Aug 26
19
The sword of Divine justice buried in His sinless heart!
(Henry Law)
Holy Father,
We blush to lift up our eyes unto You, O God of all grace and love. Shame and confusion of face humble us to the very dust. Wherever You have been boundless in mercy-we have been abundant in sin! We cannot measure our ingratitude. We cannot estimate our vileness. Each day has added to our guilt. Each scene has witnessed our wicked hearts, our straying feet and our offending tongues. What is there in heaven or in earth, above, around, without, or within-which condemns us not? The sun condemns us, which has seen our misdeeds; the darkness, too, which hides nothing from Your all-penetrating eye!
The cruel accuser justly accuses us.
Your righteous law,
Your holy Word,
our sin-soiled consciences,
our public and our private hours
-write dark things against us! We make no denial. We frame no excuse. We confess, Father, that we have sinned against heaven and before You-and are not worthy to be called Your sons! But still we live!
We live to fly as contrite penitents to Your extended arms!
We know that You will not cast us off-for Jesus brings us near.
You will not condemn us-for Your dear Son died in our place.
You will not mark the mountains upon mountains of our sins-for the Savior has removed them all.
His precious blood has washed out every crimson stain!
Christ’s spotless robe of righteousness, covers all our deformities! We put it on by the hand of faith-and we rejoice that we are lovely in His precious loveliness, and beauteous in His matchless beauty.
Open widely the eyes of our faith, that we may see all our justly merited curse, expended on the faultless head of our precious sin-atoning Savior, and the sword of Divine justice buried in His sinless heart!
We come to You . . .
clinging to His cross,
sheltered by His side,
hidden in His wounds,
cleansed in His blood,
covered by His spotless robe,
beautified in His salvation!
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, and cleanse my hands with lye, yet You will plunge me in the ditch. My 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 Savior 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
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Jude 24, 25
WHAT is the great evil of which the true saints of God most stand in jeopardy, and which their timid, fearful hearts most dread? Is it not secret and outward backsliding from God after conversion? Surely it is, as the experience of every honest, upright, God-fearing man will testify. It is his consolation, then, to know that Jesus is “able to keep him from falling.” This is the most overwhelming evil that stares the believer in the face. Some, but imperfectly taught in the word, are dreading awful apostasy from the faith here, and final condemnation from the presence of God hereafter—believing that though Christ has made full satisfaction for their sins to Divine justice, has cancelled the mighty debt, has imputed to them His righteousness, has blotted out their iniquities, has called, renewed, sanctified, and taken full possession of them by His Spirit, and has ascended up on high, to plead their cause with the Father—that yet, after all this stupendous exercise of power, and this matchless display of free grace, they may be left to utter apostasy from God, and be finally and eternally lost. If there is one doctrine more awful in it nature, distressing in its consequences, and directly opposed to the glory of God and the honour of Christ, than another, methinks it is this. Others, again, more clearly taught my the Spirit, are heard to say, “I believe in the stability of the covenant, in the unchangeableness of God’s love, and in the faithfulness of my heavenly Father; but I fear lest some day under some sharp temptation—some burst of indwelling sin, when the enemy shall come in as a flood—I shall fall, to the wounding of my peace, to the shame of my brethren, and to the dishonouring of Christ.” Dear believer, truly you would fall, were He to leave you to your own keeping for one moment; but Jesus is able to keep you from falling. Read the promises, believe them, rest upon them. A simple glance will present to the believer’s eye a threefold cord, by which he is kept from falling. In the first place, God the Father keeps him—”kept by the power of God;” the power that created and upholds the world keeps the believer. The eternal purpose, love, and grace of the Father keeps him: this is the first cord. Again, God the Son keeps him: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” The covenant engagements, the perfect obedience, the atoning death of Immanuel, keep the believer: this is the second cord. Yet again, God the Holy Spirit keeps him: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (marg. shall put him to flight). The tender love, the covenant faithfulness, and the omnipotent power of the Eternal Spirit keep the believer: this is the third cord. And “a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” But with these promises of the triune God to keep His people from falling, He has wisely and graciously connected the diligent, prayerful use of all the means which He has appointed for this end.
Octavius Winslow
The Precious Blood of Christ!
by Spurgeon-
Standing at the foot of the cross, we see his hands, and feet,
and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood.
It is precious because of its “redeeming and atoning efficacy”.
By it the sins of Christ’s people are atoned for;
they are redeemed from under the law;
they are reconciled to God,
and made one with Him.
Christ’s blood is also precious in its “cleansing power”.
It “cleanses from all sin.”
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.”
Through Jesus’ blood there is not a spot left upon any believer,
no wrinkle nor any such thing remains!
O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the stains of
abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the
Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have
rebelled against our God!
The blood of Christ is likewise precious in its “preserving
power”. We are safe from the destroying angel under the
sprinkled blood. Remember it is God’s seeing the blood
which is the true reason for our being spared.
Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim,
for God’s eye is still the same.
The blood of Christ is precious also in its “sanctifying influence”.
The same blood which justifies by taking away sin,
does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it
onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God.
There is no motive for holiness so great as
that which streams from the veins of Jesus!
And precious, unspeakably precious, is this blood,
because “it has an overcoming power”.
It is written, “They overcame through the blood of the Lamb.”
How could they do otherwise?
He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus,
fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat.
The blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence,
death ceases to be death,
and heaven’s gates are opened!
The blood of Jesus! we shall march on, conquering and to
conquer, so long as we can trust its power!
You will find no bottom!
(“Every Day!” Author unknown, 1872)
“He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
Dwell, my soul, with wonder and adoration on the glorious grace of your great Substitute. Perfectly pure and innocent-He took the place of the guilty, and paid the penalty of the broken law! To redeem us from its curse-He was made a curse for us! In the foresight of all He would have to endure as the Substitute of transgressors-He came willingly from the throne of His glory, and “took upon Him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross!”
With what clearness is the great truth of the substitution of Christ stated in the Word of God:
“Christ died for the ungodly!”
“He was delivered for our offences.”
“He gave Himself for our sins.”
“He has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust.”
“Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree.”
The guilt of all who believe in Christ was imputed to Him-and His perfect obedience is imputed to them. God “made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
Dwell, my soul, upon the grace of the precious Savior. Drop your sounding line into this depth of redeeming love-but you will find no bottom! No! not while you live here, or dwell in the realms of glory-for the love of Christ surpasses knowledge!
“able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 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
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.“ –2 Corinthians 5:21
Our blessed Lord offered himself for sin; that is, that he might put away sin by the sacrifice of himself–“Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). It was absolutely necessary either that the sinner should suffer in his own person, or in that of a substitute. Jesus became this substitute; he stood virtually in the sinner’s place, and endured in his holy body and soul the punishment due to him; for he “was numbered with the transgressors.” He thus, by the shedding of his most precious blood, opened in his sacred body a fountain for all sin and all uncleanness (Zech. 13:1).
The cross was the place on which this sacrifice was offered; for as the blood of the slain lamb was poured out at the foot of the altar, sprinkled upon its horns, and burned in its ever-enduring fire, so our blessed Lord shed his blood upon the cross. He there endured the wrath of God to the uttermost; he there put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; he there offered his holy soul and body, the whole of his pure and sacred humanity, in union with his eternal Deity, as an expiation for the sins of his people.
Thus all their sin was atoned for, expiated, put away, blotted out, and will never more be imputed to them. This is the grand mystery of redeeming love and atoning blood. Here the cross shines forth in all its splendour; here God and man meet at the sacrifice of the God-man; and here, amid the sufferings and sorrows, the groans and tears, the blood and obedience of God’s dear Son in our nature, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.
J.C.Philpot