Holy war! (Winslow, "The Cross of Christ, the Christian's Weapon") "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb." The weapon that is to conquer the world for Christ, is to conquer the world of evil in our hearts; and, wielded by the arm of faith, is to vanquish and overcome all the spiritual opposition by which our path to heaven is intercepted. We are to overcome, as these martyrs overcame, by the blood of the Lamb. Heavenly and invincible is this weapon. No foe can cope with it. No opposition can resist it. No confederacy overcome it. Feeble though the arm may be that wields it, the blood of Jesus, as both an offensive and defensive weapon, is all powerful and irresistible in our holy war. Whatever may be the foe with whom you wage this holy war, whatever the obstacle to your advance in the divine life; faith, looking to the blood of Jesus, wielding the cross of Christ, drawing its supplies from the resources of Christ, will enroll you among those who overcome by the blood of the Lamb! ------------------------------------------------This inward conflict(Philpot, "The Knowledge of Good and Evil" 1845)"I know that nothing good lives in methat is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is goodbut I cannot carry it out." Romans 7:18Now it is this which makes the Lord's people such a burdened peoplethat makes them so oppressed in their souls as to cry out against themselves daily, and sometimes hourlythat they are what they arethat they would be spiritual, yet are carnalthat they would be holy, yet are unholythat they would have sweet communion with Jesus, yet have such sensual alliance with the things of time and sensethat they would be Christians in word, thought, and deed; yet, in spite of all, they feel their carnal mind, their wretched depravity intertwining, interlacing, gushing forthcontaminating with its polluted stream everything without and withinso as to make them sigh, groan, and cry being burdened, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24He would not be entangled in these snares for ten thousand worldshe hates the evils of his heart, and mourns over the corruptions of his nature. They make the tear fall from his eye, and the sob to heave from his bosomthey make him a wretched manand fill him day after day with sorrow, bitterness, and anguish.None but a saved soul, under divine teaching, can see this eviland mourn and sigh under the depravity, the corruption, the unbelief, the carnality, the wickedness, and the deceitfulness of his evil heart. This inward conflict, this sore grief, this internal burden, that all the family of God are afflicted withis an evidence that the life and grace of God are in their bosoms. "Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord! So you see how it isin my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin." Rom. 7:25-------------------------------------------------The secret of our growth in grace(Octavius Winslow, "The Lord's Prayer" 1866)"May Your will be done." Matthew 6:10The great secret of all quietness and contentednessof mind under all circumstances, is in the resignation of our own will to God's will.The moment there arises in the breast the least hostility to what God does, or enjoins, there is unhappiness.The cheerful doing and the patient suffering of our Father's will resolves itself into perfect satisfaction with all that He does. This is . . . the daily lesson of life, the secret of our growth in grace, the essence of our personal holiness."May Your will be done!" This is the most solemn prayer it is possible for man to breathe.-------------------------------------------------When You shall enlarge my heart.(Philpot, "Divine Enlargement and Spiritual Obedience")"I will run the way of Your commandments, when You shall enlarge my heart." Psalm 119:32The Word of God is full of precepts, but we are totally unable to perform them in our own strength. We cannot, without divine assistance, perform the precept . . . with a single eye to the glory of God, from heavenly motives, and in a way acceptable to the Lord, without special power from on high. We need a extraordinary power to be put forth in our hearts, a special work of the Spirit upon the conscience, in order to spiritually fulfill in the slightest degree, theleast of God's commandments. None but the Lord Himself can enlarge the heart of His people. None but the Lord can expand their hearts Godwards, and remove that narrowedness and contractedness in divine things, which is the plague and burden of a God fearing soul. When the Lord is absent, when He hides His lovely face, when He does not draw near to visit and bless, the heart contracts in its own narrow compass.But when the Lord is pleased to favor the soul with His own gracious presence, and bring Himself near to the heart, His felt presence opens, enlarges, and expands the soul, so as to receive Him in all His love and grace. -------------------------------------------------One simple test (by J. C. Ryle)"Lord, You know all things." John 21:17There is something unspeakably solemn in the thought that the Lord Jesus knows all things. There is an eye that sees all our daily conduct. There is an ear that hears all our daily words. All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him, with whom we have to do. Concealment is impossible. Hypocrisy is useless. We may deceive ministers. We may fool our family and neighbors. But the Lord sees us through and through. We cannot deceive Christ!We ought to endeavor to make practical use of this truth. We should strive to live as in the Lord's sight, and, like Abraham, to "walk before Him." Let it be our daily aim . . . to say nothing we would not like Christ to hear; and to do nothing we would not like Christ to see. Let us measure every difficult question as to right and wrong by one simple test, "How would I behave, if Jesus was standing by my side?" Such a standard is not extravagant and absurd. It is a standard that interferes with no duty or relation of life. It interferes with nothing but sin. Happy is he that tries to realize his Lord's presence, and to do all and say all as unto Christ.-------------------------------------------------The daily business of a Christian(William Plumer, "Vital Godliness: A Treatise on Experimental and Practical Piety" 1864)The daily business of a Christian is to . . . resist the devil, deny himself, overcome the world, crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, imitate Christ, walk with God.-------------------------------------------------THE PRETENDER!-Spurgeon, "Secret Sins""THE FOLLY OF SECRET SINS"Pretender, you are fair to look upon; your conduct outwardlyupright, amiable, liberal, generous and Christian--but you indulge in some sin which the eye of man has not yetdetected. But, pretender, we say unto you, you are a fool to think ofharboring a secret sin; and you are a fool for this one reason,that your sin is not a secret sin- 'it is known' and shall oneday be revealed; perhaps very soon.Your sin is not a secret!The eye of God has seen it!You have sinned before his face!You have shut the door, and drawn the curtains, and kept outthe eye of the sun, but God's eye pierces through thedarkness!The brick walls which surrounded you were astransparent as glassto the eye of the Almighty! The darkness which did gird you was as bright as thesummer's noon to the eye of him who beholds all things. Don't you know, O man, that "all things are naked and opento the eyes of him with whom we have to do?"As the priest ran his knife into the entrails of his victim,discovered the heart and liver, and whatever else did liewithin, so are you, O man, seen by God, cut open by theAlmighty!You have no secret chamber where you can hide yourself.You have no dark cellar where you can conceal your soul.Dig deep, yes, deep as hell, but you cannot find earth enoughupon the globe to cover your sin. If you should heap themountains on its grave, those mountains would tell the taleof what was buried in their bowels.If you could cast your sin into the sea,a thousand babbling waves would tell the secret out.There is no hiding it from God!Your sin is photographed in high heaven!The deed when it was done was photographed upon the sky,and there it shall remain, and you shall see yourself one dayrevealed to the gazing eyes of all men--a hypocrite, a pretender, who sinned in fancied secret,observed in all your acts by the all-seeing Jehovah.O what fools men are, to think they can do anything in secret!This world is like the 'glass hives' wherein bees sometimeswork-- we look down upon them, and we see all theoperations of the little creatures.So God looks down on us and sees all.Our eyes are weak; we cannot look through the darkness.But his eye, like an orb of fire, penetrates the blackness, andreads the thoughts of man, and sees his acts when he thinkshimself most concealed.Oh! it were a thought enough to curb us from all sin, if itwere truly applied by us-"You, God, see me!"-------------------------------------------------The right way for a Christian to liveis to do what his Master bids him,leaving all consequences to the Almighty.If I am willing to do what God tells me,as he tells me, when he tells me, andbecause he tells me, I shall not turnback in the day of battle.-Spurgeon -------------------------------------------------The image and reflection of Christ! (From Winslow's, "A Full Christ for Empty Sinners") As Christ is taken into our hearts by faith, He becomes a part of our moral nature, an integrated element of our spiritual being. Consequently we grow Christ-like, or rather, Christ grows in us. We become more holy, more meek, more gentle, more humble; in a word, the image of our Lord is more developed in us, and we grow less man-like and more God-like; and the quietness of our spirit, and the courtesy of our demeanor, and the lowliness of our minds, and the gentle, winning sweetness of our whole carriage and speech are but the image and reflection of Christ! ------------------------------------------------Called to a holy life...Those whom the Savior saved upon the tree arein due time effectually called by the power ofGod the Holy Spirit unto holiness-- they leave their sins,they endeavor to be like Christ,they choose holiness--not out of any compulsion, but from the stress of a newnature, which leads them to rejoice in holiness,just as naturally as beforetime they delighted in sin. He called them that they might be holy, and holinessis the beauty produced by His workmanship in them.The excellences which we see in a believerare as much the work of God as the atonement itself.-Thomas Watson-------------------------------------------------Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.Christ will be master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. If your life is unholy, then your heart isunchanged, and you are an unsaved person. The Savior will sanctify His people, renew them,give them a hatred of sin, and a love of holiness. The grace that does not make a man betterthan others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His people,not IN their sins,but FROM their sins. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.-Spurgeon -------------------------------------------------Every worldly Christian-Spurgeon, "Travailing for Souls"Every worldly Christian hinders the progress of thegospel-- Every member of a church who is living in secretsin, who is tolerating in his heart any thing that he knows tobe wrong, who is not seeking eagerly his own personalsanctification, is to that extent hindering the work of theSpirit of God. For to the extent that we maintain known unholiness, werestrain the Spirit. He cannot work by us as long as anyconscious sin is tolerated.It is not over breaking of commandments that I am nowspeaking of, brethren, but I include 'worldliness' also--a care for carnal things, and a carelessness about spiritualthings; having enough grace just to make us hope that youare a Christian, but not enough to prove you are;bearing a shriveled apple here and there on the topmostbough, but not much fruit; this I mean, this 'partialbarrenness'-- not complete enough to condemn,yet complete enough to restrain the blessing, this robsthe treasure of the church, and hinders her progress. -------------------------------------------------
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Excelsior!Spurgeon, "Christ's People- Imitators of Him"The fact that perfection is beyond our reach,should not diminish the fervor of our desire after it.The Christian man; though he feels he never can mount to theheights of complete excellence, and perceives that he never canon earth become the exact image of Christ, still holds it upbefore him, and measures his own deficiencies by the distancebetween himself and Jesus.This will he do; forgetting all he has attained, he will pressforward, crying, 'Excelsior!' going upwards still, desiring to beconformed more and more to the image of Christ Jesus!
Good challenging articles about holiness, obedience, hypocrisy, worldliness etc...such things that most Christians nowadays do not want to hear about.They don't want to hear about them because it challenges their comfort zone.It might mean we are actually accountable to God, and we are.More please!ThanksGod bless.
enid wrote:Good challenging articles about holiness, obedience, hypocrisy, worldliness etc...such things that most Christians nowadays do not want to hear about.They don't want to hear about them because it challenges their comfort zone.It might mean we are actually accountable to God, and we are.More please!ThanksGod bless.
Have you, my reader, wept for sin? The following is from Octavius Winslow's sermon, "The Disciple Washing Christ's Feet, or, The Service of Love" "A certain immoral woman heard Jesus was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them." Luke 7:37-38 Those tears! who can analyze them? Where shall we find pearls so priceless, or stones so precious and of fairer colors? She washed Christ's feet with the tears of penitence. There are no tears in Christ's view more costly or precious than these. This woman was poor in spirit, humble and contrite, and as she stood behind her sin forgiving Savior, her tears of godly sorrow for sin rained fast upon his feet. Have you, my reader, wept for sin? Does the recollection of past transgression make you sorry? Does the memory of the sins of your youth, the transgressions of riper years, the sinful infirmities of old age, humble you in the dust? Holier and more precious tears were never shed than those wept for having sinned against God at Christ's feet.
If you do not turn...by Spurgeon-There is grace for the man who quits his sin,but there is tribulation and wrath upon every manwho continues in evil."If you do not turn, he will whet his sword;he has bent his bow, and made it ready."The gospel is all tenderness to the repenting,but all terror to the obstinate offender.It has pardon for the very chief of sinners,and mercy for the vilest of the vile,if they will forsake their sins.But it is according to our gospel that if a person goes on inhis iniquity, he shall be cast into hell, and he that believesnot shall be damned.With deep love to the souls of men, I bear witness to thetruth that he who does not turn with repentance and faithto Christ, shall go away into punishment as everlasting asthe life of the righteous.
Oh, how changed a man is he now! (Octavius Winslow)"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new!" 2 Corinthians 5:17Originally shaped in iniquity, and conceived in sin--the love of sin and the hatred of holiness are born with us.But when by the Holy Spirit we are born again, thisoriginal and natural love of sin and hatred of holinessare reversed! A new and heavenly principle is implantedwhich leads the regenerate to hate sin and love holiness.Now, it is in this divine principle that the love of holinessin the believer is implanted--and a power in antagonismto sin is implanted in his heart.What a reverse now transpires!The regenerate now love what they oncehated--and hate what they once loved!We loved sin, lived in sin, in some of its many forms . . . intellectual sin, gross sin, refined sin, open sin, secret sin, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life, the power of Mammon, the fascination of the world, the idolatry of the creature, the love of SELF.Some, or all these forms of sin maintained the supremacy, and held their unbroken, undisputed rule. Oh, how changed a man is he now! The sins which he once committed, the objects which he once loved, the tastes which he once cultivated, the sensualities in which he once indulged, have lost their power . . . to fascinate, to please, to enthrall.
Afflictions-brooksAll the afflictions which attend the people of God, are such as shall turn to their profit and glorious advantage. Afflictions discover that filthiness and vileness in sin, which the soul has never yet seen.Afflictions contribute to the mortifying and purging away of their sins. Afflictions are God's furnace, by which he cleanses His people from their dross. Affliction is a fire to purge out our dross, and to make virtue shine.Afflictions are medicines which heal soul diseases. Colds and frosts destroy vermin; so do afflictions destroy the corruptions which are in our hearts. The Jews, under all the prophet's thunderings, retained their idols; but after their Babylonish captivity, there have been no idols found among them.Afflictions are sweet preservatives to keep the saints from sinwhich is a greater evil than hell itself. Afflictions assist to make us more fruitful in holiness. 'But He afflicts us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.' The flowers smell sweetest after a shower; vines bear the better fruit, after pruning. Saints spring and thrive most internally when they are most externally afflicted. Afflictions are called by some 'the mother of virtue.' Manasseh's chain was more profitable to him than his crown. Luther could not understand some Scriptures until he was in affliction. God's house of correction is his school of instruction. All the stones that hit Stephen's head, did but knock him closer to Christ, the corner-stone. Afflictions lift up the soul to more rich, clear, and full enjoyments of God. God makes afflictions to be but inlets to the soul's more sweet and full enjoyment of His blessed self. Christians, by their afflictions, gain more experience of the power of God supporting them, of the wisdom of God directing them, of the grace of God refreshing and cheering them, and of the goodness of God quieting and quickening of them to a greater love to holiness, and to a greater delight in holiness, and to a more vehement pursuing after holiness.Afflictions keep the hearts of the saints humble and tender. Prosperity does not contribute more to the puffing up the soul, than adversity does to the bowing down of the soul. This the saints by experience find; and therefore they can kiss and embrace the cross, as others do the world's crown. The more the purest spices are beaten and bruisedthe sweeter scent and fragrance they send abroad. So do saints when they are afflicted.Afflictions bring the saints nearer to God, and to make them more importunate and earnest in prayer with God. Afflictions revive and recover decayed graces; they inflame that love which is cold, and they quicken that faith which is decaying, and they put life into those hopes which are withering, and spirits into those joys and comforts which are languishing. Most men are like a top, which will not go unless you whip it, and the more you whip it the better it goes. You know how to apply it. Those who are in adversity do better understand Scriptures. The more saints are beaten with the hammer of afflictions, the more they are made the trumpets of God's praises, and the more are their graces revived and quickened. Adversity abases the loveliness of the world which strives to entice us; it abates the lustiness of the flesh within, which strives to incite us to folly and vanity.The afflictions which attend the saints in the ways of holiness, are but short and momentary. 'Sorrow may abide for a nightbut joy comes in the morning' (Psalm 30:5). This short storm will end in an everlasting calm; this short night will end in a glorious day, that shall never have end. It is but a very short time between grace and glory; between our title to the crown and our wearing the crown; between our right to the heavenly inheritance and our possession of the heavenly inheritance. What is our life but a shadow, a bubble, a flower, a runner, a span, a dream? It will be but as a day before God will give his afflicted ones beauty for ashes, the oil of gladness for the spirit of heaviness; before he will turn all your sighing into singing, all your lamentations into consolations, your sackcloth into silks, ashes into ointments, and your fasts into everlasting feasts!There are none of God's afflicted ones, who have not their intermissions and respites while under their short and momentary afflictions. When God's hand is on your back, let your hand be on your mouth, for though the affliction be sharp, it shall be but short.It is mercy that our affliction is not executionbut a correction. He who has deserved hanging, may be glad if he escapes with a whipping. God's corrections are our instructions, His lashes are our lessons, His scourges are our schoolmasters, His chastisements are our admonitions.
The sweetest joys are from the sourest tears-brooksSin is a turning the back upon Godand the facetowards hell. Repentance is a turning the back upon sinand a setting the face towards God!True repentance is a sorrowing for sin because it is offensive to God. Peter was sorry for his sin; Judas was sorry his for punishment. Peter grieves because Christ was grieved; Judas grieved because he would be damned.As Noah's flood drowned his nearest and his dearestfriends, so the flood of penitent tears drowns men's nearest and their dearest lusts! Be they Isaacs or Benjamins, be they right eyes or right hands, true repentance puts all to the sword; it spares neither father nor mother, neither Agag nor Achan.Repentance is a turning from all sin, without any reservation or exception. One stab at the heart kills, one hole in the ship sinks her, one act of treason makes a traitor. Just so, one sin not forsaken, not turned from, will undo a soul forever.A true penitent looks upon every sin as poison, as the vomit of a dog, as the mire of the street, as the menstruous cloth, which of all things in the law was most unclean, defiling, and polluting. He looks thus upon every sin, turns his heart against every sin, and makes him not only to refrain from sinbut to forsake it, and to loathe it more than hell. True repentance breaks the heart with sighs, sobs, and groansthat . . . a loving Father is offended, a blessed Savior crucified, and the sweet Comforter grieved. Penitent Mary Magdalene weeps much, as well as lovesmuch. Tears, instead of jewels, were the ornaments of penitent David's bed. Surely that sweet singer never sang more melodiously, than when his heart was broken most penitentially.The sweetest joys are from the sourest tears; penitent tears are the breeders of spiritual joy. The bee gathers the best honey off the bitterest herbs. Christ made the best wine of water; the strongest, the purest, the truest, the most permanent, and the most excellent joy is made of the waters of repentance."Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy." Psalm 126:5
A heaven unto me!-brooksThat knowledge which accompanies salvation, is aheart-affecting knowledge. It affects the heart with Christ, and all spiritual things. Oh, it does wonderfully endear Christ and the things of Christ to the soul."Oh, feed me with Your loveYour 'raisins' and Your'apples'for I am utterly lovesick!" Song 2:5 "Oh," says the spouse, "my heart is taken with Christ, it is ravished with His love; my soul is burning, my soul is beating towards Christ. Oh, none but Christ, none but Christ! I cannot live in myself, I cannot live in my duties, I cannot live in external privileges, I cannot live in outward mercies; I can live only in Christ, who is . . . my life, my love, my joy, my crown, my all in all. Oh, the more I come to know Him . . . in His natures, in His names, in His offices, in His discoveries, in His visits, in His beauties, the more I find my heart and affections to prize Christ, to run after Christ, to be affected with Christ, and to be wonderfully endeared to Christ!Oh, God forbid that my heart should be affected or taken with anything in comparison with Christ. The more I know Him, the more I love Him; the more I know Him, the more I desire Him; the more I know Him, the more my heart is knit unto Him. His beauty is captivating, His love is ravishing, His goodness is attracting, His manifestations are enticing, His person is enamoring,His lovely looks please me, His pleasant voice delights me, His precious Spirit comforts me, His holy word rules me; All these things make Christ to be a heaven unto me!Oh, but all that mere notional knowledge, that speculative knowledge, which leaves a man short of salvationnever affects the heart; it never draws it, it never endears the heart to Christ, or to the precious things of Christ. Hence it is that such men, under all their notions, under all their light and knowledge, have . . . no affection to Christ, no delight in Christ, no workings of heart after Christ. "If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed." 1 Corinthians 16:22