Grace Gems

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How loudly and persuasively does His conduct preach!

(Edward Payson, 1783-1827)

"He who says he abides in Christ, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." 1 John 2:6

It was highly important and desirable that the Lord Jesus should not only describe Christianity in His discourses, but exemplify it in His life and conduct. In Him, we see pure and undefiled religion embodied. In Him, Christianity lives and breathes. How convincing, how animating is our Savior's example! How loudly and persuasively does His conduct preach!

Would you learn submission to parental authority? See Him, notwithstanding His exalted character, cheerfully subjecting Himself to the will of His parents; and laboring with them, as a carpenter, for almost thirty years.

Would you learn contentment with a poor and low condition? See Him destitute of a place where to lay His head.

Would you learn active beneficence? See Him going about doing good.

Would you learn to be fervent and constant in devotional exercises? See Him rising for prayer before the dawn of day.

Would you learn in what manner to treat your brethren? See Him washing His disciples' feet.

Would you learn filial piety? See Him forgetting His sufferings, while in the agonies of death--to provide another son for His desolate mother.

Would you learn in what manner to pray for relief under afflictions? See Him in the garden of Gethsemane.

Would you learn how to bear insults and injuries? See Him on the cruel cross!

In short, there is no Christian grace or virtue, which is not beautifully exemplified in His life.

There is scarcely any situation, however perplexing, in which the Christian, who is at a loss to know how he ought to act--may not derive sufficient instruction from the example of his divine Master.

"Leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps." 1 Peter 2:21

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We are lords! We don't need Him anymore!

(Edward Payson, 1783-1827)

"O my people, listen to the words of the LORD! Have I been like a desert to Israel? Have I been to them a land of darkness? Why then do my people say: We are lords! We don't need Him anymore!" Jeremiah 2:31

If men are indeed independent of God--then it may with safety be asserted that He is almost the only being or object in the universe on whom they are not dependent.

From the cradle to the grave, their lives exhibit little else than a continued course of dependence. They are dependent on the earth, on the water, on the air, on each other, on irrational animals, on vegetables, on unorganized substances.

Let but the sun withhold his beams, and the clouds their showers for a single year--and the whole race of these mighty, independent beings expires!

Let but a pestilential blast sweep over them--and they are gone!

Let but some imperceptible derangement take place in their frail but complicated mind--and all their boasted intellectual powers sink to the level of an idiot's mind.

Let a small portion of that food, on which they daily depend for nourishment, pass from its proper course--and they choke and expire in agony.

An insect, a needle, a thorn--has often proved sufficient to subject them to the same fate!

And while they are dependent on so many objects for the continuance of their lives--they are dependent on a still greater number for happiness and for the success of their enterprises.

Let but a single spark fall unheeded or be wafted by a breath of air--and a city, which it has cost thousands the labors of many years to erect, may be turned to ashes!

Let the wind but blow from one point rather than from another--and the hopes of the merchant are dashed against a rock.

Let but a little more, or a little less, than the usual quantity of rain descend--and in the latter case the prospects of the gardener are blasted; while, in the other, his anticipated harvest perishes beneath the clods or is swept away by an inundation.

But in vain do we attempt to describe the extent of man's dependence, or enumerate all the objects and events on which he depends. Yet all these objects and events are under the control of the great Jehovah! Without His superintendence and appointment--not a hair falls from our heads, nor a sparrow to the ground.

O how far is it, then, from being true--that man is not dependent on God!

"For in Him we live and move and have our being!" Acts 17:28

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A quiet hour spent alone with God at the beginning of the day

(Thoughts for the Quiet Hour)

"In the morning the Word of the Lord came to me" Ezekiel 12:8

A quiet hour spent alone with God at the beginning of the day, is the best beginning for the toils and cares of the day. A brief season of prayer, looking to God for wisdom and grace and strength, and seeking the assistance of the Holy Spirit--helps us to carry our religion into all of the events of the day. It brings joy and peace within the heart.

And as we place all our concerns in the care and keeping of the Lord, faithfully striving to do His will--we have a joyful trust that however dark or discouraging events may appear--our Father's hand is guiding everything, and will give the wisest direction to all our toils.
"In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3

"Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul." Psalm 143:8

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I am a perverse and unruly patient!

(Letters of John Newton)

I am bound to speak well of my Physician--He treats me with great tenderness, and bids me in due time to expect a perfect cure. I know too much of Him (though I know but little) to doubt either His skill or His promise.

It is true, I have suffered sad relapses since I have been under His care. Yet I confess that the fault has not been His--but my own! I am a perverse and unruly patient! I have too often neglected His prescriptions, and broken the regimen He appoints me to observe. This perverseness, joined to the exceeding obstinacy of my disorders, would have caused me to be turned out as an incurable long ago--had I been under any other hand but His! Indeed--there is none like Him! When I have brought myself very low--He has still helped me. Blessed be His name--I am yet kept alive only by means of His perfect care.

Though His medicines are all beneficial--they are not all pleasant. Now and then He gives me a pleasant cordial; but I have many severe disorders, in which there is a needs-be for my frequently taking His bitter and unpalatable medicines!

We sometimes see published in the newspapers, acknowledgments of cures received. Methinks, if I were to publish my own case, that it would run something like this:
"I, John Newton, have long labored under a multitude of grievous disorders:
    a fever of ungoverned passions,
    a cancer of pride,
    a frenzy of wild imaginations,
    a severe lethargy, and
    a deadly stroke!

In this deplorable situation, I suffered many things from many physicians, spent every penny I had--yet only grew worse and worse!

In this condition, Jesus, the Physician of souls, found me when I sought Him not. He undertook my recovery freely, without money and without price--these are His terms with all His patients! My fever is now abated, my senses are restored, my faculties are enlivened! In a word, I am a new man! And from His ability, His promise, and the experience of what He has already done--I have the fullest assurance that He will infallibly and perfectly heal me--and that I shall live forever as a monument of His power and grace!"

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The crown of universal monarchy!

(Charles Spurgeon)
"He is Lord of lords and King of kings!" Revelation 17:14

Jesus Christ is King in the world today!

The Lord reigns! Let the earth rejoice!

Jesus Christ wears the crown of universal monarchy!

Nothing happens but that which Jesus permits, ordains, and overrules!

Let empires go to wreck--it is Christ who breaks them with a rod of iron and shivers them like potters' vessels.

Let conflagrations burn down cities,
let diseases devastate nations,
let war follow war,
let pestilence follow to famine--
yet still Jesus rules all things well, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose!

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A great hospital!

(J.C. Ryle)

"All of you shall desert Me!" Mark 14:27

We see in these verses, how well our Lord foreknew the weakness and infirmity of His disciples. He tells them plainly what they were going to do: "All of you shall desert Me." He tells Peter in particular of the astounding sin which he was about to commit, "This night, before the rooster crows twice--you shall deny Me three times."

Yet our Lord's fore-knowledge did not prevent His choosing these twelve disciples to be His apostles. He allowed them to be His intimate friends and companions, knowing perfectly well what they would one day do. With a clear foresight of the melancholy weakness and lack of faith which they would exhibit at the end of His ministry--He granted them the mighty privilege of being continually with Him, and hearing His voice. This is a remarkable fact, and deserves to be had in continual remembrance.

Let us take comfort in the thought that the Lord Jesus does not cast off His believing people because of failures and imperfections. He knows what they are. He takes them, as the husband takes the wife--with all their blemishes and defects; and once joined to Him by faith, He will never leave them. He is a merciful and compassionate High-priest. It is His glory to pass over the transgressions of His people, and to cover their many sins.

He knew what they were before conversion--wicked, guilty, and defiled; yet He loved them.

He knows what they will be after conversion--weak, erring, and frail; yet He loves them.

He has undertaken to save them, notwithstanding all their shortcomings--and what He has undertaken, He will perform.

Let us learn to pass a charitable judgment on the conduct of professing believers. Let us not set them down in a low place, and say they have no grace--because we see much weakness and corruption in them. Let us remember that our Master in Heaven bears with their infirmities--and let us try to bear with them too.

The Church is little better than a great hospital. We ourselves are all, more or less, weak and infirm--and all daily need the skillful treatment of the heavenly Physician. There will be no complete cures until the resurrection day!

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The best evidence of Christianity!

(Frederick Marsh)

Jesus is the chief among ten thousand--the altogether lovely One!

    Christ is the Chiefest--or better than the best.

    His love is unknowable! Ephesians 3:19

    His riches are unsearchable! Ephesians 3:18

    His joy is unspeakable! 1 Peter 1:8

    His ways are untrackable! Romans 11:33

    His grace is inexhaustible! 2 Corinthians 9:8

    His peace is unfathomable! Philippians 4:7

    And He Himself is unsurpassable! Exodus 15:11


His character was beautiful with holiness in every detail. Hebrews 7:26

His love was pure and faithful in all its affection. John 13:1

His service was true and beneficent in all its workings. Acts 10:38

His words were tender and true in all their utterances. John 7:45

His life was consistent in every department. Mark 7:37

His aim was single and concentrated in glorifying God. John 17:4

His mission was to benefit all who would trust Him, in dying a death which they deserved. 2 Corinthians 8:9

Christ is Christianity--and the best evidence of Christianity is Christ!

"Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16

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Return unto your rest, O my soul!

(Edward Griffin, 1770-1837)

"Return unto your rest, O my soul--for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you." Psalm 116:7

To rest in God, is  . . .
  to be satisfied with Him as our portion,
  to take Him for our supreme good, and
  to feel that we have enough and abound while possessing Him--though everything else is taken away.

"Give me," says the believer, "the enjoyment of my God--and I desire no more. Allow me to feast on heavenly truth--and I shall never complain that I am poor. Let worldlings divide the globe among themselves--let emmets contend for this little heap of dust; I have God--and I ask no more. Come wars and pestilence, come poverty and death--you cannot rob me of my portion."

Must it not be substantial rest . . .
  to have the infinite God for a portion,
  to have all the restless desires of the mind composed,
  to feel no anxious apprehension for the future,
  to know that if everything which time or death can destroy, were removed--the whole of one's portion would remain;
  to feel that nothing can injure, nothing impoverish, nothing perplex or disturb?

Ah, give me this portion--instead of thrones and kingdoms!

"Whom have I in Heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!" Psalm 73:25-26

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Look! Gaze! See! Behold!

(Charles Spurgeon)

The doctrine of the death of Christ for our sins, should inspire us with greater love for the Lord Jesus.

Can you look at His dear wounds--and not be wounded with love for Him?
Are not His wounds as mouths which plead with you to yield Him all your heart?

Can you gaze upon His face bedewed with bloody sweat--and then go away and be ensnared with the world's painted beauties?

Oh, for the vision of the Crucified!

When shall we see the face that was so marred for us?

When shall we behold the hands and feet which bear the nail-marks still--and look into the wounded side bejeweled with the spear-wound?

Oh, when shall we leave all our sins and griefs--forever to behold Him?

Our hope, our solace, our glory, our victory--are all found in the blood of the Lamb, to whom be glory for ever and ever! Amen.

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You keep track of all my sorrows!

(The Preacher's Book)

"You keep track of all my sorrows!
 You have collected all my tears in Your bottle.
 You have recorded each one in Your book!" Psalm 56:8

Not a single sigh for past sins, escapes His ears;
not a groan of the heart, but is heard by Him;
not a tear falls to the ground, but He puts it into His bottle!

Not a breathing of the soul after His holiness;
not a loathing of our own unholiness;
not an act of self-abasement, or humbling ourselves for sin;
not a yearning of the soul for a purity which it has not;
not a single act of mercy;
not one act of self-denial;
every fragment of our poor sorrow and service--
God gathers and stores up! Nothing is forgotten or lost!

"You keep track of all my sorrows!
 You have collected all my tears in Your bottle.
 You have recorded each one in Your book!" Psalm 56:8

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Dear wife, farewell!

(An excerpt from a letter by Christopher Love, to his wife, on the morning of his execution)

My most gracious beloved,
I am now going from a prison to a palace! I have finished my work. I am now to receive my wages. I am going to Heaven! Rejoice in my joy. The joy of the Lord is my strength. O, let it be yours also!

Dear wife, farewell! I will call you wife no more! I shall see your face no more! Yet I am not much troubled--for now I am going to meet the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom I shall be eternally married!

Your dying, yet most affectionate friend until death,
Christopher Love
August 22, 1651, the day of my glorification!

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His own Father!

(David Harsha, "The Crucifixion")

"My God, my God--why have You forsaken Me?" Matthew 27:46

He drinks the bitter cup of God's wrath due to sin.

The powers of darkness fiercely assail Him.

He enjoys no sensible communion with Heaven. It is the gloomiest period in His whole life.

But at length His agony is so piercing that He is constrained to utter the most touching words of grief, "My God, my God--why have You forsaken Me?"

His Father--His own Father, in whose bosom He had lain from eternity! His Father, by whom He was always beloved--has withdrawn the light of His countenance from Him! And from His cross arises a most piercing and agonizing cry, "My God, my God--why have You forsaken Me?"

Oh, how mysterious, how solemn, how affecting is this cry! It is the most doleful that ever came from the lips of Christ during His sorrowful sojourn from the manger to the cross.

Ah! Why does He hang on yonder cross, uttering these doleful words 'with strong crying and tears'?

It was not the nails which pierced His hands and feet, nor the agony of a crucifixion, which caused this mournful cry. He was now offering Himself a sacrifice for sins. As our Surety, He suffered all that divine justice required to bring the sinner back to God and to glory.

Here is the great mystery of Godliness: the Father bruises the Son, and puts Him to grief for our sakes! All those cries, and tears, and groans of Him whom the Father appointed to accomplish our salvation--were for us.

On His shoulders was laid the enormous load of our guilt.

Oh, what can we render to our Divine Savior, for His amazing and unparalleled love to us?

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God can take the most sin-soiled soul!

(J.R. Miller)

Queen Victoria stopped one day at a paper-mill near Windsor Castle, and was shown through it by the foreman. He did not know who she was, as she was alone and was plainly dressed. The queen was intensely interested in every process of the paper-maker's art. She was conducted at last to a place where a number of rag-pickers were emptying out the dirty rags which they had gathered from the gutters and alleys of the great city. There was a large pile of these filthy, blackened rags, which looked as if they never could be made clean. The queen asked the foreman what he would do with these. To her amazement, he told her that he would make them into the finest, whitest paper.

When the queen had gone, the foreman learned who she was. Some days after, there was received at the palace--a package of the purest, most delicate paper, having the queen's likeness stamped upon it, with a note from the foreman of the mill, telling her that this paper was made from the very rags she had seen on her visit!

In the same way, the Holy Spirit takes human lives, ruined and blackened by sin--makes them whiter than snow, and stamps upon them the holy image of Jesus!

No life is hopeless in its ruin--which the transforming grace of God renews.

God can take the most sin-soiled soul--and give to it radiant beauty!

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

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When that monster of a man hung!

(James Smith, "The Believer's Companion in Seasons of Affliction and Trouble" 1842)

"O Lord, there is none like You!" 1 Chronicles 17:20

Truly, our God is without a parallel!

He could dash His enemies to Hell with one word, and drive them to despair. But instead of this, He constantly provides for them--and many of them are fed by Him with the richest blessings of His providence. He . . .
  spreads their tables,
  supplies their needs, and
  pours His favors upon them abundantly--though they . . .
blaspheme His name,
despise the mention of His grace, and
bid Him to depart from them, in disdain!

He preserves them from a variety of dangers, which would otherwise hurry them out of time into eternity.

He bears with them from day to day, and does not allow their wickedness to arouse His ire, to their immediate destruction. Who, besides Jehovah, would thus feed, preserve, warn, and bear with such obstinate, careless, provoking wretches? Surely none!

"What base rebellious wretches they;
 And God as strangely kind!"

When, in His own time, any of His enemies are brought to discover their wickedness, feel their danger, desire to escape their deserved doom, and apply to Him--He freely pardons them, and forgets all their past unkindness!

When that monster of a man hung by the side of Jesus on the cross, mocking His dying agonies, reviling His dear name, and endeavoring to add to His tremendous sorrows--Jesus was as silent as one who heard not, as patient as one who felt not, and as kind as one who had been treated with all possible respect! For, no sooner does the bold blasphemer cry, "Lord remember me!" than Jesus answers, "Today you shall be with Me in paradise!"

And can you, O my Savior, freely and fully pardon such a wretch as that? Can you take him in Your arms, to paradise? Can you forget his scarlet crimes, the insults he offered, and the daring wickedness manifested by him but a few minutes before? "O Lord, there is none like You!"

The vile thief enters Heaven, to . . .
  the astonishment of angels,
  the confusion of devils,
  the wonder of glorified saints, and
  the honor of the dear, dear Redeemer!

Jesus not only fully pardons the penitent--but He cordially accepts him! He receives him as one of the dear objects of His love, and says to each and every one such, "I have blotted out your sins as a cloud, and your iniquities as a thick cloud!"

He kindly visits them, as though they had never acted unkindly toward Him; and constantly blesses them with spiritual, holy, and eternal blessings. He . . .
  clothes them with the garments of His righteousness,
  beautifies them with the graces of His Spirit,
  comforts them with the promises of His love,
  acknowledges them at His throne of grace,
  defends them against their cruel and malicious foes,
  tenderly expostulates with them when they wander from Him,
  mercifully warns them of their dangers and foes,
  kindly exhorts them to cleave close to Himself,
  wisely corrects them when they wickedly stray, and
  will crown them with glory at the end of their race!

And what returns does He frequently get for His kindness and love? Alas! alas! Too often, ingratitude, rebellion, hardness of heart, alienation of affection, forgetfulness of His mercies, and following after other lovers rather than Himself!

"O Lord, there is none like You!" 1 Chronicles 17:20

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Behold the image of the Lord Jesus!

(J.R. Miller)

"He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church." 1 Corinthians 4:17

We should so live, that those who know us shall recognize the unmistakable lineaments of Christ in us.

Retzsch, a German sculptor, made a wonderful statue of the Redeemer. For eight years it was his dream by night, and his thought by day. He set it before a child of five or six years old. There were none of the usual emblematic marks designating the Savior about the figure--no cross, no crown of thorns, nothing by which to identify it. Yet when the child was asked who it was--she replied that it was the Lord Jesus.

This was a wonderful triumph of art, this putting so much divinity into the face of the model, that even a little child recognized the artist's thought.

Just so, we should exhibit in our life and character such a reproduction of the holiness and beauty of Christ, that everyone who looks upon us and sees our life may instinctively recognize the features of the Master, and say, "Behold the image of the Lord Jesus!" There is no other way of magnifying the Lord, which so witnesses to the world.

"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ!" 1 Corinthians 11:1