Thursday, November 29, 2012

HONEY IN THE ROCK

‎"He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." - Psalm 81:16

 I can remember the time, almost 10 years ago, when I first heard the song that really blessed me, it was called "Honey in the Rock." I was grinning ear to ear because the meaning of the lyrics, being based on Psalm 81:16 had gripped me.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

GOD IS NOT TROUBLED

God is not troubled by anything that is now taking place in His world - either in its political, social, or religious sphere; nor should we be troubled. The helm is still in His hand; and Satan himself cannot so much as touch a hair of our heads, without His direct permission.
~Writings of A.W. Pink

POOR IN SPIRIT

"He only who is reduced to nothing in himself, and relies on the mercy of God, is poor in spirit" 
~John Calvin, via Al and Cathy Hartman

I HAVE A HIGH PRIEST

When old companions, old lusts, and sins crowd in upon you, and when you feel that you are ready to sink, what can save you, sinking sinner? This alone - I have a high priest in heaven, and he can support in the hour of affliction. This alone can give you peace - I have a high priest in heaven. When you are dying - when friends can do you no good - when sins rise up like spectres around your bed - what can give you peace? This - "I have a high priest in heaven."

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

THE WHOLE WORK IS HIS

"Faith is the acknowledgment of the entire absence of all goodness in us, and the recognition of the cross as the substitute for all the want on our part. The whole work is His, not ours, from first to last."

Horatius Bonar

LEANING ON YOURSELF???

"Indeed, the generality of men that are trained up in a Protestant country will tell you that they do not expect to be justified by their own righteousness, but by the righteousness of Christ. But alas! How few are there that do really and actually submit unto this righteousness. There is a cursed bias in the heart of man to lean to something in himself. Is not this the language of thy heart many 
times? O! If I had such a frame, such a melting of heart, such love, such a degree of humility and obedience, then I think God would accept of me, and love me on that account. But, Sirs, let me tell you, it is not on account of anything wrought in you, or done by you, but only on the account of the doing and dying of the Son of God.”

Ebenezer Erskine

PREACHING GRACE SANCTIFIES

‎"It's the role of grace in sanctification that sometimes troubles us...People worry that emphasizing grace undermines obedience. Consistently preaching the necessity and the proper motivation for holiness may be the most difficult task evangelical preachers face because we culturally define grace as license rather than the biblical power of holiness...Grace is the power of obedience not the antidote to obedience."

Bryan Chapell;

Monday, November 19, 2012

Jesus Delivers Us


(Author unknown)
"Hold me up--and I shall be safe!" Psalm 119:117

"For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling!" Psalm 116:8

Christ has completely and perfectly delivered all His people from the condemnation of sin, as He suffered the wrath of God for us on the cross, having our sins charged to His account. 
But His deliverance of us does not end there. He is still delivering us and keeping us from all that would harm or destroy us. 
He continually delivers us . . .
  from the power of sin which still plagues, corrupts, and contaminates us;
  from the influence of the world;
  from the force of temptation;
  from the deceitfulness of our own hearts;
  and from the designs of all our foes!

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!" Psalm 18:2 
from gracegems

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

THE HAND THAT HOLDS THE ROD

"Grant that I may be salted with suffering, with every exactment tempered to my soul, every rod excellently fitted to my back, to chastise, humble, break me. Let me not overlook the hand that holds the rod, as thou didst not let me forget the rod that fell on Christ, and drew me to him." -from "Christian Calling" (page 50)

VALLEY OF VISION

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

SANCTIFICATION EXCERPT


A.W. PINK writes,

Like "salvation" itself—according to the use of the term is Scripture (see 2 Tim. 1:9, salvation in the past; Phil. 2:12, salvation in the present; Rom. 13:11, salvation in the future) and in the actual history of the redeemed—so sanctification must be considered under its three tenses. There is a very real sense in which all of God’s elect have already been sanctified: Jude 1; Hebrews 10:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:13. There is also a very real sense in which those of God’s people on earth are daily being sanctified: 2 Corinthians. 4:16; 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23. And there is also a real sense in which the Christian’s (complete) sanctification is yetfuture: Romans 8:30; Hebrews 12:23; 1 John 3:2. Unless this threefold distinction be carefully borne in mind our thoughts are bound to be confused. Objectively, our sanctification is already an accomplished fact (1 Cor. 1:2), in which one saint shares equally with another. Subjectively, our sanctification is not complete in this life (Phil. 3:12) and varies considerably in different Christians, though the promise of Philippians 1:6 belongs alike to all of them.

Though our sanctification be complete in all its parts, yet it is not now perfect in its degrees. As the newborn babe possesses a soul and body, endowed with all their members, yet they are undeveloped and far from a state of maturity. So it is with the Christian, who (in comparison with the life to come) remains throughout this life but a "babe in Christ" (1 Pet. 2:2). We know but "in part" (1 Cor. 13:12), and we are sanctified but in part, for "there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed" (Josh. 13 :1). In the most gracious there remains a double principle: the flesh and the spirit, the old man and the new man. We are a mixture and a medley during our present state. There is a conflict between operating principles (sin and grace), so that every act is mixed: there is tin mixed with our silver and dross with our gold. Our best deeds are defiled, and therefore we continue to feed upon the Lamb with "bitter herbs" (Ex. 12:8).

Holiness in the heart discovers itself by godly sorrowings and godly aspirations. "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4): "mourn" because of the swellings of pride, the workings of unbelief, the surging of discontent; "mourn" because of the feebleness of their faith, the coldness of their love, their lack of conformity to Christ. There is nothing which more plainly evidences a person to be sanctified than a broken and contrite heart—grieving over that which is contrary to holiness. Rightly did the Puritan John Owen say, "Evangelical repentance is that which carrieth the believing soul through all his failures, infirmities, and sins. He is not able to live one day without the constant exercise of it. It is as necessary unto the continuance of spiritual life as faith is. It is that continual, habitual, self-abasement which arises from a sense of the majesty and holiness of God, and the consciousness of our miserable failures." It is this which makes the real Christian so thankful for Romans 7, for he finds it corresponds exactly with his own inward experience.

The sanctified soul, then, is very far from being satisfied with the measure of experimental holiness which is yet his portion. He is painfully conscious of the feebleness of his graces, the leanness of his soul, and the defilements from his inward corruption. But, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matt. 5:6), or "they that are hungering and thirsting" as the Greek reads, being the participle of the present tense; intimating apresent disposition of the soul. Christ pronounces "blessed" (in contrast from those under "the curse") they who are hungering and thirsting after His righteousness imparted as well as imputed, who thirst after the righteousness of sanctification as well as the righteousness of justification—i.e., the Spirit infusing into the soul holy principles, supernatural graces, spiritual qualities, and then strengthening and developing the same. Such has been the experiences of the saints in all ages, "As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, 0 God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?" (Ps. 42:1, 2).

Saturday, November 3, 2012

DO YOU LOVE JESUS

"Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?"
    John 21:15

Do you love Me . . .
  More than these creature claimants?
  More than these earthly honors?
  More than these worldly riches?
  More than these domestic comforts?
  More than parent, child, brother, sister, friend?

Do you love Me . . .
  singly,
  supremely,
  above all,
  amid ten thousand suitors for your heart?

Do you love Me . . .
Does My beauty charm you?
Does My love win you?
Does My grace draw you?
Does My cross attract you?
Have My sufferings and My death subdued
  you to penitence, faith, and love?
Am I dearer to you than earth's dearest attractions?
Am I more precious than the heart's most precious treasure?
Can you part with all, and every one, for Me?


"Do I love You, O my Lord?
 Behold my heart and see;
 Gently dislodge each idol thence,
 That seeks to rival Thee."

"You know I love You, dearest Lord;
 But, oh, I long to soar;
 Far from the sphere of mortal joys,
 And learn to love You more!"

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW

Valley of Vision

O Lord,

I am a shell full of dust, but animated with an invisible rational soul and made anew by an unseen power of grace; Yet I am no rare object of valuable price, but one that has nothing and is nothing, although chosen of thee from eternity, given to Christ, and born again; I am deeply convinced of the evil and misery of a sinful state, of the vanity of creatures, but also of the sufficiency 
of Christ.

When thou wouldst guide me I control myself, When thou wouldst be sovereign I rule myself.

When thou wouldst take care of me I suffice myself.

When I should depend on thy providings I supply myself, When I should submit to thy providence I follow my will, When I should study, love, honour, trust thee, I serve myself; I fault and correct thy laws to suit myself, Instead of thee I look to a man’s approbation, and am by nature an idolater.

Lord, it is my chief design to bring my heart back to thee.

Convince me that I cannot be my own God, or make myself happy, nor my own Christ to restore my joy, nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me.

Help me to see that grace does this by providential affliction, for when my credit is good thou dost cast me lower, when riches are my idol thou dost wing them away, when pleasure is my all thou dost turn it into bitterness.

Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy appetite, lustful heart; show me that none of these things can heal a wounded conscience, or support a tottering frame, or uphold a departing spirit.

Then take me to the cross and leave me there.

—Valley of Vision: Man a Nothing, p91

HATE THEIR SIN