Because of the fall of Adam, man suffered the unspeakable loss of a righteous nature and the loss of legal righteousness in the sight of God. We have no righteousness of our own. In ourselves we are unrighteous. With Scripture we must confess: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12

The righteousness of God is infinite righteousness, for righteousness means perfection, rightness; it is true, just, pure, holy, infinite, separate from everything that is false, and defiling, and wrong. That is righteousness, and anything short of that is not righteousness. If we but saw this, we should at once give up all self-righteousness. When a man seeks after self-righteousness, he does not grasp what righteousness is. Everything short of infinite holiness, truth, purity, and love is not righteousness; so we need not pause to prove to you that we are not righteous. Marcus Rainsford

There is only one kind of righteousness that God accepts — and that is perfect righteousness! Yet the Scripture is true which says men persist in trusting in their own righteous deeds: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:3, 4 Self-righteous people are ignorant of the insufficiency of their own righteousness and the all-sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness; in fact, they despise and reject the righteousness of God. They prefer to seek righteousness by their own good works.

Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfil Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Those who leave this world, relying upon their own righteousness as the means for entrance into the heavenly kingdom, shall be greatly disappointed. We must have perfect righteousness or we will not be saved. The law of God requires a perfect obedience from first to last, in thought and word and deed, without one single failure. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10 The Law is good, pure, right, and holy, but it is impossible for sinful people to keep. “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Romans3:20

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the purpose and object of the law. The law is meant to lead us to faith in Christ, by showing us our utter helplessness to save ourselves. Christ, and Christ alone has fulfilled the demands of the law, and therefore it is vain for anyone to seek to obtain life by personal obedience to it. “The law drives us to accept of Christ as the one only person who can cleanse us, and make us fit to stand within the veil in the presence of the Most High…The law kills, the gospel makes alive; the law strips, and then Jesus Christ comes in and robes the soul in beauty and glory. All the commandments, and all the types direct us to Christ, if we will but heed their evident intent. They wean us from self, they put us off from the false basis of self- righteousness, and bring us to know that only in Christ can our help be found.” Charles Spurgeon

Without Christ, man is a sinner doomed to death. In the blood and righteousness of Christ, pardon, peace, and increasing blessedness are found. Christ’s blood is precious and fully sufficient for our redemption. Christ, the Holy One, took the place of guilty sinners, and in his innocent sufferings and death gave his holy blood for our redemption. He is strong to save and glad to redeem. Precious blood of Christ! Nothing can be more precious. It is the blood of God’s own Son, the blood of the everlasting God! There can be no doubt that this precious blood is an all-sufficient price for our redemption. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Ephesians 1:7

The work of the Redeemer is a perfect work; nothing can be added to it, and nothing must be taken from it; it is everlasting in its duration and efficacy. Upon this the eye of faith should be invariably fixed, and from hence comfort and support in every state are to be drawn. Christ’s blood is a constant propitiation, his righteousness is a perfect covering. To these, reader, have daily recourse for cleansing and recommendation before God; by these you may silence all the accusations of Satan, all the clamours of conscience, all the threatenings of the law; for in Christ the believer is complete, and here he may safely rest, in his dullest and heaviest moments. Carl Heinrich von Bogatzky

Before we trust in Christ, the weight and burden of our sin is exceeding heavy and we find no rest for our weary soul. Once we  come to Christ, we find rest– rest from legal fruitless labour, rest from the weight and burden of sin, and rest from an accusing gnawing conscience. Are you bowed down in spirit by a mingled burden of care and sin and sorrow? Matthew 11:28-30 is a free invitation to every weary and heavy-laden sinner, made by Him who alone is able to take away your load and guilt of sin. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.“

The gospel invites us to come to Christ, as sinners destitute of all good, helpless and ready to perish. It invites the vilest, in the most desperate case, to look to Jesus Christ for salvation. It declares Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, –he came to seek and to save that which was lost. In the plainest language he cries, “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,”–”Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,”–”Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” These free and gracious invitations are from him who suffered, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Jesus died for the ungodly. Jesus and his righteousness are our only hope and plea.

Lord Jesus Christ! Thy precious blood
Is to my soul the highest good:
Of all my sins a perfect cure,
It quickens me and makes me pure.

Thy blood, my spotless, glorious dress–
Thy innocence my righteousness:
Before my God I pardoned stand
And enter, crowned, the heavenly land.

Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Son of God!
My Throne of Grace, my Staff and Rod!
Thy precious blood, Thy quick’ning power
My spirit strengthen every hour.

And should I draw my dying breath
In fear of Satan, hell, and death–
O Christ! let this my comfort be:
Thy blood from sin hath made me free!
–Selected.

Jesus, my great High Priest,
Offered his blood and died;
My guilty conscience seeks
No sacrifice beside.
His pow’rful blood did once atone,
And now it pleads before the Throne.

To this dear Surety’s hand
Will I commit my cause;
He answers and fulfills
His Father’s broken laws.
Behold my soul at freedom set;
My Surety paid the dreadful debt.

My Advocate appears
For my defense on high;
The Father bows his ears
And lays his thunder by.
Not all that hell or sin can say
Shall turn his heart, his love, away.

Should all the hosts of death
And pow’rs of hell unknown
Put their most dreadful forms
Of rage and mischief on,
I shall be safe, for Christ displays
His conqu’ring pow’r and guardian grace.

Isaac Watts 1709

And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. Revelation 22:4

Jesus  is the Beloved One of his people. Above all the attractions of heaven, the Church longs to see the beauty of its Saviour. If there were no Jesus, there would be no heaven; Jesus is the “all in all” of heaven. Believers in every age of the world have summed up their hope and expectation in the one desire of seeing the Lord. David’s prayer in Psalm 27 tells of this longing, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.”

Christians are waiting for the Lord Jesus, who will return, according to his own promise, to receive us unto himself, that where he is we may be also. (John 14:3) This gives us hope even though in this world we see much sin and defilement in ourselves and others. We see the bitter fruit of this sin, which is sorrow, anguish,  troubles, and afflictions. We find our choicest earthly comforts are vain and meaningless. The world has no resting place for us. We are strangers and pilgrims in the world. Even now, our citizenship is in heaven. Philippians 3:20 says, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.“

To be in love with heaven  we must be weaned from earth; it is then that we long with intense eagerness to find a refuge in our eternal home.       H. Watts

If our way grows rough, it leads to an unspeakably joyful end. One moment with Christ will make up for it all. Whatever other joys are in store for us, and there are many others, fellowship with Christ will be the greatest of them all. Heaven will be light with the light of his presence, and its inhabitants will enjoy eternal fellowship with him.  ”The light of heaven is the face of Jesus; the joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus; the melody of heaven is the name of Jesus. The harmony of heaven is the praise of Jesus. The theme of heaven is the work of Jesus. The employment of heaven is the service of Jesus. The duration of heaven is the eternity of Jesus. The fullness of heaven is Jesus Himself.” …Anonymous (note found in D.L. Moody’s Bible)

What great joy is laid up in store for us in the future, when we shall be permitted to see God’s face in righteousness. To be permitted to gaze upon the face of an eastern monarch was considered a high honour; so great an honour indeed that the penalty of death occasionally followed an unauthorized attempt to gaze upon it. In allusion to this beholding the face of God, it is said of the redeemed in the book of Revelation, “And they shall see his face, and his name shall be written in their foreheads.”

And how shall we see God’s face? We shall see him in the person of Christ. And what face is to be compared with His? –a face more brilliant than ten thousand stars; a face in which shines resplendent every virtue that can make glorified humanity attractive; a face beaming with loving-kindness, compassion, mercy, wisdom, and grace; a face more beautiful than that of the loveliest of created beings; a face of which Samuel Rutherford has nobly said, “Oh, sun, in thy shining beauty, put on a web of darkness, and cover thyself before thy brightest Master and Maker.” This is the face that we shall see; the face of the once “Man of sorrow,” the face now of the Man of heaven’s glory.  H. Watts

Christ has “died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 10 This is our hope, not only to go to heaven, but to “live together with Him.” It is also Christ’s great desire that all his people “live together with Him.” Just before his death, Christ fervently prayed for his loved ones, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24 Christ is not going to be disappointed. He died upon The Cross of Calvary that we might “live together with him.”

He comes — for, oh; His yearning heart
No more can bear delay —
To scenes of full unmingled joy
To call His Bride away.

Our relationship with Christ is permanent. Many times he has told us, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Death severs our ties with dearest loved ones, but death has no power over our relationship with Christ. He is our God in life; our God in death; our God forever. The full realization of this relationship will be in heaven. Christ loves us now, and we rejoice in that love (see 1 Peter 1:8), but when we fellowship with him in heaven, we will know that love more clearly, fully, and blessedly. Heaven will be a home of perfect love and joy, and will continue forever. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:3,4

I will close this post with an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon’s sermon, The Throne of God and of the Lamb. “To loving hearts great is the bliss of heaven’s unbroken fellowship of saints: it will indeed be a great joy in heaven to see all who loved the Lord below. How happy we shall be when these blessed reunions take place. Still, I think that all of you will agree with me that the heaven of heaven is that we shall be “with Christ, which is far better” –that we shall behold his face and partake of his glory. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be the centre of our delights. To have reached home in the heavenly Father’s house, to have seen our Elder-brother, and to be sure that we shall abide with him and go no more out: oh, that is what we pant for! We long to hear his voice welcoming us to our new abode.”

image credit: juliejigsaw

One moment spent in fellowship with Jesus Christ is worth much more than a million years spent in the pursuit and pleasures of this dying world. How much better to live for eternity! Jesus himself asked, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36, 37) Men and women everywhere need to soberly reflect upon this question.

How many of us have our whole focus centered on this life, all the while neglecting our souls? We assume we will live for many years, and do not habitually prepare for death. We may be rich outwardly, yet our souls are “poor, miserable, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17) “If a man has Christ, he has all for eternity; and if he has not Christ, he is poor, and blind, and naked, and will be miserable for ever.” (Charles Spurgeon)

“There are two things that characterize the teachings of our Lord.  Number one is this: the worth, the infinite, heavenly, eternal worth of the soul.  And the second one: the transitory, temporal, ephemeral, ultimate worthlessness of everything else.” (Dr. W. A. Criswell) Christ knew perfectly well the value of the soul, and the value of the world; for he was the creator of both. The worth of the soul is evident from the price paid for its redemption. What was this price?

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:18,19)

All the treasures of the universe were not sufficient to pay the ransom. Hebrews 9: 22 says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” However, the sacrifice of no created being, no matter how exalted, would answer the purpose. “Would you then learn the worth of the soul, see it in the humiliation, sufferings, and death of the Son of God. See the Eternal Father giving up His Son, and laying upon him the sins of the world. See the Saviour voluntarily assuming our nature, becoming a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and submitting to the ignominy and agonies of the cross;— and remember all this was necessary for the redemption of the soul. Surely if the soul had not been of infinite value, this sacrifice  never would have been made.” (Bennet Tyler)

You and I shall live forever. We shall be praising God and the Lamb in Heaven, or uttering the groans and blasphemies of hell. Let me ask again, “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?“ ”One soul is precious. One soul is worth more than ten thousand worlds. One soul is worth all the wealth of the universe— and far more than that, but you trifle with God, and God shall require thy soul; it is an awful thing to fall into the hands of a sovereign and angry God, who shall consign men to Hell.”(Wayne Cox)

To close this, I will post an excerpt from a sermon by Dr. R. G. Lee (1886-1978). It is from his sermon, Paths of Disappointment, and based on Ecclesiastes 1:2. “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”

what shall it profit a man if…

What shall it profit a man if he be a great artist and know not Jesus, the one altogether lovely?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great architect and know not Jesus, the Chief Corner Stone?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great baker and know not Jesus, the Living Bread?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great banker and know not Jesus, the Priceless Possession?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great biologist and know not Jesus, the Life?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great builder and know not Jesus, the Sure Foundation?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great carpenter and know not Jesus, the Door?
What shall it profit a man if be be a great doctor and know not Jesus, the Great Physician?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great educator and know not Jesus, the Teacher?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great engineer and know not Jesus, the New and Living Way?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great farmer and know not Jesus, the Sower and Lord of Harvests?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great florist and know not Jesus, the Rose of Sharon?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great geologist and know not Jesus, the Rock of Ages?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great astronomer and know not Jesus, the Star of Bethlehem?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great horticulturist and know not Jesus, the True Vine?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great judge and know not Jesus, the Righteous judge?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great jurist and know not Jesus, the True Witness?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great jeweler and know not Jesus, the Pearl of Great Price?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great lawyer and know not Jesus, the Sinner’s Advocate?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great philanthropist and know not Jesus, the Unspeakable Gift?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great philosopher and know not Jesus, the Wisdom of God?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great sculptor and know not Jesus, the Living Stone?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great student and know not Jesus, the Incarnate Truth?
What shall it profit a man if he be a great sinner and know not Jesus, the Lamb of God?

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4

Christ is the appointed Savior of mankind and our eternal interests are wholly dependent upon Him. Our deliverance from the penalty and power of sin was accomplished for us, exclusively by the Savior himself, when he died upon The Cross. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4: 12. He finished all the work of redemption, bestows all the benefits, and is entitled to all the glory. Every hope which the Christian cherishes arises from this—Christ is All.

The whole misery of the guilty man, in time and in eternity, arises from his being without Christ. The whole security and comfort of the pardoned man, springs from his being in Christ. The whole blessedness of the glorified man, is comprised in the one fact, that he is with Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is himself the fountain of all blessings to the soul of man. Stephen Tyng

Christ is the great, sure, and abiding joy of his own people. He pardoned our sin, covered our guilt, vanquished death, and restored our fellowship with the Father. If we have nothing but Christ, we do not want for anything, for Christ is all. We may not have the wealth, health, gifts, employments, or honors that other men have, yet if Christ has given us himself, his blood to redeem us, his spirit to quicken us, his grace to renew us, and his peace to comfort us, we have all we need. “If a man has Christ, he has all for eternity; and if he has not Christ, he is poor, and blind, and naked, and will be miserable for ever.” (Spurgeon)

It is not what we are, not what we feel, or not what we can do, but it is what Christ has done, and what Christ is to us that blesses us. Let us have a higher view of Christ, that we may see him as all our satisfaction. Let us so know him that in our temptation, he may be our defense; in our darkness, our light; in sorrow, our joy; in despondency, our hope; in prayer and communion with God, in patient waiting upon and in active work for God, he may be our all and in all. These oft quoted words from a sermon by Edward Reynolds speak beautifully of the all-sufficiency of Christ:

All the good things that can be reckoned up here below, have only a finite and limited goodness: some can clothe, but cannot feed; others can nourish, but they cannot heal; others can enrich, but they cannot secure; others adorn, but cannot advance; all do serve, but none do satisfy; they are like a beggar’s coat made  up of many pieces, not all enough either to beautify or defend.

But Christ is full and sufficient for all his people, he ascended on high that he might fill all things (Eph. iv.10), that he might pour forth such abundance of Spirit on his church as might answer all the conditions, where-unto they may be reduced: righteousness enough to cover all their sins; plenty enough to supply all their wants; grace enough to subdue all their lusts; wisdom enough to resolve all their doubts; power enough to vanquish all their enemies; virtue enough to cure all their diseases; fullness enough to save them, and that to the uttermost.

Over and besides, there is in Christ something proportionable to all the wants and desires of his people: he is bread, wine, milk, living waters to feed them. (John vi. 55, 57). He is a garment of righteousness to cover and adorn them (Rom. xiii. 14); a physician to heal them (Matt. ix. 12); a counselor to advise them (Isaiah ix. 6); a captain to defend them (Heb. ii. 10); a prince to rule, a prophet to teach, a priest to make atonement for them, a husband to protect, a father to provide, a brother to relieve, a foundation to support, a root to quicken, a head to guide, a treasure to enrich, a sun to enlighten, and a fountain to cleanse: so that as the one ocean hath more water than all the rivers of the world, and one sun more light than all the luminaries in heaven, so one Christ is more all to a poor soul, than if it had the all of the whole world a thousand times over.   Edward Reynold

Christ alone is the object of our spiritual joy. We are united to Christ in whom all fullness dwells and we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings by God the Father in Christ.” see Ephesians 1:3. It is therefore our sweet privilege always to rejoice in Christ Jesus. If we search the scriptures, which testify of Christ; if we dwell much in meditation on his person, his offices, his blood, his righteousness, his intercession; we shall perceive never-failing springs of joy. “The great duty believers owe to Christ, is, to glory in him, and to make their boast of him; therefore he is made all in all to us, that whoso glories, may glory in the Lord.” (Matthew Henry)

Photo Credit: Tigr

O, how amazing it is, that the great God of heaven should give us a place in His family. From this time forward, we who were at enmity with God, are mutually allied to Him, and counted among His children. We were infinitely distant from Him, and were among those who “had no hope” and were “without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12) Who are we, that the glorious Jehovah, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, should manifest His grace to us!

It is the unspeakable privilege of the Christian to approach God, not as an angry Judge, but as a kind and loving Father. Sinful men are by nature children of wrath. Upon our receiving Christ Jesus, by faith, as our Lord and Saviour, we are taken into the special favor of God.  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. John 1:12 We are no longer strangers and enemies, but children, and all the dealings of God with us are paternal dealings. As His children we are loved, taught, governed, corrected, protected, helped, and provided for by Him.

As soon as we come to God through Christ, we become members of God’s very own family and receive something of the nature and life of God Himself. We are transformed people and a new creation. We are born again. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 God the Father receives our homage and worship when we approach Him through Christ Jesus His Son. We who were doomed and damned in our sins, and alienated from God, have been brought near to Him by the blood of Christ.

Writing of the Father’s love, A.W. Pink said, “Consider  and adore the nature and extent, the marvel and magnitude, the uniqueness and superlative excellence of that love. It is in marked contrast, both in character and in greatness, with all other. It is incomparable, transcendent, infinite. Its cause is inexplicable; its effects are most glorious…Love is especially sensitive: ‘God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us‘ (Romans 5:8) …We are invited to look upon and admire the Father’s love in its infinite condescension, in its gratuitous character, in its blessed application.”

The love expressed by this name, Father, has no parallel. It had no beginning and it will have no ending. It is from everlasting to everlasting and is unchangeable. Whenever God’s children hear the name Father, it should excite in them thankfulness for His everlasting affection. He cannot cease to be a Father, and they cannot cease to be His children. His name is a security to them, that they cannot perish. He has pledged, by promise and oath, to love, to bless, and to keep them forever. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. John 10: 27-30

Jesus himself is the supreme proof of the Father’s love. From eternity, and out of His free and unchanging grace, the Father appointed His Son to be our Saviour. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.1 John 4:9,10. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” “Christ is the very image of God’s love. He is love itself incarnate. His coming into the world, and dying for us, is proof and evidence the most affecting and overwhelming.”

Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us!

abba, Father! we adore thee

Image credits: kelsey_lovefusionphoto, Sultry

If the Lord were to act according to man’s deserving, there would be no interval, and no end of his judgments. “The imagination of man’s heart being evil from his youth” –no threatenings, no terrors, no floods of wrath, can purge away his guilt, or change and amend his nature. But where judgment is impotent, grace may prevail.

There [was] Blood shed which cleanses from all sin, and a Word of reconciliation preached, effectual to save the chief of sinners. For the shedding of that precious Blood, –for the preaching of that blessed Word, –the world is to be spared until the end come. There is to be no more any violent shock of nature, or universal destruction of life. The earth is to stand secure during all the remainder of its appointed days; and the seasons are not to cease.

But though its course is to be no more broken in the middle, it is to have a sudden and terrible termination at the last. The judgment of flood is but the type of the still more awful judgment of fire. The earth saved from water is reserved for fire. By both elements, –by the baptism both of water and of fire, –it must be purged before it can be fitted for the habitation of the Lord and His redeemed.

Meanwhile, the Lord is preparing a stronghold, an ark of safety. It is the ark of his everlasting covenant, to which all that will believe may flee. Their baptism, rightly improved as a figure of the salvation in which they believe (1 Peter 3:21), –uniting them to the Lord Jesus Christ and making them one with him in his death and in his rising again,–shuts them in within a covering of atoning righteousness, which no judgment can touch. In this ark, or in other words, in Christ, –they are now dead; they are buried; though still they have a hidden life, –a life hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). To the world, they may seem as fond and foolish as did Noah when he entered into his ark, and “the Lord shut him in.”

The men of the world, living at ease because all things continue as they were, may marvel and rage, when they see any of us, who once were of the world, moved by a wary fear of coming wrath, seriously to betake ourselves to the only hiding-place. But let us hear the word of the Lord: “Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers,” –the chambers prepared, made ready and set wide open for you, in the Lord’s ark, which is his Christ, his anointed one,–”enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth” (Isaiah 26:20). And who then may stand? Where shall the ungodly appear? Shut in, imprisoned, with no door of escape, while fire is devouring the earth!

But let the Lord hide us now. Let him shut us up into Christ’s blessed gospel of reconciliation; –let him shut us up into Christ himself. Let him separate us from an evil world, and make us to feel what it is to be “buried with Christ by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Then, although the elements should melt with fervent heat, and this earth and these heavens should be dissolved, we, in Christ, shall be hidden in security, floating in air above the fiery storm. And, finally, as the judgment passes away, an olive branch will be brought to us from the renovated world; –and in the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, we shall dwell for ever with the Lord, and offer the sacrifices of praise continually.

from Contributions towards the exposition of the book of Genesis

Prayer is a precious privilege to be enjoyed.

What! Is it no privilege to have a door of access
ever open to God? Is it no privilege when the
burden crushes, to cast it upon One who has
promised to sustain?

When the corruptions of an unsanctified nature
are strong, and temptations thicken–is prayer
no privilege then?

And when perplexed to know the path of duty,
and longing to walk complete in all the will of
God, and, as a child, fearing to offend a loving
Father–is it then no privilege to have a throne
of grace, an open door of hope?

When the world is slowly stealing upon the heart;
or when that heart is wounded through the
unkindness of friends; or is bleeding under severe
bereavement–is it then no privilege to go and tell
Jesus?

Say, you poor, you needy, you tried, you tempted
souls! Say, if prayer is not the most precious and
splendid privilege this side heaven!

Cease to pray, and…

your grace withers,
your vigor decays,
your comfort dies.

“Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the
throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and
may find grace for help in time of need.” Heb. 4:16

-Octavius Winslow, “Evening Thoughts”

Image credit: One From RM

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17, 18

the world passeth away

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. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 John 2:15-17

The world’s pleasures are only for a transient period. Everything which men of the world lust after, and are so desirous of, is passing away. God has created us to find our happiness in himself alone. Love of the world must necessarily produce dissatisfaction and ruin. On the other hand, those who are in Christ have solid joys, considerable pleasures, riches which are durable and will outlast the world. They have an eternal inheritance; an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them. The saints who now reside in heaven are done with the pleasures of the world. They have found something far more satisfying and replenishing. Their desire is to know more of the glory of God.

Look into the lives of men in general, and you will see that visible and temporal things appear to them the most important; unseen and eternal things the most trifling. They spend their days laying up for years to come, but take no thought for eternity. When men die, they must pass through “the gate of eternity.” The righteous man puts off the body with all its cares, temptations, and sorrows; his soul ascends to God and enters into everlasting rest, security, and joy. The sinner likewise changes temporal things for eternal things; but it is for torment and misery. The misery of hell is eternal. Our Lord, describing the day of judgment says, “The wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.“

Like a flower. Beautiful, very beautiful; fragrant, very fragrant, are the summer flowers. But they wither away. So fades the world from before our eyes. While we are looking at it, and admiring it, behold, it is gone! No trace is left of all its loveliness but a little dust! O man, can you feed on flowers? Can you dote on that which is but for an hour? You were made for eternity; and only that which is eternal can be your portion or your resting place. The things that perish with the using only mock your longings. They cannot fill you; and even if they filled, they cannot abide. Mortality is written on all things here; immortality belongs only to the world to come,-to that new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Like a ship at sea. With all its sails set, and a fresh breeze blowing, the vessel comes into sight, passes before our eye in the distance, and then disappears. So comes, so goes, so vanishes away this present world, with all that it contains. A few hours within sight, then gone! The wide sea o’er which it sailed as calm or as stormy as before; no trace anywhere of all the life or motion or beauty which was passing over it! O man, is that vanishing world thy only dwelling-place? Are all thy treasures, thy hopes, thy joys laid up there? Where will all these be when thou goest down to the tomb? Or where wilt thou be when these things leave thee, and thou art stripped of all the inheritance which thou art ever to have for eternity? It is a poor heritage at the best, and its short duration makes it poorer still. Oh, choose the better part, which shall not be taken from thee!

THE WORLD PASSETH AWAY. This is the message from heaven. All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field.
THE WORLD PASSETH AWAY. But God ever liveth. He is from everlasting to everlasting; the King eternal and immortal.
THE WORLD PASSETH AWAY. But man is immortal. Eternity lies before each son of Adam as the duration of his lifetime. In light or in darkness for ever! In joy or in sorrow for ever!
THE WORLD PASSETH AWAY. What then? This is the question that so deeply concerns man. If the world is to vanish away, and man is to live for ever, of what importance is it to know where and what we are to be for ever! Horatius Bonar

treasures in Christ

It is the duty of all men to keep their hearts in heaven. Jesus commanded, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6: 19-21 Let us set our hearts upon Him who remains faithful forever.

Our Savior exhorted his disciples not to labor to be rich, not to set their hearts on the world. “He exhorts us rather to lay up our treasures in heaven. What does He mean by this? A treasure signifies something that is laid up and preserved with care for a future day. In a larger sense it signifies any riches, temporal or spiritual, which men regard as their portion. The meaning of the injunction is, Neither seek overgrown estates, nor regard your worldly possessions as your chief good; but seek first and most earnestly the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof.

Secure for yourselves the happiness of heaven, and consider God, and the light of His countenance, and the graces of His Spirit, as your most valuable treasure. Make them the supreme object of your desire and pursuit. Value as your treasure those perfections and manifestations of God which are called “the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,” “the riches of his glory,” “the riches of his goodness,” “the exceeding riches of his grace,” “the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

Esteem the service of God your wealth, and count the very reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Value as a treasure all the graces of the Spirit; not only the “riches of the full assurance of understanding,” but “the full assurance of hope.” Secure for yourselves that heavenly country which Abraham sought and found, that “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” that “better and  enduring substance” which is “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” This is the treasure in heaven…

If you consider heavenly things your chief riches, if you have, and know you have, stores of eternal happiness laid up for you above,—your heart will follow your treasure; your love, your desire, your care, your joy, trust, hope, and fear will center in God. Your soul will tend heavenward, and will keep heaven in its eye, as men are inclined to watch diligently their most valuable treasure. But, if your treasure is on earth, if you consider worldly things your chief good,—then your thoughts, your desires, your cares, joys, hopes, and fears will be earthly.” (Edward Dorr Griffin)

i will never leave thee

In Hebrews 13:5, God gives us a commandment and a promise, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” It is easy to talk of contentment in the day of health and prosperity; very few of us can remain content in the midst of poverty, sickness, disappointments, trouble, and losses.

Contentment is learned at the feet of Jesus Christ. He who has God for his friend and heaven for his home, can wait for good things, and be content with little here below. God gave us this sweet promise, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” I, the eternal Father, the mighty God, the King of kings, “will never leave thee.” The English language fails to give the full meaning of the Greek. It implies, “never—no, never—no, nor ever!” Earthly good things leave us. Health, money, property, friendship; all make themselves wings, and fly away. They are here today, and gone tomorrow. But God says, “I will never leave thee.“

The relationship between Christ and the sinner that trusts in him never ends. The apostle Paul said, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38, 39 Truly, God will never leave us. Let every believer grasp these words, and store them up in his heart. Keep them ready, and have them fresh in your memory; you will want them one day.

The great truth upon which Paul constantly dwelt, and which was to him spiritual meat and drink, was Christ and His salvation. The things of Christ are what is meant by things unseen and eternal. Paul loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and the thought of Christ gave him indescribable comfort. He declares ‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.’ ‘And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.’

But how is it that the unseen Christ gives such comfort and strength and joy? In the first place because He reminds us of the wonderful love of God which has been manifested through Him. We should never grow weary of hearing the great truth, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.’ What a marvellous assurance He brought of divine love for fallen man! This love doubtless could only have been appreciated by us when conveyed through Christ.

Looking at the troubles of life, at our perishing and afflicted bodies, at the disappointments and sorrows connected with this world, who can rejoice or be satisfied? But looking at the unseen Christ and seeing Him as Paul did, who can sorrow? Is there not in Him the promise of all things? Is He not afflicted in all our afflictions? Are we required in the line of God’s providences to endure anything He has not endured? Does He not know the way and is He not able to guide us through all life’s perplexities? Has He not secured for us a right to the Tree of Life; and is He not the door through which we may go into the very presence of God and into the glories of heaven? What greater feast can be partaken of, or what higher joy than that which faith secures in the Lord Jesus Christ? John Craig Havemeyer

Put your all in Christ; set all your affections on His person, all your hope in His merit, all your trust in His efficacious blood, and all your joy in His presence. Join your heart to Him who will never leave you. Trust all your concerns to Him who can never be taken from you, who will never leave you, even Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

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Earnestly Contend for the Faith

God has appointed the Church to be the pillar and ground of the truth. All revealed truth is in His Word. The preservation of the divine Word in its purity is a vital matter. Nothing may be added to the Word; nothing may be taken away from the Word. “The message comes from God, clothed with divine authority, unerringly true, and infinitely important. We are not at liberty to alter, to modify, to add or take away a jot or tittle, but are to receive the whole in the filial spirit of faith and obedience.” Rev. Silas Aiken

The Church has a living faith, which was delivered by Christ and his apostles.  No other faith will ever be given. It has been once-for-all delivered to the saints. It is the foundation upon which the believer is built up, and is summed up in Him who is the Christ, the eternal Son of the Living God. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

Jude tells us to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” We must stand up for the faith like true soldiers of Jesus Christ. “The ‘Church of God’ itself, in its full sense, is a company of persons called out by the Holy Spirit from among the rest of mankind, banded together for the holy purpose of the defense and the propagation of the Truth.” (Charles Spurgeon) Paul says in Philippians, “Standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.” (Phil. 1:27-28)

[Faithful Christians] who still believe in the authenticity and authority of the Word of God, the only radical and adequate cure for the wrong thinking which has turned the world awry, must stand together, strive together…We must stand for the glory of the Name which is above every name, the Name of him whose supernatural Virgin birth and spotless life and atoning death and glorious resurrection and coming again to judge the world, are the high points of the once for all delivered faith—the Acropolis of revelation, toward which all lines of Scriptures lead. Marcus Brownson

In the Christian warfare we have to contend with error and sin. These are formidable enemies. Many false teachers have crept into the church and endeavor to undermine the Christian faith. “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4) We have been given orders to preserve the truth from these seducers and false teachers. The keeping of the truth and purity of doctrine is not simply committed to ministers, or other church leaders, but to saints, i.e., to the whole body of believers in Christ.

Most of the false doctrine in the world has been suggested by those whose very office it is to preach the truth. Hence the truth is not trusted to the ministry; it is based and pillared upon the whole church. The poor old bedridden sister who sings of Jesus’ everlasting love is quite as much a defender of the faith as an archbishop, and perhaps more: the unlettered peasant, who knows the doctrines of grace by deep experience, and hence will never let them go, is as true a guardian of the gospel treasure as the most profound scholar; and perhaps far more so. The whole of you who really love God are set for the maintenance of the truth in the world. Under God the Holy Spirit the cause of truth depends upon you; you are its pillar and its basement.          Charles Spurgeon

The Voice of Truth

The Church is the voice and trumpet of truth to a fallen world. This is God’s means of retaining the doctrine of the Cross on earth, and preventing its perishing from the memory of a forgetful world. When the Church is silent, heresy and sin desolate the fold. In different periods of history, various deviations from the faith have actually prevailed. And possibly future seasons may yet arise, when truth shall appear to have fallen in the streets.

What, then, is to sustain the doctrine of Christ in such conflicts? what to be the Stay in the disastrous retreat? what to be the Pillar in the midst of these ruins? what to be the Ground unmoved in the overthrow? Does not God still maintain the truth in the hearts of his faithful people, however it may be obscured by prevalent error and corruption?

Does he not say to them—his witnesses among men—as he said to the ancient Prophet, Behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and a brazen wall against the whole land: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord? (Jeremiah 1:18-19) Here, then, is still the pillar and ground of the Truth. Here, to change the metaphor, the Church, more particularly as the guardian of holy Scripture, still attracts, as a beacon placed upon a hill, the eye of the wandering traveler; or as the friendly fire of the light-house, directs the mariner across the deep. Charles McIlvaine

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head; the Church is his body. Without him we can do nothing. He is the Rock upon which the Church is built, and the Power which enables her to do effective work in the great conflict between good and evil. We must always cling to him, as our only Rock of Refuge, in the storms we are sure to encounter in this world.  As the Good Shepherd, he never deserts the feeblest portion of his flock, who hold fast his truth, and walk in his statutes, and fulfill their true mission. He has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5

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