Grace Gems for SEPTEMBER 2004

Grace Gems for SEPTEMBER 2004 The carnal man's trinity! ("Soul Idolatry" David Clarkson, 1621-1686) "You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a such a person is really an idolater who worships the things of this world." Ephesians 5:5 "For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John 2:16 Pleasures, and riches, and honors are the carnal man's trinity. These are the three great idols of worldly men, to which they prostrate their souls! Idolatry is to give that honor and worship to 'the creature', which is due to the Creator alone. When this worship is communicated to other things, whatever they are, we thereby make them idols, and commit idolatry. When the mind is most taken up with an object, and the heart and affections most set upon it, this is "soul worship"--and this worship is due to God alone. Now this worship due to God alone, is given . . . by the savage heathen to their stick and stones; by the papist to their angels, saints, and images; by carnal men to their lusts. There are two kinds of idolatry: 1. Open, external idolatry--when men, out of a religious respect, bow to, or prostrate themselves before anything besides the true God. This is the idolatry of the heathen, and in part, the idolatry of papists. 2. Secret and soul idolatry--when the mind is set on anything more than God; when anything is . . . more valued than God, more desired than God, more sought than God, more loved than God. Hence, secret idolaters shall have no inheritance in the Kingdom of God. Soul idolatry will exclude men from heaven, as much as open idolatry! He who serves his lusts is as incapable of entering heaven, as he who worships idols of wood or stone! "Therefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry!" 1 Corinthians 10:14 Poor ephemeral things which cannot last (J. C. Ryle, "Thoughts on Immortality", 1883) "For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18 "This world and all it contains will pass away." 1 Corinthians 7:31 We live in a world where all things are temporary and passing away. We are all "going, going, going," whether high or low, rich or poor, old or young. We are all going--and shall soon be gone! What is our life? It is a vapor! So soon passes it away, and we are gone! Humbling and painful as these truths may sound, it is good for us to realize them and lay them to heart. The houses we live in, the homes we love, the riches we accumulate, the professions we follow, the plans we form, the relations we enter into, they are only for a time. The things you live for now are all temporary and passing away. The pleasures, the amusements, the recreations, the merry-makings, the profits, the earthly callings, which now absorb all your heart, and drink up all your mind, will soon be over. They are poor ephemeral things which cannot last. Oh, do not love them not too much! Do not grasp them too tightly! Do not make them your idols! You cannot keep them, and you must leave them! "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." Col. 3:2 When our path is strewed with roses (The Christian Monitor) Many and precious are the benefits arising from affliction. Affliction tends to wean us from this world, and enable us rightly to appreciate its fading enjoyments. When our path is strewed with roses, when nothing but brightness and fragrance float around us, how apt we are to be enamored with our present condition, and to forget the crown of glory at the end of the Christian's race, and to forget Jesus, and everlasting ages. But affliction, with a warning voice, rouses us from the sweet delusion; warns our hearts to "arise and depart" from these inferior delights, because this is "not our rest," --that true and lasting joys are not to be found here. The sweeping tempest and the beating surge teach the mariner to prize the haven, where undisturbed repose awaits his arrival. In like manner . . . disappointments, vexations, anxieties, and crosses, teach us to long for those happy mansions, where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever!" Rev. 21:4 God's perfect will (J. C. Philpot, "The Living Sacrifice Presented" 1856) "That good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2 God's will is "perfect". In it, there is . . . no spot, no stain, no weakness, no error, no instability. It is and indeed must necessarily be as perfect as God Himself; for it emanates from Him who is all perfection; and is a discovery of His mind and character. But when God's perfect will . . . sets itself against our flesh, thwarts our dearest hopes, overturns our fondest schemes, we cannot see that it is a perfect will. But rather, are much disposed to fret, murmur, and rebel against it. God's perfect will may . . . snatch a child from your bosom; strike down a dear husband; tear from your arms a beloved wife; strip you of all your worldly goods; put your feet into a path of suffering; lay you upon a bed of pain and languishing; cast you into hot furnaces or overwhelming floods; make your life almost a burden to yourself! How can you, under circumstances so trying and distressing as these, acknowledge and submit to God's perfect will; and let it reign and rule in your heart without a murmur of resistance to it? Look back and see how God's perfect will has, in previous instances, reigned supreme in all points, for your good. It has ordered or overruled all circumstances and all events, amid a complication of difficulties in providence and grace. Nothing has happened to your injury; but all things have worked together for your good. Whatever we have lost, it was better for us that it was taken away. Whatever . . . property, or comfort, or friends, or health, or earthly happiness we have been deprived of, it was better for us to lose, than to retain them. Was your dear child taken away? It might be to teach you resignation to God's sacred will. Has a dear partner been snatched from your embrace? It was that God might be your better Partner and undying Friend. Was any portion of your worldly substance taken away? It was that you might be taught to live a life of faith in the providence of God. Have your fondest schemes been marred; your youthful hopes blighted; and you pierced in the warmest affections of your heart? It was . . . to remove an idol, to dethrone a rival to Christ, to crucify the object of earthly love, so that a purer, holier, and more enduring affection might be enshrined in its stead. To tenderly embrace God's perfect will is the grand object of all gospel discipline. The ultimatum of gospel obedience is to lie passive in His hand, and know no will but His. "That good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2 This sinner, not the Pharisee (J. C. Philpot, "Spiritual Fruit" 1858) The proud Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: "I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else, especially like that publican over there! For I never cheat, I don't sin, I don't commit adultery, I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income." Luke 18:11-12 Man unites in himself, what at first sight seem to be completely opposite things. He is the greatest of sinners--and yet the greatest of Pharisees. Now, what two things can be so opposed to each other as sin and self-righteousness? Yet the very same man who is a sinner from top to toe, with the whole head sick and the whole heart faint--who is spiritually nothing else but a leper throughout--how contradictory it appears that the same man has in his own heart a most stubborn self-righteousness! Now, against these two evils God, so to speak, directs His whole artillery--He spares neither one nor the other. But it is hard to say which is the greatest rebellion against God--the existence of sin in man and what he is as a fallen sinner--or his Pharisaism, the lifting up his head in pride of self-righteousness. It is not easy to decide which is the more obnoxious to God--the drunkard who sins without shame--or the Pharisee puffed up with how pleasing he is to God. The one is abhorrent to our feelings--and, as far as decency and morality are concerned, we would rather see the Pharisee. But when we come to matters of true religion, the Pharisee seems the worst! At least our Lord intimated as much when He said the publicans and harlots would enter the kingdom of God before them. "But the publican stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner!' I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:13-14 Five devilisms! ("Reconciliation by Death, and Salvation by Life" Preached at Providence Chapel, Eden Street, London, on Tuesday Evening, July 30, 1850, by J. C. Philpot) As regards sin in its workings, we may say there are five devilisms from which we need to be saved . . . 1. The GUILT of sin. 2. The FILTH of sin. 3. The LOVE of sin. 4. The DOMINION of sin. 5. The PRACTICE of sin. 1. We need the application of Christ's precious blood to our conscience, to take away the guilt of sin. 2. We need the Spirit of Christ to sanctify and to wash the soul in the fountain, to cleanse from the filth of sin. 3. We need the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts, to take away the love of sin. 4. We need the power of Christ, to rescue us from the dominion of sin. 5. We need the grace of Christ, to preserve us from the practice of sin. It is feeling sin in its various workings, which makes us value Christ! Strange mysterious way! O, strange path! that to be exercised with sin, is the path to the Savior! Very painful, very mysterious, very inexplicable --that the more you feel yourself a wretched, miserable sinner; the more you long after Jesus, who is able to save you to the uttermost! Thus, we shall find that we need all that Christ is. For we are no little sinners; and He is no little Savior! We are great sinners! He is a Savior--and a great one! "He is able to save to the uttermost!" Hebrews 7:25 This is the struggle! ("Reconciliation by Death, and Salvation by Life" Preached at Providence Chapel, Eden Street, London, on Tuesday Evening, July 30, 1850, by J. C. Philpot) "Oh, what a wretched man I am! Who will free me from this body that is dominated by sin?" Rom. 7:24 If a person were to tell me he did not love sin in his carnal mind, I would say with all mildness, "You do not speak the truth!" If your carnal mind does not love sin . . . Why do you think of it? Why do you secretly indulge it in your imagination? Why do you play with it? Why do you seek to extract a devilish sweetness out of it? O, what a mercy it would be, if there were not this dreadful love of sin in our heart! This is the struggle --that there should be this traitor in the camp; that our carnal mind should be so devilish as to love that which made the blessed Jesus die; as to love that which crucified the Lord of glory, and to love it with a vehement love! "Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:25 It is I ("The Fruits and Marks of the Lord Being Our God" J. C. Philpot, Providence Chapel, London, 1849) "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Mark 6:50 It is I who formed you in the womb, and brought you forth into your present existence. It is I, the Lord your God, who has fed you, and clothed you from that hour up to the present moment. It is I, the Lord your God, who has preserved you on every side. When you were upon a sick bed, it was I, the Lord your God, who visited your soul, raised up your body, and gave you that measure of health which you do now enjoy. It is I, the Lord your God, who placed you in the situation of life which you do now occupy. It is I, the Lord your God . . . who deals out to you every trial, who allots you every affliction, who brings upon you every cross, who works in you everything according

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Grace Gems for SEPTEMBER 2004

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