Self-Righteousness # 3
3. In the third place let us attend to the difference in the PRAYERS of these two characters. Hear the PHARISEE: "God, I thank you that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers - or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I possess." Mark these words: there is no expression of any need here; he seems perfectly self-satisfied; he recites complacently what he is not, and he proudly brings forward what he is. Remember, beloved, there is ground for much thankfulness if God enables us to resist gross sins - but then there is no excuse for boasting. None of us have anything which we did not receive, and we cannot do better than follow the example of Paul, who said, "By the grace of God I am what I am."
But the Pharisee had none of this spirit. He was wrong on every point. He was wrong in supposing, as he evidently did, that his own power and strength had kept him from these vices; he was wrong in believing that he could lay any claim to the title of a perfect observer of the law on these points. It is one thing to keep God's commandments in the letter, and another to keep them in the spirit. The one may think they do, like this Pharisee - but the other no man ever did but our Lord Jesus Christ. "In many things we offend all," says James. "Who can tell how often he offends? O cleanse me from my secret faults," is the language of the psalmist.
Lastly, he was wrong in supposing that his external fulfillment of the law would give him a title to justification in the sight of God. Salvation is all of grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified."
But the Pharisee, besides this, was especially wrong in going out of his way to make unnecessary and uncharitable remarks upon the tax collector. He talks like one who had no account to settle about his own soul; he assumes as a matter of course that the tax collector was more vile in God's sight than himself. And he proves himself a child of the devil by usurping satan's office - he becomes an accuser of his brethren. "I am not as other men are - or even as this tax collector."
Beloved, I must call your particular attention to this language, for I declare unto you with grief that I have heard people say things, which in effect are very much the same about themselves, who yet profess and call themselves Christians. Many say, if they are urged about their own sinfulness in God's sight, "Well, at any rate I am no worse than my neighbors: I am thankful I do not drink, like such a one next door. I am no fornicator, like such a one down the way. I do not miss church altogether, like such a one who lives down the road." Listen to me, I beseech you: Is not this the very mind of the Pharisee? You are not to be judged by the standard of those around you; it will be no excuse before God to talk about your neighbors - sin is sin whether you live in it in company or alone. Be sure that it will not diminish your misery in the bottomless pit, to find that all your neighbors are there as well as yourself. Oh, beloved, beware of this delusion; not a few allow such thoughts to dwell within them, who never express them with their lips, and even in the presence of God they flatter themselves they are acceptable to Him, because they are free from open and gross vices, and perform certain known duties. All such are Pharisees; they use the Pharisee's prayer, and they will meet with the Pharisee's reception at the hand of God.
Hearken now to the TAX COLLECTOR. "He smote upon his bosom, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." He does not say 'Be merciful to all sinners," thus leaving it doubtful whether he means himself or not - but "Be merciful tome," a sinner in whom there is no health, in whom there is no good thing - a sinner in thoughts, word and deed; and he gives the ground of his hope too, not like some among you, who hope to be forgiven without exactly knowing how or why.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Justification # 2
Justification # 2
2. Let me show you, in the next place, the FOUNTAIN from which true peace is drawn. That fountain is justification.
The peace of the true Christian is not a vague, dreamy feeling, without reason and without foundation. He can show cause for it. He builds upon solid ground. He has peace with God, because he is justified. Without justification it is impossible to have real peace with God. Conscience forbids it. Sin is a mountain between a man and God, and must be taken away. The sense of guilt lies heavy on the heart, and must be removed. Unpardoned sin will murder peace. The true Christian knows all this well. His peace arises from a consciousness of his sins being forgiven, and his guilt being put away. His house is not built on sandy ground. His well is not a broken cistern, which can hold no water. He has peace with God, because he is justified.
He is justified, and his sins are forgiven. However many, and however great, they are cleansed away, pardoned, and wiped out. They are blotted out of the book of God's remembrance. They are sunk into the depths of the sea. They are cast behind God's back. They are searched for and not found. They are remembered no more. Though they may have been like scarlet, they are become white as snow; though they may have been red like crimson, they are as wool. And so he has peace.
He is justified and counted righteous in God's sight. The Father sees no spot in him, and reckons him innocent. He is clothed in a robe of perfect righteousness, and may sit down by the side of a holy God without feeling ashamed. The holy law of God, which touches the thoughts and intents of men's hearts, cannot condemn him. The devil, "the accuser of the brethren," can lay nothing to his charge, to prevent his full acquittal. And so he has peace.
Is he not naturally a poor, weak, erring, defective sinner? He is! None knows that better than he does himself. But notwithstanding this, he is reckoned complete, perfect, and faultless before God, for he is justified!
Is he not naturally a debtor? He is! None feels that more deeply than he does himself. He owes ten thousand talents, and has nothing of his own to pay. But his debts are all paid, settled, and crossed out forever, for he is justified!
is he not naturally liable to the curse of a broken law? He is! None would confess that more readily than he would himself. But the demands of the law have been fully satisfied - the claims of justice have been met to the last tittle, and he is justified!
Does he not naturally deserve punishment? He does! None would acknowledge that more fully than he would himself. But the punishment has been borne. The wrath of God against sin has been made manifest. Yet he has escaped, and is justified!
Does anyone who is reading this paper know anything of all this? Are you justified? Do you feel as if you were pardoned, forgiven, and accepted before God? Can you draw near to Him with boldness, and say, "You are my Father and my Friend, and I am Your reconciled child"? Oh, believe me, you will never taste true peace until you are justified!
Where are your sins? Are they removed and taken away from off your soul? Have they been reckoned for, and accounted for, in God's presence? Oh, be very sure these questions are of the most solemn importance! A peace of conscience not built on justification, is a perilous dream. From such a false peace the Lord deliver you!
Settle it in your mind that there can be no peace with God, unless we feel that we are justified. We must know what has become of our sins. We must have a reasonable hope that they are forgiven, and put away. We must have the witness of our conscience that we are reckoned not guilty before God. Without this it is vain to talk of peace with God. We have nothing but the deception and imitation of it. "There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked" (Isa. 57:21).
Did you ever hear the sound of the trumpets which are blown before the judges, as they come into a city to open the Courts? Did you ever reflect how different are the feelings which these trumpets awaken in the minds of different people? The innocent man, who has no cause to be tried, hears them unmoved. They proclaim no terrors to him. He listens and looks on quietly, and is not afraid. But often there is some poor wretch, waiting his trial in a silent cell, to whom those trumpets are a knell of despair. They warn him that the day of trial is at hand. Yet a little time and he will stand at the bar of justice, and hear witness after witness telling the story of his misdeeds. Yet a little time, and all will be over -the trial, the verdict, and the sentence - and there will remain nothing for him but punishment and disgrace. No wonder the prisoner's heart beats quickly, when he hears that trumpet's sound!
There is a day fast coming when all who are not justified shall despair in like manner. The voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God shall scatter to the winds the false peace which now buoys up many a soul. The day of judgment shall convince thousands of self-willed people too late, that it needs something more than a few beautiful ideas about "God's love and mercy," to reconcile a man to his Maker, and to deliver his guilty soul from the bottomless pit. No hope shall stand in that solemn day but the hope of the justified man. No peace shall prove solid, substantial, and unbroken - but the peace which is built on justification.
Is this peace your own? Rest not, rest not, if you love life, until you know and feel that you are a justified man. Think not that this is a mere matter of names and words. Flatter not yourself with the idea that justification is an "abstruse and difficult subject," and that you may go to heaven will enough without knowing anything about it. Make up you mind to the great truth that there can be no heaven without peace with God - and no peace with God without justification. And then give your soul no rest until you area justified person.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
2. Let me show you, in the next place, the FOUNTAIN from which true peace is drawn. That fountain is justification.
The peace of the true Christian is not a vague, dreamy feeling, without reason and without foundation. He can show cause for it. He builds upon solid ground. He has peace with God, because he is justified. Without justification it is impossible to have real peace with God. Conscience forbids it. Sin is a mountain between a man and God, and must be taken away. The sense of guilt lies heavy on the heart, and must be removed. Unpardoned sin will murder peace. The true Christian knows all this well. His peace arises from a consciousness of his sins being forgiven, and his guilt being put away. His house is not built on sandy ground. His well is not a broken cistern, which can hold no water. He has peace with God, because he is justified.
He is justified, and his sins are forgiven. However many, and however great, they are cleansed away, pardoned, and wiped out. They are blotted out of the book of God's remembrance. They are sunk into the depths of the sea. They are cast behind God's back. They are searched for and not found. They are remembered no more. Though they may have been like scarlet, they are become white as snow; though they may have been red like crimson, they are as wool. And so he has peace.
He is justified and counted righteous in God's sight. The Father sees no spot in him, and reckons him innocent. He is clothed in a robe of perfect righteousness, and may sit down by the side of a holy God without feeling ashamed. The holy law of God, which touches the thoughts and intents of men's hearts, cannot condemn him. The devil, "the accuser of the brethren," can lay nothing to his charge, to prevent his full acquittal. And so he has peace.
Is he not naturally a poor, weak, erring, defective sinner? He is! None knows that better than he does himself. But notwithstanding this, he is reckoned complete, perfect, and faultless before God, for he is justified!
Is he not naturally a debtor? He is! None feels that more deeply than he does himself. He owes ten thousand talents, and has nothing of his own to pay. But his debts are all paid, settled, and crossed out forever, for he is justified!
is he not naturally liable to the curse of a broken law? He is! None would confess that more readily than he would himself. But the demands of the law have been fully satisfied - the claims of justice have been met to the last tittle, and he is justified!
Does he not naturally deserve punishment? He does! None would acknowledge that more fully than he would himself. But the punishment has been borne. The wrath of God against sin has been made manifest. Yet he has escaped, and is justified!
Does anyone who is reading this paper know anything of all this? Are you justified? Do you feel as if you were pardoned, forgiven, and accepted before God? Can you draw near to Him with boldness, and say, "You are my Father and my Friend, and I am Your reconciled child"? Oh, believe me, you will never taste true peace until you are justified!
Where are your sins? Are they removed and taken away from off your soul? Have they been reckoned for, and accounted for, in God's presence? Oh, be very sure these questions are of the most solemn importance! A peace of conscience not built on justification, is a perilous dream. From such a false peace the Lord deliver you!
Settle it in your mind that there can be no peace with God, unless we feel that we are justified. We must know what has become of our sins. We must have a reasonable hope that they are forgiven, and put away. We must have the witness of our conscience that we are reckoned not guilty before God. Without this it is vain to talk of peace with God. We have nothing but the deception and imitation of it. "There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked" (Isa. 57:21).
Did you ever hear the sound of the trumpets which are blown before the judges, as they come into a city to open the Courts? Did you ever reflect how different are the feelings which these trumpets awaken in the minds of different people? The innocent man, who has no cause to be tried, hears them unmoved. They proclaim no terrors to him. He listens and looks on quietly, and is not afraid. But often there is some poor wretch, waiting his trial in a silent cell, to whom those trumpets are a knell of despair. They warn him that the day of trial is at hand. Yet a little time and he will stand at the bar of justice, and hear witness after witness telling the story of his misdeeds. Yet a little time, and all will be over -the trial, the verdict, and the sentence - and there will remain nothing for him but punishment and disgrace. No wonder the prisoner's heart beats quickly, when he hears that trumpet's sound!
There is a day fast coming when all who are not justified shall despair in like manner. The voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God shall scatter to the winds the false peace which now buoys up many a soul. The day of judgment shall convince thousands of self-willed people too late, that it needs something more than a few beautiful ideas about "God's love and mercy," to reconcile a man to his Maker, and to deliver his guilty soul from the bottomless pit. No hope shall stand in that solemn day but the hope of the justified man. No peace shall prove solid, substantial, and unbroken - but the peace which is built on justification.
Is this peace your own? Rest not, rest not, if you love life, until you know and feel that you are a justified man. Think not that this is a mere matter of names and words. Flatter not yourself with the idea that justification is an "abstruse and difficult subject," and that you may go to heaven will enough without knowing anything about it. Make up you mind to the great truth that there can be no heaven without peace with God - and no peace with God without justification. And then give your soul no rest until you area justified person.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
The Chief End of Life # 4
The Chief End of Life # 4
Young men and women, we implore you to give this subject your serious consideration. You, like ourselves, are just setting out on life's eventful journey. O say, should there be no plan laid down, no purpose formed for such a course? Shall life be aimless, objectless, meaningless? What life? Shall we trust to incidents and casualties as they spring up - for our plan of action? Shall we float down the stream of existence like twigs on the river, and lie at the mercy of whatever can lay hold upon us? Shall mere chance form our character, select our objects, guide our conduct? Remember, we can have but one life. All, all, for a time and for eternity too, is staked upon that one throw of the dice, and embarked in that one adventure. Character and destiny for this world and the next are involved in this one life. A misspent life can never be spent over again! It is a mistake which will require everlasting ages to understand and deplore it.
If you hesitate about our choice of the end of existence, will you allow us respectfully and affectionately to inquire what you would propose instead of it? What have you found so immensely valuable, that it is more worthy of your pursuit than that which we have set before you? If it is indeed better than ours, more deserving the regard of a rational, moral, and immortal being than religion and eternal salvation, tell it to us, that we may rise to a higher dignity and bliss than we have yet reached.
Do you say that your object is "To succeed in business, and to obtain WEALTH?" We are not indifferent to this as a subordinate object, and we believe, as we have already said, that our religion will rather help than hinder us in the attainment of it. But as a supreme object of existence - it is too uncertain as to its attainment, too unsatisfying as regards its nature, and too precarious as to its tenure, and too short-lived as to its continuance, to be our supreme end. We have not seen much of life, but we have seen enough to learn that many fail in business, where one succeeds; and that the few who succeed seem by no means the happiest. And we have also been often sadly impressed and affected by the spectacle of the successful competitor for business and wealth, cut off by death - just when the time had arrived for enjoying his gains and luxuriating in ease upon the profits of his industry. The announcement made to the successful man, congratulating himself upon his acquisitions and his prospects, "You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared - whose will they be?" has often rung in our ears.
Is it PLEASURE your propose as the end of life? No man is less likely to enjoy pleasure than he who lives for it, who makes it a business and profession. We have not only heard and read, but have seen, that a taste for pleasure in youth is the way to poverty in manhood, and misery in old age.
We would here present you with one of the most affecting scenes ever exhibited even in the martyrology of pleasure's victims. It is taken from the death-bed of that accomplished poet, and as accomplished libertine, Lord Byron; a man in whom the darkest passions of the soul, the loftiest powers of imagination, and the grossest propensities of man's animal nature, struggled for preeminence. One who was a spectator of the scene writes:
"He felt assured that his bodily constitution had been irretrievably ruined by intemperance; that he was a worn-out man; and that his muscular power was gone. Flashes before his eyes, palpitations and anxieties, hourly afflicted him. 'Do you suppose,' he said with impatience, 'that I wish for life? I have grown heartily sick of it, and shall welcome the hour I depart from it. Why should I regret it? Can it afford me any pleasure? Have I not enjoyed it to the fullest? Few men can more pleasure-loving than I have done. I am literally speaking, a young old man. Hardly arrived at manhood, I had attained the zenith of fame. Pleasure I have known under every form in which it can present itself to mortals. I had traveled, satisfied my curiosity, and lost every illusion. I have exhausted all the nectar of the cup of life: it is time to throw away the dregs. But the apprehension of two things now haunts my mind: I picture myself slowly expiring on a bed of torture, or terminating my days as a sad idiot! Would to heaven the day were come in which I should meet immediate, painless death - the object of my wishes.'
"It is with infinite regret," continues the writer, "I must state, that, although I seldom left Lord Byron's pillow during the latter part of his illness, I did not hear him make any, even the smallest, mention of true religion. At one moment I heard him say, "Shall I sue for mercy?" After a long pause, he added, "Come, come, no weakness. Let's be a man to the last."
Thus terminated, in a gloomy,sullen fit of infidelity and despair. All of his rank, wealth, genius had been sacrificed to skepticism - and its natural fruits, vice, and misery. He had made pleasure his deity, and now see in what a miserable condition his god leaves him. What an antidote does his death furnish to the poison of his life! Is there anything here to tempt us to infidelity and wicked pleasure?
Perhaps you propose mental cultivation and the acquisition of KNOWLEDGE as the great end of life. We say nothing against learning,science, and the arts. We profess to admire them,and to have some taste for them. We have drunk at their springs, and often bitterly regret that our circumstances forbid us to partake more largely of their delicious waters. But then what will these do for us, in supplying the deeper needs of our moral nature, healing its diseases, or in satisfying its higher aspirations? Can they obtain for us the renovation of our corrupt hearts, the pardon of our numerous sins, the forfeited favor of God, assistance in our struggles after holiness, consolation in the dark and dreary hour of human woe, guidance amidst the perplexities of life,and protection from its dangers?
Or, as may be the case, should we be cut off in life's sweet prime, will they stand by our dying bed, smooth its pillows, and comfort us in the prospect of the grave? Will they qualify us to go in and dwell with God in heaven, and partake of the glories of immortality? Shall we in looking back upon life so early brought to a close, and in looking on to eternity so near at hand, feel that in studying science and neglecting true religion, we have answered the end of life?
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
Young men and women, we implore you to give this subject your serious consideration. You, like ourselves, are just setting out on life's eventful journey. O say, should there be no plan laid down, no purpose formed for such a course? Shall life be aimless, objectless, meaningless? What life? Shall we trust to incidents and casualties as they spring up - for our plan of action? Shall we float down the stream of existence like twigs on the river, and lie at the mercy of whatever can lay hold upon us? Shall mere chance form our character, select our objects, guide our conduct? Remember, we can have but one life. All, all, for a time and for eternity too, is staked upon that one throw of the dice, and embarked in that one adventure. Character and destiny for this world and the next are involved in this one life. A misspent life can never be spent over again! It is a mistake which will require everlasting ages to understand and deplore it.
If you hesitate about our choice of the end of existence, will you allow us respectfully and affectionately to inquire what you would propose instead of it? What have you found so immensely valuable, that it is more worthy of your pursuit than that which we have set before you? If it is indeed better than ours, more deserving the regard of a rational, moral, and immortal being than religion and eternal salvation, tell it to us, that we may rise to a higher dignity and bliss than we have yet reached.
Do you say that your object is "To succeed in business, and to obtain WEALTH?" We are not indifferent to this as a subordinate object, and we believe, as we have already said, that our religion will rather help than hinder us in the attainment of it. But as a supreme object of existence - it is too uncertain as to its attainment, too unsatisfying as regards its nature, and too precarious as to its tenure, and too short-lived as to its continuance, to be our supreme end. We have not seen much of life, but we have seen enough to learn that many fail in business, where one succeeds; and that the few who succeed seem by no means the happiest. And we have also been often sadly impressed and affected by the spectacle of the successful competitor for business and wealth, cut off by death - just when the time had arrived for enjoying his gains and luxuriating in ease upon the profits of his industry. The announcement made to the successful man, congratulating himself upon his acquisitions and his prospects, "You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared - whose will they be?" has often rung in our ears.
Is it PLEASURE your propose as the end of life? No man is less likely to enjoy pleasure than he who lives for it, who makes it a business and profession. We have not only heard and read, but have seen, that a taste for pleasure in youth is the way to poverty in manhood, and misery in old age.
We would here present you with one of the most affecting scenes ever exhibited even in the martyrology of pleasure's victims. It is taken from the death-bed of that accomplished poet, and as accomplished libertine, Lord Byron; a man in whom the darkest passions of the soul, the loftiest powers of imagination, and the grossest propensities of man's animal nature, struggled for preeminence. One who was a spectator of the scene writes:
"He felt assured that his bodily constitution had been irretrievably ruined by intemperance; that he was a worn-out man; and that his muscular power was gone. Flashes before his eyes, palpitations and anxieties, hourly afflicted him. 'Do you suppose,' he said with impatience, 'that I wish for life? I have grown heartily sick of it, and shall welcome the hour I depart from it. Why should I regret it? Can it afford me any pleasure? Have I not enjoyed it to the fullest? Few men can more pleasure-loving than I have done. I am literally speaking, a young old man. Hardly arrived at manhood, I had attained the zenith of fame. Pleasure I have known under every form in which it can present itself to mortals. I had traveled, satisfied my curiosity, and lost every illusion. I have exhausted all the nectar of the cup of life: it is time to throw away the dregs. But the apprehension of two things now haunts my mind: I picture myself slowly expiring on a bed of torture, or terminating my days as a sad idiot! Would to heaven the day were come in which I should meet immediate, painless death - the object of my wishes.'
"It is with infinite regret," continues the writer, "I must state, that, although I seldom left Lord Byron's pillow during the latter part of his illness, I did not hear him make any, even the smallest, mention of true religion. At one moment I heard him say, "Shall I sue for mercy?" After a long pause, he added, "Come, come, no weakness. Let's be a man to the last."
Thus terminated, in a gloomy,sullen fit of infidelity and despair. All of his rank, wealth, genius had been sacrificed to skepticism - and its natural fruits, vice, and misery. He had made pleasure his deity, and now see in what a miserable condition his god leaves him. What an antidote does his death furnish to the poison of his life! Is there anything here to tempt us to infidelity and wicked pleasure?
Perhaps you propose mental cultivation and the acquisition of KNOWLEDGE as the great end of life. We say nothing against learning,science, and the arts. We profess to admire them,and to have some taste for them. We have drunk at their springs, and often bitterly regret that our circumstances forbid us to partake more largely of their delicious waters. But then what will these do for us, in supplying the deeper needs of our moral nature, healing its diseases, or in satisfying its higher aspirations? Can they obtain for us the renovation of our corrupt hearts, the pardon of our numerous sins, the forfeited favor of God, assistance in our struggles after holiness, consolation in the dark and dreary hour of human woe, guidance amidst the perplexities of life,and protection from its dangers?
Or, as may be the case, should we be cut off in life's sweet prime, will they stand by our dying bed, smooth its pillows, and comfort us in the prospect of the grave? Will they qualify us to go in and dwell with God in heaven, and partake of the glories of immortality? Shall we in looking back upon life so early brought to a close, and in looking on to eternity so near at hand, feel that in studying science and neglecting true religion, we have answered the end of life?
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
The Mind of Christ # 5
The Mind of Christ # 5
It would appear from the spirit and conduct of some, as if to be zealots for a creed or a church, were the true signs of discipleship, instead of the temper of Jesus; and yet an apostle has told us, that "if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His," (Rom. 8:9). Many had need study afresh the elemental principles of our holy religion, to learn in what it truly consists. And if they will allow Christ and His apostles to teach them, instead of fathers and doctors, councils and convocations, they would learn that the creeds and the ceremonies of the church are poor substitutes for the mind of Christ.
Therefore, my dear friends, I entreat you cultivate the Christian temper; seek for the Spirit of Christ, and be content with nothing short of the mind that was in Him. Let me entreat you to contemplate Him - first upon the throne of glory, adored by angels; and then upon the Cross of Calvary, despised, rejected, insulted, murdered by men; and when you have been filled with astonishment at the grace that induced Him thus to humble Himself, examine yourselves as to what you know of the holy and humble benevolence which dictated this wondrous, yes, this ineffably mysterious condescension. Confine your attention for a while to this one point of inquiry - let go everything else for a season; drop creeds, sacraments, sabbaths, ordinances, alms-deeds, and press right home to your conscience the question, "What do I have of the mind of Christ?" Does my heart answer, does my disposition correspond, to the holy, meek, humble, forgiving, benevolent, patient, self-denying mind of Christ? Do men who know the beauty and glory of the original, as it is delineated on the page of the gospel, when they see me, say, "There is the image of Christ!" Or do they look skeptically on, and after standing in silence for some time, profess they can see little or no resemblance? Can you hold up your spirit and disposition to the world, and say, "Behold the mind of Christ?" Will Christ acknowledge your mind to be His mind? Oh, be satisfied with nothing short of a copy of Christ's heart into yours. You must go lower, lower, lower yet, in self-denying service for God and His saints.
I need scarcely point out to you again the intimate connection between the practical principles of Christianity, and the great doctrines of Christianity. Take away the incarnation of our Lord, His sacrifice upon the Cross, and His atoning death, and the gospel loses its glorious peculiarities. And if you blot out His Divinity, His atonement loses its efficacy, and His example its power. "If we take away His divinity," says Mr. Hall, "this great example dwindles into nothing. Rob Him of His Divinity, and you divest Him of His humility. It is this which renders His sacrifice of infinite value, His Cross so inexpressibly awful and interesting, and to His people so inefffably precious. The Cross of Jesus Christ is the appropriate, the appointed rendezvous of heaven and earth - the meeting place between God and the sinner. Deprive Jesus Christ of His Divinity, and all these momentous truths dwindle into inexpressible futilities. Doctrines meant to warm and kindle our hearts, fill us with perplexity. When we look for a glorious mystery, we find nothing but the obscurity which makes men rack their invention to find out the meaning of those passages, which it is plain the apostle poured forth in a stream of exquisite affection and delight."
And never, never forget, my friends, that the Divinity of Christ, however firmly it may be held, is never properly felt, never rightly improved, nor truly enjoyed, until it is experienced to be a doctrine that fills the soul with a vivid resemblance to that holiness, benevolence, and humility, which were so conspicuously displayed by Him, "who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God - but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men - and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross."
~John Angell James~
(The End)
It would appear from the spirit and conduct of some, as if to be zealots for a creed or a church, were the true signs of discipleship, instead of the temper of Jesus; and yet an apostle has told us, that "if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His," (Rom. 8:9). Many had need study afresh the elemental principles of our holy religion, to learn in what it truly consists. And if they will allow Christ and His apostles to teach them, instead of fathers and doctors, councils and convocations, they would learn that the creeds and the ceremonies of the church are poor substitutes for the mind of Christ.
Therefore, my dear friends, I entreat you cultivate the Christian temper; seek for the Spirit of Christ, and be content with nothing short of the mind that was in Him. Let me entreat you to contemplate Him - first upon the throne of glory, adored by angels; and then upon the Cross of Calvary, despised, rejected, insulted, murdered by men; and when you have been filled with astonishment at the grace that induced Him thus to humble Himself, examine yourselves as to what you know of the holy and humble benevolence which dictated this wondrous, yes, this ineffably mysterious condescension. Confine your attention for a while to this one point of inquiry - let go everything else for a season; drop creeds, sacraments, sabbaths, ordinances, alms-deeds, and press right home to your conscience the question, "What do I have of the mind of Christ?" Does my heart answer, does my disposition correspond, to the holy, meek, humble, forgiving, benevolent, patient, self-denying mind of Christ? Do men who know the beauty and glory of the original, as it is delineated on the page of the gospel, when they see me, say, "There is the image of Christ!" Or do they look skeptically on, and after standing in silence for some time, profess they can see little or no resemblance? Can you hold up your spirit and disposition to the world, and say, "Behold the mind of Christ?" Will Christ acknowledge your mind to be His mind? Oh, be satisfied with nothing short of a copy of Christ's heart into yours. You must go lower, lower, lower yet, in self-denying service for God and His saints.
I need scarcely point out to you again the intimate connection between the practical principles of Christianity, and the great doctrines of Christianity. Take away the incarnation of our Lord, His sacrifice upon the Cross, and His atoning death, and the gospel loses its glorious peculiarities. And if you blot out His Divinity, His atonement loses its efficacy, and His example its power. "If we take away His divinity," says Mr. Hall, "this great example dwindles into nothing. Rob Him of His Divinity, and you divest Him of His humility. It is this which renders His sacrifice of infinite value, His Cross so inexpressibly awful and interesting, and to His people so inefffably precious. The Cross of Jesus Christ is the appropriate, the appointed rendezvous of heaven and earth - the meeting place between God and the sinner. Deprive Jesus Christ of His Divinity, and all these momentous truths dwindle into inexpressible futilities. Doctrines meant to warm and kindle our hearts, fill us with perplexity. When we look for a glorious mystery, we find nothing but the obscurity which makes men rack their invention to find out the meaning of those passages, which it is plain the apostle poured forth in a stream of exquisite affection and delight."
And never, never forget, my friends, that the Divinity of Christ, however firmly it may be held, is never properly felt, never rightly improved, nor truly enjoyed, until it is experienced to be a doctrine that fills the soul with a vivid resemblance to that holiness, benevolence, and humility, which were so conspicuously displayed by Him, "who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God - but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men - and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross."
~John Angell James~
(The End)
Evidences and Results of Sanctified Affliction # 4
Evidences and Results of Sanctified Affliction # 4
6. A clearer view of the glory of Christ, and a deeper sense of His inestimable preciousness, are an evidence of growth of grace in affliction. The design of all God's dealings in His providential dispensations, in the scheme of redemption, and in the work of His Holy Spirit - is to bring us to Christ, to enlighten our minds in the knowledge of Him, and to endear Him more and more to our hearts! If, then, amidst the 'decays of health' we have learned to feel His value more, as the Physician of souls; if amidst the 'loss of property', the worth of His unsearchable riches has been more correctly estimated; if at the 'grave of earthly friends', we have been drawn closer to Him the Friend of sinners; if amidst the gloom and desolation of earthly scenes, the glory of the Cross has shone forth with a new and surpassing luster; if amidst privations and losses, otherwise trying and distressing, we are brought to adopt the language of the apostle, "I have all things, and abound. All things are mine; for I am Christ's!" In this case, also, the affliction has answered its end; for that trial cannot have been in vain, which has revealed to us the glory of the Saviour, and made us more Christlike, both in our sentiments, feelings and life. Clearer views of the importance of gospel truths, and a richer unction from them resting upon the heart, acquired by sorrow - are a convincing proof of benefit from God's chastening hand.
7. Less dread pf future trials, with a stronger trust in God for support under them - is another evidence of sanctified trial. There is about most of us, until it is removed by God's grace, a timidity, dread, and desponding feeling about afflictions, which make us afraid to encounter them. We turn away from them with dismay, as if there were no power which could support us under them, no wisdom to guide us through them, and no grace to comfort us in the midst of them. The very shadow of an approaching affliction makes our coward hearts to tremble, and causes us to cry out in unbelief, "How can I endure it?" We thus dishonor God by our guilty fears, and show a weakness of faith exceedingly dishonorable to us. To be cured of this weakness by affliction, and to rise out of it strong in faith, and firm in trust; to feel our fears subsiding, and our confidence in God established; to see new chastisements preparing for us, to be endured as soon as the present ones have ceased; to behold storm clouds returning after the rain, and gathering to beat upon us, when those which have lately spent their fury upon us retire - and yet to be able to say, "I will trust and not be afraid - for with the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength, and He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Him, because he trusts in Him" - is a genuine mark of improvement by afflictive dispensations. God's design in chastening us - is to bring us to confide in Him. He demands our trust, and is honored by it, and it is really no small part of our sanctification. And he that goes forward from one cross to another, strengthened by the past to meet with greater courage the future; who can trust himself and all he has with greater calmness to the disposal of God, with less apprehension for the result, has not been visited in vain by the afflictive hand of God.
8. A more entire consecration of the soul to God's service in general, and to some special service in particular, is also a proof of sanctified affliction. How delightful a spectacle is it to God, to angels, and to men - to see a Christian rising from the bed of his own sickness, or returning from the grave of a near relative, in the spirit of the hundred and sixteenth Psalm - and while the eyes are yet moistened with tears, and the heart soft with sorrow, yielding up himself afresh to the claims, the service, and the glory of God; and instead of being paralyzed with grief, or taken up with enjoyment, setting himself apart by a new dedication to God. How beautiful is the language of the Psalmist in the review of his deliverance, "I love the Lord because He has heard my appeal for mercy. Because He has turned His ear to me, I will call out to Him as long as I live. The ropes of death were wrapped around me, and the horrors of the grave overcame me; I encountered trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: "Lord, save me!" The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is compassionate. The Lord guards the simple; I was helpless, and He saved me. Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For You, Lord, rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, even when I said, "I am severely afflicted." How can I repay the Lord all the good He has done for me? I will take the cup of salvation and worship the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. Lord, I am indeed Your servant; I am Your servant! You have loosened my bonds. I will offer You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and will worship the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord, in the very presence of all His people, in the courts of the Lord's house. Hallelujah!"
This is the language of sanctified affliction. Then when the Christian is seen giving himself afresh to the service of God, in a more devoted attendance upon all the means of grace, private, domestic, and public; when his liberality is more diffusive, and his zeal more ardent; when he seems concerned, inventive, and laborious to show his gratitude and love by new acts of devotedness, and former measures of service will not content him - it is a convincing evidence that he has derived benefit from tribulation.
9. Increased sympathy for others in their affliction, is a proof that our own affliction has done us good. In some cases sorrow has hardened the heart, and made men selfish; it has drawn off all their attention from others, and concentrated it on themselves. This is a dark sign; nothing can be a stronger proof that trials have done us harm, instead of good - than when they have blunted our susceptibilities, hardened our hearts, and put all our tears in reserve for ourselves! Nor, on the contrary, can there be a more convincing evidence that they have benefited us, than an increase of sympathy, and a greater readiness to weep with those who weep. It is a delightful exhibition of a mind softened and sanctified by affliction, to see a person, on recovering from it, still holding in remembrance the wormwood and the gall - and instead of giving himself to selfish enjoyment, going forth with quickened sensibilities to support and comfort the distressed.
Such are the proofs, evidences and results of sanctified affliction.
May they be found in you, my dear friends; and in your pastor. Trials abound in this world - it is a valley of tears. happy will it be for us, if we shall emerge from it at length into that blessed region, where God shall wipe away all tears from every eye. "I reckon," said the blessed Paul, "that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us!" Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!" "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose." With such internal consolations as the gospel affords, and with such a peace as passes understanding - what external tribulation may we not endure, and endure not only with all patience, but with joyfulness?
Be much in prayer for the presence and help of the Spirit of God as a Comforter. Without His aid the least trial will distress you - and with it the greatest cannot crush you! God is able to support and comfort - as well as save - to the uttermost! And none of us an tell what, in either case - the uttermost of God can do!
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
6. A clearer view of the glory of Christ, and a deeper sense of His inestimable preciousness, are an evidence of growth of grace in affliction. The design of all God's dealings in His providential dispensations, in the scheme of redemption, and in the work of His Holy Spirit - is to bring us to Christ, to enlighten our minds in the knowledge of Him, and to endear Him more and more to our hearts! If, then, amidst the 'decays of health' we have learned to feel His value more, as the Physician of souls; if amidst the 'loss of property', the worth of His unsearchable riches has been more correctly estimated; if at the 'grave of earthly friends', we have been drawn closer to Him the Friend of sinners; if amidst the gloom and desolation of earthly scenes, the glory of the Cross has shone forth with a new and surpassing luster; if amidst privations and losses, otherwise trying and distressing, we are brought to adopt the language of the apostle, "I have all things, and abound. All things are mine; for I am Christ's!" In this case, also, the affliction has answered its end; for that trial cannot have been in vain, which has revealed to us the glory of the Saviour, and made us more Christlike, both in our sentiments, feelings and life. Clearer views of the importance of gospel truths, and a richer unction from them resting upon the heart, acquired by sorrow - are a convincing proof of benefit from God's chastening hand.
7. Less dread pf future trials, with a stronger trust in God for support under them - is another evidence of sanctified trial. There is about most of us, until it is removed by God's grace, a timidity, dread, and desponding feeling about afflictions, which make us afraid to encounter them. We turn away from them with dismay, as if there were no power which could support us under them, no wisdom to guide us through them, and no grace to comfort us in the midst of them. The very shadow of an approaching affliction makes our coward hearts to tremble, and causes us to cry out in unbelief, "How can I endure it?" We thus dishonor God by our guilty fears, and show a weakness of faith exceedingly dishonorable to us. To be cured of this weakness by affliction, and to rise out of it strong in faith, and firm in trust; to feel our fears subsiding, and our confidence in God established; to see new chastisements preparing for us, to be endured as soon as the present ones have ceased; to behold storm clouds returning after the rain, and gathering to beat upon us, when those which have lately spent their fury upon us retire - and yet to be able to say, "I will trust and not be afraid - for with the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength, and He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Him, because he trusts in Him" - is a genuine mark of improvement by afflictive dispensations. God's design in chastening us - is to bring us to confide in Him. He demands our trust, and is honored by it, and it is really no small part of our sanctification. And he that goes forward from one cross to another, strengthened by the past to meet with greater courage the future; who can trust himself and all he has with greater calmness to the disposal of God, with less apprehension for the result, has not been visited in vain by the afflictive hand of God.
8. A more entire consecration of the soul to God's service in general, and to some special service in particular, is also a proof of sanctified affliction. How delightful a spectacle is it to God, to angels, and to men - to see a Christian rising from the bed of his own sickness, or returning from the grave of a near relative, in the spirit of the hundred and sixteenth Psalm - and while the eyes are yet moistened with tears, and the heart soft with sorrow, yielding up himself afresh to the claims, the service, and the glory of God; and instead of being paralyzed with grief, or taken up with enjoyment, setting himself apart by a new dedication to God. How beautiful is the language of the Psalmist in the review of his deliverance, "I love the Lord because He has heard my appeal for mercy. Because He has turned His ear to me, I will call out to Him as long as I live. The ropes of death were wrapped around me, and the horrors of the grave overcame me; I encountered trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: "Lord, save me!" The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is compassionate. The Lord guards the simple; I was helpless, and He saved me. Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For You, Lord, rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, even when I said, "I am severely afflicted." How can I repay the Lord all the good He has done for me? I will take the cup of salvation and worship the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. Lord, I am indeed Your servant; I am Your servant! You have loosened my bonds. I will offer You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and will worship the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord, in the very presence of all His people, in the courts of the Lord's house. Hallelujah!"
This is the language of sanctified affliction. Then when the Christian is seen giving himself afresh to the service of God, in a more devoted attendance upon all the means of grace, private, domestic, and public; when his liberality is more diffusive, and his zeal more ardent; when he seems concerned, inventive, and laborious to show his gratitude and love by new acts of devotedness, and former measures of service will not content him - it is a convincing evidence that he has derived benefit from tribulation.
9. Increased sympathy for others in their affliction, is a proof that our own affliction has done us good. In some cases sorrow has hardened the heart, and made men selfish; it has drawn off all their attention from others, and concentrated it on themselves. This is a dark sign; nothing can be a stronger proof that trials have done us harm, instead of good - than when they have blunted our susceptibilities, hardened our hearts, and put all our tears in reserve for ourselves! Nor, on the contrary, can there be a more convincing evidence that they have benefited us, than an increase of sympathy, and a greater readiness to weep with those who weep. It is a delightful exhibition of a mind softened and sanctified by affliction, to see a person, on recovering from it, still holding in remembrance the wormwood and the gall - and instead of giving himself to selfish enjoyment, going forth with quickened sensibilities to support and comfort the distressed.
Such are the proofs, evidences and results of sanctified affliction.
May they be found in you, my dear friends; and in your pastor. Trials abound in this world - it is a valley of tears. happy will it be for us, if we shall emerge from it at length into that blessed region, where God shall wipe away all tears from every eye. "I reckon," said the blessed Paul, "that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us!" Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!" "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose." With such internal consolations as the gospel affords, and with such a peace as passes understanding - what external tribulation may we not endure, and endure not only with all patience, but with joyfulness?
Be much in prayer for the presence and help of the Spirit of God as a Comforter. Without His aid the least trial will distress you - and with it the greatest cannot crush you! God is able to support and comfort - as well as save - to the uttermost! And none of us an tell what, in either case - the uttermost of God can do!
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
The Work of the Holy Spirit # 4
The Work of the Holy Spirit # 4
We are not to wait, in matters of duty, until we feel ourselves sensibly under the influence of the Spirit - but to enter upon obedience, expecting His gracious aid - we are not so much to wait for, as to wait upon the Holy Spirit.
Beware of making the experience of others, rather than the Word of God, a criterion to judge of the work of the Spirit in yourselves.
In judging of the Spirit's incitement to duty, trust not to the impulses of your own mind, however strong, without trying them by the Word; the most frenzied enthusiasm, and the most mischievous fanaticism, have resulted from a neglect of this caution. All the Spirit's work in the heart is in accordance with His own rules in the Word. He cannot contradict Himself.
And now with a few DIRECTIONS I shall close.
Believe, feel, and practically acknowledge, your need of Divine influence. Let there be an abiding, humbling, influential sense of your utter moral inability, of infantile weakness, and dependence.
Let there be habitual, earnest, believing, wrestling prayer for the Holy Spirit, (Matt. 7:7-11). Pray sincerely, really desiring to make whatever sacrifices, self-denial, mortification, His coming shall bring.
Depend upon the Holy Spirit. Do everything in simple childlike reliance upon His aid. Never venture out of His sight, nor take a step without laying hold of His hand by faith. Read, hear, pray, watch, struggle - in the Spirit. Yield yourselves up into the care, protection, and guidance of this Divine Agent.
Expect the Spirit in faith. He is promised. You live under a dispensation of abounding communicated grace. Look for the heavenly shower in its season.
Seek often sanctifying grace, for all those precious fruits which form the Christian temper, adorn our character, and bless our species, and which the apostle enumerates in Galatians 5:22, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
Obtain and preserve the Spirit's witness to your adoption. Labor after this heart-cheering testimony to your Divine filiation, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Happy assurance! Blessed confidence!
Dwell my dear friends, on this glorious and delightful doctrine of the Spirit's work in believers. Yield yourselves up into His hands to become His finished and exquisite workmanship. Implore Him to add another and another stroke and touch, in producing the image of God in your souls. Beseech Him who formed Christ in the womb of the virgin by a supernatural overshadowing, to form Him in your heart, that you may be a miniature picture of Him who is the brightness of His Father's glory. Seek His blessed power to inspire obedience into you, that holiness may become, in this sense, natural to you, and all your duties be brought forth in the easy, healthful, and graceful walk of the new creature; that you may feel no confinement or constraint in the service of God - but walk, run, yes fly onward towards eternal happiness in the amplitude and liberty of your Divine life.
Since it is by the instrumentality of the Word of truth, that the Spirit carries on His work of grace in the soul - be diligent in the devout perusal of the Scriptures. It is when the mind is fixing the eye of contemplation on the objects of revelation, that the Comforter comes down into the heart. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit by which He slays our corruptions, and the fire by which He purifies our souls. It is then illumination is diffused through our minds, sanctification through our heart, and comfort spreads over our whole soul, when we commune with God in His own Book. He delights to bless those who study it. The Spirit-like dove is ever hovering over these precious leaves, to reveal Himself to the humble and contrite student, of their contents. No wonder we have little of the Spirit when we seek Him not in the Word.
Diligently follow up and improve all the gentle drawings and sweet persuasives of this Divine Sanctifier. Be quick to discern His seasons of visitation, and skillful to turn to account all His various operations. Be deeply humbled that with such a Teacher you have learned so little, with such a Sanctifier you are no holier, and with such a Comforter no happier. Seek a livelier faith, a closer union with Christ, that you have have more of that influence which is ever flowing from the Head into all the members. Look to Him, that by His efficacious and rich anointings you may be enlightened when dark, quickened when dead, drawn when reluctant, strengthened when weak, sustained when falling, enlarged when in difficulties, comforted when sad. May this Divine Spirit be in us as a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
"O Holy Spirit, the Comforter, come and dwell in our souls - make our bodies your temple. Fill our minds with your light, and our hearts with your love, that over our whole character your power may be seen in the beauties of holiness. May we all live as something sacred to You, as well as perfected by You. Come in all your seven-fold energy - and replenish us with your illuminating, comforting, sanctifying influence. Baptize us with celestial fire, and give us, in your abundant grace, the pledge of glory everlasting! Amen."
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
We are not to wait, in matters of duty, until we feel ourselves sensibly under the influence of the Spirit - but to enter upon obedience, expecting His gracious aid - we are not so much to wait for, as to wait upon the Holy Spirit.
Beware of making the experience of others, rather than the Word of God, a criterion to judge of the work of the Spirit in yourselves.
In judging of the Spirit's incitement to duty, trust not to the impulses of your own mind, however strong, without trying them by the Word; the most frenzied enthusiasm, and the most mischievous fanaticism, have resulted from a neglect of this caution. All the Spirit's work in the heart is in accordance with His own rules in the Word. He cannot contradict Himself.
And now with a few DIRECTIONS I shall close.
Believe, feel, and practically acknowledge, your need of Divine influence. Let there be an abiding, humbling, influential sense of your utter moral inability, of infantile weakness, and dependence.
Let there be habitual, earnest, believing, wrestling prayer for the Holy Spirit, (Matt. 7:7-11). Pray sincerely, really desiring to make whatever sacrifices, self-denial, mortification, His coming shall bring.
Depend upon the Holy Spirit. Do everything in simple childlike reliance upon His aid. Never venture out of His sight, nor take a step without laying hold of His hand by faith. Read, hear, pray, watch, struggle - in the Spirit. Yield yourselves up into the care, protection, and guidance of this Divine Agent.
Expect the Spirit in faith. He is promised. You live under a dispensation of abounding communicated grace. Look for the heavenly shower in its season.
Seek often sanctifying grace, for all those precious fruits which form the Christian temper, adorn our character, and bless our species, and which the apostle enumerates in Galatians 5:22, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
Obtain and preserve the Spirit's witness to your adoption. Labor after this heart-cheering testimony to your Divine filiation, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Happy assurance! Blessed confidence!
Dwell my dear friends, on this glorious and delightful doctrine of the Spirit's work in believers. Yield yourselves up into His hands to become His finished and exquisite workmanship. Implore Him to add another and another stroke and touch, in producing the image of God in your souls. Beseech Him who formed Christ in the womb of the virgin by a supernatural overshadowing, to form Him in your heart, that you may be a miniature picture of Him who is the brightness of His Father's glory. Seek His blessed power to inspire obedience into you, that holiness may become, in this sense, natural to you, and all your duties be brought forth in the easy, healthful, and graceful walk of the new creature; that you may feel no confinement or constraint in the service of God - but walk, run, yes fly onward towards eternal happiness in the amplitude and liberty of your Divine life.
Since it is by the instrumentality of the Word of truth, that the Spirit carries on His work of grace in the soul - be diligent in the devout perusal of the Scriptures. It is when the mind is fixing the eye of contemplation on the objects of revelation, that the Comforter comes down into the heart. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit by which He slays our corruptions, and the fire by which He purifies our souls. It is then illumination is diffused through our minds, sanctification through our heart, and comfort spreads over our whole soul, when we commune with God in His own Book. He delights to bless those who study it. The Spirit-like dove is ever hovering over these precious leaves, to reveal Himself to the humble and contrite student, of their contents. No wonder we have little of the Spirit when we seek Him not in the Word.
Diligently follow up and improve all the gentle drawings and sweet persuasives of this Divine Sanctifier. Be quick to discern His seasons of visitation, and skillful to turn to account all His various operations. Be deeply humbled that with such a Teacher you have learned so little, with such a Sanctifier you are no holier, and with such a Comforter no happier. Seek a livelier faith, a closer union with Christ, that you have have more of that influence which is ever flowing from the Head into all the members. Look to Him, that by His efficacious and rich anointings you may be enlightened when dark, quickened when dead, drawn when reluctant, strengthened when weak, sustained when falling, enlarged when in difficulties, comforted when sad. May this Divine Spirit be in us as a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
"O Holy Spirit, the Comforter, come and dwell in our souls - make our bodies your temple. Fill our minds with your light, and our hearts with your love, that over our whole character your power may be seen in the beauties of holiness. May we all live as something sacred to You, as well as perfected by You. Come in all your seven-fold energy - and replenish us with your illuminating, comforting, sanctifying influence. Baptize us with celestial fire, and give us, in your abundant grace, the pledge of glory everlasting! Amen."
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
Saving Faith # 2
Saving Faith # 2
Consider, I ask you, this incomprehensible goodness! Do not many in this world think it no harm to remember injuries, and sometimes to resent them? Do we not find it hard to love those who have given us some slight offence? or if we do profess to love them, do we make any endeavor to promote their happiness? Such, alas! is too seldom our practice; there is but little real affection in these hard hearts. But we are not dealt with according to our own ways, for the God of holiness has loved the sinful world, which has continually dishonored and denied Him. Oh! beloved, let us dwell much on such expressions as these, for they are more precious than rubies; let us bear them continually in mind, for they will not fail us in the day of trial, when temptation is strong and faith weak; let us write them on our hearts and in our memories, and we shall find them a strong consolation in the hour of death and on the bed of sickness. God is indeed love - and God loved the world.
3. The gift of His Son. Let us next inquire in what way it pleased God to manifest this love. We had all sinned. Who then could put away this sin and present us clean and spotless before His throne? We had all failed utter of keeping His holy laws. How then could we be clothed for the wedding-feast of our Master? Beloved, here is wisdom! This is the very point which the learned of this world could never understand. How, they have asked, can perfect justice and perfect mercy be reconciled? How can God justify His sinful creature, and yet be that Holy One whose law must needs be fulfilled? But all is explained in this simple verse, if you can receive it; and thus it was, "He gave His only-begotten Son."
Observe the magnitude of this gift, "His only-begotten Son." Can anything give you a more tender idea of God's love? Observe again the expression "He gave" - not because we had merited anything, for it was a free gift; not for our deservings, for it was all of grace. "By grace you are saved," says Paul to the Ephesians. "The gift of God is eternal life," says the same apostle to the Romans.
And for what purpose was His Son given? Beloved, He was given to atone for our guilt, by the sacrifice and death of Himself, as a lamb without spot and blemish; and by so doing He made a full, perfect, and sufficient oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. He was given to bear our iniquities and carry our transgressions upon the accursed tree, the Cross; for being innocent Himself He was for our sakes accounted guilty, that we for His sake might be accounted pure. Nor is this all: He was given to fulfill the demands of that law which we have broken; and He did fulfill them. He "was tempted in all points," says Paul, "like as we are, and yet without sin." The prince of this world had nothing in Him, and thus He brought in an everlasting righteousness, which like a pure white raiment is unto all and upon all those who believe. (2 Cor. 5:21).
It would be easy to dwell upon this delightful branch of our subject, beloved - but we must pass on.
4. The means whereby we enjoy this gift. How then are the benefits of this gift made our own? What are the means through which it is applied to our souls? What is the hand by which we lay hold on this remedy?
Here again our text supplies an answer It is FAITH. Whoever believes (not with the head, remember - but with the heart), and believing comes to Christ with a confession of his own unrighteousness, and receives Him as his only hope of salvation - is saved by FAITH.
Consider now the beautiful simplicity of this way of life. We do not see written on the gate - Whoever has prepared himself by long repentance - whoever has begun to lead a new life - whoever has done so many good works - whoever has attended church so many times - whoever has given so much in charity - these shall enter into heaven, and no others. No, dear friends, such announcements would frighten many a weary sinner, and these are fruits you will thankfully bring forth a hundredfold after you have entered.
But the only thing required of those who seek admission is faith, and he who approaches in simple childlike faith shall never be rejected. Hear how Paul speaks on this point (Rom. 10:5-10). And, lest anyone should suppose that God is a respecter of people, that there is one way for the rich and another for the poor, one for the learned, another for the unlearned, he adds these comfortable words: "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." But remember also - and I solemnly warn everyone of this - there is no other way to heaven - than the way of faith. God has not left each man to choose his own road to heaven - or his own path for coming unto Christ - but He has appointed one way and no more, and no man shall enter into life, except by this.
"If you believe not," says our Lord, "that I am He, you shall die in your sins!" And hence we may learn this most important lesson, that although God so loved the world, that He gave for it His only-begotten Son, still the benefits of that gift can never be obtained by those who will not believe.
5. And the promise attached to those who believe. It remains for us in the last place to consider the promises and consequences which our text holds forth to the faithful. We read that "whoever believes shall not perish - but have everlasting life." And is not this a promise the most acceptable to our nature that a gracious God could have devised? We know there is nothing the unconverted fear so much as death: people of the highest courage, who would shrink from no danger and encounter any difficulty, have been seen to tremble and turn pale at the approach of some pain or complaint which seems likely to bring their frail bodies to the grave. And why should this be so? - pain is not very bitter, and life with its cares and anxieties is not so very sweet as to account for it!
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
Consider, I ask you, this incomprehensible goodness! Do not many in this world think it no harm to remember injuries, and sometimes to resent them? Do we not find it hard to love those who have given us some slight offence? or if we do profess to love them, do we make any endeavor to promote their happiness? Such, alas! is too seldom our practice; there is but little real affection in these hard hearts. But we are not dealt with according to our own ways, for the God of holiness has loved the sinful world, which has continually dishonored and denied Him. Oh! beloved, let us dwell much on such expressions as these, for they are more precious than rubies; let us bear them continually in mind, for they will not fail us in the day of trial, when temptation is strong and faith weak; let us write them on our hearts and in our memories, and we shall find them a strong consolation in the hour of death and on the bed of sickness. God is indeed love - and God loved the world.
3. The gift of His Son. Let us next inquire in what way it pleased God to manifest this love. We had all sinned. Who then could put away this sin and present us clean and spotless before His throne? We had all failed utter of keeping His holy laws. How then could we be clothed for the wedding-feast of our Master? Beloved, here is wisdom! This is the very point which the learned of this world could never understand. How, they have asked, can perfect justice and perfect mercy be reconciled? How can God justify His sinful creature, and yet be that Holy One whose law must needs be fulfilled? But all is explained in this simple verse, if you can receive it; and thus it was, "He gave His only-begotten Son."
Observe the magnitude of this gift, "His only-begotten Son." Can anything give you a more tender idea of God's love? Observe again the expression "He gave" - not because we had merited anything, for it was a free gift; not for our deservings, for it was all of grace. "By grace you are saved," says Paul to the Ephesians. "The gift of God is eternal life," says the same apostle to the Romans.
And for what purpose was His Son given? Beloved, He was given to atone for our guilt, by the sacrifice and death of Himself, as a lamb without spot and blemish; and by so doing He made a full, perfect, and sufficient oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. He was given to bear our iniquities and carry our transgressions upon the accursed tree, the Cross; for being innocent Himself He was for our sakes accounted guilty, that we for His sake might be accounted pure. Nor is this all: He was given to fulfill the demands of that law which we have broken; and He did fulfill them. He "was tempted in all points," says Paul, "like as we are, and yet without sin." The prince of this world had nothing in Him, and thus He brought in an everlasting righteousness, which like a pure white raiment is unto all and upon all those who believe. (2 Cor. 5:21).
It would be easy to dwell upon this delightful branch of our subject, beloved - but we must pass on.
4. The means whereby we enjoy this gift. How then are the benefits of this gift made our own? What are the means through which it is applied to our souls? What is the hand by which we lay hold on this remedy?
Here again our text supplies an answer It is FAITH. Whoever believes (not with the head, remember - but with the heart), and believing comes to Christ with a confession of his own unrighteousness, and receives Him as his only hope of salvation - is saved by FAITH.
Consider now the beautiful simplicity of this way of life. We do not see written on the gate - Whoever has prepared himself by long repentance - whoever has begun to lead a new life - whoever has done so many good works - whoever has attended church so many times - whoever has given so much in charity - these shall enter into heaven, and no others. No, dear friends, such announcements would frighten many a weary sinner, and these are fruits you will thankfully bring forth a hundredfold after you have entered.
But the only thing required of those who seek admission is faith, and he who approaches in simple childlike faith shall never be rejected. Hear how Paul speaks on this point (Rom. 10:5-10). And, lest anyone should suppose that God is a respecter of people, that there is one way for the rich and another for the poor, one for the learned, another for the unlearned, he adds these comfortable words: "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." But remember also - and I solemnly warn everyone of this - there is no other way to heaven - than the way of faith. God has not left each man to choose his own road to heaven - or his own path for coming unto Christ - but He has appointed one way and no more, and no man shall enter into life, except by this.
"If you believe not," says our Lord, "that I am He, you shall die in your sins!" And hence we may learn this most important lesson, that although God so loved the world, that He gave for it His only-begotten Son, still the benefits of that gift can never be obtained by those who will not believe.
5. And the promise attached to those who believe. It remains for us in the last place to consider the promises and consequences which our text holds forth to the faithful. We read that "whoever believes shall not perish - but have everlasting life." And is not this a promise the most acceptable to our nature that a gracious God could have devised? We know there is nothing the unconverted fear so much as death: people of the highest courage, who would shrink from no danger and encounter any difficulty, have been seen to tremble and turn pale at the approach of some pain or complaint which seems likely to bring their frail bodies to the grave. And why should this be so? - pain is not very bitter, and life with its cares and anxieties is not so very sweet as to account for it!
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
Self-Righteousness # 4
Self-Righteousness # 4
The words translated "be merciful", go further. They mean "offer an atonement for me, be reconciled unto me, through the sacrifice You have appointed." Do you think he would have been offended, as some are now, if he had been called a child of the devil, utterly corrupt, full of iniquity and worthy of nothing but wrath? Far from it: he knew he was a sinner, he felt his lost condition, he made no excuses, he offered no justification, he did not talk about his temptations, he did not make great professions of amendment, as if that could make up for the past; he presented himself at the throne of grace, as he was, weary and heavy laden, casting himself on the mercy of God with all his iniquities, and pleading the blood of the atonement. "God be merciful to me a sinner." Blessed indeed are all among you who have done likewise!
4. Lastly, it remains to consider briefly the RECEPTION the worshipers met with. "I tell you," says Jesus, "this man went down to his house justified rather than the other." The tax collector came poor in spirit, and he was justified. The Pharisee, rich in merits and self-esteem, went empty away. The penitent was not only pardoned - but justified. He had left his house heavy and afflicted by a sense of sin, he returned with joy and peace; he had asked mercy and received it, he had sought grace and found it; he had come hungering and thirsting after righteousness and he was justified. "He went down to his house justified." But the proud Pharisee, not feeling his own needs, not acquainted with his own sinfulness, had sought no mercy, and had found none, and he departed unblessed and unheard; and from the saying the "tax collector went down to his house justified rather than the other," we may fairly suppose this man of self-righteousness and self-dependence had none of that sense of favor and acceptance which the repenting sinner enjoyed.
See now the general APPLICATION which our Lord makes: "Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased - but he who abases himself shall be exalted." Mark these words, "everyone who exalts himself." High or low, rich or poor, young or old, it matters not; for God is no respecter of people, "everyone who exalts himself" and not free grace; who trusts either in whole or in part in his own righteousness and performance and not entirely in Jesus Christ - though he go to church twice a day, though he keep the letter of the Ten Commandments, though he pays everything he owes, though he is sober and moral and decently behaved - everyone who exalts himself shall be abased and condemned, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge.
But on the other hand remember, "he who humbles himself" as a sinner before God and comes unto Christ, though he may have been the most wicked of transgressors, though he may have broken all the commandments, though he may have been a Sabbath-breaker, a drunkard, a thief, an adulterer, an extortioner - whatever his sins may have been, if he acts as the tax collector did, "he shall be exalted." That is - he shall be pardoned, and washed and sanctified and justified for the sake of Jesus Christ, and shall have his place with David and Manasseh and Mary Magdalen and the thief upon the Cross - in the everlasting kingdom of our God and of the Lamb.
And now, beloved, the CONCLUSION let me urge upon all the lesson conveyed in this parable. It is a picture of a very large portion of professing Christians. Some, to be sure, are called by that name - but they never think at all about Christ or their own souls - it would make no difference to them if all the Bibles in the world were burned today - and of course they are going straight to destruction.
But all others, rich or poor (there is no distinction), are either Pharisees or tax collectors. There is no half-way house: they either trust to themselves wholly - or in part, which is much the same. Or else they are always self-condemned and have no confidence in anything they can do for justification.
You cannot search your heart too diligently, for this self-righteousness is the subtlest enemy of all. Beware of thinking, as the devil would have you, that the parable is a very good one for everybody else - but does not exactly touch your case. Be sure in this way you will lose your own souls. If you feel this minute any doubt about your salvation, it were far better to give your soul the benefit of it, and re-lay the foundation of your faith.
But let none forget the point of the parable: the Pharisee was not rejected because he was a moral man - but because he was proud and self-righteous; the tax collector was not accepted because he was a sinner - but because he was eminently penitent. True repentance is necessary for all, whatever be their lives and outward conduct. It is not your morality and your virtues, O you Pharisees, which hinder your salvation - but that proud feeling of something worthy in yourselves, which prevents you from clinging simply and entirely to the Cross and blood of Jesus Christ.
Carry home, then, I entreat you, all of you, that as thee is no way to salvation but Jesus Christ; so there is no character for entering that way but that of the tax collector; and no prayer so acceptable in the sight of your Redeemer and your Judge as "God be merciful to me a sinner!"
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
The words translated "be merciful", go further. They mean "offer an atonement for me, be reconciled unto me, through the sacrifice You have appointed." Do you think he would have been offended, as some are now, if he had been called a child of the devil, utterly corrupt, full of iniquity and worthy of nothing but wrath? Far from it: he knew he was a sinner, he felt his lost condition, he made no excuses, he offered no justification, he did not talk about his temptations, he did not make great professions of amendment, as if that could make up for the past; he presented himself at the throne of grace, as he was, weary and heavy laden, casting himself on the mercy of God with all his iniquities, and pleading the blood of the atonement. "God be merciful to me a sinner." Blessed indeed are all among you who have done likewise!
4. Lastly, it remains to consider briefly the RECEPTION the worshipers met with. "I tell you," says Jesus, "this man went down to his house justified rather than the other." The tax collector came poor in spirit, and he was justified. The Pharisee, rich in merits and self-esteem, went empty away. The penitent was not only pardoned - but justified. He had left his house heavy and afflicted by a sense of sin, he returned with joy and peace; he had asked mercy and received it, he had sought grace and found it; he had come hungering and thirsting after righteousness and he was justified. "He went down to his house justified." But the proud Pharisee, not feeling his own needs, not acquainted with his own sinfulness, had sought no mercy, and had found none, and he departed unblessed and unheard; and from the saying the "tax collector went down to his house justified rather than the other," we may fairly suppose this man of self-righteousness and self-dependence had none of that sense of favor and acceptance which the repenting sinner enjoyed.
See now the general APPLICATION which our Lord makes: "Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased - but he who abases himself shall be exalted." Mark these words, "everyone who exalts himself." High or low, rich or poor, young or old, it matters not; for God is no respecter of people, "everyone who exalts himself" and not free grace; who trusts either in whole or in part in his own righteousness and performance and not entirely in Jesus Christ - though he go to church twice a day, though he keep the letter of the Ten Commandments, though he pays everything he owes, though he is sober and moral and decently behaved - everyone who exalts himself shall be abased and condemned, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge.
But on the other hand remember, "he who humbles himself" as a sinner before God and comes unto Christ, though he may have been the most wicked of transgressors, though he may have broken all the commandments, though he may have been a Sabbath-breaker, a drunkard, a thief, an adulterer, an extortioner - whatever his sins may have been, if he acts as the tax collector did, "he shall be exalted." That is - he shall be pardoned, and washed and sanctified and justified for the sake of Jesus Christ, and shall have his place with David and Manasseh and Mary Magdalen and the thief upon the Cross - in the everlasting kingdom of our God and of the Lamb.
And now, beloved, the CONCLUSION let me urge upon all the lesson conveyed in this parable. It is a picture of a very large portion of professing Christians. Some, to be sure, are called by that name - but they never think at all about Christ or their own souls - it would make no difference to them if all the Bibles in the world were burned today - and of course they are going straight to destruction.
But all others, rich or poor (there is no distinction), are either Pharisees or tax collectors. There is no half-way house: they either trust to themselves wholly - or in part, which is much the same. Or else they are always self-condemned and have no confidence in anything they can do for justification.
You cannot search your heart too diligently, for this self-righteousness is the subtlest enemy of all. Beware of thinking, as the devil would have you, that the parable is a very good one for everybody else - but does not exactly touch your case. Be sure in this way you will lose your own souls. If you feel this minute any doubt about your salvation, it were far better to give your soul the benefit of it, and re-lay the foundation of your faith.
But let none forget the point of the parable: the Pharisee was not rejected because he was a moral man - but because he was proud and self-righteous; the tax collector was not accepted because he was a sinner - but because he was eminently penitent. True repentance is necessary for all, whatever be their lives and outward conduct. It is not your morality and your virtues, O you Pharisees, which hinder your salvation - but that proud feeling of something worthy in yourselves, which prevents you from clinging simply and entirely to the Cross and blood of Jesus Christ.
Carry home, then, I entreat you, all of you, that as thee is no way to salvation but Jesus Christ; so there is no character for entering that way but that of the tax collector; and no prayer so acceptable in the sight of your Redeemer and your Judge as "God be merciful to me a sinner!"
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Justification # 1
Justification # 1
"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).
There is a word in the text which heads this page which ought to be very precious in the eyes of Englishmen. The word is "peace".
Even in "merry England" we have known something of the horrors of war in the last thirty years. The Crimean war, the Indian mutiny, the Chinese, Abyssinian, and Ashantee wars have left deep marks on the history of our country.
We have tasted some of the tremendous evils which war, however just and necessary, brings in its train. Battle and disease have done their deadly work among our gallant soldiers and sailors. Gentle and simple blood has been shed like water in far distant lands. Many of the best and bravest of our countrymen are lying cold in untimely graves. Hearts in England have been broken by sudden, stunning, crushing bereavements. Mourning has been put on in many a palace, and many a cottage. The light of hundreds of happy firesides has been quenched. Alas, we have learned by bitter experience, what a blessed thing is peace!
I desire, however, to call the attention of all who read this paper to the best of all peace - even peace with God. I would gladly speak to you of a peace which this world can neither give nor take away - a peace which depends on no earthly governments, and needs no carnal weapons, either to win it or preserve it - a peace which is freely offered by the King of kings, and is within the reach of all who are willing to receive it.
There is such a thing as "peace with God." It may be felt and known. My heart's desire and prayer is that you may be able to say with the Apostle Paul, "Being justified by faith, I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).
There are four things which I propose to bring before you, in order to throw light on the whole subject.
1. Let me show you the chief privilege of a true Christian, "he has peace with God."
2. Let me show you the fountain from which that privilege flows, "he is justified."
3. Let me show you the rock from which that fountain springs, "Jesus Christ."
4. Let me show you the hand by which the privilege is made our own, "faith."
Upon each of these four points I have something to say. may the Holy Spirit make the whole subject peace giving to some souls!
First of all, let me show the chief privilege of a true Christian - he has peace with God.
When the apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, he used five words which the wisest of the heathen could never have used. Socrates, and Plato, and Aristotle, and Cicero, and Seneca were wise people. On many subjects they saw more clearly than most people in the present day. They were people of mighty minds, and of a vast range of intellect. But not one of them could have said as the apostle did, "I have peace with God."
When Paul used these words, he spoke not for himself only - but for all true Christians. Some of them no doubt have a greater sense of this privilege than others. All of them find an evil principle within, warring against their spiritual welfare day by day. All of them find their adversary, the devil, waging an endless battle with their souls. All of them find that they must endure the enmity of the world. But all, notwithstanding, to a greater or less extent, "have peace with God."
This peace with God is a calm, intelligent sense of friendship with the Lord of heaven and earth. He who has it, feels as if there was no barrier and separation between himself and his holy Maker. He can think of himself as under the eye of an all-seeking Being, and yet, not feel afraid. He can believe that this all-seeing Being beholds him, and yet is not displeased.
Such a man can see death waiting for him, and yet not be greatly moved. He can go down into the cold river - close his eyes on all he has on earth - launch forth into a world unknown, and yet feel peace.
Such a man can look forward to the resurrection and the judgment, and yet not be greatly moved. He can see with his mind's eye the great white throne - the assembled world - the open books - the listening angels - the Judge Himself - and yet feel peace.
Such a man can think of eternity, and yet not be greatly moved. He can imagine a never-ending existence in the presence of God and of the Lamb, a perpetual communion - and yet feel peace.
I know of no happiness compared to that which this peace affords. A calm sea after a storm, a blue sky after a black thunder cloud - health after sickness - light after darkness - rest after toll - all, all are beautiful and pleasant things. But none, none of them all can give more than a feeble idea of the comfort which those enjoy who have been brought into the state of peace with God. It is "a peace which passes all understanding" (Phil. 4:7).
It is the lack of this very peace which makes many in the world unhappy. Thousands have everything that is thought able to give pleasure, and yet are never satisfied. Their hearts are always aching. There is a constant sense of emptiness within. And what is the secret of all this? They have no peace with God.
It is the desire of this very peace which makes many a heathen do much in his idolatrous religion. Hundreds of them have been seen to mortify their bodies, and vex their own flesh in the serve of some wretched image which their own hands had made. And why? Because they hungered after peace with God.
It is the possession of this very peace on which the value of a man's religion depends. Without it there may be everything to please the eye, and gratify the ear - forms, ceremonies, services, and sacraments - and yet no good done to the soul. The grand question that should try all is the state of a man's conscience. Is it at peace? Has he peace with God?
This is the very peace about which I address every reader of these pages this day. Have you got it? Do you feel it? Is it your own?
If you have it, you are truly rich. You have that which will endure forever. You have treasure which you will not lose when you die and leave the world. You will carry it with you beyond the grave. You will have it and enjoy it to all eternity. Silver and gold you may have none. The praise of man you may never enjoy. But you have that which is far better than either, if you have the peace of God.
If you don't have this peace with God, you are truly poor. You have nothing which will last - nothing which will wear - nothing which you can carry with you when your turn comes to die. Naked you came into this world, and naked in every sense you will go forth. Your body may be carried to the grave with pomp and ceremony. A solemn service may be read over your coffin. A marble monument may be put up in your honor. But after all it will be but a pauper's funeral, if you die without peace with God.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).
There is a word in the text which heads this page which ought to be very precious in the eyes of Englishmen. The word is "peace".
Even in "merry England" we have known something of the horrors of war in the last thirty years. The Crimean war, the Indian mutiny, the Chinese, Abyssinian, and Ashantee wars have left deep marks on the history of our country.
We have tasted some of the tremendous evils which war, however just and necessary, brings in its train. Battle and disease have done their deadly work among our gallant soldiers and sailors. Gentle and simple blood has been shed like water in far distant lands. Many of the best and bravest of our countrymen are lying cold in untimely graves. Hearts in England have been broken by sudden, stunning, crushing bereavements. Mourning has been put on in many a palace, and many a cottage. The light of hundreds of happy firesides has been quenched. Alas, we have learned by bitter experience, what a blessed thing is peace!
I desire, however, to call the attention of all who read this paper to the best of all peace - even peace with God. I would gladly speak to you of a peace which this world can neither give nor take away - a peace which depends on no earthly governments, and needs no carnal weapons, either to win it or preserve it - a peace which is freely offered by the King of kings, and is within the reach of all who are willing to receive it.
There is such a thing as "peace with God." It may be felt and known. My heart's desire and prayer is that you may be able to say with the Apostle Paul, "Being justified by faith, I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).
There are four things which I propose to bring before you, in order to throw light on the whole subject.
1. Let me show you the chief privilege of a true Christian, "he has peace with God."
2. Let me show you the fountain from which that privilege flows, "he is justified."
3. Let me show you the rock from which that fountain springs, "Jesus Christ."
4. Let me show you the hand by which the privilege is made our own, "faith."
Upon each of these four points I have something to say. may the Holy Spirit make the whole subject peace giving to some souls!
First of all, let me show the chief privilege of a true Christian - he has peace with God.
When the apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, he used five words which the wisest of the heathen could never have used. Socrates, and Plato, and Aristotle, and Cicero, and Seneca were wise people. On many subjects they saw more clearly than most people in the present day. They were people of mighty minds, and of a vast range of intellect. But not one of them could have said as the apostle did, "I have peace with God."
When Paul used these words, he spoke not for himself only - but for all true Christians. Some of them no doubt have a greater sense of this privilege than others. All of them find an evil principle within, warring against their spiritual welfare day by day. All of them find their adversary, the devil, waging an endless battle with their souls. All of them find that they must endure the enmity of the world. But all, notwithstanding, to a greater or less extent, "have peace with God."
This peace with God is a calm, intelligent sense of friendship with the Lord of heaven and earth. He who has it, feels as if there was no barrier and separation between himself and his holy Maker. He can think of himself as under the eye of an all-seeking Being, and yet, not feel afraid. He can believe that this all-seeing Being beholds him, and yet is not displeased.
Such a man can see death waiting for him, and yet not be greatly moved. He can go down into the cold river - close his eyes on all he has on earth - launch forth into a world unknown, and yet feel peace.
Such a man can look forward to the resurrection and the judgment, and yet not be greatly moved. He can see with his mind's eye the great white throne - the assembled world - the open books - the listening angels - the Judge Himself - and yet feel peace.
Such a man can think of eternity, and yet not be greatly moved. He can imagine a never-ending existence in the presence of God and of the Lamb, a perpetual communion - and yet feel peace.
I know of no happiness compared to that which this peace affords. A calm sea after a storm, a blue sky after a black thunder cloud - health after sickness - light after darkness - rest after toll - all, all are beautiful and pleasant things. But none, none of them all can give more than a feeble idea of the comfort which those enjoy who have been brought into the state of peace with God. It is "a peace which passes all understanding" (Phil. 4:7).
It is the lack of this very peace which makes many in the world unhappy. Thousands have everything that is thought able to give pleasure, and yet are never satisfied. Their hearts are always aching. There is a constant sense of emptiness within. And what is the secret of all this? They have no peace with God.
It is the desire of this very peace which makes many a heathen do much in his idolatrous religion. Hundreds of them have been seen to mortify their bodies, and vex their own flesh in the serve of some wretched image which their own hands had made. And why? Because they hungered after peace with God.
It is the possession of this very peace on which the value of a man's religion depends. Without it there may be everything to please the eye, and gratify the ear - forms, ceremonies, services, and sacraments - and yet no good done to the soul. The grand question that should try all is the state of a man's conscience. Is it at peace? Has he peace with God?
This is the very peace about which I address every reader of these pages this day. Have you got it? Do you feel it? Is it your own?
If you have it, you are truly rich. You have that which will endure forever. You have treasure which you will not lose when you die and leave the world. You will carry it with you beyond the grave. You will have it and enjoy it to all eternity. Silver and gold you may have none. The praise of man you may never enjoy. But you have that which is far better than either, if you have the peace of God.
If you don't have this peace with God, you are truly poor. You have nothing which will last - nothing which will wear - nothing which you can carry with you when your turn comes to die. Naked you came into this world, and naked in every sense you will go forth. Your body may be carried to the grave with pomp and ceremony. A solemn service may be read over your coffin. A marble monument may be put up in your honor. But after all it will be but a pauper's funeral, if you die without peace with God.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Self-Righteousness # 2
Self-Righteousness # 2
I observe, then,
1. There was a difference in their character.
2. There was a difference in their behavior.
3. There was a difference in their prayers.
4. And, lastly, there was a difference in the reception their prayers met with.
1. There was a difference in their CHARACTER. The parable - or rather narrative, for it is probably a true story, adapted by our Lord to the purpose of the moment - begins by stating that "One was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector." Now, it is almost impossible to imagine a more striking contrast, in the opinion of a Jewish congregation. The PHARISEES were the strictest sect among the Jews: "I was of the strictest sect of the Pharisees," says Paul. They prayed often - which was very right - but they also made long prayers for a pretense, and they would pray at the corners of the streets where two roads met, that they might be seen by people going and coming both ways and so get a name for uncommon sanctity. There is no reason for supposing they were generally anything but moral men - but their grand fault was that they relied on their good works, as a ground of acceptance before God. They seem to have been indifferent as to the real state of their hearts, and to have cared only for keeping up a fair appearance before men, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
We may get some idea of their real character from our Lord's saying, that they gave tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, while they neglected the weightier matters of the law - justice, mercy and truth; and from His comparison of them to whitened sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful before men - but inwardly are filled with dead men's bones and all corruption. They "made broad the borders of their phylacteries," they had pieces of parchment sewed to the edge of their long robes, on which some texts of Scripture were written, that people might see them and infer that they were great lovers of the law of God. They were very strict about outward purifications, and set great value on the washing of pots, brazen vessels and tables, and many other such-like things that they did. They were particularly zealous for the traditions of the fathers, and for the observation of the rites and ceremonies of the church, and yet they often made the law of God void by their traditions. They were exceeding exact in the outward observation of the Sabbath - so much so that they called our Lord a sinner, and said He was not of God, because on the Sabbath day He had healed a man who was born blind.
And for all these reasons they were held in high esteem by the people; for men always prefer the things of sight to the thins of faith, and think more of outward service than of heart; they had the uppermost places in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces, and were called of men Rabbi. In short, they got such a reputation for piety it became a proverb among the Jews, that if there were but two men saved, one of them must be a Pharisee.
Such were the Pharisees. But what was the character given to the TAX COLLECTORS? It was very different in every respect. They were generally Jews who were employed to collect the Roman taxes. And as the Jews always disliked to pay tribute to the Gentiles, their office as tax collectors was looked upon as disgraceful and disreputable. Besides this, it is pretty clear that they used to exact much more than their due, and to amass much wealth by false accusations, to the great disgust of their fellow-countrymen. On these accounts they were so universally notorious, that our Lord Himself tells His disciples that if any man would not listen to the church, he must be to them as a heathen man and a tax collector. The enemies of Jesus thought it a heavy charge against Him that He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners; and in one place we find the tax collectors and harlots mentioned together, as people of like reputation.
On the whole, then, we may fairly conclude that in teaching the nature of acceptable worship, our Lord could not have chosen two examples more unlike each other than a Pharisee and a tax collector. One is of great repute with his fellow-creatures, while the other is peculiarly offensive - but which will God accept? We shall soon see.
2. Let us in the second place consider the different BEHAVIOR of these two worshipers. Behold the Pharisee. "He stood and prayed thus with himself." Observe this: he went to some conspicuous part of the temple, where he could stand alone near the altar, separate from the rest of men, that all might see what a devout man he was, and not lose sight of him in the crowd. He stood "with himself", not among the congregation, lest he should be defiled by touching them; he was too good for them. We do not read of anything like humility here; we do not learn that he even bowed his head, as a mark of respect to his Creator - but there he stood erect, like one who felt that he had done all that God required of him, that he had no sin to repent of, that he had a right to expect a blessing as a profitable servant.
Turn now to the tax collector. "Standing afar off, he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven - but smote upon his bosom." He stood afar off probably in the outward court, as one who did not feel himself worthy to come beyond the threshold of Him whose name is Holy. "He would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven." He felt the remembrance of his sins so grievous, and the burden of them so intolerable, that, like a child who has offended its father, he dare not look his Almighty Maker in the face. "He smote upon his bosom." He could not control the feelings that arose in his mind: he recollected the mercies he had received and his own neglect of them, the life he had led and the God he had despised; and, like those who saw Jesus hanging on the Cross, "he smote his bosom," in sorrow, self-abasement and godly fear. Beloved, the posture of the body and the expression of the face are certainly not always sure signs of the state of a man's heart - but you may rest assured that a truly humble and devout worshiper will generally be distinguished by his conduct in the house of God.
He who is duly sensible of his own guilt, and is ever coming to Jesus as his Advocate; he who is acquainted with the sinfulness of sin and the devices of satan, and the value of the means of grace and the necessity of using them if he would save his soul - such a one will never show any lack of reverence, any levity or carelessness of manner, when he has entered any place where prayer is accustomed to be made and the gospel preached, and Christ Himself is standing in the midst. But is a person comes to church with an air of indifference, as if he did the minister a favor by coming and cared not if he never came again, and does not join in the prayers, and looks as if he would be ashamed if any one thought he did, and does not listen to the word of God, and does not pay attention to the sermon; if he employs himself with looking at other people's dress - or deliberately goes to sleep - or talks to his neighbors - or makes plans for the next week - he may have his own reasons for coming here - but it is pretty clear to me that he does not come in the way that Jesus loves, as a miserable sinner who sees nothing but evil in himself, nor in the spirit that Jesus loves, that is in the spirit of the tax collector.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
I observe, then,
1. There was a difference in their character.
2. There was a difference in their behavior.
3. There was a difference in their prayers.
4. And, lastly, there was a difference in the reception their prayers met with.
1. There was a difference in their CHARACTER. The parable - or rather narrative, for it is probably a true story, adapted by our Lord to the purpose of the moment - begins by stating that "One was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector." Now, it is almost impossible to imagine a more striking contrast, in the opinion of a Jewish congregation. The PHARISEES were the strictest sect among the Jews: "I was of the strictest sect of the Pharisees," says Paul. They prayed often - which was very right - but they also made long prayers for a pretense, and they would pray at the corners of the streets where two roads met, that they might be seen by people going and coming both ways and so get a name for uncommon sanctity. There is no reason for supposing they were generally anything but moral men - but their grand fault was that they relied on their good works, as a ground of acceptance before God. They seem to have been indifferent as to the real state of their hearts, and to have cared only for keeping up a fair appearance before men, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
We may get some idea of their real character from our Lord's saying, that they gave tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, while they neglected the weightier matters of the law - justice, mercy and truth; and from His comparison of them to whitened sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful before men - but inwardly are filled with dead men's bones and all corruption. They "made broad the borders of their phylacteries," they had pieces of parchment sewed to the edge of their long robes, on which some texts of Scripture were written, that people might see them and infer that they were great lovers of the law of God. They were very strict about outward purifications, and set great value on the washing of pots, brazen vessels and tables, and many other such-like things that they did. They were particularly zealous for the traditions of the fathers, and for the observation of the rites and ceremonies of the church, and yet they often made the law of God void by their traditions. They were exceeding exact in the outward observation of the Sabbath - so much so that they called our Lord a sinner, and said He was not of God, because on the Sabbath day He had healed a man who was born blind.
And for all these reasons they were held in high esteem by the people; for men always prefer the things of sight to the thins of faith, and think more of outward service than of heart; they had the uppermost places in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces, and were called of men Rabbi. In short, they got such a reputation for piety it became a proverb among the Jews, that if there were but two men saved, one of them must be a Pharisee.
Such were the Pharisees. But what was the character given to the TAX COLLECTORS? It was very different in every respect. They were generally Jews who were employed to collect the Roman taxes. And as the Jews always disliked to pay tribute to the Gentiles, their office as tax collectors was looked upon as disgraceful and disreputable. Besides this, it is pretty clear that they used to exact much more than their due, and to amass much wealth by false accusations, to the great disgust of their fellow-countrymen. On these accounts they were so universally notorious, that our Lord Himself tells His disciples that if any man would not listen to the church, he must be to them as a heathen man and a tax collector. The enemies of Jesus thought it a heavy charge against Him that He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners; and in one place we find the tax collectors and harlots mentioned together, as people of like reputation.
On the whole, then, we may fairly conclude that in teaching the nature of acceptable worship, our Lord could not have chosen two examples more unlike each other than a Pharisee and a tax collector. One is of great repute with his fellow-creatures, while the other is peculiarly offensive - but which will God accept? We shall soon see.
2. Let us in the second place consider the different BEHAVIOR of these two worshipers. Behold the Pharisee. "He stood and prayed thus with himself." Observe this: he went to some conspicuous part of the temple, where he could stand alone near the altar, separate from the rest of men, that all might see what a devout man he was, and not lose sight of him in the crowd. He stood "with himself", not among the congregation, lest he should be defiled by touching them; he was too good for them. We do not read of anything like humility here; we do not learn that he even bowed his head, as a mark of respect to his Creator - but there he stood erect, like one who felt that he had done all that God required of him, that he had no sin to repent of, that he had a right to expect a blessing as a profitable servant.
Turn now to the tax collector. "Standing afar off, he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven - but smote upon his bosom." He stood afar off probably in the outward court, as one who did not feel himself worthy to come beyond the threshold of Him whose name is Holy. "He would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven." He felt the remembrance of his sins so grievous, and the burden of them so intolerable, that, like a child who has offended its father, he dare not look his Almighty Maker in the face. "He smote upon his bosom." He could not control the feelings that arose in his mind: he recollected the mercies he had received and his own neglect of them, the life he had led and the God he had despised; and, like those who saw Jesus hanging on the Cross, "he smote his bosom," in sorrow, self-abasement and godly fear. Beloved, the posture of the body and the expression of the face are certainly not always sure signs of the state of a man's heart - but you may rest assured that a truly humble and devout worshiper will generally be distinguished by his conduct in the house of God.
He who is duly sensible of his own guilt, and is ever coming to Jesus as his Advocate; he who is acquainted with the sinfulness of sin and the devices of satan, and the value of the means of grace and the necessity of using them if he would save his soul - such a one will never show any lack of reverence, any levity or carelessness of manner, when he has entered any place where prayer is accustomed to be made and the gospel preached, and Christ Himself is standing in the midst. But is a person comes to church with an air of indifference, as if he did the minister a favor by coming and cared not if he never came again, and does not join in the prayers, and looks as if he would be ashamed if any one thought he did, and does not listen to the word of God, and does not pay attention to the sermon; if he employs himself with looking at other people's dress - or deliberately goes to sleep - or talks to his neighbors - or makes plans for the next week - he may have his own reasons for coming here - but it is pretty clear to me that he does not come in the way that Jesus loves, as a miserable sinner who sees nothing but evil in himself, nor in the spirit that Jesus loves, that is in the spirit of the tax collector.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
Self-Righteousness # 1
Self-Righteousness # 1
"He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt" (Luke 18:9).
Are there none to whom this parable is applicable in the present day? Truly, if it were so, the ministers of Jesus would have comparatively a light employment and an idle post. We do not often meet with men who deny the divinity of Christ - or the personality of the Holy Spirit - or disbelieve the Bible - or doubt the existence of a God, and so bring upon themselves swift destruction. But, alas! We have daily proof that the disease spoken of in our text is as deep-seated and hard to cure as ever, and of all the mischievous delusions that keep men out of heaven, of all the soul-destroying snares that satan employs to oppose Christ's Gospel, there is none we find so dangerous, none so successful, as self-righteousness!
Perhaps you think this strange, and I dare say there are few who would not say, if asked the ground of their hopes, and how they expect to be saved, "We trust in the merits of Christ." But I fear that too many of you are making the Lord Jesus but half your Saviour, and could never stand the sifting of an inquiry which would draw out into daylight the secrets of your hearts. How much would then come out by degrees about 'doing as well as you could,' and 'being no worse than others', and 'having been sober and industrious and well-behaved', and 'having attended church regularly', and 'having had a Bible and a Prayer book of your own ever since you can remember', and the like; besides many other self-approving thoughts, which often never appear until a death-bed. And all prove the root of all evil, which is pride, to be still vigorous and flourishing within.
Oh, this pride of heart, beloved! - it is fearful to see the harm that it does, and the carelessness with which it is regarded. It is melancholy indeed to think of a man, weak frail man, the descendant of fallen Adam, the inheritor of a corrupt nature, forgetting his own countless sins, shortcomings and backslidings, trusting in himself, and despising those who are his brethren according to the flesh. And wisely has our Lord spoken the parable immediately following my text - "Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: "God, I thank You that I'm not like other people - greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get." But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, "God, turn Your wrath from me - a sinner!" I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:10-14).
Observe now how much more striking the lesson sounds when conveyed to us in the form of an example. How little many people would have been affected if our Lord had given a general discourse about the 'evil of pride' and the 'excellence of humility'; about the danger of formality and the importance of a truly penitent frame of mind, if he had merely said, "Be not self-righteous in your dealings with God - but be lowly and self-abased!" And how much more are our heard hearts likely to be moved when we see, as it were, living specimens of two sorts of worshipers, placed vividly before our eyes!
May God the Holy Spirit direct the instruction here contained to the awakening of the self-righteous, to the comfort of those who labor and are heavy-laden, and to the edification of all!
Now, before entering closely into the parable, I would have you mark, that the first verse tells us there was one point on which the Pharisee and the tax collector were agreed - one point which they had in common, and one only - and this was, "They both went up into the temple to pray." They both set their faces the same way, they walked in the same path, they entered the same house, and so far we can discover no difference whatever between them, in their outward behavior at least. But we shall soon find that their hearts were far asunder, and like the first worshipers recorded in the Bible, even Cain and Abel, there was a mighty gulf between them - for God, we shall see, accepted the sacrifice of the one - but rejected that of the other.
Oh, beloved, this passage suggests very solemn reflections, and for our sakes no doubt it was written. Both these men, it appears, "went up to the temple to pray," and yet how fearfully the narrative ends! Jesus had just been speaking of the necessity of constant prayer, in the parable of the unjust judge, and immediately, without anything happening to break the thread of His discourse, He adds the parable we are now considering. Surely, then, this must be meant to remind us, as a thing we are liable to forget, that, however important prayer may be, we are not to suppose all who pray have a godly spirit; and that outward service is often given where there is no real dedication of the heart of God.
Truly it is cheerful and encouraging to see a multitude going up to the house of God - but still it is painful to remember that too many go in the spirit of the Pharisee, and far too few in that of the Tax Collector. They all use the same prayers, they bow the knee, they move the lips together, and yet they are as widely different as gold and base metal. All are not Israel,k who are called Israel. All are not Christians who name the name of Christ. All are not acceptable worshipers who are found in the temples of the Most High.
And what is the line of distinction? We learn this in the parable. Some come as Pharisees, and some as tax collectors; some appear with a broken and contrite heart, such as the Lord will not despise, and others with an unhumbled and self-exalting spirit, wise in their own eyes and pure in their own sight - the sacrifice of all such is abominable in the sight of God. Oh that you would try to bear in mind more constantly, that "the Lord sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance - but the Lord looks on the heart"; that to Him "all hearts are open, all desires known, and from Him no secrets are hidden!" And if you felt this more, you would be more careful about the spirit in which you draw near to His throne, you would avoid anything like vain or trifling conversation both before and after service, and so observe the advice of Solomon - too guard your steps when you go to the house of God."
Let us, however, return to the parable from which I have turned aside. I have shown you that there was one point in common between the tax collector and the Pharisee; and I shall now proceed to call you attention to the main object of the parable, by tracing out distinctly the four great points of difference
which we perceive existed between these fellow-worshipers.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
"He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt" (Luke 18:9).
Are there none to whom this parable is applicable in the present day? Truly, if it were so, the ministers of Jesus would have comparatively a light employment and an idle post. We do not often meet with men who deny the divinity of Christ - or the personality of the Holy Spirit - or disbelieve the Bible - or doubt the existence of a God, and so bring upon themselves swift destruction. But, alas! We have daily proof that the disease spoken of in our text is as deep-seated and hard to cure as ever, and of all the mischievous delusions that keep men out of heaven, of all the soul-destroying snares that satan employs to oppose Christ's Gospel, there is none we find so dangerous, none so successful, as self-righteousness!
Perhaps you think this strange, and I dare say there are few who would not say, if asked the ground of their hopes, and how they expect to be saved, "We trust in the merits of Christ." But I fear that too many of you are making the Lord Jesus but half your Saviour, and could never stand the sifting of an inquiry which would draw out into daylight the secrets of your hearts. How much would then come out by degrees about 'doing as well as you could,' and 'being no worse than others', and 'having been sober and industrious and well-behaved', and 'having attended church regularly', and 'having had a Bible and a Prayer book of your own ever since you can remember', and the like; besides many other self-approving thoughts, which often never appear until a death-bed. And all prove the root of all evil, which is pride, to be still vigorous and flourishing within.
Oh, this pride of heart, beloved! - it is fearful to see the harm that it does, and the carelessness with which it is regarded. It is melancholy indeed to think of a man, weak frail man, the descendant of fallen Adam, the inheritor of a corrupt nature, forgetting his own countless sins, shortcomings and backslidings, trusting in himself, and despising those who are his brethren according to the flesh. And wisely has our Lord spoken the parable immediately following my text - "Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: "God, I thank You that I'm not like other people - greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get." But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, "God, turn Your wrath from me - a sinner!" I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:10-14).
Observe now how much more striking the lesson sounds when conveyed to us in the form of an example. How little many people would have been affected if our Lord had given a general discourse about the 'evil of pride' and the 'excellence of humility'; about the danger of formality and the importance of a truly penitent frame of mind, if he had merely said, "Be not self-righteous in your dealings with God - but be lowly and self-abased!" And how much more are our heard hearts likely to be moved when we see, as it were, living specimens of two sorts of worshipers, placed vividly before our eyes!
May God the Holy Spirit direct the instruction here contained to the awakening of the self-righteous, to the comfort of those who labor and are heavy-laden, and to the edification of all!
Now, before entering closely into the parable, I would have you mark, that the first verse tells us there was one point on which the Pharisee and the tax collector were agreed - one point which they had in common, and one only - and this was, "They both went up into the temple to pray." They both set their faces the same way, they walked in the same path, they entered the same house, and so far we can discover no difference whatever between them, in their outward behavior at least. But we shall soon find that their hearts were far asunder, and like the first worshipers recorded in the Bible, even Cain and Abel, there was a mighty gulf between them - for God, we shall see, accepted the sacrifice of the one - but rejected that of the other.
Oh, beloved, this passage suggests very solemn reflections, and for our sakes no doubt it was written. Both these men, it appears, "went up to the temple to pray," and yet how fearfully the narrative ends! Jesus had just been speaking of the necessity of constant prayer, in the parable of the unjust judge, and immediately, without anything happening to break the thread of His discourse, He adds the parable we are now considering. Surely, then, this must be meant to remind us, as a thing we are liable to forget, that, however important prayer may be, we are not to suppose all who pray have a godly spirit; and that outward service is often given where there is no real dedication of the heart of God.
Truly it is cheerful and encouraging to see a multitude going up to the house of God - but still it is painful to remember that too many go in the spirit of the Pharisee, and far too few in that of the Tax Collector. They all use the same prayers, they bow the knee, they move the lips together, and yet they are as widely different as gold and base metal. All are not Israel,k who are called Israel. All are not Christians who name the name of Christ. All are not acceptable worshipers who are found in the temples of the Most High.
And what is the line of distinction? We learn this in the parable. Some come as Pharisees, and some as tax collectors; some appear with a broken and contrite heart, such as the Lord will not despise, and others with an unhumbled and self-exalting spirit, wise in their own eyes and pure in their own sight - the sacrifice of all such is abominable in the sight of God. Oh that you would try to bear in mind more constantly, that "the Lord sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance - but the Lord looks on the heart"; that to Him "all hearts are open, all desires known, and from Him no secrets are hidden!" And if you felt this more, you would be more careful about the spirit in which you draw near to His throne, you would avoid anything like vain or trifling conversation both before and after service, and so observe the advice of Solomon - too guard your steps when you go to the house of God."
Let us, however, return to the parable from which I have turned aside. I have shown you that there was one point in common between the tax collector and the Pharisee; and I shall now proceed to call you attention to the main object of the parable, by tracing out distinctly the four great points of difference
which we perceive existed between these fellow-worshipers.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Saving Faith # 1
Saving Faith # 1
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
In this verse, beloved, we have one of those "heavenly things," which our Lord had just spoken of to Nicodemus. Blessed indeed are the lips which spoke it, and blessed are the hearts which can receive it! In this verse we find a treasury of the most precious truth, a mine of inexhaustible matter, a well of ever-flowing waters; and when we consider the simple words in which our Lord has here brought together the whole body of divinity, we must willingly confess, with those who heard Him preach, "Never any man ever spoke like this man!"
Listen, I beg you, once more, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life." There is hardly an expression that a child could not easily explain, and yet there are doctrines here which the wisest upon earth must humbly receive, if they would enter into the kingdom of heaven and sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We learn in it, what philosophers of old could never clear up - the history of God's dealing with mankind, and the terms which He offers for their acceptance. Here is life, and here is death; here you have the deserts of man, and here you have the free grace of God; here you see what all may expect who follow their own course; and here also the way, the truth, and the life is directly pointed out.
And at this particular season of the year, when we are about so soon to commemorate the mysterious birth of Him who in mercy to our sins consented to take our nature on Him and be born of a virgin, even Christ Jesus, we cannot do better than examine the things which are herein contained. May the Eternal Spirit, through whom He offered Himself, the great Teacher whom He promised to send, be among us: may He arouse the careless; fix the inattentive; and make the subject profitable to all.
Now I conceive the chief things to be noticed in this verse are:
1. The state of the world, that is - of all mankind.
2. The love of God.
3. The gift of the Son.
4. The means whereby we enjoy this gift.
5. And the promise attached to those who believe.
1. First, then, let us inquire what the Word of God has taught us respecting the world and the world's character. Now, the testimony of Scripture upon this head is so clear and explicit, that he who runs may read, "The whole world," says John, "lies in wickedness." Our first father, Adam, was indeed created in the image of God, pure and sinless - but in one day he fell from his high estate by eating the forbidden fruit, he broke God's express command and became at once a sinful creature; and now all we his children have inherited from him - a wicked and a corrupt nature, a nature which clings to us from the moment of our birth, and which we show daily in our lives and conversation. In a word, we learn that from the hour of the fall our character has been established - that we are a sinful, a very sinful world.
Beloved, does this appear a hard saying? Do you think such a statement too strong? Away with the flattering thought! We see it proved in Scripture, for every book of the Old Testament history tells the melancholy story of man's disobedience and man's unbelief in things pertaining to God. We read there of fearful judgments, such as the flood and the destruction of Sodom - yet men disregarded them. We read of gracious mercies, such as the calling and protection of Israel - but men soon forgot them. We read of inspired teachers and revelations from heaven, such as the law of Moses - and men did not obey them. We read of special warnings, such as the voice of the prophets - and yet men did not believe them. Yes, beloved, we are a sinful world!
Think not to say within yourselves, "It may be so - but this happened in days of old; the world is better now." It will not avail you. We have read it in Scripture - but we see it also around us, and you will find at this time, even under your own eyes, convincing proof that the charge is literally true. Let any, for instance, examine the columns of a country newspaper, and he will see there within a month enough to make his ears tingle. I speak as unto wise men - you judge what I say. Will he not see accounts of nearly every sin which is abominable in the sight of God? Will he not read of anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, theft, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, emulations, variance, strife, seditions, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: "of the which," says the apostle (Gal. 5:21), "I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." And if such things take place in a land which is blessed with so much light and knowledge as our own, how much more should be find in countries where there is neither one nor the other!
Can you still doubt? I will go further. We see proof in ourselves. Let the best among you search his own heart; let him honestly cast up the number of evil thoughts and unholy ideas which pass through his imagination even in one single day - thoughts, I mean, which are known only to himself and the all-seeing God - and let him tell us whether it be not a most humiliating and soul- condemning calculation. Yes, dear friends, whether you will receive it or not - we are indeed a sinful world. It may be a humbling truth - but Scripture says it, and experience confirms it; and therefore we tell you that the world spoken of in our text is a world which lies in wickedness, a corrupt world, a world which our great Maker and Preserver might have left to deserved destruction, and in so doing would have acted with perfect justice; because He has given us laws and they have been broken, promises and they have been despised, warnings and they have not been believed.
2. The love of God. Such is the world of which we form a part, and such is its character. And now let us hear what the feeling is with which God has been pleased to regard His guilty creatures. We were all under condemnation, without hope, without excuse; and what could stay the execution of the sentence? It was the love of God! "God," says our text, "so loved the world." He might have poured on us the vials of His wrath, as He did on the angels who kept not their first estate - but no! He spared us, "God so loved the world!" Justice demanded our punishment, holiness required we should be swept off the earth - but "God loved the world!" Praised be His Name, we had nothing to do with man's judgment, which may not show mercy, when a crime is proved. We were in the hands of One whose ways are not as our ways, and whose thoughts are not as our thoughts - and hence, "God so loved the world." May we not well say with the Apostle, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" (Rom. 11:33).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
In this verse, beloved, we have one of those "heavenly things," which our Lord had just spoken of to Nicodemus. Blessed indeed are the lips which spoke it, and blessed are the hearts which can receive it! In this verse we find a treasury of the most precious truth, a mine of inexhaustible matter, a well of ever-flowing waters; and when we consider the simple words in which our Lord has here brought together the whole body of divinity, we must willingly confess, with those who heard Him preach, "Never any man ever spoke like this man!"
Listen, I beg you, once more, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life." There is hardly an expression that a child could not easily explain, and yet there are doctrines here which the wisest upon earth must humbly receive, if they would enter into the kingdom of heaven and sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We learn in it, what philosophers of old could never clear up - the history of God's dealing with mankind, and the terms which He offers for their acceptance. Here is life, and here is death; here you have the deserts of man, and here you have the free grace of God; here you see what all may expect who follow their own course; and here also the way, the truth, and the life is directly pointed out.
And at this particular season of the year, when we are about so soon to commemorate the mysterious birth of Him who in mercy to our sins consented to take our nature on Him and be born of a virgin, even Christ Jesus, we cannot do better than examine the things which are herein contained. May the Eternal Spirit, through whom He offered Himself, the great Teacher whom He promised to send, be among us: may He arouse the careless; fix the inattentive; and make the subject profitable to all.
Now I conceive the chief things to be noticed in this verse are:
1. The state of the world, that is - of all mankind.
2. The love of God.
3. The gift of the Son.
4. The means whereby we enjoy this gift.
5. And the promise attached to those who believe.
1. First, then, let us inquire what the Word of God has taught us respecting the world and the world's character. Now, the testimony of Scripture upon this head is so clear and explicit, that he who runs may read, "The whole world," says John, "lies in wickedness." Our first father, Adam, was indeed created in the image of God, pure and sinless - but in one day he fell from his high estate by eating the forbidden fruit, he broke God's express command and became at once a sinful creature; and now all we his children have inherited from him - a wicked and a corrupt nature, a nature which clings to us from the moment of our birth, and which we show daily in our lives and conversation. In a word, we learn that from the hour of the fall our character has been established - that we are a sinful, a very sinful world.
Beloved, does this appear a hard saying? Do you think such a statement too strong? Away with the flattering thought! We see it proved in Scripture, for every book of the Old Testament history tells the melancholy story of man's disobedience and man's unbelief in things pertaining to God. We read there of fearful judgments, such as the flood and the destruction of Sodom - yet men disregarded them. We read of gracious mercies, such as the calling and protection of Israel - but men soon forgot them. We read of inspired teachers and revelations from heaven, such as the law of Moses - and men did not obey them. We read of special warnings, such as the voice of the prophets - and yet men did not believe them. Yes, beloved, we are a sinful world!
Think not to say within yourselves, "It may be so - but this happened in days of old; the world is better now." It will not avail you. We have read it in Scripture - but we see it also around us, and you will find at this time, even under your own eyes, convincing proof that the charge is literally true. Let any, for instance, examine the columns of a country newspaper, and he will see there within a month enough to make his ears tingle. I speak as unto wise men - you judge what I say. Will he not see accounts of nearly every sin which is abominable in the sight of God? Will he not read of anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, theft, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, emulations, variance, strife, seditions, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: "of the which," says the apostle (Gal. 5:21), "I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." And if such things take place in a land which is blessed with so much light and knowledge as our own, how much more should be find in countries where there is neither one nor the other!
Can you still doubt? I will go further. We see proof in ourselves. Let the best among you search his own heart; let him honestly cast up the number of evil thoughts and unholy ideas which pass through his imagination even in one single day - thoughts, I mean, which are known only to himself and the all-seeing God - and let him tell us whether it be not a most humiliating and soul- condemning calculation. Yes, dear friends, whether you will receive it or not - we are indeed a sinful world. It may be a humbling truth - but Scripture says it, and experience confirms it; and therefore we tell you that the world spoken of in our text is a world which lies in wickedness, a corrupt world, a world which our great Maker and Preserver might have left to deserved destruction, and in so doing would have acted with perfect justice; because He has given us laws and they have been broken, promises and they have been despised, warnings and they have not been believed.
2. The love of God. Such is the world of which we form a part, and such is its character. And now let us hear what the feeling is with which God has been pleased to regard His guilty creatures. We were all under condemnation, without hope, without excuse; and what could stay the execution of the sentence? It was the love of God! "God," says our text, "so loved the world." He might have poured on us the vials of His wrath, as He did on the angels who kept not their first estate - but no! He spared us, "God so loved the world!" Justice demanded our punishment, holiness required we should be swept off the earth - but "God loved the world!" Praised be His Name, we had nothing to do with man's judgment, which may not show mercy, when a crime is proved. We were in the hands of One whose ways are not as our ways, and whose thoughts are not as our thoughts - and hence, "God so loved the world." May we not well say with the Apostle, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" (Rom. 11:33).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
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