Octavius Winslow on the Incarnation: Jesus Wept!

Meditate often upon the sensibility of Jesus––it will quicken, sanctfy, and soothe your own. If you are an artist––study it. If you are a poet––chant it. If you are an orator––extol it. If you are a divine––preach it. If you are a disciple––imitate it. If you are a mourner––bring to it your keenest, loneliest, deepest grief. “Jesus wept!” “Was there ever a more interesting portrait than what the evangelist has here drawn of the Son of God ? If the imagination were to be employed for ever in forming an interesting scene of the miseries of human nature, what could furnish so complete a picture as these words give of Christ at the sight of them––’Jesus wept!’ Here we have at once the evidence how much the miseries of our nature affected the heart of Jesus, and here we have the most convincing testimony, that He partook of all the sinless infirmities of our nature, and was truly and in all points man, as well as God. We are told by one of the ancient writers,(Chrysostom) that some weak and injudicious Christians, in his days, were so rash as to strike this verse out of their Bibles, from an idea that it was unsuitable and unbecoming in the Son of God to weep. But we have cause to bless the overruling providence of God, that though they struck it out of their Bibles, they did not from ours. And why those groans at the grave of Lazarus, if tears were improper? Precious Lord! how refreshing to my soul is the consideration that forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, Thou likewise didst take part of the same; that in all things it behoved Thee to be made like to Thy brethren. Hence, when my poor heart is afflicted, when Satan storms, or the world frowns, or Thy waves and Thy billows go over me, oh, what relief is it to know that Jesus looks on and sympathises! Then do I say, ‘Will not Jesus, who wept at the grave of Lazarus, feel for me? Shall I look up to Him, and look in vain? Did Jesus, when upon earth, know what these exercises were, and was His precious soul made sensible of distress even to tears, and will He be regardless of what I feel, and the sorrows under which I groan? Oh no! The sigh that bursts in secret from my heart is not secret to Him; the tear that is my meat day and night, And drops unperceived And unknown, is known And remembered by Him. Though now exalted at the right hand of power, where He hath wiped away all tears from off all faces, yet He himself still retains the feelings and the character of the “Man of sorrows, and of one well acquainted with grief.” Help me, Lord, thus to look up to Thee, And thus to remember Thee’ “(Hawker). Precious And holy is the divine precept, illustrated and enforced by so divine an example-”Weep with them that weep.” Oh, it is the richest luxury on earth to share by sympathy the sorrow, to soothe by gentleness the grief, to wipe away by kindness the tears of another. This Christ did, and we are to prove our discipleship to Him by imitating His example. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them “-sharing their chain; ” and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body”-exposed to like weaknesses and assaults, calamities and griefs. Oh, aspire, beloved ! to be a drier of human tears; to have a hand always ready to wipe them away! Who can estimate its worth? To have soothed one human sorrow, to have met one pressing want, to have unbound one crushing load, to have dried one tear of grief, to have shed one beam of light upon a dreary path, to have reclaimed one wanderer, to have made the widow’s heart to sing for joy, to have befriended and soothed an orphan, oh! It is a work to be measured in its importance and its blessedness only by a life. Again, we repeat, let your life be an out flowing sympathy with the distressed and the needy, the widow and the fatherless. Be Christ-like, “who went about doing good;” raise the fallen, strengthen the weak, comfort the feeble-minded; and if tears of compassion and sympathy will soothe and mitigate the tears of penitence and adversity, then be it your mission and your privilege to “weep with them that weep!”

Bathe in it brothers!

"The blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from every sin." 1 John 1:7

"It "cleanses us." Oh, this is what you do so deeply need, my soul! Sin-forgiving, guilt-removing, heart-cleansing, conscience-purifying blood. All this is the blood of Jesus to you. Wash in it, and you shall be whiter than snow. "He that is washed is clean, every whit." And mark the tense of the wonderful words on which this meditation is based--it is the present tense. The blood "cleanses." It has cleansed, it will cleanse, but, as touching our daily walk as believers in Jesus, we have to do with its present cleansing. In our Christian travel through a sinful world the feet are apt to slide, prone to wander, and are constantly contracting fresh defilement, needing the daily washing in the blood. What a sweet thought, O my soul! that the fountain is open, and the blood cleanses, even now cleanses us, from all sin." O. Winslow

You've gotta read this!

“We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is of him. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity, in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects, that he might learn to feel our pain. If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion; if acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification, in his blood; if reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge. In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.”

John Calvin, Institutes, 2.16.19.

Battle with indwelling sin

This from our friend Octavius Winslow:

"Beloved, you have to battle with indwelling sin, and
to conflict with outward temptation. But never forget
that you are to live upon Christ as much for your
sanctification as for your justification; that His grace
is pledged to subdue your iniquities, to arm you in
the conflict, to give you skill in the holy fight, and
the final victory over all your enemies. And in
proportion as Christ grows in you, you will grow
in a true hatred of sin, in a deepening love of
holiness, and thus in real, gospel sanctification."

The Christian Life - Spurgeon

The Christian life

by Spurgeon

Believers, as they grow in grace, are made
to feel more and more acutely the evil of
their old nature. You will find that those
who are most like Christ have the deepest
knowledge of their own depravity, and are
most humble while they confess their sinfulness.

I think, throughout eternity, if we had this
problem to solve, "Why did he save me?",
we should still go on making wrong guesses,
but we never could arrive at the right conclusion,
unless we should say, once for all, I do not know.
He did as he willed. He will have mercy on whom
he will have mercy. He will have compassion on
whom he will have compassion.

There is nothing in life worth living for but Christ.
“Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is
none upon earth that I desire beside you!”
Christ is the cream; the rest is mere skim
milk and curds fit to be given to the swine.
The Lord Jesus is the pure flour; all else is but
the husk and bran, and coarse gritty meal, all
that remains is the chaff; fan it, and the wind
shall carry it away, or the fire shall burn it,
and little shall be the loss.
Christ is the golden grain, the only thing worth having.

I would give nothing for your religion
if you do not seek to be like Christ.
If your heart is truly wedded to the Lord
Jesus, and lives in near fellowship with
him, it must grow like him.
There will be a similarity of spirit, temper,
motive, and action; it will not be manifest
merely in great things but in little matters
too, for even our speech will betray us.

Fullness of God - Winslow

Eph 3:19 "and to know the love of Christ fthat surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
"There is no other solution to the marvelous mysteries of His Incarnation and Sacrificial Death but this- Christ has loved us. Love originated all, explains all, illustrates all- love is the interpreter of every Divine mystery. There is not a circumstance of our Lord's history which is not another form or manifestation of love. His incarnation, is love stooping; His sympathy, is love weeping; His compassion, is love succouring; His grace, is love acting; His teaching, is the voice of love; His silence, is the repose of love; His patience, is the restraint of love; His obedience, is the labor of love; His suffering, is the travail of love; His cross, is the altar of love; His death is the burned offering of love; His resurrection, is the triumph of love; His ascension into heaven, and His sitting down at the right hand of God, is the enthronement and the intercession of love."
"Do not limit your heart-experience of Christ's love, for it is infinite in its nature and boundless in its extent. The prayer of the apostle for the Eplhesian saints was, that they might "know the love of Christ which passes knowledge." As yet, how many of us stand but upon the shore of this ocean! How little do we know, experimentally, of the love of Christ in our souls, disloding slavish fear, a bondage spirit, unbelieving doubt, and so enlarging our hearts that we may run the way of the Lord's commandments. Bring your heart with its profoundest emptiness, its most startling discovery of sin, its lowest frame, its deepest sorrow, and sink it into the depths of the Savior's love. That infinite sea will flow over all, erase all, absorb all, and your soul shall swim and sport amid its gentle waves, exclaiming in your joy and transport, "Oh, the depths!" The Lord direct your heart into the love of God! Just as it is, hard, cold, fickle, sinful, sad and sorrowful. Christ's love touching your hard heart, will dissolve it!  Christ's love touching your cold heart will warm it!  Christ's love touching your sinful heart will purify it!  Christ's love touching your sorrowful heart will soothe it!  Christ's love touching your wandering heart will draw it back to Jesus. Only bring your heart to Christ's love. Believe in its existence, its reality, its fulness, and its freeness. Believe that He loves you, and just as love begets love, so the simple belief in the love of Jesus will inspire you with a reflected, responsive affection; and your soul, like the chrysalis, will burst from its captivity and bloom, and, soaring in life, liberty, and beauty, will float in the sunbeams of Gods full, free, and eternal love, and, in a little while, will find itself in heaven- where all is love!"Octavius Winslow

Octavius Winslow - Marriage

"Jesus sustains no association to His Church more expressive, than that of the marriage relationship. From all eternity, He forever betrothed her to Himself. He asked for her at the hands of her Father — and the Father gave her to Him. He entered into a covenant that she would be His. The conditions of that covenant were great, but not too great for His love to undertake. They were, that He should assume her nature, discharge her legal obligations, endure her punishment, repair her ruin, and bring her to glory! He undertook all, and He accomplished all — because He loved her! The love of Jesus to His Church, is the love of the most tender husband. It is single, constant, affectionate, matchless, wonderful. Jesus . . .
sympathizes with her,
  nourishes her,
  provides for her,
  clothes her,
  watches over her, and
  indulges her with the most intimate and endearing tenderness!" O. Winslow

Spurgeon "Without Christ"

WITHOUT CHRIST!

-Spurgeon, "Without Christ"

Where might you have been without Christ?
You might have been in hell-- you might have been
shut out forever from all mercy, condemned to eternal
banishment from the presence of God.

I think the Indian's picture is a very fair one
of where we should have been without Christ--

When asked what Christ had done for him,
he picked up a worm, put it on the ground,
and made a ring of straw and wood around it,
which he then set on fire.

As the wood began to glow,
the poor worm began to twist and wriggle in agony,
whereupon he stooped down, took it gently up with his
finger, and said, "That is what Jesus did for me--
I was surrounded, without power to help myself,
by a ring of dreadful fire that would have been my ruin,
but his pierced hand lifted me out of the burning!"

Think of that, Christians, and, as your hearts melt,
praise him that you are not now without Christ.

Then think what his blood has done for you.
Take only one thing out of a thousand--
It has put away your many, many sins.
You were without Christ,
and your sins stood like yonder mountain,
whose black and rugged cliff threaten the very skies.
There fell a drop of Jesus' blood upon it,
and your mountain of sin vanished in a moment.
The sins of all your days were gone in an instant by
the application of the precious blood!

They are all head--but no feet!

They are all head—but no feet!

(Thomas Watson, "The Good Practitioner")

A sermon is never rightly heard—until it is practiced.
"If you know these things, happy are you if you do
them." John 13:17

Christ does not put happiness upon knowing—but upon
doing. It is not knowledge of the points of religion—but
practice, which renders a man truly happy and blessed.

Luke 6:46, "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and don't
do the things I say?" It is not the mere knowledge and
acceptance of the most glorious Gospel truths—which will
bring a man to heaven. If a man could fluently discourse
on all Scriptural truths, if his head were a treasury of
wisdom, an ocean of learning—yet this could not entitle
him to happiness. His knowledge might make him admired
by men—but not blessed by God. If a man knew and
believed all the doctrines of Scripture—this would not
crown him with happiness.

Knowledge is a fair garland to look upon—but it is like
Rachael. Though she was beautiful—yet being barren
she said, "Give me children or I die!" Just so, if knowledge
does not bring forth the child of obedience—it will die and
come to nothing.

I would by no means disparage knowledge. Knowledge
is the pilot to guide us in our obedience. Yet, knowledge
must usher in obedience. Knowledge may put us into the
way of happiness, but it is only practice which brings us
there! Knowledge alone, cannot make a man eternally
happy and blessed.

Knowledge alone, does not make a man better; therefore,
it cannot make him happy and blessed. Bare knowledge
has no influence; it does not leave a spiritual tincture of
holiness behind. Knowledge informs—not transforms.
Knowledge, of itself, has no power upon the heart to
make it more holy. Bare knowledge is like weak medicine,
which does not work. It does not warm the affections nor
purge the conscience; it does not fetch virtue from Christ
to dry up the bloody issue of sin.

A man may receive the light of the truth—yet not love the
truth, "They perish because they refused to love the truth
and so be saved." 2 Thessalonians 2:10. The Apostle calls
it "a form of knowledge," Romans 2:20. Knowledge alone,
is but a dead form, having nothing to animate it. He who
has knowledge alone—is a spiritual stillborn! He looks like
a Christian—but has neither appetite nor motion.

Knowledge alone, makes men monsters in religion! They
are all head—but no feet! They do not walk in Christ,
Colossians 2:6. A man may have Scriptural knowledge—
and still be profane! He may have a clear head—and a
foul heart! The understanding may be illumined—when
the foot treads in unholy paths. If knowledge is divorced
from practice, and does not make a man better—then it
cannot make a man eternally happy and blessed.

If bare knowledge will save, then all who have knowledge
shall be saved. But that is not true—for then Judas would
be saved, for he had knowledge enough. Then the devil
would be saved! A man may have right knowledge, and
be no better than a devil! Hell is full of learned heads!

Knowledge alone, makes a man's case worse! Knowledge
takes away all excuse. Knowledge adds to a man's torment.
"Woe to you! I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land
of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!" It will be
better with heathen—than with professing Christians living
in a contradiction to their knowledge. Luke 12:47, "The
servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his
duty, he refused to do it!"

Knowledge without practice, serves only as a torch to light
men to hell—the brighter the light, the hotter the fire!

John Wesley's Accountability Questions

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?

2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

3. Do I confidentially pass onto another what was told me in confidence?

4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work , or habits?

5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?

6. Did the Bible live in me today?

7. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?

8. Am I enjoying prayer?

9. When did I last speak to someone about my faith?

10. Do I pray about the money I spend?

11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?

12. Do I disobey God in anything?

13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

14. Am I defeated in any part of my life?

15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?

16. How do I spend my spare time?

17. Am I proud?

18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisee who despised the publican?

19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I going to do about it?

20. Do I grumble and complain constantly?

21. Is Christ real to me?

Part 2 More On “Accountability Groups”

"I call for accountability in this post, but a certain kind of accountability–the kind that forces us to reckon with the scandalous nature of God’s unconditional love for us because of Christ’s finished work on our behalf." Tullian Tchividjian

Click the link below to read part 2.

More On “Accountability Groups”

Reminders Are More Effective Than Rebukes

"Christian growth, in other words, does not happen first by behaving better, but believing better–believing in bigger, deeper, brighter ways what Christ has already secured for sinners. I need my family and friends to remind me of this all the time."

Click the link below for the rest of the article.

Tullian Tchividjian "Reminders Are More Effective Than Rebukes"

Unity

So he sent his brothers off, and as they left, he called after them, "Don't quarrel along the way!" Genesis 45:24

This from O. Winslow "The Fullness Of Christ"

Are we not all of us, as saints of God, dependent upon Jesus? are not all of us hanging upon Jesus? do we not all receive from Jesus? The blood that cleanses us, the righteousness that justifies us, the grace that sanctifies us, the sympathy that comforts us, the hope that cheers us- is it not all derived from the fulness that is in Christ? Are not all clinging to that one dear Savior, depending on His finished work, and all drawing from His infinite resources? Oh, yes! Where do the saints of God the most frequently meet? Is it not at the feet of Jesus? Modes of worship may sunder us outwardly. A Liturgy may divide in form those who in heart draw near to the same God and Father. But here we all in spirit meet. The fountain from where we draw our stores of strength and grace, comfort, joy, and peace, attracts and unites us at the Savior's feet.

This ought to draw closer together in affection and sympathy the scattered, divided members of Christ's body, since they are all living on Jesus, drawing from Jesus, and alike indebted to Jesus. Thus, if through prejudice or preference, ecclesiastical polity or modes of religious worship sunder the saints of God from each other, here is that which attracts them to one spot, and binds them in one holy fellowship- a full Christ to whom all repair, and from whom all alike receive supplies, and who loves and blesses all alike. Journeying to one heavenly home, wearing the same robe of righteousness, clad in the same garments of salvation, sustained and nourished by the same spiritual supplies, should not these considerations raise us superior to sectarianism, prejudice, and harsh judgment? What have we that we have not received? Why should one brother boast against or judge another? "Of his fulness have all we received;" and all alike living upon Christ's fulness, nourished by His grace, kept by His power, soothed by His love, fed by His hand, guided by His counsel, and bound together in the same heart of God, supplies us with one of the strongest and most persuasive motives why we should love one another, and see that we do not "quarrel along the way."

Take a plunge brothers

"That Jesus should love such beings as us—that He should love us while we were yet sinners—that He should set His heart upon us, choose us, die for us, call us, and finally bring us to glory, knowing what we were, and what we would prove to be—oh, this is wondrous love indeed! Plunge into this fathomless, boundless Ocean of love, O sin-burdened one! It will cover all your sins, it will efface all your guilt; it will flood over all your unworthiness—and, floating upon its golden waves, it will gently waft you to the shore of eternal blessedness!" O. Winslow

O. Winslow

"Our sins must bring us to His blood, our condemnation must bring us to His righteousness, our corruptions must bring us to His grace, our wants must bring us to His fullness, our weakness must bring us to His
strength, our sorrow must bring us to His sympathy, and His own loveliness and love must attract us to Himself. And oh, in one hour, in a single transaction, in a lone sorrow, which has brought us to
Jesus, who can estimate how rapidly and to what an extent we have grown in a knowledge of His person and work, His character and love? I need not enlarge upon other branches of spiritual knowl-edge
which trial promotes—how it increases our personal intimacy with God as our loving Father and Friend; and how it opens our understanding to discern the deep things of God in the Scriptures, so that the Bible in the hour of affliction appears like a new revela-tion to us. Oh yes, times of trial are times of growth in experimental knowledge." O. Winslow

Spurgeon Quote

Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in. He attaches far more importance to godly intercourse than we do. Since union is strength, he does his best to promote separation. 

C.H. Spurgeon

Sovereign, Good & Wise

Helpful reminders from Justin Buzzard:

#1. God is Sovereign
God is sovereign. Nearly every page of the Bible proclaims God’s absolute sovereignty, his supremacy and power over all things. Every detail of your life, the decisions of kings and presidents, the lifespan of sparrows, swine flu, today’s weather, and each passing second of human history takes place under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty. God is in control of everything. Nothing is outside of God’s control.
If a single circumstance in the universe could occur outside of God’s sovereign control, then God is not God and he cannot be trusted. But the Scriptures reveal that God is completely sovereign and can be completely trusted.
For I know that  the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps (Psalm 135:5-6).

#2 God is Wise
God is wise. Nearly every page of the Bible speaks of God’s infinite wisdom. God looks down upon the galaxies and upon your problems, plans, and prayers with perfect perspective. God is never confused, worried, or uncertain about the course of this world or the course of your future. God never makes mistakes. Yesterday God governed the universe with infallible wisdom. Today God is doing the same. Tomorrow and forever God will govern the galaxies and the ghettos with absolute wisdom.
If God were sovereign, but not wise, we could not trust him. We’d always be worried about him making a mistake, always thinking we know better than God. But from Genesis to Revelation we encounter the portrait of a completely sovereign and completely wise God who can be completely trusted.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and  do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways  acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes (Proverbs 3:5-7a).

#3 God is Good
God is good. Nearly every page of the Bible testifies that God is good, that God is loving. Not an inch of evil, deceit, or indifference dwells in God. God is love. God abounds in steadfast goodness, love, mercy, and grace. The Bible tells a single story of a good God taking relentless action to love, rescue, and bless people who don’t deserve it. God has always been good and always will be good. God’s goodness is not a mood. God’s goodness is not a mood that changes based upon your performance or circumstances, his loving goodness is an eternally-solid attribute that the fires of hell cannot melt.
If God were sovereign and wise, but not good, you could not trust him. People who are powerful and smart, but not loving, scare me. We’d live endlessly insecure lives if we knew God to be sovereign and wise, but not also good. But the Bible consistently presents a threefold picture of God as totally sovereign, wise, and good, as one who can be totally trusted.
The LORD is  gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is  good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made (Psalm 145:8-9).
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love,  not that we have loved God  but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).

One Day - Beholding the Glory of God Clearly!

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,,
2 Cor 4: 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

John Owen said "consider the state of our minds in glory. The faculties of our souls shall be made perfect as all "the spirits of just men" (Heb 12:23). David said, "As for me, I will see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness." Christ alone is the likeness and image of God. When we awake in the other world, with our minds purified and rectified, then we shall always be satisfied because we shall always be beholding him and his glory. Our minds and eyes will never get tired; we shall be like the four living creatures which "do not rest day or night, saying, "holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, who was and is to come!" In heaven we shall be continually admiring and praising God in Christ, never needing any rest or even being interrupted. We shall be like angels."
"We shall always be with the Lord" 1 Thess 4:7
"Not limited by time or with no interruptions of our enjoyment of God in Christ".
"Neither will our vision be weakened by internal corruptions nor from and temptations. no doubts or fears or disturbing thoughts will have any place in heaven., but only that which will strengthen us and lead us to behold the glory of Christ with satisfied delight."

Spurgeon, "The Vanguard and Reward of the Church"

Spurgeon, "The Vanguard and Reward of the Church"

 

Your future path has all been marked out in
the great decrees of God's predestination.

You shall not tread a step which is not
mapped out in the great chart of God's decree.

Your 'troubles' have been already weighed
for you in the scales of his love.

Your 'labour' is already set aside for you
to accomplish by the hand of his wisdom.
Remember, you are not a child of chance.
If you were, you might indeed fear.
You will go nowhere next year
except where God shall send you.

You shall perhaps be thrust into the hot coals
of the fire, but God shall put you there.
You shall perhaps be much depressed in spirit,
but that heaviness shall be for your good,
and shall come from your Father.

You shall have the rod, but it shall not be the
rod of the wicked--it shall be in God's hand.

Oh! how comfortable the thought that EVERYTHING is in the hand
of God, and that all that may occur to me during the future years
of my life is foreordained and overruled by the great Jehovah,
who is my Father and my friend!

Gratitude to the Redeemer for the inestimable benefits he has procured for us

This from David Black (1762-1806)

Gratitude to the Redeemer for the inestimable benefits he has procured for us, should excite us to seek the things which are Jesus Christ's in preference to our own. Even Christ, we are told, 'pleased not himself' (Rom. 15:3). He sought not his own things, but the glory of his heavenly Father, and the happiness of his people. He 'became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be rich' (II Cor. 8:9): he emptied himself of his glory, though possessed of all the fullness of the Godhead, took upon him the degraded form of a servant, submitted to shame and sufferings, and death itself, that he might deliver us from endless inconceivable misery, and raise us to the possession of immortal glory and blessedness. In this view, how astonishing is the history of Christ's personal ministry! Well might it be said of him, that the zeal of God's house had eaten him up (John 2:17); for it was his food and drink to do the will of his heavenly Father, and to finish his work (John 4:34).

Often did he deny himself the ordinary refreshments of nature, that he might be serviceable to the souls of men. Upon one occasion, when faint and weary, he sat on Jacob's well, and asked of the woman of Samaria a little water to quench his thirst; denied, as he was at first, this trifling blessing, he seems, from the conversation that follows, to have forgotten his thirst in his ardent concern for the salvation of this poor woman's soul (John 4:9-26). And once and again we read of his retiring to a mountain to pray, and spending whole nights in prayer, after having employed the day in public instruction and acts of beneficence (Mark 6:40, Luke 6:12).

What a pattern to his followers! And how powerful a motive likewise to deny ourselves for him, who, for our sakes, labored, and watched, and wept, and prayed, and at last shed his precious blood! How poor the returns which we can possibly make for his marvelous love to us! But surely, if one spark of gratitude remain in our breasts, we cannot fail to judge with the apostle, that "Christ's love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: if One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

We must be irresistibly led by this endearing consideration to seek the things which are Jesus Christ's, accounting the honor of his name, and the advancement of his kingdom in the world, of infinitely greater consequence, and far more desirable than any little separate interest of our own. Said the captive Jews in Babylon, "If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!" (Psalm 137:4-6). In like manner will the pious Christian say, "If ever I forget your dying love, O bleeding Immanuel! if ever I lose the sense of my infinite obligations to your matchless grace, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth! Sooner let me die than not live to you; sooner let me lose the powers of my rational nature, than fail to employ them in your service. Henceforth your glory shall be my constant aim; your will my only rule; and the advancement of your kingdom, in the particular station in which they providence has placed me, the great business of my life."

Nourish, my Christian friends, such sentiments as these. Muse upon the great things which God has done for your souls, until the fire of divine love burn within you, and you feel yourselves constrained to say, "Lord, what will you have us to do — to be — or to suffer? We are ready, through your all-powerful grace assisting us, not to be bound only, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13). We are ready to renounce kindred, country, friends, comforts — everything, in short, which the world holds dear, at the command of him whose we are, and to whom we owe our everlasting all. Only let the grace of Christ be sufficient, and his strength made perfect in our weakness, and love will make pain easy, and labor delightful."

Helps to Self-Denial

This from Thomas Watson:

HELPS to Self-Denial
For the attaining of self-denial, let these rules be observed:
1. Be convinced of the incomparable excellency of Christ. He is the quintessence of goodness. He is compared to a head of gold—for riches, Song of Solomon 5:10; to the Rose of Sharon—for perfume, Song of Solomon 2:1; to a bright morning star—for beauty, Revelation 22:16. Jesus Christ is all that is good and lovely. He is all we can require for satisfaction, or that we can desire for salvation. He is fully commensurate to our needs. He has eye salve to anoint us, white raiment to cover us, and His blood to heal us. We shall never deny ourselves for Christ—until we see glory and a beauty in Him. Christ is all marrow and sweetness. He is better than life, estate, or heaven!
2. Endeavor after a vital principle of grace. Grace will do that which flesh and blood cannot do. A man may do that by skill—which he cannot do by strength. A burden of great weight may be lifted up by pulleys, which cannot be lifted up by strength of arm. Grace will teach one the art of self-denial, which cannot be done by strength of nature. In particular, labor for three graces.
Humility. A proud man admires himself; therefore he cannot deny himself. A humble man lays his mouth in the dust. He has lower thoughts of himself, than others can have of him. He renounces himself. He opens to God as the flower opens to the sun. He will have—what God will have for him. He will be—what God will have him be. He is like melting wax. God may set whatever stamp and impression He will, upon him. The humble man is the self-denier.
Love. Who will not deny himself for a friend whom he loves? He will part with anything he has. He will gratify him who he loves, though it is to his own loss. He whose heart is fired with love for Christ—will stop at nothing for His sake. Gregory Nazianzen said of his Athenian learning, that he was glad he had anything of worth, to esteem as nothing, for Christ. Love for God will devour self-love.
Faith. Abraham was a great self-denier. He left his kindred and country and was willing to travel to any place where God would have him. Whence was this? It was from his faith. Hebrews 11:8, "By faith Abraham obeyed and went out, not knowing where he went." He who believes that Christ and heaven are his—what will he not relinquish for Christ's sake? The stronger a Christian's faith is, the more eminent will his self-denial be.
3. Pray much for self-denial. Prayer sets God to work, Psalm 10:17. Let this be your grand request—a self-denying frame of heart. Self-denial does not grow in nature's soil. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Beg God that He will plant this heavenly flower in your soul. Say, "Lord, whatever You deny me, do not deny me self-denial. Let me rather lack great abilities, nay, let me lack the comforts of the Spirit—rather than self-denial."

There may be going to heaven without comfort—but there is no going there without self-denial.

Is Sanctification By Faith Alone?

Is Sanctification By Faith Alone?

RC Sproul Jr: The Pathway of Death

RC Sproul Jr: The Pathway of Death: "It is my habit, once each week, to write a brief piece answering a question from a reader. I also write one piece each week wherein I set my..."

True Joy

This from O. Winslow - From "The Preciousness of Faith"

"And what is true joy—a twin grace with peace—but a precious fruit of faith? The apostle reminds us of this—"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing." In the same proportion to the directness and simplicity with which your faith deals with Christ, looks to Christ, lives upon the fullness of Christ, rests in the complete salvation, the finished work of Christ, draws all its evidences and hopes from Christ, will be your "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Nothing can enkindle this holy joy in the heart but a believing view of what the Lord Jesus is, and what He has done. It is only a sense of full pardon, of free justification, of gracious adoption, of the hope of glory, that can awaken real joy in the soul of a believing sinner. What joy can there be in the heart of a convicted felon, or of a condemned criminal, or of a convict paying the sad penalty of his crime in lonely exile, toil, and degradation? None whatever. But convey to him a free pardon, unbar his prison, break his manacles, and bid him go free; restore him to his country, his family, his home, and, bruised and broken though that heart be with a consciousness of guilt and a sense of shame, you yet have awoken in its sad chambers the sweetest chimes, and joy, entrancing joy, thrills and dilates his bosom. Such is the picture of a soul cleansed from the guilt of sin, and freed from the condemnation of the law by a believing acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ. That moment Christ is received into the lowly, penitent, and believing heart—the instant that Christ is seen paying the great debt, suffering the penalty, enduring the condemnation—a joy springs up in the soul such as never thrilled an angel's heart, and all this joy is "joy in believing." "In this rejoice not," says the Savior, "that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Oh, how much more joyful would the saints of God be did they deal less with themselves, and more with Jesus! They look at their sins, pore over their unfitness, pine at their leanness, and succumb to their failures and infirmities, their poverty and emptiness, and so all sweet, sacred joy droops and dies within their souls. But, "the joy of the Lord is your strength." "The meek shall increase their joy in the Lord." And seeing that the Lord has "clothed them with the garments of salvation, and has covered them with the robe of righteousness," it is the privilege of their soul "greatly to rejoice in the Lord, and to be joyful in their God" (Isa. 61:10). But, beloved, remember that Christ's joy can only remain in you, and your joy be full, as in childlike faith you look directly, and only, and constantly to Christ. "We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Oh for a higher tone of holy joy among the Lord's redeemed! Who in this vast universe have such reason to make the valley resound and the mountain echo with the glad notes of praise, as you who are freed from servitude, who are delivered from hell, and who are on your way to heaven, to spend your eternity—"forever with the Lord?" Beloved reader, if you are saved—if, in the exercise of the lowliest faith, you can cherish the hope of acceptance, as a poor sinner, with God through Christ—you may rejoice in tribulation, and glory in infirmity, and count the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in you. "Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say, Rejoice.""

Christ only, Christ supremely, Christ forever!

To know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephes. 3:19

This from O. Winslow:

   

Oh, think, beloved reader, what the love of Christ has done and suffered- the burden it bore, the sorrow it felt, the humiliation it underwent, the insults, ignominy, and privation through which it traveled; its groans, its sighs, its tears, its darkness- how inconceivably it agonized, how freely it bled, how voluntarily it died- think of the sins it has pardoned, the guilt it has cleansed, the declensions it has restored, the backslidings it has healed, the sorrows it has soothed, the patience it has exercised, the gentleness it has exhibited, and then ask, could any other but a divine affection have done all this and endured all this? Yet all this was exhibited in the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Love less divine, less strong, less gentle, could never have won Your heart, uprooted your enmity, tore you from your idols, enthroning Christ-  all of Christ, Christ only, Christ supremely, Christ forever!
Seek to know this love of Christ, though it is so vast that it "passes knowledge." Infinite though it is, you may experience its reality, taste its sweetness, and be influenced by its all- commanding, all-constraining power. "The love of Christ constrains us." Let it constrain you to a loving, unreserved obedience, to a cheerful bearing of His cross, to a manly vindication of His truth, to a close imitation of His spirit, and to "deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live righteously; godly, and soberly in this present evil world."
Confide in the unchangeableness of Christ's love. Nothing shall take it from you, or separate you from it. It does not ebb with the ebbing of your feelings; it does not chill with the chill of your affections; it does not change with the changing scenes and circumstances of your life. A love that "passes knowledge" must have depths we cannot sound, heights we cannot explore, an infinite fulness and freeness tiding over all the sins, infirmities, and sorrows of its blessed and favored objects.

What are some of the secrets of happy home life?

Secrets of Happy Home Life

by J. R. Miller, 1894

"What are some of the secrets of happy home life? The answer might be given in one word—Christ. Christ at the marriage-altar; Christ on the bridal journey; Christ when the new home is set up; Christ when the baby is born; Christ when a child dies; Christ in the pinching times; Christ in the days of plenty; Christ in the nursery, in the kitchen, in the parlor; Christ in the toil and in the rest; Christ along all the years; Christ when the wedded pair walk toward the sunset gates; Christ in the sad hour when farewells are spoken, and one goes on before and the other stays, bearing the unshared grief. Christ is the secret of happy home life."

Worship: The Normal Employment of Moral Beings

Worship: The Normal Employment of Moral Beings

The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and
worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before
the throne, saying: "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they
exist and were created."
--Revelation 4:10-11

All of the examples that we have in the Bible illustrate that glad
and devoted and reverent worship is the normal employment of moral
beings. Every glimpse that is given us of heaven and of God's created
beings is always a glimpse of worship and rejoicing and praise
because God is who He is.

The apostle John in Revelation 4:10-11 gives us a plain portrayal of
created beings around the throne of God....

I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the
Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and
turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.--AW Tozer

CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK

Another nugget from:
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 1
Volume 7 http://www.spurgeongems.org/ 1
CHRIST’S FINISHED WORKNO. 378
A SERMON DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, 1861,
BY THE REV. OCTAVIUS WINSLOW, D.D.,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“It is finished!”
John 19:30

1. What a spring of comfort flows from it to the true Believer amid his innumerable failures, flaws and imperfections. What service do you perform, what duty do you discharge of which you can say, “It is finished”? Alas, not one. Your service is imperfect, your obedience is incomplete, your love is fluctuating—yes, upon it all are the visible marks of human defilement and defect. But here is the work which God most delights in, “finished.” “You are complete in Him.” Turn, then, your eye of faith out of yourself and off of all your own doings and deal more immediately, closely and obediently
with the finished work of Immanuel. Come away from your fickle love, from your weak faith, from your little fruitfulness, from your uneven walk, from all your shortcomings and imperfections and let your eye of faith repose where God’s eye of complacent love reposes—on the finished work of Jesus. God beholds you only in Christ—it is not upon you He looks, but on His Beloved Son and
upon you in Him, “wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved.”
2. If Christ’s atoning work is finished, what folly and what sin to attempt to supplement it! What vast numbers aredoin g this! Away with your tears, your confessions, your duties, your charities, even your repentance and faith, if these things dare to take their place side by side with the finished work of Christ. See that you attempt to add nothing to it. In a similar strain of exhortation let me
3. Warn you of the utter worthlessness and fallacy of all grounds of faith and of all human hope that comes in conflict with the finished work of Christ. My dear Hearers, you have nothing to do in the great matter of your salvation but to accept in faith the one offering made once for all by God manifest in your nature. Cast your deadly doings at the foot of the Cross. Cease from your own works. Cease from your own righteousness. Cease from resting in your confessions, in
your tears, in your prayers, in your going to your Church or your Chapel. Oh, cease from all this and in simple faith accept— take hold of—the Divine work of the Lord Jesus Christ!,

What is invading and beclouding the spiritual joy and hope of the Lord’s people?

A nugget from:
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 1
Volume 7 http://www.spurgeongems.org/ 1
CHRIST’S FINISHED WORKNO. 378
A SERMON DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, 1861,
BY THE REV. OCTAVIUS WINSLOW, D.D.,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“It is finished!”
John 19:30

What is invading and beclouding the spiritual joy and hope of the Lord’s people? I believe it is mainly traceable to imperfect, crude and dim views and apprehensions of Christ’s complete work. False notions of the Savior’s finished salvation which He has wrought for His Church. Not distinctly seeing that all is done—the great debt paid, the mighty bond cancelled, the full atonement made and sin all and freely

forgiven.

I am still the more desirous of placing this great, this cardinal and precious Truth prominently and broadly, as the Lord the Spirit shall help me, before the present assembly, trusting and believing that, in answer to prayer, there will be tonight the presence and power of the Holy Spirit descending, invisible and noiseless, upon your souls, sealing upon your hearts this grand, this essential, this saving Truth—the FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST. “It is finished.”

Our Lord’s sufferings were also the result and consequence of sin—sin not His own, but His people’s. And in the fullest and  most emphatic meaning of the terms, were expiatory and vicarious—sufferings, not only the fruit of sin, but more than that, suffering expiatory of sin— sufferings, substitutionary and vicarious, sacrificial and atoning. There are theologians who dispute this statement, who deny this doctrine. But I challenge them to explain these sufferings of our Lord satisfactorily upon any other hypothesis than this.

Behold the Almighty Sufferer! There hung the Son of God, bearing the sin and enduring the curse of His Church—putting away the one and exhausting entirely the other—by the sacrifice of Himself. To all the demands of God’s moral government, to all the claims of Law and justice, Jesus now on behalf of the people for whom He stood as Surety, gave a full, honorable and accepted satisfaction. Come, poor sin-burdened, heart-broken penitent and sit beneath the shadow of this tree of life and its bending fruit of pardon, peace, joy and hope shall be sweet to your believing taste.

He has finished all that Justice asked—that the Law demanded. He has finished the mission His Father had confided to His hands. He has finished the grand oblation that has to restore to God’s moral government the glory it had lost in man’s apostasy. He has finished all the ancient types, predictions and shadows. He tore the veil in two and opened the bright pathway for the sinner to retrace his steps back to Paradise, back to God and once more feel the warm embrace of his Father’s forgiving love.

Poor broken-hearted Sinner, with all your burden of sin—believe and be saved! It bids you come without money and without price. It tells you the blood He poured from His broken heart can wash out and cancel the deepest stain that is on your soul. It tells you there is room in that bosom which He laid bare to the lightening-stroke of God’s wrath. It tells you dry your tears, embrace the Cross, trust in the finished work of Christ—fling to the heavens all your own righteousness—enwrap up by faith in the righteousness of Christ and all the choirs of Heaven shall tune their harps of gold and make the heavens reverberate with their songs of praise over your submission in faith to the atonement of the Son of God.

Christian Joy

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again—Rejoice!" Philip. 4:4

This from John MacDuff:

Christ is the only source of the believer's joy—God incarnate—God the Son, in our nature coming down to our low estate, to testify His love and compassion to us. Oh! there are no words which can inspire the heart with fuller joy than these, when uttered in sincerity—"He who was rich, for my sake, became poor." He who was rich—rich in the love of the everlasting Father—rich in the adoration of the heavenly hosts—rich in the glories of His own divinity—rich in the rolling worlds He had created by a word—yet, "became poor"—so poor, that He had not where to lay His head—so poor that when He asked for water they gave Him vinegar to drink—so poor, that His unpillowed head was girt with thorns in death—and all, "for my sake"—"wounded for my transgressions, bruised for my iniquities"—"bearing my sins in His own body on the tree;" sorrowing under them, enduring all their punishment, and blotting them out forever.
Believer! is not this the source—the proper source of your joy—that Jesus lived, and suffered, and died for you—that He paid "all that great debt" you owed to law and justice, and washed away the foul stain of your guilt, in His own most precious blood?
It is, also, a source of joy to the Christian, that the Crucified is now the glorified—that He rose triumphant from the grave, and ascended into glory—that he is seated at God's right hand, to wield the scepter of the universe, and to appear as the High Priest and Intercessor of His people. Oh! this thought has been a well-spring of joy to the believer. It has nerved his faith in many a hard fight—it has imparted sweetness to many a bitter draught. Jesus within the veil—the changeless Friend—the sympathizing Brother—the undying, ever-living Head—who has promised to His people, all-sufficient grace now, and certain, endless glory hereafter.
The Christian rejoices in the thought, that Christ not only "appears in the presence of God for us," but also that He is ever present with His Church and people on earth. "I am with you always, even unto the end of the ages." "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." He is watching over, and gathering to Himself, a chosen people—chosen of God—the gift of the Father—the purchase of His blood; and He is supplying all their needs, bestowing all needful blessings, and preparing them for the enjoyment of His heavenly kingdom.

Indebted, Polleted, Captive, Enemy, Desperate

2 Cor 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Thomas Doolittle:
"Were you not indebted to God? Didn't you owe millions to him, yet did not have a penny to pay? If God were to demand payment from you, would it not have proven your damnation? If his justice were to pursue you, and death arrest you, would not the demons have seized your soul, and thrown it into the prison of hell, from where you should never have been delivered, until you had paid the last penny you owe, which would never be? But now that Jesus has loved you, he has become your Surety, made payment for your debt, and given you freedom."
"Were you not spiritually polluted and unclean? Had not the leprosy of sin spread over your understanding, your will, your conscience, your memory and all your affections? So that you were defiled all over, and lay wallowing in your blood, cast out because you were so loathsome to God? And in this filthy state, you could never enter into the holy kingdom of God. But Jesus loved you, took away your filthy rags, and gave you a change of clothing made of his righteousness. You said to him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." He in love said to you, "I will, be clean". He bathed you in his own blood, and cleansed you from all your sins (1 John 1:7). Yes, though your sins were as scarlet, they became as white as snow; though they were red like crimson, they became as white as wool."
"Were you not a captive to Satan and to sin? Drudging elbow deep in the loathsome service of sin? Was not your bondage worse than that of the Israelites in Egypt? And were not Satan and sin as cruel and tyrannical as Pharaoh and his task-masters? Didn't you love your chains of sin? Weren't you at ease in your shackles? Do you remember how Jesus released you from your fetters? Jesus became your Redeemer, and made you free- and then you were free indeed!"
"Were you not an enemy to God? You were born his enemy, and then continued to live as his adversary. Had you died in this condition, your soul would have been alienated from God forever. But now Jesus has become your blessed peacemaker, and by the blood of his cross he reconciled you to God. Were you not spiritually dead? Had you not lost the holy image of God? Though you were dead, Jesus gave you spiritual life and eternal glory."
"Now, if this was your desperate condition, and Jesus helped you in every respect- then how suitable is he to you? Is not his suitableness to you a foundation for love, and a motive to love him? What an argument is this to win your heart to Jesus! You were lost, but Jesus saved you! You were ignorant, but Jesus taught you! You were sick, but Jesus healed you! You were polluted, but Jesus cleansed you! You were a captive to sin and Satan, and Jesus freed you! You were an enemy of God, and Jesus reconciled you! You were dead, and Jesus gave you spiritual life! Oh, you never found one so suitable for you! Now, even now, he should be loved by you. O, Jesus is the most excellent object for your love, and you should no longer withhold your devotion from him."

THE SAVIOR'S COMING

Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

I am not sure who this is from:

THE DAY OF THE SAVIOR'S SECOND COMING WILL BE ONE OF UNUTTERABLE JOY TO THE RIGHTEOUS. With what transports of joy shall we, who believe in Jesus, hail the dawn of that long-promised, long-desired day, when we shall be raised from the dust of death, in the likeness of our Redeemer, to hear His blessed sentence; to sit with Him on a throne of glory; to become the companions of holy men and angels; and to be crowned with all the happiness of heaven! It is impossible for us now to conceive the joy which will fill the glorious assembly of the redeemed, when, in the great day of final accounts, they are accepted, acquitted, and presented faultless before the throne of God. Then will these glorious words be accomplished, 'Yet we have this assurance: Those who belong to God will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For God's light of life will fall like dew on his people in the place of the dead!' Oh, it is sweet to think that we shall awake from our slumbers, 'low in the ground,' to rejoice with a triumphant Savior, and to sing the new song of heaven. What joy will fill the rising saint, when he sees that he has left behind Him all sin, and sorrow, and pain, and tears; and that He possesses a body which is ever to bloom with youth, and beauty, and vigor, and to shine as the sun through the endless ages of eternity! Then will have come the period of our complete redemption, when, arrayed with the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, we shall lift up our heads with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

The Preciousness of Christ

"Unto you therefore who believe He is precious." 1 Peter 2: 7.

O. Winslow:
Christ is our life; and our growth in spiritual life is Christ increasing within us. It is as utterly impossible to cherish a holy desire, to conceive a heavenly thought, to perform a good action, to conquer a single infirmity, or to baffle a solitary temptation, apart from a direct communication with Christ; as for the lungs to expand without air, or light to exist without the Sun. Oh, yes! Christ is increasingly precious to the believer. The absence from His beatific presence- distance from His blest abode- the vicissitudes of life- the fluctuations of time- the advance of infirmities- the increase of anxieties and cares- and the formation of new friendships, do not render the Savior less precious to the believing soul.
Other objects often lose their attraction, their desire to interest, or their power to charm us, by the lapse of years; but JESUS is that glorious object who grows more precious to the heart in time, as His capacity unfolds of making us supremely happy; and in eternity will become increasingly the object of our love, and the theme of our song, and the source of our bliss, as growing ages unveil His loveliness, His glory, and His grace!

Beloved reader, is Jesus increasingly precious to your soul? Each day's history, each day's trial, each day's sin, each day's need, should endear the Savior to your heart, because in each and all of those circumstances you should have direct and close dealings, daily and personal transactions, with Christ! You cannot cultivate an intimacy with Christ and not be enamored of His beauty, charmed with His graciousness, and absorbed with His love!

Be cautioned against an eclipse of the Savior! Let no object come between your heart and Christ! Do not be presumptuous when in high spiritual frames, nor be depressed when in low ones. Do not let your conscious shortcomings, failures, and stumblings estrange your affections from Jesus. Nor allow pride or carelessness to insinuate itself, if the Lord confers upon you some especial favor or proof of His regard.

The Christian a Pilgrim

We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a shadow, gone so soon without a trace. 1 Chron. 29:15

We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 1 Chron. 29:15

I believe this is from David Harsha:

Beyond this darksome valley of tears and death there lies a bright and joyous region of immortality, where weary pilgrims meet to stray no more. In that happy land their wanderings will have forever terminated, and they shall sit down in everlasting repose under the delightful shadow of the Tree of Life, in the midst of the paradise of God, and enjoy, through the blissful ages of glory, the presence and smiles of that Friend and Savior who, in the tenderest love for them, once poured out his own most precious blood on Calvary, that he might present them, faultless, before the throne of Heaven!

O how transcendently glorious must be the future eternal home of the Christian pilgrim! On those golden plains beyond the river of death, rays of divine glory are beaming in full effulgence. There, the Sun of Righteousness is shining in all his meridian splendor, making eternity one constant noontide of untold and indescribable glory and blessedness– a day without clouds. There, our Immanuel shall be as the "light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds."

Eternal day will dawn without a cloud. No gloom or darkness will ever overspread those blissful realms beyond the shores of time. The celestial world will always be irradiated by the glory of God and the Lamb, and the redeemed shall forever bask in the gladsome sunshine of Infinite Love. In that bright home of pilgrims, the Savior will conduct his ransomed ones to living fountains of waters– streams of immortal joys, and God shall wipe away all tears. In the presence of Jesus there is fullness of joy; at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has the human heart ever conceived those things which God has prepared for those who love him.

An exceeding and eternal weight of glory will crown every pilgrim who has found the happy shores of Immanuel's Land. In the Palace of the King of kings, all will be perfectly blessed, and from that "building of God, that house not made with hands," there shall be no more going out; but we shall forever be with the Lord, beholding his glory and enjoying the soul-ravishing manifestations of his endearing love. O, happy abode of Zion's pilgrims! O, sweet and pleasant world, where the balmy zephyrs of Heaven refresh the weary soul; where there flows not a tear; where there enters not a pain; where death itself shall be swallowed up in victory! This is the heritage of those who fear the Lord.

Christian Love pt. 3

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).

Nugget from a sermon:

THE IMPORTANCE OF LOVE IN THE LOCAL CHURCH!

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr

Spurgeon said, “Let me tell you a very remarkable instance of this. In the early days of Christianity, a terrible [pestilence] broke out in Alexandria. It was very dangerous to be near a person smitten with the disease, and to touch such a person meant almost certain death. When the [pestilence] broke out, the heathen in Alexandria [pushed] out of their houses every person who had the slightest sign of the disease upon him, and left him to starve, and would not even bury their bodies for fear of contagion. But the Christians visited one another when they were sick of the [pestilence], and no Christian was left to die [alone]. They were zealous to go and visit [and care for] each other, although they knew that they [would], in all probability, catch the [disease]; and amongst the carcasses outside the walls of Alexandria there was not found one single [unburied] corpse of a Christian…And the heathen said, ‘What is the meaning of this?’ And the answer went throughout Egypt, ‘This is the religion of Jesus of Nazareth, for these Christians love one another.’ No sermon can be so [well heard by] the world as a true manifestation of the love of Christ; and when God restores to His church genuine, hearty, and sincere love…then shall the world be more impressed by the gospel than it is at present” (ibid., pp. 249-250).

Let it be our goal as a church to so greatly love each other that.

John Peter Lange, the great German commentator, pointed out that in the early days of Christianity, “The heathen [often] exclaimed with astonishment: ‘Behold how these Christians love one another, and how ready to die for one another.’” And Lucian [a heathen writer] sneeringly remarked, “Their law-giver [Christ] has persuaded them that they are all [brothers and sisters]” (Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, John, p. 427).

A Help Heavenward - Winslow

"Our sins must bring us to His blood, our condemnation must bring us to His righteousness, our corruptions must bring us to His grace, our wants must bring us to His fullness, our weakness must bring us to His
strength, our sorrow must bring us to His sympathy, and His own loveliness and love must attract us to Himself." O. Winslow

Cast Your Cares - Look!

"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you.
  He will never let the righteous fall."  Psalm 55:22

"Oh yes! the Lord cares for you. Little, obscure, despised, unworthy though you may be, or deem yourself to be, the Lord has an interest in you, the closest, the tenderest that ever dwelt in a heart of love. Bought with the Savior’s blood, a temple of the Holy Spirit, sealed with the earnest of the Spirit as a child of God and an heir of glory, oh, there is not a bright angel in heaven for whom God so cares as He cares for you! Will you not respond to this truth by transferring all your care to Him in the exercise of a humble, unquestioning faith? "

"One uplifted glance— one sight of Jesus— one believing touch of the promise of God, will bring more repose to your anxious spirit, more succor to your burdened mind, than a lifetime of self-absorption."
O. Winslow

Christian Love pt. 2

O. Winslow:

It tenderly sympathizes with all the suffering believers. Here is the evidence of our own membership with the family of God. "If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it." And it is in this exercise of Christian sympathy that "the members have the same care one for another." The Church of God is a suffering Church. All the members are, more or less, and variously, tried. Many are the burdens of the saints. It would be impossible, we think, to find one, whose lip has not touched the cup of sorrow, whose spirit has not felt the pressure of trouble. Some walk in doubt and darkness- some are particularly set up as a mark for Satan- some suffer from a nervous temperament, discoloring every bright and beautiful picture of life- some are the subjects of personal affliction, pining sickness excluding them from all participation in the songs of Zion and the solemn assemblies of the saints- some are bereaved, sorrowing like Rachel for her children, or mourning, like the sisters of Bethany, for their brother. Some are suffering from narrowed and exhausted resources; and there may do not be a few, suffering even from actual poverty itself.

Ah! how many will say, "You have touched upon every sorrow but mine," -so extensive is the field of Christian sympathy! But what scope for the play of those heaven-born affections begotten in the heart of each true believer! "A new commandment give I unto you," says Christ, "that you love one another." And how is this commandment to be obeyed? The apostle answers, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Therefore the bearing of one another's burdens is a necessary effect and proper exercise of this holy love. It will delight to recognize the suffering Savior in his suffering members. And it will go and lift the pressure from the spirit, and chase the sorrow from the heart, and dry the tear from the eye, and supply the pressing need. And if it cannot accomplish this, it will take its place by the side of the sufferer, sharing the sorrow and the need it has no power to comfort or remove. Is this law of Christ- the law of love- thus exhibited in you?

Christian Love

O. Winslow:

One of the loveliest, most precious unfoldings of God's love towards us is that He has pardoned all our sins, has forgiven us all our transgressions, and having blotted them all out, will remember them no more forever. "Be imitators of God as dear children," and ever keep in view the divine precept teaching the forgiving of offences- "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." Instead of sitting down and brooding over an injustice and a wronged, wounded sensibility, or slighted affection, until the imagination has augmented the injury from a molehill into a mountain, the little rivulet that one step of love might have crossed into an impassable gulf, see if there has been any real cause of offence, any intended injury; and if there dwells in the offender the spirit of Christ, and in you, the offended one, the love of God, both will be prepared, on a mutual understanding, the one to confess the fault and the other as ready to forgive it. Oh, let the dying prayer of Jesus ever linger in our ear amid the assaults of enemies and the woundings of friends- "Father, FORGIVE them!"

The Cross is the grand center of union among true Christians

"Far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14

"Our outward differences are many, without doubt. One man is an Episcopalian, another is a Presbyterian—one is an Independent, another a Baptist—one is a Calvinist, another an Arminian—one is a Lutheran, another a Plymouth Brother—one is a friend to Establishments, another a friend to the voluntary system—one is a friend to liturgies, another a friend to extempore prayer. But, after all, what shall we hear about most of these differences, in heaven? Nothing, most probably—nothing at all. Does a man really and sincerely boast in the cross of Christ? That is the grand question. If he does, he is my brother—we are traveling on the same road; we are journeying towards a home where Christ is all, and everything outward in religion will be forgotten. But if he does not boast in the cross of Christ, I cannot feel comfort about him. Union on outward points only, is union only for a time—union about the cross is union for eternity. Error on outward points is only a skin-deep disease—error about the cross is disease at the heart. Union about outward points is a mere man-made union—union about the cross of Christ can only be produced by the Holy Spirit." Ryle

The Foot of the Cross - Winslow

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14

"What a marvellous power does this cross of Jesus possess! It changes the Christian's entire judgment of the world. Looking at it through the cross, his opinion is totally revolutionized. He sees it as it really is- a sinful, empty, vain thing. He learns its iniquity, in that it crucified the Lord of life and glory. His expectations from the world, his love to the world, are changed. He has found another object of love, the Savior whom the world cast out and slew, and his love to the world is destroyed by that power which alone could destroy it- the crucifying power of the cross. We are dealing with a great truth, my reader. Let us inquire for what purpose did Jesus Christ thus give Himself to die? Was it not that we might be spiritually crucified with Him? How beautifully the apostle brings out this truth, "Who gave Himself for us, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Savior." And what was the apostle's experience? "I am crucified with Christ." Oh, how holy and sublime his decision; "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For me to live is Christ." And what was John's exhortation? "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." "This is the victory which overcomes the world, even our faith." And what is the weapon by which faith combats with and overcomes the world? What but the cross of Jesus?
It is the cross which eclipses, in the view of the true believer, the glory and attraction of every other object. Just as the natural eye, gazing for a while upon the sun, is blinded for the moment, by its overpowering effulgence, to all other objects; so to the believer, wont to concentrate his mind upon the glory of the crucified Savior, studying closely the wonders of grace and love and truth meeting in the cross, the world with all its attraction fades into the full darkness of an eclipse." Winslow

Introducing: Shallow Small Groups

Introducing: Shallow Small Groups

John 3:16 - A.W. Tozer

For 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

Tozer:
I have heard that John 3:16 is a favorite preaching text for young
preachers, but I confess that as far as I can recall, I have never
had the courage to prepare and preach a sermon with John 3:16 as
my text. I suppose I have quoted it as many as 15,000 or 20,000
times in prayer and in testimony, in writing and in preaching, but
never as a sermon text....

I think my own hesitation to preach from John 3:16 comes down to
this: I appreciate it so profoundly that I am frightened by it--I
am overwhelmed by John 3:16 to the point of inadequacy, almost of
despair. Along with this is my knowledge that if a minister is to
try to preach John 3:16 he must be endowed with great sympathy and
a genuine love for God and man....

So, I approach it. I approach it as one who is filled with great
fear and yet great fascination. I take off my shoes, my heart
shoes, at least, as I come to this declaration that God so loved
the world.

Gave Himself for us

Winslow

"Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us." "Who gave himself for our sins." "Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it." "Who gave himself for us, that He might deliver us from all iniquity." Oh what an infinitude of wealth and glory and blessing is included in these words- "gave himself!" Gave His Deity- gave His humanity- gave His obedience- gave His life- gave His heart's blood- gave His heaven of glory- all for poor, unworthy, self-destroyed, helpless sinners who had nothing to pay- pardoning them fully, justifying them freely, calling them graciously- keeping and eternally glorifying them! O Lord, my soul dissolves before this stupendous, this strange, this unparalleled spectacle of disinterested, self-sacrificing love! I blush to find myself so unlike it- I weep that my sins demanded it- I believe because it was You who died- my heart is won, my affections are captivated by a love which enchains to itself my whole being!"

Preaching the Gospel - Spurgeon (1 Tim 1:15)

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."—1 Timothy 1:15.

Spurgeon:
"I suppose that the message delivered by God's servants to the people must always be called "the burden of the Lord." When the old prophets came forth from their Master, they had such dooms, and threatenings, and lamentations, and woe to preach, that their countenances were wan with sorrow, and their hearts heavy within them. They usually commenced their discourses by announcing, "The burden of the Lord, the burden of the Lord." But now, our message is no heavy one. No threatening and no thunders compose the theme of the gospel minister. All is mercy; love is the sum and substance of our gospel—love undeserved; love to the very chief of sinners. But it is still a burden to us. So far as the matter of our preaching is concerned, it is our joy and our delight to preach it; but if others feel as I feel now, they will all acknowledge it to be a hard matter to preach the gospel. For now I am sore vexed, and my heart is troubled, not concerning what I have to preach, but how I shall preach it. What if so good a message should fail because of so ill an ambassador? What if my hearers should reject this saying which is worthy of all acceptation, because I may announce it with lack of earnestness? Surely—surely such a supposition is enough to draw the tears to the eyes of any man! But may God in his mercy prevent a consummation so fearfully to be dreaded; and, however I may now preach, may this Word of God commend itself to every man's conscience; and may many of you now gathered together, who have never as yet find to Jesus for refuge, by the simple preaching of the Word, now be persuaded to come in, that you may taste and see that the Lord is good."

Jesus Paid It All

"He was oppressed." –Isa. 53:7

Octavius Winslow:

"Sin is a debt--Jesus paid it when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Obedience is a debt--Jesus paid it when, by the obedience of One, many were made righteous. Death is a debt--Jesus paid it when He bowed His head on the cross and gave up the spirit. And when thus we behold Him dragged into the court of human justice, and sentenced to a felon's death--and when we follow Him to the garden of His sorrow, sweating great drops of blood, and thence to Calvary, and see Him nailed to the accursed tree--suffering, bleeding, dying--what do we behold but the exacting from Him the full payment of the bond for the honoring of which He had entered into an eternal suretyship on His people's behalf?

What life and liberty are bound up in these words--"I forgave you all that great debt!" Believing soul, the debtor's prison is no longer your abode. The bond is cancelled, and God, the Creditor, fully satisfied with the Atonement of His beloved Son, has given a full discharge both to Him and to us, in that He raised Him from the dead. No longer, then, look at your sins, unworthiness, nothingness, and poverty; but look to Jesus, and, looking constantly by faith at Him, walk in the holy, happy liberty of one all whose debt is cancelled, and for whom there is now no condemnation. Is Jesus your Paymaster, O my soul? Then He has equally engaged to provide for your temporal needs, to deliver you out of all your difficulties, and to enable you to meet all your worldly engagements. Surely He who has paid your greater debt to God, will help you honorably to pay your lesser debt to man."

The Glory of the Redeemer in His People

"I am glorified in them." John 17:10

O. Winslow:
"In Christ the Church is chosen. In Christ it is preserved. In Christ it lives. In Christ it is pardoned. In Christ it is justified. In Christ it is sanctified. In Christ it will be glorified. Thus does all the glory of the spiritual house hang on Christ- He is its foundation, He is its corner-stone; in Him; "fitly framed together, it grows up a holy temple in the Lord;" and He will be the top-stone, which shall be brought forth on the day of its completion, amid the shoutings of "Grace, grace unto it!"
"He receives them, He welcomes them, He bears them up, He supplies them, He fills them; He rejoices in their feeble grace, He despises not their little strength, He crowns their weak faith, He grants them the utmost desires of their hearts. Oh, what a Jesus is our Jesus! Were ever such gentleness, tenderness, and skill manifested towards the "bruised reed and the smoking flax? "

Fullness of joy!

Fullness of joy!

("Solitude Sweetened" by James Meikle, 1730-1799)

"In Your presence there is fullness of joy! At Your
 right hand are pleasures forevermore!" Psalm 16:11

In this present life I may have some tainted pleasures;
but in eternity, I shall always have pure delights and
holy raptures!

In this life I may have at times a measure of health;
but in eternity, I shall always have perpetual vigor!

In this life I may have some acres of ground; but in
eternity, I shall always have an unbounded inheritance
in the heavenly Canaan!

Here, I may have fine clothing of silk; there I will
have robes of righteousness and garments of glory!

Here I may have a beautiful house; there
I will have a house not made with hands!

Here I may have bread to eat and water to drink;
there I will have the hidden manna and the river of life!

Here I may have a portion of the good things of time;
there I will have the glorious treasures of eternity!

As to spiritual things, in this life I may have some
communications of grace; but in eternity, I shall
have eternal glory!

Here I have freedom from the reign of sin; there
I will have deliverance from the presence of sin!

Here I have glances of heaven by faith;
there I will have immediate vision of glory!

Here I have God in His ordinances; there I will
have uninterrupted communion with Him!

Here I have some experience of His love;
there I will have all the transports of eternal
assurance and everlasting bliss!

Here I have access to the throne of grace;
there I will have continuous attendance at
the throne of glory!

Here I often sin against God; there
I shall never offend His holy heart!

A Sight of Sin and a Sight of Jesus

"They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn." -Zech. 12:10

"One eye looking at self and one eye looking at Christ will so regulate the experience of the soul, so accurately adjust its moral compass, as to preserve the balance between presumption and despair; leading to a humble, holy, watchful walk as it regards sin on the one hand, and to an assured, happy, hopeful sense of pardon, acceptance, and glory on the other. No fact in Christian experience is more certain than this, that sin is never properly seen until Christ is known; and that Christ is never fully known, until sin is seen in its existence, guilt, and power. It is a sense of our vileness, guiltiness, and condemnation that takes us to Christ; and when we see Christ, and accept Christ, and enter into believing rest in Christ, we then have the deepest conviction of the greatness, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and at the same moment the most assured conviction of our full and eternal deliverance from its guilt, tyranny, and condemnation. This harmony of tint- the blending of light and shade- sin and Christ- forms one of the loveliest and most impressive pictures of the many which illustrate the history of the Christian's life." Winslow

Should we call our Paschal celebrtion "Easter"?

Doug Wilson answers the question.

http://www.canonwired.com/featured/easter-origins/

The Glorious Life & Death of Jesus Christ

By John Owen

The Glory of Christ as Our Mediator

Jesus Christ is God and man in one and the same Person. There are in His one Person two distinct natures: the one being eternal, infinite, immense, almighty, the form and essence of God; the other, having a beginning in time, finite, limited, confined to a certain place. This is our nature, which He took on Himself when He “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

The Apostle Paul said, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”

(1 Timothy 2:5). The difference between God and man was caused by our sin and apostasy from Him, and it could result in nothing but the utter ruin of humanity. A mediator was needed or mankind would cease forever. This mediator could not be God. A mediator represents multiple parties, and God was one of the parties (Cf. Galatians 3:20).

As for created beings, there was none in Heaven or Earth able to undertake this office. For “if one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” (1 Samuel 2:25). By assuming our human nature into union with His divine nature, Jesus Christ became in every way fit to assume the office of mediator.

In Christ’s assumption of our nature as His own, we see the highest evidence of God’s care toward mankind. He who was eternally in the form of God—equally participant of the same divine nature with God the Father—so humbled Himself in this assumption of our nature as to make Himself of no reputation in this world. It is with reference to this that a great promise concerning Christ is given to the church: “He will be as a sanctuary” (Isaiah 8:14). He is an assured refuge to all who go to Him. To sin-distressed souls, He is a refuge in all spiritual distresses and sorrows. Are we perplexed with temptations? Are we bowed down under the oppression of any spiritual adversary? One view of the glory of Christ is able to support us and relieve us.

What will He not do for us—He who thus emptied and humbled Himself, who so infinitely lowered Himself from His glory in the assumption of human nature to become the mediator on our behalf—will He not relieve us in all our distresses? Will He not do all we stand in need of that we may be eternally saved?

Nor have we any ground to doubt His power, for in becoming a man, He lost none of His power as God omnipotent.

The Glory in Christ’s Death

The glory of Christ was also displayed when He suffered as our Savior. Victory, success and triumph with great glory belonged to this role, but first there were sufferings required of Him. “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26).

We might here look on Him as under the weight of the wrath of God and the curse of the law, taking on Himself and His whole soul the utmost of evil that God had ever threatened to sin or sinners. We might look upon Him fighting against all the powers of darkness, the rage and madness of men, suffering in His soul, His body, His name, His reputation, His goods, His life. We might look on Him praying, weeping, crying out, bleeding, dying—in all things making His soul an offering for sin.

What shall we say to these things? That God spared not His only Son, but gave Him up unto death (Romans 8:32) and all the evils included in it, for such poor, lost sinners as we were; that for our sakes the eternal Son of God should submit Himself to all the evils that our natures are liable to, and all that our sins had deserved, that we might be delivered!

How glorious is the Lord Christ on this account in the eye of believers! When Adam had sinned—thereby eternally ruining himself and all posterity—he stood ashamed, trembling, as one ready to perish forever under the displeasure of God. Death was what he deserved, and immediate death is what he looked for.

In this state the Lord Christ comes to him and says, “Poor creature! How woeful is your condition! What is become of the beauty, of the glory of that image of God in which you were created? How have you taken on yourself the monstrous shape and image of Satan? Eternal distress lies at the door. But yet look up once more, and behold Me. Come forth from your vain shelter, your hiding place. I will put Myself into your condition and will undergo and bear that burden of guilt and punishment that would sink you eternally into the bottom of hell.” To the same purpose He speaks to convinced sinners, in the invitation He gives them to come to Him.

Thus is the Lord Christ set forth in the Gospel, crucified before our eyes (Galatians 3:1) in the representation that is made of His glory, in the sufferings He underwent to fulfill the task He had undertaken. Let us, then, behold Him as poor, despised, persecuted, reproached, reviled, hanged on a tree—in all, laboring under the wrath of God due to our sins.

What glory is in these things? Are not these the things which caused Jews and Gentiles to stumble and take offense at—those wherein He was appointed to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense? The apostle declares that in the wisdom of the world it was considered foolish to look for help and deliverance by the miseries of another—to look for life by His death (1 Corinthians 1).

But even on the account of these things Christ is honorable, glorious and precious in the sight of those who believe (1 Peter 2:6-7). For even in this He was “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).

The Glory of the Resurrected Christ

Christ’s resurrection is where all other parts of His glory are revealed. While He was in the world, all the instances of His glory before had a veil drawn over them. Most people saw nothing of it, and the best saw it only obscurely. On the day when we shall behold this glory, we shall see Him as He is.

This is the glory that the Father granted to Him before the foundation of the world and with which He was invested upon His ascension. He did not leave it behind while He was in the world, but He laid aside the direct evidence and declaration of it until He was “declared to be the Son of God with power,” by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).

When the sun is under a total eclipse, it loses nothing of its native beauty, light and glory. Yet it appears to us as a dark, useless meteor. When it frees itself from the lunar interruption, it again manifests its native light and glory. So it was with the divine nature of Christ. He veiled His glory by assuming our nature as His own and taking the “form of a servant,” a person of mean and low degree.

But now this temporary eclipse is past, and His glory shines forth in the infinite luster and beauty that belong to the exaltation of His person. And when those who saw Him on earth as a poor, sorrowful, persecuted man, dying on the cross, came to see Him in all the infinite, uncreated glories of the divine nature, it could not but fill their souls with transcendent joy and admiration. This is one reason His prayer for these followers while He was on earth was that they might be where He is to behold His glory; for He knew what unspeakable satisfaction it would be to them forevermore.

The Apostle Peter told the Jews that the same Jesus, whom they slew and hanged on a tree, God had exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior to give repentance to Israel, and the forgiveness of sins (see Acts 5:30-31). If we place any value on His love, if we have any concern in what He has done for and suffered for the church, we cannot but rejoice in His present state and glory.

Let the world rage while it pleases; let it set itself with all its power and craft against everything of Christ. We have this to support us and to oppose all their attempts—what Jesus says of Himself: “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:17-18).

Blessed Jesus! We can add nothing to You, nothing to Your glory; but it is a joy of heart to us that You are so gloriously exalted at the right hand of God. We long more fully and clearly to behold that glory, according to Your prayer and promise.


John Owen (1617-1683): Called the greatest of Puritan theologians, John Owen was an English pastor, scholar and author, as well as vice-chancellor of Oxford University and dean of Christ Church, Oxford.