Dec 13
7
Mark then well the importance of the Truth of God, for in these days men are apt to set light by it and, for the sake of peace and quiet, to lead us to suppose that contrary things can also be true.
The Truth is not only important, but substantial in its character. The Gospel which God has revealed is so essentially THE Truth there is nothing false, as there is nothing trifling in it. It is Truth unalloyed. It is Truth which ought to be undoubted. It is a vile sin to imagine that there can be any fallacy in the utterances of an Infallible God! Let everything else we credit be a lie. Let all that man has asserted and proved be swept away—God’s Words are the Truth, substantially and really so!
The Truth, moreover, is a thing of unity. It is not said “truths,” but “THE TRUTH.” God’s Truth is only one. Have you ever noticed, in the great summary of Doctrines, that as surely as you believe one, you must believe the rest! One Doctrine so leans upon the others that if you deny one, you must deny the rest. Some think that they can believe four out of the five points and reject the last. It is impossible! God’s Truths are all joined together like links in a chain. There is but one Truth, and one system of the Truth of God. “Then,” say some, “tell us how to discern the Truth.” You may judge of it by three things—by God, by Christ and by man. That is, the truth which honors God, the truth which glorifies Christ, and the truth which humbles man. Unless a Doctrine exalts God, unless it acknowledges Him Monarch of Creation and gives Him absolute power over His creatures— He the Potter and ourselves the clay, He molding the vessels as seem good in His sight, we the vessels that are molded after His pleasure, God everything and ourselves nothing—that doctrine is not the Truth of God. And unless a Doctrine magnifies the Atonement—if it asserts that the Atonement may fail, that it was made for many who do not benefit by it, that God’s purpose in redemption is in anywhere frustrated—it is not of God, it is of Satan! If a doctrine teaches that man is possessed of good natural powers, that he is not so fallen as the Bible states, that he can do something to help himself, that his exertions can meet with God’s Grace half way, that he can assist a little in the work of salvation, or, at any rate, that he can preserve himself from falling and hold on his way with steadfastness, it is a man-glorifying, God-dishonoring doctrine! Cast it to the winds, for it never came from above. God never intended it to be preached otherwise than as the very foil of blackness against the brightness of His own Truth! C. H. Spurgeon
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Love suffering, and bleeding, and expiring!
(Octavius Winslow, “No Separation from Christ Jesus”)
The love of Christ! Such a precious theme!
Of it can we ever weary? Never!
Its greatness can we ever know? Never!
Its plenitude can we fully contain? Never!
Its depths cannot be fathomed, its
dimensions cannot be measured!
It passes knowledge!
All that Jesus did for His people was but
the unfolding and expression of His love.
Traveling to Bethlehem; I see love incarnate!
Tracking his steps as he went about doing good; I see love laboring!
Visiting the house of Bethany; I see love sympathizing!
Standing by the grave of Lazarus; I see love weeping.
Entering the gloomy precincts of Gethsemane; I see love sorrowing!
Passing on to Calvary; I see love suffering, and bleeding, and expiring!
The whole scene of His life is but an unfolding of the deep,
and awesome, and precious mystery of redeeming love!
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It is utterly impossible!
(Octavius Winslow, 1852)
It has been the distinctive aim, and the sincere
desire of my ministry — to make known and to
endear the Savior to your hearts.
Oh, how worthy is He . . .
of your most exalted conceptions,
of your most implicit confidence,
of your most self-denying service,
of your most fervent love!
When He could give you no more — and
the fathomless depths of His love, and
the boundless resources of His grace,
would not be satisfied by giving you
less — He gave you Himself!
Robed in your nature,
laden with your curse,
oppressed with your sorrows,
wounded for your transgressions,
and slain for your sins —
He gave His entire self for you!
His redeeming work now finished — He is perpetually
engaged in meting out blessings to His people, from
the exhaustless treasures of His love! He constantly
woos your affection — invites your grief — and bids you
repair with your daily trials to His sympathy, and with
your hourly guilt to His blood. You cannot in your drafts
upon Christ’s fullness, be too covetous; nor in your
expectations of supply, be too extravagant! You may
fail, as, alas! the most of us do, in making too little of
Christ — but you cannot fail, in making too much of Him!
It is utterly impossible to know Christ,
and not become inspired with a desire . . .
to love Him supremely,
to serve Him devotedly,
to resemble Him closely,
to glorify Him faithfully here,
and to enjoy Him fully hereafter!
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This baffles all our comprehension!
(John MacDuff, “Clefts of the Rock” 1874)
“So the Word became human and lived
here on earth among us.” John 1:14
What a transition!
What a stoop for that Infinite Being who proclaimed
Himself the Alpha and the Omega; for “The Ancient
of days” to assume the nature and take the form of
a cradled infant, sleeping on a virgin mother’s breast!
We have no plumb line to sound the depths of that
humiliation. We have no arithmetic by which it can
be submitted to any process of calculation.
If we can entertain for a moment the shocking
supposition of the loftiest created spirit in heaven
abjuring his angel nature, and becoming an insect
or a worm; we can, in some feeble degree, estimate
the descent involved in the transformation.
But, for the Illimitable, Everlasting Jehovah,
Himself to become incarnate . . .
the Creator, to take the nature of the created;
the Infinite, to be joined with the finite;
Deity, to be linked with dust;
this baffles all our comprehension!
We can only lie in adoring reverence, and
exclaim with the apostle, “O the depth!”
“Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth!”
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He gave so much that He could give no more!
(Henry Law, “Gleanings from the Book of Life”)
With what a price has Christ redeemed His people!
He paid not silver and gold for their ransom.
He gave not all the precious things of earth as
their equivalent. He heaped not worlds upon worlds
and placed them as payment in the balance of God’s
justice. All such expenditure would have been as
unavailing as the chaff.
He gave . . .
Himself,
His life,
His blood.
He gave so much that He could give no more!
And He gave this to bear the extremest curse of
God, to endure all the punishment, and all the
miseries, and all the anguish which His people
must have suffered if they had wailed through all
the endless ages amid the torments of the lost!
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Invincibly and irresistibly drawn
(J. C. Philpot, “True Discipleship”, 1869)
As the Lord is pleased to enlighten
his mind, the Christian sees . . .
such a beauty, such a blessedness, such a heavenly sweetness,
such a divine loveliness, such a fullness of surpassing grace,
such tender condescension, such unwearied patience,
such infinite compassion, in the Lord of life and glory — that he is as
if invincibly and irresistibly drawn by these
attractive influences to come to His feet to learn of Him. So far as the Lord is pleased to reveal Himself in some measure to his soul, by the sweet glimpses and glances which he thus obtains of His Person and countenance, he is drawn to His blessed Majesty by cords of love to look up unto Him and beg of Him that He would drop His word with life and power into his heart.
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The Wisdom of the Gospel
The gospel is the sum of wisdom; a collection of knowledge; a treasure-house of truth; and a disclosure of mysterious secrets. In it we see how justice and mercy may be associated; here we see unalterable law entirely satisfied, and sovereign love carrying away the sinner in triumph. Our meditation on it broadens the mind; and as it opens to our soul in successive flashes of glory, we stand astonished at the profound wisdom manifest in it. Yes, dear friends! if you seek wisdom, you will see it displayed in all its greatness; not in the firmness of the earth’s foundations—not in the measured march of the clouds of the sky, nor in the perpetual motions of the waves of the sea; not in the vegetation with all its intricate forms of beauty, nor in the animal with its marvelous tissue of nerve, and vein, and sinew; nor even in man, that last and loftiest work of the Creator. But turn aside and see this great sight!-an incarnate God upon the cross; a substitute atoning for mortal’s guilt; a sacrifice satisfying the vengeance of Heaven, and delivering the rebellious sinner. Here is essential wisdom; enthroned, crowned, and glorified. Admire, you men of the earth, if you are not blind; and you who glory in your learning bow your heads in reverence, and admit that all your skill could not have devised a gospel that is one so just to God, so safe to man. C. H. Spurgeon
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The Gospel
(Octavius Winslow, “Morning Thoughts”)
The gospel is the master-work of Jehovah, presenting the greatest display of His manifold wisdom, and the most costly exhibition of the riches of His grace. In constructing it He would seem to have summoned to His aid all the resources of His own infinity . . .
His fathomless wisdom, His boundless love, His illimitable grace,
His infinite power, His spotless holiness, all contributed their glory, and conspired to present it to the universe as the most consummate piece of Divine workmanship! The revelations it makes, the facts it records, the doctrines it propounds, the effects is produces, proclaim it to be the “glorious gospel of the blessed God.”
We live encircled by shadows . . . our friends are shadows, our comforts are shadows, our supports are shadows, our pursuits are shadows, and we ourselves are shadows passing away. But in the precious gospel we have substance, we have reality, we have that which remains with us when all other things disappear, leaving the soul desolate, the heart bleeding, and the spirit bowed in sorrow to the dust. But the gospel . . . guides our perplexities, mitigates our griefs, sanctifies our sorrows, heals our wounds, dries our tears,
because it leads us to . . . the love, the tenderness, the sympathy,
the grace of Jesus.
The gospel . . .
reveals Jesus, speaks mainly of Jesus, leads simply to Jesus, and this makes it “glad tidings of great joy,” to a poor, lost, ruined, tried, and tempted sinner!