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___________________________________________ The Bible!
(Henry Law, "Beacons of the Bible" 1869)
The Bible is the richest treasure of the world!
Without it, the palace is a dark blank.
With it, the poor cottage sparkles with celestial light.
It is the transcript of God's heart.
It tells what human reason is too weak to find.
It is pure truth without one shadow of error.
It gives knowledge on all things needful for time and for eternity.
It is a safe guide through life's entangled path.
It is a compass . . .
through shoals and rocks;
amid winds and waves;
to Heaven's eternal rest!
The sage is ignorant without it.
The peasant learns from it salvation's road.
It is a solace for every hour.
It is a companion always ready to converse.
It cheers when other comforts fail.
It is arrayed in every charm for the intellect.
It never wearies.
It is always fresh.
Its oldest truths cannot grow old.
Its readers become more wise--and more holy.
Other books may puzzle and corrupt.
The Bible is from Heaven, and leads to Heaven.
It enters the heart with purifying grace.
The more you search the Bible--the more your minds will wonder, and your hearts will love.
Read it as literally true. Then no human philosophy will beguile you.
Ponder its characters. You will find on them the intrinsic stamp of truth.
"The Bible is . . .
an armory of heavenly weapons,
a pharmacy of infallible medicines,
a mine of exhaustless wealth,
a guidebook for every road,
a chart for every sea,
a medicine for every malady,
and a balm for every wound!
Rob us of our Bible, and our sky has lost its sun!" (Thomas Guthrie)
"Oh, how I love Your Law! I meditate on it all day long!" Psalm 119:97
"Your Words were found, and I ate them--and Your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart!" Jeremiah 15:16
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___________________________________________ It is the vile monster!
(Henry Law, "Family Prayers")
God Almighty, holy Father,
We beseech You to deepen in our hearts--the abhorrence of all evil.
May we hate sin with perfect hatred. It is the vile monster which . . .
defies Your power,
casts off Your yoke,
treads down Your lovely law,
defiles our nature,
spreads misery throughout this earth,
brought death into the world, and
nailed the spotless Lamb of God to the accursed tree!
Teach us to look to Jesus on the cross--and so to estimate our sin's loathsome guilt in Your sight.
There could be no pardon of our sin--but through Your dear Son's death!
No cleansing could wash out our sin's filth--but Jesus' precious blood!
No atonement could expiate the evil of our sin--but the shame, the agony, the bruises of the incarnate God!
We see the boundless price--may we read therein our boundless guilt!
In the infinite payment--show us our infinite debt!
Thus may we . . .
discern the deadly viper in its real malignity,
and tear it with holy indignation from our hearts,
and resolutely turn from its every snare,
and refuse to hold polluting dalliance with it!
"Oh! What a wretched man I am!" Romans 7:24
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___________________________________________ This is just the difference between the Christian and the worldling
(Charles Spurgeon)
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave
and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Job 1:21
"It was good for me to be afflicted--so that I might learn Your decrees." Psalm 119:71
This is just the difference between the Christian and the worldling:
The worldling blesses God while He gives him plenty,
but the Christian blesses Him when He smites him!
He believes God to be too wise to err--and too good to be unkind.
He trusts God's heart--where he cannot trace God's hand.
He looks up to Him in the darkest hour--and believes that all is well.
"We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
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___________________________________________ People never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it
(J.C. Ryle, "Thoughts For Young Men")
"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed!" John 3:19-20
Be very sure of this--people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it.
They understand it only too well! They understand that it condemns their own behavior. They understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment! They try to believe it is false and useless--because they don't like to believe it is true.
An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this holy book.
Men question the truth of Christianity--because they hate the practice of it!
"For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
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___________________________________________ The blessed man!
(James Smith, "Comfort for Christians!")
"Blessed is the man You chasten, O Lord--the man You teach from Your law!" Psalm 94:12
The chastenings of the Lord often appear severe--but they are merciful. They . . .
correct our follies,
subdue our proud wills, and
soften and humble our hard hearts before Him.
When God chastens--He teaches. The lessons are found in His Word--but we never learn many of them, until we go through the furnace of affliction! We often learn more truth from one short, sharp affliction--than we do from many books and sermons!
In affliction, God teaches us . . .
our own emptiness and vanity,
our dependence on Himself, and
the insufficiency of all our earthly things!
In affliction, God . . .
endears the Lord Jesus and His great salvation to us;
shows us the value of the provision of grace;
makes our consciences tender and honest;
qualifies us for usefulness on earth; and
fits us for the enjoyment of Himself in Heaven.
We need chastening. If we do not receive it--we become . . .
carnal and worldly,
light and trifling,
unsavory and useless in both the world and the church!
It is a blessed thing to be chastened of the Lord, especially when the rod teaches us such important and invaluable lessons! Chastened Christians are generally the most useful and attractive Christians.
"Heed the rod--and the One who appointed it!" Micah 6:9
Chastened Christian! Seek grace . . .
to bear the rod,
to bless the rod, and
to kiss the hand that holds the rod!
"Blessed is the man whom God corrects--so do not despise the chastening of the Almighty!" Job 5:17
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___________________________________________ The best man!
(Charles Spurgeon)
It seems to me that the best and most tender duty that Christians do for their Lord Jesus, is that which is touched with the bloodmark--which bears the stamp of the cross.
The best preaching is, "We preach Christ crucified!"
The best living is, "We are crucified with Christ!"
The best man, is a crucified man!
The more we live beholding our Lord's unutterable griefs, and understanding how He has fully put away our sin--the more holiness we shall produce.
The more we dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard--where we can view Heaven, and earth, and Hell, all moved by His wondrous suffering--the nobler will our lives become.
Nothing puts life into men, like a dying Savior!
Come, let us slay sin--for Christ was slain.
Come, let us bury all our pride--for Christ was buried.
Come, let us rise to newness of life--for Christ has risen.
Let us be united with our crucified Lord in His one great objective. Let us live and die with Him--and then every action of our lives will be very beautiful.
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___________________________________________ The temptation, and the opportunity
The following in an excerpt from the autobiography of James Smith:
I have just heard that an old friend, far advanced in life, has fallen into sin! May the Lord pardon and restore him.
In looking back, I wonder that I have not publicly fallen; for I have been powerfully tempted to other sins, equally as bad. I have regularly observed, that in my experience the Lord has not often allowed the temptation, and the opportunity--to meet! And when they have, fear has worked powerfully and kept me back.
"But as for me--my feet were almost gone! My steps had well near slipped!" Psalm 73:2
Ah, how frequently have I been almost gone! I can call to mind places and times, when I have been in the very mouth of danger, on the brink of a fearful fall--and yet the Lord has held me up! But for special keeping--where would I have been this morning? And what would I be? Blessed be God, though it was almost--it was not fully. This word, almost, has been sweet to my soul.
Almost Gone!--but altogether saved, through God's most free, and all-glorious grace!
But I would not merely be kept from open sin, I desire to be so deeply sanctified, that my soul may . . .
hate, abhor, and detest sin in every form,
tremble at its approach, and
flee from the very appearance of evil--to Jesus!
I find that my nature is still corrupt, depraved, and polluted; and that . . .
the blood of Jesus,
the restraining power of the Holy Spirit,
and the forgiving grace of God
--are as necessary as ever!
"Hold me up--and I shall be safe!" Psalm 119:117
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___________________________________________ Abiding in Christ!
(Carl Heinrich von Bogatzky, "A Golden Treasury for the Children of God" 1718.)
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine--so neither can you unless you abide in Me." John 15:4
To abide in Christ, who is our righteousness and strength--is the very life and power of Christianity. We are in this happy state, when . . .
our thoughts are going out after Him,
our hearts are cleaving to Him, and
our minds are staying upon Him.
To abide in Him brings peace and joy, and strength to overcome sin and the world--which believers renounce the more readily, as they have found something better in Christ.
Abiding in Him, believers . . .
look to Christ for all,
go to Christ with all, and
depend on Christ through all.
Thus they abide in Jesus--and Jesus abides in them.
May the Lord give me grace, likewise, immovably to abide in Him. Then I shall . . .
conquer sin,
overcome the world,
and always triumph in Christ.
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___________________________________________ Where is my mamma?
(by D.L. Moody)
What makes Heaven attractive for us?
It won't be the pearly gates!
It won't be the streets paved with transparent gold!
These would not satisfy us! If these were all--we would not want to stay in Heaven forever.
I heard the other day, of a little girl whose mother was very sick. While she was sick, one of the neighbors took the child away to stay with her, until the mother would be well again. But instead of getting better--the mother died! They thought it best, that they should not tell the child nor take her home, until the funeral was all over.
So a while afterward, they brought the little girl home. First she went into the sitting-room to find her mother; then she went into the parlor; and then she went from one end of the house to the other--and could not find her mother. At last she said, "Where is my mamma?" And when they told her that her mamma had died, the little girl wanted to go back to the neighbor's house again. Home had lost its attractions to her--since her mother was no longer there!
Just so--it is not the streets of gold and the pearly gates that are going to make Heaven attractive. It is the being with Jesus, our beloved Redeemer!
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me--that you also may be where I am!" John 14:3
"I desire to depart and be with Christ--which is better by far!" Philippians 1:23
"And so we will be with the Lord forever!" 1 Thessalonians 4:17
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___________________________________________ These forty years in the wilderness!
(Arthur Pink, "Last Things Last")
"You shall remember how the Lord your God has led you on the entire journey, these forty years in the wilderness--so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands." Deuteronomy 8:2
This verse calls for a solemn review of our life--how far we have redeemed the time, or to what extent we have trifled it away.
We should be humbled at the recollection of how frequently we grumbled--because His way was not the one we desired. We should judge ourselves unsparingly--because we so often lagged behind, and sought to turn aside into forbidden bypaths. We should ponder the amazing grace of God in condescending to lead us across this trackless desert; and think, too, of His infinite forbearance in continuing to lead us--who are so ungrateful and contrary.
We should praise Him for having kept us in the Narrow Way--which we would have certainly forsaken, had we been left to follow the bent of our own evil lusts. And we also should return fervent thanks--that we are now a year's march nearer to our Heavenly Home.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24
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___________________________________________ Crucial questions for the Christian!
(Bogatzky's "Golden Treasury for the Children of God" 1718.)
Crucial questions for the Christian!
Am I vitally united to Jesus Christ?
Am I crucified with Christ?
Am I consecrated to Christ?
Am I daily receiving grace from Christ?
Am I growing in conformity to Christ?
Am I a friend to all the friends of Christ?
Am I living for the glory of Christ?
Am I an honor to the name of Christ?
Am I walking in the steps of Christ?
Am I a blessing to the Church of Christ?
Am I daily, hourly, always, and in all things--aiming to please Christ?
Am I desiring to be with Christ?
Am I looking for the advent of Christ?
Am I ready for the coming of Christ?
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___________________________________________ We need internal illumination!
(Archibald Alexander, 1772-1851)
"When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth." (John 16:13)
A genuine Christian is not only taught out of the Word, but by the Holy Spirit. External teaching, however correct, is not sufficient. We need internal illumination by the Spirit. Not that this divine Instructor teaches anything different from the Word. No! He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us. He is the Spirit of truth, and will guide the disciples into all truth.
What are some of the lessons which the Spirit teaches?
1. The Spirit teaches us the worth of the soul.
2. The Spirit teaches us the value of time.
3. The Spirit teaches us to venerate the holy Scriptures as the infallible rule to guide our faith and practice.
4. The Spirit teaches us of our ruined and condemned state. He gives the soul a glimpse of indwelling sin--by which it is convinced of its total depravity. Oh, what a multitude of evils! What a fountain of impurity! What a mass of corruption! The heart is found to be deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. There is found nothing in it truly good.
5. The Spirit teaches us to prize Christ above all. "To you who believe--He is precious." The disciple treasures Jesus as . . .
his infallible Prophet,
his sovereign King,
his sin-atoning Priest.
6. The Spirit teaches us to roll all our burdens on the Lord, and to live outside of ourselves--by daily desiring vital supplies from Christ.
7. The Spirit teaches us the beauty of holiness.
8. The Spirit teaches us the reality and sweetness of communion with God. While many are contented to worship in the outward court--the Christian desires to penetrate into the holy of holies, where he can hear the words, and see the resplendent face of Immanuel.
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___________________________________________ Ever since you rose from your bed this morning--there has been an eye watching you!
(Francis Bourdillon, "The Odd Five Minutes" 1873)
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account!" Hebrews 4:13
Ever since you rose from your bed this morning--there has been an eye watching you! Wherever you have been and whatever you have been doing--that eye has seen you. It has gone with you to your work. It has seen you with your companions. It has been on you when you were alone.
It has seen not merely all that you have done, but why you did it. Your thoughts, your feelings, your motives, which even your nearest friend has not fully known--have all been open to that eye of which I speak. For it is an all-seeing eye--the eye of God!
"His eyes are on the ways of men--He sees their every step!" Job 34:21
"He knows the secrets of the heart!" Psalm 44:21
"You have set our iniquities before You--our secret sins in the light of your presence!" Psalm 90:8
Have you thought of Him whose eye has been upon you today?
Have you given so much as one thought to Him, since the day began?
You have need to pray, great need--for you are dependent upon God for everything. You are entirely in His hand!
If you went to your work this morning strong and well--it was only because God made you so and kept you so.
If you have had enough to eat today, if you are clothed comfortably and have a home to live in--it is only because God supplies your needs. You would have nothing--if God did not supply you. You live--only because He gives you life. He could take all your comforts from you--if it pleased Him. He could lay you on a bed of sickness this very day--He could in a moment, strike you dead!
Have you even spoken to Him today? Have you prayed to Him today?
"I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!" Luke 12:5
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___________________________________________ My aim and object!
(James Smith)
My object is to lead the mind . . .
from self--to Jesus;
from sin--to salvation;
from the troubles of life--to the comforts of the gospel.
My aim is . . .
to humble the sinner--and exalt the Savior;
to strip the creature--and place the crown on the head of God's free grace!
I cannot ascribe too much to Jesus--or too little to man!
My object has always been to keep Christ constantly before the eye, and to enforce the precepts of the Divine Word on the Lord's people--by the consideration of what Christ is to them, and has done for them--so that the love of Christ may constrain them to every good word, and every good work.
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___________________________________________ We have the unspeakable consolation!
(James Buchanan, "Comfort in Affliction" 1837)
"He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32
We have the unspeakable consolation of knowing that the same divine and compassionate Redeemer who suffered, and bled, and died on for us--has the entire management of our affairs; and that nothing can happen in the course of providence, which is not appointed by Him "Who loved us and gave Himself for us!"
In proportion to our persuasion of His love for us, should be our confidence in His government over us. And what proof of sincerity, or what pledge of love, can we desire--which is not given by His past dealings on our behalf? If He died for us on the cruel cross--then certainly He will now, when all things are put under His power, "make all things work together for our good!"
We may rest assured that the love which He manifested for us on earth, is but a pledge of the love which He still bears to us--and that He will neither forget nor forsake us, until He has accomplished the grand end of His mission, by our deliverance from all evil, and our joyful entrance into the glorious kingdom of Heaven!
Oh! how cheering to know, that amidst the joys of Heaven--Jesus has not forgotten any one of His "little flock" for whom He suffered in the garden and on the cross!
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___________________________________________ If God would take the covering off the mouth of Hell!
(Joseph Alleine, "Alarm to the Unconverted" 1671)
O unbeliever! Look down into the bottomless pit! Do you see how the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever? What do you think of those chains of darkness? Can you be content to burn forever? Do you see how the worm gnaws--how the fire rages? Do you see that great gulf of perdition? Will you take up your habitation there?
O lay your ear to the door of Hell! Do you hear the curses and blasphemies, the weepings and wailings? How they lament their follies, and curse their day! How do they roar and gnash their teeth! How deep their groans! How inconceivable their miseries!
O how fearful would the cry be--if God would take the covering off the mouth of Hell, and let the cry of the damned ascend in all its terror among men! And of their moans and miseries--this is the piercing, killing emphasis and theme: "Forever! forever!"
As God lives, you are but a few hours away from all this--unless you are converted! If there is anything that may be called madness and folly, and anything that may be counted absurd, brutish, and unreasonable, it is this--to go on in your unconverted state!
O sinners, see what a God you have to deal with. If you will but turn, "He will have compassion on you--He will subdue your iniquities, and cast all your sins into the depths of the sea!"
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___________________________________________ Do you know that man?
(Archibald Brown)
"What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave?" Psalm 89:48
How few men meditate on their own death! "All men think all men mortal, but themselves!"
I was talking with a friend only this afternoon about the continual procession of funerals that goes past my house on a Sunday afternoon; and as we were talking I could not help saying to myself, "I find it so difficult to realize that I may be looking on the very hearse which before long will carry me!"
Have you ever tried to look at your own death? It will do you no harm; so take up the Word of God, and read, "It is appointed for man to die once--and after that comes judgment!" Hebrews 9:27.
Do you see that man lying there on that bed? Do you hear how labored his breathing is? Do you see what big drops of sweat stand upon his brow? You take him by the hand, and he tries to speak to you--but he cannot. And there in the corner of the room you hear the suppressed sobbing of the wife as she folds her little child to her bosom. The dying man's breath gets heavier, and the doctor says, "There is nothing more that I can do."
Do you know that man? Why, it is yourself!
"It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart." Ecclesiastes 7:2
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___________________________________________ This is not a world of chance--it is our Father's world!
(J.R. Miller)
"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will." Ephesians 1:4-5
"In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will." Ephesians 1:11
This is not a world of chance--it is our Father's world! Events do not happen without divine order and direction. There is a great divine plan running through the ages--which includes all things, and subordinates all forces and all experiences to itself. Our Scripture passages above are full of this great thought.
We will never fully understand these great truths, with their tremendous reach of meaning. We may say, however, at least, that they assure us of a divine plan for the elect--a divine love, a divine purpose of mercy, dating from the infinite past--and running through the eternal ages to come!
All of the elect are eternally secure in Christ the Redeemer!
"Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies." Romans 8:33-34
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___________________________________________ Often with his lips, and always by his life!
(George Everard, "An Ordination Sermon" 1883)
"Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
A faithful minister must preach often with his lips, and always by his life.
Preach a crucified Savior, out of crucified hearts!
~ ~ ~ ~
"We preach to people who must live forever . . .
in Heaven--or Hell;
with God--or devils;
in an eternity of joy--or of torment!"
Thomas Doolittle
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___________________________________________ Great in mercy!
(Charles Spurgeon)
"For as the heavens are high above the earth--so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him!" Psalm 103:11
His mercy is so great, that it forgives great sins to great sinners after great lengths of time--and then gives great favors and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great Heaven of the great God!
"The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy!" Psalm 145:8
