Oct 10
27
I am not what I once was!
In his old age, when he could no longer see to read, John
Newton heard someone recite this text, “By the grace of God—I am
what I am.”
He remained silent a short time and then, as if speaking to
himself, he said: “I am not what I ought to be—ah, how imperfect
and deficient! I am not what I wish to be—I abhor that which is
evil, and I would cleave to that which is good. I am not what I
hope to be—soon, soon I shall put off mortality, and with
mortality all sin and imperfection! Though I am not what I ought
to be, what I wish to be, and what I hope to be—yet I can truly
say, I am not what I once was—a slave to sin and Satan! I can
heartily join with the apostle and acknowledge, “By the grace of
God—I am what I am!”
“Look upon those who mourn in Zion–put their tears into your
bottle–listen to their sighs and groans.”
William Tiptaft
“If I preach to please men, I am not the servant of Christ; and
woe unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”
William Tiptaft
BECAUSE HE LOVED HER! Jesus sustains no association to
His Church more expressive than that of the marriage relationship.
From all eternity He forever betrothed her to Himself. He asked her at
the hands of her Father—and the Father gave her to Him. He entered
into a covenant that she would be His. The conditions of that covenant
were great, but not too great for His love to undertake. They were, that
He should assume her nature, discharge her legal obligations, endure
her punishment, repair her ruin, and bring her to glory! He undertook
all, and He accomplished all, because He loved her! The love of Jesus
to His Church is the love of the most tender husband. It is single,
constant, affectionate, matchless, wonderful. Jesus sympathises with
her, nourishes her, provides for her, clothes her, watches over, and
indulges her with the most intimate and endearing tenderness.
Octavius Winslow
Consider Jesus– as Receiving Sinners
“This man receives sinners!” –Luke 15:2
Nothing gave greater offence to the scribes and Pharisees than
the divine mission of Jesus to save sinners. No greater and more
virulent accusation could they allege against Him, than that, He
extended His compassionate regards to the vile and the
wretched, admitting the most flagrant offenders to His mercy,
and inviting the most notorious sinners to His fellowship. And
yet this, His greatest reproach, was His highest honour. Pluck
this jewel from His mediatorial crown, and it has lost its costliest
gem. Extract this note from the “joyful sound,” and you have
hushed its sweetest melody. Remove this object of His mission
from His coming, and you have reduced His incarnation,
sufferings, and death to a gigantic waste.
Oh, with what glory does the fact that, “This man receives sinners,”
invest the Son of God! How should our hearts glow with
gratitude, praise, and love! If the individual who makes two
blades of grass to grow where only one grew before, is regarded
as a public benefactor; if we deck the person of him who, at the
risk of his own, saves the life of another, what shall we feel
towards the Son of God who, in the plenitude of His compassion
and love, bowed the heavens, and came down to save countless
myriad’s of our race from the “bitter pains of eternal death”!
Yes, “He receives sinners.” He receives them as sinners–lost,
undone, self-destroyed sinners–sinners too vile and too helpless
to save themselves–who, if He does not save them, never can be
saved. He receives sinners of all conditions and of every hue, of
every depth of guilt and character of crime. Oh, if there were a
sinner out-sinning all sinners–every sin tainting, every crime
attaching to him–an abandoned profligate, an unbelieving
scorner, a reviling blasphemer, a red-handed murderer, a profane
infidel, a daring atheist, a moral parricide whose transgressions
have broken a mother’s heart and bowed a father’s grey hairs in
sorrow to the grave–sins as scarlet and red as crimson–as a
cloud for darkness, and as the sands on the sea shore for multitude–if, I say, there be such a one whom He would not save,
and could not save, then would there be silence in heaven and
exultation in hell at the announcement that Jesus Christ had
ceased to save to the uttermost bounds of sin and guilt all who, in
penitence and faith, came to God through Him.
It follows, then, that, receiving them just as they are, He receives
them freely, apart from all fitness or worthiness, of their own. “By
grace are you saved.” “Being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you shall be saved.” What a joyful sound! Come, then, O my soul,
to Jesus, without hesitation or delay.
“Just as I am I and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot;
To Him whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come.”
Assured of the fact that you yourself have come to Jesus and are saved,
be it your aim to bring others to Him, that they may be saved too. Oh,
live and labour, if need be, suffer and die for Him, whose greatest glory
is, that He receives and saves sinners, who has received and saved you
You have all your hearts can wish!
“My God will supply all your needs according to His
riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
O say with a melting heart—I have a full Christ,
and He is filled for me! I have . . .
His pure and perfect righteousness to justify me,
His holiness to sanctify me,
His wisdom to guide me,
His comforts to refresh me,
His power to protect me,
His all-sufficiency to supply me.
O be cheerful, be thankful—you have all your
hearts can wish! And yet be humble—it is all
from free-grace to empty and unworthy creatures!
The vital spark!
The following is from Spurgeon’s sermon,
“Light, Natural and Spiritual” No. 660.
“You must be born again.”
Do not think Christians are made by
education; they are made by creation.
You may wash a corpse as long as you please,
and that corpse could be clean, but you cannot
wash life into it!
You may deck it in flowers, and robe it in scarlet
and fine linen, but you cannot make it live!
The vital spark must come from above!
Regeneration is not of the will of man, nor of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, but by the power and
energy of the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God alone!
See then, the ruin of nature and the freeness of grace!
Void and dark, a chaos given up to be covered with
blackness and darkness forever, and, while as yet
it is un-seeking God, the light arises, and the promise
is fulfilled, “I am found of them that sought me not;
I said, behold me! behold me! to a people that were
not a people.”
While we were lying in our blood, filthily polluted,
defiled, he passed by, and he said in the sovereignty
of his love, “Live!” and we do live. The whole must be traced to sovereign grace!
From this sacred well of discriminating distinguishing
grace we must draw water this morning, and we must
pour it out, saying, “Oh Lord, I will praise your name,
for the first origin of my light was your sovereign
purpose, and nothing in me.”
How Could I? – Pastor David Eddmenson
I was thinking this week how impossible it would be for a
true, God-called preacher, to preach anything other than the
Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. How could I, a desperately
wicked sinner, stand week after week, and service after service
and tell men how to live, when I struggle and fail daily myself?
How could I, the wretched and depraved man that I am, tell
others how to become better spouses, parents, children, friends,
employers and employees, when I have failed and continue to fail
miserably at these things myself? What hypocrisy and vanity that
would be! It is not my place to try to straighten people out. A
wise and older friend of mine told me not long ago, concerning
preaching, to always remember that a man could shear a sheep
many times, but he could only slay a sheep once. Friends, it is the
preaching of Jesus Christ only that causes us to decrease
(sheared). My responsibility is not to tell people how to live, but
proclaim to them how our Savior lived, died and resurrected,
doing everything perfectly for and in the place of helldeserving
sinners.
If God is pleased to save a man or woman, that person will
want to hear only one message and one message only: — That
Christ came into the world to save sinners, and that sinners come
to Christ by free and sovereign grace alone for eternal life.