Category Archives: nuggets of wisdom

Reason, Explain, Prove.

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Reason is not the foundation of faith, but it is the instrument of faith. – Kevin DeYoung

 

After he was released from the Philippian jail, Paul and his companions, headed to Thessalonica. As someone who took every opportunity to preach the gospel, Paul did not waste anytime. He found a Jewish synagogue and as was his custom, went in once a week (on the sabbath day) for three weeks where he reasoned with those present out of the scriptures, explaining and proving why the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was necessary for our salvation. (Acts 17:1-3).

Notice that Paul did not go to argue, neither did he try to present the gospel by manipulating their emotions. Instead, he appealed to their minds by reasoning out of the scriptures, explaining from the scriptures and proving from the scriptures the necessity of the work of Jesus.  This does not mean that the gospel is all intellectual. The road to the heart is through the mind. It is impossible to love or submit or trust someone you do not know. That is why it was important for Paul’s hearers to know and see the plan of God for salvation from the scriptures and be convinced of it. While we are saved by grace through faith, we cannot put our faith in what we do not know.

Someone said to me some time ago, the Bible is a spiritual book, not a textbook, bringing reason into studying it is the same as reading the Bible like a text book.  While It is true that we need the Holy Spirit to open our minds to understand and obey the Bible, that does not mean however, that we do not need to engage our minds when we study the Bible. The Bible is not irrational, understanding it’s meaning requires us to engage our minds as well as our hearts. Kevin DeYoung puts it this way in his book “Daily Doctrine” – Reason is not the foundation of faith, but it is the instrument of faith. For two years, Paul reasoned daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9). He reasoned with Felix and Drusilla (Acts 24:24). And he pleaded with Festus, “I am speaking true and rational words” (Acts 26:25). The truth of the Bible may be beyond reason’s comprehension, but it is never nonsensical and irrational.

Something else we see from Paul’s reasoning, explaining and proving the finished work of Christ from the scriptures is that we need words in order to share the gospel. Most of us have the heard the saying that goes like this “preach the gospel, if necessary, use words”. I believe the person who coined this phrase was probably calling Christians to not just talk the talk, but to also walk the walk which is a good thing. But in order to believe and receive the gospel, one must know exactly what it is. Words are necessary to convey the message of the gospel. What is the gospel? Paul summarizes the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 as follows:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

The gospel message is that Christ died for sinners, He was buried, and He rose from the dead in order to save and justify those who would put their faith in Him. This is a message that cannot be communicated through behavior, but through spoken words. This message of the gospel is effectively communicated as we reason, explain and prove from the scriptures, the finished work of Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria

God The Source of All Good

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Subdue in me the love of sin, Let me know the need of renovation as well as
of forgiveness,   in order to serve and enjoy thee for ever.

 

O LORD GOD, WHO INHABITEST ETERNITY,

The heavens declare thy glory,
The earth thy riches,
The universe is thy temple;
Thy presence fills immensity,
Yet thou hast of thy pleasure created life,
and communicated happiness;
Thou hast made me what I am, and given me
what I have;
In thee I live and move and have my being;
Thy providence has set the bounds of my habitation,
and wisely administers all my affairs.

I thank thee for thy riches to me in Jesus,
for the unclouded revelation of him in thy Word,
where I behold his Person, character, grace, glory,
humiliation, sufferings, death, and resurrection;
Give me to feel a need of his continual saviourhood,
and cry with Job, ‘I am vile’,
with Peter, ‘I perish’,
with the publican, ‘Be merciful to me, a sinner’.
Subdue in me the love of sin,
Let me know the need of renovation as well as
of forgiveness,
in order to serve and enjoy thee for ever.

I come to thee in the all-prevailing name of Jesus,
with nothing of my own to plead,
no works, no worthiness, no promises.
I am often straying,
often knowingly opposing thy authority,
often abusing thy goodness;
Much of my guilt arises from my religious privileges,
my low estimation of them,
my failure to use them to my advantage,
But I am not careless of thy favour or regardless of
thy glory;
Impress me deeply with a sense of thine
omnipresence, that thou art about my path,
my ways, my lying down, my end.

 

From the Valley of Vision

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Fear Not little flock….

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Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. – Luke 12:32

 

Believers are a “little flock.” They always have been, ever since the world began. Professing servants of God have sometimes been very many. Baptized people at the present day are a great company. But true Christians are very few. It is foolish to be surprised at this. It is vain to expect it will be otherwise until the Lord comes again. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leads unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14.)

Are we members of Christ’s little flock? Then surely, we ought not to be afraid. There are given to us exceeding great and precious promises. (2 Pet. 1:4.) God is ours, and Christ is ours. Greater are those that are for us than all that are against us. The world, the flesh, and the devil, are mighty enemies. But with Christ on our side we have no cause to fear.

True Christians should never be greatly moved by the persecution of man. Their enemies may be strong, and they may be weak; but still they ought not to be afraid. They should remember that “the triumphing of the wicked is but short.”

What has become of the Pharaohs and Neros and Diocletians, who at one time fiercely persecuted the people of God? Where is the enmity of Charles the Ninth of France, and Bloody Mary of England? They did their utmost to cast the truth down to the ground. But the truth rose again from the earth, and still lives; and they are dead, and mouldering in the grave.

Let not the heart of any believer fail. Death is a mighty leveler and can take any mountain out of the way of Christ’s church. “The Lord lives” forever. His enemies are only men. The truth shall always prevail.

 JC Ryle

 

 

 

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Benefit of Affliction

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There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction

 

Affliction is one of God’s medicines. By it He often teaches lessons which would be learned in no other way. By it He often draws souls away from sin and the world, which would otherwise have perished everlastingly. Health is a great blessing, but sanctified disease is greater.

 Prosperity and worldly comfort are what all naturally desire; but losses and crosses are far better for us, if they lead us to Christ. Thousands at the last day, will testify with David, and the nobleman before us, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” (Psalm. 119:71.)

Let us beware of murmuring in the time of trouble. Let us settle it firmly in our minds, that there is a meaning, a needs-be, and a message from God, in every sorrow that falls upon us. There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction.

There is no commentary that opens up the Bible so much as sickness and sorrow. “No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous — nevertheless afterward it yields peaceable fruit.” (Heb. 12:11.) The resurrection morning will prove, that many of the losses of God’s people were in reality eternal gains.

-JC Ryle

Soli Deo Gloria!

Faithful & Solemn Admonitions to a Religious Professor

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I stand in doubt of you. — Gal. 4:20.

 

 How solemn, if after all your profession you have yet to take the very first step in the divine life! Examine yourself by the revealed Word of God and see how matters stand between Him and your own soul.

This is a mighty concern, and one not to be trifled with. It is not a mere profession that will stand at a dying hour; you must have something essentially more. God has to do with the HEART. “I, the Lord, search the heart. “If you have never yet felt yourself a lost sinner, then you have not sought Christ with your whole heart. “Ye shall find Me when ye seek Me with your whole heart.” Trifle not with yourself, trifle not with an endless eternity, for God will not be trifled with.

The world is still in your heart, and after your idol you will go. What will it profit you if you gain the whole world and at last lose your own soul? A little space is yet allowed you; let me entreat you to make the best use of it to gain an interest in Christ. Why will ye die? Look fully at Christ; see what He suffered for sinners. Look at the wonderful goodness of God in giving His well-beloved Son that sinners might be saved from the wrath to come.

O flee to Christ just as you are. Lose not a moment in settling this great concern. Keep your eye upon the finished work of Jesus and aim to get a close acquaintance with Him. The more you know of the desperate wickedness of your own heart, the more you will love Christ, and see how suitable He is in every way to meet your lost condition. The more you hate yourself, the more you will love Jesus. Keep far from trifling religious professors and be much in secret prayer.

 

– Mary Winslow

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Holy Admonitions

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You have begun your career heavenward; run, and look not back, but keep your eye upon Jesus, and so run that you may at last attain the crown of glory laid up for you in heaven, which Jesus will give you in the last day.

 

Beloved in the Lord, how is it with your soul?
Are you traveling onward?
And what part of the heavenly road are you in now?

Never forget that Jesus is with you; and although, through the mists of this poor world, which the enemy may draw around you, you may lose the sensible presence of your best and constant Friend, yet when the mists obscure your sight, call upon Him at once, and rest not until your language is,“I cried unto God with my voice, and He gave ear to me”.

Precious sister in Jesus, I bless God on your account. He has done great things for you, whereof my heart rejoices. Hold fast your confidence. Suffer not the enemy or his emissaries to beguile you of your rich reward. He has many agents, but ask the Lord that you may know; and strengthen you to overcome them in His name. You are like one who has conquered a mighty foe, but have too hastily gone into the midst of the enemy’s camp again; and you re beset on the right and on the left. Look afresh to Him who once helped you to conquer, and you will find him a present help in time of need.

You have begun your career heavenward; run, and look not back, but keep your eye upon Jesus, and so run that you may at last attain the crown of glory laid up for you in heaven, which Jesus will give you in the last day.

Read much in the Psalms. You will always find a word there to meet your case and present necessity.

– Mary Winslow

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Follow Him

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The LORD is my shepherd – Psalm 23:1

 

We are such forgetful creatures; too often forgetting what we are, and what a God He is.

How poor and unsatisfying are all things here below; even the best and the loveliest! Oh, to walk more intimately with Him, to live above the world, and hold the creature with a looser hand, taking God’s Word as our guiding light; our unfailing spring of comfort.

God is my Shepherd, and all my concerns are in His hands. Blessed, forever blessed, be His dear and holy name, who has looked with everlasting mercy on such a poor, vile sinner as me; and encouraged me with such sweet manifestations of His love, to trust my soul and all my interests in His hands!

The world and its ‘nothings’ are often a sad snare to God’s saints. Oh that by faith we may overcome it all, and keep close to Jesus! We are not of the world. Let us try and not attend to its gewgaws! Keep a more steadfast, unwavering eye upon Christ. He has gone a little before us, and stands beckoning us to follow. Live for eternity! Let go your hold upon the world!

Let us aim in all things to follow Him who, despising this world’s show, left us an example how we should walk. Have your lamp trimmed and brightly burning, for every day and every hour brings us nearer and nearer to our home!

Dearest Jesus! help Your pilgrims to live more like pilgrims, above a poor dying world, and more in full view of the glory that awaits them when they shall see You face to face!

-Mary Winslow

 

 

 

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

A Loving Physician

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My groaning is not hid from thee. —Psalm 38:9

One of the strongest and sweetest consolations God gives to His sick and afflicted ones is the assurance that He not only “knows their sorrows” and tenderly sympathizes with them in their griefs, but that the appointment of the trial proceeds from Him, and that its whole course and continuance are watched by Him with infinite love and care.

As a physician keeps his finger on a suffering patient’s pulse, that he may know just the limit to which pain may be safely endured, so does our God hold our right hand while we are passing through the furnaces of trial that lie on our road to heaven, that He may support us through them and bring us forth in due time to praise Him for His comforting and sustaining grace.

Do remember, dear friend, that the God you love, the master you serve, is never indifferent to your grief or unwilling to hear your cry.

In time of trouble, the soul is greatly helped by cherishing great thoughts of God; they are sure to induce great longings after Him, great faith in Him, and great love toward Him.

Pain, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual, is always unwelcome and at first sight wears an aspect that alarms and discomforts us. But it is often an angel in disguise, and many times we have found that, underneath its terrible exterior, there are hidden the tender smiles of God’s love, the gentle discipline of His teaching, and the sweet pity of His marvelous forbearance.

-Susannah Spurgeon

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Mourner’s Comfort

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“The Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.”—Isaiah 25:8.

 

Come, all ye sorrowful, mourning souls, and see what a fair pearl of promise your God has brought to light for you, out of the very depths of the sea of your affliction.

Come, and we will together—for I also am a mourner,—look into this precious Word of our God; we will dwell upon its unspeakable love, we will think upon its gentle pity, till our tears catch its soft radiance, and glisten with the beauty of the” rainbow round about the throne.”

The salt drops which steal down our cheeks through physical suffering,—wrung from our eyes by mortal pain and weakness, are all seen by our loving Lord; they are put into His bottle, His purpose concerning them shall be manifest when their mission is accomplished, and then the source from whence they sprang shall be forever dried up. “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

“The Lord God will.” There is not the shadow of a doubt about this, poor sighing soul. Not only did our Father inspire His prophet Isaiah to speak thus assuredly, but, twice repeated, He gave the same sweet message to the apostle John at Patmos: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” As a fond mother hushes her child, as a tender husband solaces his spouse, so, weeping one, shall thy God comfort thee when He brings thee home, and thy consolation shall be so complete that thou shalt “no more remember thy sorrow.”

Blessed be Thy dear Name, Lord, for this “strong consolation”—this “good hope through grace.” Tears may, and must come; but if they gather in eyes that are constantly looking up to Thee and Heaven, they will glisten with the brightness of the coming glory.

 

-Susannah Spurgeon

 

 

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Self Examination

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Beloved reader, it is important that you should know the exact state of your soul before God. And if you are sincere in that petition which has often breathed from your lip, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me;” you will thank him for any gentle and faithful admonition that sets you upon the great work of self-examination. – Octavius Winslow

I ended my last blog by asking my sisters here to ponder Mr Winslow’s question: “What is the present spiritual state of my soul before God?” Mr Winslow is not the only one encouraging us to examine ourselves and our relationship with the Lord. The Bible itself commands us to do the same.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! – 2 Corinthians 13:5

To help us arrive at an honest conclusion as we examine ourselves, Mr Winslow gives us some spiritual signs / Symptoms to guide us in making the right judgement about our true spiritual state. I have listed some of them below. For the sake of clarity, I tried to group them under headings. So, the headings are mine, but the quotes under the headings are from the book.

Going Through the Motions

“When a professing man can proceed with his accustomed religious duties, strictly, regularly, formally, and yet experience no enjoyment of God in them, no filial nearness, no brokenness and tenderness, and no consciousness of sweet return, he may suspect that his soul is in a state of secret and incipient backsliding from God.”

Reading your Bible without a true desire to know God

When a professing man can read his Bible
with no spiritual taste, or when he searches it, not with a sincere desire to know the mind of the Spirit in order to a holy and obedient walk, but with a merely curious, or literary taste and aim, it is sure evidence that his soul is making but a retrograde movement in real spirituality.
They may be read, and yet read as any other book, without the deep and solemn conviction that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Tim 3:16,17).”
They may be read without a spiritual relish,
without being turned into prayer,
without treasuring up in the heart and reducing to daily practice:
its holy precepts,
its precious promises,
its sweet consolations,
its faithful warnings,
its affectionate admonitions,
its tender rebukes.

Praying without Intimacy

When a professing Christian can pray, and yet acknowledge that
he has no nearness to the throne,
no touching of the scepter,
no fellowship with God, – calls him “Father,” without the sense of adoption,
confesses sin in a general way, without any looking up to God through the cross,
has no consciousness of possessing the ear and the heart of God,
the evidence is undoubted of a declining state of religion in the soul.

Making worship about Self

And when too, he can find no sweetness in a spiritual ministry,
when he is restless and dissatisfied under a searching and practical unfolding of truth,
when the doctrines are preferred to the precepts,
the promises to the commands,
the consolations to the admonitions of the gospel, incipient declension is marked. 

Lack of Love towards Other believers

An uncharitable walk towards other Christians, marks a low state of grace in the soul. The more entirely the heart is occupied with the love of Christ, the less room there will be for uncharitableness towards his saints. It is because there is so little love to Jesus, that there is so little towards his followers…
In advocating a wider platform of Christian love, we would by no means “sell the truth,” or compromise principles, or immolate conscience upon the altar of an infidel liberalism. But that for which we plead, is, more of that Christian love, tenderheartedness, kindness, charity which allows the right of private judgment, respects a conscientious maintenance of truth, and concedes to others the same privilege it claims for itself.

Do we see any of this sign in our lives?  Perhaps we read the list above and think to ourselves “I am not like that”.  Before we are quick to cast these signs and symptoms behind us, I would suggest we take some time to read some of the self-examination questions posed by Mr Winslow:

“What think you of Christ?”
Does his blood daily moisten the root of your profession?
Is his righteousness that which exalts you out of and above yourself, and daily gives you free and near access to God?
Is the sweetness of his love much in your heart, and the fragrance of his name much on your lips?
Are your corruptions daily carried to his grace, your guilt to his blood, your trials to his heart?
In a word, is Jesus
the substance of your life,
the source of your sanctification,
the one glorious object on which your eye is ever resting,
the mark towards which you are ever pressing?

Do you find these questions convicting? Do they make you uncomfortable? Then run to Christ.

“Beloved reader, it is important that you should know the exact state of your soul before God. And if you are sincere in that petition which has often breathed from your lip, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me;” you will thank him for any gentle and faithful admonition that sets you upon the great work of self-examination.”

Soli Deo Gloria!