Nov 19
10
Man’s religion & God’s religion
Man’s
religion is to build up the creature.
God’s religion is to throw the creature down in
the dust of self-abasement, and to glorify Christ.
JC Philpot
When we are reduced to poverty and beggary
How often
we seem not to have any real religion,
or enjoy any solid comfort! How often are our minds
covered with deep darkness! How often does
the
Lord hide Himself, so that we cannot behold
Him,
nor get near to Him! What a painful path is
this
to walk in, but how profitable!
When we
are reduced to poverty and beggary,
we learn to value Christ’s glorious riches.
The worse
opinion we have of our own heart, and
the more deceitful and desperately wicked that we
find it—the more we put our trust in His faithfulness.
The more
black we are in our own esteem—the more
beautiful and lovely does He appear in our eyes.
As we sink—Jesus rises.
As we become feeble—He puts forth his strength.
As we come into danger—He brings deliverance.
As we get into temptation—He breaks the snare.
As we are
shut up in darkness and obscurity;
He causes the light of His countenance to shine.
Now it is
by being led in this way, and walking
in these paths, that we come rightly to know who
Jesus is; and to see and feel how suitable and
precious such a Savior is to our undone souls!
We are needy, He has in Himself all riches.
We are hungry—He is the bread of life.
We are
thirsty—He says, “If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me, and drink.”
We are naked—and He has clothing to bestow.
We are fools—and He has wisdom to grant.
We are
lost, and He speaks—
“Look unto Me, and be saved.”
Thus, so
far from our misery shutting us out
from God’s mercy—it is the only requisite for it.
So far
from our guilt excluding His pardon,
it is the only thing needful for it.
So far
from our helplessness ruining our souls,
it is the needful preparation for the manifestation
of His power in our weakness.
We cannot
heal our own wounds and sores. That is
the very reason why He should stretch forth His arm.
It is
because there is no salvation in ourselves, or
in any other creature, that He says, “Look unto Me,
for I am God, and there is no other.”
JC Philpot
A penitent backslider and a forgiving God!
“And
while he was still a long distance away,
his father saw him coming. Filled with love
and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced
him, and kissed him.” Luke 15:20
After a
child of God has enjoyed something of
the goodness and mercy of God revealed in the
face of His dear Son, he may wander from his
mercies—stray away from these choice gospel
pastures—and get into a waste howling wilderness,
where there is neither food nor water—and yet,
though half starved for poverty, has in himself
no power to return.
But in
due time the Lord seeks out this wandering
sheep, and the first place he brings him to is the
mercy seat—confessing his sins and seeking mercy.
O what a meeting!
A penitent backslider and a forgiving God!
O what a meeting!
A guilty
wretch drowned in tears—and a loving
Father falling upon his neck and kissing him!
O what a
meeting for a poor, self-condemned wretch,
who can never mourn too deeply over his sins, and yet
finds grace super-abounding over all his abounding
sins—and the love of God bursting through the cloud,
like the sun upon an April day—and melting his heart
into contrition and love.
“He will carry the lambs in His arms.” Isaiah 40:11
C.H.Spurgeon
Our good Shepherd has in His flock—a variety of experiences, some are strong in the Lord, and others are weak in faith—but He is impartial in His care for all His sheep, and the weakest lamb is as dear to Him as the most advanced of the flock. Lambs are accustomed to lag behind, prone to wander, and apt to grow weary—but from all the danger of these infirmities, the Shepherd protects them with His arm of power. He finds new-born souls, like young lambs, ready to perish—and He nourishes them until life becomes vigorous. He finds weak minds ready to faint and die—and He consoles them and renews their strength. All the little ones He gathers in His arms—for it is not the will of our heavenly Father that one of them should perish. What a quick eye He must have to see them all! What a tender heart to care for them all! What a far-reaching and potent arm, to gather them all!
In His lifetime on earth He was a great gatherer of the weaker sort, and now that He dwells in heaven, His loving heart yearns towards the meek and contrite, the timid and feeble, the fearful and fainting here below.
How gently did He gather me to Himself, to His truth, to His blood, to His love! With what effectual grace did He compel me to come to Himself! Since my conversion, how frequently has He restored me from my wanderings, and once again folded me within the circle of His everlasting arms! The best of all is, that He does it all Himself personally, not delegating the task of love—but condescending Himself to rescue and preserve His most unworthy servant. How shall I love Him enough—or serve Him worthily? I would gladly make His name great unto the ends of the earth—but what can my feebleness do for Him? Great Shepherd, add to Your mercies this one more—a heart to love You more truly as I ought.
The infinite ocean of Christ’s love!
(Octavius Winslow, “The Emotion of Love in Christ”)
The mind has often been sensible of a feeling
of awe as we have stood upon the shore, and
gazed upon the vast expanse of the ocean.
With a similar, yet far transcending emotion,
we approach the infinite ocean of Christ’s love!
Like the eternity of God, we cannot fathom
where His love begins, or where it terminates.
There is no other solution to the marvelous
mysteries of His Incarnation and Sacrificial
Death but this: Christ has loved us.
Love originated all, explains all, illustrates all.
Love is the interpreter of every Divine mystery.
There is not a circumstance of our Lord’s history
which is not another form or manifestation of love.
His incarnation is love stooping.
His sympathy is love weeping.
His compassion is love supporting.
His grace is love acting.
His teaching is the voice of love.
His silence is the repose of love.
His patience is the restraint of love.
His obedience is the labor of love.
His suffering is the travail of love.
His cross is the altar of love.
His death is the burnt offering of love.
His resurrection is the triumph of love.
His ascension into heaven is the enthronement of love.
His sitting down at the right hand of God is the intercession of love.
Such is the deep, the vast, the boundless ocean
of Christ’s love! The soul muses in silent awe as
it gazes upon this fathomless, limitless sea!
Nothing short of a divine love could or would have
borne our sins, and the punishment of our sins.
The weight of the one, and the terribleness of the
other, would have crushed and annihilated a mere
‘created’ affection. There existed no love but the
love of Jesus equal to the work of salvation.
Who was willing, who was able, to bear that heavy
load, to endure that overwhelming curse, but Jesus?
Oh, think, beloved reader, what the love
of Christ has done and suffered for you….
the burden it bore,
the sorrow it felt,
the humiliation it underwent,
the insults,
the ignominy,
the privation through which it traveled;
its groans,
its sighs,
its tears,
its darkness,
how inconceivably it agonized,
how freely it bled,
how voluntarily it died,
the sins it has pardoned,
the guilt it has cleansed,
the declensions it has restored,
the backslidings it has healed,
the sorrows it has soothed,
the patience it has exercised,
the gentleness it has exhibited,
and then ask, could any other but the love of
Jesus have done all this, and endured all this?
Such is the love of Christ!
To have saved us upon such terms…
a stoop so low,
a humiliation so profound,
a labor so immense,
mental anguish so acute,
bodily suffering so agonizing,
a death so ignominious…
Was ever love like this?
Was it ever equaled? Where shall we find its parallel?
Love less divine, less strong, less gentle, could
never have won your heart, uprooted your enmity,
tore you from your idols; enthroning Christ, all of
Christ, Christ only, Christ supremely, Christ forever!
The love of Christ will be the wonder, the study, and
the song of all pure, holy intelligences through eternity!
Beloved, nothing shall take the love of Christ from you,
or separate you from it. It does not ebb with the ebbing
of your feelings; it does not chill with the chill of your
affections; it does not change with the changing scenes
and circumstances of your life.
The love of Christ has depths we cannot sound,
heights we cannot explore, an infinite fulness and
freeness tiding over all the sins, infirmities, and
sorrows of its blessed and favored objects.
Seek to know this love of Christ, though it is so vast
that it ‘passes knowledge.’ Infinite though it is, you
may experience its reality, taste its sweetness, and be
influenced by its all commanding, all constraining power.
Do not limit your heart experience of Christ’s love, for
it is infinite in its nature, and boundless in its extent.
As yet, how many of us stand but upon the shore
of this ocean! How little do we know, experimentally,
of the love of Christ in our souls!
Bring your heart with….
its profoundest emptiness,
its most startling discovery of sin,
its lowest frame,
its deepest sorrow, and
sink it into the depths of the Savior’s love!
That infinite sea will flow over all, erase all,
absorb all, and your soul shall swim and sport
amid its gentle waves, exclaiming in your joy
and transport, “Oh, the depths!”
The Lord direct your heart into the love of God!
Just as it is…
hard,
cold,
fickle,
sinful,
sad and
sorrowful.
Christ’s love touching your hard heart, will dissolve it!
Christ’s love touching your cold heart, will warm it!
Christ’s love touching your sinful heart, will purify it!
Christ’s love touching your sorrowful heart, will soothe it!
Christ’s love touching your wandering heart, will draw it back to Himself.
Only bring your heart to Christ’s love!
Believe that He loves you, and just as love begets
love, so the simple belief in the love of Jesus will
inspire you with a reflected, responsive affection;
and your soul, like the flower, will burst from its
captivity, and bloom, and, soaring in life, liberty,
and beauty, will float in the sunbeams of Gods full,
free, and eternal love; and, in a little while, will
find itself in heaven, where all is love!
“Blessed Jesus! Your love, like Your agonies, is an
unknown and unfathomable depth! It passes knowledge.
Let it rise and expand before me, until it fills the entire
scope of my soul’s vision; occupies every niche of my heart;
and bears me onward by its all commanding, all constraining
influence, in the path of a holy loving obedience and surrender.”
“May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so
great you will never fully understand it.” Ephesians 3:19
When we are reduced to poverty and beggary
How
often we seem not to have any real religion,
or enjoy any solid comfort! How often are our minds
covered with deep darkness! How often does the
Lord hide Himself, so that we cannot behold Him,
nor get near to Him! What a painful path is this
to walk in, but how profitable!
When
we are reduced to poverty and beggary,
we learn to value Christ’s glorious riches.
The
worse opinion we have of our own heart, and
the more deceitful and desperately wicked that we
find it—the more we put our trust in His faithfulness.
The
more black we are in our own esteem—the more
beautiful and lovely does He appear in our eyes.
As we sink—Jesus rises.
As we become feeble—He puts forth his strength.
As we come into danger—He brings deliverance.
As we get into temptation—He breaks the snare.
As
we are shut up in darkness and obscurity;
He causes the light of His countenance to shine.
Now
it is by being led in this way, and walking
in these paths, that we come rightly to know who
Jesus is; and to see and feel how suitable and
precious such a Savior is to our undone souls!
We are needy, He has in Himself all riches.
We are hungry—He is the bread of life.
We
are thirsty—He says, “If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me, and drink.”
We are naked—and He has clothing to bestow.
We are fools—and He has wisdom to grant.
We
are lost, and He speaks—
“Look unto Me, and be saved.”
Thus,
so far from our misery shutting us out
from God’s mercy—it is the only requisite for it.
So
far from our guilt excluding His pardon,
it is the only thing needful for it.
So
far from our helplessness ruining our souls,
it is the needful preparation for the manifestation
of His power in our weakness.
We
cannot heal our own wounds and sores. That is
the very reason why He should stretch forth His arm.
It
is because there is no salvation in ourselves, or
in any other creature, that He says, “Look unto Me,
for I am God, and there is no other.”
JC Philpot