Tried With Fire

I am currently in an anxious frame of mind. I'm probably fearing what will not come to pass, but it's still a struggle. It doesn't help that a potential change in my life is dredging up feelings from the past. I'm a very different person in a very different situation from then, but anxiety is a gut response. This visceral reaction kicks in even though my rational, cognitive brain is telling me otherwise.  I happened upon this sermon by my favorite dead theologian, Charles Spurgeon, which address the root of my fear - that I am alone in my struggles with no one to look after me. Therefore, it's all up to me. I must be my own deliverer and helper. I know objectively this isn't true, but it needs to permeate the rest of me.  So this will be today's meditation. I'm also trusting that even "getting it" isn't all up to me either.  &&&&& Walking by sight is just this—“I believe in myself.” Whereas walking by faith i...

He restores my soul. Psalm 23:3 All our healing lies in Christ, Christ is the physician and Christ is the medicine too. The way to get your soul restored is not to try to restore it yourself, nor to undergo any processes by which it may work itself right. But go straight away to Christ and lay hold on Him, just as you are whatever your condition may be. Coming into contact with Him, you shall soon have to sing in the words of the text, “He restores my soul.” Let others talk of their sacraments, “He restores my soul.” Let men boast and glory of special ways of raising their souls to heaven, “He restores my soul.” Let some rejoice because their souls need no restoring, but are always strong, I cannot say that, but I can say, “He restores my soul.” I hope this morning I shall have many beloved brothers and sisters of like mind, who will go out of this house saying not only, “I knew He could restore my soul,” but, “He restores my soul. I was very cold when I came in here, as co...

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. 1 John 3:16 And you Christian people, who do love Him, if you have perceived His love somewhat, try to perceive it still more, that you may love Him more; and if you really love Him more, try to show that you do. Notice the rest of the verse from which my text is taken; I did not leave out the latter part because I was afraid of it, but because I had not time to deal with it as it deserves: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” We ought to prove our love to our God by our love to our fellow men, and especially by our love to our fellow Christians, and to prove our love by our actions. I do not know what the love of some professors is worth; I suppose they do, if they put down how much it costs them in a year. I fear that it does not cost some professors nearly as much for their religion as it does for their ribbon...

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me.  John 17:20, 21 Beloved, Christ prays for the unity of His Church, that all saints who have gone to heaven in days gone by, that all saints who live now, that all who ever live may be brought into the unity of the one life in Him. I fear we do not attach enough importance to the power of Christ’s prayer. We think of Joshua fighting in the valley, but we forget our Moses with hands outstretched upon the hill. We are looking at the wheels of the machine—to go back to our old figure—and we are thinking that this wheel, and that, and the other, needs more oil, or not working exactly to its point. Ah, but let us never forget the engine, that mysterious motive force which is hidden and concealed, upon which the action of the whole depends. Ch...

I cried unto God...You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Psalm 77:1-20 This psalm describes the condition of a child of God under deep depression of spirit. He is much tried and bowed, and yet, at the same time, the saint at last gets the victory and, before the psalm is over, the clouds are all removed from the sky and the heart rejoices in the sunlight of divine love. It is known to every believer that the experience of a Christian is very variable. We are like our own strange weather in this land. South winds blow and all is warm and balmy, but in a few hours the north wind comes, or the cutting east wind—and soon the ground is covered with snow or hard white frost—and yet, perhaps, in another day or two there will be a storm! Some believers have all spiritual weathers in a week. Being somewhat excitable, perhaps naturally, they readily take to themselves wings and mount aloft, but then as a high soar is often followed by a great fall, these very belie...

For we who have believed do enter into rest. Hebrews 4:3 Trusting brings rest. This is a simple truth of God, and yet it is a truth we need to remember, consider, and be assured upon! Peace does not come to the believer through his works; he ought to have works, he will have them if he has the life of divine grace within his heart. He should attend to baptism, to the Lord’s Supper, and to all Christian ordinances, but he does not get rest through these. The rest comes through his God-given faith , not through the ordinances. “Means of divine grace,” men call those ordinances, and some have gone to great lengths as to what comes to us through sacraments—but I say most boldly that the apostle goes to greater lengths in another direction, namely, in neglecting to say anything in such a case as this about baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, and in laying all our rest at the door of believing ! “We who have believed.” He is of the same mind as our Lord Himself, when He declares that who...

“Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” We have tried to show from the words of the text that Christ is sufficient to purify us by supplying us with holy motives, and to pardon us by His having Himself atoned for sin. The doctrine, then, is, that THERE IS NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SIN, BECAUSE CHRIST SUPPLIES ALL THAT IS NEEDED... “Ah!” you will say, “this is meant for Catholics.” Well, then, a little for yourselves. There are some of you who are quite as bad; you receive the same doctrine only in another shape... Some others of you think that you must get your hearts softened before you can trust in Christ . When we preach the gospel to you, you say, “I do not feel such tenderness as I should like to feel.” No, dear friend, and you never will while you talk so, for true tenderness of heart is not obtained by shutting your eyes to the cross. If you will not trust Christ, your heart will grow harder instead of softer, and if you set up the ...

Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24 As soon as a repenting sinner is justified, remember, he is justified for all his sins. Here stands a guilty man. The moment he believes in Christ, he receives his pardon at once and his sins are no longer his. They are cast into the depths of the sea. They are laid upon the shoulders of Christ and they are gone. The man stands a guiltless man in the sight of God, accepted in the beloved. “What?” you say. “Do you mean that literally?” Yes I do. That is the doctrine of justification by faith. Man ceases to be regarded by divine justice as a guilty being. The moment he believes on Christ, his guilt is all taken away. But I will go a step further. The moment the man believes in Christ, he ceases to be guilty in God’s esteem! And what is more, he becomes righteous, he becomes meritorious—the moment when Christ takes his sins he takes Christ’s righteousness, so that when God looks upon the...

I am no fan of mysticism, at least the version I was exposed to. It sounded so very spiritual and even got some things partially right, but the focus was wrong. It was hammered in time after time that I could do nothing in myself. I get that. Jesus said so Himself loud and clear. But what was the answer to this dilemma? Your only choice was to turn inward and constantly take your spiritual pulse as to whether you were "in Christ" or not. That in itself is highly problematic because "in Christ" became a vague higher spiritual plane that one strives for, NOT the act of God Almighty who justifies the ungodly. "Christ" also became a buzzword too with very little connection to Jesus as a real person. Also if God placed us "in Christ" and we can take ourselves out, what does that say about the power of man versus the power of God? The gospel was seen as baby stuff that got us in the door. The bigger and better stuff was up to us to achieve. This l...

“Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” Jude 1:24, 25. But to the people of God, I have to say this. Dear Brothers and Sisters, we need keeping , therefore let us adore Him who can keep us! As saved souls, we need keeping from final apostasy. “Oh,” says one, “I thought you taught us that those who are once saved shall never finally apostatize.” I do believe that doctrine and delight to preach it—yet it is true that the saved ones would apostatize—everyone of them—if the Lord did not keep them! There is no stability in any Christian, considered in himself. It is the Grace of God within him that enables him to stand. I believe than the soul of man is immortal, yet not in and of itself, but only by the immortality which God bestows upon it from His essential immortality. So is it with ...

Beloved friends, as the Lord has graciously spared us to enter upon another portion of time, it befits us to ask: How shall we begin it? Much often depends on the beginning. It is important to begin well. Let us reflect. Let us inquire. Let us decide. Shall we not begin it in FAITH? This is the stay, the staff, the stimulus of the soul. Let us afresh exercise faith in God as our Father — in Jesus as our Savior — in the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. Let us believe the love which God has to us — that "God is love." Let us take up the promises as the pledges and proofs of his love. He made them to inform us, to cheer us, to draw out our love to him, and our confidence in him. He will fulfill them. He never violated a promise yet. He never will. It is impossible for God to lie, or to prove unfaithful. His throne is not more stable than his promise . Let us therefore believe the word, seek the blessings, and expect the favors. He has promised us . . . wisdom — to understand...

“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil; where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:17-20.  The text concludes with this very sweet reflection, that though our hope is out of sight, we have a friend in the unseen land where our hope has found its hold. In anxious moments a sailor might almost wish that he could go with his anchor and fix it firmly. That he cannot do, but we have a friend who has gone to see to everything for us! Our anchor is within the veil—it is where we cannot see it—but Jesus is there, and our hope is inse...

“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” 1 John 3:14 So, Brothers and Sisters, if we can say that we love God’s people, as God’s people, because they are God’s people , that is a mark that we have passed from death unto life! Do you love them for Christ’s sake ? Do you say to yourself, “That is one of Christ’s people. That is one who bears Christ’s Cross. That is one of the children of God and, therefore, I love him and take delight in his company”? Then that is an evidence that you are not of the world. If you were, you would love the world, but, belonging to Christ, you love those who are Christ’s and you love them for Christ’s sake.  Another is you love them for the Truth of God’s sake. We are but earthen vessels, yet there is the excellency of the treasure of God put within us, so, when you can say, “I love that man because of the Truth of God he preaches. I do not care about his talents, but I do care about his Gospel”—when you ca...

My pastor has been preaching through the book of Revelation. We're still in the first few chapters where Jesus is commending and correcting the churches. While these letters were written to real churches in existence in John's lifetime, these letters are for all true churches throughout time. These letters are for us. For me. In the letter to Ephesus, Jesus commends this church, but He also admonishes them that they have lost their first love. This could mean love for God, love for believers, and love for the lost. According to my pastor many commentators have different views as to which love. But who amongst us would dare say that we love God, believers, and the lost as we should? Who doesn't need to grow in all three areas? My mind is still reeling from the election. My heart is also grieved for believers and unbelievers alike as we seem to more divided than ever. So my prayer for myself and for the church is that we would regain our first love. - Love for God that...

Ask of Me and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Psalms 2:8, 9. Observe , dear Friends, the wonderful contrast between the violent excitement of the enemies of the Lord and the sublime serenity of God Himself. He is not disturbed though the heathen so furiously rage and their kings and mighty ones set themselves in battle array. He smiles at them—He has them in derision. You and I are often downcast and depressed and our forebodings are dark and dismal, but God sits in His eternal peacefulness and serenely overrules tumult and rebellion. The Lord reigns and His Throne is not moved, nor His rest broken whatever may be the noise and turmoil down below. Notice the sublimity of this Divine calm. While the heathen and their princes are plotting and planning how to break His bands asunder and cast His cords from them, He has ...

"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." It will be so at the last . I shall not venture far into prophecy. Some brethren are quite at home where I should lose myself. I have scarcely yet been able to get out of the gospels and the epistles; and that deep book of Revelation, with its waters to swim in, I must leave to better instructed minds. "Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of that book;" to that blessing I would aspire, but I cannot yet make claim to interpret it. This much, however, seems plain,—there is to be "a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." This creation, which now "groaneth and travaileth in pain," in sympathy with man, is to be brought forth from its bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Blessed be the Lord Jesus, when he brought his people out of their bondage, he did not redeem their spirits only, but their bodies also: hence their material part is the Lord...

"This do in remembrance of me."—1 Corinthians 11:24 Behold the whole mystery of the sacred Eucharist. It is bread and wine which are lively emblems of the body and blood of Jesus. The power to excite remembrance consists in the appeal thus made to the senses. Here the eye, the hand, the mouth, find joyful work. The bread is tasted, and entering within, works upon the sense of taste, which is one of the most powerful. The wine is sipped—the act is palpable. We know that we are drinking, and thus the senses, which are usually clogs to the soul, become wings to lift the mind in contemplation. Again, much of the influence of this ordinance is found in its simplicity. How beautifully simple the ceremony is—bread broken and wine poured out. There is no calling that thing a chalice, that thing a paten, and that a host. Here is nothing to burden the memory—here is the simple bread and wine. He must have no memory at all who cannot remember that he has eaten bread, and that he has ...

“In whom do you trust?” “I trust,” says the Christian, “a triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I trust the Father, believing that He has chosen me from before the foundations of the world; I trust Him as my Father to care for me, to provide for me in providence, to teach me, to guide me, to feed me, to correct me if need be, and to bring me home to His own house where the many mansions are." "I trust the Son. Very God of very God is He—the Man Christ Jesus. I trust in Him to take away all my sins, for He suffered their penalty upon the cross; I trust Him to put all those sins away forever by His own Sacrifice; I trust Him to wrap me about with His perfect righteousness, and to adorn me with all His excellences. I know Him to be my intercessor—as often as I pray to present my prayers and desires before His Father’s throne, I believe Him to be my resurrection and my life, that, though I die, yet I may live again! I expect Him to be my advocate at the last great judgm...

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.” Psalm 46:1-3. God’s people have a sure confidence. Other men build as best they may, but true Believers rest upon the Rock of Ages. Their confidence is altogether beyond themselves. In this song there is nothing about their own virtue, valor, or wisdom. The heathen moralist boasted that if the globe, itself, should break, his integrity would make him stand fearless amid the wreck. But the Believer has a humbler, though a truer reliance. Though the earth is removed, he is undismayed. And this does not arise from his own personal self-sufficiency, but from God, who is his refuge and strength. He is fearless, not because of his original stoutness of heart and natural firmness of will, but because he has a God to ...

"He that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new."—Revelation 21:5. [I]t hath come to pass that Christ has made for us a new covenant . The old covenant was, "Do this and live." That covenant was a sentence of death upon us all. We could not do, therefore we could not live, and so we died. The new covenant has nothing in it contingent upon creature doing, but it bases all its provisions upon Christ having done the world. "I will, and you shall," this is the language of the new covenant. The covenant of law, in which we were weak through the flesh, left us mangled and broken. The covenant of grace reveals God's kindness towards us, and our part thereof has been fulfilled for us by our surety, Christ Jesus. Thus it runs, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more for ever; a new heart also will I give them, and a right spirit will I put within them." The old world is still under the old covenant of works, an...