Leonard Ravenhill Quotes

 “Today’s church wants to be raptured from responsibility.”

“The early church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.”

“If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere.”

“How can you have a dead service with a living Christ?”

“A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.”

“Men give advice; God gives guidance.”

“Many of us are hunting mice – while lions devour the land.”

“A man who is intimate with God will never be intimidated by men.”

“No man – I don’t care how colossal his intellect – No man is greater than his prayer life.”

“Better for you to have one sleepless night on earth than millions in hell.”

“Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?”

“A sinning man stops praying, a praying man stops sinning.”

“Let your iniquities be given speech and hiss and torment you until you repent!”

“The only reason we don’t have revival is because we are willing to live without it!”

“God pity us that after years of writing, using mountains of paper and rivers of ink, exhausting flashy terminology about the biggest revival meetings in history, we are still faced with gross corruption in every nation, as well as with the most prayerless church age since Pentecost.”

“Church unity comes from corporate humility.”

“Nobody else can give you a clean heart but God.”

“Smart men walked on the moon, daring men walked on the ocean floor, but wise men walk with God.”

“You can’t develop character by reading books. You develop it from conflict.”

“I doubt that more than two percent of professing Christians in the United States are truly born again.”

“One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed.”

“When there’s something in the Bible that churches don’t like, they call it legalism.”

“Why is there this criminal indifference to the lostness of men? Our condemnation is that we know how to live better than we are living.”

“The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising.”

“The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity.”

“My main ambition in life is to be on the devil’s most wanted list.”

“If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.”

“No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shop window to display one’s talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off.”

“Entertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy”

Courtesy of: http://www.leonard-ravenhill.com/quotes

The Church That Christ Builds — Part 6

By J.C. Ryle 1816—1900

I will now conclude this message with a few words of PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

1. My first word of application shall be a QUESTION. What shall that question be? What shall I ask? I will return to the point with which I began. I will go back to the first sentence with which I opened my message. I ask you, whether you are a member of the one true Church of Christ? Are you in the highest, the best sense, a "Churchman" in the sight of God? You know now what I mean. I look far beyond the Church of England. I am not speaking of church or chapel. I speak of "the Church built upon the rock." I ask you, with all solemnity: Are you a member of that Church? Are you joined to the great Foundation? Are you on the rock? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Does the Spirit witness with your spirit, that you are one with Christ, and Christ with you? I beseech you, in the name of God, to lay to heart these questions, and to ponder them well. If you are not converted — you do not yet belong to the "Church on the rock."

Let every reader of this message take heed to himself, if he cannot give a satisfactory answer to my inquiry. Take heed, take heed, that you do not make shipwreck of your soul to all eternity. Take heed, lest at last the gates of Hell prevail against you, the devil claims you as his own, and you are cast away forever. Take heed, lest you go down to the pit from the land of Bibles, and in the full light of Christ's gospel. Take heed, lest you are found at the left hand of Christ at last, a lost Episcopalian or a lost Presbyterian, a lost Baptist or a lost Methodist — lost because, with all your zeal for your own party and your own communion table, you never joined the one true Church.

2. My second work of application shall be an INVITATION. I address it to everyone who is not yet a true believer. I say to you, come and join the one true Church without delay. Come and join yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ in an everlasting covenant not to be forgotten.

Consider well what I say. I charge you solemnly not to mistake the meaning of my invitation. I do not bid you leave the visible Church to which you belong. I abhor all idolatry of denominations and parties. I detest a proselytizing spirit. But I do bid you come to Christ and be saved. The day of decision must come some time. Why not this very hour? Why not today, while it is called today? Why not this very night, before the sun rises tomorrow morning? Come to Him, who died for sinners on the cross, and invites all sinners to come to Him by faith and be saved. Come to my Master, Jesus Christ. Come, I say, for all things are now ready. Mercy is ready for you. Heaven is ready for you. Angels are ready to rejoice over you. Christ is ready to receive you. Christ will receive you gladly, and welcome you among His children. Come into the ark. The flood of God's wrath will soon break upon the earth. Come into the ark and be safe!

Come into the lifeboat of the one true Church. This old world will soon break into pieces! Don't you hear the tremblings of it? The world is but a wreck upon a sandbank. The night is far spent, the waves are beginning to rise, the wind is getting up, the storm will soon shatter the old wreck. But the lifeboat is launched, and we, the ministers of the gospel, beseech you to come into the lifeboat and be saved. We beseech you to arise at once and come to Christ.

Do you ask, "How can I come? My sins are too many. I am too wicked yet. I dare not come." Away with the thought! It is a temptation of Satan. Come to Christ as a sinner. Come just as you are. Hear the words of that beautiful hymn:

"Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Your blood was shed for me,

And that You bid'st me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God, I come."

This is the way to come to Christ. You should come, waiting for nothing, and tarrying for nothing. You should come, 

as a hungry sinner — to be filled; 

as a poor sinner — to be enriched; 

as an undeserving sinner — to be clothed with righteousness.

So coming, Christ would receive you. "Him that comes" to Christ, He "will never cast out." Oh, come, come to Jesus Christ! Come into the true Church by faith and be saved.

3. Last of all, let me give a word of EXHORTATION to all believers into whose hands this message may fall.

Strive to live a holy life. Walk worthy of the Church to which you belong. Live like citizens of Heaven. Let your light shine before men, so that the world may profit by your conduct. Let them know whose you are, and whom you serve. Be epistles of Christ, known and read of all men, written in such clear letters, that none can say of you, "I know not whether this man be a member of Christ or not." He who knows nothing of real, practical holiness — is no member of the Church on the rock.

Strive to live a courageous life. Confess Christ before men. Whatever station you occupy — in that station confess Christ. Why should you be ashamed of Him? He was not ashamed of you on the cross. He is ready to confess you now before His Father in Heaven. Why should you be ashamed of Him? Be bold. Be very bold. The good soldier is not ashamed of his uniform. The true believer ought never to be ashamed of Christ.

Strive to live a joyful life. Live like men who look for that blessed hope — the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is the prospect to which we should all look forward. It is not so much the thought of going to Heaven, as of Heaven coming to us, that should fill our minds. "There is a good time coming" for all the people of God, a good time for all the Church of Christ, a good time for all believers — a bad time for the impenitent and unbelieving — but a good time for true Christians. For that good time, let us wait and watch and pray.

The scaffolding will soon be taken down. The last stone will soon be brought out. The top stone will be placed upon the edifice. Yet a little time, and the full beauty of the Church which Christ is building shall be clearly seen

The Church That Christ Builds — Part 5

By J.C. Ryle 
(1816—1900)

The promise of our text is true of every individual member of the Church. Some of God's people have been so much cast down and disturbed, that they have despaired of their safety. Some have fallen sadly, as David and Peter did. Some have departed from the faith for a time, like Cranmer and Jewell. Many have been tried by cruel doubts and fears. But all have got safe home at last, the youngest as well as the oldest, the weakest as well as the strongest. And so it will be to the end. Can you prevent tomorrow's sun from rising? 

Can you prevent the tide in the Bristol Channel from ebbing and flowing? Can you prevent the planets moving in their respective orbits? Then, and then alone, can you prevent the salvation of any believer, however feeble, the final safety of any living stone in that Church which is built upon the rock, however small or insignificant that stone may appear.

The true Church is Christ's body. Not one bone in that mystical body shall ever be broken.

The true Church is Christ's bride. Those whom God has joined in everlasting covenant, shall never be put asunder.

The true Church is Christ's flock. When the lion came and took a lamb out of David's flock, David arose and delivered the lamb from his mouth. Christ will do the same. He is David's greater Son. Not a single sick lamb in Christ's flock shall perish. He will say to His Father in the last day, "Of those who You gave Me — I have lost none" (John 18:9).

The true Church is the wheat of the earth. It may be sifted, winnowed, buffeted, tossed to and fro. But not one grain shall be lost.

The tares and chaff shall be burned. The wheat shall be gathered into the barn.

The true Church is Christ's army. The Captain of our salvation loses none of His soldiers. His plans are never defeated. His supplies never fail. His muster-roll is the same at the end — as it was at the beginning. Of the men that marched gallantly out of England a few years ago in the Crimean war, how many never came back! Regiments that went forth, strong and cheerful, with bands playing and banners flying, laid their bones in a foreign land, and never returned to their native country. But it is not so with Christ's army. Not one of His soldiers shall be missing at last. He Himself declares, "They shall never perish!" (John 10:28).

The devil may cast some of the members of the true Church into prison. He may kill and burn and torture and hang. But after he has killed the body, there is nothing more that he can do. He cannot hurt the soul. When the French troops took Rome a few years ago, they found on the walls of a prison cell, under the Inquisition, the words of a prisoner. Who he was, we know not. But his words are worthy of remembrance. 

"Though dead, he yet speaks." He had written on the walls, very likely after an unjust trial, and a still more unjust excommunication, the following striking words "Blessed Jesus, they cannot cast me out of Your true Church." That record is true! Not all the power of Satan can cast one single believer out of Christ's true Church!

I trust that no reader of this message will ever allow fear to prevent his beginning to serve Christ. He to whom you commit your soul has all power in Heaven and earth, and He will keep you. He will never let you be cast away. Relatives may oppose. Neighbors may mock. The world may slander and ridicule and jest and sneer. Fear not! Fear not! The powers of Hell shall never prevail against your soul. Greater is He who is for you, than all those who are against you.

Fear not for the Church of Christ — when ministers die, and saints are taken away. Christ can ever maintain His own cause. He will raise up better servants and brighter stars. The stars are all in His right hand. Leave off all anxious thought about the future. Cease to be cast down by the measures of statesmen, or the plots of wolves in sheep's clothing. Christ will ever provide for His own Church. Christ will take care that "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." All is going on well, though our eyes may not see it. The kingdoms of this world shall yet become the kingdoms of our God, and of His Christ.

The Church That Christ Builds — Part 4

By J.C. Ryle 
(1816—1900)

a. Marvel not at the enmity of the gates of Hell. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own" (John 15:19). So long as the world is the world, and the devil the devil — so long there must be warfare, and believers in Christ must be soldiers. The world hated Christ — and the world will hate true Christians, as long as the earth stands. As the great Reformer Luther said, "Cain will go on murdering Abel so long as the Church is on earth."

b. Be prepared for the enmity of the gates of Hell. Put on the whole armor of God. The tower of David contains a thousand shields, all ready for the use of God's people. The weapons of our warfare have been tried by millions of poor sinners like ourselves, and have never been found to fail.

c. Be patient under the enmity of the gates of Hell.

It is all working together for your good.

It tends to sanctify.

It will keep you awake.

It will make you humble.

It will drive you nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ.

It will wean you from the world.

It will help to make you pray more.

Above all, it will make you long for Heaven.

It will teach you to say with heart as well as lips, "Come, Lord Jesus. May Your kingdom come."

d. Be not cast down by the enmity of Hell. The warfare of the true child of God is as much a mark of grace — as the inward peace which he enjoys. No cross — no crown! No conflict — no saving Christianity! "Blessed are you," said our Lord Jesus Christ, "when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake." If you are never persecuted for religion's sake, and all men speak well of you — then you may well doubt whether you belong to "the Church on the rock" (Matthew 5:11; Luke 6:26).

5. There remains one thing more to be considered — the SECURITY of the true Church of Christ. There is a glorious promise given by the Builder, "The gates of Hell shall not prevail."He who cannot lie has pledged His word, that all the powers of Hell shall never overthrow His Church. It shall continue and stand, in spite of every assault. It shall never be overcome. All other created things perish and pass away — but not the Church which is built on the rock.

Empires have risen and fallen in rapid succession. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Tyre, Carthage, Rome, Greece, Venice — where are all these now? They were all the creations of man's hand, and have passed away. But the true Church of Christ lives on.The mightiest cities have become heaps of ruins. The broad walls of Babylon have sunk to the ground. The palaces of Nineveh are covered with mounds of dust. The hundred gates of Thebes are only matters of history. Tyre is a place where fishermen hang their nets. Carthage is a desolation. Yet all this time the true Church stands. The gates of Hell do not prevail against it.

The earliest visible Churches have in many cases decayed and perished. Where is the Church of Ephesus and the Church of Antioch? Where is the Church of Alexandria and the Church of Constantinople? Where are the Corinthian, and Philippian, and Thessalonian Churches? Where, indeed, are they all? They departed from the Word of God. They were proud of their bishops and synods and ceremonies and learning and antiquity. They did not glory in the true cross of Christ. They did not hold fast the gospel.They did not give the Lord Jesus His rightful office, or faith its rightful place. They are now among the things that have been. Their candlestick has been taken away. But all this time, the true Church has lived on.

Has the true Church been oppressed in one country? It has fled to another. Has it been trampled on and oppressed in one soil? It has taken root and flourished in some other climate. Fire, sword, prisons, fines, penalties, have never been able to destroy its vitality. Its persecutors have died and gone to their own place — but the Word of God has lived and grown and multiplied. As weak as this true Church may appear to the eye of man — it is an anvil which has broken many a hammer in times past, and perhaps will break many more before the end. He who lays hands on it, is touching the apple of His eye (Zech. 2:8).

The promise of our text is true of the whole body of the true Church. Christ will never be without a witness in the world. He has had a people in the worst of times. He had seven thousand in Israel even in the days of Ahab. There are some now, I believe, in the dark places of the Roman and Greek Churches who, in spite of much weakness, are serving Christ. The devil may rage horribly. The Church in some countries may be brought exceedingly low. But the gates of Hell shall never entirely "prevail."

The Church That Christ Builds — Part 3

By J.C. Ryle 

(1816—1900)

3. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us, "Upon this ROCK will I build My Church." This is the Foundation upon which the Church is built. What did the Lord Jesus Christ mean, when He spoke of this foundation? Did He mean the apostle Peter, to whom He was speaking? I think assuredly not. I can see no reason, if He meant Peter, why He did not say, "Upon you will I build My Church." If He had meant Peter, He would surely have said, "I will build My Church on you," as plainly as He said, "To you will I give the keys." No, it was not the person of the apostle Peter — but the good confession which the apostle had just made! It was not Peter, the erring, unstable man — but the mighty truth which the Father had revealed to Peter. It was the truth concerning Jesus Christ Himself which was the rock. It was Christ's mediatorship, and Christ's Messiahship. It was the blessed truth that Jesus was the promised Savior, the true Surety, the real Intercessor between God and man. This was the rock, and this the foundation, upon which the Church of Christ was to be built.

The foundation of the true Church was laid at a mighty cost. It was necessary that the Son of God should take our nature upon Him, and in that nature live, suffer and die, not for His own sins — but for ours. It was necessary that in that nature Christ should go to the grave, and rise again. It was necessary that in that nature Christ should go up to Heaven, to sit at the right hand of God, having obtained eternal redemption for all His people. No other foundation could have met the necessities of lost, guilty, corrupt, weak, helpless sinners.

That foundation, once obtained, is very strong. It can bear the weight of the sins of all the world. It has borne the weight of all the sins of all the believers who have built on it.

Sins of thought, 

sins of the imagination, 

sins of the heart, 

sins of the head, 

sins which everyone has seen, 

and sins which no man knows, 

sins against God, 

and sins against man, 

sins of all kinds and descriptions

 — that mighty rock can bear the weight of all these sins, and not give way. The mediatorial office of Christ is a remedy sufficient for all the sins of all the world.

To this one foundation, every member of Christ's true Church is joined. In many things, believers are disunited and disagreed. In the matter of their soul's foundation, they are all of one mind. Whether Episcopalians or Presbyterians, Baptists or Methodists — believers all meet at one point. They are all built on the rock. Ask where they get their peace and hope and joyful expectation of good things to come. You will find that all flows from that one mighty source, Christ the Mediator between God and man, and the office that Christ holds as the High Priest and Surety of sinners.

Look to your foundation, if you would know whether or not you are a member of the one true Church. It is a point that may be known to yourself. Your public worship we can see; but we cannot see whether you are personally built upon the rock. Your attendance at the Lord's table we can see; but we cannot see whether you are joined to Christ, and one with Christ, and Christ in you. Take heed that you make no mistake about your own personal salvation. See that your own soul is upon the rock. Without this, all else is nothing. Without this, you will never stand in the day of judgment. Better a thousand times in that day to be found in a cottage "upon the rock" — than in a palace upon the sand!

 

4. I proceed in the fourth place to speak of the IMPLIED TRIALS of the Church, to which our text refers. There is mention made of "the gates of Hell." By that expression we are meant to understand the power of the prince of Hell, even the devil. (Compare Psalm 9:13; 107:18; Isaiah 38:10).

The history of Christ's true Church has always been one of conflict and war. It has been constantly assailed by a deadly enemy, Satan, the prince of this world. The devil hates the true Church of Christ with an undying hatred. He is ever stirring up opposition against all its members. He is ever urging the children of this world to do his will, and to injure and harass the people of God. If he cannot bruise the head — he will bruise the heel. If he cannot rob believers of Heaven — he will vex them by the way.

Warfare with the powers of Hell has been the experience of the whole body of Christ for six thousand years. It has always been a bush burning — though not consumed; a woman fleeing into the wilderness — but not swallowed up (Ex. 3:2; Revelation 12:6, 16). The visible Churches have their times of prosperity and seasons of peace — but never has there been a time of peace for the true Church. Its conflict is perpetual. Its battle never ends.

Warfare with the powers of Hell is the experience of every individual member of the true Church. Each has to fight. What are the lives of all the saints — but records of battles? What were such men as Paul and James and Peter and John and Polycarp and Chrysostom and Augustine and Luther and Calvin and Latimer and Baxter — but soldiers engaged in a constant warfare? Sometimes the persons of the saints have been assailed, and sometimes their property. Sometimes they have been harassed by calumnies and slanders, and sometimes by open persecution. But in one way or another the devil has been continually warring against the Church. The "gates of Hell" have been continually assaulting the people of Christ.

We who preach the gospel can hold out to all who come to Christ "exceeding great and precious promises" (2 Peter 1:4). We can offer boldly to you, in our Master's name, the peace of God which passes all understanding. Mercy, free grace and full salvation are offered to everyone who will come to Christ, and believe on Him. But we promise you no peace with the world, or with the devil. We warn you, on the contrary, that there must be warfare, so long as you are in the body. We would not keep you back, or deter you from Christ's service. But we would have you "count the cost," and fully understand what Christ's service entails (Luke 14:28).

The Church That Christ Builds ─ Part 2

By J.C. Ryle

2. Our text contains not merely a building — but a Builder. The Lord Jesus Christ declares, "I will build My Church." The true Church of Christ is tenderly cared for by all the three Persons of the blessed Trinity. In the plan of salvation revealed in the Bible . . .

God the Father chooses,
God the Son redeems and
God the Holy Spirit sanctifies every member of Christ's mystical body. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, three Persons and one God, cooperate for the salvation of every saved soul. This is truth, which ought never to be forgotten. Nevertheless, there is a peculiar sense in which the help of the Church is laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is peculiarly and pre-eminently the Redeemer and Savior of the Church. Therefore it is, that we find Him saying in our text, "I will build — the work of building is My special work."

It is Christ who calls the members of the Church in due time.

They are "the called of Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:6).

It is Christ who quickens them. "The Son quickens whom He will" (John 5:21).

It is Christ who washes away their sins. He "has loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Revelation 1:5).

It is Christ who gives them peace. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you" (John 14:27).

It is Christ who gives them eternal life. "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish" (John 10:28).

It is Christ who grants them repentance. "Him has God exalted . . . to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance" (Acts 5:31).

It is Christ who enables them to become God's children. "To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God" (John 1:12).

It is Christ who carries on the work within them when it is begun. "Because I live, you shall live also" (John 14:19).

In short, it has "pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell" (Colossians 1:19). He is the Author and Finisher of faith. He is the life. He is the head. From Him every joint and member of the mystical body of Christians is supplied. Through Him they are strengthened for duty. By Him they are kept from falling. He shall preserve them to the end, and present them faultless before the Father's throne with exceeding great joy. He is all things in all believers.

The mighty agent by whom the Lord Jesus Christ carries out this work in the members of His Church, is, without doubt, the Holy Spirit. He it is who applies Christ and His benefits to the soul. He it is who is ever renewing, awakening, convincing, leading to the cross, transforming, taking out of the world stone after stone and adding it to the mystical building. But the great chief Builder, who has undertaken to execute the work of redemption and bring it to completion, is the Son of God, the "Word who was made flesh." 

It is Jesus Christ who "builds."

In building the true Church, the Lord Jesus condescends to use many subordinate instruments:
the ministry of the gospel,
the circulation of the Scriptures,
the friendly rebuke,
the word spoken in season,
the drawing influence of afflictions —
all, all are means and appliances by which His work is carried on, and the Spirit conveys life to souls. But Christ is the great superintending Architect — ordering, guiding, directing all that is done. Paul may plant and Apollos water — but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). Ministers may preach, and writers may write — but the Lord Jesus Christ alone can build. And except He builds — the work stands still.

Great is the wisdom with which the Lord Jesus Christ builds His Church! All is done at the right time, and in the right way. Each stone in its turn is put in its right place. Sometimes He chooses great stones, and sometimes He chooses small stones. Sometimes the work goes on fast, and sometimes it goes on slowly. Man is frequently impatient, and thinks that nothing is happening. But man's time is not God's time. 

A thousand years in His sight, are but as a single day. The great Builder makes no mistakes. He knows what He is doing. He sees the end from the beginning. He works by a perfect, unalterable and certain plan. The mightiest conceptions of architects, like Michelangelo and Wren, are mere trifling and child's play — in comparison with Christ's wise counsels respecting His Church.

Great is the condescension and mercy which Christ exhibits in building His Church! He often chooses the most unlikely and roughest stones, and fits them into a most excellent work. He despises none, and rejects none — on account of former sins and past transgressions. He often makes Pharisees and publicans become pillars of His house. He delights to show mercy. He often takes the most thoughtless and ungodly — and transforms them into polished corners of His spiritual temple.

Great is the power which Christ displays in building His Church! He carries on His work in spite of opposition from the world, the flesh and the devil. In storm, in tempest, through troublous times, silently, quietly, without noise, without stir, without excitement — the building progresses, like Solomon's temple. "I will work," He declares, "and who shall hinder it?" (Isaiah 43:13).

The children of this world take little or no interest in the building of this Church. They care nothing for the conversion of souls. What are broken spirits and penitent hearts to them? What is conviction of sin, or faith in the Lord Jesus to them? It is all "foolishness" in their eyes. But while the children of this world care nothing, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. For the preserving of the true Church — the laws of nature have often times been suspended. For the good of that Church — all the providential dealings of God in this world are ordered and arranged. For the elect's sake — wars are brought to an end, and peace is given to a nation. Statesmen, rulers, emperors, kings, presidents, heads of governments — have their schemes and plans, and think them of vast importance.

 But there is another work going on of infinitely greater moment, for which they are only the "axes and saws" in God's hands (Isaiah 10:15). That work is the erection of Christ's spiritual temple, the gathering in of living stones into the one true Church.

We ought to feel deeply thankful that the building of the true Church is laid on the shoulders of One that is mighty. If the work depended on man — it would soon stand still. But, blessed be God, the work is in the hands of a Builder who never fails to accomplish His designs! Christ is the almighty Builder. He will carry on His work, though nations and visible Churches may not know their duty. Christ will never fail. That which He has undertaken — He will certainly accomplish.
  

Complete & Effective Dominion

I had no intention of touching Oswald Chambers subject this morning. But during my time with God, the Holy Spirit had decided otherwise. I found myself learning through Oswald Chambers and the Holy Spirit something that I did not realize at the time I wrote my book “Apprehended & Apprehending”.

When I wrote my book “Apprehended & Apprehending” which by the way is not for people who are interested in sampling Christianity but rather for those truly yearning to know Him personally, those who already know Him personally and those who have reached the stage in their Christian walk with Him that Oswald talked in his devotional of April 11 & 12. Otherwise, the book would be meaningless to you.  By the time I had written the book, I had experienced that true Salvation will always lead us to find the “Pearl of Great Price” which to my surprise I found is God the Father. Believe me every bit of this verse is true and it is so GRAND that when you find the pearl of great price in Matthew 13:46 your life will never, ever be the same again. And whether we like it or not shoddy Christianity is left behind and you can only go forward with the Father.  “Who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”   

In my book, my writing was based on what the triune God taught me and my experiences of it though Him. This is one of the beautiful things about learning directly from God. I was taught what Oswald Chambers teach today in his devotional where he used Romans 6:9-11.  In my book I used the same analogy but I learned it from Philippians 3 as God set out to impart to me what He meant through Paul in verses 10-12. 

I don’t know about you but I am excited as I see the beauty of God’s Word and how everything stands by itself yet everything is intertwined together. Oswald said today that eternal life is not a gift from God but it is THE GIFT OF GOD. My dear friends, it is about possessing God Himself, that’s what Oswald means. While it is true eternal life is a gift from God but the gift is HIM.  You see, when you make the decision to leave it all behind, meaning intellect, pride, sin, knowledge, understanding etc and go forward with God to find out what those annoying people keep going on about, as if they know God better than the average Christian, you find God the Father, in the process. (Actually to a certain extend it is the story of the great C.S Lewis)

It is only when you find God the Father, you realize the goal of Salvation, the whole idea behind Salvation which God showed me is as big as the ocean, is in effect about finding God the Father. He is the endless gift behind it all.  Oh I wish you could see the beauty of it all with the eyes of your heart. I wish you could go on to experience the depth, the length, the strength, the width and so on, that is involved in finding the Father.  Make no mistake, I did not find Him when I was standing by myself under the law, and doing my things apart from Christ. He revealed Himself to me while I was inside of Christ. Understand what I am saying, we were both, inside of Christ. I found out He was always there all along, but could not reveal Himself to me until I was ready, because as much as it is a friendship and relationship with our father, it is also a process. This process it is the reason Oswald Chambers is pleading with us in his devotional to go forward apprehending what Christ had apprehended us for. The strange thing is, once you apprehend the reason why Christ apprehended us for which means possessing God the father, you are driven by that ambition to apprehend more and more of Him. It is so strange, you find that you can never get too much of Him and you cannot be quenched.

In my book I explained how the life that is in Christ is imparted to us. It is as if God is changing your very own DNA with His life. He feeds it to you slowly as if you were an infant in the mother’s womb, Christ becomes the mother here. I still find it mind boggling the idea of me being in Christ, Christ being in me, Christ being in God and God being in Christ. While in my walk with Him I have experienced it, but it still gives me a headache to think about it. I cannot wait for God to take away the limitation when I die so that my little pea brain does not explode with this beautiful truth.

While we sit there like a dog with a bone claiming one or two verses here and there to stand our ground and make excuses not to go forward, if we only bothered going forward, God would show us that all those things we tend to think are made up by other people to rock the boat, and our enjoyment of complacency. We would learn the depth of certain verses that escape us in the Bible. What I mean by that, some people would say, well, we do not need that and it is apostasy. This is why we have to test the spirits. We do not gobble up everything people say because we like them, or that they look good, or perhaps they agree with our idea of Salvation which keeps us in complacency with God to begin with.  If we do that, we are no better than unbelievers trying to decipher the Bible to make fun of us and show how stupid we are and how bad our God is. When we do not test the spirits first through the Holy Spirit, we are nothing less than fools. We give Satan’s ammunitions and he tightens up the chain that keeps us in bondage and in ignorance of the true God.

What Oswald wrote today, in the same way I concluded in my book that we need to go forward to claim the life we have in Him we can find one instance in the Bible where Paul said the same thing as well. Galatians 4:19 expressed so nicely why Paul was suffering like a pregnant woman about to give birth. He knew they were missing a big component which was needed. Hence “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,” this is a beautiful verse pregnant with meaning directly related to our eternal life. You are free to see this verse as the word of God and admit and commit to it. Or, you are free to see it as Satan wants you to. The choice is yours. Be forewarned that choosing Satan’s side by minimizing the meaning of this verse does not change God’s truth and does not let you and I off the hook.

Matthew Henry’s commentary is my favourite. Here is what he said about it 4:19, 20 “The Galatians were ready to account the apostle their enemy, but he assures them he was their friend; he had the feelings of a parent toward them. He was in doubt as to their state, and was anxious to know the result of their present delusions. Nothing is so sure a proof that a sinner has passed into a state of justification, as Christ being formed in him by the renewal of the Holy Spirit; but this cannot be hoped for, while men depend on the law for acceptance with God. The truth is every single time we walk without Him,  provide explanations and decipher the Bible on our own apart from the Holy Spirit, all we do is put ourselves right back under the law.

The beauty of all this captivates me so much that I could go on deciphering Oswald’s devotional because I lived it all out with Him in the wilderness. But, I want to make something clear. My comparing myself with the same deductions that I came up with Oswald has nothing to do with me thinking that I am close to walk in Oswald’s shoes. On the contrary, one of the reasons I got excited is because I can see that God can teach me in the smallest and the biggest things. I got excited because I learned something new today through the devotion and I am happy because I am learning from the same God who taught Oswald His Word. I am well aware that I have a long way to go and one will never arrive in this life.

The Doctrine of Repentance - Part 10

By Thomas Watson, 1668

 The Nature of true repentance

 

Question: What is there in sin, which may make a penitent hate it?

Answer: Sin is the accursed thing, the most deformed monster. The apostle Paul uses a very emphatic word to express it: "that sin might become exceedingly sinful" (Romans 7:13), or as it is in the Greek, "exaggeratedly sinful". That sin is an exaggerated mischief, and deserves hatred will appear if we look upon sin as a fourfold conceit:

(1) Look upon the origin of sin, from whence it comes. It fetches its pedigree from hell: "He who commits sin is of the devil!" (1 John 3:8). Sin is the devil's special work. God has a hand in ordering sin, it is true—but Satan has a hand in acting it out. How hateful is it to be doing that which is the special work of the devil, indeed, that which makes men into devils!

(2) Look upon sin in its nature, and it will appear very hateful. See how scripture has pencilled sin out: it is a dishonoring of God (Romans 2:23 ); a despising of God (1 Sam. 2:30); a fretting of God (Ezek. 16:43); a wearying of God (Isaiah 7:13); a grieving the heart of God, as a loving husband is with the unchaste conduct of his wife: "I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols" (Ezek. 6:9). Sin, when acted to the height, is a crucifying Christ afresh and putting him to open shame (Heb. 6:6), that is, impudent sinners pierce Christ in his saints, and were he now upon earth they would crucify him again in his person. Behold the odious nature of sin.

(3) Look upon sin in its comparison, and it appears ghastly. Compare sin with AFFLICTION and hell, and it is worse than both. It is worse than affliction, sickness, poverty, or death. There is more malignity in a drop of sin than in a sea of affliction—for sin is the cause of affliction, and the cause is more than the effect. The sword of God's justice lies quiet in the scabbard—until sin draws it out! Affliction is good for us: "It is good for me that I have been afflicted" (Psalm 119:71). Affliction causes repentance (2 Chron. 33:12). The viper, being stricken, casts up its poison. Just so, when God's rod strikes us with affliction, we spit away the poison of sin! Affliction betters our grace. Gold is purest, and juniper sweetest—when in the fire. Affliction prevents damnation. "We are being disciplined—so that we will not be condemned with the world." (1 Cor. 11:32). Therefore, Maurice the emperor prayed to God to punish him in this life—that he might not be punished hereafter.

Thus, affliction is in many ways for our good—but there is no good in sin. Manasseh's affliction brought him to humiliation and repentance—but Judas' sin brought him to desperation and damnation. Affliction only reaches the body—but sin goes further: it poisons the mind, disorders the affections. Affliction is but corrective; sin is destructive. Affliction can but take away the life; sin takes away the soul (Luke 12:20).

A man who is afflicted may have his conscience quiet. When the ark was tossed on the flood waves, Noah could sing in the ark. When the body is afflicted and tossed, a Christian can "make melody in his heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:19). But when a man commits sin, conscience is terrified. Witness Spira, who upon his abjuring the faith, said that he thought the damned spirits did not feel those torments which he inwardly endured. In affliction, one may have the love of God (Rev. 3:19). If a man should throw a bag of money at another, and in throwing it should hurt him a little—he will not take it unkindly—but will look upon it as a fruit of love. Just so, when God bruises us with affliction—it is to enrich us with the golden graces and comforts of his Spirit. All is in love. But when we commit sin, God withdraws his love. When David sinned, he felt nothing but displeasure from God: "Clouds and thick darkness surround him" (Psalm 97:2). David found it so. He could see no rainbow, no sunbeam, nothing but clouds and darkness about God's face.

That sin is worse than affliction is evident, because the greatest judgment God lays upon a man in this life is to let him sin without control. When the Lord's displeasure is most severely kindled against a person, he does not say, I will bring the sword and the plague on this man—but, I will let him sin on: "I gave them up unto their own hearts lust, living according to their own desires" (Psalm 81:12). Now, if the giving up of a man to his sins (in the account of God himself) is the most dreadful evil, then sin is far worse than affliction. And if it is so, then how should it be hated by us!

Compare sin with HELL, and you shall see that sin is worse. Torment has its epitome in hell—yet nothing in hell is as bad as sin. Hell is of God's making—but sin is not of God's making. Sin is the devil's creature. The torments of hell are a burden only to the sinner—but sin is a burden to God. In the torments of hell, there is something that is good, namely, the execution of divine justice. There is justice to be found in hell—but sin is a piece of the highest injustice. It would rob God of his glory, Christ of his purchase, the soul of its happiness. Judge then if sin is not a most hateful thing—which is worse than affliction, or the torments of hell.

The Doctrine Of Repentance - Part 7

By Thomas Watson, 1668

 

The Nature of true repentance

Ingredient 4. SHAME for Sin

The fourth ingredient in repentance is shame: "that they may be ashamed of their iniquities" (Ezek. 43:10). Blushing is the color of virtue. When the heart has been made black with sin, grace makes the face red with blushing: "I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face" (Ezra 9:6). The repenting prodigal was so ashamed of his sinfulness, that he thought himself not worthy to be called a son any more (Luke 15:21). Repentance causes a holy bashfulness. If Christ's blood were not at the sinner's heart, there would not so much blood come in the face. There are nine considerations about sin which may cause shame:

(1) Every sin makes us guilty, and guilt usually breeds shame. Adam never blushed in the time of innocency. While he kept the whiteness of the lily, he had not the blushing of the rose. But when he had deflowered his soul by sin—then he was ashamed. Sin has tainted our blood. We are guilty of high treason against the Crown of heaven. This may cause a holy modesty and blushing.

(2) In every sin there is much unthankfulness, and that is a matter of shame. He who is upbraided with ingratitude will blush. We have sinned against God when he has given us no cause: "What iniquity have your fathers found in me?" (Jer. 2:5). Wherein has God wearied us, unless his mercies have wearied us? Oh the silver drops which have fallen on us! We have had the finest of the wheat; we have been fed with angels' food. The golden oil of divine blessing has run down on us from the head of our heavenly Aaron. And to abuse the kindness of so good a God—how may this make us ashamed!

Julius Caesar took it unkindly at the hands of Brutus, on whom he had bestowed so many favors, when he came to stab him: "What, you, my son Brutus?" O ungrateful—to be theworse for mercy! One reports of the vulture, that it draws sickness from perfumes. To contract the disease of pride and luxury, from the perfume of God's mercy—how unworthy is that! It is to requite evil for good, to kick against our feeder, "He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag, with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape. Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation" (Deut. 32:13-15). This is to make an arrow of God's mercies—and shoot at him! This is to wound him with his own blessing! O horrid ingratitude! Will not this dye our faces a deep scarlet? Unthankfulness is a sin so great, that God himself stands amazed at it: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: I have nourished and brought up children—and they have rebelled against me!" (Isaiah 1:2).

(3) Sin has made us naked, and that may breed shame. Sin has stripped us of our white linen of holiness. It has made us naked and deformed in God's eye—which may cause blushing. When Hanun had abused David's servants and cut off their garments so that their nakedness appeared, the text says, "the men were greatly ashamed" (2 Sam. 10:5).

(4) Our sins have put Christ to shame, and should not we be ashamed? The Jews arrayed him in purple; they put a reed in his hand, spit in his face, and in his greatest agonies reviled him. Here was "the shame of the cross". And that which aggravated the shame, was to consider the eminency of his person—as he was the Lamb of God. Did our sins putChrist to shame—and shall they not put us to shame? Did he wear the purple—and shall not our cheeks wear crimson? Who can behold the sun as it were blushing at Christ's passion, and hiding itself in an eclipse—and his face not blush?

(5) Many sins which we commit are by the special instigation of the devil—and should not this cause shame? The devil put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ (John 13:2). He filled Ananias' heart to lie (Acts 5:3). He often stirs up our passions (James 3:6). Now, as it is a shame to bring forth a child illegitimately, so too is it to bring forth such sins as may call the devil father. It is said that the virgin Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35)—but we often conceive by the power of Satan. When the heart conceives pride, lust, and malice—it is very often by the power of the devil. May not this make us ashamed to think that many of our sins are committed in copulation with the old serpent?

(6) Sin turns men into beasts (2 Peter 2:12), and is not that matter for shame? Sinners are compared to foxes (Luke 13:32), to wolves (Matt. 7:15), to donkeys (Job 28 11:12), to swine (2 Pet. 2:22). A sinner is a swine with a man's head. He who was once little less than the angels in dignity—has now become like the beasts. Grace in this life does not wholly obliterate this brutish temper. Agur, that good man, cried out, "surely I am more brutish than any!" (Proverbs 30:2). But common sinners are in a manner wholly brutified; they do not act rationally, but are carried away by the violence of their lusts and passions. How may this make us ashamed, who are thus degenerated below our own species? Our sins have taken away that noble, holy spirit which once we had. The crown has fallen from our head. God's image is defaced, reason is eclipsed, conscience stupified! We have more in us of the brute, than of the angel.