Oct 25
14
2 Tim. 1:12. I know WHOM I have believed…
The WHAT of the Gospel, (the historical events concerning the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ); and even the WHY of the Gospel, (the precious doctrinal truths concerning sovereign election, effectual atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints); are all things men can learn from an honest study of the Bible. The WHO of the Gospel, (the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ) can only be known by Divine Revelation. This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Greg Elmquist
How little we understand of God’s dealings with us! If we suffer the slightest set-back in this world’s goods or pleasures, we take it as a sign of God’s judgment and disfavour. If we prosper in this world, we believe that it is evidence of God’s pleasure with us. But, it is likely the opposite. When God would visit a man with judgment aimed at his destruction, He withholds not the goods, but the spiritual ones; and the one He truly loves is often deprived of worldly goods so that he will more readily seek spiritual goods. Which would you rather suffer, blindness of eyes or blindness of heart? Which would you rather have, riches in gold or riches in grace? Then, let each of us learn to not judge God’s ETERNAL dealings with us by His TEMPORAL dealings with us. I know that this is hard to do; but it is the essence of living faith to judge, not by what is seen, but by what is not seen, to live by faith in God’s promises, not by sight. Joe Terrell
May you know the love of
Christ which surpasses knowledge!
(“Every Day!” Author unknown, 1872)
“May you know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge!“
Christ’s love surpasses knowledge! Blessed fact! His love is so vast, so full,
so free – that it cannot in its completeness be comprehended by finite minds.
But enough of it may be known to satisfy our longing hearts, and to fill us
with joy and peace.
Let it be our constant desire to know and feel the Saviour’s love. Let us dwell
with wonder and delight on that marvellous manifestation of it – the
sin-atoning sacrifice of Himself for us! What love must that be, that led Him
to die, even the death of the cross, for our sins! “Greater love has no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” – but Jesus
died for His enemies!
Did He die for us as His enemies – then what is His love to us now that we are
His friends? It is unutterable!
May the Holy Spirit reveal Christ’s love to us now in such measure as we may be
able to understand and enjoy it; but the full disclosures of it await that
period when we shall be with Him, and shall see Him as He is!
“May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and
length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God!” Ephesians
3:18-19
“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
There are many things that I do not understand, cannot comprehend, and God has not revealed. But He understands, comprehends, and knows them. I may not know what He is doing, but He does, and I trust Him. He is and whatever He does is right because He is God! And we leave it there! Not with a sullen resignation, but with joy and confidence in Him! “The secret things belong to the Lord.”
But there are also the things which are revealed. Whatever He has revealed we are bound to believe and obey. He has revealed that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Rather than grappling with questions that we cannot answer, we are to call on His Name to save us. That can be said regarding all that He has revealed. We are called upon to trust Him in what we do not see, and obey Him in what we do see. Oh, for grace to trust Him in what we do not see and obey Him in what we do see! Todd Nibert
A
real influence!
(John Newton)
“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. :
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2
Corinthians 5:17
The saving grace of God has a real influence upon the whole
man. It . . .
enlightens the understanding,
directs the will,
purifies the affections,
regulates the passions, and
corrects the different excesses to which different people are by
constitution or habit inclined. It does not impart any new natural powers,
though it teaches the use and improvement of those we have received.
That soul never perished,
that felt itself to be vile, and Jesus to be precious!
(Octavius Winslow)
What are YOU to yourself? Worthless? Vile? Empty?
What is JESUS to you? Precious? Lovely? All your salvation? All your desire?
What is SIN to you? The most hateful thing in the world?
What is HOLINESS to you? Most desired? Most longed for?
What is the THRONE OF GRACE to you? The most attractive spot?
What is the CROSS to you? The sweetest resting place in the universe?
What is GOD to you? Your God? Your Father? The spring of all your joys? The
fountainhead of all your bliss? The centre where your affections meet?
Is it so? Then you are a child of God! Those low views of yourself-that
brokenness, that inward mourning, that secret confession; that longing for more
spirituality, more grace, more devotedness, more love-does but prove the existence, reality,
and growth of God’s work within you.
Cheer up, precious soul! That soul never perished, that felt itself to
be vile, and Jesus to be precious!
“When He, The Spirit Of Truth, Is Come…”
Jn. 16:12-14
Our Lord Jesus Christ describes the office work of the Holy Spirit in a fourfold manner. He is to God’s elect a Comforter, a Convictor, a Guide and a Glorifier. He comforts chosen, redeemed sinners by convicting them of sin pardoned, righteousness imputed and judgment finished. He convicts by showing us the things of Christ. He guides every believer into all needful truth. And in doing all these things he constantly glorifies Christ in the hearts of his people.
“HE SHALL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH.” It is foolish to imagine that a person must know “all truth” before he can be saved. Before a person is saved he does not know any spiritual truth! And saved men and women are ignorant of many things in this world. These disciples were saved. But they had much to learn. Yet, saved men and women do, by the Spirit of God learn the truth of God. And, learning it, they bow to it. God’s people do not rebel against his Word. They submit to it, receive it, and rejoice in it.
Matthew Poole tells us that the word here translated “guide” implies that the Holy Spirit both reveals the truth to God’s saints and bows our wills to the truth he reveals.
Though this text is primarily a declaration of apostolic inspiration, it clearly has application to all believers. The Spirit’s work in a person is not over when he has been convicted. The Holy Spirit graciously guides all believers into all truth that is needful, useful and profitable for them. He does so through the ministry of the Word, causing saints to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16). This is not a promise of universal, spiritual knowledge. But it is a promise of true spiritual knowledge. As the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, shows us the things of Christ, he guides us into truth, for Christ is “all truth” (John 14:6). And all who are saved by his grace bow to, receive and love his truth.
“HE SHALL GLORIFY ME.” Here our Savior tells us that “all truth” revealed and taught by the Spirit of God glorifies Christ. Anything that is of God glorifies Christ, not the preacher, not the church, not a man, but Christ. By this you may determine whether any doctrine or ordinance, religious work or religious experience is of God: Does it, or does it not glorify Christ alone?
Don Fortner
Experimental knowledge
(J.C.Philpot, “Letters & Memoirs” 1840)
“ And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
John 17:3
An experimental knowledge of Christ in
the soul, is the only relief for sin’s . . .
poverty,
guilt,
leprosy,
bankruptcy,
and damnation.
This is the true way of preaching Christ crucified;
not the mere doctrine of the Cross, but a crucified
Jesus experimentally known to the soul.
I am deeply conscious of my own . . .
baseness,
ignorance,
blindness
and folly.
But my malady is too deeply rooted to be healed by
dry doctrines and speculative theological opinions.
The blood of the Lamb, spiritually and supernaturally
sprinkled and applied, is the only healing balm for a
sin-sick soul.
Gospel fruit
(J.C.Philpot, “Meditations on 1 Peter”)
“Either make the tree good,
and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for
the tree is known by his fruit.”
Matthew 12:33
Gospel fruit can only grow upon a gospel tree,
and thus the fruits of a holy and godly life must
spring out of the divine operations of the Holy
Spirit upon the heart.
SALVATION IS KNOWING CHRIST
So long as men are ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ they cannot be saved. It is not enough that men and women be sincere. They must know Christ as he is revealed in Holy Scripture, or they will perish in unbelief. Our Lord himself declares, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). In order to have true, saving faith in Christ a man must have a true gospel knowledge of Christ. GOSPEL KNOWLEDGE IS ESSENTIAL TO SAVING FAITH (Rom. 10:9-17).
True faith knows, acknowledges, and trusts the Lord Jesus Christ in THE SUPREME DIGNITY OF HIS PERSON. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the infinite, incomprehensible, eternal Gods who is moved by nothing and touched by nothing. He is also God incarnates God in our nature, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, the man who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.
Faith knows, embraces, and trusts Christ, receiving THE SALVATION DONE BY HIS PERFORMANCE. Faith does not, in anyway, accomplish salvation. Our salvation was accomplished entirely by the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith, trusting Christ, simply receives what he has done as our Substitute. We receive his righteousness, the righteousness which he performed for us, by faith. We receive redemption and the forgiveness of sins, that which he purchased by his precious blood, by faith.
Saving faith knows Christ as Lord and bows to him in THE SOVEREIGN DOMINION OF HIS POSITION. Faith submits to the sovereign rule of the sovereign Christ, willingly. Faith does not rebel against sovereignty, it rejoices it.
True faith knows Christ and rests in THE SURE DELIVERANCE OF HIS POWER. He cannot fail. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. All power is in the hands of him who is our Savior. Therefore our hearts safely trust him.