Sin No More!!

Sin dwells in hell, and holiness in heaven. Remember that every temptation is from the devil, to make you like himself. Remember when you sin, that you are learning and imitating of the devil and are so far like him. And the end of all, is that you may feel his pains. If hellfire be not good, then sin is not good. 

[Richard Baxter]

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James 4:7 ... Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

John 8:11-12 ... She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

1 Peter 1:16 ... Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. ❤

His Saints' Everlasting Rest!

Heaven is the presence of God. It is to be filled with His love, to partake of His infinite joys, and to be satisfied with His all-sufficient goodness. What a glorious state will it be when we shall fully enjoy God, when we shall be perfectly united in love with all the saints, and when we shall join together with them in the perpetual praises of our Creator and Redeemer! 

There is no toil in Heaven. There is no weariness nor weakness. Their rest is not in idleness, but in sweet and perfect activity always delighting in the service of their King. Every holy desire shall find its fulfillment in Heaven. All that the soul desires, shall there be fulfilled. Every longing for beauty, every craving for truth, every thirst for love, every holy aspiration, shall be abundantly satisfied in the immediate enjoyment of God! 

If one drop of heavenly joy could fall into this world, it would swallow up all earthly pleasures as the ocean swallows a grain of sand. What then must the infinite ocean of delight be, in its full and eternal measure? In Heaven, the saints shall have no other activity but to worship the Lord. They shall continually behold His glory and forever sing His praises. Heaven is the place where the unveiled glory of God shall be fully displayed, where His perfections shall shine forth in their fullest splendor, and where every soul shall bask in the light of His countenance forever! 

No more shall there be misunderstandings, divisions, or offenses among the saints. Perfect harmony, perfect love, and perfect joy shall reign in that blessed assembly, united forever in the presence of God. All the pleasures of earth are but a drop, compared to the ocean of joys that await the saints in Heaven. Their joy shall never wane but shall increase as they plunge ever deeper into the infinite treasures of God. 

If the sight of Christ in His humiliation could ravish the souls of His disciples, then how much more will the sight of Him in His glory satisfy and delight us! If His love to us on earth was so sweet, then what will His glorious Heavenly love be? To see the face of Jesus, to behold the scars by which we are saved, to gaze upon the King in His beauty this will be the crowning joy of Heaven, the height of blessedness, the satisfaction of every holy soul. 

[Richard Baxter] 

Hebrews 4:9 ... There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

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"Sin"

Sin is worse than suffering; it is better to suffer than to sin. Every sin is an attempt to dethrone God in your heart. Sin never goes alone but leaves a stain wherever it touches.

[Richard Baxter]

Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, and the contempt of His love. Sin turns the soul into a dungeon of darkness.

[John Bunyan] 

Sin is infinitely worse than any affliction. One sin allowed, is enough to damn the soul. Sin is the soul's only sickness, and Christ is the soul's only Physician.

[Jeremiah Burroughs]

Sin in the heart is like Jonah in the ship it turns the soul into a tempest. Sin will usher in the greatest and saddest losses imaginable. Sin is Satan's firstborn.

[Thomas Brooks]

Sin is an offense against infinite holiness and deserves infinite punishment. Sin is a deicide every sin would kill God if it could.

[Stephen Charnock]

Be killing sin, or it will be killing you. The seed of every sin is in every heart. 

[John Owen]

The smallest sin is an infinite evil, because it is committed against an infinite God. Sin is the foulest evil it pollutes everything it touches. 

[Samuel Rutherford]

Sin is the cause of all suffering and the root of all sorrow. Sin is the disturber of Heaven, earth, and Hell. One of the greatest sins, is not to see sin as the greatest evil. Sin is the soul's enemy, the heart's wound, and the thief of eternal joy.

[Ralph Venning]

Till sin is bitter, Christ will not be sweet. Sin has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages. Sin is a spiritual poison that would murder the soul. Sin is worse than Hell, because sin brought Hell into being.

[Thomas Watson]

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"Providential Care"

In every trial and tribulation, let us find comfort in the knowledge that God, in His infinite wisdom, orchestrates all for the good of His chosen people. God's hand is behind every event, crafting our lives for His glory. 

[John Owen] 

The providence of God is a tapestry of grace, where every thread, even the darkest, contributes to the glorious picture of our salvation. His providence is a rich treasure; He knows how to turn our trials into triumphs, our sorrows into songs. [Thomas Watson] 

The heart that loves God finds peace in knowing that even the most confusing paths are ordered by Him for our benefit. [Richard Sibbes] 

To love God is to rest in His sovereign will, trusting that even the most perplexing circumstances are shaped for our ultimate good. In every situation, whether in joy or sorrow, we are called to trust that God is orchestrating the events of our lives for His glory. 

[Jonathan Edwards] 

Though the winds may howl and the storms rage, we are assured that God's hand is upon us, guiding every event to our benefit and His glory. 

[Richard Baxter] 

God's providence is a divine compass, guiding our lives through every storm, always pointing us toward our true good and His eternal glory. In the tapestry of life, every thread of sorrow is skillfully woven by God, contributing to the beauty of our salvation. 

[Matthew Henry] 

God's providence is like a skilled artisan who, though unseen, is weaving our lives into a masterpiece, with every thread serving His holy purpose! 

[John Bunyan] 

All that befalls us, whether sweet or bitter, is ordained by God, who works all things in concert for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. 

[William Perkins]

Trust in the Lord, for He has a wise design in every affliction, transforming our pain into a pathway of grace. Trust the divine Designer; He weaves even our pain into His purpose. 

[Samuel Rutherford] 

We may often walk through the valley of shadows, but remember, dear believer, that God is sovereignly guiding our steps toward a glorious end! We may rest assured that even the harshest providences are part of God's plan, working towards a good that we may not yet see. 

[John Flavel]

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.

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"Afflictions"

Afflictions teach us to value the blessings of God which in prosperity we are apt to forget.

God's afflictions are not to destroy us, but to wean us from the world and bring us closer to Christ.

It is folly to doubt God's goodness because of His chastening rod, for the rod is in the hand of infinite love.

[Richard Baxter]

Afflictions are but God's furnace to refine His gold. 

Christ's school of affliction is the best school in this world.

God would not rub so hard, if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures.

Afflictions are God's medicines to cure His people.

[ Thomas Brooks]

As the winter prepares the earth for the spring, so affliction prepares the soul for glory.

The greatest afflictions are less than we deserve.

God empties us of worldly comfort to fill us with heavenly joy.

[William Bridge]

God's people are like gold they are purified by fire. 

God does not strike as an enemy to destroy, but as a father to correct.

[Jeremiah Burroughs]

Sanctified afflictions are better than unsanctified prosperity.

The furnace of affliction is where God polishes His jewels.

[John Flavel]

God's wounds cure sin's kisses kill.

[William Gurnall]

Afflictions quicken our desires for eternal things.

Afflictions are blessings to the soul, though they seem bitter to the flesh.

[John Owen]

Your afflictions are your father's love-tokens.

When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines.

[ Samuel Rutherford]

God breaks the cistern to drive us to the fountain.

The fire does not destroy the gold, but only refines it.

God's hammer breaks us in pieces, that He may fashion us into His own likeness.

God squeezes the sins out of His saints by affliction.

It is better to go limping to Heaven, than leaping to Hell.

[ Richard Sibbes]

A sick bed often teaches more than a sermon.

God's rod is a pencil to draw Christ's image more distinctly upon us.

[Thomas Watson]

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Company.

Keep company with the more cheerful sort of the godly; there is no mirth like the mirth of believers.

[Richard Baxter]

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1 John 1:7 ...  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

2 Corinthians 6:14 ... Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Galatians 5:13 ... For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. ❤

Baxter Quotes 4

God is the same God in heaven as on earth, but I shall not be the same man.


This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection but the preparation for it.

The joys of Heaven are of so pure and spiritual a nature, that the heart of the wicked cannot desire them.

I know that Christ is all in all and that it is His presence which makes Heaven to be heaven. But yet it much sweetens the thoughts of that place to me, that there are there such a multitude of my most dear and precious friends in Christ.



Doubtless, in Heaven we shall no more be oppressed with the power of our corruptions, nor vexed with their presence. No pride, passion, slothfulness, senselessness, shall enter with us; no strangeness to God, and the things of God; no coldness of affections, nor imperfection in our love; no uneven walking, nor grieving of the Spirit; no scandalous action, or unholy living. We shall rest from all these forever!



A good husband will either make a good wife or profitably endure a bad one.


In our first paradise in Eden there was one way to go out but no way to go in again. But as for the heavenly paradise, there is one way to go in but not way to go out.



The differences among Christians, are nothing in comparison of the differences among heathens!



If it is an intolerable thing to cast into a fire for a year or a day, or an hour then what will it be to suffer ten thousand times more forever in the fires of Hell? What if you were to suffer the martyr Lawrence's death to be roasted upon a gridiron; or to be scraped or pricked to death as other martyrs were; or if you were to feed upon toads for a whole year? If you could not endure such things as these then how will you endure the eternal flames of Hell?

  

Men think God's laws are too many and too strict. Yet they make their own and are precise for keeping them.

Is it a small thing in your eyes to be loved by God to be the son, the spouse, the love, the delight of the King of glory?

Will it not awaken us to compassion, to look on a languishing man, and to think that within a few days his soul will be in Hell?

Be careful how you spend your time! Spend your time in nothing which you know must be repented of.

No man that has not the vitals of theology is capable of going beyond a fool in philosophy.

The longer your delay repentance, the more your sin gets strength and rooting. If you cannot bend a twig, then how will you be able to bend it when it is a tree?

Sin dwells in Hell, and holiness in Heaven.  Remember that every temptation is from the devil, to make you like himself. Remember when you sin, that you are learning and imitating of the devil and are so far like him. And the end of all, is that you may feel his pains. If Hellfire is not good, then sin is not good.

I remember no one sin that my conscience does so much accuse and judge me for, as for doing so little for the saving of souls, and not for dealing with the lost soul ones more fervently and earnestly for their conversion.

Humility is not a mere ornament of a Christian, but an essential part of the new creature. It is a contradiction in terms, to be a Christian, and not humble.

[Richard Baxter]

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Baxter Quotes 3

 One proud, ungracious word, one needless contention, one covetous action may cut the throat of many a sermon and blast the fruit of all that you have been doing!

If you seek first to please God and are satisfied therein you have but one to please instead of multitudes. A multitude of masters are harder to please than one.



Love Christ and you will hate that which caused His death.  Love Him, and you will love to be made like Him and hate that which is so contrary to Him.



Parents! It is in your hands to do your children the greatest kindness, or cruelty, in all the world! Help them to know God and to be saved and you do more for them than if you helped them to be kings or princes. If you neglect their souls, and breed them in ignorance, worldliness, ungodliness, and sin you betray them to the devil, the enemy of souls, even as truly as if you sold them to him! You sell them to be slaves to Satan! You betray them to him who will deceive them and abuse them in this life, and torment them in eternity!



O what a blessed day that will be, when I shall stand on the shore and look back on the raging seas I have safely passed when I shall review my pains and sorrows, my fears and tears and possess the glory which was the end of all!



Do not waste your time on light, weak, trivial books. Make careful choice of the books which you read and let the holy Scriptures ever have the preeminence.



Lay siege to your sins and starve them out by keeping away the food and fuel which is their maintenance and life. The longer you delay, the more your sin gets strength and rooting. If you cannot bend the twig, how will you be able to bend it when it is a tree?



Spend your time in nothing which you know must be repented of; you might not pray for the blessing of God; you could not review with a quiet conscience on your dying bed; you might not safely and properly be found doing if death should surprise you in the act!



O spend your time as you would account of it in the day of Judgment!



Holiness is nothing else but the habitual and predominant devotion and dedication of soul, and body, and life, and all that we have to God; and esteeming, and loving, and serving, and seeking Him, before all the pleasures and prosperity of the flesh and the world.


He is a foolish physician, and a most unfaithful friend who will let a sick man die for fear of troubling him. In the same way, we are cruel wretches to our friends if we will rather allow them to go quietly to Hell than anger them or hazard our friendship with them.



Prayer is the vital breath of the Christian.

Before and after you read the Scripture, pray earnestly that the Spirit who wrote it may interpret it for you, keep you from unbelief and error, and lead you into the truth.

It is as hard a thing to maintain a sound understanding, a tender conscience, a lively, gracious, heavenly spirit, and an upright life in this poor world as to keep your candle lit in the midst of a great storm.



It is not the reading of many books which is necessary to make a man wise or godly but well reading of a few.



The churchyard is the marketplace where all things are rated at their true value and those who are approaching it, talk of the world and its vanities with a wisdom unknown before.

Every time we look upon our congregations let us remember that they are the purchase of Christ's blood, and therefore should be regarded by us with the deepest interest and the most tender affection!

  

Oh, that Christians would learn to live with one eye on Christ crucified, and the other on his coming!

Luxury and gluttony are a sin exceeding contrary to the love of God it is idolatry! It has the heart, which God should have; and therefore, gluttons are commonly and well called belly-gods, and god-bellies, because that love, that care, that delight, that service and diligence which God should have been given by the glutton to his belly and his throat.

[Richard Baxter]

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Baxter Quotes 2

Take heed to yourselves, lest your example contradict your doctrine lest you unsay with your lives, what you say with your tongues, and be the greatest hinderers of the success of your own labors!

Until men are deeply humbled for their sin they can part with Christ and salvation for a lust, for a little worldly gain, for that which is less than nothing! But when God has enlightened their consciences and broken their hearts then they would give a world for Christ!


Is it but right that our hearts should be on God when the heart of God is so much on us! Lord, I surrender I am completely overcome by your love!



I take the love of God and self-denial to be the sum of all saving grace and religion.



In our first paradise in Eden, there was a way to go out but no way to go in again.
But as for the Heavenly paradise, there is a way to go in but no way to go out.


Of all the preaching in the world I hate that preaching most, which tends to make the hearers laugh, or to move their minds with tickling levity and affect them as stage play does instead of affecting them with a holy reverence for God.



See that your chief study is about your heart that there's God's image may be planted, and His interest advanced, and the flesh subdued, and the love of every sin cast out, and the love of holiness be nourished. The first and great work of a Christian is about his heart. 


If my life is short, then why should I be sad to welcome endless glory?



It is a contradiction to be a true Christian and not humble.



I preached as never sure to preach again as a dying man to dying men!

Mere idleness and forgetting God, will keep a soul as certainly from Heaven, as a profane, licentious, fleshly life!

Suffering so unbolts the door of the heart that the Word has easier entrance.

Do not content yourselves with being in a state of grace but be also careful that your graces are kept in vigorous and lively exercise, and that you preach to yourselves the sermons which you study before you preach them to others.

You little know what you have done, when you have first broken the bounds of modesty. You have opened the door of your imagination to the devil so that he can, almost at his pleasure ever after, represent the same sinful pleasure to you anew.



That which once will be no more. Yesterday will never come again. Today is passing away and will not return. You may work while it is day; but when you have lost that day it will not return for you to work in. While your candle burns, you may make use of its light but when it is done, it is too late to use it.



I am but a pen in God's hands what praise is due to a pen?

Heaven will pay for any loss we may suffer to gain it but nothing can pay for the loss of Heaven!

Why are our hearts not continually set on Heaven? Why do we not dwell there in constant contemplation? Bend your soul to study eternity, busy yourself about the life to come, habituate yourself to such contemplations. Let not those thoughts be seldom and cursory but bathe yourself in Heaven's delights.

He who has not so much sense of his faults as sincerely to lament them will hardly have so much more as to move him to reform them.

[Richard Baxter]

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Baxter Quotes

 Nothing below Heaven is worth setting our hearts upon!

Keep up a humble sense of your own faults and that will make you compassionate to others.

If you have anything to be proud of, remember that it is not your own, but has been given or lent to you by God, who especially hates pride!

Unity in things necessary, Liberty in things unnecessary, and Charity in all things.



Too many preachers are earthly, who seem to be heavenly. Too many mind the things below, while they preach the things above. Too many idolize the world, while they call men to condemn it.

There is no separating sin and Hell.

Speak to your people as to men who must be awakened either here or in Hell! We must screw the truth into men's minds!



Does any man live more to himself, or less to God than the proud man? Our very business is to teach the great lesson of self-denial and humility to our people and how unfit is it then, that we should be proud ourselves! We must study as hard how to live well as how to preach well.



What we most value we shall think no pains too great to gain.



Self is the most treacherous enemy, and the most insinuating deceiver in the world! Of all other vices it is both the hardest to find out, and the hardest to cure.



Be of good cheer, Christian, the time is near, when God and you shall be as near as you can desire. You shall dwell in His family! You shall then have joy without sorrow, and rest without weariness!

Such is the depth of the Christian Scriptures, that even if I were attempting to study them and nothing else from early boyhood to decrepit old age, with the most unwearied zeal, and talents greater than I have I would be still daily making progress in discovering their treasures!


The devils never had a Savior offered to them, but you have; and do you yet make light of Him?



Do not over-value the manner of your own worship. Do not over-vilify other men's worship of a different mode.



Paganism attributes the creation and the sustaining of the world to blind chance.

To love a small sin, is a great sin.

Oh, what silly heads and hearts, have all those who, standing on the verge of an endless world, can think they have any time to spare.

[Richard Baxter]

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Self.

Self is the most treacherous enemy, and the most insinuating deceiver in the world! Of all vices, Self is both the hardest to find out, and the hardest to cure. 

[Richard Baxter]

John 3:30 ... He must increase, but I must decrease.

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Your Thoughts

Oh how ashamed you would be if men could see your thoughts!  Is not the eye of God ten thousand times more to be regarded?

[Richard Baxter]

2 Chronicles 6:30 … Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)

Job 21:27 … Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

Psalm 44:21 … Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

Proverbs 15:11 … Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?❤

Eternally Embraced

Is it a small thing in your eyes to be loved by God to be the son, the spouse, the beloved, the delight of the King of glory?

Christian, think about this! You will be eternally embraced in the arms of the love which was from everlasting, and will extend to everlasting of the love which brought the Son of God's love from Heaven to earth,  from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to glory that love which was weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spat upon, crucified, pierced which fasted, prayed, healed, wept, sweated, bled, died. That love will eternally embrace you!

[Richard Baxter]

Ephesians 5:2 … And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Ephesians 3:18-19 … May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.❤

How To Spend Each Day With God

A holy life is inclined to be made easier, when we know the usual sequence and method of our duties with everything falling into its proper place. Therefore, I shall give some brief directions for spending each day in a holy manner.

Sleep

Measure the time of your sleep appropriately so that you do not waste your precious morning hours sluggishly in your bed. Let the time of your sleep be matched to your health and labor, and not to slothful pleasure.

First Thoughts

Let God have your first awaking thoughts; lift up your hearts to Him reverently and thankfully for the rest enjoyed the night before, and cast yourself upon Him for the day which follows. Familiarize yourself so consistently to this that your conscience may check you when common thoughts shall first intrude. Think of the mercy of a night's rest and of how many that have spent that night in Hell; how many in prison; how many in cold, hard lodgings; how many suffering from agonizing pains and sickness, weary of their beds and of their lives. Think of how many souls were that night called from their bodies terrifyingly to appear before God and think how quickly days and nights are rolling on! How speedily your last night and day will come! Observe that which is lacking in the preparedness of your soul for such a time and seek it without delay.

Prayer

Let prayer by yourself alone (or with your partner) take place before the collective prayer of the family. If possible let it be first, before any work of the day.

Family Worship

Let family worship be performed consistently and at a time when it is most likely for the family to be free of interruptions.

Ultimate Purpose

Remember your ultimate purpose, and when you set yourself to your day's work or approach any activity in the world, let HOLINESS TO THE LORD be written upon your hearts in all that you do. Do no activity which you cannot entitle God to, and truly say that he set you about it and do nothing in the world for any other ultimate purpose than to please, glorify and enjoy Him. "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31.)

Diligence in Your Calling

Follow the tasks of your calling carefully and diligently. Thus:

(a) You will show that you are not sluggish and servants to your flesh (as those that cannot deny it ease), and you will further the putting to death of all the fleshly lusts and desires that are fed by ease and idleness.

(b) You will keep out idle thoughts from your mind, that swarm in the minds of idle persons.

(c) You will not lose precious time, something that idle persons are daily guilty of.

(d) You will be in a way of obedience to God when the slothful are in constant sins of omission.

(e) You may have more time to spend in holy duties if you follow your occupation diligently. Idle people have no time for praying and reading, because they lose time by loitering at their work.

(f) You may expect God's blessing and comfortable provision for both yourself and your families.

(g) It may also encourage the health of your body which will increase its competence for the service of your soul.

Temptations and Things That Corrupt

Be thoroughly acquainted with your besetting temptations and the things that may corrupt you and watch against them all day long. You should watch especially the most dangerous of the things that corrupt, and those temptations that either your company or business will unavoidably lay before you. Watch against the master sins of unbelief, hypocrisy, selfishness, pride, flesh-pleasing and the excessive love of earthly things.  Take care against being drawn into earthly-mindedness and excessive cares, or covetous designs for rising in the world, under the pretense of diligence in your calling. If you are to trade or deal with others, be vigilant against selfishness and all that smacks of injustice or un-charitableness. In all your interactions with others, watch against the temptation of empty and idle talking. Watch also against those persons who would tempt you to anger. Maintain that modesty and cleanness of speech that the laws of purity require. If you converse with flatterers be on your guard against swelling pride. If you converse with those that despise and injure you strengthen yourself against impatient, revengeful pride. At first these things will be very difficult, while sin has any strength in you, but once you have grasped a continual awareness of the poisonous danger of any one of these sins, your heart will readily and easily avoid them.

Meditation

When alone in your occupations, improve the time in practical and beneficial meditations. Meditate upon the infinite goodness and perfections of God; Christ, and redemption; Heaven and how unworthy you are of going there; and how you deserve eternal misery in Hell.

The Only Motive

Whatever you are doing, in company or alone, do it all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Otherwise, it is unacceptable to God.

Redeeming The Time

Place a high value upon your time, be more careful of not losing it than you would of losing your money. Do not let worthless recreations, worldly entertainment, idle talk, unprofitable company, or sleep rob you of your precious time.  Be more careful to escape that person, action or course of life which would rob you of your time  than you would be to escape thieves and robbers. Make sure that you are not merely never idle, but rather that you are using your time in the most profitable way that you can, and do not prefer a less profitable way before one of greater profit.

Eating and Drinking

Eat and drink with moderation and thankfulness for health, not for unprofitable pleasure. Never please your appetite in food or drink, when it is prone to be detrimental to your health. Remember the sin of Sodom: "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food and abundance of idleness" (Ezekiel 16:49.) The Apostle Paul wept when he mentioned those "whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame who set their minds on earthly things, being enemies to the cross of Christ" (Philippians 3:18-19.) O then do not live according to the flesh, lest you die! (Romans 8:13).

Prevailing Sins

If any temptation prevails against you, and you fall into any sins in addition to habitual failures, immediately lament it and confess it to God; repent quickly whatever the cost. It will certainly cost you more if you continue in sin and remain unrepentant. Do not make light of your habitual failures, but confess them and daily strive against them, taking care not to aggravate them by unrepentance and contempt.

Relationships

Remember every day, the special duties of various relationships: whether as husbands, wives, children, masters, servants, pastors, people, magistrates, subjects. Remember every relationship has its special duty and its advantage for the doing of some good. God requires your faithfulness in this matter, as well as in any other duty.

Closing the Day

Before returning to sleep, it is wise and necessary to review the actions and mercies of the day past, so that you may be thankful for all the special mercies, and humbled for all your sins. This is necessary in order that you might renew your repentance as well as your resolve for obedience, and in order that you may examine yourself to see whether your soul grew better or worse, whether sin goes down and grace goes up, and whether you are better prepared for suffering, death and eternity. May these directions be engraved upon your mind and be made the daily practice of your life. If sincerely adhered to, these will be conducive to the holiness, fruitfulness and quietness of your life, and bring you to a comfortable and peaceful death.

[Richard Baxter]

A Feast of Worms!

Remember what your body is, and what it will shortly be, and how loathsome and vile it will be in the grave. And then think how far such a body should be pampered and pleased and at what a price. Do not pay too dear for a feast for worms! Look into the grave, and see what the end of all of all your pleasant foods and drinks is; of all your dainty and costly fare. You may see there the skulls cast up, and the ugly hole of that mouth which devoured so many sweet, delicious morsels but there is none of the pleasure of it now left!

Oh astonishing folly! that men can so easily, so eagerly, so obstinately, waste their estates, and neglect their souls, and displease their God, and in effect even sell their hopes of Heaven for so small and sordid a delight, as the pleasing of such a piece of flesh, which must shortly have so vile an end!

Was it worth so much care, and toil, and cost, and the casting away of your salvation to pamper that body a little while, which must shortly be such a loathsome carcass? Methinks one sight of a skull or a grave, would make you look upon gluttony and luxury as madness.

The case will be altered with you when all your wealth and friends cannot keep your pampered carcass from corruption, nor procure your soul a comfort equal to a drop of water to cool your tongue, tormented in the flames of God's displeasure!

[Richard Baxter]

✞ ✞ ✞ 

Genesis 3:19 … In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Job 21:26 … They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

Psalm 104:29 … Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

Ecclesiastes 3:20 …  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.❤

What I Want

Lord, whatever You want, wherever You want it, and whenever You want it, that's what I want.

[Richard Baxter]

Matthew 6:10 … Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.❤

How to Spend Each Day with God

A holy life is inclined to be made easier, when we know the usual sequence and method of our duties with everything falling into its proper place. Therefore, I shall give some brief directions for spending each day in a holy manner.

Sleep

Measure the time of your sleep appropriately so that you do not waste your precious morning hours sluggishly in your bed. Let the time of your sleep be matched to your health and labor, and not to slothful pleasure.

First Thoughts

Let God have your first awaking thoughts; lift up your hearts to Him reverently and thankfully for the rest enjoyed the night before, and cast yourself upon Him for the day which follows.

Familiarize yourself so consistently to this that your conscience may check you when common thoughts shall first intrude. Think of the mercy of a night's rest and of how many that have spent that night in Hell; how many in prison; how many in cold, hard lodgings; how many suffering from agonizing pains and sickness, weary of their beds and of their lives.

Think of how many souls were that night called from their bodies terrifyingly to appear before God and think how quickly days and nights are rolling on! How speedily your last night and day will come! Observe that which is lacking in the preparedness of your soul for such a time and seek it without delay.

Prayer

Let prayer by yourself alone (or with your partner) take place before the collective prayer of the family. If possible let it be first, before any work of the day.

Family Worship

Let family worship be performed consistently and at a time when it is most likely for the family to be free of interruptions.

Ultimate Purpose

Remember your ultimate purpose, and when you set yourself to your day's work or approach any activity in the world, let HOLINESS TO THE LORD be written upon your hearts in all that you do. Do no activity which you cannot entitle God to, and truly say that he set you about it — and do nothing in the world for any other ultimate purpose than to please, glorify and enjoy Him. "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Diligence in Your Calling

Follow the tasks of your calling carefully and diligently. Thus:

(a) You will show that you are not sluggish and servants to your flesh (as those that cannot deny it ease), and you will further the putting to death of all the fleshly lusts and desires that are fed by ease and idleness.

(b) You will keep out idle thoughts from your mind, that swarm in the minds of idle persons.

(c) You will not lose precious time, something that idle persons are daily guilty of.

(d) You will be in a way of obedience to God when the slothful are in constant sins of omission.

(e) You may have more time to spend in holy duties if you follow your occupation diligently. Idle people have no time for praying and reading, because they lose time by loitering at their work.

(f) You may expect God's blessing and comfortable provision for both yourself and your families.

(g) It may also encourage the health of your body which will increase its competence for the service of your soul.

Temptations and Things That Corrupt

Be thoroughly acquainted with your besetting temptations and the things that may corrupt you and watch against them all day long. You should watch especially the most dangerous of the things that corrupt, and those temptations that either your company or business will unavoidably lay before you.

Watch against the master sins of unbelief, hypocrisy, selfishness, pride, flesh-pleasing and the excessive love of earthly things.

Take care against being drawn into earthly-mindedness and excessive cares, or covetous designs for rising in the world, under the pretense of diligence in your calling.

If you are to trade or deal with others, be vigilant against selfishness and all that smacks of injustice or un-charitableness. In all your interactions with others, watch against the temptation of empty and idle talking. Watch also against those persons who would tempt you to anger. Maintain that modesty and cleanness of speech that the laws of purity require.

If you converse with flatterers be on your guard against swelling pride.

If you converse with those that despise and injure you strengthen yourself against impatient, revengeful pride.

At first these things will be very difficult, while sin has any strength in you, but once you have grasped a continual awareness of the poisonous danger of any one of these sins, your heart will readily and easily avoid them.

Meditation

When alone in your occupations, improve the time in practical and beneficial meditations. Meditate upon the infinite goodness and perfections of God; Christ and redemption;  Heaven and how unworthy you are of going there;and how you deserve eternal misery in Hell.

The Only Motive

Whatever you are doing, in company or alone, do it all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Otherwise, it is unacceptable to God.

Redeeming The Time

Place a high value upon your time, be more careful of not losing it than you would of losing your money. Do not let worthless recreations, worldly entertainment, idle talk, unprofitable company,

or sleep rob you of your precious time.

Be more careful to escape that person, action or course of life which would rob you of your time than you would be to escape thieves and robbers.

Make sure that you are not merely never idle, but rather that you are using your time in the most profitable way that you can, and do not prefer a less profitable way before one of greater profit.

Eating and Drinking

Eat and drink with moderation and thankfulness for health, not for unprofitable pleasure. Never please your appetite in food or drink, when it is prone to be detrimental to your health.

Remember the sin of Sodom: "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food and abundance of idleness" Ezekiel 16:49.

The Apostle Paul wept when he mentioned those "whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame who set their minds on earthly things, being enemies to the cross of Christ" Philippians 3:18-19. O then do not live according to the flesh, lest you die! (Romans 8:13).

Prevailing Sins

If any temptation prevails against you, and you fall into any sins in addition to habitual failures, immediately lament it and confess it to God; repent quickly whatever the cost. It will certainly cost you more if you continue in sin and remain unrepentant.

Do not make light of your habitual failures, but confess them and daily strive against them, taking care not to aggravate them by unrepentance and contempt.

Relationships

Remember every day, the special duties of various relationships: whether as husbands, wives, children, masters, servants, pastors, people, magistrates, subjects.

Remember every relationship has its special duty and its advantage for the doing of some good. God requires your faithfulness in this matter, as well as in any other duty.

Closing the Day

Before returning to sleep, it is wise and necessary to review the actions and mercies of the day past, so that you may be thankful for all the special mercies, and humbled for all your sins.

This is necessary in order that you might renew your repentance as well as your resolve for obedience, and in order that you may examine yourself to see whether your soul grew better or worse, whether sin goes down and grace goes up, and whether you are better prepared for suffering, death and eternity.

May these directions be engraved upon your mind and be made the daily practice of your life.

If sincerely adhered to, these will be conducive to the holiness, fruitfulness and quietness of your life, and bring you to a comfortable and peaceful death.

[Richard Baxter]