Oct 25
14
Our work is great—our time is short—and the consequences of our labours are infinite.
John Newton
It is astonishing that I should so be one with Christ, that all that He is becomes mine; and all that I am becomes His!
His glory mine; my humiliation His!
His righteousness mine; my guilt His!
His joy mine; my sorrow His!
His riches mine; my poverty His!
His life mine; my death His!
His heaven mine; my hell His!
The daily walk of faith is a continuous development of the wonders of this wondrous truth. That in traveling to Him empty; I should return from Him full. That in going to Him weak; I should come away from Him strong. That in bending my steps to Him in all darkness, perplexity, and grief; I should retrace them all light, and joy, and gladness.
Octavius Winslow
Adored be the grace which . . .
keeps us from falling, seeks us when we are
wandering,
heals our soul-sicknesses, and
pardons our innumerable follies.
John Newton
Why did Jesus Christ Die?
Contrary to popular opinion, Jesus Christ did not die on the cross to make an offer of salvation, to be accepted or rejected by men. He died to make Himself an offering to His Father for the sins of His people. Heb.9:14. He died to satisfy God’s holy justice and put away the sins of His people by the sacrifice of Himself. Heb.9:26. His Father saw the “travail of His soul and was satisfied”. Is.53:11. His resurrection from the dead is proof that He accomplished exactly what He came to do.
Greg Elmquist
If I am redeemed from eternal
misery by the blood of Jesus, and if He is now preparing a mansion for me near
Himself, that I may drink of the rivers of pleasure at His right hand for
evermore; then the question ought not to be: How may I pass through life with
the least inconvenience?
Rather, the question should be: How may my little span of life
be made most subservient to the praise and glory of Him who loved me and gave
Himself for me?
John Newton
The
only smile worth having
(J.C.Philpot)
All the vain applause of mortals, and all
that is called popularity, I think little of.
It leaves an aching void, and often a guilty
conscience. The blessing of the Lord makes
rich, and all else is poverty, rags, and shame.
Not he who commends himself is approved,
but whom the Lord commends. God’s smile,
not man’s, is the only smile worth
having.
More scarce and precious than a bar of gold!
from Octavius Winslow’s, “The Redeemer, the
Revelation of the Father’s Glory” October, 1844
“Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord God,
that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water,
but of hearing the words of
the Lord:“
Amos 8:11
Already has this famine of the true word of God commenced!
How few, forming their ministry upon the apostolic
model, can affirm with Paul, “My speech and my
preaching are not with enticing words of man’s wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power!”
How few, disdaining artificial embellishment, and
scorning the applause of men won by a vain show
of intellect and eloquence, preach that simple truth
of which Jesus is the Author, the Substance, the
Glory, the Power, and the End; purely, boldly,
faithfully, affectionately, uncompromisingly!
How few who honestly and heartily desire to lift up
their Lord and Master; themselves lost behind the
glory of His person and the splendours of His cross!
How sadly, how painfully, is the Lord Jesus Christ
kept in the background! How is His glory obscured,
His beauty veiled, His honour withheld!
“The time will come, when a faithful minister
of the Gospel will be more
scarce and precious
than a bar of gold!”
John Owen
“Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord God,
that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water,
but of hearing the words of
the Lord:“
Amos 8:11
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27
Christian, your whole life
is to be one continuous following of the Lord.
You began with turning your back upon the world, and ‘looking to
Jesus’; keep ever thus. Looking to Him brought rest to you at first, and healed
your soul; so, looking to Him daily will maintain your rest and perfect your
spiritual health.
Christian, should your eye ever be withdrawn from the cross, you will be sure to go backwards, to grow cold, and to forget that you were purged from your old sins (2 Peter 1:9). That cross is life, health, holiness, consolation, strength, joy; let nothing come between it and you.
Christian, your life is a book; it may be a volume of larger or smaller size. Conversion is but the title-page or the preface. The book itself remains to be written; and your years and weeks and days are its chapters and pages and lines. It is a book written for eternity; see that it be written well. It is a book for the inspection of enemies as well as friends; be careful of every word. It is a book written under the eye of God; let it be done reverently; without levity, yet without constraint or terror.
The grace of God is your strength, as it is your joy; and it is only by abiding in it that you can really live the life of the redeemed. Be strong, then, in this grace; draw your joy out of it; and beware how you turn to anything else for refreshment, or comfort, or holiness. Though a believing man, you are still a sinner; a sinner to the last; and, as such, nothing can suit you but the free love of God. Draw continually on Christ and His fullness for this grace. This abounding grace, rightly understood, will not make you sin; it will not relax morality or make inconsistency a trifle. It will magnify sin and enhance its evil in your eyes.
Horatius Bonar
If I wash myself with snow
By nature, man knows nothing of the purity and perfection of God—or the deep sinfulness and corruption of the creature. There is a veil over man’s heart—a veil of ignorance—of delusion—of unbelief—of self-deception as regards the nature of sin. No man is vitally and experimentally acquainted with—its hideous nature—its awful depths—its subtlety—its workings—its movements—its cravings—its lustings—the heights to which it rises—the depths to which it sinks.
But when the Lord the Spirit takes a man really and vitally in hand—and He truly begins His sovereign work of grace upon the soul—He commences by opening up to the astonished eyes of the sinner, something of the real nature of sin. He not only shows him the huge, high, wide-spreading branches of sin—but bids him look down and see how deeply-rooted sin is in his very being—that sin is not an accident—a faint blot that may soon be washed out—a something on the surface, like a skin disease that may be healed by a simple ointment. He shows him that sin is seated in his very bones—that this deep-rooted malady has taken possession of him—that he is a sinner to his very heart’s core—that every thought, every word, every action of man’s whole being—is one mass of sin, filth, and pollution.
And if he attempts, as most awakened sinners do attempt—to purify himself—to ease his guilt by lopping off a few external branches—if he attempts to wash himself clean from iniquity, the Spirit will teach him the meaning of Job’s words, “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch and mine own clothes shall abhor me.” (Job 9:30, 31). Until at last God brings him to this spot—that he is a sinner throughout—yes, that he is the chief of sinners—that every evil lodges in his heart—and the seed of every crime dwells in his fallen nature. When a man is brought here, he is brought to the place of the stopping of mouths—his own righteousness is effectually cut to pieces—his hopes of salvation by his works are completely removed from under him. Those rotten props are cut away by the hand of the Spirit from the sinking soul, that he may fall into himself one mass of confusion and ruin.
And until he is brought here, he really can know nothing—of a free-grace salvation—of the superaboundings of grace over the aboundings of sin—of God’s electing love—of Christ’s substitution and suretyship—of His atoning blood—of His justifying righteousness—of His dying love. He can know nothing of the rich provisions of almighty power and eternal mercy that are lodged in the fullness of Christ. He has—no eyes to see—no ears to hear—no heart to feel—no arms to embrace a whole Christ—a precious Christ, a Saviour from the wrath to come—who has stood in the sinner’s place and stead—made full atonement for sin—fulfilled the law—brought in everlasting righteousness—and justified the ungodly!
J.C.Philpot
Who Has Ears to Hear?
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him.” – Luke 14:35-15:1
Who was it that needed ears to hear? All of the publicans and sinners. If I am hearing the Gospel, and receiving no blessing, it is because I am not hearing as a sinner! Not hearing as a sinner prevents me from hearing the Gospel as Good News. It is only hearing as a sinner that I can discern error where it is preached. When I am not hearing as a sinner, salvation by works is palpable to me. It is only hearing as a sinner that the Gospel is Good News and the error of salvation by works can be discerned. Whatever objections one may have to this, it is still taught in this passage. If we ever grow beyond, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am (not was) chief,” we are rendered unable to hear the Gospel or discern a false gospel. ~Todd Nibert
It is astonishing that I should so be one with Christ, that all that He is becomes mine; and all that I am becomes His!
His glory mine; my humiliation His!
His righteousness mine; my guilt His!
His joy mine; my sorrow His!
His riches mine; my poverty His!
His life mine; my death His!
His heaven mine; my hell His!
The daily walk of faith is a continuous development of the wonders of this wondrous truth. That in traveling to Him empty; I should return from Him full. That in going to Him weak; I should come away from Him strong. That in bending my steps to Him in all darkness, perplexity, and grief; I should retrace them all light, and joy, and gladness.
Octavius Winslow
Godly Fear
Every believer fears the removal of God’s presence and power. David prayed “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11) Paul feared that, “while preaching to others, I might be found a castaway.” (1 Cor. 9:27) My thoughts are that this condition is manifested in the following ways:
1. We begin to experience no blessing nor benefit from reading or preaching of the Word. When the Word ceases to convict, rebuke, burn in my heart, ands cause me to rejoice in Christ, then God is not speaking to me; for God speaks through His Word.
2. We are in trouble when we feel satisfied with our spiritual progress and become puffed up with knowledge. We become authorities instead of leaners; having arrived, our humble spirit is in creed alone, not experience.
3. We can be absent from the fellowship of believers and worship of the Lord without feeling a great loss and an empty heart. A man who can be warmed by his own fire isn either dead or dying spiritually.
4. We begin to be critics and find fault in others. The Spirit of God leads a man to feel that he is “less than the least,” the “chief of sinners.” When the Spirit of God is not present, we become judges and fault finders.
5. When our souls are not vexed by the sin within us and the conversation of men about us, when we3 can feel comfortable in the presence of those who never knew our God, when we can conform to the ways of natural men and the trend off materialism, the light of God is dim or extinguished.
6. When our thoughts become self-centred and the general welfare, well-being, and joy of others is of no great concern to us, we are certainly not motivated by the Spirit of God. Selfishness, like self righteousness, is not of God. The heart filled with God’s love and grace dwell on others; rot make them happy is to be happy.
Henry Mahan