A quote Very Important to Understand
[I am reading an article entitled "Union with Christ" and the below brief passage really enlightened my understanding to the point that I felt compelled to share it with my readers. I pray that it helps all to fully understand the importance, necessity of, and blessedness of our precious Lord and Saviour!]
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The Idea or Nature of All Things
Further, Christ is the Idea or Nature of all things. I think here we only need two brief quotations. "Whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29). The Nature of all things is expressed in those words, "the image of His Son." The other passage which is from Ephesians 4:10, I think bears that out. The object of His ascending up on high was "that He might fill all things." Those two complementary statements answer this Idea or Nature of all things. What is the Idea behind, what is the Divinely intended Nature of all things? Well, just the image of His Son. Of course, that embraces the whole of that comprehensive teaching of the New Testament of likeness to Christ. It is a far-reaching and all-governing idea in the New Testament, likeness to Christ, or, as it has often been put, Christ-likeness. That is the Idea of the existence of all things; that is the Nature of the being of all things; to be filled with Him and conformed to His image. You never will be conformed to His image unless you are filled with Christ. How much New Testament teaching you can put into that. It is everywhere.
The Final Test Of All Things
Lastly, Christ is the Final Test of all things. In Acts 17:31 we have these words: "He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." The literal rendering is not, by a man, but "IN a man whom He hath ordained." The word "ordained" means horizoned. God has made His Son the horizon of everything. Everything has to come within the horizon of this man and be judged according to Him. You see the point. Christ is the criterion, Christ is the standard; Christ is the measure of that great judgment of the world which God has fixed, the final test of all things.
That means that the judgment of the world will be according to how it measures up to Christ, its standing in the light of Christ, as to its attitude toward or relationship with Christ. God will NOT judge on any other ground. That is a very simple formula for judgment. If God had to take us one by one and judge us on the numerous things which belong to us by our inheritance, our birth, our upbringing, by the fortunes or misfortunes of our lives, well, He would have His hands full, speaking after the manner of men, and it would be something that would require a standard of righteousness so infinitesimal, so exhaustive, as to be almost unthinkable. God is NOT going to judge us upon the number of our sins, whether few or many, or upon our temperaments, or upon anything like that at all that comes down to us in the bloodstream. His one simple solution is: What is your attitude toward My Son? How do you stand here in the horizon of Christ, not just as a person, but in relationship with Him as a kind, what He means in Himself? What is your attitude, relationship, and measure where the Son is concerned? On that all judgment will be based.
And notice, that is a very righteous judgment. It says "He will judge the world in righteousness." Thank God! That takes in the very thing that so many complain of through their lives, the disadvantages of their inheritance, of heredity, of early training and so on. My dear friends, take heart from this, that on none of those matters is God going to judge at all, it would be unrighteous. He brings us all down to the one issue of our relationship to His Son. Where do you stand with Him? What have you done with Him? What are you making of Him? How are you progressing in your conformity to His image? That is the basis of judgment, and the only one. Christ is the criterion, the final test of all things.
[well, I will stop here, but I felt that this brief article would be a blessing for everyone to read and devour!! This is why it is so important that we grow, progress, in our faith; why it is so important that we do indeed become more Christ-like, why (when God looks down upon us) He sees only His Son in us!! And have we stopped to think that this is the way creation was created in the first place - before Adam and Eve sinned? (Don't forget, Christ was BEFORE creation began.) Oh! I could go on and on about this but I won't - not now!!]
~T. Austin Sparks~
Saturday, July 21, 2018
The True Church # 2
The True Church # 2
The mighty agent by whom the Lord Jesus Christ carries out this work in the number of His Churches, is, without doubt, the Holy Spirit. He it is who applies Christ and His benefits to the soul. He it is who is ever renewing, awakening, convincing, leading to the Cross, transforming, taking out of the world, stone after stone, and adding it to the mystical building. But the great Chief Builder, who has undertaken to execute the work of redemption and bring it to completion, is the Son of God - the Word who was made flesh. It is Jesus Christ who "builds."
In building the true Church, the Lord Jesus condescends to use many subordinate instruments. The ministry of the Gospel, the circulation of the Scriptures, the friendly rebuke, the word spoken in season, the drawing influence of afflictions - all, all are means and methods by which His work is carried on. But Christ is the great superintending architect, ordering, guiding, directing all that is done. What the sun is to the whole solar system - that Christ is to all the members of the true Church. "Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God gives the increase." Ministers may preach, and writers may write, but the Lord Jesus Christ alone can build. And except He builds, the work stand still.
Great is the wisdom with which the Lord Jesus builds His Church. All is done at the right time, and in the right way. Each stone in its turn is put in the right place. Sometimes He chooses great stones, and sometimes He chooses small stones. Sometimes the work moves fast, and sometimes it moves slowly. Man is frequently impatient, and thinks that nothing is happening. But man's time is not God's time. A thousand years in His sight are but as a single day. The great Builder makes no mistakes. He knows what He is doing. He sees the end from the beginning. He works by a perfect, unalterable and certain plan. The mightist conceptions of architects, like Michaelangelo are mere insignificant child's play, in comparison with Christ's wise counsels respecting His Church.
Great is the condescension and mercy, which Christ exhibits in building His Church. He often chooses the most unlikely and roughest stones, and fits them into a most excellent work. He despises no one, and rejects none - on account of former sins and past transgressions. He delights to show mercy. He often takes the most thoughtless and ungodly, and transforms them into polished corners of His spiritual temple.
Great is the power which Christ displays in building His Church. He carries on His work in spite of opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil. In storm, in chaos, through troublesome times - silently, quietly, without noise, without stir, without excitement - the building progresses. "i will work," He declares, "and none shall hinder it." Brethren, the children of this world take no interest in the building of this Church, theycare nothing for the conversion of souls. What are broken spirits and penitent hearts to them? It is all foolishness in their eyes. But while the children of this world care nothing, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. For the preserving of that Church, the laws of nature have oftentimes been suspended. For the good of that Church, all the providential dealings of God in this world are ordered and arranged. For the elect's sake, wars are brought to an end, and peace is given to a nation. Statesmen, rulers, emperors, kings, preseidents, heads of governments, have their schemes and plans, and think them of vast importance.
But there is another work going on of infinitely greater significance, for which they are all but as the axes and saws in God's hands. That work is the gathering in of living stones into the one true Church. How little are we told in God's Word about unconverted men, compared with what we are told about believers! The history of Nimrod, the mighty hunter, is dismissed in a few words. The history of Abraham, the father of the faithful, occupies several chapters. Nothing in Scripture is so important as the concerns of the true Church. The world makes up little of God's Word. The Church and its story make up much.
Forever let us thank God, my beloved brethren, that the building of the one true Church is laid on the shoulders of One who is mighty. Let us bless God that it does not rest upon man. Let us bless God that it does not depend on missionaries, ministers, or committees. Christ is the almighty Builder. He will carry on His work, though nations and visible Churches do not know their duty. Christ will never fail. That which He has undertaken He will certainly accomplish! I pass on to the third point, which I proposed to consider -
3. The FOUNDATION upon which this Church is built. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us, "On this rock I will build My Church." What did the Lord Jesus Christ mean, when He spoke of this foundation? Did He mean the Apostle Peter, to whom He was speaking? I think assuredly not. I can see no reason, if he meant Peter, why did He not say "On you" will I build My Church. If He had meant Peter, He would have said, I will build My Church on you, as plainly as He said, "I will give you the keys." No! it was not the person of the Apostle Peter, but the good confession which the Apostle had just made. It was not Peter, the erring, unstable man; but the mighty truth which the Father had revealed to Peter. It was the truth concerning Jesus Christ Himself, which was the Rock. It was Christ's Mediatorship, and Christ's Messiahship. It was the blessed truth, that Jesus was the promised Saviour, the real Intercessor between God and man. This was the Rock, and this was the foundation on which the Church of Christ was to be built.
My brethren, this foundation was laid at a mighty cost. It was necessary that the Son of God should take our nature upon Him, and in that nature live, suffer, and die, not for His own sins, but for ours. It was necessary that in that nature Christ should go to the grave, and rise again. It was necessary that in that nature Christ should go up to heaven, to sit at the right hand of God, having obtained eternal redemption for all His people. No other foundation but this could have borne the wieght of that Church of which our text speaks. No other foundation could have met the necessities of a world of sinners!
That foundation once obtained, is very strong. It an bear the weight of the sin of all the world. It has borne the weight of all the sins of all the believers who have built on it. Sins of thought, sins of the imagination,sins of the heart,sins of the head, sins which everyone has seen, and sins which no man knows, sins against God, and sins against man, sins of all kinds and descriptions - that mighty Rock can bear the weight of all these sins, and not give way. The mediatorial office of Christ is a suficient remedy for all the sins of all the world.
To this one foundation every member of Christ's true Church is joined. In many things believers are disunited and disagreed. In the matter of their soul's foundation they are all of one mind. They are all build on the Rock. Ask where they get their peace, and hope, and joyful expectation of good things to come. You would find that it all flows from that one mighty truth - Christ the Mediator between God and man, and the office that Christ holds, as the High Priest and Promise of sinners.
Here is the point which demands our personal attention. Are we on the Rock? Are we really joined to the one Foundation? What does that godly man, Leighton say? "God has laid this precious stone for this very purpose - that weary sinners may rest upon it. The multitude of imaginary believers lie all around it, but they are not any better for that, any more than stones that lie loose in heaps, hear the foundation. but not joined to it. There is no benefit to us by Christ, without union with Him.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
The mighty agent by whom the Lord Jesus Christ carries out this work in the number of His Churches, is, without doubt, the Holy Spirit. He it is who applies Christ and His benefits to the soul. He it is who is ever renewing, awakening, convincing, leading to the Cross, transforming, taking out of the world, stone after stone, and adding it to the mystical building. But the great Chief Builder, who has undertaken to execute the work of redemption and bring it to completion, is the Son of God - the Word who was made flesh. It is Jesus Christ who "builds."
In building the true Church, the Lord Jesus condescends to use many subordinate instruments. The ministry of the Gospel, the circulation of the Scriptures, the friendly rebuke, the word spoken in season, the drawing influence of afflictions - all, all are means and methods by which His work is carried on. But Christ is the great superintending architect, ordering, guiding, directing all that is done. What the sun is to the whole solar system - that Christ is to all the members of the true Church. "Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God gives the increase." Ministers may preach, and writers may write, but the Lord Jesus Christ alone can build. And except He builds, the work stand still.
Great is the wisdom with which the Lord Jesus builds His Church. All is done at the right time, and in the right way. Each stone in its turn is put in the right place. Sometimes He chooses great stones, and sometimes He chooses small stones. Sometimes the work moves fast, and sometimes it moves slowly. Man is frequently impatient, and thinks that nothing is happening. But man's time is not God's time. A thousand years in His sight are but as a single day. The great Builder makes no mistakes. He knows what He is doing. He sees the end from the beginning. He works by a perfect, unalterable and certain plan. The mightist conceptions of architects, like Michaelangelo are mere insignificant child's play, in comparison with Christ's wise counsels respecting His Church.
Great is the condescension and mercy, which Christ exhibits in building His Church. He often chooses the most unlikely and roughest stones, and fits them into a most excellent work. He despises no one, and rejects none - on account of former sins and past transgressions. He delights to show mercy. He often takes the most thoughtless and ungodly, and transforms them into polished corners of His spiritual temple.
Great is the power which Christ displays in building His Church. He carries on His work in spite of opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil. In storm, in chaos, through troublesome times - silently, quietly, without noise, without stir, without excitement - the building progresses. "i will work," He declares, "and none shall hinder it." Brethren, the children of this world take no interest in the building of this Church, theycare nothing for the conversion of souls. What are broken spirits and penitent hearts to them? It is all foolishness in their eyes. But while the children of this world care nothing, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. For the preserving of that Church, the laws of nature have oftentimes been suspended. For the good of that Church, all the providential dealings of God in this world are ordered and arranged. For the elect's sake, wars are brought to an end, and peace is given to a nation. Statesmen, rulers, emperors, kings, preseidents, heads of governments, have their schemes and plans, and think them of vast importance.
But there is another work going on of infinitely greater significance, for which they are all but as the axes and saws in God's hands. That work is the gathering in of living stones into the one true Church. How little are we told in God's Word about unconverted men, compared with what we are told about believers! The history of Nimrod, the mighty hunter, is dismissed in a few words. The history of Abraham, the father of the faithful, occupies several chapters. Nothing in Scripture is so important as the concerns of the true Church. The world makes up little of God's Word. The Church and its story make up much.
Forever let us thank God, my beloved brethren, that the building of the one true Church is laid on the shoulders of One who is mighty. Let us bless God that it does not rest upon man. Let us bless God that it does not depend on missionaries, ministers, or committees. Christ is the almighty Builder. He will carry on His work, though nations and visible Churches do not know their duty. Christ will never fail. That which He has undertaken He will certainly accomplish! I pass on to the third point, which I proposed to consider -
3. The FOUNDATION upon which this Church is built. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us, "On this rock I will build My Church." What did the Lord Jesus Christ mean, when He spoke of this foundation? Did He mean the Apostle Peter, to whom He was speaking? I think assuredly not. I can see no reason, if he meant Peter, why did He not say "On you" will I build My Church. If He had meant Peter, He would have said, I will build My Church on you, as plainly as He said, "I will give you the keys." No! it was not the person of the Apostle Peter, but the good confession which the Apostle had just made. It was not Peter, the erring, unstable man; but the mighty truth which the Father had revealed to Peter. It was the truth concerning Jesus Christ Himself, which was the Rock. It was Christ's Mediatorship, and Christ's Messiahship. It was the blessed truth, that Jesus was the promised Saviour, the real Intercessor between God and man. This was the Rock, and this was the foundation on which the Church of Christ was to be built.
My brethren, this foundation was laid at a mighty cost. It was necessary that the Son of God should take our nature upon Him, and in that nature live, suffer, and die, not for His own sins, but for ours. It was necessary that in that nature Christ should go to the grave, and rise again. It was necessary that in that nature Christ should go up to heaven, to sit at the right hand of God, having obtained eternal redemption for all His people. No other foundation but this could have borne the wieght of that Church of which our text speaks. No other foundation could have met the necessities of a world of sinners!
That foundation once obtained, is very strong. It an bear the weight of the sin of all the world. It has borne the weight of all the sins of all the believers who have built on it. Sins of thought, sins of the imagination,sins of the heart,sins of the head, sins which everyone has seen, and sins which no man knows, sins against God, and sins against man, sins of all kinds and descriptions - that mighty Rock can bear the weight of all these sins, and not give way. The mediatorial office of Christ is a suficient remedy for all the sins of all the world.
To this one foundation every member of Christ's true Church is joined. In many things believers are disunited and disagreed. In the matter of their soul's foundation they are all of one mind. They are all build on the Rock. Ask where they get their peace, and hope, and joyful expectation of good things to come. You would find that it all flows from that one mighty truth - Christ the Mediator between God and man, and the office that Christ holds, as the High Priest and Promise of sinners.
Here is the point which demands our personal attention. Are we on the Rock? Are we really joined to the one Foundation? What does that godly man, Leighton say? "God has laid this precious stone for this very purpose - that weary sinners may rest upon it. The multitude of imaginary believers lie all around it, but they are not any better for that, any more than stones that lie loose in heaps, hear the foundation. but not joined to it. There is no benefit to us by Christ, without union with Him.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
The True Church # 1
The True Church # 1
"On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it" (Matthew 16:18).
We live in a world in which all things are passing away, kingdoms, empires,cities, institutions,families - all are liable to change and corruption. One universal law seems to prevail everywhere - in all created things there is a tendency to decay. There is something sad and depressing in this. What profit has a man, in the labor of his hands? Is there nothing that shall stand? Is there nothing that shall last? Is there nothing that shall endure? Is there nothing of which we can say - This shall continue forever?
We have the answer to these questions in the words of our text. Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of something which shall continue, and not pass away. There is one created thing which is an exception to the universal rule to which I have referred. There is one thing which shall never perish and pass away. That thing is building founded upon the rock - the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. He declares, in the words you have heard tonight: "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it." There are five things in these words which demand your attention:
1. A Building: "My Church."
2. A Builder: Christ says, "I will build My Church."
3. A Foundation: "On this rock I will build My Church."
4. Perils Implied: "The gates of hell."
5. Security Asserted: "The gates of hell will not overcome it."
May God bless the words that shall be spoken. May we all search our own hearts tonight, and know whether or not we belong to this one Church. May we all go home to reflect and to pray!
1. First, you have a "Building" mentioned in the text. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks of "My Church." Now what is this Church? Few inquiries can be made of more importance than this. For lack of due attention to this subject, the errors that have crept into the Church, and into the world, are neither few nor small. The Church of our text is no material building. It is no temple made with hands, of wood, or brick, or stone, or marble. It is a company of men and women. It is no particular visible Church on earth. The Church of our text is one that makes far less show in the eyes of man, but is of far more importance in the eyes of God.
The Church of our text is made up of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It comprehends all who have repented of sin, and fled to Christ by faith, and been made new creatures in Him. It comprises all God's elect, all who have received God's grace, all who have been washed in Christ's blood, all who have been clothed in Christ's righteousness, all who have been born again and sanctified by Christ's Spirit. All such, of every nation, and people, and tongue, compose the Church of our text. This is the body of Christ. This is the flock of Christ. This is the bride. This is the Lamb's wife. This is the church on the rock.
The members of this Church do not all worship God in the same way, or use the same form of government. Our own 34th Article declares, "It is not necessary that ceremonies should be in all places one and alike." But they all worship with one heart. They are all led by one Spirit. They are all really and truly holy. They can all say "Hallelujah," and they can all reply "Amen". This is that Church, to which all visible Churches on earth are servants. Whether they are Episcopalian, Independent, or Presbyterian, they all serve the interests of the one true Church. They are the scaffolding, behind which the great building is carried on. They are the husk, under which the living kernel grows.
They have their various degrees of usefulness. The best and worthiest of them, is that which trains up most members for Christ's true Church. But no visible Church has any right to say, "We are the only true church. We are the men, and truth shall die with us." No visible Church should ever dare to say, "We shall stand forever. The gates of hell will not overcome us." This is that Church to which belong the Lord's precious promises of preservation, continuance, protection, and final glory. "Whatever," says Hooker, "we read in Scripture, concerning the endless love and saving mercy which God shows towards His Churches, the only proper subject is this Church, which we properly term the mystical body of Christ." Small and despised as the true Church may be in this world, it is precious and honorable in the sight of God. The temple of Solomon in all its glory was nothing in comparison with that Church which is built upon a rock.
Men and brethren, see that you hold sound doctrine on the subject of "the Church." A mistake here may lead to dangerous and soul-ruining errors. The Church which is made up of true believers, is the Church for which we, who are ministers, are specially ordained to preach. The Church which comprises all who repent and believe the Gospel, is the Church to which we desire you to belong. Our work is not done, and our hearts are not satisfied, until you are made new creatures, and are members of the one true Church. Outside of this Church, there can be no salvation. I pass on to the second point, to which I proposed to call you attention.
2. Our text contains not merely a building, but a "BUILDER." The Lord Jesus Christ declares, "I will build My Church." The true Church of Christ is tenderly cared for by all the three persons of the blessed Trinity. In the economy of redemption, beyond all doubt, God the Father chooses, and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies, every member of Christ's mystical body. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three Persons in one God, cooperate for the salvation of every saved soul. This is truth, which ought never to be forgotten. Nevertheless, there is a peculiar sense in which the help of the Church is laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is peculiarly and preeminently the Redeemer and the Saviour. Therefore it is, that we find Him saying in our text, "I will build - the work of building is My special work." It is Christ who calls the members of the Church in due time. They are "the called of Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:6). It is Christ who gives them life. "The Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it" (John 5:21). It is Christ who washes away their sins. He "who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood" (Revelation 1:5). It is Christ who gives them peace. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you" (John 14:27). It is Christ who gives them eternal life. "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish" (John 10:28). It is Christ who grants them repentance. "God exalted Him to His own right hand as Prince and Saviour, that He might give repentance" (Acts 5:31). It is Christ who enables them to become God's children. "To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). It is Christ who carries on the work within them, when it is begun. "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19).
In short, "God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him [Christ}" (Colossians 1:19). He is the author and finisher of faith. From Him every joint and member of the mystical body of Christians is supplied. Through Him they are strengthened for duty. By Him they are kept from falling. He shall preserve them to the end, and present them faultless before the Father's throne with exceeding great joy. He is all things, and all in all to believers.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
"On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it" (Matthew 16:18).
We live in a world in which all things are passing away, kingdoms, empires,cities, institutions,families - all are liable to change and corruption. One universal law seems to prevail everywhere - in all created things there is a tendency to decay. There is something sad and depressing in this. What profit has a man, in the labor of his hands? Is there nothing that shall stand? Is there nothing that shall last? Is there nothing that shall endure? Is there nothing of which we can say - This shall continue forever?
We have the answer to these questions in the words of our text. Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of something which shall continue, and not pass away. There is one created thing which is an exception to the universal rule to which I have referred. There is one thing which shall never perish and pass away. That thing is building founded upon the rock - the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. He declares, in the words you have heard tonight: "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it." There are five things in these words which demand your attention:
1. A Building: "My Church."
2. A Builder: Christ says, "I will build My Church."
3. A Foundation: "On this rock I will build My Church."
4. Perils Implied: "The gates of hell."
5. Security Asserted: "The gates of hell will not overcome it."
May God bless the words that shall be spoken. May we all search our own hearts tonight, and know whether or not we belong to this one Church. May we all go home to reflect and to pray!
1. First, you have a "Building" mentioned in the text. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks of "My Church." Now what is this Church? Few inquiries can be made of more importance than this. For lack of due attention to this subject, the errors that have crept into the Church, and into the world, are neither few nor small. The Church of our text is no material building. It is no temple made with hands, of wood, or brick, or stone, or marble. It is a company of men and women. It is no particular visible Church on earth. The Church of our text is one that makes far less show in the eyes of man, but is of far more importance in the eyes of God.
The Church of our text is made up of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It comprehends all who have repented of sin, and fled to Christ by faith, and been made new creatures in Him. It comprises all God's elect, all who have received God's grace, all who have been washed in Christ's blood, all who have been clothed in Christ's righteousness, all who have been born again and sanctified by Christ's Spirit. All such, of every nation, and people, and tongue, compose the Church of our text. This is the body of Christ. This is the flock of Christ. This is the bride. This is the Lamb's wife. This is the church on the rock.
The members of this Church do not all worship God in the same way, or use the same form of government. Our own 34th Article declares, "It is not necessary that ceremonies should be in all places one and alike." But they all worship with one heart. They are all led by one Spirit. They are all really and truly holy. They can all say "Hallelujah," and they can all reply "Amen". This is that Church, to which all visible Churches on earth are servants. Whether they are Episcopalian, Independent, or Presbyterian, they all serve the interests of the one true Church. They are the scaffolding, behind which the great building is carried on. They are the husk, under which the living kernel grows.
They have their various degrees of usefulness. The best and worthiest of them, is that which trains up most members for Christ's true Church. But no visible Church has any right to say, "We are the only true church. We are the men, and truth shall die with us." No visible Church should ever dare to say, "We shall stand forever. The gates of hell will not overcome us." This is that Church to which belong the Lord's precious promises of preservation, continuance, protection, and final glory. "Whatever," says Hooker, "we read in Scripture, concerning the endless love and saving mercy which God shows towards His Churches, the only proper subject is this Church, which we properly term the mystical body of Christ." Small and despised as the true Church may be in this world, it is precious and honorable in the sight of God. The temple of Solomon in all its glory was nothing in comparison with that Church which is built upon a rock.
Men and brethren, see that you hold sound doctrine on the subject of "the Church." A mistake here may lead to dangerous and soul-ruining errors. The Church which is made up of true believers, is the Church for which we, who are ministers, are specially ordained to preach. The Church which comprises all who repent and believe the Gospel, is the Church to which we desire you to belong. Our work is not done, and our hearts are not satisfied, until you are made new creatures, and are members of the one true Church. Outside of this Church, there can be no salvation. I pass on to the second point, to which I proposed to call you attention.
2. Our text contains not merely a building, but a "BUILDER." The Lord Jesus Christ declares, "I will build My Church." The true Church of Christ is tenderly cared for by all the three persons of the blessed Trinity. In the economy of redemption, beyond all doubt, God the Father chooses, and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies, every member of Christ's mystical body. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three Persons in one God, cooperate for the salvation of every saved soul. This is truth, which ought never to be forgotten. Nevertheless, there is a peculiar sense in which the help of the Church is laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is peculiarly and preeminently the Redeemer and the Saviour. Therefore it is, that we find Him saying in our text, "I will build - the work of building is My special work." It is Christ who calls the members of the Church in due time. They are "the called of Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:6). It is Christ who gives them life. "The Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it" (John 5:21). It is Christ who washes away their sins. He "who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood" (Revelation 1:5). It is Christ who gives them peace. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you" (John 14:27). It is Christ who gives them eternal life. "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish" (John 10:28). It is Christ who grants them repentance. "God exalted Him to His own right hand as Prince and Saviour, that He might give repentance" (Acts 5:31). It is Christ who enables them to become God's children. "To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). It is Christ who carries on the work within them, when it is begun. "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19).
In short, "God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him [Christ}" (Colossians 1:19). He is the author and finisher of faith. From Him every joint and member of the mystical body of Christians is supplied. Through Him they are strengthened for duty. By Him they are kept from falling. He shall preserve them to the end, and present them faultless before the Father's throne with exceeding great joy. He is all things, and all in all to believers.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
I Bequeath My Pastor's Soul to the devil
I Bequeath My Pastor's Soul to the devil!
"Covetousness, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5).
Covetousness is explicit idolatry. Covetousness is the darling sin of our nation. Covetousness being idolatry - is highly provoking to God. This leprosy has infected all sorts and ranks of men.
Whatever a man loves most and best - that is his god! The covetous man looks upon the riches of the world as his heaven - his happiness - his great ALL. His heart is most upon the world, his thoughts are most upon the world, his affections are most upon the world, his discourse is most about the world.
He who has his mind taken up with the world, and chiefly delighted with the world's music - he has also his tongue tuned to the same key, and takes his joy and comfort in speaking of the world and worldly things. If the world is in his heart - it will break out at the lips. A worldly-minded man speaks mostly of worldly things. "They are of the world, therefore they speak of the world," (John 4:5). The love of this world oils the tongue for worldly discourses, and makes men...
forget God,
neglect Christ,
despise holiness,
forfeit heaven.
Ah! the time, the thoughts, the strength, the efforts - which are spent upon the world, and the things of the world - while sinners' souls lie bleeding, and eternity is hastening upon them!
I have read of a greedy banker, who was always best when he was most in talking of money and the world. Being near his death, he was much pressed to make his WILL. Finally he dictates:
First, I bequeath my own soul to the devil - for being go greedy for the muck of this world!
Second, I bequeath my wife's soul to the devil - for persuading me to this worldly course of life.
Thirdly, I bequeath my pastor's soul to the devil - because he did not show me the danger I lived in, nor reprove me for it!
"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction!" (1 Timothy 6:9).
~Thomas Brooks~
_____________________________
The One Who Profits Me the Most!
"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).
I will name some of the criteria by which I measure the helpfulness of a preacher or writer to my own soul.
The one who profits me the most, is the man whose ministry brings the most awe of a holy and sovereign God into my heart, who reveals my sinfulness and failures to me, who conveys the most light on my path of duty, who makes Christ most precious to me, who encourages me to press forward along the narrow way.
"Watch your life and doctrine closely" (1 Timothy 4:16).
~A. W. Pink~
___________________________
That Irresponsible, Amusement-mad Paganized Pseudo-religion!!
In many churches, the Gospel has been watered down until the solution is so weak, that if it were poison - it would not hurt anyone; and if it were medicine - it would not cure anyone!
We must have a new reformation! There must come a violent break with that irresponsible, amusement-mad, paganized pseudo-religion which passes today for the faith of Christ and which is being spread all over the world by unspiritual men employing unscriptural methods to achieve their unspiritual ends!
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
Your Life Preaches All the Week
Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two - your life all the week. If satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating - he has ruined his ministry.
Give your self to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be success.
It is not great talents God blesses, so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awesome weapon in the hand of God!
~Robert Murray M'Cheyne~
_____________________________
Souls Are Perishing - And Ministers are Amusing Them!
"But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them - that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die!' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways - that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood!" (Ezekiel 33:6-8).
We behold this same evil affecting many of the pulpits to today's churches. Mere morality is taking the place of regeneration, and the atonement by blood is a slighted subject. Instead of beseeching men to be reconciled to God - we find ministers wasting their time in giving Sunday lectures about all kinds of subjects. Rome is burning - and Nero is playing his fiddle! Souls are perishing - and ministers are amusing them!
~Archibald Brown~
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Saving Faith # 2
Saving Faith # 2
Consider, I ask you, this incomprehensible goodness! Do not many in this world think it no harm to remember injuries, and sometimes to resent them? Do we not find it hard to love those who have given us some slight offence? or if we do profess to love them, do we make any endeavor to promote their happiness? Such, alas! is too seldom our practice; there is but little real affection in these hard hearts. But we are not dealt with according to our own ways, for the God of holiness has loved the sinful world, which has continually dishonored and denied Him. Oh! beloved, let us dwell much on such expressions as these, for they are more precious than rubies; let us bear them continually in mind, for they will not fail us in the day of trial, when temptation is strong and faith weak; let us write them on our hearts and in our memories, and we shall find them a strong consolation in the hour of death and on the bed of sickness. God is indeed love - and God loved the world.
3. The gift of His Son. Let us next inquire in what way it pleased God to manifest this love. We had all sinned. Who then could put away this sin and present us clean and spotless before His throne? We had all failed utter of keeping His holy laws. How then could we be clothed for the wedding-feast of our Master? Beloved, here is wisdom! This is the very point which the learned of this world could never understand. How, they have asked, can perfect justice and perfect mercy be reconciled? How can God justify His sinful creature, and yet be that Holy One whose law must needs be fulfilled? But all is explained in this simple verse, if you can receive it; and thus it was, "He gave His only-begotten Son."
Observe the magnitude of this gift, "His only-begotten Son." Can anything give you a more tender idea of God's love? Observe again the expression "He gave" - not because we had merited anything, for it was a free gift; not for our deservings, for it was all of grace. "By grace you are saved," says Paul to the Ephesians. "The gift of God is eternal life," says the same apostle to the Romans.
And for what purpose was His Son given? Beloved, He was given to atone for our guilt, by the sacrifice and death of Himself, as a lamb without spot and blemish; and by so doing He made a full, perfect, and sufficient oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. He was given to bear our iniquities and carry our transgressions upon the accursed tree, the Cross; for being innocent Himself He was for our sakes accounted guilty, that we for His sake might be accounted pure. Nor is this all: He was given to fulfill the demands of that law which we have broken; and He did fulfill them. He "was tempted in all points," says Paul, "like as we are, and yet without sin." The prince of this world had nothing in Him, and thus He brought in an everlasting righteousness, which like a pure white raiment is unto all and upon all those who believe. (2 Cor. 5:21).
It would be easy to dwell upon this delightful branch of our subject, beloved - but we must pass on.
4. The means whereby we enjoy this gift. How then are the benefits of this gift made our own? What are the means through which it is applied to our souls? What is the hand by which we lay hold on this remedy?
Here again our text supplies an answer It is FAITH. Whoever believes (not with the head, remember - but with the heart), and believing comes to Christ with a confession of his own unrighteousness, and receives Him as his only hope of salvation - is saved by FAITH.
Consider now the beautiful simplicity of this way of life. We do not see written on the gate - Whoever has prepared himself by long repentance - whoever has begun to lead a new life - whoever has done so many good works - whoever has attended church so many times - whoever has given so much in charity - these shall enter into heaven, and no others. No, dear friends, such announcements would frighten many a weary sinner, and these are fruits you will thankfully bring forth a hundredfold after you have entered.
But the only thing required of those who seek admission is faith, and he who approaches in simple childlike faith shall never be rejected. Hear how Paul speaks on this point (Rom. 10:5-10). And, lest anyone should suppose that God is a respecter of people, that there is one way for the rich and another for the poor, one for the learned, another for the unlearned, he adds these comfortable words: "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." But remember also - and I solemnly warn everyone of this - there is no other way to heaven - than the way of faith. God has not left each man to choose his own road to heaven - or his own path for coming unto Christ - but He has appointed one way and no more, and no man shall enter into life, except by this.
"If you believe not," says our Lord, "that I am He, you shall die in your sins!" And hence we may learn this most important lesson, that although God so loved the world, that He gave for it His only-begotten Son, still the benefits of that gift can never be obtained by those who will not believe.
5. And the promise attached to those who believe. It remains for us in the last place to consider the promises and consequences which our text holds forth to the faithful. We read that "whoever believes shall not perish - but have everlasting life." And is not this a promise the most acceptable to our nature that a gracious God could have devised? We know there is nothing the unconverted fear so much as death: people of the highest courage, who would shrink from no danger and encounter any difficulty, have been seen to tremble and turn pale at the approach of some pain or complaint which seems likely to bring their frail bodies to the grave. And why should this be so? - pain is not very bitter, and life with its cares and anxieties is not so very sweet as to account for it!
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
Consider, I ask you, this incomprehensible goodness! Do not many in this world think it no harm to remember injuries, and sometimes to resent them? Do we not find it hard to love those who have given us some slight offence? or if we do profess to love them, do we make any endeavor to promote their happiness? Such, alas! is too seldom our practice; there is but little real affection in these hard hearts. But we are not dealt with according to our own ways, for the God of holiness has loved the sinful world, which has continually dishonored and denied Him. Oh! beloved, let us dwell much on such expressions as these, for they are more precious than rubies; let us bear them continually in mind, for they will not fail us in the day of trial, when temptation is strong and faith weak; let us write them on our hearts and in our memories, and we shall find them a strong consolation in the hour of death and on the bed of sickness. God is indeed love - and God loved the world.
3. The gift of His Son. Let us next inquire in what way it pleased God to manifest this love. We had all sinned. Who then could put away this sin and present us clean and spotless before His throne? We had all failed utter of keeping His holy laws. How then could we be clothed for the wedding-feast of our Master? Beloved, here is wisdom! This is the very point which the learned of this world could never understand. How, they have asked, can perfect justice and perfect mercy be reconciled? How can God justify His sinful creature, and yet be that Holy One whose law must needs be fulfilled? But all is explained in this simple verse, if you can receive it; and thus it was, "He gave His only-begotten Son."
Observe the magnitude of this gift, "His only-begotten Son." Can anything give you a more tender idea of God's love? Observe again the expression "He gave" - not because we had merited anything, for it was a free gift; not for our deservings, for it was all of grace. "By grace you are saved," says Paul to the Ephesians. "The gift of God is eternal life," says the same apostle to the Romans.
And for what purpose was His Son given? Beloved, He was given to atone for our guilt, by the sacrifice and death of Himself, as a lamb without spot and blemish; and by so doing He made a full, perfect, and sufficient oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. He was given to bear our iniquities and carry our transgressions upon the accursed tree, the Cross; for being innocent Himself He was for our sakes accounted guilty, that we for His sake might be accounted pure. Nor is this all: He was given to fulfill the demands of that law which we have broken; and He did fulfill them. He "was tempted in all points," says Paul, "like as we are, and yet without sin." The prince of this world had nothing in Him, and thus He brought in an everlasting righteousness, which like a pure white raiment is unto all and upon all those who believe. (2 Cor. 5:21).
It would be easy to dwell upon this delightful branch of our subject, beloved - but we must pass on.
4. The means whereby we enjoy this gift. How then are the benefits of this gift made our own? What are the means through which it is applied to our souls? What is the hand by which we lay hold on this remedy?
Here again our text supplies an answer It is FAITH. Whoever believes (not with the head, remember - but with the heart), and believing comes to Christ with a confession of his own unrighteousness, and receives Him as his only hope of salvation - is saved by FAITH.
Consider now the beautiful simplicity of this way of life. We do not see written on the gate - Whoever has prepared himself by long repentance - whoever has begun to lead a new life - whoever has done so many good works - whoever has attended church so many times - whoever has given so much in charity - these shall enter into heaven, and no others. No, dear friends, such announcements would frighten many a weary sinner, and these are fruits you will thankfully bring forth a hundredfold after you have entered.
But the only thing required of those who seek admission is faith, and he who approaches in simple childlike faith shall never be rejected. Hear how Paul speaks on this point (Rom. 10:5-10). And, lest anyone should suppose that God is a respecter of people, that there is one way for the rich and another for the poor, one for the learned, another for the unlearned, he adds these comfortable words: "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." But remember also - and I solemnly warn everyone of this - there is no other way to heaven - than the way of faith. God has not left each man to choose his own road to heaven - or his own path for coming unto Christ - but He has appointed one way and no more, and no man shall enter into life, except by this.
"If you believe not," says our Lord, "that I am He, you shall die in your sins!" And hence we may learn this most important lesson, that although God so loved the world, that He gave for it His only-begotten Son, still the benefits of that gift can never be obtained by those who will not believe.
5. And the promise attached to those who believe. It remains for us in the last place to consider the promises and consequences which our text holds forth to the faithful. We read that "whoever believes shall not perish - but have everlasting life." And is not this a promise the most acceptable to our nature that a gracious God could have devised? We know there is nothing the unconverted fear so much as death: people of the highest courage, who would shrink from no danger and encounter any difficulty, have been seen to tremble and turn pale at the approach of some pain or complaint which seems likely to bring their frail bodies to the grave. And why should this be so? - pain is not very bitter, and life with its cares and anxieties is not so very sweet as to account for it!
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Saving Faith # 1
Saving Faith # 1
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
In this verse, beloved, we have one of those "heavenly things," which our Lord had just spoken of to Nicodemus. Blessed indeed are the lips which spoke it, and blessed are the hearts which can receive it! In this verse we find a treasury of the most precious truth, a mine of inexhaustible matter, a well of ever-flowing waters; and when we consider the simple words in which our Lord has here brought together the whole body of divinity, we must willingly confess, with those who heard Him preach, "Never any man ever spoke like this man!"
Listen, I beg you, once more, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life." There is hardly an expression that a child could not easily explain, and yet there are doctrines here which the wisest upon earth must humbly receive, if they would enter into the kingdom of heaven and sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We learn in it, what philosophers of old could never clear up - the history of God's dealing with mankind, and the terms which He offers for their acceptance. Here is life, and here is death; here you have the deserts of man, and here you have the free grace of God; here you see what all may expect who follow their own course; and here also the way, the truth, and the life is directly pointed out.
And at this particular season of the year, when we are about so soon to commemorate the mysterious birth of Him who in mercy to our sins consented to take our nature on Him and be born of a virgin, even Christ Jesus, we cannot do better than examine the things which are herein contained. May the Eternal Spirit, through whom He offered Himself, the great Teacher whom He promised to send, be among us: may He arouse the careless; fix the inattentive; and make the subject profitable to all.
Now I conceive the chief things to be noticed in this verse are:
1. The state of the world, that is - of all mankind.
2. The love of God.
3. The gift of the Son.
4. The means whereby we enjoy this gift.
5. And the promise attached to those who believe.
1. First, then, let us inquire what the Word of God has taught us respecting the world and the world's character. Now, the testimony of Scripture upon this head is so clear and explicit, that he who runs may read, "The whole world," says John, "lies in wickedness." Our first father, Adam, was indeed created in the image of God, pure and sinless - but in one day he fell from his high estate by eating the forbidden fruit, he broke God's express command and became at once a sinful creature; and now all we his children have inherited from him - a wicked and a corrupt nature, a nature which clings to us from the moment of our birth, and which we show daily in our lives and conversation. In a word, we learn that from the hour of the fall our character has been established - that we are a sinful, a very sinful world.
Beloved, does this appear a hard saying? Do you think such a statement too strong? Away with the flattering thought! We see it proved in Scripture, for every book of the Old Testament history tells the melancholy story of man's disobedience and man's unbelief in things pertaining to God. We read there of fearful judgments, such as the flood and the destruction of Sodom - yet men disregarded them. We read of gracious mercies, such as the calling and protection of Israel - but men soon forgot them. We read of inspired teachers and revelations from heaven, such as the law of Moses - and men did not obey them. We read of special warnings, such as the voice of the prophets - and yet men did not believe them. Yes, beloved, we are a sinful world!
Think not to say within yourselves, "It may be so - but this happened in days of old; the world is better now." It will not avail you. We have read it in Scripture - but we see it also around us, and you will find at this time, even under your own eyes, convincing proof that the charge is literally true. Let any, for instance, examine the columns of a country newspaper, and he will see there within a month enough to make his ears tingle. I speak as unto wise men - you judge what I say. Will he not see accounts of nearly every sin which is abominable in the sight of God? Will he not read of anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, theft, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, emulations, variance, strife, seditions, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: "of the which," says the apostle (Gal. 5:21), "I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." And if such things take place in a land which is blessed with so much light and knowledge as our own, how much more should be find in countries where there is neither one nor the other!
Can you still doubt? I will go further. We see proof in ourselves. Let the best among you search his own heart; let him honestly cast up the number of evil thoughts and unholy ideas which pass through his imagination even in one single day - thoughts, I mean, which are known only to himself and the all-seeing God - and let him tell us whether it be not a most humiliating and soul- condemning calculation. Yes, dear friends, whether you will receive it or not - we are indeed a sinful world. It may be a humbling truth - but Scripture says it, and experience confirms it; and therefore we tell you that the world spoken of in our text is a world which lies in wickedness, a corrupt world, a world which our great Maker and Preserver might have left to deserved destruction, and in so doing would have acted with perfect justice; because He has given us laws and they have been broken, promises and they have been despised, warnings and they have not been believed.
2. The love of God. Such is the world of which we form a part, and such is its character. And now let us hear what the feeling is with which God has been pleased to regard His guilty creatures. We were all under condemnation, without hope, without excuse; and what could stay the execution of the sentence? It was the love of God! "God," says our text, "so loved the world." He might have poured on us the vials of His wrath, as He did on the angels who kept not their first estate - but no! He spared us, "God so loved the world!" Justice demanded our punishment, holiness required we should be swept off the earth - but "God loved the world!" Praised be His Name, we had nothing to do with man's judgment, which may not show mercy, when a crime is proved. We were in the hands of One whose ways are not as our ways, and whose thoughts are not as our thoughts - and hence, "God so loved the world." May we not well say with the Apostle, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" (Rom. 11:33).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
In this verse, beloved, we have one of those "heavenly things," which our Lord had just spoken of to Nicodemus. Blessed indeed are the lips which spoke it, and blessed are the hearts which can receive it! In this verse we find a treasury of the most precious truth, a mine of inexhaustible matter, a well of ever-flowing waters; and when we consider the simple words in which our Lord has here brought together the whole body of divinity, we must willingly confess, with those who heard Him preach, "Never any man ever spoke like this man!"
Listen, I beg you, once more, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life." There is hardly an expression that a child could not easily explain, and yet there are doctrines here which the wisest upon earth must humbly receive, if they would enter into the kingdom of heaven and sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We learn in it, what philosophers of old could never clear up - the history of God's dealing with mankind, and the terms which He offers for their acceptance. Here is life, and here is death; here you have the deserts of man, and here you have the free grace of God; here you see what all may expect who follow their own course; and here also the way, the truth, and the life is directly pointed out.
And at this particular season of the year, when we are about so soon to commemorate the mysterious birth of Him who in mercy to our sins consented to take our nature on Him and be born of a virgin, even Christ Jesus, we cannot do better than examine the things which are herein contained. May the Eternal Spirit, through whom He offered Himself, the great Teacher whom He promised to send, be among us: may He arouse the careless; fix the inattentive; and make the subject profitable to all.
Now I conceive the chief things to be noticed in this verse are:
1. The state of the world, that is - of all mankind.
2. The love of God.
3. The gift of the Son.
4. The means whereby we enjoy this gift.
5. And the promise attached to those who believe.
1. First, then, let us inquire what the Word of God has taught us respecting the world and the world's character. Now, the testimony of Scripture upon this head is so clear and explicit, that he who runs may read, "The whole world," says John, "lies in wickedness." Our first father, Adam, was indeed created in the image of God, pure and sinless - but in one day he fell from his high estate by eating the forbidden fruit, he broke God's express command and became at once a sinful creature; and now all we his children have inherited from him - a wicked and a corrupt nature, a nature which clings to us from the moment of our birth, and which we show daily in our lives and conversation. In a word, we learn that from the hour of the fall our character has been established - that we are a sinful, a very sinful world.
Beloved, does this appear a hard saying? Do you think such a statement too strong? Away with the flattering thought! We see it proved in Scripture, for every book of the Old Testament history tells the melancholy story of man's disobedience and man's unbelief in things pertaining to God. We read there of fearful judgments, such as the flood and the destruction of Sodom - yet men disregarded them. We read of gracious mercies, such as the calling and protection of Israel - but men soon forgot them. We read of inspired teachers and revelations from heaven, such as the law of Moses - and men did not obey them. We read of special warnings, such as the voice of the prophets - and yet men did not believe them. Yes, beloved, we are a sinful world!
Think not to say within yourselves, "It may be so - but this happened in days of old; the world is better now." It will not avail you. We have read it in Scripture - but we see it also around us, and you will find at this time, even under your own eyes, convincing proof that the charge is literally true. Let any, for instance, examine the columns of a country newspaper, and he will see there within a month enough to make his ears tingle. I speak as unto wise men - you judge what I say. Will he not see accounts of nearly every sin which is abominable in the sight of God? Will he not read of anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, theft, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, emulations, variance, strife, seditions, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: "of the which," says the apostle (Gal. 5:21), "I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." And if such things take place in a land which is blessed with so much light and knowledge as our own, how much more should be find in countries where there is neither one nor the other!
Can you still doubt? I will go further. We see proof in ourselves. Let the best among you search his own heart; let him honestly cast up the number of evil thoughts and unholy ideas which pass through his imagination even in one single day - thoughts, I mean, which are known only to himself and the all-seeing God - and let him tell us whether it be not a most humiliating and soul- condemning calculation. Yes, dear friends, whether you will receive it or not - we are indeed a sinful world. It may be a humbling truth - but Scripture says it, and experience confirms it; and therefore we tell you that the world spoken of in our text is a world which lies in wickedness, a corrupt world, a world which our great Maker and Preserver might have left to deserved destruction, and in so doing would have acted with perfect justice; because He has given us laws and they have been broken, promises and they have been despised, warnings and they have not been believed.
2. The love of God. Such is the world of which we form a part, and such is its character. And now let us hear what the feeling is with which God has been pleased to regard His guilty creatures. We were all under condemnation, without hope, without excuse; and what could stay the execution of the sentence? It was the love of God! "God," says our text, "so loved the world." He might have poured on us the vials of His wrath, as He did on the angels who kept not their first estate - but no! He spared us, "God so loved the world!" Justice demanded our punishment, holiness required we should be swept off the earth - but "God loved the world!" Praised be His Name, we had nothing to do with man's judgment, which may not show mercy, when a crime is proved. We were in the hands of One whose ways are not as our ways, and whose thoughts are not as our thoughts - and hence, "God so loved the world." May we not well say with the Apostle, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" (Rom. 11:33).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
Living In Preparation of Christ's Appearing # 4
Living in Preparation of Christ's Appearing # 4
But we must not let the mention of these details of Christian holiness, lead us to imagine that it consists of various independent duties or virtues. There is a unity in the Christian life. The apostle prays that "the spirit and soul and body may be preserved entire." It is all one great principle and life. Touch one part - and you injure the whole. Your life is not to be as a patched coat, partly old and partly new. It is not to be as a vine, with some branches living and some dead; or as a human body maimed by accident or weakened by disease. Nay, the whole must be one. The new garment, the fair clothing of conformity to the will of God, must not be marred by the remnants of any willful disobedience. Every part of the soul is to be instinct with the life of the Spirit. Every virtue and grace is to find its the manifestation in your daily walk.
And what is the principle and life? It is neither more nor less than this - Christ taking possession of the whole man - Christ exercising supreme dominion over the conscience, the will, the affections, the temper, the words and actions of every day. It is Christ living over again in your soul, His own life in the world. It is Christ!
speaking through your life,
thinking through your thoughts,
working through your hands,
going hither and thither in the world by your feet,
and thus through you, manifesting Himself to those around you.
Oh, what a high and noble life this is!! Would that Christian people were more perpetually living it out, and thus showing the mighty power of Christ to sanctify and save!!
And by what means may it be so? There is one point I have not yet named, but which answers this question. It is in proportion to a Christian's faith - he can thus live.
By faith you must be sanctified - as well as justified. By faith it is that Christ must ever dwell in your heart, and thus influence your whole life.
But you must be careful here. You must be sanctified by faith,but by faith in what? There are some who seem to think they must have faith in sanctified self. They mistake the meaning of Scripture, and speak of the possession of a sinless heart, or of having been able to live so long without sin. They put their attainments forth, as if they must believe that God has already cleansed their nature from all defilement - instead of regarding the final aim of God's dealings with them, that now self and the evil principle within should be daily mortified and kept under control - and then when Christ appears, they should be like Him, for they shall see Him as He is.
To myself, any view of the kind seems a most dangerous and deadly error! It must lead to spiritual pride! It must lead to self-glorifying! It must hinder that daily confession of sin and humiliation before God, which is so precious in His sight.
The more we see of God and His law and His holiness - the more shall we discover the treachery, the remaining deadness, coldness, unbelief, and worldliness of our own nature. The more shall we see how far we come below the standard of our Lord's life. The more shall we discern in our wandering thoughts when at prayer, in our unwillingness to bear the cross, in our many failures and shortcomings - that from first to last we can only hope to be saved as sinners washed in the blood of Christ, and having no righteousness or perfection of any kind except as we stand in Him, the holy and the sinless Redeemer.
Nevertheless, the great truth of sanctification by faith is not to be withheld because sometimes it is perverted and mistaken. You must never glory in self, but you must always glory in Christ, for power as well as for pardon and peace. You must continually, by the aid of the Spirit, stir up your faith in Christ and expect Him to do great things for you. You must look to Him, to keep the serpent in you chained and harmless. You must look to Him day by day, to keep you from the least willful outbreak of your own evil heart. You must look to Him to strengthen and raise up in you the new man, and to make every grace vigorous and active. You must look to Him for more light to know what the will of God is in everything - and then for the will and the power to act in accordance with it. If you wish to be holy, live upon Christ, lean upon Christ perpetually. Make Him the first to whom you go in the morning, and the last to whom you speak at night.
Remember His presence as being always near you.
Remember His love as being ever the same.
Remember Him as your Shepherd, your Advocate, your Guardian and your Guide.
Remember His faithful promises, and rest upon them.
Remember His loving care, and depend upon it.
Remembering Jesus, trusting in Jesus, glorying in Jesus, while ever remembering your own exceeding unworthiness and sinfulness - you will grow in grace and be preserved without blame until He comes.
The last point I would urge is this: Nothing is more helpful in holy living, than a vivid and constant recollection that Christ will soon return. It is not needful that you should be able clearly to see the sequence of events at His appearing. You may have many difficulties about the millennium and other theological concerns; but let one thought stand out clearly before you: Christ is returning in His glory, and I shall see Him and shall be like Him and with Him forever!!
Cherish this hope amidst life's troubles and temptations. Let your soul be animated by the inspiring conviction that amidst all the confusion and evil and error that abound, Christ will come and put an end to all the sin under which the world groans!
Be assured that to every true Christian, the brightness and gladness of that day will be altogether beyond his utmost thoughts. Be assured that on that day, you will see the numberless answers to your prayers as you have never seen them before here; and that all that has been dark and sorrowful and trying - will be manifested as among the all things that work together for your good.
"Oh quickly come, Great King of all,
Reign all around us and within;
Let sin no more our souls enthrall,
Let pain and sorrow die with sin:
Oh, quickly come, for grief and pain,
Can never cloud Your glorious reign!"
~John Angell James~
(The End)
But we must not let the mention of these details of Christian holiness, lead us to imagine that it consists of various independent duties or virtues. There is a unity in the Christian life. The apostle prays that "the spirit and soul and body may be preserved entire." It is all one great principle and life. Touch one part - and you injure the whole. Your life is not to be as a patched coat, partly old and partly new. It is not to be as a vine, with some branches living and some dead; or as a human body maimed by accident or weakened by disease. Nay, the whole must be one. The new garment, the fair clothing of conformity to the will of God, must not be marred by the remnants of any willful disobedience. Every part of the soul is to be instinct with the life of the Spirit. Every virtue and grace is to find its the manifestation in your daily walk.
And what is the principle and life? It is neither more nor less than this - Christ taking possession of the whole man - Christ exercising supreme dominion over the conscience, the will, the affections, the temper, the words and actions of every day. It is Christ living over again in your soul, His own life in the world. It is Christ!
speaking through your life,
thinking through your thoughts,
working through your hands,
going hither and thither in the world by your feet,
and thus through you, manifesting Himself to those around you.
Oh, what a high and noble life this is!! Would that Christian people were more perpetually living it out, and thus showing the mighty power of Christ to sanctify and save!!
And by what means may it be so? There is one point I have not yet named, but which answers this question. It is in proportion to a Christian's faith - he can thus live.
By faith you must be sanctified - as well as justified. By faith it is that Christ must ever dwell in your heart, and thus influence your whole life.
But you must be careful here. You must be sanctified by faith,but by faith in what? There are some who seem to think they must have faith in sanctified self. They mistake the meaning of Scripture, and speak of the possession of a sinless heart, or of having been able to live so long without sin. They put their attainments forth, as if they must believe that God has already cleansed their nature from all defilement - instead of regarding the final aim of God's dealings with them, that now self and the evil principle within should be daily mortified and kept under control - and then when Christ appears, they should be like Him, for they shall see Him as He is.
To myself, any view of the kind seems a most dangerous and deadly error! It must lead to spiritual pride! It must lead to self-glorifying! It must hinder that daily confession of sin and humiliation before God, which is so precious in His sight.
The more we see of God and His law and His holiness - the more shall we discover the treachery, the remaining deadness, coldness, unbelief, and worldliness of our own nature. The more shall we see how far we come below the standard of our Lord's life. The more shall we discern in our wandering thoughts when at prayer, in our unwillingness to bear the cross, in our many failures and shortcomings - that from first to last we can only hope to be saved as sinners washed in the blood of Christ, and having no righteousness or perfection of any kind except as we stand in Him, the holy and the sinless Redeemer.
Nevertheless, the great truth of sanctification by faith is not to be withheld because sometimes it is perverted and mistaken. You must never glory in self, but you must always glory in Christ, for power as well as for pardon and peace. You must continually, by the aid of the Spirit, stir up your faith in Christ and expect Him to do great things for you. You must look to Him, to keep the serpent in you chained and harmless. You must look to Him day by day, to keep you from the least willful outbreak of your own evil heart. You must look to Him to strengthen and raise up in you the new man, and to make every grace vigorous and active. You must look to Him for more light to know what the will of God is in everything - and then for the will and the power to act in accordance with it. If you wish to be holy, live upon Christ, lean upon Christ perpetually. Make Him the first to whom you go in the morning, and the last to whom you speak at night.
Remember His presence as being always near you.
Remember His love as being ever the same.
Remember Him as your Shepherd, your Advocate, your Guardian and your Guide.
Remember His faithful promises, and rest upon them.
Remember His loving care, and depend upon it.
Remembering Jesus, trusting in Jesus, glorying in Jesus, while ever remembering your own exceeding unworthiness and sinfulness - you will grow in grace and be preserved without blame until He comes.
The last point I would urge is this: Nothing is more helpful in holy living, than a vivid and constant recollection that Christ will soon return. It is not needful that you should be able clearly to see the sequence of events at His appearing. You may have many difficulties about the millennium and other theological concerns; but let one thought stand out clearly before you: Christ is returning in His glory, and I shall see Him and shall be like Him and with Him forever!!
Cherish this hope amidst life's troubles and temptations. Let your soul be animated by the inspiring conviction that amidst all the confusion and evil and error that abound, Christ will come and put an end to all the sin under which the world groans!
Be assured that to every true Christian, the brightness and gladness of that day will be altogether beyond his utmost thoughts. Be assured that on that day, you will see the numberless answers to your prayers as you have never seen them before here; and that all that has been dark and sorrowful and trying - will be manifested as among the all things that work together for your good.
"Oh quickly come, Great King of all,
Reign all around us and within;
Let sin no more our souls enthrall,
Let pain and sorrow die with sin:
Oh, quickly come, for grief and pain,
Can never cloud Your glorious reign!"
~John Angell James~
(The End)
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