Judas The Preacher

To obey the truth, and not to know it is impossible. To know the truth and not obey it is unprofitable. Saving knowledge is not as the light of the moon to sleep by; but as the light of the sun to work by. It is not a loiterer in the marketplace but a laborer in the vineyard.  A man may be a great scholar and yet be a great sinner. Judas the traitor was Judas the preacher! 

The snake which has a pearl in its head has poison in its body! The tree of knowledge has often been planted and flourished where the tree of life never grew! All abilities and gifts without grace and holiness are but like Uriah's letters, which were the death warrants of those who carried them! 

Mere head knowledge will be as unhelpful to the soul, in the judgment day as a painted fire is unhelpful to the frozen body, in a cold day. Theoretical knowledge may make the head giddy, but it will never make the heart holy. How many professors are there, who have light enough to know what should be done but have not love enough to do what they know! 

Give me the Christian who perfectly sees the way he should go and readily goes the way he sees! That is barren ground which brings forth no fruit. "To him who knows to do good and does it not to him it is sin." (James 4:17) The sins of ignorance are most numerous, but the sins of knowledge are most dangerous! That sinner's darkness will be the greatest in hell whose light was the clearest on earth! 

There are many who set a crown of glory upon the head of Christ by a good profession and yet put a crown of thorns upon his head by an evil conversation. By the words of our mouth, we may affect to adore religion; but it is by the works of our lives that we adorn religion. As trees without fruits are unprofitable so knowledge without good works is abominable! Leah and Rachel are fit emblems of knowledge and obedience. Knowledge, like Rachel is beautiful. But obedience, like Leah is fruitful. 

[William Secker]

John 13:17 ... If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

James 1:22 ... But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Matthew 7:21 ... Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ❤

Herd of Swine!!

The generality of people are like dead fish which float down the stream wherever it runs. The "voice of the people," is often the voice of the devil. Satan's herd of swine is larger than Christ's flock of sheep! Let them be ever so mighty, we are not to fear them. Let them be ever so many, we are not to follow them. If we will not have the people of the world to be our leaders, we shall be sure to have them as our troublers. If they cannot seduce us into their evil ways, they will oppose us in our holy ways. If they cannot scorch us with their fire, they will try to blacken us with their smoke. They will speak evil of us, because we do not run into the same excess of evil with them.  Because we refuse to play the fool with them, they will say that we are mad. "Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only the remnant will be saved." (Romans 9:27) 

The whole piece belongs to the Devil, but God cuts off a remnant for Himself! The trees of righteousness are thinly planted, in the world's orchard. There are many wicked sinners, to one godly man! Pebbles lie abundant in the streets, but pearls are rare to find. Sinners are certainly the greatest company, but they are also the worst company. Remember, the multitude of people, are like the droves of cattle, which go to the slaughter! Those who follow after others in sinning, will be sure to follow them in suffering! Alas, the largeness of the multitude, will not extinguish the fierceness of the flame! The great number of those immortal faggots will but intensify the fury of the eternal fire! 

[William Secker] 

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Exodus 23:2 ... Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:

Matthew 7:13-14 ...  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. ❤

Streams of Defilement!

Until we taste the bitterness of our own misery, we will never relish the sweetness of God's mercy. Until we see how foul our sins have made us, we will never pay our tribute of praise to Christ for washing us. Outward acts are most scandalous among men, but inward lusts are most atrocious before God! 

Reader! if you would know the heart of your sin then you must know the sins of your heart! These streams of defilement which appear in your life do but show what a fountain of wickedness there is in your heart! Even the "thought of foolishness is sin!" There is no sin so little as not to kindle an eternal fire! "When sin has conceived it brings forth death!" Sin's first-born is death and its last-born is hell. 

[William Secker] 

Matthew 15:19-20 ... For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

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The Puddle of Their Own Merit!

Many have passed the rocks of gross sins, who have suffered shipwreck upon the sands of self-righteousness. It was the saying of one, that he "would swim through a sea of brimstone, if he might but arrive safely at Heaven.  Ah, how would natural men soar to Heaven, upon the pinions of their own merit!  The sunbeams of Divine justice will soon melt such weak and wax wings! 

He who has no better righteousness than what is of his own providing, shall meet with no higher happiness than what is of his own deserving. "They disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness." (Romans 10:3) They are determined to sail in their own ship, though they sink in the ocean! 

We are so far from paying the utmost farthing, that at our utmost, we have not even a farthing to pay! That man will be a miserable spectacle of vanity, who stands upon the lame feet of his own ability! Duties are but dry pits, though ever so meticulously wrought, until Christ fills them. 

Reader, I would neither have you be idle in duties, nor make an idol of duties. What are duties without Christ, but like a fine cabinet without a jewel, or a golden cup without a cordial? The most diligent saint, has been the most self-distrusting saint: "that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." (Philippians 3:9)

If you are found in your own righteousness, you will be lost by your own righteousness. That garment, which was worn to shreds on Adam's back, will never make a complete covering for you. Duties may be good crutches to go upon, but they are bad Christs to lean upon. It is the greatest disparagement that professors can offer to Christ, to put their services in the scale with His sufferings. The beggarly rags of the first Adam must never be put on with the princely robe of the second Adam! 

Man is a creature too much inclined to warm himself by the sparks of his own fire, though he lies down in eternal flames for kindling them! Though Noah's dove made use of her wings, yet she found no rest but in the ark. Duties can never have too much of our diligence, or too little of our confidence. A believer does not perform good works to live, but he lives to perform good works. He shall have Hell as his debt, who will not take Heaven as a gift. "We boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh." (Philippians 3:3)

A true Christian stand at as great distance from trusting in the best of his services, as in the worst of his sins! He knows that the greatest part of his holiness, will not make the least part of his justifying righteousness. He has unreservedly subscribed to that sentiment, "that when we have done all, we are only unprofitable servants." (Luke 17:10) When we have kept all the commandments, there is one commandment above all to be kept; that is, "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags!" (Isaiah 64:6)

In most of our works, we are abominable sinners; and in the best of our works, we are unprofitable servants. "O Sovereign Lord, I will proclaim Your righteousness, Yours alone!" You see, beloved, the righteousness of Christ is to be magnified, when the righteousness of a Christian is not to be mentioned. It is hard for us to be "nothing in ourselves" amidst all our works; and to be "all things in Christ," amidst all our weakness. To undertake every duty, and yet to overlook every duty, is a lesson which none can learn, but Christ's scholars. 

Our obedience, at best, is like good wine, which relishes of a bad cask. The 'Law of God' will not accept ninety-nine for a hundred. It will not accept the coin of our obedience, either short in quantity, or base in quality. The duty it exacts, is as impossible to be performed in this our fallen state; as the penalty it inflicts, is intolerable to be endured in our eternal state! We do not sail to glory in the salt sea of our own tears, but in the red sea of the Redeemer's blood! 

The Cross of Christ is the only key of paradise! We owe the life of our souls, to the death of our Savior. It was His going into the fiery furnace, which keeps us from going into the devouring flames! Man lives, by death: his natural life is preserved by the death of the creature; and his spiritual life is gained by the death of the Redeemer. Those who carry their vessel of hope to the puddle of their own merit, will never draw the water of comfort, from the fountain of God's mercy! 

 [William Secker]

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God Will Not Throw Away His Jewels!

Lord, I see but enlighten my darkness! Lord, I hear but cure my deafness! Lord, I move but quicken my dullness! Lord, I desire but help my unwillingness! 

Wherever sin proves hateful, it shall not prove hurtful. What an apology does a sorrowful Savior make for His sleeping saints: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak!" (Matthew 26:41) Take a carnal man, and what he can do that he will not do. Take a Christian man, and what he would do that he cannot do. 

God will pity impotency, but He will punish obstinacy. It would be folly, indeed, to think that: our fields have no grain in them, because there is some chaff around the wheat; or that the ore had no gold in it, because there is some dross mixed among it. 

In Heaven, there is service alone, without any sin. In Hell, there is sin alone, without service. But on earth, there is sin and service in the same man, as there is light and shade in the same picture. Above us, there is light without any darkness. Below us, there is darkness without any light. But in this world, it is neither all day nor all night. Though the lowest believer is above the power of sin, yet the highest believer is not above the presence of sin! It is in a living Christian that sin is to be mortified, but it is only in a dying Christian that sin is to be destroyed. When the body and the soul, are separated by mortality; sin and the soul, will then be separated to eternity! 

Sin never ruins, but where it reigns. Sin is not damning, where it is disturbing! The more trouble sin receives from us, the less trouble sin does to us. Sin is only a murderer, where it is a governor! Our graces are our best jewels, but they do not yield their brightest luster in this world. The moon, when she shines brightest, has its spots; and the fire, when it burns the hottest, has its smoke. Sin is an enemy at the Christian's back, but not a friend in his bosom. Although believers should be mournful, because they have infirmities; yet they should be thankful, because they are but infirmities. It is true, they have sin in them, and that should make them sorrowful. 

But it is just as true, that they have a Savior for them, and that should make them joyful. The conduct of a Christian may sometimes be spotted with infirmity, when the heart is sound in the love of sanctity. Jacob halted, and yet was blessed. As his blessing did not take away his halting, so his halting did not keep away his blessing. The heavenly Bridegroom will not put out a believer's candle, because of the dimness of its burning; nor will He overshadow a believer's sun, because of the weakness of its shining. Though that vice may be found in us, for which God might justly damn us; yet that grace is to be found in Him, by which He will justly save us. He does not come with water to extinguish the fire, but with wind to disperse the smoke! As death leaves the body soulless, so death leaves the soul sinless. "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:31)

Poor Peter had faith enough to keep him from drowning, but not enough faith to keep him from doubting. As Alexander's painter could find a finger to conceal the scar on his master's face, so when Jesus Christ draws the picture of the saint's excellency, He can find a covering for all the scars of his infirmities! God will not throw away His jewels, for every speck of dirt which may be on them! 

[William Secker] 

Mark 9:24 ... And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

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If We Were Left To Ourselves

Reader, are there not the same lusts lodging in your heart which are reigning in wicked men's lives? The reason why there is so little self-condemnation, is because there is so little self-examination.

If we were left to ourselves but for a moment, we would destroy ourselves in that moment! We can defile ourselves but we cannot cleanse ourselves. The sheep can go astray alone but can never return to the fold, without the assistance of the shepherd.

[William Secker]

1 Corinthians 4:7 ... For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

John 10:11 ... I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Psalm 23:1-3 ... The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Matthew 18:12-13 ... How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.❤

A Beautiful Face Under a Black Mask

The consistent Christian speak well of God, whatever evil he receives from God. To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them; to bless God for miseries is the way to remove them.

Did not the possession of riches sometimes draw away our hearts then the loss of them would not break our hearts!

God gives before He takes and He takes only what He gives!

The hour-glass of outward happiness soon runs out! Today Job is the richest man in all the east; tomorrow Job is the poorest man in all the world. Yet his heart was like a fruitful paradise when his estate was like a barren wilderness! Though God burnt up his houses yet his palace (his heart) was left standing.

Outward mercies are like the tide which ebbs as well as flows. They are like the sky which sometimes is clear, and at another time clouded. They are like a budding flower which opens on a warm day, and shuts on a cold day. If God bless us in taking as well as in giving; let us bless Him for taking as well as for giving.

That is a choice artist who can play well upon a broken instrument. To be impatient with our affliction and patient with our corruption; is to be angry with the medicine which heals us and in love with the poison which kills us!  Beloved, it is sometimes a mercy to us that God removes outward mercies from us! He never wounds a saint to kill him but to heal him! God does but take that out of your hands which would thrust Him out of your heart!

Too many think that God is cutting down the whole tree when He is but lopping off its wasteful branches. They imagine that He is demolishing the superstructure, when He is only laying a right foundation. Poor souls, He is not nipping the flowers but plucking up the weeds! He is not laying your land fallow but ploughing the field!

God's Providence has a beautiful face under a black mask! God has the fairest ends in the foulest ways! The sheep may be dipped in water to wash it when there is no design in the Good Shepherd to drown it!

Christian reader, you may read the marks of a kind Father in the severe stripes of His children. Every twig of His black rod of affliction is but to draw His lovely image upon you!

 

[William Secker]

 

 

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Job 1:21 ... And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

 

 

 

Job 2:10 .... But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

 

 

 

John 15:2 ... Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

 

 

 

Hebrews 12:6 ... For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

 

 

 

2 Corinthians 4:17 ... For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;❤

These Streams of Defilement

Until we taste the bitterness of our own misery, we will never relish the sweetness of God's mercy. Until we see how foul our sins have made us, we will never pay our tribute of praise to Christ for washing us.

Outward acts are most scandalous among men but inward lusts are most atrocious before God!

Reader! if you would know the heart of your sin, then you must know the sins of your heart! "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are the things that defile a man!" 

These streams of defilement which appear in your life, do but show what a fountain of wickedness there is in your heart! Even the "thought of foolishness is sin!" There is no sin so little as not to kindle an eternal fire!

 

[William Secker]

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Matthew 15:19-20 ... For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

 

 

Jude 1:7 ... Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

 

 

1 John 1:8-9 ... If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.❤

The Consistent Christian

The consistent Christian speak well of God whatever evil he receives from God. To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them; to bless God for miseries is the way to remove them. Did not the possession of riches sometimes draw away our hearts then the loss of them would not break our hearts!  God gives before He takes; and He takes only what He gives!

The hour-glass of outward happiness soon runs out! Today Job is the richest man in all the east; tomorrow Job is the poorest man in all the world. Yet his heart was like a fruitful paradise when his estate was like a barren wilderness! Though God burnt up his houses yet his palace (his heart) was left standing.

Outward mercies are like the tide which ebbs as well as flows. They are like the sky which sometimes is clear, and at another time clouded. They are like a budding flower which opens on a warm day, and shuts on a cold day. If God bless us in taking as well as in giving; let us bless Him for taking as well as for giving.

That is a choice artist who can play well upon a broken instrument. To be impatient with our affliction and patient with our corruption; is to be angry with the medicine which heals us and in love with the poison which kills us!  Beloved, it is sometimes a mercy to us that God removes outward mercies from us! He never wounds a saint to kill him but to heal him! God does but take that out of your hands which would thrust Him out of your heart!

Too many think that God is cutting down the whole tree when He is but lopping off its wasteful branches. They imagine that He is demolishing the superstructure, when He is only laying a right foundation. Poor souls, He is not nipping the flowers but plucking up the weeds! He is not laying your land fallow but ploughing the field!

God's Providence has a beautiful face under a black mask! God has the fairest ends in the foulest ways! The sheep may be dipped in water to wash it when there is no design in the Good Shepherd to drown it!

Christian reader, you may read the marks of a kind Father in the severe stripes of His children.  Every twig of His black rod of affliction is but to draw His lovely image upon you!

 

[William Secker]

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Job :21 ... And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

 

Job 1:10 ... Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.


John 15:2 ... Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.❤

The Puddle of Their Own Merit

Many have passed the rocks of gross sins who have suffered shipwreck upon the sands of self-righteousness. It was the saying of one, that he "would swim through a sea of brimstone if he might but arrive safely at heaven." Ah, how would natural men soar to heaven upon the pinions of their own merit!

 

The sunbeams of Divine justice will soon melt such weak and wax wings! He who has no better righteousness than what is of his own providing, shall meet with no higher happiness than what is of his own deserving. "They disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness." They are determined to sail in their own ship though they sink in the ocean!

 

We are so far from paying the utmost farthing, that at our utmost we have not even a farthing to pay! That man will be a miserable spectacle of vanity who stands upon the lame feet of his own ability!

 

Duties are but dry pits, though ever so meticulously wrought until Christ fills them. Reader, I would neither have you be idle in duties nor make an idol of duties. What are duties without Christ but like a fine cabinet without a jewel or a golden cup without a cordial? The most diligent saint has been the most self-distrusting saint, "that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ he righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

 

If you are found in your own righteousness, you will be lost by your own righteousness. That garment which was worn to shreds on Adam's back ill never make a complete covering for you. Duties may be good crutches to go upon but they are bad Christs to lean upon. It is the greatest disparagement that professors can offer to Christ to put their services in the scale with His sufferings. The beggarly rags of the first Adam—must never be put on with the princely robe of the second Adam!

 

[William Secker]

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1 Corinthians 15:47-48 ... The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

 

 

Galatians 2:16 ... Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

John 15:5 ... I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ❤