Grace Gems

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David's experience!

(Charles Spurgeon)

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."

Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die." 2 Samuel 12:13-14

David's experience is very instructive to us. While it teaches us that God can and will forgive us, if we repent of our great and gross sins--yet it also teaches us that sin is an evil and a bitter thing; and that, though the guilt of it may be removed, the evil consequences of it will cling to us and be a subject of sorrow to us--until God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes!

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The Golden Key! The Golden Thread!

(Octavius Winslow)

Jesus is the one great theme both of the Old Testament and the New. The whole Bible is designed to testify of Christ, "The Scriptures point to Me!" John 5:39

In Christ the Messiah, in Jesus the Savior, in the Son of God the Redeemer--all the truths of the Bible center.

To Him all the types and shadows point!

Of Him all the prophecies give witness!

All the glory of the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation--culminates at the cross of Christ!

The Bible would be an inexplicable mystery apart from Christ, who unfolds and explains it all.

He is the golden Key which unlocks the divine treasury of Scriptural revelation!

Until He is seen, the Bible is, in a sense--a great mystery. But when He is found, it is a glorious revelation.
Every mystery is opened,
every enigma is explained,
every discrepancy is harmonized, and
every truth and page, sentence and word--is quickened with a life and glowing with a light flowing down from the throne of the Eternal God.

Christ is the substance of the Gospel.
  All its divine doctrines,
  all its holy precepts,
  all its gracious instructions,
  all its precious promises,
  all its glorious hopes--
meet, center, and fill up their entire compass in Jesus!

He is the Alpha and the Omega of the Bible--from the first verse in Genesis, to the last verse in Revelation.

Oh, study the Scriptures of truth with a view of learning Christ.

Do not study the Bible as a mere history.
Do not read it as a mere poem.
Do not search it as a book of science.
It is all that, but infinitely more.
The Bible is the Book of Jesus!
It is a Revelation of Christ!

Christ is the golden thread which runs through the whole!

Blessed Lord Jesus! I will read and study and dig into the Scriptures, to find and learn more of You!
You, Immanuel, are the fragrance of this divine box of precious ointment.
You are the beauteous gem sparkling in this divine cabinet.
You are the Tree of life planted in the center of this divine garden.
You are the Ocean whose stream quickens and nourishes all who draw water out of this divine well of salvation.
The Bible is all about You!

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Let us always think of the Holy Spirit with holy awe and reverence!

(Charles Spurgeon)

Let us always think of the Holy Spirit with holy awe and reverence, remembering that . . .
  it is the Spirit who quickens us,
  it is the Spirit who instructs us,
  it is the Spirit who sanctifies us,
  it is the Spirit who preserves us,
  it is the Spirit who makes us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light!
So unto the ever-blessed Spirit be glory and honor and praise, forever and ever!

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He loves us too well to promise that!

(J.C. Ryle)

"Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." Job 5:7

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows." John 16:33

If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to Heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way, and glory at the end--all this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no affliction. He loves us too well to promise that!

By affliction He teaches us many precious lessons which without it we would never learn. By affliction He . . .
  shows us our emptiness and weakness,
  draws us to the throne of grace,
  purifies our affections,
  weans us from the world,
  and makes us long for Heaven.

In the resurrection morning, we shall all say, "It is good for me that I was afflicted." We shall thank God for every storm.

"You do not understand now what I am doing--but you will understand later on!" John 13:7

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The very place in which the wicked shall lodge!

(Thomas Brooks, "The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures")

"The wicked shall be turned into Hell." Psalm 9:17

That is, "The wicked shall certainly be turned into the nethermost Hell!" Yes, they shall forcibly be turned into the lowest and darkest place in Hell. God will, as it were, with both hands thrust them into Hell--into that prison of torment where divine justice eternally detains them.

Certainly, the very place in which the wicked shall lodge and be tormented to all eternity, namely--Hell, the bottomless pit, the dungeon of darkness, the lake of fire and brimstone, the fiery furnace--will extremely aggravate the dolefulness of their condition.

O sirs, were all the water in the sea ink, and every blade of grass a pen--all would be too short to delineate the nature of this dungeon, where all lost souls must lodge forever!

Where is the man who, to gain a world, would lodge one night in a room that is haunted with devils? Is it nothing to dwell in Hell with them forever?

"Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath!" 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Oh, what infinite cause have we to exalt our dear Lord Jesus, who by the Hellish sorrows which He suffered for us, has freed us from the dreadful bondage of sin, Satan, and wrath that we lay under! Oh, prize that Jesus! Oh, exalt that Christ! Oh, extol that Savior, who has saved you from that eternal wrath!

"For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thessalonians 5:9

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ETERNITY!

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God. You turn men back to dust, saying, 'Return to dust, O sons of men.' For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away!" Psalm 90:1-6, 10

   ~  ~  ~  ~

A thousand years! This is a long stretch of time. How much may be crowded into it--the rise and fall of empires, the glory and obliteration of dynasties, the beginning and the end of elaborate systems of human philosophy, and countless events--all important to individuals, which elude the pens of historians. Yet this period is to the Lord as nothing, even as time already gone. If a thousand years are to God as a single night-watch--then what must be the life-time of the Eternal God! Charles Spurgeon

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Before the Eternal God, all the age of frail man is less than one ticking of a clock! Charles Spurgeon

   ~  ~  ~  ~

O think a little, how inconsiderable a thing is the longest life of man on earth--compared with an everlasting duration! The psalmist tells us, "You have made my days as an handbreadth, and my age--my life, my time on earth--is as nothing to You"--nothing, as compared with God's duration, which is without beginning or end!  John Shower

   ~  ~  ~  ~

This life, upon which everything depends--is very brief.
How solemn this is! In Scripture, time is compared to . . .
  a flower of the field;
  a watch in the night;
  a dream;
  a vapor.
William Jay

   ~  ~  ~  ~

How little a while we are to abide here on earth. After death we must abide forever in eternal bliss--or in eternal torments. We will either be with God in endless glory--or in everlasting fire with the devil and his demons! John Shower

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Eternity to the godly, is a day that has no sunset.
Eternity to the godless, is a night that has no sunrise. Thomas Watson

   ~  ~  ~  ~

O God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs! Jonathan Edwards

   ~  ~  ~  ~

ETERNITY! O that the sinner would study this word--methinks it would startle him out of his dead sleep!
O that the gracious soul would study it--methinks it would revive him in his deepest agony! Richard Baxter

   ~  ~  ~  ~

The crosses and comforts of this present time would not make such an impression upon us as they do--if we did but believe the things of eternity as we ought. Matthew Henry

   ~  ~  ~  ~

We must not forget that the issues of eternity, are settled in time. Arthur Pink

   ~  ~  ~  ~

The great weight of eternity, hangs upon the small wire of time! Thomas Brooks

   ~  ~  ~  ~

A mistake about your soul, is a mistake for eternity! J.C. Ryle

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

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We waste far too much of our time upon trifles!

(Charles Spurgeon)

We waste far too much of our time upon trifles!

Time is short--and eternity is near!

"So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom!" Psalm 90:12

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Oramuzes' happiness egg!

(Thomas Brooks, "London's Lamentations" 1670)

"Whoever loves money--never has money enough; whoever loves wealth--is never satisfied with his income." Ecclesiastes 5:10

He who is not contented with a little--will never be satisfied with much. Money of itself, cannot satisfy any desire of nature.

A circle cannot fill a triangle--and no more can the whole world fill the heart of man. A man may as soon fill a chest with grace--as a heart with wealth. The soul of man may be busied about earthly things--but it can never be filled nor satisfied with earthly things. There is many a worldling who has enough of the world to sink him--who will never have enough of the world to satisfy him.

The more that money is increased--the more that the love of money is increased; and
the more that the love of money is increased--the more that the soul is unsatisfied.

It is only an infinite God, and an infinite good--which can fill and satisfy the precious and immortal soul of man.

The sum of all that the creatures amount to, according to Solomon's reckoning, is vanity and vexation of spirit. Vanity and vexation is the very quintessence of the creature, and all that can possibly be extracted out of it. Now if vanity can satisfy, or if vexation can give contentment--if you can gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles--then go on and dote upon the world still, and be always enamored with a shadow of perishing beauty.

Oramuzes the enchanter boasted that in his egg, all the happiness in the world was included; but being broken, there was nothing in it but wind and emptiness.

"When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun!" Ecclesiastes 2:11

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Is Miss Much-Afraid here?

(Charles Spurgeon)

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand!" John 10:11, 27-28

There is a day coming when all Christ's sheep shall pass again under the hand of Him that counts them--and in that day, not one of the whole redeemed flock shall be missing!

As the long roll of God's ransomed family is called, it shall be asked, "Is Little-Faith here?" And he will answer to his name not at all in the trembling way in which he used to speak when he was upon earth.

When it is asked, "Is Miss Much-Afraid here?" she will reply, in jubilant tones, "Glory be to God, I am here!"

No matter how weak and feeble you may be, if you are a child of God--you shall certainly be there and the inheritance shall assuredly be yours!

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation--will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" Romans 8:38-39

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How would you judge the lawfulness or unlawfulness of any pleasure?

(Susanna Wesley)

"All things are lawful for me--but not all things are profitable.
 All things are lawful for me--but I will not be mastered by anything." 1 Corinthians 6:12

How would you judge the lawfulness or unlawfulness of any pleasure?

Use this rule: Whatever . . .
  weakens your reason,
  impairs the tenderness of your conscience,
  obscures your sense of God,
  takes off your relish for spiritual things--
that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.

By this test you may detect evil, no matter how subtly or how plausibly temptation may be presented to you.

"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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The false doctrine of universal redemption!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep!" John 10:11

I would like to die talking of this blessed doctrine of substitutionary atonement and I intend, by divine grace, to live proclaiming it, for it is the keystone of the Gospel! Jesus Christ literally took upon Himself the transgression and iniquity of His people, and was made a curse for them, seeing that they had fallen under the wrath of God! For them, He has taken away the penalty and the curse due to sin.

The false doctrine of universal redemption--that Christ died for the damned in Hell and suffered the torment of those who afterwards are tormented forever--seems to me to be detestable, subversive of the whole Gospel, and destructive of the only pillar upon which our hopes can be built!

Christ stood in the place of His elect--for them He made a full atonement--for them He so suffered that not a sin of theirs shall ever be laid at their door. As the Father's love embraced them--so the death of His Son reconciled them.

We hold most firmly the doctrine of particular redemption--that Christ loved His Church, and gave Himself for it.

The only limit of the atonement is in its design--and that design was that Christ should give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him.

"Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for her!" Ephesians 5:25

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The value of Christ!

(Charles Spurgeon)

Eternity alone can reveal the value of Christ!

By the miseries of the Hell from which He saves us--let us measure Him!

By the bliss of the Heaven to which He lifts us--let us estimate His worth!

By the depths of ignominy and shame into which He dived--let us appraise Him!

By the glories He relinquished and by the agonies He bore--let us attempt to form some faint idea of His value!

"To you who believe, He is precious!" 1 Peter 2:7

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Eloquent prayers

(Charles Spurgeon)

If the eloquence of our prayers mattered to God, then eloquence would be more valuable than grace--but it is not so.

Some of us may be able to express ourselves very fluently from the force of natural abilities--but it should always be an anxious question to us, whether our prayer is a prayer which God will receive.

We often pray best when we stammer and stutter--and we often pray worst when words flow articulately one after another! God is not moved by eloquent prayers--they are but empty noise to Him. He is only moved by sincere emotions which dwell in the innermost heart.

For a man to bend his knees and utter the hypocritical language of affection to God which he never feels in his heart--is little short of blaspheming God! We must have very light thoughts of God, when we try to deceive Him with such prayers as these!

    I often say my prayers
    But do I ever pray?
    And do the wishes of my heart
    Go with the words I say?

    I may as well kneel down
    And worship gods of stone,
    As offer to the living God
    A prayer of words alone.

    For words without the heart
    The Lord will never hear;
    Nor will He to those lips attend
    Whose prayers are not sincere.
       John Burton, 1803-1877

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Which is the best apple tree in the garden?

(Charles Spurgeon)

Ask the gardener which is the best apple tree in the garden--and he will tell you that it is not the one which has the best shape, but the one which yields the most fruit!

In the same way, he is not the best Christian who occupies the highest position, or who talks the most about divine things--but it is he whose life is most fruitful in good works to the glory of God!

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit--so you will be My disciples." John 15:8

"He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." Psalm 1:3

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The most beautiful thing I ever heard of!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us--so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God!" 2 Corinthians 5:21

What could be better than the divine plan of substitutionary atonement? God must punish sin--He could not be God unless He did. It is a necessity of His nature, that He should hate sin with an infinite hatred, and must punish it!

Yet, as He had loved His people with an everlasting love, how could He better show His love to them and His hatred of sin--than by giving up His well-beloved Son to die instead of them! This seems to me to be the most beautiful thing I ever heard of--and it delights my soul to preach it!

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us!" Galatians 3:13