Branded For Christ
In a certain sense, all men are strangers to one another. Even friends do not really know each other. To know a man, one must know all the influence of heredity and environment, as well as his countries moral choices that have fashioned him into what he is.
Though we do not really know one another, tracing the course of a man's life sometimes offers rich reward, particularly when we see the great driving forces which have motivated him.
For instance, how greatly your life and mine would be benefited if we could experience the same surge of Christ-life that moved Saul of Tarsus (later called Paul) and plumb even a little the hidden depths of the meaning of his words, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17).
One thing is sure about these words: they were an acknowledgment of Christ's ownership. Paul belonged to the Lord Jesus - spirit, soul, and body. He was branded for Christ.
When Paul claimed to bear in his body the wounds of the Lord, he was claiming no "stigmata," as did St Francis of Assisi in 1224 A.D. It is not a bodily identification by outward crucifixion. He had been "crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20).
Branded By Devotion to A Task
The marks of Paul's inward crucifixion were plainly evident. First of all, Paul was branded by devotion to the task.
If, as tradition says, Paul was only four feet six inches in height, then he was the greatest dwarf that ever lived. He out-paced, out-prayed, and out-passioned all his contemporaries. On his escutcheon was blazed: "One thing I do." He was blind to all that other men gloried in.
After the Athenian clash on Mars Hill, Paul poured contempt on the wisdom of the world, dying daily to the temptation to outwit and out-think the wise. His task was not that of getting a viewpoint, but of overcoming the legions of hell!
Somewhere, most likely in Arabia, Paul's personality had been transfigured. Never after that was he listed as a backslider. He was too occupied with going on. It would have vexed his righteous soul to hear a congregation sing, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!"
Unsponsored, unwelcomed, unloved - these made little difference to Paul. On he went, blind to every jewel of earthly honor, deaf to every siren-voice of ease, and insensitive to the mesmerism of worldly success.
Branded By Humility
Paul was also branded by humility. He never fished for praise, but in the long line of sinners, put himself first (where we would put him last.)
The old Welsh divine said that if you know Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, do not put them where Pilate did at the head of Christ, but put them at his feet. "What things were gain to me," says Paul, "these things I count loss for Christ."
What a hearts ease is the virtue of humility - the great joy of having nothing to lose!! Having no opinion of himself, Paul feared no fall. He was not adorned in the richly embroidered robes of the chancellor of a Hebrew school, but was adorned of a meek and quiet spirit which shines with more luster.
Branded By Suffering
Next, Paul was branded by suffering. Consider the thing he mentions in Romans 8: famine, peril, nakedness, and sword (these belonging to acute discomfort in the body), and tribulation, distress, persecution (of the spirit). Of all these sufferings the "little" minister partook.
Look closely at Paul - at that cadaverous countenance, that scarred body, that stooped figure of a man chasened by hunger, kept down by fasting, and ploughed with the lictors lash; that little body, brutally stoned at Lystra and starved in many places; that skin, prickled for thirty-six hours in the Mediterranean Sea! Add to this list danger upon danger; then multiply it with loneliness; finally, count in the 199 stripes, 3 shipwrecks, 3 beatings with rods, a stoning, and a prison record. And yet if one could add it up, all must be written off as nothing, because Paul himself thus consigned it. Listen to him: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment..." That contempt of suffering, if you like!
Branded By Passion
Furthermore, Paul was branded by passion. A man must be in the dead center of God's will and walking a tightrope of obedience to call upon the Holy Spirit to bear witness to His witness. Yet Paul does this in Romans 9:1.
Oh, that from this wondrous flame every living preacher might capture just a little light! Beatings could not cast the flame out of Paul; fastings and hunger could not kill it; misunderstandings and misrepresentation could not quench its fire; waters could not drown it; prisons could not break it; perils could not arrest its growth. On and on it burned until life ebbed from his body.
The living Christ who was within Paul (Gal. 2:20), as manifested by his soul-passion, was at once the despair of hell, the capital for enlarging the Church, and cheer to the heart of the Saviour, who was seeing the travail of His soul and was being satisfied.
Branded by Love
Paul was branded by love. When Paul experienced becoming a "man in Christ," he developed the capacity for love. Only maturity knows love. How Paul loved!
First and supremely, Paul loved His Lord. Then he loved men, his enemies, hardship, and soul-pain. And he must have loved this latter particularly, else he would have shirked prayer. Paul's love carried him to the lost, the last, the least. What scope of love! Like a mighty dynamo, love pushed him on to attempt great things for God.
Not may have prayed as this man prayed. Maybe McCheyne, John Fletcher, mighty Brainerd, and a few others have known something of the soul-and-body mastering work of intercession motivated by love.
I remember standing by the Marechale once as we sang her great hymn:
"There is a love constraining me
To go and seek the lost;
I yield, O Lord, my all to Thee
To save at any cost!"
Charles Wesley seemed to reach on tiptoe when he said, "nothing on earth do I desire but Thy pure love within my breast!" More recently Amy Carmichael uttered the heartfelt prayer; "Give me a love that leads the way, a faith which nothing can dismay!" These men and women were certainly on the trail of the apostolic secret of soul-winning.
Great soul-winners have always been great lovers of men's souls. Great love to the Lover of their souls drove them to tears, to travail, and to triumph. In this evil hour, dare we love less?
Let me love Thee, love is mighty
Swaying realms of deed and thought;
By it I can walk uprightly,
I can serve Thee as I ought.
Love will soften every trial
Love will lighten every care;
Love unquestioning will follow,
Love will triumph, love will dare!
Without any of their choosing, millions will be branded for the Antichrist one day. Shall we shrink to bear in our spirits, our souls, and our bodies our Owners marks - the marks of Jesus? Branded means pain. Do we want that? Branded means carrying the slur of the servant. Will we choose to be branded - for Christ?
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(The End)
A Proliferation of Christian Devotionals and Sermons
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Gems From Puritan Thomas Watson
Gems From Puritan Thomas Watson
Eternity to the godly - is a day that has no sunset. Eternity to the wicked - is a night that has no sunrise.
There is more evil in a drop of sin - than in a sea of affliction!
Knowledge without repentance - will be but a torch to light men to hell.
The pleasures of sin is soon gone - but the sting remains!
There are millions who would rather go sleeping to hell - than sweating to heaven!
Sin has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages.
A weak faith can lay hold on a strong Christ.
Christ is never sweet - until sin is felt to be bitter.
Our murmuring is the devil"s music.
First we practice sin, then defend it, then boast of it.
What if we have more of the rough file, if we have less rust! Afflictions carry away nothing but the dross of sin.
Christ sweetens outward pain - with inward peace.
Christ went more willingly to the Cross - than we do to the throne of grace.
When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do: love one day - and hate another. This is the blessedness of a saint - his condition admits of no alteration. God's call is founded upon His decree - and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people's sins - but not their names.
It was wonderful love that Christ should rather die for us - than for the angels that fell.
Thus it is in hell - they would die - but they cannot. The wicked shall always be dying - but never dead; the smoke of the furnace ascends forever and ever. Oh! who can endure thus to be ever dying? This word "FOREVER" breaks the heart. Wicked men do now think the Sabbaths long, and think a prayer long - but oh! how long will it be to lie in hell forever and ever?
Prayer as it comes from the saint is weak and languid; but when the arrow of a saint's prayer is put into the bow of Christ's intercession - it pierces the throne of grace!
Prayer delights God's ear. It melts His heart - and opens His hand. God cannot deny a praying soul.
The torments of hell abide forever. If all the earth and sea were sand, and every thousandth year a little bird should come, and take away one grain of this sand - it would be a long time before that vast heap of sand were emptied. Yet, if after all that time the damned may come out of hell, there were some hope; but this word FOREVER breaks the heart!
Affliction may be lasting - but it is not everlasting. Affliction has a sting - but withal a wing - sorrow shall soon fly away.
A spiritual prayer is a humble prayer. Prayer is the asking of an alms, which requires humility. The lower the heart descends - the higher the prayer ascends.
It is absurd to think that anything in us could have the least influence upon our election. Some say that God foresaw that such persons would believe, and therefore chose them; so they would make the business of salvation to depend upon something in us. Whereas God does not choose us for faith - but to faith. "He has chosen us, that we should be holy" (Eph.1:4), not because we would be holy - but that we might be holy. We are elected to holiness, not for it.
Knowledge is the eye which must direct the foot of obedience.
Make up your spiritual accounts daily; see how matters stand between God and your souls (Psalm 77:6). Frequent reckonings keep God and conscience friends. Do with your hearts as you do with your watches - wind them up every morning by prayer, and at night examine whether your hearts have gone true all that day, whether the wheels of your affections have moved swiftly toward heaven.
God will not be behind-hand in love to us. For our drop - we shall receive an ocean!
The right manner of spiritual growth, is to grow less in one's own eyes!
Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men - but in praise we act like angels.
How many souls have been blown into hell with the wind of popular applause?
Let us then ascribe the whole work of grace to the pleasure of God's will. God did not choose us because we were worthy - but by choosing us, He makes us worthy.
Those prayers God likes best, which come seething hot from the heart!
Prayer is the offering up of our desires to God in the name of Christ, for such things as are agreeable to His will. It is an offering of our desires. Desires are the soul and life of prayer - words are but the body. Now as the body without the soul is dead - so are prayers unless they are animated with our desires.
The angel fetched Peter out of prison - but it was prayer that fetched the angel.
Prayer is the soul's breathing itself into the bosom of its heavenly Father.
The prayer that is faithless, is fruitless.
The more we enjoy of God - the more we are ravished with delight.
A man's greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest - therefore eternity should be his scope.
God's decree is the very pillar and basis on which the saint's perseverance depends. That decree ties the knot of adoption so fast, that neither sin, death, nor hell, can break it asunder.
~Thomas Watson~
Eternity to the godly - is a day that has no sunset. Eternity to the wicked - is a night that has no sunrise.
There is more evil in a drop of sin - than in a sea of affliction!
Knowledge without repentance - will be but a torch to light men to hell.
The pleasures of sin is soon gone - but the sting remains!
There are millions who would rather go sleeping to hell - than sweating to heaven!
Sin has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages.
A weak faith can lay hold on a strong Christ.
Christ is never sweet - until sin is felt to be bitter.
Our murmuring is the devil"s music.
First we practice sin, then defend it, then boast of it.
What if we have more of the rough file, if we have less rust! Afflictions carry away nothing but the dross of sin.
Christ sweetens outward pain - with inward peace.
Christ went more willingly to the Cross - than we do to the throne of grace.
When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do: love one day - and hate another. This is the blessedness of a saint - his condition admits of no alteration. God's call is founded upon His decree - and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people's sins - but not their names.
It was wonderful love that Christ should rather die for us - than for the angels that fell.
Thus it is in hell - they would die - but they cannot. The wicked shall always be dying - but never dead; the smoke of the furnace ascends forever and ever. Oh! who can endure thus to be ever dying? This word "FOREVER" breaks the heart. Wicked men do now think the Sabbaths long, and think a prayer long - but oh! how long will it be to lie in hell forever and ever?
Prayer as it comes from the saint is weak and languid; but when the arrow of a saint's prayer is put into the bow of Christ's intercession - it pierces the throne of grace!
Prayer delights God's ear. It melts His heart - and opens His hand. God cannot deny a praying soul.
The torments of hell abide forever. If all the earth and sea were sand, and every thousandth year a little bird should come, and take away one grain of this sand - it would be a long time before that vast heap of sand were emptied. Yet, if after all that time the damned may come out of hell, there were some hope; but this word FOREVER breaks the heart!
Affliction may be lasting - but it is not everlasting. Affliction has a sting - but withal a wing - sorrow shall soon fly away.
A spiritual prayer is a humble prayer. Prayer is the asking of an alms, which requires humility. The lower the heart descends - the higher the prayer ascends.
It is absurd to think that anything in us could have the least influence upon our election. Some say that God foresaw that such persons would believe, and therefore chose them; so they would make the business of salvation to depend upon something in us. Whereas God does not choose us for faith - but to faith. "He has chosen us, that we should be holy" (Eph.1:4), not because we would be holy - but that we might be holy. We are elected to holiness, not for it.
Knowledge is the eye which must direct the foot of obedience.
Make up your spiritual accounts daily; see how matters stand between God and your souls (Psalm 77:6). Frequent reckonings keep God and conscience friends. Do with your hearts as you do with your watches - wind them up every morning by prayer, and at night examine whether your hearts have gone true all that day, whether the wheels of your affections have moved swiftly toward heaven.
God will not be behind-hand in love to us. For our drop - we shall receive an ocean!
The right manner of spiritual growth, is to grow less in one's own eyes!
Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men - but in praise we act like angels.
How many souls have been blown into hell with the wind of popular applause?
Let us then ascribe the whole work of grace to the pleasure of God's will. God did not choose us because we were worthy - but by choosing us, He makes us worthy.
Those prayers God likes best, which come seething hot from the heart!
Prayer is the offering up of our desires to God in the name of Christ, for such things as are agreeable to His will. It is an offering of our desires. Desires are the soul and life of prayer - words are but the body. Now as the body without the soul is dead - so are prayers unless they are animated with our desires.
The angel fetched Peter out of prison - but it was prayer that fetched the angel.
Prayer is the soul's breathing itself into the bosom of its heavenly Father.
The prayer that is faithless, is fruitless.
The more we enjoy of God - the more we are ravished with delight.
A man's greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest - therefore eternity should be his scope.
God's decree is the very pillar and basis on which the saint's perseverance depends. That decree ties the knot of adoption so fast, that neither sin, death, nor hell, can break it asunder.
~Thomas Watson~
Saturday, September 15, 2018
Our Love to God # 2
Our Love To God # 2
Here are a few TESTS of true love to God:
1. Have you been convicted of and made to mourn over your natural enmity against God, that not only was your heart dead as a stone toward Him - but filled with antagonism to and dis-relish of Him?
2. Do you love God for His holiness as well as His grace? Has it wrought in you a filial fear of displeasing Him, so that you jealously watch your heart lest it lead you away fro Him and His ways (Heb. 12:28).?
3. Does love to God regulate your life, influence your walk, and move you to obedience?
4. Is it weaning you from the creature, separating you from the world, delivering from the things opposed to sincere good love for God?
5. Do you love His truth? Some pretend to love all preachers and preaching alike - incapable of distinguishing error from truth.
6. Does it cause you to entertain good thoughts of God when His dispensations cross your will, moving you to place the best construction on the same and attributing them to His wisdom? For "love thinks no evil" (1 Corinthians 13:15).
7. God is truly loved above all others, when no affection for the creature can draw us deliberately to sin against Him (Job. 2:9-10).
8. God is truly loved, when we gladly incur and endure the displeasure and frowns of our fellows, rather than offend against Him (Luke 14:26).
9. God is truly loved, when we make it our principal concern to please Him, rather than gratify the flesh or promote our worldly interests.
10. God is truly loved when the heart is wounded and grieved at the dishonor done to Him all around us (Psalm 119:53).
If your love has waned and you long for it to be revived - do not doubt God's love for you (for that will further weaken it), but look again at Christ on the Cross. The best food for our love - is to feed on His love.
~A. W. Pink~
(The End)
Here are a few TESTS of true love to God:
1. Have you been convicted of and made to mourn over your natural enmity against God, that not only was your heart dead as a stone toward Him - but filled with antagonism to and dis-relish of Him?
2. Do you love God for His holiness as well as His grace? Has it wrought in you a filial fear of displeasing Him, so that you jealously watch your heart lest it lead you away fro Him and His ways (Heb. 12:28).?
3. Does love to God regulate your life, influence your walk, and move you to obedience?
4. Is it weaning you from the creature, separating you from the world, delivering from the things opposed to sincere good love for God?
5. Do you love His truth? Some pretend to love all preachers and preaching alike - incapable of distinguishing error from truth.
6. Does it cause you to entertain good thoughts of God when His dispensations cross your will, moving you to place the best construction on the same and attributing them to His wisdom? For "love thinks no evil" (1 Corinthians 13:15).
7. God is truly loved above all others, when no affection for the creature can draw us deliberately to sin against Him (Job. 2:9-10).
8. God is truly loved, when we gladly incur and endure the displeasure and frowns of our fellows, rather than offend against Him (Luke 14:26).
9. God is truly loved, when we make it our principal concern to please Him, rather than gratify the flesh or promote our worldly interests.
10. God is truly loved when the heart is wounded and grieved at the dishonor done to Him all around us (Psalm 119:53).
If your love has waned and you long for it to be revived - do not doubt God's love for you (for that will further weaken it), but look again at Christ on the Cross. The best food for our love - is to feed on His love.
~A. W. Pink~
(The End)
Our Love to God # 1
Our Love to God # 1
That there is such a thing as a human creature exercising love to God is clear from Scripture, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God" (Rom. 8:28). And they are identified in the remainder of that verse, "to those who are the called according to His purpose" - those who are effectually called from death unto life in consequence of God's eternal decree. So too we read of "the things which God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Divine love is always reciprocal. In due time, God sheds abroad His love in the hearts of those whom He has loved from everlasting - so that they in return love Him. As another has said, "When love has descended from Heaven to earth, it has finished half its course; but when it ascends from earth to Heaven again, then the circle is completed." Our love to Him is but a small stream that flows from and runs back to the ocean of God's love. This love is not of natural kindling, but from the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit. Then the understanding is made to perceive, the judgment to esteem, the will to choose, and the whole soul to delight in God. The renewed person now sees there to be nothing in Heaven or earth, to be desired in comparison with Him.
This is one of the essential characteristic features of all the regenerate. They differ considerably in gifts and attainments, but one thing they have in common - they are all lovers of God. Never has a single individual been born into the kingdom of God, which was destitute of affection for Him, "every one who loves is born of God" (1 John 4:7). Some are but "babes," weak in faith; some are "young men," strong in the Lord; others are "fathers," of long experience and spiritual maturity. But one and all love God. Once they were as their fellow sinners - at enmity with God; but now they bear Him good will. The spirit of adoption has taken captive their hearts, and they love God with a little child's fervent, adoring, confident affection. They love Him for His infinite perfections, His wisdom, grace, faithfulness, holiness. They love Him as He is revealed in Christ - the Image of the invisible God. They love Him for His merciful overtures to them through the Gospel. They love Him for what He has done for them, sand for what He has promised yet to do. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Gratitude is not a base virtue, but a noble endowment, and supplies the most powerful of all spiritual motives unto a godly walk.
Love to God is a sure evidence of saving grace in the soul. As saving faith is a fruit of effectual calling, so also is affection for God - the two cannot be separated, for faith "works by love" (Gal. 5:6). Nevertheless, no Christian, when in his right mind, will ever boast of his love. Rather will he be strongly inclined to doubt if he has any, and certainly he will be ashamed of the small degree of it. This writer truly is. As he thinks how feeble, how fickle, is his affection for God, and how little genuine obedience it produces - he is confounded. Yet, by grace, he can say with poor Peter, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you" (John 21:17) - though my conduct, through the weakness of the flesh, appeared to give the lie thereto - You perceive that the beating of my heart is toward You.
Since there is the recognition and realization in His people that they love God, because He first loved them; that His love was free and sovereign, of mere grace, unattracted by anything amiable in them - there will necessarily be a sense of utter unworthiness in their love to Him. And thus the Christian's love to God is a very lowly and humble affection.
Love is as needful for the spiritual life, as blood is for the natural life. In neither case can the one exist without the other. Yet, though all the regenerative have love to God, not all of them are equally aware of the fact, nor are all Christians sensible of sensible to it in the same way at all times. But a personal persuasion of our love to God is most desirable. These things which the more deeply concern us, ought the more seriously to affect us. None should deny its existence, simply because they are dissatisfied with the degree or intensity of their love.
God is indeed to be loved above everyone and everything else, and loved with all our being and strength - yet the best of His people sadly fail to render unto Him that which is His due. To find the heart going out more to a near relative, than to God; or to grieve more over some temporal loss, than for an offence against the Lord - must occasion great concern to a conscientious soul. Nevertheless, such an experience is not, of itself, a proof that we have no love to God, especially if devotedness to our family does not cause us to neglect Him.
Love to God is not to be determined by its degree. Some writers have insisted that nothing but unselfish love is worthy of the name - that God must be loved for what He is, and our neighbor as His creature. But there is a love of gratitude as well as of delight, which makes a thankful return unto Him for His great love in Christ. This is expressly stated in 1 John 4:19, "We love Him - because He first loved us." Not only did God's love precede ours, being set upon us when we were entirely loveless - but it is the cause of ours. Not only as the divine power created it in us, but as the motive which we are conscious of in our love.
If our hearts had never been deeply affected by that transcendent love which moved God to give His own Son to die for such hell-deserving wretches as we know ourselves to be - would we have ever had any affection unto Him? No, indeed. Nor is there anything "legalistic" in this, if David hesitated not to leave it on record, "I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my supplications" (Psalm 95:1). I need not be ashamed to own that I love Him because He heard my cry for mercy and washed my sins away by the blood of the Lamb.
Love to God is not to be measured so much by its sensible stirrings or lively acts - as by its solid esteem and settled constitution. Some Christians are naturally more emotional and lively, and therefore more easily stirred. Nor is love to God to be gauged by our feelings - but determined by our purpose of heart and sincere endeavors to please God. Partly because the act may be more lively, where the affection is less firm in the heart. While the flesh remains in the believer, he will be more sensibly stirred by the things which agree with his carnal nature.
Love to God consists in a well-pleasedness in having Him as the soul's all-sufficient portion, of a delight in Him, of satisfaction in Him. Sometimes it is expressed in longings after and yearnings for Him. Sometimes it is declared in speaking well of Him to others. Often it is breathed in prayer and in praise. Occasionally it is revealed in exclamations of wonderment. It is manifested in sincere efforts to please Him, making His glory the purpose and end of our actions, and therefore in detestation of all sin. It appears at its best when, in a time of trial and temporal straitness, its possessor "rejoices in the Lord" (Hab. 3:17-18).
~Arthur Pink~
(continued with # 2)
That there is such a thing as a human creature exercising love to God is clear from Scripture, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God" (Rom. 8:28). And they are identified in the remainder of that verse, "to those who are the called according to His purpose" - those who are effectually called from death unto life in consequence of God's eternal decree. So too we read of "the things which God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Divine love is always reciprocal. In due time, God sheds abroad His love in the hearts of those whom He has loved from everlasting - so that they in return love Him. As another has said, "When love has descended from Heaven to earth, it has finished half its course; but when it ascends from earth to Heaven again, then the circle is completed." Our love to Him is but a small stream that flows from and runs back to the ocean of God's love. This love is not of natural kindling, but from the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit. Then the understanding is made to perceive, the judgment to esteem, the will to choose, and the whole soul to delight in God. The renewed person now sees there to be nothing in Heaven or earth, to be desired in comparison with Him.
This is one of the essential characteristic features of all the regenerate. They differ considerably in gifts and attainments, but one thing they have in common - they are all lovers of God. Never has a single individual been born into the kingdom of God, which was destitute of affection for Him, "every one who loves is born of God" (1 John 4:7). Some are but "babes," weak in faith; some are "young men," strong in the Lord; others are "fathers," of long experience and spiritual maturity. But one and all love God. Once they were as their fellow sinners - at enmity with God; but now they bear Him good will. The spirit of adoption has taken captive their hearts, and they love God with a little child's fervent, adoring, confident affection. They love Him for His infinite perfections, His wisdom, grace, faithfulness, holiness. They love Him as He is revealed in Christ - the Image of the invisible God. They love Him for His merciful overtures to them through the Gospel. They love Him for what He has done for them, sand for what He has promised yet to do. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Gratitude is not a base virtue, but a noble endowment, and supplies the most powerful of all spiritual motives unto a godly walk.
Love to God is a sure evidence of saving grace in the soul. As saving faith is a fruit of effectual calling, so also is affection for God - the two cannot be separated, for faith "works by love" (Gal. 5:6). Nevertheless, no Christian, when in his right mind, will ever boast of his love. Rather will he be strongly inclined to doubt if he has any, and certainly he will be ashamed of the small degree of it. This writer truly is. As he thinks how feeble, how fickle, is his affection for God, and how little genuine obedience it produces - he is confounded. Yet, by grace, he can say with poor Peter, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you" (John 21:17) - though my conduct, through the weakness of the flesh, appeared to give the lie thereto - You perceive that the beating of my heart is toward You.
Since there is the recognition and realization in His people that they love God, because He first loved them; that His love was free and sovereign, of mere grace, unattracted by anything amiable in them - there will necessarily be a sense of utter unworthiness in their love to Him. And thus the Christian's love to God is a very lowly and humble affection.
Love is as needful for the spiritual life, as blood is for the natural life. In neither case can the one exist without the other. Yet, though all the regenerative have love to God, not all of them are equally aware of the fact, nor are all Christians sensible of sensible to it in the same way at all times. But a personal persuasion of our love to God is most desirable. These things which the more deeply concern us, ought the more seriously to affect us. None should deny its existence, simply because they are dissatisfied with the degree or intensity of their love.
God is indeed to be loved above everyone and everything else, and loved with all our being and strength - yet the best of His people sadly fail to render unto Him that which is His due. To find the heart going out more to a near relative, than to God; or to grieve more over some temporal loss, than for an offence against the Lord - must occasion great concern to a conscientious soul. Nevertheless, such an experience is not, of itself, a proof that we have no love to God, especially if devotedness to our family does not cause us to neglect Him.
Love to God is not to be determined by its degree. Some writers have insisted that nothing but unselfish love is worthy of the name - that God must be loved for what He is, and our neighbor as His creature. But there is a love of gratitude as well as of delight, which makes a thankful return unto Him for His great love in Christ. This is expressly stated in 1 John 4:19, "We love Him - because He first loved us." Not only did God's love precede ours, being set upon us when we were entirely loveless - but it is the cause of ours. Not only as the divine power created it in us, but as the motive which we are conscious of in our love.
If our hearts had never been deeply affected by that transcendent love which moved God to give His own Son to die for such hell-deserving wretches as we know ourselves to be - would we have ever had any affection unto Him? No, indeed. Nor is there anything "legalistic" in this, if David hesitated not to leave it on record, "I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my supplications" (Psalm 95:1). I need not be ashamed to own that I love Him because He heard my cry for mercy and washed my sins away by the blood of the Lamb.
Love to God is not to be measured so much by its sensible stirrings or lively acts - as by its solid esteem and settled constitution. Some Christians are naturally more emotional and lively, and therefore more easily stirred. Nor is love to God to be gauged by our feelings - but determined by our purpose of heart and sincere endeavors to please God. Partly because the act may be more lively, where the affection is less firm in the heart. While the flesh remains in the believer, he will be more sensibly stirred by the things which agree with his carnal nature.
Love to God consists in a well-pleasedness in having Him as the soul's all-sufficient portion, of a delight in Him, of satisfaction in Him. Sometimes it is expressed in longings after and yearnings for Him. Sometimes it is declared in speaking well of Him to others. Often it is breathed in prayer and in praise. Occasionally it is revealed in exclamations of wonderment. It is manifested in sincere efforts to please Him, making His glory the purpose and end of our actions, and therefore in detestation of all sin. It appears at its best when, in a time of trial and temporal straitness, its possessor "rejoices in the Lord" (Hab. 3:17-18).
~Arthur Pink~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Looking At The World Through The Cross! (and others)
Looking At The World Through The Cross! (and others)
"May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).
Jesus could accomplish man's redemption in no other way than by crucifixion. He must die - and die the death of the cruel Cross.
What light and glory beam around the Cross!
Of what prodigies of grace, is it the instrument, of what glorious truths, is it the symbol, of what mighty transforming power, is it the source!
Around the Cross gathers all the light of the Old Testament economy: it explains every symbol, it substantiates every shadow, it solves every mystery, it fulfills every type, it confirms every prophecy, of that dispensation which had eternally remained unmeaning and inexplicable, but for the death of the Son of God upon the Cross.
Not the past only - but all future splendor gathers around the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It assures us of the ultimate reign of the Saviour, and tells of the reward which shall spring from His sufferings. And while its one arm points to the divine counsels of eternity past - with the other it points to the future triumph and glory of Christ's kingdom in the eternity to come! Such is the lowly yet sublime, the weak yet mighty instrument, by which the sinner is saved and God eternally glorified.
The Cross of Christ is the grand consummation of all preceding dispensations of God to men; the meritorious procuring cause of all spiritual blessings to our fallen race; the scene of Christ's splendid victories over all His enemies and ours; the most powerful incentive to all evangelical holiness; the instrument which is to subjugate the world to the supremacy of Jesus; the source of all true peace, joy and hope; the tree beneath whose shadow all sin expires, all grace lives.
The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! What a holy thrill these words produce in the heart of those who love the Saviour! How significant is their meaning, how precious is their influence!
Marvelous and irresistible, is the power of the Cross! The Cross of Christ has subdued many a rebellious will; broken many a marble heart; laid low many a vaunting foe; overcome and triumphed, when all other instruments have failed; transformed the lion-like heart of man, into the lamb-like heart of Christ!
When lifted up in its own bare simplicity and inimitable grandeur - the Cross of Christ has won and attracted millions to its faith, admiration, and love!
What a marvelous power does this Cross of Jesus possess! It changes the Christian's entire judgment of the world. Looking at the world through the Cross - his opinion is totally revolutionized.
He sees the world as it really is - a sinful, empty, vain thing. He learns its iniquity, in that it crucified the Lord of life and glory. His expectations from the world, and his love to the world, are transformed. He has found another object of love - the Saviour whom the world cast out and slew. His love to the world is destroyed by that power which alone could destroy it - the crucifing power of the Cross.
It is the Cross which eclipses, in the view of the true believer, the glory and attraction of every other object.
What is the weapon by which faith combats with, and overcomes the world? What but the Cross of Jesus!
Just as the natural eye, gazing for a while upon the sun, is blinded for the moment to all other objects by its overpowering effulgence; so to the believer, concentrating his mind upon the glory of the crucified Saviour, studying closely the wonders of grace and love and truth meeting in the Cross - the world with all its attraction fades into the full darkness of an eclipse.
Christ and His Cross is infinitely better than the world and its trinkets!
"May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).
~Octavius Winslow~
__________________________
Yes, He is Altogether Lovely!
"Yes, He is altogether lovely" (Song of Songs 5:16).
Jesus is most desirable in Himself - and all things that are desirable are in Him. Beauty is in Christ, bounty is in Christ, riches and honor are in Christ. Jesus Christ is the treasure hidden in the gospel, and the pearl of great price. He is the sun in the firmament of the Scriptures, whom to know is everlasting life. He is a spring full of the water of life, a hive of sweetness, a storehouse of riches, a river of pleasures, wherein you may bathe your souls to all eternity! Oh, He is all fullness and sweetness! "He is the chief among ten thousand! (Song of Songs 5:10).
You may go to heaven without health, without wealth, without honor, without pleasure, without friends, without learning, but you can never go to Heaven without Christ! "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
"He loved me - and gave Himself for me!" (Galatians 2:20). All that Christ did and suffered - it is for me!
All that Christ has - is mine!
Christ's love is mine to pity me! Christ's mercy is mine to save me! Christ's graces are mine to beautify me! Christ's power is mine to protect me! Christ's wisdom is mine to counsel me! Christ's Spirit is mine to comfort and guide me! Christ's Word is mine to teach me! Christ's glory is mine to crown me!
Therefore, a grain of saving grace in the heart, is better than a chain of gold around the neck!
~William Dyer~
"May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).
Jesus could accomplish man's redemption in no other way than by crucifixion. He must die - and die the death of the cruel Cross.
What light and glory beam around the Cross!
Of what prodigies of grace, is it the instrument, of what glorious truths, is it the symbol, of what mighty transforming power, is it the source!
Around the Cross gathers all the light of the Old Testament economy: it explains every symbol, it substantiates every shadow, it solves every mystery, it fulfills every type, it confirms every prophecy, of that dispensation which had eternally remained unmeaning and inexplicable, but for the death of the Son of God upon the Cross.
Not the past only - but all future splendor gathers around the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It assures us of the ultimate reign of the Saviour, and tells of the reward which shall spring from His sufferings. And while its one arm points to the divine counsels of eternity past - with the other it points to the future triumph and glory of Christ's kingdom in the eternity to come! Such is the lowly yet sublime, the weak yet mighty instrument, by which the sinner is saved and God eternally glorified.
The Cross of Christ is the grand consummation of all preceding dispensations of God to men; the meritorious procuring cause of all spiritual blessings to our fallen race; the scene of Christ's splendid victories over all His enemies and ours; the most powerful incentive to all evangelical holiness; the instrument which is to subjugate the world to the supremacy of Jesus; the source of all true peace, joy and hope; the tree beneath whose shadow all sin expires, all grace lives.
The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! What a holy thrill these words produce in the heart of those who love the Saviour! How significant is their meaning, how precious is their influence!
Marvelous and irresistible, is the power of the Cross! The Cross of Christ has subdued many a rebellious will; broken many a marble heart; laid low many a vaunting foe; overcome and triumphed, when all other instruments have failed; transformed the lion-like heart of man, into the lamb-like heart of Christ!
When lifted up in its own bare simplicity and inimitable grandeur - the Cross of Christ has won and attracted millions to its faith, admiration, and love!
What a marvelous power does this Cross of Jesus possess! It changes the Christian's entire judgment of the world. Looking at the world through the Cross - his opinion is totally revolutionized.
He sees the world as it really is - a sinful, empty, vain thing. He learns its iniquity, in that it crucified the Lord of life and glory. His expectations from the world, and his love to the world, are transformed. He has found another object of love - the Saviour whom the world cast out and slew. His love to the world is destroyed by that power which alone could destroy it - the crucifing power of the Cross.
It is the Cross which eclipses, in the view of the true believer, the glory and attraction of every other object.
What is the weapon by which faith combats with, and overcomes the world? What but the Cross of Jesus!
Just as the natural eye, gazing for a while upon the sun, is blinded for the moment to all other objects by its overpowering effulgence; so to the believer, concentrating his mind upon the glory of the crucified Saviour, studying closely the wonders of grace and love and truth meeting in the Cross - the world with all its attraction fades into the full darkness of an eclipse.
Christ and His Cross is infinitely better than the world and its trinkets!
"May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).
~Octavius Winslow~
__________________________
Yes, He is Altogether Lovely!
"Yes, He is altogether lovely" (Song of Songs 5:16).
Jesus is most desirable in Himself - and all things that are desirable are in Him. Beauty is in Christ, bounty is in Christ, riches and honor are in Christ. Jesus Christ is the treasure hidden in the gospel, and the pearl of great price. He is the sun in the firmament of the Scriptures, whom to know is everlasting life. He is a spring full of the water of life, a hive of sweetness, a storehouse of riches, a river of pleasures, wherein you may bathe your souls to all eternity! Oh, He is all fullness and sweetness! "He is the chief among ten thousand! (Song of Songs 5:10).
You may go to heaven without health, without wealth, without honor, without pleasure, without friends, without learning, but you can never go to Heaven without Christ! "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
"He loved me - and gave Himself for me!" (Galatians 2:20). All that Christ did and suffered - it is for me!
All that Christ has - is mine!
Christ's love is mine to pity me! Christ's mercy is mine to save me! Christ's graces are mine to beautify me! Christ's power is mine to protect me! Christ's wisdom is mine to counsel me! Christ's Spirit is mine to comfort and guide me! Christ's Word is mine to teach me! Christ's glory is mine to crown me!
Therefore, a grain of saving grace in the heart, is better than a chain of gold around the neck!
~William Dyer~
Saturday, September 1, 2018
God Dwelling With The Contrite
God Dwelling With The Contrite
"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place - and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isaiah 57:15).
There is nothing more remarkable in scripture than its perfect suitability to our needs. It seems to meet us in all our frames of mind, and to adapt itself to all our circumstances. We never to to the Bible for comfort, without finding something to suit our case.
For instance, what can be more cheering to one who is downcast in heart, than these words of the text? They are just what he needs. No human words could so exactly meet his feelings. Considered even as mere words - they are full of comfort. How much more, when we think of them as the words of God!
Yet at first sight there seems something very solemn here, rather than comforting. "Thus says One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity." God is here set forth in His greatness. Can such a one care for a man - a worm of the earth? The next words seem even more discouraging: "whose name is holy." If holy, must He not be displeased with me, a sinner? Can I, as unworthy as I am, hope to be looked upon with favor by the holy God? Thus, to the humble and contrite, these opening words seem to bring anything but hope or comfort.
The same may be said of the words that follow, in which the Almighty begins to speak in His own person: "I dwell in the high and holy place." "Ah, yes!" unbelief and despondency may reply, "in the high and holy place - far out of my reach, in that high place to which I can never attain, in that holy place which such as I cannot enter." To one cast down under a sense of sin - contrite, humble, desponding, these words seem to place God at an infinite distance, and to make Him indeed "a God far away" (Jeremiah 23:23).
But now mark what follows. See how these feelings are met and how God turns the very thought of His power and holiness - into a thought of comfort to the contrite: "I dwell in the high and holy place...and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite."
The greatness and holiness of God are set forth here not to terrify - but to cheer. He, the high and lofty and eternal, "whose name is holy" - is not far off, but near. True, He dwells "in the high and holy place," in the Heaven of heavens, where countless angels worship Him and do His bidding - but He dwells also with the contrite and humble soul. The high and holy place is not more the place of His abode, than is the heart of the meek and contrite. The same word says that He inhabits both.
Take a person deeply humbled, conscience- stricken, truly penitent, earnestly desiring mercy, hardly daring to hope - yet still feebly looking to Christ. That poor downcast heart - what is it? The very palace of the King of kings! He dwells therein. He makes that humble heart the place of His abode. The eye of faith may be so dim that it cannot see Him - yet He is there. He says so: "Also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit."
Is not this cheering? Does it not raise your drooping spirit, to be assured that God knows you, cares for you, dwells with you? And that notwithstanding all your fears, your despondency, your conscious nothingness, your deep unworthiness - yes, even because of them. God is with you - the great and holy God. For He says that He dwells with the contrite, and by His grace you are such.
But the words that follow are more comforting still. Why does God dwell with the contrite? "To revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite." It is not His will that you should go on always as you are. He would have you always be humble - but not desponding; always contrite - but not always downcast. He comes to cheer you, and that not outwardly, but inwardly. These fears and misgivings which try you so greatly - He comes to take away. Those doubts of the reality of your religion, these suspicions of your own sincerity - He comes to answer. He comes to speak by the Spirit - pardon, hope, and peace. He comes to encourage you and to show you His love for you.
Aim at being strong in faith. Realize your Saviour's presence, power and love. Trust Him fully. Look up to Him continually, and believe He is with you. His presence will draw you nearer to Him as your only comfort, rest, and strength, your stronghold in the day of trouble. The humble and contrite, with whom God dwells - have in Him an unfailing friend who loves you throughout all eternity.
How precious is prayer at such times! The soul draws near to God - and God draws near to it. The trouble, the fear, the secret thoughts of apprehension, is told to God; and an answer seems to come, and it is felt anew that "the high and lofty One" does indeed dwell with the humble and contrite who seek Him.
The proud and self-righteous, the careless and impenitent - can know nothing of this. For these are blessings for the contrite - and for them alone. Yet the contrite were impenitent once - and the humble were proud and haughty. It is the sovereign grace of God alone which has changed them and brought them down. Losses, disappointments, and trials; pain of body, and grief of mind - what are they in numberless instances? Judgments? No, mercies - and mercies in disguise, the best of mercies, sent by God in order to bring down pride, and soften hardness of heart, and lead the sufferer to Christ in penitence and faith; that so He may visit him and bless him and cause him to know His redeeming love.
~Francis Bourdillon~
(The End)
"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place - and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isaiah 57:15).
There is nothing more remarkable in scripture than its perfect suitability to our needs. It seems to meet us in all our frames of mind, and to adapt itself to all our circumstances. We never to to the Bible for comfort, without finding something to suit our case.
For instance, what can be more cheering to one who is downcast in heart, than these words of the text? They are just what he needs. No human words could so exactly meet his feelings. Considered even as mere words - they are full of comfort. How much more, when we think of them as the words of God!
Yet at first sight there seems something very solemn here, rather than comforting. "Thus says One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity." God is here set forth in His greatness. Can such a one care for a man - a worm of the earth? The next words seem even more discouraging: "whose name is holy." If holy, must He not be displeased with me, a sinner? Can I, as unworthy as I am, hope to be looked upon with favor by the holy God? Thus, to the humble and contrite, these opening words seem to bring anything but hope or comfort.
The same may be said of the words that follow, in which the Almighty begins to speak in His own person: "I dwell in the high and holy place." "Ah, yes!" unbelief and despondency may reply, "in the high and holy place - far out of my reach, in that high place to which I can never attain, in that holy place which such as I cannot enter." To one cast down under a sense of sin - contrite, humble, desponding, these words seem to place God at an infinite distance, and to make Him indeed "a God far away" (Jeremiah 23:23).
But now mark what follows. See how these feelings are met and how God turns the very thought of His power and holiness - into a thought of comfort to the contrite: "I dwell in the high and holy place...and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite."
The greatness and holiness of God are set forth here not to terrify - but to cheer. He, the high and lofty and eternal, "whose name is holy" - is not far off, but near. True, He dwells "in the high and holy place," in the Heaven of heavens, where countless angels worship Him and do His bidding - but He dwells also with the contrite and humble soul. The high and holy place is not more the place of His abode, than is the heart of the meek and contrite. The same word says that He inhabits both.
Take a person deeply humbled, conscience- stricken, truly penitent, earnestly desiring mercy, hardly daring to hope - yet still feebly looking to Christ. That poor downcast heart - what is it? The very palace of the King of kings! He dwells therein. He makes that humble heart the place of His abode. The eye of faith may be so dim that it cannot see Him - yet He is there. He says so: "Also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit."
Is not this cheering? Does it not raise your drooping spirit, to be assured that God knows you, cares for you, dwells with you? And that notwithstanding all your fears, your despondency, your conscious nothingness, your deep unworthiness - yes, even because of them. God is with you - the great and holy God. For He says that He dwells with the contrite, and by His grace you are such.
But the words that follow are more comforting still. Why does God dwell with the contrite? "To revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite." It is not His will that you should go on always as you are. He would have you always be humble - but not desponding; always contrite - but not always downcast. He comes to cheer you, and that not outwardly, but inwardly. These fears and misgivings which try you so greatly - He comes to take away. Those doubts of the reality of your religion, these suspicions of your own sincerity - He comes to answer. He comes to speak by the Spirit - pardon, hope, and peace. He comes to encourage you and to show you His love for you.
Aim at being strong in faith. Realize your Saviour's presence, power and love. Trust Him fully. Look up to Him continually, and believe He is with you. His presence will draw you nearer to Him as your only comfort, rest, and strength, your stronghold in the day of trouble. The humble and contrite, with whom God dwells - have in Him an unfailing friend who loves you throughout all eternity.
How precious is prayer at such times! The soul draws near to God - and God draws near to it. The trouble, the fear, the secret thoughts of apprehension, is told to God; and an answer seems to come, and it is felt anew that "the high and lofty One" does indeed dwell with the humble and contrite who seek Him.
The proud and self-righteous, the careless and impenitent - can know nothing of this. For these are blessings for the contrite - and for them alone. Yet the contrite were impenitent once - and the humble were proud and haughty. It is the sovereign grace of God alone which has changed them and brought them down. Losses, disappointments, and trials; pain of body, and grief of mind - what are they in numberless instances? Judgments? No, mercies - and mercies in disguise, the best of mercies, sent by God in order to bring down pride, and soften hardness of heart, and lead the sufferer to Christ in penitence and faith; that so He may visit him and bless him and cause him to know His redeeming love.
~Francis Bourdillon~
(The End)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)