Jan 12
14
Can we forget such mighty grace?
Spurgeon’s book, “The Saint and His Savior”
Experience of the love, tenderness, and faithfulness
of our Lord Jesus Christ will weld our hearts to him.
The very thought of the love of Jesus towards us is
enough to inflame our holy passions, but experience
of it heats the furnace seven times hotter.
He has been with us in our trials, cheering and
consoling us, sympathizing with every groan, and
regarding every tear with affectionate compassion.
Do we not love him for this?
He has befriended us in every time of need, so
bounteously supplying all our needs out of the
riches of his fullness, that he has not allowed us
to lack any good thing. Shall we be
unmindful of such unwearying care?
He has helped us in every difficulty, furnishing us
with strength equal to our day; he has leveled the
mountains before us, and filled up the valleys; he has
made rough places plain, and crooked things straight.
Do we not love him for this also?
In all our doubts he has directed us in the path of
wisdom, and led us in the way of knowledge. He
has not allowed us to wander; he has led us by a
right way through the pathless wilderness.
Shall we not praise him for his.
He has repelled our enemies, covered our heads in
the day of baffle, broken the teeth of the oppressor,
and made us more than conquerors.
Can we forget such mighty grace?
In no single instance has he failed us.
He has never been unkind, unmindful, or unwise.
The harshest strokes of his providence have
been as full of love as the softest embraces
of his condescending fellowship.
We cannot, we dare not find fault with him.
He has done all things well.
—
Christ must be all!
from Octavius Winslow’s, “Morning Thoughts”
We cannot keep our eye too exclusively
or too intently fixed on Jesus.
All salvation is in Him.
All salvation proceeds from Him.
All salvation leads to Him.
And for the assurance and comfort of our salvation
we are to repose believingly and entirely on Him.
Christ must be all!
Christ the beginning;
Christ the center; and
Christ the end.
Oh sweet truth to you who are sensible of
your poverty, vileness, and insufficiency,
and of the ten thousand flaws and failures
of which, perhaps, no one is cognizant but
God and your own soul!
Oh, to turn and rest in Christ;
a full Christ;
a loving Christ;
a tender Christ,
whose heart’s love never chills,
from whose eye darts no reproof,
from whose lips breathes no sentence of condemnation!
Christ must be all!
—
Growing worse?
(John Angell James, “Christian Progress” 1853)
One of the last lessons we effectually learn, is
that true godliness is a constant conflict in a
believer’s heart–between sin and holiness.
Some sincere believers mistake a clearer view, and
deeper sense of their depravity, for an actual increase
of sin. The Christian seems sometimes to himself, to
be growing worse, when actually it is only that he
sees more clearly what in fact he really is!
In the early stages of our Christian life, we have
usually but a slender acquaintance with the evil
of our sinfulness, and the depravity of our heart.
The mind is so much taken up with pardon and
eternal life, that it is but imperfectly acquainted
with those depths of deceit and wickedness,
which lie hidden in itself.
At first we seem to feel as if the serpent were killed.
But we soon find that he was only asleep–for by the
warmth of some fiery temptation, he is revived and
hisses at us again!
Nothing astonishes an inexperienced believer more
than the discoveries he is continually making of the
evils of his heart. Corruptions which he never dreamt to
be in him, are brought out by some new circumstances.
It is like turning up the soil, which brings out worms
and insects, which did not appear upon the surface.
Or to vary the illustration, his increasing knowledge
of God’s holy nature, of the perfect law, and the
example of Christ–is like opening the shutters, and
letting light into a dark room, the filth of which,
the inhabitant did not see until the sunbeams
disclosed it to him.
—
Christ and Him Crucified
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2)
The apostle Paul declared to a heathen world, and a church being led astray by foolish pride and worldly wisdom, that he preached Christ and Him crucified. The gospel is a person. He was a person in eternity, as the Son of God, the second person of the Godhead. He was appointed as a mediator and surety of an everlasting covenant and as such stood as a person. In every Old Testament prophecy He is set forth as a person. When He appeared on this earth in Bethlehem’s manger he was a person. He lived as a servant under the law of God and was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin as a person. His suffering was real. He hung on a cross and died a real death. He was raised the third day as a person who ate and drank. He had scars to prove himself to be the resurrected Christ. The disciples watched as He ascended into glory as our Great High Priest where He sits at the right hand of God.
Faith lays hold of the person who loved them and gave himself for him. Faith rests in Him as it is persuaded of the greatness of His person. Salvation is not a system or a plan or an offer: It is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45: 22) Darvin Pruitt
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FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPEL
There is much more involved in preaching the gospel than simply repeating the historic facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The demons of hell acknowledge these facts; and every reasonable man must do so. To preach the gospel is to declare the spiritual meaning of these facts. The gospel is not preached until we have told men Who Christ Is – What He Did – Why He Did It – And Where He Is Now. To preach the gospel is to declare the message of salvation accomplished by the grace of God, through the mediatorial work of Christ. Here are five things which will always characterize the preaching of the gospel.
1. THE GOSPEL IS A MESSAGE THAT HONORS GOD’S HOLY LAW. God would not and could not tarnish his holy law in order to forgive sin and save sinners. God is willing to be merciful; but his righteousness must be established, his holy law must be fulfilled. This is one part of our Savior’s work. He brought in an everlasting righteousness by his perfect obedience to God’s law as our Representative. He is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:6; Rom. 1:16-17; 3:24-26).
2. THE GOSPEL IS A DECLARATION OF SATISFIED JUSTICE. This is the doctrine of substitution. God satisfied the infinite demands of his own justice by the substitutionary sacrifice of his Son. Someone said, “God cannot suffer, and man cannot satisfy; but the God-man both suffered and satisfied.” That’s the gospel, Jesus Christ has fully satisfied the penalty of sin for every believer! (Gal. 3:13)
3. THE GOSPEL OF GOD IS A PROCLAMATION OF SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE (Eph. 2:8-9; II Tim. 1:9). God would have all men to know that the sinner’s standing before him is altogether a matter of pure, free grace. Man gets nothing from God, and man cannot be accepted before God, except by grace. Every idea of human merit is contrary to the gospel. If your own works ever enter into your heart as a grounds of acceptance before God, for anything, you have missed Christ (Gal. 5:2).
4. THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF GRACE FREELY BESTOWED UPON MEN. There are no conditions for the sinner to meet, no works for the sinner to do, no emotions for the sinner to feel, in order for him to prepare himself to believe on Christ. In preaching the gospel we freely invite all who will to believe on Christ and be saved. No sinner is excluded from the gospel except those who exclude themselves by their unbelief (Rom. 10:11,13).
5. THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD DECLARES THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF ETERNAL SALVATION. We have no partial salvation to preach. We preach an almighty Savior, who saves for ever (John 10:27-31).
Don Fortner.
—
Two seeds?
Spurgeon, “In the Garden with Him.” #2106.
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you
have done this, you will be punished…
And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed…” Genesis 3:14-15
There are two seeds in the world- the seed
of the woman, and the seed of the serpent.
And if the seed of the serpent never hisses at you,
you may be afraid that you do not belong to the
seed of the woman. God has put an enmity between
the serpent and the woman; between the serpent’s
seed and the woman’s seed.
And so it must be till the end of time.
Take any opposition that you get from worldlings as
a token for good, a sign that you are of a different
race from those who despise you, a testimonial to
your character from those whose homage to goodness
embodies itself in persecution. That is the way in which
they compliment us.
—
Even your own relatives think you are almost insane
(J. C. Philpot, “The Abiding Comforter” 1858)
“The Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.”
John 14:17
The world—that is, the world dead in sin, and the
world dead in profession—men destitute of the life
and power of God—must have something that it can
see. And, as heavenly things can only be seen by
heavenly eyes, they cannot receive the things which
are invisible.
Now this explains why a religion that presents itself
with a degree of beauty and grandeur to the natural
eye will always be received by the world; while a . . .
spiritual,
internal,
heartfelt and
experimental
religion will always be rejected.
The world can receive a religion that consists of . . .
forms,
rites, and
ceremonies.
These are things seen.
Beautiful buildings,
painted windows,
pealing organs,
melodious choirs,
the pomp and parade of an earthly priesthood,
and a whole apparatus of ‘religious ceremony’,
carry with them something that the natural eye can
see and admire. The world receives all this ‘external
religion’ because it is suitable to the natural mind
and intelligible to their reasoning faculties.
But the . . .
quiet,
inward,
experimental,
divine religion,
which presents no attractions to the outward eye, but
is wrought in the heart by a divine operation—the world
cannot receive this—because it presents nothing that
the natural eye can rest upon with pleasure, or is
adapted to gratify their general idea of what religion
is or should be.
Do not marvel, then, that worldly professors despise a
religion wrought in the soul by the power of God. Do not
be surprised if even your own relatives think you are
almost insane, when you speak of the consolations of
the Spirit, or of the teachings of God in your soul. They
cannot receive these things, for they have no experience
of them; and being such as are altogether opposed to
the carnal mind, they reject them with enmity and scorn.
—
The life-boat of free grace!
(James Smith, “The Complaint!” 1864)
“I am cast down!” And why are you cast down?
“My heart is burdened with a sense of my short-comings!
Every duty I perform is so imperfect.
Every purpose I form is so soon frustrated.
Every hope of seeing better days is so soon beclouded.
My heart is so fearfully depraved.
My life is so unlike the life of Jesus.
My temper is so unholy.
My prayers are so brief and heartless.
My praises are so feeble and fitful.
I do so little good.
I live to so little purpose.
My evidences are so dim.
My prospects are so overcast.
I am harassed sometimes with the fear of death.
I cannot realize the glories of Heaven.
I am dissatisfied with the world — and yet glued to it!
I hate sin — and yet fall into it!
I am a riddle, a mystery, a mass of inconsistency!
Is it, then, any wonder that I am cast down?”
No, if you look at yourself, and pore over the things you have named — then it is no wonder that you are cast down! They are enough to cast anyone down! But if you carry them to the throne of grace, if you there confess them before God, if you look to Jesus to save you from them — then, in spite of them — you will not long be cast down.
I know it is difficult to do this. There is a natural proneness to pore over such things. One feels at times a secret liking to indulge in gloomy thoughts.
But we must look away from self — for if we do not, we shall become anxious, doubting and gloomy! We must run the race, not looking at our imperfections, short-comings, and failures — but looking unto Jesus. He knows what we are. He knew what we would be — before He called us by His grace; yes, before He shed His blood for us!
He loved us, as sinners.
He died for us, as sinners.
He called us, as sinners.
He saves us, as sinners. He will have all the glory of saving us, and He will get great glory by doing so, because we are such great sinners; and do not, cannot, do anything to repay Him for His wondrous love! Salvation is by free grace — from first to last! Believe this, and it will raise up your drooping mind!
The life-boat of free grace has put you on board the vessel of salvation, and that will convey you safely to the port of glory! Do not look at your spiritual destitution, or feebleness, or incapacity, or imperfections — but trust in your Pilot, rely on your Captain, and expect His mercy and merit to land you safe in Heaven at last!
As imperfect as you now are, and as imperfect you will be — your dying prayer will still be, “God be merciful unto me — a sinner!”
Hope in God!
His mercy is great unto the heavens,
His grace is as free as the air,
His love is as changeless as His nature,
His promise is as immutable as His love.
Hope in God, for you shall yet praise Him. He will save you for His own sake, and present you before assembled worlds as a monument of His mercy, and a trophy of His grace!