Grace Gems

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Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise--apply your heart to what I teach

(Samuel Clark, "The Saint's Bouquet" 1641)

"Here are some further sayings of the wise."  Proverbs 24:23

Sin is . . .
  the spawn of the old Serpent,
  the source of Hell, and
  the vomit of the Devil.

Sin is more hateful to God than the Devil; for God hates the Devil for sin's sake--and not sin for the Devil's sake.

Sin is like a serpent in our bosoms, which cannot live--but by sucking out our life blood.

The godly hate sin--because of sin's defilement.
The ungodly fear sin--because of sin's punishment.

The godly hate sin--because it has filth in it to pollute the soul.
The ungodly fear sin--because it has fire in it to burn the soul.

The deluge of waters which overflowed all the world, washed away many sinners--but not one sin!
The world shall one day be all on fire--yet all that fire, and those flames in Hell which follow--shall not purge one sin!

All the evils in the world serve to give names to sin.
Sin is called poison--and sinners, serpents.
Sin is called vomit--and sinners, dogs.
Sin is called mire--and sinners, sows.
Sin is called darkness, blindness, shame, nakedness, folly, madness, death and whatever is filthy, vile, infective, or painful.

A glutton may fill his belly--but he can never fill his lust.
A covetous man may have his house full of money--but he can never have his heart full of money.
An ambitious man may have titles enough to overload his memory--but never to fill his pride.

The Devil's last stratagem is, if he cannot beat us down to sin--to blow us up with pride.

Nothing will make God's children so pure, as to wash themselves every morning in tears of repentance.

Without sound repentance, sin is not accounted as the greatest evil--nor Christ as the greatest good.

"Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise--apply your heart to what I teach." Proverbs 22:17

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Survey the idols which you are called upon to worship!

(J.A. James, "The Young Man's Friend and Guide Through Life to Immortality")

"If Jehovah is God, follow Him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!" 1 Kings 18:21

There are other Baals in this age, in all the various forms under which they are objects of human idolatry.

It is true that you are not called, invited or disposed--to bow the knee to idols of wood, stone or metal. These, however, are not the only way in which idolatry may be practiced. Everyone has a god, and if man does not love and worship Jehovah, he will make a deity of his own image. Survey the idols which you are called upon to worship:

Among them, sustaining a high place, is the vile idol of SENSUALITY. This goddess is decked out with all that can pollute the imagination, inflame the passions, or excite the evil propensities of the heart. Before this image, multitudes of devotees of both sexes bow the knee and offer the most costly sacrifices of property, health, virtue and reputation!

Near her is the bewitching and smiling image of WORLDLY PLEASURE, with the sound of music, the song and the dance--alluring the giddy and thoughtless to its orgies; and throwing the spell of its fascinations over the imagination of multitudes who go merrily to their eternal ruin!

MAMMON, the despicable deity of wealth, is there--glittering with gold, and offering riches to his eager followers as the reward of their diligent and faithful adherence. His liturgy is the cry of "Money! Money! Money!" His sacrifices are the time, the bodies, the comfort, and the souls of his worshipers!

Near this is the shrine of HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. This idol is only evil, when raised above the place of faith, piety and virtue. When thus exalted above Scripture, it is a deceiving, corrupting idol--the false goddess of a Pantheon of Vices.

Nor must we leave out the idols of FALSE RELIGION, the chief of which is Popery--the anti-Christ of the Apocalypse, "the Man of Sin sitting in the temple of God, exalting itself above all that is called God." This idol, taking the name of Christ as its designation, assuming the cross as its symbol, and boasting of an apostle as its first pope; enriched by wealth; venerable for antiquity; dignified by learning; decorated by sculpture, architecture, and painting; and adding the abysmal policies, and most serpentine craft to all these other dangerous qualities--has fascinated countless millions! And, notwithstanding the monstrous absurdity of its doctrines, the blood-stained page of its history, and its hostility to the liberties of mankind--is now putting forth the most arrogant claims, and making the most audacious attempts for the conquest of our country!

These idolaters have chosen their god, and are the determined and devoted worshipers of their Baals! They have hardened their hearts and seared their consciences.

They congratulate themselves upon their having thrown off all the weaknesses and fears of Christianity, and upon their being now enabled to pursue their Hell-ward course unchecked by the restraint of conscience. Duped men, blind, and boasting in their blindness--are benumbed in all their moral faculties, and exulting in their stupidity! With every tie cut, which held them to piety and truth, they account it a privilege that they are drifting unobstructed to eternal destruction--determined to be lost, and rejoicing that nothing bars their path to the bottomless pit!

"These men have set up idols in their hearts!" Ezekiel 14:3

"Their hearts were devoted to their idols!" Ezekiel 20:16

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God's grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"But He said to me: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

If none of God's saints were poor and tried, we would not know the consolations of divine grace half so well.

When we find the wanderer who does not have a place to lay his head, who yet can say, "Still I will trust in the Lord"; when we see the pauper starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet relying on Christ--oh what honor it reflects on the Gospel.

God's grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers!

Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring. They know that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily--or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as He is pleased to keep them in it. This perseverance of the saints proves the power of divine grace.

He who would glorify God, must reckon upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord, unless his conflicts are many. If then yours is a much-tried path, rejoice in it because you will better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for His failing you, never dream of it--hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

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Reader, is this vile viper lurking in your heart?

(Henry Law, "The Gospel in Numbers")

"The LORD said to Moses: How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?" Numbers 14:11

"They could not enter in because of unbelief." Hebrews 3:19

Reader, survey the Israelites in the wilderness--will they ever reach the promised land?

Alas! two, and two only, steadfastly adhere. The multitude distrust the Lord. They willfully provoke Him. Therefore just indignation dooms them to exclusion from the promised land. Their corpses strew the desert. One by one they dot the sand with graves. They fall, a solemn proof, that outward privileges alone do not save. Unbelief nullified their many means of grace. It poisoned their cup of blessing!

Ah, unbelief! It is the sin of sins--the misery of miseries--the hopeless malady--the death of souls--the bar which shuts out Christ!

Reader, is this vile viper lurking in your heart?

Oh! drag it to the cross, and slay it there!

Implore the Spirit, by His mighty sword, to hew it into shreds! If it survives, you die!

Can he be healed, who scorns the only cure?

Can he reach home, who leaves the only homeward path?

Can he be cleansed, who flees the only cleansing stream?

Can he escape from the fast-sinking wreck, who spurns the life-boat?

Who can reach God, who puts aside the only Mediator?

Who can be saved, who tramples down the only Savior?

Unbelief rejects the Gospel, and so perishes. It turns God's truth into a lie, and it goes hence to learn its folly, where faith never comes.

"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him!" John 3:36

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It is the only way in which I can ever kill it!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"In all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us!" Romans 8:37

We go to Christ for forgiveness--and then too often look to the ourselves for power to fight our sins.

Christian! Take your sins to Christ's cross, for the old man can only be crucified there!

The only weapon to fight sin with, is the spear that pierced the side of Jesus!

To give an illustration: You want to overcome an angry temper--how do you begin? It is very possible you have never tried the right way of going to Jesus with it. How did I get salvation? I came to Jesus just as I was, and I trusted Him to save me. I must kill my angry temper in the same way--it is the only way in which I can ever kill it! I must go to the cross with it, and say to Jesus, "Lord, I trust You to deliver me from it."

Are you covetous? Do you feel the world entangle you? You may struggle against this evil as long as you wish--but if it is your besetting sin, you will never be delivered from it in any way but by the blood of Jesus. Take it to Christ! Tell Him: "Lord, I have trusted You, and You save Your people from their sins. Lord, this is one of my besetting sins--save me from it!"

You must be conquerors through Him who has loved you, if conquerors at all.

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Take both sorrow and sin to the same place!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Look on my affliction and my pain--and forgive all my sins." Psalm 25:18

It is good for us when prayers about our sorrows, are linked with pleas concerning our sins--when, being under God's hand, we are not wholly taken up with our pain, but remember our offenses against God.

It is good to take both sorrow and sin to the same place.
It was to God, that David carried his sorrow--and it was to God, that David confessed his sin.

Even your little sorrows you may turn over to God--for He counts the hairs of your head!
And your great sorrows you may commit to Him--for He holds the ocean in the hollow of His hand!

Go to Him, whatever your present trouble, and you will find Him both able and willing to relieve you.

But we must take our sins to God, too. We must carry them to the cross--that the blood may fall upon them, to purge away their guilt.

We are to go to the Lord with our sorrows and with our sins, in the right spirit:
"Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins." Psalm 25:18

David cries, "Lord, as for my affliction and my pain, I will not dictate to Your wisdom. I will leave them to You; I would be glad if my pain were removed, but do as You will. As for my sins, Lord, I must have them forgiven--I cannot endure to lie under their curse for a moment."

A Christian counts sorrow lighter in the scale, than sin. He can bear that his troubles should continue--but he cannot support the burden of his transgressions.

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We see hands and feet and side, all pouring forth crimson streams of precious blood!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"The precious blood of Christ!" 1 Peter 1:19

Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands and feet and side, all pouring forth crimson streams of precious blood!

Christ's blood is precious because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy. By it, all the sins of all Christ's people are atoned for!

Christ's blood is also precious in its cleansing power. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!" "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

Through Jesus' blood, there is not a spot left upon any believer--no wrinkle nor any such thing remains. Oh, precious cleansing blood--which removes the stains of abundant iniquity, and allows us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God.

The blood of Christ is likewise precious in its preserving power. Under the sprinkled blood, we are safe from the destroying angel. Remember that it is God's seeing the blood, which is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same.

The blood of Christ is precious also in its sanctifying influence. The same blood that justifies by taking away sin--quickens the new nature and leads it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God.

There is no motive for holiness so great, as that which streams from the veins of Jesus!

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A flower that will adorn any garden!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6

Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it.
If we empty our hearts of self--then God will fill them with His love.

Stoop, if you would climb to Heaven. You must grow downward, that you may grow upward. The sweetest fellowship with Heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven"--along with all its riches and treasures!

God blesses us all up to the full measure of what it is safe for Him to do. If you do not get a particular blessing--it is because it is not safe for you to have it! If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in His holy war--you would pilfer the crown for yourself! And meeting with a fresh enemy, you would fall a victim. He keeps you low for your own safety.

When a man is sincerely humble and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise--there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow men.

True humility is a flower that will adorn any garden! Whether it is prayer or praise, whether it is work or suffering--the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another--because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time!" 1 Peter 5:5-6

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I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"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!" Psalm 90:1-2

The Christian knows no change with regard to God.

He himself may be rich today--and poor tomorrow,
he may be sickly today--and well tomorrow,
he may be in happiness today--tomorrow he may be distressed;
but there is never any change with regard to his relationship to God.

If He loved me yesterday--then He loves me today. My unmoving mansion of rest, is my blessed Lord.

Let prospects be ruined,
let hopes be blasted,
let joy be withered,
let mildews destroy everything--
I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is "my strong habitation where unto I can continually resort." I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation.

"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign LORD is my strength!" Habakkuk 3:17-19

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Pray our Beloved to print the image of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows--yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:3-5

Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were intertwined among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down, these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Savior was, no doubt, bound to the whipping post and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this flagellation of the Roman lictors was probably the most severe of His scourgings.

My soul, stand here and weep over His poor stricken body! Believer, can you gaze upon Him without tears as He stands before you, the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once as white as the lily for innocence, and as red as the rose with the crimson of His own blood.

As we feel the sure and blessed healing that His stripes have wrought in us--does not our heart melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.

We would be compelled to go to our chambers and weep, but our business calls us away. So we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day; and at nightfall we will return to commune with Him and sorrow that our sin should have cost Him so dearly!

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My only causes of complaint

(Letters of John Newton)

I am blessed with perfect health, and all things have been well with us abroad and at home.

My only causes of complaint arise from my depraved nature and the workings of indwelling sin. I wish I was more humbled for them, and watchful against them.

I trust I do, in some measure, know what manner of people the Lord's redeemed ought to be, and I hope sincerely to be growing and pressing forward. But indeed, I am not what I would be, or should be.

I would be thankful--few have more evident causes.
I would be humble--none can have greater reason.
I would be more spiritually-minded--for even my experience tells me that all below is vanity. Surely my lot is peculiarly favored, for the Lord has wonderfully anticipated and exceeded my wishes on every hand. But without the light of His countenance, all is faint and tasteless.

Blessed be God for the news of a better world, where there will be no sin, change, or defect, forever!

Let us praise Him, likewise, that He has appointed means of grace and seasons of refreshment here below--for a throne of grace, a precious Bible, and returning ordinances. These are valuable privileges, and so they appear to us when our hearts are in a lively frame. Then everything appears little and worthless, in comparison with communion with God. O for a coal of fire from the heavenly altar to warm our frozen hearts! O for a taste of divine love and a glimpse of glory--that we might mount up as with eagle's wings!

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One of the best tests of growth in grace

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:18

"Grow in grace"--not in one grace only, but in all the Christian graces.

Grow in the starting place of grace, faith. Believe the promises more firmly than you have before. Let faith increase in fullness, constancy and simplicity.

Grow also in love. Ask that your love may become extended, more intense, more practical, influencing every thought, word and deed.

Grow likewise in humility. Seek to lie very low, and know more of your own nothingness.

As you grow downward in humility, seek also to grow upward--having nearer approaches to God in prayer and more intimate fellowship with Jesus.

To know Him is "life eternal"--and to advance in the knowledge of Him is to increase in happiness. Whoever has sipped this wine will thirst for more; for although Christ satisfies--yet it is such a satisfaction that the appetite is not only satisfied, but invigorated.

If you know the love of Jesus--then will you pant after deeper draughts of His love.
If you do not desire to know Him better--then you do not love Him at all, for love always cries, "Nearer, nearer!"

Seek to know more of Him . . .
  in His divine and human natures,
  in His sin-atoning work,
  in His excruciating death for you,
  in His present glorious intercession,
  and in His future royal coming in glory!

Remain by the cross, and search the mystery of His wounds!

An increase of love for Jesus, and a more perfect apprehension of His love for us--is one of the best tests of growth in grace.

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Oh! look before you, and see where it leads!

(Samuel Davies, "Saints Saved with Difficulty; and the Certain Perdition of the Wicked")

"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

This, my friends, and this alone--is the way of salvation. Is this the way in which you are walking? Or is it the smooth, easy downward road to destruction? You may slide along that without exertion or difficulty, like a dead fish floating with the stream; but oh! look before you, and see where it leads!

Most people . . .
  form some easy system of religion,
  from their own vain imaginations,
  suited to their depraved taste,
  indulgent to their sloth and carnality,
  and favorable to their lusts--
and this they call 'Christianity'!

But this is not the religion of the Bible! This is not the way to life laid out by God in His Word--but it is the smooth downward road to destruction!

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It has such an amazing appetite that it can feed both on grace and garbage!

(John Berridge, 1716-1793)

The foulest stain, and worst absurdity in our nature, is pride! And yet this vile hedgehog so rolls himself up in his bristly coat, that we can seldom get a sight of his claws.

Pride cleaves to us, like a shirt soaked in tar cleaves to the skin. No sharp ploughing and harrowing will clear the ground of it. This foul weed will be sure to spring up with the next rain!

Pride follows me like my shadow!

This diabolical sin has brought more scourges on my back than everything else! It is of so insinuating a nature, that I know not how to rid myself of it.
I hate it, and love it.
I quarrel with it, and embrace it.
I dread it, and yet allow it to lie in my bosom.

It pleads a right, through the fall, to be a tenant for life. It has such an amazing appetite that it can feed both on grace and garbage! It will be as warm and snug in a monastery, as a brothel--and be as much delighted with a fine prayer, as a foul curse!

Lord, save me! If pride must dwell with me, let it not be a lordly master, but a loathed viper!

Oh, that I could once say unto you, foul pride: "Farewell forever!"

There is no Christian grace--but pride will creep into its bosom, and mix with it as freely as oil with oil.

Nor is Lady Pride ever so delighted as when she becomes intimate with humility, and by soft caresses and kind speeches, encourages the sweet damsel to think highly of herself, even when she looks and talks humbly.

One moment she whispers and tells me that I am a fine fellow--and then I am elated.
By and by, she calls me a fool--and then I am sullen.

I can do no religious act--but pride is skulking at my elbow, and much affecting me both by her smiles and frowns.

This foul pride besieges my heart, besets all my steps, and meets me at every turn.

Pride has more heads than a Hydra! (A mythological serpentine water monster which had many heads. Every time someone would cut off one of them, two more heads would grow out!)

Pride has more shapes than Proteus! (A mythical Greek figure who could assume a different shape at will.)

It is such an odd mysterious evil--that I can even be proud of loathing my pride.

Henceforth if you ask my real name, it is Pride!

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The cause of all crime, and the seed of every evil!

(Charles Spurgeon)

Could we roll all sins into one mass--could we take murder, blasphemy, lust, theft, immorality, and everything that is vile, and unite them all into one vast ball of horrid corruption--they would not even then equal the sin of unbelief!

Unbelief is . . .
  the king sin,
  the quintessence of guilt,
  the mixture of the venom of all crimes,
  the dregs of the wine of Gomorrah,
  the root sin,
  the masterpiece of Satan,
  the chief work of the devil.

Unbelief developed into deicide--and murdered the Lord Jesus Christ!

Unbelief! it has mixed many a cup of poison. It has brought thousands to the gallows, and many to a shameful grave. Many have murdered themselves, and rushed with bloody hands before their Creator's tribunal, because of unbelief.

Give me an unbeliever--let me know that he doubts God's Word--let me know that he distrusts His promises and His threatenings; and with that for a premise, I will conclude that the man shall, by-and-by, unless there is amazing restraining power exerted upon him--be guilty of the foulest and vilest crimes!

Unbelief is a Beelzebub sin; like Beelzebub, it is the leader of all evil spirits. It is said of Jeroboam that he sinned, and made Israel to sin; and it may be said of unbelief, that it not only itself sins, but it makes others sin.

Unbelief is the cause of all crime, and the seed of every evil! In fact, everything that is evil and vile lies couched in that one word--unbelief!