is not our abiding-place. Continuance here is short. God never designed that this world should be our home.
2. The future world was designed to be our settled and everlasting abode. The present state is short and transitory, but our state in the other world is everlasting.
3. Heaven is that place alone where our highest end and highest good is to be obtained. God hath made us for Himself. God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. Here we get but scattered beams—God is the sun; but streams—God is the fountain; but drops—God is the ocean.

III. Instruction afforded by this consideration.—1. Moderation in our grief for the loss of friends who have died in Christ. Death is to them a great blessing; gone to Father’s house. “I heard a voice from heaven,” (Rev_14:13).
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. 
​2. How ill do they improve their lives that spend them in travelling towards hell! Thus do backbiters, covetous, drunkards.
3. Converted persons do but begin their work, and set out in the way they have to go. They should be earnest and laborious, and should strive for grace.

IV. Exhortations.—1. How worthy is heaven that your life should be wholly spent as a journey towards it! Where can you choose your home better than in heaven?
2. This is the way to have death comfortable to us.
3. It will make retrospect pleasant.
4. In journeying to heaven we may have heaven.
5. If our lives be not a journey towards heaven, they will be a journey to hell.

Conclusion.—A few directions.
1. Labor to get a sense of the vanity of this world.
2. Labor to be much acquainted with heaven.
3. Seek heaven only by Jesus Christ. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
4. Let Christians help one another in going this journey. Go in company, conversing together, assisting one another. Go united. This will ensure a more successful travelling, and a more joyful meeting at the Father’s house in glory.—[ Jonathan Edwards, M.A.]

Corresponding verses:
​Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 
Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 
Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.