Grace Gems

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When God wants to judge a nation!

(John Calvin, 1509-1564)

When God wants to judge a nation--He gives them wicked rulers!

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"My heart bleeds for America! There is a deep laid plot against your civil and religious liberties--and they will be lost. Your golden days are at an end. You have nothing but trouble before you. Your liberties will be lost!" (George Whitefield, 1764)

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My politics!

(Letters of John Newton)

The whole system of my politics is summed up in this one verse, "The Lord reigns! Let the nations tremble!" Psalm 99:1

The times look awfully dark indeed; and as the clouds grow thicker--the stupidity of the nation seems proportionally to increase. If the Lord had not a remnant here, I would have very formidable apprehensions. But He loves His children; some are sighing and mourning before Him, and I am sure He hears their sighs, and sees their tears. I trust there is mercy in store for us at the bottom; but I expect a shaking time before things get into a right channel--before we are humbled, and are taught to give Him the glory.

The state of the nation and the state of the churches--both are deplorable! Those who should be praying--are disputing and fighting among themselves! Alas! how many professors are more concerned for the mistakes of government--than for their own sins!

"Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns!" Revelation 19:6

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Short pithy gems from John Calvin!

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Man's heart, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols!

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When the Bible speaks--God speaks!

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Nothing, including human suffering, happens by chance.

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No one will calmly and quietly submit to bear the cross--except those who have learned to seek their happiness beyond this world!

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Without the fear of God--men do not even observe justice among themselves!

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The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood works, and is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy--that it often dupes itself!

[nChrist]

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There is an old legend that tells of Hercules encountering a strange animal on a narrow road!

"They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice." Romans 1:29

There is an old legend that tells of Hercules encountering a strange animal on a narrow road. He struck it with his club and passed along. Soon the animal overtook him--now three times as large as before. Hercules struck it fast and furiously, but the more he clubbed the beast, the larger it grew!

Then Pallas appeared to Hercules and warned him to stop. "The monster's name is Strife," he said. "Let it alone and it will soon become as little as at first."

"For where you have envy and strife--there you find disorder and every evil practice!" James 3:16

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved--clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14

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Others may, you cannot!

(George Watson, 1845-1924)

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 16:24-25

If God has called you to be truly like Jesus--He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience, that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other believers do things which He will not let you do.

Others who seem to be very religious and useful, may push themselves up to be admired, and scheme to carry out their plans--but you cannot. If you attempt it--you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others can brag about themselves, their work, their successes--but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so--He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or in having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries--but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold--a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward--while keeping you hidden in obscurity, because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit in you, which can only be produced in the shade.

God may let others be great--but He will keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit--but He will make you work and toil without others knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done. This to teach you the message of the Cross and humility.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time--which other Christians never seem distressed over.

So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own--and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.

If you absolutely give yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other Christian people say and do many things which you cannot.

However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life--then you will have found the vestibule of Heaven, the high calling of God.

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Character

(John MacDuff)

Character is the product of daily, hourly actions, words and thoughts:
  daily forgiveness,
  daily unselfishness,
  daily kindnesses,
  daily sympathies,
  daily charities,
  daily sacrifices for the good of others,
  daily struggles against temptation,
  daily submissiveness under trial.
It is these, like the blending of colors in a picture--which constitute a person's character.

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The nickels and noses racket!

(Milburn Cockrell, 1941-2002)

The average pastor is no longer a powerful, plain preacher--but a polite, polished politician!

We live in a time of big meetings, big churches, big church buildings, big preachers, and big church budgets. The failure or success of a church and its pastor--is judged by the number of nickels and noses that they have. In all too many cases, there is seen in this more Satanic pride, than spiritual piety.

In the craze for nickels and noses churches have replaced preachers and pastors, with puppeteers and pranksters. The gospel of Christ has been superseded by gimmicks, gadgets, and games. Psychology has taken the place of Holy Spirit conviction. The faith has been displaced for finance, fun, and foolishness. Church discipline has been relegated to the background, in order to swell the size of the church with religious hypocrites who might give a little money to the church now and then.

The nickels and noses racket has filled our churches with unconverted persons. We have far more churchianity than Christianity. Many church members are white-washed--but they are not blood-washed. Their names are upon the church roll--but they are not found in the Lamb's book of life. Many have been reformed--but they have not been re-born. Many have been confirmed--but they have not been converted to Christ. There are so many lost people in our churches, that you cannot tell the difference between a church member and the unconverted. The reason is, because there is no difference. Both are headed to Hell as fast as time can carry them!

It has produced icy services--and cold, callous, complacent church members. Look at the average church! They have their robed choir, their cut and dried program, and their intellectual preaching. They have a beautiful edifice. They have all the organization and rituals one could ask for--but in most cases it is Spiritless! We have form without reality; we have organization without power; we have profession without possession. We have a form of godliness--without the power of it. We have religion without life.

It has caused pastors to spend more time worrying with goats, than feeding the sheep. The pastor nowadays must provide a spiritual diet for people who have no spiritual appetite. Like Ezekiel of old (Ezekiel 37:1-10), he must preach to dead, dry bones--but without the blessings which Ezekiel experienced. These dry, dead bones can't hear--yet the pastor must keep preaching and pretend that someone is listening. These dry, dead bones do not grow in grace--for the dead do not grow. These baptized bones are in no way sensitive to the appeals made to them from the Scriptures by the pastor. They watch the clock on Sunday morning, hoping the pastor will preach a short sermon so they can soon go home and do what they really enjoy.

This idea has given us the gimmick gospel. Most church members want to be entertained--instead of instructed in the Word of God. They have far more delight in the gospel of amusement--than the gospel of the atonement. Gospel celebrities must be brought in to entertain these worldly church members. These members love to hear these clerical comedians who mix a few verses of Scripture with a large amount of humor. Special singing groups must be brought in too. These have the same dress, music, hair style, and manners of any rock and roll group. Our church services nowadays have become a carefully produced theatrical production for the delight of carnal Christians and religious rascals. The only difference between this entertainment and that in the local nightclub, is that it has a religious flavor! But they say it must be done to get nickels and noses!

While there are some exceptions, most big churches are worldly churches. They have high carnality--and low spirituality. Truth is very scarce in such fashionable churches, because the Word of God has been compromised to keep nickels and noses.

[nChrist]

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Short pithy gems from the Puritan Richard Sibbes!

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The depths of our misery--can never fall below the depths of God's mercy.

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What the heart loves best--the mind studies most.

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It is better to go afflicted to Heaven--than merry to Hell.

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Poverty and affliction take away the fuel that feeds pride.

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Whatever God takes away from His children--He either replaces it with a much greater favor, or else gives strength to bear it.

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Sin is not so sweet in the committing of it--as it is bitter in the reckoning of it.

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Short pithy gems from the Puritan Matthew Henry

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We cannot expect too little from man--nor too much from God!

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A life spent in the service of God and communion with Him, is the most pleasant life that anyone can live in this world.

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The Bible is a letter God has sent to us.
Prayer is a letter we send to Him.

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We should take heed of pride--it is the sin that turned angels into devils!

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God is either your best friend--or your worst enemy.

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Knowledge is vain and fruitless--which is not reduced to practice.

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Short pithy gems from John Newton!

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May we sit at the foot of the cross--and there learn . . .
  what sin has done,
  what justice has done,
  and what love has done!
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I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ--and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master!

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My grand point in preaching, is to break the hard heart--and to heal the broken one!

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I am not what I ought to be. Ah! How imperfect and deficient!
I am not what I wish to be. I would abhor what is evil, and cleave to what is good.
I am not what I hope to be. Soon, soon, I shall put off mortality--and with mortality, all sin and imperfection.
Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be--I can truly say that I am not what I once was--a slave to sin and Satan. And I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, "By the grace of God, I am what I am!"

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John Newton's last words: "I am still in the land of the dying. I shall be in the land of the living soon!"

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Short pithy gems from Elizabeth Prentiss

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The longer I live, the more conscious I am of my human frailty--and of the constant, overwhelming need I have of God's grace.

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The thorny path bears some of the sweetest flowers that adorn life. And when with naked, bleeding feet we walk upon a flinty soil--we often find diamonds!

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Dying grace is not usually given until it is needed. Death, to the disciple of Jesus, is only stepping from one room to another and far better room of our Father's house. How little all the sorrows of the way will seem to us, when we get to our home above.

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What are trials, but angels to beckon us nearer to Him. I have lived to see that God never was so good to me--as when He seemed most severe.

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In proportion to your devotion to the Savior--will be the blessedness of your life.

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Short pithy gems from George Whitefield

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You may have orthodox heads--and yet you may have the devil in your hearts!

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How sweet is rest after fatigue! How sweet will Heaven be when our journey is ended!

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Be humble, talk little, think and pray much.

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The Christian world is in a deep sleep!

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All our afflictions and all our temptations--are to make Heaven more desirable, and earth more loathsome!

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The Lord Jesus sits in Heaven, ruling over all, and causing all things to work for His children's good.

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Short pithy gems from David Brainerd

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I love to live on the brink of eternity!

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Let me forget the world--and be swallowed up in the desire to glorify God.

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Oh! one hour with God infinitely exceeds all the pleasures and delights of this lower world!

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I have received my all from God.
Oh, that I could return my all to God!

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O how vain and unworthy it is to live for any lower end than the glory of God!

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Short pithy gems from the Puritan Thomas Watson!

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Eternity to the godly--is a day that has no sunset.
Eternity to the wicked--is a night that has no sunrise.

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Christ is never sweet--until sin is felt to be bitter.

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Christ will not throw away His pearls, for every speck of dirt!

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The world is a flattering enemy--it kills by embracing. Whom the world kisses--it betrays.
Is Heaven in your eye, and Christ in your heart, and the world under your feet?

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Christ shed tears--for those who shed His blood!

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The pleasure of sin is soon gone--but the sting remains!

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He who believes not in the blood of the Lamb--must feel the wrath of the Lamb.

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Sin has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages!

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Short pithy gems from Arthur Pink

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The nature of Christ's salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day evangelist. He announces a Savior from Hell--rather than a Savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of fire--who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness.

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The Bible is no lazy man's book! Much of its treasure, like the valuable minerals stored in the recesses of the earth, only yield up themselves to the diligent seeker. No verse of Scripture yields its meaning to lazy people.

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Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude--an attitude of dependence, dependence upon God.

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It is not the absence of sin, but the grieving over it--which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors.

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Instead of a river, God often gives us a brook, which may be running today and dried up tomorrow. Why? To teach us not to rest in our blessings--but in the Blesser Himself!