ChristiansUnite Forums

A  special, personal, distinguishing love!

The following is from Bonar's book, "The Night of Weeping"

It is sweet to realize the common love flowing
out of the Father's bosom to the whole happy
household of His saved ones; but it is no less
sweet, especially in the day of trial, to dwell
upon the personal love He bears so distinctively
to each of His children.

Jesus has a special, personal, distinguishing
love for each of His children; just as if He
loved no other, but had His whole heart to
give to us alone. His is a detailed and watchful
care, bending over each of His children, day
and night, as if He had no other to care for.

How sweet to think that each of us is the
special object of such personal affection, the
particular object of such unwearied vigilance!

What manner of love is this!

We are sure that we shall be fully cared for,
and not one need or sorrow will be overlooked.

We know that "all things shall work together
for our good," and that the end of everything
which befalls us here shall be light and glory
forever!

A love surpassing thought!

(by Spurgeon)

If we are children of God, we are dearly beloved
by God. Did you ever try to get that thought into
your mind, that God loves you?

I can understand that God 'pities' me; that is a
feeling which so vastly superior a being might
well feel to so inferior an existence.

But that he loves me is scarcely conceivable,
although it is most sure and certain.

Who can drink this well dry? Who can bear
home this fruitful sheaf of delights, this
purple cluster of Eshcol?

Children of God are loved by their Father
with a love surpassing thought!

As his children, we have access to God at
all hours, the father's door is never locked
against his much loved children.

Our cry he knows even as a father knows
his child's cry, from every other sound.

All our needs are provided for, and our
Father's loving heart watches over all our
wanderings, and forgives all our offenses.

The Agony in Gethsemane

The following is from Spurgeon's sermon,
"The Agony in Gethsemane" Luke 22:44

"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow
to the point of death." Matthew 26:38

"And being in agony he prayed more earnestly:
and his sweat was as it were great drops of
blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:44

See the excellence and completeness
of the atonement of Christ!

How black I am, how filthy, how loathsome in
the sight of God; I feel myself only fit to be
cast into the lowest hell, and I wonder that
God has not long ago cast me there.

But I go into Gethsemane, and I peer under
those gnarled olive trees, and I see my Savior!

Yes, I see him wallowing on the ground in
anguish, and hear such groans come from
him as never came from human breast before.

I look upon the ground and see it red with
his blood, while his face is smeared with
gory sweat, and I say to myself, "My God,
my Savior, why do you suffer so?"

I hear him reply, "I am suffering for your sin."

Now I can understand how Jehovah can spare
me, because he smote his Son in my stead!

Sinner as I am, I stand before the burning throne
of the severity of God, and am not afraid of it.
Can you scorch me, O consuming fire, when you
have not only scorched, but utterly consumed
my substitute?

All hell was distilled into that cup of which
Jesus Christ was made to drink. The woe
that broke over the Savior's spirit, the great
and fathomless ocean of inexpressible anguish
which dashed over the Savior's soul when
he died, was inconceivable.

Our Lord's main suffering lay in his soul. His
soul-sufferings were the soul of his sufferings.
His position as a sin-bearer, and the desertion
by his Father engrossed his contemplations.

The bloody sweat of Jesus came from an
utter faintness and prostration of soul.

He was in an awful soul-swoon, and suffered
an inward death, whose accompaniment was
not watery tears from the eyes, but a
weeping of blood from the entire man.

He could say with David, "The pains
of hell got hold upon me."

All God's waves and billows went over him.
Above him, beneath him, around him, and
within, all, all was anguish.

All for you!

(MacDuff, "Encouragements to Patient Waiting")

Take a pilgrimage in thought, to Gethsemane
and Calvary! Gaze upon His sufferings! He knew
all the sorrows that await Him--the shame, the
suffering, the anguish--but He takes the bitter
cup, and, with His heart set on the salvation
of His people--with His heart set on you--the
blessed Savior drains it to the very dregs!

See Him on Calvary . . .
  unpitied by the crowd;
  deserted by His disciples;
  forsaken by His Father;
  the Lamb led to the slaughter;
and all for you!

The amazing love of God!

Spurgeon, "THE PARABLE OF THE WEDDING FEAST"

The gospel feast is an expensive business - the very heart of Christ
was drained to find the price for this great festival; but it costs
the sinner nothing, nothing of money, nothing of merit, nothing of
preparation. You may come as you are to the gospel feast, for the
only wedding dress required is freely provided for you.
The gospel is a river of love,
it is a sea of love,
it is a heaven of love,
it is a universe of love,
it is all love.
Words there are none, fully to set forth the amazing love of God
to sinners, no sin too big or too black, no crime too crimson or
too cursed for pardon.

Things that even the angels desire to look into!

(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on First Peter")

"These are things that even the angels desire
 to look into!" 1 Peter 1:12

To the carnal, earthly, debased, degraded mind
of man, the mystery of the Person of Christ, of
the cross, of the sufferings, blood-shedding, and
death of Jesus, whereby He put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself--is foolishness. He sees no
beauty, blessedness, or glory in the Person of the
Son of God, nor any wisdom or grace in atoning
blood and dying love.

But not so with these bright and pure beings!
They see in the Person and work of Christ not only
the depths of infinite wisdom in the contrivance of
the whole plan of redemption, and of power in its
execution and full accomplishment; but they see
such lengths, breadths, depths, and heights of love
as fill their minds with holy wonder, admiration and
praise. They see in His incarnation, humiliation,
sufferings, blood-shedding, and death--such
unspeakable treasures of mercy and grace as
ever fill their minds with wonder and admiration.

What shame and confusion should cover our face
that we should see so little beauty and glory in
that redeeming blood and love, which fills the pure
minds of the angelic beings with holy and unceasing
admiration--and that they should be ever seeking
and inquiring into this heavenly mystery, that they
may discover in it ever new and opening treasures
of the wisdom, grace, mercy, truth, and love of God
--when we who profess to be redeemed by precious
blood, are, for the most part, so cold and indifferent
in the contemplation and admiration of it.

I am astonished

(A Puritan Prayer)

O bottomless Fountain of all good,
I am astonished at the difference between . . .
  my receivings--and my deservings,
  the state I am now in--and my past gracelessness,
  the heaven I am bound for--and the hell I merit.

Who made me to differ, but You? I could not have
begun to love You, had You not first loved me.

O Lord, I am astonished that . . .
such a crown should fit the head of such a sinner,
such high advancement for one so worthless,
such joys for so vile a rebel!

Let 'wrath deserved' be written on the door of hell;
but the 'free gift of grace' on the gate of heaven!

Let Your love draw me nearer to Yourself. Wean
me from sin, mortify me to this world, and make
me ready for my departure hence. Secure me by
Your grace as I sail across this stormy sea.

The astonishing, the marvelous love!

(From Winslow's, "Love at the Foot of the Cross")

The cross of Jesus inspires our love to Him.
It would seem impossible to be brought by
the Holy Spirit to the foot of the cross, and
not feel the inspiration of love.

Surely a believing apprehension of the amazing,
the unparalleled love of Jesus, bending His look
of forgiveness upon us from the cross, will thaw
our icy hearts into the warmest glow of affection.

Believe that Jesus loves you, and your heart shall
glow with a love in return which will bear it on in
a willing obedience and unreserved surrender, in
faithful service and patient suffering, enwrapped,
consumed amid the flames of its own 'heaven
inspired' and 'heaven ascending' affection.

The astonishing, the marvelous love, He
has exhibited in giving you His beloved Son
to die in your stead, are cords by which He
would draw your loving heart to Himself.

The true spiritual Atlas

(John MacDuff, "Memories of Olivet" 1870)

"You shall make His soul an offering for sin."
    Isaiah 53:10

"Now is My soul troubled." John 12:27

Mark, it is SOUL SUFFERING that is the burden of
Jesus' anguish. "Now is my soul troubled" "My soul
is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.''

That 'cup' was filled to the brim with curses. His
holy soul was like a vast reservoir, into which the
transgressions of every elect child of Adam rushed
from every age, demanding satisfaction.

He was "filled with horror and deep distress"
at the fearful havoc sin had wrought, and at its
dreadful penalty, which He was now bearing.

The wrath of God; the terrible manifestation
of His displeasure at iniquity; was upon Jesus.

He was the true spiritual Atlas, bearing on
His shoulders the sins of a guilty world!

Jesus' sufferings were not calamities; they
were punishment judicially inflicted. There was
an eternity of woe was condensed into them!
Christ was the Sin Bearer, bearing not merely
the punishment of sin, but sin itself.

As we see drop by drop crimsoning the sods
of Gethsemane, we may well exclaim, "He was
pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed
for our iniquities; the punishment that brought
us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds
we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

The axle!

by Spurgeon-

You know in a wheel there is one portion that never
turns around, that stands steadfast - and that is the axle.

So in God's providence, there is an axle which never moves.

Christian, here is a sweet thought for you--
your state is ever changing.
Sometimes you are exalted and sometimes depressed,
yet there is an unmoving point in your state.
What is that axle?
What is the pivot upon which all the machinery revolves?
It is the axle of God's everlasting love towards His people!

The exterior of the wheel is changing,
but the center stands forever fixed.

Other things may move, but God's love never moves.
It is the axle of the wheel, and will endure.

The Almighty is a weak babe!

(Henry Law, "Christ is All" 1854)

"Unto you is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Wonder of wonders! The mighty God, without
ceasing to be God, becomes man to redeem us!

Let the greatest king become the lowest beggar;
let the richest prince leave his palace for the vilest
cell of a loathsome prison; it is as nothing compared
to the act of Jesus, when He left heaven to put on
the rags of our mortality!

The Creator of all things becomes a creature!

The Almighty is a weak babe!

The Eternal is a child of time!

The Infinite is contracted into the limits of poor flesh!

Is not this the wonder of wonders?

Is not this grace which has no bounds?

Because he loved her!

(From Octavius Winslow's, "The Coming of the
Lord in its Relation to Nominal Christianity")

"Behold, the Bridegroom comes!"

Jesus sustains no relation to his Church more
expressive than this. From all eternity he
forever betrothed her to himself. He asked
her at the hands of her Father, and the Father
gave her to him. He entered into a covenant
that she should be his. The conditions of that
covenant were great, but not too great for his
love to undertake. They were, that he should....
assume her nature,
discharge her legal obligations,
endure her punishment,
repair her ruin, and
bring her to glory!

He undertook all, and he accomplished all,
because he loved her!

The love of Jesus to his Church is the
love of the most tender husband. It is....
single,
constant,
affectionate,
matchless,
wonderful.

Jesus....
sympathizes with her,
nourishes her,
provides for her,
clothes her,
watches over, and
indulges her with the most intimate
and endearing communion.
_________________________________________

(My Note:  This is the one and ONLY TRUE CHURCH, a church not made with human hands,
THE CHURCH WHICH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST.

My beloved

(Octavius Winslow, "None Like Christ" 1866)

"How is your beloved better than others?"
    Song of Solomon 5:9

Does the world challenge – "How is your beloved
better than others?" Your answer is at hand –
"My beloved bore my sins, and opened in His heart
a fountain in which I am washed whiter than snow!

My beloved . . .
  sustains my burdens,
  counsels my perplexities,
  heals my wounds,
  dries my tears,
  supplies my needs,
  bears with my infirmities,
  upholds my steps, and
  cheers my pathway to the tomb.

My beloved will be with me in the valley of
the shadow of death, and with His presence
I shall fear no evil.

My beloved has gone to prepare a place for me
in the many-mansioned house of my Father, and
will come again and receive me to Himself, that
where He is, I may be also.

My beloved will walk with me in the gold-paved
streets of the new Jerusalem. He will lead me to
fountains of living waters, and will wipe every
tear from my eyes! He is altogether lovely!
This is my beloved, and this is my Friend!"

Better than wine!

by Spurgeon-

"Your love is better than wine." --Song of Solomon 1:2

Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ.
He has enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of life,
he can be glad both in God's gifts and God's works; but in all
these separately, yes, and in all of them added together,
he does not find such substantial delight as in
the matchless person of his Lord Jesus.

He has wine which no vineyard on earth ever yielded; he has bread
which all the corn-fields of Egypt could never bring forth.

Where can such sweetness be found as we have tasted
in communion with our Beloved?

In our esteem, the joys of earth are little better
than husks for swine compared with Jesus, the heavenly manna.

We would rather have one mouthful of Christ's love, and a sip
of his fellowship, than a whole world full of carnal delights.

What is the chaff to the wheat?
What is the sparkling paste to the true diamond?
What is a dream to the glorious reality?
What is time's mirth, in its best trim,
compared to our Lord Jesus in His most despised estate?

If you know anything of the inner life, you will confess that our
highest, purest, and most enduring joys must be the fruit of
the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

No spring yields such sweet water as that well of God
which was digged with the soldier's spear.

All earthly bliss is of the earth earthy, but the comforts
of Christ's presence are like Himself, heavenly.

We can review our communion with Jesus, and find no regrets
of emptiness therein; there are no dregs in this wine,
no dead flies in this ointment.

The joy of the Lord is solid and enduring.

Vanity has not looked upon it, but discretion and prudence
testify that it abides the test of years, and is in time and in
eternity worthy to be called "the only true delight."

For nourishment,
consolation,
exhilaration,
and refreshment,
no wine can rival the love of Jesus.
Let us drink to the full this evening.

BLOOD!

(Octavius Winslow, "The Preciousness of Christ's Blood")

Among the precious things of God, there
is not one so precious, so inestimable, so
influential, as "the precious blood of Christ."

The atoning blood of Immanuel
is the divine bath of the soul.

All salvation,
all purity,
all peace,
all holiness,
all hope,
all heaven, are bound up in the
atoning blood of Immanuel.

There is no acceptance for the sinner,
no cleansing for the guilty,
no pardon for the penitent,
no sanctification for the believer,
but in the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God.

A holy Savior offered up a sinless atonement for
unholy, sinful man! Look at it, beloved, in this
light, and let your hearts glow with love, adoration,
and praise, as you kneel before the cross, and feel
the distilling upon your conscience of that blood
that pardons, covers, and cancels all your guilt.
_________________________________

(My Note:  "Immanuel" means "GOD With Us" -
JESUS CHRIST.)

YOU ARE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE!

from Spurgeon's, "BOUGHT WITH A PRICE"

If I had the power to do it, how would I seek to
refresh in your souls a sense of the fact that you
are "bought with a price."

There in the midnight hour, amidst the olives of Gethsemane,
kneels Immanuel the Son of God; he groans, he pleads in prayer,
he wrestles; see the beady drops stand on his brow, drops of
sweat, but not of such sweat as pours from men when they earn
the bread of life, but the sweat of him who is procuring life
itself for us. It is blood, it is crimson blood; great gouts
of it are falling to the ground.

O soul, your Savior speaks to you from out Gethsemane at this
hour, and he says: "Here and thus I bought you with a price."

Come, stand and view him in the agony of the olive garden,
and understand at what a cost he procured your deliverance.
Track him in all his path of shame and sorrow until you see
him on the Pavement; mark how they bind his hands and fasten
him to the whipping-post; see, they bring the scourges and
the cruel Roman whips; they tear his flesh; the ploughers
make deep furrows on his blessed body, and the blood gushes
forth in streams, while rivulets from his temples, where the
crown of thorns has pierced them, join to swell the purple
stream. From beneath the scourges he speaks to you with
accents soft and low, and he says, "My child, it is here
and thus I bought you with a price."

But see him on the cross itself when the consummation of
all has come; his hands and feet are fountains of blood,
his soul is full of anguish even to heartbreak; and there,
before the soldier pierces his side with a spear, bowing
down he whispers to you and to me, "It was here and thus,
I bought you with a price."

O by Gethsemane, by Gabbatha, by Golgotha, by every sacred
name collected with the passion of our Lord, by sponge and
vinegar, and nail and spear, and everything that helped the
pang and increased the anguish of his death, I conjure you,
my beloved brethren, to remember that you were "bought with
a price," and "are not your own."

I push you to this; you either were or were not so bought; if
you were, it is the grand fact of your life; if you were, it
is the greatest fact that ever will occur to you: let it
operate upon you, let it dominate your entire nature, let it
govern your body, your soul, your spirit, and from this day
let it be said of you not only that you are a man, a man of
good morals and respectable conduct, but this, above all things,
that you are a man filled with love to him who bought you, a
man who lives for Christ, and knows no other passion.

O! that REDEMPTION would become the paramount influence,
the lord of our soul, and dictator of our being; then were
we indeed true to our obligations: short of this we are
not what love and justice both demand.

Nothing but this can really break the sinner's heart!

(J. C. Philpot)

To view God's mercy in its real character, we must
go to Calvary! We must go by faith, under the secret
teachings and leadings of the Holy Spirit, to see
Immanuel, God with us, groveling in Gethsemane's
garden. We must view Him . . .
  naked upon the cross,
  groaning,
  bleeding,
  agonizing,
  dying!

We must view that wondrous spectacle of love and
suffering--and feel our eyes flowing down in streams
of sorrow, humility, and contrition at the sight--in order
to enter a little into the depths of the tender mercy
of God.

Nothing but this can really break the sinner's heart!

Law terrors, death and judgment, infinite purity, and
eternal vengeance will not soften or break a sinner's
heart. But if he is led to view a suffering Immanuel,
and a sweet testimony is raised up in his conscience
that those sufferings were for him--this, and this
alone will break his heart all to pieces!

Jesus enriches His bride with gifts!

(Henry Law, "The Heavenly Bridegroom" 1854)

Jesus enriches His bride with gifts! Angels
may marvel, dazzled by the Church's wealth.

He holds back nothing from her. All His
attributes are her grand inheritance!

His wisdom is hers to guide!

His power is hers to uphold!

His love is as the sun to cheer!

His faithfulness and truth are her shield and support!

His Spirit is poured down in unfailing measure
to teach, to solace, and to bless her!

His righteousness is hers, to be her spotless robe.

His heavens are hers, to be her home!

His throne is hers, to be her seat!

His glory is hers, to be her crown!

His eternity is hers, that she may rejoice forever!
______________________________________

(My Note:  The Bride of CHRIST is HIS CHURCH, a Church not made with human hands - All those who accepted HIM as Lord and Saviour and became members OF HIS OWN BODY, THE CHURCH WHICH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST.)

CAN CHRIST LOVE US LESS?

Spurgeon's sermon, "A Faithful Friend"

There cannot, by any possibility, arise any cause
which could make Christ love his children less.
You say, how is this?

One man loves his friend, but he suddenly grows rich,
and now he says I am a greater man than I used to be,
I will forget my old acquaintances.

But Christ can grow no richer--
he is as rich as he can be, infinitely so.
He loves you now; then it can not be possible that he will
by reason of an increase in his own personal glory forsake
you, for everlasting glories now crown his head. He can
never be more glorious and great, and therefore he will
love you still.

Sometimes, on the other hand, one friend
grows poorer, and then the other forsakes him.

But you never can grow poorer than you are,
for you are "a poor sinner and nothing at all" now;
you have nothing of your own; all you have is
borrowed, all given to you by him.

He cannot love you, then, less, because you grow poorer;
for poverty that has nothing, is at least as poor as it can
be, and can never sink lower in the scale.

Christ, therefore, must love you in spite of all your
nakedness and all your poverty.

"But I may prove sinful," you say.
Yes, but you cannot be more sinful than he foreknew you
would be; and yet he loved you with the foreknowledge of
all your sins. Surely, then, when it happens, it will occasion
no surprise to him; he knew it all beforehand, and he can
not swerve from his love.

No circumstance can possibly arise that ever will divide
the Saviour from his love to his people, and the saint from
his love to his Saviour.

He loved you for nothing at all -
simply because he would love you.

Well, that love which so lived on nothing but its own
resources, will not starve through the scantiness of your
returns.

The love which grew in such a rocky heart as this,
will not die for lack of soil.
That love which sprang up in the barren desert,
in your unirrigated soul, will never, never die for want of
moisture. It must live, it can not expire.

Can you believe it?

Spurgeon, "Love and I" John 17:26

Can you believe it, that you should
be the object of God's delight! That
you should be the object of the
Father's love us truly as Christ is!

Do not tell me that God the Father
does not love you as well as he does
Christ. The point can be settled by the
grandest matter of fact that ever was.

When there was a choice between
Christ and his people which should
die of the two, the Father freely
delivered up his own Son that we
might live through him.

See the amazing sacrifice which the
Father made in giving Jesus to us.

Think what it cost him to tear his Well
Beloved from his bosom and send him
down below to be despised and rejected.

Think what it cost him to nail him up
to yonder cross, and then forsake him
and hide his face from him, because
he had laid all our sins upon him.

Oh, the love he must have had to us
thus to have made his best Beloved
to become a curse for us, as it is written,
'Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree.'

I want you to get this right into your
souls, dear friends. Do not hold it as a
dry doctrine, but let it touch your heart.

The Lord Jesus died that we might be
borne onward forever by the mighty
sweep of infinite love into an everlasting
blessedness which tongues and lips
can never fully set forth.

Oh, be ravished with this!

Be carried away with it!

Be in ecstasy at love so amazing,
so divine: the Father loves you
even as he loves his Son!

Can you believe it!

Oh, if the love of the Father to Christ
once enters into a man's soul
it will change him;
it will sway him with the noblest passion;
it will make him a zealot for Christ;
it will cast out his selfishness;
it will change him into the image of Christ,
and fit him to dwell in heaven where love
is perfected.

From the fullness of His grace

(Winslow, "The Untrodden Path")

"From the fullness of His grace
 we have all received one blessing
 after another." John 1:16

All wisdom to guide,
all power to uphold,
all love to soothe,
all grace to support,
all tenderness to sympathize,
dwells in Christ.

Can Christ love one like me?

(J. C. Philpot, "Christ Dwelling in the Heart by Faith")

"To grasp how wide and long and high and deep
 is the love of Christ, and to know this love that
 surpasses knowledge." Ephesians 3:17-19

You may wonder sometimes — and it is a wonder that
will fill heaven itself with anthems of eternal praise —
how such a glorious Jesus can ever look down from
heaven upon such crawling reptiles, on such worms
of earth — what is more, upon such sinners who have
provoked Him over and over again by their misdeeds.
Yes, how this exalted Christ, in the height of His glory,
can look down from heaven on such poor, miserable,
wretched creatures as we — this is the mystery that
fills angels with astonishment!

We feel we are such crawling reptiles — such undeserving
creatures — and are so utterly unworthy of the least notice
from Him, that we say, "Can Christ love one like me?
Can the glorious Son of God cast an eye of pity and
compassion, love and tenderness upon one like me — who
can scarcely at times bear with myself — who sees and
feels myself one of the vilest of the vile, and the worst
of the worst? O, what must I be in the sight of the
glorious Son of God?"

And yet, He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting
love." His love has breadths, and lengths, and depths,
and heights unknown!

Its breadth exceeds all human span;
its length outvies all creature line;
its depth surpasses all finite measurement;
its height excels even angelic computation!

Because His love is . . .
  so wondrous,
  so deep,
  so long,
  so broad,
  so high;
it is so suitable to our every want and woe.

"To grasp how wide and long and high and deep
 is the love of Christ, and to know this love that
 surpasses knowledge." Ephesians 3:17-19

CHRIST MADE SIN

(The Imputation of Sin to Christ)

by Stephen Charnock (1628-1680)

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God." 2 Cor. 5:21

Our sins were imputed to him as to a sacrifice. Christ the just is put in
the place of the unjust, to suffer for them (1 Peter 3 :18 ). Christ is
said to bear sin, as a sacrifice bears sin (Isaiah 53:10, 12). His soul
was made an offering for sin. But sin was so laid upon the victims, as
that it was imputed to them in a judicial account manner according to the
ceremonial law, and typically expiated by them. Christ would not have
taken away our sins as Mediator, had he not borne the punishment of them.
As a surety, 'He was made sin for us' (2 Corinthians 5:21), and he bore
our sins, which is evident by the kind of death he suffered, not only
sharp and shameful — but accursed, having a sense of God's wrath linked to
it.

(1) Imputation cannot be understood of the infection of sin. The
filth of our nature was not transmitted to him. Though he was made sin,
yet he was not made a sinner by any infusion or transplantation of sin
into his nature. It was impossible his holiness could be defiled with our
filth.

(2) But our sin was the meritorious cause of his punishment. All
those phrases, that 'Christ died for our sins' (1 Corinthians 15:3) and
was 'delivered to death for our offenses' (Romans 4:25) clearly mean sin
to be the meritorious cause of the punishment which Christ endured. Sin
cannot be said to be the cause of punishment, except by way of merit. If
Christ had not been just, he would not have been capable of suffering for
us; had we not been unjust, we would not have merited any suffering for
ourselves, much less for another. Our unrighteousness put us under a
necessity of a sacrifice, and his righteousness made him fit to be one.
What was the cause of the desert of suffering for us was the meritorious
cause of the sufferings of the Redeemer after he put himself in our
place. The sin of the offerer merited the death of the sacrifice
presented in his stead.

(3) Our sins were charged upon him in regard of their guilt. Our sins
are so imputed to him as that they are 'not imputed to us' (2 Corinthians
5:19), and not imputed to us because 'he was made a curse for us'
(Galatians 3 :13). He bore our sins, as to the punishment, is granted. If
he were an offering for them, they must in a judicial way be charged upon
him. If by being 'made sin', be understood a sacrifice for sin (which
indeed is the true intent of the word sometimes in scripture), sin was
then legally transferred on the antitype, as it was on the types in the
Jewish service by the ceremony of laying on of hands and confessing of
sin, after which the thing so dedicated became accursed and though it was
in itself innocent, yet was guilty in the sight of the law and as a
substitute. In the same manner was Christ accounted. So on the contrary,
believers are personally guilty, but by virtue of the satisfaction of
this sacrifice imputed to them, they are judicially counted innocent.
Christ, who never sinned, is put in such a state as if he had.

Now, as justifying righteousness is not inherent in us, but imputed to
us; so our condemning sin was not inherent in Christ, but imputed to him.
There would otherwise be no consistency in the antithesis: 'He has made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin' (2 Corinthians 5:21). He knew no
sin, yet he became sin. It seems to carry the idea further than only the
bearing of the punishment of sin. He was by law charged in our stead with
the guilt of sin. Our iniquities were laid upon him (Isaiah 53:6). The
prophet had spoken (verse 5) of Christ bearing the chastisement of our
peace, the punishment of our sin, and then seems to declare the ground of
that, which consisted in God's imputation of sin to him in laying upon
him the iniquities of us all. What iniquities? Our goings astray, our
turnings every one to his own way. He made him to be that sin which he
knew not, but he knew the punishment of sin. The knowledge of that was
the end of his coming. He came to lay down his life a ransom for many. He
knew not sin by an experimental inherency [something in his own nature],
but he knew it by judicial imputation. He knew it not in regard of the
spots, but he knew it in regard of the guilt following upon the judgment
of God. He was righteous in his person, but not in the sight of the law
pronounced righteous as our Surety until after his sacrifice, when he was
'taken from prison and from judgment' (Isaiah 53:8 ). Until he had paid
the debt, he was accounted as a debtor to God.

The apostle distinguishes his second coming from his first by this, 'He
shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation' (Hebrews 9:28 ).
It is not meant of the filth of sin, for so he appeared at first without
sin. But he will appear without the guilt of sin which he had at his
first coming derived or taken upon Himself to satisfy for and remove from
the sinner. He shall appear without sin to be imputed, without punishment
to be inflicted. At the time of His first coming he appeared with sin,
with sin charged upon him, as our Surety arrested for our criminal debts.
He pawned his life for the lives which we had forfeited. He suffered the
penalty due by law that we might have deliverance free by grace. In his
first coming he represented our persons as a substitute for us. Our sins
were therefore laid upon him. In his second coming he represents God as a
deputy, and so no sin can be charged upon him.

He cannot well be supposed to suffer for our sins, if our sins in regard
of their guilt be not supposed to be charged upon him. How could he die,
if he were not a sinner by imputation? Had he not first had a relation to
our sin, he could not in justice have undergone our punishment. He must
in the order of justice be either supposed a sinner really, or else by
imputation. Since he was not a sinner really, he was so by imputation.
How can we conceive that he should be made a curse for us, if that which
made us accursed had not been first charged upon him? It is as much
against divine justice to inflict punishment where there is no sin, as it
is to spare an offender who has committed a crime or to 'clear the
guilty'. This God will by no means do (Exodus 34:7). The consideration of
a crime precedes the sentence, either upon an offender — or his surety. We
cannot conceive how divine justice should inflict the punishment, had it
not first considered him under guilt.

Though the first designation of the Redeemer to a suretyship or sacrifice
for us, was an act of God's sovereignty, yet the inflicting punishment
after that designation and our Savior’s acceptance of it was an act of
God's justice, and so declared to be, 'to declare his righteousness, that
he might be just' (Romans 3:26), that he might declare his justice in
justification, his justice to his law. Can this highest declaration of
justice be founded upon an unjust act? Would that have been justice or
injustice to Christ, for God to lay his wrath upon the Son of his love,
one whose person was always dear to him, always pleased him — had he not
stood as a sinner regarded so by law in our stead, and suffered that sin,
which was the ruin of mankind, to be cast with all the weight of it upon
his innocent shoulders? After, by his own act, he had made himself
responsible for our debt, God in justice might demand of him every
farthing, which without that undertaking and putting himself in our stead
could not be done. This submission of his and his readiness to suffer for
it is expressed twice, by his not opening his mouth (Isaiah 53:7); and no
wrong is done to a voluntary substitute.

Add this too. It is from his standing in our stead as guilty, that the
benefit of his death redounds to us. His death would have had no relation
to us, had not our sin been lawfully adjudged to be his; nor can we
challenge a plead for pardon at the hands of God for our debts, if they
were not our debts that he paid on the cross. 'He was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities' (Isaiah 53:5). The
laying hands on the head of the sin - offering was necessary to make it a
sacrifice for the offender; without which ceremony it might have been a
slain — but not a sacrificed animal. The transferring our iniquities upon
him must in some way precede his being bruised for them, which could not
be any other way than by imputation whereby he was constituted by God a
debtor in our place, to bear the punishment of our sin. Since he was made
sin for us, our sin was in a manner made his; he was made sin without
sin; he knew the guilt without knowing the filth; he felt the punishment
without being touched with the pollution. Since death was the wages of
sin and passed as a penalty for a violated law (Romans 6:23) it could not
righteously be inflicted on him, if sin had not first been imputed to
him. In his own person he was in the arms of his Father's love — but as he
represented our sinful persons, he felt the strokes of his Father's wrath.

Christ's Love to Poor Sinners

by Thomas Brooks

The apostle, being in a holy admiration of Christ's love,
affirms it to pass knowledge, that God, who is the eternal
Being, should love man when he had scarcely a being,
that he should be enamored with deformity,
that he should love us when in our blood,
that he should pity us when no eye pitied us, no,
not even our own.

Oh, such was Christ's transcendent love,
that man's extreme misery could not abate it.
The deploredness of man's condition did but
heighten the holy flame of Christ's love.

It is as high as heaven, who can reach it?
It is as low as hell, who can understand it?

Heaven, through its glory, could not contain him,
nor hell's torments make him refrain,
such was his perfect matchless love to fallen man.

That Christ's love should extend to the ungodly,
to sinners, to enemies that were in arms of rebellion
against him, yes, not only so, but that he should hug
them in his arms, lodge them in his bosom,
dandle them upon his knees,
and lay them to his breasts,
that they may suck and be satisfied,
is the highest improvement of love, Isa lxvi. 11-13.

That Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his Father,
to a region of sorrow and death;
that God should be manifested in the flesh;
the Creator made a creature;
that he that was clothed with glory,
should be wrapped with rags of flesh;
that he that filled heaven, should be cradled in a manger;
that the God of Israel should flee into Egypt;
that the God of strength should be weary;
that the judge of all flesh should be condemned;
that the God of life should be put to death;
that he that is one with his Father, should cry out of misery,
'O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!'
that he that had the keys of hell and death,
should lie imprisoned in the sepulchre of another;
having, in his lifetime, nowhere to lay his head;
nor after death, to lay his body--
and all this for man,
for fallen man,
for miserable man,
for worthless man,
is beyond the thought!

The sharp, the universal and continual sufferings of our Lord
Jesus Christ, from the cradle to the cross, does above all other
things speak out the transcendent love of Jesus Christ
to poor sinners.

That wrath,
that great wrath,
that fierce wrath,
that pure wrath,
that infinite wrath,
that matchless wrath of an angry God,
that was so terribly impressed upon the soul of Christ,
and yet all this wrath he patiently underwent,
that sinners might be saved,
and that 'he might bring many sons unto glory,' Heb. ii. 10.

Oh wonder of love!

So it was love that made our dear Lord Jesus lay down his life,
to save us from hell and to bring us to heaven.

As the pelican, out of her love to her young ones,
when they are bitten with serpents,
feeds them with her own blood to recover them again;
so when we were bitten by the old serpent,
and our wound incurable,
and we in danger of eternal death,
then did our dear Lord Jesus,
that he might recover us and heal us,
feed us with his own blood, Gen. iii. 15; John vi. 53-56.

Oh love unspeakable!

It was only the golden link of love that
fastened Christ to the cross,
and that made him die freely for us,
and that made him willing to be 'numbered among transgressors,'
that we might be numbered among the 'general assembly and
church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.'

Christ's love is beyond all measure,
for time did not begin it,
and time shall never end it;
place does not bound it,
sin does not exceed it,
no estate, no age, no sex is denied it,
tongues cannot express it,
understandings cannot conceive it.

And yet Christ's love has led him to all this;
so that well may we spend all our days in admiring
and adoring of this wonderful love,
and be always ravished with the thoughts of it.

COMFORT, CONSOLATION, CALVARY...

-Spurgeon, "Justification by Grace"

The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary;
the house of consolation is built with the wood of the cross;
the temple of heavenly cordials is founded upon the riven
rock, riven by the spear which pierced its side.

No scene in sacred history ever gladdens the soul like the
scene on Calvary.

Nowhere does the soul ever find such consolation
as on that very spot where misery reigned,
where woe triumphed, where agony reached its climax.

There grace has dug a fountain, which ever gushes with
waters pure as crystal, each drop capable of alleviating the
woes and the agonies of mankind.

You have had your seasons of woe, my brethren and my
sisters in Christ Jesus; and you will confess it was not at
Olivet that you ever found comfort, not on the hill of Sinai,
nor on Tabor; but Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Golgotha
have been a means of comfort to you.

The bitter herbs of Gethsemane have often taken away the
bitters of your life; the scourge of Gabbatha hath often
scourged away your cares, and the groans of Calvary have
put all other groans to flight.

The consolations of Christ

(John MacDuff, "Sunsets on the Hebrew Mountains")

"Is there no Balm in Gilead?
 Is there no Physician there?"
Jeremiah 8:22

There is not a wounded bosom on earth for which
there is not Balm in Gilead, and a Physician there.
Christ is "the God of all consolation." He has . . .
  a remedy for every evil;
  an antidote for every sorrow;
  a cordial for every fainting heart;
  a hand of love to wipe every weeping eye;
  a heart of tenderness to sympathize with every sorrowful bosom;
  an arm of power to protect;
  a rod of love to chasten;
  immutable promises to encourage on earth;
  an unfading crown to bestow in heaven;
  strength to bestow in the hour of weakness;
  courage in the hour of danger;
  faith in the hour of darkness;
  comfort in the hour of sorrow;
  victory in the hour of death!

What are the world's consolations in comparison
to this? Test them in the time when they are needed
most, and they will be found to be the first to give
way; broken reeds; the sport of every tempest that
desolates the heart.

O tempest tossed one, Jesus is your Balm!

The consolations of Christ are those alone which
are independent of all times and circumstances;
all vicissitudes and changes; which avail alike . . .
  in prosperity and adversity,
  in joy and sorrow,
  in health and sickness,
  in life and death.

The drearier the desert, the sweeter and more
refreshing are the streams of consolation of
which He calls us to partake.

The Creator of the universe
sleeps in a woman's arms!

(Horatius Bonar, "Family Sermons", 1867)

Go to Bethlehem. See yon infant!  It is God!
the Word made flesh.

Come, see the place where the young Child lay!

Look at the manger: there is the Lamb for the
burnt offering; the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world.

See yon infant! The the highest is the lowest;
the eternal Word a babe; the Creator of the
universe sleeps in a woman's arms! How low
he has become; how poor!

Those little tender hands shall yet be torn.

Those feet, that have not yet trod this
rough earth, shall be nailed to the tree.

That side shall yet be pierced by a Roman spear.

That back shall be scourged.

That cheek shall be buffeted and spit upon.

That brow shall be crowned with thorns.

And all for you!

Is not this love?

Is it not the great love of God?

And in this love is there not salvation,
and a kingdom, and a throne?

At the cross

(J. C. Philpot, "Contemplations & Reflections")

Standing at the cross of our adorable Lord, we see . . .
  the law thoroughly fulfilled,
  its curse fully endured,
  its penalties wholly removed,
  sin eternally put away,
  the justice of God amply satisfied,
  all His perfections gloriously harmonized,
  His holy will perfectly obeyed,
  reconciliation completely effected,
  redemption graciously accomplished,
  and the church everlastingly saved!

At the cross we see . . .
  sin in its blackest colors, and
  holiness in its fairest beauties.

At the cross we see . . .
  the love of God in its tenderest form, and
  the anger of God in its deepest expression.

At the cross we see the blessed Redeemer lifted up,
as it were between heaven and earth, to show to
angels and to men the spectacle of redeeming love,
and to declare at one and the same moment, and by
one and the same act of the suffering obedience and
bleeding sacrifice of the Son of God - the eternal and
unalterable displeasure of the Almighty against sin,
and the rigid demands of His inflexible justice, and
yet the tender compassion and boundless love of His
heart to the elect.

At the cross, and here alone, are obtained pardon
and peace.

At the cross, and here alone, penitential grief
and godly sorrow flow from heart and eyes.

At the cross, and here alone, is . . .
  sin subdued and mortified,
  holiness communicated,
  death vanquished,
  Satan put to flight, and
  happiness and heaven begun in the soul.

O what heavenly blessings, what present grace, as
well as what future glory, flow through the cross!

What a holy meeting-place for repenting sinners and
a sin-pardoning God! What a healing-place for guilty,
yet repenting and returning backsliders! What a door
of hope in the valley of Achor for the self-condemned
and self-abhorred! What a blessed resting-place for the
whole family of God in this valley of grief and sorrow!

The cup!

From Octavius Winslow's, "CHRIST'S FINISHED WORK"

Christ relinquished his throne for a cross,
that he might accomplish redemption, and work out
the salvation of the people given to him by God.

Behold the Almighty sufferer!
There stood the Son of God, bearing the sin and enduring
the curse of his people - putting away the one, and
exhausting entirely the other, by the sacrifice of himself.

The sufferings of Christ were unparalleled and intense.
Never since the universe was formed was there such a
sufferer as Jesus.

He was the Prince of sufferers.
No sorrow ever broke the heart like that which tore His in twain.

Come, poor sin-burdened, heart-broken penitent,
and sit beneath the shadow of this tree of life,
and its bending fruit of pardon, peace, joy,
and hope shall be sweet to your believing taste.

Christ took your cup of grief, your cup of the curse,
pressed it to his lips, drank it to its dregs, then filled
it with his sweet, pardoning, sympathizing love, and gave
it back for you to drink, and to drink for ever!

Deluged with love!

God is the fountain of love, as
the sun is the fountain of light.

Every stream of holy love, yes, every drop
that is, or ever was, proceeds from God.

In heaven, this glorious God is manifested, and
shines forth, in full glory, in beams of love.

And there this glorious fountain forever flows
forth in streams, yes, in rivers of love and delight,
and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of
love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe
with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it
were, be deluged with love!

-Spurgeon

Walking dirt?

(Charles Spurgeon)

The more grace we have, the less we shall
think of ourselves; for grace, like light,
reveals our impurity. At best, we are . . .
  but clay,
  animated dust,
  mere walking dirt.

But viewed as sinners, we are monsters indeed.

Let it be published in heaven as a wonder,
that the Lord Jesus should set His heart's
love upon such as we are!

Do you see him yonder?

From Spurgeon's sermon, "DAVID'S DYING PRAYER"

Brethren, turn your eyes yonder.
What do you see there?

You see the Son of God stepping from the place of his glory,
casting aside the garments of his majesty, and robing himself
in garments of clay.

Do you see him yonder?

He is nailed to a cross.

Oh! can you behold him, as his head hangs meekly on his
breast? Can you catch the accents of his lips, when he says,
"Father, forgive them?"

Do you see him with the thorn-crown still about his brow,
with bleeding head, and hands, and feet?

And does not your soul burst with adoration,
when you see him giving himself for your sins?

What! can you look upon this miracle of miracles -
the death of the Son of God, without feeling reverence
stirred within your bosom - a marvelous adoration
that language never can express?

Shall I not drink it?

(Newman Hall, "Leaves of Healing
 from the Garden of Grief" 1891)

"The cup which My Father has given Me,
 shall I not drink it?" John 18:11

It was the Savior's own desire to suffer.
To escape would be . . .
  to falsify Scripture,
  to renounce His own purpose,
  to abandon His work of salvation,
  to contravene the Father's loving will.

My Father has ordained this cup, mingled it,
knows every drop in it, presents it--shall I
not drink it? My Father is . . .
  infinite in wisdom, and cannot err;
  infinite in love, and cannot be unkind;
  infinite in resources, and would not give it to
Me to drink, if His and My own great purpose to
save the world could be better realized. It is
a cup which, drained by Me, shall procure to
countless multitudes . . .
  a cup of redemption,
  a cup of consolation,
  a cup of glory in the everlasting banquet of heaven!

"The cup which My Father has given Me,
  shall I not drink it?" John 18:11

And He drank it to the dregs!

Let His followers, whenever they have to drink
a cup of sorrow, be comforted in remembering
this last word of Christ at Gethsemane.

He, the sinless One--suffered for us, the sinful ones.
By reason of our transgressions, His cup was so bitter.
By drinking it, He provided an antidote for the poison
which sin infuses into every sorrowful cup of ours.

His love prompted Him to drink it all.

He has thus removed from us the danger, fear, and
sorrow. Our garden of grief, by His bitter cup, has
been delivered from its darkest gloom, has been
illumined by Divine love and rejoicing hope. He who
has thus saved us from sin and death, and ever lives
as our sympathizing Brother, will be with us in every
trial, and enable us also to say, "The cup which my
Father has given me, shall I not drink it?"

The dying love of the Lamb!

by Don Fortner

Nothing in all the universe is more wonderful
and magnificent in the eyes of God than the
death of his dear Son.

Never did the Father more fully love
his Son than when he was heaping
upon him the fury of his wrath.

The death of our Lord Jesus Christ is the
most wonderful, astounding, magnificent
event in the history of the universe. Nothing
that is, has been, or shall hereafter be, can
be compared to it.

He was suffering the wrath of God, bearing
the sins of his people, dying as the voluntary
Substitute for guilty, hell deserving, hell bent
sinners such as we are.

Redeemed sinners on the earth cherish nothing,
delight in nothing, marvel at nothing, like we
do the death of our Lord Jesus Christ for us.

The ransomed in glory appear to think of nothing
and speak of nothing except the dying love of the
Lamb in the midst of the throne.

May we become so totally consumed with the
crucified Christ, that our hearts, our lives, every
fiber of our souls may be constantly dominated
by the death of Christ as our sin atoning Savior!
_____________________________________________

(My Note:  The grave could not hold our precious Lord
and Saviour. HE arose from the dead on the third day,
and HE LIVES! HE returned to HIS rightful place as
LORD of LORDS and KING of KINGS. HIS Mercy has been
long and great, but HE will be returning soon in great
POWER and will pour out HIS WRATH on evil. Tomorrow
might be too late - won't you consider RIGHT NOW
asking HIM to be your LORD and SAVIOUR FOREVER?)

The bosom of His eternal Love!

(Anne Dutton's Letters on Spiritual Subjects)

Oh, what heart can conceive, or tongue express,
a thousandth part of that joy and glory which He
has reserved for His people in the world to come,
when He will bid them enter into His own joy, and
He Himself will be their everlasting light and their
glory! Oh, then we shall have the light of life, of
glory-life, in such manner and measure as far
surpasses all our present thought!

Come, lie down by faith, in the bosom of His eternal
Love! It is a sweet, soft bed, that will delight and
refresh you exceedingly! Here is a basin of heavenly
wine, or rather a sea of boundless bliss! Drink your
fill, bathe your soul in pleasures---and shout the
glories, the fullness, the praises of the strong
Jehovah amid all your felt emptiness, weakness,
and imperfections! So shall you be exceeding joyful
and fruitful, and your obedience highly pleasing to
your God and Father, in the Son of His love.

Eternally repose your weary
soul in the bosom of Jesus!

(from "Go and Tell Jesus" by Octavius Winslow)

Forward, believer in Christ, to the toils, duties,
and trials of another stage of life's journey!

Jesus is enough for them all.

Jesus will be with you in them all.

Jesus will triumphantly conduct you through them all.

Beloved one, live in the constant expectation
of soon seeing Jesus face to face; conversing
with He whom here below, cheered, comforted,
and sweetened many a weary step of your
Christian pilgrimage.

That moment is speeding on.

In a little while and all that now wounds and
ruffles, tempts and pollutes, will have disappeared
like the foam upon the billow, and you shall eternally
repose your weary soul in the bosom of Jesus!

His own Father!

David Harsha, "The Crucifixion"

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"

He drinks the bitter cup of God's wrath due to sin.

The powers of darkness fiercely assail Him.

He enjoys no sensible communion with Heaven.

It is the gloomiest period in His whole life.

But at length His agony is so piercing that He is
constrained to utter the most touching words of grief.

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"

His Father; His own Father; in whose bosom He had
lain from eternity; His Father, by whom He was always
beloved; has withdrawn the light of His countenance
from Him; and from His cross arises a most piercing
and agonizing cry.

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"

Oh, how mysterious, how solemn, how affecting is
this cry! It is the most doleful that ever came from
the lips of Christ during His sorrowful sojourn from
the manger to the cross.

Ah! why does He hang on yonder cross, uttering
with 'strong crying and tears' these doleful words?

It was not the nails which pierced His hands and feet,
nor the agony of a crucifixion, that caused this mournful cry.

He was now offering Himself a sacrifice for the sins
of the world. As our Surety He suffered all that divine
justice required to bring the sinner back to God and
to glory.

Here is the great mystery of Godliness: the Father
bruises the Son, and puts Him to grief for our sakes;
and all those cries, and tears, and groans of Him,
whom the Father appointed to accomplish our
salvation, were for us.

On His shoulders was laid the enormous load of human guilt.

Oh, what can we render to our Divine Savior
for His amazing and unparalleled love to us?

"In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Surely, never to my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.

Alas! I knew not what I did,
But now my tears are vain;
Where shall my trembling soul be hid
For I the Lord have slain.

A second look He gave, which said,
'I freely all forgive;
This blood is for your ransom paid;
I die that you may live.'

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too!

With pleasing grief and mournful joy,
My spirit now is filled;
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by him I killed."

(by John Newton)

I need just such a friend

(William S. Plumer)

Jesus knows all my wants and weaknesses; all
my sin and misery. He knows the malice of my
enemies, and the foolishness of my heart. He has
power to subdue my whole nature to Himself, and
to defeat the wiles and machinations of my foes.

His grace is all-sufficient.

His love is infinite.

His wisdom cannot be defeated.

His power cannot be resisted.

He has all power and strength--and I am very weak. He
has all the knowledge to understand my whole case, and
all the wisdom necessary to direct everything concerning
me. He makes no mistakes. He is never deceived. He is never
outsmarted. He knows all things. He knows my weaknesses.
He knows my sorrows. He knows my heart. His wisdom never
fails. He is never confounded or perplexed. He has as much
mercy and kindness as I need. His loving-kindness is so
great that we cannot fathom its top or the bottom--the
length or the breadth of it. The ocean of the Divine
love is boundless and inexhaustible! It is infinite!

I have no sorrow to which He is a stranger.

He sympathizes with me in all my sufferings
and temptations.

I need just such a friend.

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with
 confidence, so that we may receive mercy and
 find grace to help us in our time of need."
    Hebrews 4:16

A real friend

(Thomas Reade, "Christian Meditations")

"There is a Friend who sticks closer than a brother."
     Proverbs 18:24

Few people are insensible to the happiness of
friendship, though few, comparatively, possess
a real friend. Worldly friendships are often little
better than "confederacies in vice, and leagues
in pleasure."

In the midst of this ever changing, faithless world,
there is a Friend that loves at all times — a Brother
that is born for adversity.

Jesus is His precious name.

Love is His endeared character.

His faithfulness never fails.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In the midst of disquietude — He can give rest.

In the midst of sorrow — He can give comfort.

In the midst of weakness — He can impart strength.

In the midst of confusion — He can give counsel.

Oh! what a friend is this!

Wherever we are, He is a friend at hand to cheer
and support. When we read His word, He speaks to
us — when we pray, we speak to Him. He is near to
those who fear Him, and He sheds His choicest gifts
on those who love Him.

Such a friend is Jesus to His redeemed people.

There is no happiness but in Christ.

He is the fountain of living water — the source
from where our every blessing flows!

O! my soul, never look for peace from the creature
— nor expect it from yourself.

The fullness of His grace

(Octavius Winslow, "From Grace to Glory" 1864)

"From the fullness of His grace we have all
 received one blessing after another." John 1:16

Will you hesitate, then, child of God  to sink
your emptiness in this fullness; to drink
abundantly from this supply; to go to Jesus . . .
  with every sin, the greatest;
  with every temptation, the strongest;
  with every need, the deepest;
  with every trial, the severest;
  with your mental despondency, your lowest
spiritual frame yes, exactly as you are--and
receive from Christ's boundless grace--grace
to help you in the time of need? Hesitate not!

Every drop of Christ's fullness of grace is yours!
And you have . . .
  not a sin this grace cannot cancel,
  not a corruption it cannot subdue,
  not a trial it cannot sustain,
  not a burden it cannot enable you to bear.

Yes, the Lord will give grace! He will give us grace
for every position in which His providence places us.
He will give sustaining grace under every trial He
sends us. He will give preserving grace in every
path of peril along which He leads us. He will give
comforting grace in every afflictive dispensation
by which He seeks to promote our holiness here,
and so to advance our fitness for glory hereafter.

There is no stintiness, no limit in the Triune God.
He has given you grace for past exigencies, and He
is prepared to give you more grace for present ones!

"From the fullness of His grace we have all
 received one blessing after another." John 1:16

_______________________________