Jul 24
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Be Gone Unbelief – John Newton
“Begone, unbelief,
My Savior is near,
And for my relief
Will surely appear;
By prayer let me wrestle,
And He will perform;
With Christ in the vessel,
I smile at the storm.
Though dark be my way,
Since He is my Guide,
’Tis mine to obey,
’Tis His to provide;
Though cisterns be broken,
And creatures all fail,
The word He hath spoken
Shall surely prevail.
His love, in time past,
Forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last
In trouble to sink:
Each sweet Ebenezer
I have in review
Confirms His good pleasure
To help me quite through.
Why should I complain
Of want or distress,
Temptation or pain?
He told me no less;
The heirs of salvation,
I know from His Word,
Through much tribulation
Must follow their Lord.
How bitter that cup
No heart can conceive,
Which He drank quite up,
That sinners might live!
His way was much rougher
And darker than mine;
Did Christ, my Lord, suffer,
And shall I repine?
Since all that I meet
Shall work for my good,
The bitter is sweet,
The medicine, food;
Though painful at present,
’Twill cease before long,
And then, oh, how pleasant
The conqueror’s song!”
Despised Privileges Become A Curse
Psalm 69:22
Often those things that should have been a blessing become a curse, those things which should have been the means of salvation, when despised and neglected, become a snare and a trap by which the souls of many are brought down to hell. What a solemn warning! The Word of God, which is able to make you wise unto salvation, if neglected, will demand your condemnation. The preaching of the gospel, which is the means of faith, if despised, will rise up in judgment against you. The worship of God in the assembly of his saints, if scorned, will prove to be an everlasting torment to your soul.
Don Fortner
| Hated Without Cause “But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause” (John 15:25). When we think about the sin of our fallen race, we ought always to think of it in terms of deicide. Here is the essence of sin. It is the murder of God! Man, because of his hatred for his Creator, nailed the Son of God to a cross and threw a hellish party as they watched him die! That is the master crime of hell-bent humanity, the pinnacle of man’s guilt. Sin out did itself when it slew the Lord of glory who came on earth to die in the place of fallen men. Never does sin appear so exceedingly sinful as when we see it nailing the Lamb of God to the cursed tree, whom it hated without a cause! Perfect, but Hated Our Lord Jesus here refers us to two verses in the Psalms (Ps. 35:19; 69:4), affirming plainly that the Psalms, though written by men from their own experiences, were written by divine inspiration as prophecies of our Savior. From the time that he entered into this world, until the hour that he was hanged upon the tree, the Son of God was the constant, unceasing object of man’s cruel hatred. No human being was ever so lovely as our Savior. It would seem almost impossible not to love him. Yet, lovely, loving, and loveable as he was, — “Yea, he is altogether lovely!” — no creature ever endured such a relentless hatred. As soon as he was born, Herod sought to kill him. And that was just the beginning. All the days of his life, he was “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Without a Cause Anyone who bothers to read history, let alone the Word of God, knows that the Lord Jesus was the object of man’s cruel hatred. But why did they hate him? They had no reason. Yet, three times we read, “They hated me without a cause.” There is nothing that can be, or ever has been, pointed to in the life of our Redeemer that was even objectionable, let alone a cause for hatred. Our Lord Jesus was perfect in his character. In his conduct, he was without flaw. His doctrine was pure and good. The law of God he upheld, obeyed, and exemplified is, in the opinion of all sane men, good. The doctrine he taught was pure doctrine. All his works were works of mercy. His kindness, sympathy, and tenderness were obvious to all. The Cause Yet, though there was no cause for it, the Lord of Glory was hated of all men in this world, and still is. The cause of man’s hatred for Christ was and is altogether in himself. Here is the cause of man’s hatred for Christ. — “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Men hated him without a cause, because they hate God who sent him, and everything about the Lord Jesus stirred man’s hatred for God against him. “They hated me without a cause.” John 15:25 It is obvious that all men hated the Lord Jesus Christ while he walked on the earth. And it is obvious to all who know anything about human depravity and understand the teaching of Holy Scripture, that all men by nature hate him still. All men hated him then for the very same reason that he is hated now: “because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” His Doctrine People did not hate him because he lived more uprightly than they, but because of the gospel he preached. Their hatred against him was and is drawn forth and made manifest by the doctrine he taught. When our Savior declared himself to be God, one with the Father and equal to the Father, they took up stones to kill him (John 10:25-33). When he exposed the evil of their hearts and the hypocrisy of their religion, they were enraged (Mark 7:20-23; Luke 16:15; John 8:40). When the Lord Jesus openly proclaimed God’s sovereignty in the exercise of his mercy and grace, they tried to murder him (Luke 4:25-32). When he preached redemption, righteousness, and salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in him alone, the multitudes who followed him for the loaves and fishes, refusing to hear such doctrine, walked away (John 6:37-40, 44-45, 47-51, 53, 61-65). The Lord Jesus was and is hated by men because he forgave, and still forgives, sinners of their sins, freely and fully, while refusing to accept and honor their works of righteousness (Rom. 9:31-10:4). For all these things they hated him. Yet, had they believed him, the gospel he preached would have saved them (Matt. 11:25-30). God’s Purpose All this, our Savior tells us, came to pass that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, according to our God’s sovereign, eternal purpose of grace toward his elect. The hatred of men for the Son of God resulted in him being crucified upon the cursed tree as our Substitute, according to the purpose of God (Acts 2:23, 36; Acts 4:27-28; Rom. 8:28-30). Yet, the guilt was theirs. They did exactly what they wanted to do. Nothing in him gave them cause for their hatred. The evil was altogether in them. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” A Question Do you hate him, or do you love him? If you refuse to trust him, if you refuse to bow to him and believe him, your unbelief reveals your hatred for the Son of God (1 John 5:10). If you trust him, your faith in him causes you to love him. — “Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious.” — “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” — “We love him, because he first loved us.” Believing him, trusting him, loving him, I am confident that he loves me even as he is loved by his Father, with an everlasting love. And his love for me casts out all fear! Don Fortner |
This reptile heart
“The carnal mind is enmity against God.” Romans 8:7
‘Enmity against God’ must not only include in its bosom the seeds of every other crime—but be in itself the worst of all crimes. To be an enemy to God must be a most dreadful position for a creature to be in—but to be enmity itself must be the concentrated essence of sin and misery! An enemy may be reconciled, appeased, turned into a friend—but enmity, never. Enmity knows no pity, feels no remorse, is subject to no control, is unappeasable and irreconcilable.
And when we think for a moment who and what the great and glorious God is, against whom this reptile heart bears an enmity so enduring and so wicked—when we view Him by the eye of faith as filling heaven and earth with His glory, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, and yet day after day loading all His creatures with benefits, and to His people so full of the tenderest love and compassion—then to see a dying mortal, whom one frown can hurl from all the pride of health and vigour, into the lowest hell of misery and woe—spewing forth, like some miserable toad, his spit and venom against the glorious King of kings and Lord of lords—well may we stand amazed at the height of that presumption and the depth of that wickedness which can so arm a ‘worm of earth’ against the ‘Majesty of heaven!’
J.C.Philpot
The general religion of the day
There are few things more sickening to us than this widespread profession of religion—without the vital power. Open profanity is bad. It is grievous to see the sin which runs down our streets like water. The scenes which meet the eye, especially in London, are grievous—but they carry with them their own condemnation, and do not intrude into the sacred precincts of truth and godliness. But a loud, noisy profession, with just enough ‘truth in the letter’ to salve over the convictions of the natural conscience—but not enough of life or power either to save or sanctify—to deliver from the dominion of sin or separate from the world—like the salt that has lost its savour, is good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. True religion differs as much from the general religion of the day as grace differs from nature, spirit from flesh, and the power of God from the wisdom of man!
J.C.Philpot
See the old man rise and fume!
(author unknown)
We must have . . .
our idols exposed,
our lusts dragged forth from their holes,
our carnal religion made loathsome in our eyes,
our own righteousness shown to be filthy rags.
Heart-searching preaching, where it does not convince, is sure to offend.
Nothing is so cutting to an unrenewed heart, especially when there is a decent
outside, as to have its rottenness exposed, its refuge of lies swept away, and
the pillow of ‘forms’ whereon it was sleeping removed from under its head.
Whoever attempts this, must expect to see the old man rise and fume.
Only two families inhabit earth!
(Henry Law, 1858)
Only two families inhabit earth!
In principle,
in taste,
in habit,
in desire,
in eternal destination-
they are as separate as . . .
light from darkness,
heat from cold,
life from death,
Heaven from Hell.
There is the serpent’s seed.
There is the heaven-born race.
There is the wide wicked world.
There is the little flock of grace.
There is the broad road that leads to eternal destruction.
There is the narrow way that leads to eternal life.
There are the cursed goats.
There are the blessed sheep.
Hence the importance of the question:
“Have you escaped from nature’s thraldom?
Do your feet tread the upward path of holiness?
Do you belong to Satan-or to Christ?“
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Externally religious? From Spurgeon’s sermon, “CHRIST CRUCIFIED” How many are there ‘externally religious‘, with whose characters you could find no fault, but who have never had the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit; who never were made to lie prostrate on their face before Calvary’s cross; who never turned a wishful eye to yonder Savior crucified; who never put their trust in him that was slain for the sons of men. |
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The touchstone… -Spurgeon, THE NECESSITY OF INCREASED FAITH “He that believes on the Son of God has eternal life abiding in him.” It becomes each of us more earnestly to inquire whether we have true faith or not. O, my brethren, there are a thousand shams in the world- a thousand imitations of faith; but there is only one true vital saving faith. There are scores of “notional” faiths- a faith which consists in holding a sound creed, a faith which bids men believe a lie, by wrapping them up with assurances of their safety, when they are still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity, a faith which consists in presumptuously trusting to ourselves. There are scores of false faiths; but there is only one true one. Oh! as you wish to be saved at last; as you would not be self-deceived and go marching to damnation with your eyes shut, take your faith in your hand this morning and see whether it is genuine sterling coin. We ought to be more careful concerning our faith than of anything else. True, we ought to examine our conduct, we ought to search our works, we ought to test our love, but, above all, our faith: for if faith is wrong all is wrong; if faith is right, we may take that as the touchstone of our sincerity. |