Jul 25
27
If the truths of God are obscured, the perfections of God are obscured, and God is represented in a false light; and consequently I am led to entertain false ideas of God, and to set up a false god in my own imagination, which will float and vary just as I do. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you,” Psalm 50:21, 22.
False prophets lead to false doctrines, false doctrines lead to false gods; and their false gods lead them to false devils, and devils led them to hell. And so it is now; for, if you obscure, or cast a false light upon any essential truth, you obscure an attribute of God that shines in that truth; for all his perfections shine in his word; and hence it is that he has “magnified his word above all his name,” Psalm 138:2. And, by obscuring God’s truths, or setting them forth in a false light, they have obscured the tremendous and illustrious attributes of the MOST HIGH AND ETERNAL GOD.
William Huntington
I am THE way
The Lord did not say, follow me, and I will show you the way. He said I AM the way. The way to where? The eternal glory and presence of God in Heaven! The One who is himself holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, was made higher than the heavens. Heb. 7:26. He alone is qualified for heaven. We don’t follow him there. We must enter that holy place, “In Him”. If we are to be found in heaven, we must be found in Christ.
Greg Elmquist
“Look unto Me and be ye saved…”
Is. 45:22
Don’t look for love, or peace, or comfort, or hope, or assurance. All those things can be counterfeited with cheap substitutes. Look for Christ. With Him will come all that we want and all that we need.
Greg Elmquist
In Christ there is no further perfection to attain. In Christ, a sinner is made to be everything that God requires him to be. In Christ, wisdom is complete, righteousness is complete, sanctification is complete, and redemption is complete. To know Him is to know it all, and to have Him is to have it all. In Christ, we are as perfectly complete as we will ever be (I Corinthians 1:30).
Gabe Stalnaker
It would greatly comfort all God’s people, if they would rely more upon the promise, covenant, and oath of God, and less on their own frames of mind and heart. Our feelings vary with a thousand influences; but the covenant of God is sure and unchangeable.
~William Plumer
Who can express fully the blessings of these words: “In Christ?” To be “in Christ” means to be chosen “in Him before the foundation of the world.” To be “in Christ” means that there is now “no condemnation,” accepted “in the Beloved,” and “complete in Him.” It means that “as He is, so are we in this world.” (Romans 8:1, Ephesians 1:6, Colossians 2:10 and 1 John 4:17.) It means everything to be “in Christ.”
David Pledger
The Law Reveals Sin
If I measure a crooked wall with a perfect plumb line, it reveals the crookedness of the wall, but does not remove it. If I take out a bright light on a dark night, it reveals to me all the pitfalls and hindrances, but it does not remove them. Now the plumb line and the lamp do not create the evils which they point out. They neither create nor remove, but simply reveal. So it is with the law. It does not create the evil in man’s heart; neither does it remove it. But with unerring accuracy, it reveals it. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Let it not be! Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7.
Scott Richardson
The Riches of His Grace
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” – Ephesians 1:7
Is anything on earth of greater value than the riches of God’s grace? When my life here has come down to only a few minutes more, what could be worth more to me at that time than the riches of His grace? And when I leave this world and stand before the holy Lord God, how precious will be the riches of His grace then? Sinners are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, according to the riches of His grace. Sinners enjoy the blessed reality of the forgiveness of all their sins according to the riches of His grace. And when this sinner enters heaven itself and looks into the face of Jesus Christ, it will be according to the riches of His grace! How can all the riches of this world compare to that?
Larry Criss
How faint the best praise! How wandering the best prayer! How selfish the best gift! When we feel that we are nearest to God, how far off we are! When we feel that we are most like God, how unlike God we are! What did the apostle say? “When I am weak then am I strong.” Our strength is always Christ, never in anything we are or do.
Henry Mahan
Peace, peace!
(J. C. Philpot, from his ‘Reviews’)
For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people
slightly,
saying, Peace, peace; when there is no
peace. Jeremiah 8:11
How Jeremiah testifies against those prophets
who prophesy smooth things—who prophesy
deceits—who know not the way of the Lord,
nor have walked in His counsel.
There is no greater mark of false ministers given
in the word of truth, than healing the wound of God’s
people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace!” when there
is no peace.
If we carefully read the book of Jeremiah, we shall
see that the great sin and the chief deception of all
the false prophets who sprang up in scores during the
period of his ministry, was to build up the people in a
false hope—to assure them that they had no reason
to fear the judgments of God—that the Lord would
not execute against them what He threatened. They
therefore hardened the people in sin and disobedience,
led them to trifle with and despise the judgments of God,
and built them up in a false confidence that, because they
were the people of God by external profession, they were
His also by regenerating grace.
If our eyes were fully open to see the effect of the false
teaching of our day, we would see it equally dishonouring
to God—and pregnant with equally awful consequences.
We would see hundreds of dead professors built up
without a foundation of repentance toward God. We
would see sin made a little matter of—the awful anger
of the Almighty against it, and His dreadful indignation
against transgressors passed by as a thing of little
importance. We would see the strait and narrow path
widened out in all directions—and the distinguishing
truths of the gospel beaten down and amalgamated
with the grossest errors.
“My Peace I Give Unto You”
John 14:27
Here is a peace that transcends all others, a peace that “passeth understanding.” It is the peace which the man Christ Jesus enjoyed perfectly and fully when he lived upon this earth. And it is a peace which he freely bestows upon his believing people in this world.
WHAT IS THIS PEACE?
(1.) It is the peace of a conscience that never felt a shadow of a sense of guilt; the peace of a man who knew no sin.
(2.) It is the peace of a man who was always perfectly submissive and obedient to the will of God, one who could always truthfully say, “I delight to do thy will, O my God!”
(3.) It is the peace of a man who was assured of both his sonship and his immutable acceptance with God the Father, the peace of one who heard God declare, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
(4.) It is the peace of one who was assured of everlasting life and eternal glory, while living in this world. And
(5.) it is a peace that could never be destroyed, or taken away. It was tempted in the wilderness, but not destroyed.It was subjected to poverty, pain, persecution, sorrow, and bereavement, but not broken. It was tried in the garden of Gethsemane, but not taken away.
This is the peace of the man Christ Jesus. Ands this is Christ’s gift to his own. What a priceless treasure! And it is the earnest of an even greater peace to come. Great as this peace is, it cannot even be compared to the peace that our Saviour now has in heaven, the peace that he holds in store for his own elect.
HOW CAN I HAVE THIS PEACE? It is a peace that only Christ can give. But it is a peace he has promised to give to all who come to him in faith (Matt. 11:28). Horatius Bonar wrote, “The result of our `receiving Him,’ or `believing on his name,’ is to bring us into that same state of conscience and that same kind of peace which He who knew no sin possessed. Our vessels are indeed small, and can contain little. His was large and could contain much. But the kind, or quality of that peace which fills them is the same. He has made peace by the blood of His cross. Indeed, He is our peace. And as soon as we come to know this and take Him as our peace, we are made partakers not merely of peace, but of that which He here calls, `my peace!'” What a blessed gift of grace!
Don Fortner
Engraved!
(by John MacDuff)
“Behold! I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands!”
Isaiah 49:16
“Behold,” says Immutable One, “I have engraved you
on the palms of My hands!”
Not on the mountains, as colossal as they are — for they shall depart;
on no page of nature’s vast volume — for the last fires shall scorch them;
not on blazing sun — for he shall grow dim with age;
not on glorious heavens — for they shall be folded together as a scroll.
But on . . .
the hands of might and love,
the hands which made the worlds,
the hands which were transfixed on Calvary,
— I have engraved you there!
No corroding power can efface the writing, or obliterate your name!
You are Mine now — and Mine forever!
“I give unto them eternal life;
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand.“ John
10:28
A SIGHT OF SELF
from Spurgeon’s, “A SIGHT OF SELF”
“all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…” Isaiah 64:6
There is sin in our prayers- they need to be prayed over again.
There is filth in the very tears that we shed in penitence.
There is sin in our very holiness.
There is unbelief in our faith.
There is hatred in our very love.
There is the ‘slime of the serpent’ upon
the fairest flower of our garden.
I am sure when the soul is convinced of sin it will look upon
‘self-righteousness’ as the most detestable lie that ever was
forged by hell; and it will regard all ‘self-confidence’ as the
most frightful delusion and deception into which the soul can fall.
Trust in our ‘doings’, brethren? If our ‘best works’ are bad,
and so bad that they are as filthy rags, what must our ‘bad works’ be?
“all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…” Isaiah 64:6
He may talk like an angel, and
live like a devil.
(Philpot, “Abounding of Love in Knowledge and Experience”)
There is “a knowledge of the things of God” which a
man may possess without a personal experience of
the new birth–without any divine operation upon his
soul whatever, or any participation of the grace of God.
>From reading the scriptures and hearing the Gospel
preached, many attain to a carnal, intellectual,
barren head knowledge of the truth; who, as to
any experimental, vital, saving acquaintance
with it, are still in the very gall of bitterness and
the bond of iniquity.
A man may have the ‘knowledge of an apostle‘
and the ‘worldliness of a Demas‘.
He may be clear in head, and rotten in heart.
He may talk like an angel, and live like a devil.
He may understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and be nothing but a hypocrite and an impostor.
In our day such characters abound in the churches.
But distinct from this “head knowledge”, as distinct
from it as heaven from hell, there is a most blessed
“spiritual knowledge” of the things of God, with
which the people of God are favoured.
“Then He opened their understanding that they might
understand the Scriptures.” Luke 24:45
“Then Were The Disciples Glad”
John 20:20
The disciples were a band of poor men and women, disowned and disinherited by their families, maligned by their neighbors, and persecuted for their faith. They had nothing of this world’s comforts. They met in secrecy, behind closed doors, for fear of the Jews. Yet, something made them glad. When the Lord Jesus revealed himself to them, spoke peace to them, and showed them his hands and his side, “Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD.” When they saw their redemption accomplished by Christ and realized the love and grace it revealed, they were glad. What makes you glad?
Don Fortner