Grace Gems

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

As white as the lily--and as red as the rose

(Charles Spurgeon)

"With His stripes we are healed." -- Isaiah 53:5

Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. This Roman scourging was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down--these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration, and tore off the flesh from the victim. The Savior was, no doubt, bound to the pillar, and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this scourging of the Roman lictors--was probably the most severe of His flagellations.

My soul, stand here and weep over His poor stricken body. Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon Him without tears--as He stands before you--the picture of agonizing love? He is at once as white as the lily for innocence, and as red as the rose with the crimson of His own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed healing which His stripes have wrought in us--does not our heart melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus--surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms!

We would sincerely go to our chambers and weep! We pray our Beloved to print the image of His bleeding self--upon the tablets of our hearts--and sorrow that our sin should have cost Him so dear!

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

MY having been His murderer!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"A great multitude of the people followed Him, including women who mourned and wailed for Him." Luke 23:27

Amid the rabble crowd which hounded the Redeemer to His doom, there were some gracious souls whose bitter anguish sought vent in wailing and lamentations--fit music to accompany that march of woe!

When my soul can, in imagination, see the Savior bearing His cross to Calvary--she joins the godly women, and weeps with them. They bewailed . . .
  innocence--maltreated,
  goodness--persecuted,
  love--bleeding,
  meekness--dying!

But my heart has a deeper and more bitter cause to mourn: MY SINS were the scourges which lacerated those blessed shoulders! MY SINS were the thorns which crowned that bleeding brow! MY SINS cried, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" and laid the cruel cross upon His gracious shoulders! His being led forth to die, is sorrow enough for one eternity--but MY having been His murderer--is more, infinitely more grief, than one poor fountain of tears can express! Those women who loved and wept--could not have had greater reasons for love and grief--than my heart has!

The widow of Nain saw her son restored--but I myself have been raised to newness of life!

Peter's mother-in-law was cured of the fever--but I myself have been cured of the plague of sin!

Mary Magdalene had seven devils cast out of her--but a whole legion of devils were cast out of me!

Mary and Martha were favored with visits from Jesus--but He dwells with me!

I am not behind these holy women in debt to Jesus--let me not be behind them, in gratitude or sorrow.

"Love and grief my heart dividing,
 With my tears His feet I'll lave;
 Constant still in heart abiding,
 Weep for Him who died to save!"

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Take both sorrow and sin--to the same place!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Look upon my affliction and my pain--and forgive all my sins!" Psalm 25:18

It is well for us when prayers about our sorrows--are linked with pleas concerning our sins; when, being under God's hand, we are not wholly taken up with our pain--but remember our offences against God. It is well, also, to take both sorrow and sin--to the same place! It was to God--that David carried his sorrow. It was to God--that David confessed his sin.

We must take our sorrows to God. Even your little sorrows you may roll upon God--for He counts the hairs of your head. And your great sorrows you may commit to Him--for He holds the ocean in the hollow of His hand. Go to Him, whatever your present trouble may be--and you shall find Him able and willing to relieve you.

But we must also take our sins to God. We must carry them to the cross, that the blood may fall upon them, to purge away their guilt, and to destroy their defiling power.

The special lesson of the text is this--that we are to go to the Lord with sorrows and with sins in the right frame of heart. Note that all David asks concerning his sorrow is, "Look upon my affliction and my pain." But the next petition is vastly more express, definite, decided and plain, "Forgive all my sins!"

Many sufferers would have put it, "Remove my affliction and my pain--and look at my sins." But David does not say so--he cries, "Lord, as for my affliction and my pain, I will not dictate to Your wisdom. Lord, look at them--I will leave them to You. I would be glad to have my pain removed--but do as You will. But as for my sins, Lord, I know what I want with them--I must have them forgiven! I cannot endure to lie under their curse for a moment!"

A Christian counts his sorrow lighter in the scale--than his sin. He can bear that his troubles should continue--but he cannot support the burden of his transgressions.

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

These scars!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne!" Revelation 5:6

Why should our exalted Lord appear in heaven--with His wounds? The wounds of Jesus are--His glories, His jewels, His sacred ornaments. To the eye of the believer, Jesus is lovely, because He is "white and ruddy"; white with innocence, and ruddy with His own blood. We see Him as the Lily of matchless purity--and as the Rose crimsoned with His own gore. Christ is lovely in His life and His teaching--but oh! there never was such a matchless Christ as He who hung upon the cross! There we behold all His beauties in perfection, all His attributes developed, all His love drawn out, all His character expressed!

Beloved, the wounds of Jesus are far more lovely in our eyes--than all the splendor and pomp of kings! The thorny crown is more attractive than any imperial diadem. Jesus wears the appearance of a slain Lamb--as His court dress in which He wooed our souls, and redeemed them by His complete atonement.

Nor are these only the ornaments of Christ--they are the trophies of His love and of His victory! He has redeemed for Himself a great multitude whom no man can number--and these scars are the memorials of the fight! Ah! if Christ delights to retain the thought of His sufferings for His people--how precious should His wounds be to us!

"Behold how every wound of His,
A precious balm distills,
Which heals the scars that sin had made,
And cures all mortal ills.

Those wounds are mouths that preach His grace;
The ensigns of His love;
The seals of our expected bliss,
In paradise above!"

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Rise up My love, My beautiful one--and come away!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"My Beloved spoke and said to me--Rise up My love, My beautiful one--and come away!" Song of Solomon 2:10

Lo, I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! He bids me "Rise up!" and well He may, for I have long enough been lying among the pots of worldliness. Why should I cleave unto the dust? From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations--I would rise towards Him.

He calls me by the sweet title of "My love" and regards me as beautiful! This is a good encouragement for my rising. If He has thus exalted me, and thinks me thus lovely--how can I linger in the dark tents of Kedar and find congenial associates among the world?

He bids me "Come away!" Come away further and further from everything selfish, groveling, worldly, and sinful! He calls me from the outwardly religious world which knows Him not, and has no sympathy with the mystery of the pious life.

"Come away" has no harsh sound in it to my ear--for what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would that I could come away--but I am stuck among the thorns--and cannot escape from them as I would! I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor ears, nor heart for sin!

You call me to Yourself by saying "Come away!" and this is a melodious call indeed. To come to You is to come home from exile; to come to land out of the raging storm; to come to rest after long labor; to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes! But Lord, how can a stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? O raise me, draw me--and I will run after You! Your grace alone can do it. Send forth Your Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart--and I will continue to rise until I leave life and time behind me, and indeed come away!

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Do men make their own gods?

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Do men make their own gods? Yes--but they are not gods!" Jeremiah 16:20

One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and we who are the spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same folly! We no longer bow down to sticks and stones--but Mammon still intrudes his golden calf; and the shrines of pride are not forsaken. SELF in various forms, struggles to subdue the chosen ones under its dominion; and the flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them.

Children are often the cause of much sin in believers. The Lord is grieved when He sees us doting upon them above measure; they will live to be as great a curse to us--as Absalom was to David, or they will be taken from us to leave our homes desolate. If Christians desire to grow thorns to stuff their sleepless pillows--let them dote on their children!

It is truly said that "they are not gods," for the objects of our foolish devotion are very doubtful blessings; the solace which they yield us now is dangerous, and the help which they can give us in the hour of trouble is little indeed.

Why, then, are we so bewitched with vanities?

We pity the poor heathen who adore a god of stone--and yet worship a god of gold! Where is the vast superiority between a god of wood--and one of flesh? The principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case; only that in our case--the crime is more aggravated because we have more light--and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false deity--but he has never known the true God. But we commit two evils, inasmuch as we forsake the living God--and turn unto idols! May the Lord purge us all from this grievous iniquity!

    "The dearest idol I have known,
     Whatever that idol be;
     Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
     And worship only Thee!"

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Calvary's tragedy!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"The place which is called Calvary." Luke 23:33

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 blessing--is founded upon the cleft rock--cleft by the spear which pierced His side.

No scene in sacred history ever gladdens the soul--like Calvary's tragedy!

Light springs from the midday-midnight of Golgotha!

Every flower of blessing blooms sweetly beneath the shadow of that accursed tree!

In that place of thirst--grace has dug a fountain which ever gushes with waters as pure as crystal, each drop capable of alleviating the woes of mankind!

You who have had your seasons of trouble--will confess that it was at Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Golgotha that you have found real comfort.

The bitter herbs of Gethsemane--have often taken away the bitters of your life.

The scourge of Gabbatha--has often scourged away your cares.

The groans of Golgotha--have yielded you rare and rich comfort.

We would never have known Christ's love in all its heights and depths--if He had not died. Nor could we guess the Father's deep affection--if He had not given His Son to die. He who would know real love--let him retire to Calvary, and see the Man of sorrows die!

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Do not forsake me, O Lord!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Do not forsake me, O Lord! Do not be far from me, O my God!" Psalm 38:21

Frequently we pray that God would not forsake us in the hour of trial and temptation; but we too much forget that we have need to use this prayer at all times. There is no moment of our life, however holy--in which we can do without His constant upholding. Whether in light or in darkness, in communion or in temptation--we alike need the prayer, "Do not forsake me, O Lord!"

A little child, while learning to walk--always needs the parent's aid. The ship left by the pilot--drifts at once from her course. Just so--we cannot survive without continuous aid from God.

Let it be your prayer today, "Do not forsake me, O Lord! Father, do not forsake Your child--lest he fall by the hand of the enemy. Shepherd, do not forsake Your lamb--lest he wander from the safety of the fold. Great Gardener, do not forsake Your plant--lest it wither and die! Do not forsake me now, O Lord! And do not forsake me at any moment of my life. Do not forsake me in my joys--lest they absorb my heart. Do not forsake me not in my sorrows--lest I murmur against You. Do not forsake me--for my path is dangerous, and full of snares--and I cannot travel without Your guidance. Do not forsake me--for without You I am weak--but with You I am strong. Do not be far from me, O Lord, for trouble is near--and there is none to help. Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!"

"Hold me up--and I shall be safe!" Psalm 119:115

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Pride cannot live beneath the cross!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"He humbled Himself." Philippians 2:8

Jesus is the great teacher of 'humility of heart'. We need daily to learn of Him. See the Master taking a towel and washing His disciples feet! Follower of Christ--will you not humble yourself? See Him as the Servant of servants--and surely you cannot be proud! Is not this sentence the compendium of His biography, "He humbled Himself"? Was He not on earth, always stripping off first one robe of honor and then another--until, naked, He was fastened to the cross; and there did He not empty out His inmost self, pouring out His life-blood, giving up for all of us, until they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave?

How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud?

Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed. See His thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see His hands and feet given up to the rough iron spikes, and His whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in His outward frame; hear the horrid shriek, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me!"

If you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross--you have never seen it! If you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus--you do not know Him. You were so lost that nothing could save you--but the sacrifice of God's only begotten Son. Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you--bow yourself in humility at His feet.

A sense of Christ's amazing love to us--has a greater tendency to humble us, than even a consciousness of our own guilt. May the Lord bring us in contemplation, to Calvary. Then our position will no longer be that of pompous pride--but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much--because much has been forgiven him. Pride cannot live beneath the cross! Let us sit there and learn our lesson--and then rise and carry it into practice!

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

The infinite tenderness of Jesus!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"He will carry the lambs in His bosom, holding them close to His heart." Isaiah 40:11

Who is He of whom such gracious words are spoken? He is the Good Shepherd. Why does He carry the lambs in His bosom? Because He has a tender heart, and any weakness at once melts His heart. The sighs, the ignorance, the feebleness of the little ones of His flock--draw forth His compassion. He purchased them with blood, they are His property--He must and will care for that which cost Him so dear.

"He will carry the lambs in His bosom, holding them close to His heart."

Here is boundless affection. Would He put them in His bosom--if He did not love them much?

Here is tender nearness--so near are they, that they could not possibly be nearer.

Here is hallowed familiarity--there are precious love-passages between Christ and His weak ones.

Here is perfect safety--in His bosom, who can hurt them? They must hurt the Shepherd first.

Here is perfect rest and sweetest comfort.

Surely we are not sufficiently sensible of the infinite tenderness of Jesus!

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Look into those languid eyes!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Show me why You contend with me!" Job 10:2

Beloved, it was thus once with you--a text of Scripture, a threatening, a touch of the rod of affliction--and you went to your Father's feet, crying, "Show me why You contend with me!" Is it so now? Are you content to follow Jesus, afar off? O it is a grievous thing, when we can live contentedly, without the present enjoyment of the Savior's face. Let us labor to feel what an evil thing this is--little love to our own dying Savior, little joy in our precious Jesus, little fellowship with the Beloved!

Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the cross! There, and there alone--can you get your heart quickened. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead you may have become--go again in all the rags, poverty, and defilement of your present condition. Clasp that cross! Look into those languid eyes! Bathe in that fountain filled with blood! This alone will bring you back to your first love; this alone will restore the simplicity of your faith, and the tenderness of your heart!

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

That is all they have to enjoy

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity!" Psalm 119:37

No Christian enjoys comfort--when his eyes are fixed on vanity.

I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That is all they have to enjoy! A godly wife who despaired of her husband's salvation, was always very kind to him, for she said, "I fear that this is the only world in which he will be happy--and therefore I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can in it."

Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere--than the insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the world. Vain amusements are dangerous to renewed souls. It is when the Christian departs from God, becomes spiritually starved, and endeavors to feed on vanities--that the devil discovers his vantage hour. O for grace to sincerely pray, "Remove vanity and lies far from me!" Proverbs 30:8

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Oh, the atrocity!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"O Lord, we are covered with shame--because we have sinned against You!" Daniel 9:8

A deep sense and clear sight of sin--its heinousness, and the punishment which it deserves--should make us lie low before God's throne. As Christians--we have sinned! Alas! that it should be so. Favored as we have been--we have yet been ungrateful. Privileged beyond most--we have not brought forth fruit in proportion. What Christian is there--who will not blush when he looks back upon his past sins?

Oh, the atrocity of the sin of a pardoned soul! An unpardoned sinner sins cheaply--when compared with the sin of one of God's own elect ones, who has had communion with Christ and leaned his head upon Jesus' bosom.

Alas! these sins of ours would consign us to the place of inextinguishable fire--if it were not for the sovereign mercy which has made us to differ, snatching us like brands from the burning! My soul, bow down under a sense of your natural sinfulness, and worship your God. Admire . . .
  the grace which saves you;
  the mercy which spares you;
  the love which pardons you!

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Christ's garden

(Charles Spurgeon)

"I have come into My garden--My sister, My bride!" Song of Solomon 5:1

The heart of the believer is Christ's garden. He bought it with His precious blood, and He enters it and claims it as His own.

A garden implies separation. It is not the open common; it is not a wilderness; it is walled around, or hedged in. Would that we could see the wall of separation between the Christian and the world made broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear professors saying, "Well, there is no harm in this; there is no harm in that," thus getting as near to the world as possible! Grace is at a low ebb in that soul, which can even raise the question of how far it may go in worldly conformity.

A garden is a place of beauty, it far surpasses the wild uncultivated fields. The genuine Christian must seek to be more excellent in his life than the best moralist, because Christ's garden ought to produce the best flowers in all the world. Even the best is poor--compared with Christ's deservings; let us not put Him off with withered and dwarf plants. The rarest, richest, choicest lilies and roses--ought to bloom in Christ's own garden!

The garden is a place of growth. The saints are not to remain undeveloped, always mere buds and blossoms. We should grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Growth should be rapid where Jesus is the Gardener, and the Holy Spirit the dew from above.

A garden is a place of retirement. So the Lord Jesus Christ would have us reserve our hearts as a place in which He can manifest Himself, as He does not unto the world. O that Christians were more retired, that they kept their hearts more closely locked up for Christ! We often worry and trouble ourselves, like Martha, with much serving--so that we have not the room for Christ that Mary had, and do not sit at His feet as we should.

May the Lord grant the sweet showers of His grace to water His garden this day!

[nChrist]

__________________________________________
From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Everything is FREE and Public Domain.
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________

Two precious jewels glittering side by side

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Delight yourself in the Lord." Psalm 37:4

The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness. But to the sincere believer, it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth.

The life of the believer is here described as a delight in God--and we are thus certified of the great fact--that true religion overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly people and mere professors never look upon piety as a joyful thing; to them it is dreary service, duty, or necessity--but never a pleasure or delight. The thought of delight in Christ is so strange to most people, that no two words in their language stand further apart than "holiness" and "delight." But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and holiness are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. Those who love Christ with all their hearts, find that all His ways are ways of pleasantness; and all His paths are peace.

Christians discover such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, that so far from serving Him from custom, they would follow Him--though all the world casts out His name as evil.

We do not love God because of any compulsion:
  our faith is no fetter,
  our profession is no bondage,
  we are not dragged to holiness,
  nor driven to duty.

Our piety is our pleasure,
our hope is our happiness,
our duty is our delight!

Holiness and delight are as allied--as root and flower. They are, in fact, two precious jewels glittering side by side in a setting of gold!