Grace Gems

[nChrist]

A transforming knowledge

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's
 glory, are being transformed into His likeness with
 ever-increasing glory." 2 Corinthians 3:18

Saving knowledge is a transforming knowledge, which
metamorphoses the soul. Divine light beating on the heart,
warms it and betters it; transforms and changes it; moulds
and fashions it into the very likeness of Christ!

The naturalists observe that the pearl, by the often
beating of the sunbeams upon it, becomes radiant.
Just so, the often beating and shining of the Sun of
righteousness, with His divine beams, upon the saints,
causes them to glisten and shine in . . .
  holiness,
  righteousness,
  heavenly-mindedness,
  humbleness, etc.
Divine light casts a general beauty and glory upon
the soul; it transforms a man more and more into
the glorious image of Christ!

Look! as the child receives his features from his parents;
just so, the beams of divine light and knowledge shining
into the soul, stamp the living image of Christ upon the soul.

Mere notional knowledge may make a man excellent at
praising the glorious and worthy acts and virtues of Christ;
but that transforming knowledge which accompanies
salvation, will work a man divinely to imitate the glorious
acts and virtues of Christ.

When a beam of divine light shined from heaven upon Paul, ah,
how did it change and metamorphose him! How did it alter and
transform him! It made his rebellious soul, obedient: "Lord, what
will You have me to do?" Acts 9:6. Divine light lays upon a man
a happy necessity of obeying God. Divine light makes . . .
  this lion--into a lamb,
  this persecutor--into a preacher,
  this destroyer of the saints--into a strengthener of the saints,
  this tormenter--into a comforter,
  this monster--into an angel,
  this notorious blasphemer--into a very great admirer of God,
and the actings of His free grace.

Just so, when a spark of this heavenly fire fell upon the heart of
Mary Magdalene, oh what a change, what a transformation does
it make in her! Now she loves much, and believes much, and
repents much, and weeps much. Oh what a change did divine
light make in Zacchaeus, and in the jailor!

Truly, if your light, your Biblical knowledge does not better you,
if it does not change and transform you, if, under all your light
and knowledge you remain as vile and base as ever; your light,
your knowledge, your notions, your speculations, will be like fire!
That knowledge which is not a transforming knowledge--will
torment a man at last more than all the devils in hell; it will be . . .
  a sword to cut him,
  a rod to lash him,
  a serpent to bite him,
  a scorpion to sting him, and
  a vulture, a worm eternally gnawing him!

God at last will own no knowledge, but that which leaves
the stamp of Christ, the print of Christ, the image of Christ
upon the heart; but that which changes and transforms the
soul, which makes a man a new man, another man than
what he was before divine light shined upon him.

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[nChrist]

The ablest minister

(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on the
Preceptive Part of the Word of God")

He is the ablest minister who is . . .
  soundest in doctrine,
  deepest in experience,
  most godly in practice.

He must have also a gracious experience in
his own soul of the truths which he preaches,
in their savour, sweetness, and power.

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[nChrist]

The hypocrite's hope

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

"For what hope do the godless have, when God cuts
 them off and takes away their life?" Job 27:8

"When the wicked die, their hopes all perish." Prov. 11:7

That assurance is but presumption, which allows men . . .
  to play with sin,
  to be bold with sin,
  to make light of sin,
  to walk on in ways of sin.

Such 'assurance' will never bring a man to heaven; it
will never keep him from dropping into hell; yes, it
will double his damnation, and make him the most
miserable among all damned, wretched, forlorn spirits.

"So are the paths of all who forget God; and the
 hypocrite's hope shall perish." Job 8:13

Ah, Lord! from such false hopes deliver my soul;
and give me more and more of that divine hope
which makes sin to be more hateful than hell.

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[nChrist]

A whole Christ with a whole heart

(Thomas Brooks, "Touchstone of Sincerity")

The terms upon which Christ is offered in the gospel are
these: that we shall accept of a whole Christ with a
whole heart. Now, mark--a whole Christ includes all
His offices; and a whole heart includes all our faculties.

Christ as mediator is prophet, priest, and king.
Christ as a prophet instructs us.
Christ as a priest redeems us and intercedes for us.
Christ as a king sanctifies and rules us.

A hypocrite may be willing to embrace Christ as a priest
to save him from wrath, from the curse, from hell, from
everlasting burning--but he is never sincerely willing to
embrace Christ as a prophet to teach and instruct him,
and as a king to rule and reign over him. Many hypocrites
are willing to embrace a saving Christ--but they are not
willing to embrace a ruling Christ, a commanding Christ.
"But those enemies of Mine who did not want Me to be
king over them--bring them here and kill them in front
of Me!'" Luke 19:27

Hypocrites love to share with Christ in His happiness--but
they don't love to share with Christ in His holiness. They
are willing to be redeemed by Christ--but they are not
cordially willing to submit to the laws and government of
Christ. They are willing to be saved by His blood--but they
are not willing to submit to His scepter.

But a true Christian receives Christ in all His offices. He accepts
Him, not only as a saving Jesus--but also as a Lord Jesus. He
embraces Him, not only as a saving Christ--but also as a ruling
Christ. He received Christ as a king upon His throne, as well
as an atoning sacrifice upon His cross.

A hypocrite is all for a saving Christ, for a sin-pardoning Christ,
for a soul-saving Christ--but has no regard for a ruling Christ,
a reigning Christ, a commanding Christ, a sanctifying Christ;
and this at last will prove his damning sin.

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[nChrist]

Vain and sensual amusements

(John Newton's Letters)

"Be not conformed to this world." Romans 12:2

Conformity to the world is the bane of many professors in
this day. They have found a way, as they think, to serve
both God and Mammon. They may attain to a scheme of
orthodox notions--but they will remain destitute of the
life, power, and comfort of piety--so long as they cleave
to those things which are incompatible with it.

We must not conform to the spirit of the world. As
believers, we are strangers and pilgrims upon earth.
Heaven is our country, and the Lord is our King. We
are to be known and noticed as His subjects; and
therefore it is His desire, that we do not adopt the
sinful customs of the land in which we sojourn.

We must not conform to the maxims of the world. The
world in various instances calls evil good, and good evil.
But we are to judge of things by the unerring Word of
God--uninfluenced by the determination of the great,
or the many.

We must not conform to the world in their amusements
and diversions. "What fellowship has light with darkness,
or what concord has Christ with Belial?" What does a believer
have to do into those places and companies, where everything
tends to promote a spirit of dissipation; where the fear of God
has no place; where things are purposely disposed to inflame
or indulge corrupt and sinful appetites and passions, and to
banish all serious thoughts of God and ourselves?

If it is our duty to redeem time, to walk with God, to do
all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to
follow the example which He set us when he was upon
earth. It must of course be our duty to avoid a conformity
with the world in those vain and sensual amusements,
which stand in as direct contradiction to a spiritual frame
of mind. So far as a Christian is infected by a conformity
to the spirit, maxims, and sinful customs of the world,
true piety will be hindered.

May the Lord enable you and I to lay this subject to
heart, and that we be preserved from that growing
evil--a sinful conformity to the world!

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[nChrist]

Proud, dogmatic, and self-important

(Newton's letter on "Blemishes in Christian character")

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another;
 be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate
 and humble." 1 Peter 3:8

'Austerus' is a solid and exemplary Christian. He has a deep,
extensive, and experimental knowledge of Divine things.
Inflexibly and invariably true to his principles, he stems with
a noble singularity the torrent of the world, and can neither
be bribed nor intimidated from the path of duty. He is a rough
diamond of great intrinsic value, and would sparkle with a
distinguished luster--if he were more polished. But, though
the word of God is his daily study, and he prizes the precepts,
as well as the promises, more than thousands of gold and
silver, there is one precept he seems to have overlooked--
"be compassionate and humble."

Instead of that gentleness and humility which will always be
expected from a professed follower of the meek and lowly
Jesus, there is a harshness in his manner, which makes him
more admired than beloved; and those who truly love him,
often feel more constraint than pleasure when in his company.
His intimate friends are satisfied that he is no stranger to
true humility of heart; but these are few. By others he is
thought proud, dogmatic, and self-important; nor can
this prejudice against him be easily removed, until he can
lay aside that cynical air which he has unhappily contracted.

How lamentable are such blemishes in such a person!

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[nChrist]

Divine guidance

(John Newton's Letters)

In general, God guides and directs His people, by affording
them, in answer to prayer, the light of His Holy Spirit, who
enables them to understand and to love the Scriptures.

The word of God furnishes us with just principles, and right
apprehensions, to regulate our judgments and affections, and
thereby to influence and direct our conduct. Those who study
the Scriptures, in a humble dependence upon Divine teaching,
are taught to make a true estimate of everything around them,
and are gradually formed into a spirit of submission to the will
of God. They thereby discover the nature and duties of their
several situations and relations in life, and the snares and
temptations to which they are exposed.

The word of God dwelling richly in them, is a preservative from
error, a light to their feet, and a spring of strength and consolation.
By treasuring up the doctrines, precepts, promises, examples, and
exhortations of Scripture, in their minds, and daily comparing
themselves with the rule by which they walk, they grow into a
habitual frame of spiritual wisdom, and acquire a gracious taste,
which enables them to judge of right and wrong with a degree of
readiness and certainty, as a musical ear judges of sounds. And
they are seldom mistaken, because they are influenced by the
love of Christ, which rules in their hearts, and a regard to the
glory of God, which is the great object they have in view.

The Lord, whom they serve, does not disappoint their expectations.
He leads them by a right way, preserves them from a thousand snares,
and satisfies them that He is and will be their guide even unto death.

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[nChrist]

We are no better than they

(John Newton's Letters)

Jesus, full of compassion and tenderness, wept over
His enemies, and prayed for His actual murderers! A
feeling of this kind seems essential to that new nature
which characterizes the children of God; and where it
is not in habitual exercise, it is a sufficient evidence
that the soul, if truly alive to God at all--is at least
in a lean and distempered state.

When we look at the ungodly, we are not to
hate them--but to pity them, mourn over them,
and pray for them. Nor have we any right to boast
over them; for, by nature, and of ourselves, we
are no better than they.

"For who makes you different from anyone else?
 What do you have that you did not receive? And
 if you did receive it, why do you boast as though
 you did not?" 1 Corinthians 4:7

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[nChrist]

Paulinus Nolanus

("The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod"
 or, "The Silent Soul with Sovereign Antidotes"
 by Thomas Brooks, 1659, London.)

Paulinus Nolanus, when his city was taken from
him, prayed thus, "Lord, let me not be troubled at
the loss of my gold, silver, honor--for You are all,
and much more than all these unto me!"

Christian! In the absence of all your sweetest
enjoyments, Christ will be all in all unto you!

"My jewels are my husband," said one.

"My ornaments are my two sons," said another.

"My treasures are my friends," said yet another.

And so may a Christian, under his greatest losses
say--"Christ is my richest jewels, my chief treasures,
my best ornaments, my sweetest delights! What all
these things are to a carnal heart, to a worldly heart
--that and more--is Christ to me!"

"Christ is all!" Colossians 3:11

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[nChrist]

When Munster lay sick

("The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod"
 or, "The Silent Soul with Sovereign Antidotes"
 by Thomas Brooks, 1659, London.)

"Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline."
 Revelation 3:19

"The Lord disciplines the one He loves, and
punishes every son whom He receives." Heb. 12:6

All the afflictions which come upon the saints,
are the fruits of divine love.
When Munster lay sick, and his friends asked
him how he did, and how he felt; he pointed to
his sores and ulcers, whereof he was full, and said,
"These are God's gems and jewels with which He
decks his best friends, and to me they are more
precious than all the gold and silver in the world!"

"It was good for me to be afflicted!" Psalm 119:71

God afflicts you, O Christian, in love! Therefore Luther
cries out, "Strike, Lord, strike, Lord! and spare not!"

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[nChrist]

The astonishing anomaly

(Jared Waterbury, "Piety, the Only Foundation
 of True and Substantial Joy" May, 1838)

It is a subject for serious inquiry--how far the pursuit
of riches is consistent with true and genuine piety?

Why is it that some Christian professors are found in
such constant contact with the world? Why are closet
duties abridged or neglected, while time is freely, and
even lavishly, given to business and to pleasure? Ah!
the question has been sadly answered, in the almost
unbounded thirst for gain, which, like a sweeping
epidemic, has found its way into the homes and the
hearts of professors!

The astonishing anomaly has been witnessed, of
men professing to live above the world--yet wholly
bent on acquiring its possessions! Many who profess
to renounce the world's pomps and its vanities, have
been seen foremost in plans to secure them, and even
ostentatious in the exhibition of them! They live in a
greedy and all-absorbing pursuit of the world, while
they dwell in fine houses, ride in splendid vehicles,
and feast on rich dainties.

If a Christian may embark in the pursuit of riches with
as unbridled an appetite as the professed votaries of the
world, and vie with them in the manifestation of external
grandeur; it must follow that Jesus did not mean what He
said, or that He was mistaken, when He declared, "You
cannot serve God and mammon." Luke 16:13.

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[nChrist]

An honest, heart-felt preference of better things

(Jared Waterbury, "Piety, the Only Foundation
of True and Substantial Joy" May, 1838)

Piety powerfully dissuades its possessors to forsake the
indulgence of pleasures, and the gaieties of the world.
This relinquishment is not a forced, but a voluntary act.
It is not so much the coercion of stern duty, as the sweet
constraint of an honest, heart-felt preference of
better things. In comparison to true piety, the world's
groveling pleasures are empty and unsatisfying.

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[nChrist]

You take the goods

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants
 for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
 When can I go and meet with God?" Psalm 42:1-2

The rattle without the breast, will not satisfy the child;
the house without the husband, will not satisfy the wife;
the cabinet without the jewel, will not satisfy the maiden;
nor will the world without Christ, satisfy the soul.

The hungry soul will not be put off with any bread but
with the bread of life; the thirsty soul will not be put off
with any water but with the well-springs of life.

As the king of Sodom said once, "You take the goods,
give me the people," Gen 14:21. Just so, says the hungry
soul, "You take the goods--take your honors, and riches,
and the favor of creatures; you take the grain, the oil,
and the wine; give me Christ, give me the light of His
countenance, give me the joy of His Spirit, etc."

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[nChrist]

I had to punish him

(Arthur Pink)

"We are being disciplined so that we will not be
 condemned with the world." 1 Corinthians 11:32

"Is not Israel still My son, My darling child? I had to
 punish him, but I still love him. I long for him and
 surely will have mercy on him." Jeremiah 31:20

O the bitterness of provoking Him to punish us, our
best Friend; that One who poured out His life's blood
for us; who endured the sharpest inflictions of justice
to screen us; Him whose heart is love, and on the sense
of whose love all our happiness depends! Yet, we forfeit
all, and compel Him to restrain His lovely smile, put on
instead a frown, take the rod in His hand, and chasten
us for our folly! Then we cannot escape: smite He will.
How long and how much, we must leave to Him. We are
completely in His hands; His power over us is supreme,
entire; resistance is vain, and will certainly increase the
affliction. There is nothing to be done, but humbly to lie
down before Him, and submit to His will. He may punish
severely; often He does. He may punish long; and there
is no promise that it shall not be so. The suffering child
has but one resource, but one door of hope; it is love,
the exquisite, surpassing love of Him who is chastening.
On that he throws himself. Yes, there is none other. He
who inflicts the pain can withdraw His hand; He who has
wounded, can bind up; He who has laid us in the dust by
His frown, can raise up by His smile. Yes, He can forgive,
He can restore; He can heal.

This, this is a mercy, an infinite mercy, that we are in
the hands of One so tender, so loving, who does not like
to put us to pain, who does it unwillingly, and longs to
restore us to favor.

"Is not Israel still My son, My darling child? I had to
 punish him, but I still love him. I long for him and
 surely will have mercy on him."  Jeremiah 31:20

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[nChrist]

A devil at home!

(Charles Spurgeon, sermon #2362)

The way in which a man lives in his home is vital. It
will not do to be a saint abroad--and a devil at home!
There are some of that kind. They are wonderfully sweet
at a prayer meeting, but they are dreadfully sour to their
wives and children. This will never do! Every genuine
believer should say, and mean it, 'I will walk within my
house with a perfect heart.' It is in the home that
we get the truest proof of godliness!

'What sort of a man is he?' said one to George Whitefield;
and Whitefield answered, 'I cannot say, for I never lived
with him.' That is the way to test a man--to live with him.

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