He makes the darkness tremble.
Put your soul in one side of the scale and put all that the world calls good and great in the other side. Think of everything that the heart of man can desire riches, honor, pleasure, power. Heap it up well! Fill one side of the scale until there is no room for more. Put in all the gold of Australia, all the diamonds of India, all the delights of youthful love, all the pleasures of wife and home, of children and friends, of health and strength, of name and fame. Put in all that the natural mind of man deems the height of happiness, and everything that may weigh this side of the scale down. Now, when you have filled this side of the scale, put your soul into the other side the state of your soul for all eternity. Represent to yourself your deathbed and hold the scale with dying hands as lying just at the brink of eternity. See how the scale now hangs!
Jesus calls you to His throne of grace. He is there waiting to hear, relieve and bless you. You are to go to Him just as you are and receive from Him all you need.
He is glorified in bestowing these blessings upon you. He calls you this morning, this moment to receive all you need, without money and without price. What a precious Savior is Jesus! What a kind and tender Friend!
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)
"Come!" He says, "Come to Me! Do not go to SELF, to the world, to the empty cisterns which creatures idolize; but come unto Me, and I will do immeasurably more than all you can ask or imagine! Your sins, I will pardon; your graces, I will revive; your comforts, I will restore; your holiness, I will increase; your efforts to glorify Me, I will crown with success; I will bless you, and you shall be a blessing!"
[James Smith]
Matthew 11:28 ... Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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To Rev. John Newton,
Oh, what is man! How easily we spy the vanity and inconsistency in another, and how hardly we discern it in ourselves.
The foulest stain, and worst absurdity in our nature, is pride! And yet this vile hedgehog so rolls himself up in his bristly coat, that we can seldom get a sight of his claws.
Pride cleaves to us, like a shirt soaked in tar cleaves to the skin. No sharp ploughing and harrowing will clear the ground of it. This foul weed will be sure to spring up with the next rain!
Pride follows me like my shadow!
This diabolical sin has brought more scourges on my back than everything else! It is of so insinuating a nature, that I know not how to rid myself of it.
I hate it and love it.
I quarrel with it and embrace it.
I dread it and yet allow it to lie in my bosom.
It pleads a right, through the fall, to be a tenant for life. It has such an amazing appetite that it can feed both on grace and garbage! It will be as warm and snug in a monastery, as a brothel and be as much delighted with a fine prayer, as a foul curse!
Lord, save me! If pride must dwell with me, let it not be a lordly master, but a loathed viper!
Oh, that I could once say unto you, foul pride: "Farewell forever!"
There is no Christian grace, but pride will creep into its bosom and mix with it as freely as oil with oil.
Nor is Lady Pride ever so delighted as when she becomes intimate with humility, and by soft caresses and kind speeches, encourages the sweet damsel to think highly of herself, even when she looks and talks humbly.
One moment she whispers and tells me that I am a fine fellow and then I am elated.
By and by, she calls me a fool and then I am sullen.
I can do no religious act, but pride is skulking at my elbow and much affecting me both by her smiles and frowns.
This foul pride besieges my heart, besets all my steps, and meets me at every turn.
Pride has more heads than a Hydra! (A mythological serpentine water monster which had many heads. Every time someone would cut off one of them, two more heads would grow out!)
Pride has more shapes than Proteus! (A mythical Greek figure who could assume a different shape at will.)
It is such an odd mysterious evil that I can even be proud of loathing my pride.
Henceforth if you ask my real name, it is Pride!
Yours,
John Berridge
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Unbeliever, what is your hope?
The cemetery.
The judgment throne of God.
Sentence on your soul.
The trumpet of resurrection.
Final doom.
Body and soul in Hell forever.
You have no better prospect.
[Charles H. Spurgeon]
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Matthew 25:46 ... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Hebrews 10:26-27 ... For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. ❤
Nature ever has a voice for those who will hearken to her teaching. The glorious sun, enlightening all with his cheering beams, reminds us of the Dayspring from on high, who came "to give light to those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death."
The bright moon, reflecting as it does the light of the sun, reminds of the true Church of Christ. The moon above, the Church below, A wondrous race they run; But all their radiance, all their glow, each borrows of its Sun. The countless stars shining overhead, remind us of the eternal glory of the children of God.
The birds of the air teach us their lesson of daily dependence upon the care of the great Provider. Luther, we are told, was once in much distress about provision for those whom he had gathered under his roof but was comforted as he hearkened to the note of a little songster. It seemed to him in its note ever to be repeating, again and again Mortals, cease from care and sorrow; God provides for the morrow.
The lily of the field has taught us, through the lips of Christ, that our Father forgets not to clothe His children. The vine and its branches have taught us much of the mystery of grace. It shows to us the necessity of ever abiding in Christ by faith and prayer; and assures us that all grace and strength flow from Him, the Living Stem, into the hearts of His believing people.
Let us learn from the book of nature another lesson, very different from any of these. Our teacher shall be a remarkable plant, that grows very abundantly in the forests of Brazil. It bears the name of the Sipo Matador and has been thus described: "Its stem is at first so exceeding slender, that it has no natural support in itself. It entwines and creeps along the ground until it reaches some lofty vigorous tree then its mode of growth is most peculiar. It lays hold of it with a clinging grasp, and spreads itself, like a flattened bark-like stem, over one side of the trunk, cleaving to it with the greatest tenacity: from both the edges of this bark it sends out very delicate arm-like tendrils, exactly opposite to each other.
What is the lesson this plant may teach us? Is it not this; The mysterious power of sin, and the danger to which its victim is exposed? Only carefully ponder the description of the plant which is given and then trace the striking analogy.
The very name suggests it. It is the "Sipo Matador" or "the Murderer".
The child frequently bears the name of the parent. The author of evil is spoken of by Christ as "a murderer from the beginning." Such also is sinning a destroyer a murderer!
O sin, sin! what have you done? How many, through you, have had to pass through the gloomy chamber of the grave! What multitudes, in all ages, through you, have forfeited the peace and salvation of a soul!
[George Everard]