Soli Deo Gloria » Christ

Taking the Scum Off in the Fire

Jay — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:50:22 +0000

There are several little books that are quite the treasures in my library of books. I got to thinking one day if I could only keep a handful of my books beside my Bible which ones would I keep? One such little book is called The Loveliness of Christ. It is a collection of snippets from the letters of Samuel Rutherford and it’s a goldmine of Christ centered treasures for the soul. Here are a few of these gems…

“It is the Lord’s kindness that He will take the scum off us in the fire. Who knows how needful winnowing is to us, and what dross we must want ere we enter into the kingdom of God? So narrow is the entry to heaven, that our knots, our bunches and lumps of pride, and self-love, and idol-love, and world-love must be hammered off us, that we may throng in, stooping low, and creeping through that narrow and thorny entry.”

“All the saints have their own measure of winter before their eternal summer.”

“Our pride must have winter weather to rot it.”

“Whether God come to His children with a rod or a crown, if He comes Himself with it, it is well.”

Soli Deo Gloria.

Twixt Gleams of Joy and Clouds of Doubt

Jay — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:38:08 +0000

Every once in a while you come across an old hymn that is rarely sung in church and you wonder why it isn’t. In God’s providence and perfect timing, I remember sitting in church not too long ago and my pastor quoted a few lines from an old, obscure hymn and I immediately related to it. The glorious truths that the hymn points to bring us to Scripture over and over as we relate to the promises of comfort alongside the promises of suffering and trial. (Philippians 1:29) It’s that wonderful picture of our Shepherd in Psalm 23 walking along with us in the dark valley discipling and comforting us at the same time.

The lyrics to this hymn below by John Campbell Shairp are some of my favorites. I must admit that I printed out a small copy of them and they are taped to the front inside cover of my Bible. This hymn really describes the reality of the Christian walk and our need to remember that it’s not my grasp of Christ that matters most to my comfort but His grasp of me. What glorious truth!

‘Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt
Our feelings come and go;
Our best estate is tossed about
In ceaseless ebb and flow.
No mood of feeling, form of thought
Is constant for a day;
But thou, 0 Lord, thou changest not:
The same thou art alway.

I grasp thy strength, make it mine own,
My heart with peace is blest;
I lose my hold, and then comes down
Darkness, and cold unrest.
Let me no more my comfort draw
From my frail hold of thee,
In this alone rejoice with awe—-
Thy mighty grasp of me.

Out of that weak, unquiet drift
That comes but to depart,
To that pure heaven my spirit lift
Where thou unchanging art.
Lay hold of me with thy strong grasp,
Let thy almighty arm
In its embrace my weakness clasp,
And I shall fear no harm.

Thy purpose of eternal good
Let me but surely know;
On this I’ll lean—let changing mood
And feeling come or go—
Glad when thy sunshine fills my soul,
Not lorn when clouds o’ercast,
Since thou within thy sure control
Of love dost hold me fast .

—John Campbell Shairp

Jesus the Very Thought of Thee

Jay — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:07:03 +0000

Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills my breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find
A sweeter sound than Thy blest Name,
O Savior of mankind!

O Hope of every contrite heart,
O Joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is
None but His loved ones know.

O Jesus! light of all below!
Thou fount of life and fire!
Surpassing all the joys we know,
And all we can desire.

No other source have we but Thee,
Soul-thirst to satisfy.
Exhaustless spring! the waters free!
All other streams are dry.

Jesus, our only Joy be Thou,
As Thou our Prize wilt be;
Jesus, be Thou our Glory now,
And through eternity.

Listen to this Hymn

- Jesus the Very Thought of Thee (Bernard of Clairvaux)

Justification by Christ Alone

Jay — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:30:14 +0000

Enjoy this outstanding lecture by the late John Gerstner as he compares the Biblical understanding of justification by faith alone to the Roman Catholic heresy and the modern day easy-believism.

The Sovereignty of God in the Sin of Believers

Jay — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:36:26 +0000

by John Piper

No temptation has overtaken you but what is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will make with the temptation also the escape so that you can endure. (I Cor. 10:13, my translation)

Would it be correct to argue from this text, as some do, that since believers do in fact sometimes succumb to temptation, it is solely due to their own self-determination and not at all due to God’s sovereign disposal of events? If this were a valid argument at least two things would follow which in my judgment are contrary to other New Testament teaching.

1) Believers can no longer have confidence that they will persevere to the end in faith and so be saved. One must persevere in faith if he is to be saved (I Cor. 15:2; Col. 1:23; Mk. 13:13). But many temptations arise in life that threaten faith and call the reality of God and of redemption into question. What assurance does the believer have that he will endure and so be saved? According to the above argument he can have scarcely any assurance because the point of that argument is to limit the influence of God on the believer to the extent that whether the believer yields to temptation or not is finally determined by the believer and not God. The point of the argument is to make God wholly an offerer of power, not an efficient executor of that power in the believer. Therefore, since the believer is ultimately self-determining, his perseverance in faith and consequently his salvation is ultimately determined by himself. That results in the decline of confidence, since for all he knows he may encounter some temptation tomorrow that he will not endure; he may make a shipwreck of faith and be lost.

All this follows, I think, from the consideration that every temptation is an allurement to forsake our reliance upon and joy in the mercy of God and to rely upon and find more pleasure in other things. The argument for self-determination asserts that what the believer delights in most is determined not by the Holy Spirit who dwells within him but somehow by the believer’s own sovereign will. As fickle as our desires are from day to day and year to year, how do I know whether in a few weeks I might desire something else more than thepure milk of God’s kindness (I Pet. 2:2-3)? That the believer should have greater confidence than this follows from the second implication of the argument I stated at the beginning.

2) The second implication of the argument for the believer’s self-determination is that Philippians 2:13 then becomes false. Paul says there that “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” This bold declaration of God’s sovereign control of the believer leads Paul to say two other things. It leads him to an expression of confidence: “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). And secondly the sovereign control of God over believers leads Paul to command the believers to work out their salvation (Phil. 2:12). Note well, it is not the believer’s work which grounds and initiates God’s work. The very opposite is the case: you work, for God is already at work in you to accomplish what he wishes.

The desires of the believer for righteousness are due to God’s openingthe eyes of his heart (Eph. 1:18) so that he can see its irresistible glory. Every act of Christian obedience is a gift of God (Gal. 2:20; I Cor. 15:10). Every act of love is caused by the Lord (I Thess. 3:12). We are his workmanship, his pot of clay, his poem, and all our good deeds have been prepared for ages (Eph. 2:10). This is just another way of saying that all enduring of temptation is the result of God working in us to will and to do his good pleasure.

Given the natural condition of man apart from the Holy Spirit, he will yield to sin invariably; he is the slave of sin (Rom. 6:17,20; 8:3-8). Therefore every instance of turning from sin to righteousness is due to the irresistible work of God, who transforms the mind and heart so that the believer prefers righteousness over sin. I conclude, therefore, that no Christian determines ultimately whether he will overcome a temptation to sin. God determines that.

It follows that when a believer gives in to temptation, desiring sin more than God, it is because God has allowed sin or the flesh to gain the ascendancy for the moment. He does not cause the sin in the same way that he causes the obedience. The obedience he brings about by a positive influence of renewal because he delights in holiness for its own sake. Sin comes about in the believer’s life only by God’s permitting man’s natural tendencies to reassert themselves temporarily. And he does this not out of any delight in sin but out of a delight in the greater end which will be achieved. We may not always understand his designs but we need not doubt his wisdom and power and mercy to bring us through to glory in the end. It is very probable that if God did not allow us to taste the power of sin from time to time we would start to feel self-confident and would not appreciate so intensely our redemption. Thus thanksgiving and praise will abound to God in greater measure because he has brought his people through struggles and failures to perfect victory in the end.

Now we may return to I Corinthians 10:13 to see if it comes into conflict with these things. If we analyze what is really happening in temptation it will become evident, I believe, that there is only one thing that provides “escape” from or endurance of temptation, namely, some kind of evidence that God is preferable to the sin we are being tempted with. Perhaps some promise or threat or command comes to our mind from the Bible, as it did with Jesus when he was tempted. Or perhaps we recall an experience we have had of God’s kindness. Maybe a friend will speak a word of encouragement about God’s glory and beauty. In any of these ways, and many others, evidence comes to us that God is to be desired more than sin. This evidence is the escape available to us.

I Corinthians 10:13 declares that God will never leave himself without a witness to his superiority over all sinful allurements. But the text does not promise that God will in fact keep a Christian from yielding to temptation. It promises that the sufficient cause of obedience will always be given in the hour of temptation, namely some evidence that God is more to be desired than sin. Whether a Christian will own up to the truth of this evidence, that is, whether the evidence will move him in fact to prefer God in this trial is not discussed in this text. The promise has an implicit if-clause: You can endure any temptation if you want to badly enough. You will not be tempted beyond your ability if you are relying upon and delighting in God more than what you are being tempted toward.”

The important thing to notice is that this text does not deal with the more basic theological question concerning why I choose to rely on God at one time and on something else at another time. Therefore, the text cannot be used to prove that the reason I do this is my own inalienable power of self-determination. Romans 12:3 would, on the contrary, suggest that God regulates how much reliance on him I have. But that we can save for another time.

Original article can be found here.

A Hellish Heaven

Jay — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:30:09 +0000

“Heaven would be hell to me without Christ.” – Thomas Goodwin

This beautiful quote from the Puritan Thomas Goodwin also reminds me of a question John Piper asks in his book God is the Gospel: would you be happy in heaven if Christ were not there? Before the Lord saved me I was a professing believer and my desire for heavenly things was strictly carnal. I wanted the everlasting life and of course to escape hell. I wanted the golden streets and the pearly gates but I did not want God. I wanted to go to heaven, I just didn’t want God to be there. I was ashamed of Christ and I never spoke of Him to others. I’m so thankful that the Lord in His sovereign grace turned my heart of stone to a heart of flesh and granted me the gift of repentance and faith in His Son. He saved a man who for most of his life professed faith but possessed it not and was ashamed of the gospel and it’s Author. It’s only through being born from above by His power and grace that I can echo the words of Goodwin that heaven would truly be hell without Christ.

I know there are many people who believe they are seeking God. Through church attendance, morality, activities and even a head-knowledge of who Christ is (James 2:19), they believe they are heaven-bound. But Scripture speaks otherwise. Not a single person outside of Christ seeks God. Period. Paul tells us in Romans that people don’t seek God. (Romans 3:11) The reality is that people seek the things of God but they don’t seek Him. They want heaven and all God’s benefits but they simply don’t want Him. They truly could be happy in heaven if Christ were not there. This is why I laugh at so-called “seeker sensitive” churches that model their worship after and for unbelievers. Unbelievers and nominal Christians aren’t seeking God. They are seeking health, happiness and the American dream and in their minds God is often a way to get those things. Seeker sensitive churches simply feed this devilish lie. This is why false teachers like Joel Osteen pack their seats service after service with people who want everything God (and the world) has to offer except true salvation and the ultimate result of that salvation: God Himself. Salvation truly is a means to an end. And that end is unhindered communion for all eternity with God in Christ. John sums up heaven for us in five beautiful words: “we will see His face.” (Revelation 22:4)

The grand reality is that God must seek us before we will seek Him. We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) God causes our dead souls to be born from above and then and only then do we come to Him in repentance and faith. Paul describes regeneration as a miracle greater than that of the creation account. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Do you love Christ or do you love His benefits? One affection is the result of a transformed heart. The other is a natural desire of the fallen nature. If you do love Christ above all things, rejoice in His sovereign grace and be humbled that nothing inherently in you caused this regenerative miracle. (John 1:13) If you honestly can say that you’d be happy in heaven without Christ, cry out to the Lord Almighty to open your eyes to His glory in the face of Jesus Christ and embrace Him in repentance and faith. All who come to Him He will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)

Soli Deo Gloria

Night at Golgotha

Jay — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:48:24 +0000

Night at Golgotha (Vasilij Vereshchagin)

I’m not usually a big art person but there are a few pieces of art that are simply stunning and the masterpiece above by Russian artist Vasilij Vereshchagin (1869) is one such painting.

As we near Christmas, this artwork reminds us that the reason for the incarnation was so that the Child in the manger would die for the sins of His people. (Matthew 1:21) We so often get caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas that we forget that the shadow of the cross lies heavily over that humble manger.

This piece of artwork shows the darkness over the cross reminding us of God’s wrath poured out on our sin Substitute and the cry coming from the cross that the penalty for our sins is forever paid in full – “it is finished!” The procession going off into the distance with that haunting light shows us the funeral march as the lifeless body of the Lord Jesus Christ is carried to the sepulcher. Yet, the light glimmering there reminds us that death cannot hold Him. His resurrection for our justification (Romans 4:25) is gloriously imminent in this painting.

The miracle of Christmas is the incarnation. The Creator became the creation. Christ the man represents humanity as our High Priest and as our substitute He died in our stead for our sins. Christ the Almighty God is the infinitely worthy sacrifice to appease the infinitely worthy and just God. The painting above reminds us of the great truth that Christ humbled Himself to become a man and was obedient unto death (Philippians 2:8) to purchase His people and adopt them into His Kingdom. Death could not hold Him! He is now seated victoriously at the right hand of God awaiting for His enemies to be made a footstool to His feet. (Hebrews 10:13)

Miraculously, this Almighty King is not ashamed to call me His brother. (Hebrew 2:11) Now that is something to be eternally thankful for! Thank you Lord Jesus for Your amazing grace that saved a wretch like me!

Merry Christmas!

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Jay — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:31:58 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy this beautiful Puritan Prayer…

O My God,Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects, my heart admires, adores, loves thee, for my little vessel is as full as it can be, and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.

When I think upon and converse with thee ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up, ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed, ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart, crowding into every moment of happiness.

I bless thee for the soul thou hast created, for adorning it, for sanctifying it, though it is fixed in barren soil; for the body thou hast given me, for preserving its strength and vigour, for providing senses to enjoy delights, for the ease and freedom of my limbs, for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding; for thy royal bounty providing my daily support, for a full table and overflowing cup, for appetite, taste, sweetness, for social joys of relatives and friends, for ability to serve others, for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities, for a mind to care for my fellow-men, for opportunities of spreading happiness around, for loved ones in the joys of heaven, for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly.

I love thee above the powers of language to express, for what thou art to thy creatures.Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.

True Discipleship

Jay — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:55:04 +0000

When I first saw this video I continued saying in my mind, “yes! This is what it’s all about.” I am so tired of churches that focus on programs, entertainment, sports programs and “stuff”. (Programs aren’t entirely bad unless they become the focus which is exactly what is plaguing many churches today.) They want to pack the doors on Sunday mornings but they do not equip the saints to go out into the world and make disciples. This video does a good job of showing this problem. While I don’t agree entirely with the ministry who developed this video regarding their understanding of “kingdom multiplication” and an unbalanced message that instead of being in church we should be out in the world, I think it sends a proper message to most larger churches who are obsessed with programs and just getting people in the door and trying to be so much like the world. Bottom line, church is for believers, not the world! The key is, if we understand church Biblically then the saints will naturally seek to go out into the world as lights of Christ but they will also deeply desire to be in the family of Christ on the Lord’s Day and any other time they can corporately get together to feast on God’s Word, be held accountable and worship Christ the Lord.

Would love to get your thoughts after watching this video:

HT: Jeremy Gardiner’s Twitter feed

The Most Terrifying Truth of the Gospel

Jay — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:33:02 +0000

Crying Us Into Heaven

Jay — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:36:37 +0000

“And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Hebrews 12:24

Christ’s blood in its cry has attributed to it here a further advantage over Abel’s blood. For Abel’s cried only from earth, from the ground, where it lay shed, and it cried only for an answerable earthly punishment on Cain, as he was a man on the earth. But Christ’s blood is carried up to heaven, for as the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifices into the Holy of Holies, so Christ has virtually carried His blood into heaven. (Heb. 9:12) This is intimated here in Hebrews 12 also, as the coherence shows. For all the other particulars (of which this is one) to which he says the saints are come are in heaven. “You are come,” says he, “to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the church of the first-born who are written in heaven, ad to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb. 12:22-23). All these things are in heaven; He names nothing that is not there. He then add, “and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaks…,” as a thing that speaks in heaven and is sprinkled from heaven, yea, a thing with which all heaven is sprinkled, as the mercy seat of the Holy of Holies was, because sinners are to come there. This blood therefore cried from heaven; it is next to God, who sites as judge there, and it cried in His very ears, whereas the cry of blood from the ground is further off. So though the cry of blood from the ground may come up to heaven, yet the blood itself does not come there, as Christ already is there. Abel’s blood cried for vengeance to come down from heaven, but Christ’s blood cries us up to heaven…

In the second place, add to this Christ’s intercession, which was the second thing propounded – that Christ by His prayers seconds this cry of His blood. So not only does the blood of Christ cry out, but Christ Himself, being alive, joins with it. How forcible and prevalent must this be! The blood of a slain man cries, though the man remains dead, even as it is said of Abel (though to another purpose) that “being dead he yet speaketh” (Heb. 11:4). But Christ lives and appears. He follows the suit and pursues the hue and cry of His blood Himself. His being alive puts a life into His death. It is not in this case as it was in the first Adam’s sin and disobedience. Adam, although he himself had been annihilated when he died, set the stock of human nature to the propagation of children. But his sin would have defiled and condemned them to the end of the world, and the force of it to condemn was neither furthered nor lessened by his subsisting and being, or by his not being; it received no assistance from his personal life one way or other. The reason is that his sin condemns us in a natural and necessary way. But the death of Christ and His shed blood wave us in a way of grace and favor unto Christ Himself and for His sake. Thus, Christ, who shed this blood, being alive, adds an infinite acceptance to it with God, and moves Him the more to hear the cry of it and regard it.

From Christ Set Forth, Works 4:77-78 by Richard Sibbes (1577-1635)

The Believer Sinking in the Mire

Jay — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:08:59 +0000

a sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

“Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink” (Ps.69:14).

Many rivers have on their banks deep deposits of mud, and if any person ignorantly or accidentally falls upon this soft mud he would, unless speedily pulled out, be sucked under until he was utterly swallowed up in the mire. Having no handhold or foot-hold, the more he laboured to extricate himself, the deeper he would descend. True believers are sometimes in deep mire, and in danger of being swallowed up. This was the condition of the Psalmist when he wrote this psalm. He felt that he was sinking and could not save himself, and therefore he cried out for deliverance.

1. The true believer may be in the mire.

The truest believer in the world may be brought into the deep mire of unbelief. Some of us who have preached the word for years, and have been the means of bringing faith in others have nevertheless been subject to most fearful and violent doubts as to the truth of the very gospel we have preached. Times may have occurred to the best of God’s servants, when they have even doubted the existence of the God whom they have loved to serve, and when even the deity and reality of the Lord Jesus who has rescued them from sin by His precious blood has been under questioning. They would have been willing to die for those truths one day, and yet another day they are compelled because of strong temptation to sit down, and with the tears streaming from their eyes, to cry bitterly unto their Strong Helper, “O God, save me from this accursed unbelief which robs me of every comfort, takes the foundations away, and lays my glory in the dust! If the foundations be removed, what can the righteous do? O settle my soul upon Your word, and establish me in Your truth, O God of truth.”

A believer may be quite settled in his belief of the gospel, and may never doubt the inspiration of Scripture, the atonement of Christ and all those precious truths which are commonly received among us, and yet, through sin or temptation or some other cause, he may not have a full assurance of his own security in those glorious and vital truths. A true believer in Christ, in fact, may often suspect himself to be a hypocrite when he is most sincere; to be a backslider when he is most diligently following the Lord; and he may set himself down as the chief of sinners, when the testimony of men and of God is that he is a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. Many a justified and accepted saint has had to moan under a deep sense of sin, “God be merciful to me, the sinner.” True believers sometimes wonder whether they are God’s people or not, whether their sins are forgiven or not. This is deep mire indeed.

In addition to this, at times, the Lord’s chosen are brought into another kind of mire, which will never swallow them up, but which may be a very severe trial to them while they are in it. When the soul is alarmed about spiritual things, and then bodily or earthly troubles also come, then the sea is really rough. Certain Christians are frequently in trouble. Their whole life is a going out of one desperate situation into another. You have had many losses in business; you have had many disappointments or bereavements. There is consolation. You are one of a numerous family, for many of God’s people pass through just such tribulation. Christ has said, “In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” It is no sign that you are not a child of God because you feel the rod, but it is rather a token of your being one of the adopted, because you are made to pass under the rod of the covenant, and to utter the prayer of David, “Lord, save me from the deep mire, and let me not sink.”

The blackest mire is that God’s own people sometimes sink in the mire of inward corruption. There are times when believers have such a sight of the little hell within their own flesh that they are ready to despair of the possibility of their ever being completely sanctified and made to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. We little know what lies hidden in our deceitful flesh – envying, blasphemies, murders, lust: there is enough in the flesh of any man to make a full-grown devil, if grace did not restrain him. One day you may have had such enjoyments of the Lord’s presence and yet another day you may have such a sight of self that you may wonder who would deliver you from the body of this death.

Remember that if you have the nature of God in you, you have also the nature of the old Adam. You are to be immortal, but you are reminded that you are mortal. You are one day to be raised in glory, but you are to remember, as long as you are here, that the time of glory is not come, because you drag about to your shame, weakness, dishonour and misery a body of sin and death. The best of God’s children know this and the holier they are, the more likely they are to feel the conflict within.

It is painful to realise that the best of God’s people sometimes fall into the mire of Satanic temptations. There is no knowing what suggestion Satan may thrust into the ear and into the soul of the greatest believer that heaven ever made. God may whisper in your ear one day, and Satan the next, and yet you may be a child of God on both occasions. Satan will suggest not merely little sins, but the foulest of sins to the best of God’s chosen people. He will even venture to urge the man of God to destroy himself when under depression of spirit. It is a fearful thing to fight with Apollyon. We shall sing of it in heaven as one of the greatest and most marvellous mercies of God, that He delivered us out of the mouth of our cruel adversary.

Why is it that believers are allowed to fall into it?

They sometimes get into it through their own sin. It is a chastisement upon them. They were not faithful enough when they walked in the light, and, therefore, they are put into the darkness. The rod is never taken down from the shelf, except when it is absolutely wanted; and we are made to feel its pain, because we so greatly require it. God chastises us and He generally does it by permitting us to be filled with our own ways. We have to drink the powder of the idol calf which we have ourselves set up.

Our heavenly Father sends these troubles, or permits them to come, to test if our faith is worth anything at all. People who have a superficial godliness will wish to be preserved from temptations, because they cannot endure them. But the Christian counts it all joy when he faces diverse trials, knowing that they bring patience, experience and hope. It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body full of health, and the business profitable. True faith holds to the Lord’s faithfulness, when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when our spirits are depressed, when we are driven from the enjoyment of assurances and cannot see the light of our Father’s face. We believe in our Lord, because He is a God that cannot lie, faithful and true to His every word.

The Lord may also let his servants slip into the deep mire to glorify Himself, because He is never perhaps more glorified than in the faith of His own people. God glorifies Himself by permitting His people to be subjected to trials and by enabling them to endure the strain. The excellence of the Christian is brought out by the fire of trouble. The wisdom of the Great Workman and the glory of His skill and power are discovered by the trials through which His vessels of mercy are permitted to pass.

Again, trials are doubtless permitted to show the natural weakness of the creature, that no flesh may glory in the presence of God. We might have imagined that a great man was someone different from others, but when his weakness is seen, we discern clearly that it was grace rather than natural strength that distinguished him from the others. The man was but an earthen vessel in which God had put his precious treasure, and he makes the earthiness of the vessel manifest, that all men may see that the excellency of the power is not of us, but of God.

Perhaps another reason why God permits his people to sink for a time into deep depression is to make heaven sweeter when they enter its pearly gates. Who will know the peace of heaven but those who have experienced the warfare of earth and have endured conflicts with sin and the prince of the power of the air?

These are some of the reasons why God permits His people to sink for a while in the deep mire. But the question is raised whether these men who are thus tossed about by doubts and vexed with the great depravity of their hearts are truly God’s people at that time. Certainly they are, because if they were not God’s people they could not have felt the pain of the temptation. The man who lives in sin never feels the weight of it. Conflicts and pains such as those mentioned above are not possible to those without a spiritual life. Spiritual life is the first requisite for spiritual grief and spiritual contrition. Those who are children of God show it by the way in which they bear their trials. If they cannot shout “Victory,” at least they bear it patiently. If they cannot sing unto God with their mouth, yet their hearts bless Him. There is a degree of light even in their worst darkness. If they get into the mire, they do not perish there. They cry for help when their woes surround them, and in the very nick of time when everything appears to be lost, their Heavenly Father hastens to their aid.

We can say most certainly that we know whom we have believed and that He is able to keep us until the last day. But the Christian life is one of stern conflict and battle. Though we do rejoice in the Lord always, yet there are times when it is a hard work which we cannot accomplish without the help of the Spirit, to keep our faith alive at all.

2. No one can deliver them but God

The Word of God itself cannot help them if not brought home by the Holy Spirit. You may be in such a condition that every promise seems to you as if it was changed into a threat. When you turn over the pages of the book once so full of comfort to you, it seems withered into a desert. Past sin accuses you and cries, “You cannot claim this word, because your sin has disqualified you.” At such times, the preaching of the gospel appears to be without power for you. It is not the fault of the speaker, nor is it the fault of the Word, but you painfully feel that you are changed. This is a case in which it is only by the effective application of the Word to your heart by the Holy Spirit that you can be brought out of this deep mire.

At such times, other believers cannot aid you. Those around you can prove to you how foolish it is to be in such a state, and you can even see your folly for yourself, yet you lie there helpless to lift hand or foot. They tell you of the faithfulness of God; they remind you of the glorious future and point to the land beyond the skies; but you only sigh in despair. Why does our gracious God permit this? Perhaps it is because you have been living without depending on Him and now He is going to take away every thing upon which you have been in the habit of depending. The second reason may be that He wishes to drive you to Himself.

We can make ourselves satisfied with forms of religion. They have become idols for us because we have put them in God’s place. Our Lord favours us with a famine in the land so that it may make us seek after the Saviour more. The best position for a Christian is to live wholly and directly on God’s grace. When the wind comes and the storm blows, we shall see that the rickety structures which we build will give way and fall; but if we stand on the rock which never shakes, we cannot suffer loss. Do not think even for a moment that our standing is in our sanctification, our self denial, or our feelings, but know that we are saved because Christ on Calvary offered a full, free and effective atonement for every one who believes on Him. We are complete in him, having nothing of our own to trust to, but resting upon His merits.

When we are brought to this condition, then it is that God comes to help us. We are sure in our poverty to turn afresh to Him with new earnestness. We can bless God for the mire, and for our sinking in it, when it makes us cry out to God.

3. Prayer is the never failing resort

When you cannot use your sword or any other weapon, you may take to the weapon of all-prayer. It is a door which none can shut. Demons may surround you on all sides, but there is always one way open, and as long as that is clear, you will not fall into the enemy’s hand. The gates of heaven are open night and day. God will welcome your prayer at any time and in every place in any condition of poverty, sickness, doubt, or even sin.

Prayer is never futile. You may not always get what you ask for, but you shall always have your real wants supplied. When God does not answer His children according to the letter, He does so according to the spirit. If you ask for silver will you be angry because He gives you gold? If you seek health, should you complain if instead He makes your sickness turn to the healing of spiritual problems? Was not Paul made richer when God gave him a thorn in the flesh, and yet gave him His strength?

If you are alive spiritually, although you are almost afraid to utter words once dear to you, if your soul still desires, pants, hungers and thirsts, that is the essential part of prayer. Sobs and looks are prayers. Though you say you cannot pray, you must pray, you cannot help praying if you are a Christian. Break through these nets of the devil which hold you in bondage, and begin with your whole soul to pray. Never mind what form your prayer takes, but do pray. Everything depends now on your prayer. If Satan can stop thy prayer, he has stripped you of your last resort, your last hope. Pray, if it costs you your life.

Thank God if you are not in such a condition. But remember that if you are not careful how you walk, if you become too confident in your own strength or goodness, God will bring you down, and make you cry out as sharply and as sorrowfully as David, “Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink.” (Abridged)

No related posts.