Mar 23
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When we have the mind of Christ, we see God in everything, we see Christ as Everything, we see ourselves as nothing. ~John Chapman
Pride and Grace
David said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes” (Psalm 119:71).
Strong people are apt to be harsh and unsympathetic, so they must be taken to the furnace and melted. Healthy, independent people are apt to be proud and self-centered, so they must be made (in trouble) to realize their weakness and frailty, as Paul with his thorn. Those who have riches, possessions, and talent are often critical of the poor and weak, until they are made to see the worthlessness of all worldly charms and glory. Pride and grace are incompatible; therefore, if we are His, He will remove the pride. ~Henry Mahan
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This Precious Anointing! (from “The Precious Anointing” by Octavius Winslow) This holy anointing of the Spirit will impart clearness to your mind, so that you shall have a right judgment in all things. It will impart sweetness to your temper; gentleness to your spirit, and will give you a lowly, loving, self condemning heart. It will make your behavior towards others more Christlike. It will fill you with charity and love; the grace of kindness will be in your heart, and the law of kindness on your lip. This precious anointing is so soul transforming, so ‘Christ assimilating’ in its influence, that it is impossible to partake of it in any degree and not be like Jesus. When you see a religious professor who is…. proud in heart, lofty in spirit, covetous in his aims, condemning others, justifying himself, unsympathizing, or harsh; you see one who is lacking this anointing. He is not sitting at the feet of Jesus. |
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This sacred anointing (J. C. Philpot, “The Unction of the Holy One“) “But ye have an unction from the Holy One.” 1 John 2:20. Wherever the anointing of the Holy One touches a man’s heart it spreads itself, widening and extending its operations. It thus communicates divine gifts and graces wherever it comes. It . . . bestows and draws out faith, gives repentance and godly sorrow, causes secret self-loathing, and separation from the world, draws the affections upwards, makes sin hated, and Jesus and His salvation loved. Wherever the anointing of the Holy Spirit touches a man’s heart it diffuses itself through his whole soul, and makes him wholly a new creature. It . . . gives new motives, communicates new feelings, enlarges and melts the heart, and spiritualizes and draws the affections upwards. Without this sacred anointing . . . all our religion is a bubble, all our profession a lie, and all our hopes will end in despair. O what a mercy to have one drop of this heavenly anointing! To enjoy one heavenly feeling! To taste the least measure of Christ’s love shed abroad in the heart! What an unspeakable mercy to have one touch, one glimpse, one glance, one communication out of the fullness of Him who fills all in all! By this anointing from the Holy One, the children of God are supported under . . . afflictions, perplexities, and sorrows. By this anointing from the Holy One, they see the hand of God . . . in every chastisement, in every providence, in every trial, in every grief, and in every burden. By this anointing from the Holy One they can bear chastisement with meekness; and put their mouth in the dust, humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God. Every good word, every good work, every gracious thought, every holy desire, every spiritual feeling do we owe to this one thing: the anointing of the Holy One. “But ye have an unction from the Holy One.” 1 John 2:20 |
He has a healing balm for all!
(John MacDuff, “The Throne of Grace“) LISTEN to audio! Download audio
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above,
as you read the text below.)
“The Holy Spirit also helpeth us in our infirmities.”
Romans 8:26
You cannot live without the Holy Spirit!
There cannot be . . .
one heavenly aspiration,
one breathing of love,
one upward glance of faith
without His gracious influences.
Apart from Him, there is . . .
no preciousness in the Word,
no blessing in ordinances,
no permanent, sanctifying results in affliction.
The Holy Spirit . . .
directs His people to the waters of comfort,
gives new glory to the promises, and
invests the Savior’s character and work, with new
loveliness and beauty.
Come, then, with your affliction!
Come with your infirmity!
Come with your need!
Come with your wounded spirit!
Come with your broken heart!
Whatever, then, be your present situation, seek the promised
help of the Holy Spirit.
He has a healing balm for all .
. .
the weak,
the tempted,
the sick,
the sorrowing,
the bereaved,
the dying.
“The Holy Spirit also helpeth us in our infirmities.”
Romans 8:26
When the Holy Spirit
preaches the gospel
(J. C. Philpot)
We often know the theory of the gospel,
before we know the experience of the gospel.
We often receive the doctrines of grace into
our judgment, before we receive the grace of
the doctrines into our soul.
We therefore need to be . . .
brought down,
humbled,
tried,
stripped of every prop;
that the gospel may be to us . . .
more than a sound,
more than a name,
more than a theory,
more than a doctrine,
more than a system,
more than a creed;
that it may be . . .
soul enjoyment,
soul blessing,
and soul salvation.
When the Holy Spirit preaches the gospel
to the poor in spirit, the humbled, stripped,
and tried–it is a gospel of glad tidings indeed
to the sinner’s broken heart.
What Can God’s Elect Do In A Reprobate Age?
II Thessalonians 2:13-14
Without question, we are living in a reprobate age. Ours is a generation under the judgment of God. Read the first chapter of Romans and tell me that I am mistaken! The marks of divine judgment are evident throughout our society: spiritual blindness (II Thess. 2:8-12), moral perversion (Rom. 1:27-28), and self-serving chaos and rebellion (Rom. 1:29-32). These things are the results of freewill, works religion, religion that debases the character of God and exalts the dignity of man. The more thoroughly convinced men are that salvation depends upon them, the more vile they become!
What can we do in this reprobate age? If we could outlaw abortion, shut down the peddlers of smut, banish all drugs from our culture, and eradicate homosexuals from the world, it would not move our generation one step closer to God. Our problem is much deeper than these things. They are only the branches. The root is in the wicked heart of man. Nothing can deliver us from the judgment of God but the grace of God. Yet, there are some things we can and should be doing.
WE CAN PRAY! If God is pleased to work his works of grace in this age he can. And if it is his purpose to do so, he will do so in response to the fervent prayers of his people. “As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isa. 66:8). We might well pray the prayer of Habakkuk (Hab. 3:2). “O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid.” Truly, I tremble for this generation. I fear for the souls of men in this day. I know the cause of all the evil around us. God has obviously left this generation to itself!
“O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years.” The word “revive” might be better translated “preserve alive”. I am not a pessimist, or an optimist. I am a realist. I try to deal with things as they are. Though I have prayed much for revival, I do not do so much any more. I only pray for things that I expect God to do. And I do not expect revival in this day, at least not in the sense in which we commonly think of revival. If God is pleased to send something again like the great awakening, I will rejoice in his goodness. He certainly can do it! But that does not appear to be his purpose. I am praying that our God will graciously preserve alive his church and his truth. And I know he will!
“In the midst of the years make known” – Pray that God will make known the gospel of his grace, and that he will make all men to know his greatness, his grace, and his glory in Christ. Though the prophets of Baal and those who follow them to destruction may not repent, I pray that our God would make himself known to this generation by us (I Kings 18:36-37).
“In wrath remember mercy!” There is yet a remnant, chosen of God and redeemed by Christ, who must be saved. Let us plead with God, putting him in remembrance of his covenant (Isa. 43:26), that he might have mercy upon some, even in this day of judgment.
WE CAN AND MUST GIVE THANKS ALSO TO GOD FOR HIS GRACE TO US (II Thess. 2:13-14). As the Thessalonian believers heard Paul’s epistle read to them for the first time, after hearing about the apostasy, the antichrist, and the strong delusion God would send, when the reader got to verses 13 and 14, you can imagine what shouts of joy must have gone up from their hearts as they heard these glorious words: “We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
If in the midst of this reprobate age you have been snatched out of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, you have great reason to give thanks to God! He chose you to salvation. He sent someone to preach the gospel to you. He has called you by his Spirit and sanctified you. And you shall obtain “the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”!
WE CAN AND MUST PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THIS REPROBATE GENERATION (Rom. 1:15-18). The only hope sinners have is Christ. Unless someone tells them the good news of God’s free and sovereign grace through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, they will perish under the strong delusion of Arminian, freewill, works religion. We must tell this generation the truth!
Don Fortner
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Chasing bubbles on
perdition’s brink? (Henry Law, “The Golden Lampstand”) Without Christ, the affairs of this world are but a puzzled maze. Poor blinded man sees nothing as it really is. He does not know the true end of his being. He imagines the tinsel to be gold. He counts the true gold as dross. He treasures up the chaff as wheat. All his view is bounded by time’s narrow line! All his heart is fixed on vanity’s vain trifles! He chases bubbles on perdition’s brink! He profits no one and he ruins himself! |
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Slaves of Satan! (Philpot, “The Master’s Bounty, and the Servant’s Obedience“) “they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2 Timothy 2:26 In our natural state, we are all the slaves of Satan! We love our foul master, hug his chain, and delight in his servitude, little thinking what awful wages are to follow. This mighty conqueror has with him a numerous train of captives! This haughty master, the ‘god of this world’, has in his fiendish retinue, a whole array of slaves who gladly do his behests. They obey him cheerfully, though he is leading them down to the bottomless pit! For though he amuses them while here in this world with a few toys and baubles, he will not pay them their wages until he has enticed and flattered them into that ghastly gulf of destruction, in which he himself has been weltering for ages. “the god of this world, hath blinded the minds of them who believe not.” 2 Cor. 4:4 |
“But we see Jesus.” Hebrews 2:9
J.C.Philpot
Did your eyes ever see him? Do look into conscience–did your eyes ever see Jesus? I do not mean your natural, your bodily eyes; but the eye of faith, the eye of the soul. I will tell you what you have felt, if you ever saw Jesus. Your heart was softened and melted, your affections drawn heavenward, your soul penetrated with thankfulness and praise, your conscience sprinkled with atoning blood, your mind lifted up above all earthly things to dwell and center in the bosom of the blessed Immanuel. Do you think, then, you have seen Jesus by the eye of faith? Then you have seen the perfection of beauty, the consummation of pure loveliness; you have seen the image of the invisible God; you have seen all the perfections and glorious character of the Godhead shining forth in him who was nailed to Calvary’s tree.
I am sure such a sight as that must melt the most obdurate heart, and draw tears from the most flinty eyes; such a sight by faith of the beauty and glory of the only-begotten Son of God must kindle the warmest, holiest stream of tender affection. It might not have lasted long. These feelings are often very transitory. The world, sin, temptation, and unbelief soon work; infidelity soon assails all; the things of time and sense soon draw aside; but while it lasted, such, in a greater or lesser degree, were the sensations produced.
Now, if you have ever seen Jesus by the eye of faith, and ever had a tender affection going out toward him, you will see him in glory. But you will never see him in glory, if you have not seen him in grace; you will never see him eye to eye in the open vision of eternal bliss, unless you have seen him now upon earth by the faith of God’s elect in your heart.