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"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!" Galatians 6:14
Look at the cross, think of the cross, meditate on the cross--and then go and set your affections on the world if you can!
I believe that holiness is nowhere learned so well as on Calvary.
I believe you cannot look much at the cross--without feeling your will sanctified, and your tastes made more spiritual.
As the sun gazed upon makes everything else look dark and dim--so does the cross darken the false splendor of this world. As the taste of honey makes all other things seem to have no taste at all--so does the cross seen by faith, take all the sweetness out of the pleasures of the world.
Keep on, everyday, looking firmly at the cross of Christ!
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"The Lord's portion is His people." Deuteronomy 32:9
How are they His portion?
First, by His own sovereign election. He chose them, and set His love upon them. He chose them altogether apart from any goodness in them at the time, or any goodness which He foresaw in them. He had mercy on whom He would have mercy, and ordained a chosen company unto eternal life. Therefore, are they His by His unconstrained election.
They are not only His by choice--but by purchase. He has bought and paid for them to the utmost farthing--hence there can be no dispute about His title to them. The Lord's portion has been fully redeemed, not with corruptible things, as with silver and gold--but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! See the blood-mark upon all the elect, invisible to human eye--but known to Christ, for "the Lord knows those who are His!" He forgets none of those whom He has redeemed! He counts the sheep for whom He laid down His life, and well remembers the people for whom He gave Himself.
They are also His by conquest. What a battle He had in us--before we would be won! How long He laid siege to our hearts! How often He sent us terms of surrender! But we barred our gates, and fortified our walls against Him. Do we not remember that glorious hour--when He conquered our hearts? When He placed His cross against the wall, and scaled our ramparts, planting the blood-red flag of His omnipotent mercy on our strongholds? Yes, we are, indeed--the conquered captives of His omnipotent love!
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Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
A sedative to all sorrows--A solace under all sharp afflictions
James Smith, very comforting. Play Audio!Download Audio
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There is a school of theology rising up in this day, which appears to me most eminently calculated to promote infidelity, to help the devil, and to ruin souls! It comes to us like Joab to Amasa--with the highest professions of love and liberality. (2 Samuel 20:9-10)
"God is all mercy and love!" according to this theology. His holiness and justice are completely left out of sight! Hell is never spoken of in this theology--its talk is all of Heaven! Damnation is never mentioned--it is treated as an impossible thing. All men and women are to be saved!
"Everybody is right! Nobody is wrong! Nobody is to blame for any action he may commit! It is the result of his circumstances! He is not accountable for his views, any more than for the color of his skin! He must be what he is! God is so entirely a God of mercy and love--that He never does, and never will punish sin."
Of all this theology I warn men solemnly to beware. In spite of big swelling words about "liberality," and "love," and "broad views," and "new light," and "freedom from bigotry," and so forth--I do believe it to be a theology that leads to Hell!
Imagine a Heaven which would contain all mankind! Imagine a Heaven in which holy and unholy, pure and impure, good and evil--would be all gathered together in one confused mass!
Surely the mind revolts from the idea of a Heaven in which there would be no distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between Pharaoh and Moses, between Abraham and the Sodomites, between Paul and Nero, between John and Judas Iscariot! Surely an eternity in such a miserably confused crowd, would be worse than annihilation itself! Surely, such a Heaven would be no better than Hell!
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"Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16
The character of Christ is not enough studied by His redeemed people. It is looked at with too much of a passing glance, so that we get only hasty and superficial views, which consequently have but a faint and passing influence upon our heart and lives. We must study it--gazing upon it, pondering over it, tracing out its developing lines and beauties--until our soul becomes fired by His excellencies, and is changed into His image.
Angels who see Christ in His heavenly glory, and who know something of His divine excellencies--must wonder at the lack of enthusiasm in professing Christians concerning the loveliness of Christ. They are amazed that we . . .
look upon Him with so cold an eye;
speak of Him with so tame a tongue;
love Him with such a lukewarm heart; and
labor for Him with such a drudging heavy spirit.
It is our privilege to love this altogether lovely One--and we lose a rich and precious employment, when we fail to do it.
There is no higher pleasure for a redeemed soul--than contemplating the glories of Jesus!
There is no surer evidence of a gracious state--than a thirsting after deeper knowledge of Jesus, and a more thorough conformity to His likeness!
The great and crowning bliss of Heaven consists . . .
not in its seraphic melodies;
not in its gorgeous displays of almighty power;
not in its exemption from sorrow and and sighing;
not in its ceaseless round of high intellectual joys--but . . .
in seeing the unveiled Christ with undimmed eyes;
in studying the loveliness of the ever present Redeemer with unfettered mind;
in daily discovering and admiring new points of His beauty;
and in having our souls, through all eternity, made the receptacles of the light, the joy, the peace, the holiness, the love, and the wisdom of Him, who is "the chief among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely One!"
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Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
A sedative to all sorrows--A solace under all sharp afflictions
James Smith, very comforting. Play Audio!Download Audio
THIS is what won my heart....i did not have a clue how to love God.....He loved me anyway, and ministered to my wounded heart and soul as only he could do....i am eternally grateful.
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Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
The world's politics, pleasures, and pursuits!
James Smith, very insightful Play Audio!Download Audio
"Having loved His own who were in the world--He now
showed them the full extent of His love!" John 13:1
Christian! Did you but more know the depth of that
love that is in the heart of Jesus towards you--you
would never be reluctant to go to Him for all you needed!
"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,
so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in
our time of need." Hebrews 4:16
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"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne!" Revelation 5:6
As we look at this slain Lamb--let us mark the direful malignity of sin! It was sin which . . .
drew Christ from His throne in glory;
humbled Him to the condition of humanity;
made Him "a man of sorrows" all His days;
hunted His life from infancy, and
finally nailed Him to "the accursed tree!"
Had not man sinned--Jesus would never have become incarnate! Hence, every pang and woe which He endured in body and soul, from His miraculous birth to His ignominious death--were inflicted by sin!
Christians! wearers of Christ's name! professors of Christ's religion! Will you love sin? Will you be in league with and cherish that in your heart--which slew the Lamb of God? O, if you love sin; if you are resolved not to forsake it; if you do not hate it as the enemy of Christ, and your own soul--you are hugging that to your heart, which drove the nails into the hands, and thrust the spear into the side, of the Lamb of God!
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Revelation 5:12
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(James Smith, "Daily Bible Readings for the Lord's Household")
"You shall see greater abominations than these!" Ezekiel 8:15
The prophet had no idea of the extent of Israel's wickedness; nor have we any adequate idea of the depravity of our hearts! We may have discovered much--but there is more concealed, than has yet been revealed. The work of the Holy Spirit is to . . .
reveal these abominations to us,
to humble us on account of them,
to lead us to the blood of Jesus to be cleansed from them,
and to set our hearts against them.
To see all the evils that are in our heart at once--would plunge us into black despair! Therefore it is only little by little, that the great depth of depravity is opened up to us. Herein we see God's mercy. Hereby we should be kept humble, watchful, prayerful, and daily exercising faith in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus.
No one knows the depths of our depravity, or the variety of abominations that are in our hearts--but God! If any other person knew the abominations of our heart--he would hate us on account of it! But God knows all--and yet loves us! This is Godlike. This is being full of compassion, abundant in goodness, and plenteous in mercy. May we be humble before God, hoping in His mercy.
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"King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do!" Acts 26:27
Alas! Belief of the truths of Scripture, and practice of its precepts--are too often disjoined!
Alas! An intellectual or theoretical assent to Christianity--is often coupled with the most practical disregard of its duties!
It is indeed strange, that truths so momentous in themselves, and so vital to the interests of the soul, if believed at all--should not be followed by a practice conformable to that belief! Such conduct is contrary to all known principles of human conduct in worldly matters. Let a man be convinced of the truth of anything, or the propriety of any course of conduct which promises him temporal advantage--and how quickly does he carry his mind's beliefs into active practice!
Yet there are multitudes of people who believe the Bible to be God's Word--who do not receive it into their lives as a matter of living faith. Like Agrippa, they believe the prophets--and yet will not do what the prophets require!
If religion were a matter of the intellect only--then such men would be saved. But salvation reaches us, not so much through the faculties of the mind--as through the affections of the heart. For the mind, by its clear power of reason, may be forced to accept as true--that which the heart dislikes, and refuses to acknowledge, or obey.
We are saved, not by believing Christianity as a system--but by embracing Jesus Himself as our personal Redeemer!
This differentiates the Christian religion from all other religions and all other philosophies: they are all based on dogmas and beliefs--but the Christian religion is based on relationship with a Person!
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What if science, as at present understood, and the Bible, do not agree? Shall we be troubled thereat? I think not. I rejoice to know that what is termed modern science and the Bible do not agree. I would be sorry if they did agree! Modern science is changeable--the Bible is unchangeable!
The science of today is not the science of last year, and will not be the science of the next year.
The Bible of today, is the Bible of all the Christian centuries; and will be a thousand years hence--just what it was nearly eighteen hundred years ago, when the canon of Scripture was closed!
Mark the changes which have taken place along the whole line of sciences since the beginning of this nineteenth century. What a catastrophe then would it have been--had it been proved that the Bible and science as known at the beginning of this century, fully agreed; that all the assertions of the Bible could be squared with the facts of science as then understood! The great tidal waves of science which have rolled over the world since, would have left the Bible stranded and ruined!
And just so now--could it be made clear today that every truth in the Bible accords with the received theories of science--what would become of the Bible fifty years hence, when science will have moved on with even more rapid strides, and left behind more wrecks of theories and more stranded speculations?
In the meanwhile, the Bible stands still in the solitary grandeur of its own perfection. It waits, as the ages roll on, for confirmation and acceptance. It was said by one of old, "God is patient, because He is eternal;" and the Bible, as the book of the God of truth, has this attribute of its divine Author. Its strength is to sit still. It does not go out hastily to meet a half-formed science, and embrace it as an ally--lest it should turn into a foe. It calmly tarries in the consciousness of its own truth--as the advances of science come nearer and nearer; and every advance of true science does bring it nearer to the Bible.
The opposition to that Bible, comes only from a class whose utterances, Paul has justly characterized as "the profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called."
These differences between science and Scripture cannot be settled--because science is not settled. And science will never be settled, so long as there is an undiscovered fact in nature, or an inquiring mind in man!
"Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in Heaven!" Psalm 119:89
"The grass withers and the flowers fade--but the Word of our God stands forever!" Isaiah 40:8
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"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" James 2:14
The religion of Jesus Christ is made up of two parts--faith and works.
Faith is the root of works.
Works are the fruit of faith.
A belief, however true and pure, if it is accepted only by the intellect, and is not carried out into practice--translating the faith held by the mind, into active duties--is a barren faith, which will not be accepted by God, and which will not secure salvation.
On the other hand, works, however good, which do not spring out of faith in the Lord Jesus, but which are done merely from human and worldly motives--are of no avail before God, because "whatever is not of faith, is sin."
Thrice has James told us, "Faith without works is dead!"
And just as distinctly has Paul declared, "By the works of the law, shall no flesh be justified in His sight."
Both apostles are right!
Works without faith--have no living root.
Faith without works--has no authenticating fruit.
They are the two parts of the one tree, namely, the root and the fruit. They are the two halves of the one whole--together they make up the true Christian.
"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by works, is dead!" James 2:17
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"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." Deuteronomy 29:28
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts--neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth--so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts!" Isaiah 55:8-9
The difficulties and mysteries of Scripture, necessarily result from the relations between God and man:
God the infinite--man the finite;
God the holy--man the sinner;
God a Spirit--man a creature of flesh and blood;
God in Heaven--man on earth;
God inhabiting eternity--and man the creature of a day;
God the Sovereign of the universe--and man the tiny, puny rebel to His throne.
Mark these contrasts--measure their diversity. The very statement of them shows how impossible it is for man to be able to fully comprehend God or His dealings.
The question was asked of old, "Who, by searching, can find out God? Who can find out the Almighty?" And Solomon, the wisest of men, declared, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter." For if man knew as much as God--he must have the mind of God and the wisdom of God!
For eighteen hundred years the mind of man, with its measuring lines--has been endeavoring to fully understand God and His ways, and compute the measurements of His great truths--and yet they are no nearer the solution now, than when first revealed. There they stand in the firmament of theology, the great unresolvable nebulae of revelation; and no magnifying power of man's optics, and no space-penetrating power of man's devising--can unfold those mysteries, which at once challenge and test, the faith of man.
There can be no revelation of God which is free from mysteries--because human language cannot embody celestial thoughts and modes of divine existence. And the human mind could not comprehend terms and phrases which would truly reflect the person, glory, and work of the Almighty.
Divine thoughts, before they can be taken into our minds, have to be diluted into human words.
Divine things have to be symbolized to us, by human or earthly types.
And divine beings have to be described to us, by terms borrowed from human existences and of purely earthly signification.
Hence, in the process of translation, dilution, and illustration--no one attribute of God, no one truth of God--can be fully revealed and understood.
We can only see the earthly side and the earthly terminus--the heavenly side and the heavenly starting-point, are all beyond our reach--far away out of sight! And there we must be content to let it be, ever standing with our eyes upturned to Jesus, holding in one hand the great doctrines of revealed truth, and in the other the precious assurances:
"What I am doing, you do not understand now; but you shall know hereafter." John 13:7
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12
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Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
Tell them that their poor brother is in flames--
tormenting flames, inextinguishable flames!
James Smith, very powerful Play Audio!Download Audio
"Jesus looked at him and loved him. 'One thing you lack,' He said. 'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor--and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me.'
At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth." Mark 10:21-22
He who searched the heart, knew what the one thing lacking was--and hence put His probing finger on the defect, and made the young man see himself in a truer light than he had ever seen himself before.
What was the result? "At this the man's face fell."
What did he do? "He went away sad."
Why? "Because he had great wealth."
The one thing which he lacked, was a willingness to give up his besetting sin! That besetting sin was covetousness.
He preferred to keep his possessions--rather than give them to the poor;
he preferred the treasure on earth--to the treasure in Heaven;
he preferred ease--to taking up a cross;
he preferred the following of his own will--to following Jesus.
This most instructive case shows us how near, how very near, a person may be to the kingdom of Heaven--and yet fall short of it! They may lack but one thing:
the giving up of a besetting sin;
the willingness to make a personal sacrifice for Christ;
the refusal to take up some cross;
the drawing back from a full following of Jesus.
Some one single sin, some one single difficulty--may thus obstruct the soul's entrance into Heaven, and prevent one from becoming an altogether Christian.
One sin deliberately persisted in--will certainly keep your soul out of Heaven!
One known duty deliberately disregarded--will surely secure your condemnation!
And a refusal to take up a cross and bear it after Jesus--must result in being only an almost Christian, and so fail of eternal life!
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We aid and abet the spiritual death of our children, by our irreligious example--both in doing that which is positively wrong, and in neglecting to do what is as positively required. As young as our child is--it has learned to join together precept and practice. And if we are professors of religion, our child has put along side of this profession--our daily walk and conversation, and is perpetually drawing inferences from the one to the other, either for, or against, the truth which we profess.
Uncurbed tempers, ill-governed passions;
unbridled tongues, uncharitable words;
lack of meekness, and gentleness, and truth;
lack of sobriety of mind, and kindliness of heart;
the absence of that strict conscientiousness which should mark all our actions;
neglect of the Bible and of prayer;
disregard of the means of grace;
irrepressible worldliness, in ever dwelling upon "What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and with what shall we be clothed?"
--are leaving indelible impressions upon the minds of our offspring! So that, copying our habits of thought, speech, and action--our child's character in its essential characteristics, may be formed for eternity; before its mind is able to receive the precepts which perhaps we occasionally teach.
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(Thomas Sherman, "Divine Breathings; Or, a Pious Soul Thirsting after Christ")
All men desire happiness for their end--but few will have holiness for their way.
All men desire the kingdom of Heaven, and the glory thereof--but few seek the kingdom of Heaven, and the righteousness thereof.
A nobleman being asked whether he would rather be a godly Christian--or worldly pleasure seeker, answered, "I had rather live like the latter--and die like the former!" So most men had rather live like Balaam--but "die the death of the righteous!" They wish to have the worldling's ease--but the godly man's end.
But this is certain, no man shall go to God in death--unless he draws near to God in life. If the kingdom of God is not first in us--we shall never enter into the kingdom of God. None shall enter Heaven hereafter--but those who walk in Heaven here on earth.
None shall enter the gates of felicity--but those who tread the narrow paths of piety!
Lord! make me holy--as well as happy, that I may desire to glorify You, as well as to be glorified by You.
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Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
We soon grow dull, cold, lifeless, and inactive!
James Smith, very challenging Play Audio!Download Audio
"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows." John 16:33
We live in a world of sin, and hence in a world of sorrow--for "man is born to sorrow, as the sparks fly upward." The apostle Paul tells us that "We must go through much tribulation to enter the kingdom of God." Thus it is true that . . .
"The path of sorrow, and that path alone--
leads to the land where sorrow is unknown!"
That being so, it befits us to learn . . .
how to transmute tribulations into blessings;
how to turn God's chastening rod into a supporting staff;
how to discern the rainbow in the cloud--while we are still wet with with raindrops of sorrow!
It is the design of this volume to aid in doing this comforting work. It seeks to ameliorate sorrow--not by a kind of moral anesthetic, deadening the sensibility of grief, and making the heart less susceptible to woe--but rather by showing to the afflicted, that chastenings are the sure evidenced of God's fatherly love.
The furnace of affliction is but the purifying agent to purge away our dross--that the great Refiner may see His own image reflected in purified souls.
In furnishing the strongest and most Scriptural consolation which can be offered to the sorrowful and stricken-hearted, we believe . . .
that all our springs of comfort are in Jesus Christ,
that they are applied to the soul by the Holy Spirit,
that they are to be sought for by the prayer of faith, and
that they result from the overflowing grace of our Heavenly Father.
We are unwilling to lead the reader to any of the "broken cisterns of earth" for consolation, when the well-spring of Divine comfort, which can alone staunch his bleeding heart, is pouring forth its free and life-giving waters!
It is the lot of all, to be visited with sorrow. There is "a time to mourn" marked out in every man's life; and when that time comes, and the fainting spirit turns away from the "miserable comforters" of earth--may all who consult these pages find in God a refuge from every storm, and "a very present help" in every time of trouble. And may they be enabled so to look at their sorrows, with the clear-sighted eye of faith, that they shall discern "a rainbow" in every cloud of affliction; and "covenant mercy'' in every shower of grief!
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Paul answers, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin; and in this way death came to all men--because all sinned!" Romans 5:12
Death, then, wherever we meet it, is the result of sin! And its sepulchral voice ever repeats, "Man has sinned!"
Every funeral knell--tolls the word sin.
Every stroke of the hammer that drives a nail into the coffin--strikes the sharp quick word sin.
Every passing hearse--rattles the word sin.
Every stroke of the chisel upon the gravestone--clicks the word sin.
Every burial service--tells of sin.
Sin is the one startling monosyllable which rings all day long, and all night long--like the cricket's monotone from every graveyard!
Sin is the one syllable--which the great sea ever moans forth from its charnel depths!
Sin is the one fearful cry--which dwells on the bloodless lips of the pestilence!
Sin is the one appalling shriek--which rings louder than the cannon's roar on the field of blood!
There is not a day, nor an hour, nor a minute, nor a second of time--when Death as he hurls his dart into some victim's heart, does not shout the word, which tells the whole story of himself and his deeds--and that one word is "SIN!"
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(James Smith, "The Love of Christ! The Fullness, Freeness, and Immutability of the Savior's Grace Displayed!")
"They shall be Mine, says the Lord Almighty--in the day when I make up My jewels!" Malachi 3:17
Jewels are costly and are highly valued by their owners.
We, though worthless in ourselves--cost our adorable Savior an immense price! To procure our release, to purchase our freedom--He left His Father's bosom, came into our world, labored, suffered, bled, and died! He gave Himself for us! We are bought at a very high price! We are His purchased possession, intended to deck His mediatorial crown, to reflect His praise, and to shine to His glory for evermore!
He highly values us. "Since you were precious in My sight!" He says. We are valued not according to our intrinsic excellence--but according to His estimation of us.
For our safety--He employs . . .
His watchful eye,
His powerful arm,
His numerous angelic hosts!
For our security and preservation--He arranges, directs, and controls all things; so that all things work together for the best, to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose.
Soon we shall shine as the gemstones of His crown!
How strange, that He should value us so highly! That He should compare us to all that is beautiful, desirable, or costly in nature! But He really does so!
We are not only His subjects--His friends--His children--His brethren--His bride; but His ornaments--His jewels!
Men may despise us--our Savior will not!
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"The carnal mind is enmity against God!"
Romans 8:7
If the sinner's power were equal to his will--
he would invade the heaven of heavens, and
hurl God from His throne! Man's secret
chambers of imagination swarm with
thoughts tainted with dislike of . . .
God,
His name,
His nature,
His perfections,
His cause,
His people,
His Word,
His scepter,
His kingdom,
His Christ.
Sin has strong inclinations, and they all
are arrayed against God's righteous ways.
Sin has an ungodly bias towards the
abominable things which God hates!
"The carnal mind is enmity against God!"
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