Exalt the Power of God

 "We do not sufficiently exalt the power of God, unless we think it to be greater than our weakness. Faith then ought not to regard our weakness, misery, and defects, but to fix wholly its attention on the power of God alone.”

-John Calvin

Our Nothingness

 Growing in grace is a deepening realization of our nothingness; it is a heartfelt recognition that we are not worthy of the least of God's mercies.

Arthur W. Pink

Beholding the Glory

 “It is by beholding the glory of Christ by faith that we are spiritually edified and built up in this world, for as we behold his glory, the life and power of faith grow stronger and stronger. It is by faith that we grow to love Christ. So if we desire strong faith and powerful love, which give us rest, peace and satisfaction, we must seek them by diligently beholding the glory of Christ by faith. In this duty I desire to live and to die. On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy” (p. 7).

Beholding Christ’s glory is indeed the great and necessary privilege of the Christian life. The “painted beauties” of this world simply cannot compare to the true beauty that is Christ. The more we see Him, the more we become like Him. The more we become like Him, the more rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment we find in Him. May the Lord grant us grace to “experience the dawnings of eternal glory” today as we behold His glory in the Scriptures.

Thomas Watson

After grief, joy.

 After grief for sin there should be joy for forgiveness. - A. W. Pink

Divisions and Disagreements

 Divisions in a church: exposes hypocrites, sanctifies sincere believers, reveals the fickleness of those not rooted in the Lord’s Word - - and the wickedness of those who assume the appearance of good men, and they manifest the constancy and sincerity of the good.

-John Calvin Can we also extend this to "Disagreements in a church" also: provides the expression of sincere mercy, patience, love, grace, humility, sanctifying believers, reveals those rooted in the Lord, manifesting the constancy and sincerity of the saints. (Todd Lambert)

We must Look Away.

 For Christians struggling with assurance of salvation, consider:

True Christian righteousness is the righteousness of Christ who lives in us. We must look away from our own person. Christ and my conscience must become one, so that I can see nothing else but Christ crucified and raised from the dead for me. If I keep on looking at myself, I am gone. If we lose sight of Christ and begin to consider our past, we simply go to pieces. We must turn our eyes to the brazen serpent—Christ crucified—and believe with all our heart that He is our righteousness and our life. - Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians

Don't Congratulate Yourself

 Don’t congratulate yourself for your spiritual awareness, your biblical knowledge or your theological understanding. These are all generously given gifts of God’s grace. Your eyes, heart and mind are open, because God chose to place his love on you.

a 1000 times

 The security of our salvation, “does not lie in our own hands, or strength; if it did we should lose it a thousand times every moment.”

—Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, Pg. 19

Do you Desire Holiness

 Do you desire holiness?

Abide in Christ (Jn 15:4-5) Glory in Christ (Phil 3:3) Hope in Christ (Eph 1:12) Dwell in Christ (Eph 3:17) Rest in Christ (2 Cor 12:9)

--Dustin Benge.

Love to God

 The failure to love God stems from ignorance of His nature and benefits. If men truly understood God's perfections, He would captivate their hearts. Yet the allure of worldly pleasures, profits, and honors often blinds us, raising a fog that obscures His beauty. - Thomas Tuke, Love to God, p. 36

Darrell B. Harrison. 

Preach Doctrines of Grace

 “I believe that it is because the doctrines of grace have been too much kept from the pulpit, that the pews are getting so empty.

“Leave the doctrines of grace out of the preaching, and you have left the marrow and fatness out of it. “What is there to make the people rush to your houses of prayer, and crowd them, if there be no preaching of the election of grace, — no declaration of particular redemption, and effectual calling, — no proclamation of the blessed final perseverance of the saints? “If you leave these glorious truths out of your preaching, you have put on the table nothing but the horseradish and the parsley, but the joint of meat is conspicuous by its absence.” — Charles Spurgeon

Double Imputation

 However well I live, I can't make up for yesterday. However well I live as an old man, I can't make up for all the sins when I was a young man. However well I live as a young manor woman, I can't make up for the sins I did as a child. However, when I live as a child, I can't make up for the fact that I was born a sinner and even on my mother's breast I was selfish. If there's any hope for me, it's got to be that that perfect life of Jesus Christ somehow or other is put to my account. And yet my sins deserve punishment. But you can't carry my sins because you've got sins of your own to be punished for. The only one who could be punished for my sins would be somebody who never sins. Somebody who took the sinner's place but wasn't a sinner.

 

And so we're now right back in the root of the gospel. The greatest word of the gospel is imputation. Have you ever heard that word before? The greatest word of the gospel is imputation. What do we mean by that? Imputation means this: Jesus Christ's perfect life is put to my account. Isn't that wonderful? And it's because that's true, says Paul in Romans chapter 1, that I'm not ashamed of the gospel because that's what the gospel is about. His perfect life is put to my account. It's considered to be mine.

 

And what about my sin? Well, he's taken the sinner's place. My sins are put to his account. So when he dies on the cross, he didn't need to die. Only sinners die. But he chose to die. And because he's the infinite God, he can die for an infinite number of crimes from an infinite number of people. Because he's God the Son. So his righteousness put to my account, my sins put to his account. That's the gospel. It's double imputation.

You are His

 Don’t read 1 John like a spiritual SAT.

It’s not grading your performance. It’s reminding you: You believe in Christ. You love His people. You confess your sin. You are His.

“Whoever has the Son has life.” Not “has enough fruit.” Not “has perfect doctrine.” Not “has unshakable feelings.” Has the Son. That’s the heartbeat of 1 John. Christian, your love may be small, your faith imperfect, your obedience flawed. But these are not the root of your assurance— Jesus is. Christ is King. And in His kingdom, grace reigns. Not guilt. Not fear. Not self-sufficiency. Grace. John speaks to “little children.” To the struggling, the weak, the tempted. He reminds you that you’re not in the dark. You know the truth. You confess the Son. You are forgiven. You are loved. If 1 John were a test, we’d all fail. But it’s not. It’s a pastoral letter saying: You’re not like them. You’re His.

“By this we know...” That phrase shows up again and again in 1 John. Not so you’ll question, Not so you'll wonder, But so you’ll know. So you’ll rest. So you’ll stop navel-gazing and look to Christ. Obedience is a fruit of union with Christ, not a test of it. Want to grow in holiness? Start with assurance. Fruit grows from rest, not fear.

The Law tells you what God demands. The Gospel tells you what God gives. Mix them up, and you’ll either become proud… or crushed. Assurance doesn’t come from feeling, it comes from looking. Though I falter in this war with sin I set my hope on Jesus When I fail the fight and sink within I set my hope on Jesus Though the shame would drown me in its sea And I dread the waves of justice I will cast my life on Calvary I set my hope on Jesus

Biblical Worship

 Biblical worship is not primarily us performing for God—that is paganism.

In corporate worship, God is the primary actor. He speaks, and we respond.

Start with Assurance

 Want to grow in holiness?

Start with assurance. Fruit grows from rest, not fear.

Isolating the Will

 Stop Affirming “Libertarian Free Will” – It’s a Bait-and-Switch Heresy:

If you're committed to a biblically consistent view of reality, it's time to drop the phrase "Libertarian free Will" like a hot heresy. Why? Because it's not just bad theology—it’s a sneaky, misleading label designed for confusion. Let’s break it down: “Libertarian free Will” is not about the Person—it’s isolating the Will from everything else that makes you, You. Your character. Your personality. Your desires. Your nature. This phrase pits "Will" against the very things that determine how the will functions. Provisionists love this trick. They use it to suggest that “freedom” means Will can choose against Your own nature, desires, and character—as if Will floats in a vacuum, free from even You, and definitely free from God's determined reality. That’s not just unbiblical. That’s nonsense. Nobody—including God—has that kind of "Will". God’s will is not “free” to act in contradiction to His own character, personality, preferences, or nature. That’s not a limitation—it’s consistency. Holiness isn’t random. Adam pre-Fall didn’t have a “Will” that was pitted against every other thing that made Adam who Adam was. Even a sinner today chooses based on what they want most in the moment—which is always in line with their nature, preferences, and character. So here's the deal: If someone wants to say we are “Free Person”, in refrence to other Created "Free Persons"—fine. That at least acknowledges the person is “free” from being externally forced by other created beings. But the will itself? It’s never independent of the person it belongs to. And the person is never independent of God's determined reality. So stop acting like it is. Stop giving "Libertarian Free Will" a platform. The real issue isn’t “can we choose?” It’s why we choose what we do. And Scripture is clear: “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9), and the unregenerate mind “cannot submit to God” (Rom. 8:7-8). So let’s call it what it is: Libertarian free Will is a label that exists only to smuggle in irrationality. It’s theological make-believe that lets people pretend they’re upholding “freedom” while ignoring God's sovereignty AND HUMAN NATURE. Bottom line? Don't affirm that phrase. Expose it. Correct it. Replace it. Because a “Will” that’s free from everything, including God and your own nature, is a lie—and a heretical one at that. Let’s put "Will" back in its proper place—as the result of a chain of reasoning, NOT above the chain pretending to create it out of nothing like a god it never was.

Look at Christ

 “When I look at myself, I do not see how I can be saved.  But when I look at Christ, I do not see how I can be lost.”

— Martin Luther

When sin is small

 “If you fail to see the blazing glory of God and the beauty of His holiness, then you will fail to see how monstrous sin is. When God is small, sin is small.”

— Michael Reeves

Freeness of Grace

 Though I be the unworthiest sinner that ever had access to Christ, yet since he delights to glorify the freeness and riches of his grace in admitting those that are most unworthy, and since he expresses it by inviting me, shall I not hearken to him?

—David Clarkson, Works 1:90

Grace Gems of the Today: Merciful.

 Blessed are the merciful

By Arthur Pink and others.

[This is the fifth, in our series of eight beatitudes.]

(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7

Gospel mercy is not a product of human nature--it is the fruit of a heart transformed by divine grace. Before regeneration, we were hard, self-centered and indifferent to the souls of others. But when God had mercy on us--pardoning our sin, cleansing our guilt, and raising us from spiritual death--He made us into merciful people. This beatitude is not a call to earn mercy, but a declaration of the mercy which God's grace produces in those whom He saves.

Mercy is that compassion which is moved by the sight of misery, and which attempts to relieve those in misery.

What greater misery exists, than the misery of sin?

What deeper need can there be, than the need of pardon from the thrice holy God?

The merciful, then, are those who are moved--not merely by physical suffering--but by the eternal peril of those who are rushing madly on to a dreadful Hell! Having themselves tasted the sweetness of forgiveness, they long to see others reconciled to God. They pray, they plead, they labor that sinners might flee to Christ. They are not content to let men run undisturbed to damnation--they intervene, with the gospel of mercy in their mouths, and the love of Christ in their hearts.

And what is the promise? "They shall obtain mercy!" The merciful shall be shown mercy in their daily walk--receiving patience, grace, and strength from their Heavenly Father.

And on that final day when they stand before the Judge of all, they will not receive the awful sentence they so justly deserved. Instead of Hell, they will be met with mercy--divine, sovereign, everlasting mercy! The One who should have banished them to Hell, will, in His great mercy on the unworthy, welcome them into glory! With nail-pierced hands, He will receive them--those who were once ill-deserving and Hell-deserving, declaring before all Heaven: "These are My merciful ones . . .
  redeemed by My Son's sin-atoning death,
  kept by My power, and
  now brought Home by My marvelous mercy!"
 

Struggling Christians

 5 things struggling Christians need to remember in the fight:

- You’re in a war—stop acting like you’re on vacation. (Eph. 6:11-12) - The enemy accuses daily—Christ intercedes hourly. (Heb. 7:25) - Victory doesn’t mean ease—it means endurance. (Matt. 24:13) - Your scars are proof you didn’t quit. (2 Tim. 4:7) - The empty tomb is your guarantee—you fight from victory, not for it. (1 Cor. 15:57)

Basing your Assurance

 Stop basing your assurance of salvation on the strength of your faith or your lack of sin.

Base your assurance on this: God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world

Look Away from

 “Faith is the way in which I can look away from myself – both from my sin and my progress in sanctification – and look to Christ as my only hope.”

-Robert Godfrey

Looking Again

 Assurance isn’t found by staring harder at ourselves.

It’s found by looking to Christ — and looking again. -- Jeffery Perry

Read: an act of Worship

 Read as an act of worship. Read to be elevated into the great truths of God so that you may worship the Trinity in Spirit and in truth. Be selective about what you read, however. Measure all your reading against the touchstone of Scripture. So much of today’s Christian literature is froth, riddled with Arminian theology or secular thinking. Time is too precious to waste on nonsense. Read more for eternity than time, more for spiritual growth than professional advancement.

Feed My Sheep, ed. Don Kistler, Soli Deo Gloria Ministries, 2002, p. 120.

Joel Beeke