Grace Gems

[nChrist]

An inexhaustible fullness

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!"
    1 Peter 2:7

Christian! Jesus is your Savior, your Friend,
and your Portion!

You are guilty -- His blood cleanses from all sin.
You are miserable -- He is rich in mercy.
You are helpless -- He is mighty to save.
You are impoverished -- His riches are unsearchable.

His treasures of grace are inexhaustible! There is
an inexhaustible fullness in Him, answerable
to all your necessities -- be they ever so many, or
ever so great. He is the ever-flowing, the over-
flowing fountain of living waters. He is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can
ask or think. It has pleased the Father, that in
Him all fullness should dwell. Indeed, we have
all received grace after grace from His fullness.
His kindness and mercy are unbounded.

If the kindness of men has a tendency to win your
hearts -- how much more should the infinite love of
Jesus constrain you to love Him! He is precious in the
glorious perfections of His person, His transcendent
worth, and His all-surpassing excellency. Surely then,
it is reasonable, it is highly proper -- that He should be
chief the object of your love!

All that is excellent, all that is desirable, all that is
comforting -- is concentrated in Him. He is fairer than
the children of men, the chief among ten thousands,
and altogether lovely! O how unspeakably -- how
infinitely precious! "Yes, He is very precious to you
who believe!" 1 Peter 2:7

Love to Jesus is maintained and continued in its
warmth and fervor -- by frequent meditation on His
adorable person, His dying love, and His infinite
excellence and preciousness. If we lose sight of
Him as the spring of all our happiness, and of His
ineffable glories -- the fervency of our love for Him
will be abated.

If Jesus Christ is so superlatively precious in Himself,
we have reason to be ashamed that we love Him no
more. Alas! how languid are our affections towards
Him who is altogether lovely -- and how easily are our
hearts captivated with vanities and trifles! This is
matter of deep humiliation, grief, and sorrow.

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[nChrist]

Bending His gracious ear to sinful worms

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

    "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16.

    The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous -- and His ears are ever open to their cries. Whoever else may overlook or disappoint them -- He will not. When their spirits are overwhelmed within them -- He knows their path. When human means and efforts fail, when everything looks dark before them, when their way seems to be shut up on every side, and they are brought to the lowest ebb -- still they have welcome access to the Divine throne, where they may tell all their needs, and unbosom all their cares and sorrows -- with the certain hope of obtaining mercy, and finding grace to help in the time of need.

    Prayer is not only a duty -- but an inestimable privilege! The condescension of God is wonderful, in bending His gracious ear to sinful worms. When the heart of a Christian is under a proper influence -- he finds a greater pleasure in approaching the Divine throne, than in anything this world can afford. He obtains more light, strength, comfort and refreshment, by one hour's converse with God -- than he could do by any other means!

    What an unspeakable privilege it is -- to have liberty of access to God! To have His permission, nay, His invitation and command -- to come boldly to His throne of grace! Amidst surrounding dangers, snares and temptations -- we may fly to Him as our refuge, and lift up our hearts to Him in fervent and earnest prayer. To Him we may tell all our inmost cares -- and open all our griefs. His ears are always attentive to our requests!

    In the exercises of private devotion -- we may nourish and express all the holy affections of our souls, with the greatest freedom. We may say a thousand things to our heavenly Father in secret -- which would not be proper in public devotion. We may pour out our souls before Him, in the strongest and most pathetic sentiments of holy desire, and divine delight. We may tell Him all the disquietudes of our consciences, the secret anguish and shame of our hearts -- because of those offenses which are known to Him alone. We may sigh deeply, and pour out the tear of penitence into His bosom. We may tell Him how intense our desires are -- to experience more of His love, and to be conformed to His image. We may rejoice in His sight with divine exultation and holy triumph, in the prospect of being shortly with Him in the heavenly world!

    Let the favorites of an earthly prince, value themselves on being permitted to hold converse with their sovereign; I would ever esteem it a privilege infinitely superior -- to have free and welcome access to the King of kings!

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[nChrist]

Eternal abhorrence -- infinite love

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

    "Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him!" Romans 5:9

    The blood of our Divine Savior is emphatically called precious blood. 1 Peter 1:19. The shedding of His blood procures -- our pardon, our peace with God, and our everlasting salvation. On the cross -- our sins were imputed to Him -- and His righteousness was imputed to us. We look to Calvary, and view the suffering Savior -- as bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, and putting them away by the sacrifice of Himself.

    The complete atonement which Jesus Christ has made for our sins, by the sacrifice of Himself -- is the life and center of the evangelical system, and that which endears it so much to the hearts of those who believe. Here we see pardon procured, and the sinner saved -- while sin is condemned and punished. Here we see the most solemn display of justice and holiness, in conjunction with the freest exercise of mercy. Here we see sinful rebels delivered from deserved punishment, and advanced to a state of dignity and honor; and at the same time, the rights of that divine government against which they had rebelled, inviolably preserved and maintained. Through what Jesus Christ has done and suffered for us -- we behold the righteous law of God magnified, in justifying those who had violated its precepts, and brought themselves under its curse. In the death of that Lamb of God, we perceive at once -- the Almighty's eternal abhorrence of that which is evil -- and His infinite love to His offending creatures.

    To a condemned malefactor -- a pardon sent from his offended sovereign must be precious. Just so, nothing can be matter of greater comfort -- than to know that we have redemption though the blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace. "Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!" 1 Peter 2:7

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[nChrist]

Trace the steps of His lovely feet

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

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

    "He who says he abides in Him, should  walk just as He walked." 1 John 2:6

    We see, in our Divine Leader, the several precepts of God's Word drawn out in living characters. We behold them reduced to practice, and represented to the life -- in the whole of His conduct towards God and man. We see one in our nature, amidst all the assaults of temptation, amidst all the opposition which malignity could invent, and all the allurements of this enticing world -- behaving in a manner exactly agreeable to the dictates of the Divine law, and leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps.

    Surely it must be delightful, not only to contemplate His character -- but, to the utmost of our power, to imitate the most perfect pattern which was ever exhibited. It must be desirable, by constant and strenuous exertions, according to our measure, to endeavor to trace the steps of His lovely feet.

    It is impossible to contemplate the character of Jesus, with serious and devout attention -- and not be charmed with it. We see in Him, all the human passions in the highest perfection. His joys were grave, His griefs were just. His gentleness and His severity, His holiness and His humanity -- were in perfect harmony with each other. He manifested great tenderness, and genuine affection, and sensibility to human woe -- on all occasions.

    As He did no sin -- so, on the other hand, every shining virtue was exemplified in Him to highest degree.
    His lowliness and meekness;
    His contempt of the world;
    His heavenly temper;
    His love to the Father, and zeal for His honor;
    His activity and diligence in doing good;
    His submission to the Father's will;
    His patience amidst the heaviest and severest sufferings;
    His constancy in the exercises of retired devotion; and
    His praying for His enemies who spilt His blood --
      can never be sufficiently admired.

    When you are tempted to any vanity -- set the blessed Redeemer before you, consider His example, and ask yourself, "How would Jesus -- my Lord and Master, have acted in such a case? Would He have spent His time upon such trifles? Would He have spoken such and such; or done this or the other thing, which I am solicited to do? And shall I give way to that which would be a manifest deviation from His holy example? God forbid!"

    O Christians, fix your eyes intensely on the great exemplar! Thus you will, through Divine grace, daily grow in love with meekness, patience, and humility of heart.

    The more I contemplate His lovely character, while He sojourned on earth -- the more I am delighted with it. To have the same mind in me which was in Christ Jesus, and to tread in His steps -- should be my constant aim. Those who are received by Him to the possession of everlasting felicity in heaven -- have humbly traced His footsteps upon earth. Of them it is said, "These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes!" Revelation 14:4. They are forevermore led by Him, even in the celestial world -- to the enjoyment of ever-new delights and pleasures! "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water! And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes!" Revelation 7:17

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[nChrist]

The full ocean of never-failing delight and satisfaction!

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!" 1 Peter 2:7

"O blessed Jesus, Your love is wonderful! It is the admiration, joy and song of glorified saints. The experimental sense of Your love on earth -- sweetens the bitterness of life, and disarms death of all its terrors! It was love which moved You to bow the heavens, to come down and sojourn on earth, to humble Yourself, to take on you the form of a servant, and become obedient onto death, even the death of the cross! You pitied me in my lost estate. You sought and found me -- when I sought You not. You spoke peace to me in the day of my distress, when the clouds of guilt and darkness hung heavy on my soul -- and I was brought to the borders of despair. You have -- borne with all my weakness, corrected my mistakes, restored me from my wanderings, and healed my backslidings. May Your loving-kindness be ever before my eyes -- to induce me to walk in your truth. May Your love be the daily theme of my meditations, and the constant joy of my heart!"

When I am favored with the light of Your countenance, and the comfortable sense of Your love -- my soul is filled and satisfied. All the glittering glories of this world, are then darkened, and turned into deformity! They are but broken cisterns -- but you are the fountain of living waters! The streams of creature enjoyments, are shallow and deceitful as a brook -- but You are the full ocean of never-failing delight and satisfaction!

To Your love I must ascribe my whole salvation; and through all the ages of a blissful eternity -- I shall proclaim the wonders of redeeming love, and tell to listening angels what Your love has done for my soul. Unto You who loved us, and washed us from our sins in Your own blood, and made us kings and priests to God -- to You be glory and dominion forever and ever! Amen."

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[nChrist]

"Are you so dull?"

(J. C. Ryle, "The Gospel of Mark" 1857)

"Are you so dull?" Jesus asked.  Mark 7:18

We see here--how slow of understanding
men are in spiritual things.

The corruption of human nature is a universal
disease. It affects not only a man's heart, will,
and conscience--but his mind, memory, and
understanding.

The very same person who is quick and clever in
worldly things--will often utterly fail to comprehend
the simplest truths of Christianity. He will often be
unable to grasp the plainest reasonings of the Gospel.
He will see no meaning in the clearest statements of
evangelical doctrine. They will sound to him--either
foolish or mysterious. He will listen to them like one
listening to a foreign language, catching a word here
and there, but not seeing the drift of the whole. He
hears, but does not understand.

We must pray daily for the teaching of the Holy Spirit,
if we would make progress in the knowledge of divine
things. Without Him, the mightiest intellect and the
strongest reasoning powers will carry us but a little way.

In reading the Bible and hearing sermons, everything
depends on the spirit in which we read and hear. A
humble, teachable, childlike frame of mind is the grand
secret of success. Happy is he who often says with
David, "Teach me Your statutes." Such a one will
understand as well as hear.

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[nChrist]

This tyrant wields a universal sway!

(Henry Law, "Numbers" 1858 )

"For the wages of sin is DEATH, but the
 free gift of God is eternal life through
 Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

DEATH!

The very sound falls heavily.

What mind can lightly think of it?

What eye unmoved can see it?

The limbs, once full of vigor, stir no more.

Sinews, once elastic in activity, become rigid.

The form, so wondrous in its mechanism,
becomes an inert mass.

The features, once the reflecting mirror of
ten thousand thoughts, are marble monotony.

The vessel, once so proudly merry,
lies a deserted wreck.

The fabric, once so sparkling in beauty,
is a deserted ruin.

DEATH! It is more than animation fled.

Decay draws near, with a polluting touch.

Corruption fastens on its prey.

The friends, most dotingly attached, cannot
but turn loathingly away. A stern necessity
requires, that offensive remains be buried
out of sight.

Reader, here pause and meditate.

This death is pressing at your heels!

It soon will lay you low.

Your weeping friends will hide you in the dust.

A forgetting world will go on merrily,
as though you had not been.

Say, do you joyfully await its touch?

Can you feel, "Death comes as with friendly
hand to open the cage door--that my freed
spirit may fly to its high home?"

Remember, you cannot escape.

This tyrant wields a universal sway!

But in what cradle is DEATH born? Whence
is it armed with that destroying scythe?

DEATH is transgression's child. Sin is the
womb which bore it. A sinless world would
have been deathless bloom. But the world
is sinful, and therefore is an open tomb.
This earth is one charnel house.

This is a humbling truth. But in this very
darkness there is light. We are not left
bereft of remedy.

The unclean may be cleansed.

All stains may vanish.

There is a fountain opened for all soul filth.

There is full help for foulest need. Where sin
abounds, sin's cure exceeds. Where pollution
spreads its wide pall, the Savior brings His
wider covering.

"For the wages of sin is DEATH, but the
 free gift of God is eternal life through
 Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

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[nChrist]

The laws of nature

(J. R. Miller, "The Best Things in Life")

God's will controls the smallest matters, and
takes into account the smallest events in each
life. A Spanish proverb says, "A leaf does not
stir on the tree--without the will of God." God's
hand is in every event. We talk of the the laws
of nature--but what is nature? It is not something
independent of God. The laws of nature are simply
God's laws. Nothing takes place that is contrary
to the divine will. Nothing--no storm, no earthquake,
no cyclone, no tidal wave--ever gets out of God's
control.

This world is not controlled by chance, nor by any
blind fate--but by Him who loved us so much, that
He gave His son to die for us.

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[nChrist]

Where the world reigns in the heart

(J. C. Ryle, "Faith")

"For everyone who has been born of God overcomes
 the world. And this is the victory that has overcome
 the world--our faith." 1 John 5:4

He who truly believes on Christ, overcomes the world.

A true believer is not ruled by the world's
standards of right or wrong, of truth or error.

He is independent of the world's opinion.

He cares little for the world's praise.

He is not moved by the world's blame.

He does not seek for the world's pleasures.

He is not ambitious of the world's rewards.

He looks at things unseen. He sees an invisible
Savior, a coming judgment, and a crown of glory
which never fades away. The sight of these
objects makes him think comparatively little
of this glittering world.

Where the world reigns in the heart, there
is no saving faith. A man who is habitually
conformed to the world, has no right to regard
himself as a believer!

"For everyone who has been born of God overcomes
 the world. And this is the victory that has overcome
 the world--our faith." 1 John 5:4

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[nChrist]

Your amusements

(J. R. Miller, "In Green Pastures")

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

Amusements are proper, both as to kind and
degree--just so far as they make us better
Christians. Whenever they become hindrances
to us in our Christian living or in our holy walk
--they are harmful, however innocent they
may be in themselves.

How do your amusements influence your
spiritual life? They may be very pleasing to you.
They may afford great gratification. But what is
their effect on you, as a Christian? Are they
hindering your love for Christ, and your growth
in grace? We ought to be honest enough with
ourselves, to answer these questions truthfully,
and then act accordingly.

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[nChrist]

God's sovereignty

(Charles Spurgeon)

    There is no attribute more comforting to His children, than that of God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials--they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend, than the doctrine of their Master over all creation--the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands--the throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne.

    On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football--as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine, of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere, except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne--then His creatures gnash their teeth!

    We proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter. Then it is, that we are hissed and execrated; and then it is, that men turn a deaf ear to us--for God on His throne--is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne, whom we trust!

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[nChrist]

The path to comfort in our time of sorrow

(J. R. Miller, "In Green Pastures")

    "Being in an agony--He prayed," is the record of our Savior's Gethsemane experience. The lesson stands for all time. Like a bright lamp, the little sentence shines amid the olive trees of the garden. It shows us the path to comfort in our time of sorrow. Never before or since--was there such grief as the Redeemer's, that night. But in His prayer, He found comfort. As we watch Him the hour through, we see the agony changing as He prayed, until at last its bitterness was all gone--and sweet, blessed peace took its place. The gate of prayer is always the gate to comfort. There is no other way to consolation.

    We may learn also from our Lord's Gethsemane, how to pray in our Gethsemanes. God will never blame us for asking to have the cup removed, nor for the intensity of our supplication; but we must always pray with submission. It is when we say, in our deepest sorrow and intensity, "Not my will--but may Your will be done," that comfort comes, that peace comes.

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[nChrist]

Unto the end!

(J. R. Miller, "In Green Pastures")

"Having loved His own who were in the world
 --He loved them to the end." John 13:1

The most wonderful thing in the universe, is
our Savior's love for His own people. Christ
bears with all our infirmities. He never tires
of our inconsistencies and unfaithfulnesses.
He goes on forever forgiving and forgetting.
He follows us when we go astray. He does not
forget us--when we forget Him. Through all
our stumbling and sinning, through all our
provocation and disobedience, through all
our waywardnesses and stubbornnesses,
through all our doubting and unfaithfulness
--He clings to us still, and never lets us go.
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake
you." Hebrews 13:5

"I give them eternal life, and they will never
 perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of
 My hand!" John 10:28

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[nChrist]

The true ministry of pain

(J. R. Miller, "In Green Pastures")

    There is a Christian art of enduring pain, which we should seek to learn. The real goal is not just to endure the suffering which falls into our life; to bear it bravely, without wincing; to pass through it patiently, even rejoicingly. Pain has a higher mission to us, than to teach us heroism. We should endure it in such a way as to get something of spiritual blessing out of it.

    Pain brings to us some message from God, which we should not fail to hear. It lifts for us the veil which hides God's face, and we should get some new glimpses of His beauty, every time we are called to suffer. Pain is furnace-fire, and we should always come out of this furnace, with the gold of our graces gleaming a little more brightly. Every experience of suffering ought in some way--to lift us nearer God, to make us more gentle and loving, and to leave the image of Christ shining a little clearer in our lives.

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[nChrist]

Work for God's eye

(J. R. Miller, "In Green Pastures")

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness'
 before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you
 will have no reward from your Father in heaven."
 Matthew 6:1

No grace shines more brightly in a Christian,
than humility. Wherever SELF comes in--it
mars the beauty of the work we are doing.
Seek to do your work noiselessly. Do not try
to draw attention to yourself--to make others
know that you did some beautiful thing. Be
content to pour your rich life into other wasted,
weary lives--and see them blessed and made
more holy--and then hide away and let Christ
have the honor. Work for God's eye--and even
then, do not think much about reward. Seek to
be a blessing--and never think of self-glory.

"Then your Father, who sees what is done
 in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:4

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