REFLECTIONS

Christ Our All

“What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry, clothes to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveler in a weary land, such is Jesus Christ to us. What the husband is to the head is to the body, such is Jesus  Christ to us.”

“As the river seeks the sea, so Jesus, I seek thee! O let me find thee and melt my life into thine forever!”

“Bleeding and dying that we might neither bleed or die, descending that we might ascend, and wrapped in swaddling bands that we might be unwrapped of the grave clothes of corruption.”

“God is more glorified in the person of His Son than He would have been by an unfallen world.”

“This is the very essence of true religion-personally living with a personal Savior, personally trusting a personal Redeemer, personally crying out to a personal Intercessor, and receiving personal answers from a Person who loves us, and who manifests Himself to us.”

-C.H. Spurgeon

REFLECTIONS

True Love, Truth And Good
 
“And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.

2 Samuel 9:7

When David wanted to show kindness to the house of Saul, he showed immense strength of character. For in showing kindness to his enemy, he overcame and put underfoot painful thoughts that could have caused him to take vengeance and act unkindly.

The devil presents us with objects of fear and doubt in such matters, saying, “If you do that, it may please God, but it will cause you trouble.” When, therefore, we think of such things, let us see that by following God’s commands we will be protected. We will be upheld when tortuous paths are ahead of us.

For example, magistrates, whose responsibility is to rebuke everything evil, often cover it up. Why? Because they do not want to be hated. That is not only the case in one place, but everywhere. Ministers of the Word of God should open their mouths to rebuke the faults that they see, but they cover things up and pretend not to see evil. They do that because they fear being disdained by some, and they do not want to lose their friendship.

More often, we refrain from doing good when we see that few are taking straight paths, and most only carry out their duty. We are cold when it comes to carrying out our duty because we are afraid of what it may cost us.

We must resist these fears by letting faith be our guard. We must believe that, when we follow the path that God proposes for us, he will make all our enterprise prosper and make things turn out well. He will certainly find the means to deliver us whenever we are oppressed or tossed about by many doubts.”

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“Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:3

Notice that, in all his epistles, Paul constantly reminds us of the grace of God and the love He bears toward all believers. He says, Grace be to you and peace. The word peace includes all worldly prosperity. By it Paul is asking God to provide those things that He considers for our good. He will shower His riches upon us and reveal His bounty so that we might praise Him for His goodness.

However, the wealth of this world will be harmful for us unless we have found favor with the Lord. Hence, Paul speaks here in an orderly way, always placing God’s grace and free pardon before an increase in worldly prosperity. Though we may ask God to bless us with those things He thinks we need, we must not forget the most important blessing is to be members of His church and assured of God’s love in our hearts.

The light of God’s countenance should suffice us. Although God permits us to ask for good things from His hand, we must keep a tight rein on our desires. God may afflict us with many sorrows, and at such times we need to value His grace above anything else. We should then be content, even if everything else is taken away. If we live in comfort, surrounded by all kinds of pleasures and delights, we will still be miserable if we do not have the peace of conscience that comes from knowing that God loves and accepts us.

We should not desire earthly goods more than the love of God. For what if God, who loves us, wishes to test our patience by making us suffer in this world and subjects us to many trials? Even then, we must prize His love above all else and patiently bear all trials, though it seems as if everything is against us.”

-From John Calvin’s Works

REFLECTIONS

“TREATMENT DUE TO YOUNG CONVERTS

vi. Impress the young convert with the danger of the least departure from duty, of taking the first step in the way of spiritual decline.

It rarely happens that an individual becomes a great backslider at once. On the contrary, it is usually the work of time, and generally has a small and almost imperceptible beginning. When the first step is taken, there is probably, in most cases, an intention not to take another, certainly not to go far; but it is a law of our moral constitution that one step renders the next easier; and hence the facility with which we form habits, especially evil habits. The young convert, upon the mount of Christian enjoyment, is able to from but an inadequate idea of the conflicts of the religious life, he realizes then, much less than in subsequent parts of his course, the need of constant watchfulness against temptations; and this lack of vigilance throws open the doors of the heart, and not infrequently the tempter has planted himself there, and begun his work, before any danger has been apprehended. And the soul which was just now burning with ecstasy wakes to the fact, not only that its joys are rapidly upon the wane, but that its desires are becoming earthly, and its impressions of invisible things feeble and inconstant.

Caution the young Christian then, against the least allowed violation of duty. Admonish him that, if he enter such a course, he can never know where it will end. Point him to the examples of those who have taken the first step with a firm purpose never to take another, who have nevertheless continued to backslide, until there was scarcely the semblance of Christian character remaining. Let him understand that no degree of joy, or even of spirituality, which he can possess on earth, can be any security against his losing his evidences and his comforts and sinking into a state of the most chilling spiritual indifference. And if, at any time, he find that he has actually begun to wander, let him know that he has the best reason to be alarmed, and that every hour that he continues his wanderings he is making work for bitter repentance and bringing a dark cloud over his religious prospects.

                                                                                                                         

vii. Put the young convert on his guard against neglecting the duties of the closet.

It is in the closet especially that every Christian must labor to keep alive the flame of devotion in his own soul. Here, more than anywhere else, is carried forward the silent communings of the soul with its God in acts of confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Here the believer becomes acquainted with his sins and his wants, and while he unburdens his soul before the throne of mercy, gathers strength and grace by which he is sustained and carried forward amidst the various duties and trials which meet him in the world. Hence it always happens that, in proportion as the duties of the closet are neglected, religion languishes in the hart and the exhibition of it in the life becomes faint and equivocal. It is manifest to those who see him and converse with him that there is a canker corroding the principle of his spiritual life. And he himself knows that his joys have fled, his conscience has become his accuser, and he has no evidence which ought to satisfy him that he is walking in the path to heaven.

But this evil of neglecting the closet is one to which the young convert is exceedingly liable. He may not be liable to it in the very earliest stage of his Christian experience; for then the duties of the closet are usually a delight to him; but when his first joys have partially subsided and he has begun to be conversant with the more sober realities of the religious life, there is great danger that he will find some apology for a partial and irregular attendance on these duties. One source of danger is found in the fact that he may neglect them, and still be unobserved by the world; that he may neglect them without forfeiting, even in the view of his fellow Christians, who of course are ignorant of it, his claim to Christian character. And then these duties, being of a peculiarly spiritual kind, are the very first to lose their attractions to a Christian who is losing his spirituality. Other duties bring him before the world. These bring him only before his own conscience and the searcher of his heart. And besides, where circumstances may seem to render it inconvenient to engage in closet devotion, it is too easy a matter to satisfy the conscience with an indefinite resolution that it shall be attended to at a consequent period; and no resolution is more easily broken than this; and let it be broken in a few instances, and a habit of comparative indifference to the closet is the consequence.

I doubt not that I might appeal to the experience of a large part of those who have professedly entered on the Christian life for evidence of the facts that no habit is formed with more ease than that of neglecting, in a greater or less degree, this class of duties.

If then the faithful discharge of private religious duties be so essential to a vigorous and healthful tone of religious feeling and action, and if there be peculiar temptations to neglect them, then every person at the commencement of the Christian life ought be admonished of his danger on the one hand, and exhorted to fidelity on the other. Counsel him to take heed that he does not substitute the form for the spirit of prayer; that he do not satisfy his conscience by appearing before God with the bended knee, without the broken heart. Counsel him to mingle with is private prayers self-examination and the reading of God’s Word, that thus his communion with God may be more intelligent on the one hand, and more spiritual on the other. Counsel him never to turn his back upon his closet because he may find his affections low and languid, and may imagine that he should have little enjoyment in attempting to pray. Let this rather be urged as an argument for hastening to his closet and confessing and lamenting his indifference and endeavoring to get the flame of devotion rekindled in his bosom. In short, urge the importance of private meditation and devotion in all circumstances; urge him to redeem time for that purpose under the greatest pressure of worldly care; and keep him mindful of the connection which this duty has with everything that belongs to Christian character and Christian enjoyment.”

-From Lectures On Revivals Of Religion by William B. Sprague  First Published 1832  Published by The Banner of Truth Trust  Carlisle, PA  2007 Pages 156-159

A Prayer To The God Of My Life

“I will be to them a God; they shall be to me a people.” Jeremiah 30:22 NKJV.

Father, You are the true God and the God of Your people! By Your awesome grace we have become the people of God, the true and living God. There is no other god-the Lord is God, He is God! The Lord is God! We had no truth or God before Your sweet grace came to us. We served false gods, the evil one had deceived us and we served sin and demons and idols-and we felt in ourselves the misery of darkness and the self-destructiveness of those who do not know God and who do not worship the Blessed and only God. Father, I remember feeling that I could no longer endure my life and wickedness-my burden was too heavy. My sin crushed me and wore me down. I was not of Your people then. But You saw me in my distress, yes, in my blood and uncleanness-You saw my corruptions and evil heart of sin and unbelief. You saw my complete inability and my desperate need and You came to me. From heaven Your Spirit descended and came and indwelt me and You made me Yours. O how sweet to trust in Jesus, O how sweet to take Him at His word! I have been enlivened and led by Your Spirit since then, O Lord, and I thank you. Just as You led Israel, Your people, by fire and cloud, You have led me through this wasteland world and You have tended to me. You comfort and nourish me-You encourage and strengthen me-You prevail over all powers and people, things and beings, circumstances and events and You lead me in holy worship of Your name. O God, I cannot forget the great thing that you have done for me. You have drawn near me Father! You are God, my God and Father, and to be near You is my happiness. I am Yours and am one of Your people-I am one of the people of God! Father, give us more love for Your people, spiritual Israel. Consume us in Your holy fire and together we shall sing Your praises in unity as one people of God. The most wonderful thing that any man can experience, salvation and adoption by God, has become my blessing by Your grace! I am blessed in Your love. O give me grace and I will draw closer to You and remain in Your blessed Presence for I am Yours Lord. For Christ’s glory, Amen.

REFLECTIONS

Peace and Spiritual Depression

“[Psalm 42:11] is an extraordinarily accurate picture of spiritual depression…you can almost see the man…the man who is dejected and disquieted and miserable, who is unhappy and depressed always shows it in his face. He looks troubled and he looks worried. You take one glance at him and you see his condition. Yes, says the Psalmist in effect, but when I really look at God, as I get better, my face gets better also.-‘He is the health of my countenance’. I lose that drawn, haggard, vexed, troubled, perplexed, introspective appearance and I begin to look composed and calm, balanced and bright. This is not the putting on of a mask, but something that is inevitable. If we are depressed or unhappy, whether we like it or not, we will show it in our face. On the other hand, if we are in the right relationship to God and in a true spiritual condition that again quite inevitably must express itself in our countenance, though I am not suggesting that we should perpetually have that inane grin upon our faces that some people think is essential to the manifestation of true Christian joy. You need not put anything on, it will be there; it cannot help expressing itself-‘He is the health of my countenance’.”

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“Beloved Christian, whatever it is that is tending to get you down, tending to make you a victim of this anxiety, this morbid care, harassing and spoiling your Christian life and witness, whatever it is, let it be known unto God…and if you do so it is absolutely guaranteed that the peace of God…shall guard, keep, garrison your heart and mind…Like the Psalmist you will lay yourself down and you will sleep, you will know this perfect peace. Do you this, have you got this peace? Is this another bit of theory or does it actually happen? I assert that this is a fact. Read the stories of the saints and the martyrs and the Confessors…John George Carpenter, until a few years ago the General of the Salvation Army, tells how he and his wife had to part with their daughter, a lovely girl, of who they were so fond and proud and who had dedicated her young life to foreign mission work in the East. Suddenly she was taken ill with typhoid fever. Of course, they began to pray, but John Carpenter and Mrs. Carpenter somehow felt, although they could not explain it, that they could not pray for that child’s recovery. They went on praying but their prayer was-‘Thou canst heal her if Thou wilt’-they could not positively ask God to heal her…They went on like that for six weeks and then this beautiful girl died. The very morning she died John Carpenter said to Mrs. Carpenter, ‘You know, I am aware of a strange and curious calm within’, and she replied and said, ‘I feel exactly the same’. And she said to him, ‘This must be the peace of God’, And it was the peace of God…There they were, they had made their request known in the right way, and…this amazing calm and peace had come to them…’it must be the peace of God’. It was. Thank God for it.

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“Never does the Apostle say that if we pray our prayer in and of itself will make us feel better. It is a disgraceful thing that people should pray for that reason. That is the psychologists’ use of prayer. They tell us that if we are in trouble it will do us good to pray…Prayer is not auto-suggestion.

Neither does he say, ‘Pray, because while you are praying you will not be thinking about that problem, and therefore you will have temporary relief’…Neither does he say, ‘If you fill your mind with thoughts of God and Christ these thought will push out the other things’…Neither does he say…’Pray, because prayer changes things’. No, it does not. Prayer does not ‘change things’…It is not your prayer that is going to do it, it is not you who are going to do it, but God. ‘The peace of God that passeth all understanding’-He, through it all, ‘will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’

I must say a word about the expression ‘keeping’ your hearts and minds. It means garrisoning, guarding-a number of words can be used. It conjures up a picture. What will happen is that this peace of God will walk around the ramparts and towers of our life. We are inside, and the activities of the heart and mind are producing those stress and anxieties and strains from the outside. But the peace of God will keep them out and we ourselves inside will be at perfect peace. It is God that does it. It is not ourselves, it is not prayer, it is not some psychological mechanism. We make our requests known unto God, and God does that for us and keeps us in perfect peace.”

-From Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Writings

REFLECTIONS

Sweet Salvation!

“Christ is a great Savior to meet the great transgressions of great rebels. The vast machinery of redemption was never undertaken for a mean or little purpose. There must be a great end in so great a plan, carried out at so great an expense, guaranteed with such great promises, and intended to bring such great glory to God.

You have many troubles, but you will never have punishment. You may know affliction, but you shall never know wrath. You may go to the grave, but you shall never go to hell. You shall descend into the regions of the dead, but never into the regions of the damned. The evil one may bruise your heel, but he shall never break your head. You may be in prison under doubts, but you shall never be in prison under condemnation.

The greatest of all miracles is the salvation of a soul.
The most important question concerning any man living is this: Is he saved or not? Is he a child of God or an heir of wrath?

‘Oh,’ says one, ‘I would give my eyes for salvation.’ You shall have it without giving your eyes. Give your heart, no, but take the blessing freely, for freely it is given.

I have never despaired of the salvation of any man since the Lord saved me. I know no heart that God cannot win if He could conquer mine.

What we mean by salvation in this-deliverance from the love of sin, rescue from the habit of sin, setting free from the desire to sin.

That one word saved is enough to make the heart dance as long as life remains. ‘Saved!’ Let us hang our banners and set the bells ringing. Saved! What a sweet wound it is to the man who is wrecked and sees the vessel going down, but at that moment discovers that the lifeboat is near and will rescue him from the sinking ship. To be snatched from the devouring fire, or saved from fierce disease, just when the turning point has come, and death appears imminent, these are also occasions for crying ‘Saved!’ But to be rescued from sin and hell is a greater salvation still, and demands a louder joy. We will sing it in life and whisper it in death and chant it throughout eternity-saved by the Lord!”

From Charles Spurgeon’s Writings

REFLECTIONS

Neglect Of Spiritual Privileges

Matthew 21:33-46

“Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in Scriptures:

‘The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing,

And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

“The fruit that the Lord receives from his vineyard in this land is disgracefully small compared with what it ought to be. We should note what an awful reckoning God sometimes makes with nations and churches which make a bad use of their privileges.

A time came when the long-suffering of God towards the Jews had an end. Forty years after our Lord’s death the cup of their iniquity was at length full and they received a heavy chastisement for their sins in the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. They themselves were scattered over the face of the earth and the kingdom removed from them (v.43).

And will the same thing ever happen to us? Will the judgments of God come down upon this nation because of her unfaithfulness under so many mercies? Who can tell? Only God knows. But history tells us that judgments have come on many churches and nations. Where are the early African and Eastern churches? They are run over by Islam and destroyed. At all events it becomes all believers to intercede much on behalf of our country. Nothing offends God so much as the neglect of privileges. Much has been given to us and much will be required.

What power conscience has even in wicked men! The chief priests and elders at last discovered that our Lord’s parable was especially meant for them. The point of its closing words was too sharp to escape.

There are many hearers in very congregation who are in exactly the position of these unhappy men. They know that what they hear Sunday after Sunday is all true. They know that they are wrong themselves and that every sermon condemns them. But they have neither will nor courage to acknowledge this. They are too proud and too fond of the world to confess their past mistakes and to take up the cross and follow Christ. Let us all beware of this awful state of mind. The last day will prove that there was more going on in the consciences of hearers than was at all known to preachers. Tens of thousands will be found to have been convicted by their own conscience and yet to have died unconverted.”

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God is pleased to bestow distinguishing privileges on some nations. He chose Israel to be a peculiar people to himself. He separated them form the other nations of the earth and bestowed on them countless blessings. He gave them revelations of himself while all the rest of the earth was in darkness. He gave them the law, the covenants, the oracles of God, while al the world besides was left alone. In short, God dealt with the Jews as man deals with of land which he fences out and cultivates, while all the fields around are left untilled and waste. The vineyard of the Lord was the house of Israel (Isa. 5:7).

And have we no privileges? Beyond doubt we have many. We have the Bible and liberty for everyone to read it. We have the gospel and permission for everyone to hear it. We have spiritual mercies in abundance denied to many men in many nations. How thankful we ought to be!

What a bad use nations sometimes make of their privileges! When the Lord separated the Jews from other people he had a right to expect that they would serve him and obey his laws. Where a man has taken pains with a vineyard he has a right to expect fruit. But Israel rendered not a due return for all God’s mercies. They mingled with the heathen and learned their works. They hardened themselves in sin and unbelief. They turned aside after idols. They kept not God’s ordinances. They despised God’s temple. They refused to listen to his prophets. They ill used those whom he sent to call them to repentance. And finally they brought their wickedness to a height by killing the Son of God himself.

And what are we doing with our privileges? Truly that is a serious question and one that ought to make us think! It may well be feared that we are not, as a nation, living up to our light or walking worthy of the mercies that we have. Must we not confess with shame that millions amongst us seem utterly without God in the world? Must we not acknowledge that in many a town and village Christ seems hardly to have a disciple and the Bible seems hardly to be believed? Are we provoking God as did the Jews?

-From J.C. Ryle’s (1816-1900) Expository Thoughts; Found in Daily Readings From All Four Gospels  Published by Evangelical Press  Auburn, MA  2001  October 3 and 4 Devotions

REFLECTIONS

 Christ The Excellent Savior

“All the saints have their own measure of winter before the eternal summer. O! for the long day, and the high sun, and the fair garden, and the King’s great city up above these visible heavens!

What God layeth on, let us suffer, for some have one cross, some seven, some ten, some half a cross-yet all the saints have whole and full joy, and seven crosses have seven joys.

Glorify the Lord in your sufferings, and take his banner of love, and spread it over you. Others will follow you, if they see you strong in the lord; their courage shall take life from your Christian carriage.

The weightiest end of the cross of Christ that is laid upon you, lieth upon your strong Saviour.

O, if I could be master of that house-idol myself, my own, mine, my own will, wit, credit, and ease, how blessed were I! O, but we have need to be redeemed from ourselves rather than from the devil and the world; learn to put out yourselves, and to put in Christ for yourselves.

Christ all the seasons of the year, is dropping sweetness; if I had vessels I might fill them, but my old riven, holey, and running out dish, even when I am at the well, can bring little away. Nothing but glory will make tight and fast our leaking and rifty vessels...How little of the sea can a child carry in his hand; as little do I take away my great sea, my boundless and running-over Christ Jesus.

Sure I am he is the far best half of heaven; ye he is all heaven, and more than all heaven.

Ye may yourself ebb and flow, rise and fall, wax and wane; but your Lord is this day as he was yesterday; and it is your comfort that your salvation is not rolled upon wheels of your own making, neither have ye to do with a Christ of your own shaping.

Put your hand to the pen, and let the cross of your Lord Jesus have your submissive and resolute Amen.

The floods may swell and roar; but our ark shall swim above the waters; it cannot sink, because a Saviour is in it.

Let not salvation be your by-work, or your holiday’s task only, or a work by the way: for men think, this may be done in three days’ space on a feather-bed, when death and they are fallen in hands together, and that with a word or two they shall make their souls right. Alas, this is to sit loose and unsure in the matters of our salvation.

How soon will some few years pass away, and then when the day is ended, and this life’s lease expired, what have men of the world’s glory, but dreams and thoughts? O happy soul for evermore, who can rightly compare this world life with that long-lasting life to come, and can balance the weighty glory of the one with the light golden vanity of the other.

Lay no more on the creatures than they are able to carry. Lay your soul and your weights upon God: make him your only, only best Beloved-your errand to this life is to make sure and eternity of glory to your soul and to match your soul with Christ: your love, if it were more than all the love of angels in one, is Christ’s due...I know not what ye have if ye want (lack) Christ.

It is not our part to make a treasure here: anything under the covering of heaven we can build upon is but ill ground and a sandy foundation: every good thing, except God, wanteth (lacks) a bottom, and cannot stand its alone: how can it bear the weight of us?”

-From The Loveliness Of Christ  Extracts from the Letters of Samuel Rutherford by Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)  Selected by Ellen Lister  Published by The Banner Of Truth Trust  Carlisle, PA  2007