Nov 10
8
THE MASTER KEY? -Spurgeon, “A Stanza of Deliverance” God does not violate the human will when he saves men. They are not converted against their will, but their will itself is converted. The Lord has a way of entering the heart– not with a crowbar, like a burglar. But with a master-key, which he gently inserts in the lock, and the bolt flies back, the door opens, and he enters.
THE KING’S GARDEN? What wonders are wrought in the garden of the King. He transplants weeds from the dunghill, and makes them to grow as lilies in the midst of his fair garden. -Spurgeon, “The King’s Garden”
A man’s free will cannot cure him even of a toothache or a sore finger, and yet he madly thinks it is in his power to cure his soul of sin. Actually, the greatest judgment which God Himself can in this present life inflict upon a man is to leave that man in the hand of HIS OWN BOASTING FREE-WILL!” Augustus Toplady
“Every religion except one puts you upon doing something in order to recommend yourself to God… It is the business of all false religion to patch up a righteousness in which the sinner is to stand before God. But it is the business of the glorious gospel to bring near to us, by the hand of the Holy Spirit, a righteousness ready wrought, a robe of perfection ready-made, wherein God’s people, to all the purposes of justification and happiness, stand perfect and without fault before the throne.”
Augustus Toplady.
My Rock! (“Solitude Sweetened” by James Meikle, 1730-1799)”The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my Savior, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the strength of my salvation, my stronghold!” (Psalm 18:2) Do rocks defend me from blasts, from whatever quarter they blow? So does my Rock!
Is the blast from hell? Well, He has the keys of hell and of death!Is it from sin? He is my righteousness!
Is it from Satan? He has conquered principalities and powers!
Is it from afflictions? He is my sympathizing and loving High Priest!
Is it from losses? He is my exceeding great reward!
Is it from crosses? He makes all things work together for good to His people!
Is it from anguish? He is my joy!
Is it from darkness? He is my Sun!
Is it from doubts? He is my Counselor!
Is it from deadness? He is my life!
Is it from enemies? He is my shield!
Is it from temptation? He is my deliverer!
Is it from false friends? He will never leave me, nor forsake me!
Is it from solitude or banishment? He is everywhere present!
Is it from disease? He is my healer!
Is it from death? He is the resurrection and the life!
O glorious refuge! O sure defense! O everlasting fortress! Here do I defy the worst that earth and hell can do! Henceforth will I live by faith, in the MAN who is . . . my hiding place from the wind, my shelter from the tempest, my stream of water in a dry place,my shadow of a great rock in a weary land–until every blast has blown over, and not a threatening cloud appears in my sky–until my heaven is beautified with everlasting day, and every storm is swept from the air which I breathe!” And a MAN shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a shelter from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land!” (Isaiah 32:2)
( an extract from) Patching the Old Garment by Theodore Cuyler, 1883
Some of our Lord’s parables are to be weighed rather than measured. Brief as to space, they are most profound and practical in their significance. In a single verse is compressed the following parable: “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.” No sensible man would patch an old, threadbare, outworn garment, with a piece of unshrunk cloth, and for two good reasons: the ill-matched patch would make an ugly appearance, and the strong cloth would soon tear out from the weak, rotten fabric, and the whole process would end in failure. By this pithy parable, the Great Teacher taught that the old dispensation of ceremonial observances had had its day and become obsolete. His gospel was a new system of religious faith and methods, entirely complete and adequate for all persons and all time. Any attempt to engraft it upon the out-worn system of Judaism would be abortive. The new faith was to be embodied in renovated forms of speech and forms of service.
When the warp and woof of character is weak and worthless, when it is badly rotted by sin, there are two methods of repair: the one is to patch up the old; the other is to discard it altogether and procure an entirely new fabric. The first is man’s plan; the second is Christ’s plan. The fatal objection to the first method, is that a patched character does not look well and will not last. Harmony is a prime essential of beauty, and a bright strip of virtue pieced in upon a godless life—only makes the rest of the fabric look more unsightly. Nor is there strength enough in the fabric to hold the incongruous patch.
In all my long ministry I have never been able to patch up a sinner so that he will look and act like a genuine Christian. Christ’s method of dealing with human character is the only thorough and successful method. He says, “Behold, I make all things new.” If any man be in Christ, and Christ in him, he is a new creature. The rotten garment has been discarded, and the complete righteousness has been put on, so that the shame of his
nakedness might be hidden. How sharply Jesus clove to the core of the matter, with Nicodemus! He does not tell the inquiring Pharisee to go home and reform certain bad habits—but “you must be born again.” The rich young ruler was able to display some very bright patches of virtue, and expected to be praised for them; but when the Savior offered him the entirely new garment which cost self-denial, and would pass him into heaven—the poor fellow went away with his old patched robe, disappointed and sorrowful
It is quite in line with this idea of spiritual clothing, that the apostle exhorts everyone to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” That signifies the entire inwrapping and infolding of ourselves in the holy texture of his perfect righteousness and all-sufficient grace. We walk inside of our clothes. So a consistent Christian walks inside of the beautiful garment which Christ has woven for him and wrapped about him.
Bear in mind, that it is a “seamless robe” which the dear Master provides for us; we must have it all—or none. How warm it is in its ample protection against all weathers! How beautiful it is when washed white in the blood of the Lamb! How well it wears! I have seen it look brighter than new—after fifty years of hard service! In heaven, that wedding-garment will make even a pauper to shine like an angel of light. With such a beauty of holiness offered to us, why should so many professors of religion be content to be only “patched up”? A poor fabric is made none the better by the patchwork of public prayers or professions. A real conversion, a new heart work, and a renovation of the very warp and woof of character, is what God requires. What a new power and beauty and irresistible influence, would go forth from all our churches if we were all freshly clad in Christ Jesus!
“This spotless robe the same appears When ruined nature sinks in years. No age can change its glorious hue; The robe of Christ is ever new.”