Tried With Fire

The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  1 John 1:7 The blood of Christ purges us from our sin, and no truth belonging to the mystery of the gospel is more plainly asserted: 'He has freed us from our sins by his blood' (Rev. 1:5). And, everyone who has an actual interest in the blood of Christ has a real purification from the future defilements of sin also. The Holy Spirit communicates the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ unto our souls and consciences, whereby we are freed from shame and have boldness towards God. His blood has a double consideration: not only atonement and reconciliation, but also purging and sanctification. He offered himself not just to make atonement, but also to sanctify us by the sprinkling of his blood. John Owen,  Works , III:438-447,  Voices from the Past , Richard Rushing, ed., Banner of Truth Trust, 2009, pg. 161.

No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11 Many say that they can trust God for eternal life, but cannot trust him for daily bread. This is an utter mistake... If God gives to the beast his food, will he not maintain his children? Daily bread is in your Father's power, and he will certainly give it to you. You may with confidence expect daily supplies. They are from the Lord's free grace and mercy...  We should say with every morsel of bread, 'This is God's gift to me'; of every night's sleep, 'This is the Lord's goodness.'  God is pleased when we acknowledge these outward things. Thomas Manton  Works , I:157-161,  Voices from the Past , Richard Rushing, ed., Banner of Truth Trust, 2009, pg. 154. (emphasis mine)

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 2:1 In the office of advocate, one man is empowered to plead for another before a judicial court when he has been accused by an enemy. Christ exercises the office of advocate when his child is found guilty before God of some heinous sin in his life and conversation. This is the time for Christ to stand up and plead for David. Can David's sin stand with grace? Is it possible that a man that has done as he has, should yet be found a saint, and in a saved state? Can God forgive him and yet be holy and just? Can the merits of the Lord Jesus reach a man in this condition? Here is the case of a man whose salvation, by his foul offences, was made doubtful. But now let Christ stand up and plead. David was afraid that God would cast him away, and the devil hoped he would. Satan charged him before God's face that he might get the sentence of damnation to pass upon his soul. But this was Da...

(This is the reading for May 18. But it seemed very fitting as two sisters in our church have passed through the  waters of Jordan to take possession of that land of delights without end .) We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Cor. 5:8 When death and hell are viewed in their darkest colours, if we have faith enough to see souls in heaven wearing their white robes, this is comfort enough, to know our souls do not die with the body. The soul's eternity is an indelible principle stamped on the souls of men by the finger of God. It is not surprising that he who has his soul too linked to the body, does not know how to die and hates the thought of the separation of the body and spirit. They hate to part with the body, which is their only blessing. But, regenerate spirits enjoy times of sublime reflections about heaven, and are willing to leave the body. John saw the saints in their safety and rest under Christ's protec...

Call to me, and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Jeremiah 33:3 The Most High is a God that hears prayer. Though he is infinitely above all, and stands in no need of creatures, yet he is graciously pleased to take merciful notice of poor worms in the dust. He presents himself as one sitting on a mercy-seat, that men may come to him in prayer. In our need he allows us to come and ask him, and he is ready to hear our prayers. God has given many promises to hear our prayers; the Scripture is full of such examples. He manifests himself to be a God that hears prayer. What is meant by God's hearing our prayers? Two things are implied. 1. He accepts the supplications of those who pray to him. He is pleased with them. He accepts the honour we do him by our praying. 2. He reveals himself to us by special discoveries of his mercy and sufficiency. While we are praying he gives us sweet views of his glorious grace and sovereignty.  He...

The spiritual person judges all things. 1 Cor. 2:15 Since Christ Jesus is the great prophet and teacher of his church, we may, therefore, discern and judge our doctrines by his standard. Christ may serve as a measurement to test them. As Christ is in his person, so are his doctrines. Every error pretends to come from Christ, but Christ was holy, humble, heavenly, meek, and peaceful, yea, he is contrary to the wisdom of this world and all the gratifications of the flesh. Thus, so are the truths he teaches - they have his character and image carved upon them. Would you like to test whether this or that doctrine is from the Spirit of Christ or not? Examine it by this rule: whatever doctrine you find to encourage and countenance sin, to exalt self, to be accommodating to the world's designs, and that bends to the humours and lusts of men, you may safely reject. Whatever doctrine makes those who profess it to be carnal, proud, and sensual, you may safely conclude never came from Jes...

The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17 The Spirit is promised as the gift of the Father and the Son, and he comes into the heart and so loves his people that he abides and dwells with them forever, acting with authority and power, according to his own pleasure, as their various circumstances may require. He prepares and strengthens them for every event, reveals what they must know, and inclines their hearts in the ways and degrees he pleases. The joy of the Spirit is real fruit: solid, substantial, refreshing, and nourishing. He comforts, revives, strengthens, and establishes the soul. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, etc. , are all the fruits of the Spirit, and they are nowhere to be found bu in the believers heart. Though he takes away your outward comforts, and makes you as poor and as afflicted as Job, yet being within you, he can bring you effectual peace and comfort. Th...

Faith not only holds to the fact that God is able, but that he is willing to do what you seek. Grip two handles with your faith. Take hold that he is able, omnipotent, omniscient, and all sufficient; but also take hold that he is willing to meet your needs by his mercy. Learn to draw arguments from these attributes. When you hold on to both his power and his mercy, faith can easily draw sweet and strong assurances from these. It is true that we are prone to doubt God's willingness, but the Lord has provided for this remarkably. Where there is but one atttribute to describe God's power, there are many titles that prove his willingness: mercy, goodness, bounty, grace, love, lovingkindness, compassion, bowels of compassion, patience, and long-suffering. Get faith fixed upon this double bases and it will stand firm. God is able and willing. David Clarkson, Works , 1:174-179.  Voices from the Past , Richard Rushing, ed., Banner of Truth Trust, 2009, pg. 112.

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. Luke 22:31 Temptation will darken the mind, so that a man will not be able to make a right judgment of things as he did before he entered into it. Temptation can darken the mind by a sad tangling of the affections. When the affections are engaged, they have a strong influence in blinding the mind and darkening the understanding. Affections set at liberty by temptation will run on in madness. Previous thoughts of the hatred of sin, the terrors of the Lord, and a sense of the love and presence of Christ crucified, all depart and leave the heart a prey to its enemy. Temptation gives fuel to our lusts. It incites, provokes, and makes them turbulent beyond measure. Giving a lust or a corruption a suitable object, an advantage, or an occasion, heightens and exacerbates it and for a season makes it wholly predominate. We see it in the fear of Peter, the pride of Hezekiah, the covetousness of Achan, the un...

Finally, be strong in the Lord. Ephesiains 6:10 What methods should a Christian use in the battle of spiritual warfare to defy the enemy and vanquish him? Bring your lusts under the rule of your reason. Will you let your silly lists abuse you and become a traitor to your soul? Will you allow your passions to rise in arms and grow unruly? Let your reason arise and take its place as master. What a silly thing is man in a passion. Nothing is more ridiculous or contemptible. If your lust overcomes reason, bid your conscience do its work, and look to Scripture for support. If the love of God's commands will not restrain you, let the terrors and thunders of his threats persuade you. Draw the curtain of your heart open, and show it God's majesty and ask if it realizes that he is looking on. Tell your heat again and again that God will not be mocked. Seek to draw the stream of your lusts in a different direction. If it is vain-glory in the applause of men, think how ridiculous it w...

The Lord knows those who are his. 2 Timothy 2:19 Christ's love is personal. He chooses man by name personally and distinctly. 'He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out' (John 10:3). Some have questioned how Christ can love us when he denies many temporal blessings. Outward blessings however are never a sign of love or hatred. You cannot conclude that Christ hates you because he afflicts; or that he loves you because you are blessed with temporal blessings. The smallest drop of grace is a greater sign of Christ's love than all the glory and pleasures of the earth. Otherwise, it might be said that Dives was loved, and Lazarus was hated (Luke 16). Festus would be in more favour with Christ than Paul, and even Christ himself would be unloved by the Father. Afflictions are far from being signs of Christ's hatred. Many times they are evidence of his love (Heb. 12:6011). The people of God only lack what is bad for them. God has promised to withhold no good thi...

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart. Psalm 119:2 It is not those who just hear the Word, but do it. Many have the Word in their mind and memory, but no in their lives. The truly blessed men are those that consider it a great obligation to obey it. God takes into sweet fellowship and communion those who keep his commandments. He will manifest himself in an intimate and gracious communion. The whole Trinity will come and dwell in his heart (John 14:23). We might consider two ways to keep God's commandments: legal and evangelical. By legal, I mean keeping them in perfect, absolute obedience. If this were intended, no one would be blessed. The best of believers have failures in obedience. By evangelical obedience, I mean someone who in love and sincerity seeks to obey fully, but enjoys the gracious pardon for his failures. The apostles had many failures, yet Christ speaks of them to his Father, 'They have kept your word' (John 17:...

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Romans 12:2. The Christian is to proclaim and initiate an irreconcilable war against his choice sins. Those nearest his heart must now be trampled under his feet. This takes great courage and resolution. O how a lust will plead for itself! Satan pleads: 'Is it not just a little one, O spare it!' He will flatter the soul with the secrecy of it: 'You an have it, and your honour also.' If this does not work, Satan will try to get you to wait just a little while for its execution. Do not be deceived by this strategy. Most lusts that have received a delay in execution will eventually obtain a full pardon and regain full favour with your soul. It takes great resolution to break through such violent pleading  and bring your lust to full execution. We must walk with a single purpose, without an eye on the world's glitter. We must stand fixed to heaven's principles and so pro...

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. Psalm 32:3 As we walk with our God we desire his strength, comfort, power and peace. The realization of these, and thus the joy of our spiritual life, depends greatly upon the mortification of sin. The immediate cause of these privileges is our adoption at the hand of the Spirit. However, in our ordinary walking with God, the vigour and comfort of our spiritual lives depend much on our mortification. Mortification bears a cause and effect relationship to our joy. The vigour of our spiritual lives is not possible apart from mortification. Mortification keeps sin from depriving us of our healthy spiritual life. Every unmortified sin will certainly do two things: (1.) It will weaken the soul, and deprive it of its vigour. When David had for a while harboured lust in his heart, it broke all his bones, and left him no spiritual strength  An unmortiified lust will drin...

Oh how I love your law! Psalm 119:97 Faith can do so much for you. It is not enough to be healed of your disease, unless you also take up your bed and walk. O the life of grace which I have seen in some! Their meat and drink is to do the will of God. One might say, 'Though I am not pestered and mastered by any reigning corruption, yet I find myself dull and take no great pleasure in spiritual things. Prayer, meditation, and enjoyment of the Lord's day is as easy as iron swimming.' But nothing is impossible to faith. Faith can transform these things to be natural to you. David came to delight in God's service. He loved the commandments of God more than gold, and they were sweeter to him than the honeycomb. He rose at midnight to meditate in the things of his God. The natural man may carry out many of these duties, but not from a heart of faith. Faith makes them go smoothly and makes our yoke light and easy (Is. 40:31). Faith draws nourishment from the root of C...

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer... the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my present help and salvation. Though we are troubled with poverty, shame, or any other affliction, God is our salvation and help. If you are in trouble, God is deliverance; if you are persecuted by malicious enemies, God is your castle. Who is a rock, except our God? I call upon the Lord and am saved from my enemies. David after all his victories described God to be his God, and his salvation - both for body and soul, for the present and time to come, with means, without means, and against all means. What a comfort is this! He can command his creation to save and the devil himself to be a means to save us; and if there is no means for you to see, he can create means to do it in an instant. Thus God is our help, and what a ground of comfort is this! Therefore, I beseech you do not be discouraged. Mourn we may like doves,...

The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers. Proverbs 10:29 The ways of God are righteous ways, blessed ways, and they bring in temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings upon all who walk in them. His ways lead to righteousness, to the love and delight of righteousness, and to the practice of righteousness. As for the ways of profaneness, pride, hypocrisy, formality  and apostasy, these are not the ways of God. They are unrighteous ways, cursed ways, and they bring nothing but curses and crosses upon all who walk in them. Those that walk in these ways are in no way secure, but always liable to the thunderbolt of diving displeasure. But the ways of God are soul-refreshing ways. O they yield the soul an abundance of refreshment and sweetness! If a man's soul is tired and weary, the ways of the Lord will refresh it; if it is dead and dull, the ways of the Lord will quicken it; if it is fainting, the ways of the Lord will be co...

  Do not fear those who can kill the body... fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Luke 12:4-5 The soul is immortal and it will have sensibility forever. No one can kill the soul. If all the angels in heaven, and all the men on earth, could lay all their strength together, they cannot kill or annihilate one soul. If it may be said; "God cannot do what he will not do'; then he cannot annihilate the soul. Notwithstanding, all his wrath and vengeance that he will inflict on sinful souls, they yet shall abide as conscious and sensible beings, yet to endure, yet to bear punishment. If anything could kill the soul, it would be death; but death cannot do it - neither the first nor second death. When the rich man died as to his body, his soul was found alive in hell (Luke 16: 34). The second death cannot do it, for the worm never dies, but is always torturing them with his gnawing (Mark 9:44).  This shows the greatness of the soul; it has endless life...

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Romans 8:16 The Spirit of holiness in us is God's seal upon us signifying that we are his. He is the earnest of the glory to come. Great care must now be taken to make him the principle of all our operations and to obey him and follow his movements, as he leads you into communion with God. Be sure you do not mistake the movings of the Holy Spirit with those of Satan or your own passions, pride or fleshly wisdom. The Spirit of God is only for heavenly wisdom, and not for foolish or treacherous craftiness. He is the Spirit of love, unity, meekness, patience, and holiness. He moves us to be conformed to Christ. This is the sure test of his identity. He works in us to perfect our sanctification and obedience. Unprofitable trifles, despair, painful distractions and disturbances of mind make us unfit for duty, and drive us from God. These are not the influences of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God dra...

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God. Romans 6:22 If you have sincerely given yourself up to God, and consented to his covenant, show it, by turning the face of your endeavors and conversation quite another way; seek heaven more fervently and diligently than you ever sought the world or fleshly pleasures. Holiness consists not in a mere forbearance of a sensual life, but principally in living unto God. The principle or heart of holiness is within, and consists in the love of God, his Word, his ways, his servants, his honour, and his interest in the world. It consists in the soul's delight in God, and the ways of God. It is inclined towards him, and seeks after him to please him. It hates to offend him. The expression of it in our lives consists in a constant, diligent exercise of the internal life, according to the directions of the Word of God. If you are a believer, and have subjected yourself to God as your absolute Sovereign, King, and Judge, it wil...