That human nature has not changed during the past 4,000 years is clearly evident if one compares the rebellion of Israel, in the wilderness, with the attitude of a plurality of those professing themselves to be "the people of God" in our day! And the failure today appears all the more tragic when one remembers the words of Paul: "Now these things ... are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come", (I Cor. 10:6-11). How very few have so profitably heeded this apostolic admonition as to escape being ensnared by the very SAME THINGS!
    While Moses, Israel's divinely-appointed leader, was on the mountain with God - receiving the law of commandments for their benefit; they turned away from both God and Moses - to practice gross IDOLATRY! And Aaron went along with them - making a golden calf for them to worship! So outraged was Moses by their debauchery, upon his descent from the mountain, that he cast down the tablet of stone, upon which the 10 commandments had been written by the very finger of God - BREAKING IT IN PIECES! And God

    From time to time someone asks whether church attendance is "really that important" to the person who is sure of his salvation. My answer is that it is SO VERY IMPORTANT that if one neglects it, he may end up FORGETTING that he was ever "purged from his old sin"! (2 Peter 1:9).
    During His personal ministry on earth our Lord Jesus Christ established the ONLY church that He has ever recognized. The process of "building" that church goes on day-by-day clear to the consummation of this age, (Matt. 16:18).
    So precious is the church, and its place in our Lord's wise purpose, that He values it very highly. He is said to have LOVED the church so much that He "gave Himself for it", (Eph. 5:25). Furthermore, He purchased it with His own blood! (Acts 20:28).
    It was to His blood-purchased church that Jesus gave a commission to continue the work that He had begun (Matt 28:18-20) - making disciples, baptizing disciples, and instructing baptized disciples in the way that He has appointed for the furtherance of His own glorious purpose in the earth.
    Christians are instructed to

have the "mind of Christ" - loving and caring for the things that are dear to His heart, (Phil. 2:5,11). And whoever does not have the "spirit" (attitude) of Christ is NOT REALLY one of His own special people, (Rom. 8:9).
    In the act of Christian baptism church members have, symbolically, renounced, and declared themselves dead to, the old life of selfishness, sin and rebellion - baptism picturing the "putting off" and "burial" of the old way of living, (Rom. 6:1-3; Col. 3:1-3). Furthermore, baptism involves a pledge of loyalty to the actual lordship of Jesus Christ over one's whole life; it is a pledge to FOREVER walk in the newness of a life received from above - to His glory and praise, (Rom. 6:4).
    A New Testament church is a fellowship of love - where the Lord Jesus Christ is HEAD, and where each individual member seeks, NOT to please himself, but, to honor

extol and serve the Lord of Glory in such a way as to be pleasing in His sight.
    God expects those who have become the recipients of His saving grace to yield their lives under His rightful authority in a local assembly of saints which functions according to the pattern set forth in His word. And it should be the concern of every Christian to give Him glory "in the church" (Eph. 3:21) - a local assembly, like the one at Ephesus. Any New Testament church may be PHOTOGRAPHED! And that requires both a specific locality and an actual ASSEMBLY!
    Is it any wonder that the writer to the Hebrews insisted on the faithfulness, of those calling Jesus "Lord", to regularly ASSEMBLE with the other members of the local church of which they are members? (Heb. 1O:25-27).
    As one neglects the church, and its on-going ministry, so does he reject the actual lordship of Jesus Christ over his life. For the work of the church is HIS APPOINTMENT! It is that which HE HAS COMMANDED! And those who truly love Him will do as He commands! (Jn. 14:21-23).


    (The following article is an excerpt from Hannah Hurnard's beautiful allegory entitled "Mountains of Spices", and published by Tyndale Press).
    "The terror and the beauty of love."
    The words suddenly came into her mind with such force and clarity that she turned and looked at

the King to see whether he had spoken them.
    "What is it?" he asked in answer to the wondering look she turned upon him.
    "My Lord", she said, "I have another question to ask you. You have brought me here to the Mountain of Calamus where the reeds of gentleness grow. And I know so much about the gentleness of your love in my own experience. But is there another side of love? is love really like a consuming fire which cannot be approached without fear and trembling? Can love even appear to be cruel and terrible? He was silent awhile before answering, almost as though he were considering the question with her. Then he turned upon her a look which was both grave and yet singularly beautiful at the same time.
    "Yes", he said, "Love is a consuming fire. It is a burning, unquenchable passion for the blessedness and happiness, and, above all, for the perfection of the beloved object. The greater the love, the less it can tolerate the presence of anything that can hurt the beloved, and the less it can tolerate in the beloved anything unworthy or less than the best, or injurious to the happiness of the loved one. Therefore it is perfectly true that love, which is the most beautiful and the most gentle passion in the universe, can and must be at the same time the most terrible - terrible in what it is willing to endure itself in order to secure the blessing and happiness and perfection of the beloved, and, also, apparently terrible in

what it will allow the beloved to endure if suffering is the only means by which the perfection or restoration to health of the beloved can be secured."
    When he had said this he began to sing another of the mountain songs.
"Can love be terrible, my Lord?
    Can gentleness be stern?
Ah yes! - intense is love's desire
To purify his loved - 'tis fire,
    A holy fire to burn.
For he must fully protect thee
Till in thy likeness all may see
    The beauty of thy Lord.

Can holy love be jealous, Lord?
    Yes, jealous as the grave;
Till every hurtful idol be
Uptorn and wrested out of thee
    Love will be stern to save;
Will spare thee not a single pain
Till thou be freed and pure again
    And perfect as thy Lord.

Can love seem cruel, 0 my Lord?
    Yes, like a sword the cure;
He will not spare thee, sin-sick
    soul,
Till he hath made thy sickness
    whole,
  Until thine heart is pure.
For oh! He loves thee far too well
To leave thee in thy self-made hells
    A Savior is thy Lord!"

FAILURE …. CONTINUED

    Himself was so vexed by their infidelity that, but for the intercession of Moses, He would have destroyed them there! FAILURE THROUGH IDOLATRY! 
    At Kadesh-Barnea (Num. 14) when the Lord, through Moses, told Israel that He had set the land of

promise before them, and urged them to "Go up and possess it", they rebelled - insisting that they first send men before them to search out what the land was REALLY like (Deut. 1:19, 22-23), even though God Himself had already spied it out (Ezek. 20:6) and declared it to be a GOOD LAND: a land "flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands!"
    But, since Moses himself was pleased with their suggestion, God gave them permission to search out the land - though they would find it EXACTLY as He had described it! However, their unbelieving hearts were bent on rebellion! What fertile ground for the seeds of doubt that were planted by the 10 fearful

spies who insisted that the land was not worth facing the giants that lived there - in whose eyes the Israelites were but as GRASSHOPPERS! Nor would they be persuaded, to the contrary, by those two giants of faith (Joshua and Caleb) who knew that the battle belonged to the Lord, and that HE HAD ALREADY WON IT!
    Thus, failing to enter the land of Promise, through the disobedience of their despicable unbelief, the nation was consigned to wander in the wilderness until that unbelieving generation had utterly perished! NOT ONE OF THEM would be permitted to enter the land!
    How terribly sad that so few profited from this illustration of the wretchedness of UNBELIEF! How desperately do the people of God need to heed the biblical warnings against hardening our hearts toward the very WORD OF GOD through the "deceitfulness of sin"! (Psalm 95:7-11; Heb. 3:7-19).
    We need to honestly test ourselves on this very point. IS IT POSSIBLE that there is in ANY OF US this "evil heart of unbelief"? Are we fully satisfied with the way God is leading us? Or have we been, as it were, sending out spies with a view to shaping a better course for ourselves than the one God Himself has devised?
    Every act of disobedience is a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in God's plan for our lives! E.G.

TO ALL THOSE WHO WROTE A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT DURING JANUARY! WE APPRECIATE IT! E.G.