(Arthur Pink, "The Eye of Faith") and distributed by Grace Gems:
Faith is frequently represented in Scripture, under the metaphor of bodily sight. Of Moses it is said that "he endured as seeing Him who is invisible" Hebrews 11:27. That is, his heart was sustained through faith's being occupied with the mighty God.
The eye is a very delicate thing--it is soon hurt and easily damaged. A tiny speck of dust will cause pain and make it weep. It is very striking to note, that this is the very way to recovery--it weeps out the dust that gets into it.
Just so, faith is a most delicate grace, thriving best in a pure conscience. Hence the apostle speaks of "holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience" (1 Timothy 3:9). The lively actings of faith are soon marred by the dust of sin, or by the vanities of the world getting into the heart where it is seated. And wherever true faith is--if it is hurt by sin--it vents itself in a way of godly sorrow.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Ballast of Humiliation
An excerpt from John Piper's book "The Roots of Endurance," containing a quote from Charles Simeon, a main subject of the book. The following statement was made by Simeon after 40 years of serving and cherishing Christ.
"With this sweet hope of ultimate acceptance with God, I have always enjoyed much cheerfulness before men; but I have at the same time labored incessantly to cultivate the deepest humiliation before God. I have never thought that the circumstance of God's having forgiven me, was any reason why I should forgive myself; on the contrary, I have always judged it better to loathe myself the more, in proportion as I was assured that God was pacified towards me (Ezekiel 16:63)....There are but two objects that I have ever desired for these forty years to behold; the one, is my own vileness; and the other is, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; and I have always thought that they should be viewed together; just as Aaron confessed all the sins of all Israel whilst he put them on the head of the scapegoat. The disease did not keep him from applying to the remedy, nor did the remedy keep him from feeling the disease. By this I seek to be, not only humble and thankful but humbled in thankfulness, before my God and Savior continually."
"With this sweet hope of ultimate acceptance with God, I have always enjoyed much cheerfulness before men; but I have at the same time labored incessantly to cultivate the deepest humiliation before God. I have never thought that the circumstance of God's having forgiven me, was any reason why I should forgive myself; on the contrary, I have always judged it better to loathe myself the more, in proportion as I was assured that God was pacified towards me (Ezekiel 16:63)....There are but two objects that I have ever desired for these forty years to behold; the one, is my own vileness; and the other is, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; and I have always thought that they should be viewed together; just as Aaron confessed all the sins of all Israel whilst he put them on the head of the scapegoat. The disease did not keep him from applying to the remedy, nor did the remedy keep him from feeling the disease. By this I seek to be, not only humble and thankful but humbled in thankfulness, before my God and Savior continually."
A Service to the Flock
The other night I was thinking about the role of the pastor and shepherd of the flock. Part of that role includes church discipline, which I have seen first-hand place great pressure on men of God. While thinking about the weight placed on pastors to carry out church discipline I came across this quote in a book I am reading. It is an excellent quote from the perspective of a Shepherd that I was blessed by.
"Remember the nature of my office, and the care incumbent on me for the welfare of your immortal souls....Consider whatever may appear in my discourses harsh, earnest or alarming, not as the effects of enthusiasm, but as the rational dictates of a heart impressed with a sense both of the value of the soul and the importance of eternity....By recollecting the awful consequences of my neglect, you will be more inclined to receive favorably any well-meant admonitions." ~Charles Simeon
"Remember the nature of my office, and the care incumbent on me for the welfare of your immortal souls....Consider whatever may appear in my discourses harsh, earnest or alarming, not as the effects of enthusiasm, but as the rational dictates of a heart impressed with a sense both of the value of the soul and the importance of eternity....By recollecting the awful consequences of my neglect, you will be more inclined to receive favorably any well-meant admonitions." ~Charles Simeon
Sunday, August 2, 2009
A Faint Symbol of Unutterable Affection!
From Grace Gems:
"Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16
In calling the Lord Jesus "altogether lovely," the redeemed Church asserts that she sees nothing in Him which she does not admire. The world may rail at His cross and call it shameful; but to her it is the very center and soul of glory. He is never without beauty to her! She presses His pierced feet to her embrace--and looks upon His wounds as jewels! Fools stand by His cross and find many a theme for jest and scorn; but she discovers nothing but solemn reason for reverent adoration and unbounded love!
"You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved--with no imperfection in You!" Song of Songs 4:7. Viewing Him in every office and relationship--she cannot discover a flaw! She knows too well, His perfect Godhead and His spotless manhood--to offer a moment's shelter to the thought of a blemish in His immaculate person! She abominates every teaching that debases Him! She spurns the most gorgeous religious drapery that would obscure His beauteous features! Yes, so jealous is she of His honor, that a hint against His unsullied purity would stir her soul to holy wrath--and speedy would be her execration, and relentless her execution of the heresy! Nothing has ever aroused the ire of the Church so much--as a word against her beloved Redeemer. To all true believers, this is high treason and an offense which cannot be treated lightly.
Jesus is without a single blot or blemish--yet this negative praise, this bold denial of any fault--is far from representing the fullness of the loving admiration of the Church. Jesus is positively lovely in her eyes! Not merely lovely--His beauties are attracting beauties, and His glories are such as charm the heart. But although this utterance of the Church is the very climax of the language of praise, and was doubtless intended as the pinnacle of all description--yet it is not possible that this one sentence, even when expanded by the most careful meditation, should be able to express more than a mere particle of the admiration felt. Her description towers above all others; but its stature fails to reach the towering height of Heaven-born love. It is but a faint symbol of unutterable affection! It is a choice pearl washed on shore, from the deep sea of Divine love.
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"Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16
I was thinking on this verse after getting the Grace Gems email. What a wonderful thought that we can call Jesus friend! I am still trying to grasp this concept in its fullness. A close friend is someone that you can confide all things in. But who do we run to when there are trials, when there is something bothering us, or when there is something that has taken place to be thankful and rejoice over? There is nothing wrong with confiding in earthly friends, but above all we should confide in our heavenly friend who graciously gives us all things.
"Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16
In calling the Lord Jesus "altogether lovely," the redeemed Church asserts that she sees nothing in Him which she does not admire. The world may rail at His cross and call it shameful; but to her it is the very center and soul of glory. He is never without beauty to her! She presses His pierced feet to her embrace--and looks upon His wounds as jewels! Fools stand by His cross and find many a theme for jest and scorn; but she discovers nothing but solemn reason for reverent adoration and unbounded love!
"You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved--with no imperfection in You!" Song of Songs 4:7. Viewing Him in every office and relationship--she cannot discover a flaw! She knows too well, His perfect Godhead and His spotless manhood--to offer a moment's shelter to the thought of a blemish in His immaculate person! She abominates every teaching that debases Him! She spurns the most gorgeous religious drapery that would obscure His beauteous features! Yes, so jealous is she of His honor, that a hint against His unsullied purity would stir her soul to holy wrath--and speedy would be her execration, and relentless her execution of the heresy! Nothing has ever aroused the ire of the Church so much--as a word against her beloved Redeemer. To all true believers, this is high treason and an offense which cannot be treated lightly.
Jesus is without a single blot or blemish--yet this negative praise, this bold denial of any fault--is far from representing the fullness of the loving admiration of the Church. Jesus is positively lovely in her eyes! Not merely lovely--His beauties are attracting beauties, and His glories are such as charm the heart. But although this utterance of the Church is the very climax of the language of praise, and was doubtless intended as the pinnacle of all description--yet it is not possible that this one sentence, even when expanded by the most careful meditation, should be able to express more than a mere particle of the admiration felt. Her description towers above all others; but its stature fails to reach the towering height of Heaven-born love. It is but a faint symbol of unutterable affection! It is a choice pearl washed on shore, from the deep sea of Divine love.
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16
I was thinking on this verse after getting the Grace Gems email. What a wonderful thought that we can call Jesus friend! I am still trying to grasp this concept in its fullness. A close friend is someone that you can confide all things in. But who do we run to when there are trials, when there is something bothering us, or when there is something that has taken place to be thankful and rejoice over? There is nothing wrong with confiding in earthly friends, but above all we should confide in our heavenly friend who graciously gives us all things.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Sovereignty
(John MacDuff, "The Rainbow in the Clouds," from Grace Gems)
"The Lord reigns!" Psalm 93:1
No rainbow of promise in the "dark and cloudy day" shines more radiantly than this. God, my God, the God who gave Jesus--orders all events, and overrules all for my good! "When I," says He, "send clouds over the earth." He has no wish to conceal the hand which shadows for a time, earth’s brightest prospects. It is He alike who "brings the cloud," who brings us into it, and in mercy leads us through it! His kingdom rules over all. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." He puts the burden on, and keeps it on, and at His own time will remove it!
Beware of brooding over second causes. It is the worst form of atheism! When our most fondly cherished gourds are smitten; our fairest flowers lie withered in our bosom; this is the silencer of all reflections, "The Lord prepared the worm!" When the temple of the soul is smitten with lightning, and its pillars rent: "The Lord is in His holy temple!" Accident, chance, fate, destiny, have no place in the Christian’s creed. He is no un-piloted vessel left to the mercy of the storm. "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters!" There is but one explanation of all that befalls him: "I will be mute, I will open not my mouth, because You O Lord, did it.
"Death seems to the human spectator, the most capricious and severe of all events. But not so. The keys of death and Hades are in the hands of this same reigning God! Look at the parable of the fig-tree. Its prolonged existence, or its doom as a cumberer, forms matter of conversation in Heaven; the axe cannot be laid at its root--until God gives the warrant! How much more will this be the case regarding every "Tree of Righteousness, the planting of the Lord?" It will be watched over by Him, "Lest anyone hurt it." Every trembling fiber--He will care for; and if made early to succumb to the inevitable stroke, "Who knows not in all these things, that the hand of the Lord has wrought this." Be it mine to merge my own will in His; not to cavil at His ways, or to seek to have one jot or tittle of His will altered; but to lie passive in His hands; to take the bitter as well as the sweet, knowing that the bitter cup is mingled by One who loves me too well to add one ingredient that might have been spared!
Who can wonder that the sweet Psalmist of Israel should seek, as he sees the rainbow spanning the lower heavens, to fix the arrested gaze of a whole world on the softened tints of this Rainbow of Comfort, "The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice!"
"The Lord reigns!" Psalm 93:1
No rainbow of promise in the "dark and cloudy day" shines more radiantly than this. God, my God, the God who gave Jesus--orders all events, and overrules all for my good! "When I," says He, "send clouds over the earth." He has no wish to conceal the hand which shadows for a time, earth’s brightest prospects. It is He alike who "brings the cloud," who brings us into it, and in mercy leads us through it! His kingdom rules over all. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." He puts the burden on, and keeps it on, and at His own time will remove it!
Beware of brooding over second causes. It is the worst form of atheism! When our most fondly cherished gourds are smitten; our fairest flowers lie withered in our bosom; this is the silencer of all reflections, "The Lord prepared the worm!" When the temple of the soul is smitten with lightning, and its pillars rent: "The Lord is in His holy temple!" Accident, chance, fate, destiny, have no place in the Christian’s creed. He is no un-piloted vessel left to the mercy of the storm. "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters!" There is but one explanation of all that befalls him: "I will be mute, I will open not my mouth, because You O Lord, did it.
"Death seems to the human spectator, the most capricious and severe of all events. But not so. The keys of death and Hades are in the hands of this same reigning God! Look at the parable of the fig-tree. Its prolonged existence, or its doom as a cumberer, forms matter of conversation in Heaven; the axe cannot be laid at its root--until God gives the warrant! How much more will this be the case regarding every "Tree of Righteousness, the planting of the Lord?" It will be watched over by Him, "Lest anyone hurt it." Every trembling fiber--He will care for; and if made early to succumb to the inevitable stroke, "Who knows not in all these things, that the hand of the Lord has wrought this." Be it mine to merge my own will in His; not to cavil at His ways, or to seek to have one jot or tittle of His will altered; but to lie passive in His hands; to take the bitter as well as the sweet, knowing that the bitter cup is mingled by One who loves me too well to add one ingredient that might have been spared!
Who can wonder that the sweet Psalmist of Israel should seek, as he sees the rainbow spanning the lower heavens, to fix the arrested gaze of a whole world on the softened tints of this Rainbow of Comfort, "The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice!"
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Strength to Hope
This is an excellent message from Mason Vann that I just finished listening to. The purpose of the message is mainly to encourage Christians to guard their hope. The message also talks about ways to rid your life of things that encumber you. A questions useful for this that Mason mentions is "Will this help me run after God?" I was greatly encouraged by this and hope that you are also.
A Peculiar Kind of Striving
"The form of endurance has a peculiar energy: We put out great effort to endure to the end, but we do it in a peculiar way, namely, in the strength that God supplies. Paul said it like this in Philippians 2:12-13, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." We work and we tremble at the magnitude of what is at stake in our endurance and what great obstacles there are in ourselves and in the world and in the devil. But we do not tremble with the anxiety of the abandoned. We are not abandoned. In all our striving, there is a deep restfulness of confidence, for we are striving not in our strength but God's."
~John Piper, The Roots of Endurance
~John Piper, The Roots of Endurance
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Fellowship with God
"There is an experimental fellowship, or partnership, with the Father and with His Son, which consists in this, that all which we possess in God, as being the partners with God, is brought down into our daily life, is enjoyed, experienced, and used. This experimental fellowship, or partnership, allows of an increase or a decrease, in the measure in which faith is in exercise, and in which we are entering into what we have received in the Lord Jesus. The measure in which we enjoy this experimental fellowship with the Father and with the Son is without limit; for without limit we may make use of our partnership with the Father and with the Son, and draw by prayer and faith out of the inexhaustible fullness which there is in God."George Muller, Valuable Selections from the Writings of George Muller, page 28
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
A Call for the Perseverance of the Saints
I recently listened to a message from Dr Helen Roseveare given at John Piper's church in 2007. The message is phenomenal and I thought I would share it since it was especially encouraging. You can navigate to the Desiring God website where the message is located by clicking on the link below, and then choosing the "Listen Now" option.
Helen Roseveare :: Desiring God
Helen Roseveare :: Desiring God
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