Self Sins

We all have a number of self-sins:  self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-worth, self-love and a host of others like them!  These self-sins are not something we do, they are something we are and therein lies both their subtlety and their power. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our natures, to come to our attention until the light of God is focused upon them.

The grosser manifestations of these sins: egotism, pride, arrogance, self-elevation, self-promotion are strangely tolerated in Christian leaders, even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy! They are so much in evidence as actually, for many people, to become identified with the gospel. I trust that it is not a cynical observation to say that they appear these days to be a requisite for popularity in some sections of the visible Church.

Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice!

[A. W. Tozer]

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2 Timothy 3:1-5 … This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Philippians 1:15-17 … Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.

Romans 1:29-32 … Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.❤

Union With Christ

We cannot have flowers without roots, or fruit without trees. We cannot have the fruit of the Spirit, without vital union with Christ, and a new creation within.

– JC Ryle

John 15:4 … Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.❤

Too Wise to Err

Because God is righteous, His judgments fall upon those who rebel against Him. Because God is faithful, the solemn threatenings of His Word are fulfilled.  Because God is omnipotent, none can successfully resist Him, still less overthrow His counsel.  Because God is omniscient, no problem can master Him, and no difficulty baffle His wisdom.

Faith endures "as seeing Him who is invisible." (Hebrews 11:27) Faith endures the disappointments, the hardships, and the heart-aches of life by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind.

So long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will be neither rest for the heart, nor peace for the mind. But when we receive all that enters our lives as from His hand, then, no matter what may be our circumstances or surroundings, whether in a hovel, a prison-dungeon, or a martyr's stake, we shall be enabled to say, "The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places!" (Psalm 16:6). But that is the language of faith, not of sight or of sense.

There is no higher aspect of faith, than that which brings the heart to patiently submit unto whatever God sends unto us; to meekly acquiesce unto His sovereign will; and to say, "Shall I not drink the cup of suffering which my Father has given me?" Faith when it reaches the pinnacle of attainment declares, "though He slays me, yet will I trust in Him!"

[A. W. Pink]

Luke 22:42 … Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

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Divine Fruit

Look to Him, He will instruct you. Give Him your open attention, with hopeful expectancy. Trust His ability to speak to your heart. Release all fear. Lift up your anxious thoughts and prayers and allow Him to give you peace and inspiration. He see your needs and your desires to run this race. He am in control, I AM the LORD of THE HARVEST. You are indeed an instrument of revival.  Submit to His lead.

There is a time and place for open blossom and ripe fruit. Trust the God of Creation. You have a season. Saturate in the light of His Counsel and allow the maturing details of fruit and flower to take its natural course. ABIDE in Him and Divine will be its fruit.

[Troi Nelson Cockayne]

John 15:4 … Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

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Border Security

This is a wall in Israel. It runs for miles that protects the people from those who would A) Do Jews harm, and B) Keeps illegals out of its land. This wall was built for security, economic prosperity and a constant reminder to her enemies that Israel is committed to protecting itself.

Border Walls can be found all throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. They are not built to be insensitive to the feelings of the less fortunate, nor are they constructed to impose the ideology of a nation upon others. A wall is neither racist or imperialistic by its mere existence. It is simply a wall that serves a purpose.

The only people who hate walls are the uninformed, the educated elitists, the infiltrators, the criminals, and those who have a hatred for protecting a nation's security. Walls are not to keep people in, but to keep certain factions out. That is the purpose of a wall. And to those who persist on the narrative spewed by those who have an agenda (leftist) view, I would remind them to look at parts of Europe where they have rejected a wall, and how it's working for them now.

It's not a perfect world, but it's the only world we have until things are made right. Until then, I support a wall.

[Christopher Gregory]

… and so does God.

Acts 17:26 … And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

Revelation 21:12 … And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:❤

Spurgeon Quotes 4

Health is the greatest temporal blessing that God ever sends us besides sickness, which is far better.

There is no attribute of God more comforting to His children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained all their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all.

I bear my witness that the worst days I have ever had, have turned out to be my best days. And when God has seemed most cruel to me, He has then been most kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than for anything else it is for pain and affliction. I am sure that in these things, the richest tenderest love has been manifested to me. Our Father's wagons rumble most heavily, when they are bringing us the richest freight of the bullion of His grace. 

Love letters from Heaven are often sent in black-edged envelopes! 

I have got more good out of my afflictions, than out of all my prosperity! I would not be without a cross for all the world!

I have learned to kiss the stormy waves which throw me up against the Rock of Ages!

Those who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls!

The Lord gets His best soldiers, out of the highlands of affliction.

The tears of affliction, are often needed to keep the eye of faith bright.

The best remedy for affliction, is submitting to God's providence. 

To be one of the Lord's saved ones is joy enough to bear up the heart under every affliction! 

The discerning of the hand of God in all our afflictions, is a sweet lesson in the school of experience.

What can't be cured, must be endured!

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Meditation!

Reader! You will derive far more benefit from a single verse of Scripture read slowly and prayerfully, and duly meditated upon than you will from ten chapters read through hurriedly! Meditation is nearly a lost art. Lack of meditation is at the root of most of our spiritual troubles.

[Arthur Pink]

Meditation is the serious exercise of the mind, whereby our thoughts are fixed on the observation of spiritual things, in order to practice them. Meditation is that spiritual chemistry which turns all metals into gold.

[William Bates]

The reason why all the sermons we hear do us no more good, is for lack of divine meditation. For it is with sermons as it is with food, it is not having food upon your table that will nourish you, but you must eat it. And you must not only eat it, but digest it or else your food will do you no good.   So it is with sermons: it is not hearing sermons that will do you good, but pondering in your hearts what you hear, and digesting them by meditation. One sermon well digested, well meditated upon is better than twenty sermons without meditation! I am confident the great reason why we have so many hunger-starved Christians who are lean in grace and lean in practice, though they hear sermon upon sermon is because they digest nothing. They never ponder and meditate upon what they hear!   There are some men sick with a disease that makes them vomit up whatever they eat the food never does them any good. So is the custom of many of you: you hear a sermon, you go away, and never think of it afterward. This is just like food that you vomit up! That is the reason why you are so lean in grace, though you are so fully fed with sermons!

[Edmund Calamy]

Psalm 1:2 … But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

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A High Esteem?

You are not a mature Christian, if you have a high esteem of yourself.   He who boasts in himself is but a babe in Christ if indeed he is in Christ at all.   Young Christians may think much of themselves.  Growing Christians think themselves nothing. Mature Christians know that they are less than nothing.   The more holy we are, the more we mourn our infirmities, and the humbler is our estimate of ourselves. 

Wonderful was the grace that taught the once proud Pharisee thus to speak!  Pride may be set down as "the sin" of human nature. The demon of pride was born with us and it will not die one hour before us!   We are never so much in danger of being proud as when we think we are humble.

There is no sin into which the heart of man so easily falls as pride and yet there is no more vice which is more frequently, more emphatically, and more eloquently condemned in Scripture.

We are all proud. Pride can hide under a beggar's rags as well as under a minister's robes. Pride is a weed that will grow on a dunghill as well as in a palace garden; but it ought never to be allowed to grow in the heart of a Christian!

No matter how dear you are to God if pride is harbored in your heart, He will whip it out of you!

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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2 Corinthians 12:11 …  I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

Ephesians 3:8 …  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

1 Timothy 1:15 … This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.❤

We Would Wreck Everything!

Not only does God love us and desire our good but His wisdom is infinite. He knows what is best for us what things will do us the good we need. We ourselves do not know. The things we think would bring us blessing, perhaps would bring us irreparable harm! The things we dread as evil, and shrink from perhaps are the bearers to us of divinest good! We would make pitiful work of our lives if we had the ordering of our affairs in our own hands. If for but one day we could take matters into our own hands, and out of God's hands we would wreck everything!

[J. R. Miller]

Romans 8:28 … And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.❤

Our Sins, His Mercies!

You have one hard lesson to learn, that is the evil of your own heart. You know something of it, but it is needful that you should know more; for the more we know of ourselves the more we shall prize and love Jesus and His wondrous salvation.  The more you know Him, the better you will trust Him.  The more you trust Him the better you will love Him.  The more you love Him, the better you will serve Him.  This is God's way. He is teaching you these things, and I trust He will teach you to the end.

Do not be surprised to find yourself to be poor, helpless, and vile. All whom God favors and teaches will find themselves so. The more grace increases, the more we shall see in ourselves to abase us in our own eyes!

I hope what you find in yourself by daily experience, will humble you but not discourage you. For if our Physician is almighty, our disease cannot be desperate.  Our sins are many but His mercies are more.  Our sins are great but His righteousness is greater.  When our sins prevail, remember that we have an Advocate with the Father, who is able to pity, to pardon, and to save to the uttermost!

Think of the names and relations which Jesus bears to us. He calls Himself our Savior, our Shepherd, our Friend, and our Husband!  He has made known unto us His love, His atoning sacrifice, His righteousness, His promises, His power, and His grace and all for our encouragement!  It is better to be admiring the compassion and fullness of grace which is in our Savior than to dwell and pore too much upon our own poverty and vileness.

Remember that He has loved you with an everlasting love and therefore in loving-kindness has drawn you to Himself. He will surely accomplish that which He has begun. Nothing which can be named or thought of shall ever be able to separate you from Him!  This persuasion will give you strength for the battle! This is the shield which will quench the fiery darts of Satan!  This is the helmet which the enemy cannot pierce!  Be strong, therefore, not in yourself but in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Remember, the growth of a believer is not like a mushroom but like an oak, which increases slowly but indeed surely. Many suns, showers, and frosts, pass upon it before it comes to perfection. And in winter, when it seems to be dead it is gathering strength at the root. Be humble, watchful, and diligent in the means of grace; and endeavor to look through all, and fix your eye upon Jesus and all shall be well. I commend you to the care of the good Shepherd and Guardian of your souls!

[John Newton]

Romans 5:20-21 … Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

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1 Peter 3:18

An argument taken by comparison: Christ the just, suffered for us that are unjust and shall it grieve us who are unjust, to suffer for the cause of Christ. Another argument being partly taken of things coupled together, that is, because Christ brings us to his Father that same way that he went himself, and partly from the cause efficient: that is, because Christ is not only set before us for an example to follow, but also he holds us up by his power in all the difficulties of this life, until he bring us to his Father. Another argument taken from the happy end of these afflictions, in which Christ also goes before us both in example and power, as one who suffered most grievous torments even to death, although but only in one part of him, that is, in the flesh or man's nature: but yet became conqueror by virtue of his divinity.

- Geneva Study Bible