Superficial Evangelism

 There is a superficial evangelism which puts the gospel entirely in terms of human beings. Are you unhappy? Are you worried? Do you want this or that? Come to Christ and you will get it. And so people come. They have never trembled under the holy law of God, and that is because they were never taught it. 'Well,' they say, 'I'm all right now, I'm forgiven.' And they are negligent about their conduct. They have not realized its importance because they do not know why a person is saved.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Happy Joy

 “You must find joy in God, or you will not find joy at all.”

— Charles Spurgeon

God is Happy! All Happiness is in God, and all happiness is derived from God.

--inspired by puritan material

Understanding the Facts

"Unregenerate man is fully capable of understanding the facts of the gospel: he is simply incapable, due to his corruption and enmity, to submit himself to that gospel. And he surely responds to God every day: negatively, in rebellion and self-serving sinfulness, The Reformed assertion is that man cannot understand and embrace the gospel nor respond in faith and repentance toward Christ without God first freeing him from sin and giving him spiritual life (regeneration)."

— James White

Worthless Nobodies

Many Christians become discouraged and disheartened when their spiritual life and witness suffer because of sin or failure. We tend to think we're worthless nobodies—and left to ourselves, that would be true! 

 But worthless nobodies are just the kind of people God uses, because that is all He has to work with. 

God chooses the humble, the lowly, the meek, and the weak so that there's never any question about the source of power when they change the world. It's not the man; it's the truth of God and the power of God in the man. 

 — John MacArthur

Going to a Wedding

 On February 4th in 1555, John Rogers was burnt to death here for believing you could be saved

by faith in Jesus Christ alone.

John Rogers had been a Roman Catholic priest, but his friend William Tyndale had explained

the gospel to him.

He became pastor of a church around the corner from here, he got married, he had a family,

but then in 1555, Queen Mary came to the throne.

And she hated the gospel.

She had at least 198 people burnt to death, and the first would be John Rogers.

The pressure on Rogers that day was intense.

This man really going to die for a message of what someone else has done.

This gospel doesn't flatter you.

This gospel tells you the only thing you bring is your sin.

You really going to die for that?

All you bring to it is faith.

All you do is accept him.

You're going to die for that?

We know what happened though, because the French ambassador Antoine Nwai was a witness,

and he wrote a letter explaining what he'd seen.

What he said was that John Rogers, when he walked to Smithfield, he walked as if he

was going to a wedding.

But it was here that scores of men and women died simply because they believed you could

be saved by faith in what Jesus Christ has done.

And perhaps because they did, we can.

Luther on Prayer

 “Father, do not call us into judgment, for in Your presence no one is righteous. Please do not condemn us for being ungrateful for all of Your unspeakable goodness—both spiritual and physical—and for our daily blunders and sins, which are more than we know or mark (Psalm 19:12).

Furthermore, do not consider how good or bad we have been, but look upon us with Your infinite compassion, bestowed upon us by Christ, Your beloved Son. Forgive also all our enemies and all those who have harmed us or done us an injustice, even as we forgive them from the heart. For they do themselves irreparable harm when they vent their anger against us. We gain nothing by their ruin. Rather, we would rather see them blessed with us. Amen.”

— Martin Luther on the fifth petition for of the Lord’s Prayer

Our Own Want

 When we have a due apprehension of the eminent actings of any grace in Christ Jesus, and withal a deep and abiding sense of our own want of the same grace, it is a season of especial application unto him by prayer for the increase of it.

John Owen

Emotional Highs

 The Christian life is not a string of emotional highs, but obedience and faith amid valleys, disappointments, and the mundane. "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." Rev 3:10

-Ryan Denton

John Owen on Atheism

 “If I say to a man that the sun is risen and shines on the earth,

“if he questions or denies it, and asks me to prove it, it is sufficient to say, ‘It proves itself by its own light.’ “If he then says that this is no proof to him because he cannot see the light of the sun, then it is a satisfactory answer to say that he is blind. “If he is not blind, it is useless to argue with him because he is contradicting the witness of his own eyes and leaves himself with no satisfactory rule by which he could ever be convinced about anything. “So if I tell a man that the ‘heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork,’ or that the ‘invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,’ and he asks me how I can prove this, “it is a sufficient answer to say that these things in and by themselves prove the existence of the infinitely wise and powerful Creator, and that he ought to be able to reason that out for himself. “If he says that it does not appear to him that the universe was ever created but that it only came into being by chance, “then it is sufficient to say that he is delirious and does not have the use of his reason, or that he is arguing in express contradiction to his own reason, as the heathen philosophers admitted. “And if I declare to anyone that the Scripture is the word of God, a divine revelation, and that it proves and manifests itself to be so, and he replies that by the use of his sense and reason it does not appear to him to be God’s word, “then it would be a sufficient reply to secure the authority of Scripture…to say, ‘All men have not faith,’ in the light of which alone we can see the marks of its divine origin impressed on it.” — John Owen

1 John 5:14

1 John 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  

JOHN GILL: COMMENTARY:

but the revealed will of God is here intended, 

by which it appears that all grace is laid up in Christ, 

and all spiritual blessings are with him, 

and that the covenant of grace is ordered in all things, 

and full of the sure mercies of David, 

and of exceeding great and precious promises; 

all which are treasured up for the benefit and use of the people of God; 

and if, therefore, they ask for any grace, or supply of grace, 

for any spiritual blessing or mercy laid up in Christ, 

in the covenant, or in any of the promises, 

they ask that for matter which is according to the will of God, 

and which they may be assured they shall have, sooner or later: 

and to ask in a manner agreeably to his will, 

is to come in the name of Christ, 

and make mention of his righteousness, 

and ask for his sake; 

to put up all petitions in faith, 

with fervency, in sincerity, and uprightness; 

with reverence, humility, and submission to the divine will, and with importunity; 

and such askers God hears, 

even so as to answer, 

and grant their requests in his own time, 

though not always in theirs; 

in some cases sooner, in others later, 

according to his infinite wisdom, 

and in his own way, 

which is always the best, though not in theirs, 

as in the case of the Apostle Paul, 2Co_12:7. 

The Alexandrian copy and the Ethiopic version read, 

"if we ask anything according to", or in his name: that is, of Christ, 

and which agrees with John 14:13.

John 14:13-14  Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.   (14)  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Sanctification is a Promise, Not a Threat.

 Sanctification is a promise, not a threat.

—Brad Kafer

We have sinned and can sin the Same Way

 “When we see anyone sin, we should first weep over ourselves in their calamity, because we have either fallen like them or we can fall." -Gregory the Great

+in the adulterer, I see my lust +in the murderer, I see my hate +in the thief, I see my coveting We either are sinning, have sinned, or can sin the same way. Christ have mercy. And he does, for he is mercy incarnate.

Affect Our Hearts

 When by faith we have attained a view of the glory of Christ, in our contemplations on his person, we should not pass it over as a notion of truth which we assent unto, - namely, that he is thus glorious in himself, - but endeavour to affect our hearts with it.

John Owen

I need not torment myself

 I need not torment myself with the fear that my faith may fail; as grace led me to faith in the first place, so grace will keep me believing to the end. Faith, both in its origin and continuance, is a gift of grace.

J.I. Packer

 Taken Entirely from Monergism Blog:  Article entitled 

Resting in the Righteousness of Christ

To be united to Christ by grace though faith is to be counted as having lived His life, obeyed His law, suffered His punishment, died His death, and risen in His resurrection. The believer is not merely inspired by Christ; he is represented by Him. Christ’s perfect obedience was rendered on our behalf; He fulfilled every command of God’s law in our place (Romans 5:19; Galatians 4:4-5). His death was not merely an act of martyrdom. It was the full exhaustion of the law’s curse for our sin (Galatians 3:13). And His resurrection from the dead is the public declaration from God that the believer is now justified, fully accepted and acquitted in His sight (Romans 4:25; 1 Timothy 3:16).

This means justification is not a process, nor is it contingent upon our progress. It is a once-for-all verdict, grounded in the finished work of Christ, granted before we perform any act of obedience or experience any inward renewal (Titus 3:5-7). Our status before God does not rise and fall with our spiritual condition. It is as unchanging as the righteousness of Jesus Himself (Hebrews 13:8; 1 Corinthians 1:30). The gospel, then, assures trembling sinners that the moment they are in Christ, they are as justified as they ever will be (Romans 8:1; Colossians 2:10).

Such a gospel dismantles every attempt to mingle Christ’s righteousness with our own works. Even the slightest reliance on our obedience (whether in gaining or maintaining favor with God) undermines the very grace of the gospel (Galatians 2:21). It dishonors Christ by implying that His obedience was insufficient (Hebrews 10:14). Worse still, it leaves the conscience without peace, for if our standing with God is even partially based on our performance, we will never rest, never know security, and never truly be free from guilt (Romans 5:1; Hebrews 9:14).

But faith ... true, saving faith ... looks away from self entirely. It does not contribute; it receives. It rests wholly on the righteousness of Another (Philippians 3:9). This righteousness is not infused, earned, or grown into. It is imputed, credited by God Himself (Romans 4:5-6; 2 Corinthians 5:21). It is alien to us, but ours by grace. In trusting Christ alone, the believer finds unshakable peace, because his salvation rests not on shifting sands, but on the finished and faultless work of the Son of God (Isaiah 32:17; John 19:30).

Rest, instead of Killing Ourselves with Care.

 When we wonder what God is doing with us, and are ready to kill ourselves with care; let us rest in God's wisdom. He knows best what he has to do.

Thomas Watson

Shall a silly passenger

On Distrusting God's Wisdom in Providence: 

"Shall a silly passenger, that understands not the use of a compass, be angry that the skillful pilot will not steer the vessel according to his pleasure? 

Stephen Charnock

Every day we fail

 Every day we fail. Every day Jesus remains spotless, and he is so for us, in our place.

Michael Reeves

Find Time to Pray

 “Why cannot men find time for prayer?

The only answer is because they do not love it.” — Charles Spurgeon

Crowning Comfort

 This is the crowning comfort to a sensible and understanding soul, that he stands righteous before a judgment seat in that full, exact, perfect, complete, matchless, spotless, and most acceptable righteousness of Christ which is imputed to him.

Puritan Thomas Brooks

The Works of Thomas Brooks, 3:485

Faithfully Performs

 "Whatever God mercifully promises, he also faithfully performs" - John Calvin, Institutes, III.xiii.4

Higher Level

 He who desires to be in an assured state, to have continual fellowship with God, to attain to a higher level of illumination & experience, and to fear God steadfastly, let him strictly observe his devotional time and let him not be neglectful in this.

—Wilhelmus à Brakel, 3:465

Hoornbeck no.1

 You can be assured that, since such feelings about sin (despair, regret, hatred) do not occur in an unconverted person, you, brought to this place through God's Spirit, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 converted & therefore share in the saving grace of God.

—Johannes Hoornbeeck, Spiritual Desertion, 81

Beloved by God

 Saving faith is a persuasion that we shall have life and salvation by Christ, or a receiving and resting on Him for salvation, included in it a knowledge of ourselves being beloved by God; the former cannot be without the latter.

--Thomas Boston

Morning Prayer Wilberforce

 O Lord, help me. I will try to assign at least an hour in the morning, and when circumstances will permit, the same in the evening, for Scripture reading, private devotion, and meditation.

--William Wilberforce

Stung to your Father's Feet

 “You would not pray if you did not have trouble. It is a blessing to be stung to your Father’s feet!”

— Charles Spurgeon

Frequent in Prayer

 Be frequent in prayer, and it will help you much. “Draw near to God” (James 4:8).

Complain of the slipperiness of your nature, of your weakness to withstand Satan’s assaults, and entreat God to give you strength that you may hold out. —John Cotton, Works 2:163

Pink's Study

 ARTHUR PINK’S STUDY METHODS

“In my early years I assiduously followed this threefold course:

First, I read through the entire Bible three times a year (eight chapters in the Old Testament, and two in the New Testament daily.) I steadily persevered in this for ten years, in order to familiarize myself with its contents, which can only be done by consecutive reading.

Second, I studied a portion of the Bible each week, concentrating for ten minutes (or more) each day on the same passage, pondering the order of it, the connection between each statement, seeking a definition of the important terms in it, looking up all the marginal references, being on the look-out for its typical significance.

Third, I meditated on one verse each day; writing it out on a slip of paper in the morning, memorizing it, consulting it at odd moments through the day; pondering separately each word in it, asking God to open for me its spiritual meaning and to write it on my heart. The verse was my food for that day, meditation standing to reading as mastication does to eating.

The more some such method as the above be followed out, the more shall we be able to say, ‘thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path’ [Ps 119:105].”

~ Arthur Pink, "Letters of A.W. Pink"

As if you were

 "You stand before God as if you were Christ, because Christ stood before God as if He were you."

-Charles Spurgeon.

Complete Savior

 It is good to be humbled for sin, but not to be discouraged; for though we are poor creatures, Jesus is a complete Savior; and we bring more honor to God by believing in his name and trusting his word of promise, than we could do by a thousand outward works.

John Newton

Faith's Proper Exercise

 Faith which is truly divine, is never more in its proper exercise-doth never more elevate the soul into conformity unto God–than when it acts in the contemplation and admiration of the most incomprehensible mysteries which are proposed unto it by divine revelation.

--John Owen

Thankful for Thorns

 “Be thankful for the thorns and thistles which keep you from being in love with this world.”

— Charles Spurgeon

Affections Eternal

"Only human beings created in the image of God can enjoy God. Therefore, enjoyment matters. I mean, affections are who we are ultimately. The end of history, the end of creation, is not going to be merely rational creatures thinking rightly about God, little computers. It’s going to be people who are so perceptive spiritually of the glories of God that they are full of affections that are appropriate for those glories and can give expression to them. That’s what eternity will be.”

 Algorithms and the Affections

John Piper (Nov. 2025): “If you had thought that your essence of humanness in the image of God was your reasoning capacity, over an ape or a porpoise, you’re in trouble. Because, guess what? ChatGPT is smarter than you are and more creative than you are in expressing things in language that is good. It can write prayers better than you can, and it can reason through hard problems better than you can. Therefore, there are people who are going to forsake the faith because they thought to be a human in the image of God was to be a reasoning person over against the animals, and they discovered a machine can do it better than they can. Crisis of faith. This to me is no crisis because of my Christian Hedonism. I do not think that my reasoning capacities are my essence. I think the soul’s capacity to delight in God is my essence. The soul’s capacity to enjoy God. No machine will ever enjoy, period. It will have the language of enjoyment. You can tell it to write a poem of enjoyment and it will use the language. That machine is not enjoying *her*. It’s not. It never will.

Only human beings created in the image of God can enjoy God. Therefore, enjoyment matters. I mean, affections are who we are ultimately. The end of history, the end of creation, is not going to be merely rational creatures thinking rightly about God, little computers. It’s going to be people who are so perceptive spiritually of the glories of God that they are full of affections that are appropriate for those glories and can give expression to them. That’s what eternity will be.” Source: Sovereign Grace Churches, Pastors Conference PreCon (November 2025)

Jan Hus Prayer

 Give me a fearless heart,

a right faith, a firm hope, a perfect love, that for your sake I may lay down my life with patience and joy. Amen.

JAN HUS (1369-1415)

Excite and Encourage. Constant View

 Nothing will so much excite and encourage our souls hereunto as a constant view of Christ and his glory; every thing in him hath a constraining power hereunto, as is known to all who have any acquaintance with these things.

John Owen

My Times are in God's Hand

 "Firmly believing that my times are in God’s hand, I here submit myself and all my affairs for the ensuing year, to the wise and gracious disposal of God’s divine providence. Whether God appoints for me health or sickness, peace or trouble, comforts or crosses, life or death — may His holy will be done!

All my time, strength, and service, I devote to the honor of the Lord Jesus — and even my common actions. It is my earnest expectation, hope, and desire, my constant aim and endeavor — that Jesus Christ may be magnified in me. In everything I have to do — my entire dependence is upon Jesus Christ for strength. And whatever I do in word or deed, I desire to do all in His name, to make Him my Alpha and Omega.

I have all from Him — and I would use all for Him.

If this should prove a year of affliction, a sorrowful year to me — I will fetch all my supports and comforts from the Lord Jesus and stay myself upon Him, His everlasting consolations, and the good hope I have in Him through grace.

And if it should be my dying year — then my times are in the hand of the Lord Jesus. And with a humble reliance upon His mediation, I would venture into the eternal world looking for the blessed hope. Dying as well as living — Jesus Christ will, I trust, be gain and advantage to me.

Oh, that the grace of God may be sufficient for me, to keep me always a humble sense of my own unworthiness, weakness, folly, and infirmity — together with a humble dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ for both righteousness and strength."

— 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐲, diary entry for January 1, 1713

Ten Virgins

 A lamp without oil may shine for a moment, but it cannot endure delay. So it is with a religion that rests only in outward profession. Words may be orthodox, duties may be performed, and hopes may be confidently spoken, but if there is no inward work of the Spirit, no hidden supply of grace within, the light will fail when it is most needed.

The wise virgins were not distinguished by a louder profession, but by a secret provision. They had oil in their vessels. Their faith was fed from within. It was sustained not by appearance, but by principle, by the Spirit’s gracious work in the heart.

--Thomas Manton

Constant Comfort from Christ

 Let us live in the constant application of the glory of Christ, and virtue will proceed from him to repair all our decays, to renew a right spirit within us, and to cause us to abound in all duties of obedience.

-- John Owen.

Christ's Love for You

It is not your hold of Christ that saves you, it is Christ’s hold of you.  

Not your joy in Christ, but Christ’s joy in you.   

Not your love for Christ, but Christ’s love for you.

— Charles Spurgeon

A Steady View

 A steady view of the glory of Christ, in his person, grace, and office, through faith,–or a constant, lively exercise of faith on him, according as he is revealed unto us in the Scripture,–is the only effectual way to obtain a revival from under our spiritual decays.

--John Owen.

Impossible for Language

 “Christ is in his people the hope of glory, and they are dead and their life is hid with Christ in God. This is a union of the most wonderful kind, which figures may faintly set forth, but which it were impossible for language completely to explain.”

-Charles Spurgeon

Luther on Galatians

 Luther: But where Christ is truly seen, there there must be full and perfect joy in the Lord and peace of heart, where the heart declares: “Although I am a sinner according to the Law, judged by the righteousness of the Law, nevertheless I do not despair. I do not die, because Christ lives who is my righteousness and my eternal and heavenly life. In that righteousness and life I have no sin, conscience, and death. I am indeed a sinner according to the present life and its righteousness, as a son of Adam where the Law accuses me, death reigns and devours me. But above this life I have another righteousness, another life, which is Christ, the Son of God, who does not know sin and death but is righteousness and eternal life. For His sake this body of mine will be raised from the dead and delivered from the slavery of the Law and sin, and will be sanctified together with the spirit.”

Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1-4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 8–9.

Falls Seven Times

 "The just man falls, sometimes falls seven times perhaps, into sin, sins of infirmity, through the surprise of temptation; but he rises again by repentance, finds mercy with God, and regains his peace." — 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐲 on Prov. 24:16

Rest is Near

 COMPLETE REST IS NEAR

“God will shortly put a blessed end to all those troubles, cares, and labors. The time is coming when your heart will be as you desire; when you will be discharged of these cares, fears, and sorrows and never cry out, “Oh my hard, proud, vain, earthly heart!”; when all darkness will be banished from your understanding and you will clearly discover all the truths in God, that crystal ocean of truth; and when you will be perfectly purged of all corruptions. Then your thoughts will be everlastingly, ravishingly, and delightfully entertained and exercised upon that supreme goodness and infinite excellency of God, from Whom they will never recoil like a broken bow. And as for your pride, passion and worldliness, and all other subjects of your complaints and troubles, let it be said of them as of the Egyptians to Israel:

“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord.” (Exodus 14:13)

These corruptions you see today, henceforth you will see them no more forever! Soon you will lay down your weapons of prayers, tears, and groans and you will put on the armor of light----not to fight, but to triumph!”

~ John Flavel 1627-1691, “Keeping the Heart”

Justified in the Sight of God

 By being justified, we are to understand, being so acquitted in the sight of God as to be looked upon as though we never had offended him at all.

--George Whitefield

I think Sproul??? or someone said that our condition is even BETTER than "as though we never had offended him at all." because we still need to fulfill righteousness, and we stand before God with the righteousness of Christ fulfilling righteousness in our place.

Reasons which Induce

 The reasons which induce the soul to love, must first be understood, before they can have a reasonable influence on the heart.

--Jonathan Edwards

10,000

 After 10,000 sins He loves you as infinitely as ever!

--Charles Spurgeon.

Assurance of His Love

 "Only, by the way, let no man misapply this doctrine, saying, If we should not be discouraged, although we do want assurance, then I will neglect the getting of my assurance. Beloved, ye see into what times we are now fallen, times of war, and rumors of war; times of blood; these are dying times: and is this a time for any of you to want assurance of God’s love?

--William Bridge

Christ is the Way

 “Holiness is not the way to Christ, but Christ is the way to holiness.”

— Charles Spurgeon

Fix our eyes on Jesus

 The blessedness of contemplating Jesus

Various authors

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

Hebrews 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!"

There is no sweeter occupation for the soul than to set its gaze steadily upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He who was once despised and rejected by men, is now exalted in the heavens. The heart that contemplates His beauty, drinks deeply of Heaven's own joy.

The world seeks gratification in a thousand fleeting things, but the  believer finds his satisfaction in contemplating Jesus. This contemplation is not mere wandering thoughts--it is a sanctifying gaze that changes the heart. "I meditate on You through the watches of the night." (Psalm 63:6). In the silence of the night, when all earthly distractions fade, the soul communes with its Savior--and finds in Him a peace which surpasses all understanding.

The Scriptures declare that the man is blessed whose "delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night!" (Psalm 1:2) Even more so, what joy is found when the soul meditates upon the living Word Himself, Jesus Christ! To fix our eyes upon Him, is to behold the fountain of mercy, and the King of glory.

This world with all its vanities beckons us to fix our minds below. But the Spirit calls us higher: "Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things!" (Colossians 3:1-2) True blessedness is not found by looking  within or around--but by looking upward to the Savior who reigns.

To meditate upon Jesus, is to be transformed into His likeness! (2 Corinthians 3:18) As we contemplate His love, His sufferings, His righteousness, and His glory . . .
  our faith is strengthened,
  our repentance is deepened,
  and our hearts are drawn heavenward!

The more we gaze upon Him in faith and love--the more the Spirit conforms us to His image.

Would you be made strong against sin?

Would you be filled with peace amid trials?

Would you be stirred to greater holiness?

Then set your eyes daily on the Lord Jesus!
 
In contemplating Him, we behold . . .
  the beauty that surpasses all beauty,
  the love that exceeds all loves,
  the glory that shall fill all Heaven.

Blessed are those who fix their hearts on Christ--for their joy shall never wither, and their hope shall never fail.

When we meditate on His sin-atoning wounds, we are melted in repentance.

When we contemplate His righteousness, we are filled with assurance.

When we consider His sovereign reign, we are strengthened with hope.

When we behold His coming glory, we are stirred to holiness.

Would you be kept from sin?
Then gaze upon the crucified and risen Lamb.

Would you live above this vain world?
Then anchor your soul by frequent meditation upon your Savior.

"Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus!" Hebrews 3:1

Humility in Controversy.

 May we also follow his humility in controversy

“Often have I been wont to declare, that even although he[Luther] were to call me a devil, I should still not the less hold him in such honour that I must acknowledge him to be an illustrious servant of God” -Calvin, Letters, 4:433

Self-Strength

 The "mortification of sin from self-strength to the end of self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion." #JohnOwen

Unworthy Prayer

 "Do you doubt whether God has heard you, because you are a sinner? then cling to the word and say: Though I am a sinner and unworthy, yet I have the command of God, that tells me to pray, and his promise that he will graciously hear me, not because of my worthiness, but for the sake of the Lord Christ…

Pray, not regarding your worthiness or unworthiness, but your need and his word upon which he tells you to build; especially since he has placed before you and put into your mouth the words how and what you are to pray for…so that you joyously send up these prayers through him, and can lay them in his bosom, that he may lay them by his own worthiness before the Father…

As a Father he has promised to hear and help us…pray with hearty confidence, and rely upon this prayer, as assuredly heard, and await help."

—Martin Luther, Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount

Not One Trial

 “In heaven, we shall see that we had not one trial too many.”

— Charles Spurgeon

He Loved Us

 “He loved us when we could not have been worse or further from him than we were.”

— Charles Spurgeon

The Next Trial

 “Welcome the next trial as a friend that forces you to slow down and live utterly dependent on God.” – Joni Eareckson Tada

Evidence His Willingness

 That sea of sin, that sea of wrath, that sea of trouble, that sea of blood that Jesus Christ waded through, that sinners might be pardoned, justified, reconciled, and saved, doth strongly evidence his 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 to save sinners…

—Puritan Thomas Brooks, Works 1:148

Spiritual Attack

 The spiritual attack you're under is your flesh and satanic forces trying to keep you from fulfilling God's will. The stronger it is, the closer you are. Fight back with the Spirit, prayer, the truth of Scripture, personal praise, and worship, and the prayers of mature believers.

--online post.

Be much alone.

 "Be much alone with God. Do not put Him off with a quarter of an hour morning and evening. Take time to get thoroughly acquainted. Converse over everything with Him. Unbosom yourself wholly - every thought, feeling, wish, plan, doubt - to Him." -Horatius Bonar.

Refer it Back to God

 But we are short-sighted creatures, not only unworthy--but unable to rightly choose for ourselves.

If the choice was left to us--it would be our wisdom to refer it back to God.

We may be sure that He does not willingly grieve or afflict us. He takes no pleasure in seeing us weep and mourn--rather, every day brings us ten thousand proofs that He delights in our prosperity.

Whenever we are in heaviness, therefore, there is a need-be for it--faithful are the wounds of such a Friend! Our trials are made no sooner, nor longer--than the necessity of the case requires. He who wounds--has promised likewise to heal. He is all sufficient, and can give more than He will ever take away from His redeemed people. I trust she will find power to commit herself, and her every concern, into His hands; and that she will have reason to acknowledge, from day to day, that He does all things well!

Whatever the outcome may be--our Lord is wise and good in all His dealings. His mercies to us are new every morning--and as numerous as the minutes of our lives!

One of the excerpts from John Newton's Letters.

Share in Suffering

  From Don Green.

At the recommendation of the incomparable Phil Johnson, last year I read an older biography of Charles Spurgeon by W. Y. Fullerton. It was superb and a privilege to read.

Spurgeon, as most know, was often opposed during the course of his ministry. As I prepare for an online session to encourage pastors and elders on February 10, I give you this quote from Spurgeon as a preview of coming attractions:

"If we never offended, it would be proof positive that we did not preach the Gospel. They who can please man will find it quite another thing to have pleased God. Do you suppose that men will love those who faithfully rebuke them? If you make the sinner's heart to groan, and waken his conscience, do you think he will pay you, court and thank you for it?"

My brothers, your adversity in ministry is a sign of approval and blessing, not a cause for discouragement and resignation. Better and more noble men than us have walked rocky paths in ministry, only to enter glory triumphantly (albeit with scarred feet) as a result. They would all tell you it was worth the cost.

So look up for grace and persevere below. You must. And by grace, you will stand, for Christ is able to make you stand.

So preach with all your heart tomorrow, and may the Lord send His blessing on the Word as you do. I, for one, am on your side.

"Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:3).

Beveridge

  I cannot pray, except I sin. I cannot preach, but I sin. I cannot administer, nor receive the holy sacrament, but I sin. My very repentance needs to be repented of and the tears I shed need washing in the blood of Christ.

~ William Beveridge

Were They as Great as

  That blood that hath cleansed so many from sin, and from such multitudes of sin, in their several capacities, can cleanse you from 𝘢𝘭𝘭 your sins, were they as great as all those jointly that have been cleansed by it from the beginning of the world.

—Stephen Charnock, 3:531

Bradford Prayer

 “O dear Father, be merciful unto me, and forgive me all my sins; and of thy goodness give me thy holy Spirit to open mine eyes that I may see sin, the better to know it, the more truly to hate it, and most earnestly to strive against it, and that effectually both in myself and others. Again grant me the same thy holy Spirit to reveal unto me the remedy of sin by Christ only, and to work in me by faith to embrace the same thy Christ and mercies in him; that I may henceforth be endued with thy holy Spirit, more and more to begin and obey thy good-will continually, and to increase in the same for ever.”

- John Bradford, Meditation on the Lord’s Prayer, Vol. I: The Works of John Bradford, p. 134.

Leave it all in the Hands

 "Leave it all in the Hands that were wounded for you." -Elisabeth Elliot.

We don't need now

 "God has promised to supply all our needs. What we don’t have now, we don’t need now."

-- Elisabeth Elliot.

Riches in Christ

"There are riches enough in Christ to pay all your debts, and to satisfy divine justice to the utmost farthing, without being beholden to your prayers, tears, or humiliations. Kings love no consorts; power is impatient of participation." -- Thomas Brooks:

Dragged Downward

 Earthbound Christianity will always collapse under its own weight.

If you are not pulled upward by the world to come, you will inevitably be dragged downward by the world you see.

Jeffery Perry

Always Forgiving

 “You are often sinning, but he is always forgiving you.”

— Charles Spurgeon

Looks at Himself

 “when the Christian looks at himself he can only have grounds for anxiety, indeed despair, but [in] fellowship with Christ, he can think of himself in no other way than as a member of Christ, thus making all the blessings of Christ his own.”

-John Calvin

Continually

 “I sin continually. But Christ has died and forever lives as my Redeemer, Priest, Advocate and King.”

-Martin Luther

Jeremiah 17:9

 The addicted heart.

Calvin on the natural man in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is especially inclined (procliue) toward every evil, and filled with corrupt desires (prauis cupiditatibus), and enslaved (addictum) to them, and obstinately rebellious against God. And though we sometimes display something that appears good, yet that inner disposition (animi affectus) of the soul remains in its own defilement (sordibus) and crooked perversity (obliqua perversitate).” Deeper than wrong doing is wrong loving. Pic: Calvin, *Institutio* (Basil, 1536), 44.

Who we embrace

 Godly living centers not on what we avoid, but on whom we embrace. Anytime we talk more about dos and don’ts than about Jesus, something’s wrong.

~Randy Alcorn

Hammer away

 “Hammer away ye hostile hands; your hammers break, God’s anvil stands.”

—inscription on a monument to the French Huguenots, testifying to their view of Scripture

Mere Notions

 If we satisfy ourselves in mere notions and speculations about the glory of Christ as doctrinally revealed unto us, we shall find no transforming power or efficacy communicated unto us thereby.

John Owen

FAITH IS WEAKENED

 Where any corrupt and inordinate affections, as love of the world, care about it, inclinations unto sensuality, or the like spiritual disorders do prevail, faith is weakened in its spiritual acts, especially in discerning and beholding the glory of Christ.

John Owen