Aug 24
23
MAKE ME A CAPTIVE, LORD
Make me a captive, Lord,
And then I shall be free;
Force me to render up my sword,
And I shall conqu’ror be.
I sink in life’s alarms
When by myself I stand;
Imprison me within Thine arms,
And strong shall be my hand.
My heart is weak and poor
Until it master find;
It has no spring of action sure,
It varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move
Till Thou has wrought its chain;
Enslave it with Thy matchless love,
And deathless it shall reign.
My pow’r is faint and low
Till I have learned to serve;
It lacks the needed fire to glow,
It lacks the breeze to nerve.
It cannot drive the world
Until itself be driv’n;
Its flag can only be unfurled
When Thou shalt breathe from heav’n.
My will is not my own
Till Thou hast made it Thine;
If it would reach a monarch’s throne,
It must its crown resign.
It only stands unbent
Amid the clashing strife,
When on Thy bosom it has leant,
And found in Thee its life.
George Matheson
(1842-1906)
That which makes Christ Jesus most precious to me and His
robe of righteousness most needful is not the preaching of what I
am not, but the preaching of who and what He is!
Henry Mahan
In 1895, the pastor and writer, Andrew Murray, was in England suffering from a terribly painful back, the result of an injury he had incurred years before. One morning while he was eating breakfast in his room, his hostess told him of a woman downstairs who was in great trouble and wanted to know if he had any advice for her. Murray handed her a paper he had been writing on and said, “Just give her this advice I’m writing down for myself. It may be that she’ll find it helpful.” This is what he had written:
“In time of trouble, say, ‘First, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place; in that I will rest.’ Next, ‘He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child.’ Then say, ‘He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow.’ And last, say, ‘In His good time He can bring me out again. How and when, He knows.’ Therefore, say ‘I am here (1) by God’s appointment, (2) in His keeping, (3) under His training, (4) for His time.”
A Real Redemption
There are those who believe that Jesus Christ died so man would have a chance of being saved.
I do not know that I hate anything more in my soul than to hear someone say that Jesus Christ died so as to make salvation a possibility.
It makes Jesus Christ so little, that He should do so much, and after all, only give us a chance of being saved.
What an insult it is to the Lord Jesus Christ to fix the eternal honor of God in the salvation of sinners upon chance, and that chance to be managed by a poor sinful creature. No, no.
Thanks be to God for immortal realities and certainties. What is said concerning what Christ has done?
He has “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).
“He redeemed us from the curse of the law”
(Galatians 3:13).
He has “obtained eternal redemption for us”
(Hebrews 9:12).
“He has redeemed us to God” (Revelation 5:9).
To the honor of the Eternal Trinity, it is said, not that the redeemed shall have a chance, but that “the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11).
The Lord Jesus Christ has done this great work and He is gone to heaven shouting “victory” for “God is gone up with a shout; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet” (Psalm 47:5).
He rose from the grave as a demonstrative proof that sin was destroyed, law satisfied, God honored, and His people eternally and everlastingly saved.
William Gadsby
Poor, naked, penniless, worthless!
(Octavius Winslow, “Morning Thoughts”)
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live!” John 5:25
There is the special, direct,
and effectual call of the Spirit in the
elect of God, without which all other calling is in vain. The Spirit effectually works
in the soul with an inward, supernatural, secret power. There is an energy put
forth with the call, which . . .
awakens the conscience,
breaks the heart,
convinces the judgment,
opens the eye of the soul, and
pours a new and an alarming sound upon the hitherto deaf ear!
Mark the blessed effects . . .
the scales fall from the eyes,
the veil is torn from the mind,
the deep fountains of evil in the heart are broken up.
The sinner sees himself as . . .
lost and undone,
without pardon,
without a righteousness,
without acceptance,
without a God,
without a Saviour,
without a hope!
Dreadful condition!
“What shall I do to be
saved?” is his cry! “I am a wretch undone!
I look within me—all is dark and vile.
I look around me—everything seems but the image of my
woe.
I look above me—I see only an angry God.
Whichever way I look, is Hell!
And were God now to send me there—just and right would He be.”
But, blessed be God, no poor soul that ever uttered such language, prompted by such feelings—ever died in despair! That faithful Spirit who begins the good work—effectually carries it on, and completes it!
Presently He leads him to the
cross of Jesus and unveils to his glimmering eye of faith a . . .
suffering,
wounded,
bleeding,
dying Saviour;
and yet a Saviour with outstretched arms!
That Saviour speaks; oh, did ever
music sound so melodious?
“All this I do for you . . .
this cross for you,
these sufferings for you,
this blood for you,
these stretched out arms for you.
Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Look unto Me, and be saved!
Are you lost? I can save you!
Are you guilty? I can cleanse you!
Are you poor? I can enrich you!
Are you sunk low? I can raise you!
Are you naked? I can clothe you!
Have you nothing to bring with you?
No price?
No money?
No goodness?
No merit?
I can and will take you to Me, just as you are . . .
poor,
naked,
penniless,
worthless;
for such I came to seek,
for such I came to die!”
“Lord, I believe!”
exclaims the poor convinced soul.
“You are just the Savior that I need.
I needed one that could and would save me . . .
with all my vileness,
with all my rags,
with all my poverty.
I needed one that would . . .
save me fully,
save me freely,
save me as an act of mere unmerited, undeserved grace!
I have found Him whom my soul loves; and will be His through time, and His
through eternity!”
Thus effectually does the blessed Spirit call a sinner—by His especial, invincible, and supernatural power; out of darkness into marvelous light!
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live!” John 5:25
Lift up your heads, you poor, you needy, you disconsolate!
Octavius
Winslow
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners!”
What a gospel is this for a poor sinner! It speaks . . .
of pardon,
of acceptance,
of peace with God,
of full redemption here,
and unspeakable glory hereafter!
This glorious gospel proclaims . . .
a Saviour to the lost,
a Redeemer to the captive,
a Physician to the sick,
a Friend to the needy,
an Advocate to the criminal.
All that a self-ruined, sin-filled, law-condemned, broken-hearted,
justice-threatened sinner needs—this
“glorious gospel of the blessed God” provides!
It reveals to the self-ruined, One in whom is his help.
It reveals to the sin-filled, One who can take away all sin.
It reveals to the law-condemned, One who saves from all condemnation.
It reveals to thebroken-hearted,One who binds up and
heals.
It reveals to the justice-threatened, One who is a hiding place from the wind,
and a covert from the tempest!
That One is Jesus!
O name that is ever dear.
O name that is ever sweet.
O name that is ever precious.
O name that is ever fragrant.
O name that is ever healing to broken-hearted sinners!
All you can possibly need, is treasured up in Christ!
You have no cross, but Christ can bear it.
You have no sorrow, but Christ can alleviate it.
You have no corruption, but Christ can subdue it.
You have no guilt, but Christ can remove it.
You have no sin, but Christ can pardon it.
You have no need, but Christ can supply it!
Lift up your heads, you poor, you needy, you disconsolate!
Lift up your heads and rejoice that Christ is all to you . . .
all you need, in this valley of tears;
all you need, in the deepest sorrow;
all you need, under the heaviest affliction;
all you need, in lingering sickness;
all you will need, in the hour of death;
all you will need, in the day of judgment!
What more do you desire?
A merciful Father who loves you as the
apple of His eye!
A gracious Saviour to whom to go, moment
by moment!
And a blessed indwelling, sanctifying, comforting Spirit!
Yes, “Happy indeed are those whose God is the Lord!”
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent
me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” Luke 4:18
HE GAVE HIMSELF FOR US!
from Spurgeon’s sermon, “Christ’s Marvellous Giving”
Do you see that dreadful procession going through the streets
of Jerusalem, along the rough pavement of the Via Dolorosa?
Do you see the weeping women as they mourn because of him?
How is it that Jesus is willing to be led a captive up to
the hill of Calvary? Alas! they throw him on the ground!
They drive accursed iron through his hands and feet.
They hoist him into the air! They dash the cross into its
appointed place, and there he hangs, a naked spectacle of
scorn and shame, derided of men, and mourned by angels.
How is it that the Lord of glory, who made all worlds,
and hung out the stars like lamps, should now be
bleeding and dying there?
HE GAVE HIMSELF FOR US!
Can you see the streaming fountains of the four wounds in his
hands and feet? Can you trace his agony as it carves lines upon
his brow and all down his emaciated frame? No you cannot see
the griefs of his soul. No spirit can behold them. They were too
terrible for you to know them. It seemed as though all hell were
emptied into the bosom of the Son of God, and as though all the
miseries of all the ages were made to meet upon him.
Now why is all this but that he gave himself for us till his head
hung down in death, and his arms, in chill, cold death, hung
down by his side, and they buried the lifeless Victor in the tomb.
HE GAVE HIMSELF FOR US!
A meaningless gospel, a meaningless god, and a meaningless saviour!
(Don Fortner)
“You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins!” Matthew 1:21
The angel’s message to Joseph was a message of grace, redemption, and salvation to sinners. By God’s command, He was named, “JESUS,” Saviour, because He was sent by God to save His people from their sins. What He is called, that He is — Jesus, our Saviour.
The Lord Jesus came into the world to save “His people” from their sins. Those He came to save were His people before He came to save them, His by eternal election. There are some people in this world, an elect multitude, chosen in Him before the world began, who are peculiarly and distinctively His people, the objects of His everlasting love, chosen in Him unto salvation (Ephesians 1:2-6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
The Lord Jesus Christ is an
almighty, effectual Saviour! He saves His people from . . .
the penalty of their sins — by His blood
atonement,
the dominion of their sins — by His regenerating
Spirit,
the being of their sins — when He takes them out
of this world,
all the evil consequences of their sins — in
resurrection glory!
Universal love, universal grace, and universal redemption — is meaningless love, meaningless grace, and meaningless redemption. To preach such, is to preach a meaningless gospel, a meaningless god, and a meaningless savior!
“You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins!”
At all times, and under all
circumstances!
(“Every Day!” Author unknown, 1872)
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
We might have been summoned to appear before the throne of Divine
Justice-and then every mouth would be stopped, and all would stand guilty
before God.
But behold! We are invited to come to the throne of grace! And for what
purpose? That we might obtain mercy, that we might receive a free
pardon-complete forgiveness of all our sins! And not only this, but that we
might “find grace to help in time of need.”
The throne of grace is never vacant. The gracious King ever sits there in all
His power and in all His willingness, to bless His redeemed people.
The throne of grace is always accessible. Not once a year merely, nor once a
week, nor once a day, may we approach it-but at all times, and under
all circumstances.
Oh, what a privilege, my soul, is this! To be permitted, nay, invited and
welcomed-to come to the throne of grace whenever you are in want, and for
whatever you need! May I come as I have often come before-only more reverently,
more trustfully, with larger desires and fuller expectation.