Jan 22
24
If the possession of heaven could be obtained with only a single act of goodness, never to all eternity should I find it. “When I would do good, evil is present with me.” Oh! Then for grace to know Thee, to love Thee, to follow Thee, as my only good; my hope, my righteousness, my portion forever! Amen!
~Robert Hawker
A Sad but Evident Fact
Down through the years there have been many men and women who have heard the truth, and have apprehended the truth, but who have never been apprehended by the truth. They have “gotten hold of the truth,” but the truth has never “gotten hold of them!”
This is evidenced by the fact that they are able to compromise the truth or turn away from it completely. I have seen some turn from the truth of God to fables and commandments of men (II Tim. 4:4; Titus 1:14). Others I have seen turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness, denying the power of God and His grace in the believer’s heart (Jude 4). Still others, like Demas, I have observed going altogether back to this present, evil world (II Tim. 4:10). It would have been much better for them had they never had the privilege of hearing the gospel, than to have heard it and turned away from it (II Peter 2:20-22).
Concerning the truth; that is, the salvation of guilty, hell-deserving sinners by Jesus Christ, there is not the slightest doubt in my mind (and heart) but that what I believe, confess and preach (what we believe) is the truth of Scripture. We have “gotten hold” of that truth, and thus far, by the grace of God, have not been able to compromise or turn away from it. That is because the truth has “gotten hold” of our souls. Christ crucified is no mere doctrine to us. HE IS OUR LIFE!
“Keep us Lord, O keep us cleaving To Thyself, and still believing.”
~Maurice Montgomery
“They are of those that rebel against the light.” Job 24:13
Octavius Winslow
So far from cooperating with the Spirit in the new creation, the natural man presents every resistance and opposition to it. There is not only a passive aversion to, but there is an active resistance of, the work. The stream of man’s natural inclinations runs counter to all holiness. A strong and steady current has set in against God and all that God loves. The pride of reason, the perverseness of the will, the enmity of the mind, the heart’s love of sin, all are up in arms against the entrance of the Holy Spirit. Satan, the great enemy of God and man, has been too long in quiet and undisturbed possession of the soul, to resign his dominion without a strong and a fearful struggle to maintain it. When the Spirit of God knocks at the door of the heart, every ally is summoned by the “strong man armed” to “quench the Spirit,” and bar and bolt each avenue to his entrance. All is alarm, agitation, and commotion within. There is a danger of being dispossessed, and every argument, persuasion, and contrivance must be resorted to, in order to retain the long-undisputed throne. The world is summoned to throw out its most enticing bait—ambition, wealth, literary and political distinction, pleasure in her thousand forms of fascination and power—all are made to pass, as in review, before the mind. The flesh, exerts its influence—the love of sin is appealed to, affection for some long-cherished lust, some long-indulged habit, some “fond amusement,” some darling taste—these, inspired with new vigour, are summoned to the rescue. Thus Satan, the world, and the flesh are opposed to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, in the great work of spiritual regeneration. Oh let no individual be so deceived as to believe, that when God the Eternal Spirit enters the soul, He finds the temple swept, and garnished, and prepared for His reception—that without the exercise of His own omnipotent and irresistible power, the heart bounds to welcome Him, the reason bows submissively to His government, and the will yields an instant and humble compliance. Oh no! if He that is in the regenerate were not greater and more powerful than he that is in the world, such is the enmity of the heart to God, such the supreme control which Satan exerts over the whole empire of man, God would be forever shut out, and the soul forever lost. See how clearly regeneration is proved to be the work of the Spirit. God has written it as with a sunbeam, “that we are His workmanship,” and that the Eternal Spirit is the mighty agent.
The masterpiece!
Spurgeon, “THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN LIGHT”
The glorious Son of God condescends to become the
atonement for sin– He is taken to the tree; our sins are made
to meet upon his blessed head, and there he dies the just for
the unjust. He was made sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.
Standing by the tree of doom, we look up to that blessed
Saviour with all-absorbing admiration and love. We admire him
as the masterpiece of divine wisdom, grace, power, and truth;
and, admiring, we love him; we pledge ourselves to him.
Joy, joy, joy for ever! The brightest day that ever dawned on
us was that day when we saw all our sins numbered on our blessed
Scapegoat and carried away into the wilderness of forgetfulness!
Henceforth we live for Christ!
Henceforth our chief glory is the cross!
Henceforth our best ideal of glory for ourselves
is to see Jesus glorified!
The torrents have swept us away!
We are no longer bound to this earth!
We are borne along by the irresistible force of eternal love!
Walking with Jesus
(Letters of John Newton)
When I speak of walking with Jesus, my idea is helped by considering how it was with His first disciples—they lived in His presence! While He stayed in a place, they stayed; and when He moved, they went with Him. Having Him thus always near, always in view—the sight of Him undoubtedly gave a composure to their whole behaviour; and was a check upon their eyes, their tongues, and their actions!
When they had hard questions upon their minds, they did not puzzle themselves with vain reasonings. When they were in need, they looked to Him for a supply. When they had difficulties and dangers—they little doubted of deliverance, knowing that He was with them.
Just so, I need a faith that shall have such an abiding, experimental conviction of His nearness and presence—as if I actually saw Him! “Lord, increase my faith!”
Surely, if He were now upon earth and I expected a visit from Him this afternoon, my heart would bound at the thought! With what a mixture of joy and fear would I open the door to receive Him! How cautious would I be not to do or say anything that might grieve Him, and shorten His stay with me! And how gladly, if He gave me permission to speak, would I catch the opportunity of telling Him all my concerns! Surely I would be unwilling to let Him go until He had healed the wounds in my soul, and renewed my spiritual strength; until He had taught me better how to serve Him, and promised to support me in His service. And if I heard Him say with an audible voice, “Though they fight against you they shall not prevail, for I am always with you to deliver you!” I would bid adieu to fear!
But, alas, my unbelieving heart! Are not these things true, even at present? Is He not as near and as kind? Have I not the same reasons and the same encouragement to set Him always before me—and to tell Him . . .
all my needs,
all my fears, and
all my troubles—
as if I saw Him with my bodily eyes!
“Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age!” Matthew 28:20
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you!” Hebrews 13:5
Faith, in its practical exercise
(John Newton’s Letters)
That faith which justifies:
purifies the heart,
works by love, and
overcomes the world.
That faith which justifies the soul, does likewise
receive grace from Jesus, whereby the heart is
purified, and the life regulated as befits the
Gospel of Christ.
Faith is of great use and importance in the daily
concerns of life. Faith gives evidence and reality
to things not seen, and realizes the great truths
of the Gospel–so that they become abiding and
living principles of support and direction while
we are passing through this wilderness.
It is a believer’s privilege to walk with God in the
exercise of faith, and, by the power of His Spirit,
to mortify the whole body of sin, to gain a growing
victory over the world and self, and to make daily
advances in conformity to the mind of Christ.
Faith, in its practical exercise, has for its object
the whole word of God; and forms its estimate of all
things with which the soul is at present concerned,
according to the standard of Scripture.
When our Lord was upon earth, and conversed with
His disciples, their eyes and hearts were fixed upon
Him. In danger He was their defender; their guide
when in perplexity; and to Him they looked for the
solution of all their doubts, and the supply of all their
needs. He is now withdrawn from our eyes; but faith
sets Him still before us, for the same purposes, and,
with the same effects, as if we actually saw Him!
His spiritual presence, apprehended by faith, is . . .
a restraint from evil,
an encouragement to every service, and
affords a present refuge and help in every time of trouble.
The duty, the privilege, the safety, the unspeakable happiness!
(John Newton)
“Looking unto Jesus!” Hebrews 12:2
Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ!
Look unto Him as He hung exposed, wounded, bleeding, dead, and forsaken upon the cross!
Look unto Him again as He now reigns in glory, possessed of all power in Heaven and in earth, with thousands of thousands of saints and angels worshiping Him! And then compare . . .
your sins — with His blood,
your needs — with His fullness,
your unbelief — with His faithfulness,
your weakness — with His strength,
your inconstancy — with His everlasting love!
If the Lord opens the eyes of your understanding, you would be astonished at the comparison!
“Looking unto Jesus” is the duty, the privilege, the safety, the unspeakable happiness, of a believer — are all comprised in that one sentence!
It is by looking to Jesus, that the believer is enlightened and strengthened, and grows in grace and sanctification.
THE MASTER PASSION
Spurgeon, “The Believer A New Creature”
He who believes in Christ, finding himself completely
pardoned as the result of his faith in the precious blood of
Jesus, loves Christ, and loves the God who gave Christ to
be his redemption.
That love now becomes a master passion!
We have all heard of the expulsive power of a new affection-
this new affection of love to God coming into the soul, expels
love to sin.
It enters into the heart of man with such a royal majesty
about it that it puts down all his predispositions towards
evil, and his prejudices against the Most High, and with
a real and divine power it reigns within the soul.
The sum & substance of all vital godliness
J.C.Philpot
A profession of religion, without a real experimental knowledge of Christ—is but a deceit or a delusion. There is a solid reality and enduring substance in the divine teachings and gracious operations of the blessed Spirit in the heart. “Possession and enjoyment”—personal possession, and spiritual, experimental enjoyment—of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ—of the love of God—and of the communion of the Holy Spirit—is the peculiar privilege and supreme blessedness of the children of God. This is also the soul of all true religion—and the sum and substance of all vital godliness. I desire to know nothing in my own soul but what God is pleased to teach me out of the Scriptures by His blessed Spirit, that I may apprehend, firmly grasp, inwardly seize, blessedly realize, and experimentally enjoy Christ!
The more lovely does Jesus appear!
The poor believer feels, “I continually find all kinds
of evil working in my mind; every base corruption
crawling in my heart; everything vile, sensual, and
filthy rising up from its abominable deeps. Can I
think that God can look down in love and mercy
on such a wretch?”
When we see . . .
our vileness,
our baseness,
our carnality,
our sensuality,
how our souls cleave to dust,
how we grovel in evil and hateful things,
how dark our minds,
how earthly our affections,
how depraved our hearts,
how strong our lusts,
how raging our passions;
we feel ourselves, at times, no more
fit for God than Satan himself!
“You see, at just the right time, when we were
utterly helpless, Christ died for the ungodly!”
Romans 5:6
Christ does not justify those who are naturally
righteous, holy, and religious.
But He takes the sinner as he is, in all his filth
and guilt; washes him in the fountain opened
for sin and uncleanness; and clothes the naked
shivering wretch, who has nothing to cover him
but filthy rags, in His own robe of righteousness!
The gospel of the grace of God brings glad tidings . . .
of pardon to the criminal,
of mercy to the guilty, and
of salvation to the lost!
That the holy God should look down in love on
wretches that deserve the damnation of hell; that
the pure and spotless Jehovah should pity, save,
and bless enemies and rebels, and make them
endless partakers of His own glory; this indeed
is a mystery, the depth of which eternity itself
will not fathom!
The deeper we sink in self-abasement under a
sense of our vileness, the higher we rise in a
knowledge of Christ. And the blacker we are
in our own view, the more lovely does Jesus
appear!
J C Philpott
TRUE HOLINESS
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”-John 3:6
There is no promise made that we shall be set free in this life from the in-being and the in-working of sin. Many think that they are to become progressively holier and holier, that sin after sin is to be removed gradually out of the heart, until at last they are almost perfect in the flesh. But this is an idle dream, and one which, sooner or later in the case of God’s people, will be rudely and roughly broken to pieces. Nature will ever remain the same; and we shall ever find that the flesh will lust against the spirit. Our Adam nature is corrupt to the very core. It cannot be mended, it cannot be satisfied, it is at the last what it was at the first, inherently evil, and such will never cease to be corrupt till we put off mortality, and with it the body of sin and death. All we can hope for, long after, expect, and pray for is that this evil nature may be subdued, kept down, mortified, crucified, and held in subjection under the power of grace. But as to any such change passing upon it or taking place in it as to make it holy, it is but a pharisaic delusion, which, promising a holiness in the flesh, leaves us still under the power of sin while it opposes with deadly enmity that true sanctification of the new man of grace, which is wrought by a divine power and is utterly distinct from any fancied holiness in the flesh or any vain dream of its progressive sanctification. J. C. Philpot