One small bird can remind you how personally the father cares for you.
A few weeks ago, a man deliberately murdered his employer who had offended him. As the employee gave himself up to the police, he said that he was not in the least degree afraid nor ashamed of what he had done. He admitted the murder and owned that he knew the consequences very well. He expected to suffer about half-a-minute's pain upon the gallows, and that would be the end of him. He was quite prepared to die, for he had nothing to live for.
He had acted and spoken consistently with his atheistic beliefs. And truly, there is no form of crime, but what becomes logical and legitimate, if only you take away belief in God and future eternal punishment.
With atheistic viewpoints, there is nothing to hold society together. For without God, the moral government of the universe has ceased, and anarchy is the natural state of things. If there is no God, and no judgment to come then let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! (1 Corinthians 15:32) Then let us give ourselves over to immorality, drunkenness, thievery, lying, and murder. If there is no final Judge, no judgment, and no punishment for sin, then why not?
If there is no moral and omniscient Governor of the universe, then there is no ultimate deterrent against heinous evils!
[Charles H. Spurgeon]
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Psalm 14:1 ... The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 10:4 ... The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
Ecclesiastes 8:11 ... Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Romans 1:28 ... And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;❤
This year marks 60 years since “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” first debuted, and that deserves a celebration!
[Charles M. Schultz Museum]
Let me imagine myself to have died impenitent. It would seem that the first moment after death must be one of unparalleled misery. My first reflections would be: "I am lost forever! All hope of happiness or relief is gone from my miserable soul! The blackness of darkness is round about me! No ray of light dawns on my wretched soul! Despair, terrible despair has now seized upon me and must blacken every prospect to all eternity!
While in the body, and engaged in secular pursuits, I entertained a secret hope that there might be some mistake respecting the extreme misery of the damned, or that there might possibly be some way of escape not revealed; but now all these idle notions have fled like a dream when one awakes! I find Hell to be no fable but a dreadful reality! I find that the preachers, so far from exaggerating the misery of the lost, had no adequate conception of the wretchedness of a soul cast off from God forever, and doomed to dwell in everlasting burnings! Oh horrible! Horrible! I am undone, forever undone! I have passed beyond the reach of mercy!
For the sake of momentary enjoyments, and worthless riches and honors I have bartered away my soul. Accursed folly! What benefit can I now derive from those earthly pleasures and possessions? They only serve as fuel to the flames which consume me. O for one drop of water to cool my tongue! But for this I beg in vain. The time for prayer and for mercy has gone by and my soul is lost, lost, lost! And through eternity I must expect no deliverance, no relief, nor even the slightest mitigation of my misery! Woe, woe, woe is me! It would have been infinitely better for me never to have been born!
If I had not enjoyed the offers of the gospel, my anguish would not be so excruciating. But this it is which wrings my heart with unspeakable anguish that I might have escaped all this misery! Had it not been for my own sin and folly, I might before now have been in Heaven. Others who heard the same sermons, and belonged to the same family, are now in eternal glory while I am tormented in this flame! Oh, that I could cease to be; but to fly from existence is impossible.
Here I am surrounded by wretches as miserable as myself, but their company rather aggravates than mitigates, my soul's anguish. I am reproached and cursed by all who were ever led by my counsel or by example into the ways of iniquity. They dreadfully scowl upon me.
And the fiends of the pit, who were my seducers, now combine to taunt me with my folly. They never had the offers of mercy. The merits of a dying Savior were never offered to them. They seem to entertain a malignant pleasure if pleasure it can be called in witnessing my extreme misery. O wretch that I am where can I flee? Is there no possible escape from this prison of despair? Can no one ever pass the gulf which separates this dismal abode from the regions of the blessed? None! None!
May I hope that the passing of time will lessen the horrors and anguish of my wretched soul? Will my heart, so susceptible of the emotions of bitter anguish, by degrees become less sensible to these piercing pains, and be more able to bear up under this overwhelming weight of misery? This question can only be solved by experience: let me ask someone who has been suffering for thousands of years. Here comes Cain the first murderer, who is known still by having upon him the stain of a brother's blood. Suppose I speak to him: 'Tell me, fellow prisoner, who has long endured the pains of this infernal prison, whether by long continuance, these miseries become more tolerable?' But why do I ask? the wretched fratricide is evidently writhing in keenest anguish. He is too miserable to speak, and too full of malignity to gratify anyone. His guilty stain the bloodspot has not been burnt out by the fiercest fires of Hell. No! see, he defies the Almighty. He blasphemes the God of heaven. He asks for no mitigation of his punishment now. His malignant, fiery spirit feeds on despair, and challenges his Avenger to do his worst.
Oh, then, I see there is a progression in wickedness even in Hell. This is the most appalling prospect of all an endless progression in sin, and consequently an increase, instead of a diminution of misery, through the endless ages of eternity!
[Archibald Alexander]
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Romans 5:9 ... Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 ... For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, ❤
The Lord uses his flail of tribulation to separate the chaff from the wheat.
Christ is the desire of nations, the joy of angels, the delight of the Father. What solace then must that soul be filled with, who has the possession of Him to all eternity!
Christian, let God's distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart and may not have given that blessing to your neighbor, perhaps not to your husband, your wife, your child, or your parent! Oh, what an obligation should this thought lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! Remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved.
You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.
The reason why the Christians in this day are at such a loss as to some things is that they are contented with what comes from man's mouth, without searching and kneeling before God to know of Him the truth of things.
If my life is fruitless, it doesn't matter who praises me. If my life is fruitful, it doesn't matter who criticizes me.
Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan.
No man, without trials and temptations can attain a true understanding of the Holy Scriptures.
What God says is best is best though all the men in the world are against it.
The difference between true and false repentance lies in this: the man who truly repents cries out against his evil heart; but the other, as Eve, cries out against the serpent, or something else.
It is sad to see how the most of men neglect their precious souls, turning their backs upon the glorious gospel, and little minding a crucified Jesus when, in the meanwhile, their bodies are well provided for, their estates much regarded, and the things of this present life are highly prized. This is as if the darling was of less value than a clod of earth; an immortal soul was of less value, than a perishing body; a precious Savior was of less value, than unsatisfying creatures.
Grace can pardon our ungodliness and justify us with Christ's righteousness.
Grace can put the Spirit of Jesus Christ within us. Grace can help us, when we are down. Grace can heal us, when we are wounded. Grace can multiply pardons, for our multiple transgressions.
It is possible to learn all about the mysteries of the Bible and never be affected by it in one's soul. Great knowledge is not saving grace.
I saw that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday and today and forever.
[John Bynyan]
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Christ is our best friend our only true friend. Oh, that with all my heart, I may be weary of everything else but converse and communion with Him.