Grace Gems

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The devil has two places he dwells in

(Thomas Watson, "Doctrine of Repentance")

"I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and humble in spirit" Isaiah 57:15

As God has two places He dwells in--Heaven and a humble heart;
so the devil has two places he dwells in--Hell and a hard heart!

A hard heart is a dwelling for Satan!

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The sweeping away of our earthly hopes!

(J.R. Miller, "Help for the Day")

"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms!" Deuteronomy 33:27

"You are my refuge--my portion in the land of the living!" Psalm 142:5

Often we do not learn the depth and riches of God's love, and the sweetness of His presence--until our earthly joys vanish out of our hands, and other beloved presences fade away out of sight.

The loss of temporal things seems often to be necessary to empty our hearts--that they may receive unseen and eternal realities. The heart's door is never fully opened to Him--until the soul's worldly joys are removed; then, while it stands open, He enters bearing into it immortal joys!

How often is it true, that the sweeping away of our earthly hopes reveals the glory of our heart's refuge in God! Someone has beautifully said, "Our refuges are like the nests of birds: in summer they are hidden among the green leaves--but in winter they are seen among the bare branches." Worldly losses but strip off the foliage, and disclose to us our heart's warm nest in the bosom of God!

"The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble!" Psalm 9:9

"God is our refuge and strength--a very present help in trouble!" Psalm 46:1

"You are my strong refuge!" Psalm 71:7

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Silently entwining their invisible threads into a cable!

(J.R. Miller, "Help for the Day")

"Abstain from all appearance of evil." 1 Thessalonians 5:22

We do many things which to our own eyes appear innocent and harmless--but which have in them a hidden evil we cannot see.

We indulge ourselves in many things which to us do not appear overtly sinful--but which leave on our soul a touch of blight, a soiling of purity, of which we do not dream.

We permit ourselves many little habits in which we see no danger--but which are silently entwining their invisible threads into a cable which some day shall bind us hand and foot!

We spare ourselves self-denials and sacrifices, thinking there is no reason why we should make them--unaware that we are lowering our standard of holy living and permitting the subtle beginnings of self-indulgence to creep into our hearts.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!" 1 Corinthians 10:31

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He will sustain us so that we may carry it!

(J.R. Miller, "Help for the Day")

"Cast your burden on the LORD--and He shall sustain you" Psalm 55:22

The promise is not that the Lord will remove the load we cast upon Him, nor that He will carry it for us--but that He will sustain us so that we may carry it!

He does not free us from duty--but He strengthens us for it.

He does not deliver us from conflict--but He enables us to overcome.

He does not withhold or withdraw trial from us--but He helps us in trial to be submissive and victorious, and makes it a blessing to us.

He does not mitigate the hardness or severity of our circumstances, taking away the difficult elements, removing the thorns, making life easy for us--but He puts Divine grace into our hearts, so that we can live sweetly in all the hard, adverse circumstances!

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness!" 2 Corinthians 12:9

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This lesson makes life easy and simple!

(J.R. Miller, "Help for the Day")

"As your days--so shall your strength be!" Deuteronomy 33:25

Each day is, in a certain sense, a complete life by itself. It has . . .
  its own duties,
  its own trials,
  its own burdens,
  and its own needs.
It has enough to fill heart and hands for the one full day. The very best we can do for any day, for the perfecting of our life as a whole, is to live the one day well. We should put all our thought and energy and skill into the duties of each day, wasting no strength, either in grieving over yesterday's failures--or in anxiety about tomorrow's responsibilities.

We have nothing to do with life in the aggregate--that great bulk of duties, responsibilities, struggles, and trials which belong to a course of years. We really have nothing to do even with the nearest of the days before us--tomorrow.

Our sole business is with the one little day, now passing. Its burdens will not crush us--we can easily carry them until the sun goes down. We can always get along for one short day--it is the projection of life into the long future that dismays and appalls us. This lesson makes life easy and simple!

"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

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It is better to be deaf!

(J.R. Miller)

"Whoever spreads slander is a fool!" Proverbs 10:18

In the case of slander, the listener is almost as bad as the speaker. The only proper response, is to shut your ears the moment you begin to hear an evil report of another from anyone. The person has no right to tell it to you--and you have no right to listen to it! If you refuse to listen--he will not be able to go on with his story. Ears are made to hear with, but on occasion it is better to be deaf. We all aim at courtesy, and courtesy requires that we be patient listeners, even to dull speakers; but even courtesy does not require us to listen to evil reports about a neighbor. Ears should be trained to shut instinctively when the breath of slander touches it, just as our eyes shut at the slightest approach of harm.

"He who speaks a slander, carries the devil on his tongue--and he who listens to it, carries the devil in his ear!" Thomas Watson

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Abounding grace!

(Albert Simpson, 1843-1919)

"Where sin abounded--grace abounded much more!" Romans 5:20

God loves to take the worst of men--and make them into the most magnificent monuments of His redeeming love and grace! He loves to take the victims of Satan's hate and the most fearful examples of his power to destroy--and use them to illustrate His divine mercy.

He loves to take the things in our own lives that have been the worst and the most vile--and to transform them so that we shall be the opposites of our former selves.
The sweetest spirits--are made from the most stormy and self-willed;
the mightiest faith--is created out of the wilderness of doubts and fears;
the divinest love--is transformed out of stony hearts of hate and selfishness!

The grace of God is equal to the most uncongenial temperaments and to the most unfavorable circumstances. Its glory is to transform a vile sinner into a holy saint, and show to men and angels of ages yet to come, that where sin abounded--grace abounded much more!

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There will be no night there!

(Rufus Wheelwright Clark, "Heaven and its Scriptural Emblems" 1853)

"There will be no night there!" Revelation 21:25

Is it not a blessed announcement that there is a world in which "there will be no night!"
No night of crime, deceit, treachery or temptation!
No night of sorrow or affliction!
No night of pain, sickness or death!

Oh, tell it to the weary believer, who is struggling against the evil habits and depraved inclinations of a wicked heart; who, on life's fierce battlefield, is striving to win an immortal crown!

Oh, tell it to the dying Christian, who, restless upon his bed, through long, wearisome nights, is trying to learn the lessons of submission, and faith, and moral discipline, which his sufferings are teaching--who longs for light to break through the dark clouds that are gathering about him.

Oh, hasten with the tidings to the bereaved family, and assure them that there is a world where these griefs shall be lifted from their oppressed spirits, and their present afflictions, if rightly improved, shall work out of them "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!"

For where God is--there can be no night.
Where bright, holy angels throng--there can be no sorrow.
Where celestial music rolls through the galleries and arches of temples filled with the effulgence of the Deity--there can be no sighing.
Where Jesus reigns in His majesty and glory, "all tears shall be wiped away!"

No night in Heaven! Then . . .
  no sad partings are experienced there,
  no funeral processions move,
  no death-knell is heard,
  no graves are opened,
  no mysterious providences will there perplex us,
  no dark calamities will shake our faith.
But we shall walk the golden streets of the eternal city, surrounded with perpetual brightness, breathing an atmosphere of heavenly purity and love, and free to enter the palaces of our Savior-King, or climb to heights over which no shadow ever passes!

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What sorrow, what sweetness, what glory!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Hour of Silence" 1899)

"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29

What sorrow, what sweetness, what glory--encircle the head of the Lamb of God!

1. He is the Lamb of Sacrifice. "His blood so red--for me was shed!" Priest as well as Victim, Shepherd as well as Lamb--He offered Himself in my place, without spot and blemish. He assumed my misery, and reaped the harvest I had sown--a mournful harvest of guilt and woe! His unsullied and stainless life, He gave freely, cheerfully--for my forfeited and outcast and ruined life! Oh, how He loves me!

2. He is the Lamb of Deliverance. I remember that ancient type of my Redeemer and Lord--the Lamb of the Passover. It was slain, and its life-blood was sprinkled on the door-post--and the family within was safe. The dark-winged angel of death with the sharp sword in his hand, had no condemnation for them. In the same way, behind the merit and the grace, the atonement and the intercession and the human-divine Person of Jesus--I take my stand, and I am free from condemnation!

3. He is the Lamb of whitest Purity. There is no spot in Him; He is altogether lovely. And, as I abide with Him, as I meditate on Him, as I love and trust in Him . . .
  old things pass away with me;
  I grow in grace;
  the meekness and the patience and the beauty of God's Lamb begin to be seen in my life;
  and upward and heavenward and Christward I mount!

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There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy!

(Alexander Smellie, "In the Hour of Silence")

"Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!" Mark 8:34

The cross which my Lord bids me take up and carry, may assume different shapes.

There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy. None of them is likely to be sought out by me of my own accord. But never is Jesus so near me as when I lift my cross, and lay it submissively on my shoulder, and give it the welcome of a patient and unmurmuring spirit. He draws close . . .
  to ripen my wisdom,
  to deepen my peace,
  to increase my courage,
  to augment my graces,
through the very experience which is so grievous and distressing.

And then, I grow closer to Jesus under the load.

[nChrist]

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I see a Cross on the Hill of Reproach!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Hour of Silence" 1899)

"God is Love!" 1 John 4:8

It is a little flower which I pluck from the garden of John's letter--this fragrant definition of God. Yet it suggests mysteries and miracles for which my intellect has no solution.

For it carries me away into the dateless years of eternity. Always Love has been God's name; always Love has summarized and crowned God's nature. Deep in His heart it lay through these far-off years. But, even then, it cared for me, and foresaw my sin and bitterness and and death and damnation. Long before my world was made, God, who is Love, was busy devising my salvation!

I look again at John's rose-blossom, and I see a Cross on the Hill of Reproach. Love could not remain pent up in the bosom of God. It broke the confining barriers. "The God of love," Plato said with unconscious prophecy, "would be found one day lying on the city streets, shoeless, penniless, homeless." It is true of my God. He gave Himself for me! He became, in this apostle's phrase, the atoning sacrifice for my sins!

Again I lift John's flower, and it awakens in me a glowing hope for myself. There is none so wondrous and powerful as this God of love. I welcome Him and . . .
  my heart is transfigured,
  my life is sublimed,
  I am changed into His image,
  I dwell myself in love,
  love becomes my atmosphere and my universe.

God is Love . . .
  Love indwelling me,
  Love sacrificing and suffering for me,
  Love melting and conquering me, and making all things new.

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Though we have been robbers, traitors and murderers!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Then cried they all again, saying: Not this man, but Barabbas!" John 18:40

Barabbas was a murderer, a felon, and a traitor. This fact is very significant. There is more teaching in it than at first sight we might imagine. Have we not here in this act of the deliverance of the sinner, and the binding of the innocent--a sort of type of that great work which is accomplished by the death of our Savior?

You and I may fairly take our stand by the side of Barabbas. We have robbed God of His glory; we have been seditious traitors against the government of Heaven; and if he who hates his brother is a murderer--then we also have been guilty of that sin. Here we stand before the judgment seat; the Prince of life is bound for us--and we are allowed to go free! The Lord delivers us and acquits us--while the Savior, without spot or blemish, or shadow of a fault, is led forth to crucifixion!

Two birds were taken in the rite of the cleansing of the leper. The one bird was killed, and its blood was poured into a basin. The other bird was dipped in this blood, and then, with its wings all crimson, it was set free to fly into the open field.

The bird slain well pictures the Savior, and every soul that has by faith been dipped in His blood, flies upward towards Heaven singing sweetly in joyous liberty, owing its life and its liberty entirely to Him who was slain!

It comes down to this: Barabbas must die--or Christ must die. You the sinner must perish--or Christ Immanuel, the Immaculate, must die. He dies--that we may be delivered!

Though we have been robbers, traitors and murderers--yet we can rejoice that Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us!

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LOST!

(Arthur Pink, 1951)

"But if our gospel is hid--it is hid to those who are LOST! The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers!" 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

What multitudes of people there are who have no concern over, in fact, no consciousness of, their woeful condition! While they do not regard themselves as perfect, yet they are not aware that there is anything seriously wrong with them. They are respectable people, law-abiding citizens, and nothing particular ever troubles their conscience. They consider that they are certainly no worse than their religious neighbors, and though they scarcely ever read the Bible or enter a church, they fully expect to go to Heaven when they die.

Some of them will indeed admit that they are sinners, but imagine that their good works far outnumber their bad ones. Some of them were sprinkled as infants, attended a Sunday school class as children, said their prayers each night, and later joined the church. Nevertheless, to this moment, they have never realized that they are the enemies of God, an abomination in the eyes of His holiness, and that Hell is their just deserts! They see no beauty or glory in the Gospel, no suitableness in it unto their case, and therefore do they despise and reject it.

Though Satan rules in their hearts and lives (Ephesians 2:2), yet it is by their own free consent. They voluntarily obey him and submit to his will. His dominion over them is maintained by . . .
  keeping their minds in darkness,
  deceiving and deluding them,
  blinding them by pride, prejudice, and the workings of their own corruptions.

Nowhere but in the Scriptures, can we learn what is the real condition of the natural man. There his case is diagnosed with unerring precision by the divine Physician. Many are the terms used therein by the Holy Spirit to describe the solemn and direful state to which the fall has reduced every descendant of Adam; and among them probably none is more pointed and awesome than is the term LOST! How dismal is its sound! How much is summed up in that single word! It signifies . . .
  that the natural man is in a sinful, wretched, and perilous state,
  that he is far astray from God,
  that he has willfully and wantonly forsaken the path of duty.

Lost! A traveler from time to eternity, treading the road that leads to certain and everlasting destruction!

Lost! A creature who has forfeited the approbation and favor of his Maker, and is now an outcast from Him!

Lost! One who has squandered his substance in riotous living, and is now a spiritual bankrupt and pauper. He is out of the way of peace and blessing, and utterly incapable of finding his way back to it!

Fearful beyond words, is the condition of fallen man. His case is as hopeless as that of a dying person whose disease is incurable. A lost child is a pitiful object--but what mind can estimate or pen depict the tragedy of a lost soul? Lost now, lost forever--unless a sovereign God intervenes and performs a miracle of mercy for its recovery!

Man is lost positively, in that he is not what he should be. He is . . .
  a defiled creature,
  a guilty criminal,
  a child of disobedience!

Lost judicially, under the curse of God's broken Law, sentenced to death, "condemned already" (John 3:18.), the wrath of God abiding on him! (John 3:36)

Lost meritoriously, for his transgressions deserve eternal death, which is the wages of sin--and fully has he earned them.

Lost experientially in point of ability or power to recover himself, he is "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can he be" (Romans 8:7). The moral impotency of man is such that he is utterly incapable of performing a single spiritual act: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil! (Jeremiah 13:23)

None will know how utterly man is lost, until they experience God's wrath in Hell, and can then measure the fearful distance they have departed from Him!

Thus man is lost in every way, and in every sense!
Federally, by the imputation to him of the guilt of his representative's offence.
Effectually, by the transmission of a corrupt nature from his parents.
Actually, by his own evil conduct, "you have destroyed yourself" (Hosea 13:9).
Practically, by the forming of evil habits, so that now he is "held with the cords of his sins" (Proverbs 5:22).

Lost to God, for He has no love, no service, no glory from the unregenerate, so that they deprive Him of the honor of their creation.

Man is lost to himself . . .
  to all reason and rational inducements,
  to right conceptions and perceptions,
  to every consideration of God's claims upon him.

Lost to all sense of shame for his horrible condition in the eyes of the Holy One.

So lost as to have "delight in wickedness" (2 Thessalonians 2:12).

Lost to piety and true happiness.

Out of the way of holiness, peace, and security.

Lost in sin, in ignorance, and error.

Lost irretrievably, like a sheep that wanders farther and farther astray, until it perishes. Man is utterly unable to find his way back to God, for he is in total darkness--a wanderer in a pathless desert, perishing in a howling wilderness. What makes man's case yet worse, is that he has no desire to be recovered! He has perversely set himself up to be his own master, and stubbornly determines to please himself and carve out his own career.

Rather than return unto God, the unregenerate would take any road which leads farther away from Him. They resent His expostulations and resist the strivings of His Spirit. If not with their lips, with their hearts, they say unto God: "Depart from us--for we have no desire to know Your ways!" (Job 21:14). Yes, they would much prefer to be annihilated than yet meet God face to face, and have to give an account of themselves to Him (Romans 14:12). They hate His holiness and dread His justice, while despising His goodness and abusing His mercies!

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This is too hard for me!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Hour of Silence" 1899)

"Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place: Jehovah-Jireh--the Lord will provide!" Genesis 22:13-14

And what does He provide?

The Lord will provide BREAD when I am hungry. It seems natural to begin there. He has a care for my body as well as for my soul. He is certainly not desirous that I should have wealth or distinction or the means of indulgence and display. But, if I trust Him, I shall get enough for comfort--if not enough for plenty; enough to rid me from unworthy worry--if not enough to free me from wholesome dependence and continuous faith. Every modest and present need, He is sure to satisfy.

The Lord will provide HELP when I am helpless. Is it the discipline of my own inner life? Is it to escape this enticing world? I am sufficient for none of these things.
Sometimes my road is rough,
sometimes it is steep,
sometimes it is dark,
sometimes it is slippery.
My heart whispers discouragement, and says, "This is too hard for me!" But, when I come to the place, I find that God Himself has solved my difficulties, and puts to flight my fears!

Best of all, my Lord will provide SALVATION when I am burdened with sin. It was a lamb for sacrifice which Jehovah-Jireh prepared on the bare summit of Moriah. And in fullness of time, on the green hill of Calvary, close beside mount Moriah--a better Lamb died by divine appointment and made reconciliation for my iniquity! In the presence of such a sacrifice, how full my joy should be! Jesus, the precious Lamb of God . . .
  breaks every fetter,
  unbars every door,
  forgives every debt!

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Heaven has become a trifle to you, Hell is almost a jest, eternity an empty notion, and death but a bugbear!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able!" Luke 13:24

I do not wonder that so many are deceived, when I see the careless way in which they deal with their souls. When men have to do with their estates, they are very careful; they pay a lawyer to go back over the title-deeds perhaps for two or three hundred years. In trade they will hurry hither and thither to attend to their commercial engagements; they would not launch into speculations, nor would they run great risks.

But the soul, the poor soul--how men play with it as a toy, and despise it as if it were worthless! Two or three minutes in the morning when they first roll out of bed, two or three odd minutes in the evening, when they are nearly asleep--the fag-ends of the day given to their souls, and all the best part given to the body!

And then, with what indifference do you lend your ears too often to the preaching of the Word! It is an old song; you have heard it so many times; Heaven has become a trifle to you, Hell is almost a jest, eternity an empty notion, and death but a bugbear!

Alas! it is a marvel that there are not more deceived. The wonder is that any find the gate, that any discover eternal life, when we are so, so mad, so foolish, so insane--as to trifle where we ought to be solemnly in earnest; and to play and toy--where the whole heart should be given to a work of such everlasting importance. God help us, since it is so easy to be deceived--to search, and watch, and look, and test, and try, that we be not found castaways at the last!

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it!" Matthew 7:13-14

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?" 2 Corinthians 13:5