From: Suzianty Herawati
"My grace is sufficient for thee." --2 Corinthians 12:9
If none of God's saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well
the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has not where
to lay his head, who yet can say, "Still will I trust in the or, when we see
the pauper starving
on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow
overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh! what honour it
reflects on the gospel. God's grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty
and trials of believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing
that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a
real blessing shall ultimately spring--that
their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly
support them in the trouble, as long as He is pleased to keep them in it. This
patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse
out at sea: it is a calm night--I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the
tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So
with the Spirit's work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with
tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the
winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was. The
master-works of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties,
stedfast, unmoveable,--
"Calm mid the bewildering cry, Confident of victory."
He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many
trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many.
If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better
show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for His failing you, never dream
of it--hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be
trusted to the end.
CH Spurgeon
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From: Grace Maringka
http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/
When Hearts Are Better than Heads, and Vice Versa.
February 4, 2007 | By: John Piper
Category: Written Posts by John Piper, Pastors Conference
In my preparations for Tuesday's talk on Andrew Fuller, I came across this
quote. It stirred up ten thoughts about heads being better than hearts and
hearts being better than heads. Here is what Fuller said:
I perceived that men's characters were not always formed by their avowed
principles; that we may hold a sound faith without its having such hold of us
as to form our spirit and conduct; that we may profess an erroneous creed, and
yet our spirit and conduct may be formed nearly irrespective of it; in short,
that there is a difference between principles and opinions; the one are the
actual moving causes which lie at the root of action, the other often float in
the mind without being reduced to practice. (The Complete Works of Reverend
Andrew Fuller, ed. Joseph Belcher, Vol. 1, p. 16)
Some inferences:
1. Some men's hearts are better than their heads. Some men's heads are better
than their hearts.
2. There is no good, heaven-bound heart that is rooted in a Christ-denying head.
3. There can be a bad, hell-bound heart in the same body with a head that
affirms orthodox doctrine.
4. Hearts that are better than heads are vulnerable hearts and more likely to
be corrupted than if the goodness of the heart were rooted in the truth of the
head.
5. Hearts that are bad, in spite of truth in the head, have a better chance of
being awakened than those that are doubly trapped with untruth in the head as
well.
6. Heads and hearts do not ordinarily fail to influence each other; good can
purify and evil can corrupt in both directions.
7. When Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them by the truth," God was the sanctifier,
truth the agent. Therefore, God the Spirit is indispensable in the truth of the
head purifying the affections of the heart.
8. Therefore, aiming at hearts that are better than heads is not a good goal in
preaching.
9. And aiming at heads that are better than hearts is not a good goal in
preaching.
10. Aiming at love through truth is a worthy goal. The evidence that we are
aiming at this is whether we pray that our people would always know the truth
in a way that makes us free (John 8:32).
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From: Suzianty Herawati
"When He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
--Mark 8:38
If we have been partakers with Jesus in His shame, we shall be sharers with
Him in the lustre which shall surround Him when He appears again in glory. Art
thou, beloved one, with Christ Jesus? Does a vital union knit thee to Him? Then
thou art to-day with Him in His shame; thou hast taken up His cross, and gone
with Him without the camp bearing His reproach; thou shalt doubtless be with
Him when the cross is exchanged for the crown.
But judge thyself this evening; for if thou art not with Him in the
regeneration, neither shalt thou be with Him when He shall come in His glory.
If thou start back from the black side of communion, thou shalt not understand
its bright, its happy period, when the King shall come, and all His holy angels
with Him. What! are angels with Him? And yet He took not up angels--He took up
the seed of Abraham. Are the holy angels with Him? Come, my soul, if thou art
indeed His own beloved, thou canst not be far from Him. If His friends and His
neighbours are called together to see His glory, what thinkest thou if thou art
married to Him? Shalt thou be distant? Though
it be a day of judgment, yet thou canst not be far from that heart which,
having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted thee into union. Has He not
said to thee, O my soul, "I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in
judgment, and in lovingkindness"? Have not His own lips said it, "I am married
unto thee, and My delight is in thee"? If the angels, who are but friends and
neighbours, shall be with Him, it is abundantly certain that His own beloved
Hephzibah, in whom is all His
delight, shall be near to Him, and sit at His right hand. Here is a morning
star of hope for thee, of such exceeding brilliance, that it may well light up
the darkest and most desolate experience.
CH Spurgeon
