Jun 22
13
“Man cannot be saved by perfect obedience, for he cannot render it; he cannot be saved by imperfect obedience, for God will not accept it” – C.H. Spurgeon
The Hope of a believer is not some long drawn-out theological statement. The hope of a believer can be summed up in two words, Jesus Christ. 1Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope” Any more than this is hopeless.
John Chapman
“It is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27
Since it is written in our hearts that, “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the judgment,” we have a natural aversion to death and a great fear of what comes afterward. If we have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and professed to believe it, we have a natural tendency to look for some evidences or proof that we are, indeed, believers in Christ and heirs of God’s promise. Religion and our natural conscience are all too ready to provide us with various standards by which we may judge our faith: Is it doctrinally sound? Has it been confirmed by some deep emotional experience or some strange and otherwise unexplainable event? Have we experienced the ability to lay aside notable sins? Do we love the brethren sufficiently? Do we regularly testify of Christ to others? Do we read our Bibles and pray enough? But there is a deadly poison in such self-examination for in each of them there is a looking to self and our assurance must never arise from anything about us.
If we would know our hearts, we must not look at them or listen to what they tells us for, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Our hearts might needlessly condemn us, or worse, they might falsely acquit us. We must never trust our own judgments about ourselves. Rather, we must let the Word of God (which, according to Peter, is the gospel) expose our hearts and reveal the truth of them to us. And this gospel exposure can be accomplished by considering the events of Calvary and these questions: Who is that on the cross? The Son of God. What is He doing there? Bearing the Wrath of God. Why did He die? To fulfil the Demand of God in payment for sin. Why was He raised from the grave? His death satisfied the Justice of God. Why is He now seated at the right hand of God? He has the Acceptance and Approval of God. And, quite miraculously, the knowledge of these things will reveal our hearts to us. When the child of God makes these things the object of his spiritual examination, God’s Spirit witnesses with his spirit that he is, indeed, a child of God. -Joe Terrell
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8
I am so thankful that as I grow older and things change, inside and out, that there is One who never changes.
1). His love never changes with time, for He loved me with an everlasting love that knows no change.
2). His power never changes. He is just as able to keep me from falling today as when I first began.
3). His Word never changes: “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Numbers. 23:19) Has He not magnified His Word above His Name?
4). His election of me shall never change. He will never cast off those whom He has chosen, for they will never do anything that He did not know about and has not already taken care of.
5). The power of His blood shall never change. It still cleanses from all sin. No matter how deep the stain has gone, His blood washes it away.
6). His Sacrifice will never change, it will never lose its effectiveness because it is always fresh in the midst of the Throne of God: “And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain….” (Rev. 5:6). We have a living sacrifice standing in the midst of the Throne of God. When we rise out of our beds in the morning and go through our changes, just remember that there is One who remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Rock Christ Jesus.
-John Chapman
IT IS THE BLOOD THAT SAVES
“And He said unto them, This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.”–Mark 14:24
Never did those lips, upon which grace shed its divinest, sweetest fragrance, utter words so precious as these. The language is figurative, but the truth is literal. “This is My blood,” or, this cup is the ’emblem’ of “My blood of the new testament,” the new covenant, “shed for many,” for the sins of beings whom no man can number. We are thus brought into contact with the most essential and vital doctrine of the Bible, the great Atonement of the Son of God. Beloved, the blood of Jesus is very precious to a poor, guilt-burdened sinner. It is the blood that saves him. There is everything you need in the blood of Jesus, forgiveness for every guilt-burdened, healing for every sin-wounded conscience.
The blood of Jesus speaks peace, the blood brings us into the holiest, and places us in the very presence of the Father. It is the blood that keeps the heart pure, and supplies it with the most powerful motive to holiness. It is the blood that sustains the soul in death, and after death places it before the throne in robes washed white, with the “new song” breathing from its joyous lips. My soul, consider the blood of Jesus in two or three essential points of light.
It is the blood of the Incarnate God. Herein lies its intrinsic worth, its essential efficacy. The Deity of the Saviour gave it all its merit to atone, and all its virtue to cleanse. We marvel not that the apostle should denominate it, “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish.” It is the most precious thing in the universe–it is the precious blood of Him whose person is precious to those who believe. Is it, my soul, precious to you?
And, then, remember that faith alone is necessary to make its saving virtue ours. Believe only, and all the sovereign efficacy of Christ’s blood is ours. This “precious blood” and “precious faith” constitute the two most precious things in the universe.
Look at it, also, as applied blood. We know that the blood of the paschal lamb would have availed nothing to the Israelites when the angel of death swept through the land to slay the first-born of the Egyptian, had it not been really and visibly sprinkled upon their dwellings. It was the applied blood that saved them. So must it be with the blood of Jesus, our Passover slain for us. If we want to be placed in a state of non-condemnation, if we desire to be quite sure that we are safe from eternal death, the blood of Jesus must be applied to the conscience. Rest not short of this, my soul! Clearly this is the mind of the Spirit in those remarkable words of the apostle, “You are come to the blood of sprinkling.” There is a present coming to the blood of Jesus, and this gives us a present salvation.
It is the blood of Jesus that sanctifies. It sets us apart as a holy people for God, it cleanses the heart from vain thoughts, worldly imaginations, and impure desires–from the taint and defilement of indwelling sin. Rest not short, then, of the applied blood of Jesus. This will remove all your doubts, quell all your fears, and bring you into perfect peace. The Holy Spirit is prepared to take of the blood of the covenant, and sprinkle it upon your heart, and then all will be peace.
The blood will give you great power in prayer. Coming to God with this plea, you may open all your heart to Him, confess every sin, disclose every sorrow, make known every need, and reveal, as in the light of the noontide sun, every secret cloistered there.
In a word, it is the blood of Jesus that SAVES, saves us from a present condemnation, and saves us to a future and eternal salvation. There is no salvation elsewhere. Here is pardon for the vilest sinner, for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Yes, dear Lord! it is Your blood, Your own blood, possessing all the dignity and virtue of Your Godhead, and this will be my song and my joy through eternity, “Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins IN HIS OWN BLOOD, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father–to Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
“The eternal God is your refuge.” Deuteronomy 33:27
J.C.Philpot
There is, to my mind, much sweetness in the contrast between the eternal God being the refuge of his people, and the lying refuges that most hide their heads in. God’s people need an eternal refuge. They have a never-dying soul; and unless they have a never-dying refuge, it is not sufficient for a never-dying soul. Works! these are for time; the never-dying soul needs something to stand when works and wonders cease. Doctrines, opinions, sentiments, ordinances, the good opinion of men, the applause and flattery of the creature–these are of the earth, earthy; they fail when a man gives up the spirit.
But a child of God needs a refuge, not merely that his soul may anchor in it in time, but that when time is ended, when the angel proclaims, “There shall be time no longer,” and his liberated soul escapes its prison-house, and is wafted into the presence of the eternal God, it may find in Him at that solemn moment a refuge. No, all through eternity, in the rolling circle of its never-ending ages, the soul will still need a refuge. For could it even in eternity exist for a moment out of Christ–in a word, were the refuge of the elect anything but eternal, the moment the limited time of their shelter closed, the frowns of God would hurl them into perdition; so that nothing but an eternal God can ever be a refuge for a never-dying soul.
It does not say, “His grace is your refuge.” No; because grace will end in glory. Nor does it say, “His mercy is your refuge,” for his mercy will end in blessing and praise. Nor does it say, “His attributes or his perfections are a refuge.” It drops the gifts, and leads the soul up to the Giver, as though God’s own gifts and mercies were not sufficient, but that the immortal soul must have the immortal God, and the never-dying spirit is only safe in the bosom of an eternal Jehovah.
John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Matt. 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
C.H.Spurgeon
No lips can communicate the love of Christ to another—until Jesus Himself shall speak within. Descriptions all fall flat and bland—unless the Holy Spirit fills them with life and power. Until our Immanuel reveals Himself within—the soul cannot truly see Him. If you would see the sun—the sun must reveal itself, and only by its own blaze can that mighty lamp be seen. It is just so with Christ.
Purify your heart by any educational process you may select; elevate your mental faculties to the highest degree of intellectual power—yet this can never reveal Christ to your soul. The Spirit of God must come with power—and then in that mystic holy of holies—the Lord Jesus will display Himself to the sanctified eye—as He does not unto blind unbelievers. Christ must be His own mirror!
The great mass of this bleary-eyed world can see nothing of the
ineffable glories of Immanuel. He stands before them . . .
without beauty or loveliness,
a root out of a dry ground,
rejected by the vain, and
despised by the proud.
Only where the Spirit has touched the eye with celestial eye-salve, quickened the heart with divine life, and educated the soul to a heavenly taste—only then is Jesus truly understood.
“To you who believe—He is precious!” To you, He is the chief corner-stone, the Rock of your salvation, your all in all; but to others He is “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” Happy are those to whom our Lord manifests Himself, for His promise to such, is that He will make His abode with them.
O Jesus, show Yourself to me now! Favor me with a glimpse of Your all-conquering charms!
Without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish!
“Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it; That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25, 27
J.C.Philpot
What are we ourselves as viewed by our own eyes? Full of spots, wrinkles, and blemishes! And what do we see in ourselves every day, but sin and filth and folly? What evil is there in the world that is not in us, and in our hearts? It is true others cannot read our hearts. But we read them—yes, we are every day, and sometimes all the day reading them. And what do we read there? Like Ezekiel’s scroll, it is “written within and without”—and we may well add, if we rightly read what is there written, we have every reason to say it is “full of lamentations, and mourning, and woe.” For I am sure that there is nothing that we see there every day and every hour, but would cover us with shame and confusion of face, and make us blush to lift up our eyes before God, or almost to appear in the presence of our fellow man!
But neither others, nor we ourselves, now see what the church one day will be, and what she ever was in the eyes of Jesus! He could look through all the sins and sorrows of this intermediate period, and fix His eye upon the bridal day—the day when before assembled angels, in the courts of heaven, in the realms of eternal bliss, He would present her to Himself a glorious church, without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy, and without fault. O what a day will that be, when the Son of God shall openly wed His espoused bride—when there shall be heard in heaven, “as the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.” Revelation 19:6, 7