Who Do You Really Choose?

What the object of the love of the heart is object of the choice of the will. And such as is the choice of your wills such are you. If you choose the world before Christ, I dare boldly to call you a worldly man! If you choose pleasures before Christ, I dare confidently to declare you a voluptuous man! But if Christ is chosen before all other things I may term you to be a truly holy man. 

Suppose then the world, and all the riches thereof, and all the honors and the pleasures of it, were set on the one hand and Christ on the other hand. Which would you really choose? It is an easy thing to say that you would choose Christ, and not the world. But my question is: Which you would really choose? 

Can you say, and appeal to God who knows your heart: "Lord, you who know all things You know that I choose Christ before riches, Christ before pleasures, liberty, life, or anything that is dear unto me in this world. You know that I would rather have Christ without the world than the world without Christ. You know that I would rather have the Lord Jesus with disgrace, with poverty, and with the cross than all the treasures of the world!" This must be a man's choice, or he cannot be said to have sincere love to Jesus Christ. If Jesus is not loved above all, He is not sincerely loved at all! 

[Thomas Doolittle]

Matthew 6:24 ... No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Isaiah 41:10 ... Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. ❤

The Whole Counsel

We preach to people who must live forever, in Heaven, or Hell; with God, or devils; in an eternity of joy, or of torment!

[Thomas Doolittle]

1 Timothy 4:16 … Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.❤

Loved Above ALL

If Jesus is not loved above all, He is not sincerely loved at all.

There might be love of other things subordinate to the love of Christ, but not equal with it, much less superior to it. You might love your friends, and love your enjoyments, and love the comforts of your life but you must love Christ above all. The love of these must be swallowed up in the love of Christ, and be subordinate unto it.

A man who does not love Christ more than sin, and more than pleasures and profits has no sincere love to Christ, nor shall he be saved by Him.

"Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them He said: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:25-27)

That is, a true disciple of Christ must and ought to love these things less than Christ and Christ with prevailing degrees of love. True love in the heart to Christ makes it incline more to Christ, than to all other things!

[Thomas Doolittle]

Matthew 10:37 … He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Ephesians 6:24 … Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

✫❤•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫...•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫...•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫

Hatred of Sin

True hatred to sin must be mortal and destructive to sin. Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand then will I slay my brother Jacob!" (Genesis 27:41)

Just so, the lover of Christ, who hates sin, is resolved to the destruction of it. Shall not I aim at the death of that cursed sin which was the death of my blessed Lord?

Shall I allow that sin to live in my heart which would not allow Christ to live in the world? Did sin shed my Savior's blood and shall not I be avenged on my sin? Did sin make my Savior groan, and sweat in a bloody agony and shall I take delight therein?

My sins were the nails that fastened Him to the cross, the spear that pierced His blessed side, and the thorns that crowned His sacred head! And shall I lodge sin in my bosom? Did Christ in love unto my soul die for my sin; and shall not I, in love unto my Lord put my sin to death?

Reader! Can you indulge in sin and your soul not sigh, nor sob, nor grieve, nor groan? Can you sin and make a sport at it, like a fool? "Fools make a mock at sin!" (Proverbs 14:9.) Oh loveless sinner! Did Christ bleed for sin and do you laugh at it? Was Christ serious, and His soul sorrowful even to the death for sin and do you make a sport of it?

If the fire of love to Christ were kindled in your bosom would not the waters of sorrow run down your cheeks, and make you say: "Oh! What have I done that I so long have slighted my loving Lord? Oh! What did I mean to stop my ears against His calls of love and mercy; that I let Him stand outside my heart when the world and Satan were admitted in? Did my Lord Jesus suffer for my sins, should I then continue sinning against my suffering Lord? Was He nailed to the tree for my sake and must I yet wound Him more? Oh! that I could behold my bleeding Lord with a weeping eye! I am grieved, dear Savior, I am grieved to remember how I slighted You, and trampled Your royal commands under my feet. O Lord, I blush and am ashamed, that I spurned Your tender compassion, that I undervalued Your invaluable love and preferred the rubbish of this poor world, before such an incomparable Savior!"

Have you a sea of sin and not a drop of sorrow for it? Surely you are the man who has not one ounce of sincere love to Jesus Christ!

[Thomas Doolittle]

Romans 12:9 ... Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

✫❤•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫...•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫...•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫

Preach!

We preach to people who must live forever in Heaven or Hell; with God or devils; in an eternity of joy or of torment.

[Thomas Doolittle]

Deuteronomy 30:19 … I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

2 Timothy 4:2 … Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

John 17:3 … And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.❤

They Love Their Very Beasts

Some openly declare by their actions and manner of conduct that they do not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Some openly pretend love to Christ, but really have no true love unto Him.  Love to Christ is in their mouth but love to the world is in their heart!  Some say that they love him but God knows they do not. No!

Do you know how great a sin this is? Why then do you make so light of it? Why then are you no more ashamed, that you lack this love to the Lord Jesus Christ?   What! Do you love your gold and not your God?  Or do you make your gold your god and then love your gold, instead of loving the true God? Can you love your silver and not the precious Savior?

You are bound to love your very enemies and yet you have no love to Him who would be your surest, greatest, and most faithful Friend!  What shall I say? Lord, I am ashamed, and blush to say that which is true of too many men that they love their very beasts, their dog, their horse, and their cattle and yet will not be prevailed upon to love your Son, your only Son, your beloved Son!

Nay, what shall I say? You love your heinous lusts and filthy sins, which will destroy and damn you forever and yet have no love for the Lord Jesus, who would save you from your sins, and from Hell forever. What can I say? You do not love Christ because you love your sin so much!

Oh horrid shame! You love deformity and not beauty! Where are your eyes man? Surely your love to sin is blind.  Oh monstrous iniquity! You love that which is worst of all and not Him who is best of all!

Where is your reason? Has sin bereaved you of your wits? Oh madness and folly! Are you so fond of sin as to be damned for it? Are you so foolishly fond of this world--that you choose to be hated by God, and banished out of His glorious presence forever? Is your soul so clogged with flesh, and sunk so deep into it--that it can rise no higher than to love sensual, earthly, and fleshly delights and pleasures?

[Thomas Doolittle]

  ✞ ✞ ✞

John 5:42 ... But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

Ezekiel 33:31 ... And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

1 Corinthians 16:22 ... If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. ❤

Hellish Sin!

What! not love the Lord! Hellish sin! What! not love Jesus! Stupendous wickedness!  What! not love Christ! Monstrous impiety!  Not love Him who is both Lord, and Jesus, and Christ! What name might we call him by? Is he a man or a beast? Is he a man or a devil?

Do you love the world and not Him? Do you love sin and not him? This may be the astonishment of the heavens, the amazement of the earth, the wonder of angels, the joy of devils, the burden of the creation of God. The earth groans to bear them; the sun is grieved to give light unto them; the air laments to be sucked into sin-filthy bodies, wherein are more filthy souls because they are void of the love of Christ! Yes, all this world looks more like Hell than Heaven, because of the swarms of men therein who have no sincere love to Jesus Christ.

Let all who are not sensual beasts, or incarnate devils, who have the understanding and hearts of men stand and wonder that a man should deny Christ his love. Good Lord! What a thing is this! What cursed wickedness is this! What wonder that you behold such a sight as this a man without love unto your Son and allow him to continue to be a man; or do not make him a sick man, a poor man, a tormented pained man on earth, or a damned man in Hell!

[Thomas Doolittle]

  ✞✞✞

1 Corinthians 16:22 ... If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

Romans 12:9 ...  Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

Psalm 45:7 ... Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Matthew 22:37 ... Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.❤

No Eye Has Seen ...

The lovers of Christ have great preparations made by God Himself, for their happiness in the eternal world.  For all the lovers of the world, and sin, and vanity, wrath and Hell are prepared!  But for the lovers of Christ, such things are prepared as transcend the most refined mind to conceive, the most eloquent tongue to express, or the ablest pen to describe!  The eye of man has seen admirable things, coasts of pearl, golden mines, stately monuments, kingly palaces but never has eye seen such things as God has prepared for those who love Him.

The mind of man can conceive more than the eye has seen, or the ear has heard. It can imagine all pebbles to be pearls, all the earth to be a silver heap, the sea to be liquid gold, the air to be transparent crystal, and every candle to be a star!  And if all these were so they would be but as a grain of sand, compared to a mountain, a beam of light, compared to the sun,  a drop, compared to the ocean, a grain, compared to a golden mine, when compared with the things that are prepared for such as love God and Christ! For those things are so great that they cannot be measured;  so many that they cannot be numbered;  so precious that they cannot be valued;  so durable and lasting that they can never be ended!

They exceed our faith! They are beyond our hope and above our desires! They might be possessed hereafter but they cannot be comprehended here, because for sublimity they are incomprehensible, for transcendence they are inexplicable, for glory they are unutterable,  for sweetness they are inconceivable, for sureness they are unquestionable, for fullness they are immeasurable, for firmness they are unmovable, for lastingness they are unchangeable!

[Thomas Doolittle]

1 Corinthians 2:9 ... But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  ❤

The Most Suitable Good

A thing is desirable, because it is suitable. The suitableness of the object allures our desires and love.

Suitableness is the ground of love. A thing might be good in itself, yet, if we apprehend no suitableness in it to us then the love of our hearts is not upon it. Therefore, in pain and sickness, a man judges ease and health to be better for him than gold and silver because they are more suitable. A man in hunger and thirst, esteems bread and water to be better than honors and pleasures because they are more suitable.

Love to Christ is grounded on the soul discerning the suitableness of Christ unto him. He says, "Food is not more suitable to a hungry man, nor medicine to a sick man, nor clothing to a naked man than Christ is to me, a poor, sinful, and lost man, an undone, perishing, and damned man! For I am naked and He will give clothe me with His perfect righteousness, I am blind and He will restore my spiritual sight, I am enslaved to sin and Satan and He will give me liberty,  I am lost and He will save me, I am guilty and He will pardon me, I am polluted and He will cleanse me, I am an enemy to God and He will reconcile me, I am ignorant and He will teach me, I am indebted and He will be my Surety,  I am poor and He will make me wealthy to all eternity, I am a stranger to God and He bring me into acquaintance with Him, I am unfit for Heaven and He will make me fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Love to Christ includes a discovery of Christ unto the soul, as the most suitable good.  In poverty, Christ will be my riches. In disgrace, Christ will be my honor. In bonds and mprisonment, Christ will be my liberty. In pain, Christ will be my comfort. In death, Christ will be my life. In the loss of all things, Christ will be better to me than the enjoyment of all these things!

Though I have riches yet I might be damned. But if I have Christ then I shall be saved!  Though men admire me yet God might loathe me. But if I have Christ then the Lord will love me!  Though I prosper in the world, in all my pomp I might be walking in the way to everlasting misery!  But if I have Christ He will lead me in the paths unto eternal glory!

Look, O my soul, look around about you, and you shall find none so suitable to you, as the lovely Savior. Then He alone shall have my best love. Is there none for me like Him? Then I will fix my love on Him!

[Thomas Doolittle]

✞✞✞

Colossians 3:11 ... Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Ephesians 4:6 ... One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Romans 8:39 ... Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.❤

Motive to Love Jesus

What shall I say to advance Jesus in your esteem, that you might love him?  Is he not a 'comprehensive' good?  Eminently all?  There is no goodness in the creature, but it is formally, or virtually, in Jesus.  Is there wisdom in the creature?  There is more in Jesus.  Is there beauty or power in the creature?  There is much more in Jesus.

Jesus is "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). This is the One whom I beg you to love. This is he who is altogether lovely and desirable. Consider now, I plead with you: can you ever imagine a better offer than Jesus? Can you find a better match for your soul? Can you say all this, the one half of this, any one of all these things, concerning the objects you have loved previous to Jesus?  

Oh then say, 'I never understood the loveliness of Christ before this!' How has sin fooled me! How has the world bewitched me! And how has my foolish wicked heart deceived me, that I have lavished my love upon the creature, and sin, when there was a Christ to love! Such a Christ to love! Such a good as is not to be found in all the world!  Now he alone shall have my love, my heart, my all!

[Thomas Doolittle]

Song of Solomon 5:16 ... His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Colossians 1:19-20 ... For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.


Colossians 2:9-10 ...  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:❤